It would be funny if it was not so ridiculous and potentially catastrophic.  Can you imagine Trump with his finger on the nuclear button?

Ahhhhh, it's getting better:

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump persisted in his attacks on fellow Republicans on Tuesday, calling U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham an "idiot" and giving out the South Carolina lawmaker's cell phone number during a campaign rally.

Trump, a real estate mogul and television personality, said in Graham's home state of South Carolina that he had heard the Republican senator call him a "jackass" in a recent interview.

Trump claimed Graham, who is also seeking the presidency in the November 2016 election, had called him several years ago looking for connections at Fox News and for campaign contributions."You know, I'm saying to myself, what is this guy, a beggar?" Trump said of Graham during the rally in Bluffton, South Carolina.

"He gave me his number, and I found the card. I wrote the number down. I don't know if it's the right number. Let's try it," Trump told the crowd before reading out a phone number with a Washington area code.

Last edited by Just Fred (7/21/2015 3:17 pm)

I have been pondering the source of Trumps' appeal.
He makes good copy, always saying provocative things. The press hangs on his every word as it gets good ratings. They also love a horse race. Nothing is more boring in the summer of 2015 that the thought of a smooth march by Hillary and Jeb to the nomination, which will not take place for a year.

You also see many remarks in support of Trump, saying He's telling it like it is, he's the only one willing to stand up, yada yada. There is a group of people who see politics as entertainment (Think professional wrestling, NOT Masterpiece Theater), and they love an aggressive, even bombastic, tone. They mistake it for ability.
Just look at the nitely infotainment shows on cable, where issues are "discussed" in a way that looks more like a cock fight than your old high school debate team.

Trump also gives voice to nativist beliefs with his anti-immigrant take our country back nonsensense.

The problem with being a gadfly is that you have to keep upping the ante to keep the act fresh. Much like Ann Coulter, Trump is going to face a situation whereby he has to keep getting more and more outrageous. Unfortunately, while it makes your fans more rabid, it creates a much larger class of people who just cannot stand you. Now, Coulter doesn't care that she's turned herself into a punchline. She's just selling books and billing Fox. But that isn't a road you take if you want to sit in the White House.

Trump goes down. There is no doubt of that. The only question is if this supreme narcissist has the power to take the GOP Presidential field down with him.

 

The problem it seems is that moderates have been driven into hiding in the Republican Party (and to some extent in the Democratic Party as well but not to the same degree). 

I am not sure I agree with the premise of the author that this is the grand design of the GOP to be where they are and wanted to be. I believe it evolved and the "Party" does not have a method to reel it in (and I am sure some don't want it reeled in), but the smart ones know it is a "fools game" for the long run. 



 

Last edited by tennyson (7/21/2015 7:50 pm)