# 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:** 188
**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 5, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3743 "2016-08-05T23:05:00Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > The Repubs had their big smackdown/intervention Weds or Thursday, so he will be quiet for a few days. But they can’t keep him away from the cameras and his cell phone forever. Heh. You know, he was pretty popular for a while there; was leading Hillary Clinton in the polls, even. All he maybe had to do was _not_ be a loudmouth dick when Khan got under his skin – and, sure, not ask over and over about nuking stuff. And so on. It’s entirely possible that _he_ could’ve been the one not interrupting his opponent while she’s making a mistake: just let her flub questions about whether she was careless with emails and whether she lied about it; don’t look into the camera and exhort Russia to help things along, and don’t say they’ll be rewarded mightily. Just – _don’t_. Just keep calm and carry on, is the thing. Do the opposite? Trump it up? You lose. You want to win? Man, you have to be presidential. You have to be – _low energy._ ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3744 "2016-08-05T23:05:25Z")
If Hillary is so nefarious as Trumps followers say she is, why hasn’t SHE hacked the Donalds tax returns and exposed them to the lyin’media ? Oh right…because his tax returns show the Donald to be an upstanding mega billionaire business genius donating mega miliions to charity. Right. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3745 "2016-08-05T23:30:53Z")
I try to look at Trump-positive “news”-outlets sometimes, to see how his fans and himself spin it. In [this YouTube clip at a rally, Trump tries to downplay the crying baby-incident](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA9WMRZPwWI). He sounds reasonable… except you don’t do that if youre the least bit media-savvy. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3746 "2016-08-05T23:32:26Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Diagramming the sentence would be sheer joy, for those into such things. Here’s a [sentence](http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/07/31/donald_trump_this_run_on_sentence_from_a_speech_in_sun_city_south_carolina.html) to diagram. > [@](#): > > Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart—you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it’s true!—but when you’re a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it’s four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us. ---
**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 5, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3747 "2016-08-05T23:43:18Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Here’s a [sentence](http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/07/31/donald_trump_this_run_on_sentence_from_a_speech_in_sun_city_south_carolina.html) to diagram. _flees screaming_ ---
**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 5, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3748 "2016-08-05T23:47:34Z")
The important thing is, he had an onion on his belt, which was the style at the time. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3749 "2016-08-05T23:55:17Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Here’s a [sentence](http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/07/31/donald_trump_this_run_on_sentence_from_a_speech_in_sun_city_south_carolina.html) to diagram. > > > [@](#): > > > > Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart—you know, > > … … [It took some effort but I did find the diagram](http://blog.pullingers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/doodle-day-spaghetti-meatba.jpg). Seems to suit the sentence _and_ its speaker. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3750 "2016-08-06T00:06:19Z")
I don’t think it’s particularly useful to mock how difficult it is to diagram a transcribed section of a spoken text. Spoken and written language have completely different structures. On the other hand, this is a great analysis of just how spiteful and awful Trump’s handling of a crying baby was: [Amadi Lovelace](https://www.facebook.com/amadi.lovelace/posts/332549177133146?pnref=story) > [@](#): > > In talking about Trump and the baby, people seem to be focusing on the idea of “who yells at a baby?” And it is kind of in line with our questions about his temperament to frame this as Trump yelling at a baby. > > But he didn’t yell at a baby. He yelled at a woman who had a baby. > > And more importantly, he didn’t just yell at her, he gaslighted her, telling her at first that it was OK that her baby was fussing, and then acting like she was nuts for taking him at his word and should have somehow divined magically that he actually wanted her to leave. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3751 "2016-08-06T01:37:38Z")
I was getting impatient, waiting for Trump to say something stupid. Well, watching his Green Bay rally paid off. He revisited the baby thing, saying “I was very polite to that baby!”… then he started reading his talking points off papers, and I despaired of any new inanity. But then, he ran out of paper, started ranting about Obama and the NRA and threw in this line: “I call on Hillary’s Secret Service guards to immediately give up their weapons, and see if she can talk her way out of someone with a gun.” ---
**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:** [August 6, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3752 "2016-08-06T01:47:27Z")
I wonder if the Secret Service has ever had to investigate a presidential candidate for threatening someone under their protection. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3753 "2016-08-06T02:43:19Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Once you have set up a recurring contribution on the Trump campaign website, there is no capability to stop the contributions.](http://uproxx.com/news/trump-campaign-cant-cancel-recurring-donations/) I smell lawsuit! > [@elucidator](#): > > I am enjoying as well, droll chuckles interspersed with chihuahua barks of sheer terror. Mitch? Is that you? > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I saw a new poll which said that Trump was getting 1% of the black support. The poll said “plus or minus 10 per cent”. Does that mean that negative nine percent of black people might be supporting him? Anybody attending a Trump rally could tell you that black folk can’t count nohow anyway. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > The important thing is, he had an onion on his belt, which was the style at the time. And we _liked_ it! > [@Smapti](#): > > I wonder if the Secret Service has ever had to investigate a presidential candidate for threatening someone under their protection. As the Trumptanic has proven again and again in this campaign, there’s a first time for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3754 "2016-08-06T04:29:41Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But then, he ran out of paper, started ranting about Obama and the NRA and threw in this line: > > “I call on Hillary’s Secret Service guards to immediately give up their weapons, and see if she can talk her way out of someone with a gun.” Best of all, this seems to be an old talking point of his (see [this tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/683655884547973121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)) but did he really mess it up to make it sound like a threat? :smack: ---
**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:** [August 6, 2016, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3755 "2016-08-06T06:35:56Z")
Uhoh. [Melania may have been married before](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/290608-immigration-lawyer-raises-questions-about-melania-trumps). Was she ever divorced? ---
**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:** [August 6, 2016, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3756 "2016-08-06T07:02:01Z")
But if Melania and Donald weren’t married… then I’ll never have been born! Or something along those lines. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3757 "2016-08-06T07:18:59Z")
She’s available? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3758 "2016-08-06T08:00:45Z")
And if you thought the bar couldn’t possibly get any lower: [Trump Calls Clinton ‘Close to Unhinged,’ Assures He’s Pro-Baby](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-calls-clinton-close-unhinged-assures-he-s-pro-baby-n624036) Only in America, folkies… ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3759 "2016-08-06T08:27:15Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > I’m collecting new names for Donald Trump. So far my favorites are: > > \*wiggy slice > \*cinnamon Hitler > \*tangerine Caligula > \*toupéed fucktrumpet > \*weapons-grade plum I’m trying to keep Donny Two-Times alive. But only hardcore \*Goodfellas \*fans get it. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3760 "2016-08-06T08:33:42Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > And if you thought the bar couldn’t possibly get any lower: > > [Trump Calls Clinton ‘Close to Unhinged,’ Assures He’s Pro-Baby](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-calls-clinton-close-unhinged-assures-he-s-pro-baby-n624036) > > Only in America, folkies… It’s such a shame that the mainstream media is being exposed after they went to all that effort to fake that video of him, when they could have just asked him to describe what actually happened 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3761 "2016-08-06T08:55:40Z")
I just read on Reddit a comment by a Sanders campaign worker that shows what happens when [volunteers don’t realize that enthusiasm isn’t enough, and that a lot of hard thankless work needs to be done to get a candidate elected.](https://np.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/4w8otw/i_feel_betrayed_bernie_supporters_stories_of_dnc/d64z5mx?context=3) I bring this up here because subsequent comments wonder whether a similar thing is happening with the Trump campaign. Obviously, we don’t have a lot of direct insight, but seeing as how Trump supporters have a reputation for having a lot of enthusiasm and nothing else, I have to wonder myself. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/3762 "2016-08-06T12:02:21Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The Sentient Cheeto. Sentient? 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=187) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=189)