cawacko
Well-known member
Since everyone loves to discuss the horserace... today's column from Karl Rove in the Journal (liberals dislike Rove and so do #MAGA supporters but he's one of the best in the business)
What he says makes total sense to me. Most people have never heard of Dean Phillips. I follow politics and I had never heard of him until he announced for the Presidency. Would reason to me if Biden and his people felt confident you really wouldn't need to address him. Yet here they are attacking him (and calling him racist). Rove didn't mention the No Labels group but same deal there, Biden folks doing all they can to shut it down because they all see the polling and know he is not popular even within his own party.
Then you have Trump. He lost the 2020 election. I would think most people would reason they need to increase their vote total as a result. Not Trump. He's just going all out in attacking every Republican who is running against him and then other Republicans who are not full blown #MAGA as if he doesn't need their votes. It makes absolutely no sense. He keeps talking about how far ahead he is yet the idea of even attempting to coalesce the party around him doesn't even seem to cross his mind.
The Unrestrained 2024 Front Runners
Biden’s surrogates attack Dean Phillips, while Trump attacks practically everyone.
The behavior of the front-running Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns is perplexing. Neither Joe Biden’s surrogates nor Donald Trump seems to know the value of restraint.
First there’s the rhetorical hell Democrats rained down on Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips after he announced he’s running in the New Hampshire presidential primary. Mr. Phillips believes that Mr. Biden is too old and that Democrats will lose the White House unless they nominate a younger leader.
Mr. Biden’s allies quickly blasted away. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Donna Brazile predicted Mr. Phillips won’t be at the party’s convention next summer “unless he’s an automatic superdelegate.” Democratic House colleagues called his bid a “head scratcher” and an “exercise in futility.” Joe Trippi, who managed Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential bid, called Mr. Phillips’s entry “clueless.”
A “senior Black Democrat” told ABC News that by filing for the New Hampshire primary without entering the South Carolina contest, Mr. Phillips is “skipping a very diverse state to go to a nondiverse state.” That’s “a telltale sign of where your values are.” Congressional Black Caucus Institute Chairman Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) came close to calling Mr. Phillips racist, saying he was “disrespectful to . . . voters of color.” Even Minnesota’s Democratic governor disparaged Mr. Phillips, suggesting in a Biden fundraising email that he was doing “crazy things” and creating “political side shows.”
But why give the largely unknown congressman the attention? Trashing him generates more coverage of him and his argument that Mr. Biden is too old. That’s a statement 73% of voters, including two-thirds of Democrats, agreed with in an Aug. 30 Wall Street Journal poll. Instead of flame-throwing the Minnesotan, the smart move for Team Biden would have been a polite acknowledgment of his entry by a level-three underling. Then silence by all concerned.
Keeping quiet when it’s wise has never been the Republican front-runner’s strength, either. These days Donald Trump can’t stop harping on the polls. In Waterloo, Iowa, last month, he bragged, “We’re leading by a lot.” “Nationally,” he said, “we’re leading by numbers that nobody’s actually quite ever seen.” He claimed to be 67 points ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Actually, that day he was at 57% in the RealClearPolitics average, 45 points ahead of Mr. DeSantis. That’s strong but not 67 points.
It’s strange Mr. Trump keeps stressing and exaggerating how far ahead he is. Does he think that will demoralize his competitors’ supporters? Maybe. Narcissism is a more likely explanation. Either way, he’d be better off playing down the polls and saying he expects the contest to tighten. That would soften the blow if he gets a surprise.
And one may well arrive. In Iowa, where voters have seen more of the rest of the field, Mr. Trump’s numbers are lower. A new poll there has him at 43%, followed by Mr. DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at 16% each. While a 27-point lead is healthy, it could shrink. Fifty-four percent of Republicans say they’re open to changing their minds. Between the undecideds and those committed to someone else, nearly 6 in 10 aren’t in Mr. Trump’s camp today. Ms. Haley especially has momentum in Iowa, where she’s risen 10 points since August. Posturing as having an insurmountable lead could make Mr. Trump look weak if he wins Iowa with significantly less than 50% and someone’s nipping on his tail—never mind if he loses.
Mr. Trump combines his bravado about the polls with constant personal attacks on other GOP candidates. The Florida governor is “DeSanctimonious” and “really overrated.” Ms. Haley is “birdbrain” and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie a “bum” and “fat pig.” Shortly after Mike Pence gracefully withdrew from the contest Saturday, Mr. Trump couldn’t control himself. He lambasted his former vice president as “very disloyal,” “delusional” and “not a very good person.”
He even attacks his Republican opponents’ supporters as “disloyal RINOs” and “globalist special interest donors.”
A candidate who is way ahead can afford to be gracious. Why isn’t Mr. Trump? Perhaps fearing his lead is fragile, he believes he needs insults to win. Maybe he thinks there’s no downside to smash-mouth politics. More likely, he’s addicted to abusive language and no one can control him.
Whatever the case, trash-talking other Republicans and their supporters will make it hard to produce the enthusiastic GOP unity Mr. Trump would need in a close general election if he wins the nomination. He has more than enough enemies; it’s perplexing he wants to make more needlessly.
Then again, this is the strangest presidential election in our lifetimes, which is saying a lot after the past two.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-un...trump-election-ff39ffa0?mod=opinion_lead_pos9
What he says makes total sense to me. Most people have never heard of Dean Phillips. I follow politics and I had never heard of him until he announced for the Presidency. Would reason to me if Biden and his people felt confident you really wouldn't need to address him. Yet here they are attacking him (and calling him racist). Rove didn't mention the No Labels group but same deal there, Biden folks doing all they can to shut it down because they all see the polling and know he is not popular even within his own party.
Then you have Trump. He lost the 2020 election. I would think most people would reason they need to increase their vote total as a result. Not Trump. He's just going all out in attacking every Republican who is running against him and then other Republicans who are not full blown #MAGA as if he doesn't need their votes. It makes absolutely no sense. He keeps talking about how far ahead he is yet the idea of even attempting to coalesce the party around him doesn't even seem to cross his mind.
The Unrestrained 2024 Front Runners
Biden’s surrogates attack Dean Phillips, while Trump attacks practically everyone.
The behavior of the front-running Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns is perplexing. Neither Joe Biden’s surrogates nor Donald Trump seems to know the value of restraint.
First there’s the rhetorical hell Democrats rained down on Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips after he announced he’s running in the New Hampshire presidential primary. Mr. Phillips believes that Mr. Biden is too old and that Democrats will lose the White House unless they nominate a younger leader.
Mr. Biden’s allies quickly blasted away. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Donna Brazile predicted Mr. Phillips won’t be at the party’s convention next summer “unless he’s an automatic superdelegate.” Democratic House colleagues called his bid a “head scratcher” and an “exercise in futility.” Joe Trippi, who managed Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential bid, called Mr. Phillips’s entry “clueless.”
A “senior Black Democrat” told ABC News that by filing for the New Hampshire primary without entering the South Carolina contest, Mr. Phillips is “skipping a very diverse state to go to a nondiverse state.” That’s “a telltale sign of where your values are.” Congressional Black Caucus Institute Chairman Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) came close to calling Mr. Phillips racist, saying he was “disrespectful to . . . voters of color.” Even Minnesota’s Democratic governor disparaged Mr. Phillips, suggesting in a Biden fundraising email that he was doing “crazy things” and creating “political side shows.”
But why give the largely unknown congressman the attention? Trashing him generates more coverage of him and his argument that Mr. Biden is too old. That’s a statement 73% of voters, including two-thirds of Democrats, agreed with in an Aug. 30 Wall Street Journal poll. Instead of flame-throwing the Minnesotan, the smart move for Team Biden would have been a polite acknowledgment of his entry by a level-three underling. Then silence by all concerned.
Keeping quiet when it’s wise has never been the Republican front-runner’s strength, either. These days Donald Trump can’t stop harping on the polls. In Waterloo, Iowa, last month, he bragged, “We’re leading by a lot.” “Nationally,” he said, “we’re leading by numbers that nobody’s actually quite ever seen.” He claimed to be 67 points ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Actually, that day he was at 57% in the RealClearPolitics average, 45 points ahead of Mr. DeSantis. That’s strong but not 67 points.
It’s strange Mr. Trump keeps stressing and exaggerating how far ahead he is. Does he think that will demoralize his competitors’ supporters? Maybe. Narcissism is a more likely explanation. Either way, he’d be better off playing down the polls and saying he expects the contest to tighten. That would soften the blow if he gets a surprise.
And one may well arrive. In Iowa, where voters have seen more of the rest of the field, Mr. Trump’s numbers are lower. A new poll there has him at 43%, followed by Mr. DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at 16% each. While a 27-point lead is healthy, it could shrink. Fifty-four percent of Republicans say they’re open to changing their minds. Between the undecideds and those committed to someone else, nearly 6 in 10 aren’t in Mr. Trump’s camp today. Ms. Haley especially has momentum in Iowa, where she’s risen 10 points since August. Posturing as having an insurmountable lead could make Mr. Trump look weak if he wins Iowa with significantly less than 50% and someone’s nipping on his tail—never mind if he loses.
Mr. Trump combines his bravado about the polls with constant personal attacks on other GOP candidates. The Florida governor is “DeSanctimonious” and “really overrated.” Ms. Haley is “birdbrain” and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie a “bum” and “fat pig.” Shortly after Mike Pence gracefully withdrew from the contest Saturday, Mr. Trump couldn’t control himself. He lambasted his former vice president as “very disloyal,” “delusional” and “not a very good person.”
He even attacks his Republican opponents’ supporters as “disloyal RINOs” and “globalist special interest donors.”
A candidate who is way ahead can afford to be gracious. Why isn’t Mr. Trump? Perhaps fearing his lead is fragile, he believes he needs insults to win. Maybe he thinks there’s no downside to smash-mouth politics. More likely, he’s addicted to abusive language and no one can control him.
Whatever the case, trash-talking other Republicans and their supporters will make it hard to produce the enthusiastic GOP unity Mr. Trump would need in a close general election if he wins the nomination. He has more than enough enemies; it’s perplexing he wants to make more needlessly.
Then again, this is the strangest presidential election in our lifetimes, which is saying a lot after the past two.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-un...trump-election-ff39ffa0?mod=opinion_lead_pos9