# 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:** 75
**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 20, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1485 "2016-01-20T21:22:53Z")
Okay, here are some poems from those who appeared just at the [first](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051203955.html) (of 7) White House “poetry jams”: > [@](#): > > In Defense of Passing > by Joshua Bennett > > Most of us call it cloaking, > though the academic > term for the practice slides > > just as smoothly off > a teenager’s tongue: > holographic deracination. > > Within days of wide-scale release, > the Times will hail this device, its > attendant social phenomena, > > as triumphs of modern technology, > inevitable advance given > the speed of post-racial desire, > > how expensive it is > to purge the murk > from an infant’s skin > > by most other means. > The machine’s inventor > will make no such claims. > > A plainspoken woman, she was. > Stanford grad, white as a lab > coat. Cited her time overseas > > as primary inspiration; > all the suffering she’d seen > caste cause. The device came > > to her in a lucid dream, this silver ellipse > small enough to wear on the wrist > or lapel, just one touch > > and any future you choose could be > yours. Soft, false flesh, draped > like a new lover over your body > > and just as clumsily until you work out > the rhythm of it, the slang, > how to maneuver this > > cold glass suit, light as it is. > Believe it or not, protest > didn’t last long. > > Sky-high pricing kept the cloaks > an upper-class concern for months, years > before poor folks got a hold > > of any prototype worth the worry. > Once they did, you would think > they had stolen something worth more > > than a date with the quarterback, > or a job interview. You would think > they had killed someone important, > > or blown up the moon, the way cops > flooded the slums, clubs in hand, > beating the color off of them. > [@](#): > > Mai Pa‘a I Ka Leo > by Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio > > their eyes widen when water falls out > ocean spilling vowels through me > kaona spurting from salt > classmates stutter in silence > trying to repeat > sound locked in shackle shaped lips > > they do not know > the way their english barely breaches surface > and i find it ironic > i have been chosen > artist in a mode > dictated by the superficiality of colonial tongues > > for the first time in four years > i find myself isolated by translation > remembering how comfortable i am in this crater > laying my body in the curve of Haumea’s tongue > how self conscious i have become of my presentation > and the way the others gaze > scopophilia spilling from iridescent irises > making me sculpture-like > walls build around me, > a museum > > until i am still again > silent > letting only the english > breach this crest ([Osorio’s CV](https://jamaicaosorio.wordpress.com/resume/) includes an interest in “critical race theory” and a work history that includes “Stanford Feminist Studies Student Coordinator”, oddly listed along with stints at Jamba Juice and Subway, as well as a proud citation of her having been mocked by Jon Stewart for the poem she performed at the White House. I can’t find video of what Stewart said, but I did find footage of [that performance itself](http://www.hawaiiankingdom.info/C259362623/E20090826150409/), which I liked just fine but I guarantee you is more radical than anything the WH had seen before 2009–unless the Clintons snuck something similar in, in which case good for them.) I couldn’t find any transcripts of poems by Mayda Del Valle, but I did find her Artist Statement, which concluded with this sentence: > [@](#): > > I seek to challenge traditional western approaches to performance by creating a communal participatory space where audiences are invited to journey into their own cultural narratives and mythologies. This is not cherry-picking: feel free to set me straight if I missed them, but I sure didn’t see any white poets or poets with Robert Frost-style poetry. Which, again: very cool IMO. ETA: Hang on, just after posting I did find [video of Del Valle’s performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCZTlXb4w3Y) at the actual WH jam. Hopefully I can get this in before the editing window closes. I would say it continues an anticolonial theme, though that is only made explicit in one sentence. However, the entire thing would, I dare say, make not just your average Republican white dude uncomfortable to hear, but probably a solid majority of Americans overall. But I would call it an awesome poem, very effectively performed. Maybe what Stewart was critiquing about Osorio was just that she didn’t have these kinds of performative chops? ---
**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 20, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1486 "2016-01-20T23:48:50Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > We’ve taken the liberty of tying up your horse and putting up some barricades on the Gish Gallop Trail. I assume the barricades are now taken down and my horse and I are free to go? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1487 "2016-01-21T01:30:50Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Reminds me of how the Russians stole factories and heavy machinery from the Eastern European countries they occupied. Aha, Trump is really a commie. And you are backing a Commie. Even worse, he top-posts. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1488 "2016-01-21T02:45:57Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I assume the barricades are now taken down and my horse and I are free to go? 😛 Lemme just validate your parking… ---
**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 21, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1489 "2016-01-21T02:53:35Z")
Thanks! ---
**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:** [January 21, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1490 "2016-01-21T03:14:24Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Loving the Trump / Palin ticket - can you book seats for the tv debates? Could be that all this time, they’ve been quietly setting the stage for a Palin/Trump ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1491 "2016-01-21T03:17:41Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Could be that all this time, they’ve been quietly setting the stage for a Palin/Trump ticket. There isn’t enough popcorn in the world for this. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1492 "2016-01-21T05:52:15Z")
If a sacrifice must be made, I will forgo my share of popcorn. On with the show! (No need to thank me, helluva deal!) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1493 "2016-01-21T14:13:36Z")
One thing about Trump, he may not be popular, he may not be able to win, but the guy can take anyone down. Even Bill Clinton: [http://pollingreport.com/clinton1.htm](http://pollingreport.com/clinton1.htm) Clinton’s popularity is down 10 points since Donald decided to make him an issue. You do NOT want to get in this guy’s crosshairs. Maybe the candidates laying off him are smart. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1494 "2016-01-21T14:22:40Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > One thing about Trump, he may not be popular, he may not be able to win, but the guy can take anyone down. Even Bill Clinton: > > [Clinton: Favorability](http://pollingreport.com/clinton1.htm) > > Clinton’s popularity is down 10 points since Donald decided to make him an issue. > > You do NOT want to get in this guy’s crosshairs. Maybe the candidates laying off him are smart. Oh come on, that’s a single poll, almost 2 years since the last one. Who knows what caused the drop (or the big jump between the '14 poll and the previous one), though I’d suspect one thing is the simple fact of a major political campaign, which tends to bring out partisan feelings in everyone. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1495 "2016-01-21T14:58:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Lemme just validate your parking… Don’t forget to “validate” the horse he rode in on! 😃 ---
**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:** [January 21, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1496 "2016-01-21T16:59:56Z")
Done. Don’t worry, the ink will wash out of horsehair. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1497 "2016-01-21T19:13:56Z")
To help this not be a hijack, I’ll say that I doubt very much that Palin’s endorsement will do anything to improve Trump’s odds. We’ll know in a few weeks, but I’d hardly be surprised if the Trump bubble gets popped a wee bit. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > …[Obama] was raised by a [radical left](http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/obamas-mother-known-here-as-uncommon/) mother (whom Barack himself has repeatedly [described](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/06/23/heres-what-obama-revealed-about-his-mostly-nonreligious-upbringing-during-the-wtf-podcast/) as “the last of the great secular humanists”) and leftist grandparents, attended a radical church in Chicago, hung out with a former Weather Underground bomber, and then just \*happened \*to become a moderate around the time he went into national politics. Right, that’s much more plausible and logical. :rolleyes: Surprised that no one called you out on this chunklet of logical fallacies. So, I guess I will, risking a hijack, I know. It does not follow that because the parents are one way, even when well-respected and loved, that their children will turn out the same. My parents are wonderful, honorable people: gifted and intelligent. They are also both fundamentalist, evangelical Christians, and Republicans: I am not. I was raised as such, but turned a different direction many years ago. This is hardly uncommon. To say that Obama “hung out” with Bill Ayers is a gross exaggeration. They were involved in some of the same circles, and were certainly acquaintances, but there is not a shred of evidence of anything further than that. But besides that, we all hang out with people for various reasons while not necessarily sharing all, or even many, of their values. I, for one, “hang out” with a “Second Amendment Enthusiast” who is a capital-L Libertarian. I identify with neither of those. I have some friends who are capital-M Marxists. Not one of those, either. This is also hardly uncommon. In other words, “guilty by association” is not evidence. Obama has been a fairly prolific author, since before he was elected to political office. _Dreams from my Father_, for example, is from 1995. If there is a secret, radical agenda that Obama is carrying around, can you please to point to some relevant passages in Obama’s own writing, particularly those that, like _Dreams_, predate his election to public office? If you can, the best thing to do is to start a new thread rather than continue to hijack this one. ---
**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 21, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1498 "2016-01-21T20:45:50Z")
I think I’ve sufficiently made my case, and I don’t know what board such a post would go on; but I’ll just quickly rebut one point: per Wikipedia, _Dreams from My Father_ was published three weeks after it was announced that Obama was running for the state Senate. So it’s essentially his first campaign book. Also, I do wish responses to my points would stop taking the tone that I’m attacking the president or trying to insinuate something, as you say, “guilty” about any of this. I’m defending him as \*not \*guilty of being a centrist in his heart! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1499 "2016-01-21T21:19:14Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I think I’ve sufficiently made my case, and I don’t know what board such a post would go on; but I’ll just quickly rebut one point: per Wikipedia, _Dreams from My Father_ was published three weeks after it was announced that Obama was running for the state Senate. So it’s essentially his first campaign book. > > Also, I do wish responses to my points would stop taking the tone that I’m attacking the president or trying to insinuate something, as you say, “guilty” about any of this. I’m defending him as \*not \*guilty of being a centrist in his heart! I think your perceived offense is more in the nature of ideological goalpost-shifting: If Obama is really a radical, then Hillary must be one too, and Rubio a moderate, and Sanders too far beyond the Overton Window to take seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1500 "2016-01-21T21:47:09Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I think I’ve sufficiently made my case, and I don’t know what board such a post would go on; but I’ll just quickly rebut one point: per Wikipedia, _Dreams from My Father_ was published three weeks after it was announced that Obama was running for the state Senate. So it’s essentially his first campaign book. So, you’re saying that for 20+ years, Obama has been a sort of Manchurian Candidate? :rolleyes: Whatever you think of his book, it comes across as entirely sincere. He may have been thinking of running for office when he was writing it—note that the process of writing and editing a book takes a looooong time, usually months at least—but surely it’s ludicrous to think that, 20 years ago, his cynically crafted non-radical public persona (that you are adamant exists) was already in full swing, well before he even announced running for office. Wow, that’s … well. It’s special is what it is. No, you haven’t made a case. Seeing as you didn’t open a new thread (really, you can’t think of where it should go?), the valid conclusion is that you have only wild conjecture, and no evidence, that Obama is a closet radical. (Edit to keep on thread topic: there’s more evidence that Trump is cynically faking it, than that Obama has been!) ---
**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 21, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1501 "2016-01-21T22:03:34Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > So, you’re saying that for 20+ years, Obama has been a sort of Manchurian Candidate? :rolleyes: Jesus Christ, no. For fuck’s sake, how many times do I have to emphasize that for me, this is a good and meritable thing about Obama, not an accusation of perfidy or treason?!? Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1502 "2016-01-21T23:23:24Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Jesus Christ, no. For fuck’s sake, how many times do I have to emphasize that for me, this is a good and meritable thing about Obama, not an accusation of perfidy or treason?!? Sheesh. See post #1495. ---
**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 21, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1503 "2016-01-21T23:36:20Z")
Which has no conceivable connection to an accusation of being a “Manchurian Candidate”. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828/1504 "2016-01-22T16:38:05Z")
Donald Trump shares another bizarre Jeb Bush image — this time from a ‘White Genocide’ account. [Trump Shares 'White Genocide' Twitter Post](http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-jeb-bush-white-genocide-tweet-2016-1)? Going to the twitter feed of the account he’s been following and it’s worse than the article made it out to be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=74) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-republican-primary-campaign/729828.md?page=76)