# How is trump still a viable candidate for president? Really, how? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 12, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949 "2023-05-12T14:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 63
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1255 "2024-04-05T15:01:19Z")
They only allow so many views and for only 14 days. One last try? (No guarantees, natch.) > **[The Trump Two-Step](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/04/trump-two-step-bloodbath-2024-election/677966/?gift=FNE9XeXXKzu6Z_8urufLLtL3aIAA9UPmymfOMobjU1w&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share)** > > Once you recognize the pattern, you’ll see it everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1256 "2024-04-05T15:13:19Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > The Trump Two Step. For those who don’t make it to the link. > [@](#): > > One of his most effective tools is what we might call the Trump Two-Step, in which the former president says something outrageous, backs away from it in the face of criticism, and then fully embraces it. The goal here is to create a veneer of deniability. It doesn’t even need to be plausible; it just needs to muddy the waters a bit. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1257 "2024-04-05T16:17:06Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > The question then becomes why would you want to stay in the club? I think the fundamental answer to this question, and to the OP’s, is that, in the general human population, there is a huge number of intellectually lazy and stupid people. Trump’s movement, however, allowed and/or enabled them to become obvious, and social media allowed them to connect and form a critical mass. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1258 "2024-04-05T18:27:52Z")
I wasn’t sure where to put this, but Michael Steele has a good snapshot of the party’s troubles. > **[Opinion | Republicans have forgotten how to win a presidential election](https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/republicans-trump-biden-2024-election-rcna146385)** > > The party is making all the wrong moves as it heads into the general election, with consequences for candidates down the ballot. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1259 "2024-04-05T18:44:46Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > I think the fundamental answer to this question, and to the OP’s, is that, in the general human population, there is a huge number of intellectually lazy and stupid people. Agree completely. In fact, I’d say it’s the majority of Americans. I started a thread on this a month or two ago. It’s my belief that most people lack the critical thinking and analytical skills an informed decision for president requires. And every four years we ask this cohort of dimwits to try again. When we get it right, it’s just luck. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1260 "2024-04-05T21:39:56Z")
I’ll believe I see them get obliterated in a major election, i.e. this upcoming election. People have been predicting for years that the Republicans/Democrats are history. But it never materializes. The Republicans seem to have the support to win this election, in my opinion. I’d give Trump a 70% chance of being elected president. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1261 "2024-04-05T22:12:43Z")
Biden does not seem to get much credit for his accomplishments. However, he also seems to think that accomplishing things is enough. These days, it is not. The Democrats are relying on logic to convince people Obamacare should not be dismantled or convince women and others abortion rights are important. As a Canadian outsider, in my view the Democrats also need to better appeal to emotion. They need to get traditional supporters out to vote and give them good reasons to; not assume they can connect the dots as well as Dopers. They need to stop fighting each other. And they need to emphasize the long-term plans espoused by some people that may overemphasize power over progress, plutocrats over prosperity, pugnacity over peace or populism over parliaments. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1262 "2024-04-05T22:17:17Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > As a Canadian outsider, in my view the Democrats also need to better appeal to emotion. They need to get traditional supporters out to vote and give them good reasons to; not assume they can connect the dots as well as Dopers. They need to stop fighting each other. And they need to emphasize the long-term plans espoused by some people that may overemphasize power over progress, plutocrats over prosperity, pugnacity over peace or populism over parliaments. I agree. The GOP is way better at power politics and messaging—in fact, I think that’s the only things they’re better at, but that’s what counts with a lot of people. BTW, good work with the p’s. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1263 "2024-04-05T23:18:47Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > I wasn’t sure where to put this, but Michael Steele has a good snapshot of the party’s troubles. > > [Republicans' rabid loyalty to Trump could cost them 2024 election](https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/republicans-trump-biden-2024-election-rcna146385) What Steele points to lost the GOP votes in 2020, and will do so again. For example: [Republicans pushing to embrace mail-in voting encounter widespread resistance](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/republicans-trump-mail-voting-resistance-rnc-rcna145599) > [@](#): > > “I tried to give them a mail-in ballot application, and could only get out about 300,” Tom Eddy, head of the [Erie County Pennsylvania] Republican Party, said. “Every one of them said either, ‘No, that’s not the right way to vote,’ or ‘Trump does not agree with it.’” I mailed my Pennsylvania Democratic Party primary ballot today, and will mail in my ballot again in October. Most Pennsylvania Democrats do. Because of refusal to cast mail ballots, many GOP voters will miss the general election due to illness, weather, car trouble, or having recently died. However, the same was true in 2020, and Trump, while losing, beat his polling averages in the actual results. Trump is still viable, despite this GOP weakness, for many reasons mentioned earlier in the thread. P.S. In some states, including mine, [mail ballots become theoretically invalid if the voter dies before election day](https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/counting-absentee-ballots-after-a-voter-dies). In practice, this is unlikely to be noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1264 "2024-04-06T18:35:02Z")
Did you see what Trump did (going on random tangents before putting an onion on his belt, which was the fashion of the time)? It’s called intelligence… > **[Trump’s bizarre, vindictive incoherence has to be heard in full to be believed](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/06/donald-trump-speech-analysis)** > > Excerpts from his speeches do not do justice to Trump’s smorgasbord of vendettas, non sequiturs and comparisons to famous people ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1265 "2024-04-10T13:56:48Z")
trump should be compelled to provide the names of the doctors who are executing babies after they’re born. He must have proof because this is something you don’t just make up. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1266 "2024-04-10T18:27:14Z")
That Dr. Moreau is a likely suspect. And Dr. Frankenstein. ---
**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1267 "2024-04-10T20:15:55Z")
Trump and Johnson announce joint plan to steal the election. [https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4585808-trump-speaker-johnson-press-conference-election-integrity/](https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4585808-trump-speaker-johnson-press-conference-election-integrity/) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1268 "2024-04-10T20:24:10Z")
trump lies again- > **[Trump's False Claim About Roe - FactCheck.org](https://www.factcheck.org/2024/04/trumps-false-claim-about-roe/)** > > In a video statement outlining his position on abortion, former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that "all legal scholars, both sides, wanted and in fact demanded" that Roe v. Wade "be ended." Legal scholars told us that was "utter nonsense"... _In a video statement outlining his position on abortion, former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that “all legal scholars, both sides, wanted and in fact demanded” that Roe v. Wade “be ended.” Legal scholars told us that was “utter nonsense” and “patently absurd.”_ Mind you Roe did have some legal issues- _These experts said some scholars have had criticisms of the legal reasoning in Roe, but that doesn’t mean they wanted the ruling overturned. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg [said](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/05/06/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-wade/) it would have been better to base the abortion rights ruling on the [equal protection clause](https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xiv/clauses/702) of the Constitution, or gender equality, as opposed to a right to privacy under the [due process clause](https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/amendment-xiv/clauses/701), which is how the opinion was written._ ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1269 "2024-04-11T01:03:10Z")
Interesting gift link from _The Economist_ on who, and what age or sex or religion or education, is plumping for Trump. [https://econ.st/3Jex8Qx](https://econ.st/3Jex8Qx) ---
**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1270 "2024-04-13T11:59:35Z")
It turned out to be not much they announced. Simply that proof or citizenship is required to vote. Because millions of illegals are registered to vote by Biden, as soon as they are arrested at the border. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1271 "2024-04-13T17:22:53Z")
I see that an old ambassador to Cuba was sentenced to 15 years for giving secrets to the Castro government. I would guess most Republicans would generally agree with this action and sentence. So why would anyone giving secrets to the Russians be dramatically different? Surprising answer: There was no _quid pro quo_. Trump was acting Presidential! Have you ever _really_ looked at your hands? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1272 "2024-04-14T10:17:07Z")
Do we know Trump gave secrets to Russia? I mean it wouldn’t surprise me a bit, and I would bet that he did, but do we have proof? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1273 "2024-04-14T11:44:04Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Do we know Trump gave secrets to Russia? Know by the preponderance of evidence? Yes. Know for a certainty? No, giving yet another reason why Trump is still viable. See this from Wikipedia: [Donald Trump’s disclosures of classified information](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump%27s_disclosures_of_classified_information#:~:text=Notably%2C%20on%20May%2010%2C%202017,and%20its%20allies%2C%20especially%20Israel) Here is the key anonymously sourced Washington Post article: [Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador](https://wapo.st/4cXsKmB) > [@](#): > > President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State. > > The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said. > . . . > > “This is code-word information,” said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, using terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels used by American spy agencies. Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.” According to CNN: [US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017](https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/politics/russia-us-spy-extracted/index.html) > [@](#): > > The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel. My last link has good information on something I normally question – that secrets given former president Trump were important ones: > [@](#): > > According to CNN’s sources, the spy had access to Putin and could even provide images of documents on the Russian leader’s desk. ---
**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949/1274 "2024-04-14T13:21:23Z")
Polling now dead even for nationwide poll. More important: Trump went down. [2024 General Election: Trump vs. Biden Polls | RealClearPolling](https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-biden) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949.md?page=62) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-trump-still-a-viable-candidate-for-president-really-how/983949.md?page=64)