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.
They’ll try to put the squeeze on Cruz with a “Trump: you’re either for him or against him” meme.You know it, I know it, and Ted Cruz knows it. Be interesting to see how he finesses it.
Something along the lines of “I am campaigning for the Republican nomination, and when the nominee is finally decided I will work for the election of that nominee. Until the nomination is decided I will not be shy about pointing out what I hope are the merits of my own candidacy. But I will do so not on your terms and not on Mr. Trump’s terms, but on my own terms.
Probably preceded by, “Hillary Clinton delenda est” - Hillary must be defeated.
Rich Lowery like the rest of the GOPe crowd just does not get it. They don’t get it and they never will.
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>> “Methinks Trump is blazing the trail for Cruz to win.” <<
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Just not intentionally.
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>> “Probably preceded by, “Hillary Clinton delenda est” - Hillary must be defeated.” <<
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Not likely from the Donald!
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He’s the debate champ. I trust his judgment. They won’t go there again.
From another thread
"This is war and it's the war lots of conservatives have wanted but until now we have not had a real leader with the resources to fight (the uniparty). Trump may have a lot of warts, he not a "true conservative" and is not the best of speakers but he got all the right enemies and he fights. We have Cruz, Walker, Carly or whoever supporters hoping Trump gets taken down thinking their guy will inherent Trump's supporters. What they do not realize is only Trump can take on the uniparty with any chance of winning. He is the only one, if he goes down we will lose the country and there will never again be a conservative elected president. Yes Cruz is a great conservative, so what, he doesn't stand a chance against the Bush/Clinton/Wall St/K St/MSM gang. They can spend/bribe/donate billions to take down Cruz. Only Trump might be able to take them on. Trump is a long shot but he is our only lawful shot."
What does it say about those critics that Trump usually bests them using 7th grader tactics?
It says that you and I have very different definitions of the term “bests.”
Polling from the Clintons? What are you talking about? Provide some links and support for all these bizarre assertions.
Oh come on
They’ll go after Cruz as soon as trump is out
On gross spats with fox babes? No. Something else. Phooey
My “wide” admiration is reserved for Rosie.
You may not like her, but ratings don't lie. She has the highest rated show on any cable news network - actually beating both Hannity and O'Reilly. So SOMEONE likes her enough to keep watching her.
Rule #1 is don’t get near your bangalore torpedo while it’s doing lane clearing for you.
“They won’t go there again.”
So, that was your first debate or do you simply not learn any lessons? They do this EEVRY debate and it has only gotten worse debate after debate. For year, decades actually, it has been said the candidates should avoid these liberal attack shows.
They will go after Cruz tooth and nail
And they will NOT go after the dems
Same can be said for Jeb or any other GOPe nominee
They will not go after dems
Kurtz does fantastic work!
The link is to one of the articles I read about it at the time. I understood Cruz to say the he opposed TPA because of immigration concerns and the side deal for the EXIM bank, which McConnell did lie about. Maybe I read it wrong but I believe that is what this article says.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/420181/cruz-now-no-tpa-andrew-c-mccarthy
Actually, Cruz seems fine with attacking the do-nothing Republicans in Congress. I just think he doesn't see any advantage in starting a war with any of the other presidential candidates at this point in time - he'd rather talk about issues instead of personalities.
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