Some Pictures Tell a Million Words

When it comes time to write the book on the Trump campaign, you won't need to write a book. Because we already have this picture.

This is Steve Travers, who stood behind Trump at the rally today in Tampa, with a full body "Trump Wall" suit with the lettering "Mexico Will Pay."

This Is Getting Brutal

At a certain point you have to wonder what they did. Because at this point it seem like God is just f 'ing with the GOP. Like pulling wings off a fly. As you can see in the live election results data to the right, Ted Cruz looks like close to a lock to win the Kansas caucus. Only 25% of the precincts have reported so far. But he's had roughly 50% of the tally consistently all the way so far. Unless the distribution of the returns is wildly uneven it's hard to see how he doesn't win. (So far no returns appear to be in from greater Kansas City metro region.) That will be Cruz's fifth win so far. And it does not seem improbable at all that he could win at least one more. (Just as I typed this, the first 5% of precinct results came in from Maine. He's winning there too.)

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Requiem For IE

I haven't done it in a long time. But over the years, I've posted charts or non-graphical updates on what kinds of browsers and operating systems people use to access TPM. So for instance, way back in January 2010 (amazingly, that's 6 years ago), our browser breakdown was like this.

Firefox: 39.82% Internet Explorer 29.10% Safari 21.83% Chrome 7.17%

Today it is ...

Chrome 39.41%

Safari 28.8%

Safari (in-app) 12.48%

Firefox 10.97%

Internet Explorer 5.32%

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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.