Trump's missed opportunity

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Who wouldn't want to see this movie?

The Republicans haven't got a single candidate who could survive a Willie Wonka factory tour.

— David Waldman (@KagroX) January 15, 2016

On a (just barely) more practical level, I think Donald Trump seriously blew the 2016 campaign with the role he chose, of being a candidate, a participant. You know the adage about Washington being Hollywood for ugly people? Why would he lower himself to that? I mean, going on WWE was bad enough, but it was a fairly short-term thing and he was able to control the storyline to make himself look good in the end, and the whole thing was a hoot anyway. Whereas here he is in a situation where somebody like Ted Cruz, representing everything that is slimy, ugly, and classless about Washington DC, can make Donald Trump a loser.

What he ought to have done, the real Trumpery thing to have done, was run the campaign, from above, hors concours: he should have made it, or the debate sector of it, into a special season of The Apprentice.

You see what I mean? Starting with a stable of 20-odd candidates, he'd shlep them around to a different problem location each week, Wall Street, the North Dakota oil fields, the California drought emergency, Netanyahu's office, Sheldon Adelson's office, Baghdad, and each week he'd fire one of them. "Rick, you handled this situation horribly, your understanding was very weak, frankly I think you're past your prime. You're fired."

Reinforcing the idea that of course he's qualified to be president himself, he just can't be bothered. And he'd have kept the Miss Universe contract.