I’m not even sure what to say. When you don’t have one substantive candidate there will be no substantive discussion? Know why none of them can call out the others plans for health care, the economy, etc.? Because all of their plans are nonsense. That is the #1 reason none of them can take Trump out. In order to attack his policies, which amount to “It’s (fill in whatever position/plan you want) going to be great!”, they’d have to defend and explain their own policies. Watch the segment on health care last night. Not one of them had a policy. Not one.
Mr. Pandora and I were stunned by the end of the “debate” last night. If Dems need something to rally behind, here it is.
We laugh at Ben Carson’s “The fruit salad of their life is what I will look at” comment, but he is really no different than any other GOP presidential candidate on that stage last night. The only difference is he doesn’t hide his nuttiness behind his chosen facade. He lets it all hang out.
I haven’t read any commentary on last night’s debate yet. I wanted to lay out my impressions first. So, here they are:
Trump:
Mother of god! Sorry, had to get that out. Trump has zero policies on anything. Building a wall paid for by Mexico and It (again fill in the blank) is going to be great are not policies. His entire platform is based on emotion. Several times last night the moderators and other clown car passengers tried to pin him down. Here’s what happened: He’s got nothing and his supporters don’t care. He’s their daddy, don’tchaknow, and they have complete trust in daddy.
He did expose a weakness last night. Donald Trump does not like anyone pointing out his business failures. He goes off message when an attack hits its mark and ends up throwing nonsense – basically, he suffers from word vomit when attacked. I found myself scratching my head several times during his nonsensical tangents. He loses focus and ends up all over the place.
But one of his biggest weakness, and one the Dems would be well served exploiting, is his complete inability to articulate any of his policy ideas. Last night I found myself, many times, wishing the other candidates would shut up and let Trump stumble his way through the nothingness that is his policy. But, nope. They saved him every time – too focused on throwing punches that never connected, at least not enough to do any damage. In my opinion, that was a missed opportunity.
The person who can take out Trump? Trump.
Rubio:
First, I was wrong yesterday when I mused it would be Cruz going on the attack against Trump. Rubio did most of the attacking, but he didn’t do it well. It wasn’t that he didn’t make valid points it was that you could tell he wasn’t comfortable in the role. He spoke very quickly, sometimes frenziedly, while Trump smirked and then called him a name. Trying to play the game on Trump’s turf is a mistake. The rules aren’t the same. Trump’s allowed to be Trump – no one else is. And it’s stupid to try and out Trump Trump – because Rubio sweats a lot. smdh.
I’d write more about Rubio, but there isn’t much there there. I’m sure the pundits will be crowning Rubio the winner (He is the only one who gets this title without actually, you know, winning anything), but the voters won’t agree.
Cruz:
Cruz was much more restrained last night compared to Trump and Rubio. He took his swipes at Trump, but managed to keep a more even keel. So if there are points for not letting Trump fluster you then Cruz gets them. I’m not sure what else to write about him since there was nothing substantive said last night.
Kasich:
Has Kaisch met the Republican base? They aren’t remotely interested in what he’s selling, but he’s staked out this losing lane and is going to stick with it. Never mind that he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Not exactly sure why he’s decided to be the Kumbaya candidate. It’s a losing proposition. It’s also dishonest. Kasich is not a uniter or a moderate. But it doesn’t matter. He’s not going to win the nomination – maybe the VP slot or cabinet position, but not the nomination.
Carson:
I got nothing, other than… since the GOP primary has turned into a reality TV show it’s past time he was voted off the island. I would say he has no business being on that stage, but that would apply to everyone on that stage last night.
If you find my comments about the candidate a little thin, sorry. I guess I could write that there was a lot of unintelligible yelling over and over again. BTW, the moderators were awful. I kept forgetting they were there.
Which brings me back to Trump. Trump’s attacks are based on going after the other candidate’s masculinity. Take a good look at his every attack. They all boil down to “My penis is bigger, and better, than your (low energy, sock down your pants lying, sweaty) penis”. Not. Kidding. And yes, that applies to women, but in a different way. With women, Trump employs gross misogyny which makes the attacks different – more like “My penis wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole – and, btw, my penis is ten feet long.”
I’m not being snarky with the penis analogy. It’s apt. Trump masculine shames his opponents and the Republican base loves it. One might say they eat it up. (My bad!) It will be interesting, if Hillary is the nominee, to watch how Trump handles debating a women.
In the end, I doubt last night hurt Trump. He benefits from three things:
1. His support comes from people who don’t care about policy – let alone understand issues.
2. His supporters can’t get enough of his racist, bigoted, fascist and sexist comments.
3. GOP primary voters have settled on their candidate, and if it isn’t Trump then, for many of them, he’s their second choice.
So how does the Dem candidate take on Trump. First, do NOT do what the other GOP candidates have done. You can’t out Trump Trump. Here’s my advice. In a two person general election debate – let him talk. Make him explain his policies in detail. He can’t do it. Go watch the segment last night on his health care plan. He doesn’t have one. All he has is emotion, hence his appeal to Republican primary voter. Second, use humor. He can’t stand being painted as a fool. He cannot handle being laughed at. Call him names and you’ll lose. Mock him and I predict he loses it. He’s a very serious, very successful person who has no humor when it comes to himself. Third, do not let him interrupt. Call him out on that. It stuns me that he gets away with that behavior. Tell him he needs a time out. (Yeah, not really sure how that would work, but it needs to stop.)
I guess what I’m saying (and I’ll keep with his theme) is if you want to beat Trump, take away his Viagra.