There’s a point I wanted to address about the GOP primaries and the Trump phenomenon that connects up with my piece this morning (“Lust for Destruction“) and an earlier post on the GOP implosion and the concept of ‘technical debt’. I was listening to a CPAC roundtable late last week (televised, I wasn’t there) where the panelists, including The Weekly Standard’s Fred Barnes, discussed the basic division in the GOP today: between people who feel the party establishment has betrayed them and those who do not.
Like Christie and Trump, desperate Senators prepare to become Ted Cruz’s butler.
Rubio campaign goes off on Wolf Blitzer over CNN report that Rubio may not last until next week’s Florida primary. Watch.
We’ve had some good emails to date on the Trump Attack Haiku. And if you follow my Twitter feed you’ll know I’ve been experimenting with the form myself. But now we’re really getting somewhere. TPM Reader KC is a Chaucer scholar and medievalist who wrote her dissertation on Middle English Alliterative meter (yes, that’s a thing!) and she’s done a close analysis of the Trump Attack Haiku, which is fascinating, hilarious and incisive in equal parts. (Yes, I’m basically in love. She had me at ‘scansion’.) KC’s analysis after the jump …
One measure of how far-fetched Mitt Romney’s plan for strategic voting to deny Donald Trump a majority of delegates before the convention is: It may not survive the March 15 Florida primary, where a Marco Rubio defeat could prove fatal to the whole plan.
Two pieces of breaking news on the Oregon standoff: The local sheriff has ruled that the police shooting of standoff leader Lavoy Finicum was justified, but five FBI agents are under investigation for allegedly either lying about or covering up two shots that one of them fired at Finicum, but which apparently missed.
Clinton declared winner in Mississippi. Early results show close race in Michigan.
Not many votes in yet. But the Michigan results are very tight right now, with Sanders with a small lead. Outside of New Hampshire, Sanders’ victories have been heavily weighted toward caucuses. This is a primary. Much more difficult to win with enthusiastic and well organized supporters. If he can manage a victory in Michigan that would be a big win for him. Live results here.
Late Update – 8:42 PM: Still very close but no votes in from Detroit. That may make it hard for Sanders to hold on.
8:45 PM: Is ‘Tough Night for Marco Rubio’ a new show on CNN? Hear it promo’d constantly every time we tune into CNN.
9:16 PM: So still fairly close in Michigan, with Sanders in a small but durable lead. And we’re still waiting for the bulk of votes to come in from Detroit. But there’s now a non-trivial number of votes in from there – about 15,000 votes. And Sanders has a clear lead. No idea where those votes come from. Maybe it’s not representative. But Clinton needs a solid win in Wayne County to win the state.
9:27 PM: About 20% of precincts reporting in Wayne County and Clinton has moved into a small lead – 53% – 46%.
Watching the Trump victory presser, you kind of get the sense that Donald Trump has momentarily forgotten he’s running for president. He’s obviously deeply deeply stung by all the talk about Trump Water, Trump Steaks, etc. They’re all totally awesome. And now they’re all set out on a table at Trump’s victory speech. I cannot wait to see how things go at Trump’s State of the Union.