# Trump's Republican primary campaign **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 3, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828 "2015-09-03T18:00:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 108
**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:** [February 29, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2145 "2016-02-29T17:36:22Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > (See post 2102 above) > > I wouldn’t expect Trump to follow an interviewer’s lead into that trap. Trap? Lol. Trump trapped himself by trying to have his cake and eat it too. How difficult would it have been to simply say "I don’t support white supremacy in any shape or form, no matter who chooses to endorse me "? That’s an untouchable statement; he could have simply repeated versions of this response throughout the interview until Tapper grew bored. That’s how the game is won. You don’t win it by giving your opponents an arsenal to shoot you with. That CNN interview was as much of a trap as a 1st grade math test. ---
**Author:** ![Grsz11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grsz11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grsz11)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2146 "2016-02-29T18:14:03Z")
Trump now claims he didn’t hear the question properly. Are you fucking kidding me? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2147 "2016-02-29T18:21:22Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Everything he says, says an awful lot about him. And it’s _not working_. See post 2138. > [@you with the face](#): > > How difficult would it have been to simply say "I don’t support white supremacy in any shape or form, no matter who chooses to endorse me "? That’s an untouchable statement; he could have simply repeated versions of this response throughout the interview until Tapper grew bored. That’s how the game is won. Trump is answering or not answering questions in the way he is in order to keep journalists from setting the narrative and keeping him constantly on the defensive. While it’s certainly different on this board, most people around the country understand that no candidate has control over who decides to support them and they couldn’t care less about whether Trump disavows the KKK or David Duke. They know there’s no connection between Trump and these people and that the media is simply trying to keep Trump on the defensive and make him look bad. Trump isn’t playing along and his numbers keep going up. A lot of people in this country don’t like the media, and the more Trump thwarts them or refuses to play their game, the more they like him. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2148 "2016-02-29T18:27:38Z")
> [@Grsz11](#): > > Trump now claims he didn’t hear the question properly. Are you fucking kidding me? This is the funny thing – he keeps making comments that are cringe-worthy even to me and yet his numbers keep going up. I can only think he’s smarter than the rest of us and knows how to play the game to his benefit even if it looks like he’s doing the complete opposite. Maybe he knows it works to his benefit to appear flustered and set upon by the media and that ultimately it has the effect of turning people off to the media rather than him. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2149 "2016-02-29T18:29:25Z")
“Most people”? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2150 "2016-02-29T18:43:10Z")
I think so. It really isn’t that much of a stretch to recognize that a candidate has no control over who announces their support of that candidate, and that said support cannot ipso-facto be construed to show support for whatever cause said supporter represents, which is how the media and Trump’s opponents are trying to play it. ---
**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:** [February 29, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2151 "2016-02-29T18:43:21Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > See post 2138. He is talking now about the people outside the Republican bubbles. Getting close to 50% among Republicans is still about 25% of the electorate at large. I agree that his evasions and “Bullshit Politics” will not work among most Americans. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2152 "2016-02-29T18:46:11Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > While it’s certainly different on this board, most people around the country understand that no candidate has control over who decides to support them and they couldn’t care less about whether Trump disavows the KKK or David Duke. I believe there may be a slight logical flaw here. The decision of the KKK’s leader to back a specific presidential candidate has nothing whatsoever to do with that candidate’s stated views? If not, why isn’t the KKK supporting, say, Kasich? Also, as someone else said: “Most people”? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2153 "2016-02-29T18:47:23Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I think so. It really isn’t that much of a stretch to recognize that a candidate has no control over who announces their support of that candidate, and that said support cannot ipso-facto be construed to show support for whatever cause said supporter represents, which is how the media and Trump’s opponents are trying to play it. Well, in this case, [there’s a lot more to it](http://www.salon.com/2016/02/29/theres_no_more_denying_trumps_campaign_of_hate_how_he_built_a_coalition_of_americas_bullies_xenophobes_bigots/) than Duke’s endorsement. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2154 "2016-02-29T18:57:20Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > He is talking now about the people outside the Republican bubbles. > > Getting close to 50% among Republicans is still about 25% of the electorate at large. > > I agree that his evasions and “Bullshit Politics” will not work among most Americans. You also have to factor in support that Trump has from Democrats and independents. It’s fallacious to look solely at Trump’s [ever-growing] support among Republicans and deduce it’s the only support he has. The _NYT_ had this to say about Trump’s support among right-leaning Democrats: > [@](#): > > But during the Obama era, many of these voters have abandoned the Democrats. Many Democrats may now even identify as Republicans, or as independents who lean Republican, when asked by pollsters — a choice that means they’re included in a national Republican primary survey, whether they remain registered as Democrats or not. > > Mr. Trump appears to hold his greatest strength among people like these — registered Democrats who identify as Republican leaners — with 43 percent of their support, according to the Civis data. [Cite](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/upshot/donald-trumps-strongest-supporters-a-certain-kind-of-democrat.html?_r=0) Also the election is still eight months away and I expect Trump’s support will grow as he adopts a less inflammatory campaign approach, which he has alluded to a couple of times now - most recently in his immediate post-debate interview on CNN. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2155 "2016-02-29T19:20:57Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I believe there may be a slight logical flaw here. The decision of the KKK’s leader to back a specific presidential candidate has nothing whatsoever to do with that candidate’s stated views? If not, why isn’t the KKK supporting, say, Kasich? Because Duke is looking through the prism of his own distorted lenses and thinks he sees racism in Trump’s comments. Pretty much the same thing Democrats are doing too. Take illegal immigration for example. Nothing Trump has said about illegal immigrants or Hispanics in general is racist. That’s a fact. But almost every Trump opponent is convinced he hates Mexicans and is a racist. It’s highly likely that David Duke has mistakenly made the same interpretation from Trump’s comments…which interestingly enough aligns many of Trump’s Democratic opponents with David Duke on this issue, as they’re both mistakenly leaping to conclusions they favor which the facts don’t support. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2156 "2016-02-29T19:23:07Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Nothing Trump has said about illegal immigrants or Hispanics in general is racist. That’s a fact. You can’t possibly believe that. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2157 "2016-02-29T19:35:57Z")
Of course I do. Complaining about illegal immigrants is no more racist against Hispanics than complaining about white supremacists is racist against whites. Trump is condemning illegal behavior (and certain consequences of it), and not Hispanic people as a whole. This should be obvious, but for reasons politic it seems unfathomable. ---
**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:** [February 29, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2158 "2016-02-29T19:39:56Z")
What about Trump tweeting bogus and racist fake statistics about race and crime? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2159 "2016-02-29T19:43:13Z")
A mistake, accepted at face value and retweeted by an aide, would be my guess. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2160 "2016-02-29T19:44:18Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Of course I do. > > Complaining about illegal immigrants is no more racist against Hispanics than complaining about white supremacists is racist against whites. > > Trump is condemning illegal behavior (and certain consequences of it), and not Hispanic people as a whole. > > This should be obvious, but for reasons politic it seems unfathomable. The way you prioritize things says what your values are. He is pushing buttons that are relatively unimportant in most measures, numbers of crimes, expense, imminence of danger, compared with other issues that do not involve assigning blame to “others” ---
**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:** [February 29, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2161 "2016-02-29T19:50:15Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > A mistake, accepted at face value and retweeted by an aide, would be my guess. Sure, if one is inclined to interpret every possible event in the most Trump-positive way possible. I’m not so inclined, though I attribute Trump’s seemingly (to me) deliberate appeals to racists more to opportunism, ala George Wallace, then to actually hating black and brown people. Not that opportunistic racism is any better than idealistic racism. ---
**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:** [February 29, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2162 "2016-02-29T19:52:59Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > A mistake, accepted at face value and retweeted by an aide, would be my guess. So the buck stops somewhere below the top? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2163 "2016-02-29T19:54:15Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Of course I do. > > Complaining about illegal immigrants is no more racist against Hispanics than complaining about white supremacists is racist against whites. > > Trump is condemning illegal behavior (and certain consequences of it), and not Hispanic people as a whole. > > This should be obvious, but for reasons politic it seems unfathomable. Nice try at shifting the argument, but the subject under discussion here is not whether Mr. Trump is expressing bigotry towards any particular group, but his laughable claim to be completely unaware of the history of David Duke and the KKK. So can we stick to the actual subject, please? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2164 "2016-02-29T20:06:45Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > While it’s certainly different on this board, most people around the country understand that no candidate has control over who decides to support them and they couldn’t care less about whether Trump disavows the KKK or David Duke. They know there’s no connection between Trump and these people and that the media is simply trying to keep Trump on the defensive and make him look bad. Trump isn’t playing along and his numbers keep going up. A lot of people in this country don’t like the media, and the more Trump thwarts them or refuses to play their game, the more they like him. Most people don’t like Trump. > **[Donald Trump Is Really Unpopular With General Election Voters](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-is-really-unpopular-with-general-election-voters/)** > > Several recent stories, like this one from the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, report that influential Republicans have become increasingly re… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=107) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=109)