Jeff Messer is the host of a daily radio talk show on Asheville’s WPEK (880-AM, The Revolution) that airs from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. This column features posts from his daily blog.

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The following was posted on Aug. 11:

He can’t be bought. He can buy favors, and is openly admitting it.

He can’t be shamed. He takes delight in shaming others.

He isn’t beholden to deep-pockets who work politicians like puppets.

He doesn’t have to play by the same rules, and he knows it.

He has a reply, passing the blame, no matter what the insult or accusation hurled at him.

He is Trump. And he is here to stay.

I’m sure the GOP wanted the Fox “news” debate to be the first and last for Trump, hoping he would flail and fail, then walk away on his own. Instead it emboldened him, and actually got him a bump up in the polls.

It seems that no matter how horrible a think he says, he gets more popular. And who gets hurt?

Well, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker dropped from the second and third slots, being replaced by Ted Cruz (who is playing along with Trump, unlike Rand Paul) and Ben Carson.

Carly Fiorina climbed into the heat of the pack, as the 4th pick in the poll taken in the days following the debates. So, Bush and Walker have fallen far.

Not what the GOP mainstream want to see.

In fact, they are faced with a lose-lose scenario that could be the downfall of  their party for good. 

They can’t give Trump the nomination. Can they?

And they can’t make him go away. The Fox ratings for the debate have sealed the deal that every single network with a debate on their schedule WANT and NEED Trump on their stages. So, he’s in it as long as he wants to be.

So, what happens if  he stays in it? What happens if he wins some primaries?

Sure, he could lose primaries, but he will just spin it as being “bought and paid” for or “rigged” against him. You see, he is never wrong in his mind.

If the GOP finds a way to get rid of him, he will take it very personally, and probably run as a third party candidate. If they give him the nod, he will lose the general election and set about the ruin of the GOP as they know it.

It has become quite clear that there is NO outcome that Trump can’t spin in his favor.

He’s a wrecking ball. And it is the GOP that he is wrecking.

The following was posted on Aug. 7:

Fox GOP debate wrap up: Oh, what a circus 

It is now being called the “most watched” debate in history. More than 7.5 million people were talking about it on social media.

But the question remains unanswered as to whether or not it was useful, truthful, or at all informative.

Though Factcheck.org certainly helped clear up a lot of the truthful part:

They also did a fact check on the earlier debate with the seven also-rans:

One thing from that earlier debate is that the consensus that Carly Fiorina won, wiping the floor with the other six, but most especially Rick Perry, who came out as the biggest loser.

There is some speculation that Fiorina may get called up to the majors after her strong showing, taking the place of one of weaker among the top 10. No word on who that will be, or if there will be more than one who drop, after last night.

I posted a comment on line about the early debate looking like the Sevem Dwarves, with Rick Santorum looking Grumpy, Rick Perry looking Dopey, and Jim Gilmore looking Sleepy. No one was Happy, Sneezy, Bashful, and especially Doc. “I’m not a Doctor, but...”

For the later debate, I saw someone online post a picture of the old Superfriends’ show’s Legion of Doom villains, around a table, with billionaire Lex Luthor at the center. It was wonderfully perfect.

And, what a night for Trump. He was... well, Trump. Shamelessly maintaining his swaggering approach. He was the only one who refused to pledge not to run as an independent, if he lost the GOP nod. He got into it with Megyn Kelly several times, and simple refused to play by any rules in his responses.

It was hard to tell if the moderators were trying to hobble him, as they also asked some interestingly pointed questions that appeared to be set ups to take down candidates like Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Chris Christie and Rand Paul. Ben Carson got the first question, which sounded - to me - like some sort of “literacy test” to be considered more than three firths a candidate. Kelly asked him about his apparent ignorance on politics and the political process. For his part, Carson looked sheepish, and somewhat lost among the rich white men surrounding him.

Rand Paul, who got the least amount of talking time, was the only one who really went after Trump repeatedly, mouthing off at the very top of the debate, and going hard after Trump as some sort of dishonest broker. 

Trump trumped Paul’s comment about him buying politicians, when Trump pointed out that he had donated to Paul’s campaigns in the past. In fact, he pointed out that he has written checks to pretty much everyone on stage. Paul also got into it a bit with Christie over his previous embrace of President Obama. Christie pushed back hard, as expected. However, neither of them came across as strong contenders on the night.

Carson did make an interesting statement about the Democrats eventual candidate, saying the he didn’t think it would be Hillary Clinton. That certainly got my attention.

Was he talking about Bernie Sanders? Sanders, meanwhile, had a winning evening, as he live Tweeted the debate:

Bush got a lot of love from the moderators, but he seemed to be uninterested in putting up much of a fight.

Rubio sounded a little desperate and over-eager.

Cruz wasn’t given enough rope to hang himself, which keeps him in it.

Huckabee tried to keep himself in it with fiery rhetoric, but he was just not given much time to do it. And it came off as obvious, and a bit pathetic.

Walker got dealt a lot of softballs, and thus never got a chance to distinguish himself.

Kasich had home turf standing, since the debate was held the state he governs. And he had some strong moments. In fact, he seemed to be only half-irrational, which may have been a side effect of being on a stage where everyone was trying to out-irrational each other. So, in normal, sane world, that makes Kasich about 10 percent rational.

Kasich scored some major points when he batted down a gay-hate baiting question, by saying he accepts the law of the land and would love his child if they were gay.

Of course, that sort of talk might not play well with the base.

Fox “news” took some commercial breaks, making me wonder what kind of chat went on during those breaks.

Most curious, near the end, Megyn Kelly led to a break, saying that “we’ll be back after a short time out.” She also held up her hand and did the “small penis” sign with her forefinger and thumb. It was quite funny. And I pondered if she was somehow in on the joke of it all. Of course, Trump gave her a hard time when she tried to corner him on some sexist remarks he has made in the past. He refused to apologize and seemed to take aim at trying to intimidate here from that point on. He even took to Twitter later to attack her more.

All in all, Trump played just as expected, and got alternating cheers and boos for what he said. In the end, however, he still came out on top with his no-compromise attitude. Clearly, this debate didn’t do any damage to him, and he is still the front-runner moving forward.

Rand Paul and Ben Carson likely should pack up their toys and go home. Whether by design, or by virtue of them both looking and sounding like they didn’t belong on a traditional GOP stage. There was only one slot for the rabid outsider, and Trump took that position. And Fox played up to it, by indulging the circus antics. Obviously they knew that people would not be happy if Trump was  downplayed and not given a chance to let loose.

It was not so much a debate, as a chance for the candidates to stump. Most of them actually dodged answering the questions directly, and went to well-rehearsed campaign talking points. The moderators did try, on a few occasions, to re-state the question, and point out the avoidance, but they really had no power or control over the proceedings.

The Democrats have also announced their debate schedule of six debates, presumable with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chaffey. Maybe even Joe Biden.

CNN hosts the next debate in September. I predict Trump, Bush, Walker, Kasich, Cruz and Rubio will be allowed to stay, and Fiorina will be invited up to the big boys club. Huckabee might get to hang around a bit longer, but is on the edge with Christie. I would imagine that the September debate will be down to at least eight or nine candidates, otherwise what’s the point? Despite the hopes for the seven also-rans, last night was the LAST night for all of them except for Fiorina. There won’t be any other “kids table” debates, you can be assured.

Fox may have racked up massive ratings last night, but as long as Trump is still on the stage, every debate will be a ratings giant. Which is more than motivation enough for the media to keep talking up Trump and keep him in the race. This will not sit well with the GOP, who are eager to unload Trump sooner than later, and hope they can smear him enough to prevent a third party run. I just don’t think Trump can be controlled, and I know that he will find a way to discredit the smearing campaigns.

The GOP are stuck with Trump. Make no mistake, he’s in charge. How quickly the GOP come around to that notion, is the question.