In the first two GOP early state primary/caucus contests, Trump notched wins with 51% and 54% of the vote, which analysts called dominating performances. And they were big wins in the sense that losers DeSantis and Haley got clobbered.
But this is what it looks like when a party leader has a unified base behind him:
According to the most recent poll I can find for South Carolina, Trump is beating Haley 58% to 32% in her home state. That’s embarrassing for her, but alarm bells should be ringing at Trump HQ since Orangemandias still ain’t cracking 60% so far.
We’ve known for almost a year now that, barring a black swan event, Trump is going to be the GOP nominee. A plurality of Republican base voters are hard-core cultists, and a not-insignificant number who don’t directly worship the buffoon nonetheless experience vicarious transgressive thrills from Trump’s antics. I think of the latter as the “just want to watch the world burn” faction.
But while it remains frightening and repulsive that tens of millions of our fellow citizens are such feckless fuck-squibs, this is not a strong start for Team Trump. Maybe the candidate himself dimly senses that, which might explain why last night he begged cultists on his tumbleweed-choked, knock-off social media platform to participate in his pathetic delusion that he looks like…Elvis Presley. Who died in 1977.
And speaking of pathetic, in South Carolina, Rep. Dean Phillips finished third behind the Crystal Blue Persuasion lady with a whopping 1.7% share of primary votes. Sadly, it appears no one loves him enough to tell him he’s humiliating himself and should slink back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Open thread.