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“Utterly stupid”: Gingrich turns on Trump for retweet attacking Heidi Cruz
Hot Air ^ | March 29, 2016 | Allahpundit

Posted on 03/29/2016 2:21:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Plenty of buzz about this last night, especially among anti-Trumpers struck by the coincidence of Trump superfan Newt criticizing him publicly on the same day that an even bigger superfan, Ann Coulter, called Trump “mental” in an interview. (Matt Drudge, yet another superfan, is leading as I write this with the news of Trump’s campaign manager being arrested for battery.) Are Trump’s cheerleaders heading for the lifeboats because they know something we don’t?

Nah. They’re still onboard, they’re just alarmed that the captain won’t steer away from that iceberg that keeps getting closer. Trump’s fans within the commentariat have, I think, convinced themselves that his boorishness is strategic, something he can turn on and off at will to command the media. It’s served him well but now, facing a de facto head to head race with Cruz, he should be sealing the deal by shifting to a more low-key “presidential” approach. Reassure Republican undecideds in the remaining primaries that you’re up to the job. Impress delegates at the convention that you won’t be a loose cannon as nominee. Attract swing voters in the general election by demonstrating that the vulgar, street-fighting Trump of the primaries was a persona adopted for electoral advantage, one that will be discarded to defeat a new opponent in Hillary Clinton. I think it’s dawning on Newt (and Coulter in the other clip) that maybe the boorishness isn’t strategic. Maybe it’s who Trump is. Maybe he can’t resist attacking Heidi Cruz, no matter how obviously stupid that is, because he’s spent his life being rewarded for boorish aggressiveness that supposedly proves his alpha-male dominance. What you’re seeing, in other words, is Gingrich contemplating possibly for the first time that Trump’s campaign really might turn into a dumpster fire in November because he’s too indisciplined and too much of an egomaniac to fiddle with a dangerous approach that’s worked for him in other contexts. Ben Domenech’s got it right:

At exactly the moment Trump ought to be transforming himself into a unifying figure, he is ensuring that is all the more difficult by stooping to baseless personal attacks and driving down his numbers among Republican women and social conservatives. In failing to recognize the importance of delegates and in engaging in these unnecessary personal attacks, Trump decreases his potential to win the nomination on the first ballot. If Trump is actually beaten because of these decisions it shows he’s not ready to lead a party anyway…

Coulter is a lot of things, but she’s no dummy. She understands that by politicizing Heidi Cruz’s depression and her appearance, Trump is hurting his ability to ever receive the support of a growing portion of Republican women, particularly social conservatives and evangelicals.

Until very recently, Cruz said repeatedly that he’d honor his pledge this fall to support the GOP nominee. Lately he’s stopped because, uh, how could he not when Trump’s taking shots at his wife? That’s a microcosm of how a presumptive nominee is throwing away support he desperately needs to win in November. Why can’t Trump lay off when even his own fans are telling him he’s making a mistake? David Brooks has a theory:

Trump’s misogyny, on the other hand, has a commercial flavor. The central arena of life is male competition. Women are objects men use to win points in that competition. The purpose of a woman’s body is to reflect status on a man. One way to emasculate a rival man is to insult or conquer his woman…

It’s not quite right to say that Trump is a throwback to midcentury sexism. At least in those days negative behavior toward women and family members was restrained by the chivalry code. Political candidates didn’t go attacking their rivals’ wives based on their looks. Trump’s objectification is uncontrolled. It’s pure ego competition with a pornogrified flavor.

In this way, Trump represents the spread of something brutal. He takes economic anxiety and turns it into sexual hostility. He effectively tells men: You may be struggling, but at least you’re better than women, Mexicans and Muslims.

And he’ll take that credo into battle against the would-be first woman president. The question unasked of Newt and Coulter is why they didn’t expect Trump to eventually take a cheap shot at Cruz’s wife given the sort of attitude Brooks describes, which Trump has harbored for decades. Why is there a note of frustration in backing (or all but backing, in Newt’s case) a guy who’s had this priced into his stock all along? It’s like watching a Cruz fan get exasperated that he keeps talking about faith and religious liberty. That’s who he is; if you don’t like it, you’re backing the wrong candidate. And it’s a lead-pipe cinch that this is who Trump will continue to be: If he’s the nominee, the odds that he won’t eventually attack Hillary Clinton in some sexist manner during the general election campaign are basically zero. Obama famously said in one of his books that the Hopenchange phenomenon was due in part to his fans projecting their own personal ideals onto him, as a blank slate. But there’s a weird, surprising element of that too with Trump, who should be the opposite of a blank slate after 40 years in the public eye. He is who he is, which is who he’s always been, yet here are Newt and Ann discovering nine months into his campaign that the nasty attacks on Twitter aren’t just some media kabuki he’s performing to dominate the morning chat shows and impress his savvier acolytes within the political class. It just may be that he really is temperamentally unfit for office.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)


TOPICS: Campaign News; Issues; Parties
KEYWORDS: antireagan; cruz; cultistsfortrump; dirtyandinarticulate; gingrich; heidi; heidicruz; newt; newtcomment; newtgingrich; newttrump; tedcruz; trump; trumpbaggage; trumpisastrumpdoes; trumpismkills; trumpistrump; women
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To: CommerceComet
I find it ironic that so many of Trump's supporters are thrilled when Trump is brutally honest about others but so upset when others are brutally honest about Trump.

I think the correct word is not ironic, but hypocrisy...

61 posted on 03/29/2016 4:03:40 PM PDT by Popman (Christ Alone: My Cornerstone...)
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To: JoSixChip
Trump is the only candidate with a conservative platform

But does Trump know that...?

He can't seem to articulate any conservative ideas except generalizations...

62 posted on 03/29/2016 4:09:50 PM PDT by Popman (Christ Alone: My Cornerstone...)
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To: publius911

Here is a [dated] link:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/despite-endorsing-trump-sarah-palins-pac-fundraises-off-ted-cruz/article/2001742/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=t.co&utm_campaign=20160329_TWS-blog-palin-pac-fundraise-cruz-2_twitter&utm_content=TWS


63 posted on 03/29/2016 4:12:26 PM PDT by mlizzy (America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe/Wade has deformed a great nation. -MT)
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To: Logical me
I'm done with Gingrich. Jackass. Thought he was intelligent but to ditch Trump over this small shi! shows me what a man he is.

Maybe I missed it, but where in the article did Newt ditch Trump...?

Sounds like to me, he is giving Trump some badly needed advice on how not to do stupid things when running for POTUS...

64 posted on 03/29/2016 4:24:42 PM PDT by Popman (Christ Alone: My Cornerstone...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Oh Cmon now. GQ magazine verified that Jeff Poe of Cruz’s campaign bought and paid for Melania’s photo. That’s a firm verification. Suddenly Cruz’s superpac comes out with a negative ad featuring that photo.

But you are right somebody should contact the FEC with a complaint. Oh wait the FEC is busy investigating Ted and Heidi’s campaign loans with Goldman Sachs and Citibank but Ted won’t comply with requests for info.

Now the Bimbo eruption. I think Karma will take care of Ted.


65 posted on 03/29/2016 4:43:33 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

GQ is a homosexual magazine. You knew that, right?


66 posted on 03/29/2016 4:48:49 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Says Gingrich the loser.


67 posted on 03/29/2016 4:52:01 PM PDT by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

No it isn’t. Don’t be ridiculous. GQ has been a mainstream mag for over 40 years.


68 posted on 03/29/2016 4:56:16 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

BTW what are you going to do when it comes out that Teddy has been boffing half the women on Captiol Hill. Will you be outraged?


69 posted on 03/29/2016 4:58:02 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

That was then, this is now. It’s been gay-centric since the 1980’s.


70 posted on 03/29/2016 4:58:20 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Since he hasn’t, I have no worries in that regard.


71 posted on 03/29/2016 4:59:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: Popman
He can't seem to articulate any conservative ideas except generalizations...

Really genius? You may not have noticed, but Trump is winning big with real conservatives.
72 posted on 03/29/2016 5:04:46 PM PDT by JoSixChip (Ted Cruz (R-Goldman Sachs) - If he's willing to lie about it, he's willing to be blackmailed over it)
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To: beandog
Nobody could possible be as ridiculous as you are.

This is what I'm up against. I write a well reasoned piece and you morons can't come-up with anything but baby talk.
73 posted on 03/29/2016 5:08:18 PM PDT by JoSixChip (Ted Cruz (R-Goldman Sachs) - If he's willing to lie about it, he's willing to be blackmailed over it)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

No it isn’t a gay magazine. Nobody but you thinks it is. You are just well, wrong. :-)


74 posted on 03/29/2016 5:08:28 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Enjoy it while it lasts. LOL!


75 posted on 03/29/2016 5:09:57 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: JoSixChip

——Really genius? You may not have noticed, but Trump is winning big with real conservatives.-—

Thank you for recognizing my genius...
I guess only a genius can understand conservatives can support Trumps message without Trump having knowledge of conservative principles..

I hope you are not suggesting you must be a Trump supporter to be a real conservative...


76 posted on 03/29/2016 5:19:59 PM PDT by Popman (Christ Alone: My Cornerstone...)
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To: fatez
And since you are a man of principle, then you cannot vote for Trump since he cheated on his wife and kids also, right???

Maybe I missed it, where did Trump publicly lie, or force his wife and family to lie for him? And I have yet to see the source for your accusation, but I suspect it is more then 40 years old. You're just trying to cheapen everyone else so you don't feel so scummy about yourself, I want no part of it.
77 posted on 03/29/2016 5:24:04 PM PDT by JoSixChip (Ted Cruz (R-Goldman Sachs) - If he's willing to lie about it, he's willing to be blackmailed over it)
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To: Popman
I hope you are not suggesting you must be a Trump supporter to be a real conservative...

Not by any means. But I am saying if you support a guy who pushed TPA through Congress and voted to give obumber any Iran deal he wants, or sides with blm over the first amendment, or is funded by the likes of CFG CoC and gopE; not to mention a guy who cheats on his wife and kids and then forces them to lie for him, then you are no conservative in my book. That's what I'm suggesting.
78 posted on 03/29/2016 5:28:21 PM PDT by JoSixChip (Ted Cruz (R-Goldman Sachs) - If he's willing to lie about it, he's willing to be blackmailed over it)
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To: fatez
Do you know for a fact Cruz cheated???

Did you watch the video of cruz and carly being interviewed last night?
79 posted on 03/29/2016 5:29:34 PM PDT by JoSixChip (Ted Cruz (R-Goldman Sachs) - If he's willing to lie about it, he's willing to be blackmailed over it)
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To: HamiltonJay
I don’t think this is a turn on Trump... its a pretty honest analysis. Trump’s response over the attack on his wife was silly, and probably poorly advised. It is amazing that if someone offers their honest assessment of something, but it doesn’t go along with a perceived narrative that must mean they are now for or against something.

BUMP to your post.

Spot on.

80 posted on 03/29/2016 5:30:09 PM PDT by Lakeshark (One time Cruz supporter who now prefers Trump. Yes, there are good reasons.)
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