# 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:** 68
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1343 "2016-01-07T16:00:36Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Huh. I never knew that Jackson is the highest grossing actor of all time. I probably wouldn’t have gotten that if you gave me five guesses. Looks like he’s [#2 now after Harrison Ford](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/?view=actor&sort=sumgross&p=.htm), thanks to The Force Awakens. (Probably doesn’t need to be pointed out, but that’s all about the total grosses of movies in which they’ve appeared, not what they’ve personally been paid.) ETA: > [@DigitalC](#): > > Being in both Marvel and Star Wars movies is probably a huge bump. He’s also more prolific. 68 films averaging $68m, compared to Ford’s 41 films averaging $114.5m and Tom Hanks’ 43/$100.8m. . ---
**Author:** ![supersizeme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@supersizeme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supersizeme)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1344 "2016-01-07T16:02:12Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Macy’s lays off 4,500, Macy’s employees lose jobs, [Trump gloats.](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-gloats-massive-macys-125936586.html) > Let’s have more Americans lose their jobs to satisfy his ego. That’s real Presidential material right there. If he becomes POTUS, he will be doing that every year! ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1345 "2016-01-07T16:04:23Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Being in both Marvel and Star Wars movies is probably a huge bump. And Jurassic Park. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1346 "2016-01-07T16:06:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 “Very disloyal company”?! His sphincter is still sore that they stopped carrying [his line of menswear](http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/12/why-we-dropped-trumps-menswear-line-macys-ceo.html). Apparently “it’s just business” is a maxim Mr. Trump only selectively applies. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1347 "2016-01-08T22:49:29Z")
[A black Trump-supporting pastor in Virginia is suing the GOP over loyalty oaths the GOP wants to require Republican primary voters to sign](http://www.npr.org/2016/01/07/462293408/black-pastors-sue-virginia-board-of-elections-over-gop-loyalty-pledge) and if you want a sentence which could only come out of America, that’s a pretty good candidate for the most American: > [@](#): > > Parson is an evangelist for Trump, and he’s also a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against members of the Virginia State Board of Elections over a new rule that requires GOP primary voters to sign a pledge. Two other plaintiffs — Leon Benjamin and Bruce L. Waller Sr. — are also named in the lawsuit. They want to vote in the Republican primary, but they don’t want to sign the “loyalty oath.” > > Virginia has historically held an open primary — because there’s no party registration in the state, voters could choose either a Democratic or Republican ballot at the polls. But this year, anyone who opts for a GOP ballot must also sign a nine-word statement that reads: “my signature below indicates that I am a Republican.” The oath is, pragmatically, aimed at people who support Trump but don’t give a damn about the GOP. The GOP would really rather they either stayed home or supported, I dunno, Jeb, or Rubio at worst. (Cruz is probably as bad as Trump when it comes to winning a general election.) Trump supporters, like dandruff and annoying relatives, are going to hang on for the long haul, and are not going to sit down, shut up, or cease to associate with a party they don’t like as long as they can convince themselves they have a chance to force Trump to be that party’s nominee. The race thing comes into it… well, I’ll let the plaintiffs explain: > [@](#): > > Given Virginia’s history of racial discrimination, the Trump supporters claim the new requirement will create a “burden of fear” for black voters. In the lawsuit, they also say it has the potential to spark backlash in their communities "if the Republican Party were to release the names of black voters who had publicly proclaimed that they ‘are Republicans.’ " There’s “tarnished brands” and there’s “we don’t want to be seen associating with you in public”. Usually, it’s groups like NAMBLA and the Ku Klux Klan that have to worry about membership rolls getting leaked. Yes, the lawsuit is weak. No, that isn’t the important part. The important part is that if the GOP fights it, it’s seen as fighting against minority rights. It’s not _technically_ The Poll Tax, but… It’s not _technically_ A Literacy Test, but… And the GOP has more than enough troubles on that front already. And the whole reason the GOP is fighting for this pledge is that it thinks Trump has a chance in Virginia, which would be worse than embarrassing for the GOP. So it’s a double-bind: Fight it and look like you’re an even worse bunch of troglodytes, and further alienate anyone who isn’t old, white, and male, or don’t fight it, and risk having the clown run away with the whole damned circus. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1348 "2016-01-08T23:39:03Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > The oath is, pragmatically, aimed at people who support Trump but don’t give a damn about the GOP. Or perhaps someone looked at how Jeremy Corbyn got elected in the UK and the results thereof and decided to try to prevent it? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1349 "2016-01-09T00:11:27Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Or perhaps someone looked at how Jeremy Corbyn got elected in the UK and the results thereof and decided to try to prevent it? [Apparently, that isn’t quite what happened](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Corbyn): > [@](#): > > Following a rule change under Miliband, members of the public who supported Labour’s aims and values could join the party as “registered supporters” for £3 and be entitled to vote in the election.[50] There was speculation the rule change would lead to Corbyn being elected by registered supporters without majority support from ordinary members.[51] Corbyn was elected party leader in a landslide victory on 12 September 2015 with 59.5% of first-preference votes in the first round of voting.[52] It has been calculated that Corbyn would have won in the first round with 51% of votes, even without “£3 registered supporters”, having gained the support of 49.6% of full members and 57.6% of affiliated (Trade Union) supporters.[51][53] Corbyn’s 40.5% majority was larger than that attained by Tony Blair in 1994.[54][55] With more than 250,000 participants voting for him, Corbyn won “the largest mandate ever won by a Party Leader” in the UK, even though he had the lowest number of nominations from fellow MPs of any Labour Party Leader.[56] Trump’s no Corbyn, and I agree with the GOP that Trump’s chances would be greatly harmed by a closed primary, but I also think that he’d be helped by the GOP being seen to be frantically bolting the doors and and boarding up the windows in order to keep him out. He feeds on the perceived weakness of the establishment, the Republican establishment especially, and Trump supporters who think their guy is being unfairly locked out of power are Trump supporters who will be that much more likely to vote for Trump as a third-party and/or write-in candidate, sore loser laws be damned. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1350 "2016-01-09T03:39:28Z")
[ > [@](#): > > Workers at a Vermont deli near where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared say they didn’t sell any of the bologna sandwich specials named for him. > > The sandwich was on sale for $20.16 at the Kountry Kart Deli, next door to the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. Trump appeared there Thursday. ]([http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7dfc34f5d48f4c8594b3b31702d0ac54/vermont-deli-near-trump-venue-didnt-sell-bologna-special](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7dfc34f5d48f4c8594b3b31702d0ac54/vermont-deli-near-trump-venue-didnt-sell-bologna-special))The picture that accompanies the article is of the menu listing for the sandwich and the description is awesome![ > [@](#): > > There also were deli counter tip jars with the faces of Trump and Burlington’s own U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate. > > Kountry Kart owner Mike Williams tells [Boston.com](http://Boston.com) the Trump jar received $6.70 by the end of Thursday while the Sanders jar had $120. ]([http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7dfc34f5d48f4c8594b3b31702d0ac54/vermont-deli-near-trump-venue-didnt-sell-bologna-special](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7dfc34f5d48f4c8594b3b31702d0ac54/vermont-deli-near-trump-venue-didnt-sell-bologna-special)) ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1351 "2016-01-09T15:44:58Z")
They offered a 20 dollar bologna sandwich with an unappetizing description and it’s news no one bought one? And it’s news more money came in for Bernie Sanders in Vermont? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1352 "2016-01-09T22:33:56Z")
[Could it get any worse?](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-muslim-woman-trump-rally-20160109-story.html) ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1353 "2016-01-10T06:02:22Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > They offered a 20 dollar bologna sandwich with an unappetizing description and it’s news no one bought one? > > And it’s news more money came in for Bernie Sanders in Vermont? Yeah, that’s silly. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1354 "2016-01-10T15:16:37Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > [Could it get any worse?](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-muslim-woman-trump-rally-20160109-story.html) From the link: > [@](#): > > Hamid said security officials didn’t touch her as they led her out, adding, “I was glad that nobody got physical and did anything scary.” So, yeah, it can get worse (and probably will). ---
**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:** [January 11, 2016, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1355 "2016-01-11T03:45:13Z")
Trump says the [NFL is getting soft.](http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/donald-trump---football-has-become-soft--like-our-country-000938592.html) > [@](#): > > “Football has become soft like our country has become soft,” the GOP presidential frontrunner told a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada on Sunday. “We’re going soft, just like the NFL, we’re going soft.” A few minutes as a tackling dummy should set him right. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1356 "2016-01-11T03:48:37Z")
Trump identifies with people who have had multiple concussions. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1357 "2016-01-11T04:11:05Z")
And appeals to them. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2016, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1358 "2016-01-11T06:01:32Z")
[Guess which low-energy loser cuck might be jumping in?!](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/us/politics/for-republicans-mounting-fears-of-lasting-split.html?ref=politics&_r=0): > [@](#): > > Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire media executive and former New York mayor, was intrigued enough by the prospect of Mr. Trump’s becoming the Republican standard-bearer that he commissioned a poll last month testing how he would fare against Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton, according to two sources close to Mr. Bloomberg. But he has often very publicly flirted with a run, savored the attention, then announced that he would not pursue the candidacy. ROFLMAO-is this fascist going to run under the banner of the Soda Tax Party? I’d love to see him run and the plutocrats bankrupt themselves by spending hundreds of billions dollars while their media cronies on the _Wall Street Journal_ and CNN bleat about how he’d be a “great uniter” or some bullshit like that only to have him win less votes than the Green and Libertarian candidates. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1359 "2016-01-11T06:12:38Z")
Don’t laugh. Bloomberg is smart to poll Clinton vs. Trump, because that’s the best race for a third party that can possibly exist. Two candidates who a majority don’t like is fertile ground for a third party challenge. I’d vote for Bloomberg in that race simply because I know he’s competent, and his stupid ideas would get past neither a Democrat nor a Republican Congress. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2016, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1360 "2016-01-11T06:22:25Z")
A Bloomberg third party run in a Trump v Clinton race would be Trump’s manna from heaven. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1361 "2016-01-11T06:27:46Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Don’t laugh. Bloomberg is smart to poll Clinton vs. Trump, because that’s the best race for a third party that can possibly exist. Two candidates who a majority don’t like is fertile ground for a third party challenge. Besides the fact that billionaires can commission all sorts of things to stroke their egos including presidential polls, its curious that no numbers seemed to have been released. This of course ignores that Bloomberg’s been sort of under the radar in the last few years (especially outside of the greater NYC area) and all TRUMP has to rally the base around is make fun of his soda tax while Clinton need only point out that whatever Sanders supporters may think about her, Bloomberg is a blatant Wall Street shill. A Trump or even a Webb third-party candidacy in a Hillary vs. Rubio or Cruz race would win far more votes then Bloomberg would in a Hillary vs. Trump race. > [@](#): > > I’d vote for Bloomberg in that race simply because I know he’s competent, and his stupid ideas would get past neither a Democrat nor a Republican Congress. A Bloomberg presidency would be a great prelude for a genuine populist of the Huey Long variety to rise to power with solid majorities at his or her back in both houses of Congres. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1362 "2016-01-11T06:37:36Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > A Bloomberg third party run in a Trump v Clinton race would be Trump’s manna from heaven. I don’t think it helps Trump. I don’t see too many Clinton voters defecting to Bloomberg. What Bloomberg actually does is give Republicans that can’t stand Trump a reasonable billioniare to vote for. Plus a lot of independents, but Clinton was also going to lose the independent vote anyway. The end result would probably look a lot like Clinton-Bush-Perot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=67) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=69)