Clear Sign Trump Wants 'Out': Put Up or Shut Up

The Huffington Post's Entertainment The Blog ^ | October 7, 2015 | Paul Abrams

[2ndDivisionVet]

Spending nary a dime, Donald Trump has leapfrogged a large field of presidential wannabees to take a commanding lead in the race for the Republican nomination for president.

Anyone in that position who had unlimited financial resources and who truly wanted to win the nomination would have already unleashed wall-to-wall ads in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, and would be assembling a massive ground-game in those states.

Why? Because if Trump won those primaries convincingly, it would be all over but the shouting.

Such a candidate would also be fielding ads and building organization in the compressed March 1-15th states where delegates will be handed out proportionally to build an uncatchable lead.

No one else can do this because they are donor-dependent and the donors want to see evidence of feasibility in early states to hedge their bets.

But, the Donald's only donor is himself. And, it does not seem that himself is taking the Donald's candidacy seriously enough to invest.

Two hundred million deployed now could wrap it all up for him....

[Dr. Sivana]

Anyone in that position who had unlimited financial resources and who truly wanted to win the nomination would have already unleashed wall-to-wall ads in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, and would be assembling a massive ground-game in those states.

I am not a Trump supporter. I also dislike bad analysis.

Fact: People who build fortunes, including those who actively take big fortunes and build bigger fortunes over a long period of time don't throw money away.

Fact: Part of Trump's appeal is that voters have a perception that a large part of the problem is that elections are bought. The people who are contributing to candidates demand payback. If Trump goes Michael Huffington or Linda McMahon in the spending, he is more likely to get the same results.

Fact: The reason money is spent on advertising is to get the candidates' message out. The most important messages is to tell the candidate's story, so people know him and what his positions are, controlled on his terms. Secondarily, ads can be used to portray other candidates in a bad or at least lesser light. Mr. Trump has been presenting himself to the public in a variety of ways for the last 30 years. He can depict his opponents in a 180 character tweet or a two sentence sound bite more effectively than in a 30 second ad. News coverage also gets paid attention to more than paid advertising.

Fact: If Trump ran a content free "I'm great" without the fire and the Trumpian attacks and rhetoric, he might not have lost all of those endorsement contracts and product lines (Macy's , The Apprentice, etc.). He has now permanently lessened his ability to promote a great deal of those products. In other words, win or lose, this campaign has already cost him.

FACT: Trump has ignored EVERY rule already, because many of them don't apply to him. He doesn't have to go to the Panera in Des Moines because he sent a helicopter to the State Fair. While the folks in Waterloo may expect to have breakfast with Santorum and Huckabee, they know that Trump's time is more valuable and change their expectations to match. For the media, Trump's line about Megyn Kelly bleeding out of her wherever was NOT in the heat of the Candidates' Forum, but the next day. It didn't hurt him.

FACT: Trump has already ponied up the 40K for South Carolina. MUCH of his appeal is that he is pretty much locking out the consultancy class. He did have Roger Stone, who is a bad boy, but one with a résumé, and even he did not stay on (I'll leave the question open whether he was fired or quit). Trump prides himself on a tight time line. Walker's opening of offices and hiring 90 paid operatives did NOT serve him well. Why does Trump have to file long before the deadline? He has no donor base to satisfy. He can get as many names as he needs. The consultancy class HATES the fact that he is showing how they are not indispensable, at least not in their present form.

Based on the above, Trump is in it to win it. If he weren't, bad analysis like the writer's would tend to make him double down after all.

[BBB333]

Fuel is about 1/3 of the hourly cost of aircraft ownership.

Two pilots, their yearly ongoing training, hangar and hourly maint. adds up big time on a 757.

If you don’t own an aircraft it’s harder to quantify.

Best!

[FlipWilson]

Quote: “When a primary candidate is packing 20,000 seat venues with a couple of days notice I don’t think ground game will matter”

Hope you are right but if it was me, I would leave nothing to chance.

[zeugma]

I’d like to add that I am not particularly a Trump supporter. I’d much rather have Cruz, but in the end, I figure we could do worse than the Donald.

[Dr. Sivana]

ADDITIONAL FACT: Nothing scares for John Ellis Bush types more than a guy who still has bullets left in his gun. He can open that wallet any ol’ time he wants to, if he had to. He can pull that wallet out, and aim it in any direction, for or against, that he wants. He still has bullets in his gun. How many bullets in John Ellis Bush down to?

[VerySadAmerican]

What if he wins all those states without spending any money?

His supporters can’t be bought with TV ads. They’re too smart.

[riri]

“Spending nary a dime...”

Suddenly NOT needing a billion dollars to run to president is a bad thing.

[jmaroneps37]

Just another entry in the Wile E. Coyote Frustration Award contest.

[alloysteel]

The point is, the expense has NOT been directed toward TV “informational” ads.

Yes, The Donald does have campaign expenses getting around to all the meetings and speeches, but so do all the other candidates, and some are on a much more strict budget than The Donald.

[odawg]

It is not safe to compare two candidates. Howard Dean was a bit off-putting, to say the least.

[VerySadAmerican]

I wouldn’t doubt the feds went to him and told him they can’t protect him from El Chapo. He’s got a million dollar bounty out on Trump. I wish Trump would announce that he has a two million dollar bounty on El Chapo.

[SoFloFreeper]

LOL....oh man, they are HURTING, aren’t they?

Earlier today, I saw that thread where they attacked Trump’s supporters on facebook over their GRAMMAR.

Now, this....Trump is leading and hasn’t, in their opinion, spent enough.

On the other hand, if he DID spend money, these same fake journalists would say, “He is buying his way to the nomination! O the horror!”

Hypocrites. And the great thing is, America may just have had ENOUGH.

[RKBA Democrat]

This is good news. The confederacy of fools can’t think one inch outside the box.

[Tucker39]

I read just today, here on FR that his ads are almost ready. And also here, that his wife and daughter will be hitting the campaign trail soon.

With the experience Trump has in HONCHOing TV shows, not merely appearing ON them, he’s so far ahead of these bellyachers, it’s laughable.

[Bryanw92]

A good businessman would spend enough money to win those states. Just enough. No more.

If Hillary was running the numbers to barely win a state, they’d be calling her smart and strategic. But if Trump isn’t spending money to get 90% of the vote, then he’s looking for a way out.

[ctdonath2]

You nailed it. People whine about big money buying elections, so here’s a guy who takes a commanding lead with just two day’s pay - and they’re freaking out.

Reversing the claim Trump should drop out for want of real vote support, he’s doing so well because he’s entirely held up by voter support - certainly not by big money.

[dragnet2]

Trump political hit piece #415.

[Mariner]

The writer insist Trump win his way.

But, he has conceded the win.

[lovesdogs]

I wonder if they will leave Mr Trump in the entertainment blog after he wins the nomination?

[kingu]

Absolutely, he should be blowing every buck now, along with every other Republican, so that there's no money left in the campaigns when, you know, the real campaign starts...

He should be deploying a huge ground game in states, again, so that he blows through his money before it can do much that is productive.

Or, gosh, he could do what he's doing now, spending his money smartly, using the best asset he has in the campaign - himself, issuing great position papers which I've not really heard any other campaign offering, and leading from, well, the front.

But hey, let's let Club for Growth spend another million dollars on anti-Trump ads that result in no change of the GOPe vs outsiders in the campaign!