Two bits of news about Donald Trump support the reasons why GOP voters continue to look in his direction as part of the early primary polling.
First, Trump — after teaming with Dr. Ben Carson, the No. 2 candidate in GOP primary polls — managed to slap down CNBC’s attempt to extend the next GOP debate to three hours. CNBC issued a memo to all candidates saying they had “previously agreed” to the debate format when, in fact, none of the candidates had held any discussions with the cable business channel.
Trump and Carson both issued letters to CNBC threatening to pull out of the debate if it wasn’t shortened to two hours. Another issue involved opening and closing statements. The Democrats enjoyed such an infomercial luxury during their CNN debate earlier this week, but CNBC — perhaps because of the sheer size of the GOP field — wanted to limit this idea.
Trump and Carson may have clawed back an opportunity to introduce and sum up the reasons why they should be president.
Breitbart.com’s John Nolte summed the situation up beautifully:
While every other Republican remained publicly silent, frontrunner Donald Trump got his closest rival, Dr. Ben Carson, to join with him and together they stood up and said, “No.”
This kept Trump in the headlines and at the top of the news cycle throughout yesterday afternoon and this morning. And now we’ve learned that Trump and Carson won. The DC/NY media agreed to the frontrunners’ demands.
Does anyone in the weak-kneed Republican Establishment, or among the bubbled-morons in the Punditocracy, have any more questions about why The Donald appears to be coasting to the Republican nomination for President of the United States?
Trump and Carson have each endured onslaught after onslaught of attacks not only from the mainstream media, but from GOP Establishment operatives. They are the only pair who, in this instance, had the guts to stand up the media. This is the same group that will use these debates to diminish the character and overall platform of each GOP candidate — in effect pre-softening them for Hillary Clinton.
Of the other candidates, only Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina have shown the guts to push back against the media.
The other reason Trump continues to lead? He earned $4 million in voluntary donations last quarter without so much as lifting a finger or trying. This is what’s known as “hard money” in polti-speak. Some 75,000 citizens donated an average $50 to Trump’s campaign.
So far Trump has spent $5 million on his campaign. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker dropped $7 million and basically went bust.
“To be number one in every poll, both state and national, and to have spent the least amount of dollars of any serious candidate is a testament to what I can do for America,” Trump said. “This is what our country’s leaders should do for the United States — spend money wisely and win!”