Yup, #NeverTrump Is an Epic Fraud

I wrote last night that the already trembly #NeverTrump 'movement' would soon collapse under the weight of its own ridiculousness. And that is even more clear this afternoon. Mitt Romney appears to be the only actual member of the #NeverTrump 'movement'. Small movement. Sad!

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The Rot is Deep

Like I said last night, #NeverTrump is really #EventuallyTrump. In a Kentucky radio interview today, Marco Rubio is forced to admit that #NeverTrump actually only applies for the primaries. Audio here.

True

TPM Reader CS ...

Having listened to (much) of the debate last night and read your commentary, I am struck by the fact that we seem to have become perfectly comfortable with moderators that are actively, openly, and aggressively trying to undermine a single candidate.

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A Thought

It's a bit hard to judge since CPAC or any conference would be hard pressed to command much media attention in the face of the current implosion of the GOP. But it's hard not to sense that the diminished prominence of CPAC this year is not part of the more general crack up of the current GOP coalition, elites and establishment versus voters, changing definitions of conservatism, different gatekeepers, etc.

Republicans Debate. A Total Mess. Sad!

My take on Thursday night's GOP debate.

Readers Advance Study of The Trump Attack Haiku

After TPM's pioneering work identifying the new metrical form of the Trump attack haiku, readers came through with a more extensive examination of Trump's work ...

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#NeverTrump to Rebrand as #EventuallyTrump

I've noted this several times today in different contexts. But it's worth repeating clearly and on its own. Romney, Rubio and a slew of other Republicans are denouncing Donald Trump as someone who cannot be allowed to become President. He's a danger to the country, a danger to the Republican party, a danger to conservatism. Yet none of these people is willing to rule out supporting him in November. Even Mitt Romney today clearly did not rule out supporting Trump in the fall. That is too big a contradiction to stand. The essence of what people are calling the #NeverTrump hashtag 'movement' is that it's Twitter based, and in the nature of Twitter people can't be pressed on this elemental question. Rubio is trying to be this 'movement's' leader; but tonight he said he'd support Trump as nominee.

Because of this the #NeverTrump movement will likely soon collapse under the weight of its own ridiculousness.

The GOP's July Crisis

This was the first GOP debate where I saw them make Donald Trump bleed. I really don't know whether he 'won' or 'lost'. I suspect his support is too ingrained at this point to be easily shaken. But this time Rubio and Cruz and mainly the moderators knocked Trump off his stride.

It's not a matter of catching him in some logical contradiction or baloney answer. That's happened a hundred times and it's irrelevant. The issue is that his opponents are sharpening a number of attack lines that are commonsensical, direct and understandable: the scam of Trump University, importing foreign labor for the 'short season' at Mar-a-Lago. It's hard for him to smack people down on these attacks with a single broadside.

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O'Reilly v Trump

I don't know if you just saw O'Reilly's post-game interview with Trump immediately after the debate. We're going to have some quotes and maybe some video momentarily. (Here's video.) But it was a thing of hideous beauty. Whatever you can say about O'Reilly, he's the same kind of nasty, taunting bully as Trump. He gets Trump and has his number. And it showed.

Trump was tired coming off the two hour debate. He went toe to toe with O'Reilly. But unlike everyone else who's been on the stage with him, O'Reilly has Trump's number, knows how to deal with him. A Trump who wasn't a bit worn down would have handled it better. But he was tired.

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Bottom Line

Here's where we get the real story. We can't afford a dangerous figure like Donald Trump, not the country or the conservative movement. But I'll definitely back him if he's the nominee.

Shorter GOPers: Trump is a disgrace who doesn't share our values and may doom America and who I will be supporting in November.

When Megyn Kelly Impaled Trump

So here's the part where Megyn Kelly bludgeoned Donald Trump over Trump University.

Is This The End of America Blogging #1

10:44 PM: I've always thought it's hard for Marco Rubio to lecture Trump about not knowing anything about national security when Rubio himself has only learned any of it in the last couple years and is basically just speaking from talking points.

Megyn's Revenge

10:12 PM: A phase here where Trump may have been ill-advised to attack and slash at Megyn Kelly for months.

10:14 PM: This is definitely the worst I've seen Donald Trump come off in one of these debates. But it's such an unholy mess I'm really not clear the others are going to benefit.

10:23 PM: Notable that none of the issues in the word cloud are remotely part of any of the GOP debates.

10:35 PM: Actually, it's not the second amendment because it's the second in line of priority. No.

10:37 PM: If I were Trump I would have positioned Chris Christie on the stage just behind him with that "dog worrying where the bone is" look. Felt like that gave Trump an edge.

No, Ted, You Weren't in 'Law Enforcement'

Okay, if I heard right, Ted Cruz just said he had "spent much of his life in law enforcement." We're trying to verify all the points in Cruz's resume. But this is silly. It's not clear that Ted Cruz has ever served in any law enforcement capacity at all. Cruz is basically treating being a lawyer as "being in law enforcement." But, no. First Cruz was a law clerk. Then he was in private practice. Then for less than a year he served in the Bush DOJ - but it's not clear to me that it was in anything that could be called a law enforcement capacity. Next he was a lawyer at the FTC. Then he was Solicitor General of Texas. Cruz was a high flying lawyer for twenty years. As near as I can tell he's never been in law enforcement. No, being a Supreme Court clerk is not being in law enforcement.

They're Embarrassing Our Country Blogging #1

9:32 PM: I'll say it again. Whatever Trump said, The New York Times has acted in an amazingly sleazy fashion with this Trump off the record story.

9:34 PM: I'm curious in what sense it's a bigger punishment for Mexico if the wall is higher. Like, they're going to say, we could live with 35 feet but 50 feet we just couldn't ever accept that?

9:42 PM: This is reminiscent of when Megyn Kelly asked Rove on election night 2012 whether it was “just math that you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better or is this real?"

9:46 PM: "You went to Manhattan."

9:49 PM: This debate definitely has a different feel that the last GOP debate. There's not more attacks on Trump. But more of them are landing. They have more cudgels to use him. I'm really not sure it'll work. But it's different. Note that he's getting the crowd back on his side here by embracing war crimes. That's the deeper theme that this election is about.

9:54 PM: Ted Cruz spent "most of his life in law enforcement"? Really.