# 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:** 28
**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:** [May 20, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/541 "2016-05-20T04:44:51Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Could you please explain why you felt the need to link to a Salon article that merely describes the study you just fucking linked to four words earlier? Goddamn. I just skim these threads without clicking most of the links. Thank you, **CarnalK** , for the unreasoned bluster that led me to click these interesting links! I learn that Trump supporters have significantly less favorable feelings toward Muslims than do other Republicans. And less favorable feelings toward Hispanics. And significantly less favorable feelings toward gays, lesbians, and transgenders. How does that fit with the meme that Trumpists are motivated by national security? Do they want to bomb the Hispano-Islamic republic of Lesboqueeristan? ---
**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:** [May 20, 2016, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/542 "2016-05-20T05:41:04Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > But guns are off the table. For a very large number of low-information voters (i.e. Trump supporters)… I realize that liberals find it very hard to believe anyone could look at things differently than they do without some from of stupidity/lack of education/ignorance being the reason, but according to even [this hit job](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/trump-overwhelmingly-leads-rivals-in-support-from-less-educated-americans/) on Trump from PBS, 35% of Trump’s supporters have college degrees. The article also finds that Trump has actually led among Republican college graduates in some states. To wit: > [@](#): > > Across all the states with data available, Trump was supported by 35 percent of college graduates, sharply off his 47 percent of those with a high school education or less. Still, in many states Trump has led even among the college-educated. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/543 "2016-05-20T09:28:39Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I expect Trump to do some zany triangulations. He’ll be a huuuuuge peacemaker, but still want to carpet-bomb the Middle East, maybe drop a nuke on the Kaaba. He’ll be Putin’s best friend but ready to renounce U.S bonds held by Japan or China. His healthcare plan will be a splendid combination of 100% capitalism and 150% socialism. The wall against Mexico will have a huuuuuge wide-open door. > > But guns are off the table. For a very large number of low-information voters (i.e. Trump supporters), the three huuuugest issues in American politics are Guns, **Guns, and _GUNS_**! High-information Obama is responsible for loss of 300k+ (and counting) Syrian lives for siding with rebels against Assad. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/544 "2016-05-20T11:42:45Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > But guns are off the table. For a very large number of low-information voters (i.e. Trump supporters), the three huuuugest issues in American politics are Guns, **Guns, and _GUNS_**! True enough, but if The Second Half Of The Second Amendment is the most important thing in your life, you’ve never voted for a Democrat in your life anyway. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/545 "2016-05-20T12:00:50Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > True enough, but if The Second Half Of The Second Amendment is the most important thing in your life, you’ve never voted for a Democrat in your life anyway. Clinging to a deceptive left wing meme in the hope that it changes anything is sad. It’s almost as bad as the left ignoring most of the first amendment and all of the tenth. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/546 "2016-05-20T12:27:23Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > High-information Obama is responsible for loss of 300k+ (and counting) Syrian lives for siding with rebels against Assad. The bloody minded Baath and Assed clans are the responsibles for the Syrian deaths, in a long tradition of the Baath dictatorships, and the Syrian Baath. If not for their violence, the peaceful protests against the corrupt dictatorship of the Assed clan would not have turned into the civil war. It was the Asseds who turned to the bombs and the violence. The Americans have little - in fact nothing - to do with this and it is idiocy to blame them or an american president for the Syrian choices. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/547 "2016-05-20T13:08:40Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Clinging to a deceptive left wing meme in the hope that it changes anything is sad. It’s almost as bad as the left ignoring most of the first amendment and all of the tenth. Piffle. The Republicans nominated someone who intends to suppress freedom of religion. Which lefty advocates ignoring any part of the first amendment? Righties seem to think the tenth means that the federal government can’t do anything. They think wrong. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/548 "2016-05-20T13:10:48Z")
I don’t know any righties who think that the 10th keeps the federal government from doing anything, but I do know lefties, some of them judges, who think the 10th imposes no practical restrictions on the government. The 10th is a “truism”, with no practical application to actual law, according to some. As for freedom of religion, lefties no longer believe in freedom of religion. They believe in “freedom of worship”. Religious exemptions to laws are no longer supported. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/549 "2016-05-20T13:21:51Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t know any righties who think that the 10th keeps the federal government from doing anything, but I do know lefties, some of them judges, who think the 10th imposes no practical restrictions on the government. The 10th is a “truism”, with no practical application to actual law, according to some. > > As for freedom of religion, lefties no longer believe in freedom of religion. They believe in “freedom of worship”. Religious exemptions to laws are no longer supported. I don’t think that’s true. Nobody is saying that Quakers have to be conscripted into combat roles or that the Amish have to pay Social Security. What I don’t buy is that Hobby Lobby, a private corporation, has a religious faith. I don’t buy that the Little Sisters of the Poor would have their rights violated by having to tell the government that they don’t want to purchase contraception coverage. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/550 "2016-05-20T18:26:52Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > High-information Obama is responsible for loss of 300k+ (and counting) Syrian lives for siding with rebels against Assad. Trump is responsible for the deaths in Europe’s middle ages due to the black plague. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/551 "2016-05-20T19:01:52Z")
[NRA endorses Donald Trump.](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/nra-trump-endorsement-223422) Why am I not surprised… ---
**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:** [May 20, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/552 "2016-05-20T19:52:49Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I realize that liberals find it very hard to believe anyone could look at things differently than they do without some from of stupidity/lack of education/ignorance being the reason, but according to even [this hit job](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/trump-overwhelmingly-leads-rivals-in-support-from-less-educated-americans/) on Trump from PBS, 35% of Trump’s supporters have college degrees. The article also finds that Trump has actually led among Republican college graduates in some states. To wit: Because a college degree naturally implies wisdom. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/553 "2016-05-20T19:55:23Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Clinging to a deceptive left wing meme in the hope that it changes anything is sad. It’s almost as bad as the left ignoring most of the first amendment and all of the tenth. I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably say it again. Freedom of religion gives you neither the right to force your views on others nor the right to discriminate against others based on your religious beliefs. Nor do states’ rights allow states to infringe on _federal_ rights. ---
**Author:** ![totesmcgoats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@totesmcgoats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/totesmcgoats)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/554 "2016-05-20T20:19:31Z")
I’m seeing a lot of people (not necessarily here) who have the attitude that Hillary Clinton will destroy Donald Trump in the general. That seems to be the emerging conventional wisdom in the media as well. The polls show Hillary Clinton is ahead by 10 points. But that’s not a blowout. That’s within striking distance. Donald Trump has already shown a willingness to defy political norms, to seemingly little effect. As far as I’m concerned, all bets are off. And that’s terrifying to me. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but Trump could be an extinction-level event for US democracy. Hopefully Congress would impeach him before he grabbed too much power, but can we really be sure? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/555 "2016-05-20T20:21:43Z")
How do you imagine he would “grab too much power”? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/556 "2016-05-20T20:59:44Z")
> [@totesmcgoats](#): > > I’m seeing a lot of people (not necessarily here) who have the attitude that Hillary Clinton will destroy Donald Trump in the general. That seems to be the emerging conventional wisdom in the media as well. > > The polls show Hillary Clinton is ahead by 10 points. But that’s not a blowout. That’s within striking distance. Donald Trump has already shown a willingness to defy political norms, to seemingly little effect. As far as I’m concerned, all bets are off. And that’s terrifying to me. > I don’t want to sound dramatic, but Trump could be an extinction-level event for US democracy. Hopefully Congress would impeach him before he grabbed too much power, but can we really be sure? There are also polls that show him in the lead. Polling is not an exact science, but I too am terrified for the following reasons: 1. Months ago all the pundits were certain, in spite of polling data to the contrary, that Donald Trump would never be the Republican nominee. They were wrong. 2. Republican leaders who vowed never to support him are now rallying behind him. 3. He is one of two people who will be the next leader of the free world :eek: I really need to stay off realclearpolitics and go into denial that this is actually happening. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/557 "2016-05-20T21:22:36Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > How do you imagine he would “grab too much power”? Well, he’s shown he’s willing to take sweeping actions with vague (or no) limits and with tenuous justification–for example, to employ a religious test on those who want to enter the USA “until we know what’s going on.” His plans to exercise this un-Constitutional power could not be more open-ended. He has also said that he’d like to “close up” the Internet: > [@](#): > > “We’re losing a lot of people because of the Internet,” Trump said. “We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say, ‘Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.’ These are foolish people. We have a lot of foolish people.” > **[Donald Trump wants to 'close up' the Internet](https://money.cnn.com/2015/12/08/technology/donald-trump-internet/)** > > Donald Trump has called for a shutdown of the Internet in certain areas to stop the spread of terror. This is someone who has no interest in the modern world of democracy and individual rights. This is someone whose most basic instincts are authoritarian. And shutting down the Internet would certainly be on any despot’s list of ‘things to do first.’ Though it’s true that a President’s powers are not unlimited, it’s also true that the ‘executive order’ aspect of the Presidency has been growing for decades. Trump has already, on many occasions, expressed his admiration for the way Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un have exercised power with brutal ruthlessness. He wasn’t pretending. He really does see that as an ideal to emulate. The great danger would arise if those at the top of the power structure believe both that they can work with Trump, and that an authoritarian crack-down on the American people could be in their long-term interest. If that becomes the case, it’s pretty much game over for self-determination and the rule of law. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/558 "2016-05-20T21:42:32Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > How do you imagine he would “grab too much power”? Well, he’d already have _some_. Whether he “grabbed” it or not. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2016, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/559 "2016-05-20T21:45:37Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Because a college degree naturally implies wisdom. The question wasn’t about wisdom, it was about the contention so beloved around here that Trump’s supporters are all low information voters with mostly high school or less levels of education. Clearly a college degree denotes a relatively high intelligence level, and a high intelligence level is a pretty good indicator that the possessor is both better educated and better informed than the average bear. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/560 "2016-05-20T21:52:37Z")
I’d prefer something more specific. What executive order power grab can we imagine Trump would “grab too much power” with? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=27) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=29)