# 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:** 168
**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:** [April 8, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3345 "2016-04-08T19:21:34Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Would you describe her as successful? I mean this is pretty weird - why are talking about the political opinions of some 24 yr old rapper almost nobody ever heard? Because she’s an attractive foul-mouthed idiot (which, as we all know, is a sure-fire path to stardom in today’s America) who agitated to see Sarah Palin gang-raped by big veiny black dicks after having read a phony interview wherein Palin supposedly said Blacks liked being slaves or some such? I have little doubt she knows exactly what she’s doing. Sort of a hip-hop version of Miley Cyrus. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3346 "2016-04-08T19:31:50Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > Hip hop is my favorite art form, and Banks is my favorite hip hop lyricist. > > Yes, she is successful. > > People used to think that white power should be countered by black power. > > But the wise know that the counter to white power is black genius. > > Harlem has been a reliable wellspring of black genius for half a dozen generations. Banks is the cream of the latest crop. Hmmm. Ok. Well I don’t think her “genius” is going to counter much of anything but if she’s speaks to you then enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3347 "2016-04-08T19:53:20Z")
_nm_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3348 "2016-04-08T20:24:28Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > She is rejecting the notion that we can or should judge candidates on who is a better _person_, and deciding instead to choose the person likely to be the best _leader_. You know what other country once made exactly that choice? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3349 "2016-04-08T20:38:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > You know what other country once made exactly that choice? Good post but to be up to your usual great standards you should have included a Nazi Germany wiki link or a link to an alternet article listing all the similarities between Trump and Hitler. Getting lazy or something? ---
**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:** [April 8, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3350 "2016-04-08T20:51:17Z")
I loved Ben Stein’s quote reacting to Trump’s claim that he can eliminate the national debt in 8 years: “He might as well say he’s going to flap his wings and fly.” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3351 "2016-04-08T22:33:35Z")
It could be a lot faster than that. Trump could just declare national bankruptcy and shed its debt that way. Why not, it’s worked for more than one of his hotels. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3352 "2016-04-08T22:36:22Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > **Qin Shi Huangdi** : Walling off Mexico and banning all Muslims from immigrating isn’t centrist. It isn’t even Radical Centrist, unless you think Third Positionism is centrist, in which case I’ll thank you to lay off the Combat 18 or at least keep it out of the SDMB. First of all thank you posting this. This is more of the sort of thinking that needs to be seen on this forum rather then the apolitical gossip mongering that dominates that this thread. Upon reflection, I was wrong in referring to TRUMP as a “radical centrist” although his ideology had certain appeals in that direction when he ran for President in 2000 and that ideology was more in vogue thanks to the precedent of Perot. If anything, TRUMP is the most consistently conservative candidate in this race in as much as his ideology tends to put the national interest before the free market whereas mainstream Republican politics is generally free-market liberalism with certain culturally conservative tendencies on wedge issues. > [@](#): > > That said, sure, Trump has an actual ideological position. He is, in fact, speaking truth to power, talking about the problems of people who, apparently, aren’t supposed to _have_ problems: (Poor) straight white males. I put the word “poor” in parentheses because it’s the key to all of this, but it’s so studiously ignored as to be practically invisible. This is quite correct. At least from my experience, the politics of the white working-class with occasional exceptions such as _What’s the Matter with Kansas_ by Thomas Franks were largely ignored and the effects on them due to massive deindustrialization, income stagnation, cultural alienation, and so forth even more so. > [@](#): > > Progressive politics is tied up with identity politics, and identity politics is tied up with race and gender identity and sexual expression, at least in the mainstream post-Reagan Left. Yep. The focus on identitarian issues has meant despite liberal cultural triumphs on most cultural issues besides guns and abortion, there was virtually no progress on socioeconomic progress (and even some regression) from the end of the Johnson Administration (despite false dawns during both the Carter and Clinton administrations) to the beginning of Obama’s. It also has served to undermine a unified Democratic message. > [@](#): > > The Right can talk about poverty without tying it to race, but the Right’s version of a Real Good Plan is “Rent a U-Haul, you lazy fucking bum!” Yep, more evidence the American Right is not really “conservative” as this sort of rootlessness undermines any sense of community which is a core tenet of the conservative tradition. > [@](#): > > Trump’s fantasies involve us returning to the Nineteenth Century of isolationism, protectionism, and immigration quotas, all the things we had the luxury of hanging on to for longer than we ought to have and all of the things we were ultimately forced to give up. Although, of course TRUMP at least does recognize the value of Medicare, Social Security, and infrastructure unlike many a Republican. > [@](#): > > So it goes. So it keeps going. Maybe we need to turn back the clock to the Pre-War Labor Left, but if that’s going to happen it isn’t going to be done by Sanders, who can’t win the primary. I agree. Sanders is merely the start of the process. > [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > I loved Ben Stein’s quote reacting to Trump’s claim that he can eliminate the national debt in 8 years: > > “He might as well say he’s going to flap his wings and fly.” _Of course_ you’d seriously listen to a complete Establishment shill and washed-up Wall Street puppet like Ben Stein . ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3353 "2016-04-08T22:47:59Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] Qin Shi Huangdi: Walling off Mexico and banning all Muslims from immigrating isn’t centrist. It isn’t even Radical Centrist [/QUOTE] It is a lot closer to the center position of the average American than the average establishment politician is. [Among all likely voters, 51% favor building a wall on the border; 37% disagree, and 12% are not sure.](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/august_2015/voters_want_to_build_a_wall_deport_felon_illegal_immigrants) [Among all voters, 46% favor a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, while 40% are opposed. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided.](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/december_2015/voters_like_trump_s_proposed_muslim_ban) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3354 "2016-04-08T22:51:30Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Good post but to be up to your usual great standards you should have included a Nazi Germany wiki link or a link to an alternet article listing all the similarities between Trump and Hitler. Getting lazy or something? Not really worth it in this case, we’re only talking about the ignorant political ranting of a minor artist. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3355 "2016-04-08T22:54:53Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > It could be a lot faster than that. Trump could just declare national bankruptcy and shed its debt that way. Why not, it’s worked for more than one of his hotels. “Pardon me, Mr. President, the entire People’s Liberation Army is here to see you and they’re all punching their fists into their palms. I’d tell them to go away, but they’ve got every T-bill owner in America for backup, and those are carrying baseball bats.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3356 "2016-04-08T22:59:13Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > If anything, TRUMP is the most consistently conservative candidate in this race in as much as his ideology tends to put the national interest before the free market . . . I have encountered a great many definitions of conservatism over the years but I’ve never seen that one before, ever. It would make Sanders conservative too. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3357 "2016-04-08T23:05:22Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Progressive politics is tied up with identity politics, and identity politics is tied up with race and gender identity and sexual expression, at least in the mainstream post-Reagan Left. No, that’s **liberal** politics. **Progressive** politics is what Sanders represents, and he has taken a lot of heat for ostensibly ignoring or dismissing racial issues in favor of class issues. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3358 "2016-04-08T23:15:39Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > It is a lot closer to the center position of the average American than the average establishment politician is. “Centrist” is like “conservative” and “liberal” and “progressive” and “socialist” and “reactionary,” it is defined by its content, not by its popularity. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3359 "2016-04-08T23:43:34Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > _Of course_ you’d seriously listen to a complete Establishment shill and washed-up Wall Street puppet like Ben Stein . So let me get this straight…are you seriously claiming that you believe _anyone_ can pay off $19T in debt (plus interest) in 8 years? ---
**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:** [April 8, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3360 "2016-04-08T23:46:18Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > It is a lot closer to the center position of the average American than the average establishment politician is. > > [Among all likely voters, 51% favor building a wall on the border; 37% disagree, and 12% are not sure.](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/august_2015/voters_want_to_build_a_wall_deport_felon_illegal_immigrants) That was last year, when more look at the plans Trump has the American public is less convinced, of course it is the Republicans that are still for it, no matter how expensive it is getting. > **[Poll: 60 Percent Of Americans Don’t Want Donald Trump’s Wall](https://dailycaller.com/2016/04/02/poll-60-percent-of-americans-dont-want-donald-trumps-wall/)** > > Extensive new Pew Research Center poll shows almost 60 percent of registered American voters oppose wall between United States and Mexico > [@](#): > > An extensive new poll from the Pew Research Center shows that almost 60 percent of all registered American voters oppose the construction of a wall running along the length of the border between the United States and Mexico. > > Just 38 percent of all voters support such a border wall, according to the Pew poll. > > On the Republican side, a solid majority — 67 percent — supports a U.S.-Mexico border wall. On the Democratic side, however, 86 percent of voters oppose a wall. That 38% of support looks a lot like the support Trump is getting in the matching polls against the Democratic candidates. > [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > [Among all voters, 46% favor a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, while 40% are opposed. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided.](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/december_2015/voters_like_trump_s_proposed_muslim_ban) The very next day the polls showed otherwise at CBS. [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/cbs-poll-muslims-216670](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/cbs-poll-muslims-216670) > [@](#): > > Overall, 58 percent said the U.S. should not temporarily bar the entry Muslims from other countries, while 36 percent said it should. Along party lines, 54 percent of Republicans said it was a good idea, while 38 percent did not. Opposition is strong among Democratic respondents, with 73 percent opposing Trump’s proposal and just 23 percent in favor of it. Among independents, 59 percent opposed and 35 percent supported. > > Asked whether they would favor or oppose a federal database keeping track of Muslims’ names in the U.S., respondents were split, with 44 percent supporting and 46 percent opposing. Roughly 60 percent of Republicans would back such an effort, compared to just 31 percent of Democrats who said they would do the same. > > Overall, a plurality of 46 percent said Trump’s proposal would have no effect on keeping the country safe from terrorism, while 28 percent said it would keep the U.S. safer and 19 percent said it would make things less safe. A slim plurality of 45 percent to 35 percent of Republicans said it would make the country more safe rather than having no material impact, while a majority of 52 percent of Democrats said it would neither help nor hurt. Just 14 percent of Democrats said it would keep the U.S. safer from terrorism, and 27 percent said it would make things less safe. > > On whether the proposal goes against or is in keeping with the tradition of the country’s founding principles, just 25 percent responded the latter, while 67 percent indicated that it is antithetical to American values. Strikingly, 51 percent of Republicans said they felt the same way, compared to 39 percent who said it is consistent. Larger majorities of Democrats and independents, 78 percent and 69 percent, respectively, said it runs contrary to those principles. The most recent polls show that just about 50% of the American people agree with what Trump said, the question BTW is: “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” but IMHO how Trump said it amounts to what it is a push poll. It assumes that the vetting process for people coming from the Middle East has been just like they did in Europe. Not the same situation. I do think that is the case because in a most recent poll it was also pointed out that a large majority of Americans, 63 percent, prefer working more closely with Muslim communities to identify potential terrorists than using more intense surveillance or a banning. A banning that BTW Trump as already said that it does not apply to his rich Muslim friends. [http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2016/03/31/3765216/trump-muslim-friends-immigration/](http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2016/03/31/3765216/trump-muslim-friends-immigration/) > [@](#): > > Donald Trump Says His Very Rich Muslim Friends Won’t Be Banned From The Country What a toad. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3361 "2016-04-09T01:06:33Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It’s a real shame we can’t call dopers trolls in this forum. Why? Were you looking to out yourself as a troll? Calling posters trolls causes fights and does nothing to promote discussion. Making snide comments to tiptoe around the rules will earn you a Warning if you do it again. [/Moderating] ---
**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:** [April 9, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3362 "2016-04-09T01:56:59Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > In reality what she is doing is logical coming from a set of voters that do want to see shit hitting the fan, the [discordians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism). They are not really your friends, they want to see everybody have a bad time. I would be offended if it weren’t true, Comedy being, of course, when you slip on a banana peel and break your coccyx. Hail Eris! ---
**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:** [April 9, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3363 "2016-04-09T02:36:16Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > In reality what she is doing is logical coming from a set of voters that do want to see shit hitting the fan, the [discordians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism). They are not really your friends, they want to see everybody have a bad time. I actually read that page, and got quite a few chuckles out of it. I also noticed how strong a Platonic (or perhaps neoplatonist) influence there is on its cosmology and epistemology. I’d never fit in; I like hot dog buns too much. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/3364 "2016-04-09T02:52:41Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > As the link was made with no explanation the impression left is indeed the one of the title, **in reality the article tell us** that Trump is a dangerous man that should never had been considered for higher office; that a good chunk of people in America (not enough to win the presidency as the polling shows) thinks that he should be the shitty candidate that “shitty America” deserves is not a good reason to vote for him indeed. > > What Hague actually did say in context was needed to be remarked, just saying. “in reality the article tell us… that a good chunk of people in America (not enough to win the presidency as the polling shows) thinks that he should be the shitty candidate that “shitty America” deserves” (the bolded parts in the quote) If that’s what you got from Hague’s piece, I think you missed the point he was making. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=167) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=169)