Posted on 08/09/2015 10:25:12 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
For political pundits, the carnival they watched last night was an enlightening affair. Trump aside, they say, the Republican Party’s presidential aspirants performed admirably. The marginally tuned-in voter who watched the debate last night saw something quite different. This was a raucous event, a reality show with little redeeming value beyond its most entertaining aspects. That’s not necessarily a fair assessment, but it is an honest reflection of what they have come to expect from the Dadaist performance art that is Donald Trump’s campaign of self-promotion masquerading as a presidential bid. The pundits are, however, pundits for a reason; they understand the mechanics of an election cycle in a way that the casual observer does not. On the left and the right, political professionals and opinion leaders know what they saw: the beginning of the end of Trump’s bid for the Republican nomination. It is true that his staying power in the race has shocked everyone, but the debates mark the beginning of a different phase of this campaign. It’s coming, perhaps later rather than sooner, but the celebrity candidate’s deflation is a virtual certainty. As such, the tempo of the Democratic effort to ensure that Trump comes to be viewed as the face of the GOP will accelerate in the coming weeks. They know that time is not on their side.
The political classes have expended untold joules of energy in the effort to understand the Trump supporter. Quizzically cocking their heads to the side, they sought to dissect and classify this little-understood species. They observe that he is justifiably frustrated with Washington. They note that she is apprehensive about the state of the economy, her personal finances, and her children’s futures. They correctly contend that the politicians in whom they invested their trust jilted them. The Trump supporter is rendered virtuous insofar as his expression of outrage, however inchoate and self-defeating, is righteous.
There comes a time, however, when the case for the aggrieved Trump supporter ceases to be compelling, and the well of sympathy runs dry. If anyone was confused about Trump’s motives before last night, they have no excuse to remain so today. He is in this for himself. It was a fact demonstrated by his refusal to rule out a third-party bid or his insistence that he would only support the Republican Party’s presidential nominee if he were that nominee. He demonstrated no policy knowledge – indeed, he was proudly ignorant of the affairs of statecraft. Trump was rude, boorish, and indignant that his crudeness was subject to questioning by the moderators. His embrace of unalloyed liberalism just a few years ago fully exposed the celebrity candidate’s opportunism.
Yes, the majority of Trump’s support comes not from an admiration for his policy positions but his style. His supporters think he upsets the apple cart, and they so deeply resent that apple cart. But these individuals are now clinging to an ideal that has been thoroughly dispelled. Trump backers in the grassroots, and those in conservative media outlets who would enable their self-delusion are embracing a series of category errors. They mistake rudeness for self-assuredness. They confuse incivility for resolve. They see pugnacity and presume efficacy.
At a certain point, coddling Trump supporters and trying to understand their grievances becomes a futile enterprise. When a loved one is making a terrible mistake that will eventually do them great harm, the priority is not to preserve their fragile self-image. The priority is to save them from themselves, regardless of how bitterly they will resent your efforts. For some Trump backers, no amount of contradictory information will dissuade them from their self-destructive course. For most, however, the carnival barker was exposed last night for what he was. What’s more, the members of his own party exposed him.
Those who observe politics for a living understand that a critical mass of support comes not merely from the grassroots, but from influential members of the party infrastructure. There is a reason why, since 1980, pre-primary endorsements from prominent members of a political party have been a better indicator of which candidate will emerge from a competitive campaign to win the presidential nomination. Donald Trump will receive no party support, and only in part because he does not support the party. Trump has provided Republicans with the marvelous opportunity for a prolonged Sister Souljah moment, and most of the GOP’s leading candidates have taken it.
But what might have hurt Trump most was his aggression toward the Fox moderators, both on and off the stage. Near four a.m. on the East Coast, Trump took to Twitter to litigate his grievance against Fox. He called host and moderator Megyn Kelly “overrated” and retweeted a fan who referred to her as a “bimbo.” When pollster Frank Luntz’s panel of Republican voters failed to revere him in the fashion to which he has become accustomed, Trump called him a “clown” and a “joke.” Trump’s ego has compelled him to go to war with the very base of influential conservatives who sustain his support: those in the conservative movement’s entertainment sector.
Those Trump supporters who are immune to evidence that suggests their avatar of angst-fueled rebellion is not who he seems to be were always a minority within the GOP, but that minority is almost certainly about to contract. A Gravis Marketing poll of debate watchers conducted last night indicated that only Rand Paul performed worse than Trump. Whereas 34 percent of respondents said Paul lost the debate, another 30 percent said the same of Trump. No other candidate registered in the double digits. By contrast, a stalwart but modest 19 percent said that the reality star won the contest. While 36 percent said they thought better of Trump after the debate, another 45 percent said they thought less of him – again, a subpar performance outmatched only by Paul.
Repudiated by influential Republicans, by Fox News viewers, and, by virtue of his attack on the moderators, by Fox hosts, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to cast Trump as the face of the GOP. That makes the liberal project to ensure that he is seen as the face of the Republican Party all that more urgent.
“Mr. Trump is the face of the GOP: angry, white and male,” former Bill Clinton advisor and Democratic operative Paul Begala averred in mid-July. “He is the voice of the GOP. Hell, he’s even the hair of the GOP.” This was always a thesis in search of evidence, but at least it was based in polling. To continue to make this claim after the fallout from last night’s debate has settled smacks of wishful thinking.
The flailing effort to ensure that Trump remains the enduring symbol of a Republican Party that he only recently adopted and that he has repeatedly threatened to betray was exemplified in Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank’s most recent piece.
Milbank noted that debate moderator Megyn Kelly asked Trump to account for the fact that he had, in the past, insulted women by calling them “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals,” among other things. “The audience laughed,” Milbank noted. When Trump attempted to parry by claiming his barbs were only aimed at Rosie O’Donnell, “More laughter.” “I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct,” Trump retorted. “The debate crowd applauded,” Milbank insisted.
The columnist went on to note that the public thinks that the Trump candidacy is hurting the party’s brand. He cited a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that does support this contention. But that claim is not supported in that same poll’s findings that discovered that generic Republican candidates continue to best Democrats in a ballot test. If Trump is rubbing off on the GOP, it hasn’t hurt the party’s electoral prospects. Yet.
Milbank added that the rest of the slate of candidates on the debate stage sounded remarkably like Republicans and not centrist Democrats, somehow betraying the GOP’s post-2012 “autopsy” report recommendations. “Trump himself may have diagnosed the party’s problem best: ‘We don’t have time for tone,’” He concluded.
If Democrats want to make Donald Trump the face of the party he and his supporters vocally resent, they better do it quick. They’re running out of time, and they know it.
> “There comes a time, however, when the case for the aggrieved Trump supporter ceases to be compelling, and the well of sympathy runs dry.”
Oui, Oui! Monsieur Rothman, I am in total accord Monsieur! It is a pity that our ...how do you say ...”well of the sympathy” is to run dry! You see there is a great triste ...eh.. soucier..eh...sadness that Le Donald must wait 16 mois ...eh ... months avant, before to take thee White Castle. Do you see how sad it is Monsieur?
Pardonnez moi pendant je crie sincerement!
Ho, hum. Another day, another liberal journalist’s wet dream for Trump to poke holes in.
LIKE button depressed. With feeling!
This article is unmitigated claptrap. Your comment is very appropriate.
These people are desperate to make Trump go away so we can get to the main event: Bush v. Clinton, with Clinton winning.
To hell with that.
Jim Gilmore with about as many followers Trump gets per hour.
Would be interesting to know if those were positive or negative comments.
That is great image-photo..
As far as I can tell, at least eighty percent of Trump’s support is support for closing the border. That’s an issue.
This may be an election where a crass populist with a bizarre concoction of positions that contradict each other (if given even a cursory glance) can win.
Those aren’t comments. They are followers. Trump gained 211k Twitter followers in a week. Really Uuuuuge.
Fox news is doubling down by re broadcasting the debate at 8PM tonight.
Roger Aile$ must be a consummate gambler, he is risking losing more viewers and increasing ire over Megyn’s odious performance.
Hot Air has many (about 50/50) *progressive* pieces since they were sold by Michelle Malkin and her partners. You will note she is no longer on the masthead there - enough said.
Thanks. I thought we were talking tweets here.
Followers... interesting.
Another ignoramus, or is he just a practiced liar, who does not point out the fact that more two weeks ago "Big Donors" tried to concoct a scheme among the other candidates to squeeze Trump out of the first debate.
And, then, early this week, "Big Donors" put out the word that they wanted Trump "taken out" in the first debate, his candidacy destroyed by whatever means the "Big Donors" expected.
So, why the hell should Trump pledge loyalty to a party that has tolerated such behavior from "Big Donors". Rinse and other higher ups at the RNC should have condemned these schemes to deny voters a fair look at the candidates in the strongest terms.
But, crickets. After all, these folks are "Big Donors".
That little omission alone makes this column nothing but the babbling of hypocrite, or an impressive ignoramus. And we have also heard next to nothing about these "Big Donor" schemes as Trump's refusal to take the pledge has been reported, or half-ass reported, by most every news outlet.
And this makes the way Chris Wallace asked the pledge question equally fraudulent and dishonest. Wallace failed to mention the attempts by the "Big Donors" to force Trump out of the debate.
—Those who observe politics for a living understand that a critical mass of support comes not merely from the grassroots, but from influential members of the party infrastructure—
Maybe yes and maybe no.
But methinks this time is different. The ‘grassroots’ as Rothman calls them are angry in numbers at a level not seen since Pearl Harbor. Or possibly the (1st?)American Revolution.
We’ll find out how viable Trump is as an Independent candidate soon enough. Hopefully joining forces with Cruz. Those two will make an irrestible pair.
Many people are impressed with themselves. This guy is one of those people. Writes non-sense and hot air.
[Rothman clearly hasn’t seen the post-debate poll yet.]
Or the black women defending Donald Trump...
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/video-black-women-defend-donald-trump-shred-megyn-kelly/
Not surprised to see Paul move up but I am for Rubio.
A Carson bump is very telling and Cruz may be the leader before to long.
A consolidation of support for our nominee will be necessary before this thing gets really ugly.
Trump simply really comes out TELLS THE TRUTH.. some truth any truth..
AND the “MEDIA”... spends all their time trying to cover it up.. LIKE: a Cat in a Catbox..
He watches them do it.. AND....... tells another Truth..
It’s like watching a dog or cat following the light from a flashlight..
Evidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee3-quictYU
PS: by the way Mr. Rothman, I just skimmed over a tad of that garbage to get the gist of how "you hate Trump", but just had to waste a few good words myself to let you know that, we don't care what you have to say. I have to quit now, because unlike you I can't think of a way to make this about 25 paragraphs that no one is interested in.
Oh, well maybe just this. You are preaching to your own choir, who won't be reading your trash anyway, you lose. lol
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