OK... so, maybe I am getting a little jaded in this election cycle. Maybe I have come to expect each Republican Debate to be an action-filled "Friday night at the fights" slug-fest. Or, just another version of American Idol for adults. But, last night's Republican debate was a disappointing bit of "entertainment." No sparks, no fights, no insults or references to body parts - just bland, bland, bland, drivel. It seems that the anti-Trump movement, once the center focus of an effort to unseat the front-runner with millions of negative ads, press conferences by "respected" party "leaders" (read, establishment) like Romney, Speaker Ryan, and John McCain, on the Trump attack along with his opponents for the nomination, has fizzled. Designed to turn the corner in Michigan and Mississippi where it was hoped that Trump could be cut off and potentially defeated by Rubio, Cruz (Mississippi), or Kasich (Michigan), the entire effort flopped as the Trump support hardened and perhaps grew in some places. When will the Beltway learn that Trump;'s appeal is that HE IS NOT THEM? The Republican primary voters are clearly saying that they reject the ways of the Beltway, K Street Lobbyists, and the monied contributors who have strangled the effort to adopt more conservative policy. Trade deals that cost them their jobs and sent factories overseas, had the support of K Street and business interests.... working people be damned. If that sounds like the Republican Party of Warren Harding, you would be correct. The dramatic shift of working men and women to the Democratic Party in the 1930s resulted in the dominance of the Democratic party, Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton. OK... there were some Rs along the way, but the policies and laws of the New Deal and the Great Society adopted in the 30s and the 60s remained intact and many continue to be viewed as the "third rail" of current political discourse. Will we witness yet another massive abandonment of Republican Party principles in the 2016 election cycle as working families who became Reagan Democrats in the 1980's return home to the ranks and voter rolls of the Democratic Party? Or, if Trump is denied the nomination of the Republican party, will those working families follow him into the history books (and potentially the dust bin of political history) in a split-off third party effort led by Trump rather than join the ranks of Democrats? In a few months, if not in a week or two, we will know the answer to that question.
In any case, last night's Republican debate was a calm and civil affair.... and, likely, did not change many votes one way or another. As several observers/commentators said, it seemed that the Trump opponents have just 2 speeds - 1. bombast and insults with full-on attacks galore on Trump and, 2. calm civil discourse, almost ignoring Trump's flaws altogether. What happened to say... a 5 or 6 on the attack scale - a mixture of policy disagreements and legitimate attacks on Trump's policy or business experience rather than the size of his hands? On the eve of the next significant round of elections, particularly Florida and Ohio - must wins for Rubio and Kasich respectively - and places that, if won by Trump, could be game over, you would think that the anti-Trump strategists would have come up with a better, more effective strategy than simply hoping that the sky might fall all by itself while they sip civil tea on the debate stage. Sitting quietly on that log, with fingers crossed, and hoping for the collapse of the Trump train just won't do it for the opponents. We will see next week when the circus moves on to the rust-belt factories of Ohio and the political swamps of Florida.
Stay tuned...... it could be all over by next week.....
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