You're a very smart guy, Cylnar... so I think you and I will agree that our so-called "democratic" system has been rigged in this country for many, many years.
At its heart, it works like this: the Establishment... or the Plutocrats... or the shadowy, secretive Oligarchs... whichever you prefer... conspire to prop up "candidates" before us. We are then permitted to vote for whichever candidate we prefer. In order to give us a clear-cut illusion of choice, the principal candidates generally posture themselves in such a way as to seem diametrically opposed to one another... thus ensuring that regardless of which side of the fence you happen to dwell upon, there will always be a candidate who appeals to you more than "the other guy." Or the other girl, in this case.
But you see, those candidates are just putting on an act. The horrible truth of the matter is that... regardless of whomever you vote for... the candidate who wins the election will almost immediately go to work for... guess who..?
Not for you and me... why should they..? No, they're going to work on behalf of the wealthy and powerful individuals who financed their campaigns, groomed them, propped them up and promised them the moon. That's who they're going to go to work for... the afore-mentioned Establishment/Plutocrats/Oligarchs who truly run this country.
So when I said "If you take Trump at face value," what I meant was just what I've said here: he's putting on an act. You don't REALLY think Trump is that much of a bellicose, bigoted jackass, do you..? In this day and age..? C'mon.
And so is Hillary Clinton -- she's putting on an act, too. Pretending to be a left-of-center moderate Democrat. And so are most of the other candidates acting -- including the absurd candidates like Ted Cruz, who are being paid to lose. Why are Cruz and several others being paid to lose..? Again... so that the American people can have the illusion of choice. The candidates get a nice fat payoff, and the shadowy fuckers who run this show get to retain their power... regardless of who gets elected.
I support Sanders because I do not believe that he is "in on this." I think he, just like Ralph Nader and Bobby Kennedy before him, truly wants to give control of America back to the American people. Let's just hope that he doesn't suffer Bobby's fate... because if Sanders actually becomes a serious threat to the status quo, then they will almost certainly do whatever they feel is necessary to take him out of the game.
Right now, their game plan is to keep downplaying Sanders in the mass media, in the hopes that an unfair lack of exposure will cause him to simply go away. And maybe that is what will happen. But then again... maybe not.