The latest opinion polls show The Donald continuing to scale the peaks while poor old Tippy-toes is reaching ground level. In the aftermath of the Muslim attacks in Paris, more and more Americans see in Trump a decisive leader who will commit to a President’s primary duty, which is to protect America and its legal citizens.
During the week, several Republican collaborationist intellectuals fantasized that Paris would be the downfall of The Donald as the Republican rank-and-file turned to men of experience within the elite. What would be reassuring about politicians who have presided over the growth of terrorism, allowed Muslims to continue infiltrating America, and bowed to the Far Left’s political correctness by avoiding blunt talk?
We must assume that these politically insipid Republican elitists move in a small world of their own, preening themselves, and reassuring each other of their intellectual and moral superiority. They continue to believe that one of their candidates (Bush, Rubio and Kasich) will ultimately triumph and that the ignorant, folksy, larger-than-life, upstart Trump will be humiliated.
Yesterday on YouTube, I watched Trump live from Massachusetts, long a Far Left stronghold. The Town Hall meeting was delayed to allow the thousands still in line outside to gain admission. The Hall was packed with excited supporters of all ages, not sightseers. What a contrast to the little sleepy public library meetings of Bush! Since the Massachusetts Republican Party is so small and weak, the crowds Trump is pulling must be swollen by independents and those who rarely vote. Trump can claim to be a unifier who is reaching beyond the Republican Party.
Yesterday he was a master of the platform and is growing more charismatic with each event. His leisurely stroll on to the stage, smiling, waving, pausing to turn to face sections of the vast crowd, his patience at the microphone as he waits for the tumult to subside, all the time managing to look ‘ordinary’ comfortable and relaxed, project a man who is confident and believes in himself and his message.
Trump is managing to combine a denunciation of the parlous state of Obama’s America with an upbeat and confidently reassuring message that he will restore the Nation. As we get near to Iowa the significant polling will be what percentage Trump is receiving from the wider electorate and not just Republicans.
Meanwhile, the one-time political expert and master of Opinion Poll interpretation, Karl Rove writes newspaper columns like a drowning man grasping at straws. “The Republican field could divide between those who offer the hottest rhetoric and those who seek to provide a sense of strong, effective leadership by presenting a comprehensive strategy to defeat global Islamic terrorism”
“GOP hopefuls who have struggled on foreign affairs – Donald Trump and Ben Carson – may struggle more. Lack of experience looks less attractive when national security is at stake. Candidates fluent in foreign policy could gain ground. Retired military leaders and respected policy experts who vouch for the foreign-policy proposals of particular candidates could provide validation that voters are seeking as they sort out the field.”
The Opinion polls strongly suggest that Republican voters have already sorted out the field and it seems that Rove’s man Bush has been sorted out! If your eyes did not glaze over as you read the previous two paragraphs they are guaranteed to glaze over if you ever have to read the fine print of a Think Tank “comprehensive strategy to defeat global Islamic” that has been vouched for by respected policy experts.
Has Rove not seen the videos of Trump’s rallies? Has he not taken note of the energy of the crowds? Has he not realized that these Americans are thirsting for a leader who dismisses Think Tank paper strategies and instead promises the simple and unambiguous solution of “bombing the s–t out of them”. This sounds to Americans like ‘action’.
Here we see that Rove, even as he and his man subside, is clinging to the belief that way back Trump ‘plateaud’ and then peaked like oil and that finally Paris has revealed to the voters that Bush is the strong, effective leader-in-waiting. What is Rove smoking?
Karl Rove is smoking George Bush’s old socks.