To beat Trump, strip away ‘strongman’ veneer to show weak, befuddled man within

A New York Times report on Thursday reveals the bleak message that Win It Back, a conservative anti-Donald Trump PAC, delivered to its donors. The group tested more than 40 ads, spent $6 million, and found that just about nothing made Republican voters abandon Dear Leader.

A memo by the PAC’s leader, David McIntosh, lists failed test after failed test.

"All attempts to undermine [Trump’s] conservative credentials on specific issues were ineffective," writes McIntosh. "Even when you show video to Republican primary voters — with complete context — of President Trump saying something otherwise objectionable to primary voters, they find a way to rationalize and dismiss it."

We’ve been saying this for years, but now $6 million in research hammers it home: Republican voters do not care what Trump says, what he does, or whether he makes an ass of himself on the world stage. Republicanism is a cult.