Friday, August 21, 2015
Trump isn't winning; the rest are losing
For weeks, the nation has been watching Jeb Bush, waiting for him to finally push back against the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of Donald Trump.
Bush was comatose at the debates. Since then, while Trump prances and preens like Mussolini in the spotlight, outlining a platform that is, in turns, racist, misogynist, unworkable, cruel and insane, Bush has been crawling around the campaign shadows, looking for his manhood with flashlight.
Then Thursday, on the stump in New Hampshire, it happened. Bush lit into Trump ... wait for it ... not for his economy-killing and immoral plan to deport all illegal Mexican immigrants. Not for his complete lack of political experience.
No, Bush damned Trump for not being conservative enough.
"There's a big difference between Donald Trump and me," Bush said in Kenne, New Hampshire. "I'm a proven conservative with a record. He isn't."
Ohhh, so that's the problem, is it? That's like saying the difference between myself and Hitler is that he's a vegetarian and I'm not.
Bush went on to palaver about taxes, about abortion, about insurance, claiming that Trump, who has rode to the top of the polls and stayed there by directly channelling the poisonous id of the far right, is insufficiently right wing. The man used to be a Democrat!
Maybe so, Jeb. But he sure ain't a Democrat now.
When he wasn't weakly trying to repudiate Trump for lacking GOP blue blood, Bush was aping him. Only two years after Bush wrote a book outlining a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, he suddenly started tossing around the phrase "anchor babies" Thursday and was defending it at his press conference after his speech, asking what else he should call children of undocumented workers.
Umm, suggested a reporter, how about "children of undocumented workers?"
Too long, Bush replied.
Lots of things are too long. Election campaigns. Trump's comb-over. Bush's dithering. The time the public has been forced to endure Donald Trump's personality. Though I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The man could win. Although watching Jeb Bush in action, I would finesse that notion. It isn't that Donald Trump is winning, so much as the rest of them are losing, badly.
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Jeb isn't competition for him. He's a dud. He can bring up how Trump treats women, that is offensive too. But it will be Walker or one of those that gets the Repub nom. Neither Trump nor Jeb. (sounds like a hillbilly name anyhow)
ReplyDeleteI read the Koch brothers are funding Walker heavily.
it's too early to predict a win
DeleteI agree with NS on this, and looking down the road, it's getting a little depressing thinking of a choice between Trump (God forbid), Bush (nightmare redux) or some other GOP nut case running against either Hillary, Bernie or Biden. I'm not crazy about HRC but she might be the best of a weak field of candidates. Bernie has some appeal, but I can't believe he'll win the nomination, Biden is a longshot -- so right now I'm guessing Jeb will edge out Trump to set up another Bush vs. Clinton race to the White House. Which is scary in itself, because I wonder if America is willing to elect a female president, which leaves us with.... Bush....again, ....ugh.
ReplyDeleteIf the U.S. can elect a black male, and I'm glad we did, then we can elect a female. Is it going to be Hillary though? That I'm not so sure about.
DeleteThis is a swell shot at Bush's lameness. As for Trump, though, and with all due respect, we're a long way from my beginning to think that you're the canary in the coal mine, NS, rather than the boy who cried "Wolf!".
ReplyDeleteThis country's electorate is pathetic; there's no doubt about that. But the likely eventuality of Bush v. Clinton, as Sandy refers to above, is plenty pathetic enough without invoking the possibility of Trump as the nominee. How is it possible that half of the country (at least) hates the Clintons with a passion, while half (at least) hate the most recent Bush with a complementary passion, yet Hillary and Jeb! are the supposed "front-runners"? Fact sadly stranger than fiction, as NS occasionally notes.
Bush is doing what the rest of the candidates not named Trump are doing. They're trying not to alienate his supporters, hoping to scoop them up once The Donald implodes shortly after the primaries start. This is why they're dancing around his outrageously offensive statements. Understandable, if disgusting.
ReplyDeleteIf Trump wins or does well in the first few primaries, look for the attacks to become more direct.
The problem is Trump declared them all hypocrites and puppets of their billionaire donors. They can't fight back because it's true, and they're afraid to challenge him on the issues because they can't afford to lose any voters from their ever shrinking demographic. They've had this coming to them for a long time ever since they decided far right is never far enough.
ReplyDeleteTrump's fans and supporters love his new reality show. I'm not sure this new political fad will carry Trump all the way, but who will stop him?
The first victim of such political kerfuffle's is precise meaning of words. Bush told the reporter that "anchor babies" is only a negative term because Democrats say it is. However, the American Heritage Dictionary calls it "offensive." And, of course, Hispanics consider it offensive for the simpler reason that it is being used as a club to beat them with. That's a problem for the future of the GOP, but if you listen to people supporting Trump they say they like him because he is straight talking and not "politically correct," which they evidently consider to be a mortal sin.
ReplyDeleteI think many people misunderstand the polls, not realizing that Trumps high poll numbers reflect his standing among likely Republican voters, not the electorate as a whole.
Tom Evans
Oh, sure, the American Heritage Dictionary, that liberal rag! You're such an elitist, Tom, insisting that "words" should have "meaning" apart from whatever dog-whistle reverberations are preferred by the folks in the clown car and the ones lining the parade route egging them on. ; )
DeleteWith an election cycle that's two years long and the rise of social media that thrives on circulating damning video clips, any candidate with serious plans to win the general has to resist the impulse to employ Trump's current winning strategy of pandering to the hardcore base with shocking sound-bites. As Romney proved last go-round, all it takes is one leaked video of the candidate saying something indefensible to re-frame the entire election unfavorably. The smart money in a marathon like this is to remain bland and palatable enough in the primaries to stand a chance of capturing swing votes in the general. Let the other candidates push the Overton Window to the right, and remain centrist even as the center edges rightward.
ReplyDeleteI remain skeptical that Trump is a serious candidate; his scorched earth approach to campaigning does little to alleviate this skepticism.
Bush is doing an excellent job of proving to the voters that he's makes his halfwit brother look smart!
ReplyDeleteI have to smile. In a state where Rod R. (Don't step on my blue suede shoes) Blagoyevich won two terms as governor, we take this preelection BS seriously. I can't believe Trump's current popularity and the rest of the GOP roster acting like morons. Then we have Hillary acting like she doesn't know anything about anything when it comes to emails and confidentiality and somehow being smart enough to have her own server for who knows why. When it's all done it will be Bernie Sanders running against Rand Paul. We are in the Twilight Zone.
ReplyDeleteHope you're right, Stan.
ReplyDeleteTrump must be defeated. he supports gun control.
ReplyDelete