On Tuesday, Donald Trump was asked about the rise of Dr. Ben Carson over him in national polling, and the “Teflon Don” said, in the loving way only he could:
‘I think that Ben just doesn’t have the experience’ with tough negotiations to be president, he told ‘Good Morning America’ co-host George Stephanopoulos on ABC.
‘Ben cannot deal on trade. Ben cannot deal with China. It’s not his thing, George. You know, you’re born with it. It’s not his thing. He hasn’t got the temperament for it. It’s not the right thing for him.’
Let me be honest and frank about this subject, and if you support Dr. Ben Carson, please understand I support him too, but I also support trying to get the truth about what the heck is happening.
I just can’t figure out where Carson’s getting his supporters from. Most if not all Trump supporters see immigration as a line in the sand, and Carson is on the other side of the line from Trump.
Trump supporters are pretty solid. So how did Trump go from 29-32% a few weeks ago to 18-26%? Carson sucked in the debate, Trump didn’t.
Carson is doing a lot of things that seem puzzling for a presidential campaign, but quite logical for a brand-building exercise. He is taking weeks off the campaign trail to go on a book tour.
His campaign itself is structured like no other! An astronomical 69 percent of his fund-raising totals are spent on more fund-raising. (Bernie Sanders, by contrast, spends just 4 percent of his campaign’s income on fund-raising.) In addition to direct mail, Carson seems to have undertaken a massive phone-spamming operation. Spending most of your money to raise more money is not a good way to get elected president, but it is a good way to build a massive list of supporters that can later be monetized.
Perhaps it is a clue that the official title for Armstrong Williams, the figure running the Carson “campaign,” is “business manager,” as opposed to “campaign manager.” It does suggests that Carson is engaged in a for-profit venture.
The scary part of the Carson surge on Reuters was his dominance with LIKELY VOTERS. That has COMPLETELY FLIPPED NOW. Trump leads 32-20!
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) November 3, 2015
The polling consistently seems to say that Republican voters are not falling out of love with Trump or Carson. One of them may very well be the nominee, which I think is more the right’s protest against the political process itself. I’m sure many will disagree with me, but I see it as a futile gesture to nominate someone who has no chance in the general election. Kind of the grownup equivalent of a temper tantrum.
What do you think? Do you think Trump is right when he says Carson is not ready to lead and work with the most experienced leaders of the world? Share your opinions below and add this to your Twitter/Facebook timeline.
