For all practical purposes, Team GOP has become
the Party of Trump. If you believe the
voters rather than the oft-rehearsed lines of the Party apparatus, numerous
operatives, the still-in-denial Party Establishment, and the voices of the
Right Wing chattering class, all of who have much to lose by being too closely identified
with the angry (his word, not mine) New York billionaire, Donald J. Trump, you
believe, as I do, that Mr. Trump is towering over the remainder of the
Republican field. He did so when there
was a crowded field of 17 candidates, and despite the arbiters of conventional
wisdom who argued enthusiastically that he and his energetic movement would
dissolve like the Wicked Witch of the West when doused by water if only the
field would thin out, and he does now.
That was 12 suspended campaigns ago, or more than two-thirds of the
candidates in the original field. I’m
sure I don’t need to tell you, with only 5 candidates remaining in contention
for the GOP Nomination, DJ Trump is kicking asterisks and taking names.
Yesterday was Super Tuesday, a day in which 12
states conducted Primary Elections or Caucuses.
They include:
·
Alabama (Trump)
·
Georgia (Trump)
·
Massachusetts (Trump)
·
Tennessee (Trump)
·
Virginia (Trump)
·
Arkansas (Trump)
·
Vermont (Trump)
·
Alaska (Expected to go to Trump)
·
Texas (Cruz)
·
Oklahoma (Cruz)
·
Minnesota (Rubio)
Of those states, Donald Trump was projected the
winner as soon as the polls closed in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and
Massachusetts; Virginia was quickly added, and Arkansas was declared in his
category by 11:00 p.m. Eastern. At that
time Senator Ted Cruz had claimed his home state of Texas, and neighboring
Oklahoma. Around the same time, Senator
Marco Rubio claimed victory in Minnesota; his first win of the campaign season.
A month or two ago, Trump, full confidence and
the swagger of his own success opined that his mojo was so robust he could
stand in the middle of 5th Avenue (NYC) and shoot someone, and he
would not lose votes. He repeated this
forebodingly braggadocios boast again in recent weeks. Of course, no one but no one ever mistook
Donald Trump for a shrinking violet.
He’s has been and remains the one candidate who never ducks a hot
mic. He has also “almost” never been
found lacking for answers, regardless of the question…or the factual nature of
his replies.
This weekend however, the Donald, mystifyingly,
broke his own protocol. In an interview
with CNN’s Jake Tapper this past Sunday, Trump “blinked.” When asked if he would disavow white
supremacist David Duke, who endorsed Mr. Trump, the New Yorker lost his
normal bravado and claimed not to be familiar with Duke, and said he’d have to
research the question in order to provide an informed response. Aside from the fact no one ever recalls such
a non-response response form Trump, he had, on several instances in the past,
distanced himself from Mr. Duke. The
more cynical among us deduced that the fact the question was posed just two
days prior to Super Tuesday when 7 Southern States, many of which have a
significant Duke following, would be voting had a lot, if not everything to do
with Trump’s tightly crafted and sanitized answer. I’m not saying that’s my opinion, and I’ll leave it to you to draw your own conclusion.
I will however suggest if a smell test were applied, the odds of that reply
passing would be slim.
A day later, Mr. Trump would endeavor to
clarify his response, saying his earpiece was faulty, and he didn’t understand
the question. Never mind that Mr. Trump
has previously pulled excuses out of his repertoire when he flubbed a
question. In September Hugh Hewitt of
the Salem Radio Network in a foreign policy discussion with Trump asked a
question about the Quds, and Trump answered about the Kurds. Trump cried foul and claimed it was a “Gotcha
Question. This of course totally
dismisses the fact an Mr. Hewitt was conducting an interview and posing
questions on foreign policy to a man “who would be President.” Gotcha?
I got your gotcha. GTFOOH!
But let’s not lose the lesson. As I suggested last week, Donald Trump is
approaching political bulletproof status.
One need go no further than recognizing that DJ Trump is an individual
who has:
·
Characterized most Mexicans
entering the United States as rapists
·
Promised to build a wall
separating our two countries and “make Mexico pay for it
·
Declared John McCain is not a
war hero
·
Called Senator Lindsey Graham
weak and ineffectual
·
Dubbed Jeb Bush low energy
·
Referred to Ted Cruz as the
biggest liar ever
·
Said Marco Rubio was
“sweating like a dog”
·
Suggested he would ban
Muslims from entering the country and deport all illegal aliens
·
Insisted he saw thousands of
Muslims celebrating in New Jersey after 9/11
·
Dissed Fox News analyst Megyn
Kelly and attacked Carly Fiorina’s looks
While that may not be a Top 10, it is certainly
a significant sample. But then, even if it
were a Top 10, at least one of those items would have to be displaced by the
recent David Duke row. Last night, as he
gave remarks after acknowledging his 5 Primary victories (up to that time), in
response to a direct question, he firmly and repeatedly disavowed David Duke
and hate groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), though he never referred to
either Duke or the Klan by name. It took
far too long, but in bulletproof fashion, better late than never.
The GOP brain trust wants greatly to diminish
and/or dismiss any thoughts that Trump will prevail, and to at nearly all costs
distance itself from his brand. To all
my friends and associates who happen to be Republicans, you have missed your
opportunity. That is not to say with
100% certainty that Donald Trump will capture the Republican Nomination. But make no mistake about it, the closest
thing the GOP has to a presumptive nominee is DJ Trump. Like it or not, it is what it is.
This is where things get interesting. In the erstwhile smoke-filled rooms (very few
interior spaces permit smoking these days), and back alleyways of
Republicandom, operatives, bundlers, the Party apparatus, and a host of bigwigs
and muckety-mucks are huddled and feverishly conferencing and negotiating on
pathways to derail the Trump Express.
Party officials deny it, of course, but back channel conversations
always leak the obvious. This is
happening even as a number of Party moguls and celebrities, reluctantly, or
strategically, you decide, are lining up to endorse Trump.
To date, that list includes former GOP Vice
Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr.,
and NASCAR Chairman and CEO, Brian France (So much for that NASCAR Diversity Initiative).
It does not include the aforementioned David Duke…but he has endorsed
Mr. Trump. On an aside, Jon Huntsman, Jr.,
former Ambassador to Singapore, and the 16th Governor of Utah, has
stated he would likely support Trump were he to become the Party’s nominee.
During his comments last night, Ted Cruz, who
has won a total of 3 states (Iowa, Texas, and Oklahoma) all but urged Marco
Rubio and the other candidates to get out of the race because, he is the only
one who has beaten Trump 3 times, and the only one who can beat him for the nomination. Rubio, who won Minnesota last night, for his
part indicated that he is continuing to accrue delegates, and intends to
continue for the foreseeable future. Translation: You get out. No, you get out. Advantage Trump!
All things considered, if any other candidate had amassed Trump's metrics, that candidate would be declared the pending nominee by now. To summarize, of 15 contests to date, Rubio has collected one win, Cruz has prevailed three times. Basic arithmetic dictates that Trump has won eleven times out of fifteen outings, presuming Alaska holds to form. Of course, given Sarah Palin's endorsement, it would be quite the irony if Donald Trump did not carry the day in "The Last Frontier." The estimated Delegate Count per candidate after yesterday's contests is, Trump - 274, Cruz - 149, Rubio - 82, Katich - 25, Carson - 8. The total required to clinch the Nomination is 1,237 Delegates; happy hunting!
You can believe it, or you can do your best
ostrich imitation and stick your head in the sand. Alas, to do so is quite simply to fool
yourself. That’s your choice; I ain’t gonna be mad atcha. When all is said and done,
what you are left with is…”An Inconvenient Truth The GOP Refuses To OpenlyAdmit!”
I’m done; holla back!
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