This is fodder for WSJ columnist James Taranto's "everything is seemingly spinning out of control" file. Howard Dean has declared that we'll have to be "more humble" about Donald Trump's prospects and that he will "have to stop making fun" of him for now.
What's got Dean doing a 180 on Trump? Not just the latest polls, which include one showing Trump trouncing Jeb and Rubio in their home state of Florida. Above all, it was the experience of viewing, on today's Morning Joe, a stunning focus group of New Hampshire Republicans who were uniformly and enthusiastically pro-Trump, saying things like "honest; Reaganesque; one of us; we could be a proud America."
Jonathan Capehart tried to pour cold water on Trump fever, suggesting voters will cool once they hear his specific proposals on various issues, but Dean was having none of it, saying "People do not vote on the specifics, the white papers that candidates write, they're all for editorial boards and smart reporters and inside the beltway people. People vote on what Joe is talking about, on guts, on their feel for people."
"Stunning" was the word of the day on the Morning Joe set in reaction to the focus group, conducted by Bloomberg's John Heilemann.
MARK HALPERIN: Washington establishment, meet me at camera three. This is a group of New Hampshire Republicans who many of whom in the past have voted for establishment candidates, John Heilemann was up there yesterday in Manchester asking them why do you like Donald Trump. Their answers will surprise you.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: He speaks the truth.
HEILEMANN: And what truth is that?
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: When he talks about especially immigration control and the border. He really -- he doesn't care what people think.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: Unchoreographed.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: He is honest.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: I like his roughness and little Reaganesque.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: He's not a politician.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: He's not going to be, like he said, I won't be bought off.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: Trump is a threat.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: Yep.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: Because he doesn't fit in the same box all the other Republicans are in.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: He's like one of us. He may be a millionaire and separates him from everybody else, but besides the money issue, he's in tune with what everyone is wanting.
HEILEMANN: When he referred to some illegal immigrants as rapists, did that bother people? Didn't bother people? What was your reaction to that? Or did you not really notice it?
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: It didn't bother me.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: It didn't notice it.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: Didn't bother me.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: He said he'll put a wall down on the southern border. Whether you talk about common sense, that's the common sense thing to do.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: I knew that he was a wealthy successful man and I remember asking my mother if I could write him a letter to ask him how he made his money so that I could do it too.
HEILEMANN: Even as a very young kid, the word Trump sort of meant rich to you.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: It meant success.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: I think he's a successful person.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: He's successful. I want to be a billionaire.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: How can I begrudge him that? He worked hard.
HEILEMANN: Tell me when you think a Trump presidency would look like?
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: Classy.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: It would be nice to see that debt clock start going the other way.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: I think we could be a proud America again.
FOCUS GROUP MEMBER: To the American people it would be a presidency of hope.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: That is incredible.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Wowww. Wow.
MIKA: So let's see, aspirational, successful, one of us.
HALPERIN: Just like me but a billionaire.
. . .
HOWARD DEAN: That was a stunning focus group. So I guess we're all going to have to be a little more humble about Donald Trump's prospects for at least the next couple of weeks until he says something outrageous again.
JOE: That was a stunning focus group and a lot of people in there --
DEAN: -- a stunning poll!
JOE: -- voting Democratic in the past, voting independent, I saw a lot of New Hampshire independents in there.
. . .
JONATHAN CAPEHART: [The] things that he says about dealing with China, dealing with Iran, bringing jobs back to America, what are those specific plans? And will those same people still like him?
DEAN: People do not vote on the specifics, the white papers that candidates write, they're all for editorial boards and smart reporters and inside the beltway people. People vote on what Joe is talking about, on guts, on their feel for people. I have to say, I have to stop making fun of Donald Trump for a while.
