Posted on 02/03/2016 9:11:54 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
As far as I can tell, Donald Trump's grieving process works more or less completely in the reverse order from what you would expect from a rational human being. Immediately after the event, Trump was more or less in acceptance mode, saying he was proud of finishing second, he loved the people of Iowa, he was going to come back and buy a farm there.
Then he went into depression, secluding himself for an uncharacteristically long time from twitter and the media.
Working backwards, he skipped over bargaining and went straight to anger, blaming the media and their unfair treatment of him.
Then this morning, he went into denial mode, basically saying that the Iowa loss never even happened and there should be a do over.
But if you look deeper into Trump's twitter rant this morning, and you have some understanding of both his neuroses and the cynical way he plays his followers, you can see that Trump has already decided how he will react to a loss in the GOP primaries, if he suffers one: he will refuse to accept the results and run third party.
Look at what Trump is doing here. He is complaining about a series of events that are, by any objective measure, ordinary politics, and he is treating them as evidence of "fraud" or that the results of Iowa were somehow completely illegitimate.
As Trump always does, he is clearly pre-complaining about anything even potentially damaging to him as the result of "unfair" treatment or a fixed, "unfair" process. If he should lose New Hampshire, he will do it again, even though the RNC booted National Review from the upcoming debate in order to mollify him (and yet allowed an openly anti-Cruz moderator onto the stage).
Trump is prepping his followers to bolt with him for a third party run if he loses the nomination. In fact, if he loses New Hampshire and South Carolina, he may just do it pre-emptively. I suspect this is a decision he has already made. Now, I know that he will probably not be able to get on the ballot at this late date in many states, but the point will not be to win, it will be to damage the Republican nominee, which has been Trump's goal from the beginning of this process.
Personally, I think a three way race between Cruz/Rubio, Trump, and Hillary will end up pretty well for the GOP. There's a lot of evidence that a majority of Trump's support comes from disaffected Democrats, and there are plenty of Democrats who are less than enthused about voting for Hillary.
I just wish that if Trump were not man enough to accept the will of the electorate, that he would go ahead and declare that he's running third party and save us all a lot of trouble.
narcissistic personality disorder
If Trump runs 3rd party, then he will guarantee a demonrat victory in the general election the way H Ross Perot did in 1992 and again in 1996.
If I recall correctly he did sign a loyalty oath. If he takes that loyalty oath as seriously as he did the ones he made to his first 2 wives, then, to quote one of his endorsers, “You betcha”.
If he pulls a Ross Perot, it won’t be pretty.
I hope he does. And I hope Bloomberg gets into the race. Really make it interesting.
IT WOULD NOT SURPRISE ME AT ALL!
Despite the Cruz dirty tricks in Iowa, I think that was his peak.
Some egomaniacs just need to be humbled.
This analysis makes some sense...DJT would want to have his followers feel personally slighted before running independent....
Let’s stop this rumor in its tracks. No way he will do that or should he do that.
I think sore loser laws keep him off the ballot in a lot of states, like Texas. That’s a huge handicap for a non-Democrat candidate.
Dream on. All the recent evidence shows that Democrats are like sheep who can easily be herded.
There is a reason that most minorities, blue-collar workers, entitlement junkies and other traditional Democrat constituencies can be taken for granted. They may bah-bah and complain a lot, but in the end they go with whomever will give them the most free $#*+. Even if it comes out of their own pockets.
I'm not Trump's biggest fan but it seems to me a reasonable assumption that the "loyalty pledge" should go both ways. The GOPe trashing their front-runners is pretty appalling.
i.e., He’s friggin’ nuts!
It would surprise no one.
After the Tantrum who knows?
Trump for Therapy 2016
I have seen claims that you are a paid operative.
Do you receive money to post here?
He would rather give speeches and pontificate about things he knows nothing about than actually have to get his hands dirty meeting regular people.
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