Posted on 02/02/2016 10:49:53 AM PST by nathanbedford
Like a downfield receiver who turns to run before securing the ball and muffs the catch, Trump turned his eye to the general election and began to run toward the middle and so he muffed the election in Iowa.
Trump believed the polls, he thought he had Iowa in the bag, he was counting on New Hampshire and almost immediately thereafter South Carolina; he thought he was unstoppable all the way to the nomination. All candidates by necessity project confidence in their ultimate victory but Trump went beyond that, in describing his upcoming tenure in the Oval Office he assumed he had already won the election. His narcissism kicked into high gear.
Like all narcissists he abandoned his friends and betrayed his supporters immediately it was more profitable to seduce a new group of potential friends, supporters and voters.
So Trump began to run toward the middle. He told us what great people Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi were. He had praise for Mitch McConnell. He told us how he could "make deals" with all of them. He flirted with single-payer healthcare. He became less definite on immigration. Trump attacked Cruz from the left on the issue of biofuels in Iowa thus betraying an unseemly eagerness to pander. Trump demonstrated that as president his dalliances with big government crony capitalism would not stop, he would simply be playing the same game from the other side of the table.
The candidate who had achieved front runner status by pretending to champion the cause of disenfranchised conservatives against the GOPe/unitary party abandoned those who had supported him as the new Messiah to pander after a new pool of voters in the broader, richer, land of crony capitalism and government largess.
In short, Donald Trump unwittingly betrayed the kind of president he would be if elected, he would not be loyal to any conservative principles, he would not be loyal to the Republican Party, he would not be faithful to any cause except the advancement of Donald Trump. He did it because his ego told him he could get away with it because he believed he had already won the nomination and because it advanced, he thought, the fortunes of Donald Trump.
translation: Iowans are supreme narcissists who believe they are at the center of the universe.
Any wonder they launched Barack Hussein O. into the White Hut??
You touched on the core issue of what happened in Iowa.
The establishment is going to now push Rubio ferociously.
On Fox business this morning they talked about the outcome of Iowa for nearly 5 minutes and there was not one mention of Trump. It was all about Rubio's unusually strong showing against Cruz.
Unspeakable, unimaginable hubris. Not a good quality in the leader of a democracy.
Must be voter fraud....and the MSM...
I think the mask came off Trump.
Perhaps he just decided that winning Iowa was not worth the required extra effort. As it is, Cruz got 8 delegates, Trump got 7.
He has let the truth slip out a little bit hear and there during the campaign. But in the last few weeks, he was overconfident, so he revealed his true colors a little bit more.
No, it’s already established that its ok for Cruz to get drummed in NH, because it isn’t “his kind of state”.
At least Trump took the fight into Cruz’s turf and came away almost even.
Huckabee and Santorum won Iowa for what good it did them.
>> I don’t see yesterday as doing much for anyone except Rubio which concerns me <<
Really? Cruz beat Rubio by just about as much as expected. Rubio almost beat Trump, but only because Trump did so badly. Hard to see how this helps Rubio more than Cruz. Don’t believe the MSM hype.
FWIW, Cruz went into the caucus leading Rubio 14-10. I’m guessing he ends up in 2nd place in NH, well behind Trump, but clearly the alternative. Big donors are, but voters aren’t looking to support “establishment,” but many of them are looking to see who can beat Trump. Cruz did what he had to: he demonstrated that he could.
Iowa was a three way tie. Cruz got 8 delegates, Trump 7 and Rubio got 7.
Cruz didn’t win, and Trump nor Rubio lost. It was a tie. And I see this as very reflective of the current state of the GOP.
Trump pulled roughly 1/3 of the GOP with mostly anti-establishment voters.
Cruz pulled roughly 1/3 with conservatives
Rubio pulled the establishment voters.
“I hope he has done the same in NH or Trump will eat his lunch.”
Cruz will probably lose NH. And probably SC as well. It’s the Southern States where the real battle is going to be at.
OH, PLUAAAHHHHEEEEEEZZZZZZZZ. CRY ME A RIVER!!!!!!!!
So we’re supposed to ACT STUPID to be FED BULLSH-T by the ‘other’ candidates BEFORE they HAVE TO ‘turn to the middle’..??????
I’m not sure Trump actually wants to be president.
He spent an exorbitant amount of energy * effort to win Iowa.
Like Huckabee and Santorum, before Cruz, all three candidates came out of Iowa with a win but no strong foundation in the upcoming states.
Their formibility dwindled and they were washed away rather quickly.
I don't see that happening with Trump.. especially in the bigger electoral states.
Trump did just fine in Iowa and going into New Hampshire has the edge by comparison.
Never happen. Just look at all the back-biting going on around here, a place you might expect to be full of hope for anybody but Hellary. If I hear another person say "I will never vote for (Trump/Cruz) under any circumstances" I will eat another KitKat bar.
Personally, I'll vote for either of those two if I have to crawl through a mile of broken liberals.
Exactly right. Trump started to betray conservatives before he had even won a single vote.
>> Cruz didn’t win, and Trump nor Rubio lost. It was a tie. And I see this as very reflective of the current state of the GOP. <<
Uh, yeah. That is the lamest spin ever. He didn’t win the war, but he sure as hell won the battle. Cruz won by 8,000 votes. And now leads in the delegate count. And proved he could withstand the worst sh!+storm flung at him in any primary contest ever. And is now THE alternative to a candidate with the highest disapproval ratings ever recorded in the history of presidential polling.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.