# 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:** 76
**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:** [June 17, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1501 "2016-06-17T21:51:22Z")
Fearless prediction: Trump will NOT be the nominee. I see the anti-Trump movement gaining come traction as he continues to embarrass humanity. Look for Ryan to call a voice vote to change the rules and unbind all the delegates, all hell will break loose. Riots on the floor in Cleveland, riots on the streets of Cleveland, wailing and gnashing of teeth by Trumpians everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1502 "2016-06-17T21:52:54Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Ann Coulter called his Orlando speech “Churchillian” and nobody batted an eyelash, that’s how crazy this election is. She’s been out-crazied! I’m not making this up, but in the 1899 edition of his book The River Wars, [Churchill wrote](http://www.winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/118-finest-hour-113/3749-datelines): > [@](#): > > How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. Later editions of the book were condensed from two volumes to one and this quote was not included. (“Hydrophobia” is what most people today call rabies.) ---
**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:** [June 17, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1503 "2016-06-17T21:55:17Z")
I’m telling you. If they were smart, they’d just wait it out. He’s going to bail. Especially if it gets nearer and nearer to November and the writing on the wall becomes plain to see. I don’t see him sitting through a beating like he’s likely to get. He’ll quit on some ridiculous excuse and then exclaim that he would have won if he hadn’t had to drop out. ---
**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 17, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1504 "2016-06-17T22:02:32Z")
Trump will be sued and hounded for the rest of his days if he did that. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1505 "2016-06-17T22:04:03Z")
And that would be different from now in what way? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1506 "2016-06-17T22:05:00Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Could the convention pick the nominee with a spirited Rochambo tournament? Oh, please, let it be _Kosho_. I would love to see the cheeto tossed in the air and dumped in the cold water bath on international teevee. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTqAfJYWe58) ---
**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 17, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1507 "2016-06-17T22:15:18Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > And that would be different from now in what way? He would be hounded by every Republican congressman and senator who have the ability to call investigation after investigation after investigation. These people will not be powerless and they can direct their ire @ Trump in a million different directions. EPA. IRS. FEC. SEC. FBI. DOJ. NV gaming commission. City ordinances. Traffic tickets. Bridge closures (Oh, wait, that’s Christie. Never mind.) His planes might need inspecting, all at once, repeatedly. Trump’s a New Yorker, he’ll understand. 😉 ---
**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:** [June 17, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1508 "2016-06-17T22:34:03Z")
If they choose someone else at the convention, he’s liable to run as an independent or for a third party. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1509 "2016-06-17T22:48:00Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > That’s hilarious! Made me smile too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1510 "2016-06-17T22:59:55Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Rick Wilson, GOP presidential consultant and active member of the Never Trump movement, [calls the presumptive Republican nominee “Cheeto Jesus.”](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-operative-lashes-out-at-party-calls-trump-cheeto-jesus-in-epic-tweetstorm_us_57626d13e4b05e4be860ec59?section=) As much as I enjoyed the creativity of Cheeto Jesus, I have to also recognize his use of underutilized douche canoe. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1511 "2016-06-17T23:02:51Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Could the convention pick the nominee with a spirited Rochambo tournament? Only if it’s done the way Cartman plays it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1512 "2016-06-17T23:05:50Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’m telling you. If they were smart, they’d just wait it out. He’s going to bail. Especially if it gets nearer and nearer to November and the writing on the wall becomes plain to see. I don’t see him sitting through a beating like he’s likely to get. He’ll quit on some ridiculous excuse and then exclaim that he would have won if he hadn’t had to drop out. I dunno – so long as he stays in there taking a beating, he also gets to keep mainlining on the Trumpies’ enthusiasm. And if he hasn’t gone junkie on the latter by now, he ain’t The Donald. ---
**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 17, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1513 "2016-06-17T23:20:17Z")
There’s periodically been talk about Drumpf’s candidacy being something of a lark, almost a joke that got out of control. Two reports I’ve read in the past three weeks lend support to that notion, but not the way you might think. It seems like, whatever The Donald’s actual intention, it may be a big goof by the people going to his rallies at least (and then, one suspects, by many of his primary voters as well, although this may have changed at the end when he essentially just started getting support for being the frontrunner). So we may be overthinking this when we try to ascribe all these motivations of economic anxiety, xenophobia, etc., to his pundit-defying ascent. First there was a detail from a late May [NYT article](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/us/politics/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-fbi.html?rref=collection%252Fnewseventcollection%252FPresidential+Election+2016&version=meter+at+null&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click) that made me start to wonder if maybe his voters weren’t so much angry as criminally irresponsible in a jaded Information Age: > [@](#): > > Victor Vizcarra, 48, of Los Angeles, said he would much prefer Mr. Trump to Mrs. Clinton. Though he said he disagreed with some of Mr. Trump’s policies, Mr. Vizcarra said he had watched “The Apprentice” and expected that a Trump presidency would be more exciting than a “boring” Clinton administration. > > “A dark side of me wants to see what happens if Trump is in,” said Mr. Vizcarra, who works in information technology. “There is going to be some kind of change, and even if it’s like a Nazi-type change. People are so drama-filled. They want to see stuff like that happen. It’s like reality TV. You don’t want to just see everybody be happy with each other. You want to see someone fighting somebody.” Am I wrong to feel more offended by this casual expression of ennui than I would the rants of someone who actually buys into all the bigotry? :mad: But that was just one guy, and I set it aside. Now, today, the author Dave Eggars has a [long piece in the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/17/could-he-actually-win-dave-eggers-donald-trump-rally-presidential-campaign) reporting on his “undercover” experience at a Drumpf rally: > [@](#): > > His supporters do not care. Nothing in Trump’s platform matters. There is no policy that matters. There is no promise that matters. There is no villain, no scapegoat, that matters. If, tomorrow, he said that Canadians, not Mexicans, were rapists and drug dealers, and the wall should be built on that border, no one would blink. His poll numbers would not waver. Because there are no positions and no statements that matter to them. There is only the man, the name, the brand, the personality they have seen on television. > > Believing that Trump’s supporters are all fascists or racists is a grave mistake. This day in Sacramento presented a different picture, of a thousand or so regular people who thought it was pretty cool how Trump showed up in a plane with his name on it. How naughty it was when he called the president “stupid”. How funny it was when he said the word “huge” the peculiar way he does, without the “h” (the audience yelled back “uuuuge!”, laughing half with him, half at him). In the same way we rooted for [Andrew “Dice”] Clay a few years ago when he showed up as an actual actor in a Woody Allen movie, the audience at a Trump rally is thinking, How funny would it be if this guy were across the table from Angela Merkel? That would be classic. > > Americans who have voted for Trump in the primaries have done so not because they agree with all, or any, of his statements or promises, but because he is an entertainment. He is a loud, captivating distraction and a very good comedian. His appeal is aided by these rallies, and by media coverage, and both are fuelled not by substance but by his willingness to say crazy shit. Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, has insisted that they “let Trump be Trump” and the wisdom of the strategy is undeniable. As long as he continues to say crazy shit, he will continue to dominate the news and will continue to attract crowds. The moment he ceases to entertain – to say crazy shit – he will evaporate. > > Or even before that, people could just get bored. This happened in Sacramento. Just over halfway through his speech, people started leaving. Twenty-five minutes in, he had begun to repeat himself, and he’d started looking down at the podium, reading dubious statistics about Sacramento’s economic situation. People didn’t care. At one point he read from an article he said he’d clipped from a newspaper. He was getting too specific, and the entertainment value was sinking. > > People from the front of the crowd started making their way back, and out. It started with the elderly woman in the Veterans of Foreign Wars hat. She, and the two people helping her, squeezed their way through the throng and into the darkness of the hangar. This began a steady flow of the departing. These people had arrived at 4pm, had waited three hours and now, at 7.30pm, they were leaving. Trump was still talking, but they were not worried about missing anything he would say, because they did not care. They had seen him, heard the zingers, taken a picture or two, and now they were heading to the parking lot, to get a head start on the traffic. > > By the time Trump finished, there was no one behind me. Most of the hangar was empty. The only people left were the few hundred outside, pressed against the barricades, waiting for him to sign their posters and hats. As he moved down the line, as the sun finally set and the night finally cooled, the song playing, just as poignantly as it had when he arrived, was “Tiny Dancer”. > > Hold me closer tiny dancer > Count the headlights on the highway > Lay me down on sheets of linen > You had a busy day today. Talk about idiocracy. :smack: Sure looks to me like Drumpf’s going to lose big, but there’s definitely something unsettling about the thought that this sort of Beavis and Butthead style snickering of “heh heh heh, that’d be cool” could have this much impact on a presidential race in the world’s biggest superpower. If it turns out to be a trend that continues apace as our society becomes ever more decadent and indifferent to, or dismissive of, the seriousness required in politics, that could ultimately be dangerous. ---
**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 17, 2016, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1514 "2016-06-17T23:22:46Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > If they choose someone else at the convention, he’s liable to run as an independent or for a third party. He would have to do it without Texas. The deadline to get on the ballot in November has already passed. Other states’ deadlines will pass by the convention. He is left with a write-in effort which is a heavy lift for such a small campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1515 "2016-06-18T00:11:27Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Sure looks to me like Drumpf’s going to lose big, but there’s definitely something unsettling about the thought that this sort of Beavis and Butthead style snickering of “heh heh heh, that’d be cool” could have this much impact on a presidential race in the world’s biggest superpower. If it turns out to be a trend that continues apace as our society becomes ever more decadent and indifferent to, or dismissive of, the seriousness required in politics, that could ultimately be dangerous. You’ll remember that the people of the State of California had their fun with Arnold Schwarzenegger. They elected him governor several years ago. Why? Because of his government experience? Because of his business experience? I don’t think so. He was The Terminator and he could talk tough. And, no, I am not comparing the content of their respective rhetoric. I don’t think Arnold ever said bad things about Mexicans or women during his campaign or that he advocated giving nukes to Japan. But the tough-guy who could entertain crowds was certainly there. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1516 "2016-06-18T00:13:17Z")
He will run independent only if somebody else pays for it. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1517 "2016-06-18T00:20:41Z")
this is my favourite from the Wilson Twitterstorm: > [@](#): > > 5/ You won’t escape the stain. It’s like a big, visible “No Ragrets” chest tat that will mark your careers forever. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1518 "2016-06-18T00:33:37Z")
Steals his lines from candy commercials? Or is he making, like, a cultural reference? ---
**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 18, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1519 "2016-06-18T01:09:22Z")
RNC Delegates Unbound?: [http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/17/politics/delegate-unbinding-effort-organized/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/17/politics/delegate-unbinding-effort-organized/index.html) ---
**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 18, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1520 "2016-06-18T01:35:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Neither Nader nor Sanders compares to Trump for narcissism. Sanders does not, but Nader is close. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=75) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=77)