It's been a while since the the conservative conspiracy machine last rolled out their
You Talking About X Is Meant To Distract From Our Y routine. We've already heard that Donald Trump was a Democratic plant meant to make Republicans look bad (and the Republican voters who keep putting Donald Trump at the top of the polls are also Democratic plants, meant to make Republican voters look like the kind of dimwitted bastard-lovers that would take a fancy to Donald Trump), but Rush Limbaugh
takes it to the next level.
"We're in a mess here. The Iranian deal's over here, this Planned Parenthood butchery, and we're talking Trump all day on CNN," Limbaugh said on his radio show, according to a transcript. "It's a way to not cover some of the really horrible things that are happening in this country and replace them with the bashing of Donald Trump, which I think has a subliminal effect of blaming Trump for it."
An interesting caveat at the end there, but the gist of it is that Donald Trump is a media-friendly distraction from the conservative Planned Parenthood "sting," which is all the nation
would be talking about if it weren't for this stupid ongoing sixteen-car pileup that is the Republican primaries. TPM points out that Limbaugh is not the only conservative making this claim, because of course he is not, but there seems precious little acknowledgement by the conspiracy-minded that
perhaps the Planned Parenthood "sting" is not causing the rest of the media nation to race for their little flashing Drudge sirens because, at this point, even the most gullible outlets are getting tired of being burned by Yet Another Dodgy Tape released by the same loose collection of Dodgy Tape makers. The tape shows that Planned Parenthood supports research-related tissue donation, which any reputable medical organization should, and riling people up in opposition to lifesaving medical research is low behavior that even second-tier media outlets are loath to hitch their wagons to.
Ah, but why isn't Donald Trump himself using his luminous position as frontrunner to highlight these conservative conspiracies and pet issues, the critics ask? Well, my friends, that is because Donald Trump does not give a shit about you or your concerns. Donald Trump is in this to talk about the Mexicans and to describe how each of his critics are dumber than he is, and that is it. His foreign policy is to "be tough," his economic policy is to "be tough," and his social policy is that you dear souls ought to just shut up and let him decide how to "be tough," on these things when and if he gets around to it.
And he's at the top of the polls. Because he does not like immigrants, and to the Steve King Republican Party that is the only damn thing needed to climb to the top of the polls.
If it's a conspiracy, it's a conspiracy by the Republican base. And I'm not saying it isn't.