Sure there’s reason to be worried. If he won, it would be worse for Republicans than if he lost. And worse for Democrats. It’s just bad news all around.
If he actually ran on such a platform, TRUMP would deserve to win and I’d happily campaign and vote for him-he’d basically be a more competent Bernie Sanders at that point.
That said, I’m not worried about TRUMP in the general-even if he did win the nomination I’m concerned with him far less then any other GOP nominee. Not that I necessarily hope he gets it-my main hope is that Trump does extremely well in the primaries but then is cheated out of the nomination by the party elites causing a Republican split with Trump either running third party or Clinton going populist to win over these pissed off blue collar voters.
Cruz is actually leading in Iowa ahead of Trump. I definitely don’t know for sure who will win, but if I was going to bet between Trump and Cruz, I’d bet (a small amount of money) on Cruz. Five thirty eight has had a bunch of coverage of the election, and even in their recent discussion Is The GOP Establishment Blowing Its Anti-Trump Campaign?, they still don’t rate Trump as terribly likely to win.
Also, I still don’t think he actually wants to be president. You’re right that he might want to win just for the sake of winning, but I don’t think he really wants to be president. The five thirty eight discussion pointed out that although he’s seen as an outsider, someone could start a negative campaign against him as being the ultimate politician, willing to say whatever to get elected. Cruz or Rubio would be working hard to get to the finish line and win if either had the nomination, but I’m not sure what Trump would be doing.
And the Republican establishment apparently hates Trump. I expect there to be more attacks on him in the primaries, but even if he wins, there will likely still be attempts to bring him down. Really, even if Trump has the nomination, a Clinton presidency could be better for many in the GOP, because they would blame everything bad in the country on her, and try to win some more Senate and House seats.
So overall, I’m only slightly worried about Trump, but there are many worse things to worry about in my opinion.
Even with all the anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican, anti-woman, name calling nonsense he’s spewed, you’d campaign and vote for him?
You did say in the OP that he’d be toning down his stances on the more controversial issues.
Sure, but now you’ve proven why I don’t think this guy is as toxic for Republicans as everyone thinks. As a showman, he’s got the ability to “wow” people in the moment. You’re willing to completely discount everything else he’s said, as well as his crudeness and asshole-ishness in the primaries, simply because he figured out what to say to impress you in the general.
And I get that politicians have always tried to do something similar, but I’m starting to wonder if he’s just mastered what others have only sort of figured out in the past. The part that worries me about Trump is that I just don’t think he wants to be president for any good reason other than the prestige of winning. This could just be a “climbing Mt. Everest to say I climbed Mt. Everest” thing to him. Does anyone really know where he stands on anything other than his own awesomeness?
So? If there’s one good thing that can be said about Trump, it’s that he’s the most transparent man to run for president in recent memory, and probably in history. He’s spent decades saying exactly what he thinks to anybody who will listen, and much of it is on the record. He could “tone down” his stances all he wants, but how could any reasonable person be convinced that he means any of it when the record speaks volumes and volumes and volumes?
I’m not the least bit worried. The thing is not all the people want the same thing, and those that want what Trump is selling are only a small part of the electorate. Even if he knows what “the people” want, he’s limiting who the people are that he is appealing to.
Love Trump at the moment for tweaking the noses of the politically correct crowd. What comes for the future, who knows.
However for sure, I do not think he would be the pushover all the libs and dems think he is. For one reason he knows how to fight in the political media circus better than anyone, and he fights back.
The last few election cycles the Dems had the dirty political stuff all for themselves with Repub candidates that would not push back. If Trump is the nominee that won’t be.
At last we have the white whale of modern politics: a Republican who isn’t afraid to run a dirty campaign.
The elder Bush was one of the most qualified presidential candidates in recent history. Even the younger one had governing experience. And while you and I might still be here, lots of Iraqis and US troops aren’t. And he was a lot saner and better qualified than Trump.
Yeah, no dirty Republican politics. No Swift Boating. No Birthers. Sure. :rolleyes:
And the Dems had the absolute nerve to release that tape of Romney speaking to the rich guys. That’s dirty politics for you.
You can’t unshit a bed.
In politics, all that is remembered is what you last said. If Clinton can be the candidate of not getting into stupid wars now, then Trump can be the candidate of moderation and tolerance.
I think Trump would beat Hillary for the same reasons Bush beat Gore. I’m not worried about any of it at all.
I think Trump is a pragmatist, if he were president I think he would want to do things that would cause him to be remembered as great. All presidents who are considered great were hated viciously during their own time - Lincoln, Roosevelt, even JFK; but in the long run they were better for the country.
However, it appears Trump may be working on forcing other people to sleep in it. (To mix metaphors in a disgusting manner.) Take the recent “Clinton started the birther debate” talking point as an example.
A fucked up Florida ballot, a month of uncertainty, and a 5-4 Supreme Court decision?
I don’t think America has anything to fear from a Trump presidency.
I saw a cartoon a while back which summarises the American presidential election nicely.
The first panel showed ‘Our candidate’ as Superman.
The second panel showed ‘Their candidate’ as Palpatine.
The third panel showed ‘What the public thinks’ as two clowns.
Yes, that is exactly what I am talking about. I didn’t mention it specifically because I figured it went without saying since their were no other factors involved in that election.
Many may not know this, but there is a manual that Bush wrote about how to win an election in this manner, he sold it to Trump earlier last year for a huuuge amount of money. It’s a phenomenal read. There’s never been anything written like it.
Imagine a Hillary/Trump debate. This has to happen.
Good luck figuring out what he really believes. Does he support single payer or not? He might be more liberal than Hillary on this and some other issues, like raising taxes on hedge fund managers. Or he might be a corrupt kleptocrat. Who knows. There’s less reason to fear him than other Republicans, since they believe the same stuff but they’re theocrats on top of it.
Trump could win if he could paint Hillary as a Wall St. puppet. He’s probably done too much damage with his racial demagoguery to make it matter, though.
Who would vote for a wimpy boyscout like Superman? Palpy knows how to get things done. He could build a huge wall…with a glaring weakness…but still!