2016 March 6^th

Semi Super Saturday is over and not a great deal has changed. Cruz won the caucuses in both Kansas and Maine. He also got a lot closer than predicted to Trump in Louisiana. It is clear that the Republican establishment prefers Cruz to Trump because they claim that Cruz is a “real” conservative. Everything depends on Florida and Ohio: if Trump wins them both his nomination is a done deal. He is well ahead in Florida but he was also well ahead in Louisiana until people voted.

Trump has increased the venom the Republicans are throwing at him. This morning on “Meet the Press” Chuck Todd had an interview with Mitt Romney who had unloaded on Trump just a few days before. Todd played a tape of Romney pointing out Trump’s bankruptcies, his inherited wealth, his failed fraud of Trump University and many similar difficulties; then Todd played another tape of Romney receiving Trump’s endorsement four years earlier when Romney had run for President. In that tape Romney had gushed over Trump’s great business sense and how happy he was to get Trump’s endorsement. Then Todd asked Romney what had changed in his evaluation of Donald Trump. Romney kept his composure; his little half-smile never wavered but he had no answer. He could have said that he had been wrong in his earlier assessment of Trump but he simply couldn’t admit that; he is a politician after all.

The attacks on Trump continued during the debate on March 3^rd.  Cruz, Rubio and Kasich showed the audience that they were quite capable of ceaseless attacks on Trump and his policies. Everything from his promise to kill the wives and children of terrorists to his willingness to torture prisoners was used as ammunition. In short, it was clear that all three of them thought that Trump would be an abomination as President and a disaster for the country. Then the moderator asked them if they would support Trump for President if he were to win the nomination. Even though they had all agreed that Trump would be a disaster for the country, every one of these “patriots” said that they would support him for President if he should be nominated. Why? Well, because they had promised to support the nominee. For these men, keeping your personal word trumps what you are sure would be a disaster for your country. These men are the best the Republican Party can offer as Presidential candidates?

The stop Trump theme is also much in evidence from pundits from George Will to Mona Charen. In her column today Charen manages to run through all of Trump’s reprehensible comments. She claims that while Romney may have waited too long to attack Trump, it is not too late to unseat him. “Only fifteen of the Republican primaries or caucuses have been completed,” says Charen. Finally, her limited patience exhausted, she proclaims that Trump is a “degenerate.” She is surely quite safe from a Trump response for I doubt that Donald Trump has ever heard of Mona Charen.