The Donald is becoming the leading entertainer of the Republican campaign… Romney‘s comic sidekick. But how do you define him?
Frank Rich has the answer:
“There is no more naked celebrity in America than Donald Trump. He doesn’t do subtlety. He doesn’t do ‘thought.’ To say he has a political calculus is a wild overstatement. His strategy amounts to no more than junior high school algebra. The equation is: Trump + infantile public statement x infinite repetitions on TV and Twitter = maximum publicity for flailing Trump products and insatiable Trump ego.”
Rich also has a warning for Romney concerning the Trump fundraiser:
If you will fly to Vegas for a one-night-stand with a bleach-bottle bimbo, you look as if you will do anything for money.
And that is apparently true.
David Swerdlick sums their pairing up in the New York Daily News:
…there’s a reason why they can’t ditch each other — and why Romney won’t create his own “Sister Souljah moment,” dumping Trump to win over the swing voters who’ve lost faith in President Obama but don’t buy into Trump’s ongoing birther crusade.
It’s simple, actually. Romney’s earnest demeanor might not mesh with Trump’s headline-grabbing persona, but they’re more alike than you might think — and in different ways, they need each other’s help to take on Obama.
For one thing, they both got their start the old-fashioned way: from their dads. Trump’s left him a growing real estate empire, and Romney’s father-governor of Michigan and secretary of housing and urban development was the CEO of American Motors. They both spend a lot of time bragging about their business chops, but neither one gives Obama credit for making millions on his own.
They’re also both brand-new “conservatives.” These days, they rail against the perils of Obamacare, but Romney is the godfather of the individual mandate, and in his 12-year-old manifesto, “The America We Deserve,” Trump argued for universal health care — positions that both hope the public will forget.
…there’s a reason why they can’t ditch each other — and why Romney won’t create his own “Maybe The Donald SHOULD be considered as Romney’s VP choice… it’s as least as good a move as John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin.
