Donald Trump's convention is falling apart because he is an incompetent deal maker who got rolled by Ted Cruz.

[sinkspur]

http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-speech-rnc-trump-deals-2016-7

The latest Republican convention disaster shows Donald Trump is a terrible dealmaker

Josh Barro
July 21

As Benjy Sarlin of MSNBC observed on Twitter, Wednesday night's Republican convention fiasco, in which Sen. Ted Cruz was booed off the stage for urging Americans to "vote your conscience," was the result of a deal that Donald Trump negotiated.

The man who claims to be the world's leading authority on deals made a really stupid one in front of the entire country he hopes to lead. Sad!

Trump agreed to let Cruz give a prime-time speech without having to promise an endorsement. I don't know for sure what Trump got in exchange for that, but I have a guess.

Cruz won enough states that he was entitled to have his name entered for nomination, which would have forced a formal floor contest on Tuesday that Trump wished to avoid, even though Trump would have won it. Cruz didn't enter his name, and Trump gave him a speaking slot without requiring an endorsement.

The Trump campaign knew on Monday that Cruz would not endorse in his speech, according to The New York Times, citing sources from both the Trump and Cruz campaigns.


Even if they were hoping Cruz would change his mind, they had to know by 8:20 p.m. Wednesday that Cruz would not endorse, since that's when the Republican National Convention emailed the full text of the speech to reporters, including the "vote your conscience" line and omitting any endorsement.

So Trump knew Cruz wouldn't endorse, and his campaign could have prepared his loyalists for that fact. And it seems they did, but not in a way that makes any sense: Zeke Miller of Time, among others, reports that Trump campaign "whips" on the convention floor — campaign loyalists whose job is to keep friendly delegates in line — encouraged the booing.

After the speech, Trump's surrogates have been savaging Cruz in the media. Gov. Chris Christie called the speech "selfish." Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, said on CNN that the RNC should take retaliatory action against Cruz (and also Gov. John Kasich) for failing to endorse the nominee as they had pledged to do.

I understand the desire to vent. But recriminations against wayward Republicans do nothing to get Trump elected. They only make it harder for Trump to consolidate the votes he needs to win. This is not strategy — it's stupidity.

Trump could have urged his supporters to listen politely and magnanimously to what he knew would be a nonendorsement speech. Or, if the idea of a nonendorsement was too outrageous to bear, he could have denied Cruz a speaking slot. Having Cruz's name entered into nomination would have been less damaging than this mess.

I suspect that Trump and his advisers simply misread the situation: They thought being booed off the stage would be a humiliation for Cruz and did not sufficiently consider how the episode could damage Trump.

This was really, really stupid. It might make you feel like laughing at Trump for his terrible dealmaking skills. But remember, if he becomes president, Donald Trump will have the job of making deals on our behalf — and he is likely to screw them up the way he screwed up this one.

[austingirl]

Just saw a Hitlery video on MSNBC (I like to check out the leftists once in a while.)  It was a montage of Trump complimenting Hitlery and her husband- we've seen it all before of course, but put together it was devastating. "They are great people and do a good job and Hitlery will make a great president."

 

[EasyAce]

I suspect that Trump and his advisers simply misread the situation: They thought being booed off the stage would be a humiliation for Cruz and did not sufficiently consider how the episode could damage Trump.

This was really, really stupid. It might make you feel like laughing at Trump for his terrible dealmaking skills. But remember, if he becomes president, Donald Trump will have the job of making deals on our behalf — and he is likely to screw them up the way he screwed up this one.

I suspect Donaldus Minimus will be rather like the Chicago Cubs general manager who ignored
the counsel of his brain trust---and at least one of his pitchers*---and decided the team simply
couldn't live without Ernie Broglio in mid-1964 while there'd be life after Lou Brock.

* --- Lew Burdette. Recently arrived in another deal with the St. Louis Cardinals,
when Burdette got wind that the Cubs were looking seriously at Ernie Broglio, he warned
that Broglio's arm was shot---in fact, Broglio was taking shots in the arm in a bid
to preserve it, this after having had to have a reported 21 cortisone shots in his shoulder
during his 1961 coming-out season---and that the righthander who'd once been a promising
Cardinal who won 21 games in 1961 and 18 in 1963 was all but finished. A couple of the Cubs'
then notorious College of Coaches men tried to carry Burdette's message to the front office,
and were ignored.

[Eowyn]

Trump has such a complete lack of character. 

[SirLinksALot]

I suspect that Trump and his advisers simply misread the situation: They thought being booed off the stage would be a humiliation for Cruz and did not sufficiently consider how the episode could damage Trump.

What is the point of trying to humiliate Cruz? What's to be gained by Trump from this?

Why not tell everyone to just respectfully applaud and let it go. There would have been little buzz about it the next day.

The night was supposed to be about introducing Mike Pence to the nation. The end result is the next day, most of the internet and talk shows are
talking about Cruz and nobody is talking about Pence.

What did this ruckus accomplish?

[skeeter]

I'd love to hear what the local gang of Trump loyalists think about this article.

[ConstitutionRose]

What is the point of trying to humiliate Cruz? What's to be gained by Trump from this?

Why not tell everyone to just respectfully applaud and let it go. There would have been little buzz about it the next day.

The night was supposed to be about introducing Mike Pence to the nation. The end result is the next day, most of the internet and talk shows are
talking about Cruz and nobody is talking about Pence.

What did this ruckus accomplish?

Just typical Trump.  Everything is  a drama, a reality TV show, a chance to show his face to the crowd.  Trump's staff may be able to think, but Trump's plans only focus on the "look at me".

[catfish1957]

Just typical Trump.  Everything is  a drama, a reality TV show, a chance to show his face to the crowd.  Trump's staff may be able to think, but Trump's plans only focus on the "look at me".

.........  or a distraction that this clown does not have values, defendable positions, or competency to be POTUS

[Gov Bean Counter]

Can't be. The stock boy from Conservative Outhouse said it was a carefully planned, flawlessly executed plan to trap Ted Cruz.

[bilo]

What is the point of trying to humiliate Cruz? What's to be gained by Trump from this?

I think it's just as simple as this is who Trump is. Everyone must be subservient to him, praise his greatness, or be humiliated.

Trump attacked his opponents in the primaries on a personal level. He didn't seek to elevate himself based on his ideas and beliefs. So Sen Cruz who refused to bow down to him had to be humiliated. In the process he revealed to anyone who was still considering supporting him why they shouldn't.

Trump is a man of low character.

[SirLinksALot]

Can't be. The stock boy from Conservative Outhouse said it was a carefully planned, flawlessly executed plan to trap Ted Cruz.