# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/121 "2015-06-21T21:25:13Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > And yet too old to continue being a Mrs Trump. Who and what are you talking about? Ivanka Trump is his daughter. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/122 "2015-06-21T21:27:58Z")
This is starting to sound like _Chinatown_. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/123 "2015-06-21T21:33:06Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Good point. So long as he’s worth at least $2 billion, he could say “billions and billions,” just like the Mickey Dee signs, and actually be correct. In my book it takes $4 billion to have “billions and billions”. $2 billion is just “billion and billion”. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/124 "2015-06-21T21:40:45Z")
for a short time in 1992 Perot led in the polls. And then he went nuts. Still ended up with 19%. ---
**Author:** ![escaped](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@escaped](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/escaped)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/125 "2015-06-21T21:45:23Z")
he will not be taken seriously enough to get the nomination.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/126 "2015-06-21T22:19:17Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Total promo for his show. So transparent. You have now made your claim on four separate occasions. Enough. Drop it. [/Moderating] ---
**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:** [June 22, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/127 "2015-06-22T04:48:02Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > And yet too old to continue being a Mrs Trump. Shoe designer Ivanka Trump is the daughter of Donald Trump Sr and Ivana Trump. (Notice the “k” in Ivanka.) Ivana and Donald are divorced. Ivana is currently 66 years old. To the best of my knowledge, Ivanka has never married any member of the Trump family. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2015, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/128 "2015-06-22T05:07:19Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Well, the longer he stays “in,” the more damage he does to the Republican side of _anything_, so here’s hoping he’s “in” for quite a while. I don’t know. This could be part of a more sophisticated plan. You can’t win the Republican nomination without pandering to the Tea Party and Evangelical wing of the party. But you can’t win the general election by alienating the moderate voters. But like Mitt Romney, if you act like a “severe conservative” during the primaries and then try to remake yourself as a more moderate mainstream sort of guy during the general election, the moderates are going to view you as an opportunistic hypocrite. So, you put in the Donald to soak up the radical vote and take them out of play. The remaining candidates take more moderate stances in the debates. Before the convention, the Donald drops out, releases his delegates and throws his support to the most electable candidate. The eventual nominee then does not have to backpedal on any radical positions. The nominee still gets the Tea Party and Evangelical vote (it’s not like these people are going to vote for Hillary or Bernie) and does not have to backpedal on everything he said during the primary, so he has an actual shot with the moderate voters. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/129 "2015-06-22T14:10:09Z")
See post 35457 and after: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=573445&page=710](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=573445&page=710) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/130 "2015-06-22T14:36:33Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > I don’t know. This could be part of a more sophisticated plan. > > You can’t win the Republican nomination without pandering to the Tea Party and Evangelical wing of the party. But you can’t win the general election by alienating the moderate voters. > > But like Mitt Romney, if you act like a “severe conservative” during the primaries and then try to remake yourself as a more moderate mainstream sort of guy during the general election, the moderates are going to view you as an opportunistic hypocrite. > > So, you put in the Donald to soak up the radical vote and take them out of play. The remaining candidates take more moderate stances in the debates. Before the convention, the Donald drops out, releases his delegates and throws his support to the most electable candidate. The eventual nominee then does not have to backpedal on any radical positions. The nominee still gets the Tea Party and Evangelical vote (it’s not like these people are going to vote for Hillary or Bernie) and does not have to backpedal on everything he said during the primary, so he has an actual shot with the moderate voters. This theoretically could work, but a lot of the positions the regular candidates have taken are pretty extreme. So they couldn’t sound more moderate, they would have to agree with Trump but just have to say that they’d phrase things differently. I’m pretty sure that other Republicans want to build a border fence with Mexico, just Trump is the only one who insists he can get Mexico to pay for it. I think I posted already that [an RNC official wouldn’t disagree with Trump’s rambling anti-immigrant talk](http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/06/16/3670352/rnc-official-awkwardly-refuses-denounce-trumps-anti-immigrant-screed/). Trump has been the loudest about wanting to see Obama’s birth certificate, but [Huckabee and Jindal](http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/08/24/743791/birther-convention/)have also mentioned that they wanted to see it. So it’s possible with some verbal gymnastics that some of the Republican candidates could sound moderate and downright reasonable in comparison to Trump on some issues. But it’s also possible that Trump’s crazy talk could shine a light on how some of them support the same things, just without having crazy hair and referring to themselves in the third person. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/131 "2015-06-22T21:00:14Z")
Remember when Howard Stern ran for gov. of NY in 94? Another publicity stunt that did not last long. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/132 "2015-06-22T23:22:36Z")
[The Donald has formally filed the paperwork.](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/donald-trump-president-2016-official-119295.html) ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/133 "2015-06-22T23:45:08Z")
Will all the Ayn Randians of the Internet transfer their magisterial imprimatur from the Pauls, Scott Walker, Paul Ryan and other wannabes to the Real Deal ? Mr. Trump is the authentic Randian Hero. Will the grim-faced libertarian tendency in the Party follow suit ? Will he denounce his opponents as looters ? Will he set his image on the Trump White House ? All glitter and gold with gigantic posters and carvings of himself… Mount Rushmore beckons… Palin — Trump 2016 ! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/134 "2015-06-23T02:20:40Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Will all the Ayn Randians of the Internet transfer their magisterial imprimatur from the Pauls, Scott Walker, Paul Ryan and other wannabes to the Real Deal ? Mr. Trump is the authentic Randian Hero. I guessing the objectivists and libertarians will stick with Paul. I’m not sure who Trump’s base is. Plutocrats? Reality show fans? Beauty pageant contestants? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/135 "2015-06-23T03:56:25Z")
Hairdressers, casino gamblers and escalator-repair technicians. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/136 "2015-06-23T15:19:14Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > I don’t know. This could be part of a more sophisticated plan. I agree. So, just for a second, lets put blinders on & pretend Trump isn’t as stupid as he looks. Running is free press and a platform for his ideas and it is free publicity for his show. Still its an obvious hoax… but for what purpose? He has to know that his campaign will be closely scrutized by people in media… so what does he do? Kudos to Rachel Maddow for picking it up and reporting on it first (that I know of): [Trump Hiring Actors to Fill Out his Campaign Announcement](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/team-trump-no-we-didnt-hire-actors-the-launch) This was quickly seen and reported… but instead of laughing, lets postulate why (again, lets assume no one throws that much money away just to look like an ass coast-to-coast). If you put out there that casting companies can and will, for a price, fill out a candidate’s audiences and crowds with actors to Look like supporters, possibly even to make a crowd look more diverse and multi cultural… then its out there that in 2016, it is acceptable for a Presidential Candidate to actively and currently do this. Some people are accusing Bernie Sanders of doing this too (unsubstantiated internet rumor, no cite available) but that makes it seem like all the candidates of all parties are doing this. Once that’s out there, belief can no longer be suspended. All crowds are suddenly suspect and possibly bought/fake and the average TV viewer of legal voting age can’t trust their own eyes. So, why would someone want to do that… actively try to make it look like campaign crowds are all easily rigged and that viewers can’t trust their eyes? Who wins if the Base of any candidate as seen at public appearances and even live on TV can now be called into question? Doesn’t that totally discredit the appearance of ANY large multicultural crowd of support for ANY presidential candidate… and if it discredits the base of any candidate, doesn’t it discredit the base of every candidate running? Just for the sake of argument, lets assume that it does. So, beyond large crowds of support (which can’t be believed) how can candidates get what they want to say out to the average voter? Enter the slick political media production company, stage right. In media production, the best product Always costs the most money, whether the ad is positive or negative. This would mean that in this election _ **shocker** _ the most money takes all, popular support be damned. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I wonder if Jon Stewart is regretting, even slightly, his decision to retire. But I suspect that Trump may withdraw before Stewart retires (the last show is August 6). My best guess is that Trump isn’t going to be out there past August because he won’t Have to be. Mission Accomplished. Good Job, Donny. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/137 "2015-06-24T00:58:04Z")
OMFG, Trump trails only Jeb! in a New Hampshire GOP poll: [http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/23/politics/donald-trump-second-place-new-hampshire-poll/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/23/politics/donald-trump-second-place-new-hampshire-poll/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/138 "2015-06-24T03:58:07Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > OMFG, Trump trails only Jeb! in a New Hampshire GOP poll: [http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/23/politics/donald-trump-second-place-new-hampshire-poll/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/23/politics/donald-trump-second-place-new-hampshire-poll/index.html) Yes, I think many here will be shocked to see how will Trump does. Not only with Reps, but with Independents. A LOT of people are really tired of the same old bullshit. A lot on the left, too, but for them Trumps more conservative politics make him not an option. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/139 "2015-06-24T11:53:18Z")
Be engaging if his announcement started off as an advertisement/playfulness and then slowly his support — beyond his seeking — grows to the point he becomes _un homme sérieux_, moved by the plaints of his supporters/The People to the understanding he must do this thing, and save us all ! In that case, never would it be more true as he set out upon his destiny, that he could humbly assure The People, ‘_This is not my doing, but yours; this is not my triumph, but yours_.’ Palin — Trump 2016 ! ---
**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:** [June 24, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679/140 "2015-06-24T14:06:34Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Yes, I think many here will be shocked to see how will Trump does. Not only with Reps, but with Independents. A LOT of people are really tired of the same old bullshit. A lot on the left, too, but for them Trumps more conservative politics make him not an option. It’s not Trump’s conservative politics, it’s his conspiracy theorizing, his racist statements, his comically enormous ego, and his overall nuttiness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-announces-presidential-run/722679.md?page=8)