One Red State diarist wonders whether Trumps four-day journey from gracious concession to sober self-reflection about his ground game to shrieking about fraud and a do-over in Iowa to low-key its in the past dismissal means that hes actually insane. Old theory: Trump is erratic. New theory: Trump is bananas.
I dont think hes bananas. I think this is what it looks like when a candidate decides to test out new lines of attack in real time, with the entirety of the media hanging on his every word, instead of with focus groups behind closed doors.
In a striking reversal of rhetoric, Donald Trump would not rule out Ted Cruz as his hypothetical vice-presidential pick.
Well, I dont know. Look, I have nothing against him. It was sort of a sad thing that happened, but Ive always liked him, Trump told Hugh Hewitt on his radio show Thursday, after weeks of trashing his primary rival as nasty, hypocritical and disliked.
Trump added that he has always gotten along well with Cruz, but that Im so much now focused on New Hampshire.
What happened between Wednesday and now? My guess is that Trump concluded that crying fraud! over Iowa had backfired, partly because it made him look erratic and sore-loser-ish and partly because it risked annoying New Hampshirites who dont want to spend their week listening to Trump re-run someone elses election. Thats where the part about being so much focused on New Hampshire comes in. He said nearly the same thing verbatim to Anderson Cooper last night in the interview Ed blogged earlier, suggesting that thats his new message when asked about the results of the caucus even though that message, that the past is the past, is 180 degrees opposite his demand for a do-over 48 hours ago. Whats going to happen tomorrow night when hes inevitably asked about fraud in Iowa, probably in the opening minutes of the debate? Even if he tries to duck it, Cruz is going to use it as evidence that Trumps too unpredictable and prone to Trumper tantrums to be president. Does Trump double down on fraud! at the point or does he double down on lets move on? There seems to have been no strategy here beyond him rashly tossing the charge about cheating out there, seeing if it stuck, and then dropping it cold turkey when it didnt. Its just like when he started calling Cruz a maniac for not being able to work with his Senate colleagues before the December debate, took some heat for it on the right, and then was all chummy with Cruz again on debate night. Given how serious the accusations are election fraud! Cruz unhinged! these arent trial balloons Trump is floating so much as trial zeppelins. And then, a few days later, when it doesnt work out as well he planned, he turns around and essentially says: What zeppelin?
The really weird part of this, though, is that hes backing off the personal attacks on Cruz too, not just the fraud claim. How can you say youve always liked a guy whom youve been calling nasty, corrupt, cronyist, a hypocrite, a total liar, and someone whom no one likes once they get to know him? And how can you not rule him out for VP when youve spent the past month arguing that hes not constitutionally eligible to be president? Is Trump dropping that claim too? This whole weird backtrack smells like his campaign manager pulled him aside and told him that attacking Cruz relentlessly has started to hurt his own popularity, which is dangerous when hes being threatened by a well-liked candidate in Marco Rubio. So now Trumps going to chuck everything hes been saying since New Years and try a new low-key Im serious and Im staying on message approach. Good luck, I guess.
Via the Right Scoop, here he is last night getting angry (and profane) in a much more productive way than he did with this weeks fraud digression.
Isn't this the first time a presidential candidate has used the word "fuck" casually in a speech to a big crowd? I just don't recall any presidential candidates as potty-mouthed as Trump. How can a guy so rich be so unclassy?
Isn't this the first time a presidential candidate has used the word "fuck" casually in a speech to a big crowd? I just don't recall any presidential candidates as potty-mouthed as Trump. How can a guy so rich be so unclassy?
You think they don't use the word. You're looney if you believe that. They are just fakes and trained not to use certain words in front of the camera.
You think they don't use the word. You're looney if you believe that. They are just fakes and trained not to use certain words in front of the camera.
You use the word too. We all do.
No, I have certain boundaries. For instance, in a speech to thousands of people with children in the room, I've never said "fuck". That would be Trump.
I honestly can't recall another pol who was ever so openly as crude as Trump is.
It's going to be a massacre of Trump in South Carolina.
A big anti-Trump super-PAC has formed (probably Rove-controlled). They're going to attack him over what he said about McStain and, by extension, all POWs. They're gonna Swift-boat his ass with all those veterans in SC. That attack will surface this week but it will be the preamble to an attempt to bury Trump in South Carolina.
And maybe those nude photos of his wife Melania in GQ might finally raise a few eyebrows. All that stuff is going to come out. Like Trump bragging about committing adultery with other men's wives years back. Yet, he has told us he has never asked God's forgiveness for anything. And Trump will eventually have to account for why he was bosom buddies for decades with a profoundly immoral pervert and all-around scumbag like Roger Stone.
How about Trump promising to expand the federal gay agenda? How is that going to play in the South?
How's the weather forecast for NH next week ? Hate to see the extremely strong Trump miss any more campaign events because of the weather . Or did he go home to get a change of clothing ?