2016 Republican Presidential Clown Car Begins!

Discussion in 'Politics' started by joepistole, Jan 30, 2015.

  1. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    Unsurprising

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    Via The Hill:

    Donald Trump's campaign is still soliciting illegal donations from foreign individuals―including members of foreign governments at their official email addresses―weeks after the campaign was put on notice by watchdog groups.

    Foreign members of parliament from the United Kingdom and Australia confirmed to The Hill that they received fundraising solicitations from the Trump campaign as recently as July 12―two weeks after a widely publicized FEC complaint issued on June 29 by non-partisan watchdogs Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center.

    At this point, it's almost like what's the point.

    To the one, who is genuinely surprised, at this point?

    To the other, it really is hard to buy the right-wing dissatisfaction backing Trump, since he seems emblematic of the problem.

    The whole Tea & Crumpet Party thing has been apparent pretty much from the outset. At some point, we owe it to ourselves, the nation, and these idiotic conservative voters to call them out: We don't believe you, because if this is really real, you're really, really fucking stupid.
    ____________________

    Notes:

    Swan, Jonathan and Harper Neidig. "Trump campaign solicits illegal foreign donations despite warnings". The Hill. 16 July 2016. TheHill.com. 17 July 2016. http://bit.ly/29Ypqey
     
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  3. Bells Staff Member

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    I was reading that Pence might entice the Koch brother's to invest in the campaign, since they have steered clear and had been so vocal in their opposition to Trump.

    I cannot help but wonder if Christie is currently suffering a death from a thousand self inflicted cuts after selling his veritable soul and any political respect he had left to support and endorse Trump to now be left by the curb after Trump chose someone who had declared full opposition to Trump in the past.

    When Mr. Trump confirmed on Friday morning that he was picking Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana as his running mate, the initial reports were that they would make their first appearance together in Bedminster, N.J., where Mr. Trump has a golf course and plans to be buried. It would be “the site of Trump’s mausoleum and the burial ground of Christie’s political aspirations,” in the words of Julie Roginsky, a Democratic strategist close to two former Christie administration officials charged in the lane-closing case, Bill Baroni and David Wildstein.

    The Trump campaign later said the appearance would be in Manhattan.

    But even without an announcement in his backyard, Mr. Christie has suffered embarrassment at the hands of Mr. Trump.

    He set off internet ridicule on Super Tuesday when he stood behind Mr. Trump, mute and obedient. As they appeared together, Mr. Trump mocked the governor for eating too many Oreos, and for all but moving out of New Jersey as he campaigned for president in New Hampshire.

    Mr. Trump appeared to relish poking fun at his effusive booster: “I hated to do it but I had to make my point,” he said, after accusing Mr. Christie of abandoning his state.

    Mr. Christie’s staff had to fight back against reports from within the Trump campaign, quoted in The New Yorker, that the governor had fetched food from McDonald’s for Mr. Trump. (On Friday, the New Yorker humor columnist Andy Borowitz further mocked him with a spoof headlined: “Furious Christie Refuses to Pick Up Trump’s Dry Cleaning.”)

    In the end, Mr. Trump seemed to all but ignore any loyalty from Mr. Christie, picking Mr. Pence, who had endorsed a former rival to Mr. Trump, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

    “It’s death by humiliation,” Ms. Roginsky, who is also a Fox News contributor, said. “Slow, twisting and played out in public, like a reality show elimination.”

    The humiliation is made worse when one considers how Christie had let slip that he was after the position of Vice President..

    In an interview with MSNBC last week, Mr. Christie let on, unusually, that he wanted to be chosen as Mr. Trump’s running mate.

    “I’m a competitive person, so I’m not going to say it won’t bother me if I’m not selected,” he said. “Of course it bothers you a little bit, because if you’re a competitive person like I am and you’re used to winning like I am, again, you don’t like coming in second. Ever.”

    Still, he said, “I have a job to do.”

    Ouch!

     
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  5. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    Trump has derided Hillary for months now about her vote to authorize force in Iraq, asserting that vote made her unfit to become POTUS. But here's the thing, Trump's new runningmate, the man he thinks is qualified to become POTUS, cast the same vote. Oops.
     
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  7. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    There's always a reason why Republicans are exempt from their own critique.

    I haven't figured out why so many people are willing to accept that exemption, but, you know, these are American voters.
     
  8. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    What better way to begin the Republican convention than with another Trump scandal. Trump's wife Melania Trump claimed to have written a speech that was given by Michelle Obama during the Democratic convention in 2008. Did they not think no one would notice? I mean after all, we are talking Republicans here. I never expected something like this, but hey, this is Trump, Mr. Unconventional and I guess we can now put Mrs. Trump into that category as well.
    the https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...publican-convention-plagiarism-michelle-obama
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2016
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  9. Ivan Seeking Registered Senior Member

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    Yeah, I started a new thread but oh well. This is freaking hilarious! The man knows how to run a campaign!

    Lying Melania. What is D Trump going to do with this one? Eh, by noon tomorrow the Republicans will be blaming Hillary.

    Watching some of the pundits trying to rationalize this is pure comedy.
     
    joepistole likes this.
  10. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    I wonder if he will begin referring to his wife as Lying Melania?

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    I'm sure he'll blame Hillary, it's what Republicans do best.
     
  11. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    Now it's official, Trump is the Republican presidential nominee.
     
  12. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    Cruz may have committed political suicide this evening by refusing to endorse Trump. Canadian Ted was booed off the stage.
     
  13. Bells Staff Member

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    Well at least he didn't go out bowing and kowtowing to Trump. Because it would have been political suicide for him to endorse the man who had abused his wife and father so much during the campaign. Guess he chose to take the high road if this was going to be political suicide.

    I detest the guy, but I have to praise his gumption, because that took balls.

    Trump's crowd responded as one would have expected (and encouraged to if the tweets are correct and they were being pushed to boo by Trump's campaign staff right from the beginning). Turned angry and then the anger was switched towards his wife, who had to be escorted out of the arena by security who feared for her safety when the crowd turned threatening and angry and started to move toward her, which frankly, is deplorable.

    Cruz's speech pretty much pointed out that Trump's crowd lacks conscience and they proved it in spades.

    Did he commit political suicide? I don't think so. I think he just raised his standing among the Republicans who don't like Trump and felt trapped into voting for him because they are Republicans.

    Trump and his supporters are just upset that Cruz did not respond like a good little lackey..

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    And that actually isn't photoshopped.
     
  14. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    Do you really think Republicans care about Cruz's wife and father? They don't. That's why they voted for Trump. That's why they elected Trump as their nominee. It was politically suicidal for Cruz to not endorse the party's nominee. This morning Cruz spoke before the Texas delegation. He admitted this was personal, and he was derided even by his home state delegation for putting his personal issues above the needs of the party.

    It wasn't just Trump supporters who booed Cruz as evidenced by his talk to the Texas delegation this morning. Personally, I don't think this is about Cruz's wife or his father as he has alleged. It's about his ego, and that's how Republicans perceive it too. And that's trouble for Cruz.
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2016
  15. Ivan Seeking Registered Senior Member

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  16. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    It was more than just Trump's crowd. Most of the crowd booed Cruz.

    Well, judging by the Texas delegation meeting this morning, Cruz didn't raise his standing among most Republicans. As a members of the Texas delegation pointed out today to Cruz, this isn't about Cruz or Trump it's about the party. Party members are suppose to put down their petty disputes and unify around the party banner. That's what is expected. That's not what Cruz did. When Cruz speaks as he has done, he is just digging a deeper hole for himself. Personally, that's a good thing. It's good for the nation. I want Cruz to keep talking. But I'm not a Republican.
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2016
  17. Ivan Seeking Registered Senior Member

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    Shucks, and I thought it was about America.
     
  18. Ivan Seeking Registered Senior Member

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    It is sad listening to Republicans who are still waiting for Trump to grow up. They are so out of touch with reality. The man is not going to change. You don't suddenly become a different person just because you get nominated for President. He is brash, crude, disrespectful, simple minded, impulsive and unpredictable, and completely on par with a playground bully, but his supporters actually think he will change - a man who is 70 years old and made a living as a con man.

    And you have to love the people who are chastising Cruz for breaking his word and not supporting the nominee. This while they support a man who can hardly complete a sentence without contradicting himself.
     
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  19. Bells Staff Member

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    I disagree. I think that Cruz just played a very good political game.

    He advised that Trump and Trump's campaign knew he was not going to endorse, which paints Trump as a liar and somewhat desperate, because Trump still invited him and allowed him to speak at the convention anyway. Not to mention it made him look even more incompetent. Because as he noted in facing Texas delegates, if Trump hadn't wanted him on that stage, he'd have simply gotten on a plane and gone home. Most importantly, he said that Trump had advised his non-endorsement was not an issue and that Trump and the Trump campaign had a copy of the speech for days - which again points to incompetence because they clearly did not read it if Trump's scrambling to get onto the convention floor, as it was becoming clear that Cruz was not going to endorse, is any indication.

    In that regard, he made Trump look weak and foolish and afraid. Because Trump scurrying onto the floor of the convention as Cruz was speaking, in a bid to drown him our or draw attention away from Cruz made him look weak. The man wasn't there for any of the other speeches. He wasn't even there when he won the nomination. He appeared via video link.

    And Cruz speaks and he scrambles to the convention floor to help boost the booing and try to draw attention away from Cruz?

    I am not surprised that Cruz admitted it was personal. I think the reaction against him if he had just endorsed the man who had abused and insulted his wife and father as Trump did would have made him look like a robot who cared nothing for his loved ones and only about his political career. To wit, Cruz acknowledging it was personal made him look human. Most importantly, it made him look like a person who stood for his principles, conscience and conviction, instead of someone who will simply follow the party establishment like a lackey and sell himself out like a lackey like Chris Christie and co have.

    Ted Cruz, however, did something you rarely see in politics.He took a huge risk in front of millions of people and nobody knows whether it made him or destroyed him. He showed up, he gave a speech, he congratulated Trump on his win and then pointedly did not endorse him. It earned him boos and jeers from the crowd at the end, when the Trump delegates all realized he wasn’t going to be a good boy and follow the rules. They must have forgotten who they were dealing with.

    Everyone assumes that he did this to set up his run in 2020 and that seems like a good bet. But it’s worth listening to his speech if that’s so. It wasn’t your typical fiery, right-wing Ted Cruz speech. It was, of course, extremely conservative, hitting all the hot button social issues and jingoistic high notes. But the rhetoric was couched in words like diversity and tolerance and respect. He even gave a nod to gays and Muslims and atheists and honored the family of Alton Sterling (which was met with stunned silence by the crowd.) It was the most “compassionate conservative” speech of the convention, contrasting sharply with the hard-edged, angry verbal violence of the all the pro-Trump speakers. That was not an accident.

    He knew he would be booed in that hall. He also had to know that after days of watching his former rivals grovelling before the man who had grossly insulted them for months, Republicans watching at home would see someone who didn’t take potshots from afar but went into the belly of the beast, stood before the angry mob and Donald Trump himself and pointedly said they should vote their conscience in November. If his bet is that Trump is going to lose big and becomes an embarrassing memory for the GOP, that’s what he’s betting he’ll be remembered for.

    I have always thought Cruz was an underrated politician in the Nixon mode, an unpleasant fellow who makes up for it with intelligence, hard work and strategic foresight. He’s a liberal’s nightmare in so many ways. It would be a mistake to underestimate him.

    What Cruz did was to show that he is the true non-establishment candidate in not bowing to the expectation of the GOP establishment.
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2016
  20. Ivan Seeking Registered Senior Member

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    I think it's entirely possible that Cruz was just being sincere. He was offered the chance to say "I won't support a man who insulted my wife and father", at the Republican Convention, and he took it.

    Whoops, Trump is already getting backlash from veterans and the military due to his statement that he won't support NATO, which contradicts what Pence said last night.
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2016
  21. arfa brane call me arf Valued Senior Member

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    I've been having difficulty establishing just who the Republican establishment is. I hear there's the old-money Republicans, characterised by the likes of the Bush dynasty, but they are staying well away.

    There's the Convention itself, who were the establishment people who set it up? Why does the nominee get to be in charge?
     
  22. Ivan Seeking Registered Senior Member

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    957
    Arguably, it has been Fox News for some time. They have been running the party. And Trump was the first Republican politician in at least 10 years who stood up to them [over the debate].

    Roger Ailes is the head of the Republican Party Establishment.
     
  23. Bells Staff Member

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    24,270
    Yep. Which makes Trump look like an even bigger horse's backside who is willing and happy to not stand by his allies. Which is ironic considering how they fueled the crowd to boo and abuse Cruz and his wife for not standing by Trump and endorsing him.

    One of the telling things about this campaign from the GOP is just how Trump played the anti-establishment game. In other words, he thumbed his nose at the Republican Party itself and did what he wanted to do, which was basically to do what was politically beneficial and stoke the fear of the ultra-right. He didn't play by the rules or what the leaders of the party wanted of him. He kept saying how he was not establishment and not a Washington elite and therefore will not be conventional.

    The establishment is pretty much the party leadership, who expect and demand certain things and expect obedience..

    The irony is that the Republican convention pretty much forces establishment ideals. The belief that all must kowtow and endorse the candidate and principles and conscience be damned. And Ted Cruz bucked that completely and pretty much showed that he is not "establishment".. He pretty much showed that he will go to every means to do what he thinks is right and damn the political apparatus and establishment that was Trump, his campaign and the convention.
     

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