“For an hour and 35 minutes, Republican front-runner Donald Trump vented about everything that’s wrong with this country and this election,” the Washington Post reports.
“Gone was the candidate’s recent bout of composure and control on the campaign trail. As Trump ranted on and on, campaign staffers with microphones who were supposed to take questions from the audience instead took a seat, trying to cheer their boss here and there. The audience laughed at times and clapped for many of Trump’s sharp insults. But an hour and 20 minutes into the speech, people who were standing on risers on the stage behind Trump sat down. The applause came less often and less loud. As Trump skewered Carson in deeply personal language, a sense of discomfort settled on the crowd of roughly 1,500. Several people shook their heads or whispered to their neighbors.”
Rick Klein: “Donald Trump knows better than most, if not all, the value of performance art in the act of running for president. Which is just one of many reasons that Trump’s Thursday night rant, aimed at all of his rivals and particularly Dr. Ben Carson, was memorable and remarkable. Trump has lamented his situation – that people expect him to say something new, and maybe outrageous, every time he goes out there. There’s no teleprompter technology yet known that would dictate the pantomime-stabbing, much less the incredulous facial expressions and the invitation for someone to get on the stage and try stabbing him. The Trump-Carson feud, now fully engaged, could get bloody, maybe even literally – good news for the dozen or so candidates now fighting for only the half of the GOP electorate available to them.”
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