Posted on 08/06/2015 11:13:03 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
ATLANTACrammed into a hotel ballroom to watch the first GOP presidential debate, hundreds of the most conservative activists in the country cheered Thursday when Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas talked Middle East policy, predictably. They booed when former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush talked education policy, also predictably.
But with Donald Trump, nothing is predictable, and it's there that the "Red State Gathering" crowd offered up a surprise: When Trump defended his reversal on abortion, his donations to Democrats like Hillary Clinton, even his refusal to rule out a third-party run should he not win the Republican nomination, the crowd responded with among the biggest cheers of the night.
If the Red State crowd is any indication, the Summer of Trump is not even close to over.
"He says a lot of politically incorrect things that a lot of people are thinking," said Randy Daniel, a dentist from the Atlanta suburb of Stockbridge.
Indeed, when Trump actually cited "political correctness" as he defended his public insults of women over the years, the 600 in attendance went wild, just as they did when he hit back at Fox News moderator Chris Wallace for his question on Trump's bankruptcies.
"They're just glad that someone's finally saying what they want said," said Erick Erickson, the head of the conservative Red State blog and the host of the annual conference.
But does that mean conservatives are actually ready to vote for him for president? Erickson says probably not, explaining that their current willingness to support Trump is more of a message to the Republican Party establishment than an actual embrace of the New York developer-turned-reality TV star.
In the same way many Bernie Sanders supporters believe they will realistically have Hillary Clinton as their eventual nominee, today's Trump backers know they will, in the end, have a different nominee, but want to make their point to party leaders nevertheless, Erickson said.
"Donald Trump is at least willing to throw the punches they're not willing to throw," he said.
And fight back when punches were thrown at him.
Mary Howard, of Indianapolis, particularly enjoyed Trump's response when Fox's Megyn Kelly asked him about his comments about women. "He turned that right back around on her," she said.
Yet while many like Howard praised Trump for forcing the issue of immigration to the forefront of the GOP race and for his combativeness, he did not seem to be seen as a desirable nominee a year from now.
Catherine McDonald, of Atlanta, likes what she saw from Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. As for Trump: "I don't take him seriously as a candidate. I think he's about sound bites, I think he's about promoting himself," she said. "I really don't feel he is who we would need running the country."
Even Randy Daniel, the dentist, allowed that brashness and boldness would only take Trump so far. "If he was the neighbor next door, you wouldn't invite him over for dinner," he said.
Red State is an outlet of Town Hall, which in turn is owned by conservative Christian-oriented Salem Communications. Nine of the 17 Republican presidential candidates are scheduled to speak at the conference Friday and Saturday, while Trump is scheduled to appear at the group's "tailgate party" Saturday evening at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Anyone who liked what they saw from Sen Paul was likely already a Paulian.
I hope we get Cruz, but if he can’t bust out they probably have to seriously vote Trump.
If both of them go down, the country IMO is rather screwed as to who probably gets in.
Interesting too, now that the immediate Faux post debate “continue the attack” (on Trump) effort is over, Trump is rising again in the Drudge post-debate poll, and is (presently) over 52%. I’m beginning to believe Trump would have done worse if Faux had showed extreme bias FOR him!
But does that mean conservatives are actually ready to vote for him for president? Erickson says probably not, explaining that their current willingness to support Trump is more of a message to the Republican Party establishment than an actual embrace of the New York developer-turned-reality TV star.
In the same way many Bernie Sanders supporters believe they will realistically have Hillary Clinton as their eventual nominee, today’s Trump backers know they will, in the end, have a different nominee, but want to make their point to party leaders nevertheless, Erickson said.
More “whistling while walking past the Graveyard” thinking going on here. Once people get emotionally invested in a candidate it is nearly impossible to change their minds.
Aren’t there usually some network flash polls after a debate like this?
Yet, none reported, with the time.com and drudge polls were heavily pro-Trump.
I’m thinking some polls were done, but they contradicted the “Trump blew it” narrative, so they’ll never see the light of day.
Yup. Megan Kelly showed the world that she’s just another presstittute.
Erickson thinks we want to send the establishment a message. The only thing I want to tell the establishment is, rest in peace. They have been unfaithful too many times and the divorce is going to happen. The only thing left is to take everything I can get. I don’t want any promises to reform.
GO CRUZ!!!
I would like to see a YouTube video made where they show actual street corner prostitutes reading a piece of news, auditioning as Megyn Kelly’s replacement.
The arrogance of these people is astounding...Surely they didn't think they could pull this off without people realizing what they were doing...
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