trump is serious!!!!!

[wesw]

honestly I don t believe that trump is a hitler or Mussolini, he is an old man who just doesn t care what you think of him anymore.

he doesn t need you or me for anything, he doesn t need our money or our approval to follow his happiness journey

I believe that he truly is doing this, in his mind at least, for his country, torpedos be damned

he has put his empire at risk and he just doesn t give a damn

Jim, your comments about his not spending a dime yet are just proof of his pudding

if any of the other candidates had accomplished what he has accomplished in the campaign, without spending a dime, you would say that they were geniuses

he has gotten the press and other candidates, and even the other party,to finance his campaign. brilliant.

makes me think that he really could get mexico to pay for the damned wall....

do you really think that he would have to spend more as a 3rd party candidate? I don t....

... even if he were excluded from the debates, Morning Joe would have him on the next morning dissecting the debate, fox would have him on immediately after the debate, ripping the other candidates

being able to rip the others positions, without having to state his positions and have them questioned?

"please don t throw me into the briar patch"!

you guys are making a YUGE mistake by spending all your time attacking trump

I know what all the other candidates think about trump s positions, but what are their position? who knows? they don t spend any time articulating them. stupid.

[Lord Jim]

trump could win 3rd party

Not a chance in hell...(and he knows it; which is why for all his bluster he won't do it... we should call his bluff)

At the end of the day, if he spent a billion of his own money, he wouldn't carry a single state, he'd get 10-15% of the vote and certainly cost the GOP the election...

15% of the vote and not carry a single state...

That would make him...

What's the word?

Oh yeah, a " LOSER"...

For all his bluster, I believe Donald Trump is too smart to spend a billion dollars damaging his "brand" in a losing cause...

trump reminds me of hugo Chavez

He reminds me of Huey Long...

Except Long was more qualified...

At least he'd been a Governor and a Senator...

[wesw]

yeah, not a chance in hell....

....seems like I ve heard that before from the repub estab about trump...

...seems like I ve been hearing it for 7 mos now....

...how s that working out for you guys?

a lot of dems couldn t vote for a repub out of principle, but trump isn t really a repub, right? they kicked him out, right?...

...plus, Hillary is gonna take our guns and let isis kill us...

...and trump is gonna create jobs galore, right? that s what he does, right?

screw it, it s either ted cruz or Hillary? no thanks! ....

oh, I d say there are not many chances in hell, but this is one of them....

[wesw]

eta-the first two pages of this thread are interesting in hindsight...

[Crackpot]

You think there'd be a lindslide of dem and true (not the ones posing as such so they don't have to answer the tough questions) independents voting trump? You really live a sheltered life don't you.

[wesw]

he won t need a lindslide

and crackpot, do really think that I am a repub , posing as an indie? you have said so before if I RC....

I bet that jim doesn t think I m a repub....

I m telling you man, if every one who supports trump registers and votes, he will have a damned good chance of getting 34% of the vote

I think that you should see the world outside of the view thru rose colored glasses that Detroit s success under dems presents

the happiness of the dems in the big cities, like Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore can be deceiving....

all those happy people in the streets and the even happier ones hiding in their houses may present an overly optimistic view of the dems and indies satisfaction with the status quo...

[Crackpot]

I don't think you're a republican I don't think you put enough thought into any policy to come up with a coherent ethos.

[MajGenl.Meade]

You think there'd be a lindslide of dem and true (not the ones posing as such so they don't have to answer the tough questions).

Yes, it's a lyndeslide answering the tough questions....

[RayThom]

... Roger Lea MacBride, the Nixon Electoral College delegate who voted for the Libertarian candidate in 1972, was co-creator and co-producer of what well known television series?... As always no Googling, and no help from the studio audience...

A Little trivia... who doesn't know that? in my House "Highway To Heaven" was one of my favorite shows. Michael Landon was great.

[Sue U]

If he decides to go into the general as a third party, he may very well cripple the Republicans beyond hope of recovery for a decade or more.

I disagree...

He would have a much longer crippling effect on my party as the nominee then as a third party candidate...

I agree with Jim, it will be easier to marginalize him if he ends up as a third party/independent candidate. He does far more damage, and is far scarier, as the Republican candidate.

And while I'm not 100% invested in the destruction of that party, I think it may be time for a split, and to kick the fundamentalist right wingers out of the party and let them form their own party.

I think pretty much everyone agrees that the GOP loses the election if Trump is the nominee, and while that may do substantial damage to the party in the short run (through the 2020 general), a schism that actually creates a Trumpist (Trumpian? Trumpite?) third party could pull enough Teahadists out of the GOP (15-20%, maybe more) to keep it in deep minority status for much longer. Problem is, the money behind the nominal Teabagger candidates is controlled by people who can't stand Trump. The rank-and-file Teabuggerers themselves are, as usual, simply being played for pawns in the right-wing power struggles of billionaires. But I highly doubt that Trump has any genuine desire to build an enduring political organization or the stamina for an extended battle to rule Teabagistan -- let alone craft serious policy for actually governing the country. He seems to be in it more as a marketing strategy for his brand, if not an outright lark. If Trump's outrageous statements demonstrate anything, it is that he is in fact NOT serious about becoming President, and never has been.

Given the gerrymandering after the 2000 and 2010 censuses, the GOP House doesn't have much to worry about until the next round of redistricting after 2020; I doubt there are more than 10 GOP seats that would be truly competitive over the next three elections, and as it stands now, the Dems would have to flip 17 without losing any to get to a bare majority. The real contest will be for control of the Senate, where the Republicans are much more vulnerable than the Democrats in 2016, according to math. If Trump torpedos the GOP Senate campaigns, that will hurt the party the most in the long run.

[Guinevere]

Let the Teahadists drink tea in Teabagistan!

[MajGenl.Meade]

I am now sure that if Trump is the candidate and Hillary is the other one, I have to vote for either Bernie or whatever other attractive loser is available

[Lord Jim]

You'll like this one Meade...

Roger Lea MacBride, the Nixon Electoral College delegate who voted for the Libertarian candidate in 1972, was co-creator and co-producer of what well known television series?

Well obviously General Meade does not know the answer...


Which is surprising, since it's his favorite show :

[MajGenl.Meade]

Oh, I thought you meant "well-known TV series". I've never seen it so... not all that well-known I guess

G'nite LJ-Boy

[wesw]

now that would be interesting, Bernie and Hillary available to vote for....

not gonna happen, his nose is to brown....

[Lord Jim]

a schism that actually creates a Trumpist (Trumpian? Trumpite?) third party could pull enough Teahadists out of the GOP (15-20%, maybe more) to keep it in deep minority status for much longer.

Yeah, you keep the good thought there Sue...

If Trump runs third party and doesn't win this time around, (which of course he wouldn't) that will be the end of "Trumpism" as a political phenomena...

He won't run again after that and the Trump "mystique" will be gone...there's no foundation there for a long term "third force"...

For the hardcore Trump supporters, it's all about Trump; the reason they don't give a shit about how many lies or outrageous things he says or promises is because for them it's all about "the music"...

They could care less about "the lyrics"...

If you listen to Trump supporters, (be they rank and file types or better educated members of the political pundit class) it really is (as wes suggested with the Living Color video... ) a "cult of personality" thing...

There's no "Trumpism" without Trump; there's no real, coherent, sustaining ideological foundation...

Without Trump (and after he loses should he run third party this time, the "aura of invincibility" will be gone, that in and of itself will be deflating to his devotees) "Trumpism" will dissolve like a sugar cube in warm water...

[wesw]

colour

[RayThom]

... a schism that actually creates a Trumpist (Trumpian? Trumpite?) third party could pull enough Teahadists out of the GOP (15-20%, maybe more) to keep it in deep minority status for much longer.

The name I see bandied about more and more is the Trumpublican Party. As a lifelong Democrat who has never missed an election since 1970 I really want to see it happen. Historic. Thank you, Donald.

And that giant sucking sound you hear is the Trump juggernaut vacuuming up even more polling percentage points. The guy is unstoppable. It's as scary as it is humorous.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/us/po ... -poll.html

[Econoline]

[Guinevere]

As I've said before to this one .....well duh!