Republican Election 2016 - Donald Trump Megathread [OFFICIAL]

[Cthulhu 2020]

He had two years to do whatever he wanted. At some point he is responsible for his own failures. At some point, blaming someone else forever is just childish.

However, in 32 tries, not one single quarter did the economy grow 3% more than the prior quarter. So, blaming Bush isn't mathematically relevant.

You guys are de-railing though.

Hold on while I filibuster for 2 years, then block everything for the other 6 years.

[Pangean]

How low can you go? Trymp is using "alleged" multiple sexual harraser for debate prep and other duties.

Donald Trump Reportedly Getting Debate Prep From Accused Sexual Harasser Roger Ailes


Roger Ailes, the influential former Fox News chairman who resigned from the network less than a month ago amid widespread accusations of sexual harassment, is helping Donald Trump prepare for the presidential debates, according to The New York Times.

Ailes will be in the awkward position of helping to prepare Trump, who has made misogynistic remarks throughout his career, to debate the first woman to earn the presidential nomination of a major party.

The Trump campaign denied the Times report in a statement.”This is not accurate. He is not advising Mr. Trump or helping with debate prep. They are longtime friends, but he has no formal or informal role in the campaign,” spokeswoman Hope Hicks told The Huffington Post.

But sources told Gabriel Sherman, the New York magazine reporter and Ailes biographer who has broken most of the news about the scandal, that Ailes has been advising Trump for months.


Since former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit against Ailes last month, at least 20 women have come forward with similar accusations, according to Carlson’s lawyers.

Carlson said in the lawsuit that she spoke up about sexist treatment at the network and faced retaliation for doing so. Ailes told her, “I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better,” according to the lawsuit.

Among those who say Ailes harassed them are Fox hosts Megyn Kelly and Andrea Tantaros. Former Fox booker Laurie Luhn told New York magazine that Ailes psychologically tortured her for more than 20 years.

Trump defended Ailes during an interview on “Meet The Press” last month, saying he had helped many of the women who were now accusing him of harassment.

“He’s been a friend of mine for a long time,” Trump said. “And I can tell you that some of the women that are complaining, I know how much he’s helped them. And even recently. And when they write books that are fairly recently released, and they say wonderful things about him.”

Ailes, long considered one of the most powerful men in media, advised former Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He prepared Reagan for his presidential debate in 1984 against Walter Mondale, telling him he needed to be prepared to answer questions about his age, according to Sherman’s biography. When the question did come up in the debate, Reagan famously said, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

Clinton’s campaign is preparing to deal with attacks from Trump about Bill Clinton’s history with Monica Lewinsky and other women, Politico reported on Tuesday.

“You can’t put it beyond Trump that Monica Lewinsky will play a role in this debate,” said Greg Craig, President Barack Obama’s former White House counsel, who helped both Obama and John Kerry with debate prep.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b0a8e150258244

[Grogo]

You know, it is not the average voter that Trump is going after, it is the below average voter he is targeting. A solid percentage of Trump supporters are poorly educated...and Donald loves them. You can be poorly educated and be smart , but in many of these Trump supporters cases, they just don't understand.

[zenkai]

Not even The Onion could top Trump's campaign

It's funnier when it's true, or sadder, I can't decide. Scary, yes scary that's the winner.

[Celista]

It isn't over until it is over, America has something called the 'October surprise' where some kind of skeleton comes out of a closet and it is too close to election to spin/fix/counter that turns off voters. Both candidates have their skeletons, and yes I said both because any independent candidate is merely a fart in the mouth of any voter that opens their mouth and mouth breathes about how their loser is the best choice and isn't a wasted vote to the complete opposite candidate than the one they are closer aligned to.

At this rate either one could end up in prison giving the other the White House. Republicans are trying to keep Clinton under oath in hopes she we get caught lieing and trump has several court cases out there of defrauding people or not paying for services rendered.

Winner take all electoral college system, unless you live in a swing state or there are enough votes in a given state to re-allocate given electoral votes to a different than projected candidate, then third party voters should support their first pick candidate.

Until we change our voting system there is little to no point in getting butthurt over third party voters.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Winner take all electoral college system, unless you live in a swing state or there are enough votes in a given state to re-allocate given electoral votes to a different than projected candidate, then third party voters should support their first pick candidate.

Until we change our voting system there is little to no point in getting butthurt over third party voters.

People who get butthurt over third party votes have little understanding of how our two party system even came to be. The summary is that a candidate requires 270 electoral college votes to become president. Not "the most", 270, which is a bit over half. They need a majority. If 3 people ran as primary candidates in the main election, and none of them got 270, we'd have run off after run off until one finally got 270. But effectively, this would end up being almost indefinite and we'd have no president.

As such, we have many primaries, we even have primaries before the primaries to figure out who the primary nominees are going to be. So we can have two candidates in the main election, and only two. That's what the primaries are there for.

People's time to get third party voting out of their system is in the primaries. If people want tertiary parties to win, they have to get much more involved in the political process much earlier. Whining that third party vote doesn't count IN THE MAIN ELECTION is showing ignorance of the entire process. If you want a third party candidate to win, get involved earlier in the political process.

Your third party vote doesn't get your candidate to the main election? Oh well, you have two choices in the main election and sure, you can write in, but it's not going to do anything.

- - - Updated - - -

So a big reason I don't like the idea of Trump winning...

When Civilization IX or whatever comes out and they make him a leader, he'll use more nukes than ghandi.

[Fahrenheit]

Trump's immigrant screening process is GENIUS. He finally figured out how to deal with ISIS. As we all know, those wanting to commit terror are incapable of lying about their intentions when entering the country.

"What is your favorite freedom guaranteed in the Constitution?"

"Death to infidels... damnit... I mean freedom of speech."

The real question is thus. What happens when an immigrant answers the questionnaire with "sarcastic" remarks? Do they get rejected on account of such chicanery? What if they walk it back a day or two later with a passive-aggressive tweet? All is forgiven I presume?

[Baelic]

Don't be absurd, besides...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...on.barackobama

There are two clear distinctions between the comments of Hillary and Trump:

Distinction #1 - The Clinton comment itself (when taken as a whole) serves as a reason (albeit poor) to not drop out early. Whereas Trump's comment (when taken as a whole) talks about a possible future scenario where his opponent wins and THEN suggests that only the "2nd amendment folks" can do something about it. Which I should add the NRA backed him up on.

Distinction #2 - Hillary gives a clear, concise, reason as to why she made the comment and apologizes for it recognizing that it was offensive. Trump not only DOESN'T apologize (His childish non-apology of "I miss-spoke, ok? Get over it" is absurd), he attacks those who condemn him (even those of his own party) and decides to try and one-up his statement with the "Hillary/Obama founded ISIS" comment.

[Meldetia]

People who get butthurt over third party votes have little understanding of how our two party system even came to be. The summary is that a candidate requires 270 electoral college votes to become president. Not "the most", 270, which is a bit over half. They need a majority. If 3 people ran as primary candidates in the main election, and none of them got 270, we'd have run off after run off until one finally got 270. But effectively, this would end up being almost indefinite and we'd have no president.

Not untrue - but worth pointing out that those run off votes are performed by Congress (between the top three electoral winners) per the Twelve Amendment and not by another general election from the populace.

[Pangean]

The prayed for pivot of Trump's that the GOP keeps promising? Ain't happening as we all knew.

[Matchles]

The real question is thus. What happens when an immigrant answers the questionnaire with "sarcastic" remarks? Do they get rejected on account of such chicanery? What if they walk it back a day or two later with a passive-aggressive tweet? All is forgiven I presume?

Ha!

"Why are you coming into the country?"
"I'm coming here to take commercial flying lessons."
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah with flight simulators, I'm getting really consistent at hitting.... oh come on guys, it was a joke!"

[Breccia]

The prayed for pivot of Trump's that the GOP keeps promising? Ain't happening as we all knew.

In two days, he'll say he was sarcastic and misinterpreted.

[Gray_Matter]

Saw this today. Trump only leading by 6 in Texas in the latest poll there:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...tein-6104.html

[Pangean]

Interesting article on Trump's current lies about foreign policy. Make sure you watch the video in the article.

'Morning Joe' video compares Trump's foreign policy 'then and now'

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday aired a clip comparing Donald Trump's past statements on foreign policy issues with his current ones.

The video detailing Trump’s shifting views has since gone viral, earning a spot in Twitter’s trending topics.

The clip starts by showing Trump claiming he opposed the Iraq War.
“I was an opponent of the Iraq War from the beginning,” Trump said in the clip from a Monday rally in Youngstown, Ohio.

That's followed by a clip from "The Howard Stern Show" on Sept. 11, 2002, when Trump was asked if he supported the invasion.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he replied at the time. "I wish the first time it was done correctly.”

The video also contrasts Trump's views on the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.

“I have been just as clear as saying what a catastrophic mistake Hillary Clinton and President Obama made with the reckless way in which they pulled out,” he said during Monday's rally.

But in a March 16, 2007, interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Trump said, "How do they get out? They get out, that’s how they get out. Declare victory and leave.”

Trump is also shown having two minds on the American military intervention in Libya.

“Libya was stable,” he said Monday. "President Obama and Hillary Clinton should never have attempted to build a democracy in Libya.”

But that's contrasted with a clip of Trump in the past arguing for removing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi from power.

“Gadhafi, in Libya, is killing thousands of people,” Trump said in a clip from Feb. 28, 2011, video. "Nobody knows how bad it is. We should go in, we should stop this guy, which would be very quick and easy.”

MSNBC’s video had garnered 435 retweets and 966 likes as of Tuesday afternoon.

The video comes a day after Trump delivered a major foreign policy address on Monday, unveiling his plan for fighting terrorism that placed most of the focus on radical Islamic extremism.

Trump also sparked controversy last week by claiming President Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now the Democratic presidential nominee, "founded" the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

He doubled down on those remarks before claiming he was being sarcastic.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...s-then-and-now

[Merkava]

Interesting article on Trump's current lies about foreign policy. Make sure you watch the video in the article.

I think, just on Syria, he's offered 3 drastically contrasting opinions, alternatively: nuke it, let ISIS have it, or commit thousands of US troops. Sam Harris said the few times that he's not lying, he's changing his mind so often that it's the functional equivalent of lying.

[NYC17]

I think, just on Syria, he's offered 3 drastically contrasting opinions, alternatively: nuke it, let ISIS have it, or commit thousands of US troops. Sam Harris said the few times that he's not lying, he's changing his mind so often that it's the functional equivalent of lying.

You forgot "defer to Russia".

[Wulfey]

There was some talk of Russia's interest in our election a few pages back. It isn't grand strategy here. The Russia propaganda / professional trolls are just trying to weaken American faith in democratic institutions. They consistently push a "rigged" message to try and persuade people to not believe in the American system of government. This isn't some big power play, Russia just wants us a little weaker where it can get it. The Russians from their perspective believe that our vast American information corporations (facebook, news media, twitter) actively undermine their interests in their near abroad (see the color revolutions that used American communication mediums). The Russians are trying to hit us back with divisive propaganda.

[DeadmanWalking]

That's one problem with Trump, Putin figured him out in a second. Compliment him on his genius or Uuge hands/cock and Trump becomes your lap president who is suddenly talking about, "Wouldn't it be great if we were allies with Russia? Wouldn't that be great?" Meanwhile, Russia is hacking political parties to influence our election.

[Bollocks]

Texas officially a swing state.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/m...-in-texas.html

[Xyonai]

Texas officially a swing state.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/m...-in-texas.html

I never thought I'd see this happen within this decade, but here we are.