Bill Press: Could Donald Trump go all the way?
Whatever else people say about it, this summer will be remembered as “The Summer of Donald Trump.”
Whatever else people say about it, the summer of 2015 will be remembered as “The Summer of Donald Trump.” And what a difference in just the last three months.
In June, remember, questions about Trump ranged from “Will he really run this time?” to “Can he survive calling immigrants ‘rapists’”? to “Will he actually file his papers and make it official?” to “How soon before he implodes?”
By July, the weight of questions about Trump had shifted significantly. From “Can he survive mocking John McCain’s POW status?” to “Will he make the cut for the first GOP debate?” And still the skepticism: “How much longer before he self-destructs, especially after declaring war on Fox News and anchor Megyn Kelly?”
But now, at the end of August, it’s clear that Trump can survive anything. He can trash Megyn Kelly. He can throw Jorge Ramos out of a news conference. He can call Secretary of State John Kerry a “schmuck.” He can say absolutely nothing that makes sense about issues. It doesn’t matter. He’s the Teflon candidate. The more outrageous he is the higher up in the polls he goes. He leads the Republican pack today at every level: in national polls; in Iowa; in South Carolina, with 30 percent support over home state Sen. Lindsey Graham’s embarrassing 4 percent; and in New Hampshire, where he crushes second-place John Kasich, 35 percent to 11 percent.
So suddenly the speculation has become a lot more serious. Fewer people are asking: “When’s he going to fall apart?” While more and more are asking: “Could Donald Trump, with all his bluster, rudeness and ignorance, possibly go all the way and become the Republican presidential nominee in 2016?”
It’s not impossible. Which raises the most serious question of all: Even if short-lived, what does the phenomenal success of Donald Trump say about the American political process? Short answer: It says nothing good about the Republican Party, evangelicals, the media or politics in general.
For starters, it says the Republican Party’s brain-dead. Up pops the most obnoxious and most incompetent man to run for president since the Naked Cowboy and leading Republicans don’t reject him. They embrace him. Other candidates stoop to his level, or try to out-Trump Trump. Last June, RNC Chair Reince Priebus urged Trump to tone it down. This week, he told reporters Trump was a “net positive” for the Republican Party. With all his warts, Donald Trump has become the face of the Republican Party — and it ain’t pretty.
Trump’s success, especially in the Bible Belt, also unmasks the total hypocrisy of religious conservatives. They don’t care if he’s divorced twice, married three times, degrades women, talks trash about everybody, brags about his prowess in bed and makes a big chunk of his income from gambling. As Frank Bruni writes in The New York Times, “the holy rollers are smiling upon the high roller.” After all, he wants to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. That’s good enough for so-called Christian evangelicals.
Nobody looks worse in the Trump circus than the media — to whom, more than anyone else, Trump owes his political triumph. The networks, in fact, have made a diabolical pact with the Donald. As long as he brings them top ratings, they’ll give him all the time he wants. CNN’s Brian Stelter compared coverage given GOP candidates by CBS, NBC and ABC between Aug. 7 and Aug. 21. On the evening news, Trump talk consumed 36 minutes, 30 seconds. Jeb Bush came in a distant second with 9 minutes and 22 seconds. Marco Rubio, 1 minute, 35 seconds. And poor Lindsey Graham, only one second. That report came two days before CNN postponed a highly promoted special on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in order to carry — a Donald Trump news conference!
And think what Trump’s popularity means for the political system. Bernie Sanders is benefiting from the same reality on the left. Americans are fed up with politics as usual. They see most politicians as lazy, cowardly, totally beholden to corporate money and more interested in perpetuating their own political career than doing what’s right. They’re ready to support anybody who’s not part of the establishment, no matter how brash.
That explains Donald Trump’s appeal to so many Republicans. He fits the bill. In a field of lackluster choices, he’s the only one who offers anything new or different.