Donald Trump spent  this morning huffing and puffing and attempting to give his fizzling debate a last breath of relevancy by claiming credit for Romney's sagging numbers. Trump called into Fox & Friends on Monday morning spouting off about how Romney's numbers were sagging because he turned down the debate and, of course, that Gingrich's are skyrocketing for saying yes. He said:

I like Mitt Romney, he's a really nice guy ... but his [Romney's] numbers have gone down very substantially since he said 'no', and a lot people think it's because it showed a lack of decisiveness or a lack of courage in going into this debate...

And you look at what happened with Newt. Newt has gone up like a rocket ship. So you know, I respect that. We may just do a chat.  Newt and I may just do a chat. 

The Hill's Christian Heinze points out the utter ridiculousness of Trump's theory, noting, "Most conspicuously, the debate was announced on December 2. Three days before that, Rasmussen had Newt leading, nationally, by 21 percent, CNN had him winning South Carolina by 23 percent, and ABC had him leading in Iowa by 15 percent." Trump also fails to explain Bachmann and Perry's wilting figures even though he's had very-publicized meetings with both or how his Today show smack-down of Ron Paul didn't really shift Paul's steady numbers one way or another.  It all points to how irrelevant the Trump factor has become in this nomination process--as if his blowhard comments about Romney today didn't already confirm that. 

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at aabadsantos at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Alexander Abad-Santos