Trump Has No One But Himself to Blame for a Weak Ground Game

The National Review ^ | April 11, 2016 | Jim Geraghty

[2ndDivisionVet]

On March 1, the Colorado Republican party prepared for 60,000 voters to arrive at nearly 3,000 precinct-caucus sites across the state. Those voters would select men and women to attend the party’s county assemblies and congressional district conventions, in the first step of a multi-part process that determined 34 of Colorado’s 37 delegates to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

To hear Donald Trump and his fans tell it, those tens of thousands of Republicans never arrived, never made their choices, and never had the chance to play a role in selecting the party’s delegates. Matt Drudge, the populist Right’s news-aggregating provocateur, contends that Colorado Republicans were given less opportunity to vote than Iraqis. Perhaps, he muses, “George Bush has to invade Colorado to make it a democracy.”

And yet, in high-school cafeterias, churches, and other community centers, registered Republicans in the Centennial State got together and cast votes that March evening. Those they chose went on to county assemblies and district conventions. At the seven congressional district conventions, held the first week in April, the attending delegates selected three national delegates and three alternates who will head to Cleveland. At the county assemblies, held throughout March, attendees selected more than 600 people to compete for the 13 at-large delegate slots filled at the state convention this past weekend. Trump’s tantrum on Twitter obscured the fact that eight of the elected alternates said they would support him if given an opportunity to vote in Cleveland....

[Slyfox]

Read the article? You know some people have a hard time with the truth.

[nathanbedford]

Trump and his fans keep insisting he’s among the smartest, shrewdest, most competent men to ever seek the White House, yet his campaign keeps getting blindsided by rules that have been posted in plain sight for almost a year.

A point I have been making for some time. Donald Trump cannot manage a campaign, cannot find advisors and operatives who can, and whinges when his ego makes him look like a fool as he loses, yet he is the man touted who can run the biggest enterprise in the world, the American bureaucracy including the Defense Department, including the Veterans Administration, including millions of federal workers.

Even Donald Trump's ego is not big enough without actual talent. We cannot afford a national bankruptcy when that talent fails the ego.

[RC one]

#nevercruz. Never never never never.

[Conservative Gato]

Read the article? You know some people have a hard time with the truth.

LOL, the truth??? LOL

It's nothing more than stupid propaganda to explain away all the shenanigans that happened in Colorado.

You Cruz supporters can buy it to all you want but there are those of us who see it for what is really is.

CGato

[kik5150]

Trump Vodka went bankrupt but Trump whine still going strong.

[jpsb]

[Veracious Poet]

#nevercruz

#nevergope

#neveragain

[Catsrus]

Cruz does his fair share of whining - he whined about the art5icles on Drudge - he whined about the article in the NE - you people are delusional - Cruz will NEVER get the nomination - he can try to steal all he wants - it won’t do him any good.

[Slyfox]

Then how do you explain Trump’s weak ground game? Surely he must be weak in some respect if Cruz can come in and snatch unsuspecting delegates away from him. No, it is easier to cry foul than it is to put together a strong ground game. Which is exactly what is happening.

[nathanbedford]

Why didn't you tell is this earlier and save us all the time and trouble of the nomination process?

[Conservative Gato]

Then how do you explain Trump’s weak ground game? Surely he must be weak in some respect if Cruz can come in and snatch unsuspecting delegates away from him. No, it is easier to cry foul than it is to put together a strong ground game. Which is exactly what is happening.

Oh please, that is what they want to understand. That's why it's called propaganda. There are plenty of stories coming out of Colorado to understand, none of it was good or principled or conservative.

Congrats, you and these other Cruz supporters, on buying it, hook, line, and sinker.

CGato

[Byron_the_Aussie]

[Veracious Poet]

?!?

[unsycophant]

hah! If I had the skills I’d use an image from the old movie “Used Cars” -— and stick Cruz’s head on Kurt Russell’s body in the plaid suit.

Every time I hear TC, I think of a used car salesman, and I think of that zany movie.

[McGruff]

National Review is turning into Tedstate.com.

[chit*chat]

Remember Trump is a very successful business man, not a slimy, lying politician. This is his first time in the process and he is doing very well.He only THOUGHT he knew how corrupt these people are. Even the voter’s are astounded at how brazen and underhanded the pack wolves have been. This tells the astute person that they fear the transparency he would bring to years of corrupt pay to play corrupt politics. Cruz is so desperate his actions and the trend they imply for his ethics in office is more than a little disturbing. Blaming Trump as he goes through a learning curve in one of the dirtiest professions that now openly laughs at the success of their steal the deal is very callous and reflects the increasing success of influencing voters using negative ads that imply and dance around facts. After all it makes the listener feel superior and saves them the work of checking out the facts. How often did Ben Carson implore voters to just read his website for information? Short term thinkers who are functioning idiots trained through education that encourages group think and fear of being out of norm. Easily swayed, easily influence, easily herded and easily moved into fearing the real change of problem solving. And losing their REPUBLIC and freedom as they cheer dirty tactics, make excuses like how stupid this successful businessman is as he works through this new to him process, and throwing it away in overflowing bucketfuls.

[chit*chat]

Most people miss opportunity because it looks like work and is dressed in overalls. Thomas Edison. My favorite quote.

[21twelve]

That is a great quote. Funny though. It made me think of the emails that I got from the Ted Cruz volunteers reminding me to go to my caucus (Washington State) and support him. Another Washington freeper got a phone call to remind him to go, and he cancelled his other plans and caucused for Cruz.

Both the volunteers and the voters that went to the caucuses had to do a little bit of work. While both of our caucus results were over 90% Cruz, Washington state also has a primary, where the delegates are required to vote for the primary winner at the national convention on the first ballot.

[beejaa]

If we’re talking about “fairness,” Trump has gotten an enormous amount of media coverage for free because he’s good for ratings. In addition, the large number of candidates formerly in the race gave Trump an advantage. For example, in Florida, Trump got 44% of the vote and all 99 delegates because it’s a winner-take-all state. Votes that may have gone to Cruz went to a variety of other candidates. So, no, I do not think that Trump is being treated unfairly. Cruz is simply playing by the rules because he bothered to find out what the rules were ahead of time.

Cruz, by his own admission, is not “warm and fuzzy,” but he’s better organized. While it’s good to have a president with the media skills of Trump, it’s also good to have a well-organized person who thinks strategically like Cruz. This is particularly important in foreign relations, IMHO. I think the Donald relies too much on force of personality. Politics requires more than personality.

[Diogenesis]

Cruz is nothing but a scheming cheat, a Clinton,
\and an Obama and a Soros, all rolled into one (1),
with his poor, entitled “wife1” named Heidi
who MUST be coPresident.

Wrong.

American already has Obama and Hillary.