The Trump Game?

[Tom Sawyer]

AAAND.. he's filed his financial disclosure. 10 Billion Dollars!

The repubs thought he wouldn't. Are pants being soiled?

I don't think so. This primary may be quite like the last one. You have Jeb Bush, the "moderate" establishment candidate and a horde of crazies. There is a strong "anybody but the sane guy" element in the GOP and they flipped between heavily backing one candidate after another last time trying to find someone who, while crazy, was still electable and there was a new Not-Romney every month before they grudgingly agreed to go with Romney.

Trump may simply be the first in that list. His money might give him staying power or he might get old fast. At this point, the other crazies should feel comfortable just sitting back and waiting for people to get tired of his schtick and then try and get the nutters to back them for a couple of weeks before moving on to the next Not-Bush.

 

[Sarpedon]

True, that is a possibility. There's another possibility in that the non crazies split their votes on Walker and Bush (and maybe Rubio), leaving Trump and his crazies to take all.

Romney was a much more polished candidate than Bush. Will Bush have his patience and staying power?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

True, that is a possibility. There's another possibility in that the non crazies split their votes on Walker and Bush (and maybe Rubio), leaving Trump and his crazies to take all.

While that would be the single most awesome thing in the entire history of forever and the Kafka-esque surrealism of Trump being the GOP nominee would be unparalleled entertainment, I really don't think his schtick has the staying power to last all the way through the Primary. His bankroll can keep him going longer than would normally be the case and he knows how to command media attention better than a flaming schoolbus full of children crashing into a pet store that was giving away free kittens, but I don't see him staying at the front of the pack all the way into the fall.

 

[Sarpedon]

You and the meanies at Fivethirtyeight keep wanting to burst my pleasant bubble.

 

[arkirk]

True, that is a possibility. There's another possibility in that the non crazies split their votes on Walker and Bush (and maybe Rubio), leaving Trump and his crazies to take all.

While that would be the single most awesome thing in the entire history of forever and the Kafka-esque surrealism of Trump being the GOP nominee would be unparalleled entertainment, I really don't think his schtick has the staying power to last all the way through the Primary. His bankroll can keep him going longer than would normally be the case and he knows how to command media attention better than a flaming schoolbus full of children crashing into a pet store that was giving away free kittens, but I don't see him staying at the front of the pack all the way into the fall.

We have been in America through two surrealistic wars. As nasty and corrupt as Trump is, I don't really think (1) he has any chance at all and (2) he is capable of doing anything worse to our country than dubbiya and we lived through that.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I'm pretty sure Trump would be able to fuck things up worse.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

From HuffPo:

After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president, we have decided we won't report on Trump's campaign as part of The Huffington Post's political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

From HuffPo:

After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president, we have decided we won't report on Trump's campaign as part of The Huffington Post's political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette.

While that makes sense from a logical point of view, I still find myself disagreeing with the editorial decision. The GOP voters are currently supporting him. That makes the coverage of his campaign a political matter and it's not up to the press to decide who is or is not a legitimate candidate when that candidate has the voters' support.

Trump is crazy and stupid, but he's a crazy and stupid that the people who's support he's campaigning for like.

 

[braces_for_impact]

What's interesting is that, from what I've read he has broad appeal across the GOP, not just the tea party nutbags. Also, a Trump presidency would be an utter and complete disaster. I can easily see him firing a room full of brass and taking direct control of the armed forces. After our heavy casualties, Estonia or something would invade and we'd all be slave labor for some 3rd word despot.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

What's interesting is that, from what I've read he has broad appeal across the GOP, not just the tea party nutbags. Also, a Trump presidency would be an utter and complete disaster. I can easily see him firing a room full of brass and taking direct control of the armed forces. After our heavy casualties, Estonia or something would invade and we'd all be slave labor for some 3rd word despot.

But that despot would contract out the slave labour through a Trump Industries subsidiary and Trump would profit from it, so it's all good.

 

[Bronzeage]

What's interesting is that, from what I've read he has broad appeal across the GOP, not just the tea party nutbags. Also, a Trump presidency would be an utter and complete disaster. I can easily see him firing a room full of brass and taking direct control of the armed forces. After our heavy casualties, Estonia or something would invade and we'd all be slave labor for some 3rd word despot.

I still believe that Trump's appeal is as a protest vote against the current GOP slate. If Trump were the GOP nominee, the Presidency goes to whoever survives the Democratic convention. By the time the election comes up, Trump will have alienated about 85% of the electorate.

Right now, there are GOP party professionals who are reading the poll reports and slowly repeating, "No, no, no."

 

[Tom Sawyer]

If Trump were the GOP nominee, the Presidency goes to whoever survives the Democratic convention.

Are you trying to imply that that's not going to happen if someone else is the GOP nominee?

Clinton is going to be President no matter which one of these jokers bothers to run against her.

 

[braces_for_impact]

Bernie would be better than Clinton. Think about it. The far right has been complaining how Obama is THE most liberal president ever. Bernie will make their heads 'splode.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Bernie would be better than Clinton. Think about it. The far right has been complaining how Obama is THE most liberal president ever. Bernie will make their heads 'splode.

It's true. Sanders vs Trump would be a dream matchup. Sanders is about 40 points behind Clinton in the latest polls, however, so his supporters seem to be the Paulites of the Democrats and nobody outside of them gives his campaign any real credence.

 

[Bronzeage]

If Trump were the GOP nominee, the Presidency goes to whoever survives the Democratic convention.

Are you trying to imply that that's not going to happen if someone else is the GOP nominee?

Clinton is going to be President no matter which one of these jokers bothers to run against her.

If Trump gets the nomination, Hubert Humphrey may return from the dead and run against him.

A Presidential nomination depends on a balance of two factors, can I stand him/her and can he/she win.

A Trump nomination puts almost every registered Democratic voter in the 85% can he win category. A city councilman from Portland could give Hillary a run for her money.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Are you trying to imply that that's not going to happen if someone else is the GOP nominee?

Clinton is going to be President no matter which one of these jokers bothers to run against her.

If Trump gets the nomination, Hubert Humphrey may return from the dead and run against him.

A Presidential nomination depends on a balance of two factors, can I stand him/her and can he/she win.

A Trump nomination puts almost every registered Democratic voter in the 85% can he win category. A city councilman from Portland could give Hillary a run for her money.

Ya, anyone could run against Clinton and there's nothing which necessarily prevents some other candidate from coming along and taking it from her the way that Obama did last time, but there aren't any candidates in the race right now who have the needed ancient Babylonian sword with the requisite enchantments to fight off the demonic assassins she'd raise up from the netherworld in response to such a challenge. There's just nobody providing an actual challenge to her.

 

[Bronzeage]

If Trump gets the nomination, Hubert Humphrey may return from the dead and run against him.

A Presidential nomination depends on a balance of two factors, can I stand him/her and can he/she win.

A Trump nomination puts almost every registered Democratic voter in the 85% can he win category. A city councilman from Portland could give Hillary a run for her money.

Ya, anyone could run against Clinton and there's nothing which necessarily prevents some other candidate from coming along and taking it from her the way that Obama did last time, but there aren't any candidates in the race right now who have the needed ancient Babylonian sword with the requisite enchantments to fight off the demonic assassins she'd raise up from the netherworld in response to such a challenge. There's just nobody providing an actual challenge to her.

No real argument with this, but right now, Hillary has the best "my turn" claim. Last time around, she played nice and sat down. This time she is playing the last chance card, too. It's a potent charm, but there hasn't been a real vote, yet. Primary voters put a lot of value on "who do I like today," so a challenger could arise. Don't forget, Hillary will need a VP, so there's a lot of incentive to come in second or third.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Last time around, she played nice and sat down.

Well ... eventually. Her campaign kept going about a month past its expiry date while slinging unecessary shit at her party's nominee.

Talk of that election provides a nice segue back to the topic of the thread, though. Does anybody else find it really ironically funny that John McCain, the guy who introduced Sarah Fucking Palin to the national stage, is now dissing Trump for firing up the crazies in the GOP? It's somewhat surreal.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, Trump thinks that the real unemployment rate is 40%

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/16/donald-trump-unemployment-rate-might-very-well-be-/

 

[Nice Squirrel]

He's just trolling at this point. I predict Trump will have low numbers by Monday.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

He's just trolling at this point. I predict Trump will have low numbers by Monday.

I think he'll have a couple more months of staying power. He is tapping into the disaffected, anti-establishment element in the GOP far better than any of the other candidates are. He is causing the GOP significant damage by being associated with it, to be sure, but his supporters are the ones who think that the GOP is already damaged and don't want to waffle into the election with another Romney who only gives lip service to their views. He'll burn out eventually, but it will be at least a couple of months before he's gone.

In other really, really unbelievable news, of the $1.9 million his campaign has raised, only $1.8 million of it came from Trump himself. The rest of the money was from people who ... like ... donated to Donald Trump's campaign for President. Seriously. That happened.