I rarely watch political debates, I've been less inclined to do so since the Bronzed Ego has been involved in them.
It's not that I would prefer to be watching The Voice or Blindspot or something on ESPN, it's that I typically find debates useless and boring. Granted, if you genuinely have no idea who you are supporting in a political race a debate might have some utility. However, for most of us we already know who we're supporting so the debate is really just a chance to mock everyone else's chosen candidate.
With El Bronzo in the lineup, the debates are childish and stupid. Last night, if i'm reading the news reports and Twitter correctly, The Bronzed Ego's best moment was when he referred to Marco Rubio as "Little Marco" and when her assured Americans that he was, small fingers notwithstanding, very well endowed for a paunchy, elderly Caucasian male.
Yes, you're going to read that Cruz, and to a lesser extent Rubio, "cornered" El Bronzo on policy and that they beat him over the head with the twin cudgels of Trump U and Hillary Clinton donations. You'll read this morning about how Trump is thin of policy knowledge and skin and that, when challenged, he more closely resembles a school-yard bully rather than a statesman. All of this is probably true. As a matter of fact, when it comes to Trump, I would say it's definitely true.
It also doesn't matter one iota.
That's because Trump's supporters don't care about policy. They don't care whether or not Trump's health care plan will work or whether his economic plan is based on unicorn farts. What they care about is that Trump does not act like a politician. That's it, no further questions.
The thing is that the more Trump blusters around the stage, acts churlish during the debates, constantly interrupting other speakers, making snorts, grunts and "nope" comments while they talking, the more he endears himself to his followers.
Because Trump is not, has never been, about reviving the conservative movement. He's not about reigning in the regulatory state or restoring the rule of law or limiting government or promoting policies that advance wealth. Trump is nothing more than a giant middle finger to the hordes of politicians in DC who campaign like populist conservatives, but govern like Statists.
Therefore it doesn't matter that Trump things the Nuclear Triad is, in Ted Cruz words "an 80's rock band" or that Trump University was a scam on the common man. It doesn't matter that Trump thinks China is a signatory to the TPP, that he has expressed a fondness for Putin, or even that he's making threats to limit media protections found in the 1st Amendment.
What matters to his base of support is that he is not a politician, and that he does not act like one.
That is why the key to beating him lies in proving that, as a businessman, he's really nothing more than a glorified politician. It's why he's working so hard to suppress his conversation with the New York Times where he might have said that the border wall he has promised is "negotiable". It's why he wants to keep his tax returns out of the public eye, for fear the public will see that he's just like the so-called "fat cats" that he chastises when he (legally) reduces his tax burden.
The problem that the GOP and, more importantly, Rubio and Cruz are having is that they are trying to attack the Bronzed Ego like he's a politician. That won't work. What they need to be doing is adjusting their tactics to promote him as a politician, to point out all of the politician-like things that he's doing and saying. It doesn't matter that Trump has a tenuous grip on policy, but it does matter that he's more than willing to "negotiate" away core items that he's stumping for on the campaign trail. That's what has made his followers so angry and that's what will likely have the most impact.
Alternatively, the GOP needs to make the case that El Bronzo's policies will not solve the rigged system. In fact, they will only make it worse. Because a man who has operated throughout the entirety of his business career on the patronage system will not understand any other way. It's the patronage system after all that's limiting growth, contributing to wage stagnation and stifling economic mobility.
So far Cruz and Rubio's consultants have been either unable, or (more likely too ignorant) to make that charge stick. They're calling plays from a playbook that might have worked against Romney and McCain (not a real conservative) but which the Bronzed defense has figured out. To be fair however, it's not just the campaign consultants who haven't figured it out. Many of the so-called Republican 'pundits' and media personalities haven't either.
What they have figured out is that the Bronzed Ego is good for ratings, which means that they are increasingly starting to back his campaign. While that's a blog-post for another time it does say a lot about why the GOP is struggling, and threatening to collapse as a national party if it hasn't already.
El Bronzo is a politician, and not an especially intelligent or talented one at that. If the candidates and GOP can't make that case then maybe we're better off blowing it up and focusing on #PostGOP matters?
