Donald Trump for president?

[Lihu]

Just now, Golfingdad said:

I can't imagine that you could get very far in politics these days without having a boatload of confidence in yourself and your beliefs.

Right, you'd look like Jeb Bush or what's-his-name?

 

[Dave2512]

18 minutes ago, pumaAttack said:

Question:

Are you guys "Pumped" that Donald is going to be the nominee or is he simply the best of the GOP candidates.

 

Maybe not the best but certainly the least status quo. The vibe of this election is different. In 2008 and 2012 the themes were anti other guy. With Trump the other guys are everyone but Trump.

I saw something interesting watching MSNBC this AM. There was a Rubio spokesman trying to make the case Trump is Obama part two. IMO it's a dangerous stance. People on the street seem to be more sick of the House and Senate than the POTUS. Every GOP candidate but Trump seems oblivious to this.

Plain and simple they don't have an answer for him. My fear with Trump is this is just a game to him. Despite his popularity he spends less than everyone else. Is he sincere about winning the nomination or gambling what he can afford to lose to feed his megalomania. It's early and difficult to use former precedents to gauge how well he is doing. A big Mar. 1 and Mar. 15 for someone else could change the landscape leading up to the convention.

[Golfingdad]

2 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Right, you'd look like Jeb Bush

Good point.  Whatever confidence he had was mostly just snatched away from him by Trump and things like the video of him begging his audience to clap for him. 

3 minutes ago, Lihu said:

or what's-his-name?

Exactly.

[k-troop]

1 minute ago, Dave2512 said:

Maybe not the best but certainly the least status quo. The vibe of this election is different. In 2008 and 2012 the themes were anti other guy. With Trump the other guys are everyone but Trump.

Agree, and whether he wins the general or not I think Trump has held the mirror up to the GOP's face so they could see they are old and dying.  I believe (and I believed it a few months into Trump's candidacy) that Trump represents such a failure of the GOP that they will have no choice but to change, and drastically.  (Note:  that's not to say I think the DP is any more functional, but they haven't found their self-destruct button yet.)

2 minutes ago, Dave2512 said:

People on the street seem to be more sick of the House and Senate than the POTUS. Every GOP candidate but Trump seems oblivious to this.

Agree with this also.  If Trump wins and becomes President, I believe that regardless of which party holds majorities the Congress will be completely crippled.  I'm actually in favor of this outcome if it creates real change--as in the capability for Congress to create and pass meaningful legislation even if it requires minority party members to vote for things they don't 100% agree with.

2 minutes ago, Dave2512 said:

My fear with Trump is this is just a game to him. Despite his popularity he spends less than everyone else. Is he sincere about winning the nomination or just gambling what he can afford to lose to feed his megalomania?

Valid concern.  It's shocking how little he's spent given the results.

[Golfingdad]

6 minutes ago, k-troop said:

I'm actually in favor of this outcome if it creates real change--as in the capability for Congress to create and pass meaningful legislation even if it requires minority party members to vote for things they don't 100% agree with.

Interesting.  I hadn't really thought of that. 

[Dave2512]

13 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Right, you'd look like Jeb Bush or what's-his-name?

 

Jeb was plenty confident and is also a narcissist, he bailed because he burned through a mountain of cash to end up in the bottom third. Mostly because he couldn't shed 43's baggage. Which given the way the 2008 election went shouldn't have been a surprise.. If anything as a former frontrunner he limped home to nurse his crushed ego.

Kasich yeah he's the exception in this race but I have no experience with what he did to get to where he is. He seems genuinely shell-shocked by his inability to establish momentum.  In fact that's the only Kasich sound byte, his low numbers.

[Braivo]

28 minutes ago, pumaAttack said:

Question:

Are you guys "Pumped" that Donald is going to be the nominee or is he simply the best of the GOP candidates.

 

I, personally, am pumped about it. He is a great candidate and a guy who can get things done. He is narcissistic, but what politician at this level isn't? 

13 minutes ago, Dave2512 said:

Maybe not the best but certainly the least status quo. The vibe of this election is different. In 2008 and 2012 the themes were anti other guy. With Trump the other guys are everyone but Trump.

I saw something interesting watching MSNBC this AM. There was a Rubio spokesman trying to make the case Trump is Obama part two. IMO it's a dangerous stance. People on the street seem to be more sick of the House and Senate than the POTUS. Every GOP candidate but Trump seems oblivious to this.

Plain and simple they don't have an answer for him. My fear with Trump is this is just a game to him. Despite his popularity he spends less than everyone else. Is he sincere about winning the nomination or gambling what he can afford to lose to feed his megalomania. It's early and difficult to use former precedents to gauge how well he is doing. A big Mar. 1 and Mar. 15 for someone else could change the landscape leading up to the convention.

There are reasons for this. He is spending his own money. He has a history of being frugal, and why spend a ton of his own money when he is winning without it? He gets the media to pay for his campaign by covering him non-stop. He is a master at manipulating them to get himself in the headlines nearly every day. 

9 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Good point.  Whatever confidence he had was mostly just snatched away from him by Trump and things like the video of him begging his audience to clap for him. 

Exactly.

Trump doomed Bush's campaign when he called him "low energy" early on. That label stuck with him and proved to be correct. Finished. 

[newtogolf]

38 minutes ago, pumaAttack said:

Question:

Are you guys "Pumped" that Donald is going to be the nominee or is he simply the best of the GOP candidates.

 

Not pumped, I'd have been pumped if Rand was where Trump is today.  

I'm tired of politicians and the establishment so if Trump is really who he says he is today then I'll vote for him and hope he changes the way things are done in DC.  

I just hope he picks a great VP and one who shares his vision because I seriously question how long he will be in office before someone tries to take him out.  Trump has and will make many more enemies if he's elected POTUS, the Secret Service will earn every penny they make protecting him.  

[Lihu]

4 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

Not pumped, I'd have been pumped if Rand was where Trump is today.  

I'm tired of politicians and the establishment so if Trump is really who he says he is today then I'll vote for him and hope he changes the way things are done in DC.  

I just hope he picks a great VP and one who shares his vision because I seriously question how long he will be in office before someone tries to take him out.  Trump has and will make many more enemies if he's elected POTUS, the Secret Service will earn every penny they make protecting him.  

Or he could do what Bush and Obama did, get a VP that nobody wants to be POTUS.

[Braivo]

3 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

I just hope he picks a great VP and one who shares his vision because I seriously question how long he will be in office before someone tries to take him out.  Trump has and will make many more enemies if he's elected POTUS, the Secret Service will earn every penny they make protecting him.  

I've worried about this myself. He already has SS protection, but I imagine it will be increased soon.

I bet he will surprise everyone with his choice of VP, that's just how he works. I haven't a guess as to who he will go with. 

[newtogolf]

1 minute ago, Lihu said:

Or he could do what Bush and Obama did, get a VP that nobody wants to be POTUS.

That's true, Biden was the best life insurance policy Obama ever bought.  

[Gunther]

2 minutes ago, Braivo said:

I've worried about this myself. He already has SS protection, but I imagine it will be increased soon.

I bet he will surprise everyone with his choice of VP, that's just how he works. I haven't a guess as to who he will go with. 

I'm gonna guess Giuliani.

[Dave2512]

Nah the Obama fear was unfounded and subsided quickly once he didn't take everyone's guns and turn the WH into a mosque.

[Golfingdad]

2 minutes ago, Dave2512 said:

Nah the Obama fear was unfounded and subsided quickly once he didn't take everyone's guns and turn the WH into a mosque.

There's still time.

5 minutes ago, Gunther said:

I'm gonna guess Giuliani.

Guess??  That's not like you at all. 

[Gunther]

6 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

 

Guess??  That's not like you at all. 

Touche but just too many options to make a definitive prediction.

I'll further guess Hill will choose Anthony Weiner.             jk

[Dave2512]

Donald/Ivanka 2016

[RandallT]

57 minutes ago, pumaAttack said:

Question:

Are you guys "Pumped" that Donald is going to be the nominee or is he simply the best of the GOP candidates.

 

At this point, any candidate who will highlight the need for limited federal government powers is ok in my book. Obama has tried to grow the power and scope of the federal government (Obamacare, etc), and he was cheered on by half the country and most of the media. 

If President Trump tries to overstep traditional limits of federal and executive branch power, I have a sneaky suspicion that we will all get civic lessons from the media on the Constitution's limits.

Checks and balances will be highlighted as virtues, and we will not hear of any more talk of congressional obstructionism. We will hear high-minded discussion of elected officials close to their constituents doing the noble tasks of their electorate, even if that means saying no to a president. 

We will hear stories of the legislative branch's responsibility for setting the fiscal agenda. We will hear about the importance of an independent judiciary. We will hear about states resenting federal intrusions into their business. The media will proclaim its sacred position of telling truth to power, even though the past 8 years it has been a lapdog cheerleader for their like-minded president.

In my mind, that'd be worth it.

So... am I pumped re Trump? No. But interested to watch people squirm and suddenly regret the bed they've made by wanting the federal executive to be more far-reaching and intrusive in people's lives. That is the march of progress if we follow the path envisioned by Obama, Clinton, Sanders, and the like. More and more federal powers to fix all of our wrongs. More intrusion and reporting for every aspect of society to ensure that nobody is wronged in any way, and that all is made to be fair by executive action.

I'll look forward to the argument that executive power is good and just only when it furthers one set of policies that is left-leaning, but it is unconstitutional when it furthers another set of right-leaning policies. 

 

11 minutes ago, Gunther said:

I'm gonna guess Giuliani.

I hadn't thought of that one. Two straight-talkin' New Yorkers. Almost the opposite of the 1992 Clinton/Gore ticket.

[Dave2512]

Trump has flip-flopped more than a pancake not sure straight-talkin' is a good tag for him. He changed positions on just about everything but make America great. He wouldn't even cop to calling Bush 43 a liar a few days after he kicked JEB in the nuts with it. Unless not being afraid to say whatever you want is the new straight talk then...