GOP debate: slugfest and playground insults

CBS promoted it as a Republican Primary debate.   But it was more like a schoolyard fight among 12 year olds who tried to outdo each other in arguing about who was the biggest liar.   Donald Trump went off even his own rails, although with him you never know how much is calculated.

What Trump did, besides upping his usual game of insults and vulgar taunts, was to thumb his nose at the Republican party by talking trash against some of their cherished (but vulnerable) myths.   And he got repeatedly booed by an audience made up in large part by party officials.   Out of 1600 tickets, only 600 were given to the candidates;  1000 were given out by the party itself -- and Jeb Bush seemed to be the crowd favorite.

What Trump did was to attack George W. Bush, right there in the state where he is still popular among Republicans.   He reminded people that rather than "keeping us safe," as Jeb likes to say, "9/11 happened on his watch."   He added insult to injury by saying, not only that the Iraq war was an expensive failure, but that Bush lied about WMD to justify starting the war.   Later he also said that Planned Parenthood does some great things; and some of his other, earlier liberal positions came up and were not denied.  He sounded more like the liberal Democrat he used to be.

All of this is anathema to the Republican establishment and to Jeb Bush in particular.   Why did Trump do it?  And in South Carolina, where George W. has first hit the campaign trail and been featured in Jeb's tv ads?   Where there is strong support for the military?

Jonathan Chait of New York magazine has an interesting theory.

As Trump has defied his skeptics, evaluations of his political acumen have grudgingly embraced the conclusion that there is a method to his madness. But on Saturday night, he took the madness to a completely new level. By the normal standards of politics, Trump swallowed enough poison to kill himself ten times over. If he survives, it will be the strongest evidence that he has forged a connection with Republican voters that resides beyond any plane visible to the rest of us.

Chait may be right.   This was Trump's ultimate "fuck you" to the GOP establishment.   If he still wins the SC primary, then he is in total control.    Or was it a miscalculation and the beginning of his downfall?   Personally, I think Trump decided to go for broke -- a do or die moment.   If, in spite of burning down the temple, he still wins SC, then he owns the race.   It's risky, but that's his style.

The only thing that gives me pause that it was calculated was Trump's appearance during all this.   He was very red in the face, seemed flustered and to be reacting more like someone whose anger has gotten the better of his judgment, not someone carrying out a planned attack.

Stay tuned.   Who needs commercial soap operas?   You literally could not sell this as a script to producers;  it's too extreme.

Ralph