# 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:** 14
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/261 "2015-09-24T16:50:53Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > I don’t let others do my thinking for me. YMMV. Well, it sounds like, according to you, if I do my own thinking, I’m ignoring inconvenient polls, and that’s bad. But if I use the yardstick of RCP, I’m not doing my own thinking, and _that’s_ bad. Seems like whatever I do with polls, besides look at them exactly the way you want me to, is bad. I guess what you want me to do is let _you_ do my thinking for me about polls. But wouldn’t that be bad too? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/262 "2015-09-24T18:15:25Z")
Apparently [Trump wants the U.S. government to step in and protect him](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/23/donald-trump-wants-the-fcc-to-fine-a-critical-fox-news-pundit/) from Big Bad Rich Lowry who is saying Mean Things about him. That oughta win over the GOPers looking for a tough guy to lead them. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/263 "2015-09-24T21:01:19Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > I don’t think Trump will make a very good president. But then, I don’t think Clinton, Sanders, Bush, Rubio, Cruz, Kasich etc. will make a very good president either. Then who would? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/264 "2015-09-24T21:02:19Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Then who would? Out of the people running? No one. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/265 "2015-09-24T21:45:21Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Out of the people running? No one. Is this a guessing game? Scott Walker? Glenn Beck? Alex Jones? Charles Koch himself? ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/266 "2015-09-24T23:36:13Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > That oughta win over the GOPers looking for a tough guy to lead them. 😃 While simultaneously showing that he doesn’t understand that the FCC had no jurisdiction on that broadcast. Headlines of two of the top 5 “Most Read” stories when I checked out the FCC story. [Donald Trump’s slide in the polls is beginning to look real](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/24/donald-trumps-slide-in-the-polls-is-beginning-to-look-real/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b) [Donald Trump says he didn’t speak to a half-empty room. But he did.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/24/donald-trump-says-he-didnt-speak-to-a-half-empty-room-but-he-did/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b) He even cut himself off from one of the news networks that gets the best share of Republican eyeballs. Sure many of his supporters had self imposed one but he needs the voters still watching to win. It’s been a banner week in Trump campaign headquarters. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/267 "2015-09-25T10:41:39Z")
Yesterday I asked my boss if he and his wife were still supporting Trump. He said no, but didn’t elaborate on what in particular had finally turned them off. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/268 "2015-09-25T14:32:17Z")
Latest Florida poll: (PDF: [http://business.fau.edu/departments/economics/business-economics-polling/bepi-polls/download.aspx?id=5925](http://business.fau.edu/departments/economics/business-economics-polling/bepi-polls/download.aspx?id=5925) Trump: 31.5% Rubio: 19.2% Bush: 11.3% ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/269 "2015-09-25T15:00:59Z")
By the way, in the latest Fox poll, 65% of likely Republican primary voters said that they feel betrayed by the Republican party. It isn’t a coincidence that Trump+Carson+Fiorina+Cruz+“Don’t know” equals 65% in that same poll. The fervent hope of some Republicans that these voters will somehow change their opinion once the actual primaries roll around is silly. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/270 "2015-09-25T15:09:59Z")
FWIW, [P.J. O’Rourke doesn’t think Trump will last.](http://www.salon.com/2015/09/24/p_j_orourke_on_why_trump_will_collapse_ann_coulters_a_fraud_and_how_national_lampoon_created_modern_comedy/) > [@](#): > > **I don’t resonate to Trump’s TV personality, but obviously lots of people do. He’s playing a larger-than-life character that he has perfected over the years, and people love it.** > > Right, and that’s what the polling is all about. We’re a long way from actually electing somebody president, or even nominating them for it. The polling secrets of Donald Trump are basically twofold. Who answers the phone at dinnertime? Who answers the phone at all? Who hasn’t got caller ID? If you see a pollster, do you answer your phone? Of course not. Nobody does. > > The second thing is name recognition. You got somebody fuddled enough to answer their phone in the middle of dinner, and you ask them who they’re for. Name recognition pops out of their mouth, because I can’t remember all these jerks myself and I’m in the business. I would be like “There’s Jeb Bush, there’s the Rubio guy from Florida,” and then I’d be stuck. It’s like trying to name the Seven Dwarves after you’ve had a few drinks. And so, you know, what pops out of their mouth is Donald Trump. > > **So your hunch is that it’s all an illusion? He’s not sticky and it’s all gonna fall apart sooner or later?** > > Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s going to sink under the weight of its own absurdity, you know? Meanwhile, in my mind, it gives my political opponents a chance to say, “Oh my God – here is the true face of the GOP!” > > **Trust me, we have been saying that. Day after day after day.** > > And who can blame you? If I were on your side, I would too. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/271 "2015-09-25T15:27:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > FWIW, [P.J. O’Rourke doesn’t think Trump will last.](http://www.salon.com/2015/09/24/p_j_orourke_on_why_trump_will_collapse_ann_coulters_a_fraud_and_how_national_lampoon_created_modern_comedy/) It’s been 25 years since he’s been remotely insightful. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/272 "2015-09-25T15:33:12Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It’s been 25 years since he’s been remotely insightful. Come to think of it, it’s been about that long since _National Lampoon_ became irrelevant (and almost that long since it folded). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/273 "2015-09-25T16:04:35Z")
I like the man, sorta kinda. His memoirs of silliness in the movement ring true, human. Saw the same thing, myself, but that isn’t all I saw. And a guy who brags that he used to be a pot-smoking hippy protester but then wised up and became an alcoholic whore in a three-piece suit… Still, funnier than David Brooks. So, there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/274 "2015-09-25T16:09:32Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I like the man, sorta kinda. His memoirs of silliness in the movement ring true, human. Saw the same thing, myself, but that isn’t all I saw. And a guy who brags that he used to be a pot-smoking hippy protester but then wised up and became an alcoholic whore in a three-piece suit… > > Still, funnier than David Brooks. So, there’s that. For some reason, really funny conservative humorists are extremely rare. Dennis Miller is not funny . . . _Mallard Fillmore_ is not funny . . . Rodriguez is not funny . . . Wayne Stayskal is not funny . . . none of the “Christian comedians” are funny . . . Sam Kinnison was funny but not really very political . . . not even O’Rourke has been **very** funny since his _NatLamp_ days. Why is that, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/275 "2015-09-25T16:37:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > For some reason, really funny conservative humorists are extremely rare. Dennis Miller is not funny . . . _Mallard Fillmore_ is not funny . . . Rodriguez is not funny . . . Wayne Stayskal is not funny . . . none of the “Christian comedians” are funny . . . Sam Kinnison was funny but not really very political . . . not even O’Rourke has been **very** funny since his _NatLamp_ days. Why is that, I wonder? Here’s my basic take: you can be funny by poking fun at people who are sufficiently famous/notorious that they won’t (or at least shouldn’t) even notice that you’re poking fun at them. Punching up, as the saying goes. And if you poke fun at lesser targets, it really only works if you do so in a way that at least seems to recognize your common humanity. (This helps even when your jokes are of the punching-up sort.) To the extent that Republicans punch up, they do it at people they’re driven batshit crazy by. (Obama, Hillary, etc.) It’s hard to be funny about people who make you foam at the mouth with rage. But most of the time, they’re punching down. And not only is that never funny, but they’re mad at those people (or should I say Those People), too. When the crux of your politics is to identify enemies and tear them down, there’s no humor to be had there. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/276 "2015-09-25T16:38:26Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Still, funnier than David Brooks. So, there’s that. That’s such a low bar, it might as well be buried underground. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/277 "2015-09-25T16:45:59Z")
Hey, I’m trying to be generous, here! OK, not very good at it… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/278 "2015-09-25T17:17:03Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > And if you poke fun at lesser targets, it really only works if you do so in a way that at least seems to recognize your common humanity. Well, I don’t know about that; Polish jokes and Italian jokes and such are usually funny, even if such jokes are fundamentally ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/279 "2015-09-25T18:22:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Well, I don’t know about that; Polish jokes and Italian jokes and such are usually funny, even if such jokes are fundamentally ignorant. Well, I don’t think (I could be wrong) that any Polish-Americans are running for the Republican nomination, so maybe they are smarter than we think… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/280 "2015-09-25T18:47:59Z")
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