Viewer’s Guide: GOP debate about Donald Trump vs. everyone else
And then there were four. Ben Carson‘s departure from the GOP presidential race means the quartet of remaining Republicans on the debate stage Thursday night get more time for attacks as Donald Trump treads a path to the GOP nomination and his three rivals try to trip him up. Cheered on by many Republican leaders, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich are racing the primary clock to March 15, likely their last chance to stop Trump in a series of winner-take-all contests. Some things to watch Thursday night as the candidates meet at 9 p.m. EST for the Fox News Channel debate in Detroit: HE WHO WAS NOT NAMED Love him or loathe him, Trump has taught the poohbahs of the Republican Party what a power grab really is — and he’s done it by winning over large swaths of the GOP’s own core supporters far from Washington. His wobbling over whether to disavow the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke finally gave the Republican leaders of Congress a way to go after the billionaire publicly — without uttering Trump’s name. Trump responded by saying House Speaker Paul Ryan would have to get along with a President Trump or pay some sort of “big price.” On the eve of the debate, Ryan’s office confirmed that Trump’s campaign had contacted the speaker’s staff in a first sign of outreach. Notably, Trump has started talking about unifying the GOP. Look for Trump to be asked about the existential rift in the party and how he expects to govern. ___ RUBIO, RUDE? TRUMP, TOO? The Florida senator who once insisted on staying above the scuffling has leapt right into it, emulating Trump’s schoolyard-taunting style. At campaign events in the past week, Rubio made sometimes crude jokes about everything from Trump’s tan to the size of his hands — he even suggested that the billionaire wet his pants at the last debate. Look for whether a newly confident Rubio, emboldened by his first primary win in Minnesota Tuesday, keeps it up or takes a more statesmanlike approach. And what to expect from Trump? “I can’t act overly presidential because I’m going to have people attacking from every side. A very good man, Ben Carson’s not there anymore, so now we’re going to have more time for the fighting,” he said. “When people are hitting you from different angles, from all different angles, unfortunately you have to hit back. I would have a very, very presidential demeanor when I win, but until such time, you have to hit back,” he told NBC on Thursday. ___ CRUZ’S STAND Thanks to Rubio’s win Tuesday, Cruz can no longer say he’s the only Republican who has shown he can beat Trump. But he won three states on Super Tuesday — Alaska, Oklahoma and his home state of Texas. And the delegate math shows that Cruz is emerging as the candidate who might stop Trump. Look for some confidence from Cruz, because on Super Tuesday alone he came close to Trump. For the night, Trump won at least 237 delegates and Cruz won at least 209. Rubio was a distant third with at least 94. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, who a week earlier joked at a dinner about killing Cruz, acknowledged on CBS that the Texas senator might be the party’s best hope to beat Trump. ___ KASICH, STILL The debate setting is likely most helpful to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is looking for a strong showing in Michigan in the state’s March 8 contest, to survive. __ FOX AND TRUMP, FRENEMIES Trump has uttered barely a peep about the fact that Fox News Channel is hosting the debate, and that his sometime-nemesis Megyn Kelly, is one of the moderators. This is a marked change from the upheaval that led to Trump boycotting Fox’s debate just before the leadoff Iowa caucuses. Trump had demanded that Kelly be removed; Fox refused and Trump headed a few miles away to host his own event. He later said that could have been one of the reasons he lost Iowa to Cruz. Trump has not tweeted about Kelly in weeks. In an interview with the Associated Press this week, Kelly said she thinks Trump has more confidence now. “He knows he can handle me. He can handle any interviewer,” she said. ___ TRUMP UNIVERSITY How good is a degree from Trump University? “Worthless” — as are his promises — according to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Romney will brand the billionaire businessman as “a phony, a fraud” in a Salt Lake City speech on Thursday, as party of a push by GOP establishment figures to paint the billionaire as unfit to represent the party. Trump should have a few things to say about it. He already started slugging on Thursday morning, saying that Romney “begged” him for his endorsement four years ago, and called him a “failed candidate.” ___ REMEMBER BEN CARSON? Kelly said he wouldn’t have gotten much attention even if he had stuck around for the debate. Fox will concentrate its questions on Trump, Cruz and Marco Rubio — making for potentially awkward moments for Kasich. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Viewer’s Guide: Donald Trump drama, closing arguments before Iowa
It’s one thing to attack Donald Trump when he’s standing on the presidential debate stage. But what about when he’s not? It’s a complicated question for the seven presidential candidates in the seventh prime time Republican presidential debate, who expect a no-show from the front-runner who has eclipsed the contest for months — on the brink of Monday’s Iowa caucuses. Trump has declared that because of what he calls unfair treatment by the network hosting the debate, Fox News Channel, he’ll have his own event at the very same time about two miles away at Drake University. His absence puts the rivals in a tough position while opening potential opportunity — do they go after him and give him even more attention? Or ignore him and fill the vacuum with their best possible closing arguments, grabbing attention that’s been tough to come by when Trump and his big personality fill the air time? Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is in third place in Iowa, tested a new line Wednesday, calling the debate drama a “sideshow” and the election choices, “serious.” Also in a delicate spot is the network, which has engaged in a fraught relationship with Trump for months after he tangled with moderator Megyn Kelly in the first debate in August. Fox News Channel has refused to remove Kelly from the question panel and issued a sarcastic statement mocking Trump for demanding they do so. The standoff poses a challenge for the network, which is popular with conservatives, over how it handles its relationship with the GOP presidential front-runner in real time — especially in his absence. The main debate stage will once again feature Rand Paul, who was bumped to the undercard debate last time. Also appearing: Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Rubio and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Here are some things to watch for during the debate: TRUMP, OBVIOUSLY Trump’s debate boycott tests whether any word or action by the billionaire can dent his support among a core of conservative voters who want a change in Washington. Trump has predicted that Iowans won’t care whether he attends the debate, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be talking to the nation anyway. He’d be speaking to Iowans who will caucus Monday, using every moment to win the contest at hand. “Being second is terrible,” he has said. Another advantage to holding his own event: no moderators or rivals to challenge him. CRUZ The Texas senator and national debate champion held his own against Trump in past debates as the two have competed for the lead in Iowa. Without Trump on the stage, does Cruz adopt the posture of the de facto debate leader? That could risk looking presumptuous when a sizable percentage of Iowans say they could change their minds about whom they support. Cruz has been testing some humor, with an edge. “Apparently, Megyn Kelly is really, really scary, and Donald is a fragile soul,” Cruz said. “If she asks him mean questions, I mean, his hair might stand on end.” THE MODERATORS Look for someone on the panel of moderators to acknowledge the elephant that’s not in the room. But whether moderators will spend more time than that on Trump, who has spent months in a spat with Kelly over what he says is unfair treatment, is a delicate question. Late Wednesday, Trump tweeted that it was Fox’s mocking press release that inspired him to skip the debate, more so than Kelly. She has been adamant about playing the dispute straight, and has the firm backing of news executives. THE OTHER CANDIDATES Jump ball! The debate gives the field-minus-Trump more of a chance to make the most powerful closing arguments possible in the final face to face, televised meeting before the caucuses. Candidates such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is looking past Iowa for a strong finish in next-up New Hampshire, have had little speaking time in past debates. The opportunity also is ripe for Rubio, who is seeking a strong finish in Iowa to claim the establishment mantle if outsiders Trump or Cruz falter. Look, too, for Bush to try to make gains. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump not backing down from Fox debate boycott
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wasn’t backing down Wednesday from his threat to boycott this week’s GOP debate, where candidates have the opportunity to make their closing arguments before voting begins in Monday’s Iowa caucuses. Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said in a pair of television interviews Wednesday that Trump, a billionaire businessman, “knows when to walk away from a bad deal.” “They think they can toy with Mr. Trump,” Lewandowski said of Fox News on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Mr. Trump doesn’t play games.” The decision comes after a showdown between the network and GOP candidate over who should moderate Thursday night’s debate. Trump has been in a feud with Fox News host and scheduled debate moderator Megyn Kelly since the first Republican primary debate, when Kelly took Trump to task over derogatory statements he’d made in the past aimed at women. While Trump has threatened to skip debates in the past and not gone through with the threat, a sarcastic statement from Fox appeared to push him over the edge. That statement said the leaders of Iran and Russia “both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president” and that “Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.” Trump, who has called Kelly a “lightweight” and biased, told reporters at an Iowa press conference Wednesday night that he would be holding a fundraising event in Iowa at the same time as the debate to benefit veterans and wounded soldiers instead. While Fox questioned how “Iowans are going to feel about him walking away from them at the last minute,” Lewandowski said the decision shows Trump is a leader who “understands when a bad deal is in front of him and is ready to walk away from a bad deal, something that this country should be able to do.” “At the end of the day,” he added on MSNBC, “Mr. Trump is going to have the last laugh.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Fox announces date, team for Iowa debate
Fox News Channel says it will host the seventh Republican presidential debate, taking place next month in Des Moines, Iowa, ahead of that state’s caucuses. Fox said Monday that the two-hour debate on Jan. 28 will be anchored by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. That’s the same team that moderated the campaign’s first GOP debate in August, which drew a cable news record audience of 24 million people. The sixth debate will be shown on the Fox Business Network on Jan. 14. Criteria for participation will be announced later. The GOP field narrowed on Monday with Sen. Lindsey Graham‘s announcement that he was ending his campaign. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Off the air: Donald Trump boycotts Fox News over campaign coverage
Donald Trump says he’s done appearing on Fox News shows for the “foreseeable future” because he doesn’t like the network’s coverage of his presidential campaign. The billionaire businessman and leading Republican candidate tweets that Fox News has been treating him “very unfairly” and that he’s stop appearing on its shows. Trump has been feuding with the network since first GOP primary debate, when he objected to the moderators’ questions. There was a brief detente. But the feud escalated this week, with Trump tweeting and retweeting complaints about the network and hosts, including Megyn Kelly. Trump has become a constant presence on cable news shows and often phones in to share his thoughts. A Fox spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump dumps insults on questioners, insists on control
For Donald Trump, the joy of the insult seems as compelling as the art of the deal. Whether his challengers are fellow presidential candidates, the press or others, they are, according to Trump: incompetent, weak, pathetic, disgusting, idiots or the like. He described Democratic presidential contender Martin O’Malley, for example, as acting “like a disgusting, little, weak, pathetic baby.” So far in the rollicking 2016 presidential contest, the billionaire businessman is showing little willingness to dial down his because-I-said-so style to suit the conventions of political campaigns – where the voters are supposed to be the boss. Trump is used to controlling his world like the boss he is. On Tuesday night, he dismissed a Latino reporter from his press conference for demanding to know how Trump intended to deport all 11 million people in the country illegally. “I have a right to ask a question,” said Univision’s Jorge Ramos. “No you don’t,” Trump said. “You haven’t been called.” Trump merely tossed a glance to his left and a bodyguard escorted a protesting Ramos out. Trump’s primacy re-established, he later let Ramos back into the conference and took his question. Count on Trump to react when someone crosses him, even mildly. “When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can,” Trump wrote in his book “How to Get Rich.” In fact, Trump’s reality show campaign is one of the things people like about him. Trump is at the top of the polls in the GOP field, drawing more passion and bigger crowds than his Republican competitors. “It’s totally refreshing,” said Leigh Ann Crouse, 55, of Dubuque, as she waited in a 100-yard-long line Tuesday to see Trump. “He has a backbone, and he cannot be bought.” Here are some examples of Trump’s in-your-face approach to the 2016 presidential contest: —- TRUMP vs JEB BUSH Trump succeeded this week in putting the former Florida governor, whose wife is Mexican-American, on the defense on immigration issues. The two quarreled over the term “anchor baby,” which some find an offensive term to describe children born to people in the U.S. illegally. Bush defended himself by saying he’d been referring to wealthy Asians who come to the U.S. to bear children. That earned Bush a chorus of demands for an apology to Asian people. “Asians are very offended that JEB said that anchor babies applies to them as a way to be more politically correct to Hispanics,” Trump gloated on Twitter. “A mess!” But a true Trumpism requires a personal dig. Trump has repeatedly served that up by calling Bush “low energy” and suggesting “every time you watch him, you fall asleep.” — TRUMP vs JORGE RAMOS: “Go back to Univision,” Trump told Ramos, an anchor for the Spanish-language network. It was the latest salvo in Trump’s conflict with Univision, which began when the network cancelled its contract to broadcast his Miss Universe Organization pageants. Univision said it was responding to Trump’s description of Mexican immigrants as criminals and “rapists” in his June campaign announcement speech. Trump is suing the network for $500 million for breach of contract and defamation – and bragging about it. Five times during the news conference, Trump told Ramos to sit down. When that didn’t work, the billionaire had Ramos hustled out. Letting him back in later, Trump extended an upturned hand toward Ramos and said, “Yes? Good, absolutely. Good to have you back.” Trump complained Wednesday on NBC’s “Today” show that Ramos had been “totally, absolutely out of line” and “ranting and raving like a madman.” “I’m not a bully,” Trump said. “In fact, I think it’s just the opposite way.” — TRUMP vs MEGYN KELLY: Trump’s feud with the popular Fox News anchor began during the first Republican primary debate, when Kelly called Trump out on his previous comments describing women as “pigs” and “dogs.” Convinced that the question was out of line, Trump launched a full-blown campaign to discredit the anchor with a series of insulting tweets and interviews. On CNN, he claimed that she’d had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever” during the debate. After what had seemed like a detente with the network, Trump’s vitriol returned this week when Kelly came back from vacation. “(at)megynkelly must have had a terrible vacation, she is really off her game,” he tweeted Monday. He retweeted another comment that referred to her as a “bimbo.” — TRUMP vs LINDSEY GRAHAM: Trump made clear he had zero regard for the rules of political decorum when he proceeded to read South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s personal cellphone number to a roomful of his supporters after Graham, one of his Republican rivals, called him a “jackass” on TV. The two have continued to spar, with each calling the other an “idiot.” “Come to South Carolina, and I’ll beat his brains out,” a riled-up Graham told CNN on Tuesday, referring to beating Trump in his state’s Republican primary. “I know my state. This is a silly season in politics. He is shallow.” Trump responded with a tweet: “Congrats (at)LindseyGrahamSC. You just got 4 points in your home state of SC-far better than zero nationally. You’re only 26 pts behind me.” — TRUMP vs. FOX NEWS: Fox News is the kind of beast that Republican wannabes rarely take on. Not Trump. “I think they cover me terribly,” he told reporters at the press conference in Iowa, in which he repeatedly railed against his coverage by the network, despite frequent appearances and phone-ins. Trump returned to bashing Kelly this week, and the network chief Roger Ailes engaged. “Megyn Kelly represents the very best of American journalism and all of us at Fox News Channel reject the crude and irresponsible attempts to suggest otherwise,” Ailes said in a statement demanding Trump apologize. “I could not be more proud of Megyn for her professionalism and class in the face of all of Mr. Trump’s verbal assaults,” he added. Trump, meanwhile, shows no
Fox News chief: Donald Trump owes Megyn Kelly an apology
Fox News chief Roger Ailes said Tuesday that Donald Trump owes the network’s Megyn Kelly an apology for an unprovoked Twitter attack that “is as unacceptable as it is disturbing,” but Trump isn’t backing down. The Republican presidential front-runner-turned-TV-critic had welcomed Kelly back from a vacation Monday night by tweeting that he liked her show better while she was away. Trump said Kelly “must have had a terrible vacation” because “she’s really off her game.” He retweeted a message that referred to her as a bimbo. “Megyn Kelly represents the very best of American journalism and all of us at Fox News Channel reject the crude and irresponsible attempts to suggest otherwise,” said Ailes, the Fox News Channel chairman. “I could not be more proud of Megyn for her professionalism and class in the face of all of Mr. Trump’s verbal assaults.” Trump, in a statement, said he disagreed with Ailes and that he doesn’t think Kelly is a quality journalist. “Hopefully in the future I will be proven wrong and she will be able to elevate her standards to a level of professionalism that a network such as Fox deserves.” In a news conference later Tuesday in Dubuque, Iowa, Trump again refused to apologize to Kelly, saying, “She should probably apologize to me, but I just don’t care.” He added, “I think Fox treats me terribly.” Trump has been attacking Kelly ever since her tough questioning of him during the first GOP presidential debate, seen by 24 million people on Fox on Aug. 6. A day after the debate, he said Kelly had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” That led to a private, clear-the-air conversation between Ailes and Trump two weeks ago, but that clearly hasn’t led to peace. In his tweets, Trump repeated his contention that Kelly, host of a prime-time Fox News show and one of the network’s biggest stars, was sent on an unplanned vacation that ended Monday. Fox said her time off had been scheduled long before the debate. Trump also tweeted that Kelly was afraid to confront a guest, Dr. Cornel West, and that she had “no clue” on immigration. Ailes again backed Kelly for her questioning during the debate, which he said was tough but fair. “Donald Trump rarely apologizes, although in this case, he should,” Ailes said. “We have never been deterred by politicians or anyone else attacking us for doing our job, much less allowed ourselves to be bullied by anyone and we’re certainly not going to start now.” Some of Kelly’s Fox colleagues also came to her defense. Bret Baier, who moderated the debate with Kelly and Chris Wallace, tweeted that “this needs to stop.” Brian Kilmeade said on “Fox & Friends” that Trump’s comments bothered him personally. “We are all friends with Donald Trump, but he is totally out of bounds reigniting that fight,” Kilmeade said. “I don’t know if he’s trying to get ratings out of that or poll numbers, but he’s not going to be successful.” At his news conference, Trump got into another confrontation with a different anchor, Univision’s Jorge Ramos. Trump initially had his security detail remove Ramos from the room, but Ramos returned later to ask some questions about immigration policy. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
The true cost of Donald Trump’s Twitter tirades
Donald Trump has decided in the mist of a crowded primary to reengage with Megyn Kelly continuing the spat started post debate. First he tweeted, “I liked The Kelly File much better without Megyn Kelly. Perhaps she could take another eleven day unscheduled vacation!” He went on to retweet negative comments about her, including one that called her a “bimbo.” I’ve said all along that Trump isn’t taking his campaign for president seriously and his continued child like antics prove that point. Here’s the thing about Trumps Twitter tirades, such as the one against Kelly, they’re indicative of a bigger problem which is the lack of seriousness and focus of his campaign. Those saying Trump is their first pick are largely responding to his lack of political correctness and the way he doesn’t dance around and sugar coat tough issues. It’s refreshing to hear someone who isn’t afraid to offend the masses. There’s certainly truth to the notion people are too easily offended. What’s worse is not that people are offended but it’s that they act as though the offending party has a responsibility to apologize and change their behavior. Trump is pushing the envelope to do away with political correctness which in some cases should be applauded. I’m offended by Trump’s twitter fights but not because as a woman his name calling of another woman bothers me but because as a conservative who wants to win the next election cycle I know the true cost is in media time lost covering this and not other candidates in the field or what the democrats are doing. Trump needs to keep his eye on the prize and that prize isn’t cheap media coverage but media coverage that matters. He showed he could do that by putting the pressure up on the immigration issue but now he needs to show he can continue to do it on issues that matter.
Dominating TV, Donald Trump a ratings draw
Opinion polls are one thing, but Nielsen numbers speak more loudly to television executives: Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump‘s ability to pull in viewers makes him catnip for news programs and wins a level of coverage that feeds on itself. NBC’s “Meet the Press” had its biggest audience in more than a year for its Trump interview on Aug. 16, leading that show’s biggest competitors — ABC’s “This Week” and CBS’ “Face the Nation” — to feature phone interviews with the New York businessman this past Sunday. After CNN turned Jake Tapper‘s interview with Trump into a prime-time special last week and earned its best ratings at that hour in a month, the network repeated it two nights later. Two Trump interviews on Sean Hannity‘s Fox News Channel show this month both brought in around 2.2 million viewers, well above his typical audience. Trump is generally considered the biggest reason why Fox reached a startling 24 million people for the first GOP presidential debate earlier this month — the most watched program in Fox News history. That instantly made him a big “get” for TV producers, and the media savvy ex-reality show host has eagerly played along. Keenly aware of his drawing power, Trump suggested in a Time magazine interview that he could ask CNN to pay $10 million to charity for his participation in the next GOP debate. “He’s getting a lot of attention that he should get because he’s doing so well in the polls and he’s getting a lot of attention because he’s Donald Trump, and you never know what he’s going to say,” said David Bohrman, a television consultant and former CNN Washington bureau chief. “It’s not negligence to cover him,” he said. Aware of that drawing power, cable news outlets cover Trump events with an intensity the other 16 Republican candidates can only envy. A town hall meeting in New Hampshire last week drew live coverage. CNN and Fox News both cast aside regular programming Friday to pick up Trump speaking at a rally in Alabama. Trump’s unpredictability is a bonus. His critical comments about Fox’s Megyn Kelly for her debate questions, made during an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon on what would normally be a sleepy August Friday night, put that show in headlines for the entire weekend. Viewership during the seven call-in interviews that Trump has given to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” since June 18 rose 22 percent from what the talk show averaged 10 minutes prior to his call, the Nielsen company said. On July 24, the size of the audience jumped 47 percent in only a few minutes when Trump spoke. Danny Shea, editorial director of The Huffington Post, compared the attention news networks are giving to Trump to CNN’s non-stop coverage of the missing Malaysian airliner last year. He was on “Morning Joe” last week to defend HuffPo’s declaration that it would only cover Trump’s candidacy in its entertainment section, a decision that grows harder to defend with each new poll. “There’s an open secret that (Trump’s campaign) is a joke and a spectacle,” Shea said, “and by going wall-to-wall on it you’re just legitimizing it.” Morning Joe co-host, Joe Scarborough, rejected the argument that Trump had more ratings than news value. During off-the-air meetings, “nobody ever says, ‘OK, Donald Trump is great for ratings.’ What we say is, ‘what the hell is going on? Can you believe this? What is happening?’ He is a very real story, and the longer he stays in front, the more of a story he’s going to be.” In past campaigns, the media’s “invisible primary” gave bursts of early attention to candidates before voters settled things, to which Gary Hart, Howard Dean, John McCain, Jimmy Carter can attest. None matched Trump for attention, said Thomas Patterson, acting director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Only two months ago the GOP had a shapeless field of candidates, and now the non-Trumps are so starved for attention that some will struggle to survive until voting begins. Bohrman said Trump is getting a level of attention he normally doesn’t see until spring of an election year, when nominations are all but decided. “It’s kind of a ‘no time for losers’ policy in the newsroom,” Patterson said. Trump frequently mixes it up with the media, often through Twitter. Sometimes he’s playful, like suggesting that “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski be paid more than Scarborough. Often he’s quite serious, and his reaction to Fox’s Kelly struck some who heard it as offensive. At the Alabama rally, Trump asked the audience what they thought of cable networks. Fox got cheers and MSNBC boos, making the latter network’s decision not to televise the speech live fortunate. At this point, it’s hard to tell how much attention Trump is receiving because he’s a frontrunner, and how much is because producers know he’ll provide a reliable ratings bump. “At the end, does it really matter if both are valid reasons for covering him?” Bohrman said. “There’s not a lot of other compelling stuff on television now. It’s the reality show of the season.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump leads Jeb Bush 24% -13% in new CNN national poll
A CNN/ORC national poll released Tuesday morning shows that even after his uneven performance at the first GOP debate and subsequent controversy with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, Donald Trump remains the dominant candidate in the Republican presidential race, getting 24 percent of the vote. Jeb Bush is second with 13 percent. Retired pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson is third with 9 percent. Marco Rubio and Scott Walker are next at 8 percent. Rand Paul is at 6 percent. Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina and John Kasich are at 5 percent, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is in tenth place with 4 percent. Bush has seen his favorability ratings drop since Trump’s entry into the race. He held the top spot in the field in most CNN/ORC polls between last fall and Trump’s entry into the race in June. Overall, 56 percent hold an unfavorable view of the former Florida Governor, and 42 percent of Republican voters have a negative impression. That’s an increase in negative views among all adults (up from 43 percent since July) and among Republican voters (up from 34 percent unfavorable). As has been the case with Trump in most polls since he surged to the lead in every poll taken over the past month, there are still downsides for the New York City businessman/celebrity. A majority of Republicans – 58 percent – say the party would have a better chance to win in 2016 with any candidate other than the former Celebrity Apprentice star being the nominee – and that’s the case with 72 percent of those who currently aren’t supporting Trump. However the pollsters say that Trump is impressing on a variety of other questions asked in the survey. The poll shows that 45 percent say that they trust Trump more than any other Republican candidate on the economy — up 25 points since June, 44 percent say they trust Trump over the others on illegal immigration — up 30 points since June — and 32 percent trust him most to handle ISIS, no other candidate comes close on any of these issues. On the economy and illegal immigration, Trump is far and away the top choice even among those Republicans who support someone else for the nomination (33% who say they will most likely vote for someone else say Trump is their most trusted on the economy, 29% say so on illegal immigration). Trump is also most trusted on social issues, 19% say he’s their top choice to handle that. Bush follows at 15%. The CNN/ORC Poll was conducted by telephone Aug. 13-16 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. The sample included 466 registered voters who are Republicans or independents who lean toward the Republican Party. For results among those Republican voters, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. For results among the full sample, it is 3 points.
Darryl Paulson: The zenith of Donald Trump
Here are two critical points concerning Donald Trump. First, he is barely a Republican. Second, he is certainly not a conservative. It is obvious that Trump is leading the field of 17 Republican candidates. His support in four recent polls all had Trump in first place, ranging from a low of 21 percent in the Bloomberg poll to 26 percent in both the Fox poll and the Monmouth University poll. That’s the good news for Trump. The bad news is that Trump may move up a few points, but he has reached the zenith of his support. A recent Economist/YouGov.com survey found that about a third of Americans had a favorable view of Trump and 58 percent had an unfavorable view. Trump will soon be taking the “down” elevator in public opinion polls. The same poll found that when the numbers were broken down by age, race, region, gender and income, Trump’s unfavorables were substantially higher in every category but one: voters 65 and older. His support among African-Americans, Hispanics and women is almost nonexistent. A Rasmussen Poll released Tuesday found strong evidence that the Trump decline may have already started. A survey of 651 likely Republican voters conducted between Sunday and Monday, found that support for Trump has declined from 24 percent to 17 percent in the past 10 days. Trump’s support among men has fallen from 30 percent to 19 percent, and support from women has dropped from 22 percent to 14 percent. Trump is at the top right now because he is perceived as the non-politician in the age where Americans of all political stripes hate the establishment. Voters are frustrated and alienated with politics and politicians, and Trump has successfully appealed to them. Trump’s supporters see him as the outsider who will shake-up the system, much like those who supported George Wallace and Ross Perot were viewed as political mavericks. Trump’s one major contribution to the presidential race us that he has demonstrated to the other candidates that the voters do not like them and their hollow promises one bit. Trump will falter for many reasons. As Larry Thornberry has written in The American Spectator, a leading conservative publication, Trump is “an arrogant, self-satisfied, crude and pompous windbag and bully who grossly overestimates his knowledge, his successes, and, not the least, his charm.” He attacks any critic as “stupid” or “loser,” but has a political glass jaw when he is criticized. Trump will lose because he is running as a Republican this year simply because he feels like it. He quit the party in 1999 saying that “Republicans are just too crazy right.” He then hired Roger Stone, who resigned as Trump’s campaign manager a few days ago, to consider a 2000 run as a Reform Party candidate. In 2009, Trump was back as a Republican. The next year he decided he was an independent and then in 2012, he was once again a Republican. His moving from one political party to another, all for political expediency, might remind Florida voters of Gov. Charlie Crist. Trump is the Bernie Sanders of the Republican Party. Both Trump and Sanders are running to lead a party that neither really calls home and that both have spent more time disparaging than uplifting it. During most of the first decade of the 21st century, the vast majority of the $1.5 million that Trump donated to political candidates went to Democrats, including contributions to Nancy Pelosi and $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation. When asked about his contributions to both Democrats and Republicans, Trump justified them by saying, “When you give, they do whatever you want them to.” I am sure that will appeal to Americans who hate politics for precisely that reason. Trump will lose because he is not a conservative in a party that is dominated by conservatives. In a 2000 book Trump called himself a “liberal” on health care. He supported a single-payer health plan that conservatives loathe, and he was once pro-choice, although he now says he is against abortion. A few years ago, Trump supported a 14.25 percent mega-tax on those making more than $10 million. Now he wants to cut income taxes in half. As Bruce Bartlett, former aide to U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp, said of Trump: “He is nothing if not inconsistent. He’s been on every side of every issue from every point of view as far as I can tell.” If you have not noticed, Trump is also delusional. He calls immigrants “rapists and murderers,” and then says he will win the Hispanic vote. He insults conservative icon Megyn Kelly for attacking him unfairly and having blood coming out her eyes and “whatever.” Trump also believes he will win the votes of women. Republicans, conservatives and Americans deserve better than Trump. “Donald, you’re fired!” Darryl Paulson is Professor Emeritus of Government at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and resides in Palm Harbor.
Ex-Donald Trump aide still supports businessman’s White House race
A former adviser who says he quit Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign is calling the billionaire real estate mogul the best bet to shake up a “broken” U.S. political system. Roger Stone says he resigned because he felt Trump was getting too distracted by marginal issues like his feud with Fox News personality Megyn Kelly. There have been conflicting reports about the circumstances surrounding Stone’s departure, including contentions by the campaign that he was fired. Yet Stone, who’s consulted eight presidential campaigns, says he supports Trump. He tells NBC’s Today show Tuesday that Trump is the only candidate who “has the gumption and independence” to shake up the system. Stone adds that he wishes Trump would give more attention to “big-picture issues,” in the style of former President Ronald Reagan. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
