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Ping!

This list provides two daily round-ups of Trump-related titles on FR,
to cut the clutter and simplify finding your area of interest.
If you are a Trump opponent, you won't be happy here.

To be added to or dropped from this ping list,
post your request on the thread below or freepmail to Albion Wilde.

* * *

Selected Trump articles on FR, with links, from 6:12 PM to 11:59 PM EST, 1/27/16:
Free Republic Caucus 2016 01/28
Bloomberg/Purple Strategies 1/22-1/26 (Trump 34%, Rubio 14%, Cruz 12%)
Why Trump Has Already Won Tomorrow's Debate (Without Showing Up)
These Indian-Americans want Trump as next US president
With No Trump, Cruz Goes From Hunter to Hunted
Cruz Invites Trump to Debate Before Iowa Caucus
Ted Cruz Super PACs Offer $1.5M for Veterans if Donald Trump Will Debate Him One-on-One In Iowa
Vanity: CNN Praising Trump Tonight re Fox Debate Exit
About that Donald Trump ground game: Twice as many Iowans say Ted Cruz has contacted them
Donald Trump is Setting Up Fox News to be the Scapegoat for an 'Unfair' Iowa Loss [Red State]
NYT: Trumps War on Fox Is About Control Against the Power Structure of the GOP
Rush Limbaugh: 'Stunned' by Fox News Acting as if 'Jilted at the Altar' [Breitbart]
Trump debate withdrawal is backfiring big-time on Fox News
Trump Refuses To Reconsider Debate In Fiery Fox Interview [plus video]
Rupert Murdoch Urges Michael Bloomberg to Run for President (The dots are getting connected now)
Paul on Trump's decision to boycott debate: 'Good riddance'
Think like a champion by Donald Trump
Another View -- Michael Reagan: Trump is no Reagan Republican
Trump on O'Rielly now [414 comments]
South Carolina's lieutenant governor endorses Trump
How to Caucus in Iowa (guides from various sources)
Trump Refuses to Play by the Rules [Limbaugh]
Do Trump Voters Really Exist? How Both Parties Botched Iowa
It's Showbiz: Stars Don't Get Paid Millions Not to Be Part of the Story [Limbaugh]
Jeb Bush bets $20 that Trump shows up to the Fox debate
Donald Trump Could Do Something Unprecedented In Modern Elections
Rosie Slams Trump, The Donald Fires Back [the backstory: '06]
Veterans group to Trump: Keep your donations
Trump announces event to benefit veterans during Fox debate
The Fall of the House of Clinton

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Go Trump and God Bless Our Troops

How could Trump win last night's debate when he didn't even show up. Well, those supporting Cruz are thinking in one dimension - no zero dimensions - if the candidate is not a "true conservative" I will spew invective against him.

But Scott [Dilbert] Adams brilliantly explains how Trump is playing in 3-dimensions .

In Scott's hierarchy, conservatives are playing pin the liberal tail on the donkey - they are arguing about definitions and they lose. Trump is working on a much higher plane. He set the agenda for this election, As everyone acknowledges, - competence, immigration, political correctness, incompetence against ISIS, firing competent people for political correctness, the incompetence of the folks in DC - the code word for which is "Making America Great Again." 90% of voters can identify with that agenda (identity is the top of the hierarchy in Adams ranking).

Trump wins on identity. Trump is that agenda.

So Megyn comes along with a gotcha debate. Trump wins that debate by not showing up, because he is telling everyone, hey this isn't about gotcha. Cruz can win THAT debate. The real debate is Making America Great Again. I care - I am over here with the greates of all living Americans - guys (identity) who were wounded fighting for America and the even greater Americans we all mourne because they could not be there because they lost there lives so your country could be great again - everyone tearing up at this point.

So Trump has everyone tearing up an making America Great Again and Cruz is over losing I gotcha against Megyn because he lost when he showed up for that debate.

And Cruz can't win. If Trump is "Making America Great Again" Cruz has to distinguish himself from Trump, but that means distancing himself from the winning agenda. As Scott Adams explains it is a classic Trump move - heads I win, tails I win. You can join with winners or you can be a loser - but you did it to yourself. He either plays Trumps game and Trump wins, or he plays Megyn's game and Cruz loses.

Even Solon gets it that Conservatives found themselves holding a losing hand and need to fold. See the recent Solon Article subtitled Conservative activists have spent a generation building up their movement â€” and the Donald is ruining it all

There is a lot wrong with the article. It is snarky and I won't defend it, but the thesis is worth paying attention to. Conservatives have gotten a lot of mileage from folks who don't care about 50-90% of their agenda because they have been the historical opposition to an out of control political establishment. But they have become entrenched and comfortable in that roll and have not advanced an agenda anyone cares about. They have become doctrinaire and inflexible, clear violations of two of Russell Kirk's Ten Rules of Conservatives.

So Trump comes along, identifies a few key things everyone agrees upon to Make America Great Again, and destroys liberals and conservatives all in one blow - not Russell Kirk conservatives, but doctrinaire conservatives.