Appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow claimed that with his standing in the polls and his refusal to eschew a third party run, Donald Trump may never have as much power as he does right now.
Naturally, both Fallon and left-wing talker Maddow felt that Donald Trump was a comedic “gift” to political commentators and late night comedians, but Maddow also noted that no matter how funny and absurd they think his candidacy is, Trump has some actual, real world power right now.
In fact, Maddow thinks he may never have more power than he does now. Why? Because she thinks he will assure that Hillary Clinton wins the White House in 2016. If he stays in the race–and especially if he runs as a third party candidate–Maddow thinks “Hillary Clinton becomes president and she owes him forever.”
“So, right now, he will never have more power than he does right now,” Maddow insisted. “Because either way this goes, whether he runs as an Independent or he doesn’t, half of the country’s political infrastructure is going to own him for the rest of their lives.”
Trump certainly has had everyone guessing about his third party intentions. In July Trump seemed to threaten a third party run, and during the first GOP debate on August 6, Trump raised eyebrows for refusing to eschew a third party candidacy. Trump even refused to accept the challenge to say he’d refrain from running as an independent and support whichever candidate won the GOP nomination if he wasn’t the winner.
Keeping everyone guessing about his final intentions has had the whole of the political class chattering. In a sense, Maddow is right that this gives Trump a large amount of power. As long as he stays on top of the polls, his refusal to deny a third party run gives him an edge over the GOP establishment that the other candidates do not have.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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