How bad for Donald Trump is the upcoming delegate selection situation in Nevada? It’s apparently so bad that he’s… that he’s… that he’s thinking to spend money on the problem. The Washington Examiner reports that Trump’s Nevada campaign will be “announcing training’s, lodging and transportation opportunities for delegates within the next couple days” (please note that the rogue apostrophe in that quote is the fault of the Trump campaign, not the Examiner). Well. Perhaps pain is an excellent motivational tool, after all.
A few things that jump out at me about this story:
- Yes, in fact, as the Examiner notes: this absolutely steps on Trump’s narrative that he’s being somehow cheated out of his birthright by corrupt DC insiders (which must infuriate Donald Trump, seeing as apparently those same corrupt DC insiders are unaccountably refusing to simply let him buy them). I mean: to quote Trump elsewhere… “They treat them, they take them to dinner, they get them these hotels, I mean the whole thing is a big payoff. Has nothing to do with democracy.” But everything to do with hypocrisy, apparently. Isn’t it adorable when fake-populists finally stop pretending that they aren’t Just Another Politician?
- Speaking of hypocrisy: schmoozing people is, the last time I checked, a common tool in the real estate developer’s toolbox. It’s just that they like to reserve it for people who matter, at least as a real estate developer defines the term. It’s no accident that Trump’s campaign is doing this in Nevada and not elsewhere – after all, Nevada is where the man makes a decent hunk of his money. And if a Trump delegate from, say, Georgia is reading this and wondering why he didn’t get offered similar treatment, well: the answer is straightforward enough. Trump didn’t think that you’re worth it.
- Also: yes, Donald Trump’s state organization is stronger in Nevada then elsewhere – probably a byproduct of his business connections in the state – so expect a brawl over delegates. Not least because it would be absolutely embarrassing for Donald Trump to have unreliable delegates in Nevada. Dude fairly obviously considers Nevada to be his. Mind you, Trump didn’t get 50% of the vote in Nevada, so taking those delegates away anyway isn’t impossible; it’s merely not going to be a romp. Like it’s been so far, and probably will still be elsewhere.
- Finally: …I don’t want to say this, but basic humanity and my ongoing struggle to follow the tenets of Christianity compel me to: any delegate or delegate-candidate that wants to take up Donald Trump’s offer for resources needs to get that money in advance. Donald Trump doesn’t have a name for paying his bills on time. Or sometimes at all. And if the campaign goes with in-kind offers, expect the bare minimum being offered. Donald Trump, like many extremely wealthy people, is a cheapskate when it comes to his own money.
H/T: @DavidMDrucker.
Moe Lane