Posted on 02/26/2016 1:10:17 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Over the course of the last 48 hours, the Rubio campaign pulled one of the great head-fakes in recent political history by telegraphing that they weren't at all interested in attacking Donald Trump at tonight's debate.
Technically, this wasn't a ruse because Rubio didn't just attack Trump. He went after him with a chainsaw. And Ted Cruz brought a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.
If the normal laws of politics applied to the 2016 race, it would have been a catastrophic night for Trump. By any reasonable measure, Trump had a meltdown. He was exposed as a policy lightweight on a host of issues: A health care repeal plan which consists entirely of "removing the lines." He defended Planned Parenthood (again!) by claiming that abortions are only a small part of what the organization does. Most amazingly, he claimed that his sister, who is a judge, "signed a bill" with Judge Sam Alito. Two judges ... "signed a bill." It's enough to make you wonder: If a single exchange between Rubio and Chris Christie two weeks ago cost him several spots in New Hampshire, how could this two-hour demolition not cost Trump a great deal?
But will it hurt him? Probably not by itself. But if tonight's debate is the beginning of a sustained counterattack against Trump-by Cruz and Rubio themselves on the stump, by their campaigns on the air, and by reluctant donors who now see that there's a blueprint for dismantling the orange menace-then it could mark the beginning of the end for Trump.
What's the blueprint? Stylistically, Rubio showed that you don't need to out-argue Trump. You can mock him. And over the course of the debate, Rubio and Cruz put into play a number of issues that are real problems for Trump:
* His fishy tax returns, which he falsely insists he can't release because he's being audited.
* His total lack of a plan for replacing Obamacare.
* His lies about supporting/opposing both Iraq and Libya (which he repeated during the debate).
* The continuing charges of fraud (and lawsuit) concerning Trump university.
* Trump's use of illegal immigrant labor to build Trump Tower.
Why are these problems? Because the average voters doesn't know about most of them. Because they go to the heart of Trump's appeal. And because some of them-such as the tax returns and Trump University-are ongoing stories in which there are plenty of details still to be reported. The Cruz and Rubio campaigns ought to push these issues relentlessly at campaign stops, through surrogates, and in ads because their attacks will, in turn, force the media to finally confront (rather than enable) Trump.
Trump's rise has been powered by his dominance of earned media-and not just his perpetual access to it, but the obsequious toadying of TV hosts who don't want to lose their ratings chum. But a sustained campaign which focuses on these specific and detailed charges about Trump will force the media to start actually asking questions and pushing back against Trump when he dissembles or evades. In short, a real campaign against Trump will force the media to start treating him like a real candidate. And once that starts happening, Trump will be much less eager to submit himself to real questioning.
The final step to beating Trump is that his rivals have to tie their attacks to a central idea of what Trump really is. As effective as Rubio was in torching Trump at the debate, Cruz did a better job of this tonight. Cruz used all of Trump's problems to support the argument that Trump is a liar and a negotiator who is going to sell out his supporters the first chance he gets. (And believe it or not, that's the most charitable interpretation. Throw in his squeezing grandmothers to build casino parking lots, his penchant for bedding married women, and his four bankruptcies and you can grope your way to much worse characterizations.)
Yet Trump cannot be destroyed in a day. No matter how disastrous tonight's debate was, defeating him will require time, resources, discipline, and initiative. Cruz and Rubio have, finally, shown how it can be done.
But if this debate isn't followed by a pro-longed counter-offensive, then it will serve as nothing except a preview of what the Democrats will do to Trump in July.
It seems to have gotten worse lately: I blame Bill Gates, just out of habit.
Meanwhile, the bleary eyed moron Erick Erickson is on radio right now, advocating for Hillary or Bernie to beat Trump. A real conservative, there.
Proves what we’ve known for some time. Erick the Red is part of the GOPee who are currently plotting to have a brokered convention to look out Trump.
Priniple? Trump does not have a principle bone in his body
jeopardy music 3 2 1.....
Well, since they’re solitary animals, if a bunch were gathered together, I’d call it a conspiracy.
;D
That is what I always thought until it actually came up on Jeopardy. Honestly, I’ve never seen more than one at a time. These days it’s even rare to see a solitary salamander. I have checked with the judges and they have agreed to accept “conspiracy”. So we’ll add $200. to your IQ.
Hilarious. The 24 hours of ham-handed planted pre-debate stories about Rubio going after Cruz and staying away from Trump impacted one tiny group: the GOPe, who've been nearly orgasmic at their own supposed cleverness.
Dwindling Cruz supporters, who find little cheer in the political landscape, are desperate for any spark to flame the embers of hope, including a two-day alliance with the dread Washington Cartel. Enjoy until Tuesday, snuff day.
Officially, it’s a “congress” of salamanders, according to the interwebs,
Yuck!
/going out to look for a murder of crows
;D
I did not have knowledge about the Polish workers. What I just heard Trump say, in reference to it, was this situation happened sometime around 1979. He said that “Back then, the laws were different.”
I will treat you with what I know.
The case stems from a demolition project being done by a contractor that Trump hired to make way for the Trump Tower in Manhattan. In 1983, union members sued a union boss, Trump and his contractor for cheating the union out of pension and welfare funds by hiring the 200 workers of the “Polish Brigade.” Trump owed the union pension fund $1 million, the plaintiffs said. It took seven years for this case to reach the courts. Appearing in court in 1990, Trump blamed the violations on the contractor and denied knowing that the Polish workers were undocumented. According to Trump, it was never established that they were undocumented. This was really a case brought by unions workers; not for immigration laws forbidding illegal workers. When union workers want their money, you say, ‘Yessir’ and ‘how much.’
Manhattan Judge Charles Stewart ruled against Trump a year later, saying that his representative “knew that the Polish workers were doing demolition work” and that his company participated in a “conspiracy” to cheat the union. Remember, it was the union boss, the contractor and Trump who were ruled in the conspiracy. I would love to examine the part the union boss (who was his name) and the contractor (what was the company and why the money problems) had in all of this. But time is not my friend and the web repeats the same story omitting the details.
Trump owed the union workers a little more than $325,000 plus interest and attorney’s fees and costs, Stewart ruled. I wonder if the union got the money or, did the workers actually get checks in the mail? That union boss still bothers me.
Trump decided to appeal the ruling and the case dragged on for another decade. If Trump had lost the appeal he would have been forced to pay $4 million. However, that did not happen with a out of court settlement. We don’t know what that settlement was because the agreement was placed under seal. How does anyone know the $1 million settlement if the case was sealed? Loose lips?
Rubio and Cruz were a brilliant tag-team, making Trump look like the fake, fraudulent, phony, arrogant, ignorant, airheaded, empty suit that he is.
Anchor babies are automatic citizens. That’s why they’re called anchor babies.
How do you know? Did you talk to him personally?
Speaking for myself, no. There is no comparison between Rubio and Trump. Rubio is a known backstabber. With Trump, it's at least a gamble.
That's the problem with Trump though, he's a gamble. An unknown quantity. There have been many criticisms of Cruz around here (surprising to say the least) but most of it is without merit. He is a known conservative, despite what many "experts" on FR say. How this site has gone from pro-Cruz to virtually pro-Trump in less than a year astounds me.
We castigated (and then banned) similar arguments used to support Trump that were used to support Giuliani back in 2008. ("Electability", "He's conservative now despite what he said or did before", "He's really pro-life, really"). How the same from Trump gets a pass is beyond me. Ponderous man ponderous.
But it's better to go with someone who's said he's changed, and take a gamble on that, than go with a known turncoat.
I won't be stumping for Trump though. Just quietly holding my nose and voting.
I trust that if Cruz allies with Rubio, he will have made a deal to keep Rubio pushed to the right.
It’s no less unlikely than Trumpsters thinking that Trump is going to somehow push himself to the right and stop himself from slipping back to the left.
I know, “congress” of salamanders. I didn’t want to be the one to have to tell you. But you could take the optional word for a group of salamanders, which is “herd”. I think you are right though,..........it’s a “conspiracy”.
Rubio and Cruz shook hands during a commercial break.
They also met up and talked backstage.
See Gateway Pundit.
There’s video of the handshake at least.
Rubio is a charlatan
To watch him and Fox News go full assault on Trump tells you all you need to know
Cruz is getting shite on his nose by association
Trump is defeating the known political establishment and they are howling
It’s quite something
Cruz would be best served to shut up
Rubio is not appealing to anyone and making lots of enemies
He’s behind in his own state
Pitiful
You should post that on every Trump hater thread
That is what politics as usual brought us
Back at ya FRiend.
I think loose lips is a very good guess, Campaign season makes people do things they would not otherwise do.
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.