Republicans have themselves to blame for Donald Trump

[Brian4Liberty]

Republicans have themselves to blame for Donald Trump
By Adam Brandon • 8/21/15

In a crowded primary field, debates are all about setting yourself apart from the pack. In the first presidential debate hosted by Fox News, Donald Trump certainly did that by being the only candidate not to rule out a third party run should he lose the Republican nomination.

This should be concerning for Republicans. Trump has the money to mount a serious third party campaign, the spoiler effects of which would be obvious in the general election. Everyone remembers what happened with Ross Perot in 1992. The Republican vote was split, and Bill Clinton was elected instead of George H.W. Bush winning a second term.

It should come as no surprise to students of history that the circumstances that allowed Ross Perot to gain such popularity are remarkably similar to what we're seeing today. Bush famously violated his "no new taxes" pledge, angering a base that was tired of being lied to. Ready to capitalize on that anger, was a straight-talking, political outsider billionaire. To many, he represented the American Dream and the antidote to all that was wrong with politics; someone who would tell the truth, even if it wasn't politically correct.

Trump exists as a major force in the Republican primary for exactly the same reasons. Americans are frustrated with a Republican Party that has let them down again and again. We were told that taking back the Senate from the Democrats would change things, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has balked at tackling big reforms, instead content with small ball issues like the Keystone XL Pipeline and repealing the medical device tax. I'm no fan of taxing medical devices, but when we control both houses of Congress, we should be trying to repeal all of Obamacare, not a tiny piece of it.

Americans are frustrated with Speaker of the House John Boehner, who is actively working against the newly — formed House Freedom Caucus, the few members of Congress who actually care about doing the things they were elected to do. Americans are frustrated that, after years of campaign promises and lofty rhetoric, nothing is getting done. Politics today is as disillusioning as it has ever been.

Enter Trump, a straight talking, political outsider billionaire who's not afraid of being politically incorrect. Is it any wonder so many find him an appealing contrast to the typical politician? But the problem with Trump is that though he sounds authentic, what he actually stands for remains largely unclear.
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Republicans are at a crossroads: Either they will start to wake up and listen to what the American people actually want from them, or they will continue down the same lobbyist-driven, backroom-dealing, spend-and-spend path that has been threatening to lead the party into irrelevance for decades.
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More: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/re...rticle/2570572

[Brian4Liberty]

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the failures of GOP leadership to actually do the things they promise to do.

Debates over immigration or Trump's positions are well covered in other threads.

[AuH20]

Trump voters aren't dumb. They know the republicans are paid liars. What do you have to lose with Trump? Really nothing since you are starting at zero.

[acptulsa]

Trump voters aren't dumb. They know the republicans are paid liars. What do you have to lose with Trump? Really nothing since you are starting at zero.

What you have to lose is the chance to vote for an honest man named Rand Paul, who might do something besides enrich his already rich friends at your expense. And a chance to spend the next four years able to look yourself in the eye while you shave.

And thanks for asking.

[tod evans]

Just wait, he'll be on stage in the Democratic debates too....

[luctor-et-emergo]

Trump voters aren't dumb. They know the republicans are paid liars. What do you have to lose with Trump? Really nothing since you are starting at zero.

They may not be dumb but they are probably under-informed on *****'s positions over the last decade. Which have been all over the place, I'd argue a lot of it more in the Democrat party spectrum. Then coupled with that there is the obvious populism, simply saying what people want to hear - it has worked since the first democracy - while not saying a whole lot at all. Then there is the hypocrisy of saying he is against how things are run in Washington while he is one of the bigger buyers of influence. So in case you support all of that, well, at least you are not uninformed.

[AuH20]

Lew Rockwell just posted this entry on his facebook page:

Trump's not playing the game. Why doesn’t he go to Heritage, Cato, AEI, anybody, and get a 5-foot-high stack of policy papers–thick, unreadable collections of political promises written by job seekers–showing thereby that he will respect all the standard DC people, payrolls, and pieties?

[r3volution 3.0]

Trump's not playing the game. Why doesn’t he go to Heritage, Cato, AEI, anybody, and get a 5-foot-high stack of policy papers–thick, unreadable collections of political promises written by job seekers–showing thereby that he will respect all the standard DC people, payrolls, and pieties?

Yes, having policies is "playing the game."



But better to just, you know, like, heh, know what I mean, uh...

Retard..

[invisible]

Trump voters aren't dumb. They know the republicans are paid liars. What do you have to lose with Trump? Really nothing since you are starting at zero.

The trumpettes ARE dumb. They don't realize that trump's only purpose is to take away votes from Rand in the primary, then hand the election over to the democrats in the general. They're being played for the sucker on both ends, and are completely blind to the fact. I'd say that makes them pretty damn dumb. Only a chump would vote for trump.

[AuH20]

The trumpettes ARE dumb. They don't realize that trump's only purpose is to take away votes from Rand in the primary, then hand the election over to the democrats in the general. They're being played for the sucker on both ends, and are completely blind to the fact. I'd say that makes them pretty damn dumb. Only a chump would vote for trump.

The same Rand that is scraping the bottom? If Rand wasn't a nonfactor, then you may have a point.

[invisible]

The same Rand that is scraping the bottom? If Rand wasn't a nonfactor, then you may have a point.

Where was Rand in the polls before trump entered, and the msm started promoting him 24/7? Yeah, pretty much right where trump is in the polls. Awfully coincidental, isn't it?

[acptulsa]

The same Rand that is scraping the bottom? If Rand wasn't a nonfactor, then you may have a point.

Rand wasn't a non-factor. That's why the Establishment decided to use one of their own to make the whole GOP a non-factor.

And started paying you to help.

[erowe1]

Trump has the money to mount a serious third party campaign, the spoiler effects of which would be obvious in the general election. Everyone remembers what happened with Ross Perot in 1992. The Republican vote was split, and Bill Clinton was elected instead of George H.W. Bush winning a second term.

I don't think that's true about Perot. I believe that the exit polls revealed that Perot's voters would not have overwhelmingly chosen Bush over Clinton and that Clinton still would have won without Perot in the race.

I expect that something similar will prove true with Trump, except that Trump's support will be even more diverse and left-leaning than Perot's. If he does run third party in the general election, he'll run as a social and fiscal liberal.

[AuH20]

Where was Rand in the polls before trump entered, and the msm started promoting him 24/7? Yeah, pretty much right where trump is in the polls. Awfully coincidental, isn't it?

Rand submarined his own support prior to Trump. He's been gradually trending down for months. However, the ascension of Trump almost guarantees that Rand will not be able to get back in the race. It's like getting boxed in after you have just run your vehicle into a ditch.

[GunnyFreedom]

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the failures of GOP leadership to actually do the things they promise to do.

Debates over immigration or Trump's positions are well covered in other threads.

Trump voters aren't dumb. They know the republicans are paid liars. What do you have to lose with Trump? Really nothing since you are starting at zero.

smdh

[Wilf]

Are you sure that majority of Trump supporters are real human beings that are going to vote?

[acptulsa]

Rand submarined his own support prior to Trump. He's been gradually trending down for months. However, the ascension of Trump almost guarantees that Rand will not be able to get back in the race. It's like getting boxed in after you have just run your vehicle into a ditch.

No, it's like staying behind the crazy, foolish idiot until he runs his into the ditch, then hitting the gas.

[invisible]

Rand submarined his own support prior to Trump. He's been gradually trending down for months. However, the ascension of Trump almost guarantees that Rand will not be able to get back in the race. It's like getting boxed in after you have just run your vehicle into a ditch.

Wow, you really did fall for it hook, line, and sinker, didn't you? I can only imagine how you'll feel the day after the general election, when you wake up and realize how just badly you've been played for a sucker.

[acptulsa]

Wow, you really did fall for it hook, line, and sinker, didn't you? I can only imagine how you'll feel the day after the general election, when you wake up and realize how just badly you've been played for a sucker.

He never said Trump is worth his weight in dog$#@!.

He said he wants the nation to crash and burn.

I say he's being paid to do this, because I don't think he's quite stupid enough to do for free what Trump is paying thousands to do. But any way you slice it, no one here is saying Trump will be anything but a disaster in the extremely unlikely event that he is entrusted with a position of actual power.

[AuH20]

Wow, you really did fall for it hook, line, and sinker, didn't you? I can only imagine how you'll feel the day after the general election, when you wake up and realize how just badly you've been played for a sucker.

It doesn't matter what I think. I don't control the polls. I will vote for the greatest disruptor based on their current poll standing.

[acptulsa]

It doesn't matter what I think. I don't control the polls.

But you sure work your ass off at that name recognition bull$#@! angle of the campaign, don't you?

I don't suppose we could talk you into spamming scams elsewhere? I hear there are thousands of jobs doing that on craigslist. You're bound to find more suckers there, and it certainly isn't any more humiliating than doing the same thing here.

Repeat after me: I am in Libya and know where the stolen loot is, but without a foreign bank account like yours...

[invisible]

It doesn't matter what I think. I don't control the polls. I will vote for the greatest disruptor based on their current poll standing.

Wow, so you even admit that you'll vote for whoever the msm tells you is in a fake "surge" at the moment? Funny, I don't remember you shilling for bachmann, cain, gingrich, santorum, or romney in the last election.

[Dianne]

If you watch FOX News for a day, you will see they have made this race all about Bush and Trump. I'm not sure if Trump is a place holder for Bush... but this is who FOX wants you to choose from, and they are the masters of brainwashing.

[acptulsa]

If you watch FOX News for a day, you will see they have made this race all about Bush and Trump. I'm not sure if Trump is a place holder for Bush... but this is who FOX wants you to choose from, and they are the masters of brainwashing.

More to the point, Fox wants the Democrats to win. Which is why they pushed McCain as 'electable' (though he clearly wasn't) and Romney as 'electable' (though he clearly wasn't).

Hell, that's why they pushed for that idiot Dubya. What they didn't anticipate was Jeb and the Supreme Court stealing the election for him.

This time they knew that wouldn't be enough. But if three quarters of the GOP votes for a lame Republican and the rest are sucked off into a lame independent idiot, then even Clinton could win.

[AuH20]

Wow, so you even admit that you'll vote for whoever the msm tells you is in a fake "surge" at the moment? Funny, I don't remember you shilling for bachmann, cain, gingrich, santorum, or romney in the last election.

Trump and Rand are in my top tier as spoilers that the Beltway class despises. You would have to hard sell me on the rest as the so-called anti-establishment candidate. Rand has had trouble getting out of his own way since March and the polls reflect this.

[erowe1]

Trump voters aren't dumb.

They're not voters. And they're beyond dumb.

[T.hill]

It doesn't matter what I think. I don't control the polls. I will vote for the greatest disruptor based on their current poll standing.

What exactly do you think Trump will disrupt?

[r3volution 3.0]

What exactly do you think Trump will disrupt?

Vital neuroreceptor activity?

[H. E. Panqui]

acptulsa: Rand wasn't a non-factor. That's why the Establishment decided to use one of their own to make the whole GOP a non-factor.

...i've seen 1/10th the 'excitement' (if that) for rand compared to ron in 'the activist community'...granted, it's early and not many formal 'get-togethers' happened this early for ron either...but a sizable number of the ron paul people i know are indifferent to rand...and all with nearly the same reasons for their indifference/disgust..(you all know what those reasons are...even if you don't agree with them) and many of us have written off ron's support for rand as familial responsibility/bad judgment...

....AGAIN, the republican cheerleaders here don't get it...i'm an 'accidental republican'...the only reason i registered stinking republican was for ron paul and my friends who convinced me to participate--really participate--in the caucus...(not just cast a straw-poll primary 'vote' like 99% of caucus ignoramuses in my state...myself included until ron paul inspired me to go the extra miles..

...after seeing first-hand what the republican party inc. did to our guy i have reverted to khandom: 'revenge is a dish best served cold' ...

...therefore, absent vermin supreme, beavis, butthead, oj simpson, kaitlyn jenner, etc., running for the stinking republican party inc. nomination, i choose trump..besides, he (apparently) has the independent money to really really embarrass, expose and horrify the rest of the stinking republicrats in the $election...(a HUGE plus) ...trump can afford a huge and deadly fireworks display...the rest don't even have 'tr'ump change..

[heavenlyboy34]

acptulsa: Rand wasn't a non-factor. That's why the Establishment decided to use one of their own to make the whole GOP a non-factor.

...i've seen 1/10th the 'excitement' (if that) for rand compared to ron in 'the activist community'...granted, it's early and not many formal 'get-togethers' happened this early for ron either...but a sizable number of the ron paul people i know are indifferent to rand...and all with nearly the same reasons for their indifference/disgust..(you all know what those reasons are...even if you don't agree with them) and many of us have written off ron's support for rand as familial responsibility/bad judgment...

....AGAIN, the republican cheerleaders here don't get it...i'm an 'accidental republican'...the only reason i registered stinking republican was for ron paul and my friends who convinced me to participate--really participate--in the caucus...(not just cast a straw-poll primary 'vote' like 99% of caucus ignoramuses in my state...myself included until ron paul inspired me to go the extra miles..

...after seeing first-hand what the republican party inc. did to our guy i have reverted to khandom: 'revenge is a dish best served cold' ...

...therefore, absent vermin supreme, beavis, butthead, oj simpson, kaitlyn jenner, etc., running for the stinking republican party inc. nomination, i choose trump..besides, he (apparently) has the independent money to really really embarrass, expose and horrify the rest of the stinking republicrats in the $election...(a HUGE plus) ...trump can afford a huge and deadly fireworks display...the rest don't even have 'tr'ump change..

WRITE IN VERMIN SUPREME!!!