Trump has thrown away more money on stupid business schemes than all of us will earn combined in a lifetime. He has come back from bankruptcy and will no doubt be sure he can do it again - not that a run would bankrupt him.

And I am sure he's thinking of a way to monetise his candidacy.

danivon wrote:Trump has thrown away more money on stupid business schemes than all of us will earn combined in a lifetime. He has come back from bankruptcy and will no doubt be sure he can do it again - not that a run would bankrupt him.

He's careful to say it's only a few of his businesses that have sought this shelter, not him personally. If that were the case, he'd be shot already.

And I am sure he's thinking of a way to monetise his candidacy.

This might be the best thing you've said in years. I hadn't actually thought of that, but, yes, there's little doubt.

The one thing Trump is doing is speaking plainly about issues and challenging conservative positions on them.
For instance he defended Planned Parenthood on Sean Hannity yesterday.
And he also derided the notion that the current political campaign finance system makes sense in his speech in Michigan.
He is entirely unorthodox and to the extent that his blustering removes certain conservative orthodoxies from the realm of dogma to consideration.... it might be good for the conservative movement.

rickyp wrote:The one thing Trump is doing is speaking plainly about issues and challenging conservative positions on them.
For instance he defended Planned Parenthood on Sean Hannity yesterday.
And he also derided the notion that the current political campaign finance system makes sense in his speech in Michigan.
He is entirely unorthodox and to the extent that his blustering removes certain conservative orthodoxies from the realm of dogma to consideration.... it might be good for the conservative movement.

You fail, naturally, to grasp the difference between "the conservative movement" and the Republican Party. They are not the same.

Trump is not running to be the leader of "the conservative movement." He would not qualify.

I do not want to vote for the Donald. However, unless someone can talk me out of it that is exactly what I plan to do.

Here are my reasons...

I can not vote for Hilary since I can not vote for someone who in my view should be behind bars.

I like the fact that he's bombastic. I believe he is clever enough to know that this is what he needs to be in order to make an initial splash and catch his opponents off guard. It seems as though his approach is succeeding.

I like the fact that no one owns him or can own him.

I like the fact that he is a businessman and not a politician.

I like the fact that he is willing to take a stand on tough issues inspite of the fallout.

I fully recognize he is a jerk, he's mean spirited and worst of all, far too hawkish for me. He said on Hannity the other night that he would commit to boots on the ground in Syria. That threw me for a loop. I can't have that, though in light of the European immigrant crisis maybe I should revisit that morass.

I don't want to vote for him, but everyone else, all the other "professional politicians" on both sides, will simply end up being a let down just the same, so why not roll the dice just for the sake of the experiment and to shake things up?

Th lure of the "political strong man" in times of apparent chaos or uncertainty has lead to many disasters .
Trump would be such .
But he won't succeed. In the modern world he'll be repeatedly exposed as the incoherent fraud that he is... For instance, his attempts at addressing his immigration policy.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-tra ... d=32957794

What troubling is that his republican opponents are heavily influenced by him, and adopt a lot of his nonsense. Mostly because there is a paucity of thoughtful policy through the party.

dag hammarsjkold wrote:I don't want to vote for him, but everyone else, all the other "professional politicians" on both sides, will simply end up being a let down just the same, so why not roll the dice just for the sake of the experiment and to shake things up?

History is littered with examples of what happens when people "roll the dice" on the populist option. It rarely works out as well as people hoped.

danivon wrote:

dag hammarsjkold wrote:I don't want to vote for him, but everyone else, all the other "professional politicians" on both sides, will simply end up being a let down just the same, so why not roll the dice just for the sake of the experiment and to shake things up?

History is littered with examples of what happens when people "roll the dice" on the populist option. It rarely works out as well as people hoped.

Agreed, see President #44.

Doctor Fate wrote:

danivon wrote:

dag hammarsjkold wrote:I don't want to vote for him, but everyone else, all the other "professional politicians" on both sides, will simply end up being a let down just the same, so why not roll the dice just for the sake of the experiment and to shake things up?

History is littered with examples of what happens when people "roll the dice" on the populist option. It rarely works out as well as people hoped.

Agreed, see President #44.

could not help yourself, could you?

I was thinking more of Peron and other Latin American populist leaders.

Closer to home, I wonder how he compares to Ross Perot? The Trump candidacy is nothing but good for the Democrats. If he gets nominated he is unelectable because of his high negative ratings. If he runs as a third-party candidate he hands the election to the Democrats. We're with you Trump!

I think he hit a new low with his comments about Ms. Fiorina's face. You learn not to insult someone's natural appearances when you are 2, and it is rare that someone doesn't get it by the time they are 9. My 11 year old was horrified. I hope this is the end of Trump, but I've been wrong before.

Ray Jay wrote:I think he hit a new low with his comments about Ms. Fiorina's face. You learn not to insult someone's natural appearances when you are 2, and it is rare that someone doesn't get it by the time they are 9. My 11 year old was horrified. I hope this is the end of Trump, but I've been wrong before.

He has a core of supporters who will believe him no matter what. He says it was about her "persona," not her appearance. It's hard to say whether this has any credibility or not, but I think his candidacy will die the death of a thousand cuts.

I hope.

Ray Jay wrote:I think he hit a new low with his comments about Ms. Fiorina's face. You learn not to insult someone's natural appearances when you are 2, and it is rare that someone doesn't get it by the time they are 9. My 11 year old was horrified. I hope this is the end of Trump, but I've been wrong before.

My little one asked at dinner the other night where we were going to move when Donald Trump is elected president. Canada? The wisdom of children . . .

geojanes wrote:

Ray Jay wrote:I think he hit a new low with his comments about Ms. Fiorina's face. You learn not to insult someone's natural appearances when you are 2, and it is rare that someone doesn't get it by the time they are 9. My 11 year old was horrified. I hope this is the end of Trump, but I've been wrong before.

My little one asked at dinner the other night where we were going to move when Donald Trump is elected president. Canada? The wisdom of children . . .

Is your child related to Alec Baldwin?

http://www.salon.com/2000/09/20/starexile/

geojanes

My little one asked at dinner the other night where we were going to move when Donald Trump is elected president. Canada? The wisdom of children

Get in line behind the Syrians.
By the way, we're having an election right now. and a very competitive three way affair.

http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/po ... index.html

Seems to have been going on forever... Line 6 weeks with 5 weeks to go..Then we look south and realize your election is still 14 months away ...and the first primaries over 5 months away.
Exhausting.

The one thing that is interesting about Trump is that he often seems to challenge conservative orthodoxy on things like taxation, money in politics and more.