Wednesday, February 10, 2016

The March of Trump, and the Feel of Bern

The March of Trump, and the Feel of Bern :: SteynOnline
"...But a nightmare for the GOP's Donor-Industrial Complex: Trump has the populist lane, Cruz the conservative, and both are reviled by the so-called "establishment". 
All New Hampshire had to do was sort out the so-called "moderate" lane by anointing Rubio, and, in a three-way race, he'd eliminate the Trump-Cruz problem. 
That was the theory.
Instead, Chris Christie's kamikaze mission took out Rubio, and killed his Iowa Rubementum stone dead. 
As a result, Kasich had a solid second-place finish and Jeb had a marginally less worse than expected fourth-place finish that will keep him and his SuperPac in the game a few states longer. 
And, until the mod squad consolidates behind one of these guys, the GOP establishment will be stuck with a frontrunner it despises, and a runner-up it despises even more.
Incidentally, Trump's performance was consistent across all demographics and all regions - 38 per cent in the poor, rural north of Coos County, 38 per cent in the prosperous, suburban south-eastern seacoast of Rockingham County. 
His support was also broad ideologically - conservative, moderate, independent, evangelical. It's hard to see a RINO squish voting for Cruz or a hardcore conservative voting for Kasich, but not difficult to see either of them supporting Trump, as long as they're not repelled by his personality, which seems to be his only ceiling. 
...Everyone says, "Oh, that's only because the Granite State is Bernie's backyard." 
That's rubbish. 
No one in south-eastern New Hampshire, which is where the population is, follows Vermont politics. 
Only ten per cent of the state can pick up Vermont TV stations, and only the Connecticut River Valley towns have any sort of bi-state orientation. 
Bernie didn't win because he lives next door. 
He won because for a big chunk of the Democrat base - not just utopian millennials and their college professors, but a lot of the same kind of demoralized blue-collar whites Trump appeals to - for a big chunk of that base the Obama-Hillary left isn't left enough..."

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