Why Trump Will Falter: Trump being Trump

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72 Hours of Trump

Stephen F. Hayes

November 13, 2015 10:05 AM

If Donald Trump supporters haven’t abandoned him yet, there’s little reason to believe they’ll do so now. But it’s worth laying out a slice of what it is they’re defending, what it is they’re excusing, and what it is they’re encouraging. Let’s review the past 72 hours of crazy with Donald Trump.

*On Tuesday night, in the Fox Business debate, Trump called for the forced deportation of millions of illegal immigrants modeled on a 1950s era plan called “Operation Wetback.” That effort resulted in scores of deaths and extensive suffering, and is widely regarded as a national embarrassment.

*When Ohio governor John Kasich challenged Trump on his plan, Trump said: “I’ve built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions. I don’t have to hear from this man.”

*Trump was asked about Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and Syria. “What does President Trump do in response to Russia’s aggression?”

Here was his answer: “Well, first of all, it’s not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that’s one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it’s a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don’t talk about that. That’s a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they’re doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria — as far as Syria, I like — if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of ISIS, I am all for it, 100%, and I can’t understand how anybody would be against it…”

*Trump’s claim that he “got to know” Putin “very well” while they were “stablemates” on 60 Minutes was false. CBS anchor Scott Pelley interviewed Trump in New York City. CBS This Morning host Charlie Rose interviewed Putin in Moscow. But Trump, on a debate stage in front of nearly 15 million Americans, nonetheless pretended he had gotten to know Putin very well because they appeared on the same television screens in the same hour.

*Also at the debate, Trump claimed that American wages are “too high,” an odd claim for a populist candidate whose main issue is reducing illegal immigration because it drives down wages. Trump was asked whether he believes in raising the minimum wage. He lamented that “we area country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily” and noted “there is nothing that we do now to win. We don’t win anymore. Our taxes are too high.” After some a couple more mini-digressions, he said: “Taxes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world.” 

*In an appearance on Morning Joe the day after the debate, Trump repeated his claim. “We have to become competitive with the world. Our taxes are too high, our wages are too high, everything is too high.”

*Two days after debate-night declaration that “wages too high,” and one day after he appeared on Morning Joe reiterated that claim, Trump told Bret Baier of Fox News that he never said wages are too high. “I didn’t say that.”

*Trump also told Baier that he saw no inconsistency between his 2012 criticism of Mitt Romney’s policy of self-deportation – that it was “maniacal” and “crazy” and “mean-spirited” – and his current policy of forced deportation, which he characterized as “humane.”

* In an interview Thursday on CNN, Trump told Erin Burnett that Marco Rubio favors “amnesty” because he and his parents are Hispanic. “That’s why he wants amnesty.”

*In the same interview, Trump compared Ben Carson to a child molester. Trump, who had not challenged Carson to his face at the debate, pointed to a passage in Carson’s autobiography in which Carson said that he’d had a “pathological temper” as a child. “It’s in the book that he’s got a pathological temper,” Trump said. “That’s a big problem because you don’t cure that … as an example: child molesting. You don’t cure these people.”

*In a 95-minute speech in Iowa, Trump acted out Carson’s story of an alleged stabbing from his childhood. "I have a belt. If someone hits, you not going in, it moves this way, it moves that way, he hit the belt buckle.”

*Trump claimed such a stabbing would be impossible and invited audience members to test the claim. "Anybody have a knife and want to try it on me?"

*Trump also mocked Carson’s coming to faith. “He goes into the bathroom for a couple of hours and he comes out and now he’s religious. And the people of Iowa believe him. Give me a break.”

*Trump noted in his 9-minute rant on Carson that the soft-spoken neurosurgeon was near the top of the polls.  "How stupid are the people of Iowa?" Trump said. "How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?"

*Moments later, Trump, having just finished scolding voters for their credulity, went on to tout his national security credentials.  Trump, who didn’t know the difference between the Quds Force and the Kurds, or Hezbollah and Hamas, nonetheless told the crowd he was among the foremost experts on one of the most urgent threats of our time. “I know more about ISIS than the generals do,” he said. “Believe me.” 

And why wouldn’t we believe Trump – a man who models his immigration proposal after “Operation Wetback,” who argues that forced deportation is more humane that the self-deportation he found crazy and mean-spirited just four years ago, who mocks the faith of his rivals, who pretends he’s close to Vladimir Putin because they appeared from different continents on the same television show, who denied saying wages are high despite the fact he’d said it twice on national television in two days? 

Why wouldn’t we believe him after these past 72 hours? And why not entrust him with the responsibility of enforcing our laws, with commanding the world’s strongest military, with access to our nuclear codes?

The strongest Trump supporters may never abandon their idol. But there are indications that some of those who have flirted with Trump are coming to their senses. The television ratings are down. The adulatory hosts who not long ago used to hang on his every word now seem bored, perhaps finally understanding that whatever the benefits of his unpredictability they don’t outweigh his absurdity. He is no longer leading all of the national polls of the Republican field and now sits in a virtual tie with Carson. In the past six weeks, with polls showing voters are now paying closer attention to the race, his RealClearPolitics average is down almost six points, from a high of 30.5 percent to 24.8 today. 

Of course, we’ve been on the verge a Trump collapse before. When he mocked John McCain for having been captured in Vietnam, when he implied Megyn Kelly was asking hard questions because she was menstruating, when he ridiculed Carly Fiorina’s face. 

What’s different now, perhaps, is that Trump the entertainer seems to be tiring of Trump the candidate.