# Club For Growth: "Trump's A Liberal Politician" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 15, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410 "2015-09-15T21:19:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/1 "2015-09-15T21:19:44Z")
[And now, the event you’ve all been waiting for, the Conservative Establishment vs Donald “McDonald” Trump! (YouTube link.)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OEijvTi0NE) It’s really short, and cuts right to the quick: Trump is literally left of Kublai Khan and has in the past voiced support of Politically Incorrect things. He’s a politician and he’s playing you for chumps. Being a politician is evil, now vote for someone named Bush. Really, though, this is the first real blast in the war I’ve been waiting for: As opposed to GOPpers reacting with “outrage” and “moral indignation” and “complete and utter confusion” (OK, maybe the quotes around the last are a bit much…) when Trump lays into them, the GOP Itself is taking the first swing, right where a Republican is most vulnerable: The fact he changed his mind about something. Utter poison, or so they hope. _I_ hope this drags out for a while. I’ve not seen a good mudfight since Russ Meyer was in business. ---
**Author:** ![Stoneburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/2 "2015-09-15T21:34:26Z")
Bwahaha! That was one lame-ass attack video. The “He’s a politician” actually made me laugh out loud. That’s almost too absurd. Accusing someone of running for political office of being a politician…? And aiming that at one of the two candidates who has never been on a ballot…? They went full retard on that one. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/3 "2015-09-16T01:58:00Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > . . . the GOP Itself is taking the first swing, right where a Republican is most vulnerable: The fact he changed his mind about something. Utter poison, or so they hope. Of course, Reagan was once a Democrat and a labor-union leader . . . ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/4 "2015-09-16T02:15:48Z")
What is that I smell wafting through the air? Is that…the sweet, sickly stench of desperation? Why yes, yes I do believe it is! ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/5 "2015-09-16T02:22:58Z")
> [@Stoneburg](#): > > Bwahaha! > > That was one lame-ass attack video. The “He’s a politician” actually made me laugh out loud. That’s almost too absurd. Accusing someone of running for political office of being a politician…? And aiming that at one of the two candidates who has never been on a ballot…? They went full retard on that one. So wait. Trump, they guy that has never held office in his life… as opposed to say, Jeb, who has literally been a politician since the 80s and held office since the 90s… Trump is the politician? Oh wow. I mean… wow. The cognitive dissonance is strong with this one. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/6 "2015-09-16T02:23:49Z")
> [@Stoneburg](#): > > Bwahaha! > > That was one lame-ass attack video. The “He’s a politician” actually made me laugh out loud. That’s almost too absurd. Accusing someone of running for political office of being a politician…? And aiming that at one of the two candidates who has never been on a ballot…? They went full retard on that one. Well, if they can make ‘politician’ stick, that removes one of the pillars of Trump’s support - he is ‘an outsider’. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/7 "2015-09-16T02:38:03Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Well, if they can make ‘politician’ stick, that removes one of the pillars of Trump’s support - he is ‘an outsider’. Right. That’s precisely their goal here. The second part of their one-two punch is that he’s a Liberal, which they’ve spent a lot of time and money turning into a term of abuse among the low-information conservatives Trump appeals to most, and they’ll be damned if they’ll let that go unused. This is the basic animal cunning I expect from the Party Of Rove, and I hope Trump sticks around long enough to give us a few really good rounds of it. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/8 "2015-09-16T02:42:16Z")
Damn, in the words of The Donald himself, that was weak. “He’s just like all the others. So vote for one of the others instead.” But wait [there’s another one and this one is in an actual ideological issue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZeKdfxI_RA)… that most of the country seemingly has forgotten about in the ten years since. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/9 "2015-09-16T02:47:08Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Damn, in the words of The Donald himself, that was weak. “He’s just like all the others. So vote for one of the others instead.” > > But wait [there’s another one and this one is in an actual ideological issue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZeKdfxI_RA)… that most of the country seemingly has forgotten about in the ten years since. Interesting spin: “Eminent domain abuse”, as they phrase it, likely isn’t popular among his base, but they’re attacking him for knowing how to make money. Being really rich is one of the things his supporters admire him for. That one could backfire on them. Maybe next time they’ll attack him for saying idiotic bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/10 "2015-09-16T03:27:28Z")
Club for Growth says they will spend $1 million on anti-Trump ad campaign. [Vox](http://www.vox.com/2015/9/15/9331225/donald-trump-club-for-growth) notes it is the first significant anti-Trump ad buy. Trump responds on Twitter: [INDENT]‏@realDonaldTrump 12h12 hours ago Beverly Hills, CA Little respected Club For Growth asked me for $1,000,000 - I said “NO”. Now they are spending lobbyist and special interest money on ads! ‏@realDonaldTrump 9h9 hours ago My plan will lower taxes for our country, not raise them. Phony @club4growth says I will raise taxes—just another lie. ‏@realDonaldTrump 9h9 hours ago @club4growth asked me for $1 million. I said no. Now falsely advertising that I will raise taxes. I’ll lower big league for middle class. [/INDENT] Vox: Trump poses a profound threat to Club for Growth and the Republican orthodoxy. For years, Republicans have waged culture wars during every election only to turn around and hand out tax cuts and special favors to their fat cat financial backers. Club for Growth has always done the bidding of these conservative billionaires, but now a potentially self funded magnate has pledged to protect social security and advocated higher taxes on the wealthy. [LOLGOP](https://twitter.com/LOLGOP): A race-baiting, anti-hedge fund billionaire is pretty much the perfect Trojan horse to destroy the Republican Party, if not everything. Still, I seriously doubt whether CFG is going to convince anyone that a birther that wants to deport everyone north of San Fernando Blvd is really a liberal. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/11 "2015-09-16T03:59:01Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [And now, the event you’ve all been waiting for, the Conservative Establishment vs Donald “McDonald” Trump! (YouTube link.)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OEijvTi0NE) Actually, that’s been going on for weeks now. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/12 "2015-09-16T06:43:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Actually, that’s been going on for weeks now. Yes. What’s new is the $1 million ad buy. [Wall Street CEOs are quaking in their boots](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-2016-wall-street-reaction-213614). In August, they figured that the Donald was just a summertime clown. Now they are worried and are reaching for their wallets. Unnamed GOP financier: [INDENT]Everyone thinks he is a buffoon and a bombastic loudmouth who won’t be around at the end. But the concern is that he is still at 30 in the polls and he is going to hang around for a while and do a great deal of damage. [/INDENT] One CEO is happy with the somnolent Jeb Bush: [INDENT]Yes I’m a little worried about how poorly Jeb is doing,” said a second Wall Street CEO who is backing the former Florida governor but would not speak on the record. “Hopefully it will get better over time. But there is no point trading insults with Trump. There is a saying that you don’t wrestle with pigs because you just get dirty and the pig loves it.” [/INDENT] Yes. Yes indeed. The pig does love it. Very much so. Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the New York City Partnership: [INDENT]Most people in the New York business community don’t really like to speak publicly about politicians and especially not Trump, because he will just jump ugly all over them,” said Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the New York City Partnership, a group that includes many of the city’s top business leaders. “Trump has never really been part of the New York City business community or particularly engaged with the real estate community. There’s certainly no close set of relations there. He’s really a lone wolf. And a lot of these people thought Jeb Bush was a shoo-in and they are upset now because they have already thrown in with him and he is looking a little wilted.” [/INDENT] I and a thousand crocodiles cry for the New York CEOs. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/13 "2015-09-16T12:53:43Z")
The Club For Growth has one reason for being- getting tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. That’s why Jeb is their pet- [more than half of Jeb’s proposed tax cuts would go to the richest 1%.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bush-tax-cuts-wealthy_55f87d31e4b0b48f6700fbbd) They had it all worked out, Jeb was to be their boy and they’d get handsome returns on their contributions. Trouble is, the Great Unwashed aren’t that interested in enriching the wealthy any more. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/14 "2015-09-16T14:17:32Z")
Glen Beck was saying something similar this week, while also saying [the Tea Party were a bunch of racists](http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/09/15/glenn-beck-tea-partiers-who-support-donald-trump-are-racist/) who didn’t like Obama because he’s black. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/15 "2015-09-16T15:18:05Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > (quoting someone else in turn) > Most people in the New York business community don’t really like to speak publicly about politicians and especially not Trump, because he will just jump ugly all over them,” said Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the New York City Partnership, a group that includes many of the city’s top business leaders. “Trump has never really been part of the New York City business community or particularly engaged with the real estate community. There’s certainly no close set of relations there. > … Gee, maybe because the respectable establishment in NY always treated him like someone unworthy to be among them, barely tolerated only because of his celebrity and money? Sure he is a crass vulgarian narcissist but I’m pretty sure there are many such in the NY CEO community who just keep up a good façade. So, they were afraid he’d “jump ugly” on them? IOW they scorned him as Not One Of Us, but they folded in fear of verbal bullying? No wonder his favorite putdown is “weak losers”! THEY made him what he is by not calling him out early. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/16 "2015-09-16T15:33:29Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Right. That’s precisely their goal here. The second part of their one-two punch is that he’s a Liberal, which they’ve spent a lot of time and money turning into a term of abuse among the low-information conservatives Trump appeals to most, and they’ll be damned if they’ll let that go unused. > > This is the basic animal cunning I expect from the Party Of Rove, and I hope Trump sticks around long enough to give us a few really good rounds of it. Another damning insult in the Republican lunatic-fringe repertoire is to alienate the voters from the competition by accusing the competition of being intelligent, something the lunatic-fringe base could never identify with. Something along the lines of being an “educated intellectual elitist”. I wonder why they didn’t use that awesome insult on The Donald. Is it because he comes across more like an agitated howling baboon with a small yellow marmoset sitting on its head? I suppose cognitive dissonance only goes so far! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/17 "2015-09-16T15:43:07Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Gee, maybe because the respectable establishment in NY always treated him like someone unworthy to be among them, barely tolerated only because of his celebrity and money? Sure he is a crass vulgarian narcissist but I’m pretty sure there are many such in the NY CEO community who just keep up a good façade. > > So, they were afraid he’d “jump ugly” on them? IOW they scorned him as Not One Of Us, but they folded in fear of verbal bullying? No wonder his favorite putdown is “weak losers”! THEY made him what he is by not calling him out early. Trump has never been a joiner, preferring to concentrate on his business instead. Even decades ago people who knew him would talk about how he didn’t care at all about having a social life, spending all his time instead on his work and sleeping only four hours a night. One source of conflict between Ivana and Trump was that she wanted to live the socialite lifestyle and he couldn’t care less. It seems plausible to me that if he’s never been a joiner socially that he wouldn’t be a joiner in real estate circles either. The lone wolf lifestyle leaves more time and freedom from obligation for one’s own pursuits, which in Trump’s case has been building his business. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/18 "2015-09-16T16:17:40Z")
He has a great social life, says so himself, about how people are always coming up to him and talking to him, saying stuff to him. Like begging him to be President, happens all the time! Couldn’t do that if he was stuck at his office all the time, playing Risk Management! Gotta wonder about stuff like that. Like, does he have a driver’s license? If he gets a flat tire, does he know how to change it or does he just order a new car? Did he ever work for somebody, have to go to a meeting and hear the boss lay out some utterly stupid idea and pretend he enthusiastically concurs? Does he have kids? Does he worry about them, or even know where they are? In their secret heart of hearts, do they hope he drops dead onstage tonight, and they can have all that money without having to listen to his bullshit any more? He wants us to believe he is “real people”. He is real people in the same way a canary is an armadillo. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/19 "2015-09-16T16:38:22Z")
Trump’s a conservative no doubt, they are just upset he isn’t a Kochservative (to use a variation of a term in vogue these heady days). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410/20 "2015-09-16T17:07:11Z")
\elucidator:\ Trump’s dad, Fred, was much less of an asshole. He made his dough building garages in Queens because he realized all the GI Bill vets were going to want bungalows and a place to keep the car. When the Donald was a teenager, Fred got him jobs doing things like digging ditches. To his credit, Donald made his kids do shit jobs when they were kids, too, rather than summering in the south of France. The \Times\ posits that this could be why they didn’t end up on the hard dope-public drunkenness-and-sex videotapes path that so many of their peers do. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-for-growth-trumps-a-liberal-politician/731410.md?page=2)