He's a great writer and journalist and he spent the GOP debate Thursday night hanging with conservatives-he's a lib like me.
He admits you can argue with how representative the sample is but Trump went over very well.
"Anyone who thought the Fox News moderators might go easy on the GOP field, or at least its leader, was mistaken. Yet when Bret Baier maneuvered Trump into acknowledging that he might run in the general election as an independent, there were oohs and aahs — but no catcalls. When Megyn Kelly pressed him on the crude and hurtful things he has said about women, Trump’s shrug — “What I say is what I say” — got a laugh, and his attack on “political correctness” drew applause. When Chris Wallace burrowed in on his four corporate bankruptcies, Trump’s explanation that he was just playing by the rules went over just fine."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-one-reason-donald-trump-was-the-clear-winner-of-the-first-gop-debate/2015/08/07/c8fa4988-3d1e-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html?hpid=z2
There's no doubt that Fox was especially hard on Trump. Yes, other candidates got tough questions but the hit Trump with two very tough questions right off the bat. I mean to open up with the demand for the pledge on not running third party was a clear signal that they were gunning for him immediately.
Then to go from that to the question of his insults of various women was just totally prejudicial. I mean to follow that one-two to start the debate clearly was meant to put him on the defensive. Yes they did ask Christie about his state's douwngrades but at least they didn't mention Bridgegate. If that were Trump's mess my guess is they would have gone there.
Meanwhile, I can't think of any questions anywhere near the level of Trump asked of Rubio or Jeb.
Ok Trump has said some awful things about women. But the Republican party has never had a problem with that before. Usually complaints about disrespecting women lead to mocking the complainer as engaging in political correctness. Rush's dittoheads eat out of his hand every time he says Hillary Clinton has a head like a hood ornament. The selective outrage shown here is galling.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/08/erick-ericksons-excercise-in-extreme.html
Ok, now this oservation by Robinson is very perceptive.
"One particularly telling moment, I thought, came when Trump was asked about his previous support of Democrats, including likely nominee Hillary Clinton. The gist of Trump’s answer was this: Hey, I gave lots of money to politicians of both parties because that’s what rich and powerful people do, and in exchange they get access and influence. It’s a rotten system but that’s the way it works, and let’s not pretend otherwise."
I too in some vague way at the time was kind of impressed with that but Robinson gives it more body. There is in a sense refreshing honesty here. Rather than doing what most long time politicians do and pretend it doesn't happen. Robinson also doesn't think Trump's campaign ended Thursday night as the GOP establishment has worked so hard to convince themselves:
"I think that exchange might help befuddled politicians and pundits understand the Trump insurrection. That is how the system works. For voters who feel powerless and marginalized, I believe it is refreshing and perhaps liberating to hear an insider talk honestly about the role big money plays in politics."
"Will Trump’s poll numbers continue to rise? I have no idea. But I think the GOP establishment is whistling past the graveyard if it thinks the Trump bubble has burst."
"It was impossible this week to walk anywhere in this lakeside city’s revivifying downtown without bumping into members of the Republican Party’s political elite, and conversations with them suggested a kind of magical thinking: Somehow, they assume, this whole Trump thing will go poof and disappear. Order will be restored to the GOP universe."
"That may come to pass. But I’m pretty sure it didn’t happen Thursday night."
He admits you can argue with how representative the sample is but Trump went over very well.
"Anyone who thought the Fox News moderators might go easy on the GOP field, or at least its leader, was mistaken. Yet when Bret Baier maneuvered Trump into acknowledging that he might run in the general election as an independent, there were oohs and aahs — but no catcalls. When Megyn Kelly pressed him on the crude and hurtful things he has said about women, Trump’s shrug — “What I say is what I say” — got a laugh, and his attack on “political correctness” drew applause. When Chris Wallace burrowed in on his four corporate bankruptcies, Trump’s explanation that he was just playing by the rules went over just fine."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-one-reason-donald-trump-was-the-clear-winner-of-the-first-gop-debate/2015/08/07/c8fa4988-3d1e-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html?hpid=z2
There's no doubt that Fox was especially hard on Trump. Yes, other candidates got tough questions but the hit Trump with two very tough questions right off the bat. I mean to open up with the demand for the pledge on not running third party was a clear signal that they were gunning for him immediately.
Then to go from that to the question of his insults of various women was just totally prejudicial. I mean to follow that one-two to start the debate clearly was meant to put him on the defensive. Yes they did ask Christie about his state's douwngrades but at least they didn't mention Bridgegate. If that were Trump's mess my guess is they would have gone there.
Meanwhile, I can't think of any questions anywhere near the level of Trump asked of Rubio or Jeb.
Ok Trump has said some awful things about women. But the Republican party has never had a problem with that before. Usually complaints about disrespecting women lead to mocking the complainer as engaging in political correctness. Rush's dittoheads eat out of his hand every time he says Hillary Clinton has a head like a hood ornament. The selective outrage shown here is galling.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/08/erick-ericksons-excercise-in-extreme.html
Ok, now this oservation by Robinson is very perceptive.
"One particularly telling moment, I thought, came when Trump was asked about his previous support of Democrats, including likely nominee Hillary Clinton. The gist of Trump’s answer was this: Hey, I gave lots of money to politicians of both parties because that’s what rich and powerful people do, and in exchange they get access and influence. It’s a rotten system but that’s the way it works, and let’s not pretend otherwise."
I too in some vague way at the time was kind of impressed with that but Robinson gives it more body. There is in a sense refreshing honesty here. Rather than doing what most long time politicians do and pretend it doesn't happen. Robinson also doesn't think Trump's campaign ended Thursday night as the GOP establishment has worked so hard to convince themselves:
"I think that exchange might help befuddled politicians and pundits understand the Trump insurrection. That is how the system works. For voters who feel powerless and marginalized, I believe it is refreshing and perhaps liberating to hear an insider talk honestly about the role big money plays in politics."
"Will Trump’s poll numbers continue to rise? I have no idea. But I think the GOP establishment is whistling past the graveyard if it thinks the Trump bubble has burst."
"It was impossible this week to walk anywhere in this lakeside city’s revivifying downtown without bumping into members of the Republican Party’s political elite, and conversations with them suggested a kind of magical thinking: Somehow, they assume, this whole Trump thing will go poof and disappear. Order will be restored to the GOP universe."
"That may come to pass. But I’m pretty sure it didn’t happen Thursday night."
At least Trump is not a phony-he's sort of the extreme opposite of a phony. Which is not something you can say of the rest of the GOP presidential field.
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