Republican Election 2016 - Donald Trump Megathread [OFFICIAL]

[Nfinitii]

Oh this is great. CNN is now posting a non-opinion piece on Donald Trump's health.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/politi...lth/index.html

Again, don't keep calling the media liars, biased or the worst of humanity when they've been running your campaign for you.

Lol, that was pretty weak article tbh. I'll gladly take it though, cnn is just opening the door more for ppl to talk about Hillary's health.
i blew off the Clinton health issues at first, but after watching some of the videos where she starts acting strange I'm curious. I would like to c health reports from both candidates.

[Ghostpanther]

Why does he have to build golf courses exclusively in US? :/
It's still "America first" if he first builds in America :P

He probably got all he could in US (as in "cheapest to buy", "best location", "no competition around", "got good manager available to oversee it") and then Scotland offered great deal.

Yep. If the great majority he owns are in the US, then he has put American ones first. But the Trump haters only look for negatives about him.
They ask why he buys golf courses outside the US ( which is what he has did in Scotland, not built new ones, but revamping old ones ) and when you show 10 out of 12 are built within the US, they are not happy he has one outside. lol!

He is a businessman and thus, he would look for opportunities to make money. Having America on a different course of less meddling in the affairs of other countries and focusing more on putting American interest and concerns first, is a political stance. But even that stance does not mean he wants Americans not to look for opportunities to make money aboard.

[Aggrophobic]

Yep. If the great majority he owns are in the US, then he has put American ones first. But the Trump haters only look for negatives about him.
They ask why he buys golf courses outside the US ( which is what he has did in Scotland, not built new ones, but revamping old ones ) and when you show 10 out of 12 are built within the US, they are not happy he has one outside. lol!

He is a businessman and thus, he would look for opportunities to make money. Having America on a different course of less meddling in the affairs of other countries and focusing more on putting American interest and concerns first, is a political stance. But even that stance does not mean he wants Americans not to look for opportunities to make money aboard.

But it's the "meddeling" that has put the US at the top. You can't both be the most powerful country and not care about whats going on in the rest of the world.

I'm pretty sure the only one he looks out for is himself though, no the american people.

[Ghostpanther]

You don't just stop foreign affairs in order to "focus America", nor visa versa. Neglect to either focus would make for a terrible president. Nobody should ever lie to themselves that the U.S. is capable of producing enough to meet our consumption levels.

I disagree. We can become energy self dependent. Totally. I can not think of anything we could not make ourselves. We certainly could feed our whole population. There are farmers now who are paid not to produce on untold millions of acres. :P Name me one thing we can not make or produce ourselves.

But I am not saying we even need to. But making more stuff ourselves and reducing the huge trade deficits that exist now, should be one of our major goals. If that means we end up making more stuff, I fail to see why that is a bad thing for the US.

[Shalcker]

But it's the "meddeling" that has put the US at the top. You can't both be the most powerful country and not care about whats going on in the rest of the world.

That meddling also undermined US prestige and authority as "beacon of freedom and democracy" (now pretty much only uttered as a joke) abroad. Starting from Bush and continuing with Obama.

And there isn't much to show for it other then various crises...

Perhaps it's time to limit outreach and consolidate what you already have - lest it also slips away.

[Ghostpanther]

But it's the "meddeling" that has put the US at the top. You can't both be the most powerful country and not care about whats going on in the rest of the world.

I'm pretty sure the only one he looks out for is himself though, no the american people.

We should certainly help other countries in time of famine and natural disasters. But I think it is time we leave the rest of the world alone to decide their own political course. And from a military stance, only help those when they are attacked who are our known allies.

[Dsc]

We should certainly help other countries in time of famine and natural disasters. But I think it is time we leave the rest of the world alone to decide their own political course. And from a military stance, only help those when they are attacked who are our known allies.

Many good points in this thread. I agree a policy of total isolationism would be bad. Trump knows this too. (as was pointed out he is a business man he understands trade, and security needed for that to prosper. When people point to his shirts made in Mexico, yes thats the way things are set up. in order to compete one has to deal with that, a shirt made for $3 in Mexico while one here would be $17 dictates that. The free market would adjust. A problem we have now are rediculious "Trade Deals" like the TPP the big corps. and politicians taking millions in lobby money want. There is no reason to leave tariffs on imported goods low while China taxes ours to death too! We have a very high corporate tax rate too. That is a recipe for jobs leaving and creates a massive trade deficit, its not good for the U.S.A. Some things need to change, in a smart way.

Trump has detractors, He says some of the outlandish things he says to wake people up, and bypass the controlled media. Its working. He's not just running against the establishment, Clinton, and the corporate welfare guys, hes running against the media and the "education" system, which has churned out indoctrinated drones for 60 years.

I think he'll make a good president, we need a 180 turn from whats been going on here for decades. Remember: Trump is an independent, running on the republican ticket, just like Bernie was on the Dems. I'd love to see a new political movement here, a huge shift. Sanders before he got shafted and kissed the ring was that guy too, While I disagreed with much of Sanders, a HUGE number of Americans agreed with him, just like we do with Trump.

We're seeing people wake up to the farce that has been going on for years and years. Its overdue.

I just hope Trump's security is on point and he survives it. Many of the world's most powerful people don't want this break from the status quo, and will to to any means to stop it.

[Aggrophobic]

That meddling also undermined US prestige and authority as "beacon of freedom and democracy" (now pretty much only uttered as a joke) abroad. Starting from Bush and continuing with Obama.

And there isn't much to show for it other then various crises...

Perhaps it's time to limit outreach and consolidate what you already have - lest it also slips away.

Ah, yes. So that Putin can jump in and take over? I'll take the american freedom over Russian "freedom" any day.
I sure hope you get payed for all this propaganda you spew all overe these forums.

We should certainly help other countries in time of famine and natural disasters. But I think it is time we leave the rest of the world alone to decide their own political course. And from a military stance, only help those when they are attacked who are our known allies.

That'll, again reduce the amount of influence the US has. That's not the way to go if you want to "make america great again". It'll have the opposite effect.
What you mean with "only help known allies", I don't quite get though. When has the US ever helped someone thats not an ally?

[Shalcker]

Ah, yes. So that Putin can jump in and take over?

Thing is, Russia is already taking over. See Syria, Turkey, Iran, and even Iraq said they are open for cooperation...

It's slipping away. You have done too many blunders, and noone trusts you to do the right thing anymore.

[DeadmanWalking]

Many good points in this thread. I agree a policy of total isolationism would be bad. Trump knows this too. (as was pointed out he is a business man he understands trade, and security needed for that to prosper. When people point to his shirts made in Mexico, yes thats the way things are set up. in order to compete one has to deal with that, a shirt made for $3 in Mexico while one here would be $17 dictates that. The free market would adjust. A problem we have now are rediculious "Trade Deals" like the TPP the big corps. and politicians taking millions in lobby money want. There is no reason to leave tariffs on imported goods low while China taxes ours to death too! We have a very high corporate tax rate too. That is a recipe for jobs leaving and creates a massive trade deficit, its not good for the U.S.A. Some things need to change, in a smart way.

Trump has detractors, He says some of the outlandish things he says to wake people up, and bypass the controlled media. Its working. He's not just running against the establishment, Clinton, and the corporate welfare guys, hes running against the media and the "education" system, which has churned out indoctrinated drones for 60 years.

I think he'll make a good president, we need a 180 turn from whats been going on here for decades. Remember: Trump is an independent, running on the republican ticket, just like Bernie was on the Dems. I'd love to see a new political movement here, a huge shift. Sanders before he got shafted and kissed the ring was that guy too, While I disagreed with much of Sanders, a HUGE number of Americans agreed with him, just like we do with Trump.

We're seeing people wake up to the farce that has been going on for years and years. Its overdue.

I just hope Trump's security is on point and he survives it. Many of the world's most powerful people don't want this break from the status quo, and will to to any means to stop it.

People who run for office promising to bring jobs back from china and mexico would produce hats and tshirts in America. They charge $20 for a hat, that is more than enough to cover a hat made in America without taking a loss. I know because I work in a company that also prints on clothing. These hats would be considered embroidery and we have a lady that does that. But if you are interested in turning your voters into a money making machine you buy the hats in china and sell them to your base for $20 for a $17 profit per supporter. If you are going to promise to bring jobs back to america the first step is to actually hire americans to do things for your campaign.

Now in the Case of the armored touring buses that were made in Canada, the only company that made buses like that was in Canada and the candidates were still raked over the coals for spending money outside the states. There are companies in America that can make hats and tshirts.

[Aggrophobic]

Thing is, Russia is already taking over. See Syria, Turkey, Iran, and even Iraq said they are open for cooperation...

It's slipping away. You have done too many blunders, and noone trusts you to do the right thing anymore.

No one? Did you spend you whole life under a rock?
That dirt hole that's Syria is hardly the whole world.

You have a long way to go befor your boyfriend in the Kremlin can rival the US when it come to international influence. It's unlikely that even Trump could ruin his own country to such a degree but it's still worrying that he might try.

[alexw]

My gut is telling me that the GOP is going to be in big dwang after this election because they haven't distanced themselves enough from Trump. They had a similar situation in the past with the African Americans and now look at the vote they get from that demographic (Trump is polling at 1% which isn't much worse than Romney and co did). Trump is effectively putting them in the same boat with other demographics. There are too many Republican members of congress that are trying to walk this line of not distancing themselves from Trump while at the same time not supporting him.

Its because they need Trumps hardcore base to succeed electorally. I am not talking about the people voting Trump because they've always voted republican, or those who hate Clinton so much that they'll vote for him, but the roughly one-third of the republican base who voted for him during the early primaries. The people who love his xenophobia, racism, bigotry, etc, and who Trump has spent months playing to. The republican leadership know that these people want this stuff put into law, so if they disavow Trump they will be disavowing these peoples beliefs and wants, in effect saying to them - get lost. But these very same beliefs and desires are toxic to the general electorate broadly and to minorities in particular. That leaves the republican leadership stuck between a rock and a hard place - disavow the racists, xenophobes, and bigots, and lose the election in a landslide, or don't and watch moderates walk out in disgust and again lose the election in a landslide. But I have no sympathy for them, they have been cultivating these regressives for decades with dog-whistles (welfare queens, strapping young bucks, states rights, Willy Horton) that the general electorate were blind too. Well now the regressives have their golden one and its time for the republican leadership to pay the electoral price for what they have been knowingly and willingly party to.

[Felya]

Why does he have to build golf courses exclusively in US? :/

Because of his isolationist stance and calls for bringing back jobs.

It's still "America first" if he first builds in America :P

At least the smiley face implies you know how ridiculous that is. If you claim Trump's point is they need to start in US, than everything Trump is saying is bullshit, as his policy would have 0 impact on jobs leaving US.

He probably got all he could in US (as in "cheapest to buy", "best location", "no competition around", "got good manager available to oversee it") and then Scotland offered great deal.

That negates all of his claims about bringing jobs back. You have just made the case for Trump's jobs claims having no meaning what so ever. Which is actually the point...

[Shalcker]

Because of his isolationist stance and calls for bringing back jobs.

He wants to make it more profitable in US - once he is elected. But while it is not he keeps getting profits elsewhere.

Just as Clinton Foundation only promises to stop taking foreign donations after she gets elected - and keeps getting them now. Does that mean Clinton doesn't care about America?

At least the smiley face implies you know how ridiculous that is. If you claim Trump's point is they need to start in US, than everything Trump is saying is bullshit, as his policy would have 0 impact on jobs leaving US.

He is still creating jobs in America. Trump properties in US (which is majority of his properties) employ Americans.

Saying that one property outside US negates everything is ridiculous strawman.

That negates all of his claims about bringing jobs back. You have just made the case for Trump's jobs claims having no meaning what so ever. Which is actually the point...

It doesn't. Seriously, show chain of reasoning that gets you to this conclusion.

[DeadmanWalking]

If any candidate tells you that they will "bring jobs back from China/Mexico" then LIAR should be screaming in your brain.

Chinese workers cost $1.36 an hour and work 12 hour work days. It is cheaper to produce it there and ship it across half the planet to sell here to Americans than it is to hire Americans to produce it here and sell it here.

That is why politicians now say, "We will creat jobs that can't be exported." which means restaurant work (an economic policy to feed the people who live here) and road work, which is why you see so many road constructions. Thing is most teens don't go to highschool with the dream of laying hot tar on highways working outdoors which means they get stuck in low paying jobs where they are not gauranteed 40 hour work weeks if the restaurants foot traffic slows during the day. It use to be if it was slow the restaurant management would have you clean or take an early lunch, now they make you dance around outside in the hot summers/rain/snow with a sign or they send you home without pay so you can't budget your bills when you don't know how much you are getting paid.

Then if you punish businesses with fines or taxes they move their company overseas to someone who won't do it and continue to make millions as they sell online and service the world. If you put a tarriff on goods coming from other countries those countries just increase the costs to customers by that much and you end up paying their fines in the store. Go to a walmart and find something that doesn't say 'Made in china' on it. The majority of goods Americans buy is made in china. Good luck trying to avoid buying things from china.

[Shalcker]

No one? Did you spend you whole life under a rock?

Did you?

That dirt hole that's Syria is hardly the whole world.

Yeah, that's how "slipping away" looks like - "Nah, that area isn't important - nevermind that we spent last 5 years proclaiming 'Assad must go'; whatever, never cared about it".

Then "We never cared about Ukraine"... then "We never cared about those Eastern European NATO countries"... Then "We never cared about Pacific"...

And don't forget Europeans blaming US for refugee situation too...

You have a long way to go befor your boyfriend in the Kremlin can rival the US when it come to international influence.

We're perfectly fine with regional influence, thank you. Middle East will look perfect in our portfolio as energy empire.

It's unlikely that even Trump could ruin his own country to such a degree but it's still worrying that he might try.

"Having influence" and "doing right thing" are quite different.
You have influence - but mostly as intimidation. As ability to crush and destroy small countries without friends like Russia or China.
That's why those not already aligned with US, or those turned away by US-instigated coups like Turkey, will flock there.

[Pangean]

It's all part of his cunning plan....

Donald Trump’s big new strategy is to convince people he isn’t racist. Um…..

Here's the lede of a piece by a trio of my Washington Post colleagues on Donald Trump's new campaign strategy:

Donald Trump is rapidly trying to turn around his presidential campaign with a vigorous and at times strained effort to shed a label applied to him by a substantial portion of the electorate: racist.

Guided by his new campaign leadership, the Republican nominee has ordered a full-fledged strategy to court black and Latino voters and is mobilizing scores of minority figures to advocate publicly for his candidacy.

So.

There are 76 days until the nation will vote for its next president. And the nominee of one of the two major parties has decided that now is a good time to push back on the simmering sense within the electorate that he might be a racist. That's a pretty big problem.

I get what Trump is trying to do. His new senior campaign leaders — led by pollster KellyAnne Conway — have looked at the demographics of the country and, rightly, concluded that he simply can't win enough of the white vote to make up for how badly he is currently losing the black and Hispanic vote.

In the Post-ABC poll conducted earlier this month, Hillary Clinton led Trump 50 percent to 42 percent. Among white voters, Trump held 52 percent to 40 percent edge but among non-white voters Clinton held a massive 75 percent to 18 percent edge.

Consider that in the 2012 election, Mitt Romney won the white vote by 20 points — the largest margin since Ronald Reagan's 1984 landslide — and still lost convincingly because of his single-digit performance with black voters and the meager 27 percent he got with Hispanics. Trump is underperforming Romney among both white and non-white voters as of today.

Breaking news: The country is changing rapidly, and whites as a percentage of the electorate have dropped in each election since 1992. Those are facts, facts that the Trump campaign appears to suddenly be aware of.

Here's the problem for Trump: The general election is in 76 days. (I may have mentioned this before.) And, the campaign he has run has convinced large swaths of Hispanics and African Americans that he is, in fact, a racist.

Again, the Post-ABC poll is instructive here. A majority — 56 percent — of registered voters say that Trump is biased against women and minorities. That includes 43 percent who felt “strongly” that he is biased. The numbers are even more eye-popping when you narrow the focus to non-whites; 79 percent of Hispanics say Trump is biased while 83 percent of African Americans say the same. (Even among whites, 51 percent say Trump is biased against women and minorities.)

Given numbers like those, it's going to be hard for Trump to convince non-white voters he isn't a racist, much less get them to consider voting for him. And, if you believe the math, that makes his path to the presidency almost entirely dependent on winning a historically large percentage of the white vote. Which, his campaign at least, seems to have concluded isn't possible.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...7741&tid=ss_tw

[Aggrophobic]

Did you?

Yeah, that's how "slipping away" looks like - "Nah, that area isn't important - nevermind that we spent last 5 years proclaiming 'Assad must go'; whatever, never cared about it".

Then "We never cared about Ukraine"... then "We never cared about those Eastern European NATO countries"... Then "We never cared about Pacific"...

And don't forget Europeans blaming US for refugee situation too...

We're perfectly fine with regional influence, thank you. Middle East will look perfect in our portfolio as energy empire.

"Having influence" and "doing right thing" are quite different.
You have influence - but mostly as intimidation. As ability to crush and destroy small countries without friends like Russia or China.
That's why those not already aligned with US, or those turned away by US-instigated coups like Turkey, will flock there.

You're you are utterly delusional, as always. It's funny to read but I'm not sure a Putin apologist trying to help Trump is actually going to help him.
Keep it up though.

[Felya]

Many good points in this thread. I agree a policy of total isolationism would be bad. Trump knows this too. (as was pointed out he is a business man he understands trade, and security needed for that to prosper. When people point to his shirts made in Mexico, yes thats the way things are set up. in order to compete one has to deal with that, a shirt made for $3 in Mexico while one here would be $17 dictates that. The free market would adjust. A problem we have now are rediculious "Trade Deals" like the TPP the big corps. and politicians taking millions in lobby money want. There is no reason to leave tariffs on imported goods low while China taxes ours to death too! We have a very high corporate tax rate too. That is a recipe for jobs leaving and creates a massive trade deficit, its not good for the U.S.A. Some things need to change, in a smart way.

Your idea of Trump understanding trade deals between countries, because he is a business man, is flawed. The fact that you are parroting Trump's claim, proves that point. The differance between China's terrify on none agricultural goods is 2.1%. This is relatively nothing, when compared to the trade deficit.

Furthermore, you are not competing in the free market when dealing with other countries. China is communist. Regardless of the teriff, China's government owns the land foreign factories sit on, not a private entity like in US. Unlike US, everything from healthcare to employee conflicts are handled by the state.

The larger issue is simply cost of employment. This is why Trump claimed Americans earn too much money during primaries, but flipped a few weeks ago. You can hire 4 people in China, for the price it takes to hire one in US. Large part of it is the nature of production in capitalism versus communism. China's production simply wouldn't be able to keep up with population demands, because their relatively low levels of avarage living standard. Without US being the consumer, China would go the way of USSR.

The solution has three options:

1) through education, empower American workers to not relly on jobs that compete with communist nations with far lower living standards. This requires higher pay and higher corporate taxes, to make US consumerism refocus on quality over cost. We simply cannot compete against a communist nation that can subsidize and alter state ownership on a whim, unless we...

2) cut US pay whole sale, as Trump pointed out during primaries, you make too much money. This is a race to the bottom, where the populace would not only be aiming to meet China's living standards, but also go below them. Unless there are drastic changes to US property rights and turning towards communism that defines it, US population would not only need to get paid on avarage a 1/4 of what they make, but be able to afford healthcare or any other social services China provides due to being communist.

3) military intervention is the last resort, or as Trump lists on his site 'bolstering troops'. I don't think to need to go on...

We do not need to, nor can, change China. The corporations, including Trump, are screwing us over by seeking the lowest hanging fruit, for the biggest buck. Pointing to China, is refusing to take personal responsibility. Trump doesn't make his ties in China because they are better or even cheaper. He makes them there because of the ratio for how much Americans can afford versus cost of manufacturing. Making Americans earn less, to compete with China, while making people like Trump seek lower and lower manufacturing cost, is shooting your self in the foot. Invest your energy into America, not making China cheaper...

Trump has detractors, He says some of the outlandish things he says to wake people up, and bypass the controlled media. Its working. He's not just running against the establishment, Clinton, and the corporate welfare guys, hes running against the media and the "education" system, which has churned out indoctrinated drones for 60 years.

Trump is a fucking corporation. He is running on corporate welfare. His tax code is everything corporate welfare guys could want. The guy has had 4 bankruptsies and just recently went to court twice, so his 40 million dollar loan could be dropped to 5 million. While you complain about media drones, you sure as hell sound like one. If you think changes in tariffs will go into your pocket, you are delusional. Your whole diatribe in defending Trump's ideas of China, is arguing for corporate welfare. There are two sides to the coin of trading with China, corporations that do it and China. You are parroting Trump's calls for intervention in China, to benefit whole exactly?

Vote Trump to fight corporate welfare? How do you type that without your head exploding?

I think he'll make a good president, we need a 180 turn from whats been going on here for decades. Remember: Trump is an independent, running on the republican ticket, just like Bernie was on the Dems. I'd love to see a new political movement here, a huge shift. Sanders before he got shafted and kissed the ring was that guy too, While I disagreed with much of Sanders, a HUGE number of Americans agreed with him, just like we do with Trump.

Trump is not a 180, that is absurd. Trump is hitting the gas pedal, not turning around. You just bitched about corporate welfare, then claim a corporation becoming president is a 180? No, voting in a guy whose only claim to office is his wealth, is not turning away from corporatism, it's going directly to either a plutocracy or oligarchy.

We're seeing people wake up to the farce that has been going on for years and years. Its overdue.

No, it's a few decades early. I think idiocracy predicted it in another 100 years. Want to see Trump in a WWE ring and a picture of president Comacho?

I just hope Trump's security is on point and he survives it. Many of the world's most powerful people don't want this break from the status quo, and will to to any means to stop it.

Don't confuse fearing losing money because Trump is incompetent and the idea people will shoot him. Maybe wait for Hillary to ask second amendment folks to do something about Trump.

[DeadmanWalking]

It's all part of his cunning plan....

You would think they would hire someone who was a member of the black community and ask them the best way to gain black supporters, like going to an area that is predominantly black and having a rally where you address the needs of the black community directly rather than standing in a rally full of white people in Indiana and yelling to black people through the camera, "What do you have to lose!? Vote for me!" it practically says, "I want black people voters but I wouldn't get caught dead in a majority black city or actually speak directly to a black person in the same room as me."