No Donald Trump is not Teflon-not Even Close

I talked about how a Face the Nation roundtable on Sunday Morning was dismissing talk of Trump's tax returns as irrelevant. This won't work the pundits decided because Trump is Teflon in the face of these kinds of attacks.

I was disappointed to see Jamelle Bouie agree with this piece of conventional wisdom-that is not terribly wise. Disappointed as he's been a voice of reason for Dems not to engage in bedwetting over Trump.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/05/donald-trump-should-be-hit-every-day-on.html

My argument is the polar opposite: Trump should be asked about his tax returns every day like Mitt Romney was until.

A. November

B. He releases them.

C. Whichever comes first.

Everything we know about him suggests A. Which is fine, if that's how it comes out. After all, this gives Hillary and every Democrat in the country something to demand from him for nearly six months. Let the good times roll.

This attack worked on Mitt Romney so why does the media think it somehow can't' work on Trump?

I think for a couple of reasons.

1. Trump is running as a guy who says 'Yeah, I have manipulated the system against the public interest. But I will now use those skills at dealmaking in the public interest.'

Regarding this argument-that the fox is the best person to guard the henhouse-I debunked in my previous post.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-case-for-trump-fox-will-most.html

Basically it comes down to this.

A. Great businessmen don''t make great Presidents.

B. Donald Trump is actually far from a great businessman. He could have made more money since 1974 in a passive fund than all his dubious dealmaking.

C. His absurd 'suggestion'-as his proposals are all 'suggestions'-that we should declare bankruptcy proves that a businessman are a bad fit as President.

After all, it served Trump's private interest to manipulate the bankruptcy laws, but doing the same thing with US would be madness. It would not lead to the benefit it provides for private interests.

2. Beyond this, the media has decided that Trump is Teflon based on the way he steamrolled the GOP primary. But this is surely mixing up apples-the GOP primary-with oranges-the general election.

Much of what Trump has done has had this amazing property-which is why I was such an unabashed cheerleader for his winning the GOP primary-of inverse-ness.

Basically the more of this 'politically incorrect' talk he engages in makes the GOP primary voters love him ore and the general election voters hate him more.

This is why I fingered him since July as the perfect candidate-for Democrats.

And now the GOP has done it. They have literally nominated the worst possible candidate they cold have. And while Paul Ryan won't go so far as to 'support' or 'endorse him just yet-we've learnt since Trump has become the nominee that there is a difference between support and endorse when it comes to him-many House GOPers particularly are already embracing him.

So for a long time to come much of the GOP will be associated with an absolutely radioactive person, Donald Trump. a white nationalist.

I think the Dems may even be able to run against him in future elections-every single Congressperson who 'endorsed' or 'supported' Donald Trump; and heck, even those who didn't. After all, he's the party's nominee.

Beyond this, when the pundits say that vetting Trump doesn't work it makes a fundamental mistake: the GOP utterly failed to vet him.

How can you say vetting him won't hurt him as this has not been tried? The GOP candidates never figured out how to go after him.

This is due to the fact that Trump was an embarrassment-not because he was out of step with the party but because he was and is in step with it.

His calls for things like deporting 12 milion people, a Muslim database and a Muslim ban are not ideas that Trump invented. They had all been ideas floating among GOP and conservative ideas for years.

Trump's sin was being too blatant about it: these are supposed to be dog whistles not shouted from a bullhorn.

This is what Dana Milbank still misses:

"But this doesn’t mean he deserves to be treated as though he were Mitt Romney, John McCain or George W. Bush. He is fundamentally different, operating outside of America’s democratic values and constitutional restraints. He talks about torturing detainees and killing the innocent relatives of terrorists. He talks about restricting First Amendment freedoms to make it easier to sue those who criticize him. He talks of banning members of an entire religion from entry into the United States and forcing those here to register with authorities, as was done in 1930s Germany. He winks at the violence at his events. His words have rallied millions against immigrants, Latinos, African Americans and the disabled. Studies of his language and the attitudes of his followers show he has more in common with fascist leaders than Americans have seen at this level."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-ate-my-words-about-trump-but-treating-him-as-normal-is-a-recipe-for-ruin/2016/05/13/9f58217c-1900-11e6-924d-838753295f9a_story.html

This is totally wrong. Remember that it was George W. Bush's Administration which practiced waterboarding.

Remember that Jeb Bush himself called for banning non Christian Syrian refugees. As for Trump's talk about suing the media, remember that this is part of the larger conservative boilerplate for 60 years going back to William F. Buckley that the 'liberal media' is biased and unfair.

As for African-Americans remember that the third ranking GOP member of the House, House Whip Steve Scalise, has received the support of David Duke in the past much as Trump has received it this time.

If you want to know what caused Trump, Dana Milbank's attitude is a big part of the problem-way too many pundits have thought like him. So even though he had to eat his words, he's still stubbornly learning nothing.

Donald Trump did not develop in a vacuum.

So it was tough for Trump's GOP opponents to really go after him on ideology-when they did criticize him on his Muslim ban or banning the 12 million it was unconvincing and hypocritical. After all, Kasich himself ran in 2010 for Governor promising to ban the 12 million.

Beyond ideology, even on the personal level-which as Trump has no public record, is totally within bounds-the GOP waited until way too late to even make a start.

Only when Marco Rubio's campaign was literally cratering to earth did he make this last gasp Kamikaze attempt to take down Trump at the debate after Nevada.

Rubio for the first time mentioned Trump University, and the fact that Trump had used illegal immigrant labor to build his Trump Towers.

But this had a desperate, everything but the kitchen sink quality. Rubio also completely changed his own persona and tried to out Trump Trump. He was supposed to be a serious candidate and reduced himself to a high school boy throwing around insults 'I know you are Big Donald, but what am I?'

The difference is for the Dems is they've been sitting on a mountain of oppo research and are not waiting to start.

It's going to be a very interesting six months.