Posted on 03/29/2016 1:10:40 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
On Face the Nation on Sunday, I argued that prior to the past week, Donald Trump had made just one tactical mistake: skipping the last debate before Iowa. This past week they made two: failing to grasp the importance of delegate operations and engaging in a misguided and unnecessary attack on Heidi Cruz.
The former is the bigger mistake: the Cruz delegate operation is forcing Trump to get to the delegate majority by working to ensure in states like Louisiana and elsewhere that Trump could lose on a second ballot. In the context of checks and balances, the arcane nomination is yet another way the institutions protect themselves and the people from demagogues and hucksters. Trump’s response has been a typical one: threaten lawsuits over the lost Louisiana delegates. But that won’t amount to much. And actually, should he prevail in decertifying Louisiana’s results, it would lead to fewer delegates for himself, and he’d still have to get to 1,237. Sad!
But the latter mistake speaks to Trump’s personality, and his inability at this stage to become a unifying figure without reversing course – just listen to what happens when Trump gets asked real questions by Charlie Sykes, and the degree to which he falls back on his typical attacks even in the face of demands for evidence not in existence.
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.
And lest you think this is just typical anti-Trump tendency, listen to his supporters: Ann Coulter, a more dedicated Trump defender than any, is getting frustrated with Trump for his late night Twitter shenanigans:
“I’m a little testy with our man right now. Our candidate is mental! Do you realize our candidate is mental?” Coulter said jokingly during a taping of an episode of the “Milo Yiannopoulos Show,” which is scheduled to air in full this weekend. “It’s like constantly having to bail out your 16-year-old son from prison.”
“For Coulter, Trump’s attacks on Cruz’s wife may have crossed a line, and she wished he, “would be a teensy bit less low-brow.” “This is the worst thing that he has done,” she said as her host laughed. “Everything else I could probably defend.”
The hilarious but occasionally terrifying Yiannopoulos, who Kevin Williamson described as having “done more to put homosexual camp in the service of right-wing authoritarianism than any man has since the fellows at Hugo Boss sewed all those nifty SS uniforms”, disagreed, defending the man he calls “Daddy”.
“The trashier he gets, the more I love him!” the host said. “I think it’s so outrageously funny. People are so sick of earnest pearl-clutching from the establishment. A presidential candidate — and not just a presidential candidate, but somebody who’s probably going to get the nomination is saying ‘you’re wife’s ugly and my wife’s hot’ — I think that’s amazing. It may not scream ‘presidential material…’ But some people are going to think ‘what a boss!’”
“Coulter responded, saying, “You know, I love him so much on immigration I’m not even going to argue with you. I say low-brow, you say amazing … Let’s just talk about what he’s good on. He’s the only one who’s going to build a wall, but please stop testing our patience on the rest of this stuff.”
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. D.C. McAllister:
One thing I’ve learned through my own struggles with depression is those who don’t suffer from it can’t possibly understand what you’re going through. They think you’re just sad, but it’s so much deeper than that. Only you know the pain in your own heart. The window to your soul is closed to the world. This is why exploiting Cruz’s suffering is so wrong. It cheapens the real struggles of millions of people and exposes the personal pain of a lovely woman who has struggled to overcome a terrible illness and has done it with grace. We should show her, and anyone else wrestling with depression, that same grace.
When your most loyal media supporter is saying you’re mental, low-brow, and that these latest attacks are the worst thing your candidate has done, it should send a message to any normal campaign that you ought to reconsider your course. The acolytes Trump surrounds himself with, however, seem to have little capacity for such reflection. We shall see if they prove me wrong.
Is Ann finally coming to her senses?
She pullin for Mittens? Again.
The Ad on Melania was what Ann?
I’m sorry but I really don’t think Donald Trump is even close to being a Conservative.
If he’s elected, you’re going to see a change in direction here at FR similar to that which happened when Carl Rove stopped being “Rove, you glorious bastard” and started being just “Rove, you bastard.”
Depends, when did she have senses?
Oh wait, Myth Romney called....duh
Don’t know if Narcissistic Personality Disorder qualifies as mental, however it is listed in psych books.
She said it tongue in cheek, the two were joking around.
Misleading headline
So why did she endorse him?
I’m starting to worry that some Cruzbots are mental.
I think you have deliberately posted a biased article in an effort to distract attention from Ted Cruz’ situation.
Coulter seems completely supportive of Trump on her website.
Because she is trying to figure out how to defend the endless trash that comes out of Trump’s mouth (and Tweets) and its an impossible job.
“He’s the only one who’s going to build a wall, but please stop testing our patience on the rest of this stuff.”
HEAR HEAR !!!
I cannot imagine a reasonable person's deciding to vote for Hillary Clinton because Donald Trump is a putz. However, I can imagine a reasonable person's not bothering to vote because she dislikes both candidates. This will hurt down-ticket Republican candidates (and she'll wish she'd voted on County Commissioners when the water rates double).
Maybe there are a lot of voters like me out there: if they polled me, I would say I have a negative view of Trump. However, I will vote for him if he's the Republican nominee, out of hatred for Hillary.
He’s an asshole, but that’s not a disqualifier, just
look at the current POTUS.
It was an anti-Trump Facebook post by the anti-Trump PCA Make America Awesome.
It reminds me of the Palin running/not running debates.
Freegards
I don’t think simply not liking a candidate is a good enough reason not to vote, that is not reasonable when an election is as important as this one is.
“I’m sorry but I really don’t think Donald Trump is even close to being a Conservative.”
Good! They’ve utterly FAILED us. Time to mix it up. If it ain’t risky it ain’t rock n roll.
Exactly! I listened to the context of the exchange and Ann was joking around, although she was disappointed that Trump had sent the tweet.
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.