Almost everyone I know well who purports to
follow politics avers that they believe the Donald Trump phenomenon will
eventually dissipate, evaporate, or in some form or fashion, just go away. I should amend that statement to note I have
not had this conversation with persons who admit to being Republicans. Therefore, it is certainly not meant to be
representative of how a typical Republican feels about the situation.
Nevertheless, if that affirmation proves to be
an eventuality, it surely cannot come too soon for the GOP Establishment, nor
for the other GOP Presidential candidates, regardless of whether they consider
themselves to be a part of the Establishment.
Three weeks ago I wrote a post discussing the conundrum that the
Republican Party faces in dealing with Mr. Trump and the immigration issue (http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com/2015/08/26/the-team-gop-conundrum-trumping-the-immigration-issue/).
The bigger story, undoubtedly, is that it is
not just the Club Leader’s position on immigration that is troubling to the
Party hierarchy. It’s his deep pockets
money stream; his prickly, mercurial, unpredictable nature, it’s his penchant
for “counterpunching” anyone with the temerity or effrontery to take him on in
mano a mano terms.
The first 2015 GOP Presidential Debate was held
six weeks from tomorrow on August 6th at Quicken Loans Arena in
Cleveland, Ohio. I wrote about the
pending festivities on August 5th (http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com/2015/08/05/and-then-there-were-10-lets-get-ready-to-rumble/).
The abundance of contestants for the GOP
Nomination, in concert with predetermined Party Rules, resulted in a split
debate format for the first Debate. The
schematic consisted of 7 candidates appearing in what amounted to the Early
Show, and the remaining 10 candidates appearing at the Prime Time event later
that evening.
This evening’s Debate will operate in a format
slightly altered from the first contest.
It will convene at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in
Semi Valley, California. At 6:00 p.m., 4
candidates, down from 7, will appear in the first session. Those individuals are George Pataki, Rick
Santorum, Bobby Jindal, and Lindsey Graham.
CNN amended the Debate Criteria by adding this caveat:
"In
the event that any candidate is polling in the top 10 in an average of approved
national polls released between August 7th and September 10th, we will add
those candidates to our top tier debate, even if those candidates did not poll
in the top 10 in an average of approved national polls between July 16th and
September 10th.”
This change opened the door for Carly Fiorina
to be promoted to the main stage. Rick
Perry suspended his campaign, and therefore dropped out of the field. Jim Gilmore failed to attain the necessary
threshold for inclusion.
That means the Prime Time Show expanded from 10
to 11 participants. The post-debate
polls, which were used to determine the participants, were also used to determine the order that the candidates
would appear on stage. Trump will anchor the center of the stage for the 8:00
p.m. debate, flanked by Carson to his right and Bush to his left. Walker,
Fiorina, Kasich and Christie, in that order, will stand to Bush’s left, while
Cruz, Rubio, Huckabee and Paul will appear to Carson’s right.
Up to this moment in
the campaign, which many experts continue to insist is still early, The Donald
has been the straw that has stirs the GOP Presidential Candidates’ Drink. There is a fair amount of speculation that a
number of the candidates may actually try to gain traction by attacking Donald
Trump. This has been a largely
unsuccessful, and in some cases fatal flaw in strategy for those with the
gumption to try it. See Rick Perry, who
no longer lists himself among active candidates, and Lindsey Graham, whose
campaign has appeared to limp along.
One of the next,
certain to take up the gauntlet is Bobby Jindal. Governor Jindal wrote an Op-Ed that appeared
on CNN’s website yesterday, in which he lambasted Donald Trump as, among other
things, “a madman who must be stopped.”
Are you ready yet?
So in the Apprentice,
Donald Trump ran the show. When a
contestant didn’t live up to his lofty standard, Trump would with great fanfare
and bluster utter the phrase, “You’re fired!”
It will be interesting to see if Trump tweets some scathing message
about/to Jindal between now and the Debate this evening, or whether he will
take the opportunity to launch a broadside attack (he likes to say he only
counter punches) during the Debate.
Here’s the opening
salvo from Jindal’s CNN commentary:
President Trump today announced that the first season of
"The Apprentice: White House Edition" will air on CBS this fall.
Contestants, including Gary Busey, Ted Cruz and Kanye West, will vie for
Cabinet positions. The announcement came as the newly renamed "Hair Force
One" touched down in South Dakota for the unveiling of President Trump's
face on Mount Rushmore. Meanwhile, first lady Melania had reason to celebrate
as her White House-branded perfume, Trump, by Trump, hit Macy's shelves ...
No, this is not a
story from The Onion. It's a vision of our future. The only people who would
enjoy a Trump presidency are Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert. The jokes write
themselves. The jokes, as he said, will
write themselves.
Jindal is clearly
desperately seeking a breakout moment.
So much so that he did not limit his targets to Mr. Trump. What Right Wing/Tea Party diatribe would be
complete without a nod to President Obama?
Definitely this one, by Governor Jindal, will not be the first. To further shore up his macho Trump imitation
bona fides, he said:
“The
liberalism and incompetence of the Obama administration have pushed us to the
edge of a socialist abyss.”
In analyzing The
Donald, Jindal proclaims not only that he will never be President, but that his
nomination would be tantamount to delivering the White House to Mrs. Clinton,
at least in part because he is sure to self-destruct in a general election. Apparently, Trump is venom and he (Jindal)
has the antidote.
He insists that
everyone knows Trump is not the answer, but…no one has the courage to say
so…except him. He noted that he said
last week:
“Donald
Trump is a shallow, unserious, substance-free, narcissistic egomaniac. It's pointless arguing policy with someone
not intellectually curious enough to care and who makes it up on the fly.
According to him, his plans will be "fabulous" and "something
terrific. His problem with Washington
isn't big government, it's that he's not running it. He's not liberal, moderate
or conservative. He's not Republican or Democrat. Donald Trump is for Donald
Trump. He believes only in himself.”
Jindal
did eventually concede that Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, and the aforementioned “no
longer a candidate,” Rick Perry called out Trump for lacking adherence to
conservative values. Alas, it was a
fruitless gambit because Trump is not a conservative. He panned Ted Cruz for “clinging to Trump
like a limpet to an oil tanker, hoping to suck up his votes when Trump
eventually sinks.” Senator Cruz may be
hoping to jet with Trump’s votes, should he falter, or he may be making space
for a Trump Cruz ticket, but it’s not likely he and Bobby will be making up
anytime soon.
Showtime
is 8:00 p.m. There may be more
histrionics and fireworks when the lights come up. In fact, I’d say you could depend on it. Put the kids to bed early, get the beer and
you popcorn. It’s about to on and
poppin’. “Next on Deck The Apprentice II: Otherwise Known As the GOP Debates!”
I’m done; holla back!
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