Trump Fights. Trump Wins.

As a perspective President, Donald Trump is useless to me. As a tool to bash the establishment and give them heartburn? He's magnificent.

CNBC wanted to jack their non-existant night ratings by expanding the upcoming GOP to 3 hours. Trump said, go to hell. CNBC says, if you need us we'll be in hell.

CNBC has agreed to limit its Republican primary debate later this month to two hours, acquiescing to the demands of Donald Trump and other GOP campaigns, CNN has confirmed.

A source with knowledge of the decision said the Republican National Committee was putting in calls to the campaigns on Friday morning to inform them of the new format, which will cap the debate to two hours, including commercials.

Trump and Ben Carson threatened to pull out if the debate went three hours. Without those two, this is a mostly a RINO snoozefest no one is going to watch. In fact, imagine if Trump and Carson followed through on this threat and agreed to go on CNN or Fox opposite this CNBC thing. Which gets better ratings? At the least, the Don and Ben show eats into the officially sanctioned event.

Twitter is filled with Team GOP types mocking Trump for not wanting to do 3 hours. He did fade in the last event so he probably does want to avoid being "low energy" again. But that's not going to be the story. The story is going to be...Trump fights the liberal media and Trump beats the liberal media (and the GOP establishment).

So much fun!

Something this little episode shows? Trump's right about something we all know, the GOP is filled with terrible negotiators.

Some campaigns were upset that there'd be no opening and closing statements.Rand Paul's said he'd pull out and Ted Cruz's said he seriously consider not showing.

Other campaigns however took the typical GOP line....pre-announced surrender.

Then it was Marco Rubio campaign manager Terry Sullivan’s turn. Rubio would be present at the debate — he’d be in Boulder “hell or high water,” regardless of the final decision, but he wanted the campaigns to speak with one voice and agreed with other campaigns on the need for opening and closing statements.

Peter Flaherty, an adviser to Jeb Bush, voiced his position — that the former Florida governor intended to participate in the debate no matter what, but that he’d like there to be opening and closing statements.

Compare and contrast who is desperate for a deal no matter what and who simply says what they want and get it.

Would this strategy work for a President? Of course not. Does it work for an outside candidate running against the weakness of the current political establishment? Yeah, it does.

I've said from the start that I'm sure Trump won't be the nominee. I still feel that way. But I'm less and less sure everyday.

posted by DrewM. at 09:48 AM

| Access Comments