Last Thursday, in a speech delivered at the University of Utah, Mitt Romney blindsided Donald Trump in what amounted to a scathing indictment of the billionaire’s ability to lead the country.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/video/players/offsite/index.html
Michael Lind argues that the Trump phenomenon is the result of neoconservatives’ abdication of responsibility. According to Lind, figures like Irving Kristol once defended (white) working class interests. But:
Narrow victories in the Kentucky caucuses and the Louisiana primary, the largest states decided on Saturday, have moved Donald Trump one step nearer to the nomination.
Primaries in Michigan, Mississippi, and Idaho on March 8, and in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and North Carolina on March 15, may prove decisive. If Marco Rubio does not win his home state of Florida, he is cooked, as is Gov. John Kasich if he does not win Ohio.
Jonathan Chait has a pretty good article about why Trump puts such fear into the hearts of GOP establishment intellectuals:
Driving home from Texas yesterday, I heard NPR’s Rachel Martin interview Don Reid, a genial Republican — he sounded like the kind of guy you’d love to have a cup of coffee with — and former city council member in Charlotte, NC. Reid is a Trump supporter. Excerpts from the interview:
DON REID: I just absolutely love the fact that Donald Trump is challenging the establishment Republicans. He’s redefining the party and, hopefully, destroying the power that has been in that little oligarchy of establishment Republicans in Washington, D.C.