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Op-Ed: Trumps Cards – When the walls come tumbling down in Indiana

Op-Ed: Trumps Cards – When the walls come tumbling down in Indiana

The results of both the Democratic and Republican primaries in Indiana this past Tuesday are not getting the attention they deserve. On both sides, the results are shocking and game-changing for American politics and yet, people are stumbling on the obvious – Trump is the nominee! And overlooking three things I see in the results that are worth taking a closer look at. By JAMES CANNON BOYCE.

Sanders won

Okay, so this is obvious, right? And the Clinton campaign is annoyed that he is still in the race — well, tough, he has the money and the support and he is going to keep going. Why? Because to me, Hillary appears to be a deeply, potentially fatally flawed candidate.

My proof? Hillary won Indiana in the 2008 Primary Season when the primary was held around the same time, May 6 to be precise, and she won by getting well over half a million votes.

Hillary Clinton Indiana Primary Votes, 2008: 646,235

Hillary Clinton Indiana Primary Votes, 2016: 302,676

If Hillary had the support and passion for her campaign that her consultants feel she so richly deserves, why she deserves it they don’t say but she is entitled, then she would have crushed Sanders, who won, but only got 334,348 votes meaning that the combined total Democratic vote was less than Hillary received in 2008.

That’s a major drop in enthusiasm for Hillary, and a pretty apathetic number for the Democrats on the whole – that’s trouble for the autumn.

Trump won

No, duh, as a younger me would have said – it’s the headlines everywhere. But the last two weeks have been all about how Trump is a flawed candidate, how women hate him, how he is a threat to our very safety and yet, he cruised in the last six primaries and knocked Cruz and Kasich out of the race.

I would like to think that some of the charges against Trump would stick, but there is no evidence that they are or they will.

Now Trump got 589,416 votes so he was by far the biggest winner across the two parties in Indiana on Tuesday. His vote total is close to the combined total of Sanders and Clinton and on top of that, more than a million Republicans voted in the primary, dwarfing the total Democratic turnout.

The Republicans are rallying behind Trump already

The head of the GOP tweeted that Trump is the nominee, and it’s time to get behind him and it’s time for #NeverClinton. By the end of next week, the Republican machine will be fully supportive behind Trump. Already in Time Magazine recently, he was described by a fellow Republican as the kind of decisive leader that American needs.

If the Democratic nominee was anyone but Hillary Clinton, this movement to support Trump would run into barriers, but it’s not within the DNA of Republicans to be able to support a Clinton any more than you could convince me that Laura Bush would be a good president.

Hillary is a gold mine and a well-rehearsed target for the Republicans. It’s all going to come out of the closets and attacking her will be a game of blood and gore.

Trump will lead that charge.

I believe that the single most powerful force in American politics is the ability of the right-wing media companies and personalities to fall in line – if they were able to make pathetic claims like “Obama needs to keep the government out of Medicare” or that the reason we attacked Iraq was because Saddam was behind 9/11, holding their noses and supporting Trump against Hillary is going to be easy.

What’s next?

As we watch Trump being morphed by the media into a decisive leader, we will also watch the Democratic primary season head west. California will be fascinating to watch – Bernie wants it badly and has great support in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

If Bernie wins, Clinton will whine and complain about him still being in the race, but really: if, with a commanding lead, she can’t beat an old Senator from Vermont, what chance does she have against Trump? DM

Photo: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (C) addresses his supporters on the eve of his victory in the Republican presidential primaries in Indiana, in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, New York, USA, 03 May 2016. EPA/JUSTIN LANE

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