Donald Trump's candidacy has tossed a bomb right in the center of the Republican Party, and they're at a loss to explain it.
Take, for example, Trump's claim he was opposed to the Iraq War. Not true. He was lukewarm, but not opposed by any stretch.
Trump was asked about a possible war with Iraq during a five-minute phone interview with radio host Howard Stern on Sept. 11, 2002. In between Trump's recollections of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Center and his thoughts on rebuilding the Twin Towers, Stern asked the billionaire real estate developer, "Are you for invading Iraq?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Trump responded. "You know, I wish the first time it was done correctly," an apparent reference to the Gulf War. A month after the interview, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.
Yet, no consequence whatsoever for that. Imagine what they'd do to Hillary Clinton if she made such a claim. Yes, Trump is on a high-speed train to the Republican nomination. No question about it.
I feel their pain. It's what I used to say about St. Ronnie, too. No matter what he did, no matter what he said, nothing stuck to him and he got every damned thing he wanted anyway.
But to hear a Republican strategist say there's "a treasure trove of opposition research" on Trump and it doesn't matter anyway? That's pretty pathetic, and speaks to what the Republican Party has built. When you routinely lie to people, the lies don't resonate. People shrug and say, "They all lie, so I'll just vote for the best liar."
I've been listening to some of the voter interviews about Trump in different media venues.
There was one on NPR this morning where a man said he hoped Trump would raise the minimum wage and build a bowling alley in his town so kids would have a place to go. He didn't care about anything much beyond that, except for this idea that Trump doesn't take any crap from anyone, and he liked that. Iraq, ISIS, national debt? None of that made any difference to him.
This is exactly why Trump gets away with everything he does. He never needs to say anything substantial, he never needs to put any policy on the table. All he has to do is promise YUGE walls and no cuts to Social Security and that's all it takes.
It's utterly bizarre.
