# Donald Trump's 2016 General Election Campaign
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901
**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:** 305
### Author:  [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6083 "2016-09-08T19:50:27Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> It’s simple. Trump will just hire The Best People to do this. And he has a plan, because he knows how to do things like this better than anyone.
>
> Problem solved!
You forgot “Trust Me.”
---
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6084 "2016-09-08T19:53:51Z")
Ooo, thanks. That makes it all better.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6085 "2016-09-08T19:54:54Z")
NM
---
### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6086 "2016-09-08T20:05:13Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#):
>
> You forgot “Trust Me.”
Californian for “Fuck you!”
---
### Author:  [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6087 "2016-09-08T20:07:10Z")
Trump: “[I would have captured Osama Bin Laden \*before \*9/11](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-trump-osama-bin-laden-sept-11-attacks)”
Er, wha?
---
### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6088 "2016-09-08T20:13:37Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#):
>
> No joke. I was cringing at the mental gymnastics Trump’s military apologists had to perform last night. He’s basically a blank slate for their own opinions.
My favorite was the retired general on Rachel Maddow who started rambling on about the Civil War. Dear God, we do need better mental health care for our vets.
---
### Author:  [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6089 "2016-09-08T20:15:54Z")
[NBC News has a new report out saying that General Flynn kept interrupting the intel briefers and Chris Christie had to tell him to knock it off.](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/u-s-official-donald-trump-s-body-language-claim-doesn-n644856)
---
### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6090 "2016-09-08T20:19:49Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> Trump: “[I would have captured Osama Bin Laden \*before \*9/11](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-trump-osama-bin-laden-sept-11-attacks)”
>
> Er, wha?
Hey, that would have worked! He was with the _mujahadeen_ in Afghanistan, we could have grabbed him while we were delivering their weapons!
---
### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6091 "2016-09-08T20:25:22Z")
> [@DonLogan](#):
>
> Meine Sharona
You have quite The Knack.
---
### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6092 "2016-09-08T20:25:49Z")
> [@coremelt](#):
>
> You’d need 100’s of thousands of troops to hold them long term, probably at least 300, 000
Cite?
---
### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6093 "2016-09-08T20:27:25Z")
Well, we had it easy, what with being seen as liberators, and stuff.
---
### Author:  [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6094 "2016-09-08T20:31:28Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#):
>
> I’m starting to think a lot of people just want life to be black and white, and like a candidate who deals in black and white. No grey. It’s easier that way. Someone who gives simple answers, so you don’t have to think too hard.
>
> …
>
> And on and on and on…Anyone that tries to interject a “Yeah, but…” is a pussy and hates America. I’ve had actual conversations with family members that end like this.
Or to put it directly into the context of his CIC statements, he is promising to deliver things that would prove almost impossible to achieve even _with_ massive military involvement (eg the destruction of ISIS; claiming all or even some of Iraq’s Oil for America) and promising to bring them about without war. This has changed from a politician making empty promises, to a significant minority of Americans believing in Santa Claus.
---
### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6095 "2016-09-08T20:43:00Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> Trump: “[I would have captured Osama Bin Laden \*before \*9/11](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-trump-osama-bin-laden-sept-11-attacks)”
>
> Er, wha?
You do know that Osama was on the radar before 9/11 don’t you? And no, not as our buddy in Afghanistan.
[Bill Clinton and the missed opportunities to kill Osama bin Laden](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/02/16/bill-clinton-and-the-missed-opportunities-to-kill-osama-bin-laden/)
Now, you may think it’s ludicrous that Trump would have accomplished more than Clinton - I certainly do. But it’s not really a “Er, wha?” statement.
---
### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6096 "2016-09-08T20:47:29Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> [NBC News has a new report out saying that General Flynn kept interrupting the intel briefers and Chris Christie had to tell him to knock it off.](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/u-s-official-donald-trump-s-body-language-claim-doesn-n644856)
I still wonder how is it that that \*\*other \*\*gremlin from the Kremlin was not kept out of that.
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/15/trump-adviser-michael-t-flynn-on-his-dinner-with-putin-and-why-russia-today-is-just-like-cnn/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/15/trump-adviser-michael-t-flynn-on-his-dinner-with-putin-and-why-russia-today-is-just-like-cnn/)
---
### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6097 "2016-09-08T20:59:08Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> You do know that Osama was on the radar before 9/11 don’t you? And no, not as our buddy in Afghanistan.
> [Bill Clinton and the missed opportunities to kill Osama bin Laden](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/02/16/bill-clinton-and-the-missed-opportunities-to-kill-osama-bin-laden/)
>
> Now, you may think it’s ludicrous that Trump would have accomplished more than Clinton - I certainly do. But it’s not really a “Er, wha?” statement.
And the actual article is not nearly as conclusive as the headline makes it appear to be.
> [@](#):
>
> Philip D. Zelikow, the executive director of the 9/11 report, actually identifies nine key moments in Clinton’s presidency when a different decision might have led to bin Laden’s death. “On every one of these nine choices there are people who believe the President could have made a different choice,” Zelikow said. “And, in each case, there are people who believe the President made the right call.”
>
> “It then becomes a judgment call — one that in our report we left to the reader to make, after trying to lay out the relevant facts and varying opinions as dispassionately as we could,” Zelikow added.
>
> We summarized each of these choices, as outlined in the 9/11 Commission report, using as much of the language of the original report as possible. Not every one of these decisions officially came to the attention of Clinton, but his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, kept close tabs on the process — and he worked closely with Clinton.
---
### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6098 "2016-09-08T21:00:04Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> Trump will just give the Generals 30 days to get a plan together to make it happen, and the Dept. of Law talking people 30 days to make it legal.
And if the plan fails, Trump will bust the generals down to E1’s and replace them with his family members and bouncers from his casinos.
---
### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6099 "2016-09-08T21:06:13Z")
_Gomer Pyle, USMC_, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
---
### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6100 "2016-09-08T21:08:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> And the actual article is not nearly as conclusive as the headline makes it appear to be.
It’s a fact check article precisely about that question. The headline is not remotely conclusive. Besides, that has fuck all to do with why I posted the article.
---
### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6101 "2016-09-08T21:08:33Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> Trump: “[I would have captured Osama Bin Laden \*before \*9/11](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-trump-osama-bin-laden-sept-11-attacks)”
>
> Er, wha?
> [@](#):
>
> Trump also claimed he gave statements “much closer” to the invasion of Iraq saying he was against the war. He said those statements “superseded” his earlier, much-cited interview with shock jock radio host Howard Stern, where Trump said he did support the invasion.
Of course, the dishonest media won’t report those statements, which were made when Trump mumbled them in his sleep into his pillow.
---
### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/6102 "2016-09-08T21:36:54Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> Of course, the dishonest media won’t report those statements, which were made when Trump mumbled them in his sleep into his pillow.
Oh, they were actual public statements. One in an Esquire article and the other on a Fox News interview. The problem is that the former was from after the war started and the latter does not actually include a stance against the invasion.
> **[Once Again, Trump Claims He Was Always Against the Iraq War. He's Lying.](https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/videos/a47684/trump-iraq-war/)**
>
> And now he's throwing Esquire into the mix.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=304)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=306)