Another few months of "harsh" scrutiny, and the nomination is Trump's

From the latest NBCNews/SurveyMonkey poll:

Donald Trump has the frontrunner spot to himself, with 28% support among Republican and independent voters who lean Republican.

Ben Carson has dropped 8 points to 18 percent (which is second place, alongside Ted Cruz), but his recent, eloquent opposition to canine rabidity may re-exalt him. Marco Rubio is at 11 percent. At 4 percent, Jeb Bush is still crushing Chris Christie, who squats pathetically at 3.

I cite these figures not because they are in any way suprising, but because NBC's reporting on them is enormously perplexing:

The attention that is gained from being the lead candidate in the polls can be a mixed blessing. The media tends to shift its focus to those candidates leading the race - and that spotlight can seem especially harsh to those who are newer to the political scene.

Who's the "lead candidate"? Who's been the lead candidate for months? That would be Donald Trump, who for months has likewise been subjected to that "harsh" spotlight. And it hasn't changed a thing, because the rules have changed. There aren't any now. The GOP primary base has been anarchistically swallowed whole, yet NBC News seems not to have gotten the memo.

 

Comments

[Peter G]

The gods may smile on you PM and grant your wish for a brokered convention. I'm reading a lot of speculation about that. If it does there will have to be a lot of fast forming coalitions to select anybody but so and so if the list is still long. I'm going to guess that the anybody but a professional politician coalition is going to be pretty impressive in size. Which does not argue well for any of the preferred candidates of the establishment. I dare to dream that Trump could survive even a brokered convention.

[Bob]

I'd bet the mystery paragraph was lurking in either Allison Kopicki or John Lapinski's word processor just waiting to be copy and pasted. Their requirement for column-inches fulfilled it was then off to a broom closet for a few tokes, unless your preferred fantasy is the ink-stained wretches of old, in which case substitute corner bar and bourbon.

[Patrick O'Connor]

how do you pronouce anarchistically? ann R kist Kal lee? A word for reading, not speaking.

[Peter G]

Don't ask me I'm still working on the Antipholus thing.

[Jon Ponder]

It's fascinating that Trump's ties to mobsters are not considered newsworthy.