# Did you know in 2016 how bad Trump really is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 19, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346 "2020-10-19T19:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/81 "2020-10-21T01:35:03Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > And they could have stopped this. They could have stopped it before Trump won the Republican primary. They tried and failed. For example, Senator Graham said that choosing between Cruz and Trump was like choosing between being shot or poisoned. Having the nominee selected in primaries means that party leaders now have the same one vote I do. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/82 "2020-10-21T01:39:54Z")
Huh, what a strange comment. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/83 "2020-10-21T01:42:32Z")
Here it is in context: > **[Graham: Choice between Trump, Cruz like 'being shot or poisoned'](https://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/lindsey-graham-trump-cruz-choice-218069)** > > “It’s like being shot or poisoned,” Graham told reporters Thursday in response. “What does it really matter?” > [@](#): > > “In Donald Trump’s world, the illegal immigrants [are] gonna sell drugs to your kids and rape your wife. Foreigners are going to take your jobs,” Graham said. “This is not exactly the America that I envisioned for the 21st century.” ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/84 "2020-10-21T01:45:52Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Huh, what a strange comment. Unless I’m being whooshed, it refers to Mussolini. > **[Mussolini and On-Time Trains](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/loco-motive/)** > > Did Mussolini make the trains run on time? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/85 "2020-10-21T01:47:26Z")
I meant his patently false claim that the Southern Strategy was a myth. ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/86 "2020-10-21T01:52:22Z")
Yes, the Southern Strategy was a myth. You’ve been conned if you believed that. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/87 "2020-10-21T01:54:03Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I meant his patently false claim that the Southern Strategy was a myth. Right, I realized immediately that you were replying to another post (because the threaded responses are sometimes confusing the way they display in Discourse), and tried to delete my comment. However, it wouldn’t accept my edit for some reason (maybe because you were already replying?). ETA: I agree, that is a strange comment. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/88 "2020-10-21T01:54:24Z")
Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/89 "2020-10-21T01:56:55Z")
> [@agzem](#): > > Yes, the Southern Strategy was a myth. You’ve been conned if you believed that. That isn’t true. That’s just something conservatives say because it makes them feel better. > **[PolitiFact - Candace Owens' false statement that the Southern strategy is a myth](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/apr/10/candace-owens/candace-owens-pants-fire-statement-southern-strate/)** > > During a congressional hearing on hate crimes, conservative African American commentator Candace Owens said that the Rep ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/90 "2020-10-21T01:57:14Z")
Southern legislatures, governors, Senator, Congressperson…all mostly Democrat for decades after the supposed “Southern Strategy”. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/91 "2020-10-21T02:00:11Z")
During the 2016 election, I sure did not envision that the Trump campaign was working so closely with a foreign power. I mean, this revelation (initially in the form of the meeting in Trump Tower June 9, 2016, with three senior members of the 2016 Trump campaign – Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort… discussing how to work with the Russians to gather information… was just amazing. More amazing still was the acceptance of the campaign working with foreign intelligence agencies among the Republican party. And even more astounding is how they are trying the exact same playbook again during this election, with the stunningly obviously fake “Hunter Biden Laptop Bullshit” The entire Republican Party is currently simply an [arm of the GRU.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRU_(G.U.)) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/92 "2020-10-21T02:00:38Z")
Okay, that’s patently untrue and this is a highjack. ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/93 "2020-10-21T02:02:10Z")
“Going into the **1994** elections, Democrats still held 16 of the 30 United States Senate seats from the 15 Southern states (which I define as the 11 states of the Confederacy, plus Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia), and nearly two-thirds of the Southern seats in the House. On a state level, the figures were even more one-sided. **Democrats held 12 of the 15 Southern governorships, and 29 of the 30 state legislative chambers**.” > **[Opinion | Delusions of the Democrats (Published 2014)](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/opinion/sunday/delusions-of-the-democrats.html?ref=opinion&_r=0)** > > Demographics will not save them. A vision might. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/94 "2020-10-21T02:04:37Z")
“Let’s talk about this other thing, rather than what a shit pile Trump is” Don’t fall for it. Don’t engage. Ignore. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/95 "2020-10-21T02:05:02Z")
> [@agzem](#): > > Trump is the least war-mongering President we’ve had in decades…or possibly ever. … except that we’re closer to a civil war than we’ve been in a long, long time. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/96 "2020-10-21T02:23:27Z")
Please, can we not continue to indulge the serial hijacking? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/97 "2020-10-21T02:29:17Z")
> [@agzem](#): > > Trump is the least war-mongering President we’ve had in decades…or possibly ever. Trump has repeatedly made war-mongering threats against Iran and North Korea. What he doesn’t do, so far, is carry out the threats. In his first term, he has talked like a dictator, but didn’t (with some exceptions others may point out) act like a dictator. It isn’t unusual for an elected dictator to start out slow like this. Putin didn’t close down newspapers or invade Ukraine in his first term either. It is fair to say that from a pure policy perspective, Trump has not been extreme on most issues. (Whether someone agrees with the last sentence will of course depend on what issues they care most about.) Where Trump is undoubtedly extreme, compared to all predecessors, is in his open disrespect for previous norms of American democracy. ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/98 "2020-10-21T02:35:48Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Where Trump is undoubtedly extreme, compared to all predecessors, is in his open disrespect for previous norms of American democracy. "… The **Obama** administration, which has a chilling zeal for investigating leaks and prosecuting leakers, has **failed to offer a credible justification for secretly combing through the phone records of reporters and editors at The Associated Press** ([http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/us/phone-records-of-journalists-of-the-associated-press-seized-by-us.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/us/phone-records-of-journalists-of-the-associated-press-seized-by-us.html)) in what looks like a **fishing expedition** for sources and an effort to **frighten off whistle-blowers**. On Friday, Justice Department officials revealed that they had b **een going through The A.P.’s records for months**" > **[Opinion | Spying on The Associated Press (Published 2013)](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/opinion/spying-on-the-associated-press.html?_r=1&)** > > What, besides intimidation, is achieved by searching phone records of respected journalists? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/99 "2020-10-21T02:36:58Z")
It is to laugh. I havent been afraid of a nuclear war since the Kennedy days. Now I am. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/100 "2020-10-21T02:43:01Z")
Yes, they were _Dixiecrats_. They usually voted along with the Republicans in Congress. In 1948 they ran Strom Thurmond as a 3rd party candidate. Because the despised Lincoln had been a Republican, no one could run and win as a republican in the South for decades. This changed with the Southern Strategy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346.md?page=6)