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发帖数: 2239 | 1 ZT.
Earlier today, we noted that going into the South Carolina primary, Donald
Trump is sitting on a commanding lead not just in the state, where he’s up
17 points, but nationally, where his lead over Ted Cruz is an even larger 20
points.
Perhaps most disconcerting for Cruz, Trump has a nine point national edge
among white evangelicals, a voter base the Texas senator should by all
rights dominate. Trump is also only 3 points behind Cruz among voters who
identify as “very conservative.”
In short, the Teflon Don is living up to the hype and while everyone was
laughing last summer when Trump declared his candidacy, the only one who is
laughing now is Trump himself.
Some were surprised that the latest GOP debate - which appeared at times as
though it might devolve into a fist fight - didn’t dent Trump’s numbers.
We’re not sure why the shock.
Quite a bit of what Trump said at the debate was true. America shouldn’t
have gone to Iraq. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Jeb Bush’s
brother didn’t prevent 9/11. All of those statements - which drew boos from
a crowd Trump claimed was stacked with Bush supporters - pale in comparison
to virtually everything else the bellicose billionaire has said on the
campaign trail. We’re talking about a candidate that called immigrants
rapists, says he will demand that Mexico pay for a wall on the border, said
John McCain isn’t a war hero, and called for a ban on Muslims. And people
are somehow surprised that a few slightly controversial comments about
foreign policy didn’t sink him in the polls? The most amusing thing about
the debate - well, besides how utterly absurd it was - was that Trump at
times appeared to have a better grip on foreign policy than anyone else on
the stage.
In any event, The LA Times is out with a new piece that explores why South
Carolina voters are overwhelmingly coming out in support of Trump. Excerpts
are presented below, but John Baldwin, a used-car dealer from Greenville
summed up the mood quite succinctly: “We’re voting with our middle finger,
” he declares. We imagine Bernie Sanders' supporters would say the exact
same thing, if asked. A message to Washington’s entrenched political
aristocracy: Americans have just given you the finger. Literally.
Robert Bowers, a 50-year-old debt collector, conceded that Donald Trump may
have gone “overboard just a little bit” when he attacked President George
W. Bush, saying he lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and failed
to stop the Sept. 11 attacks.
But that did not stop Bowers, of Fountain Inn, S.C., from putting on a cap
with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan and walking through an icy
cold parking lot so he could crowd into a raucous Trump rally Monday night.
“I hope he drops an F-bomb,” one fan said to another on the way into the
rally.
During past controversies, Trump’s supporters have stuck with him,
believing his unvarnished criticism of immigrants, Muslims, women and Sen.
John McCain’s war record shows he is willing to take on establishment
interests and unwilling to bend to what he calls political correctness.
“We’re voting with our middle finger,” said John Baldwin, a used-car
dealer from Greenville.
Baldwin and his wife were passing out stickers and signs calling Trump’s
supporters the “silent majority,” a phrase that dates to President Nixon
and is used by Trump to assert that he is giving voice to beliefs that
others are afraid to say out loud.
Betty Carter also didn't like the way Trump went after former President Bush
. But she's still sticking with him.
"He needs to know where he is: He's in Bush country," she said waiting in a
long line to see him Tuesday afternoon at Riverview Park in North Augusta,
where she moved more than 15 years ago to care for her grandkids. "I didn't
like it, but I'm still voting for him."
Monday night’s rally was typical of Trump’s performances, which feel like
arena rock concerts as much as political events. Thousands packed into the
TD Convention Center. Many stood along the sides of the cavernous convention
hall when the seats ran out. Others were sent to an overflow room or turned
away. Giant screens lit up Trump’s face; spotlights vacillated in front of
the stage; Van Halen music blared.
“Didn’t you love this last debate?” Trump said to cheers. “They came at
me from every angle.”
“We shouldn’t have gone into Iraq. That was a big mistake because it
destabilized the whole Middle East,” Trump said. “Some people say ‘Oh,
don’t say that.’”
“Everything you see right now is an offshoot of that decision,” he added,
“Saddam Hussein killed terrorists,” Trump said. “He didn’t do it
politically correct. He found a terrorist, they were gone within five
seconds, OK. With us, we find a terrorist, it’s going to be 25 years and a
trial.”
* * *
We're reasonbly sure Trump has no idea that Islamic State's top ranks are
almost entirely comprised of former Baathists.
But in this case we'll forgive his ignorance because when he says that
everything wrong in the Mid-East today is "an offshoot" of the decision to
invade Iraq, he is 100% correct. | r**********f
发帖数: 2808 | 2 “Saddam Hussein killed terrorists,” Trump said. “He didn’t do it
politically correct. He found a terrorist, they were gone within five
seconds, OK. With us, we find a terrorist, it’s going to be 25 years and a
trial.”
I like what Trump said. Trump is the only candidate who talks common sense.
No other candidates have guts to say anything that borders on political
incorrectness. |
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