# Trump vs Clinton in the General Election **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 17, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989 "2016-05-17T13:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/262 "2016-05-24T01:29:21Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > First, all Republican nominees have been liberal on immigration, regardless of what they’ve said in the primaries. Secondly, none have made direct appeals to African-Americans about those Latinos taking their jobs. It’s just not done. Trump would do it though and from what I’ve read, it’s actually part of his plan. Doesnt matter. Republicans have a reputation for being anti-everyone except white male. Trump isn’t defying this reputation; he’s the personification of it. You are deluding yourself if you think Trump pitting one minority against another will actually detract from this image. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/263 "2016-05-24T01:54:57Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I’m guessing that if it had been…oh, let’s say, Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson . . . First time I saw Jackson on TV he was addressing a room full of young blacks and not blaming the Man for their problems, but telling them to study hard. It was called “Operation PUSH.” ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/264 "2016-05-24T01:55:25Z")
For those who said that Trump would concentrate on guys like Cosby the reality is that the Republicans have picked a crank magnet. And Trump can not help but to remind all about that “quality” of his. Via Little Green Footballs (that was originally a conservative outfit but the owners just could not stomack the woo woo the Republicans are getting into nowadays) quoting the Washington Post. > **[The Donald Trump "Vince Foster" Conspiracy Moment Is Upon Us at Last](https://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/45965_The_Donald_Trump_Vince_Foster_Conspiracy_Moment_Is_Upon_Us_at_Last)** > > Anyone who pays attention to Donald Trump's affinity for far right conspiracy theories knew this moment was coming sooner or later; and now it's here, as Trump brings up one of the most insane right wing smears on the ... > [@](#): > > Anyone who pays attention to Donald Trump’s affinity for far right conspiracy theories knew this moment was coming sooner or later; and now it’s here, as Trump brings up one of the most insane right wing smears on the Clintons: that they orchestrated the murder of former White House aide Vincent Foster. > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > ``` > > He added, “I don’t bring [Foster] up because I don’t know enough to really discuss it. I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I don’t do that because I don’t think it’s fair.” > > > > ``` > > He’s not bringing Foster up, says Trump, as he brings Foster up. He’s pandering to the utterly degraded right wing base, of course, the paranoid people who made him the GOP nominee. > > Everything old is new again in 2016. Here is Snopes explaining why that is garbage from Trump and the other trash that Trump is wallowing up to toss around again. > **[FACT CHECK: Clinton Body Bags](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/clinton-body-bags/)** > > Decades-old political rumor claims Bill Clinton quietly did away with several dozen people who possessed incriminating evidence about him. Sorry, but I think we had enough with Tricky Dick regarding presidents that believed that they did have all the right to use their presidential powers to deal with his real and imaginary enemies. And things like this again show to me that Trump is only listening to the extreme Republicans for what ideas to use to impress his base; but items like this one only show to me that Trump really has no new ideas and [his cabinet is bound to be full of more crank magnets like him.](http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/05/20/trump_picks_climate_change_denier_as_energy_advisor.html) ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/265 "2016-05-24T04:52:43Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > nobody cares about the Cosby thing…I do think its sad that his message to young blacks, which was generally the message that needed to go out more, is now tainted by the allegations, allegations which I’m not terribly sure of (I feel like BLM, Crump, Sharpton/Jackson sought to destroy him or else he would’ve put BLM’s extreme tactics down). So it isn’t the several dozen women who came forward accusing him of rape, it was his “enemies” within the black community that brought him down? What a bizarre conspiracy theory. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/266 "2016-05-24T17:27:28Z")
Trump is going to face the death by a thousand cuts, and most of them will be self-inflicted. A lot of why he is where he is the media attention, how he could wage a campaign almost entirely by getting mentioned. Almost always for some inflammatory thing he says. Worked too, as he couldn’t help but notice. Say something nutso, get on the news. Say something nutso the next day, on the news again. Rinse, blather, repeat. But very little of that attention was on anything but what he had most recently said. His personal history, his record, all of that has been largely unexplored. But now we settle into several months of investigative reporting. Which won’t be a big hairy ass deal unless he responds. But he will. He cannot help himself, he will make whichever scandal surfaces the big news of the day by opening his big fat pie input orifice. If he were smart and disciplined, he could probably slough most of it off, but he can’t do that, because he isn’t. And likely none of them will really turn off a huge chunk of supporters. But we are talking about months of time, for a thousand tiny slices… ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/267 "2016-05-25T00:30:36Z")
[Jesus, Trump’s own campaign can’t even keep their stories straight.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/24/four-months-later-donald-trump-says-he-gave-1-million-to-veterans-group/) It seems that after the press was trying to figure out if Trump actually kept his promise to give $1 million of his own money away… Trump finally phoned a charity to tell them that “the cheque is in the mail” His own campaign didn’t have a clue though…Trump and his campaign manager are contradicting themselves… > [@](#): > > When asked Tuesday if he had given the money this week only because reporters had been asking about it, Trump responded: “You know, you’re a nasty guy. You’re really a nasty guy. I gave out millions of dollars that I had no obligation to do.” > > Trump’s call on Monday night stood in contradiction to an account given by campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on Friday. “The money is fully spent,” Lewandowski said then. “Mr. Trump’s money is fully spent.” > > On Tuesday, Trump said Lewandowski would not have been in a position to know that. “I don’t know that Corey would even know when I gave it out,” Trump said. Let me replay that for you: > [@](#): > > On Tuesday, Trump said Lewandowski would not have been in a position to know that. “I don’t know that Corey would even know when I gave it out,” Trump said. Trump is not even communicating with his own freakin’ campaign manager, and just threw him under the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/268 "2016-05-25T17:21:37Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Trump is going to face the death by a thousand cuts, and most of them will be self-inflicted. > > A lot of why he is where he is the media attention, how he could wage a campaign almost entirely by getting mentioned. Almost always for some inflammatory thing he says. Worked too, as he couldn’t help but notice. Say something nutso, get on the news. Say something nutso the next day, on the news again. Rinse, blather, repeat. > > But very little of that attention was on anything but what he had most recently said. His personal history, his record, all of that has been largely unexplored. But now we settle into several months of investigative reporting. Which won’t be a big hairy ass deal unless he responds. > > But he will. He cannot help himself, he will make whichever scandal surfaces the big news of the day by opening his big fat pie input orifice. If he were smart and disciplined, he could probably slough most of it off, but he can’t do that, because he isn’t. > > And likely none of them will really turn off a huge chunk of supporters. But we are talking about months of time, for a thousand tiny slices… I agree with you that the reason Trump has so much traction is due to the incredible amount of media attention he gets. The problem with your theory that he’ll die by a thousand cuts is that you are presuming that the majority of the American electorate is rational & intelligent. Maybe I’m just cynical, but I think the majority of voters are dumb and clueless. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/269 "2016-05-30T01:32:03Z")
[Almost new Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/191900/positive-least-one-presidential-candidate.aspx?g_source=Election%202016&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tiles) with some interesting bits. Conducted May 18-22 which is the time period of Trump scoring a couple of national head to heads with him the lead as some GOP support solidifies and Sanders is continuing full attacks. To start: > [@](#): > > Twenty-two percent of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic say Hillary Clinton would be a great president if elected, similar to the 19% of Republicans and Republican leaners who say the same about Donald Trump. Most of the rest of each partisan group say their party’s candidate would be either a good or an average president. Positive sentiments are by no means universal within either party, however; 21% of Republicans say Trump would be a poor or terrible president, while 13% of Democrats say that about Clinton. But the more interesting bits to me are buried a little lower. They discuss the 14% who think that both of them would be terrible, maybe less than many were expecting: > [@](#): > > Of particular interest is the 14% of Americans who say both candidates would be poor or terrible presidents. > > Roughly two-thirds of this group of 14% who are negative about potential Trump and Clinton presidencies identify initially as political independents (before they are asked which way they lean). Another 24% of this group are Republicans, while 12% are Democrats. … Americans younger than 30 are significantly overrepresented in the group of those who think both Clinton and Trump would be poor or terrible presidents. This is to some degree related to young people’s support for Bernie Sanders for president. The views of Sanders’ supporters could change when he eventually withdraws from the race. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/270 "2016-05-30T02:12:07Z")
Or, being young, they don’t know about “wasting your vote” and don’t care, so might vote for Stein or Johnson. I voted for Perot in my first election and I know that the “You’ll waste your vote!” voices fell on deaf ears with me. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/271 "2016-05-30T02:48:39Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > That leaves a terror attack. Yes, that would increase Trump’s vote share as it might make more people embrace his Final Solution for Muslims. As we all know, there has never been a terror attack with a Republican- well except for that one day and Bush’s term didn’t start till 9/12/01. A terror attack would increase the paranoia and xenophobia of Americans and who better to exploit that than someone as ill-informed as Trump? What if the terrorist attack was commited by a republican and not a muslim? [It’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing) [happened](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting) [before](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Rudolph). ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/272 "2016-05-30T02:53:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Or, being young, they don’t know about “wasting your vote” and don’t care, so might vote for Stein or Johnson. > > I voted for Perot in my first election and I know that the “You’ll waste your vote!” voices fell on deaf ears with me. Voting for an independent isn’t always a waste. Just ask [Angus King](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_King). He was elected to two terms as governor and then later to the Senate as an independent. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/273 "2016-05-30T03:14:40Z")
The Electoral College this year is looking a lot like it did four years ago: [So far, the 2016 election is looking a lot like the one that came before it ...](http://www.aol.com/article/2016/05/29/so-far-the-2016-election-is-looking-a-lot-like-the-one-that-cam/21385755/) ---
**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:** [May 30, 2016, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/274 "2016-05-30T06:40:51Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Voting for an independent isn’t always a waste. Just ask [Angus King](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_King). > He was elected to two terms as governor and then later to the Senate as an independent. Get back to us when an independent President is elected in the modern era. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/275 "2016-05-30T09:03:21Z")
THe reason it’s never happened is because national parties tend to nominate electable candidates, whereas state parties sometimes do not, leaving an opening. There’s a big gaping opening right now. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/276 "2016-05-30T12:05:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Or, being young, they don’t know about “wasting your vote” and don’t care, so might vote for Stein or Johnson. If you live in a safe D or R state then voting third party is completely valid and is not wasting your vote. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/277 "2016-05-30T12:36:01Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > THe reason it’s never happened is because national parties tend to nominate electable candidates, whereas state parties sometimes do not, leaving an opening. There’s a big gaping opening right now. Assume that _all_ of the 14% say both candidates would be poor or terrible presidents would vote for a particular same third party or independent candidate. (Noting of course that 24% of them are solid Republicans, 12% are solid Democrats, and the rest likely a motley diverse group of leaners.) That’s no gaping opening. It is likely not enough to win a single electoral vote. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/278 "2016-05-30T13:08:34Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > If you live in a safe D or R state then voting third party is completely valid and is not wasting your vote. Actually, it’s not wasting your vote, it’s spending your vote to further a lost, detrimental cause. Even _encouraging_ people like Stein or Johnson hurts “their side”. No two ways about this - in the American political system, third-party candidates harm the candidates and parties who are closest to them, ideologically, and offer close to no value back, save for the rare cases where they actually win congressional seats. ---
**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:** [May 30, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/279 "2016-05-30T16:33:07Z")
It’s also more than a little difficult to take a third party seriously some of whose poster children are a purple-haired 15-year-old who claims she has the right to vote (not in this election, baby) and a guy named Starchild who doesn’t look quite old enough to have been politically aware in the '60’s, wearing black speedos and some kind of clear garment touting, you guessed it, transparency in government. This is your protest vote? ---
**Author:** ![Phu\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Phu\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phu_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/280 "2016-05-30T19:36:24Z")
You KNOW it’s true: The world is at its safest when the United States is at its strongest. So far, Hillary has done nothing to indicate she’ll make America any stronger. If anything, she’s likely to follow in Obama’s failed policies. Phu Cat ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989/281 "2016-05-30T19:43:28Z")
> [@Phu\_Cat](#): > > You KNOW it’s true: The world is at its safest when the United States is at its strongest. So far, Hillary has done nothing to indicate she’ll make America any stronger. If anything, she’s likely to follow in Obama’s failed policies. > > Phu Cat What I know is true is that America is much, much stronger and safer now than 8 years ago, with many fewer Americans dying abroad, and what Trump has advocated for would make us much, much weaker. Continuing Obama’s policies sounds a lot better than Trump’s nonsense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-vs-clinton-in-the-general-election/754989.md?page=15)