Mike Allen.
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THE CONVERSATION: Trump v. Ailes: Who walked into whose trap? As soon as Trump's campaign said he was pulling out of tomorrow night's GOP debate on Fox News (from Des Moines), ABC's Jon Karl tweeted: "Bluff or mistake?" Here's the argument that this would be the highest profile mistake Trump has made (big enough that he shouldn't go through with it, and should find an excuse to relent): Americans don't like someone who backs away from a fight. Trump's biggest vulnerability is whether he has the TEMPERAMENT to be president.
And you KNOW Roger Ailes will rub it in by placing an empty podium at center stage. This is a stunt you'd pull if you were desperate - not when you're dominant.
AP captures the opposing view, which prevailed in insider emails to us last night: "How Donald Trump has stolen the show again."
L.A. Times has the best headline (bottom of A1): "Trump risks all over Fox."
TOP TWEETS: @BuzzFeedAndrew: "We probably should all admit Trump is a genius even if don't understand it and every prediction ... has been entirely wrong" ... @gabrielsherman: "Trump source says Trump isn't taking Ailes calls. Hannity just tried calling trump as an emissary. Trump only wants to deal with Murdoch now" ... @danpfeiffer: "If Trump skips, ... his absence will probably dominate the coverage ... more than his actual presence" ... @blakehounshell: "I'm old enough to remember when Ben Ginsberg was gonna sort this whole mess out."
CRUZ POUNCES - Politico's Shane Goldmacher, Ben Schreckinger and Katie Glueck: "Cruz ... immediately challenged Trump to a one-on-one debate ['mano-a-mano'], as his aides and supporters tried to get the hashtag "#DonaldDuck" trending on Twitter. ...
THE TRAP: Trump "suggested the breaking point was ... a sarcastic press statement Fox News [released yesterday]... 'We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president - a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.'" politi.co
PRE-MORTEM -- "Republicans point fingers: Who let Trump get this far? With less than a week to go before Iowa, the GOP's blame game has already begun," by Alex Isenstadt: "The chiding, once limited to private conversations, is now erupting in public view - with campaigns, operatives, donors, party officials and conservative intellectuals arguing over why something hasn't been done to stop the man who has been leading nearly every state and national poll since August. ... 'This whole thing is a disaster,' said [Jindal strategist] Curt Anderson, a former [RNC] political director and veteran operative. 'I think I'll write a book about it.'
"Receiving much of the blame is Right to Rise ... [which] has directed relatively little of [their $100 million plus] sum toward attacking Trump - instead focusing its efforts on taking down Bush's establishment rivals, above all Marco Rubio. ... [T]he group has spent about $5 million on TV commercials going after Trump, while dropping four times as much in negative ads against Rubio." politi.co
--"Trump's Effect On The Latino Vote Has Begun: More Hispanic U.S. Citizens Are Coming," by BuzzFeed's Adrian Carrasquillo: "[L]abor and immigration activists say ... [there are] thousands of Latinos they hope to help naturalize, in pivotal swing states like Nevada, Florida, and Colorado. The reason, they say? Trump made them do it." bzfd.it |
