2015-2016 Republican Primary Season - Trump Courts the Conservatives

[mtolson]

I could easily see myself voting for Kasich. He comes across as very knowledgeable, sincere and willing work to resolve problems. Even if I don't agree with all of his principles, I respect him. I can't say I really respect anyone else on either side other than him at this point.

I can't for the life of me understand why he is not in the lead. Definitely the case of the squeakiest wheel getting the grease.

[EagleFan]

Trump is getting hammered tonight. Rubio needs to handle the interaction better but Cruz has done a great job. If trump wants to act like a child, treat him like one.

[tarcone]

I liked Rubio commenting on Yoga and Trump being flexible.

Trump is being absolutely abused tonight. And he is having problems handling it.

[miked]

Yeah, this will probably only help people who already supported Trump. It's not hard to watch this debate and see there is a concerted effort from the moderators and candidates to team up on Trump.

[vex]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

I like how Kasich seems to have planned to not mention any of the other candidates if there is any chance to avoid it. He says his peace and it is on to the next question, not the back and forth that Rubio and Trump have done. If Rubio and Cruz would basically ignore Trump I think his support will start to dwindle. Ignore the troll and he will wither and die.

Umm, that's what they did for quite some time and this is where we are.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by mtolson

I can't for the life of me understand why he is not in the lead.

I ask myself that question every day. When the options may be Hillary or trump I dread the next four years.

[tarcone]

I have been impressed with Kasich tonight also. But I dont know if he is just the same story, different guy of what we have had.

[Edward64]

Drudge debate poll showing Trump winning by a large margin.

Cruz, Kasich then Rubio.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I have been impressed with Kasich tonight also. But I dont know if he is just same story, different guy of what we have had.

He's my GOP candidate so far but yes, I think same story, different guy.

[tarcone]

Seriously? It looks to me that Kasich and Cruz are winning. And Trump a far 4th.

EDIT: This is a reply to the Drudge report

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Seriously? It looks to me that Kasich and Cruz are winning. And Trump a far 4th.

Seriously.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by vex

Umm, that's what they did for quite some time and this is where we are.

Not any debate that I saw. They all seemed to turn into a bitch fest in which he got his mentions and more time because of it. If the other three never mention his name he gets very little time.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Drudge debate poll showing Trump winning by a large margin.

Cruz, Kasich then Rubio.

Are those people actually watching?

[EagleFan]

Another good response by Kasich. Ignore the loaded bait question and give substance in response. Give no trump time. That is what they all need to do.

[NobodyHere]

I like how the moderator chides Rubio for interrupting but not Trump.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Another good response by Kasich. Ignore the loaded bait question and give substance in response. Give no trump time. That is what they all need to do.

Yep. But I think Rubio has been instructed to go after Trump. I agree if Cruz and Hasich ignore, things would change for them. Though Cruz has been ettective with his dealings with Trump.

Then again, people are infatuated with Trump. Why? I have no idea.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Then again, people are infatuated with Trump. Why? I have no idea.

I think Rubio's description of "con man" is accurate.

I will say I actually agree with some Trump positions but he has no depth in any issue that I've heard and he will likely screw up our foreign policy.

[EagleFan]

I think Rubio is sick. No handshakes after the debate. Looks like he said something to the others who started to extend for a handshake (like you would if you were sick and didn't think shaking hands would be good).

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I think Rubio's description of "con man" is accurate.

How can he call him a conman and then say he would support him if he gets the nomination?

[mckerney]

Good to see they got into the important issues tonight.

Donald Trump defends size of his penis

[NobodyHere]

I thought Kasich once again looked the most presidential.

Ted Cruz had a lot of good ideas and generally tried to stay out of the mud. I thought the condescending attitude he developed towards Trump's interruptions was a nice touch.

Rubio is stooping to Trump's level.

Trump did indeed looked like a con-artist. However the dirty little secret about cons is that people love them when they think they're in on it.

[PilotMan]

Trump is fun just because he will respond to just about anything levied against him. Fingers? Dick? Whatever it is, you can count on him to defend himself. I think trolling him as President would just get too easy.

[JonInMiddleGA]

A question, prompted entirely by a few things on my social media tonight.

Is it really ... arrogant (for lack of a better word) of me to be at least mildly annoyed by people complaining about a lack of substance in the TV debates? Specifically, the reality that the information about virtually any & every candidate is out there, it just requires a relatively small amount of effort to look it up. Hell, 80% or more of positions can be resolved with a couple of hours on isidewith.com . There's even attribution for the positions, you can then decide whether you think the assigned positions are fair or not based on the source & the statement(s).

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I'm kind of annoyed by people complaining they aren't spoonfed information is easy soundbites and might be required to {gasp} put a little effort into finding out for themselves. And if you're THAT lazy, well, I question how much you actually care in the first place.

Is that REALLY that awful of me?

[Solecismic]

Fox News definitely prepared the case against Trump. But isn't that the responsibility of the press? Isn't that what should happen every cycle? Will we see this in the general as well?

Trump held up for two hours. I certainly agree with the case against him, but his supporters feel the need for a strong outsider. For them, Trump "wins" by holding up. If he continues to hold up and wins the nomination, he has proven the Teflon Don moniker. That said, it seems ridiculous that a major party candidate cannot intelligently discuss specifics around the world.

Rubio has sacrificed his candidacy to play attack dog. If it were a coordinated strategy to give Kasich the nomination in a contested convention, I'd applaud it. But Rubio seems to think he's still in this. He had the best line of the night (the flexible/yoga line). That really showed he's quick-witted. But do we need a President who could win on Whose Line is it Anyway?

Cruz was effective. From day one, he's shown himself as a brilliant debater. I think his supporters like him more today than they did last summer. He was rewarded with a truly impressive victory in Texas and Oklahoma. If this were a close race and Cruz had national appeal, that would have been the moment he turned things in his favor. However, his candidacy is regional because he is too right wing. He doesn't compromise and he hasn't built much in the Senate. As he gains more experience, I think he could be an effective conservative voice, but I don't think someone that divisive should be in the Oval Office.

Kasich is hitting his stride, but he still can't resist the temptation to tell people why they should vote for him. His new reasoning now had something to do with communities and love, and I'm sure it's compelling, but why can't he just say it once in his opening or closing remarks and go a little bit more with the flow. Obviously, his strategy now is to try and win Ohio, and then be the guy who offends the fewest people if Trump doesn't have a majority at the convention. I think that's a good strategy for him, but the problem he has is that with the exception of a couple of testy exchanges early on, no one is hitting him on Ohio's problems. For instance, Detroit wasn't last in the recent educational rankings of school competency; Cleveland was. For all his rhetoric of having succeeded, his record on some issues - particularly education - isn't a good one. If he wins the nomination without a mandate and without being tested on these issues, he'll get hammered hard in the general.

Hopefully, we're almost at the end of this nasty cycle of the race. I'm not looking forward to the next four days - probably relentless phone spam and, well, I'm glad I don't watch commercials. I hope the spammers are sophisticated enough only to call people in the party, so at least I'll get a break from that end of it. Michigan is a closed primary and the registration deadline is long past.

I don't think today's debate changed the landscape. Trump's negatives go up, but, then again, they've always been high.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

How can he call him a conman and then say he would support him if he gets the nomination?

I think they all said what they had to say. I think their public support will be minimal at best ... unlike Christie's play.

Drudge poll so far

Trump - 64%
Cruz - 21%
Kasich - 10%
Rubio - 5%

[RainMaker]

How the P.C. Police Propelled Donald Trump - The Daily Beast

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

You could always watch the Democratic debates.

I'd love to, but I always forget to flip past CSPAN2 at 2am.

Originally Posted by RainMaker

How the P.C. Police Propelled Donald Trump - The Daily Beast

YUP. I don't agree 100% with that article, but he does a good job articulating a lot of my thoughts on why Trump's support is so bulletproof. BLM is the egregious and prominent example du jour, but anyone on any side or topic will dig in if you just yell at them and condescend to them.

[molson]

All I want to know is - am I going to know definitively which Republican candidate has the biggest dick before I vote in the Idaho primary on Tuesday?

[Kodos]

If only Brett Favre were running!

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

How the P.C. Police Propelled Donald Trump - The Daily Beast

So the people that don't support Trump are more responsible than the people that do?

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

I thought Kasich once again looked the most presidential.

Compared to the other three, I'm pretty sure Carrot Top would look presidential.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Is that REALLY that awful of me?

Nope. People are getting the candidate (and process) they deserve.

[albionmoonlight]

RELEASE THE SCHLONG FORM GIRTH CERTIFICATE!

--Stolen from Twitter

[albionmoonlight]

Predictwise has Trump's numbers down (from ~85% to ~70%) since the more coordinated assaults started over the last three days. Which seems to make sense. But what is fascinating is that none of the other 3 guys jump up to take his share. Rubio, Cruz, and Kasich all go up a little bit in response.

In every primary election I can remember, once the frontrunner starts to stumble, one of the pack jumps up. Here, there is/was just a complete inability for Cruz/Rubio/Kasich/Bush/Carson/Christie/Paul to make a successful affirmative case other than "I am not Trump, and I am not Obama."

[Butter]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

So the people that don't support Trump are more responsible than the people that do?

Yeah, I found that pretty fantastical to believe.

Feel like Trump's support is rooted in the rejection of fact-based debate in support of "truthiness"... and fear-mongering racism that masquerades as patriotism.

That plays great in the South, so it's not a surprise that he's winning there.

[flere-imsaho]

Rubio’s path to an outright win has vanished - POLITICO

[cartman]

Credit to George Takei:

Every Trump sentence has words. Sometimes three words. Or two. And they're great sentences. Terrific sentences. That I can tell you. Believe me. They're great. With the best words. Terrific repeated words. Not very big words. Every Trump sentence has words.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by cartman

Credit to George Takei:

Every Trump sentence has words. Sometimes three words. Or two. And they're great sentences. Terrific sentences. That I can tell you. Believe me. They're great. With the best words. Terrific repeated words. Not very big words. Every Trump sentence has words.

Awesome.

[revrew]

I see comments here on the Drudge poll. If this is the first time you've noticed it, you can stop. Every Drudge poll has had Trump winning by a huuuge margin.

I respect what Drudge has done, building a news empire even Fox is is jealous of. But his readers, particularly those who respond to polls, are skewed way towards the Trump trolls, who have no sense of objectivity in their worship of Trump. As evidenced by their worship of Trump.

[flere-imsaho]

This is, hands down, the most entertaining primary season in my lifetime.

[digamma]

I've reached the oversaturation point.

Though it is nice to see that our biggest industry is going strong: the business of government. We should hold presidential elections every year to boost the economy. Lots of media jobs, lots of consulting jobs, lots of jobs for on the ground campaign folks, lots of jobs for infrastructure people. Just a campaign all the time.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by digamma

I've reached the oversaturation point.

Though it is nice to see that our biggest industry is going strong: the business of government. We should hold presidential elections every year to boost the economy. Lots of media jobs, lots of consulting jobs, lots of jobs for on the ground campaign folks, lots of jobs for infrastructure people. Just a campaign all the time.

Yes please.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by digamma

I've reached the oversaturation point.

Though it is nice to see that our biggest industry is going strong: the business of government. We should hold presidential elections every year to boost the economy. Lots of media jobs, lots of consulting jobs, lots of jobs for on the ground campaign folks, lots of jobs for infrastructure people. Just a campaign all the time.

Super PACS as wealth distribution.

[Neuqua]

At this point Kasich is the last man standing for me to vote for a Republican this year.

[molson]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

So the people that don't support Trump are more responsible than the people that do?

It's not a moral, "blame" kind of responsibility, but views of some conservatives, especially the rural poor ones, are absolutely shaped by the their perception that those who actually have power and a voice hate and dismiss them as backwards and something inferior.

It's similar to the weird contradiction you can see in some of the most vocal obnoxious Sanders supporters. In theory, their policy views are based on a desire to help poor people. Yet they spend so much time ranting against conservative poor people and how stupid they are to vote the way they do, and how ignorant they are to have the values they have. That dynamic is absolutely a part of Trump's success.

[nol]

Originally Posted by molson

It's not a moral, "blame" kind of responsibility, but views of some conservatives, especially the rural poor ones, are absolutely shaped by the their perception that those who actually have power and a voice hate and dismiss them as backwards and something inferior.

How America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable

Elections, like criminal trials, are ultimately always about assigning blame. For a generation, conservative intellectuals have successfully pointed the finger at big-government-loving, whale-hugging liberals as the culprits behind American decline.

But the fact that lots of voters hated the Clintons, Sean Penn, the Dixie Chicks and whomever else, did not, ever, mean that they believed in the principle of Detroit carmakers being able to costlessly move American jobs overseas by the thousands.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by molson

It's not a moral, "blame" kind of responsibility, but views of some conservatives, especially the rural poor ones, are absolutely shaped by the their perception that those who actually have power and a voice hate and dismiss them as backwards and something inferior.

I wouldn't argue with that, but the article says,

Rather, the pestilence that is the Trump campaign is the result of a conglomeration of political, academic, media, and cultural elites who for decades have tried to act as the arbiters of acceptable public debate and shut down any political expression from Americans with whom they disagree. They, more than anyone else, created Donald Trump’s candidacy and the increasingly hideous movement he now leads.

That is a blame kind of responsibility. The overwhelming majority of responsibility for the rise of Trump lies with Trump and his followers.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

So the people that don't support Trump are more responsible than the people that do?

It's not a binary choice. But when you hear that GWB is the Antichrist, and John McCain is the worst, and Mitt Romney is terrible, at a certain point you stop listening to those people. When you're called a racist if you say BLM is going too far, or called a babykiller if you refuse to sign a petition pushing for GWB's indictment on war crimes, or you're constantly condescended to and belittled if you attend church or support some "right-wing" positions, naturally you're not going to pay attention if someone comes along that actually does embody some of the extremist fears because it's the same tired attacks and talking points used against any R candidate, and the same ones we'd be hearing against Cruz, Rubio or Kasich if they were leading.

This isn't to place all the blame on the vocal left fringe, because clearly there are right-wing extremists too, and a lot of blame goes to the news networks that have helped turn politics into a team sport where both sides hang out in their echo chamber instead of actually engaging in real discussions and trying to find common ground, but if you've seen the PC police at work on college campuses or on social media they're not interested in discussing things, they just want to shout down dissent and/or mock anyone who believes the opposite position (or just doesn't believe strongly enough in it I guess, as HRC and Bernie found out recently.) I voted for Bernie Tuesday, I still find Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric abhorrent and un-American, but a part of me is rooting for him just to see those people's heads explode (and because I think a Trump victory over HRC would be the best thing long-term for progressive causes and lead to a Democratic wave before the 2020 elections which will decide the next re-districting.)

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Yeah, I found that pretty fantastical to believe.

Feel like Trump's support is rooted in the rejection of fact-based debate in support of "truthiness"... and fear-mongering racism that masquerades as patriotism.

That plays great in the South, so it's not a surprise that he's winning there.

Originally Posted by molson

It's not a moral, "blame" kind of responsibility, but views of some conservatives, especially the rural poor ones, are absolutely shaped by the their perception that those who actually have power and a voice hate and dismiss them as backwards and something inferior.

He dominated NH and Massachusetts, he's up 2-1 in the polls in Michigan and Illinois a.k.a. the next 2 non-Southern states, Ted Cruz has only beaten him in the most rural and church-going states, and although he is doing slightly better among HS-educated and low-income voters he still has a commanding lead among every income and educational level, but sure Trump's just George Wallace 2.0 appealing strictly to poor, uneducated, Southern white people.

Now, granted, it was actually pretty much a dead heat between him and Kasich in the smarter, wealthier towns here, but I would absolutely take Trump in a heartbeat over Cruz and Rubio. And it's worth looking at why Trump is polling at 30%+ among college educated people, higher income voters, and independents, instead of buying in to the narrative and implying that every Trump voter is a poor dumb bigot.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Libertarians... your answer has arrived.

John McAfee: 'I'll have no problem' winning 2016 election | TheHill

You simply cannot make this shit up.

I'm shocked no one's mentioned this guy as a potential Trump VP pick yet... He's AMAZING.

Originally Posted by https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/03/03/texas-republican-disaster-new-county-chair-is-conspiracy-theorist-who-tweets-of-feeling-boobylicious/

Morrow, the 51-year-old author of “The Clintons’ War on Women,” said his strategy in winning the race wasn’t complicated.

“I was listed first on the ballot,” he said. “See, when you have a primary ballot — people vote for president, Congress, state judge. When they get down to the precinct chair race, [they vote for who’s] first on the ballot. It happened to be me. I don’t need Karl Rove or David Axelrod.”

(PS what is it with Princeton producing nut jobs from Texas these days?)

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

It's not a binary choice. But when you hear that GWB is the Antichrist, and John McCain is the worst, and Mitt Romney is terrible, at a certain point you stop listening to those people.

Oh boo hoo.

In my adult life I've seen four Dem general candidates. One was impeached. One lost after the Supreme Court changed the rules. One lost fair and square. And one won, but had the opposition declare they wouldn't support anything he did no matter what before he was even inaugurated.

And yet somehow I'm not organizing my precinct to vote for Louis Farrahkan.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

And it's worth looking at why Trump is polling at 30%+ among college educated people, higher income voters, and independents, instead of buying in to the narrative and implying that every Trump voter is a poor dumb bigot.

I don't think anyone actually said EVERY Trump voter is a poor dumb bigot. But when your support starts there with its biggest support and spreads from there, it does make you wonder.

Missed if this was already posted:
Who Are Donald Trump's Supporters? - The Atlantic

Well-educated Conservatives are largely rejecting Donald Trump... that's where he gets the least amount of support. And yes, Trump does play well to those who are tired of the GOP establishment, but I wonder why that really is? Trump has publicly backed high profile Democrats in the past. Now I'm supposed to believe that he has broad-based support from many different factions of the party?

He does not. He plays well to voters who normally wouldn't vote in a primary because he is delivering a different kind of message, one that supposedly speaks "truth to power". That's not his ONLY support, but when you combine the support of those who don't normally vote with someone who is the third choice of likely voters in a race where just a few percentage points creates massive swings, you get a winner.