Another Déjà vu (all over again)....

"Is he capable? I think so. Is he a nice guy? Depends who you ask. Can he win? Now that - is the question..."

During the last political season, Mike McFadden came to address our BPOU before the endorsement convention. I liked him. He spoke well, had some good ideas, and so forth. But I had to ask him one burning question. It was a rumor I had heard, and I wanted to hear Mike dispel that rumor in front of all our SD31 red meat eaters. I asked him if he would abide by the endorsement. He said "Sure - if he was the one endorsed." That answer went over like stomach gas in church.

Last night when Donald Trump was asked the same question he gave a Mike McFadden type of answer. I think it is good to have a strong ego to run for this type of office. And to be frank, Donald Trump got to where he is today by being Donald Trump. Sometimes people get bloody noses dealing with Trump. But this endorsement thing is a big deal with me. A few governor races ago, Tom Horner (a Republican) decided he did not want to abide by the endorsing convention. He went third party. He split the vote. He (because of splitting the vote) gave us our current governor.

Here is a fact of life. A birds and bees issue. If the Republican Party is fractured in 2016 by Trump running as a third party candidate, we will end up with President Clinton. It will be another déjà vu (all over again). How so? In 1990, a little rich guy from Texas decided to take a long simmering feud with the Bush family to the polls. Instead of supporting Bush against this young upstart from Arkansas, Perot (a life long Republican) went third party. He split the vote and we ended up getting William Jefferson Blythe Clinton as our President. In 2016 should Trump split our vote, we will then get his wife as our next President.

There are quite a few things I like about Trump. His willingness to split the party over his ego is not one of them. If he does it, and if that is the winning factor for Hillary, Trump will become a pariah to many in the party. He will become persona non grata to many who supported him in the past. As far as myself, if he causes us to lose this next most important election, he will be dead to me. I will not give him a time of day at 12 noon.

One more thing. And this is a big one. Most of us agree this Democratic made up "war on woman" is about as phony as a rubber banana. So when Trump was asked by Megan last night about some things he had said in the past about women, he handled it poorly. Very poorly. In fact Debbie "Blabbermouth" (as Rush calls her) was invited to be there last night as guest. When asked at the end of the debate what she thought, one of the first words out of her mouth was "misogynistic". Trump had just given Ms. Schultz a brand new log to put on that fire.

Going forward it will be interesting to see what happens. I think Trump can recover from any foibles last night if (and only if) he LISTENS to some wise advisers. He needs to say he will not only abide by the endorsement process, he will vigorously support and campaign for whomever that person is. If he said some things in the past that are regrettable, say so, and then apologize. Sometimes in the world of high business nasty things get said in the heat of battle. Talk about the future and not the past.

Before I get any phone calls or e-mails let me say one final thing. I still like Trump. I think he can win. But he needs to fix a couple of tires on his campaign bus which need some air. If he does not fix those tires, they will go flat. And if they go flat, his campaign bus will go nowhere.