Opinion: Trump speaks to the people -but it's not clear what he's saying

(CNN)Donald Trump's loss to Ted Cruz in Iowa gave rise to a narrative that his
support was rhetorical only, and that he would fail to translate his enormous
media profile into votes. But his 19 point victory in New Hampshire belied this,
and reinforced Trump's claim to be the favourite for the Republican nomination.
Trump's success is real, but it is far too early to call -- he has accumulated fewer
than 20 of the 1,237 delegates he needs for the nomination.
But his victories do say something important about the mood of the U.S.
electorate. The two candidates who entered the field as establishment favorites
-- Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton -- have both struggled, though Bush, facing
many more opponents, has had the worst of it.
The fact that neither Bush nor Clinton has drifted easily towards the nomination
signals that democracy is alive and well in the U.S. -- but if the election has
demonstrated anything thus far, it is the limits of establishment power.

Trump blowout leaves GOP establishment in chaos 03:29

Trump is clearly tapping into a very strong sentiment of dissatisfaction with the
status quo within the United States. To some degree, Democratic hopeful Bernie
Sanders is tapping into the same vein, though politically and stylistically, the two
are miles apart.
What draws them together is a sense of disenfranchisement -- a sense that the
"system" is rigged against ordinary Americans and is only becoming more so.

But Trump's adeptness at channeling voter dissatisfaction does not exempt him
from the need to demonstrate how he would address their concerns. And thus
far, he simply hasn't given voters sufficient information to make an informed
judgment about what kind of president he would be.
Trump would be the first president in American history with no public service
record, civilian or military, so there is no record of how he deals with public
policy challenges (in contrast, Sanders has a decades-long record in the U.S.
Senate for voters to scrutinize).

Could Donald Trump be a role model as president? 02:23

At a time when most other candidates have put forward detailed descriptions of
their policies regarding major foreign and domestic challenges (from dealing
with Russia to reforming education), Trump has not.
Trump's statements on matters of public policy are, by design, vague. He hasn't
specified what "winning" in the context of trade relations with China would entail;
nor how his plan to "bomb ISIS and take their oil" would be operationalized.
Where he has advocated specific policies -- building a wall on the Mexican
border and banning Muslims from entering the United States, for example -they are implausible on practical, political, and in some cases, legal or
Constitutional grounds.
America has a strong democracy and what we are seeing is evidence of this.
Like Sanders, Trump is connecting with parts of society that feel left out or left
behind. Unfortunately however, none of us know what Trump actually stands for
or what, credibly, he would do in power.
As Trump marches towards the nomination, we can only hope that this question
is answered sooner rather than later.
Xenia Wickett and Jacob Parakilas are the heads of the U.S. Project at
Chatham House. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of
the authors.