AND THE WINNER IS.............THE DONALD!

It’s not just because this campaign seems to almost completely revolve around Trump or that every political attack seems to bounce right off of him; it’s that he is remarkably good at politics.

As Chris Christie and Marco Rubio took turns trying to out-Trump Trump by seeing who could say meaner and more dishonest things about President Obama (Christie won, by calling the president a “petulant child.”) As Jeb Bush shed what was left of his dignity, Ben Carson composed delicious word salads, and earnest and unctuous Ted Cruz demonstrated again why everyone in Washington cannot stand him, Trump ran circles around all of them.

Front-runner Donald Trump also gave an impassioned defense of his harshly nativist rhetoric during the Thursday night event.
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Two examples stand out. The first came early on when Trump was asked about South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s State of the Union response, in which she said that Republicans should reject “the siren call of the angriest voices.” Trump didn’t reject the characterization, which was clearly aimed at him — he embraced it.

“I’m not angry,” said Trump. “I’m very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger.”


He said, “Our military is a disaster. Our health care is a horror show. Obamacare, we’re going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry . . . I’m angry because our country is a mess.”

Trump’s rise has come, almost exclusively, because of his ability to channel the frustration, alienation and resentments of his supporters. Trump voters are angry at Washington; they are angry at Barack Obama; they are angry at immigrants and terrorists; they are angry at the Republican establishment; they are angry at their own diminished economic prospects. Trump has become their voice and in those few sentences he offered a pitch-perfect explanation of why so many have rallied around his campaign. It’s not hard to imagine millions of people around the country nodding in unison at Trump’s words.

But while that moment was effective it paled in comparison to his response to Ted Cruz’s criticism of Trump’s “New York values.” Rather than bluster or call Cruz stupid, he played the 9/11 card – and he did it perfectly.

“New York is a great place. It’s got great people, it’s got loving people, wonderful people,” said Trump.

“When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York … the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death … it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.”

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