In the very first political post I wrote for The Prudent Pundit, http://paulswhyte.com/politics-matters/tub-thumping-trump, I claimed that what we were witnessing in the Republican presidential nomination race was an unfolding one-man act that I dubbed theatre of the absurd. After Tuesday’s resounding victory in the Indiana primary, the front-runner Donald Trump, moved ever closer to the magic number of 1237 – the required number of delegates to secure the nomination [he has 1054]. Within 48 hours of his win, he now remains the only candidate still left on the stage! Indeed, the curtain has truly come down on this process and to all intent and purpose, Trump is the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. The primary calendar will continue to wind down until June 7th when the last Republican primaries occur including the great state of California, but the race is already over.
All the tea-leaf readings and bone throwing rituals and other assorted post mortem practices will surely dominate the various outlets for mass media coverage in the following days [and weeks]. Questions, oh so many questions, will be asked of virtually everyone even remotely involved and connected to this nomination race. There will be enough blame and accusations to go around, as well as speculations concerning what to do next before they all gather in Cleveland in mid-July for the convention.
Already many Republicans who are clearly not Trump supporters are voicing opinions about what a predicament they now find themselves in before the November elections. http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000004383841/republican-voters-react-to-cruzs-suspension.html?contentCollection=U.S.&contentPlacement=4&module=most-popular-videos&action=click&pgType=Multimedia&eventName=most-popular-videos-click
The implications and possible repercussions of a Trump candidacy have many Republican politicians worried about a ‘down-stream’ negative influence jeopardizing their respective chances of re-election come November. Several are already on the record as not supporting Trump, while others have suggested they would prefer the presumptive Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, to their own man! For the party leadership, the so-called ‘establishment’, how to proceed toward the November elections has now become a difficult Hobbesian choice.
To the Trump loyalists this is a vindication of their indictment of the party elites and a Washingtonian political culture they so detest for failing them repeatedly over the last decade or more. All the wringing of hands and shrill words about the potential demise of the Grand Old Party because of Trump’s victory does not diminish or concern Trump supporters in the slightest. They have their man and he is a WINNER!
Even as I finish this blog, the Trump campaign is shifting its focus and energies to the coming confrontation with the [presumed] Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. To all those out there who think his nomination victory ensures Hillary’s victory in November, ask yourselves if you aren’t one of those people who gave him absolutely no chance of getting to where he is now. Already his spokesperson, Katrina Pierson, is suggesting that HRC has never been properly “vetted” and we can only wait to see what a Trump vetting would insist is her ‘true’ character. I for one am certain that what he said about his various Republican contenders will pale in comparison to the coming efforts to close the current gap in popularity with H. Clinton. It is a long six months to election day!
