If Donald Trump wins the election, Horizon Investments chief political strategist Greg Valliere hopes that Inauguration Day is "really windy."

In a 50-minute talk yesterday at the Investment Management Consultants Association's annual conference in Orlando, Valliere voiced his deep disgust with the Republican front-runner. "I've never seen anything like this in my life," he said, calling it the "nastiest, ugliest election ever."

The nation is confronted with a wide array of major challenges  in what should be one of its most important presidential elections ever. Instead of a serious discussion of problems ranging from entitlements to terrorism, it's become a low-grade reality show, despite the fact that the Republican party had many serious candidates.

In his travels across the country, Valliere has discovered "tremendous anxiety" about the economy in the center of America that he hasn't seen on either coast. Wall Street and Detroit got bailed out but many people in the mid-West have lost jobs or fear losing their jobs. Others haven't received raises for years. And they believe no one in Washington has done anything for them.

"Donald Trump connects with these people," Valliere said, adding there is "a racial element I find reprehensible." The same goes for Trump's dismissal of the war record of John McCain, who spent five years getting tortured while Trump was "chasing super models."

"I still think he will be the nominee," Valliere said. "He will win big in New York and win Caifornia by 20 percent. If he goes to Cleveland with 3.5 million more votes than [Texas Senator] Ted Cruz and almost enough delegates" he should be able to muster the handful of delegates he needs to put him over the top. If not, he'll do worse on the second ballot.

The great irony is that the GOP has "a great candidate" who could beat Hillary Clinton "easily." But Ohio Gov. John Kasich has only won his home state and isn't going anywhere because "he is not angry enough.'

So how does DT beat HC when his negatives dwarf her impressive unpopularity and untrustworthiness numbers?

First, there will be another terrorist incident. If one occurs before the election, which it may or may not, DT's "bombastic, outrageous" rhetoric will win some votes.

How weak is HC? Washington, D.C., has anointed HC as the next president, but she is hardly a prohibitive favorite. "History shows it is really hard for one party to win three presidential elections in a row," Valliere said.

"Bernie Sanders in inficting serious damage on her," Valliere said. Bernie lovers hate Wall Street and that won't go away after the election. Sanders has "planted the seed that she is the candidate of Goldman Sachs."

Will the young people turning out in huge numbers for Sanders turn out for HC? It's not clear, but it is reasonable to expect some percentage of them won't.

Then there is a good probability that former president Bill Clinton could turn out to be more of a liability than pundits expect. On an almost weekly basis, he "shoots off his mouth" again and again, angering key Democratic constituencies like Sanders voters (they want to "shoot one out of every three people on Wall Street") and Black Lives Matter. He has demonstrated repeatedly that he has no self-control.

DT, who has huge negative ratings among females, "has made it clear he will go after" the former president. He has even compared Bill Clinton to Bill Cosby. HC will face allegations she was an enabler.

HC's woes don't stop there. Valliere thinks she'll sail by Benghazi.

Her personal server is another matter. There are 120 FBI agents working on the case and if she gets away scot-free, who would be surprised if a few agents who worked night and day on the case starting talking to the press after seeing all their hard work go to naught.

Valliere didn't think HC's actions were as serious as Gen. David Petraeus, who got off with a misdemeanor. Instead, he compared to Bill Clinton's former CIA director, John Deutsch, who simply lost his security clearance. Imagine a president without security clearance.

Though Valliere believes HC will probably win, DT remains "the mother of all uncertainty." He has promised a trade war with China and could do a lot through executive orders. He would also have major friction with Fed Chairman Janet Yellen. Wall Street would like neither outcome.

DT's "rhetoric towards the markets themselves sounds like [Massachusetts Senator] Elizabeth Warren]." His $10 trillion tax cut would keep the Treasury Department busy selling bonds.

What about an HC presidency? She displayed some skill at wheeling and dealing during her years in the Senate.

"The stars will be aligned for tax reform," Valliere predicted. Strange bedfellows like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Charles Schumer "want to do it."

International tax reform would allow repatriation of billions of dollars. It would "be great for M&A and dividends," Valliere said.

Don't expect any serious entitlement reform whoever wins. Both Bernie Sanders and DT want to increase Social Security and "winning Florida is much more important in Washington" than fixing entitlements.

Whoever wins, expect defense spending to go up. HC is far more hawkish than President Obama, and even he has displayed a willingness to bypass Congress and commit troops abroad.

As for DT, when he was asked if he would use nuclear weapons if he became president, he responded that it was "very, very" unlikely.

"I would hope so," Valliere said.