Rod St. Aubyn: Will Bumps Dump Trump?

Donald Trump’s campaign for the Republican nomination for president has hit several bumps this past week. In the first Republican Presidential Debate hosted by Fox News, when asked if the candidates would commit to supporting the winning Republican endorsed candidate and not run as an independent, Donald Trump refused to make that commitment.

This announcement did not sit well with many Republicans including myself. By running as an independent candidate after losing the Republican nomination almost ensures a Democrat victory in the general election.

I could possibly understand not wanting to commit to supporting the eventual winning nominee if the nominee does not represent your own personal values, but I wholeheartedly disagree with the candidate then running as an independent.

Congressman Kevin Cramer decided to bypass the Republican Convention and instead ran directly in the primary. While that decision was not popular with many Republicans at the time, at least Kevin was honest with his feelings that he felt his best chance was in the primary election. And it turned out to be correct. However, had he decided to run in the primary after losing in the Republican State Convention, he would surely create divisive factions within the Republican Party which could have spelled doom in the general election.

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]As the saying goes, when you find yourself in a hole, quit digging. Unfortunately Trump does not ascribe to that adage.[/mks_pullquote]

Privately several Democrats have told me that the battle between Nick Spaeth and Bill Heigaard for the Democrat nomination for Governor resulted in a primary challenge that caused such hard feelings among party regulars that the political party has never recovered.

The second bump for Donald Trump was when he was questioned by Megyn Kelly about disparaging remarks Trump has made about women in the past.

Trump did not like the question and justified it by saying he was referring to Rosie O’Donnell. He bristled at the question and implied a threat to Megyn Kelly by saying “I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me.” Trump stated that the questions were “off base”.

Does he not think that the Democrats wouldn’t be making the same arguments if Trump were selected as Republican nominee? They would just love to show how this is just one example of Republicans’ “War on Women.”

In another bump Trump took his anger one step further by tweeting additional complaints about Kelly and retweeted that Kelly was a “bimbo”. To top off all of this, he continued his rant with Don Lemon on CNN by saying “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her — wherever.”

That comment resulted in being “disinvited” to a conservative RedState forum in Atlanta. Rather than offering an apology, Trump tried unsuccessfully to say his comments were misinterpreted and bash the RedState forum.

Most polls showed continued support for Trump after the debate. It will be interesting to see if

there has been any political fallout in future polls from his more recent tweets and comments. While I agree with his general comments about how “political correctness” has dominated political speech these days, I personally think that he has become a liability for Republicans.

With divisive comments about the Mexican government, Sen. McCain not being a “war hero”, and his negative comments about women and Megyn Kelly, he is alienating more of the constituency and seems to be digging himself into a hole.

As the saying goes, when you find yourself in a hole, quit digging. Unfortunately Trump does not ascribe to that adage. I don’t understand his political handlers, as if anyone can manage Trump. When thinking about Trump, an old saying that I previously heard describes Trump well. “He is a self-made man in love with his maker.” It will be very interesting to see if these bumps will dump Trump and if he will soon be fired from this stage show.