# 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:** 167
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3323 "2016-08-01T21:50:46Z")
> [@Ambrosio\_Spinola](#): > > Trump has also begun attacking [fire marshals enforcing occupancy restrictions at his venues](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/08/01/trump_has_now_accused_two_fire_marshals_of_being_conspiring_against_him.html). I know Republicans are often against regulations, but really? Trump’s overall message does have a “burning down the house” vibe. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3324 "2016-08-01T21:53:57Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Putin, schmutin, there are enough All-American homegrown freaks who’d be more than willing to tell the Patridiot groups to grab their guns and go make a stand already – heck, some already have. > > But more like Red state and local officials simply disregarding federal law and court decisions, and stepping aside to do jacksquat to protect from Patridiot interference and violence the federal officials doing their duty and the citizens trying to exercise their rights under the Supreme Law of the Land. Yes, and that’s exactly the fire that Putin could be trying to ignite. Roger Stone was a partner in "Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly and we know about [Paul Manafort’s Russian connections](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799418). ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3325 "2016-08-01T22:06:02Z")
> [@Ambrosio\_Spinola](#): > > Trump has also begun attacking [fire marshals enforcing occupancy restrictions at his venues](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/08/01/trump_has_now_accused_two_fire_marshals_of_being_conspiring_against_him.html). I know Republicans are often against regulations, but really? The best part is that they had just gotten his sorry ass out of a [stuck elevator](http://www.kktv.com/content/news/Donald-Trump-rescued-from-hotel-elevator-before-UCCS-rally-388750802.html). ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3326 "2016-08-01T22:32:59Z")
One thing I wonder: given their opposition now, what will the Republican establishment, and the party in general, DO if Trump wins? Become more like him? Because if so, that would certainly heighten the partisan divide to levels that are pretty rare, and I wonder how that would shake out. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3327 "2016-08-01T22:46:20Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > Taken a look at 538 recently? > > Clinton v Trump: > > Polls+ forecast: 66.8 v 33.2 > Polls only forecast: 60.3 v 39.7 > Nowcast: 78.3 v 21.7 Look again. Each number has only gotten higher for Clinton in the last hour or so. 🙂 The most striking of which is the 82.2% Nowcast. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3328 "2016-08-01T23:26:41Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Look again. Each number has only gotten higher for Clinton in the last hour or so. 🙂 The most striking of which is the 82.2% Nowcast. Wow, Trump is having a seriously bad week. Those numbers are rather staggering. 😃 ---
**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:** [August 1, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3329 "2016-08-01T23:44:22Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > At a campaign stop today, > > > [@](#): > > > > Trump: > > > > “I’m afraid the election’s gonna be rigged, I have to be honest,” > > This follows Roger Stone, a Trump campaign adviser stating Friday that: > > > [@](#): > > > > suggested voter fraud is “widespread” and said if Hillary Clinton wins a state like Florida after polls show Trump in the lead, the election would be “illegitimate.” > > > > “If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government,” Stone said. He also promised a “bloodbath” if the Democrats attempt to “steal” the election. You know, when people describe Trump as a “Nazi” or a “fascist”, I usually think that they’re being hyperbolic. Sure, he’s relying heavily on fear-mongering and racial scapegoating, but it’s not like he’s trying to undermine the democratic system with the threat of violence against his opponents. Well, OK, he did express approval for violence against protestors at his rallies, and offered to pay the perpetrators’ legal fees. _But it’s not like the Trump campaign is actually threatening violence if people don’t vote for him._ > [@](#): > > **if Hillary Clinton wins a state like Florida after polls show Trump in the lead, the election would be “illegitimate.”** > [@](#): > > **this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government** > [@](#): > > **promised a “bloodbath” if the Democrats attempt to “steal” the election.** Holy shit :eek: ---
**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 2, 2016, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3330 "2016-08-02T00:01:09Z")
[Corey Lewandowski, given the opportunity on national television to de-escalate the situation and present a level of humanity and compassion regarding the Khan family, doubled down on asshole this morning, with the “They started it!” defense.](https://www.facebook.com/CBS46/videos/vb.75540426251/10154387700566252/?type=2&theater) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3331 "2016-08-02T00:02:53Z")
Never heard of Nowcast till today. Quick briefing from the community I trust? More or less. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3332 "2016-08-02T00:12:48Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > Holy shit :eek: And that’s just if Hillary straight-up wins. Now imagine Hillary getting elected the way Dubya did. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3333 "2016-08-02T00:14:45Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Huh. I always try to avoid the Post, but yep, there they are: [Exclusive | Melania Trump’s girl-on-girl photos from racy shoot revealed](http://nypost.com/2016/08/01/melania-trumps-girl-on-girl-photos-from-racy-shoot-revealed/) > > … Holy Shit! :eek: That was _way_ more explicit than I expected. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3334 "2016-08-02T00:16:35Z")
When did aureole start looking like strips of masking tape? ---
**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:** [August 2, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3335 "2016-08-02T00:17:04Z")
I think the faithless voter will give Hillary a much larger margin that most predict. By faithless voter, I mean the voters who profess to support Trump, but in the privacy of the voting booth, they vote for Hillary, or a third party, or a write in. I don’t think it will even be close. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3336 "2016-08-02T00:37:26Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Roger Stone retweets the Shoebats: Kizir Khan is a Muslim Brotherhood plant who wants to destroy the country, and his son was an Islamist terrorist.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trump-ally-roger-stone-pushes-claim-humayun-khan-was-terrorist-father-muslim-brotherhood-spy) I really shouldn’t have looked at the comments. I mean, there was a solid majority mocking him, but just the few I saw who believed it wholeheartedly made me angry and depressed. I’m glad, though, that their racism is out there for the world to see. I hope this election exposes even more, so the public can finally see the truth of what BLM and minorities and women have been telling them for years: prejudice is an ongoing struggle. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3337 "2016-08-02T00:44:56Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Can a president pardon himself, and anyone who physically defends him? Yes, though if ever got bad enough arrest warrants were issued against a sitting President Congress would likely already be in the process if impeaching & removing him from office. A more plausible (or rather less implausible) scenario that SCOTUS issuing an arrest warrant would be the Vice-President & Cabinet invoking the 25th Amendment against the President’s will and the President refusing to accept it. Also a President using his power to pardon to shield himself from criminal prosecution after leaving (or being removed) from office the backlash would be so severe we could see a constitutional amendment giving Congress the power to override executive clemency (say by 2/3rds majority in each House). ---
**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:** [August 2, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3338 "2016-08-02T00:58:15Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Huh. I always try to avoid the Post, but yep, there they are: [Exclusive | Melania Trump’s girl-on-girl photos from racy shoot revealed](http://nypost.com/2016/08/01/melania-trumps-girl-on-girl-photos-from-racy-shoot-revealed/) > > Melania and another woman in a sexy photo shoot. That’s certainly interesting. I personally don’t care that she modeled nude like this. But I wonder what the social conservatives think of it. They’re not always the most receptive to same-sex fun times. At least the dude half of that population is all for it if its two hot girls and they can watch, as long as nobody can prove they watched. > [@](#): > > ETA: and that photographer looks like the villain in an 80s fantasy flick. Yes he does. Or of an Anime. Oh dear. > [@elucidator](#): > > When did aureole start looking like strips of masking tape? Hey, it’s America, if it were one of the rags from across the pond you’d get the whole thing crystal clear in the inside pages. And the guys at Graphics were bored with the censor strips, they wanted to try out the pixellator tool. People all over Europe are surely trying to find out if they have in some attic a January 1996 issue of _Max_. Watching eBay… ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3339 "2016-08-02T01:05:35Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Never heard of Nowcast till today. Quick briefing from the community I trust? More or less. You’ll have to settle for me. Nowcast is as opposed to a forecast, i.e. it’s a snapshot of what the data indicate would happen if the election happened right now today. The more sophisticated polling models try to smooth out short term influences like post-convention bounces or – hypothetically – an especially deranged diatribe by a racist warmongering lunatic that might be affecting people’s perception more right now than it might in November. Susceptible to criticism on the grounds that, after all, the election is not happening right now. But more exciting because it reacts much more aggressively to what’s in the news, well, now, so it can plausibly show an 80% chance of a Hillary win where the longer term models show something more balanced. In unrelated news, jesus fucking christ Donald Trump, the actual guy Donald Trump, is on an electoral map and I’m looking at it and it’s real and some states, any states at all, are going to actually flip in his direction. That’s the real story here. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3340 "2016-08-02T01:12:03Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > . But I wonder what the social conservatives think of it. They’re not always the most receptive to same-sex fun times. When conservative figures get caught up in something like this, the line (among the religious right) is that it happened in the past and said figure has grown and changed as a person, and that Christian values are all about forgiveness. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3341 "2016-08-02T01:14:49Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > \ > In unrelated news, jesus fucking christ Donald Trump, the actual guy Donald Trump, is on an electoral map and I’m looking at it and it’s real and some states, any states at all, are going to actually flip in his direction. That’s the real story here. I know, scary isn’t it. But, on the positive side, I live in Georgia, and I think this is the first time that Georgia has been PINK, not RED. Merely “leaning Republican” instead of “solidly Republican” is progress. Still, Atlanta is a blue dot, and most of the rest of the sate is solid red. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3342 "2016-08-02T01:20:41Z")
Sure. Could be worse. Some part of me remembers what Donald Trump represented in, say, 2006, though. And the fact that we’re even here having this conversation at all – much less what the conversation actually is – is just… holy shit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=166) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=168)