-and you've got financial resources and a lengthy record of success launching new ventures into the business and entertainment spheres- most observers would surely expect to see a guy like Donald Trump roll into Iowa with a polished, professional organization based on sound principles of
what's worked in the past... as conservative politics -and most
sound business decisions- are grounded in.
I know that's what I thought we'd be seeing...
Something more along-the-lines of the impressive campaign that
Ted Cruz has bolted together.
Instead we get an hyper-arrogant Trump -seemingly lacking in self awareness- thinking he can go win it his 21st-century way, twitter, Facebook, and rah-rah rallies -surrounded by yes-men/pollsters and co-opted media sources that are stroking him all the time- and going with something that's never been tried before... just waltz in and get crowned.
What made him even think it would work-- other than a misplaced belief in his own supposed greatness? Some caucus meetings said no Trumpsters showed-up to speak on behalf of the candidate at their locale... the most basic building block of the entire caucus process, sounds like they really
dropped the ball.
Alas, much like Rumsfeld's 'light' approach brought disaster in pre-surge Iraq
-a costly strategic error also borne of hubris and wishful thinking-
Trump's hollow campaign organization may have produced some
initial shock-n-awe, but he mostly lacks a 'ground game'
-a concept The Donald incredibly claims to have little awareness of.
All this showed in Iowa- Team Trump's effort was based on nothing but a bloated self-image telling him he could do it any way he pleased....
including a fussilade of disingenuous personal attacks on Ted Cruz
in the run-up to caucus night.
Self-assured delusion -'everybody loves him'- no respect for principle or the lessons of history, he's got a better way that's never been
tried before, but us less-gifted sorts probably won't understand...
so just trust him on that, 'kay?
And if anybody opposes or threatens Trump's 'revolution', he now incites his brownshirts to bully people like he does -demonizing anyone who dare look at Trump cross-eyed- how exactly is this whole schtick any different than Obama, Hillary, and the residual Alinskyite left?
But the problem for Trump is shallow support from actual conservatives...
he'll likely soon be hemorrhaging Evangelical and constitutionalist supporters now that his ceaseless boasts of inevitability have been exposed as so much flapdoodle.
Since The Donald is neither conservative nor saintly, many of Christians/conservatives were on-board purely based on inevitability/momentum... but that's over now, and no amount of
bought-and-paid-for endorsements are going to help.
Trump didn't do himself any favors with that twitter meltdown/tantrum yesterday, either- if you've long wondered where his poll ceiling was,
it looks like we've found it. Listen carefully and you might hear thousands
quietly deleting #Trump2016 from their twitter profile...