Posted on 02/02/2016 8:57:16 AM PST by conservativejoy
Donald Trump does everything in a big way. Even losing. Not only did he lose to Ted Cruz in Iowa, but he came very close to a humiliating third place behind Marco Rubio. As recently as yesterday Donald Trump was saying he wanted to win in Iowa, and if he didn't, that it would all have been a big waste of time.
"Unless I win, I would consider this a big, fat, beautiful-and, by the way, a very expensive-waste of time," Trump said this weekend, speaking to supporters during a whirlwind tour of Iowa.
Well, I guess it was a big waste of time, then. But why exactly did Donald declare political bankruptcy in Iowa?
1) The Shamu-Seaworld effect. Trump had big crowds, the largest, at his rallies. What happened to all these people? Big crowds also used to go see Shamu the Killer Whale at SeaWorld. That didn't mean, however, that most people there wanted to see Shamu elected mayor of Orlando. They went there to be entertained. There was a recent estimate that only 8% of attendees at Trump rallies were planning to caucus for him.
2) Lazyness. Donald Trump was too lazy to campaign the traditional way, avoiding bus tours, small towns, and one on one meetings with voters. Instead he flew in on Trump Force One, spoke for an hour, and then flew home to his bed in New York. He felt he didn't have to follow the traditional rules of campaigning because he was Donald Trump. In a state where personal contact with the candidate is expected, Trump was wrong.
Not only was Trump lazy, but his supporters were lazy, perhaps taking a cue from their idol. On websites they would yell in all caps "TRUMP WILL WIN! TRUMP WILL WIN!" but they were so busy jamming down their caps lock key that many of them didn't even bother to vote. It was said that a record turnout would guarantee a Trump victory. There was a record turnout all right, but it was a record turnout for Ted Cruz.
3) A lack of ground game. Trump and his campaign manager, Corey "The Big Lebowski" Lewandowski never identified supporters. They never set up substantial phone banks. They never followed and tracked their followers. When reporters went to the field offices of all the campaigns, they were only excluded from the Trump offices, because there was nothing for them to see. Had Trump deigned to actually run a ground game, he might have won the caucuses. You have to wonder, if he is so lacking in political acumen to understand this, how lacking in political ability is he going be if he wins the White House?
4) Arrogance. Trump, so buoyed by the polls, wore his arrogance on his sleeve. He said Iowans were stupid if they didn't vote for them. He called Megyn Kelly a bimbo indirectly, and tried to be cute about it by saying "I would never call her a bimbo, but..." It wasn't cute at all, it was disgusting. He even said he could shoot people and not lose support. That's the language of a Kim Jong Un, not the President of the United States. And then Trump showed his disdain for the entire process by skipping the last debate. His arrogance was his undoing.
5) Attacking conservatives. Trump turned off a lot of conservatives (including Mark Levin, Rush, the National Review, and others) by attacking Ted Cruz from the left (for not supporting ethanol) and in vicious, personal terms, calling Ted Cruz a "Canadian anchor baby". There is a way to campaign against Ted Cruz but calling him a "maniac" for standing up to Mitch McConnell is not that way. Once it became clear that Trump was attacking Cruz from the left, he lost a lot of conservative support.
So who, then, are actual Trump supporters? They are a much smaller number of people than originally thought. Like Ron Paul supporters from 2012, they dominate chatrooms and online polls, but like vampires can't be seen in the light of day. They are followers of the cult of personality and turn on a dime as Trump commands: if one day Trump says he wants Megyn Kelly out of the debate, they agree; if the next he says he never demanded it, they engage in immediate 1984 groupthink, and say it never happened, just like Trump's liberal political past never happened or never mattered because he was liberal as a crony capitalist "businessman". Unfortunately, his followers, while devoted, are not large enough in numbers to get him elected President.
The fact that Donald Trump doesn't understand any of his missteps or the effect of his slash and burn rhetoric reflects a political autism that makes him unqualified to be president or even the GOP presidential nominee. (Abridged version originally published in American Thinker)
Agree. Debate exit was big error. I loved the rally though.
Ground game.
New Yorker in farm country.
But he got 8 delegates to Cruz’s 7. That’s solid.
Cruz folks enjoy the win. Long haul to come.
I want to beat Hillary with a non amnesty build a wall candidate. Trump or Criz are fine. Rubio is not.
Somehow I don’t think Ed wrote this this morning....
His arrogance and low road attacks turn me off of him. I truly hope he doesn’t get the GOP Nomination.
Now they're "religious fanatics?" You'd be praising them as "evangelicals" had Trump carried their vote.
I see Team Cruz is keeping classy as usual /s
This OUCH
""""but he came very close to a humiliating third place behind Marco Rubio."""....
That right there is the REAL biggie. Cruz beat him handedly and RUBIO nipped his heels.....
I doubt that Don can change the attitude as described in this article going forth, the ego will not let him
"you are going to get so tired of me winning" Well Secretariat stumbled right out of the gate.
LOVE the headline!
The author is just using one of the terms coined by Trump.
One down, forty-nine states to go.
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Don’t forget the voting territories and DC.
And when he wins NH, SC and Super Tuesday, the enemedia will never say that Cruz or Rubio got schlonged.
Ted cruz won Iowa, so did President Huckabee and President Santorum. Ronald Reagan lost Iowa.
Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote. Most will go to Cruz, I hope. https://t.co/lW5Js50EMA— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) February 2, 2016
Watch the “COME BACK KID” . This is going to be hilarious . Go TRUMP!!
Ted’s 8 to Trump’s 7 delegates is not “scholnged”. Especially since had Ted had to play such dirty pool to get his 8.
3) A lack of ground game -— that alone will cost him the General if he is nominated.
LOL! Yeah Trump lost SOOO big, that he only got one less delegate than Cruz. I have a feeling this writer won’t be talking so much a week from tonight after Cruz gets schlonged by Trump and Rubio in NH.
.... His arrogance and low road attacks turn me off of him. I truly hope he doesn’t get the GOP Nomination.
We aren’t alone on that, indeed about 70% of the gop seems to agree with us. Well, that and his policies changing weekly, his liberal background, his tendency to trash conservatives and praise his lefty friends, and on and on.
[Gee—Trump comes in second in an event that has very low, if any, future predictive validity, and it’s over.]
However, RUBIO is being touted as the comeback kid at 3rd place (which he always was) Go figure.
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