# 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:** 77
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1521 "2016-06-18T05:24:12Z")
A “Super PAC” called “Americans Against Insecure Billionaires with Tiny Hands” is running an ad: ["Release The Measurements" - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LhNjWoBZck) The group is actively asking Trump to release his hand measurements. 🙂 More info here: [http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/super-pac-targets-donald-trumps-](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/super-pac-targets-donald-trumps-) tiny-hands/story?id=39935132 ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1522 "2016-06-18T06:12:07Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > 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. I’ve been wondering much the same but I’ve yet to see any indication there are enough members of the GOP with their spines still intact who could make this happen. The Bushes, Romney and those with nothing to lose like Richard Armitage and retired Senators/Congressfolk have already made it clear they want nothing to do with The Clown. Even more moderate Republicans up for reelection, like Mark Kirk, have been clear they want nothing to do with Dishonest Donald. And the purple state folks aren’t far behind. And yet, John McCain is so worried about losing his seat in the Senate he will gladly endorse the man who mocked his military service and time as a POW. Given how many others are terrified that denouncing The Giant Talking Cheeto will derail their chances, I think any “uprising” at the convention is very very unlikely. But I admit, if it happens, it should be highly entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1523 "2016-06-18T08:22:03Z")
OK, to gather some thoughts I was having that have already been addressed here and there in previous posts, I was thinking back to 2012 and 2008, and how much of a big deal was made about ground games: GOTV, canvassing, getting people to polling places, etc. '08 really showed it off as a strength of Obama’s campaign, and thus in '12, both sides lauded theirs. I can easily see the Clinton campaign taking a similar tack (why mess with success, especially when the man who formed it will be more than happy to loan resources and experience?), but now that I think about it, how much does Trump have? I get the distinct impression that he has little to none — that he figures that his loyalists, and those he convinces later, will love him so much they’ll crawl through broken glass to vote for him in November, so why bother? Given current circumstances, I can see why he’d think that, but I have this feeling that if he doesn’t get something going soon, it’ll be a key disadvantage for him. Even if he does end up dropping out, the fact that it’s taken so long will similarly hobble whoever replaces him. I can see this being a big deal in November. ---
**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, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1524 "2016-06-18T13:29:10Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > 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: > > 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: > > 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. The Guardian article is pretty solid in its assessment. I think they’re overlooking the racism in some parts of the country, like the Deep South, but I do think that a large part of the appeal is the fact that he’s just a rich guy who fucks with people without consequence. A lot of blue collar white men wish they had his power and he’s like their real live action hero or WWE wrestler. He is who they wish they were in some way. He says what they wish they could say without losing their jobs or friendships. Trump has limited appeal, though. It’s beginning to look like Trump has run into the same problem that Ted Cruz has – he has a ceiling. He’s not breaking through that ceiling. He’s looking smaller and smaller on television. What worked well among angry white voters isn’t working so well among a larger population that includes white people who frame the election differently, and among non-whites who are absolutely livid at the republican party, and especially Trump himself. He just looks relatively ‘small’ on television these days. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1525 "2016-06-18T14:18:20Z")
Well the line of thinking is his entertainment value and well the schtick gets old and loses its novelty. “I’m gonna build a wall! And Mexico will pay for it!” begins to becomes last season’s overdone catchphrase. When you bank on outrageousness it is hard to keep coming up with new material. At some point he will need to decide if he keeps trying to get the unearned media for the latest offensive screed, or if coming up with new ones is too hard and playing it more straight is better. Maybe he decides to keep the outrageousness show on the air the whole way, but maybe not … as his ratings (in this case poll numbers) continue to drop. There are lots of items reassuring in the current polling data, much more than just the absolute numbers. But it is only June and lots can change. Not sure what his floor is but I’d like to see him under even that and I am hoping that his ceiling and Clinton’s floor do not overlap too much as numbers bounce around some during the next several months. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1526 "2016-06-18T14:24:19Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > A lot of blue collar white men wish they had his power and he’s like their real live action hero or WWE wrestler. Tragically, [you don’t have to imagine that.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMKFIHRpe7I) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1527 "2016-06-18T14:57:00Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > I’ve been wondering much the same but I’ve yet to see any indication there are enough members of the GOP with their spines still intact who could make this happen. The problem is that it just isn’t smart to remove Trump at this point. They would still lose catastrophically in the general because they know damn well Trump would go after them hard and he won’t lose any supporters just by denying him the nomination. Not only that but they would make him stronger for the next cycle. No, the smart ones realize that at this point letting Trump lose and lose hard is probably the best thing for their party. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1528 "2016-06-18T15:05:55Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Tragically, [you don’t have to imagine that.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMKFIHRpe7I) I completely forgot about that, and I was there! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1529 "2016-06-18T15:46:34Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I can easily see the Clinton campaign taking a similar tack (why mess with success, especially when the man who formed it will be more than happy to loan resources and experience?), but now that I think about it, how much does Trump have? He has none, as [this piece by MSNBC shows](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-does-not-have-campaign). He’s running his campaign like it’s one of his casinos, all surface glitz and glamor with the bare minimum underneath to keep it from collapsing. A proper Presidential campaign (Hell, a proper _state-level legislature_ campaign) is more like a military campaign, with most of the people and money going to the back-room logistics and support and only a little being spent on what’s out front. Obama knew that and Clinton sure as Hell knows it. > [@](#): > > I can see this being a big deal in November. It’s hurting him now: > [@MSNBC piece linked above](#): > > Aides appeared unprepared for the Trump University story last week, despite knowing in advance that unsealed court documents would reveal explosive allegations of fraud. Beyond a short video of former students praising the program that was posted online, the campaign offered scant pushback. > > The absence of a response to the Trump U story left the candidate to fill the vacuum with a torrent of demagoguery against the federal judge overseeing the case, Gonzalo Curiel, who Trump said was biased by his “Mexican heritage” despite his Indiana birthplace. > > [snip] > > Making things difficult is the ongoing rivalry between Trump’s top adviser Paul Manafort, who was brought in to professionalize the campaign in March, and longtime staff like campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and press secretary Hope Hicks, who is essentially the lone media contact for reporters. > > [snip] > > The conflict came to a head in California last week, where Manafort had lined up a raft of endorsements from local supporters ahead of Trump’s tour of the state – but no press releases went out announcing the news. Lewandowski and Hicks, the source said, vetoed draft after draft. > > Delegate Jim Lacy boasted to NBC News in May that the campaign would soon host a press conference to unveil a coalition of female businesswomen endorsing Trump. The press conference never came. Instead, Trump referenced the group briefly in a speech in Anaheim, California, describing them only as “women that love Trump” who had met him earlier. The campaign sent out no further details, and the conservative site Breitbart, a hub for Trump backers, appears to be the only outlet that covered the new “Women in Business for Trump” coalition. Breitbart is far-right echo chamber. The only people who even know it exists and take it seriously are already either gas in the tank for Trump or so far out there they’d never vote for anyone left of David Duke. Trump, as usual, whines: > [@](#): > > “Do you ever notice that @CNN gives me very little proper representation on my policies,” Trump tweeted ahead of the speech. “Just watched - nobody knew anything about my foreign P.” > > In a normal campaign, Williams said, Trump’s staff would have addressed this complaint long before their candidate was left to gripe on social media. > > “There’s usually an entire department within the campaign that develops and distributes talking points on your foreign policy, not just to your staff and your official campaign, but to unaffiliated Republican talking heads to make sure everyone knows what your policy is,” Williams said. Trump doesn’t know what his policy is, so it’s hard for anyone else to figure it out. (Which is a point the article addresses, but if I quote much more I’ll be running up against the SDMB’s policies on fair use.) And they end with a joke: > [@](#): > > The good news for Trump is that it can only get better from here. > > “It’s not difficult to be far more responsive than not responsive,” a campaign source said. They’re not scared yet, but they will be. _They will be._ ---
**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, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1530 "2016-06-18T16:31:07Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > …They’re not scared yet, but they will be. _They will be._ Yoda 2016! ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1531 "2016-06-18T16:46:25Z")
Quasi serious question, but is it legal to pay Trump to drop out? Could the Koch brothers offer Trump a few hundred million cash money to walk away? ---
**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:** [June 18, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1532 "2016-06-18T16:56:18Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Quasi serious question, but is it legal to pay Trump to drop out? Could the Koch brothers offer Trump a few hundred million cash money to walk away? [It’s currently under consideration.](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-cash-never-trump-224511?cmpid=sf) ---
**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:** [June 18, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1533 "2016-06-18T17:09:30Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Quasi serious question, but is it legal to pay Trump to drop out? Could the Koch brothers offer Trump a few hundred million cash money to walk away? > [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [It’s currently under consideration.](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-cash-never-trump-224511?cmpid=sf) I’m sure he’d love to double his actual net worth. 😃 ---
**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:** [June 18, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1534 "2016-06-18T17:09:31Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [It’s currently under consideration.](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-cash-never-trump-224511?cmpid=sf) Despite what that quoted professor said in that article, that you could fake up some pretext to make it “legal”, anyone trying it would be inviting a whole hell of a lot of law enforcement attention. Because you know, it would be the most public and obvious case of political bribery in American history. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1535 "2016-06-18T17:40:24Z")
(aside from the obvious one) [Trump campaign: We’re facing an emergency goal of $100,000](http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/18/politics/donald-trump-emergency-fundraising/index.html) [QUOTE=CNN] The Donald Trump campaign on Saturday released its first “emergency” fund-raising email, in response to an ad blitz from the Hillary Clinton campaign. “Right now we’re facing an emergency goal of $100,000 to help get our ads on the air. We need your contribution by 11:59 P.M. Tonight,” the email from Team Trump said. [/QUOTE] $100K is pocket change. They could get that from the Orange One’s Ben & Jerry’s fund. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1536 "2016-06-18T18:07:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > (aside from the obvious one) > > [Trump campaign: We’re facing an emergency goal of $100,000](http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/18/politics/donald-trump-emergency-fundraising/index.html) > > $100K is pocket change. They could get that from the Orange One’s Ben & Jerry’s fund. It is an easy goal to make. They can later make the claim that they got 10 times their goal in less than 24 hours. Because every one LOVES Trump so much. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1537 "2016-06-18T18:36:42Z")
Or maybe he really is that close to tapped out already, with the big donors not on board with him and him not actually being all that rich anyway? We can hope so, at least. And this request makes it look that way. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1538 "2016-06-18T19:21:12Z")
If trump wants to present himself as [a friend of the LGBT community,](https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/742771576039460864)perhaps he shouldn’t proudly re tweet [Robert Jefress](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jeffress) calling him his “[friend](https://mobile.twitter.com/robertjeffress/status/743607115038621697).” ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1539 "2016-06-18T19:30:37Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [It’s currently under consideration.](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-cash-never-trump-224511?cmpid=sf) That article includes the following phrase, presumably intended seriously: > [@](#): > > leading anti-Trump intellectual Bill Kristol That says a lot about the current state of conservative America. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/1540 "2016-06-18T19:31:38Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > (aside from the obvious one) > > [Trump campaign: We’re facing an emergency goal of $100,000](http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/18/politics/donald-trump-emergency-fundraising/index.html) > > $100K is pocket change. They could get that from the Orange One’s Ben & Jerry’s fund. Since I’ve given money to various Democratic causes, my inbox is flooded with requests for money. Lots of them are “emergencies” to spur donation. More telling is that they have already walked back their billion dollar goal, and that Trump is spending time in states where he has no chance (like California) trying to raise money. And he appears to have no mailing list and no organization, and the really big donors are staying away. Given his bankruptcy record, if I were a direct mail house I’d want cash in advance. After all he brags about stiffing his investors and the people who he owes money to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=76) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=78)