Posted on 11/04/2015 7:08:11 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Of all the presidential aspirants who are at present scrabbling their way up the White House wall, Donald Trump is by far and away the best, the classiest, and the most handsome. He doesn't pander or kowtow to the special interests. He doesn't back down or apologize. He doesn't sweat, or even drink water. Instead, he makes great deals and knows the smartest people. He writes fabulous books and anchors top--rated TV shows. He makes great gobs of hard cash, sleeps on nothing less than the finest sheets, and imports only the most beautiful women to join him under them. He's richer than Solomon, more elegant than Jackie O, and he has the hair of an exquisite racehorse. (Not Secretariat.) He wins each and every debate with ease and style. Everybody agrees with him, and they tell him so: publicly, privately, and via the most superb online polls. All ethnic groups love him in equal measure, and females up and down the land yearn for his protective hands. He's number one; a winner; the tops.
What's that? Ben Carson is now leading the Republican pack, beating Trump by six points nationally? And Carson is ascendant in more than one poll?
Awkward.
Just how well Trump's triumphant shtick will work when delivered from anything other than the pole position is unclear. There is a good reason that both he and his supporters have elected to rest their case upon a tautology — "He's winning because he's winning!†— and that is that, in a culture that celebrates champions, standing in first place is quite the aphrodisiac. Unsure about the Donald's positions on matters of state? Worry not: He'll make America great again because he is great; he'll choose the best people because he is the best people; and have you noticed how rich he is?
At no point since the man came flying down his glitz--laden escalator has reflection been permitted to intrude upon his deliberations. Any polls that failed to show Trump dominating have been presumed to be biased or flawed, while those that flattered him have been celebrated without regard for methodology. Any evidence that Trump is doing disastrously with groups that Republicans have to win has been casually dismissed, the better to be explained away by aging outliers and good old--fashioned bluster. Any insecurities felt by his supporters, meanwhile, have been melted swiftly into generalities. It is not that they like the man and his agenda, but that all "real Americans†do; it is not that they represent a minority of the Republican electorate, but that they speak for the whole "middle classâ€; it is not that their hero is one contender among many, but that he is the savior of all "normal†people. Time and time again, the imperative is made clear: Whatever happens, Trump must be perceived to be conquering all before him. Number one! Number one! Number one!
Every campaign likes to talk up its guy. Every political ego needs a massage. But there is something especially fragile about the vehemence with which Trump and his team insist upon his primacy. Could it be, perchance, they know somewhere within their souls that bravado and bluster are compelling when exhibited from on high, but rather pathetic when they pour forth from the second spot or beyond? Could it be, perhaps, that "I'm doing pretty well†is understood to be lethal to the proposition, "I'm winning because I'm a winner� Could it be, just maybe, that the word "loser†is a relative one?
This election season has yielded not a return to normalcy, but to a primitive and witless Harlequinade. For almost half a year now, Donald Trump has steadfastly ignored the Right's need for a Coolidgian anti--hero and struck a messianic pose: as a deal--maker without peers, as a rock star atop the world stage, as the architect of a great and glittering empire. He has, in other words, elected to run as a more competent and less nuanced Barack Obama, complete with vacuous promises of hope and change and non--ideological star power that, this time at least, will be made to work properly. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant!
How strange the change from major to minor. And how farcical officious men can be made to look when the pedestals are burned and the crowd's hearts have wandered elsewhere in search of cheap sustenance. Heretofore, this election has been full of surprises; moving forward it will furnish yet more. Not least among them will be the scale and nature of Trump's decline when both he and his acolytes come reluctantly to realize that he is not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.
-- Charles C. W. Cooke is a staff writer for National Review.
Isn’t this supposed to be about delegates? What good does a national poll really do anyway? There should be a poll out on every state, or at least all early states up to super Tuesday. Then project the delegate counts based on polling percentage. That would be a true poll right?
I just love watching this election because none of the GOPe; RINOs; media; super pacs; campaign managers know what to do and what they try isn't working...
I would say before this Iowa thing comes up Trump is way on top...and they will be left looking like the fools they are...
Ugh. It amazes me how humorless Trump’s detractors are. Obviously, the same people who would have been disgusted by the “vulgar” Reagan.
Doesn’t anyone in the media (besides the Morning Joe people) get his New York/Jewish humor and his enjoyment of being rich, famous and possibly the next prez of the USA?
“How strange the change from major to minor. And how farcical officious men can be made to look when the pedestals are burned and the crowd’s hearts have wandered elsewhere in search of cheap sustenance. Heretofore, this election has been full of surprises; moving forward it will furnish yet more. Not least among them will be the scale and nature of Trump’s decline when both he and his acolytes come reluctantly to realize that he is not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.”
What the hell happened to National Review?
Does this clown even understand what he’s writing?
It’s one thing to be technically literate, and its a whole other thing to be intellectually illiterate.
Enough said on this topic... Cooke insults himself through his ridiculous blowhard of a pen.
Trump is winning. Big.
LOL! More establishment horse hockey. Trump is leading significantly in about 90% of the national polls. Anybody that believes Carson is really ahead of Trump is easily fooled. All you have to do is look at each poll as they come out. One poll here and one poll there are called outliers. They are not credible. Other than in Iowa Ben Carson stands zero chance to win.
That's the question I want to have answered.
If Trump or Cruz do not win the nomination I will not vote in Nov. 2016.
Why?
Because the American republic will dead and gone and our “votes” will matter as much as the “votes” cast in any other totalitarian nation. A “purple finger” means nothing when a moral, liberty-loving, civil society doesn’t stand behind it.
Some people are not paying attention, just parroting the MSM...
The good part is that Trump is ahead everywhere...
He is the only one that can defeat Hillary.
I’LL TAKE ANYONE THAT CAN ACTUALLY DEFEAT HER, but sadly, Cruz, Carson, and Rubio can’t. Forget about the rest, they have ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE TO DEFEAT HER.
Cruz is too caustic even among Republicans, can’t say he’s not part of the BELTWAY crowd.
Carson’s religion has a doctrine of pacifism that will not fly with Republicans.
Rubio is a RINO on immigration, also trying to be politically correct with MSM.
TRUMP will get under Hillary’s skin in a heartbeat and she will fold in everyone’s eyes, including the MSM, just like she did in 2008.
National Review is a GOPe shill.
National Review writers have got to get over the flawed polling. I think tho fellow is getting aroused on a false narrative.
It’s really pretty incredible. Cooke seems to have created an alternate universe, where the conservative frontrunner is compared to a court jester.
Immigration, the Second Amendment, terrorism, the Constitution.... Trump is excellent on teach of these issues.
He has a well-behaved, beautiful, and successful family. His business record is practically spotless (if it weren’t, trust me, we’d hear more than just about bankruptcies). He handles the media as they should be handled, like yapping and petulant children. He makes short order of Hillary rhetorically.
But this isn’t good enough for the pretentious aspiring snob at National Review.
Buckley used his wit, lexicon, and pen to slice, dice, and dismiss any and all political clowns.
Cooke, well, it would be better if he’d drink some ink.
(duh.....)
No, National Review writers (not all, but certainly this joker and some others) need to get over themselves!
“A few weeks ago Trump made the remark that if he started to lose, he’d quit”
That’s not what he said. He said if he completely collapsed and there was no hope he’d get out. Not be in denial unlike others polling 0%.
Not exactly.
There are in fact bonus delegates to states that voted GOP last cycle.
There are the GOP equivalent of ‘superdelegates’, who are 15-20% of total delegates and are mostly non-committed. Rules are such this time that primary winners won’t get shut out, but they also won’t get the as great a proportion as their primary election results.
Also, most bound delegates are only bound for the first convention vote. Inattention to who the delegates are usually hurts outsider candidates and their relatively inexperienced supporters.
The latest Reuters poll of 10,000+ likely Republican voters shows Trump with 30% plus. So this article is a farce.
The National Review has 0 credibility, bunch of f’n RINOs.
The Rinos and Political Donor Class simply cannot allow someone to be President who doesn’t have his hands out taking their money in exchange for favors that Screw America and Americans, So they can get richer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.