http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/right-wing-commentariat-split-over-the-rise-of-donald-trump/article/2570450Donald Trump's presidential campaign has created a rift in the world of right-wing punditry.
As one faction of the conservative commentariat cheers the rise of the former reality TV star's seemingly unstoppable candidacy, claiming he brings new life to an otherwise stale party, the other groans in horror.
Some pundits, including Ann Coulter, are openly pro-Trump. Immigration is the only issue that matters, she argues, and Trump is nailing it.
"Trump's skyrocketing poll numbers are about immigration," she told the Washington Examiner's media desk.
"I supported Hillary over McCain because of immigration; I dumped Chris Christie over immigration; I enthusiastically supported Mitt Romney [because] of his excellent positions on immigration," she told the Examiner, referring to her recently released book, Adios, America!
"Who do you think I support?" she asked.
Trump's plan to fix immigration, which includes making Mexico pay for a wall, is reason enough to consider him the GOP's "best chance of winning the general election," she argued.
"Here's a tip for the other GOP presidential candidates: You want to do something that will make you really popular with voters? Adopt Trump's position, line for line, on immigration," Coulter said.
"The fact that not one of them is willing to do so, indicates to me that the entire GOP is beholden to the globalist donor class and does not give a flying f--k about the country or middle class [Americans] who have been begging for relief from the third world deluge for decades," she added.
Coulter is far from being the only commentator to profess support for Trump.
Talk radio hosts Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage have also turned out for Trump's candidacy. Ingraham is quick to defend Trump from any hint of criticism on the right, while Savage praises him as "the Winston Churchill of our time."
Then there are the right-wing commentators who are slightly more guarded in their admiration for the real estate mogul turned presidential candidate.
Fox News' Sean Hannity insists he is still undecided on who he will support in the primary, but he's very much excited about Trump's campaign
Trump will "fight to win," "stand up to China" and "make America great again," he said in a blog post this weekend. "I like his straightforward outsider's view of politics. His personality and background are impressive and refreshing. I like anybody who is not politically correct."
Hannity gives Trump an enormous amount of airtime. He also spends an impressive amount of time defending Trump's many evolving positions, including his support for increased gun control and single-payer health care.
Though talk radio host Rush Limbaugh hasn't endorsed Trump outright, he nevertheless cheers his rise on the right as a huge positive for the Republican Party.
Trump's immigration presentation this weekend on "Meet the Press," for example, was "presidential," "serious" and "intelligent," he said on his program Monday. "You know, it's kind of stunning. We got 16 Republican candidates now, and there's only one of them, only one, with a unique view or different view on immigration. It's Trump."
The Washington Post awarded Trump's immigration policy paper a "D+" this week, explaining that his proposals ignore key data while also making enormous leaps in logic.
More than just having some fresh ideas, Limbaugh cheered Monday, Trump is also supposedly growing the Republican Party.
"Who is expanding the party beyond what it is normally thought to be? Trump, of all people. And yet [the GOP "establishment" is] lowering the hammer on the guy each and every day, when it is Donald Trump who is executing what the Republican Party says they need to win," he said.
Not everyone in the world of right-wing punditry is in agreement, though, as Trump has his fair share of detractors in conservative media.
National Review's Kevin Williamson, for example, firmly believes Trump is a "witless ape." Fellow National Review writer Charles C. W. Cooke echoes these sentiments.
The "Trumpism" virus, Cooke writes, has swept across America and planted in its host an, "unshakable conviction that one of the most execrable clowns in the history of these United States is a hero who deserves to be elevated to the White House."
Conservative author Michelle Malkin is also quite open about her distaste for the "assclown" Donald Trump.
RedState founder Erick Erickson said Trump lacks the judgment and temperament to sit in the Oval Office. Erickson's comments come after Trump seemingly implied that Fox News' Megyn Kelly was menstruating when she moderated the first GOP primary debate. Erickson rescinded Trump's invite to speak at the RedState gathering in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Glenn Beck is completely befuddled by the existence right-wing pro-Trump pundits.
"I get it if you are tired of politicians, a Republican progressive, or you are only about winning," Beck said in a message posted to Facebook. "Perhaps you are angry and you just want to make someone pay or just want something done and you don't care how it gets done, but what PRINCIPLES does he have that they are attracted to?"
"I really want to understand," he added in a note directed at the right's pro-Trump commentators.
Criticism for Trump doesn't appear to have had an effect, though, as he continues to outpoll every other GOP 2016 candidate, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas.
Spokespersons for Limbaugh and Ingraham did not respond to the Examiner's request for comment.
