Yep. Good old National Review. Buckley is certainly rolling in his grave by now.
Posted on 09/25/2015 11:14:04 AM PDT by Steelfish
Four Easy Steps for Beating Donald Trump by HENRY OLSEN September 25, 2015.
The Republican elites are all in a Twitter titter about whether Donald Trump can be defeated. They needn’t worry. Beating Trump will be as easy as counting backward from four to one.
Four bankruptcies, three wives, two parties, one big problem for America. That six-second tagline to an ad sums up why, when the chips are down, the Donald’s getting fired. This mantra will take Trump down because his appeal rests on trust. Voters angry with elites for various reasons trust that Trump will have their backs in office. But the 4-3-2-1 line of attack shows why exactly the opposite is true.
“Four bankruptcies” will shake Trump’s support among the key Republican faction, the establishment conservative. These voters tend to be small-business people and middle-range executives, and nothing is more important to them than stability of character. Their businesses and careers depend on being able to count on employees to come to work, contractors to pay their bills, and bosses to treat them fairly.
Trump’s bankruptcies are poison for these voters because they were all strategic moves that threw people like them under the bus. When the chips were down, Trump sacrificed his business allies to keep his millions and start over. Nothing will scare a small-business person or an executive more than the thought that there but for the grace of God go I.
“Three wives” are also, at heart, about trust rather than morality. To be sure, Christian conservatives looking at Trump should worry about a man who has twice been in violation of Jesus’ prohibition (Matthew 19:5–9, if Mr. Trump would like the Bible verse) against divorce except in cases of sexual immorality. But women in general will also be turned off by Trump’s romantic antics. They might well wonder whether his relationships with women are a positive indication that he will he be faithful and attentive to their political needs through thick and thin. The story of Carolyn Kepcher reinforces both lines of attack. A brainy, beautiful blond, Carolyn was the real breakout star from the early seasons of The Apprentice. But according to press reports, Trump could bear no one but himself gaining public adulation, so he fired her in favor of his daughter, Ivanka. The lesson was clear: Anyone can be fired if it helps The Donald.
Repeat after me: four bankruptcies, three wives, two parties, one big problem for America. “Two parties” points out for loyal Republicans and movement conservatives alike that Trump treats parties and policy positions like toys to be used and discarded at his pleasure.
He’s been a Democrat, an independent, a Republican, and briefly sought the Reform-party nomination for president in 2000. He’s been pro-choice and pro-life, pro-Clinton and anti-Clinton, pro–single payer and anti-Obamacare. There’s neither rhyme nor reason for his shifts: The only thing that explains them is his constant pursuit of the one thing that really matters, the glory of Donald Trump. All of these facts add up to one big problem for America.
Most of Trump’s backers believe that the biggest thing wrong about America is that no one in government is working for them. But Trump isn’t the elite guy who’s switched sides, he’s the elite guy par excellence whose pursuit of his own wealth and fame leaves everyone else in the dust. He’s not only not the solution to America’s problems, he’s the biggest embodiment of those problems.
Trump will still have his backers after this barrage, but someone who has risen fast can also fall fast. About one sixth of the GOP electorate has gone from disliking Trump six weeks ago to liking him now. This soft support is the difference between an annoying but harmless Trump sitting at 15–18 percent and a terrifying Trump sitting at 30–35 percent. These lines of attack will remind soft supporters exactly why their initial instincts about the Donald were right.
Repeat after me: four bankruptcies, three wives, two parties, one big problem for America. Say it enough times, and soon we’ll be talking about who among the remaining contenders can fill the big man’s shoes. —
Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the co-author of the forthcoming book The Four Faces of the Republican Party: The Fight for the 2016 Presidential Nomination (Palgrave, November 2015).
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424613/donald-trump-defeated-four-steps
It’s been mentioned.
No doubt.
Trump won’t be beaten by anyone. You do not lose with 10 Billion dollars and his infrastructure, much less once he starts fighting...because he hasn’t. He’s still playing with people like a cat with a mouse.. I want Teed Cruz and will be voting for Ted Cruz barring some unforseen catastrophy but Trump will not be beaten by anyone but Trump.
Because Right wing America is as moderate as he is. And part of the left as well.
You know this how?
Could you provide a link for the rest of us inquiring minds can read?
Carson’s been a D, I, and R. He’s been an I for longer than Trump’s been an R.
Carson not only supported PP, but did research on aborted fetuses AND sat on a board of directors that gave a ton of money to PP.
But he’s a ‘strong’ conservative... how?
I think that, when you’re talking to human beings - many who have declared bankruptcy - then say that a Chapter 11 (or whatever) makes you immoral... you’re preaching to the wrong choir in this economy. When so many have had marriages fail for so many reasons - then gone on to recover and find love again - and you’re saying that they’re immoral...
You’re not realizing that Trump *is* the average American.
We’ll know by December.
That’s the registration deadline for the Texas R primary.
If Trump runs in that and loses, the “sore loser” law keeps him out of November.
Nobody other than a Democrat wins without Texas electoral votes.
Yawn.
Still missing the point.
Lol.
ROFL ROFL
Ted Cruz will beat Trump. Just wait and see.
Wow, National Review quadruples down on insanity.
I am all for the most thorough vetting of our candidates possible. We’ve seen what inadequate vetting does.
I hope so. I want it to be so and will vote accordingly.
I don’t trust conservatives to share that ideal.
Yep. Good old National Review. Buckley is certainly rolling in his grave by now.
“The Republican elites are all in a Twitter titter about whether Donald Trump can be defeated. They needn’t worry. Beating Trump will be as easy as counting backward from four to one”
STE=Q
“Four bankruptcies, three wives, two parties, one big problem for America.”
Lincoln went bankrupt; Ronald Reagan had TWO wives, Ronald Reagan had TWO PARTIES, and one big problem for America is his useless freakin’ RINO opinion.
This fool thinks that little cadence is catchy.
Hit the Euro betting sites and become the next John Paulson.
Cruz is 25:1 for the nomination.
I’m not a Trump supporter, but I wince when I see stupid articles like this one. We know about the bankruptcies. We know about the wives. We know that Trump isn’t exactly Russell Kirk when it comes to being intellectually grounded in high-level political thought.
If you want to attack Trump, tell us something that hasn’t been shouted at us in 200 point type on the front page of the NY Post for the last 30 years.
This approach reminds me of the failed campaign of Bernard Epton against Harold Washington for the Mayoralty in Chicago in the early ‘80s. At one point he was in striking distance, and someone got the idea to get the word out that Harold Washington is BLACK.
I finally decided that -- because I knew I liked the original system of government that the Founders gave us -- anything calling itself "New Republic" must be my enemy, so I knew they were the communists.
And, of course, that meant that "National Review" was the better one and the one that was Conservative.
[shrug] Today things are so much easier and I never have any confusion: They're both communist rags.
Are they serious?
You’d just like to go over to the NR offices and give each of them shaken adult syndrome. Soooo slow on the uptake over there. So desperate.
The voters are NOT trying to pick Supreme Moral Holy Perfect Leader according to the playbook that keeps the two-party oligarchy in power. The 1900s are OVER. We want everyone clinging to the status quo in Washington, INCLUDING THE JOURNALISTS, out on their asses. Well, we kind of want the guillotine, but we’ll compromise.
Three amicable wives, so far.
If Trump was openly gay, we would not be having this conversation.
gay = pass
three wives = fail
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