The federalist has a pretty good article making the case against The Donald. Jim Geraghty notes when you consider the full Republican base, he polls badly, and in a head-to-head matchup with Hillary, she creams him. So what is The Donald up to? If you want my opinion, he’s s stalking horse for the Clintons. If Trump manages to do decently enough, by saying outrageous things that channel the base’s anger, I’d bet money he’s going to Ross Perot whoever the eventual Republican nominee is. Even if he could only pull in 6% of the Republican vote, that’s probably enough to throw the election to Hillary.
If I were a big Republican donor, I’d be thinking about kicking some cash to Bernie Sanders’ campaign. If he manages to defeat Hillary in the primary, you won’t have to worry about narcissistic billionaires pulling a Perot, because the idea of a President Sanders will scare the crap out of them enough they won’t want to play games.
I have my doubts he’d be a stalking horse *sent* by the Clintons.
(Not so much that such a thing is beneath the Clintons or they’re worried they’d get caught, but I shy away from such explanations when independent action can explain it just as well.).
That said, it *is* a matter of record that Trump has donated to the Clintons (both their political funds and their foundations). He’s also talked about how great a president Bill was.
And he’s talked up how great Hillary was.
(Back in the far off year of 2007)
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/06/17/trump-2007-hillarys-very-very-capable-her-health-care-plan-is-very-good/
So it would not be unreasonable to say he would not *mind* Hillary winning the election.
Then add in Trump’s ego and his “I want it now!” and the idea of him deliberately pulling a Perot….
Makes sense. He’s spurn the party that didn’t see fit to nominate him *and* help put into office someone he’d want in office. (I mean if he’s going to go 3rd party does anyone think that he’d prefer the R to win over Hillary?)
Win-win for him.
And doesn’t require any action on the Clinton’s part.
I dunno, while the 8 years of Obama suck, the 8 years of Bush sucked too. I personally voted in the last election for Gary Johnson knowing full-well that was a vote for Obama.
I was GLAD when Romney lost.
Why? Because Romney knows how to get things done, and while not as directly hostile to my views and way of life as Obama is, he was still a threat to Liberty and a terrible Governor here in Massachusetts.
Also note that when Romney left, we got Deval Patrick, somebody who was also directly hostile to my views and way of life.
Still Patrick’s years as Gov weren’t all that bad…and frankly the most pro-gun years since the 90s.
Why? Because he’s incompetent, and idiots with dangerous ideas are less dangerous than smart people with dangerous ideas.
This was a REALLY long was of saying if the few GOP candidates I can stand drop out before the Massachusetts primary, I’ll be using my independent status to vote for Sanders, and if its Trump, or Bush, or Huckabee, or whatever against Sanders, I’ll be voting for him.
President Sanders wouldn’t be too bad! Remember, the Republicans in the Legislature will oppose ANY Democrat in the White House. But with Sanders as that Democrat, the Establishment Democrats will also oppose him.
That and the late night monologues and Daily Show will be AWESOME!!!
But then they get 4 or 8 more years of appointing judges, and as the most recent rulings on obamacare and a denial of cert for the circuit split on gun rights show the supreme courts is the biggest threat to liberty we are facing at the moment. Sure, not all the republican nominees will be a reliable vote for liberty, but NONE of the democrat nominees will be, so it is far more important to get a bad republican in the WH than allow any democrat to hold the office.
Of course the flip side of that coin is, if the country is going to burn I would rather it burn under an avowed socialist, than under a socialist who calls himself a “conservative”. . .
Which democrat appointed Roberts?
Roberts voted which way on Heller and McDonald?
Exactyl!
Still, what judges would JE Bush or Trump appoint?
You have a great point, but the argument falls apart when comparing “Progressives” to RINOs.
Trump won’t win the nomination. Let’s just put that one to rest now. Neither will Bernie Sanders. There is enough genuine distrust in the establishment that this could end up being a four way race in the general election. It’s up to the GOP to rally the troops against a disheveled liberal democrat base in 2016.
Yeah…. that’s why Sebastian is talking about Trump pulling a Ross Perot.
And to do that, by definition, means he wouldn’t have gotten the nomination.
I just don’t see Trump having that kind of staying power in the general. Trump has emerged as a single issue candidate. This is why I say… It’s up to the GOP to rally the troops and give the electorate a reason to vote for their guy. There will also most likely be a libertarian candidate as well.
If some of the other Republican candidates start speaking to the issues the base wants talked about in the aggressive in your face way they want it talked about, Trump will fade away. What are the chances of that though?
Zero. The RP national party wants vast swarms of illegal aliens to drive down wages. Fighting this COUlD pull large numbers of middle class and poor Democrats to our side, but the RP doesn’t want to win as much as make themselves popular with the leftist media.
Trump is a right-populist, while Sanders is a left-populist. They both threatened their respective parties’ establishments and their annointed candidates. Yes, a third-party movement from either one would be problematic — but what if they both did it?
Does it honestly matter? Republicans are fighting each other so much that Hillary has pretty much won it all already. Just look at the comments on this page.
The Republican Party needs to start being honest with voters, or it will continue to lose.
What’s the point in being united behind a loser?
I’m sick of happy, smiling, losers.
Since when is Trump actually opposed to illegal immigration? I would be amazed if a major portion of his construction and hospitality based fortune wasn’t made through the employment of illegal aliens. The parts of it that weren’t made through screwing over people who lent him money, that is.
Trump is a major figure in the NY/NJ area, with strong ties to the left wing establishment that runs those areas. Does anyone seriously think you can spend several decades making it rich in NYC real estate without deep connections to the local powers that be?
This seems to be a blatant attempt to smear the republican party by association more than an actual attempt to advance as a candidate.
James has it correct. The first Republican that promises to build a fence from the Gulf to the Pacific would win in a landslide. He or She will pull all the Reagan Democrats back to the Republican Party too.
What has the Republican Establishment Party done since we gave them BOTH the House and Senate?
Have they defunded Obamacare?
Defunded Obama’s Illegal Immigration Orders?
Defunded the IRS? Defund EPA?
Rollback EPA regs that are destroying Coal-fired Power?
The establishment Republicans did approve the Corker Amendment, so now we need 67 votes to STOP Obama’s Iran Agreement that is going to give Iran nuclear weapons, rather than just a simple senate majority. F_____g Republican Idiots, Morons and Quislings that are going to start a mid-east nuclear arms race and war that will get millions killed.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and likely Egypt will soon get their own nukes, with the Saudi’s delivered from Pakistan on an airplane overnight. Then they bolt them to Saudi ballistic missiles, the same model as Pakistani’s nuclear missiles.
I did not leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me.
Perot had an exceedingly small effect on the ’92 presidential election. He won ZERO electoral votes, and I have not seen any analysis that shows a scenario where his absense would have allowed Bush the Elder to make up the 370 to 168 electoral vote score. Bush (and the ‘Pubbies) need to own the fact that he lost 22 states that he’d won in 1988. For being “the party of personal responsibility”, the GOP doesn’t like acting like it.
As to Weerd’s contention that R’s will always oppose a D White House, I offer up he current Congress as a rebuttal. ‘Bama is getting more done with a Republican majority tha he was with Harry Reid as Manority Leader. As to “a vote for Gary Johnson” being “a vote for Obama”, that’s crap. My home state hasn’t given it’s electoral votes to a Dem since LBJ’s first term. An actual vote for Obama isn’t even a vote for Obama. A much better example for your point would be Ralph “Pinto” Nader costing Gore a close state in a close election in ’00.
I don’t really care what politicians say. I’m more interested in that they accomplish what they were elected to do. For the ‘Pubbies, that seems to be the square root of jack squat–over and over again.
*its
I’m done voting for the GOP–they don’t represent me and they are not any better than the “Democrat” arm of The Party.
” I personally voted in the last election for Gary Johnson knowing full-well that was a vote for Obama.”
No. Wrong. It was a vote *neither* *major* *party* *got.* Vote for the guy you want in the job and let the chips fall where they may.
I’m probably gonna vote for Bernie in the primary. His party needs him and if push comes to shove, why not push the Fed.gov in the direction they’re already going? It’ll just make it fall apart sooner.
I like the way you think!
Roberta, I really DID want Johnson for Prez.
Still I’m not a nut, and KNEW either Romney or Obama were going to win, and I am glad in that choice Obama won.
So yeah, I wanted Johnson, but also I was voting against Romney, but I kept my hands clean.
Still in the end I live in Massachusetts, and this state NEVER cares how I vote. I do it for sport.
The worst part about getting older is that the election seasons get closer and closer together.
When we elected Bush the Elder, I hadn’t had to deal with the silliness of electoral politics since ‘way back when I was in high school. Now it feels like we just did this crap four years ago.
I know what you mean.
The way things are going, soon the survivors will only have an election for who gets to wear the colander mask.