# 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:** 142
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2825 "2016-03-22T21:10:08Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Just when I think Rudy couldn’t drop any lower in my estimation… I suspect Rudy is trying to elevate himself out of the dustbin of irrelevance, but is actually achieving the opposite. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2826 "2016-03-22T21:12:27Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > Trump was refusing to acknowledge the premise of the question, refusing to acknowledge that it was even worthy of a serious response. That in no way is any kind of crypto-endorsement for the KKK, as so many are so desperate for it to be. Again, if that was the only item you may had a point, but that is not the case. > [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > One legitimate answer to the question: “I heard some things man, are you, like, cool with the KKK, bro” is “fuck you”. That’s more representative of how an ordinary person might answer, and those are the people Trump is talking to and winning over. This is really nonsense. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2827 "2016-03-22T21:16:08Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > Nonsense. He had already disavowed the endorsement the night before. > > This idea is ludicrous, that accusers can repeat bullshit stories like this, ad infinitum, implying some kind of association which does not exist, and the accused must always snap to, defer to the potency of the accusation, and mindlessly and submissively repeat the platitude that is expected of them. > > Trump was refusing to acknowledge the premise of the question, refusing to acknowledge that it was even worthy of a serious response. That in no way is any kind of crypto-endorsement for the KKK, as so many are so desperate for it to be. > > One legitimate answer to the question: “I heard some things man, are you, like, cool with the KKK, bro” is “fuck you”. That’s more representative of how an ordinary person might answer, and those are the people Trump is talking to and winning over. When asked this question the best thing is to affirmatively speak against a bigot. It’s not good to act aggrieved with the media for asking and making your response as stingy as possible and all about not giving up little surrender points. He is running to be a leader of men, not dogs. Or he could say “Fuck You” I’m OK with that. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2828 "2016-03-22T21:37:34Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > You are reeeaaally reaching here, you know that, right? > > Like lot’s of twitterers, he tweets and retweets constantly, from all over the place. That a certain infograph he tweeted was also posted somewhere else doesn’t really mean much. > > Islam is not a race, and Americans’ desire to mitigate the effects of the global Islamic insurgency here at home don’t make them bigots. A few hundred million people have these concerns. What a few hundred KKK members, or a few thousand White Pride Bozos, have to say on the issue is irrelevant. (except to turn it back on them and show their ideology to be vapid and gross for the same reasons Islamism and Jihadism are) > > And he speaks kindly of Mexican immigrants, the context of the quote in question was a discussion about _illegal Mexican immigrants_. It doesn’t matter how many others are simultaneously wrong about this along with you, you are still just as wrong. Trump vilified\* illegal\* Mexican immigrants as rapists. > > As far as “the man who assaulted a non-violent black protester”, do you have any evidence that race had anything to do with the incident? Or are you just trying to _make_ it racial? > > [What about this incident?](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/man-beat-protester-tucson-trump-rally-air-force-article-1.2572348) Is it racial in nature? Or is race just a component of the story when it makes it easier to bend the facts to fit the narrative that is being used to vilify Trump’s supporters as racists? > > The repetitions of the associations between Trump and the KKK, Nazis, and David Duke are sensationalist, lazy, ignorant, insulting slurs. [And nothing more](https://d.justpo.st/media/images/2016/01/14/everyone-i-dont-like-is-hitler-the-emotional-childs-guide-to-political-discussion-1452799024.jpg). You know, it’s really not that hard to _not retweet bogus stats from white supremacists_. It’s not too much to ask that Presidential candidates don’t do this, especially not multiple times. It’s also not too much to ask that Presidential candidates _not consider paying for the legal fees of violent criminals_. These are not difficult things to avoid. That Trump is unable or unwilling to avoid them demonstrates extreme ignorance or extremely poor judgment. No idea why you’re trying so hard to defend these kinds of things. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2829 "2016-03-22T21:48:39Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > No idea why you’re trying so hard to defend these kinds of things. Yeah, that mystifies me too. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2830 "2016-03-22T21:50:48Z")
Look, **HB,** talk is talk and fun is fun and Devil’s Advocate is a legitimate rhetorical and forensic role one can play without actually siding with the Devil – but for Og’s sake, you don’t actually **want** Trump as POTUS, do you?! Not even in preference to Clinton, I should hope! ---
**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:** [March 22, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2831 "2016-03-22T23:17:22Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > No, it’s not newsworthy, it’s just a tool used to vilify Trump. The coverage is purely sensational. [QUOTE= yesterday’s Hank Beecher] It has a branding effect, though. [/QUOTE] I wonder if you even pay attention to what you write. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2832 "2016-03-22T23:23:36Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You know, it’s really not that hard to _not retweet bogus stats from white supremacists_. It’s not too much to ask that Presidential candidates don’t do this, especially not multiple times. It’s also not too much to ask that Presidential candidates _not consider paying for the legal fees of violent criminals_. > > These are not difficult things to avoid. That Trump is unable or unwilling to avoid them demonstrates extreme ignorance or extremely poor judgment. No idea why you’re trying so hard to defend these kinds of things. He thinks he has the ability to change the minds of people who aren’t deluded into believing Trump is the coming savior of the US. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2833 "2016-03-23T03:01:00Z")
Trump was going around today repeating his call for US law to be amended to allow torture of suspected terrorists. He said that the guy arrested in Brussels would “talk faster” if he were being tortured (the guy is apparently already cooperating with Belgian police). Trump also confidently stated that the military was 100% in favor of using torture (this is debatable to say the least) > **[Trump All For Torturing Terror Suspects: ‘He’ll Talk Faster With The Torture’](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-torture-waterboarding)** > > Donald Trump amped up his already heated rhetoric about the use of torture to extract information from terrorism suspects, speaking via telephone interview to CNN after Tuesday' Separately, on Facebook today, Trump posted: > [@](#): > > The police in our country are not appreciated. We do not give them the kind of respect they must have. The fact is- they do an incredible job! **We have to give them more authority** , and far more respect. Without the great police forces we have throughout the United States- we would not be sitting here right now! (my bold) I wonder what sorts of expanded authority he has in mind for the police. What tools not currently at their disposal would the police have under Trump? The authority to make suspects talk faster? ---
**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:** [March 23, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2834 "2016-03-23T03:05:57Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Trump was going around today repeating his call for US law to be amended to allow torture of suspected terrorists. He said that the guy arrested in Brussels would “talk faster” if he were being tortured (the guy is apparently already cooperating with Belgian police). Trump also confidently stated that the military was 100% in favor of using torture (this is debatable to say the least) > > [Trump All For Torturing Terror Suspects: ‘He’ll Talk Faster With The Torture’ - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-torture-waterboarding) > > Separately, on Facebook today, Trump posted: > > (my bold) > > I wonder what sorts of expanded authority he has in mind for the police. What tools not currently at their disposal would the police have under Trump? The authority to make suspects talk faster? If you gave the police their head on things they would use it to ignore Trumps every utterance. They know how rancid he is. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2835 "2016-03-23T03:22:39Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > If you gave the police their head on things they would use it to ignore Trumps every utterance. They know how rancid he is. Head on things? Not sure what you mean there. Anyway, I’m sure you’re correct that many police are horrified by Trump. However, I only knew of Trump’s Facebook post because it had been approvingly shared by a friend of mine. My friend a is a Captain in a large county police department. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2836 "2016-03-23T03:36:45Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The point of having primaries is for one candidate to win an absolute majority of delegates. What the RNC is saying is that a plurality of delegates isn’t enough. Thanks. That makes more sense and is how I thought it worked. But I thought this guy _was_ saying an absolute majority didn’t necessarily matter. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2837 "2016-03-23T03:57:11Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I wonder what sorts of expanded authority he has in mind for the police. What tools not currently at their disposal would the police have under Trump? The authority to make suspects talk faster? And now you know yet another reason why Trump joined Arpaio to the hip. In exchange for his support it is clear to me that Trump is promising to him and other authoritarian bullies with badges the powers that Arpaio and others crave to dispose of their enemies, even if they are innocent. > **[Salvador Reza Released, Prosecutor Admits No Probable Cause for Arrest](https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/salvador-reza-released-prosecutor-admits-no-probable-cause-for-arrest-6501529)** > > As civil rights leader Salvador Reza stood in stripes before a night court judge around 3:30 a.m. this morning at the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix, the county prosecutor made an eye-popping admission."This is really my review," he... > [@](#): > > Reza, leader of the organization Puente, had been arrested late Friday afternoon after watching a band of protesters engage in civil disobedience by blocking Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s command post for the MCSO’s latest anti-immigrant sweep. The post was located near 35th Avenue and Lower Buckeye, close to the Lower Buckeye Jail. Reza was across the street in an unpaved parking lot. > > Though Reza was not participating in civil disobedience that day, a pack of aggro sheriff’s deputies ran across 35th Avenue and arrested him. Arpaio, MCSO Chief Brian Sands, and MCSO flack Brian Lee have all been videotaped stating that the arrest was because Reza had violated his order of release after he’d been let go on bond the night before for taking part in civil disobedience on July 29. This, as part of a “national day of non-compliance” to SB 1070. > > After court was adjourned with Reza’s O.R., a crowd of about sixty supporters, who had crammed into a viewing room to watch the proceedings from a TV monitor, erupted into applause. They then filed outside to wait another two hours-plus before Reza and the others arrested that day were set free. Remember guys, the real reason why torture is used by reprehensible leaders is not to get evidence to prevent crime, but history has shown that the usual reason is that dictators and authoritarians get evidence (many times false) to support their evil intentions to their people. For Qaddafi in one occasion it was to show that his mishandling of public health was not the reason for an AIDS outbreak in Libya, [but that it was the European doctors and nurses that confessed under torture that they did it](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6192599.stm), of course no European nation believed that, and international pressure prevented their execution and managed to get them released later. I can only picture Trump agreeing with the dictator. I point to that case because in Arizona it is clear to me that the “enhanced interrogations” would had allowed Arpaio’s men to get a “timely confession” to put people like Reza away for good. (For the good of Arpaio and the good number of racist legislators in Arizona). AFAIK Reza’s case against Arpaio for this and other abuses is still pending in District Court. And that leads us to another price we will have to pay under a Trump presidency, besides the moral cost one: It is clear what Trump’s designs are for the whole USA, and I have seen many that still support Trump **by ignoring the abusers he is cuddling** because they believe that the other powers (legislative, judicial) will prevent a lot of what he wants from taking place. So relax, no? But, as the abuser of Arizona demonstrates, those Trump supporters willfully forget the monetary costs that we all will have to pay before and during the prevention efforts. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2838 "2016-03-23T03:58:35Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Head on things? Not sure what you mean there. Either “freedom of action” or “unlimited blowjobs.” Works pretty much the same either way. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2016, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2839 "2016-03-23T05:21:23Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Separately, on Facebook today, Trump posted: > > > [@](#): > > > > The police in our country are not appreciated. We do not give them the kind of respect they must have. The fact is- they do an incredible job! **We have to give them more authority** , and far more respect. Without the great police forces we have throughout the United States- we would not be sitting here right now! > > (my bold) He was sitting in a police station? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2840 "2016-03-23T11:46:23Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > If you gave the police their head on things they would use it to ignore Trumps every utterance. They know how rancid he is. > [@Bayard](#): > > Head on things? Not sure what you mean there. > … It’s an old idiom meaning give them freedom to act as they will. When you let go of a horse’s reins so you’re no longer pulling his head left & right you “give him his head”. And he then walks where he wants. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2841 "2016-03-23T13:25:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Either “freedom of action” or “unlimited blowjobs.” Works pretty much the same either way. A career in law enforcement is looking more and more appealing to me. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2842 "2016-03-23T13:42:33Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Thanks. That makes more sense and is how I thought it worked. But I thought this guy _was_ saying an absolute majority didn’t necessarily matter. Well, that is also theoretically true: the delegates are pledged to vote for Trump, but a majority of the delegates can vote to change the convention rules to unbind themselves.\* And then they could vote for whoever they wanted. That sort of thing would absolutely lead to riots, though, unless it was some sort of emergency (e.g., Trump died the day before the convention). \*_Some_ of the delegates are bound by the convention rules and state law, so the rule change would not affect their obligations. But only a couple of states have those laws, AIUI. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2843 "2016-03-23T13:47:39Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, that is also theoretically true: the delegates are pledged to vote for Trump, but a majority of the delegates can vote to change the convention rules to unbind themselves.\* And then they could vote for whoever they wanted. That sort of thing would absolutely lead to riots, though, unless it was some sort of emergency (e.g., Trump died the day before the convention). Actually, there would probably be even bigger riots in that case, as “covert assassination” conspiracy theories circulated amongst the Trumpkins. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/2844 "2016-03-23T14:10:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Either “freedom of action” or “unlimited blowjobs.” Works pretty much the same either way. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > It’s an old idiom meaning give them freedom to act as they will. When you let go of a horse’s reins so you’re no longer pulling his head left & right you “give him his head”. And he then walks where he wants. Ah, thanks. In that case, I’m not entirely on board with giving the police _more_ freedom of action. I think recent events suggest more oversight of US police departments is perhaps in order. But I am intrigued by this concept of unlimited blowjobs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=141) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=143)