From Huffington Post today:
From me in May:People Aren’t Really Appreciating Just How Bad Trump’s Campaign Has Been“He is a neutron bomb that has gone off in the Republican Party,” said one top aide to Romney’s 2012 campaign....David Plouffe, Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, called these moments “being in the barrel”: a point in a campaign where a candidate simply cannot get beyond a cascade of bad press and controversy.But to apply that aphorism to Trump’s past week might not do the barrel justice, veterans of past campaigns argue. Stuart Stevens, a top aide to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign and a frequent Trump critic, noted that other candidates have imploded before. No one, he argues, has done it quite as spectacularly and with such a large potential for damage as Trump.“Donald Trump is Todd Akin. He is Richard Mourdock and Sharron Angle,” he said, referring to three infamous Republican Senate candidates who committed fatal verbal miscues. “But that is really not fair to Akin, Mourdock and Angle. They weren’t nuts. They had political views and others that made them unelectable. With Donald Trump, it is instability. He is an absurd candidate for president. He is a neutron bomb that has gone off in the Republican Party that is destroying anyone near him.”...
#NeutronDon Political WMD designed to take out the entire Republican Party but keep their office space and laptops intact#reiders @CNN— driftglass (@Mr_Electrico) May 8, 2016
I have to think that you have a lot of lurkers who never comment and some of them are probably members of the Beltway punditry and other political courtiers (whether R or L). It is the linking to the linking to the linking.
ReplyDeleteYou're an original, driftglass.
ReplyDeleteFuck the hacks.
You know who you are.
538 had Arizona at R+0.4 and Georgia at R+0.7. Time for the Democrats to deploy some campaign resources.
ReplyDeleteIt would be something of a miracle if the laptops could be kept intact and avoid their destruction before the bomb goes off.
ReplyDeleteI think it is time to re-assess exactly what Mr. Trump wants out of all of this. I am returning to my opinion from a few months back that he never intended to make a serious run for President. He is running to be King of The 30 million Army of Sarah Palin/Duck Dynasty/Dugger Republican voting base.
ReplyDeleteHis utter lack of a real campaign structure, no ground game, half-assed convention, poor speak preparation, etc. shows his lack of seriousness about being President. He, like all his business dealings, is going after the chump's wallets and like working to keep our government dysfunctional as directed by Putin.
Among the American pig people, he's bullet proof. A frog stomping on the national electoral stage while media conservatives tsk tsk him will only increase his brand. He already said "rigged" therefore to 30 million Americans the results will be "rigged" and the media will only say "Well, some are saying, who knows?"
Because Republicans can't disavowal or even scold their base. Because Republicans can't say ANYTHING that gives a inch of legitimacy to Democratic electoral wins and/or governance.
Republicans won't give Trump want he wanted back in the Spring, so he is taking it. His actions of late are to be sure there is no chance of someone turning to him in November and saying "Congratulations Mr. President."
I think one of the things incestously intertwined with the "both sides" dogma is the treatment of any electoral contest as a "horse race" (whereas I prefer a more old-fashioned framing of "good vs. evil").
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the reason the "horse race" narrative doesn't really work for this election is that we have a horse and a horse's ass.
Not the same thing at all.
The one tag line that has gone long past trite is the "I'm supporting Trump because we need to shake things up."
ReplyDeleteReally?
Things in this country are so bad, so unbearable, yet one thin-skinned rich white guy who has a decades long track records of stepping on others to get what he wants is primed to fix America's problems, or at least will manage to stir the collective from its stupor and to act - all without causing his own brand of multi-faceted collateral damage.
No.
You don't "fix" our social/political/economic problems by electing a crazed, vengeful nut. You fix problems by electing responsible people, and holding them accountable. You become (and stay) informed. You become (and stay) engaged. You become (and stay) involved - there are public meetings all over the country - city councils, school distrticts, water agencies, County Boards of Supervisors/Selectmen whatever. Find out what they are up to, and let 'em know you're paying attention. Write - Don't e-mail - your congressional reps. Ask for things, Call them on it when they support stuff that makes no sense to you.
Yeah, all this takes time. Probably a few hours a week - at least 2-3 for a just effort. But its worth it. Electing one candidate and walking away ain't an option - if it ever was. It's exactly what too many public officials want from their voters.