Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

GOP rivals hope more subdued debate setting throws Trump (donors and insiders only)
Politico ^ | 09/16/2015 | Kyle Cheney

Posted on 09/16/2015 6:20:06 AM PDT by GIdget2004

When Donald Trump steps onto the debate stage Wednesday, he'll face his rivals for the first time without one of his most valuable assets: a crowd.

The raucous 4,500-strong audience of rank-and-file Republicans that packed into a Cleveland sports arena last month for the first GOP debate fueled the bombastic billionaire, who has copped to making many of his sensational comments as an "entertainer" rather than as a presidential candidate currently smoking the rest of the GOP field in the polls.

But Wednesday night's debate will have a different feel in the more somber confines of the Reagan Presidential Library with a more subdued crowd of several hundred donors and party insiders.

Half a dozen campaigns contacted by POLITICO this week predicted the shift could have an unsettling effect not only on Trump but on many of the other contenders who fed off the energy of the lively arena during the Fox News debate on Aug. 6. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, for example, basked in the warm applause of a hometown crowd. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson delivered soft-spoken jokes that drew roars of laughter. Trump drew some cringing laughs when he cracked a joke about Rosie O'Donnell that he built into an indictment of political correctness.

A quiet crowd, the campaigns noted, can turn punchy quips punchless, stifle the sharpest retorts and turn a potent applause line into an awkward rejoinder.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last

1 posted on 09/16/2015 6:20:06 AM PDT by GIdget2004
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

These nimrods don’t realize that Trump is one of the most talented people at adapting to a situation around. Quiet may be to his benefit more than anyone thinks.


2 posted on 09/16/2015 6:24:07 AM PDT by BigEdLB (Congress will have blood on their hands if anything happens because of the Iran appeasement)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004
Half a dozen campaigns contacted by POLITICO this week predicted the shift could have an unsettling effect not only on Trump

Ha...in your dreams "consultants" and campaign staffers>

Ha....Trump can handle that with no problemo....

From his book "Trump...the art of the deal" (published in 1987)

Page 185 /186...

"I have great respect for what the Japanese have done with their economy, but for my money they are often very difficult to do business with.

For starters, they come in to see you in groups of six or eight or even twelve.,

You may succeed with one or two or three, but its far harder to convince all twelve.

In addition, they rarely smile and are so serious that they don't make doing business fun."

So Trump has been dealing with this type of situation for about 30 years.

He will do just fine in the debates today...and have fun doing it.

3 posted on 09/16/2015 6:25:28 AM PDT by spokeshave (If an illegal alien is undocumented immigrant a drug dealer is an unlicensed pharmacist)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

So, who picked the audience?


4 posted on 09/16/2015 6:25:49 AM PDT by Reno89519 (American Lives Matter! US Citizen, Veteran, Conservative, Republican. I vote. Trump 2016.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

Dream on, Trump is going to Clean Their Clocks AGAIN!!


5 posted on 09/16/2015 6:26:44 AM PDT by eyeamok
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All
The raucous 4,500-strong audience of rank-and-file Republicans that packed into a Cleveland sports arena last month for the first GOP debate fueled the bombastic billionaire

Funny how that's not how they reported it at the time. At the time, he was dead and buried. His debate performance was going to be the collapse everybody had predicted.

According to the experts, Rubio came out shining! Kasich had a great night! Carson had the best closing statement! Frank Luntz' focus group told us that Trump was done.

I have a feeling we're going to hear the exact same reports after this debate.
6 posted on 09/16/2015 6:29:43 AM PDT by mmichaels1970
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004
Neurosurgeon Ben Carson delivered soft-spoken jokes that drew roars of laughter.

Actually that's all I remember about his performance in Debate #1. He told the best joke.

7 posted on 09/16/2015 6:30:39 AM PDT by InterceptPoint
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

I am sure that Trump has dealt with hostile smallish audiences (stock meetings, for starters) and in more adverse circumstances (e.g. corporate bankruptcy). Trying to trip him up is a stupid strategy.


8 posted on 09/16/2015 6:31:03 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004
For how many years was Trump comfortable in an NBC studio doing his TV show? Frankly, the live season finale shows were the worst.

I don't think this will make one bit of difference. What he had for dinner will matter more.

-PJ

9 posted on 09/16/2015 6:32:04 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mmichaels1970

Exactly! Who really believes the media anymore? The Genie is really out of the bottle at this point.


10 posted on 09/16/2015 6:32:36 AM PDT by Lake Living
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

wow..

so basically they have stacked the audience against Trump?

unbelievable!

I am not even much of a Trump supporter, but this kind of thing pisses me off.


11 posted on 09/16/2015 6:34:31 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (You can't spell Hillary without using the letters L, I, A, & R)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Reno89519

Does the donor class somehow feel under-represented all of a sudden, or what?


12 posted on 09/16/2015 6:36:28 AM PDT by txhurl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Reno89519
So, who picked the audience?

In Ohio, the Ohio Republican Party doled out the tickets. I'd say it was a 1/2 hostile crowd to Trump and he did just fine. I know, I was there.

13 posted on 09/16/2015 6:37:03 AM PDT by NeoCaveman (DC, it's Versailles on the Potomac but without the food and culture)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: BigEdLB
What'll be funny is if Trump triumphs over them all again! And he probably will!

America needs to clean house, and Trump's offering her a huge high-powered vacuum cleaner. These establishment jackasses can't stand it because they are part of the debris that needs to be thrown out--and will be if the American people are half as wise as their forefathers.

14 posted on 09/16/2015 6:41:37 AM PDT by Savage Beast (We the People OF THE UNITED STATES…do ordain and establish this Constitution FOR THE UNITED STA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

If the GOPe ever fought Liberals as hard as they fight Conservatives, we’d win!


15 posted on 09/16/2015 6:43:14 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (If the GOPe ever fought Liberals as hard as they fight Conservatives, we'd win!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

The GOP just allowed another fiasco and again on 9/11. Arming Iran. Three years after we’re still needing the Secretary of State to explain how the embassy staff was killed in country

They think quizzing trump on the name of the general we’re giving 150 billion dollars to is good moderating

We don’t like the GOP. Nor do we like their pundits. If they figure that out the debate will have been a success


16 posted on 09/16/2015 6:43:57 AM PDT by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

Trump doesn’t have crowds in the boardroom..................................


17 posted on 09/16/2015 6:54:38 AM PDT by Red Badger (READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

The crowd he had at the last debate didn’t seem to like him. As I recall, he mentioned that during the debate. He still won.


18 posted on 09/16/2015 6:55:45 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: I'd like to drive away not only the Turks (moslims) but all my foes.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004
He was on TV for years. Not a huge audience when filming. I hope he makes the audience cringe and faint.
19 posted on 09/16/2015 6:57:17 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3 (Obama is everything Oklahoma is not.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: miss marmelstein; mickie; Maine Mariner; pax_et_bonum; flaglady47
Fox New pre-packed the audience in the room with Trump-haters and employees at the first debate. THAT'S why the audience didn't like him.

Expect CNN to do the same tonight.

Leni

20 posted on 09/16/2015 7:00:39 AM PDT by MinuteGal (It's Not "Immigration", Stupid....IT'S INVASION !")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson