It took us a moment at the end of today's "Meet The Press" to truly get out thoughts together due to the fact that we just didn't know where to begin. At the top, respected Republican strategist Alex Castellanos admitted that he got 'no takers' from the big-donor Republican establishment crowd to produce an anti-Trump media campaign. At the end, conservative journalist Jeff Greenfield called Donald Trump a 'bloviating billionaire with weird hair.' If that weren't enough, the middle was stuffed with the discussion of Ted Cruz's (R-TX) Canadian birther charge, which has the senator clearly rattled because the other candidates have piled on to what Donald Trump started. It actually speaks negatively of Mr. Cruz's character if his fellow Republicans don't have his back on this. Amazing...
The Republican establishment doesn't want to attack Donald Trump right now because they see Ted Cruz receiving the residual benefit, and that it does not want. We also suspect that there is a fear that Donald Trump could put these peoples' names in the news and they definitely don't want that. But here we all are, waiting to see if the establishment's Franken-Republican monster destroys all or dies. The Republican establishment had stoked and fanned the angry fires of their electorate for so many years without ever coming through on their promises, and they sought Donald Trump's endorsement and support in the past; then he got fed up as well. Uh-oh...
Mr. Trump said it himself in his interview today with Mr. Todd, that President Obama is a terrible negotiator with everyone except with Republicans; so they're the worst. And this doesn't bode well for the other Republican 'establishment' candidates obviously because they're the ones who've been doing the negotiating. Meanwhile they're engaged in what Mr. Todd called a 'circular firing squad;' here's how we noted it:
Rubio on Christie,
Bush on Rubio,
Christie on Rubio and Cruz.
Ben Ginsberg, fmr. counsel for Republican Administrations called it a 'demolition derby.' Collectively, Republicans are having a really hard time coming up with a candidate that they think can make it through the primary and the general elections, one they can rally around. Jennifer Jacobs from the Des Moines Register said it's going to be close because even though Mr. Trump leads, Mr. Cruz's favorability numbers are in the seventies. She also explained that each of the top two candidates are worried about one another, nuancing their respective positions to cater specifically to Iowa caucus goers. And as Mr. Castelllanos duly noted that it's too late for any of the establishment candidates to catch up with either of the front runners.
The only thing that the establishment can hang its hat on, so to speak, is something that Mr. Ginsberg said which was that in this election cycle the first four primary states have less significance than in past elections. But we're not so sure of that, especially if Mr. Trump wins the first two contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, and possibly a third in South Carolina. What that could possibly lead to is no clear nominee come convention time. (It's difficult not to get ahead of yourself on this given the anxiety you witness among Republicans.)
The conservative electorate may be undecided on whether they want to go with Mr. Trump or Senator Cruz, but the political establishment clearly signals that it prefers neither but this is a situation of their own making and having Reince Preibus leading the RNC has probably made things worse. As the process moves on more damage will certainly be done to all the candidates as votes start being cast and no matter who comes out on top in the end could be well past the point of no return to appeal to a majority in the general election.
When Mr. Todd asked Mr. Trump to fill in the blank: The state of our union is what? Mr. Trump answered, "a mess." Seems like everyone's thinking that he's referring to the union within the Republican party.
Panel: Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Jennifer Jacobs, The Des Moines Register; Robert Costa, The Washington Post; Jeff Greenfield, Politico
One more thing...
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan is a sad and despicable situation on so many levels. That the water was not lead-free in the first place; that Governor Rick Snyder's office has been passive to do anything as this has gone on for over a year; that the national media is not giving this the attention that should be paid give credence to our description. As Helene Cooper said: this is so basic and we're not a third-world country. So focused on the sensational are we that we are forgetting what is really important. Fix it!
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