I just started reading this post by Marshall:
"I was online last night when I saw someone say, 'Just think how differently this would be going if Rubes or Kasich were the nominee.' I actually think Clinton would be doing much better in those contests than a lot of people realize. But the counter-factual jarred me into a sudden realization: It's not just that Trump isn't doing well. He's barely running a campaign at all."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-isn-t-doing-poorly-he-s-not-even-running
I did a double take as I just finished pointing this same fact out to Jennifer Rubin.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-reality-check-for-jennifer-rubin.html
I made this same argument: Hillary could beat Rubes or Kasich. Yes, you'd rather face Trump as he gives you the layup every time, but Hillary has skills considerably beyond that.
So often me and Marshall are on the same page.
As for his point here, Trump is a victim of his own success in the primary and his own delusional narcissism more generally. He thinks that tweeting, dominating media and holding rallies are enough to get it done.
"I was online last night when I saw someone say, 'Just think how differently this would be going if Rubes or Kasich were the nominee.' I actually think Clinton would be doing much better in those contests than a lot of people realize. But the counter-factual jarred me into a sudden realization: It's not just that Trump isn't doing well. He's barely running a campaign at all."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-isn-t-doing-poorly-he-s-not-even-running
I did a double take as I just finished pointing this same fact out to Jennifer Rubin.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-reality-check-for-jennifer-rubin.html
I made this same argument: Hillary could beat Rubes or Kasich. Yes, you'd rather face Trump as he gives you the layup every time, but Hillary has skills considerably beyond that.
So often me and Marshall are on the same page.
As for his point here, Trump is a victim of his own success in the primary and his own delusional narcissism more generally. He thinks that tweeting, dominating media and holding rallies are enough to get it done.
After all, it worked in the GOP primary, right?
"If you think the Conservative party is in a bad way over Europe, spare a thought for the Republicans of Washington DC. Their presidential candidate is Donald Trump, and he’s a nightmare. The party can’t stand him, he can’t stand the party, and somehow they’re supposed to win an election together. The omens don’t look good."
"Even the influential Republicans who wish Trump well — and there aren’t many — can’t figure out how to get along with him. ‘I just have no idea how you get an idea into Trumpland,’ says Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, who is known as ‘the most powerful conservative in DC’. He adds, ‘In any campaign, the circle of trust shrinks as the campaign goes on. At this stage, Trump’s circle appears already to be very small. It is certainly opaque.’ One younger Republican puts it more bluntly: ‘Trump’s campaign is, like, so random! I mean who are they? And how is anyone supposed to work with them?’"
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/06/trumps-train-wreck-how-the-donald-is-derailing-his-own-campaign/
This is why the conspiracy theories that Trump was in with the Clintons seemed so persuasive. I think once Trump went after Bill on Monica Lewinsky, everyone gave up on that theory, but, honestly, while Trump isn't trying to win this for Hillary he might as well be. Everything he's doing is serving that end.
Here's some good news in terms of party unity.
"The Republicans, for their part, began to melt under the sudden glow of the Orange One’s geniality. In the course of a few days, Ryan went from being ‘just not ready’ to endorse Trump to saying that a President Trump would ‘improve people’s lives’. Various other grandees began backing him, too. Trump would tweet back his appreciation. The opportunistic old dog Newt Gingrich, clearly angling for a vice-presidential nomination, went so far as to compare Trump to Reagan. It would all have been quite sweet had it not been so disgusting."
"Then, on 8 June, Clinton wrapped up the nomination, and the formidable Democratic electoral machine clicked into gear. President Obama promised to tour the country to support her campaign. Even Bernie Sanders vowed to ‘work as hard as he can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president’. The fear among establishment Democrats, and the hope among the Trumpists, had been that Sanders supporters were more anti-establishment than pro-progressive. They would plump for an outsider like Trump ahead of Clinton, the ultimate insider. But now it seems certain that a majority of even Bernie’s more radical fans will hold their nose and vote for the ‘neo-liberal’ Hillary above Trump the ‘neofascist’. At a Sanders rally in Washington last Thursday, I asked people in the crowd if they could bring themselves to vote for Hillary. They all said yes, apart from one young man who insisted he would write ‘Sanders’ on the ballot. ‘Fuck her,’ he said. ‘But I’m not voting Trump.’
Mark Singer, like Mark Cuban, questions if Trump even really wants to be President.
"But does Trump want to learn? Does he even want to be president? Mark Singer, the New Yorker writer and author of Trump and Me, says, ‘Donald Trump is a compulsive liar. The biggest lie of all is that he wants to be president. The circumstantial evidence indicates otherwise. He has a bare-bones campaign organisation, insufficient funds, and an unwillingness to restrain himself from picking ugly, gratuitous fights.’
That's something most Americans will agree with Trump on: we don't want him to be President either.
P.S. Charles Koch is donating $3 million to the GOP but this money is earmarked 'Not for Trump.'
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/charles-koch-money-senate-gop-224499
"If you think the Conservative party is in a bad way over Europe, spare a thought for the Republicans of Washington DC. Their presidential candidate is Donald Trump, and he’s a nightmare. The party can’t stand him, he can’t stand the party, and somehow they’re supposed to win an election together. The omens don’t look good."
"Even the influential Republicans who wish Trump well — and there aren’t many — can’t figure out how to get along with him. ‘I just have no idea how you get an idea into Trumpland,’ says Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, who is known as ‘the most powerful conservative in DC’. He adds, ‘In any campaign, the circle of trust shrinks as the campaign goes on. At this stage, Trump’s circle appears already to be very small. It is certainly opaque.’ One younger Republican puts it more bluntly: ‘Trump’s campaign is, like, so random! I mean who are they? And how is anyone supposed to work with them?’"
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/06/trumps-train-wreck-how-the-donald-is-derailing-his-own-campaign/
This is why the conspiracy theories that Trump was in with the Clintons seemed so persuasive. I think once Trump went after Bill on Monica Lewinsky, everyone gave up on that theory, but, honestly, while Trump isn't trying to win this for Hillary he might as well be. Everything he's doing is serving that end.
Here's some good news in terms of party unity.
"The Republicans, for their part, began to melt under the sudden glow of the Orange One’s geniality. In the course of a few days, Ryan went from being ‘just not ready’ to endorse Trump to saying that a President Trump would ‘improve people’s lives’. Various other grandees began backing him, too. Trump would tweet back his appreciation. The opportunistic old dog Newt Gingrich, clearly angling for a vice-presidential nomination, went so far as to compare Trump to Reagan. It would all have been quite sweet had it not been so disgusting."
"Then, on 8 June, Clinton wrapped up the nomination, and the formidable Democratic electoral machine clicked into gear. President Obama promised to tour the country to support her campaign. Even Bernie Sanders vowed to ‘work as hard as he can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president’. The fear among establishment Democrats, and the hope among the Trumpists, had been that Sanders supporters were more anti-establishment than pro-progressive. They would plump for an outsider like Trump ahead of Clinton, the ultimate insider. But now it seems certain that a majority of even Bernie’s more radical fans will hold their nose and vote for the ‘neo-liberal’ Hillary above Trump the ‘neofascist’. At a Sanders rally in Washington last Thursday, I asked people in the crowd if they could bring themselves to vote for Hillary. They all said yes, apart from one young man who insisted he would write ‘Sanders’ on the ballot. ‘Fuck her,’ he said. ‘But I’m not voting Trump.’
Mark Singer, like Mark Cuban, questions if Trump even really wants to be President.
"But does Trump want to learn? Does he even want to be president? Mark Singer, the New Yorker writer and author of Trump and Me, says, ‘Donald Trump is a compulsive liar. The biggest lie of all is that he wants to be president. The circumstantial evidence indicates otherwise. He has a bare-bones campaign organisation, insufficient funds, and an unwillingness to restrain himself from picking ugly, gratuitous fights.’
That's something most Americans will agree with Trump on: we don't want him to be President either.
P.S. Charles Koch is donating $3 million to the GOP but this money is earmarked 'Not for Trump.'
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/charles-koch-money-senate-gop-224499
"P.S. Charles Koch is donating $3 million to the GOP but this money is earmarked 'Not for Trump.'"
ReplyDeleteChris Matthews thought that Trump could use that to his advantage; by pointing out that the Koch brothers hate him he could gain some political points.