Is the so-call Trump Effect about the issues (not yet policies) he's putting front and center that the other candidates would otherwise have run away from, or is it the "tone" of no-nonsense non-PC non-apologetic back-at-you engagement, or both, that has people energized?
If the remaining candidates revert back to focus-group tested safe pablum that moves and excites nobody, then the terrorists will have won.
You think you are refuting me, but actually you are making the very point I have made...which is that the truth of Trump is somewhere between what EE is saying and what Rush has said. The good you point out above is something I've acknowledged from day one. I also point out his liberal reflexes, which he clearly still has, but to little avail to most.
So again, this would be "the degree" to which I think EE will be proven wrong....he doesn't seem willing to acknowledge that above. But the degree to which EE is right, are Trump's liberal reflexes, which Rush has almost totally ignored or excused or downplayed.
I would add this too: David Limbaugh was published and on Hannity talking about his major qualms with Trump. That was the day after a major Breitbart piece talked about EE's gauntlet to Rush. AND GUESS WHAT? Rush's Friday show did not mention Trump at all in the first two segments...and the first mention was taking to an anti Trump caller. Coincidence? There's no such thing. My theory? David was trying to gently reign in Rush on Trump.....
My question is if Trump is taken out, does that put an end to the Trump Effect, or can it live in on in someone else willing to pick it up if the people are still hungry for it?
Ted Cruz tapped into it. One might think that having the Senate floor and a filibuster is a strong bully pulpit, but Cruz was still limited in his reach by the MSM and GOPe leadership that ensured that the coverage was belittling and damaging to Cruz. McConnell used the government shut-down, which McConnell personally abhors, to blame Cruz for Republican leadership failures.
Trump has his celebrity, his wealth, and a boldness that comes from being on the other end of the chains that bind politicians, to enable his "damn the torpedoes" style. It's that style, right now, that is triggering the Trump Effect in people. I'm not sure that someone else can pick it up and run with it if Trump fumbles.
To mix yet another metaphor, it's almost like rooting for Rocky to win against the establishment Creed. Except that Trump, while being on the outside, is not the down-and-out underdog that usually draws the support. This makes me think that a second part of the Trump Effect is that this time, people think that he might actually be able to do it, because he has the resources that the others do not. Trump can withstand the gaffe or smear attack because he's Trump, meaning despite the old rules of engagement he can stay in the race, wounds and all. The old rules of engagement drove out wounded candidates due to lack of funding.
-PJ