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Steyn: The March of Trump, and the Feel of Bern
Steyn Online ^ | February 10, 2016 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 02/10/2016 2:48:40 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

As I was saying at the dawn of this day:

1) Trump;
2) Kasich;
3) Rubio;
4) Bush;
5) Cruz.

Number One and Two were correct, and at this hour Numbers Three, Four and Five are all jostling together at 11 per cent, but with Cruz third and Rubio fifth. On the Democrat side I noted the midnight vote tallies from Dixville Notch, Hart's Location and Millsfield:

Sanders 17
Clinton 9

[snipped text about Dem race]

On the Republican side, Trump won yuge: 35 per cent in a nine-man race, and more than twice as many votes as the second-placed Kasich. On the latter, I wrote three weeks ago:

>>>On the "moderate" side of the GOP, the thinking since debate season began is that Rubio is the alternative to Bush, and Christie is the alternative to Rubio. But it could be that Kasich is the alternative to all three of them.<<<

And so it proved. Good for Kasich. But a nightmare for the GOP's Donor-Industrial Complex: Trump has the populist lane, Cruz the conservative, and both are reviled by the so-called "establishment". All New Hampshire had to do was sort out the so-called "moderate" lane by anointing Rubio, and, in a three-way race, he'd eliminate the Trump-Cruz problem. That was the theory.

Instead, Chris Christie's kamikaze mission took out Rubio, and killed his Iowa Rubementum stone dead. As a result, Kasich had a solid second-place finish and Jeb had a marginally less worse than expected fourth-place finish that will keep him and his SuperPac in the game a few states longer. And, until the mod squad consolidates behind one of these guys, the GOP establishment will be stuck with a frontrunner it despises, and a runner-up it despises even more.

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


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: New Hampshire
KEYWORDS: conservatism; gopprimary; marksteyn; newhampshire; nh2016; populism; steyn
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To: Stegall Tx

I don’t see your point.


41 posted on 02/10/2016 5:11:44 AM PST by Redleg Duke (Remember...after the primaries, we better still be on the same team!)
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

Thanks for sharing.


42 posted on 02/10/2016 5:13:21 AM PST by patq
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To: Stegall Tx
I dont give a damn if he flip flips and goofs around he is a warrior and will make America great again. You pussy boys need to get your minds right!
43 posted on 02/10/2016 5:13:33 AM PST by olepap (Your old Pappy)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Yes, and isn’t it interesting that Steyn identifies Cruz (correctly) as the most GOPe despised candidate. They despise Trump because he’s not playing by the rule. They despise Cruz more because he actually believes what he says. They know that Trump is playing his followers, filling a market niche, and keen to cut a deal that prove he’s a deal maker without regard to principles.


44 posted on 02/10/2016 5:25:41 AM PST by elhombrelibre (Against Obama. Against Putin. Pro-freedom. Pro-US Constitution. Go Cruz.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

As Trump continues to steamroll through the primaries, watch support for him accelerate nationwide and opposition melt away.


45 posted on 02/10/2016 5:29:44 AM PST by GoKnow
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

I tend to agree...at first I was open to trump. Not really anymore. Hopefully his fans will see the light before it’s too late


46 posted on 02/10/2016 5:34:22 AM PST by SPRINK
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To: BobL

Amen to that! We have had people who talk so reasonably selling our country down the drain with Obamacare, Iran getting nukes, bad trade deals and rubber stamping everything Obama wants over and over while betraying their voters. The IRS has been used as a weapon against us, the EPA is strangling America, illegals are overrunning our borders, Syrian refugees with embedded ISIS members are being brought here who cannot be vetted and all of this has been done by those have great personalities, talk reasonably, and have been enablers of Obama to destroy America. Not only are these enablers flip floppers. They are dangerous betrayers and are complicit with Obamas plan to harm America.


47 posted on 02/10/2016 5:41:19 AM PST by sheikdetailfeather
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To: Entrepreneur

Utterly, totally wrong.

Do you realize that he beat Kasich by 51,000 votes-—more than Bernie beat Hillary and that the GOP TIED Dem turnout in a state that has gone Dem 3 out of the last 4 elections.

Not only a “chance,” a reality. Get use to it.


48 posted on 02/10/2016 5:41:26 AM PST by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

A solid majority of Trump’s supporters are one issue candidates.

Whether he can take the nomination and the presidency depends not on the rhetoric of the campaign, but upon Muslim violence outside the middle east.

If the invading hordes settle down Trump will fade. If they rape, pillage, behead, and blow things up, then Trump will win it.


49 posted on 02/10/2016 5:42:22 AM PST by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Entrepreneur
-- Trump has no chance. None. Too many people in the base will NOT vote for him. Period. --

He'll also lose votes from the GOPe faithful, who would rather lose the seat, than lose a share of the corruption. The GOPe intended to run a designated loser again this year, Jeb. Probably not past tense, it still intends to run a designated loser.

50 posted on 02/10/2016 5:47:12 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: dead
Christie can still snipe from the sidelines, and I figure he will. The press will decide how much of an impact the sniping has.

And Trump has shown himself able to take on opponents. Rubio hasn't had his turn in the barrel, yet.

51 posted on 02/10/2016 5:49:32 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

Is that you Karl?

What about the ceiling of others? If Trump has one, surely the others also have them, and theirs appear to be even lower than Trump’s.


52 posted on 02/10/2016 5:54:52 AM PST by euram
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To: MrEdd
-- A solid majority of Trump's supporters are one issue candidates. --

I think that is true for all candidates. What varies across the voters is what that one issue is. You say it is terrorism (which is likely the most frequent choice now, but can fade), others may see jobs, economy, RKBA, social issues (homo marriage, abortion), immigration, or something else as "decisively important."

53 posted on 02/10/2016 5:55:00 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: Byron_the_Aussie
Trumps personality is like that of a Trappist monk, compared with some of you self obsessives.

Amen!

54 posted on 02/10/2016 6:16:42 AM PST by pgkdan (The Silent Majority Stands With TRUMP!)
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To: Redleg Duke

Just saying you feel free to insult everyone who disagrees, call someone who dares to ask tough questions a terrible name, and follow it up with “Remember...after the primaries, we better still be on the same team!”


55 posted on 02/10/2016 6:16:43 AM PST by Stegall Tx (Why are we in this handbasket, and why is it getting so warm? (stolen tagline))
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

Ghost I agree with you. My sense is that most of the people who are inclined to support Trump (either in votes or in poll responses) are already supporting Trump. I suspect that he is near his ceiling both ideologically and in personality terms. I’ve heard the idea that people will vote for him but not acknowledge that intention to a pollster, hence his real support might be understated in polls; that thought strikes me as unconvincing, since his supporters wear on their sleeves their contempt for all aspects of establishment politicking and even for decent civil behavior. The thought that he would run rough-shod over a Democrat in the general election is naive in my estimation.

And like you, I find much in his candidacy repulsive. He and his supporters have just about poisoned the well. Not only can they not count on support significantly beyond what he already commands, I don’t think they can count on support from large numbers of Republicans or Conservatives either.

It’s very ironic that the Republican establishment has told us for years that we must close ranks behind them, however reluctantly, in order to prevent a Democrat from being elected, and now that is a significant part of the argument for Trump. I thought we were trying to pick someone we could all vote *for*, but Trump has just about made that impossible for me and, I suspect, for many others.


56 posted on 02/10/2016 6:19:11 AM PST by HoustonSam
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To: olepap
You ... need to get your minds right!

I keep wondering what is going to happen when DT seals this deal and gets the nomination, then sets his sight on the next deal ... the general election. He has figured out the rhetoric required to seal this deal, but is that same rhetoric going to do it in the general?

If he determines that the next deal requires him to do a 180 (which he has a tendency to do), how will you deal with it?

57 posted on 02/10/2016 6:23:08 AM PST by Stegall Tx (Why are we in this handbasket, and why is it getting so warm? (stolen tagline))
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To: Entrepreneur

I’m not too worried about Bloomie. Not too many people are looking to have some busybody come into their homes to make sure their dinner portion size is moderated.


58 posted on 02/10/2016 6:27:58 AM PST by To Hell With Poverty (America is back - and she's PISSED! - CoadToad)
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To: Stegall Tx
You have a point. Retaliation is not an excuse. Thanks for the observation. I just get tired of the sore losers.
59 posted on 02/10/2016 6:28:27 AM PST by Redleg Duke (Remember...after the primaries, we better still be on the same team!)
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To: MrEdd
A solid majority of Trump's supporters are one issue candidates.

Yep. I'd like to have an actual American as President. Leaves out Cruz (the Canuck) and Rubio who have demonstrated their globalist tendencies. Bush is a Saudi who wants to be Mexican. Christie and Kasich are American right of center Democrats with globalist tendencies and bad judgement.

I'm guessing Trump is probably a Truman Democrat with a real contempt for the midgets who populate the GOP. I'd like to see him break some legs.

60 posted on 02/10/2016 6:30:23 AM PST by Stentor ("Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." Robert Goodloe Harper)
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