I do not think Donald Trump is a candidate, I think he is a decoy for the GOP

[LynneSin]

Let's face it, Donald Trump is never going be President. This guy has more baggage than a Samsonite Outlet. But the media loves him, the late night comedians love him and the progressives hate him because of one thing - he says exactly what is on his mind. And let's face it - what's on Donald Trump's mind isn't exactly the most politically correct of notions. If anything this guy is going to dig up the most awesomely politically incorrect things and he's going to say them and you know why - because he will get all the attention and no one else.

For Donald, he gets to spend the next year pumping up brand Donald Trump. And although he will never be president he'll have millions of idiot Americans who want to be just like Donald Trump - they want to have that ability to just spout out whatever it is that's on the top of their mind no matter who they will offend. You know it's almost like Donald Trump wants to be the new king of the Tea Party. Andthat's a solid market of about 30% of the population that will be willing to buy any of this 'Made in China' crap that has the Trump label on it just because they want to be associated with Donald Trump. He'll get filthy rich off these people.

And in the mean time while the late night comedians and the media and the progressives are all keeping our eyes glued on what Donald Trump might say next, what we are doing is paying attention to what the rest of the GOP is doing. Someone is going to come out strong from that sorry pack of GOP candidates and give our candidate a tough run for their money. I just wish maybe we all focus less on Trump and focus on the rest of this pack.

[Gothmog]

1. A segment of the GOP loves this idiot

There is a segment of the GOP base that is both crazy and angry. That segment loves Trump and so he as a strong base to run from. I can easily see a deadlock national convention where trump will have the most delegates going into the convention. This situation will be fun to watch.

In the meantime, Trump has forced the GOP to take stronger positions on immigration and the eventual GOP candidate will have a hard time winning support from Hispanic voters

[msanthrope]

2. I think the DNC is paying him to rattle the other side. nt

[BillZBubb]

3. I think just the opposite.

He is a real candidate. He is an entitled rich guy with a massive ego who thinks he has all the answers. Had his polling numbers languished with the rest of the republiclown wannabes, he would have milked what he could out of the attention and then found an excuse to drop out.

But, surprisingly, he now leads the pack. He's locked in now. His ego is going to force him to stay in the race until his polling numbers start falling. That's a good thing for Democrats. His message resonates with the repub base and shows the rest of the country how wacko that party has become.

As the repub race narrows, the remaining wannabes will have to repudiate Trump's positions or accept them. Either way, they are going to be hurt.

No matter what happens with Trump, the republiclown nominee will give the Democratic nominee a fight. It's just the way things are in a country so split on ideological grounds.

[Alfalfa]

4. He just enjoys the attention

Nobody takes him seriously as a candidate.

[brooklynite]

5. Nope...

Last edited Sat Aug 1, 2015, 11:28 AM - Edit history (1)

...he's far too chaotic to be a plant. While nobody believes he'll get the nomination, he's also damaging the reputation of every prospective "real" nominee. Think of all the commercials the Democrats will be able to run against anyone who remotely has a chance of winning, based only on Trump's comments.

[LynneSin]

10. But think of the control Donald will have with his followers

essentially he is the new king of the Tea Party and this idiots will do his bidding. So Trump will be more than happy to drop out of the race because the real power isn't the money he will spend but the control he now has over the tea party which pretty much is the control over the Republican Party. There are enough of these zombie idiots that one word from Trump and they will vote 3rd party or possibly stay home just to please thei new leader.


Trust me even the Koch brothers will have to get in line to suck up to the Donald and his minions.

[brooklynite]

18. Which "real" candidate would Trump send his followers to, after insulting everyone one of them?

Trump doesn't care about the outcome of the election. He cares only about how much publicity it generates for him.

[LynneSin]

25. Knowing that presidential elections get 50-65% voter turnout

no one can discard those voters.

Mid terms get 35% and it is the republicans that tend to be reliable voters. So if suddenly reliable block goes AWOL that is bad news in a presidential election year.

[Alfalfa]

27. +1

[Uncle Joe]

35. The Republicans can turn on a dime when they need to.

[Adrahil]

6. I think he's half-serious.

I think he'd really like to win, but knows that's pretty unlikely. So he gets lots of media attention and builds a "movement." With the threat of running as an independent, he forces Reince Preibus to give him a primo GOP convention speech slot, and he gives an "electrifying speech" that brings cheers and raises hackles.

He then lands his own Fox News show and brings in millions more just being a bloviating shit head. It's Sarah Palin on steroids. He saw her business plan and he intends to use x10.

Just a fun theory.

[3catwoman3]

24. Ah, we can have a new message board acronym.

BSH - Bloviating Shit Head. I like it.

[arendt]

7. LOL - "more baggage than a Samsonite Outlet" n/t

[DFW]

8. Trump wants everybody to focus on Trump

I'm sure the RNC will go along with this up to a point--it distracts from the obvious negatives of all the other passengers in the clown car.

However, at some point, they will have to decide to figure out a way to draw attention from Trump's ego circus and remind voters that someone else will be the Republican candidate, and give them reasons to vote for him. The people rooting hardest for Trump to make an absolute fool of himself are the RNC and Fox Noise. If he's still way on top AFTER the so-called "debate," there will be enough hair torn out at the next RNC meeting to start a wig factory.

[alterfurz]

9. my conspiracy theory:

The RNC inserted The Donald into the mix just to make the rest of the field appear slightly less insane, and the rest of the field is there only to make Jeb seem like the "moderate/reasonable" choice.

[LynneSin]

14. Very true but....

trump is amassing a cult following from the Tea Party. So even if Donald drops out he is going to have major influence over his minions and how they vote. If Jeb doesn't suck up to Donald he may push his followers to vote for someone else. I think Walker is the best fit for this group.

[Faryn Balyncd]

17. I think you've nailed it.

[Duval]

19. Jeb Bush or Walker

That's also my take on Trump's presence.

[uponit7771]

26. +1

[bemildred]

11. stalking horse

stalk·ing horse
noun
noun: stalking horse; plural noun: stalking horses

- a screen traditionally made in the shape of a horse behind which a hunter can stay concealed when stalking prey.
- a false pretext concealing someone's real intentions.
- a political candidate who runs only in order to provoke the election and thus allow a stronger candidate to come forward.

Origin
early 16th century: from the former practice of using a horse trained to allow a fowler to hide behind it, or under its coverings, until within easy range of prey.

https://www.google.com/#q=stalking+horse

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalking_horse

[snot]

12. Very smart O.P. -- Jeb et al. need to feel some heat.

[Johonny]

13. I do not think Trump is willing to do the little things to win

He's not going to have a get out the vote drive in state to state primaries. He isn't going to hire regional election teams. He isn't going to use polling and data. He isn't really running for president. He's this years Newt Gingrich. He's here for the ego boost and eventually we all know he will be forced to exit the race. It is too hard to actually run for president. He's just bouncing from TV set to TV photoshoot.

[LynneSin]

15. Why should he when the tea party idiots love him

but that won't get him past the primaries

[Johonny]

16. Well to win that idiot has to show up and vote

It doesn't matter how many idiots answer a home phone survey poll. It matters how you organize your potential voters for caucuses and votes. Trump only has asses in their seats at home. Several others have real election teams that will get out their voters. I think eventually the hard work of the behind the scenes running of an election is going to be unattractive and Trump will find a way to drift away: not from TV or debates, but from doing and state to state canvasing. Jeb! plans to spend 100+ million. Is Donald really going to spend half is free available cash to match him. No, he isn't. They all know Trump will eventually go away. That's why Jeb! has spent most of his time lining up against Hillary.

[jalan48]

20. He keeps the focus off the issues. He's like a pace setter in a race.

Sanders is probably harmed the most by the media fixation on Trump. He has a viable message, whether he gets elected or not. While people are getting 'side show' Trump, the focus is diverted away from the issues facing the majority of Americans.

[99th_Monkey]

21. Trump serves a GOP purpose quite eel actually

t seems that 99% of the M$M “political news” anymore, including much of msnbc’s, is breathless “analysis” of Trump’s most recent vacuous headline-grabbing brain-fart, along with obligatory “responses” from a few of the 15 other GOP clowns, 99% devoid of any public policy content whatsoever -- unless you consider calling all Mexicans rapists a ‘policy’.

Trump serves as a perfect foil to insinuate that Bernie’s remarkable campaign is must also be equally “out-of-touch with mainstream America” and/or “devoid of any serious public policy content”, without ever coming out and actually saying that. This works to some extent, only because Trump is the perfect buffoon, the perfect holographic clown for all seasons.

It gives the M$M something do talk about instead of real issues AND (perhaps more importantly) the media can conveniently ignore the REAL historic political phenomenon of this election season, the one who IS talking about real issues to record crowds, i.e. Bernie Sanders.

[asiliveandbreathe]

22. Good read - so many (IMHO) agree this guy makes others

look and sound somewhat sane..I'm just trying to figure out which GOP candidate he is running recon for...

Which GOP candidate is good for America??? I just don't hear it..

[LuckyLib]

23. And, he makes the rest of the Repub clowns

look normal. Ok, semi normal. Er, only a little bit whacky.

[MADem]

28. He is what is called a STALKING HORSE. Both sides use them.

Sometimes, the supporters of the stalking horse don't quite get the clue that the candidacy isn't real.

Other times, the stalking horse himself starts to get ideas that 'he can do this' because he doesn't appreciate that the false front put forth by the sponsors of the stalking horse can be withdrawn in an instant, causing the entire effort to collapse upon itself.

[NCjack]

29. Trump is a Rethug. But he is like most of the 2016 candidates:

He wants to win. But if forced out of contention, he will take away what ever he can to make money from the effort.

[The_Commonist]

30. Personally, I think Trump is working to get Mrs. Clinton elected.

It's pretty well known, at least around here in NYC, that Trump just LOVES Bill Clinton. After all, he totally got away with getting blowjobs in the Oval Office. That is one of Trump's little fantasies, to be able to get away with shit like that. Trump is in awe of Bill. And why not? Bill wasn't born with a big inheritance, but worked his way up the food chain to become a pretty damned good president, and a fellow rich person. All on his own. Trump wishes he had Bill's charisma. He knows that Bill is not a loser, and Trump hates losers.

He donated money to both of Mrs. Clinton's senate campaigns. She's the kind of Wall Street socially liberal Conservadem that rich New Yorkers such as Trump like. He's given money to the Clinton Foundation. He is not running against Mrs. Clinton at the moment, and other than one or two quick jabs (which she can handle with no problem) he's largely left her alone. I think there are some in the GOP who THINK that his role is to make Jeb! and Walker look sane by comparison, and he lets them think that is the game he is playing, but it's not.

I think he wants her to be president, and has set out to destroy the Republican brand, as well as promote his own brand in the process. The ultimate test of this theory would be if he launches a third-party run after he is denied the Republican nomination. He's been talking to Sarah Palin lately, and I think he would choose her to be his Tea Party running mate. And she's dumb enough to fall for it. Ensuring a Clinton win. Which is what he is trying to do...

[madville]

31. The GOP debate ratings are going to be huge

People are going to tune in just to see what crazy shit Trump might say. Hopefully they don't look at Jeb and Walker and think these guys seem normal and make sense when standing next to Trump on stage. I think Trump in the debates will help candidates like Walker increase their name recognition with voters.

[silvershadow]

32. He is just there to channel the well-deserved disdain for the party as a whole

into his candidacy, and thereby make the other candidates viable, in theory. I doubt it will work. And I pray to the election gods his ego drives him into a third-party candidacy.

[Faux pas]

33. I think he's

a ringer for our side. Thought it the first time he shot his mouth off in the campaign. Wonder if we'll ever know for sure, lol.

[hunter]

34. Reminds me of Arnold Schwarzeneger in California...

No, Arnold was not Trump, he was the Republican candidate who seemed sane.

[Iggo]

36. No shit.

[michaelmurphyart]

38. Definitely

[link:?oh=11c7d92dc8584c582e895584ad136362&oe=5650259F|

[uppityperson]

39. Hi, your link is funky

[backscatter712]

40. I think he's the GOP's Frankenstein's Monster.

He was originally supposed to gin up the base, then step aside for the next shiny object, but now Trump's drumming up votes by saying what the GOP would prefer be only implied and dog-whistled. Even worse, he's threatened to run as an independent and Naderize the GOP if they elbow him out, so he's still in.

[bccx]

41. Bad move. Trump will probably be the next president

Worst part is he will win because of dems staying how because they are bitter over the primary. Trump will be the worst president ever.