Posted on 08/10/2015 8:15:45 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
People are again predicting his demise. The widely admired Megyn Kelly is definitely a riskier target for him than John McCain was. But since an enormous amount of his appeal is based on saying outrageous things and not apologizing for them, it’d be foolish to think that anything that has transpired since Thursday will sink him.
I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if the debate and its aftermath check or reverse the progress he’d been making in the internals of the polls (higher favorable ratings, fewer Republicans saying they’d never consider voting for him, etc.).
I basically only have one barometer for whether Trump has gone too far–and that’s when Ted Cruz is willing to criticize him directly. We haven’t reached that point yet.
I take Andy’s point about how all the other candidates are making their own calculations how to respond to Trump, too, but the gentle treatment Cruz affords the mogul is especially noteworthy given how eager he usually is to attack other Republicans and the fact that Trump has the most flagrantly RINO record of anyone in the field. So I don’t doubt that he shamelessly changed the subject as Alexis said, because this is something he really, really doesn’t want to have to address for now. (And as a general matter, I appreciate Alexis’s robust coverage of the flap that consumed the political world this weekend).
More broadly, it’s pretty clear where the drift of this thing is heading, which is not toward Trump winning the nomination, but toward Trump somewhere along the way saying he’s been treated unfairly — by the GOP, by the media, by Jonah Goldberg, et al. — and declaring next year that he’s seriously considering an independent bid. Even if he didn’t ultimately pull the trigger, it would guarantee another couple of months of attention for Donald Trump, which is the only thing that matters for Donald Trump.
Widely admired Megyn Kelly? By whom? Readers of GQ?
Cruz is just smart enough to know better than to wrestle a pig.
I really haven’t heard Cruz attack any of the other GOP candidates. I think he may have went after Rand Paul once after he was attacked by him.
I think Cruz believes in the old Reagan credo of not saying anything bad about fellow Republicans.
How true.
Its one reason I love the guy.
The Howard Stern audience.
Ask whose interests it would serve for Cruz and Trump to go to war.
The rest is garbage but the headline is true.
Trump has already won when the narrative has changed to “he’s definitely done” to “foolish to think that anything that has transpired since Thursday will sink him”.
Lowry is calling all his Establishment buddies fools since they all were stomping on Trump’s empty grave all weekend.
.
Ted Cruz has pledged not to attack other candidates, and to stick to his own message, most of which has actually formed Trump’s Johnny-come-lately rendition of same!
.
(don’t hold your breath Donald)
Um Cruz went on the Senate floor and called the party leader a liar.
The girley boys if NR admire the bimbo. Rich wants to borrow her shoes so he can go pole dancing.
He spoke about Megyn Kelly the SAME WAY he spoke about Chris Wallace.
Quit buying this BULLCRAP media meme.
The media HATES Megyn Kelly and wouldn’t run to her defense if Hillary Clinton attacked her.
I am not even a Trump supporter, and I see this for what it is: media distraction.
RECORD LOW JOB MARKET PARTICIPATION.
ISIS BEHEADING CHRISTIANS.
NATIONAL DEBT TRIPLES.
ISRAEL ABANDONED BY US GOVERNMENT.
IRAN GETTING NUKES.
GDP STAGNANT.
Media focus? A pathetic 7th grade style tit for tat over egos and who said what.
Embarrassing.
Look for endless attempts by the “fair” media to get Cruz to rebuke Trump.
RINO center NR managing editor or some such goes for the two-fer, trying to smear Trump and Cruz with one swoop.
(One of their editors, Jay Nordlinger, is actually friendly with Cruz and in some way advising him—even though Cruz is more red-meat than that crew can usually handle.
Its also true that McConnell lied.
So I think of it less of an attack than a statement of fact.
Stanley Kurtz had a good post there today.
Pigs are useful; while they are alive they mess up the SOP. When they are dead they make beacon, ham, and footballs. What good is a dead elephant? Trump and Cruz both get it.
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