There is a quite the disturbance in the Fox News Force and the only one benefitting is Hillary Clinton.
After the worst media month any presidential candidate has had in recent memory, one can only imagine the heartache at Fox News Friday afternoon when the latest Fox News national GOP primary poll revealed that Donald Trump surged an incredible +11 points to earn a full 39% support. Not only is Trump proving everyone wrong (again) who jumped on the anti-science “Trump Ceiling” bandwagon, there is also the matter of GOP Establishment Golden Child Marco Rubio losing ground, -3 points (a fall from 14% to 11%) in this same poll.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz jumped +4 points to earn 18% support. He’s in second place. Ben Carson lost half his support, crashing to just 9%. Last month the retired neurosurgeon was at 18%.
Like much of the mainstream media, much of the Fox News team have used this month to ramp up its attacks on Trump. Conservative talk show host Mark Levin spoke for many earlier this week when he tore into Fox News elder statesman Charles Krauthammer for what he sees as an obsession to destroy Trump:
“Here’s a guy – our friend Charles – who worked for Walter Mondale when Ronald Reagan was president, who supported Carter and Mondale against Reagan and Reagan,” he continued. “And he changed his view but apparently only he can change his view. And now he’s Mr. Conservative. OK, fine, fine – but you are a bit of a hypocrite.”
In his own personal war against Trump, Shepard Smith has dropped all pretense of objectivity to accuse the billionaire businessman of “representing the worst, darkest part of all that is America.” George Will and Megyn Kelly, regularly slash away. Trump himself told Bill O’Reilly this week, “I get better press from CNN than Fox.” And as someone who watches CNN closely, that is quite a thing to say. If Trump were on fire, CNN wouldn’t spit on him.
While we have to heed Mark Levin’s warning and not condemn the entire Fox News network, there is no question that a large and vocal segment of it has it out for Trump in favor of Marco Rubio.
One wonders, then, if these same anti-Trump obsessives are selfish enough to engineer a pyrrhic victory, one that defeats Trump eventually, but only in a general election where Hillary Clinton emerges with the brass ring.
In the GOP primary, as the latest Fox News poll (and almost every other poll) proves, these Fox News attacks are not working. They appear to be backfiring because Trump is surging.
In fact, if you objectively look at the national and early primary state numbers, Hillary Clinton has a better chance of losing the nomination than Trump.
Nevertheless the fratricidal Fox News anti-Trump jihad continues and the result is Trump losing a whopping -16 points against Hillary Clinton.
Last month in the Fox News poll, Trump was up +5 over Hillary. This month he loses by -11 points, 38% to 49%.
Prior to the Trump candidacy, the conservative base had, and for good reason, lost much of its faith in large parts of Fox News and the GOP Establishment. The rebellion against both was already brewing.
Imagine if the Establishment does choose a pyrrhic victory over Trump, imagine if through their oftentimes self-destructive and nest-feathering war against the billionaire businessman, they are seen as handing Hillary Clinton the Oval Office, and with it the balance of power on the Supreme Court and along with that, the cementing of Barack Obama’s destructive, anti-American legacy.
The conservative rebellion is real and one that can live with an honest loss in the primary, should a Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush beat the odds and prevail.
One wonders, though, is Establishment can lose like adults and, yes, patriots. Because…
What will destroy the Republican Party for generations is if the Establishment is seen as so selfish and mercenary they aid and abet a Hillary Clinton victory. This is not a fear without merit.
As we saw time and again when it came to their treatment of Sarah Palin during the 2008 general election, there are plenty of selfish and mercenary arsonists among us.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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