"The first messenger that gave notice of Lucullus' coming was so far from pleasing Tigranes that he had his head cut off for his pains....(Plutarch's Lives)
"...Is there anyone on stage...unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person..." (Bret Baier - Fox News Republican Primary Debate - August 6, 2015).
Mr. Baier knew before he asked only one candidate would refuse to take that pledge: Donald Trump. Anyone with a single, blinking neuron who has paid any attention whatsoever to the thinness of Donald Trump's skin would have to know Baier's question would set the Donald's teeth on edge and put him at a disadvantage for the rest of the debate. If that didn't work, Megyn Kelly was ready with an even bigger Gotcha which she eventually launched.
The Donald is not going to be the Republican Presidential nominee. One suspects Mr. Trump knows that and knew it when he declared his candidacy. One suspects the billionaire businessman doesn't even want the job. It's likely Mr. Trump saw the Republican Establishment/Washington Cartel lining up behind pro-amnesty Establishment candidate, former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, and said to himself: "Hell no! Not this time."
By declaring his opposition to the Establishment's support for open borders, amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants who cannot be bothered to learn our language and sanctuary cities, Donald Tump became the messenger for millions of disappointed Republican voters who gave Republicans control of the House and Senate only to have them go to Washington and carry water for President Obama and the Democrats while at the same time try to silence Republican insurgents like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton.
There is no explanation for why a bombastic candidate with bad hair who never completes a sentence, interrupts himself constantly, and has never held elective office becoming the front runner for the Republican nomination except that the Republican base is trying to send their own message.
The question is whether the Establishment Republicans are capable of receiving messages or "Without any intelligence at all, Tigranes sat while war was already blazing around him, giving ear only to those who flattered him." (Plutarch's Lives)
Now and then the contempt Establishment Republicans have for ordinary Republican voters slips out. "It's very bad. This performance with our friend out in Phoenix (Trump) is very hurtful to me because what he did was he fired up the crazies." Senator John McCain. (1) The key word is "crazies".
In the past, Establishment cowboys have herded Republican voters into the voting booth to cast their vote for the chosen candidate by using the cattle prod that "any Republican is better than the Democrat." Fearing that might not work this time, they're invoking the third party candidacy of Ross Perot (1992) which they claim cost President George H. W. Bush reelection (hence Bret Baier's opening question). These arguments might well work as they have in the past. Then again, maybe this time the voters aren't willing to be herded into the corral. Having given Republicans the House and Senate only to see nothing has changed, maybe they'll say: "Hell no! Not this time!"
