Trump's Latest "Blunders"

General Sardar Soleimani of Iran's Quds Force.

Folks are ragging Trump for not recognizing the “Quds Force” in an interview with Hugh Hewitt. Trump heard it, naturally enough, on a phone line as “Kurds.” Hewitt and others are then contrasting this with the performance of Carly Fiorina, who supposedly had “no problem” with the same questions later.

Problem is, she did. She had the same problem of not recognizing “Quds Force.” She was just a bit more skillful, or lucky, in faking it. If you listen to the interview, or read the transcript, it is clear she believes Quds is a “proxy” for Iran elsewhere in the region. It is, instead, an elite Iranian formation.

This is a smear job on Trump. It was, as he claimed, a “gotcha” question.

Should presidential candidates know foreign policy in such detail, and be able to pull it up from memory at the drop of a hat? Could other candidates really have done any better on this one?

Some are also claiming Trump blundered as well in signing the pledge to support the Republican candidate, whoever it is. Maybe he did. Maybe not. Perhaps it reflects his calculation that he is now likely to win the nomination. If he does, the same pledge, exacted from all candidates, is as likely to morally bind them to support him. As a maverick, non-traditional candidate, he has every reason to want to nail this support down. Goldwater could have profitably used this ploy, had it been available to him.

A lot of people obviously want him to blunder. I don't love him either, but wishing does not make it so.