Ben Domenech: Essentially, the obligation of conservative media is to...

I think Donald Trump is a pragmatic sort of populist and who tell people anything in any moment that he wants them to hear, if he thinks that it`s going to be to his advantage, that everything is going to reset in the general election, assuming that he is the nominee, and I think it will be interesting to watch how many people feel betrayed or conned with the game he played with the Republican Party at this point.

Ben Domenech

party games thinking

I think that there is something that happens, a phenomenon that happens around a conspiracy theory, where if you believe in a conspiracy theory, then every critique of that theory is simply more proof that the conspiracy exists. And I think that that's something that goes on in the person of Donald Trump.

Ben Domenech

goes-on believe thinking

Conservatives have woken up to the fact they weren`t part of their team and they have a capability of having the kind of message that [Donald] Trump is delivering reach them on a very direct and very personal level so that they sign up. They are willing to go out there and work for him.

Ben Domenech

levels team messages

Donald Trump came along and spoke in a language that speaks directly to a portion of the Republican base with what they want to hear. I don`t think that he actually has a very significant ideology.

Ben Domenech

language want thinking

I think this is a moment where Donald Trump recognized the Republican establishment was much weaker, the party leaders were much weaker than they thought they were in terms of being able to dictate any outcomes.

Ben Domenech

party leader thinking

I think it`s a message of economic nationalism. It`s obviously one that has bubbled up before in certain pockets, but it`s never been the sort of powerful phenomenon that it is today.

Ben Domenech

pockets powerful thinking

Whether that's questioning the dominant opinion of the day, the conventional wisdom of the day, or whether it's questioning the policies that come out of Washington, or out of our government, generally, I think media's job is to look at it and say, "What's really going on here? What's the story behind what you see?"

Ben Domenech

questioning opinion thinking

This is I think a dramatic point for conservatives. They are waking up to the fact that this guy, that Donald Trump has an ability to speak to people who they thought were theirs ideologically, people who they thought were a part of their team.

Ben Domenech

team people thinking

I think that [Chris] Christie`s endorsement is, you know, it`s a sign that - you know, he is who we thought he was in so many different respects. He`s someone who ambition is the only thing that I think is bigger than his appetite.I think in this case, it`s a situation where he saw the one guy who he thinks he can maybe get a cabinet post with if he wins in Donald Trump. I think, you know, he kind of went out the door doing a number of favors in beating up Marco Rubio the way he did.

Ben Domenech

ambition winning thinking

I think what it really means is a recognition that Donald Trump has the potential to take over the Republican Party and change it into something that`s very different than what it`s been in the past. I don`t just mean in terms of tone. I mean in terms of policy, I mean in terms of every respect.

Ben Domenech

party mean past

I think one of the things we have in this modern, individualistic age is a recognition that happiness can look very different for very different people. Happiness is not necessarily about how much money you make, happiness isn't necessarily about these aspects of your life.

Ben Domenech

age people thinking

Few years ago [Donald] Trump was being roasted by Comedy Central. They always have rules about things that you can't joke about. Donald Trump's rule at that time, the only thing that you couldn't joke about was a suggestion that he has less money that he claimed to.

Ben Domenech

suggestions comedy years

And for those of us who have, you know, looked in sort of the established order of the political fray over the course of the past several years, it looks like chaos. But to the people I think it looks like democracy. And I think that that's something that really is moving us to a new reality, where the parties are going to have to retrofit themselves and adapt to this new realignment.

Ben Domenech

party past moving

To something that looks very different. The thing to understand here is that Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, they're not the disease and they're not the symptom of the disease. They are the beta test of a cure for the perspective of the people.

Ben Domenech

perspective different people

What we're witnessing really is a political realignment, I mean I think we're moving from a traditional understanding of left-right politics that we've had for a long time.

Ben Domenech

mean moving thinking

Jeb can argue he had a more conservative record as governor, but that just may not count much with an electorate that remembers his father for a tax hike and his brother for two wars, jeb will have to battle those ghosts in order to get the nomination. He'll also have to navigate a field with multiple candidates who have every incentive to turn him into a creature of the past and brand themselves as the way of the future, to attack him as a Common Core-pushing technocrat, as soft on gay marriage, or as a lover of amnesty.

Ben Domenech

top-news

Most candidates have enough challenges answering voters' questions based on their own records, let alone the records of two presidents who share their name, it's unfair, but that's the way it is.

Ben Domenech

top-news

Making a good meal for someone, even if it is nothing complicated, is an expression of love: it is an invitation to share, for one dinner at least, in our common humanity.

Ben Domenech

good dinner humanity love

I know that charges of plagiarism are serious.

Ben Domenech

charges know plagiarism serious

When the holidays approach and the weather turns cold, you spend your nights watching and rewatching saccharine movies until you fall asleep, hoping for some gleam of happiness or catharsis that never comes, a version of life that looks like a Hallmark movie or where your idealized prince finally shows up.

Ben Domenech

you weather happiness life

Essentially, the obligation of conservative media is to question what's going on, and say, "Is this something that is the right thing to do? Is it something that's constitutional? Is it something that is even wise to do?" I think that's true regardless of who's in power.