# Donald Trump's 2016 General Election Campaign **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 4, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901 "2016-05-04T02:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 104
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2061 "2016-06-30T06:29:27Z")
We live in the Clinton age. CAn you prove anything? No? Then there’s nothing there. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2062 "2016-06-30T07:20:22Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > We live in the Clinton age. CAn you prove anything? No? Then there’s nothing there. Yes, we live in an era where evidence matters and trying to blow smoke to create a controversy out of nothing gets you laughed at. How unimaginably fucking terrible. It must be hard knowing that the fact the latest Benghazi investigation didn’t turn up any evidence of Clinton doing anything wrong will mean Clinton doesn’t go to prison for her role in Benghazi, but one must make allowances for the fact most people aren’t as politically correct as you and the GOP. They allow stupid things like facts to influence their decisions. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2063 "2016-06-30T08:01:56Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Yes, we live in an era where evidence matters and trying to blow smoke to create a controversy out of nothing gets you laughed at. How unimaginably fucking terrible. It’s gone a bit beyond that, as you demonstrate below: > [@](#): > > It must be hard knowing that the fact the latest Benghazi investigation didn’t turn up any evidence of Clinton doing anything wrong will mean Clinton doesn’t go to prison for her role in Benghazi, but one must make allowances for the fact most people aren’t as politically correct as you and the GOP. They allow stupid things like facts to influence their decisions. Clinton defenders keep on talking in terms of prison and indictments as if any wrongdoing short of that isn’t worth mentioning. Well, if Trump hasn’t been indicted and convicted, and if the NRA hasn’t been proven to have filmed in a cemetary illegaly, then there’s no controversy here. THey said they filmed outside, so that’s that. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2016, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2064 "2016-06-30T09:15:32Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Clinton defenders keep on talking in terms of prison and indictments as if any wrongdoing short of that isn’t worth mentioning. …because Clinton _detractors_ keep on talking in terms of prison and indictments. Context is your friend. Also, I’m amused that you’re ascribing thought processes such as this… > [@](#): > > Well, if Trump hasn’t been indicted and convicted, and if the NRA hasn’t been proven to have filmed in a cemetary illegaly, then there’s no controversy here. THey said they filmed outside, so that’s that. …to _Clinton_, as if this isn’t pretty much the SOP for the right-wing media. It wasn’t the Clintons that drove us into a “post-truth” society; it was a concerted effort by neoconservatives that pushed that particular agenda (as openly admitted by Dick Cheney). And now you’ve got the post-truth candidate in Trump, a man who can contradict himself three times in the same sentence without losing a follower. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2065 "2016-06-30T09:31:59Z")
Trump’s a bad candidate based on what he says, that’s fair game. But if we can’t take stories insinuating wrongdoing on Clinton’s part seriously, then we can’t take such stories seriously for anyone. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2016, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2066 "2016-06-30T10:05:27Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Trump’s a bad candidate based on what he says, that’s fair game. But if we can’t take stories insinuating wrongdoing on Clinton’s part seriously, then we can’t take such stories seriously for anyone. Right. There are so many insinuations against Clinton because she’s corrupt, and we know she’s corrupt because there are so many insinuations against her. Logic! You’re not even trying anymore, man. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2067 "2016-06-30T10:33:40Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The way this is shaping up, Trump is likely to self-destruct at the convention. His child-mind is either going to throw a tantrum because of the anti-Trump protests, or his enormous ego will be inflated to astronomical proportions by the ceremonies which he will perceive to be personal adulation. He’s bound to say even more spectacularly stupid shit than usual, and to a much broader audience than his normal circle of sycophants. The whole process might even be helped along by the degenerate morons he’s bringing with him. > > I notice that Bill Maher’s normal Friday night show on HBO has been extended to Wednesday and Thursday nights during convention week for a three-night comedic marathon! He’s doing the same for the Dem convention, but it’s clear that the Trumpfest train wreck is what he’s really looking forward to. The convention is setting up to be a disaster for the Trump campaign. Either he says outrageous shit that causes Republicans to distance themselves further, or he underwhelms people with small a lack of party unity and presence and boring speeches. Trump actually missed an opportunity to unite the party behind a pro-life message after the recent SCOTUS ruling. Worse, his silence on the case is now causing some religious conservatives to question his authenticity on the issue. If there was a hanging curve ball he could have hit out of the park, that was probably it. He won’t get too many more of those. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2069 "2016-06-30T11:04:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > But if we can’t take stories insinuating wrongdoing on Clinton’s part seriously, then we can’t take such stories seriously for anyone. With Trump, there is no need to insinuate. He’ll tell you himself. Proudly and loudly. Are you now calling insinuation a bad practice? And that you’re going to cease engaging in it? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2070 "2016-06-30T11:20:42Z")
Is Trump leading in any state that’s been polled recently? Where \*are \*his safe havens anymore? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2071 "2016-06-30T11:21:19Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Right. There are so many insinuations against Clinton because she’s corrupt, and we know she’s corrupt because there are so many insinuations against her. Logic! > > You’re not even trying anymore, man. No, we know she’s got ethics problems because many of her ethics issues are well substantiated. Simply declaring them to be nothing doesn’t make them nothing. But whatever level of evidence you require, be consistent. All candidates should receive the same benefit of the doubt. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2072 "2016-06-30T12:53:44Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > No, we know she’s got ethics problems because many of her ethics issues are well substantiated. Except that’s not what you said. You said: > [@](#): > > But if we can’t take stories insinuating wrongdoing on Clinton’s part seriously, then we can’t take such stories seriously for anyone. Nothing there about “well-substantiated”. > [@](#): > > Simply declaring them to be nothing doesn’t make them nothing. Nor does simply declaring them to be something make them something, as your various assertions about Obama have demonstrated over the years. We’ve had decades of utterly UNsubstantiated smears about Hillary Clinton. There are almost certainly legitimate issues to be found (as there are with Obama) but when the “WOLF!” alarm is going off at full blast 24/7 for years on end I think we can be excused for demanding a higher level of evidence that an actual wolf has turned up. > [@](#): > > But whatever level of evidence you require, be consistent. All candidates should receive the same benefit of the doubt. Sound advice. Perhaps you might consider it at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2073 "2016-06-30T13:28:57Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > No, we know she’s got ethics problems because many of her ethics issues are well substantiated. All that means is that Republicans have speculated about supposed transgressions. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2074 "2016-06-30T13:42:11Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Simply declaring them to be nothing doesn’t make them nothing. But it’s not us who are declaring the allegations to be nothing, it’s all these Benghazi panels that keep closing down with nothing that are declaring the allegations to be nothing. If these things ever came back with a damned indictment, sanction, harshly-written words, or anything other than “well, yes, we should have done a better job”, then we’d be having a different discussion and HRC would not be the nominee and current front-runner for the Presidency. But they keep finding nothing. Like Whitewater, like Travelgate and Filegate and Pardongate and BimboEruptionGate and on and on, so much time and effort has been spent to find what, Adaher? Nothing. Oh, I’m sorry. Yes, y’all did find that Bill Clinton did not want to tell Ken Starr that he was cheating on his wife. Good going. ---
**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 30, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2075 "2016-06-30T13:44:32Z")
Kasich preens while Trump fumes: [http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/29/politics/john-kasich-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/29/politics/john-kasich-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2076 "2016-06-30T13:57:39Z")
[Romney’s family is just _begging_ for Mittens to jump in the race.](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/mitt-romney-campaign-224967) Which is surprising as, back in 2012, Mitt’s wife struck me as the most reluctant First Lady candidate in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2077 "2016-06-30T13:58:34Z")
I can’t begrudge Kasich a little of the ole neener-neener. But the take away from that article is that Kasich has a spokesman named “Shrimpf”. That’s even worse than “Drumpf”. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2078 "2016-06-30T14:00:44Z")
> [@Politico](#): > > [“The good news is, the level of enthusiasm for Mr. Trump in this county is the strongest I’ve ever seen for anyone,” said Michael Korns, Republican chairman of Westmoreland County, the second biggest in western Pennsylvania and the site of a Trump speech on Tuesday. “The bad news is, the resources at our disposal are by far the worst I’ve ever seen in any campaign, at least in any presidential campaign.”](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-pennsylvania-224966#ixzz4D4TCowmA) Even $8 million (1.4 cash on hand, 6.6 fundraised) only goes so far. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2079 "2016-06-30T15:35:46Z")
The New York Times has the scoop on the _other_ [business training scam](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/us/politics/donald-trump-institute-plagiarism.html) Trump was running last decade; > [@](#): > > As with Trump University, the Trump Institute promised falsely that its teachers would be handpicked by Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump did little, interviews show, besides appear in an infomercial — one that promised customers access to his vast accumulated knowledge. “I put all of my concepts that have worked so well for me, new and old, into our seminar,” he said in the 2005 video, adding, “I’m teaching what I’ve learned.” > > Reality fell far short. In fact, the institute was run by a couple who had run afoul of regulators in dozens of states and had been dogged by accusations of deceptive business practices and fraud for decades. Similar complaints soon emerged about the Trump Institute. > > Yet there was an even more fundamental deceit to the business, unreported until now: Extensive portions of the materials that students received after paying their seminar fees, supposedly containing Mr. Trump’s special wisdom, had been plagiarized from an obscure real estate manual published a decade earlier. Every passing day just shows more and more that Trump isn’t a billionaire financial genius, he’s a sleazy con artist. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2080 "2016-06-30T15:43:17Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Is Trump leading in any state that’s been polled recently? Where \*are \*his safe havens anymore? I suspect he’d be ahead in deep red states, if they bothered to poll them. A [new poll](https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia%27s_battleground_poll,_2016) has him behind (often far behind) in all the battleground states, however. > [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > [http://blog.dilbert.com/post/146605145036/persuasion-update-clinton-vs-trump](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/146605145036/persuasion-update-clinton-vs-trump) > > Heh. > > Scott Adams is now trying to walk back his prediction of Trump victory. Basically, Adams is claiming that Trump is losing due to media bias and unfair accusations of racism and irrational behavior against him. Well, Scott, when someone asks me for a job, and he tells me three different contradictory stories about what his plans are, I’m gonna think he’s either evil or crazy or both. > > Yeah, I’ve been had. I thought Adams was prescient, but now it seems like he’s just another wingnut indulging in magical thinking. I already thought he was a right wing jackhole, but now he’s revealed himself to be incredibly weaselly as well. How much you want to bet that whatever happens in November, he’ll selectively cite one of these blog posts to “prove” he was right all along? Easy to make accurate predictions if you predict it both ways! ETA: > [@Smapti](#): > > Every passing day just shows more and more that Trump isn’t a billionaire financial genius, he’s a sleazy con artist. I was wondering after seeing that commercial for “Trump: the Game” if anyone ever checked on whether the proceeds really went to charity. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2081 "2016-06-30T15:51:35Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I was wondering after seeing that commercial for “Trump: the Game” if anyone ever checked on whether the proceeds really went to charity. [WaPo says probably not.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-promised-millions-to-charity-we-found-less-than-10000-over-7-years/2016/06/28/cbab5d1a-37dd-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html) > [@](#): > > “Are you asking me whether or not I took the check . . . and endorsed it over to a charity?” Trump said on the witness stand in a 1991 New York state court case, brought by a man who accused him of stealing the idea for Trump: The Game. “Who would ever do that?” > > Trump said he did eventually pass money to his foundation, which gave it away to charities. He said he had given away even more than he had earned. > > But when Trump ran into financial troubles in the middle of 1990, records show that his giving to the foundation slowed — then stopped. In 1991, he gave no money to the foundation. If book and game royalties came in that year, Trump apparently found another use for them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=103) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=105)