Where were Trump's 'Leadership Skills' in Iowa? All I Saw was a Poorly-Managed, Ego-Driven Mess

Reaganite Republican ^ | 04 February 2016 | Reaganite Republican

[Reaganite Republican]

When you're battling for something as important as the US presidency
-and you've got financial resources and a lengthy record of success launching new ventures into the business and entertainment spheres-
most observers would surely expect to see a guy like Donald Trump roll into Iowa with a polished, professional organization based on
sound principles of what's worked in the past... as conservative politics  -and most
sound business decisions- are grounded in.

I know that's what I thought we'd be seeing...

Something more along-the-lines of the impressive campaign that
Ted Cruz has bolted together.

Instead we get an hyper-arrogant Trump -seemingly lacking in self awareness- thinking he can go win it his 21st-century way, twitter, Facebook,
and rah-rah rallies -surrounded by yes-men/pollsters and co-opted media sources that are stroking him all the time- and going with something that's never
been tried before... just waltz in and get crowned. 

What made him even think it would work-- other than a misplaced belief in his own supposed greatness? Some caucus meetings said
no Trumpsters showed-up to speak on behalf of the candidate at their locale... the most basic building block of the entire caucus process, sounds like they really
dropped the ball.

Alas, much like Rumsfeld's 'light' approach brought disaster in pre-surge Iraq 
-a costly strategic error also borne of hubris and wishful thinking-
Trump's hollow campaign organization may have produced some
initial shock-n-awe, but he mostly lacks a 'ground game'
-a concept The Donald incredibly claims to have little awareness of. 

All this showed in Iowa- Team Trump's effort was based on nothing but a bloated self-image telling him he could do it any way he pleased....
including a fussilade of disingenuous personal attacks on Ted Cruz
in the run-up to caucus night.

Self-assured delusion -'everybody loves him'- no respect for principle or the lessons of history, he's got a better way that's never been
tried before, but us less-gifted sorts probably won't understand...
so just trust him on that, 'kay?

And if anybody opposes or threatens Trump's 'revolution', he now incites his brownshirts to bully people like he does -demonizing anyone who dare look at Trump cross-eyed-
how exactly is this whole schtick any different than Obama, Hillary, and the residual Alinskyite left?

But the problem for Trump is shallow support from actual conservatives...
he'll likely soon be hemorrhaging Evangelical and constitutionalist supporters now that his ceaseless boasts of inevitability have been exposed as so much flapdoodle.

Since The Donald is neither conservative nor saintly, many of Christians/conservatives were on-board purely based on inevitability/momentum... but that's over now, and no amount of
bought-and-paid-for endorsements are going to help.

Trump didn't do himself any favors with that twitter meltdown/tantrum yesterday, either- if you've long wondered where his poll ceiling was,
it looks like we've found it. Listen carefully and you might hear thousands
quietly deleting #Trump2016 from their twitter profile...

[dynoman]

Very interesting over 3M vs 225K and the best ground game nets Cruz one more delegate than Trump.

What most likely got the extra delegate was the gutter politics Cruz played;

WOW! Karl Rove Explains How Cruz Camp’s Cheating Stole Iowa from Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocgEmgXXwF8

[tstarr]

What I also don’t get about this whole meme is that Rubio is the one who really overperformed relative to expectations. And his people tweeted out the same thing about Carson dropping out. So it would seem logical to put this on Rubio. The assumption being made is that 1/4 of Carson’s projected caucus votes left him and went to Cruz because of this. I call BS on it again.

Some people are arguing 4 people in each of the 1500 precincts switched. That’s the wrong way to look at it. To expect that 6,000+ voters left him, leaving 17,000 votes requires either EXTREMELY soft support for Carson or massive stupidity on the part of his caucus leads. And it also requires you to believe they went to Cruz and not Rubio. But let’s not let facts get in the way of a good outrage!

[DungeonMaster]

What I also don’t get about this whole meme is that Rubio is the one who really overperformed relative to expectations. And his people tweeted out the same thing about Carson dropping out. So it would seem logical to put this on Rubio. The assumption being made is that 1/4 of Carson’s projected caucus votes left him and went to Cruz because of this. I call BS on it again.

That's a very good point and the fact that the entire media spin is against Cruz is very telling. The bubble boy is safe and sound in his bubble.

Some people are arguing 4 people in each of the 1500 precincts switched. That’s the wrong way to look at it. To expect that 6,000+ voters left him, leaving 17,000 votes requires either EXTREMELY soft support for Carson or massive stupidity on the part of his caucus leads. And it also requires you to believe they went to Cruz and not Rubio. But let’s not let facts get in the way of a good outrage!

That 4 per is pulled out of someone's ars. Our caucus was total chaos. When the speeches were over precinct captains read scripts but could not be heard over all of the noise. Finally he held up his little green paper ballot which signaled it was FINALLY time to turn in our votes. Then we got out of there having burned 3 hours of our lives. There was NO I repeat NO communication about anything. The female precinct captain of the precinct sitting next to us was more audible than ours and she just apologized for the chaos.

[Nifster]

meh

He got out way more voters than all previous Iowa events. Both for and again

Can’t have it both ways. Either Cruz out hustled a trump machine or trump failed because he had no ground game

Either way trump is one delegate behind cruz

[dynoman]

This deleted tweet by Dan Gabriel needs to be fit in somewhere too.

Here's who Dan Gabriel is;

Google search -> Deleted tweet dan gabriel Ted Cruz

[newgeezer]

Where are the Iowans who are being interviewed by the ravenous liberal media wolves saying how they had their votes stolen. They are strangely missing.

Good point!

Some have told me Cruz's apology was hollow and weak, and he should have fired those responsible.

Should he do that for the optics, no matter what? Or, is it possible that he heard all the facts and rightly judged it was a forgivable offense (and let the outsiders have their pound of flesh)?

[DungeonMaster]

Should he do that for the optics, no matter what? Or, is it possible that he heard all the facts and rightly judged it was a forgivable offense (and let the outsiders have their pound of flesh)?

Another Freeper pointed out that there is word that bubble boy(Rubio) started the rumor but remains in his bubble unscathed by accusation from the same left media. The ones who can't produce a single disgruntled Iowan who changed his vote.

[DungeonMaster]

It makes me want to say “Don’t be so gullible McFly!”.

[Colofornian]

Pretty selective "outrage" on your part, eh, Dynoman.

You post the tweet @ post #56...but you haven't on this thread -- or any other you've posted on today or yesterday -- about this tweet re: the Rubio campaign. Why not? (If this is such a "moral indignation" issue to you?)

From Uh Oh, Was Marco Rubio Guilty In The Ben Carson Dropout Rumor?

Excerpt from this link: What has not been said much throughout the day is that Florida Senator Marco Rubio‘s campaign worked actively to spread the message that Carson was leaving the presidential race. These actions were reported on Twitter by Conrad Close who, according to his Twitter profile, is the managing editor of Outset Magazine.

[You can go to the link to see a snapshot of Close's actual tweet...it reads:

"Rubio campaign pushing the narrative hard that Carson is dropping out. Obviously looking to pick up votes."]

Per the link above: "Another interesting little tidbit about Close, that he shouts from the rooftops with his Twitter profile picture, is that he is Team Rubio with the statement below his picture, 'I’m voting for Marco Rubio.'

[So, it's not like Close was "anti-Rubio" & was attempting to sabotage him]

I call you & other FR posters out on this.

If you've ONLY targeted Cruz, who the Carson team went after ONLY a SINGLE Cruz staffer on this rumor...yet have ignored 100% Rubio, who Rush confirmed yesterday MULTIPLE staffers were involved in rumor-mongering...then it all comes across as crass exploitive targeted of THE front-runner...NOT as some moral issue sticking in your craw.

'Fess up.

[Reaganite Republican]

The thing is Trump traded on his invincibility, and how everybody else was a loser.

That was kind of his whole gig... popped by Cruz in an evening

Why else did he slip 9 points in the PPP poll

[Vendome]

That he came in 2nd demonstrated considerable leadership skills.

I’m still a Cruz guy though.

[minnesota_bound]

#6 I have known people like this.
Unfortunate that we do not have the best people running for president but only those that have time and money.

[dfwgator]

One of Trump’s claims is that he doesn’t have to know a subject. He’ll hire the best.

Well heck, then, I might as well run, because I can do the same thing.