The conventional wisdom on Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate is calcifying into three main points: a) no non-Trump candidate stood out from the crowd in such a way as to become the unambiguous non-Trump alternative, b) Trump made a strategically smart move by avoiding this “undercard” debate, and c) if Trump had been there, he would have dominated his opponents.
I certainly agree with the first point, as I wrote last night. As to the third point, I’m not so sure. The rush to postulate that Donald Trump would have been a colossus on stage among mere mortals is a reflection of a political dynamic that once manifestly existed — there’s no question about that — but might not necessarily persist. Here are a few examples of Trump-supporting politicians and influencers broadcasting the conventional wisdom.
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