James Joyner · · 13 comments

While OTB’s recent spate of posts about a certain real estate magnate with a double comb-over might be verging on overkill, it does seem that everyone is getting into the act.

Jeff Poor, The Daily Caller (“Krauthammer doubles down on ‘Trump is the GOP’s Al Sharpton’ claim“):

It turns out that George Will isn’t the only conservative who isn’t impressed with the Donald’s effort to pump himself up for the White House.

On last weekend’s broadcast of the syndicated weekend public affairs program “Inside Washington,” columnist Charles Krauthammer called Donald Trump the “Al Sharpton” of the GOP presidential primary contest and he elaborated on that claim, in addition to analyzing some of the field on Monday night’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel.

“Well, of the sound bites you showed, Haley Barbour looked — he was the only calm and collected one of the other three,” Krauthammer said. “I think he is the only serious one with a serious chance of winning in 2012. I think Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann in a sense are competing for the same constituency. They are wonderful Republicans but I don’t think either of them has a chance to win the nomination. Bachmann could do well in Iowa. She is originally from Iowa. It has a heavy evangelical constituency that surprised the world the last cycle by giving Huckabee the victory, so that is possible. But it’s hard to see her way after that through the thicket.

But then he said apart from that field is Trump, who he remains unimpressed with, including his exploits into birtherism.

“Then there is Trump,” he continued. “Trump is Al Sharpton of the Republican Party – provocateur and clown, unserious. I think he’s going to harm the party if he runs for the same reason Sharpton harmed the Democrats. I can now see all the mail coming in – address it to me, not to Bret. He is not responsibility — which means in the debate he will be up there I think he will run, not just a trial run. He’ll be up in the debate, and like Sharpton he will monopolize discussion and draw it away on issues that are irrelevant like Obama’s birth and that can only hurt the party.”