is it really possible that Donald trump could be president????? [Part 2]

[claig]

From now on the race becomes winner take all. If Trump wins Florida on March 15, it is probably all over.

'The Republican Party now has 14 days to stop Trump'

www.vox.com/2016/3/2/11144812/super-tuesday-results-donald-trump-wins

You can't really compare the UK Conservative party to the republicans though, Claig. Cameron would fit neatly into the right wing of the Democratic Party: socially liberal, pro-big business, hawkish on foreign policy.

I suppose it depends how you define conservatism, but in 21st century America conservatism has become synonymous with the small government, socially illiberal ideology of the Tea Party. And those republicans have an enormous amount of influence - they've made life very difficult for Obama.

Thanks, BigChocFrenzy.

'My understanding is that it would be politicially impossible to deny him if he wins 50% +1 of the delegates '

Yes, I have heard that but atrump insider says it may require 54% to avoid all of the rule jiggery-pokery that they can get up to, and he may not make that because among other things there are tricks like postal ballots, viter machine anomalies in certain counties as were reported by some Trump voters in Texas yesterday etc, so it may have to go to a brokered convention.

'Anyone know if delegates have to keep voting their designated candidate throughout the process, or if they can switch after the first vote ?'

No, after the first vote, they become "freed up" and then they often vote the way the Establishment wants. Trump has insiders who are very experienced in running campaigns and being on conference floors for Nixon and Reagan, but even they say that the Republican Establishment knows all of teh arcane rules etc better than them.

'The Presidency is a far tougher hurdle than the Republican nomination'

I think that everything will be done to stop Trump getting the nomination, but if he beats them there, then I think he will beat Hillary. The democrats will unload everything they have got on Trump - racism, sexism, mob etc, but Trump has got much much more to unload on Hillary and Bill. It will be like nothing the world has ever seen. This is not a stitched up Establishment election where one party is a ringer, this is a battle to determine how the entire world will look like - national sovereignty (Trump) vs globalism and wars (Clinton).

How can anyone vote for Hillary when there is so much known about her and her husband's dodgy dealings?

MSM - BBC news just reporting it looks like she will win the nomination?

"The GOP succeeded in creating their desired idiocracy - but now their idiots are voting for Trump, instead of the GOP's chosen idiot."

Well said, BigChoc.

GOP dumbed down Republican discourse to the point where Sarah Palin got on the ticket in the last election. Still, Republican voter base preferred to vote Democrat rather than allow that profoundly ignorant yet smug and aggressive woman from approaching the White House.

The same scenario is likely to play out this time, too.

'Most Republican politicians since Nixon have pandered to racism, just more subtlely, with code words like "welfare" and "entitlements" and locking up about 1 million African American men & boys.'

BigChocFrenzy, in the early days of America, the Democrats were the party of the South and of the slave owners and KKK and the Republicans were the Northerners against slavery. It was the Republicans who introduced teh civil rights laws.

Democratic senator Robert Byrd was a friend and mentor of Hillary Clinton

"Sen. Robert Byrd not only was a KKK member but led his local Klan chapter

A quick check of this morning’s obituaries reveal that in the eyes of the traditional media, Byrd the Progressive Porker is much more important than Bob the Exalted Cyclops.

Byrd joined the Klan at the ripe young age of 24

Today’s obituaries, however, made little mention of Byrd’s once-deeply held hatred for African Americans."

dailycaller.com/2010/06/28/sen-robert-byrd-not-only-was-a-kkk-member-but-led-his-local-klan-chapter/

I haven't quoted what is in that article because it is too disgusting to write.

"locking up about 1 million African American men & boys."

"Hillary Clinton has a race problem — and it’s resurfacing at a dangerous time

The protester, as she later explained, “wanted to make sure that black people are paying attention to [Clinton’s] record” by drawing attention to the racist rhetoric Clinton used in 1996, when she, as first lady, strongly supported the “tough on crime” method of governance, and successfully lobbied for a bill based on that method to be passed into law.

“They are not just gangs of kids anymore,” Clinton warned the public at the time. “They are often the kinds of kids that are called ‘super-predators.’ No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we need to bring them to heel.”

The crime bill that Clinton advocated for is now widely regarded as a “terrible mistake,” and the demonizing language that she used to describe young people who belong to gangs (a group that, because of institutionalized racism and oppression, is majority black and Latino/a) would now be political suicide.

Since the ’90s, the Democratic Party — and Hillary Clinton along with it — has morphed from voicing demagogic, dangerous ideas about black children and supporting catastrophic crime policies to, today, speaking of how “we have allowed our criminal justice system to get out of balance,” and promising an end to the decades-long era of mass incarceration, which, of course, they hold much responsibility for creating."

www.salon.com/2016/02/26/hillary_clinton_has_a_race_problem_and_its_resurfacing_at_a_dangerous_time/

*in the early days of America, the Democrats were the party of the South and of the slave owners and KKK and the Republicans were the Northerners against slavery.

So what? It's today that matters. Why do you think that the vast majority of African Americans are Democrats?

Thanks for the info about "freed up" delegates, Claig

Yes, I'm aware that the Democratic Party used to contain the Southern racists and the Republican used to be just business pragmatists, not interested in race.

There was an extraordinary 180 degree realignment in US politics after Kennnedy was elected (and btw some Southerners rejoiced at his assassination)
In particular after his successor President Johnson brought in the Civil Rights legislation.
He allegedly said to an aide after signing "we have lost the South for a generation"
No, that loss has lasted ever since, 50 years and counting.
And the Republicans lost the African American vote, because their conduct since Nixon is more relevant than Abraham Lincoln.

I agree that Bill Clinton - and Hillary supported him - brought in anti-welfare programs and mass incarceration in the 1980s which hurt all those on low income, but disproportionately harmed African Americans
Why Clintons don't deserve black votes

'And the Republicans lost the African American vote, because their conduct since Nixon is more relevant than Abraham Lincoln.'

Yes, but Trump is the only Republican who can win some of that vote back, not a majority, but some. There was a poll several months back where Trump got 25% of the African-American vote, but it was a small sample. The Stump for Trump sisters used to be registered Republicans but have ditched and switched and registered as Republicans purely to vote for Trump, they would never vote for any of the rest of the Republicans.

Trump hasn't started on Clinton yet, but this whole campaign will be about nativism (and the return of jobs to the USA) versus globalism (which all of Clinton, the Republican elite, Blair, Davos and all the rest of them support).

When Trump starts selling the message of how he "will be the greatest job creator in US history", he will win lots of minority votes because Clinton will have nothing to counter it because she is not allowed to say the same because the globalists and Wall Street bankers are for globalisation and shipping jobs abroad.

One of the reasons I can't stomach the disgusting Clintons is their invention of "super-predator" African kids. Nearly all politicians went along with it, but they are the proud inventors.
e.g. "Little B" was 13 years old in 1994 when he was tried as a "super-predator" and sentenced to life imprisonment. Still there now: Daily Beast

Wow, 13 years old. It was murder and I am in favour of tough sentencing but 13 years old is too young for a life sentence.

Very good interview on Fox Business with a Republican bigwig, Home Depot co-founder. He supports Kasich and not Trump, but he articulates what is happening, how angry and disgusted the American people are at their useless Establishment class of politicians. It's everywhere and the media keeps pretending everything is fine. He says "look at the numbers" of people turning out to vote "they have had it".

I can't help but wonder how much Al Sharpton was paid to appear with Hillary Clinton. Given the Clintons history with the black population it must have been sizable.

Trump is not a KKK supporter and he has been explicit in this. The media are totally wrong for going down that road and there was even a political commentator on CNN yesterday who wasn't a Trump supporter defend Trump saying it was too far a stretch to link Trump to the KKK.

As an observer what I have see evidence of is Trump being very respectful towards Carson throughout this process while the others putting themselves forward (I am looking at Bush, Cruz and Rubio) have demonstrated behaviours which hint towards racism at worst and indifference at best. Trump called out Cruz for spreading rumours about Carson pulling out after the Iowa primary. None of the other candidates said a word.

I think if Trump wins the nomination he will go after the black vote and win it because he will highlight just how awful the Bill Clinton policies were for the black community. In all honesty the black community has been shat on by successive governments who have ploughed money into every other area except areas that would directly help the black community, namely education and health. If the US spent a quarter of its money they have spent on stupid wars on helping those in the lowest socioeconomic groups I think we would see major progress.

I think Romney is a long shot-Mormons are still viewed suspiciously enough in this country to make his religious stance an impediment for him.

Trump is the flip side of a coin with Bernie Sanders on the other side. They are both evidence of a deep disaffection in the American people, which is a healthy thing.

I prefer Sanders, some of Trump's ideas are wackadoodle, but I must say, in terms of protecting abortion rights and the separation of church and state, Trump does better than most Republicans. He is keeping mum on certain issues because it is politically expedient, but he is a moderate over all.

As I said, I will be voting for Bernie Sanders, but compared to three months ago, when I really didn't understand why anyone liked Trump, I do now have a better understanding of his appeal.

Impressive.
Thirty posts by the same person in the same thread in a single day.

In a Clinton-Trump race, I believe Trump would win. There are many Sanders supporters that are so committed to his vision that they will write him in on the ballot rather than voting for Clinton. I would consider it myself.

Claig I'm fucking sick of your hate speech on here and I wish MN would ban you once and for all. Trump isn't ' funny and likeable', he's a fucking FASCIST.

'Thirty posts by the same person in the same thread in a single day.'

Nothing to stop you making 31 posts.

'There are many Sanders supporters that are so committed to his vision that they will write him in on the ballot rather than voting for Clinton. I would consider it myself'

Good point, people will be angry if Bernie loses out.

'I'm fucking sick of your hate speech '

I have got no hate speech at all. I think Trump is a funny guy and likeable which is why lots of people like him.

What is this groupthink on here? Claig can say Trump is funny and like-able, why not? You, on the on the other hand, can say he is a racist. I think that ultimately they are both opinions. You could argue that one of the opinions has more evidence behind it than the other, but is it really "hate speech" to say something positive about a (possibly or definitely) racist person?

Claig, I got handed my ass on another thread for saying that I liked Howard Stern's radio show. It was awful.

I think Trump is a funny guy and likeable

Then maybe he should host a family friendly reality show, rather than being president of the USA, if those are his better qualities.

Oh, wait...

Trump will not be able to move away sufficiently from his racist, sexist, anti-LGBT stances to ever gain my vote. He will be hemmed in by his policy statements thus far. He will try to move to the middle in the general election, but this will be difficult because of the extreme positions he has taken on social issues.

His statements on Planned Parenthood are really disingenuous. He thinks they do good work for women but he will support defunding them because they do abortions. He has indicated that he will appoint a Scalia-like justice to the Supreme Court. He will be disaster for women's reproductive rights.

Blimey, I disagree with claig on almost everything except Corbyn, but she engages in debate in the spirit of the board. And therefore I defend her right to post about this stuff.
And you should never discount the proverb, Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
If you can't debate your opinion then you don't hold your opinion clearly.

'PitilessYank '

You are not the only one who likes Howard Stern which is why he was/is so popular. I don't know if he is still going, but the first time I heard him was when I was in a rental car in LA and it was funny and new to me compared to Terry Wogan.