# If the Republicans do end up nominating someone else... **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 5, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133 "2016-07-05T16:58:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/21 "2016-07-05T21:19:52Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > So what happens if they did nominate someone else, and we assume that that someone else is a fairly mainstream Republican of the Romney/Ryan/Bush variety, as opposed to a Ted Cruz? Well, that’s a pretty tough assumption, isn’t it? You want to ditch not only the party’s number one choice in the primary, but their second as well? And nominate some “RINO” for whom the party has no enthusiasm? Not to mention that Romney and Ryan are currently safely upwind from the current dumpster fire and Ryan, at least, has aspirations for 2020. There’s little upside in getting involved now, especially as they’d essentially be starting from scratch with no fund raising and, apparently, an incoherent get out the vote strategy. Also, just how many disillusioned Sanders voters do you think are going to listen to Ryan’s budget plan and think “Yeah, this is the Bernie replacement I’ve been hoping will arise like a Phoenix from the ashes”? ---
**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:** [July 5, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/22 "2016-07-05T21:21:51Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > But if Republicans stick behind Trump out of mere loyalty, can anyone tell me what the “Republican Party” will even mean? Trump doesn’t subscribe to the party platform, not even in some kind of superficial way. Is the GOP content to be the anti-Democrat home of small minded bigots? Maybe the party would like the slogan “If you hate them, we like you.” Basically just being not Democrats has been their whole persona for a while now. Maybe they didn’t realize that’s the only reason a lot of people were voting for them but their only real positive message about themselves has been “smaller government” is so clearly a lie that it’s hard to believe they thought it was motivating much of their voters. It’s plain to even the most casual observer that they just want less regulation or spending on specific areas they like or hate. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/23 "2016-07-05T21:33:04Z")
Not knowing who this candidate is makes it difficult to answer. Assuming it’s one of the candidates from this year’s primaries, or some other year’s primaries, or any Republican I’ve heard of interested in running for president, then Hillary still has the advantage, but it could get a lot closer if a new Republican candidate can somehow bring Trump voters on board without offending people the way Trump has. Doesn’t seem possible. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/24 "2016-07-05T21:35:56Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Basically just being not Democrats has been their whole persona for a while now. Maybe they didn’t realize that’s the only reason a lot of people were voting for them but their only real positive message about themselves has been “smaller government” is so clearly a lie that it’s hard to believe they thought it was motivating much of their voters. It’s plain to even the most casual observer that they just want less regulation or spending on specific areas they like or hate. Yes, that’s all unfortunately true. Staying loyal to Trump just digs that hole even deeper and tarnishes more of the party. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/25 "2016-07-05T21:40:33Z")
If the Republicans nominate someone else you think Trump is just going to take his ball and go home? No way. He’d immediately declare he’s still running but as a third party candidate. And he’d take all his supporters with him. It’d be a total disaster for the GOP. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/26 "2016-07-05T21:46:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Not knowing who this candidate is makes it difficult to answer. Assuming it’s one of the candidates from this year’s primaries, or some other year’s primaries, or any Republican I’ve heard of interested in running for president, then Hillary still has the advantage, but it could get a lot closer if a new Republican candidate can somehow bring Trump voters on board without offending people the way Trump has. Doesn’t seem possible. Say Trump cites health concerns and steps down while full-throatedly endorsing his designated successor, who just doesn’t screw up. The benefits for Trump: he makes a colossal amount of money, avoids losing an election, and gets to crow about being a kingmaker if the guy he backs gets the win. (And if that guy loses, Trump gets to claim _he_ would’ve won, if not for the illness he’s been so valiantly battling.) The guy he endorses doesn’t say anything offensive – but, again, gets full-throatedly endorsed by Trump. What happens? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/27 "2016-07-05T22:01:05Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Say Trump cites health concerns and steps down while full-throatedly endorsing his designated successor, who just doesn’t screw up. The benefits for Trump: he makes a colossal amount of money, avoids losing an election, and gets to crow about being a kingmaker if the guy he backs gets the win. (And if that guy loses, Trump gets to claim _he_ would’ve won, if not for the illness he’s been so valiantly battling.) > > The guy he endorses doesn’t say anything offensive – but, again, gets full-throatedly endorsed by Trump. What happens? Interesting question. Possibly some candidate could produce a working strategy. Hillary has high negatives, it’s clear she’s not the first choice of many people leaning Democratic. I’d say it’s a whole new ball game, but the problem is still the list of potential Republican candidates and the high negatives they have with those voters who aren’t solidly in the Republican base. But the relief of Trump not running could swing things. Little Marco Rubio might be dangerous, I think he’s an empty suit, but the entire election environment would change and Hillary would have to walk on eggshells through the campaign to avoid a mishap that would drive down turnout for her. As it is she’d have to be less negative in her campaign, I don’t think it’s helping her against Trump, and it would definitely hurt her against a nicer opponent. It’s also an interesting question because I wonder if Trump even wants to be president at this point. I think he focused so heavily on winning the GOP nomination that he lost track of his original goal, if there really was one to start with. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/28 "2016-07-05T22:15:26Z")
I think if the party elites could somehow hand the nomination to Kasich, he would do quite well. He’d probably have a better than 50% chance of winning. The fact that Kasich didn’t do well (which I assume was because he was viewed as too liberal) even when it was down to a three man race shows just how far to the right the Republican base has moved. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/29 "2016-07-05T22:29:15Z")
You can’t just nominate a Schrodinger’s Candidate who can be in any state you like until you look in the box. You have to actually nominate a human being, who then has to run for office. Yes, it’s easy to say that anyone, even an inanimate carbon rod, would be better than Trump. Unfortunately, Trump won the primary. If the inanimate carbon rod was so great, why didn’t the carbon rod win the primary? If the Republicans don’t like the primary process they can just scrap the whole thing and pick the nominee in a smoke filled back room at the convention, like back in the good old days. It’s a little late to back out now unless they just want to cancel the nominating process and let Hillary run unopposed. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/30 "2016-07-06T16:03:18Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > This IS the base. Conservatism IS racism, misogynism and xenophobia. Keep this sort of ludicrous, partisan nonsense in The BBQ Pit. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/31 "2016-07-06T16:15:15Z")
You gotta be kidding me. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/32 "2016-07-06T16:19:37Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > If the Republicans nominate someone else you think Trump is just going to take his ball and go home? No way. > He’d immediately declare he’s still running but as a third party candidate. And he’d take all his supporters with him. > It’d be a total disaster for the GOP. This is the main reason I voted “will lose worse” - not only will Republican voters feel betrayed (and remember that Trump supporters are _angry_) but Trump will not lose any opportunity to stand in front of the cameras and complain. Hell, he’s still bitter about the “short-fingered vulgarian” comment years later; how mad and vindictive do you think he’s likely to be if he gets screwed out of the nomination? The unfortunate pigeon who gets the GOP nomination will be taking heavy flak from both directions, and there’s no chance he (or she) wins in November unless the GOP nominate Clint “Chairtalker” Eastwood himself. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/33 "2016-07-06T16:33:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think it’s just low information voters. They don’t know the nuances of conservatism enough to be on or off board with it. The Republican paradigm has been that a candidate signs the contract with the conservatives who run the party and then the conservatives whip up ignorant voters with made-up issues. > > Trump figured out he didn’t need to win the approval of conservative gatekeepers; he could just appeal to ignorant voters directly. I disagree that Trump voters are not conservatives. There are a lot of them, in my opinion, who are quite conservative but who feel betrayed by the Republican party and are essentially at war with them. I highly recommend reading at Free Republic for a week. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/34 "2016-07-06T16:35:29Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I highly recommend reading at Free Republic for a week. Jesus - what did we do to you to deserve _that_? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/35 "2016-07-06T16:39:00Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Jesus - what did we do to you to deserve _that_? 😃 As appalling as they are (which is very) I think it’s important to know what people of that stripe are thinking. And, frankly, there are a lot of similarities between the most asinine posters there and the most asinine left wing posters elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/36 "2016-07-06T16:43:18Z")
I think the Republicans should dump Trump - who cares if they lose badly. Being principled is more important than the outcome of just one election. The Republicans and Democrats have each survived multiple landslide defeats before. Even without Trump, the GOP wouldn’t lose as badly as, say, the Democrats in 1984. So what’s one landslide defeat? In the overall history, it’s but a blip. It can be recovered from. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/37 "2016-07-06T17:41:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I think the Republicans should dump Trump - who cares if they lose badly. Being principled is more important than the outcome of just one election. The Republicans and Democrats have each survived multiple landslide defeats before. Even without Trump, the GOP wouldn’t lose as badly as, say, the Democrats in 1984. So what’s one landslide defeat? In the overall history, it’s but a blip. It can be recovered from. For the GOP this election is more about holding the House and Senate than the top spot at this point. They’ve kind of given up on Trump already and trying to cut their losses. As far as principle is concerned, Trump espouses their actual principles. They don’t like him because their candidates aren’t supposed to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/38 "2016-07-07T03:16:22Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > 😃 > > As appalling as they are (which is very) I think it’s important to know what people of that stripe are thinking. > > And, frankly, there are a lot of similarities between the most asinine posters there and the most asinine left wing posters elsewhere. Unfortunately, I have a much easier way to see what they are thinking (Well, at least what passes for thinking among most of them.) I just go talk to my birther, Trump loving, gun loving nephew. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/39 "2016-07-07T11:14:38Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133/40 "2016-07-07T11:19:07Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I’m not convinced Trump voters are the party’s base. And yet he won the nomination pretty easily. Imagine that. It’s their party now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-republicans-do-end-up-nominating-someone-else/759133.md?page=3)