Republican Election 2016 - Donald Trump Megathread [OFFICIAL]

[Shadowferal]

hmf...Trump isn't listening to anyone including his daughter it seems. Definitely not a smart play for him.

[Pangean]

The RNC is doing lots of planning it appears.

RNC considers cutting cash to Trump
GOP officials lay the groundwork to blame their nominee if Clinton wins.

Publicly, Republican Party officials continue to stand by Donald Trump. Privately, at the highest levels, party leaders have started talking about cutting off support to Trump in October and redirecting cash to saving endangered congressional majorities.

Since the Cleveland convention, top party officials have been quietly making the case to political journalists, donors and GOP operatives that the Republican National Committee has done more to help Trump than it did to support its 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and that, therefore, Trump has only himself and his campaign to blame for his precipitous slide in the polls, according to people who have spoken with Republican leadership.

Sean Spicer, the RNC’s top strategist, on Wednesday made that case to 14 political reporters he convened at the organization’s Capitol Hill headquarters for an off-the-record conversation about the election.

Reporters from POLITICO and BuzzFeed were not invited.

According to several people who attended, Spicer spent much of the session detailing all the RNC resources that have been deployed to swing states and how the party’s infrastructure is stronger than it has ever been.

In the words of one person in the room, the message was that the RNC has “all these staffers out there working and knocking on doors, with a data system they believe rivals what Obama build in 2012—so it’s not their fault.”

Spicer emphasized that RNC chairman Reince Priebus has been working aggressively to coach Trump into being a more disciplined candidate, calling the nominee “five or six times a day,” according to another person present at last week’s closed-door meeting.

According to sources close to Priebus, the chairman has warned that if Trump does not better heed this persistent advice to avoid dust-ups driven by his rhetoric, the RNC might not be able to help him as much – suggesting the money and ground resources might be diverted.

To this point, Spicer has suggested a mid-October deadline for turning the presidential campaign around, suggesting last week to reporters and in separate discussions with GOP operatives that it would cause serious concern inside the RNC if Trump were to remain in a weakened position by then.

Operatives close to the RNC leadership, who have heard this argument from party leadership, say the committee might have to make a decision about pulling the plug on Trump before that.

“Early voting in Ohio starts in a few weeks, there’s a 45-day window for absentee voters, so mid-September would probably be the latest the RNC could redeploy assets and have any real impact,” said an RNC member privately: “The only thing you could change in mid-October would be to shift some TV ads, maybe try to prop up Senate candidates in tough races like [Rob] Portman, [Marco] Rubio and [Pat] Toomey.”

One high-level Republican strategist added: “The party committee has this same job every cycle, to employ limited resources to maximum effect at the ballot box … And that means not pouring precious resources into dysfunctional, non-cooperative losing campaigns.”

Spicer, asked Saturday night about the ongoing discussions, told POLITICO Trump could not be cut off soon because the party needs him to raise more money. "When I've gotten these questions, I've been correcting the record. There is no talk of shifting resources in mid-August and it's unlikely that would happen until late September or October."

He also said the RNC did not view the current polling deficit suffered by Trump to be impossible to overcome.

But on Thursday, POLITICO revealed that more than 70 Republicans had signed a letter to Priebus, urging him to immediately cut off spending on Trump and to instead shift cash to saving the party’s congressional majorities.

Within the Trump campaign, there has been suspicion for months that the RNC already has not been as supportive of its nominee as it could — and should — be, according to operatives in and around the campaign.

“There's lingering doubt,” said one operative who has worked with the campaign. “It's never really improved much, and never for long.” The operative dismissed efforts to withhold RNC support from Trump as “only coming from the usual suspects — the same crap from the same Republicans who can't win elections.”

One Trump staffer dismissed the possibility that the RNC might cut off funding to Trump, while downplaying talk of tension between the entities. The staffer said he communicates with his party counterparts “multiple times a day and the interactions are 100 percent good.”

Other Trump allies in and around the campaign fear that the RNC could use Democrat Hillary Clinton’s widening lead in polls to justify pulling the plug on Trump before he has a chance to even the race.

RNC fundraisers have in fact been signaling to major donors a way that they could write huge checks to Trump’s joint fundraising committee with the RNC and dictate that only a fraction — if any — of the cash would go to Trump.

Spicer has said RNC fundraisers are not communicating this sentiment.

But one fundraiser with knowledge of the party’s high-dollar fundraising efforts said earlier this summer that the message to leery donors was “people can give to the RNC and not to him.”

Through the end of June — the period covered by the most recent Federal Election Commission filings — the main Trump-RNC joint fundraising committee had transferred only $2.2 million to Trump’s campaign, as compared to $10.1 million to the RNC.

To be sure, the committee, Trump Victory, still had $12.1 million in the bank at that point. And his campaign announced that it had combined with the joint committee to raise $80 million in July, though it’s unclear how much of that was transferred to his campaign versus the party.

Trump himself declared Thursday that he’s doing more to boost the RNC’s coffers than the campaign is doing for him, and warned that he might back out of the joint fundraising arrangement.

By Friday, though, Trump was praising Priebus for doing “such a great job. We’re friends. We work together. We work with a lot of other people and I have to say we have great unification. Now, every once in a while, you read about somebody that wants to be a rebel, they get a little free publicly for themselves.”

Priebus, Spicer and other RNC brass also projected a united front, with Priebus rejecting reports of discord by showing up at a Friday Trump rally in Erie, Pa. “Don’t believe the garbage you read,” Priebus said. “Let me tell you something: Donald Trump, the Republican Party, all of you, we’re gonna put him in the White House and save this country together.”

But the RNC’s frustration is at a boiling point after a week of deepening division between the organization’s political and communications staffs and their counterparts on the Trump campaign.

Beyond the candidate’s continued rhetorical carelessness on the stump, his campaign has confounded GOP officials with a travel schedule—more events have been announced in Colorado and Virginia, two swing states that appear to be out of reach, and even deep blue Connecticut—that many believe is a poor use of the candidate’s time.

“He has shown no interest in doing the tough demographic work that's necessary in campaigns,” one RNC member said. “You don't see them trying to talk to independent women, educated Hispanics; and beyond that, it's an issue of strategic staffing. I don't think he understands how presidential campaigns are won.”

“The senior staff gets it,” that RNC member said, “but the true believers outnumber them.”

After four years spent working toward winning back the White House, the RNC’s shift toward an endgame it didn’t envision—essentially deciding when to concede the White House to focus on saving the Senate and saving face—is a sign of resignation setting in.

On Wednesday evening as reporters were filing into the RNC’s conference room, Spicer, Chris Carr and Lindsey Walters were ready to begin the briefing but the attendees were focused on the flat screen TVs on the walls, which were tuned to CNN’s live coverage of an unknown individual, later determined to be a Trump supporter from Virginia, climbing up the glass exterior of Trump Tower with suction cups.

Even in the belly of the RNC, there was no escaping the near constant distractions of Trump.

[Deleted]

"After four years spent working toward winning back the White House, the RNC’s shift toward an endgame it didn’t envision—essentially deciding when to concede the White House to focus on saving the Senate and saving face—is a sign of resignation setting in."

Saving face !? Mr. "playfully buzzed the crowd twice with his helicopter" Trump bested EVERY republican candidate. Yes, Mr. "Republicans who dealt with him after the primaries came away alarmed by his obvious unease as the de facto party leader" Trump. Saving face. My ass. Let's see, what measures will be taken and which tone will be spoken after November.

[Pangean]

Oh poor Donnie, the press horrible picking on him by accurately reporting the words coming out of his mouth. This morning he went on a bit of a tweet rampage whining about it.




But he also loves to retweet his fans support. This one is a classic:



Edit. So in one of the tweets about Trump complains about them not showing size of crowd and what not. Why they don't show the crowd? Donald Trump of course.


https://www.buzzfeed.com/kyleblaine/...oxO#.ug7KM5zOJ

[Deleted]

Oh poor Donnie, the press horrible picking on him by accurately reporting the words coming out of his mouth. This morning he went on a bit of a tweet rampage whining about it.

"My rallies are not covered properly by the media. They never discuss the real message and never show crowd size or enthusiasm."

That one made me feel a bit bad for him. Maybe deep down inside he just can't handle the pressure...

[Cyberowl]

Oh poor Donnie, the press horrible picking on him by accurately reporting the words coming out of his mouth. This morning he went on a bit of a tweet rampage whining about it.

Edit. So in one of the tweets about Trump complains about them not showing size of crowd and what not. Why they don't show the crowd? Donald Trump of course.

Such a millennial, getting outraged and SJWing around, urgh.

[Pangean]

"My rallies are not covered properly by the media. They never discuss the real message and never show crowd size or enthusiasm."

That one made me feel a bit bad for him. Maybe deep down inside he just can't handle the pressure...

Well there are reports that are suggesting Trump is having some issues with behavior as a function of his poor performance. Pretty typical narcissistic stuff, blaming others, but focused on how this is not his fault.

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Narcissists tend to shift blame from themselves to someone else; it's never their fault, they are perfect beings.

Trumps issue is that he sees himself as a king; anyone criticizing him is being unpatriotic, and doing it for political reasons. He is infallible in his own mind.

Pretty much my view as well. Never seen conspiracy theories used as part of that before. However given the nature of the person and the scope of whats going on it's not a surprise. Usually it's the fringe of the supporters putting them forward, never the candidate.

[NYC17]

This campaign is just embarrassing. After watching Pence's interview this morning I don't see anyone within that campaign capable of making a comprehensible argument.

[Pangean]

Interesting article as to why Trump is really blaming the media for his issues.

Donald Trump blames the media for his own failure to run a general election campaign

Donald Trump's always-cranky assessment of the media has been amended a bit this weekend, thanks to a New York Times article reiterating questions about Trump's ability to suddenly emerge from his primary-campaign cocoon as a general election butterfly.

At a rally Saturday night, Trump disparaged the Times and reiterated his objection to how his events are covered. He continued the theme on Sunday morning on Twitter.



It's that second tweet that's most interesting to me. (In part because Trump has been talking about the "failing New York Times" and complaining about how crowd size isn't covered for a long time.) (Oh, incidentally: The news media talks about his crowds regularly.)

So let's assess this: "If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn't put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20%."

The "false meaning" complaint is pretty clearly about how his "Second Amendment people" comments were reported. On CNN on Sunday morning, Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, complained to Jake Tapper about that coverage, repeating the campaign's insistence that Trump meant that gun owners could go vote to ensure a Trump victory. That clearly wasn't what Trump was saying in the moment, since he was talking about judicial appointments after a Clinton win in the election.

Regardless, it's worth asking what has changed from the primary to the general election in terms of Trump's coverage. I'd suggest that not much has; in the primaries, he got a lot of extensive coverage of his rallies and a lot of scrutiny of the things that he said at them. But the polling showed him doing well, holding a lead.

What has changed is the polls we're looking at, from primary voters to general. Trump got a core group of strong Republican supporters early in the primaries and held them. They responded well to his style and his message. He only cobbled together a majority of the party's electorate at the end of the race; he ended up with less than a majority of the Republican vote.

That's not the measuring stick anymore. That core of support is enough to keep him at about 40 percent in general election polls, but the media coverage that earned him his primary wins hasn't done much to expand his base of support past that.

So Trump is doing the same thing but not winning. And since media is all he's doing, the media gets the blame.

That's the key point. Trump has the same ability as any other candidate to say precisely what he wants to any voter in any state: by advertising. He can buy ads in swing states and run 30- or 60-second spots making whatever case he wants in any language he chooses. He can send mail, he can knock on doors. He can, in other words, run a campaign. But he's not.

He isn't running any ads, spending zero dollars on television (and getting outspent by the Green Party and Libertarian candidates). He isn't contacting voters on doors or on phones, and has hardly any field offices. He isn't sending mail. He's tweeting, he's holding rallies, but not much else.

And he's holding rallies in places like Connecticut, where he was Saturday. He told the crowd there that he was going to make a "big play" for the state, which one has to assume isn't true. Trump won't win Connecticut, a heavily Democratic state. There's no point in his wasting campaign resources on the state (in the event that he starts expending resources anywhere) since it holds only a couple of electoral votes anyway. It's simply baffling that he would hold an event there at all, even if he's not serious about carrying the state. (He was there for a fundraiser, but that doesn’t mean that spending money and time on a rally makes sense.)

As Stuart Stevens, who ran Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign puts it, the only resource in which Trump and Hillary Clinton are tied is time — the number of hours to Election Day. Trump spent a bunch of those hours in Connecticut.

Trump started raising money for his campaign only in late June, a month and a half after his last primary opponents dropped out. We don't know what he spent money on in July, but we do know where he spent it through June — with almost nothing spent on ads that month.

Amazingly, we still hear mentions about how Trump is going to gear up for the general election, that he's transitioning out of primary mode. Here is former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, in that Times article: "I think it is true that maybe it took him a little while to realize that we’re moving from a primary campaign to a presidential campaign," Giuliani said.

You're not moving between the two, guys! You're in a general election — and that general election is half over.

Trump's problem is not that the "disgusting and corrupt media" is putting false meaning into things he says. The problem is that Trump's only messenger is himself, and that he says things that seem to objective observers inside and outside the media as questionable. Trump is mad at how his speeches are covered by the media because he can't figure out why the strategy isn't working the way it did during the primary season. He can put out any message he wants on TV or in mail or wherever he wants. It's not free, but he can do it.

But for some incomprehensible reason, he won't.

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This campaign is just embarrassing. After watching Pence's interview this morning I don't see anyone within that campaign capable of making a comprehensible argument.

And details on this? I missed it.

[PACOX]

hmf...Trump isn't listening to anyone including his daughter it seems. Definitely not a smart play for him.

Well his daughter is clearly a Democrat, left leaning moderate at best. It was like she was at the wrong convention when she spoke at the RNC

[NYC17]

Interesting article as to why Trump is really blaming the media for his issues.



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And details on this? I missed it.

It wasn't even worth watching unless you enjoy watching yet another Trump affiliated person deny reality.

[Pangean]

A thing to remember for those that think the media is unfair to Trump because of the least few weeks is that his attacks on the media were part of the campaigns plans far before the last two weeks. Newt spilled the beans on 7/7/2016:

"A substantial part of the campaign is going to be -- if you think the news media is honest and fair and totally neutral, then you ought to vote for Hillary. But if you think the news media is biased, then join me," Gingrich added."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/politi...d-trump-tweet/

[belfpala]

Did anybody post this yet? (NSFW -- contains vulgarity)

[Tijuana]

This election really is the gift of a lifetime. Trump alone would be the most fun ever. Then you add in that eventually we get to see Trump insult Hillary and watch her try to react to it in the most fake way possible, as she does everything. But the real treat all along has been watching the world just freak the fuck out daily. Trump's candidacy might be the greatest troll in the history of mankind, even if it wasn't intentional.

Look, if arguably the two worst presidents in history did not destroy the US, what is one more? How could anyone pass on watching four years of the Trump Show? Seriously, if you don't want to see four years of this, get up and go look in the mirror. You are frowning, aren't you? Some people are never happy. You are one of them.

[Blur4stuff]

at a minimum Obama is a top 15 president. there are some legitimate problems with this presidency, but claiming he's bad or the worst of all time just exposes how much of a blind partisan a person is.

[Omega10]

Look, if arguably the two worst presidents in history did not destroy the US

President Obama is one of the better Presidents we have had. He inherited a mess, and stabilized it. That is not bad at all.

[Tijuana]

What made Obama one of the worst presidents in the history of the US?

We could go on for days about that topic but, how about not having a single quarter of 3%+ growth? He is the only US president in history to accomplish that. That is one area where he is factually last.

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President Obama is one of the better Presidents we have had. He inherited a mess, and stabilized it. That is not bad at all.

He found the bottom sure. But he never dug us out.

[Pangean]

It wasn't even worth watching unless you enjoy watching yet another Trump affiliated person deny reality.

I found it on Youtube. It was rather pathetic.

[Bollocks]

We could go on for days about that topic but, how about not having a single quarter of 3%+ growth? He is the only US president in history to accomplish that. That is one area where he is factually last.

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He found the bottom sure. But he never dug us out.

I blame austerity
http://www.epi.org/publication/why-i...o-is-to-blame/

[belfpala]

He found the bottom sure. But he never dug us out.

I wonder, how fast could I shovel 30+ years of shit when people are taking away my shovel constantly?