# Is Trump part Democrat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 3, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675 "2017-04-03T19:39:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/21 "2017-04-03T22:19:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > 1. Donald Trump > 2. People and things which are useful to Donald Trump > 3. People and things that don’t matter I believes there is also 4. People too crush under my hand made shoes and enjoy the lamentations of their women. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/22 "2017-04-03T22:27:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Tell us what he’s done, not just talked about and promised, but actually done for American workers. There was [some new guidance on H-1B visas and computer programmers](https://www.axios.com/computer-programmers-may-no-longer-be-eligible-for-h-1b-visas-2342531251.html). I don’t know if computer programmers count as “American workers” in your worldview or not. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/23 "2017-04-03T22:39:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I don’t think Trump cares about white guys any more than he cares about any one else. > > In my opinion, Trump divides all of the universe into three levels: > > 1. Donald Trump > 2. People and things which are useful to Donald Trump > 3. People and things that don’t matter A very fair point. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/24 "2017-04-03T23:21:26Z")
I don’t think Trump gives a damn about party politics. The Republican Party was a vehicle which he commandeered to take him to the Presidency, it could just as well have been the Democrats. As said above the guy is a chameleon. He certainly fooled me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/25 "2017-04-03T23:39:42Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I believes there is also > 4. People too crush under my hand made shoes and enjoy the lamentations of their women. No, that’s redundant. People and things that get crushed belong in level 3. Unless he enjoys crushing them in which case they belong in level 2. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/26 "2017-04-04T00:07:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No, that’s redundant. > > People and things that get crushed belong in level 3. Unless he enjoys crushing them in which case they belong in level 2. If they didn’t matter, he wouldn’t feel the need to attack them. He does this even when it’s clearly detrimental to himself, and even when he could use these people in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/27 "2017-04-04T00:14:48Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > The “trillion dollar infrastructure plan” isn’t a trillion dollars of US government spending. Rather, it’s a package of ~$100 billion in tax credits for private investors and developers. > > Want some more toll bridges? And consider who benefits from that… Yep. Public / private partnership usually means the public foots the cost and private companies reap the rewards. > [@Chronos](#): > > Trump is very much in favor of people working. He just doesn’t want them to get paid for that work. But look at all the new jobs!! Due to his environmental and immigration policies, there will be LOTS of opportunities to get jobs in coal-mining, food processing and crop harvesting. You know, the lowest paid, crappiest, most soul-killing jobs imaginable. Jobs that make “assistant manager at McDonalds” sound like a lofty aspiration. Because when income inequality is your long-term goal you’ve gotta work both sides of the field. Because with Trump everything is a zero sum game. Our country can’t win big unless those other countries lose big. The rich can’t get richer unless the poor get poorer > [@Simplicio](#): > > Does he? He says he’s going to produce a lot of things that he doesn’t end up doing. Is there any reason to think the wall is any different?. I just love pointing out that the great real estate genius didn’t look at, you know …A MAP before he started spouting off about a wall. It looks like the Rio Grande may be problematic. But wall or not, if he starts a trade war ( or real war, if he tries to put his wall on the south side of the river) with Mexico to “make them pay”, living conditions will get worse in Mexico and immigration will increase. It’s stupid and mean, just like Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/28 "2017-04-04T00:23:19Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > But look at all the new jobs!! Due to his environmental and immigration policies, there will be LOTS of opportunities to get jobs in coal-mining, food processing and crop harvesting. You know, the lowest paid, crappiest, most soul-killing jobs imaginable. Jobs that make “assistant manager at McDonalds” sound like a lofty aspiration. Tech companies want to import foreign workers. Why don’t they just hire the out-of-work coal miners, steel workers, factory workers, and so on. Problem solved! These _Americans_ get high-paying jobs, and those _foreigners_ (who are probably terrorists) are kept out! Win-win! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/29 "2017-04-04T00:55:23Z")
I could picture a few minor tweaks to history and see Trump as a Democrat contender - a primaries-joke for a few cycles, then grabbing the nomination in a weak year. Some of his rhetoric would play to working-class Democrats in the rust belt and such. He’d assume the role of working-class billionaire (saying “self-made” almost constantly) who is gonna rescue America from bankers and ivory-tower elitists, be pro-gun (or at least saying flat-out that it’s something the states should be regulating, not the feds), ignore the trans minefield… yes, I could see it. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/30 "2017-04-04T01:22:23Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > How so? [Here](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/opinion/build-he-wont.html) is Paul Krugman’s take on what had been floated as the infrastructure plan. Of course, we still haven’t seen the actual final proposal, but it seems doubtful it will be any better than this sham. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/31 "2017-04-04T01:22:26Z")
He looks like the first Independent President to me. I’d guess Republicans see him as a parasite, Democrats as a leech. Fwiw, it seems all he’s done since taking office is carry through his election pledges. What the judiciary and Congress do with that is pretty much out of his hands but, best I can tell, he can absolutely look his voters in the eye. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/32 "2017-04-04T01:25:43Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > He looks like the first Independent President. > > Fwiw, it seems all he’s done since taking office is carry through his election pledges. What the judiciary and Congress do with that is pretty much out of his hands but he can absolutely look his voters in the eye. If the judiciary knocks something down, that means he did it _wrong._ The Constitution and established law is there for a reason. If he can’t convince Congress to go along with his schemes, then he’s not the deal-maker he claims he is. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/33 "2017-04-04T01:33:20Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > He looks like the first Independent President to me. I’d guess Republicans see him as a parasite, Democrats as a leech. > > Fwiw, it seems all he’s done since taking office is carry through his election pledges. What the judiciary and Congress do with that is pretty much out of his hands but, best I can tell, he can absolutely look his voters in the eye. So are Congress and the Judiciary forcing him to play golf? One of his campaign promises was that he wouldn’t do it while in office. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/34 "2017-04-04T01:46:39Z")
Are you serious? Lets agree to stick to politics. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2017, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/35 "2017-04-04T13:34:39Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Fwiw, it seems all he’s done since taking office is carry through his election pledges. Seriously? Build the wall and make Mexico pay for it? Not gonna happen. Repeal and replace Obamacare with something the provides more coverage for less money? Hell no! NOBODY KNEW health care was complicated. Play less golf and take less vacations than Obama? Use less taxpayer money for vacations than Obama? Drain the swamp? Reduce the national debt? Gotta run a surplus to do that, and giving massive tax breaks to billionaires (such as he pretends to be) doesn’t do that. End birthright citizenship? Yeah, right. It’s in the Constitution. End NAFTA? Not gonna happen. Is he part Democrat? Is a lizard? Is a snail? He has no political orientation, he has no end goal other than to enrich himself and his partners in crime. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/36 "2017-04-04T13:56:43Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > He lost a court case for underpaying illegal workers, he buys Chinese steel and aluminum, he has said the minimum wage is too high, his first pick for Labor Secretary want’s to eliminate workers in favor of robots, Trump’s products are all made overseas with no plan to bring them here, his infrastructure plan is mainly for businesses to choose a project with potential for profit, not by what is needed doing, the wall will not keep out the workers who are coming here for jobs Americans won’t do(assuming the wall is ever built) and the wall won’t stop drugs. > > And that’s barely scratching the surface. > That’s just Dear Running Coach, Trump said he wants to use USA based steel for these projects, and with his undeniable American first message, why would you doubt him? What he did as a private business is the past. He’s the president now, with a pretty vocal agenda. I disagree you 100% on the wall. It will help keep illegals out and lower drug trafficking. Keep in mind it’s not just a high wall where there is heavy traffic, its drone technology patrols, satellite imagery to detect tunnels, and such. The laws are already on the books, and such as project would put 1,000’s of Americans to work. So unless you’re for illegal immigration, and okay with hardcore drugs ( I could care less about pot ) the wall makes sense. And I’m not even talking about the billions it costs states to support illegal immigration or the amount of crime they cause. PS: Mexico can pay for it if Trump just ups the traif taxes a bit, and since 80% of Mexico’s trade is with the USA, they have no real choice. Their politicians may put up a front, but the businesses will scream at them if they dare try to mess with their trade with the USA. In addition, Mexico owns the USA billions in debt. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/37 "2017-04-04T14:03:21Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#): > > I disagree you 100% on the wall. It will help keep illegals out and lower drug trafficking. > > Keep in mind it’s not just a high wall where there is heavy traffic, its drone technology patrols, satellite imagery to detect tunnels, and such. > > The laws are already on the books, and such as project would put 1,000’s of Americans to work. > > So unless you’re for illegal immigration, and okay with hardcore drugs ( I could care less about pot ) the wall makes sense. > > And I’m not even talking about the billions it costs states to support illegal immigration or the amount of crime they cause. > > PS: Mexico can pay for it if Trump just ups the traif taxes a bit, and since 80% of Mexico’s trade is with the USA, they have no real choice. Their politicians may put up a front, but the businesses will scream at them if they dare try to mess with their trade with the USA. > > In addition, Mexico owns the USA billions in debt. Many undocumented workers come in by plane. No wall is going to stop that. Cite for Mexican debt to the US? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/38 "2017-04-04T14:41:49Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#): > > Trump said he wants to use USA based steel for these projects, and with his undeniable American first message, why would you doubt him? Because he lied? He’s allowing imported Chinese steel right now on the Keystone Pipeline. Seriously, “why would you doubt him” is never a legitimate question with Trump. Why _wouldn’t_ you doubt him, since he’s told very few truths in his entire life? If Trump said the sky is blue I’d have to open a window to check. Hey, guess what? It’s gray out. Trump lied again. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/39 "2017-04-04T15:51:14Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#): > > The laws are already on the books, and such as project would put 1,000’s of Americans to work. In my neck of the woods, contractors tend to hire low wage Mexican immigrants for manual labor. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675/40 "2017-04-04T16:13:19Z")
So, to summarize the thread:_ **Yes, Trump does want to help American workers.** _… If by “workers” you mean fellow multi-millionaires, by “American” you include his friends in Russia and the Far East, and by “help” you mean exploit for Trump Organization profit. > [@Silver\_lining](#): > > … > And I’m not even talking about the billions it costs states to support illegal immigration or the amount of crime they cause… Cite? Sources I’ve seen show illegals as a _plus_ for government revenue, and with a _low_ crime rate — both for the same reason: _they don’t want to attract attention to their immigration status by applying for welfare or getting arrested_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-part-democrat/783675.md?page=3)