# Trump U. : "This is straight-up fraud" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 2, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317 "2016-06-02T15:34:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/81 "2016-06-03T21:20:09Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Does he spend his whole life with his head in the sand? Party dedication comes first. America comes somewhere down the list, and rational thinking isn’t even on the same shelf, much less in the same book, chapter, or verse. It’d be funny as hell if it weren’t so serious. Republicans wanted a maverick! They wanted someone to go rogue! That was as recently as 2008 with Madame Palin saying those things. Now it’s almost literally a B-monster movie from the 1950s. They created a creature they thought they could control! But now it’s loose! (I know that’s not an original analogy, but damn, it fits. Republicans wanted an “outsider,” someone who would “shake up Washington”. I bet they never knew how badly it would backfire on them. Let’s just hope it doesn’t backfire on the entire country. And the world.) ---
**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 3, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/82 "2016-06-03T21:20:53Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Ferchrissakes, is he _trying_ to alienate everyone who isn’t a white male? No, he just does it naturally. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/83 "2016-06-03T21:33:07Z")
Regarding Trump’s “Mexican heritage” objection: What about Trump’s German heritage? Should he be ineligible for the Presidency because he may act preferentially toward Germany, or actually have Third Reich connections? Hmmm, Herr Drumpf? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/84 "2016-06-03T21:56:40Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I am squarely in the Drumpf demographic by age, ethnicity and ancestry, and gender, and he’s alienated me more than any public figure in decades. I’m wondering how many geeks (like myself, also a SWM) are part of Trump’s base. [This guy](https://medium.com/@Chris_arnade/trump-politics-and-option-pricing-or-why-trump-voters-are-not-idiots-1e364a4ed940#.4t4rltlyg) seems to think Trump appeals to non-elite whites. [Kevin Drum](http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/06/economy-trump-culture-wars) thinks it’s _not_ the economy (stupid)[sup]1[/sup]. Anyway I’m wondering whether most SWM geeks find Trump’s bluster as alienating as I do. [sup]1[/sup]“It’s the economy stupid”, was the unofficial slogan of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign. If you agree the underlying issue is cultural, then [Part II](https://medium.com/@Chris_arnade/why-trump-voters-are-not-complete-idiots-part-two-what-should-hillary-do-7cfcbd7aa19e#.wrhw042mv) of the above photo essay might be of interest. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/85 "2016-06-03T22:14:16Z")
It seems pretty obvious to me that Trump appeals to white men who have “worked hard” to get where they and their families are, and feel they’ve been cheated of more success (even when pretty successful by most measures) not because of generalities like economic and education imbalance, but because the US has “handed” so much to women, minorities and now all those poor gender-confused types. They want the world they were promised in 1965, when being a white male with some education meant you’d get to run the world, make lots of money and help keep all those others down where they belonged. Ditto for the notion that other countries should be smacked for having the temerity to challenge the US’s leadership, economic supremacy, and general global self-interest. Make America Great Again (for disillusioned white guys). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/86 "2016-06-03T22:16:56Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > I’d like to re state this as… An America that is on its knees would elect Trump president… although both are true. Really, Bill the Cat nailed it when he was running for President back in the late eighties: “A desperate choice for desperate times.” I just never thought I would see it in real life in the US, just in Bloom County. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/87 "2016-06-03T22:25:51Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > That’s how you Deal. And Get Things Done. And bring Something Wonderful. Provided you don’t do it from an e-mail server in your own house, of course. That leads to National Apocalypse. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/88 "2016-06-04T00:06:50Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I am squarely in the Drumpf demographic by age, ethnicity and ancestry, and gender, and he’s alienated me more than any public figure in decades. > > So you have to extend it to “…white male who feels deeply disaffected by the empowerment of everyone who isn’t a somewhat older white male.” > > And then the answer is clearly “yes.” I’ve always heard the Trump demographic is the UNEDUCATED white male. Perhaps you don’t fit demographic after all. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/89 "2016-06-04T00:25:15Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’ve always heard the Trump demographic is the UNEDUCATED white male. > Perhaps you don’t fit demographic after all. I’m not sure that’s true. To believe that Trumpies are all blue-collar workers or semi-failures is to misunderstand the situation, I think. Many are reasonably educated, “some college” or better, and have or have had decent jobs. But this group is struggling like all the others when their fathers, in the same situation, were comfortably off. So it must be the fault of spreading largesse on all these wimmen and furriners. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/90 "2016-06-04T01:23:24Z")
For the record, I am a professional telemarketer, and I would be SO TOTALLY FIRED if I stooped to those tactics. Respectable companies don’t act like that. ---
**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 4, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/91 "2016-06-04T01:43:46Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Does he spend his whole life with his head in the sand? Head in his shell you mean. One of Stewart’s better impressions. ---
**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 4, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/92 "2016-06-04T01:46:22Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > In other words: > > The class was such an obvious scam that it would be ridiculous to call it a scam. Anyone with two brain cells could see it was a scam, so the people who got scammed did it to themselves. Everyone knows real estate seminars are obvious frauds, so it’s not really fraud to offer a fraudulent real estate seminar. Trump is such an obvious fraud that you’d have to be an idiot to buy anything from him, and so it’s not fraud. And I wonder how many people who use this obvious fraud defense say next “I’m voting for Trump of course. He’s not a fraud, no sirree.” ---
**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 4, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/93 "2016-06-04T01:52:08Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > While it hasn’t happened yet, it may still. > > Trump simply doesn’t like the idea of any furriners runnin’ his court, er, trial, or whatever. > > [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_GOP\_2016\_TRUMP\_UNIVERSITY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-03-09-32-11](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOP_2016_TRUMP_UNIVERSITY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-03-09-32-11) Trump appears to be digging himself in deeper. Someone on MSNBC wondered what his lawyers are thinking about now. Of course Trump probably thinks he knows the law better because he is very smart and spent a few hours in a law office. > [@](#): > > First, Trump said the judge was Mexican. Wrong. Now, the judge has a conflict because he’s of “Mexican heritage”. > > But the Hispanics love Trump! It turns out that when the judge was a prosecutor he was instrumental in working against Mexican drug cartels, so instrumental that his life was at risk and he was put under protection. So, is Trump in cahoots with Mexican drug lords? A wall would probably increase their profits by making it harder for the littler smuggler, after all. The cartels can afford to dig tunnels. Just asking questions. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317/94 "2016-06-04T02:15:10Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Trump appears to be digging himself in deeper. Someone on MSNBC wondered what his lawyers are thinking about now. Of course Trump probably thinks he knows the law better because he is very smart and spent a few hours in a law office. > > It turns out that when the judge was a prosecutor he was instrumental in working against Mexican drug cartels, so instrumental that his life was at risk and he was put under protection. > So, is Trump in cahoots with Mexican drug lords? A wall would probably increase their profits by making it harder for the littler smuggler, after all. The cartels can afford to dig tunnels. > Just asking questions. Time to ask more about the connections Trump had (or still has?) with organized crime: > **[Yes, Donald Trump has been linked to the mob](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/mar/02/ted-cruz/yes-donald-trump-has-been-linked-mob/)** > > Donald Trump "seems terrified to release his taxes" because they may reveal his true net worth, his donations to liberal As I pointed months ago, even an evangelical conservative knows what Trump (and the Republicans just got in bed with him) is headed for in this election: > **[Why Nominating Donald J. Trump Would Be a Catastrophe — DR. BRIAN MATTSON](http://www.drbrianmattson.com/journal/2016/1/23/why-nominating-donald-j-trump-would-be-a-catastrophe)** > > The subject of my last post was why I believe nominating Ted Cruz is a mistake. In a nutshell, Cruz has a more limited upside than others when it comes to getting enough votes in a general election. I don't doubt the sincerity of his conservatism,... > [@](#): > > I don’t think enough people are willing to say that. In fact, almost nobody is willing to say that. But I am a Christian theologian, one dedicated to “public” theology. So let me say this theological truth publicly: Donald Trump is not an upright man. If character and integrity matters to you, and it should, then Trump should be nowhere near your list of possible candidates. > > If you doubt me on this, if you think I’m way out on a limb, if you think that sort of judgment is beyond the pale, I simply challenge you to pick up a Bible and read the book of Proverbs from cover to cover. It won’t take you that long. You will find hundreds of wise aphorisms taking the form of “The wise man does X… the fool does X.” You will find very few of those formulations, if any, wherein Donald Trump sits on the wisdom side of the equation. This man is, in the biblical sense of the word, a fool. > > Let me get this out of the way. We need not actually fear a Trump presidency. It won’t happen. The Democrat General Election Voting Machine will destroy Donald Trump. It will not even be close. And this is not just because I believe he has as much chance of reproducing Mitt Romney’s 60+ million votes (and still fall short!) as I do of making contact on a fastball from Clayton Kershaw. It is because, after over a year of grotesque “in-kind” campaign contributions from the mainstream media in the form of 24/7 wall-to-wall Trump coverage (with the intent of getting this guy nominated), watch what happens next. > > Do you think a narcissist, wheeling-and-dealing businessman like Donald Trump has a few skeletons in his closet? No. He’s got _ **warehouses.** _ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-u-this-is-straight-up-fraud/756317.md?page=4)