Giving It to Trump, Good and Hard

 

Ever since Donald Trump got shellacked in Colorado, he has been whining and complaining about the rules of the Republican nomination process. Last week, member Marion Evans has an excellent suggestion for Trump:

One way to deal with gadflies, rogues and bullies is to give them exactly what they want on the theory that they will eventually do themselves in. Since his Colorado debacle, Donald Trump has been arguing that the delegate attribution should reflect the percentage earned by each candidate in each primary/caucus. But under these new “Trump rules,” his total delegate count today would be 564 (table below), well below his official current total of 755.

In the past, I have been critical of GOP establishment schemers who want to change convention rules mid-stream in order to get their desired result (i.e. a nominee who isn’t Senator Ted Cruz or Donald Trump). But the same admonition applies to Trump as well, to the extent he wants to change the nomination rules to suit himself. The basic principle of fairness in any contest is that the rules of the game must not change once play has begun.

Except that Trump wishes the rules changes to be made inconsistently, which is even worse than what the RNC conspirators desire. He is all for proportionate representation in states where he got skunked, but he is perfectly happy with the Florida results, where he won all 99 delegates while only winning 46 percent of the vote, or South Carolina, where he was awarded all 50 delegates while only winning 32.5 percent of the vote. You can’t have it both ways, Donald.

The simple truth is that Trump is in over his head. He lost Colorado because his team failed to show up. Tens of thousands of people showed up and voted in the caucuses … just not for him because his campaign was AWOL. In contrast, Cruz has set up dedicated campaign teams in every state, in some cases, for years, and continues to operate them after the primaries are over in order to snag the actual delegates. This is called playing by the rules.

Until recently, this part of the game eluded Trump’s attention because nobody else was paying attention to it either. There hasn’t been a brokered convention in decades. But Cruz paid attention, and began working on this before anybody thought a brokered convention was likely That says a lot about Cruz’s perspicacity and thoroughness… as well, as Trump’s. These qualities are supremely relevant to the job of president.

I think Trump entered the presidential race on a self-promotional lark and — to his great surprise — found himself winning, mostly because he accidentally tapped into underlying issues such as political correctness and immigration. When he first adopted them, I don’t think he had any clue about their potency.

He is like the dog that caught the car he was chasing; he doesn’t know what to do next.

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  1. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    Trump is in it to build up the Trump brand.  I don’t think he really wants to win the presidency, but come as close as possible so he can milk it for the added celebrity value for brand Trump.

    I am no Cruz fan, but I sure hope Cruz wins the GOP nomination.

    • #1
  2. Franz Drumlin Inactive
    Franz Drumlin
    @FranzDrumlin

    At this point we’re splashing water on concrete in the hope that some of it might soak in.

    • #2
  3. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Another example is Missouri.  Trump beat Cruz by 0.2%, a virtual tie.  But because he was the top vote-getter, Trump got over a dozen more delegates than Cruz.  Them’s the breaks.

    • #3
  4. TKC1101 Member
    TKC1101
    @

    Canadian Cincinnatus: I think Donald Trump entered the presidential race on a self-promotional lark and to his great surprise, found himself winning, mostly because he accidentally tapped into underlying issues such as political correctness and immigration. When he first adopted them, I don’t think he had any clue about their potency. He is like the dog that caught the car he was chasing. He doesn’t know what to do next.

    You may be right. Or, he may have decided to avoid Colorado and let it play out. He can now label Cruz a lawyer who gets delegates without votes, and take down Cruz in New York, Pennsylvania, California and New Jersey on the image that creates. He trades spending on a ground game for the media attack once again.

    It might work, or he may have overplayed. Time will tell. He probably knows his best shot is to show up with the 1237.

    • #4
  5. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    The frustrating part is that the only people who see Trump’s irrationality and inconsistency are us. His troops could care less. I wish the media would pick up on the discrepancies in his arguments and highlight those; maybe he’d just be quiet–for a short time.

    • #5
  6. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Trump is not endearing when he whines. It isn’t necessary, will not gain him a single delegate, and, yes, the rules are the rules, and they haven’t been broken to my knowledge. At some point it is highly likely that Trump will have to use politic to gain enough delegates to win the nomination. Again the rule is 1237…not 1225 or even 1236. From my perspective, he had better start practicing at that game sooner rather than later. Some of the States use an incredibly arcane methodology to establish delegate counts after a popular vote. Why they have established these circuitous rules is difficult to understand, but it is their right and they did it long before the votes were cast.

    On the other hand, we have the Democrat Party. They start in Iowa and then New Hampshire. Iowa is tied so they toss a coin in six different districts to determine the winner…TOSS A COIN!? Well whatcha know, Clinton wins ALL SIX of the coin tosses. Try that in Vegas. Sanders goes on to clobber Clinton in New Hampshire. After those two primaries, using Democrat math, Clinton has about 85% of the delegates. Now there is something to bitch about!

    • #6
  7. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    Trump, with the help of the media, is spinning out two conflicting stories: (1) Of course he doesn’t know the (corrupt and rigged) rules, he’s an outsider, which is why he should be elected, and (2) he’s a master strategist who wisely chose not to waste resources on either Colorado or Wyoming, instead choosing to use them in the Northeast where he’s strongest.

    He claims that his losses “prove” that the system is corrupt (since corruption is, presumably, the only possible way he could lose) and that he should therefore be elected president.  Yet his actions don’t square with someone who is actually trying to become president.

    After every state primary, Trump – win or lose – reportedly fires his team in that state.  But should he win the nomination, he would need those people in the general election.  Why, then, is he eliminating what little ground game he has?  Are the people who claimed he was a stalking horse for Hillary right all along?  Or were those people correct who believe he is just trying to push his “brand”?

    • #7
  8. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    I’ve heard some recent Donald Trump audio clips where he alleges that some of these delegates sold their support to Cruz for gifts, trips, etc.  If this is true, that is reprehensible.  But when I do a search online for “Ted Cruz bribes delegates,” I get no actual examples of it happening.

    • #8
  9. Marion Evans Inactive
    Marion Evans
    @MarionEvans

    Thanks for the mention!

    If this Trump effort was one of his companies, now would be the time he would start thinking of bankruptcy as a way out, when the rules don’t work for him any more.

    • #9
  10. JimGoneWild Coolidge
    JimGoneWild
    @JimGoneWild

    Why are we wasting energy on Donald Trump’s Shtick of complaining about everything that doesn’t go his way? This is just one of his tactics and you’re falling for it. Just sit back, chuckle and worry about better things.

    • #10
  11. Z in MT Member
    Z in MT
    @ZinMT

    Trump is a natural marketing and PR savant. I think the Colorado delegate selection process caught him by surprise, so he is trying to use the differences of the CO and WY delegate selection processes as a talking point to keep his supporters motivated.

    • #11
  12. livingthehighlife Inactive
    livingthehighlife
    @livingthehighlife

    Richard Fulmer: After every state primary, Trump – win or lose – reportedly fires his team in that state.

    Wait, what?!  He fires his in-state team after the primary?  So he has no paid staff in, say, Florida?

    • #12
  13. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    livingthehighlife:

    Richard Fulmer: After every state primary, Trump – win or lose – reportedly fires his team in that state.

    Wait, what?! He fires his in-state team after the primary? So he has no paid staff in, say, Florida?

    For example: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-campaign-staff-disarray-221557

    • #13
  14. tabula rasa Inactive
    tabula rasa
    @tabularasa

    Amem.  Trump cares little about fairness and equity.  He wants everything to go his way–thus, things that don’t positively favor him are “unfair” or “theft” or a “Gestapo-tactic.”

    Once again I pause to lament:  “How is it that we are seriously considering this man as the candidate of the same party that nominated Lincoln and Reagan?”  “How did we arrive at this moment in history?”

    • #14
  15. livingthehighlife Inactive
    livingthehighlife
    @livingthehighlife

    Richard Fulmer:

    livingthehighlife:

    Richard Fulmer: After every state primary, Trump – win or lose – reportedly fires his team in that state.

    Wait, what?! He fires his in-state team after the primary? So he has no paid staff in, say, Florida?

    For example: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-campaign-staff-disarray-221557

    Thanks.  Amazing.

    This, ladies and gentleman, is why Hillary will kick Trump’s arse in the general.

    • #15
  16. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    livingthehighlife:

    Richard Fulmer:

    livingthehighlife:

    Richard Fulmer: After every state primary, Trump – win or lose – reportedly fires his team in that state.

    Wait, what?! He fires his in-state team after the primary? So he has no paid staff in, say, Florida?

    For example: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-campaign-staff-disarray-221557

    Thanks. Amazing.

    This, ladies and gentleman, is why Hillary will kick Trump’s arse in the general.

    It could appear that Trump is not even planning to win the primary, or if he does, is not planning on winning the Presidency.  So why would a 70 year old multi billionaire go through all of this trouble if he doesn’t intend on winning? Warning! Conspiracy theories are not allowed on Ricochet.

    • #16
  17. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    Even Limbaugh has been pointing out that Trump is lying about the process being rigged.  He chose not to contest either Colorado or Wyoming and lost both as a result.  He won’t gain any delegates from either state by complaining about the outcome, but he can further enrage his supporters and poison the waters if another Republican wins the nomination.

    If nothing else, his scorched earth campaign will go a long way toward destroying the GOP – something that many of his supporters greatly desire.  Unfortunately, neither he nor they will leave anything in its place.

    • #17
  18. livingthehighlife Inactive
    livingthehighlife
    @livingthehighlife

    Richard Fulmer: If nothing else, his scorched earth campaign will go a long way toward destroying the GOP – something that many of his supporters greatly desire. Unfortunately, neither he nor they will leave anything in its place.

    Bingo!

    If they are unwilling to do the work necessary to change the party, they certainly won’t do the hard work necessary to rebuild something once the GOP is destroyed.  Yet somehow, miraculously, a much better option will appear from the ashes.  At least that’s what I keep reading from some of his supporters.

    • #18
  19. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    livingthehighlife:

    Richard Fulmer: If nothing else, his scorched earth campaign will go a long way toward destroying the GOP – something that many of his supporters greatly desire. Unfortunately, neither he nor they will leave anything in its place.

    Bingo!

    If they are unwilling to do the work necessary to change the party, they certainly won’t do the hard work necessary to rebuild something once the GOP is destroyed. Yet somehow, miraculously, a much better option will appear from the ashes. At least that’s what I keep reading from some of his supporters.

    Yeah, if it were someone like Newt Gingrich saying we’re going to tear the Republican party down and spend the next decade or so rebuilding it into something better, I’d probably take him at his word that he intends to do that.  Win or lose, does anybody expect Donald Trump will commit to the long slog of rebuilding the party after burning it down?

    • #19
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