Maverick plays Trump cards to silence rivals

DONALD Trump is drowning out his rivals with insults and pronouncements that have taken over the presidential campaign.

Republican candidates trekking across key states are struggling to be heard.

Meanwhile, Republican officials worry the Trump focus will let Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton escape serious scrutiny as she works to strengthen her campaign.

“He’s playing you like a fine Stradivarius violin,” ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush said.

“This is what he does. He’s an expert at this. He’s phenomenal at garnering attention.”

Mr Trump has stunned the political world with his rise and staying power at the top of most Republican polls.

Perhaps no one is more frustrated than Mr Bush, son and brother of former presidents, who was once thought to be the likely nominee.

Mr Bush has spoken at length about his strategy to stop Islamic State, which he said President Barack Obama and Ms Clinton, as secretary of state, had foolishly dismissed.

Yet the first question he faced in New Hampshire had nothing to do with his policies.

“I’m going to say two words, probably the last two words you want to hear right now,” said Tim Chrysostom, one of 125 attending. “Donald Trump.”

With Mr Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the US just the latest of his provocative statements, the real estate mogul has found a way to dominate the conversation even when he’s not in the room.

Yesterday, Mr Bush touted a plan to return more power to states. Ohio Governor John Kasich addressed national security in New York.

And retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson outlined his plan to reshape the US healthcare system. Each made hardly a ripple in the race.

Billionaire Trump’s latest comments on Muslims, however, got attention.

Tens of millions of dollars in campaign spending aren’t helping Mr Trump’s rivals’ messages break through.

Mr Trump spent $5.6 million through to the end of September. The rest of the Republican field spent more than $76 million over the same period.

Mr Bush and his supporters have invested $32 million in television and radio commercials. Mr Trump? About $300,000.

Mr Trump has all but abandoned traditional campaigning, focusing on massive rallies and often on national media interviews – frequently conducted on the phone from Manhattan’s Trump Tower.

Extraordinary statements are now ordinary.

At the South Carolina rally where he read his no-Muslims statement, he also suggested “closing that internet up in some way”, saying it had become a breeding ground for radicalisation.

The Trump call to block Muslims abutted – then overtook – criticism that an address Mr Obama gave from the White House about fighting the Islamic State was weak.