# What the hell is Trump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 30, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581 "2015-07-30T15:21:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/481 "2015-09-08T22:11:50Z")
> [@CGav8r](#): > > Poor guy probably has PTSD…he should go see the VA about getting medical disability. And he obviously knows what it’s like leading “those people”, so he would be a perfect Commander-in-Chief. Especially when it comes to the ones who have blood coming out of their whatevers. Wounds. That’s it. They can weave his hair into tampons to stop up the bloodflow. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/482 "2015-09-08T22:50:07Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > He’s not batshit crazy enough. \*Carson?! \* I can only assume you’re joking. Even in this field, he stands out as unusually batshit. Which is one hell of an accomplishment. given the field. > [@](#): > > Pardon me; obviously I meant, he’s not a rude arrogant jackwagon. There you go. That’s more like it. Much of the GOP simply wants someone to kick the butts of all the Bad People out there. Trump’s looking like the guy. Most of the GOP field doesn’t look like they could kick Jimmy Carter’s ass, even in Carter’s current state of health. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/483 "2015-09-09T03:00:36Z")
Trump has been a celebrity for a long time, in a variety of ways. Carson has been cooped up in surgery. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/484 "2015-09-09T05:18:53Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > More directly, he’s not getting as many headlines. > > I imagine among the Republican electorate there are still a large number of people who have no idea who Carson is, the same can’t be said from Trump. Yeah, Carson has fans among people who watch the debates. Trump has existing name recognition. And the media presumably recognize that Ben Carson is an unqualified no-hoper, but they’re used to pretending that bags of hair like Trump are actually anything other than marketing–and marketing them. The media hype Trump out of compulsive habit, and he’s exploiting that. His existing name recognition leads to more headlines, and it is a vicious cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/485 "2015-09-09T13:11:59Z")
Scott Adams is still pushing that Trump is a hypnotist and remarkable strategist who will make interesting choices and pick off his opponents, and slowly win over his detractors enough to actually be President. While I can concede he’s probably not a strong racist and is willing to negotiate to a reasonable position on immigration, I don’t think even picking Carly Fiorino as his running mate can counter for me his inherent misogyny. And nothing can counter his ass-hattery. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/486 "2015-09-09T14:27:24Z")
One thing Trump is, is living proof that the GOP’s base, as distinct from its establishment, is really not all that committed to the supply-side economic orthodoxy that has ruled the party since 1980. If [Paul Krugman thinks you’re right on economics](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/07/opinion/paul-krugman-trump-is-right-on-economics.html?_r=0), you’re no supply-sider. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/487 "2015-09-09T17:23:36Z")
Scott Adams also argues that Trump is going to force the party to realign. He argues that the pledge they made him sign actually bonds them more to him than him to them. All the candidates signed a pledge to support whomever is the Republican candidate. It didn’t require him to support the Republican agenda or platform. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/488 "2015-09-09T17:31:14Z")
Maybe I missed something, but why do we care so much about what a cartoonist well past his prime has to say about politics? He’s the same guy that socked up on a message board somewhere to defend himself after posting some pretty controversial stuff on his blog right? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/489 "2015-09-09T17:37:50Z")
Nothing is happening but polls. Nothing will be happening until somebody votes, caucus, primary, whatever. The regrettably vast majority of Americans who flat don’t give a rat’s are not taking any part in this, leaving the “conversation” entirely to us crazy people who _do_ give a rat’s. I like Bernie, don’t much like Hillary. But she’ll do. And I’d crawl on hands and knees across a football field of broken glass before I’d even risk Cruz, Trump, or any other of those meth-addled baboons becoming President. My only comfort is I live way up north, and on Nov. 7 of next year, probably can get across the border before the Canadians close it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/490 "2015-09-09T18:12:11Z")
Some guy over at _Daily Kos_ kinda nails it… > **[GOP voter anger finally directed at the real menace—the GOP](https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/09/1419785/-GOP-voter-anger-finally-directed-at-the-real-menace-the-GOP?detail=hide)** > > Why is the GOP base backing Donald Trump—the anti-establisment Republican candidate? Because they're fightin' mad and Trump's a slap in the face to GOP orthodoxy. Establishment Republicans have ... \*\* GOP voter anger finally directed at the real menace—the GOP\*\* Excerpt: > [@](#): > > …The GOP establishment has been riding a wave of anger at a bogeyman they couldn’t slay, and the party’s voters are finally figuring out that they’ve been duped. They don’t seem to know why or how, but they know they’ve been had. They’re mad as hell and the GOP establishment built that… (Tighty righty are advised of a level one lefty cootie alert. Get nekkid, roll around in it, its good for you. Builds character.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/491 "2015-09-09T18:32:29Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > Maybe I missed something, but why do we care so much about what a cartoonist well past his prime has to say about politics? Because it’s September 2015 and we’re already discussing the 2016 presidential election. We would discuss the comments if they came from Gary Larson. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/492 "2015-09-09T19:29:23Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > One thing Trump is, is living proof that the GOP’s base, as distinct from its establishment, is really not all that committed to the supply-side economic orthodoxy that has ruled the party since 1980. If [Paul Krugman thinks you’re right on economics](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/07/opinion/paul-krugman-trump-is-right-on-economics.html?_r=0), you’re no supply-sider. Meanwhile, [Glenn Beck can’t support Trump because “He’s a progressive!”](http://www.salon.com/2015/09/09/hes_a_progressive_glenn_beck_explains_to_bill_oreilly_why_he_cant_support_donald_trump/) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/493 "2015-09-09T21:04:25Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > One thing Trump is, is living proof that the GOP’s base, as distinct from its establishment, is really not all that committed to the supply-side economic orthodoxy that has ruled the party since 1980. If [Paul Krugman thinks you’re right on economics](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/07/opinion/paul-krugman-trump-is-right-on-economics.html?_r=0), you’re no supply-sider. Put another way, Trump is the dude who [proved the base is populist, not libertarian](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/trump-tea-party-populist-exposed-213111). > [@](#): > > This is what explains a lot of what’s going on now. After all, according to the commentariat, the Summer of Trump was supposed to have been the Summer of Rand Paul. It seems like only yesterday that the media were interpreting the rise of the Tea Party as a triumph of anti-statism and predicting that Paul, with his libertarian views on national security and data privacy, represented the future of the American right. > > But Paul has all but disappeared from view, polling in the low single digits, while Trump has soared into the lead, and nothing he says, no matter how outrageous, seems to sour the right-wing base on him. Trump is no libertarian; quite the opposite. He is a classic populist of the right who peddles suspicion of foreigners—it’s no accident that he was the country’s leading “birther” raising questions about Barack Obama’s citizenship—combined with a kind of “producerism.” In populist ideology, society is divided not among rich and poor but among producers and parasites. > > Populists are suspicious of unearned wealth, including the interest charged by bankers who manipulate “other people’s money” (to use the phrase of Louis Brandeis). And populists the world over are hostile to the idle or undeserving poor who allegedly live on welfare at the expense of productive workers and capitalists. Populists tend to attribute the existence of large numbers of the idle rich and the idle poor to government corruption. In the words of the 1892 People’s Party platform: “From the same prolific womb of governmental injustice we breed the two great classes—tramps and millionaires.” ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/494 "2015-09-10T02:57:09Z")
It looks like Trumpster is afraid he might actually win, and is getting more and more desperate to try to alienate the voters. His latest attempt? Insulting Fiorina’s looks: > **[Trump insults Fiorina in Rolling Stone: 'Look at that face!'](https://money.cnn.com/2015/09/09/media/donald-trump-rolling-stone-carly-fiorina/index.html)** > > Donald Trump latest's close-up is coming from the unlikeliest of magazines: Rolling Stone. “Is there nothing so ludicrous that the Republican voter will not be repelled?” I hear him agonize… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/495 "2015-09-10T03:15:22Z")
Well, she’s no Anne Coulter, sure, but… ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/496 "2015-09-10T05:05:14Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, she’s no Anne Coulter, sure, but… Coulter? The female version of the Crypt Keeper? Carly might not be a Victoria’s Secret model, but she’s not as bad as Skelator with blond hair ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/497 "2015-09-10T06:56:09Z")
I think photo spreads of Ms Coulter modeling Victoria’s Secret lingerie might be useful in promoting celibacy. If anybody wanted to, that is. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2015, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/498 "2015-09-10T07:19:10Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Scott Adams is still pushing that Trump is a hypnotist and remarkable strategist who will make interesting choices and pick off his opponents, and slowly win over his detractors enough to actually be President. Scott Adams is a brilliant satirist of office politics and general workplace idiocy and I adore the Dilbert strips, but I’ve not found him to be very insightful or even particularly sensible in his occasional forays into serious observation. I think he’s just way wrong here and is perhaps losing it in his advancing years. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/499 "2015-09-10T15:09:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Because it’s September 2015 and we’re already discussing the 2016 presidential election. We would discuss the comments if they came from Gary Larson. Or even Berkeley Breathed . . . ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581/500 "2015-09-10T15:49:05Z")
Hey Donald DID say that if County Clerk Kim Davis can’t reconcile her job duties and her religion she should look for a different job. Maybe THAT will turn off “the base”…? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-trump/726581.md?page=26)