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...

[Reaganite Republican]

***PING***

[Byron_the_Aussie]

LOL, an hysteric calling herself 'Reaganite Republican.'

Double your HRT dosage rates, Lena.

[Guenevere]

You mean the Ted Cruz who ....apparently.....will stoop to anything to get votes....
...like....flash send across Iowa to all 1500 caucus sites .....that Ben Carson is dropping out of the race....

...so folks were persuaded to give Cruz their votes

It’s called Dirty Tricks....
....and it would appear Ted is the Tricksiest!

[grania]

Trump's campaign isn't accused of any of the dirty tricks and compared to Cruz that's a strong positive, but they seem to have dropped the ball. From the sounds of things, if they had assigned one or two compelling and locally respected supporters to each caucus, Cruz campaign shenanigans would not have prevailed.

It's local politics. When you go to vote even with a private ballot in a neighborhood environment, there are always locals there to try to impress you to their side. In an open environment like this, with a lot of new caucus goers, I can imagine votes being swayed by strong personalities.

Summary....I give credit to Cruz's campaign for having the caucuses covered. But I'm disgusted that they pulled Tricky Dick stuff to get votes and just about everything else about the turn Cruz's campaign has taken.

[elhombrelibre]

One of Trump’s claims is that he doesn’t have to know a subject. He’ll hire the best. So how well did that workout for him in Iowa? Now, we see he’s a crybaby, too, and not man enough to learn from his mistakes. Besides being ephemeral and mercurial on all subjects, we see he’s got a very ugly side as petty little whimp, afraid of Megyn Kelly and blaming everyone for his loss but himself.

[elhombrelibre]

Trump never trashed Carson, though, right? He never called him a psycho. Please. This is all Trump failing to accept his failure to lead.

[Reaganite Republican]

Excuse me?

[Reaganite Republican]

That’s what Trump told you, sure

Alas, Judge Napolitano says the charges are RIDICULOUS...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDhua7zVOwg&feature=youtu.be

[Byron_the_Aussie]

.. so how well did that workout for him in Iowa? ..

Very well, Ellie. If he was getting arrogant it provided a good reality check. You and the Lib Troll Team better start working on your apologies for New Hampshire night.

[Guenevere]

No.....this is all about Dirty Tricks......and Ted needs to own them

[Reaganite Republican]

I respected Trump about 10x more last month... his personal flaws are pretty glaring now

[Reaganite Republican]

Trump acted out the Carson teenage stabbing on stage... remember

[Byron_the_Aussie]

.. Excuse me? ..

You're excused.

Now get back to Salon. And stay there.

[Reaganite Republican]

I wrote it, sport

And you can spin all you want but Trump massively underperformed, and everybody and his dog knows it

[jjotto]

Trump hired savvy Iowan Chuck Laudner even before Trump announced his campaign. Laudner got a staff and a grass roots organization going, and then Trump changed to a rallies-and-media campaign, ignoring Laudner.

Trump’s problem is his personality and strategy, not his message. Those problems may not matter so much in other places.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..To: elhombrelibre I respected Trump about 10x more last month ..

Uh oh.

The circle jerk has started.

[Stingray51]

This Trump-bashing is all meaningless if he wins decisively in New Hampshire next Tuesday. The ‘Trump has failed’ meme is entirely contrived as he was never expected to win in Iowa. His opponents and the media started hyping the idea that he could win Iowa a few days before the caucuses in order to make him “losing” into a big story.

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

Trump is already running a national campaign. He's been doing it for months. He's filling stadiums in multiple states.

Every election cycle we hear about nothing but freaking Iowa for 6 months. After their silly caucus is over, a few guys drop out and it's forgotten in a week.

Trump didn't spend much time or money in Iowa because he didn't have to.

He is absolutely dominating polls in every state, why waste time in tiny Iowa.