Fox News has achieved the pinnacle of success. It, a media company, is now the ultimate arbiter of who the Republican candidates in the main debate in the Primary race will be and how many contenders will participate. Fox also sets the pre election agenda in so far as it frames the questions that are the content of the debates. They, thus, are able to pressure a candidate whom they don’t favor and feed into the strengths of those that they do. Even before this “takeover” they reached nearly every Republican voter and were without a doubt the glue that was keeping the disparate groups of the GOP together. So Fox News has deservedly taken over the mantle of being the new GOP. In so doing they took over the number one priority of the Republican establishment - stop Trump!
FOX NEWS - THE NEW GOP and THE OLD ESTABLISHMENT GOP
So Fox - the new GOP - and Ailes the new Chairman of the Party had two objectives with the first debate - discredit The Donald and promote some of the other more electable candidates. It is acknowledged that Trump’s presence was the reason that the viewership of this debate was quadruple the first Republican debate for the 2102 election. You see now that Fox is the new GOP it has responsibility to steady the ship and make it respectable and electable. This is proving a hard task for the channel who have been, for nearly twenty years, promoting the likes of Trump who up till very recently was Ailes’s oldest best friend. It is one thing being rabble rousers where anything goes and another bearing the burden of being at the helm.
With the old Establishment GOP floundering around and being all things to all people and with the Establishment Chairman Reince Priebus ignoring the last past election post mortem which instructed the Republicans to be Hispanic friendly, stop supporting anti woman issues, make positive moves toward the African American community, to pay attention to the low income groups and lay off the LGBT group as the GOP millennials were singularly unimpressed, they were indeed in deep trouble as they had studiously opposed all the recommendations.
Jay H. Ell is sure that Fox GOP see the paradox in having to try to eliminate the very guy that they used and promoted to push themselves into this position of power. It goes without saying that the poster child for all these policies and Fox’s standard bearer was The Donald. On its face Fox News was the last entity on earth to clean up the Establishment GOP mess as they were part of the cause but forward unto the breech they soared. But the network, who Jon Stewart affectionally referred to as “bullshit mountain”, is not exhibiting any discomfort at the task - you have to do what you have to do - its not personal.
THE DEBATE: FOX NEWS TAKES ON THE DONALD
So debate number one burst onto the scene with all the bohaai imaginable. The tactic to show Trump in a bad light was to fire at him the hardest of questions and dish up lollypops to the rest. The debate was assured a record breaking audience because, as The Donald bragged, he is a rating machine. In the aftermath of the debate and in response to the treachery of his old friend Fox, he roared that he had done Fox a favor by appearing on their show and getting them a viewership and this is what he received in return.
The contest was off to a lightning start. The new FOX/GOP party was at war with the forces of evil and needed a pledge of loyalty from their potential standard bearers. So Fox straight out of the gate asked who would not support the eventual winner of the Primary in the Presidential election against the Democrats. This they did hoping it would put the only possible candidate for such treachery, The Donald, on the spot. Without the slightest hesitation, The Donald raised his hand up high. No shaming Trump into submission in front of his peers cause The Donald doesn’t shame as he has no shame and he has no peers. Fox had dared ask the question the Chairman of the Establishment GOP, Reince Priebus, had been too scared to ask because he was afraid of the answer. Donald had now set the tone of where he was at, they could all go and jump in the lake. Trump believes that he has the goods and that he could win the Primary and then the Presidency. Nothing could disabuse him from this fact. So gambit number one had failed badly and from that moment Fox would have to regroup later.
The Donald had served notice that he would no more serve the Fox master anymore than he would the establishment GOP. He had the utmost confidence in himself and himself only. This moment may have heralded the beginning of the break up of the Republican Party.
The Donald had served notice that he would no more serve the Fox master anymore than he would the establishment GOP. He had the utmost confidence in himself and himself only. This moment may have heralded the beginning of the break up of the Republican Party.
THE DEBATE, WOMEN AND THE DONALD
From then on it was The Donald at his best or worst as the Fox team launched missiles at him. Megyn Kelly skewered into him about his sexist and misogynistic statements and the impact that this might have in a Presidential election against a likely woman contender such as Hillary. He laughed it all off saying his sexist comments were about Rosie O' Donnell. As Trump trumpeted later this retort elicited the greatest laugh of the evening but Megyn would not let go. Kelly said he had called women “fat pigs”, “slobs”, “dogs”and maintained that a contestant on his reality show “Would have been a pretty picture on her knees”. He was not politically correct he countered to roars of approval from the masses.
He continued blowing this all off and followed up by attacking Kelly as being unprofessional tra la la. He upped the anti and crudely implied that Kelly’s attack was prompted by her hormonal state which brought some of the house down on poor old Donald. This sexist stuff being too much for some of his Conservative allies so he was disinvited to a weekend Conservative bunfest entitled “RedStates”. To this snub he just threw in some more chips publicizing all those tweets he received, one of which called Kelly a bimbo. On the issue of apologies he believed Megyn Kelly owed him one as she asked him a very inappropriate question!
Back to the debate where the hammering followed and he was questioned about his political affiliations as far back as 1987 when he was leaning towards being a Democrat, his immigrant position and was asked for proof that the Mexican Government were sending criminals here and then there was his string of bankruptcies. Trump wailed afterwords at the unfair treatment he had received. But as the Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer responded, Trump maintains that he is tough and shouldn’t be moaning over tough questions.
It was very very interesting to note that on the next Sunday he was on every other channel except FOX/GOP explaining his benevolent policy towards women whom he employs by the ton. He would be the “best”, “phenomenal” towards women. He thinks that Jed Bush is totally wrong by complaining that a half a billion is too much to spend on women’s health he would spend much more…However, he refused to get into specifics when Mika asked him on Morning Joe about equal pay and equal access to loans for women. She wanted to know if he deviated from GOP policy on this but she would just have to wait till The Donald was ready to answer.
THE DONALD, WHAT MAKES HIM TICK AND THE GOP DEMISE
Trump has already had his say on immigration which is a coarse paraphrasing of GOP policy. He is not in favor of gays and lesbians or their marriages. The only crucial demographic he hasn’t alienated thus far is the African American group but that will happen when he is questioned on voter registration. So what separates him from the Republican Party and gives him the current leadership in the Republican polls? In his own words - “They like his message” and the fact that he maintains that the leaders are incompetent and useless.
So Donald is really just the agent that is finally bringing about the split of the GOP. He will run if he is not the Party’s nominee and take more than half the current GOP electorate with him. His supporters are the Tea Party crowd who the Establishment GOP have been ineffectively pandering too to date. The Donald calls as he sees it - the Hispanics are murderers and rapists and women who disagree with him are slobs, fat pigs, bimbos or hormonal. His three marriages were "traditional" - no gays and lesbians for him.
The Republican crowd lap up the entertainment he provides. To some of them he represents strong leadership and he never but never apologizes. He also attacks anyone who disagrees with him. He does not show any hesitancy even if his positions are incomprehensible - in 2004 he was against the Iraq war but he believes “We should take ISIS out with boots on the ground”.
The Republican crowd lap up the entertainment he provides. To some of them he represents strong leadership and he never but never apologizes. He also attacks anyone who disagrees with him. He does not show any hesitancy even if his positions are incomprehensible - in 2004 he was against the Iraq war but he believes “We should take ISIS out with boots on the ground”.
Trump and his political style - Reality TV versus politics as usual
Most of all Trump is the past master at Reality TV. This contrasts with the real political world where you have carefully nuanced positions and statements with months of preparation and where even statements let alone policies are run past focus groups. In the political universe you clearly think through every utterance as it could end up being a gaffe and put you on the defensive. Witness Jeb Bush’s statement that half a billion seemed a bit much to spend on women’s health. This put him on the defensive and appearing to be following the GOP mantra of being anti woman.
Now compare this with Trump’s style. He refused to prepare for the debate as he wanted to be spontaneous, (This is why his closest advisor walked out on him). He wanted to blurt out whatever he thinks just like he does in real life. That is what reality TV is all about. What you come up with is what you stick with just like Trump does in real life. The Donald is never wrong just like in the real world. Now The Donald had a massive success in his reality show, “The Apprentice”, where his real life boorish boardroom behavior was on display and the viewers loved it. Trump comes at a time when the populace is sick and tired of politics as usual and the the do nothing politicians. On top of that The Donald is highly intelligent and intuitive. So he is changing the paradigm of political electioneering to suit his style.
In addition he has name recognition, charisma, understands the entertainment business like no one else, is decisive, not politically correct nor a recognized political figure, just loves attention and most important his message jives with the Republican base and no body articulates it better than him.
The new GOP, Fox News better realize that Trump’s base is their base too - the Trumpits. Trump articulates it out loud and clear, no diluting the prejudice with him. If Fox truly is taking on its new role as the new GOP seriously Trump is their man and not their enemy. Also the more they attack him the more he is in the limelight and remains the main event.
THE DEBATE’S OUTCOMES
* Trump is here to stay. Jay H. Ell has already blogged that Trump must be taken seriously and that he is in this for the long run, (Blog: Trump Comes Up Trumps), and the debate proved just that. He has, however, effectively, one way or another axed any hope any Republican has of winning in 2016 against any Democratic candidate. The only hope the GOP and Fox have of regaining control of their party is if he gets bored and rationalizes getting out of the race. That is unlikely to happen while he is center stage. The only camper that is happy that he is occupying that position is Hillary as she just needs to go on her own little way without being constantly attacked about Benghazi and her e mails. In fact, John Sununu, the former Chief of Staff of George Bush 41 and a solid member of the establishment, stated that it was out there in the blogosphere that Trump’s friends, the Clintons, put him up to run so as to throw confusion into the Republican Party. Jay H. Ell is sure Baba would be thrilled if he could take credit for such a maneuver.
* The GOP together with FOX news have created this monster. They only have themselves to blame. He is the logical outcome of their duplicity and failure to face the crises in their party head on. The GOP establishment must be relieved that FOX news has taken over the reigns of managing the 2016 Republican Primary and the subsequent election strategy for it really is too much for them.
* So objective number one to eliminate Trump just did not happen and hence the belated reconciliation. As for objective number two, allowing other candidates to shine, that failed as well. They all just bickered among themselves and wimped out. In the post debate spin room only The Donald had a meaningful presence where he set about to reassure the hungry media, if they needed reassuring, that he had won the debate.
* If any further evidence is needed that the original plan was to axe The Donald just watch the fake focus group run after the debate where former Trump supporters supposedly are disgusted with the property magnate's performance. Hence we are onto Plan B and The Donald as the "New enemy" is reprieved for the moment.
* Jeb is exactly where he wants to be - out of the fray. Whether that helps him or not time will tell. He has over a $110,000,000 in his war chest and is hoping that his own prophesy, that for a Republican to win the Presidency he has to lose the Primary, is proved wrong. However, Ted Cruz, Mark Rubio and Mike Huckabee are deliberately not attacking Trump because if he loses favor they would just love for his support to go to one of them. Jeb has no chance of garnering any of those voters and as Trump’s numbers creep up and up he has to fear that all those are votes that he is not likely to collect decreasing his chances more and more.
* Donald still has the last laugh as his numbers went up in three separate polls following the debate. What FOX/GOP has to learn Trump isn’t the normal candidate he is a creature of their making - any publicity is good publicity and if you suck all the oxygen out of the air there is none left for anyone else to breathe.
* For Trump to become the ultimate standard bearer of the new GOP he realized pretty quickly that he better make up with FOX. He is a quick learner and was on Fox Tuesday morning coming to terms with the reality that you cannot declare war on everyone and still win.
* This whole cause celebre gives Hillary a pass to quietly carry on with her business. Rather she can feed off the feast. She can call Trump's sexist remarks "outrageous" and by extension expose the other hopefuls' shortcomings on women's issues.
* If Megyn Kelly, who is otherwise right of Genghis Khan, is reflecting the views of the GOP women then the Republican brand is even in more trouble than they recognize.
* For Trump to become the ultimate standard bearer of the new GOP he realized pretty quickly that he better make up with FOX. He is a quick learner and was on Fox Tuesday morning coming to terms with the reality that you cannot declare war on everyone and still win.
* This whole cause celebre gives Hillary a pass to quietly carry on with her business. Rather she can feed off the feast. She can call Trump's sexist remarks "outrageous" and by extension expose the other hopefuls' shortcomings on women's issues.
* If Megyn Kelly, who is otherwise right of Genghis Khan, is reflecting the views of the GOP women then the Republican brand is even in more trouble than they recognize.
* This episode may be heralding the extinction of the GOP establishment's Republican Party. It will be interesting to see whether Fox reneges on the Establishment in the event that Trump's campaign has legs.
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