Please allow me to add one more quick thought to the pre-debate coverage. In the primary, Trump proved that he could crudely insult his male competition and get away with it. He couldn’t however, do quite the same to Carly Fiorina. I’m just not sure that “primary debate Trump” will translate quite as well if he’s going after a woman.
But that’s not Trump’s only alpha-dog personae. There’s also “Apprentice Trump,” the guy who fired lots of folks while still building a vast television following that admired him and rooted for him. If you watched the show (and, yes, I liked it), he was tough without being crass, and he came across (with help from the producers) as the most competent person in the room.
Sure, that’s hard to do on live television, but for him it’s a much better approach than unleashing personal invective. For a blast from the past, here’s “Apprentice Trump” in his full glory. Oh how I wish he’d stayed on NBC:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7R1vT87nrUQ