I've got news for Bloody Bill Kristol. Sticking with your predictions of Trump's demise doesn't make you look any less pathetic. Here he is on ABC's This Week explaining why he still believes Trump is going down if he loses Iowa.
KARL: We're back now with the powerhouse roundtable, taking on where the GOP stands now and where we are headed to 2016.
Bill, how is it -- why is it that, despite this relentless series of attacks on Donald Trump, none of it has stuck?
In fact, the guys that hit him hardest are gone.
BILL KRISTOL, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": The Republican primary voters don't like the media. So Trump's wars with the media helped Trump. They don't like the Republican establishment. They don't like the Republican congressional leadership. They've really talked themselves into a -- I mean, I think there's plenty to criticize in both the media and the Republican leadership. But they really -- a certain chunk of Republican primary electorate has talked itself into disliking the Republican establishment as much as -- almost as much as they dislike President Obama or Hillary Clinton.
And Trump has capitalized on that. The question is is that 25 percent of the Republican primary electorate? Is it 35 percent? Could it be 45 percent? And could he be the nominee?
KARL: But you've been predicting his demise for months.
KRISTOL: I have. But I'm sticking with it, you know.
(LAUGHTER)
KRISTOL: What's the point of changing now?
I'd look pathetic.
(CROSSTALK)
KRISTOL: If I'm right, I can say I was early. And if I'm wrong…
Yes, I won't get any credit for capitulating here in late December.
No, I still think -- I think he will lose Iowa. And I think once he loses Iowa, that is a big moment. That'll -- so much of Trump's appeal -- and he said this, too -- depends on his mystique --
KARL: "I'm a winner. I win."
KRISTOL: -- "I'm a winner," I'm ignoring or transcending the usual rules of politics. If there's an actual result in Iowa and you see the vote on the screen and it's, I don't know, you know, Cruz, 47,000 and Trump 31,000 and maybe even Rubio or someone else close to Trump, I think at that point, the mystique is gone and then it's a regular race and Trump has to be a candidate just like everyone else.
But at that point, I think he's very vulnerable.
Good luck with that.
