I continue to be amazed by The Donald. The day after a particularly disastrous debate -- the worst so far by a wide margin, and that's saying something -- people aren't talking about all the dirt heaped on Trump. The Trump University ripoff scandal? NOPE. Trump the flip-flopper? NOPE. The mystery tape of the NY Times off-the-record interview? NOPE.
I'll post my full review of Thursday's night's Disaster in Detroit below. But what should have been a total debacle for Trump was overshadowed by a crazy joke Trump told. That's right. All people were talking about was Donald Trump's PENIS!!! I guess that's just typical of where America's brain is at these days.
A good lesson for political wannabes .... Having a bad night? Talk about your penis.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4785505749001/donald-t … show-clips
Things pretty much went according to form. Ted Cruz, with his superior money and organization, dominates caucus states on the GOP side and won Kansas and Maine; and Bernie Sanders, with his strong, dedicated support of liberal and younger voters, dominates caucus states on the Democratic side and won Kansas and Nebraska.
Front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, who excel in primaries, each won the only one available in Louisiana.
The big question mark Saturday was whether Trump would feel the effects of Thursday's brutal debate and a number of attacks, by Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
For those looking for signs of damage to Trump, he reportedly won Louisiana's primary on the basis of early voting. Cruz carried election day voting. However, Trump in election day voting won Kentucky's caucuses, and considering he basically has no ground operation, that's a pretty impressive feat. In short, there was no real answer to that question on Saturday. Michigan votes Tuesday. If he suffered serious harm, that will be a better gauge of it.
Nothing changed on the Democratic side at all. Sanders won the caucuses in the predominantly white states of Kansas and Nebraska. Clinton won the Southern and minority-heavy primary in Louisiana. One minor note: Clinton's campaign was much better in caucus states than in 2008. That year, Obama routed Clinton in caucus states, racking up such a huge delegate advantage that he realistically won the nomination based on his success in caucuses. This year, Hillary's campaign limited the damage. They lost the caucuses, but kept it close enough to actually win more delegates on the day.
Trump, of course, had the zinger of the day. He noted that of course Cruz won the caucuses in Maine, "because it's close to Canada." Ta-dum :)
Today (Sunday) Democrats vote in the Maine caucuses and Republicans in the Puerto Rico primary. Sanders is the heavy favorite in Maine. Who knows in Puerto Rico? I'd assume Rubio, mainly because he was the only GOP candidate to campaign there.
I actually do think some elements of the GOP establishment would rather see Hillary win rather than Trump, if it comes down to that. They probably think she's more predictable, would be easier to work with, and they could take a better shot at beating her in 4 years rather than (God forbid) being stuck with Trump for 8!!!
If the Republican Party hopes to salvage *anything* from the November election, it better hope nobody was watching Thursday night's debacle in Detroit. After the events of Thursday, which began with Mitt Romney's extended denunciation of Donald Trump and concluded with a disgusting, disheartening "debate" performance by the three GOP front-runners (Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz), I'd swear the GOP establishment has decided to sabotage the election. I've NEVER seen a party attempt to destroy its probable nominee the way Romney, Rubio and Cruz are trying to not just defeat Trump, but totally discredit him as a candidate.
Don't they realize they're not only destroying him with some GOP voters, but even more so with the electorate at large? It appears that the GOP establishment has decided that if Trump is the nominee, they would rather see Hillary Clinton be elected in November. The problem with this strategy is that the GOP risks not only losing the presidential election, but also being wiped out in down-ballot races, with the Senate, especially, at stake.
The GOP should cancel any upcoming debates, and NEVER have another debate on Fox News!!! Fox, of course, is little more than the broadcast arm of the National Republican Party and as such has little interest in putting on a quality debate. The Fox moderating team, as expected, joined the Trump pile-on and, if anyone was watching, landed some heavy blows against Trump, and repeatedly set Rubio and Cruz up with attack lines.
Boiling it down, the debate went like this for two hours. Fox moderators ask a "gotcha" question, leading off, of course, with the Romney attack on Trump. Then Rubio and/or Cruz hurls some accusation at Trump. Trump responds by insulting Rubio and/or Cruz. The debate's content was so ridiculous that at one point, Trump even made a joke about his penis size!!! The whole spectacle seemed funny for a bit, but eventually just became tedious and annoying.
John Kasich, whom the Republicans would nominate if they had any sense left (they don't), played the part of the only adult in the room, but his attempts to inject serious policy discussions into the affair just fell flat. The GOP isn't in a serious mood.
Fox, Cruz and Rubio may have scored big on Trump by demanding that he release the contents of an off-the-record interview that was allegedly taped by The New York Times. Trump acknowledged the interview, but it's unclear whether it was really taped. All that's known on that was an unsubstantiated report on Buzzfeed. Trump refused to release it, and frankly, so would I. Off the record is off the record. But Buzzfeed alleged that in the interview Trump flipflopped on his hard-line immigration stance. Don't know if that's true, but if so, Trump should have known better. OTR is for offering background, not saying something that is the exact opposite of what you're campaigning on.
All in all, Kasich looked best by default. Cruz probably had the best night of the three leading candidates, but come on. Cruz is maybe even MORE unelectable than The Donald. Rubio pretty much came off as "Little Marco," as Trump repeatedly called him. And the debate was a total disaster for Trump, who took all the bad things about his campaign and doubled down on them. At this point, he's betting that he's already got the nomination won. He's likely right, but if he doesn't, we'll find out soon enough, as Michigan votes Tuesday, and starting March 15, all GOP primaries are winner-take-all.
If any independents were actually watching Thursday's horror show, I would guess they won't be voting Republican in November. What a total train wreck!!!