当我看着这场伪装成南卡罗来纳州民主党总统辩论的两个小时的食物大战时，真正让我震惊的是唐纳德·特朗普总统和印度第一夫人之间的巨大反差以及民主党人的争吵。
总统夫妇受到热情欢迎的景象超过10万在印度最大的足球场上，欢呼的人们比民主党人争吵中日益萎缩的尊重和日益降低的严肃性更有影响力。
这可能是我的年龄或我的党派偏见，但伯尼·桑德斯参议员似乎一遍又一遍地重复他的咒语。在任何时候，他都在攻击以色列，为古巴独裁者辩护，提议取消每个人的私人医疗保险，宣布耗资10万亿至70万亿美元的新项目，并解释一切都可以通过向富人征税来支付。在百老汇戏剧中，你会让桑德斯扮演喜剧插曲。
然而，在现代激进民主党的现实世界中，桑德斯最有可能成为他们的总统候选人。昨晚，其他一些候选人试图警告说，桑德斯激进的社会主义票会让民主党失去众议院席位(让共和党领袖凯文·麦卡锡成为发言人)，并让多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)成为几名新的共和党参议员。
但是，当党内活动人士认为纯洁比实用更重要时，对即将到来的灾难的理性警告不会产生任何影响。
我记得1964年，当时我还是一名年轻的巴里·戈德华特保守派。我们都不相信戈德华特会让共和党惨败的警告。八年后的1972年，乔治·麦戈文的激进支持者中没有一个人相信他们的候选人会在现代最严重的选举滑坡中被击败。
2月24日，在艾哈迈达巴德郊区举行的一场“纳马斯特·特朗普集会”上，唐纳德·特朗普总统和梅兰妮·特朗普与总理纳伦德拉·莫迪站在一起。
桑德斯可以引用当前的民意调查，显示他在与特朗普的竞争中表现出色，这是他喜欢的。
对民主党人来说不幸的是，目前的民调没有一项反映出他的政策有多激进、有多不受欢迎的详细信息。桑德斯和民主社会主义就像保险杠贴纸一样。然而，当桑德斯项目被解释为人们生命的代价时，它就是一场灾难。
在意识形态上，这场灾难将因民主党和美国总统之间的地位差距而加剧。这是周二晚上的真实信息。这位共和党总统是一位真正的世界领袖，受到世界上人口最多的民主国家领导人的热烈欢迎。民主党竞争者根本没有为黄金时间做好准备。从在南卡罗来纳州的舞台上争吵到在空军一号降落在新德里的飞跃实在是太伟大了。
当第一夫人梅兰妮·特朗普陪同特朗普进行世界旅行时，特朗普的身高优势显著增加。他们两人在泰姬陵的照片击败了民主党人在周二的辩论中说的或做的任何事情。
对特朗普团队来说，这是好的一周，对民主党团队来说，这是糟糕的一周。
这篇文章中表达的观点是作者自己的。
NEWT GINGRICH: THE STATURE GAP BETWEEN PRESIDENT TRUMP AND THE BICKERING DEMOCRATS IS GROWING | OPINION
As I watched the two-hour food fight disguised as the South Carolina Democratic presidential debate, what really hit me was the enormous contrast between President Donald Trump and the first lady in India this week and the Democrats' bickering.
The visual of the presidential couple being greeted enthusiastically by more than 100,000 cheering people in India's largest soccer stadium was so much more impactful than the shrinking respect and declining seriousness of the Democrats' squabbling.
It may be my age or my partisan bias, but Senator Bernie Sanders seems as if he repeats his mantra again and again. At any given time, he's attacking Israel, defending Cuban dictators, proposing to take away everyone's private health insurance, announcing new programs that would cost $10 trillion to $70 trillion dollars and explaining everything could be paid for by taxing the rich. In a Broadway play, you would cast Sanders as the comic interlude.
However, in the real world of the modern radical Democratic Party, Sanders is the most likely person to be their presidential nominee. A number of the other candidates tried to warn last night that a Sanders radical socialist ticket would cost Democrats the House (making Republican leader Kevin McCarthy the speaker) and give Majority Leader Mitch McConnell several new Republican senators.
But when the party activists decide that purity is more important than practicality, no rational warning of the coming disaster has any impact.
I remember in 1964 when I was a young Barry Goldwater conservative. None of us believed the warnings that Goldwater would take the GOP down to a disastrous defeat. Eight years later, in 1972, none of the radical George McGovern supporters believed their candidate would be crushed in one of the worst electoral landslides of modern time.
President Donald Trump and Melania Trump stand with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a "Namaste Trump Rally" on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on February 24.
Sanders can cite current polls that show him doing well against Trump as much as he likes.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, none of the current polls reflect detailed information about how radical and how unpopular his policies are. Sanders and democratic socialism do fine as a bumper sticker. However, when the Sanders program is explained in terms of the cost to people's lives, it is a disaster.
Ideologically, this disaster will be compounded by the stature gap between the Democrats and the president of the United States. This was the real message of Tuesday night. The Republican president is a genuine world leader, who is heartily welcomed by the leader of the world's most populous Democracy. The Democratic contenders are simply not ready for prime time. The leap from quarreling on the stage in South Carolina to landing in New Delhi in Air Force One is simply too great.
Trump's stature advantage is increased dramatically when first lady Melania Trump accompanies him on world trips. The picture of the two of them at the Taj Mahal beat anything the Democrats said or did in the debate on Tuesday.
It was a good week for team Trump and a terrible week for team Democrat.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
