On Thursday night there was yet another GOP debate. This time there were only five candidates on the stage although Ben Carson was barely there. He's pretty much just running for fun at this point. John Kasich didn't have a bad night, but still came across as irrelevant. The debate was clearly centered around Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. All three had good nights, but Rubio stood out to me. This might be the first debate where someone besides Donald Trump won. Rubio hammered him about hiring immigrants and other blemishes in his business career. Both Cruz and Rubio did a good job of pressing Trump on his policies which, as you may have noticed, are nonexistent. Despite this, it probably won't matter.
Since Donald Trump began gaining popularity everyone said that it would fade. According to the media, this was all just a fluke and it would die off. Well, I'm still waiting for that to happen. We should all probably stop waiting for him to fade away because it isn't going to happen. Donald Trump is going to win the Republican nomination and it might just be a blowout. He barely lost Iowa and since then he's only gone up. He crushed everyone in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Going into Super Tuesday, there is a real chance he could win all 12 states which is unheard of. Imagine if this was someone like Rubio in this position. Everyone would be saying that it's over. But since it is Donald Trump everyone is in denial. No Republican wants to believe that this happening. But it is happening.
No matter what Donald Trump says, his poll numbers only go up. This is a guy who stood on a Republican debate stage in South Carolina and said that the last Republican president should've been impeached and still won. He truly can do no wrong. It's almost like he doesn't want to win so he just keeps saying crazy things in hopes that people will stop supporting him, but only the opposite happens. The idea that "Donald Trump doesn't represent the Republican Party" is nonsense. Republican voters are revolting against the usual politicians and handing the reins over to Trump. Make no mistake, this is his party now.
After his debate performance Rubio will probably move up and finish second in a lot of states on Tuesday and then come out and say that it's a victory. Ted Cruz will probably do the same and remind you that he won Iowa. John Kasich will say that he's eventually going to start doing better and Ben Carson will be taking a nap. No matter how you spin it, second place isn't first place. But they'll keep moving the goalpost and saying that Trump will fade away until he is standing on stage at the convention accepting the nomination. Jeb Bush dropping out of the race was symbolic. It was supposed to be his nomination to lose and he lost it quick. This is an epic changing of the guard. The Republican base is speaking loudly and clearly; Trump is their guy now.
The only way Trump can lose is if it narrows down to a one-on-one race. The other person would likely be Cruz or Rubio and for that situation to happen it would take one or the other to drop out. They're pretty much tied in the polls so why would either of them drop out? As long as the anti-Trump votes are split up, the chances of him winning become more inevitable. Maybe I'll be wrong. Maybe Rubio's debate performance will push him past Trump. Maybe the party will hold their nose and rally behind Ted Cruz. Clearly, anything is possible. Donald Trump hasn't quite locked it up, but it's his to lose.
