Donald & Melania:
Will she be the first Slovenian-born
First Lady?
For standup comics and late night TV hosts, it’s almost too good to be true. Polls and events over the weekend suggest that Donald Trump, after decades of repeatedly proclaiming he ought to be elected President but never having the nerve to go for it, might be in the race.
In a Bloomberg Politics poll released on Sunday via bloomberg.com, His Trumpness has surged to 8% among New Hampshire GOP voters, up from 3% in February. In a crowded field of fifteen Republican aspirants, this places him only four points behind the leaders, Rand Paul and Scott Walker, each at 12%. The boys from Florida, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, each polled 11%.
Even more remarkable is that Trump’s ranking now surpasses that of seasoned pols like Chris Christie, Ted Cruz and Rick Perry, who made a creditable run last time until he imploded in a national debate and now polls 1%.
“Trump’s traction is astounding but not unprecedented,” a veteran kibitzer told ORBMAGAZINE. “Granite State Republicans have a history of anointing political mavericks, like Henry Cabot Lodge in 1964 and Pat Buchanan in 1996. That they would be so unsupportive of Jeb Bush, who has summered in New Hampshire his entire life, shows their contrariness.”
Rand Paul & Kelley Ashby Paul:
He’s tied for #1 in New Hampshire
True to form, Donald is loving the spotlight. He went full-out on Saturday, pulling a big story in dailymail.com with this headline, “Trump Brings South Carolina to Its Feet With Rants on Mexico and ‘Piece of Garbage’ Bowe Bergdahl.”
Speaking at the South Carolina Freedom Summit, “the real estate titan stumbled into the day’s loudest and longest ovation by pledging never to let lobbyists get in the way of America’s trade program under a President Trump.” (DM 5/9)
“I don’t give a shit about lobbyists!” the silver-tongued orator declaimed, to impassioned applause.
According to the Daily Mail, “moments earlier he had declared that President Obama’s nuclear negotiators are ‘babies’, that accused military deserter Bowe Bergdahl is a ‘piece of garbage,’ and that ‘sleaze-bag reporters’ haven’t given him a fair shake on the campaign trail.”
Just for fun, Trump also threatened China (“I would tax China, big-league, and I hope they don’t behave”) and Mexico (“I would build the greatest wall you have ever seen, and who’s going to pay for it? Mexico, with all the money they have taken from us.”)
The Mail says “one right-wing kingmaker-congressman” told them, “Trump’s in. I know he’s in….He’s going to be the most unconventional candidate.”