Sanders is the only one Trump would beat. Hillary will run at least the most effective negative ad campaign against Trump since LBJ did with Goldwater. I have explained this in other threads, but here is how it will go:
All this violence at Trump rallies will amount to the most effective negative ads in the general since LBJ's against Goldwater. Either the Hillary campaign or some PACs will show Trump more or less egging them on as he has in in past rallies, then follow up with clips of minorities being pushed, shoved, and punched by the crowd in his rallies. Mark my words, that is exactly what they will do. They will mix those ads up with others where he says some of the most outrageous things he has said and then others showing where hate groups like the Klan endorsed him. Not only that, but they will tar every Republican running for reelection with the same Trump hatemongering.
Not only will it further destroy him with the minority vote, but it will also curb his ability to bring in working class white Democrats as it will shame them into not voting for him (just like with Goldwater).
They will take it even further though, as they will run all the bigoted statements he has made in regards to immigrants, particularly Hispanic immigrants, and even further destroy him with the Hispanic vote. A Republican needs at least 40% of the Hispanic vote to win in November. The last Republican to do that was Bush in 2004. Trump does not stand a chance in hell of getting even half that. Hispanics look at him like Blacks did George Wallace. The only Hispanics he will win are the few that are in the Republican Party.
Hillary is a flawed candidate and Bernie is unelectable in the general. With a candidate like Kasich, the Republicans would probably win in November, but they are going to absolutely get their ass kicked with a candidate like Trump or Cruz.
The only reason why the Republicans Trump is running against have not done this is they are trying to appeal to the same bigots that are in Trump's base, a Democrat will care less about that, but rather will want to make sure that those bigots are all that he has voting for him come November. The Republican establishment knows this and that is why they are scared to death of him being their candidate.
While some of your points appear valid, IMO your entire thesis is presented through the same rose-colored glasses used by both the GOP Machine and the Democratic "faithful" when assessing both Trump and Sanders all along the current campaign. Views that have failed miserably to reconcile with the actual situation.
Most people of all political persuasions, be they Republicans, Democrats, or all other Independents,
are fed up with business as usual politicking.
That is the appeal of the "extremes" exemplified by Trump and Sanders.
It is one of the primary reasons
Obama did so well during his first campaign.
People were looking to him for change. They honestly thought the first Black President would be able to make sweeping changes in the system, a "political outsider" coming in to clean house. I know this because I was actively caught up in that idea myself. We didn't expect "business as usual" (ex. still sitting with troops in the Middle East 8 years later; Guantanamo Prison still open; a Health Care program poorly cobbled together by the AMA, Big Insurance, and Big Pharma) from the man who promised us "Change we can believe in," and "Yes we can!"
I think Trump's demagoguery is appealing across the political spectrum. His appeal is partly based on his willingness to say whatever he is thinking, calling a spade whatever he needs to in order to appeal to his voter base. This rather than the standard tactic of spouting vetted and overly-watered down packaged platitudes meant to reach all people by saying nothing substantive. Sander's, on the other hand, is holding true to his past political history. He has been making substantive statements in keeping with his ideology.
Now I don't agree with a lot of what either man has been saying, but IMO they have presented atypical options to the status quo with much more appeal to the common voter than either political hacks like Hillary, Kasich, and Rubio, or right-wing religious extremist liars like Cruz. I think many of my voting peers think the same way, which may translate into another upset for "business as usual" politics in the upcoming election.
