In full panic mode, the GOP Party establishment tried but failed to destroy the candidacy of real estate mogul Donald Trump. Sailing through last night’s debate, it’s no accident that the failing campaign of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush received the endorsement of 2016 GOP campaign dropout Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who threw in the towel Dec. 21, polling less that one percent. Graham has nothing to lose-or-gain endorsing Bush, a fellow Neocon, whose brother, former President George W. Bush, caused today’s mess in the Middle East. Lindsey was the only GOP candidate wanting to put massive U.S. ground forces back in Iraq and Syria, something that went over like a lead balloon with voters. Endorsing Bush does nothing for Jeb in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, only display’s Graham’s last-ditch attempt to lash out at Trump before the Iowa Caucuses.
On his way to win Iowa and run the table, yesterday’s NBC New/Wall Street Journal polls shows Trump up on his closest rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) by 13% [Trump, 33%, Cruz, 20%. Graham’s new favorite pick, Jeb, is polling at 5%, the same New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose campaign is about to go up in flames. Christie talks a good game at the debates but voters see the dark cloud of 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal, following him around, where his “rogue” staff ordered the lane closures causing massive gridlock on the George Washington Bridge leading into Fort Lee, New Jersey. “I have concluded without hesitation, any doubt, that Jeb Bush is worthy to be commander-in-chief on day one,” said Graham, not admitting that Bush-43’s Iraq War caused much to today’s Mideast chaos, giving rise to ISIS. Trump’s growing strength in national polls reveals much about 2016.
Establishment candidates like Graham and Bush—and the Republican National Committee—haven’t conceded that voters are disgusted with Washington and want change in 2016. Answering Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo in last night’s Fox Business News debate, Trump said he would gladly leave his multi-billion dollar business to run the ship-of-state. Promising to do everything in his power to turn the nation around, Trump showed his patriotic side, willing to sacrifice everything to serve his country as president. Whatever doubts remained about his seriousness as a GOP candidate, Bartiromo asked the right question. Getting hit from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-N.Y.) about coming from “liberal” New York, Trump reminded the Texas upstart that the father of modern American Conservatism, William F. Buckley Jr., the conservative idol of President Ronald Reagan, hailed from New York.
By anyone’s metrics, Trump won the debate decisively, opening up the “birther” doubt about Cruz being born in Calgary, Canada. Cruz responded with some good legal points but it doesn’t erase opinions of Constitutional scholars, like Harvard Law School’s Prof. Lawrence Tribe, that think he’s ineligible to be president. “Donald Trump will damage the ability to grow this party. He will get creamed with Hispanics and young women,” said Graham, justifying his endorsement of Bush. Trump’s leading all national polls by wide margins, including all racial, ethnic and religious groups. Graham sees national polls showing that Trump is the only GOP candidate beating Democratic front-runner former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton by a widel margin. Lacking logic and built only on vindictiveness, Graham lashed out at Trump too many times and wrecked his campaign.
Trump’s “birther” questions about Cruz, not to mention unreported loans from his wife’s employer Goldman Sachs, have taken a toll on his hopes in Iowa. If the reverse Bradley Effect comes true, namely, voters have a hard time admitting they’ll vote for Trump, the GOP front-runner should easily win the Iowa Caucuses. Cruz’s comments about New York exposed his limited exposure. Surely he knows that New York’s banking, insurance and commercial real estate industries are conservative as it gets. Painting America’s financial capital as “liberal” exposed his naivety. Cruz better watch his tongue or be ruled out as Trump’s possible running mate. Trump’s didn’t back down one iota from his position of preventing Muslims, especially Syrian refugees, from entering the U.S. Istanbul’s Jan. 11 ISIS suicide bombing, killing 10, by a Syrian refugee bolstered the logic of Trump’s Muslim ban.
GOP and Democratic officials haven’t yet come to grips with the depth of voters’ sentiments in the 2016 campaign. Disgusted with Washington’s partisan gridlock, voters look to Trump as a way of breaking the status quo. Both parties have done everything possible to sabotage Trump’s campaign. Endorsing Jeb, Graham did little to help Bush’s failing campaign, representing more ugly Washington partisanship. With Wall Street melting down at the moment, it helps the GOP argument that President Barack Obama’s economy is built like a stack-of-cards. If the economy lapses into a recession during an election year, it’s going to be tough sell for Democrats. If Wall Street rallies back, it gives Democrats hope but only if not facing Trump. GOP party officials haven’t yet conceded that Trump’s their best path to the White House in 2016, regardless of whether he’s the perfect conservative.
