Trump 2016

[Malcolm]

"He seems more clueless and his ability to reshape reality in his own mind is so complete he's almost autistic."

Exactly. That makes him much less of a threat in my mind. Short of misusing the nuclear codes I don't expect he'll get anything done as President, which is far better than could be said for Hillary.

I think the White House tends to remind the public how much they hate one party because the focus is on one person. Congress then gets handed to the other half. If Hillary gets elected, the Democrats would lose the House in two years and maybe even the Senate. I've already stated the worry if Trump wins. His veto won't mean shit.

[Vince]

I've already stated the worry if Trump wins. His veto won't mean shit.

I don't understand what you're saying here. You think congress will proceed with implementing laws even after Trump vetoes the bill?

[Malcolm]

I've already stated the worry if Trump wins. His veto won't mean shit.

I don't understand what you're saying here. You think congress will proceed with implementing laws even after Trump vetoes the bill?

Trump's so fucking bad I think he'll kill enough Congressional campaigns to give both houses to the jack-asses for a bit. I'd predict a bumper crop of veto overrides if he somehow slithers into the White House.

[Vince]

Ah... got it.

[Malcolm]

The Republican campaign coffers.

As top Republicans expressed astonishment and alarm over Donald Trump’s paltry campaign fundraising totals, the presumptive nominee blamed party leaders Tuesday and threatened to rely on his personal fortune instead of helping the GOP seek the cash it needs.
...
The real estate mogul responded by going on the offensive, saying GOP fundraisers have failed to rally around his campaign.

Gee, I wonder why.

GOP strategist and fundraiser Austin Barbour said Trump’s dismal fundraising efforts “could have a devastating impact” on the Republican Party generally.
...
Trump is “now looking into the abyss,”said Ed Rollins, the top strategist for Great America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC. “He can either start writing checks and selling some buildings and golf courses or get on the phones and talk to donors. Big donors just don’t want to give money unless they have the opportunity to talk to the candidate, hear what your positions are. There’s just been a failure from start to finish on the fundraising side.”
...
Lisa Spies, a veteran GOP fundraising consultant, said she has been amazed at the lack of outreach from Trump.

“No donors that I deal with — and I deal with national Jewish and women donors — none of them has gotten a phone call. None. Not one,” Spies said. “To raise money, you have to ask for money. It’s that simple. Whether you ask for it by mail, whether you do phone calls, whether you do events, whether you have one-on-one meetings, you have to ask.”
...
One prominent Washington fundraiser who has played major roles on past Republican presidential campaigns said he has not heard of Trump reaching out to any of his peers.

“I have not been asked, and I don’t know anybody in town who has been asked,” said this person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly. “There is absolutely no discernible presence in D.C. raising on his behalf. And I’m guessing this is not unique to D.C. They are so [expletive] far behind the curve on so many things that are Campaign Organization 101, I find it inexplicable.”

There is also growing scrutiny of his heavy use of Trump-owned companies as vendors. Of the $63 million his campaign spent through May, more than $6 million — close to 10 percent — went to pay Trump properties or reimburse Trump and his family for expenses, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. That includes $4.6 million paid to his private jet company, TAG Air, and $423,000 that went just last month to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla.

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions about the payments.

Seems legit.

[TheCatt]

There is also growing scrutiny of his heavy use of Trump-owned companies as vendors. Of the $63 million his campaign spent through May, more than $6 million — close to 10 percent — went to pay Trump properties or reimburse Trump and his family for expenses, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. That includes $4.6 million paid to his private jet company, TAG Air, and $423,000 that went just last month to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla.

Fuck you, Trump.

[Malcolm]

A Brit tried to kill Trump and Donnie's staying mum about it. $20 says he'd be tweeting about this nonstop if it were a Muslim or Latino. The Trumpers are bitching out the MSM for not covering it.

[Malcolm]

"Unless your religion is Islam, then fuck you."

“I think maybe that will be my greatest contribution to Christianity — and other religions, is to allow you, when you talk religious liberty, to go and speak openly and if you like somebody or want somebody to represent you, you should have the right to do it,” Trump said. A ban was put in place by Lyndon Johnson on tax-exempt groups making explicit political endorsements. Religious leaders in America today, Trump said, “are petrified.”

As president, he said, he’d work on things including: “freeing up your religion, freeing up your thoughts.

[Vince]

A Brit tried to kill Trump and Donnie's staying mum about it. $20 says he'd be tweeting about this nonstop if it were a Muslim or Latino. The Trumpers are bitching out the MSM for not covering it.

To be fair, if this had been a tea party type going after Haggary the coverage would be non-stop. And I'm by no means a Trump supporter.

[Vince]

"Unless your religion is Islam, then fuck you."

“I think maybe that will be my greatest contribution to Christianity — and other religions, is to allow you, when you talk religious liberty, to go and speak openly and if you like somebody or want somebody to represent you, you should have the right to do it,” Trump said. A ban was put in place by Lyndon Johnson on tax-exempt groups making explicit political endorsements. Religious leaders in America today, Trump said, “are petrified.”

As president, he said, he’d work on things including: “freeing up your religion, freeing up your thoughts.

I know, right?

[GORDON]

"Unless your religion is Islam, then fuck you."

“I think maybe that will be my greatest contribution to Christianity — and other religions, is to allow you, when you talk religious liberty, to go and speak openly and if you like somebody or want somebody to represent you, you should have the right to do it,” Trump said. A ban was put in place by Lyndon Johnson on tax-exempt groups making explicit political endorsements. Religious leaders in America today, Trump said, “are petrified.”

As president, he said, he’d work on things including: “freeing up your religion, freeing up your thoughts.

I know, right?

"The association leaders are accepting bids until 3 days before the decision."

[Malcolm]

Just wow.

When Donald Trump arrives this weekend at the golf course he built on the rugged dunes of this remote, windswept corner overlooking the North Sea, he will celebrate it as an example of his international business success.
...
“When I first arrived on the scene in Aberdeen, the people of Scotland were testing me to see just how serious I was — just like the citizens in the United States have done about my race for the White House,” Trump wrote in a column published this spring in a local newspaper under the headline: “How Scotland will help me become president.”

Success, well ... unless you mean socially or financially.

But to many people in Scotland, his course here has been a failure. Over the past decade, Trump has battled with homeowners, elbowed his way through the planning process, shattered relationships with elected leaders and sued the Scottish government. On top of that, he has yet to fulfill the lofty promises he made.

Trump has also reported to Scottish authorities that he lost millions of dollars on the project — even as he claims on U.S. presidential disclosure forms that the course has been highly profitable.

Naturally, it's always everyone's fault except Dimwit Don.

Lonely and desolate, the resort has attracted no major tournaments and neighbors say the parking lot is rarely, if ever, full.

Trump, in a recent interview, blamed the delays in finishing the project on tedious local regulations and litigation over an off-shore wind farm that he says would spoil his view. Trump said he or his children will eventually expand the hotel and build “thousands” of houses — but not until someday after the presidential campaign.

But surely he scouted all kinds of locales before settling on this one for what I bet are sound reasons.

The land, which was previously used for hunting, presented a series of challenges. The ever-shifting dunes were supposed to be protected from development. There were plans for a wind farm just off the coast, with turbines as tall as Big Ben that threatened to ruin Trump’s perfect view. And there were a handful of neighbors who would likely have to move.

Some locals puzzled over why Trump would build a golf course in a spot regularly shrouded in cold fog.

“It is fabulous news for the area, of course, and also for knitwear manufacturers, who will make a killing when the world’s top players step out on the first tee and feel as though their limbs are being sawn off by a north-east breeze that hasn’t paused for breath since it left the Arctic,” one local columnist wrote.

Oh well, at least his plans were good in theory.

“Mr. Trump’s promises were extremely implausible,” recalled Martin Ford, who led the local planning council at the time. “The number of jobs seemed ridiculously high, and the amount of money seemed also to be implausibly large.”
...
The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen declared that the series of events “smells of sleaze.”

The Scottish courts were completely unprepared for the legal juggernaut that is Trump.

While testifying at the hearing, Trump said “the world is in chaos” and that the housing development might have to wait until after the economy recovered. But he promised to see the project through.

His testimony was filled with exaggerations — like when he claimed to know more about the environment than his consultants — and seemed to show a lack of understanding of Scotland’s laws and customs.

He also forcibly removed people from their homes because he wasn't being a big enough asshole.

Unable to negotiate sales directly with the neighbors, Trump began to pursue compulsory purchase — similar to eminent domain in the United States — to force them out of their homes. Not only did he want their land, Trump said he didn’t want the views from his luxury hotel “obliterated by a slum.”
...
In one case, Trump’s staff blocked in the cottage belonging to Susie and John Munro, constructing a two-story-high hill in their front yard and then adding a fence and locked gate, the couple said. Whenever it rains, they say, their yard fills with water and their steep dirt road turns into a mud slide.

During a dispute over property lines, the Trump staff ripped out a fence near the home of David and Moira Milne, who live in a converted Coast Guard station on a hill above the golf course. The Trump workers installed their own fence — and then sent the Milnes a bill for it.

Class act. Oh, then there's this tidbit:

According to reports filed with the British government, Trump said the Aberdeen course has lost more than £4.71 million since 2012 — the equivalent of $6.9 million at current exchange rates. British authorities were told that the course lost £1.14 million pounds, or about $1.67 million, in 2014 alone.

Yet in a July 2015 disclosure filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Trump valued Aberdeen at “over $50 million” and put his income from the course at $4.2 million between mid-2014 and the end of 2015.

Scotland loves this dude. Let's also keep in mind Scotland is so desperate for investment that you could probably fork out a couple million pounds to any of the MPs and they'd blow you. You have to do a lot before they tell you to take your cash back home and fuck off.

“He would have us think that he is widely respected and loved, that Scotland he has won over. . . That’s just delusional, I’m sorry to say,” said Suzanne Kelly, who organized the petition. “Nobody wants him around. . . And he refuses to see or refuses to accept what is reality.”

[Malcolm]

Illinois senator launches ads against Trump. Probably because he wants to get reelected.

Trump pisses away $50M.

Back on May 13, The Donald loaned his campaign $50 million with the intention that it wouldn't be a big deal — just a short-term investment the campaign could pay back quickly.
Well… things didn't turn out that way. Campaign contribution rules would have required Trump's campaign to pay that loan back by August, and that's just not going to happen.
...
Another would be that, oh, we don't know, maybe Trump has awful infrastructure, no sense of campaigning, a terrible team around him, absolutely no support he so desperately needs from the party, and an infant's understanding of how to run a presidential campaign.

[Malcolm]

Double digit deficit.

[Leisher]

To be fair to Trump, he's been completely abandoned like no candidate before. If anyone had taken his bid even halfway seriously early on the Republicans could have that massive lead instead of the Dems simply by giving him advice on what to say and what not to say.

Also, while I don't think 836 registered voters (and who knows their affiliation) represents the country, I will say that polls in this election are going to be complete bullshit. First of all, the MSM will skew the numbers as they've already been doing non-stop in polls during the last several elections. Secondly, due to the way Trump is being vilified, people aren't going to come out and admit they're voting for him. They don't want to be labeled as stupid, racist, or all the other words folks are trying to use to shame people into not voting for him.

I will bet you that by the end of election day Trump may lose, but his numbers will be higher than what the polls indicated. Even the exit polls. That might be problematic. Imagine a race where all the polls, prior and exit, indicated that he lost by a lot, yet he won when the votes were counted. That will incite violence.

These polls remind me of this:


The key scene is late in the film when all the polls are overwhelmingly in favor of them staying and Guillaume begins arguing that they now need to start a rumor to ensure it stays that way because answering a poll is different than standing in a voting booth alone and answering to noone.

And I'm not defending Trump, I'm simply saying don't count him out.

Although, I wouldn't be shocked if the Republicans back stab him at the RNC and nominate someone else. Their thinking might be: "Sure, they'll lose the presidency, but they'll save seats in Congress." I'm not sure they would be correct.

[Malcolm]

To be fair to Trump, he's been completely abandoned like no candidate before.

Trump's got no one to blame for his abandonment except Trump.

Although, I wouldn't be shocked if the Republicans back stab him at the RNC and nominate someone else.

My respect for that party would go up a notch or two.

Their thinking might be: "Sure, they'll lose the presidency, but they'll save seats in Congress." I'm not sure they would be correct.

President Trump would be the greatest walking advertisement the Democratic party has had in a long time.

[Vince]

To be fair to Trump, he's been completely abandoned like no candidate before. If anyone had taken his bid even halfway seriously early on the Republicans could have that massive lead instead of the Dems simply by giving him advice on what to say and what not to say.

Eh... he *IS* being abandoned like no candidate before, but there are a couple of valid reasons for that. First being his Tourettes syndrome of saying politically inappropriate things. His comments on the "Mexican judge" really pissed me off. Not so much because it was just eight kinds of stupid, but why in the hell was he talking about his professional business woes when he should have been either 1) going after Hillary as a conservative, or 2) mending some fences with folks after the primary? Going on and on about his being sued for having a scam school was about as helpful to his Presidential campaign as discussing his incontinence for a week. That was a major unforced error on his part. He's threatening Cruz and Kaisich about not having a speaking slot at the convention unless they endorse him. Cruz and Kasich already said they really weren't interested in speaking anyway. Trump might have wanted to think about the Cruz endorsement before accusing his dad of being involved with the assassination of JFK.

It's not the RNC's job to get Trump elected in the general. It's their job to help Republicans to get elected. All of them. They can assist Trump with his campaign, but since he's paid for and ran exactly zero TV or radio ads, and promoting his policies would be like nailing Jello to the wall, I really can't put any blame on the Republican party. What can the Republicans do? What policy of his can they back and not look like a schmuck in two weeks when he reverses it?

It's time for the delegates to acknowledge he's a nightmare and go off-roading at the convention. I'm not sure they'd lose the Presidency any quicker by dumping Trump. As it stands now, I won't be voting for either major party for the Presidency. As far as losing down ticket... what happens at the convention will determine if I remain a registered Republican. I was willing to fight the party establishment to get conservative candidates. But if I have to fight the party leadership and 35-40% of the base? I don't think I have the heart to remain and do that.

[Malcolm]

Picking Trump to be your party's candidate for prez of the U.S. is like the pirates in "Treasure Island" staging a mutiny to elect Long John's Silver parrot as captain on a drunken dare. If enough of them sober up quickly enough, I see no reason to continue with the idiocy.

What policy of his can they back and not look like a schmuck in two weeks when he reverses it?

Holy shit. It's almost like he needs a consistent platform so he can plant a banner around which to rally.

[TPRJones]

I just read through the rules of the Republican party, and there's almost nothing to be done. Delegates are bound to vote for whomever they were sent there to nominate for President for the voters they represent. No changes and no take-backs. Any delegate that fails to do so, their votes are not counted.

Although if enough of the Trump delegates could be convinced to fail to nominate (or to nominate incorrectly and be discounted) that Cruz has a majority of the remaining delegates that might do it. I don't see anything in the rules that would stop that from happening. But it would take a whole lot more than just having a much smaller number switch.

It's iffy but I think they maybe could choose to fail to call the convention at all and have no nominee, thus giving the election for free to Hillary. But that's not likely to happen.

[Vince]

I just read through the rules of the Republican party, and there's almost nothing to be done. Delegates are bound to vote for whomever they were sent there to nominate for President for the voters they represent. No changes and no take-backs. Any delegate that fails to do so, their votes are not counted.

Although if enough of the Trump delegates could be convinced to fail to nominate (or to nominate incorrectly and be discounted) that Cruz has a majority of the remaining delegates that might do it. I don't see anything in the rules that would stop that from happening. But it would take a whole lot more than just having a much smaller number switch.

It's iffy but I think they maybe could choose to fail to call the convention at all and have no nominee, thus giving the election for free to Hillary. But that's not likely to happen.

Here's the thing though. The nominee will still need the 1247 majority. So if half abstain or are not counted on the first ballot, then Trump can't get the 1247 votes. So a number would be freed up on subsequent votes. Remember, a plurality doesn't cut it. You have to have the 1247 majority.

It's possible that the NRP could try to nullify the delegates doing that, but they would risk losing much more than the Presidency going that route. Delegates are generally the movers and shakers on the ground in the states that help mobilize the votes for Senators and Representatives. They do the actual work of the party at the state level. I think the NRP will strong arm the delegates to a degree, but outright pissing a bunch of them off would decimate the party at the ground level and put not only the Senate, but probably the House into play as well.