Frogs with national audiences

Talk radio has been a crucial component of the conservative movement ever since Rush Limbaugh emerged on the scene about 25 years ago. I hear Limbaugh maybe 4-5 times a year, mostly if I happen to be in the car when he's broadcasting. In this market, the dyspeptic Mark Levin is on at 8 p.m., at a time when I'm often in the car, either heading off to the gym or to pick up a family member from an engagement, so I might hear Levin for about a 5 minute stretch.

From what little I've personally heard and what I've seen from other sources, both Limbaugh and Levin have been big champions of Donald Trump in this cycle. While steering clear of an outright endorsement, they've run a lot of interference for Trump, primarily because he's been a vehicle for those who are disenchanted with the political status quo, especially the establishment wing of the Republican Party. So it was especially interesting that both Limbaugh and Levin went after Trump on their broadcasts yesterday, essentially for the same reason. First, Limbaugh (h/t Allahpundit):

RUSH: Fox News Sunday, Donald Trump was on with Chris Wallace who said, "What do you think of Ted Cruz?"

TRUMP:  I don't think he has the right temperament.  I don't think he's got the right judgment.  You look at the way he's dealt with the Senate where he goes in there like a... You know, frankly, like a little bit of a maniac. You're never gonna get things done that way.  You can't walk into the Senate and scream and call people liars and not be able to cajole and get along with people.  He'll never get anything done, and that's the problem with Ted.

RUSH:  Whoa.  Wait just a second here.  Doesn't that kind of describe the way Trump has been dealing with people he disagrees with?  I mean, he's been calling them stupid, he's been calling them incompetent, he's been saying you can't get anything done with these people.  But for the people in the Trump support base who are conservatives, and who may not even have any affinity for Cruz... The conservative base of the Republican Party likes a lot of different people. 

Then, Levin:

As a reminder, yesterday on Fox News Sunday, Trump said that Cruz won’t be able to get anything done as president because “you can’t walk into the Senate and scream and call people liars and not be able to cajole and get along with people.”

Levin scolded Trump for criticizing Justice Antonin Scalia on affirmative action and said it’s beyond the pale for Trump to be personally going after Cruz like this. He cried, “Why raise a stupid issue?!”

Levin argued that the real maniacs are in the establishment and when he played a clip of Trump going on a tangent about his “phenomenal business,” Levin stopped the audio and pretty angrily said he needs to stick to the issues. “You, of all people,” he said, “should get it! But instead you went for the cheap shot.”

Just a cowtown senator on a Saturday night. He's a maniac, a maniac. So what do we make of it? A few thoughts:

• It's pretty freaking silly to imagine that Trump is going to start going Marquess of Queensbury with Cruz, considering the way he's attacked everyone else in the field.
• Both Limbaugh and Levin seem to be surprised that Trump would attack Cruz from the left. Did they not notice how Trump used Mary Burke's talking points against Scott Walker?
• It should be clear to anyone that the only fixed principle animating The Donald's campaign is the idea that The Donald ought to run things. 
• It was always a dangerous game to assume that, once the Trump monster was let loose in the countryside, that it would obey its putative masters. One imagines that both Limbaugh and Levin thought they were somehow mentoring The Donald, but it was quite predictable that he would treat both of them as Charmin when the moment seemed propitious.

Back to Limbaugh:

My questioning here about the way Trump has gone off Cruz here, calling him a maniac, refusing to work with people in the Senate, the reason I'm focusing on that, folks, 'cause that's so unlike Trump.  I mean, that's a huge mistake.  On paper it's a huge mistake.  Trump gets away with his mistakes.  Such is the bond of loyalty that his support base has for him that he gets away with them.  And I don't think he's made that many.  Don't misunderstand.  But for any of you who are holding out hope that Trump is a genuine conservative.  A genuine conservative, even in the Republican field, would not go after Cruz this way.  So that just raised a red flag for me, made me somewhat curious. 

No true Scotsman and all that. Well, it's a little late in the game to make that argument, doncha think? I have no idea how things will play out in this election -- it's entirely possible that the eventual president isn't even in the field yet. What I do know is this: if you didn't see the red flags on Trump when he was going after Walker from the left, you had to have a willful commitment to ignorance. Own it.