Trump v GOP

[Ridgerunner]

There is so much interpretation of the David Duke exchange that it’s hard to even know what Trump said, let alone what he meant.

This, apparently, is the controversial statement:

"“I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists,” he said. “So I don’t know. I don’t know – did he endorse me, or what’s going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists.”

One might criticize Trump for slowness of thought in this; perhaps excessive wariness, not knowing whether it was a “trick question” or not. What, indeed, did he know about David Duke or various white supremacist groups at that moment? Frankly, after all these years of Duke not really being a news item and being something of a footnote oddity even at his point of greatest renown, I’m not sure I would have made the connection any more quickly than Trump did. And since I would have had no idea whether David Duke was at that precise moment a Grand Wizard or a converted Carthusian monk, I couldn’t have commented on his life at the time either. Nor would very many, even among the intelligentsia of this country if they answered truthfully.

Obviously, he didn’t know where the questioner was going with the subject. Quite possibly he knows no more about white supremacists than most of us do; that they exist somewhere or other and pretend to each other that they matter. They are, after all, a miniscule group that affect nothing at all but the fevered imaginations of those ultra-leftists who would like them to somehow be representative of this nation.

But yes, he should have made a quicker mental connection of David Duke when “white supremacist” was in the same question, and focused on “white supremacist” instead of cogitating over whether Duke was a person of political significance or one of the characters in “Dukes of Hazzard”.

 

[petra22]

I have never been a Republican. I was born and raised Democrat and worked for the party for years. I had to leave when I came to the realization that one could not simultaneously be a dedicated Catholic and a dedicated Democrat. So now I’m just myself, without a party.

I too was a staunch Democrat until a few years ago say about 15, when I realized that the Dems were not speaking my language. I’m conservative and it seemed there were no conservative Democrats to be found. Where are they? I still haven’t found many, so I changed. I don’t vote straight ticket but vote for the person. Why are the conservative Democrats hiding???

 

[Pulvis]

The fix is in. The old guard refuses to give up their power base. They did the same thing to Ross Perot. Trump is not as easy to buy/bribe/scare. So it is steal the nomination or put a bullet in him. At this point nothing would surprise me. And the democrats are no different.
If only the people would wake up and remember that we have the power, not the government.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Stylteralmaldo;13703454:

The suit is ongoing and hasn’t been dismissed by the court due to lack of merit after more than two years after the suit was filed? That can’t be good news for Trump.

It won’t matter to the Trump lemmings

Motions for Summary Judgment, which is what we’re talking about, are not supposed to be granted unless, after discovery is complete, there are no contested, relevant, facts remaining and the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. If there are any fact disputes left (and there almost always are) then the judge can’t grant the motion and will be overturned on appeal if he does.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I too was a staunch Democrat until a few years ago say about 15, when I realized that the Dems were not speaking my language. I’m conservative and it seemed there were no conservative Democrats to be found. Where are they? I still haven’t found many, so I changed. I don’t vote straight ticket but vote for the person. Why are the conservative Democrats hiding???

I’m not sure it’s possible for a conservative Democrat to exist anymore. The whole bunch of them move in lockstep now, so even if some Dem congressperson wanted, in his heart, to dissent, he really can’t get away with it. Joe Manchin is conservative in some ways, but he has been cocooned off by the party. And look what happened to Joe Lieberman when he dissented from the Dem party line on Iraq. Never mind that most of the Dems supported it too, early on, once it became an Obama talking point, no Democrat could support it anymore. Lieberman did and his own party ran against him.

 

[_Abyssinia]

Trump’s Super Tuesday performance was impressive, and no GOP candidate can claim he has nearly as plausible a path to 1,237 delegates as Trump. However, Super Tuesday’s results suggest a strategic shift: The effort to stop Trump may no longer call for consolidation around one alternative; it’s now a multifront war led by multiple candidates and disparate factions of the party with the singular aim of preventing Trump from winning 1,237 delegates.

fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-is-just-barely-on-track-to-win-the-gop-nomination/

Also:

Byron York: GOP plan to stop ‘runaway nominee’ Trump

washingtonexaminer.com/gop-plan-to-stop-runaway-nominee/article/2584807

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Re Trump University

nationalreview.com/corner/432010/trump-university-scam

First thing first, Trump University was never a university. When the “school” was established in 2005, the New York State Education Department warned that it was in violation of state law for operating without a NYSED license. Trump ignored the warnings. (The institution is now called, ahem, “Trump Entrepreneur Initiative.”) Cue lawsuits. Trump University is currently the defendant in three lawsuits — two class-action lawsuits filed in California, and one filed in New York by then-attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who told CNN’s New Day in 2013: “We started looking at Trump University and discovered that it was a classic bait-and-switch scheme. It was a scam, starting with the fact that it was not a university.” Trump U “students” say the same. In his affidavit, Richard Hewson reported that he and his wife “concluded that we had paid over $20,000 for nothing, based on our belief in Donald Trump and the promises made at the [organization’s] free seminar and three-day workshop.” But “the whole thing was a scam.” In fact, $20,000 is only a mid-range loss. The lead plaintiff in one of the California suits, yoga instructor Tarla Makaeff, says she was “scammed” out of $60,000 over the course of her time in Trump U.

Read more at: nationalreview.com/corner/432010/trump-university-scam

 

[grotto]

The fix is in. The old guard refuses to give up their power base. They did the same thing to Ross Perot. Trump is not as easy to buy/bribe/scare. So it is steal the nomination or put a bullet in him. At this point nothing would surprise me. And the democrats are no different.
If only the people would wake up and remember that we have the power, not the government.

---

It is hard to watch Mitt Romney come out like a Jack-in-the-Box at the bequest of the Rep mover-doer-shakers. He was such a push over when confronted with the Benghazi issue by Candy Crowley of CNN. Even if he choked at the moment he could have kicked some dust and made the big difference right afterward. Now we get to hear him rant about Trump. This is very transparent and very dissapointing.

Also, the stacking of the audience at the Fox Theatre in Detroit for tonight’s debate is not going to fly. The RNC would not answer the question of “how many tickets are there?” The non answer was only 50 went to the public. Therefore, a repeat of all the booos and disruption for Trump will continue.

Lets get it out there - stop the games and dirty tricks, special interests and back room deals. We have had enough!

 

[meltzerboy]

---

It is hard to watch Mitt Romney come out like a Jack-in-the-Box at the bequest of the Rep mover-doer-shakers. He was such a push over when confronted with the Benghazi issue by Candy Crowley of CNN. Even if he choked at the moment he could have kicked some dust and made the big difference right afterward. Now we get to hear him rant about Trump. This is very transparent and very dissapointing.

Also, the stacking of the audience at the Fox Theatre in Detroit for tonight’s debate is not going to fly. The RNC would not answer the question of “how many tickets are there?” The non answer was only 50 went to the public. Therefore, a repeat of all the booos and disruption for Trump will continue.

Lets get it out there - stop the games and dirty tricks, special interests and back room deals. We have had enough!

I must agree with you here. The main reason why Mitt Romney lost the election to Obama was Mitt’s OWN flip-flopping and lack of credibility as a conservative, in his business dealings, with his taxes, as well as his inability or reluctance to confront Obama’s policies in a more aggressive way. Now we are supposed to believe this man, who accepted the endorsement of Trump in 2012 and praised him? Romney’s words may actually have the OPPOSITE effect of what the GOP establishment desires.

 

[irishpatrick]

I must agree with you here. The main reason why Mitt Romney lost the election to Obama was Mitt’s OWN flip-flopping and lack of credibility as a conservative, in his business dealings, with his taxes, as well as his inability or reluctance to confront Obama’s policies in a more aggressive way. Now we are supposed to believe this man, who accepted the endorsement of Trump in 2012 and praised him? Romney’s words may actually have the OPPOSITE effect of what the GOP establishment desires.

I disagree. There were 3-5,000,000 Republicans who did not vote for President in 2012.

Had they voted for Romney, we’d be having an entirely different conversation this cycle.

 

[Cider]

I think this Romney speech is a really bad idea and will backfire big time. But maybe that’s the plan after all? Maybe they want to see how high Trumps numbers will get and how many Dems and independents they can bring in?

 

[Luigi_Daniele]

I disagree. There were 3-5,000,000 Republicans who did not vote for President in 2012.

Had they voted for Romney, we’d be having an entirely different conversation this cycle.

Which is why no Republican/conservative can sit it out this year. Lesson learned, I hope

 

[estesbob]

I think this Romney speech is a really bad idea and will backfire big time. But maybe that’s the plan after all? Maybe they want to see how high Trumps numbers will get and how many Dems and independents they can bring in?

I agree-he should have done like Christy-endorsed one of the remaining canidates and then go after his opponents.

 

[livnlern]

Which is why no Republican/conservative can sit it out this year. Lesson learned, I hope

Exactly! A nonvote is like a vote for the Dems.
I voted for Ted Cruz in the Primaries and don’t like all the “Middle School” taunting that’s going on, but when the election comes around and it’s either Hillary or someone else, I’m more than willing to give that someone else a chance.

 

[Theo520]

But yes, he should have made a quicker mental connection of David Duke when “white supremacist” was in the same question, and focused on “white supremacist” instead of cogitating over whether Duke was a person of political significance or one of the characters in “Dukes of Hazzard”.

Everyone is playing a game of trying to trip him, so they throw ‘turds’ on the table to get a reaction they can use. Avoiding them is a learned skill for a politician.

I was most disappointed by how GOP politicians kept batting the exchange around as implied proof Trump is racist. Surely they should be able to find actual evidence, if it is true.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Which is why no Republican/conservative can sit it out this year. Lesson learned, I hope

Nope.

I’ve vote in every presidential election since I was 18.

I was displaced for hurricane Sandy, and my husband and I needed to get emergency absentee ballots in order to vote. And we did.

There is no way I can vote for Trump.

His views on abortion, his views on torture, his views on attacking the families of the enemy prevent me from voting for him.

I don’t agree with his views on immigration, I don’t agree with his views of eminent domain.

His remarks about women, his scandalous divorces, the whole thing about Trump University are troublesome to me. His comments regarding the Holy Father even before the visit and plane interview are also troublesome.

I am at a loss to how and why that out of a pool of pretty good candidates, he’s the front runner, basically due to his logorrhea. It is incredible to me.

Sorry.

 

[pnewton]

I disagree. There were 3-5,000,000 Republicans who did not vote for President in 2012.

Exactly! A nonvote is like a vote for the Dems.

Both of these statements assume (something we should avoid) that non-votes, or Republicans that sit out, would have voted for Romney. It also assumes that these votes would have been for Romney in the right key states to swing the election. The myth of the non-vote or the Third Party vote be why the Republican (or the Democrat when they do the same thing) was not elected is just a blind speculation without a shred of potential for evidence. One cannot omnisciently assume what is in the minds of millions of other people and develop some bizarre alternate time stream around their wistful thoughts.

A political party needs to consider the effect they have in who the nominate on those that are not die hard, vote Republican or face damnation, people.

 

[meltzerboy]

I disagree. There were 3-5,000,000 Republicans who did not vote for President in 2012.

Had they voted for Romney, we’d be having an entirely different conversation this cycle.

And WHY did so many Republicans not vote rather than voting for Romney? For some, maybe it was due to his religion; but for many, it was most likely due to his OWN lack of credibility, as I mentioned in the previous post. Romney is far from the best spokesman for the conservative cause of the Republican party. In fact, he is probably closer to Trump both in his social and economic views than to either Cruz or Rubio. First Romney praises Trump and now he is expected to rip him to shreds? Give me a break: this is sheer establishment politics without any semblance of core values. Romney was even toying with the idea of running himself for president for the third time. All these politicians, including Romney, Trump, and Clinton, are like opportunistic peas in a pod.

 

[Cider]

And WHY did so many Republicans not vote rather than voting for Romney? For some, maybe it was due to his religion; but for many, it was most likely due to his OWN lack of credibility, as I mentioned in the previous post. Romney is far from the best spokesman for the conservative cause of the Republican party. In fact, he is probably closer to Trump both in his social and economic views than to either Cruz or Rubio. First Romney praises Trump and now he is expected to rip him to shreds? Give me a break: this is sheer establishment politics without any semblance of core values. Romney was even toying with the idea of running himself for president for the third time. All these politicians, including Romney, Trump, and Clinton, are like opportunistic peas in a pod.

I didn’t want Romney or McCain and I voted for them anyway with the whole lesser or two evils approach. But it was close, I almost didn’t vote. This time, I have no idea what I’m going to do. I feel the Republican party should get what they deserve. You want Trump, have him.

What they don’t seem to understand is the I DON’T OWE YOU ANYTHING. I don’t owe you my vote.

Just like anyone else you need to earn my vote and I’m sick and tired of voting for people I don’t want because neither party represents me.

 

[irishpatrick]

And WHY did so many Republicans not vote rather than voting for Romney? For some, maybe it was due to his religion; but for many, it was most likely due to his OWN lack of credibility, as I mentioned in the previous post. Romney is far from the best spokesman for the conservative cause of the Republican party. In fact, he is probably closer to Trump both in his social and economic views than to either Cruz or Rubio. First Romney praises Trump and now he is expected to rip him to shreds? Give me a break: this is sheer establishment politics without any semblance of core values. Romney was even toying with the idea of running himself for president for the third time. All these politicians, including Romney, Trump, and Clinton, are like opportunistic peas in a pod.

Question: would this country have been served had Romney won?