Trump cheats at golf - the ONE and ONLY politics thread

I'll take a stab here, Moddy.

I don't believe there is a realistic way to keep Trump off the ticket. Republicans are not the party of heavy superdelegates and doing things The Chicago Way. They have to be transparent and can't announce a candidate as the nominee who did not win the most delegates. That would do more long-term harm than having Trump as the nominee.

How will I approach a general election?

If it's Trump, I will not vote for anyone for president. I'll vote in the Senate, House and local races.

If it's Cruz, I'll vote for him but I'll hold my nose doing so.

If Rubio, Kasich or even, gasp, Mitt Romney, I'll gladly vote for any of them.

I may come from a slightly different perspective in that I've covered nearly every candidate in the race. The Trump rallies that I have witnessed first-hand (not sound bites, not just a camera showing Trump in a close-up) are nothing more than a temper tantrum without specifics. Trump encourages the people there to turn around and taunt the "awful, lying media" as he attacks private citizens for something they may have written about his campaign. He's short of specifics and that's the biggest concern for me.

If I showed up at a TV station for an interview to be the news director, I should say, "the other applicants are idiots and low-energy. We're going to make this station great again!"

Interviewer: How are we going to do that?

Me: We're going to get new HD cameras and we're going to make our competitors pay for them! Yeah! We're going to make this station great again!

Interviewer: Ohhhh-kaaaaay...

Yet Trump is, essentially, doing this in his interview for president and he keeps winning states.

Republicans have brought this environment on themselves. One of the future effects of 1994 and 2010 was that more and more of the forklift Republicans were becoming a larger and larger part of the base. It's always amusing and uncomfortable to watch a Romney or a Jeb! have to encounter some guy with a mullet in a tank top at a county Republican summer BBQ. Romney wants to talk about Dodd Frank and Mullet Guy wants to talk about Obama being a Kenyan. The disconnect fills the air. I've seen it for years covering these events.

Republicans need the support of the forklift operator base but they really don't want them showing up for Christmas dinner.

At least when Hillary meets people at the Democrats county BBQs, they all get together and cry about being victims of society like it's a Tori Amos concert.

So the forklift operators have said "Eff you" to the establishment and they've gone with.... a billionaire real estate developer who wants even less to do with the mullets but has been able to talk into their anger with tough talk.

 

Look at the snazzy new thread title!

 

I don't believe white, low-income Southerners are the least bit interested in Trump's economic policies. I do, however, believe they are becoming wise to the fact that the GOP establishment's prescription for helping them -- massive tax cuts for the wealthy/supply side economics -- is a joke on them that has never worked anywhere. They feel duped by the party establishment.

Not surprisingly, the candidate backed by the establishment, Rubio, wants to give people more of same -- massive tax cuts for the wealthy and neocon foreign policy.

Low-income Southern white are also, as a group, very pro military and they're susceptible to the GOP's pro-military (buildup) messaging.

 

I agree with you on this, cran. Pigs are airborne.

The white, low-income Southerners only want Trump because they don't like minorities and believe that people who don't look like them, whether Latino or African American, are the reason why their lives are so miserable.

Trump won't tell them, "well, actually, your lives are so miserable because you didn't take school seriously and you probably made bad decisions at critical points in your life. Picking up condoms and staying away from anhydrous ammonia would have made your life great again."

 

Take it to the VP thread!

 

This is a very good post and gets to the heart of the questions and wonderings of a lot of people, including me, right now.

I'm not a Republican. I've always been a registered Democrat. But, I've always tried to be smart and open-minded enough to see different viewpoints and shades of gray, and vote how I think best, no matter a candidate's party. In this election, after eight years of perceived problems and failures to get much done to resolve other problems, people are naturally looking for change, and want someone who might be able to get things done with the Congress we have.

I definitely think Hillary Clinton is the best candidate on the Democratic side. However, I don't totally trust her, or like any of the truly possible Republican candidates that much, and yet, I refuse to not vote. I've said openly before that I wouldn't vote for Trump, and that has been my one "decision" so far. Beyond his outrageous big mouth and all-about-me rhetoric, I've thought he has spoken in a much too generalized, unspecific way about...well, almost any substantive issue.

But...more and more, I've been watching and listening, while trying to figure out exactly what it is he has tapped into, because for the longest time, I haven't seen it, and haven't thought any analysts have really hit the nail on the head about it -- not for any seemingly clear-thinking, intelligent person, anyway.

And I've seen Trump beginning to grow and evolve and improve as the debates and talking points and concerns about his handling of himself have gone on, and seen we've him become calmer, more professional, and more thoughtful, and I'm beginning to see now how he could succeed, both in winning, and in the presidency itself, if he continues on such a path. Now, there really is something to the fact that he just might become president. What's more, I'm starting to wonder and try to project what that might be like, and not always in a completely bad way.

He is an unknown quantity in the political arena. That can be a bad thing, as it started out. But, who knows, maybe it could be a good thing. I can't believe I just wrote that, and I'm not totally sure I believe it yet. But I'm starting to see how a lot of people could be thinking it.

Just as an aside, I have, frankly, been kind of impressed with Eric Trump in a few interviews I've heard with him, and wonder if he, perhaps, has any real interest/possibilities in politics.

 

The only Trump voter I have met personally that I know of is one of the checkout clerks at the local supermarket, a woman somewhere between 50-60 who is, to be polite, a low-information voter, seeing as in 2014 she asked me on Election Day who was running for what as she needed to know before voting. This woman has neither a racist nor mean bone in her body, just a naturally cheerful soul. The day before the Mass. primary, she urged me to make sure to vote for Trump. Resentment is a big part of what he's selling, but so is a secular version of the Prosperity Gospel -- vote for me and your troubles will disappear and your wishes will come true. For those of us old enough to remember Reverend Ike, there are big similarities.

 

Hillary? Could he do that?

If so, I could almost see him doing something that outrageous, and crossing party lines in such a weird and spectacularly brilliant way.

That suggested, it looks like Chris Christie is getting put in a position to take on that role.

 

Is that what you think Democrats should tell their low-income voters? If anyone really wants to know why the GOP is in disarray, this post perfectly sums up the contempt that has led to the disconnect. This post drips with the arrogance that has driven people to Trump.

The Democrats are just as arrogant and don't give a fuck about their low-income supporters, but at least they make an effort to pander.

There are a lot of people who would never vote for a Democrat but have tired of the GOP elite's open disdain of many of its traditional supporters. If they keep this shit up and try to pin all their problems on Trump, this is going to keep happening.

 

Not sure you are the one that should be lecturing anybody about getting up for work.

 

I know a Trump voter, this dumb bitch at the grocery store. This post oozes love and kindness.

 

We're also at a point in society where people, generally, don't want to take responsibility for the failures and disappointments of their lives. If you have a child with a major disability or challenges or you've fought through cancer or grew up in an abusive home, society should protect you.

I'm talking about the "wearing sweatpants at 3 pm at Walmart crowd", who move slow, complain about life and are low information about everything except for meth and Ding Dongs.

You can't tell them that "your problems are your fault" if you want to win an election.