Donald Trump: Come Kiss the Ring

It's one thing to say that you're an idiot if you vote for Carson, and quite another to speak in a room full of Iowa voters and say that Iowa voters are idiots.

This won't sink Trump either, but going on a rant isn't exactly presidential election prep 101.

 

I was on the "they should recruit Mitt to run" bandwagon a few months ago, but he'd crash and burn like the rest of them. Rubio, Bush, Kasich, and Christie are all perfectly reasonable candidates. No one wants them. It's a reality show.

 

At this point, I have lost track of how many times the NYT has confidently declared the End of Trump for some bombastic outburst.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/11/1...by-donald-trump-as-start-of-his-downfall.html

 

The front-runner all summer, Mr. Trump has struggled to consistently crack through a ceiling in the Iowa polls of about 30 percent...

In a 15 person race, the Times is worried that Trump can't crack 30% in Iowa.

It's hysterical.

Iowa lends itself to Christian conservatives, like Carson, and not someone like Trump. His 30% is a huge number, and would certainly get him a ticket out of Iowa.

Now, factor in the way the caucuses work, where if your candidate isn't "viable" you move on to a second choice, and Trumps numbers in the actual caucuses stand to actually go up, if he can turn out his voters.

There's also the fact that New Hampshire is far more predictive in recent Republican primaries.

With a front loaded primary calendar, and many of the big states holding winner-take-all contests, Trump still looks very strong.

And, despite Reuters concern, his numbers do not appear to be waning:

After a week in which he hosted Saturday Night Live and stood center-stage at a Republican debate, Donald Trump is surging among Republicans likely to cast votes in the party’s presidential primary.

According to the five-day rolling Reuters/Ipsos presidential poll, Trump has leapt some 17 percentage points among likely Republican voters since Nov. 6, when he was essentially tied with Ben Carson at about 25 percent. Trump now captures 42 percent of those voters while Carson has fallen off slightly.

Among all Republicans - not simply likely primary voters -Trump holds a substantial edge over Carson, at 34 percent to about 20 percent, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Trump’s appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live earned the program its highest ratings in two years, with 9.3 million viewers tuning in. Then, on Tuesday, 13.5 million viewers watched the debate from Milwaukee broadcast on the Fox Business Network.

It remains to be seen, however, whether Trump’s surge will hold in the wake of his comments at an Iowa rally Thursday night in which he tore into Carson, telling the crowd that Carson has a "pathological" temper.

Trump surges among likely Republican primary voters: Reuters/Ipsos poll

 

Viability is a Democrats-only thing in Iowa. Each party sets its own rules.

One thing Nate Silver and crew have repeatedly noted is that Trump is the second choice of very few Republicans polled, which means he may struggle to build on his support as others drop out. I agree with you that the winner take all states (post Super Tuesday) are the best thing he has going for him.

 

It's so funny how the same people who want the wall and all 11 million illegal immigrants deported also want lower taxes and smaller government.
Well, it's one or the other. You can't have both.
It takes a lot more than just the will to do those things to do them. You can have all the will in the world. It doesn't mean shit if you can't pay for it.

 

I'm betting the cost of government goes down significantly if those 11 million illegals go back home.

 

There's no way it could ever happen anyway.

And how do you figure that?

 

How many do you think are paying taxes? How many do you think are using any government services?

 

Bullets are cheaper than plane tickets.

 

Well, I guess there are ways around everything, but they're ineligible for welfare and food stamps.

5 immigration myths debunked

 

Speaking of illegible.