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Donald Trump is an embarrassment who is impossible to embarrass. It's his superpower.
Vox ^ | August 7, 2015 | Ezra Klein

Posted on 08/07/2015 9:09:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Fox News's primetime Republican debate began with an attempt to cow Donald Trump. Would he pledge to forego a third-party candidacy and endorse the eventual Republican nominee?

He would not.

Did he understand the question? Did he realize that would probably guarantee that Hillary Clinton won the White House?

He did. The crowd cheered.

Then it was Megyn Kelly's turn. She read him a litany of horrible terms he's used to describe women. He's called them "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals."

Trump's response? He only said that about Rosie O'Donnell. The crowd cheered. (Trump was lying, by the way.)

Kelly tried again. She referenced the time Trump told a woman, on national television, "It must be a pretty picture. You dropping to your knees."

"I don't frankly have time for total political correctness," Trump told Kelly. "And to be honest with you, this country doesn't either." The crowd roared.

This is Donald Trump's secret, his strategy, his power. Trump is a honey badger. He just doesn't [expletive] care. He will never, ever give an inch. Better to be a monster than a wuss.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

You cannot embarrass Donald Trump. You cannot back him down with questions that make other candidates buckle. And the crowd loves him for it. They love him because he does not back down. The fact that Trump doesn't back down is the core of Trump-ism. It is the answer to how he will negotiate with the Democrats, with China, with Mexico. He will get what he wants because he doesn't back down.

Is it lunacy? Sure. But it's an appealing kind of lunacy. It's the ultimate Green Lantern Theory of the American Presidency. Candidates always promise that by virtue of their force of character, they will be able to do what their predecessors couldn't, while making fewer compromises than their predecessors made. It's what the people want to hear.

But Trump goes further. There is no border or boundary to his self-confidence. He doesn't just tell you he won't back down. He stands up and shows he won't back down. He is a mathematical proof for himself.

And that makes him almost impossible to trap in this kind of forum. The media keep thinking they can quote Trump's worst statements back to him and he will have to admit their ugliness, he will have to apologize for his basic lack of decency, he will have to reveal a crack in his ego's facade. But they are wrong.

Later in the debate, Fox News brought out the big guns. "15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care," Bret Baier said. "You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now?"

Trump's answer? "In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it."

There is something amazing in the sheer gall of that answer. Trump, asked about his heterodoxy on health care, instead says he had the foresight to oppose the Iraq War years after it was launched! They should inscribe that answer on a rock and put a sword in the rock and whoever can pull the sword out of the rock gets a billion dollars because they aren't a [expletive] loser who doesn't understand the greatness of Donald Trump.

And then Trump went onto say "As far as single payer, it works in Canada." Which is actually, you know, true! But there is no other Republican candidate who would say those words on Fox News.

Did Donald Trump win the debate? Lose it? I have no idea. it's not even clear those concepts apply to a candidate like him. By the normal rules of Republican debates, Trump was crushed like a bug. But by the normal rules of Republican presidential campaigns, Trump doesn't exist. Fox News said their insta-poll showed voters turning against Trump, but who knows? My colleague Jon Allen, who was in the arena, reports that when Trump was first introduced, the applause for him was light compared to other candidates. By the end, he was drawing "uproarious cheers" and had seemed to win over the crowd, at least sentimentally.

But Donald Trump proved something last night. Fox News threw everything they had at him, they did it on national television, and he didn't flinch. Donald Trump proved that you cannot embarrass Donald Trump. He is a man who lives entirely without shame or self-doubt. It's like a superpower. And every time he refuses to back down, every time he shows what you can do and say if you have no shame, his supporters thrill to him a little more. After all, if the media can't stop him, then what chance do the Democrats have? What chance do America's enemies have?


TOPICS: Campaign News; Issues; Parties
KEYWORDS: debates; postfirstgopdebate; trump
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1 posted on 08/07/2015 9:09:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Click here for youtube video of the peoples'
response to The Bimbo Kelly (FOX "News" attacker)

2 posted on 08/07/2015 9:10:52 PM PDT by Diogenesis ("When a crime is unpunished, the world is unbalanced.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Klein is projecting to the max here. Of course, Vox itself is a manifestation of his own outsized ego.


3 posted on 08/07/2015 9:11:46 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Funny—I thought that was Bill Clinton’s superpower too.


4 posted on 08/07/2015 9:12:20 PM PDT by rbg81
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

After all, if the media can’t stop him, then what chance do the Democrats have? What chance do America’s enemies have?


5 posted on 08/07/2015 9:12:44 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Says a Journ-no-lister...

Oh Irony, where is they sting...


6 posted on 08/07/2015 9:13:56 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: Diogenesis

They are so funny I love it. ROFL


7 posted on 08/07/2015 9:18:55 PM PDT by Patriot Babe
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The Donald is inside the MSM, GOPe and DIMS OODA loop 24/7

and there is nothing they can do about it.

8 posted on 08/07/2015 9:20:53 PM PDT by spokeshave (If an illegal alien is undocumented immigrant a drug dealer is an unlicensed pharmacist)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Keep trying to tell us what to think wacko propagandists! We are not RATS. We have brains and think for ourselves.


9 posted on 08/07/2015 9:20:58 PM PDT by uncitizen ("When a liberal speaks, a liberal is lying" - Mark Levin)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

vox is a leftist propaganda site.

there is nothing on there for which you won’t regret wasting the 2 minutes you spent reading it.


10 posted on 08/07/2015 9:21:27 PM PDT by TangibleDisgust ("To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize." - Voltaire)
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To: TangibleDisgust

I actually took the article as a left-handed compliment of Don Trump.


11 posted on 08/07/2015 9:22:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (TED CRUZ. You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

bfl


12 posted on 08/07/2015 9:22:39 PM PDT by TEXOKIE (We must surrender only to our Holy God and never to the evil that has befallen us.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I can’t remember what extraordinary powers the Green Lantern had, though I read his adventures as a kid. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t impervious to embarrassment, but didn’t his writers just recently turn him into a rump wrangler?
Interesting article. Trump is turning things upside down and inside out.


13 posted on 08/07/2015 9:28:42 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: Diogenesis
This attraction to Trump, I believe, is based on his willingness to hit back against the media, to tell uncomfortable truths about our country in a straightforward manner, and to dump on political correctness.

All of which I applaud.

I just don't think we're voting ourselves out of this mess, even if the Donald wins the White House, and starts saying, "You're fired!" to thousands of federal bureaucrats.

14 posted on 08/07/2015 9:28:57 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer (AMERICA IS DONE! When can we start over?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Trump just tells the truth. The truth is always a HUGE embarrassment to the Left.


15 posted on 08/07/2015 9:46:47 PM PDT by JennysCool (My hypocrisy goes only so far)
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To: backwoods-engineer

Reagan fired 11,000 striking air traffic controllers, against the advice of—just about everyone.
You might be surprised at what The Donald is capable of doing? Really? He’s as loose a cannon as many voters have ever seen.


16 posted on 08/07/2015 9:48:07 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: backwoods-engineer; MinuteGal

“I just don’t think we’re voting ourselves out of this mess, even if the Donald wins the White House, and starts saying, “You’re fired!” to thousands of federal bureaucrats.”

Yeah, but it’s a good start, isn’t it.


17 posted on 08/07/2015 9:48:15 PM PDT by flaglady47 (TRUMP ROCKS!)
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To: Diogenesis

Trump ought to tweet that out.


18 posted on 08/07/2015 9:48:42 PM PDT by aquila48
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To: Diogenesis

The best!!


19 posted on 08/07/2015 9:51:36 PM PDT by JPII Be Not Afraid
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To: backwoods-engineer
even if the Donald wins the White House, and starts saying, "You're fired!" to thousands of federal bureaucrats.

That is precisely, EXACTLY what the Washington establishment is worried about. About three-quarters of federal employees could go without any appreciable impact. Federal hiring has been a make-work project for decades. It has to end somewhere. They are quite worried it might be ending here.

20 posted on 08/07/2015 9:52:32 PM PDT by JennysCool (My hypocrisy goes only so far)
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