WHAT is going on in the Republican Party nomination contest has become more of a nail-biter than most reality shows, thanks to the unexpected sprint to the front by reality show star and business mogul Donald Trump. Perhaps the Republican Party establishment did not see this coming, thinking that the Grand Old Party (GOP) electorate’s relationship with him was just a “fling”, arousing its curiosity when he announced he was running for president. But now, Trump has proven such fling is looking like a lasting affair, as he has been winning in more states than any of the traditional Republican presidential candidates.
Could it be too little, too late? The GOP has been scrambling to convince voters to think again before voting for Trump. Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had even spoken out as one of the elder party leaders to warn people against Trump, delivering a fiery speech against their party’s front-runner.
“Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,” Romney said of Trump. “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.”
Romney went on to characterize Trump as somebody the voters should not put their trust in during this election season, alleging that “dishonesty is Donald Trump’s hallmark,” pointing to his “bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics.”
Of course, these words went antithetical to what Romney did when he was running against Pres. Barack Obama four years ago. He courted Trump’s endorsement — as CNN reported, even after Trump had led the “birther” controversy against President Barack Obama, insisting that Obama release his birth certificate to prove he is an American citizen.
Now the Republican Party SuperPAC has been spending millions of dollars to attack Trump, but the more they do this, the more his loyal fans came to his defense.
However, it seems some of the criticism may have been gaining traction as Trump’s ratings have gone south by a few percentage points leading up to Super Tuesday 2 (Tuesday, March 8). More consequential primaries and caucuses are taking place this March, and the results of these will prove if Donald Trump can hold on to his frontrunner status, and eventually win enough delegates to clinch the nomination.
However, pundits say if Trump does not win the required number of delegates, we may be expecting some backroom deals happening within the Republican Party leading up to the convention.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
