Posted on 01/28/2016 10:25:47 AM PST by smoothsailing
January 28, 2016
DES MOINES, Iowa - It's fair to say the Republican Party was stunned by Donald Trump's decision to boycott tonight's GOP presidential debate here in Des Moines. But because they were so surprised - never saw it coming - they realize they could be surprised again, and so are keeping the door open for Trump to change his mind and take part in the debate.
Even after a full day to think about it, and even after Trump announced the "special event" to honor America's veterans he will hold the same time as tonight's debate - 8:00 p.m. Central Time, Sheslow Auditorium at Drake University - even after all that, party officials still want to keep open the possibility Trump will reconsider.
We have to, they explained Thursday morning. Who could have predicted that Trump would pull out in the first place? And now, who can say definitively that he won't change course again?
Well, Donald Trump, for one. "Mr. Trump will not be participating in tonight's Fox News debate," Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told me by phone this morning. "He will be holding a rally to raise money for veterans who have been treated like third-class citizens."
Lewandowski told me the Trump campaign has received 4,000 RSVPs for tonight's event. The theater in which it will be held holds 776 people, so the campaign is working to set up giant screens for an overflow viewing area outside. (Forecast temperature: 28 degrees, fairly balmy for Des Moines these days.) In addition, Lewandowski said 360 members of the media have been credentialed to cover the event.
When I asked whether Lewandowski has had any communications with the Republican National Committee or with Fox News about participating in the debate tonight, he said, "I talk to people all the time, but my communications with them are the same as my communications with you: Mr. Trump will not be participating in tonight's Fox News debate."
But the door will be open.
Last evening I was listening to one talkshow host who said several times that his staff had tried to contact the RNC to ask a couple of questions:
Does the RNC get any money from the networks that hold these debates?
If so, how much?
==
Surely the RNC does get money from the networks.
So, sure, it is in their interest, too, for Trump to show up. If FoxNews loses ad revenues, that could impact the amount that the RNC gets.
Trump = $$$$
CNN is going to be laughing all the way to the bank.
Ironically, yesterday morning CNN was all over Trump and supporting poor widdle Megyn and FoxNews. Later in the day, as CNN got rights to broadcast the Trump Vets Rally, CNN’s coverage became pro-Trump.
Go figure!
Donaldus Magnimus!!!
Trump knows how to play the media. That’s what makes this so much fun.
The last 2 candidates who won the Iowa caucuses are Huckabee and Santorum. It just happens that Huckabee and Santorum will be attending the charity event. Add the list of Trump endorsements and at the very least Trump takes Iowa by 5-10% and if there is the projected turn out expected he wins by 20%!
The last 2 candidates who won the Iowa caucuses are Huckabee and Santorum. It just happens that Huckabee and Santorum will be attending the charity event. Add the list of Trump endorsements and at the very least Trump takes Iowa by 5-10% and if there is the projected turn out expected he wins by 20%!
Check this out:
Lewandowski said the Trump campaign has received 4,000 RSVPs for tonight’s event. The theater in which it will be held holds 776 people, so the campaign is working to set up giant screens for an overflow viewing area outside. (Forecast temperature: 28 degrees, fairly balmy for Des Moines these days.) In addition, Lewandowski said 360 members of the media have been credentialed to cover the event.
All these pinheads claiming Trump will ditch his obligation to the veterans rally to go back to the liberal dog-n-pony show Fox is putting on are dumber than dirt.
"Don't look now, but while our best conservative is running a political campaign, Trump is leading a rebellion. Not as a liberal or a conservative politician, but as a successful red-blooded, can-do American capitalist.", Jim Robinson
When it comes to “opinion,” perception IS reality....
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I agree.
I will also vote for Trump if he is the nominee. I may not like his brand of brilliant, but many do.
From the article, easier said than done!
Amazing that this thread was able to receive 21 positive Trump posts before a dour one found it’s mark! You’re slippin’ KittenClaws.
Haven’t seen that one Tennessee Nana. It’s Hillary-ous!!!
If I lived NEARBY... I would hang out on the street outside.
Just to be present for an historical event.
I was pondering on everything logistical, that would have to be done by today's starting time, on a past thread- right after Trump announced he was out of the debate at FOX.
My point was- watch what a true leader does in pulling this move off with great success... and then imagine the present government trying to do the same thing, save for our military or law enforcement.
My post and opinion is NOT cultism or Trumpism- it is simply the cold hard facts.
Don't think for one minute though- that I can't Trumpeteer with the best of them, because I can and will, AND please know that the cultism is strong in this one! LOL! There- saved some of you the trouble. You betcha' I'm all in!
The whole thing was a head-fake. There was no Megyn Kelly. That was a feint. Trump needed a dramatic reason, a theatrical reason, to walk out of the last debate. Megyn Kelly was the most convenient tool at his disposal to do so. And she worked perfectly. Because everyone gleefully volunteered to be suckered in by the head-fake, the rope-a-dope, and jump all over Trump with the joyous accusations of *afraid of a girl*, *afraid to debate*, and basically ignore the walk-away as the supreme act of *independent leadership* that it was.
An act that pulled Huckabee and Santorum, the previous two Iowa winners, into his corner (or at least into his arena) just days before the Iowa vote and, in an instance of incredible irony, at the same time as the main-table debate after they both came off the kiddie-table debate.
They move from the kiddie table to the central arena, an arena that makes the main debate something less than the kiddie debate!
Huckabee and Santorum get their revenge on the Big Boys and lend last-minute historical Iowa star power to Trump.
But as good as that is for Trump, even better is the one-on-one debate challenge from Cruz, which never would have occurred if Trump had slogged his way through another dreary #7 but now allowed him to say WITH THE FULL MEGAPHONE OF TOTAL MEDIA ATTENTION:
When a judge says you are eligible, then a one-on-one is ok.
Check and mate.
Masterful.
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