From the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll we have further, and by now superfluous, confirmation of a major political party gone utterly mad:
Trump is the first choice of 33 percent of national Republican primary voters.... He's followed by Ted Cruz at 20 percent, Marco Rubio at 13 percent and Ben Carson at 12 percent. Chris Christie and Jeb Bush are tied at five percent. No other Republican presidential candidate gets more than 3 percent.
The madness, of course, is revealed in the five percent supporting either Christie or Bush, both of whom have as much chance of securing the GOP nomination as Jon Huntsman does. In this Joseph Heller saga of Crazy UnBound, the only sane GOP basers are those who have gone really nuts and are willing to confess it to clinical pollsters. The others are but desperately delusional. Call it the GOP's Catch-16.
But for Jeb, anyway, it's not all bad; in fact it may be "Not to worry" after all. Lindsey Graham has endorsed him this morning. Now let the groundswell of the Grahamian horde commence.
On the other, stroking hand, up a blinding 42 points since March is the percentage of Republicans who say "they could see themselves supporting" Trump. That would now be 65 percent of them. And God bless them.
Only a minority of Republicans can see themselves supporting Jeb Bush — 42 percent, down from 75 in June.
The GOP's coming electoral catastrophe has been compared many times to its suicidal presidential dalliance of 1964. There is, however, one colossal difference. Then, its presidential nominee knew from the get-go that he was doomed. These guys? -- the Trumps and Cruzes and Bushes? They all appear to be fighting out of a very peculiar sense of ultimate victory.
It is the damnedest madness I have ever witnessed in American politics.
Ain't it great!?!
Good lord your Facebook comments have been hilarious, all of these semi-literate Trumpeteers coming out of the woodwork to say ... actually it's never exactly clear what they are trying to say other than vote Trump.
And running second is the most hated man in American politics. A unique political creature who, as a McConnell aide put it, can make people who share his ideology oppose his proposals.
The GOP establishment is in full panic mode. The clear subtext of this congressional retreat was to make the platform for the eventual nominee and hope he will fall in line. Meanwhile it won't matter. As crazy as the base has become there are still plenty of sane republicans out there (in real life at least, not on your Facebook page) who have enough self respect to sit this one out if Trump is the nominee. My father in law, for instance, never missed an election but has already said he is leaving For President blank or third party if it's Trump or Cruz.
This. Is. GLORIOUS
Posted by: Eric | January 15, 2016 at 10:29 AM
The GOP is radical individualism wrapped in radical disrespect for humanity wrapped in the Fox News bubble.
Posted by: Bob | January 15, 2016 at 10:36 AM
You mock Lindsey? I'll have you know that endorsement doubled Jeb's support.
Posted by: Peter G | January 15, 2016 at 12:15 PM
Buying two lotto tickets would help Jeb in almost exactly the same way.
Posted by: Bob | January 15, 2016 at 12:26 PM
Hillary has a stroke and its President Trump.
You leaving at that point?
Posted by: brave captain of industry | January 15, 2016 at 12:50 PM
Add tRump + Cruz + Carson and you get the same 65% that say they are willing to support tRump. Makes sense, the base wants a new Republican Party.
Posted by: Michael Stein | January 15, 2016 at 01:09 PM
I had particular fun responding to the Trumpeteer wondering why Obama had not been impeached. I told him it was became the RWNJ narratives about Obama were such BS that Obama would never provide any real support for them. No evidence, no scandal--simple as that.
Posted by: Neon Vincent | January 16, 2016 at 10:31 PM