So Why Was Trump Able to Do Well in GOP Debates?

He was in oodles of them, something like twelve debates and nine forums. And yet, in damn few, if any of them, was anyone able to land a decent victory, let alone a damaging blow, against Trump.

But Hillary Clinton cleaned his clock every time. Why was that?

I have two ideas about that.

First off, the other GOP candidates were afraid to go hard after Trump. In the back of their minds had to have been the thought that if they were too rough on His Orangeness, that the voters who backed Trump might not back them post-convention. That's always a concern; they want to win, but they also need the other candidates supporters to turn out for them in November.

(Remember how much it was a concern that Sanders voters might not turn out for Clinton? People were talking about that a few months ago, but Trump's inherent awfulness seems to have largely quieted that down.)

The second reason that Clinton was able to carve up Trump like a pot roast may have to do with Trump's bone-deep misogyny. He clearly has no respect for women and it bothers him to his puerile core that he has to fight against one.

Whether it was misogyny or arrogance that prevented Trump from learning from his loss in the first debate is a good question. I suspect it was more the former, he couldn't believe that He, The Donald was beaten like a gong by a woman. Trump couldn't comprehend that he just couldn't go into the debates and wing it with a bunch of snappy one-liners. In retrospect, Clinton studied Trump and had a plan on what buttons to push and when to push them. The invocation of the Miss Universe that Trump thought was fat was genius-- Trump stepped on his crank, then put on his golfing shoes and kept stepping on it for days.

So now, the GOP is going around, trying to persuade people to split their tickets and vote for the down-ballot Republicans. Which is an indication that they think Trump is going to be shellacked.