Between reports that representatives from major networks (CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS) gathered together to discuss how to take down Trump and John Kasich’s bizarre ad, Trump seems to have more people poised to work against him than with him.
The Hill reports that the GOP is in a “panic” over Trump and are finally taking his campaign seriously enough to call him “the clear front-runner” and to wonder how to derail it.
So far, GOP strategists and pundits on both sides have been predicting that Trump’s success will be short-lived, that it’s just like the last presidential election in which each candidate had his or her 15 minutes of fame . . . only to crash, burn, and drop out in a matter of weeks.
That, however, is not the case with Trump thus far; the Hill continues:
“The media has twisted and turned through a number of different positions where they tried to explain that it was just a fad — the summer of Trump,” said Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa. “Well, it’s lasted all fall. There is a realization that you are not going to wake up tomorrow and he’s going to vanish.”Robinson, who is not affiliated with any candidate, was scathing toward those GOP centrists who assert that Trump will be unable to translate his polling support into votes because of a weak ground game.“That is the wishful thinking of the establishment,” he said. “That is what they tell themselves so they can sleep at night. The truth is, Trump has one of the better ground operations in Iowa. Will he turn out every single person who shows up at his rallies? No. But if he turns out a fraction, he will roll over the field.”. . . . Others have cited the 2012 cycle, when several Republican candidates’ stars rose and faded, to suggest that Trump will lose altitude before the first votes are cast.
But this isn’t 2012, and the Hill goes on to note this fact and its implications: “In fact, the consistency of Trump’s polling performance this cycle has more in common with the steady showing of eventual 2012 nominee Mitt Romney than anyone else.”
The Hill notes that “Republican insiders” know “the hour is getting late,” and apparently, these Republican “insiders” aren’t sitting back and hoping that Trump fades away.
According to the Boston Globe, there is a concerted effort among GOP establishment and “Republican groups” to “bring down Donald Trump.” The Globe reports:
Donald Trump has proven to be the GOP’s summer fling gone awry: fun at first, when there was no expectation of a commitment. But he’s stuck around — long after the party establishment wishes he were gone.Now, concerned about lasting damage to the party’s image, some in the Republican establishment are plotting a full-scale attempt to torpedo his candidacy.Fergus Cullen, former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, on Monday filed a formal complaint with the New Hampshire secretary of state challenging Trump’s place on the first-in-the-nation primary ballot, arguing in vain that the billionaire reality TV star did not provide proof he’s a Republican.Some Republican consultants are forming a group — Trump Card LLC — with the explicit goal of taking out the brash-talking political neophyte. And the conservative Club for Growth has run anti-Trump ads in Iowa.
That’s right, an actual group whose sole purpose for existing is to “take out” Trump.
Watch Lou Dobbs break it down:
Interestingly, the GOP establishment is quite convinced not only that Trump is the only thing standing between them and a victory in 2016 but also that he is the sole reason that people like Kelly Ayotte are losing support (it couldn’t possibly be her, right?).
The Globe continues:
The concern, party leaders and strategists say, is not just winning the general election and reclaiming the White House. In a year when the GOP is hoping to maintain control of the Senate, party leaders are increasingly worried about the impact Trump’s campaign could have on down-ballot candidates in purple states such as the reelection bids by Senators Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Rob Portman of Ohio.“Kelly Ayotte is losing votes every day because of Donald Trump,” Cullen said. “It’s not like Passover where voters make a distinction between good Republicans and bad Republicans. They will throw them all out. Or they will reasonably ask, ‘Why didn’t you stand up to him? Was your silence consent?’ ”Asked to comment on the threat Trump presents to Ayotte, her campaign manager, Jon Kohan, said simply, “We’re looking forward to supporting the Republican nominee and are confident that any one of the possible candidates will beat Hillary Clinton.”
It looks like Trump derangment syndrome is in high gear amongst establishment Republicans, and it will be interesting to see the results of their machinations against the current GOP front-runner. I suspect that it won’t go as they intend.
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