Donald Trump can lose! Honestly, I was starting to have my doubts. Think of all the times he's said something offensive or shocking or bizarre—only to see his poll numbers rise and his grip on the race tighten. That's why, to me, the biggest change on the heels of Iowa is perceptual: contrary to what we've seen for months, Trump is not, in fact, invulnerable.
The question now is what the other candidates—and the Republican electorate—do with that revelation.
New Hampshire loves to be contrarian, and repudiate whatever judgment was passed by Iowa—so maybe this'll jack Trump's margin of victory there up to forty points.
Then again, maybe some of Trump's supporters in New Hampshire find themselves waking from a sort of reverie this morning, scratching their heads as they're confronted with the fact that their chosen candidate—who loves nothing more than deriding the "losers" who've gotten in his way—can be one himself.
The effect could be especially potent for any Trumpophiles who've been harboring secret doubts about his temperament or ideological inconsistency. And it should embolden candidates like Marco Rubio—who was too timid, the last time I saw him in person in New Hampshire, to utter a single discouraging word about Trump. Ditto John Kasich, whose lone anti-Trump dig (at the same event) was a passive-aggressive shot so subtle that half the crowd probably missed it. To reiterate, this time for his rivals: Trump can lose! Now it's time to start campaigning accordingly.
New Hampshire loves to be contrarian, and repudiate whatever judgment was passed by Iowa—so maybe this'll jack Trump's margin of victory there up to forty points.
Then again, maybe some of Trump's supporters in New Hampshire find themselves waking from a sort of reverie this morning, scratching their heads as they're confronted with the fact that their chosen candidate—who loves nothing more than deriding the "losers" who've gotten in his way—can be one himself.
The effect could be especially potent for any Trumpophiles who've been harboring secret doubts about his temperament or ideological inconsistency. And it should embolden candidates like Marco Rubio—who was too timid, the last time I saw him in person in New Hampshire, to utter a single discouraging word about Trump. Ditto John Kasich, whose lone anti-Trump dig (at the same event) was a passive-aggressive shot so subtle that half the crowd probably missed it. To reiterate, this time for his rivals: Trump can lose! Now it's time to start campaigning accordingly.
