UKC

Came in after work and caught live footage of Mitt Romney trashing Trump in a speech today. See http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-35717888
I didn't hang around for any commentary or analysis but it was pretty clear to me that Romney did a pretty effective demolition job on Trump.

A couple of hours later I was channel-hopping and chanced upon a Sky News piece, which seemed pretty much like an advert for Trump, concentrating very much more on Trump's (I thought quite weak) response and even suggesting Trump could benefit from this episode.

Now I'm certainly no fan of Romney but the story very clearly was one of him effectively exposing Trump's overblown self-promotion, so why is Sky News trying to tell people otherwise?

In reply to john arran:

Sky's the limit.

In reply to john arran:

In a word: Murdoch. For the few who might not know what I mean, in two words: Rupert Murdoch.

Afterword: What an extraordinary pickle the Tories, and Cameron in particular, have got themselves into now by supporting this crooked magnate so strongly in the first place.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Which crooked magnate? Trump or Murdoch?

In reply to Bobling:

Murdoch.

In reply to john arran:

The US presidential campaign is full of people 'demolishing' candidates and their supporters. However the so-called demolition is usually a case as much of wish-fulfilment as actual fact. That's all this episode would seem to tell us.

In reply to john arran:

It's actually rather more complicated than that, given that one of the most effective interrogators of Trump has been Fox's Megan Kelly, who has scared him so much he did at one point refuse to be involved in a TV debate which she was moderating.

It is perfectly possible for Trump to benefit from Romney's attack. Trump positions himself, with considerable success, as a political outsider, so being attacked by a Republican establishment figure who also happened to have lost a Presidential election, helps bolster Trump's image in his own eyes and in the eyes of many of his supporters.

The Republican party does seem to be in a bit of a pickle. Clearly none of the party leadership likes Trump, but they seem powerless to do anything about him. It'll be very interesting to watch what they do if he does win the nomination.

In reply to tony:


Reminds me very much of conspiracy theorists. The more 'the establishment' shows their ideas to be ridiculous, the more entrenched they seem to become in believing them.

In reply to john arran:

One theory is that Fox/Murdoch/et al (sky in this case) have been setting Trump up by pretending to be more inclined towards him in order to get him to take part in last nights debate so they could attempt to take him down. Considering sky is now in effect fox news with tea and crumpets that my be why it came across that way.

More here http://gawker.com/donald-trump-was-set-up-1762814564

In reply to tony:

It's a bit like Corbyn isn't it, (albeit on diametrically opposed sides of the political spectrum), the party top brass hate him, but the "grassroots" supporters seem to lap him up.

In reply to Frank4short:

I think they've been caught on the hop - none of the party establishment did anything about him early on because they thought he'd be a flash in the pan. now its too late. What is lamentable is the number of Republican congressmen lining up to support him. the f*cking cowards. I never liked Romney but good on him for being one of the few Republicans to make it clear that he doesn't support Trump.

In reply to Bob Hughes:

Chris Christies support of trump is a disgrace.

Not only did CC outline why trump was as so wrong when he ran but Trump severely hurt NJ when he walked away from the casinos he built killing a major south nj city.

He then about turned and supported trump behind his local republicans back. They are furious and he's now finished in the state but no doubt was promised a trump job.

In reply to Roadrunner5:



I would have thought the Fort Lee/Bridgegate scandal would have been enough to finish him, but apparently not. I think this election is showing more than ever that people believe what they want to believe and disregard the rest

In reply to Frank4short:
His supporters aren't swayed by attacks like John Oliver or Romney.

One was telling me how 15 million illegal Mexicans live in the U.S. And continue to flood in. I showed a pew report showing the actual numbers and they just said 'well that's the pew report..'

The attacking of trump protestors and him demanding they get thrown out is a disgrace. It really is mobs of thugs. Very very scary how he has built his rise on lies and threats and a racist Xenophobic base.

He's also lied about the Irs auditing him because he's a chrustian. This is the guy who placed money in the communion bowl supposedly.. No church has said he attends. He's playing off the fears that ovamas administration persecutes Christians.. He's even put a bounty on obamas birth certificate as he thinks he's a Muslim...

In reply to Chris the Tall:


There's a court case coming up I think but he's not the on trial, he seemed to get past that. Some people died partly due to the jams but he seemed to get through it all pretty much unscathed.