# Donald Trump announces presidential run **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 16, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679 "2015-06-16T16:35:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**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:** [August 6, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/461 "2015-08-06T20:01:28Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > You guys are priceless! > > First, Trump was a crazy clown in a crazy clown car. Then he picks up steam and you’re bumfuzzled. Then he’s the front-runner but only because of advice from Bill Clinton. > > It’ll be interesting to see how you’ll claim that your guys cleverly engineered it if he winds up in the White House. 😃 To the extent that anyone is surprised Trump is in first place, it’s because they gave the GOP too much credit. The GOP base is ignorant and angry. So Trump is the obvious person for that sort of voter to drift to. They mistake his bluster for capability. Yeah, he’s gonna get Mexico to pay for the wall. Brilliant. Probably about the time his investigators get back from Hawaii. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/462 "2015-08-06T20:12:19Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > You guys are priceless! > > First, Trump was a crazy clown in a crazy clown car. Then he picks up steam and you’re bumfuzzled. Then he’s the front-runner but only because of advice from Bill Clinton. > > It’ll be interesting to see how you’ll claim that your guys cleverly engineered it if he winds up in the White House. 😃 YES! GO TRUMP GO! You tell 'em, **SA**! I desperately hope that the Republican party is filled with folks like you, and they carry Trump all the way to the nomination! ---
**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:** [August 6, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/463 "2015-08-06T20:22:41Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Are you suggesting it’s a real possibility? I’ll reserve judgement till I see how the debate goes tonight. In a sense he’ll be like a conservative on the Straight Dope, with nine other guys nitpicking every word he ever said in an effort to derail his message. It’ll be interesting to see how he copes with that. If he does well coming out of the debates then yeah, I definitely think it’s a possibility. According to [this article](http://mashable.com/2015/07/15/donald-trump-approval-rating/) Trump’s favorable ratings among Republicans have increased from 35% a little over a month ago to 57% a week ago. Trump once said that most of the people who don’t like him are people who’ve never met him, and it does seem that the more people get to know him the higher his numbers get. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/464 "2015-08-06T20:37:37Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > According to [this article](http://mashable.com/2015/07/15/donald-trump-approval-rating/) Trump’s favorable ratings among Republicans have increased from 35% a little over a month ago to 57% a week ago. Also from that article: > [@Something Apparently Called... "Mashable"?](#): > > According to the poll, Trump’s unfavorability score of 61% among the general public overshadows the favorable opinions of 33% of those surveyed. “Strongly unfavorable” views outnumber strongly positive ratings by a three-to-one ratio, the Post said. > > Despite that, though, Trump’s numbers are inching ever closer to Republican frontrunner Jeb Bush, according to the poll. At 63%, Bush’s favorable rating among Republicans is just ahead of Trump’s by six points. Republicans may love him. I mean, sure, Republicans have always loved people who hurl insults at decorated, disabled war veterans. But everyone else thinks he’s a asshole. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/465 "2015-08-06T20:55:05Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Also from that article: > > Republicans may love him. I mean, sure, Republicans have always loved people who hurl insults at decorated, disabled war veterans. But everyone else thinks he’s a asshole. It seems as time goes by that more and more people change their minds about him being an asshole, or they just don’t care and place more importance on what he can accomplish. The election is a long way off yet, and Trump still has lots of time to change people’s opinion of him. A three to one disapproval rating among the general public now is meaningless in terms of what it will be by the time the election rolls around. All of this is contingent on how Trump does in the debates and whatever the media manages to drag up in an effort to scuttle his bid for the presidency. Once he starts showing serious signs of being the nominee (or achieving it) the media will be after him like no one since Nixon. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/466 "2015-08-07T01:39:15Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > It seems as time goes by that more and more people change their minds about him being an asshole, or they just don’t care and place more importance on what he can accomplish. Him securing the nomination and leading the Republicans to defeat in the election will probably be the most positive action he’ll ever do for the country. It’ll basically be a grand act of political sabotage. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/467 "2015-08-07T01:54:25Z")
Another reason to love Trump: he has nitwit ideas about vaccination. Some years ago he declared that children were at risk from “massive” shots and he delayed his own child’s immunizations (as part of the classic antivax “too much too soon” rationalization). And facts haven’t affected his dopiness on this issue. \*"Trump’s “theory” about autism and vaccines has remained unchanged in spite of substantial evidence debunking it. In the time since that 2007 press conference, abundant evidence covering millions of children supports no link between the two. Yet just last year, Trump took to Twitter, again, to urge people to spread out vaccines. Why? Autism, of course. Indeed, he’s so sure about a non-evidence-based approach to vaccination—“spreading them out”—that he’s promised to make it part of his presidential agenda. Why? To quote The Donald himself: AUTISM."\* > **[Presidential Candidate Donald Trump On Autism, Vaccines, And Mental Health](https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2015/08/05/presidential-candidate-donald-trump-on-autism-vaccines-and-mental-health/)** > > Donald Trump thinks vaccines cause autism, and he wants to make that part of his presidential agenda. Rand Paul has to be really pissed off at Trump for siphoning off the antivax vote. How likely is it that other Republicans will challenge him on this issue? Taking a solid pro-science stand doesn’t come naturally to many GOPers. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/468 "2015-08-07T03:08:18Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Looks like Bubba still has his feel for the game. 😉 _SNORT!_ Bubba will still have game ten years after he dies. He’s the greatest Politician, as in player of the game Politics, I’ve seen since LBJ. And I’d still vote for him, even though I know I’m getting played. You gotta respect skills like that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/469 "2015-08-08T11:15:08Z")
He’s the gift that just keeps giving… [The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/08/donald-trump-black-balled-by-conservatives-over-menstruation-comment) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/470 "2015-08-08T11:42:41Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > He’s the gift that just keeps giving… > > [The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/08/donald-trump-black-balled-by-conservatives-over-menstruation-comment) I can’t begin to express how useless the drop-a-link style of posting is in performing communication. From the [Washington Post](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-disinvited-to-speak-at-redstate-event-megyn-kelly-invited/ar-BBlvnvQ): Trump makes yet another (I don’t even know how to characterize this one) remark: > [@](#): > > Trump’s CNN interview Friday evening instantly drew controversy and criticism after he said Kelly, one of the moderators of Thursday’s Republican presidential debate in Cleveland, “had blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” Gets a bad reaction: > [@](#): > > Conservative commentator Erick Erickson on Friday night disinvited GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump from speaking at an activist conference he is hosting here this weekend, citing disparaging remarks Trump made hours earlier on CNN about Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly. And blames, of course, anyone but himself: > [@](#): > > Blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader. I cannot for one second begin to understand why anyone would want this person or the people he hires to be running this country. Have our standards of decency dropped so low that we view his actions, his statements as acceptable? This is just purely ridiculous. There’s no excuse for what he’s saying, and there’s no excuse for people excusing it. This isn’t a reality show on TV; this is us making a decision on who is going to be President. There’s a difference, or at least there used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/471 "2015-08-08T16:31:23Z")
The full Trump campaign statement was gold: > [@](#): > > ``` > Mr. Trump made Megyn Kelly look really bad — she was a mess with her anger and totally caught off guard. Mr. Trump said “blood was coming out of her eyes and whatever” meaning nose, but wanted to move on to more important topics. Only a deviant would think anything else. This related to the debate, which because of Mr. Trump had 24 million viewers — the biggest in cable news history. According to TIME, Newsmax, Drudge Report, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Hill and many others, Mr. Trump won the debate. > > By the way, the guy (Erick Erickson) who made the decision about RedState called Supreme Court Justice David Souter a “goat [expletive] child molester” and First Lady Michelle Obama a “Marxist Harpy.” He was forced to make a humbling apology. > > Also, not only is Erick a total loser, he has a history of supporting establishment losers in failed campaigns so it is an honor to be uninvited from his event. Mr. Trump is an outsider and does not fit his agenda. > > Many of the 900 people that wanted to hear Mr. Trump speak tonight have been calling and emailing—they are very angry at Erickson and the others that are trying to be so politically correct. To them Mr. Trump says, “We will catch you at another time soon.” > > ``` Whatever the odds were of an independent Trump run, they probably haven’t gone down the last couple days. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/472 "2015-08-08T20:11:30Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Whatever the odds were of an independent Trump run, they probably haven’t gone down the last couple days. Oh, please, please, please let it happen… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/473 "2015-08-08T20:17:59Z")
Donald Trump as an independent candidate for POTUS, David Gerrold finally publishing a new Chtorr novel… will hell freeze over too??? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/474 "2015-08-08T21:59:27Z")
[How _ **dare** _ he denigrate such a pretty, young blonde woman?](http://paulryangosling.tumblr.com/image/126203585771) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/475 "2015-08-08T22:20:22Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The full Trump campaign statement was gold: > Whatever the odds were of an independent Trump run, they probably haven’t gone down the last couple days. > [@Tangent](#): > > Oh, please, please, please let it happen… Nah, I want him to be the Republican candidate. He’ll do a lot more damage. Though I agree that if the choice is dropping out or 3rd party, 3rd party is better. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/476 "2015-08-11T09:24:36Z")
Also posted over in the SRIOTD thread: [The Donald has doubled down and gone full anti-vaxxer](https://mobile.twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/449525268529815552): > [@Donald Trump](#): > > Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases! Sigh… ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/477 "2015-08-11T09:50:24Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Also posted over in the SRIOTD thread: > > [The Donald has doubled down and gone full anti-vaxxer](https://mobile.twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/449525268529815552): > Sigh… Just to be clear, that was tweeted in March 2014. No telling what his current position is. But I fear it may help his popularity. Remember how Rick Perry got stomped on for supporting the anti-HPV vaccine last election cycle? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/478 "2015-08-11T15:08:24Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > He’s the gift that just keeps giving… > > [The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/08/donald-trump-black-balled-by-conservatives-over-menstruation-comment) > [@Frank](#): > > I can’t begin to express how useless the drop-a-link style of posting is in performing communication. Seriously. FFS, don’t just set your fellow Dopers up with clickbait; at least tell us what you’re talking about. The link is so we can see for ourselves or get more info, not so we can get any info at all because you don’t give us any. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/479 "2015-08-11T15:13:30Z")
Donald Trump: ‘I keep whining and whining until I win’ > **[Donald Trump: 'I keep whining and whining until I win' | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/politics/donald-trump-refutes-third-party-run-report/index.html)** > > Donald Trump's plans to make America great again are going to include a lot of whining. Good point made in this link. He’s a whiner. Does Trump have the slightest chance to come out on top in an exchange with Putin? IMHO, he’ll just be another reason for the world to hate the US. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/480 "2015-08-11T16:43:04Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Seriously. FFS, don’t just set your fellow Dopers up with clickbait; at least tell us what you’re talking about. The link is so we can see for ourselves or get more info, not so we can get any info at all because you don’t give us any. I apologize. I thought in the context of the discussion, it was somewhat obvious he said something stupid, and if interested, click, and if not, don’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679.md?page=25)