Anyone’s guess is as good as mine as to whether the Republican debate this week “mattered” or “made a difference” in the race — I’m leaning heavily towards “Nooo…” — but what I do know for sure is that there are some awfully stupid attempts out there to insist that it did.
First, it probably didn’t matter because Donald Trump is still the former president who received more votes as a sitting president than any president before him, and his lead in every poll is practically insurmountable. And that’s with potential prison time hanging over his head. He wants the job again, he’s eligible for another term, and at least half of the party’s voters want it for him. There’s time for some shocking revelation to warp things before the official state contests begin — assuming anything shocks you anymore — but the debate wasn’t shocking. It was shouting, and that’s about it.
Suggestions in the media that anyone “won” the debate or in some way altered the course of the race are either delusional or they’re efforts by anti-Trump “conservatives” to satisfy their dumb audiences.
Case in point, Bret Stephens at The New York Times declared Woman Lady Girl Gal Nikki Haley “the star of the evening” with “the aura of someone who can win a general election.” What Stephens really means is that Haley sent his heart aflutter when she snapped at one of her opponents, “You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows. It shows.” That sassy little clap
