Trump for President?

“Look at The Trump. The Trump is in the Altogether!”

Many years ago, Danny Kaye recorded “The Emperor’s New Suit of Clothes.” The story was about an extremely vain and gullible king, taken in by a tailor who told him his new suit of clothes was so fine, it was invisible to all but the most discerning. Not wanting to appear stupid, the courtiers praised the suit to the heights but when the king went out in public, a young boy pointed at him, exclaiming that the king was naked.

Bringing the story to the present day, the tailor is The Donald and the courtiers are the American voters who have been taken in. And who is the little boy? None less than Mitt Romney, President Obama’s challenger in the 2012 Presidential election. Trump has dismissed Romney’s accusations, calling him “a failed candidate, choke artist and loser.” Yet Trump was happy to endorse Romney in the 2012 race. He explains this away by suggesting Romney had been prepared to debase himself to obtain approval. “He was begging for my endorsement,” Mr. Trump said. “I could have said, ‘Mitt, drop to your knees’ and he would have dropped to his knees.”

Trump is the supposed author of the book, “The Art of the Deal.” I expect a sequel, “The Art of the Insult.” He reminds me of Peter Finch’s character in the movie “Network.” I’m waiting for Trump to pronounce, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,” as he appeals to anger and blank prejudice. What does Trump actually say? “We’re going to win, win, win.” Win exactly what? “I’m going to build a wall.” Where is this authorized under the Constitution? And so on. It’s the old political trick of appealing to the lowest common denominator and promising better days without explaining how it will be achieved.

Romney cannot be dismissed so easily by Trump. Yes, Romney ran a poor campaign in 2012 and lost heavily. But go back to 2007, when Romney was elected governor of Massachusetts. This is the state of the Kennedys, the bluest of blue states where Republicans rarely get elected to anything. Romney had a good record during his four years of service. For example, he introduced state healthcare reform laws which were a blueprint for Obamacare. As such, he is now a respected elder of the Republican Party, whose views cannot be ignored.

Yesterday, at the University of Utah, Romney, on behalf of the Republican Party leadership, declared war on Trump. He was impelled by Trump’s lead in this year’s race for the Republican nomination. While the British weapon of political warfare is usually the rapier, Romney used a sledgehammer. “Trump,” he said “is a fraud and a phony who would drive the country to the point of collapse. He’s playing the American public for suckers. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be President.”

Following this diatribe, Senator John McCain, the party’s Presidential nominee in 2008 and a US Senator since 1987, supported Romney’s jeremiad, denouncing Trump as ignorant of foreign policy, a man making dangerous pronouncements on national security. Former US Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota waded in. “This guy cannot be the President of the United States.”

It is rare in the last two decades to see a divided Republican Party. The party prizes unity and loyalty. Yesterday’s onslaught against Trump highlights the wide and unbridgeable gap between Republican elites and the Republican voters, as well as the divide between a maverick and the plain vanilla politico candidates. The leadership holding fire against the maverick until after Super Tuesday was a tactical error. Mr. Trump’s nomination could well create a breach in the Republican Party which will be difficult to repair while Trump remains in the frame. NPR has put forward an interesting variable, a pact between Rubio and Cruz so their delegates are aggregated at the Convention to win the nomination, where the one with the highest number claims the top spot. In the event that Trump is nominated, I, for one, will not be surprised if the Republican Party leadership abandons its own nominee this fall.

If there is a messy Republican Convention floor battle this summer in the full glare of the television cameras, only the Democrats will benefit. And this is the nub. The Republicans are now attacking their own and leaving the field free for Mrs. Clinton to woo fence-sitting voters.

I am amazed that Trump has got so far. In this I am hardly alone. No political observer expected Trump to be in the race for long, let alone leading it. If Trump has a successful Super-Duper Tuesday on March 15^th, I am certain the Republican leadership will be looking closely at the Convention Rulebook to see how they can unseat Trump. Should that happen, I have no doubt Trump will scream foul and run as an Independent. Mrs. Clinton will then look upon him as her Ross Perot and count her blessings.