If you haven’t entered our pool to guess the date when the Trump campaign collapses, this might be a good time. See the current entries and share your guess here:
https://goplifer.com/2015/07/22/guess-when-trumps-campaign-collapses/
Chris Ladd is a Texan living in the Chicago area. He has been involved in grassroots Republican politics for most of his life. He was a Republican precinct committeeman in suburban Chicago until he resigned from the party and his position after the 2016 Republican Convention. He can be reached at gopliferchicago at gmail dot com.
GOPLifer 
I just couldn’t help myself. The new game in town: “Trump your cat.” (Hope this doesn’t appear as big as my last url post.)
Well, well, well…
Just as I thought, Fox’s attempt to discredit Trump backfired. Lovin’ it.
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/new-nbc-news-survey-monkey-poll-donald-trump-still-lead-n406766
CNN just reported: Donald Trump’s campaign said today it has fired top political adviser Roger Stone.
The House of Cards is beginning to weaken.
Several thoughts. First, Dr. Ben Carson is not crazy but he should keep his neurosurgery day job where he has achieved wonderful things. Huckabee is a huckster, plain and simple. The man needs to build a big church where he can preach his narrow view of faith to his heart’s content. I’m not a fan. Rubio continues to disappoint me. He keeps testing the wind on major issues and his needy desire to be President is greater than his common sense. He needs more time to grow up and grow out, and develop a little more spine and wisdom. The PP issue has provided yet another opening (very poorly handled by PP staff who should know better) for the conservative wing of the GOP to position themselves even further against womens’ rights. I’ve already commented on that above so will only add – it is a losing proposition. Their wives, daughters, and sisters need to have a good heart to heart conversation with them about how the real world functions for women.
EJ, I understand where you are going with your personality comment, but it is only a small part of Presidential timbre, IMHO. Far more important is an inquiring, analytical mind with a STRONG sense of self – including core beliefs that are deeply held and well informed. Personality is only important as part of one’s charismatic appeal. Give me an intelligent, open-minded boring individual who is can listen, is humble enough to take advice, can manage complex issues, and is secure enough personally to select similarly smart people to surround him/her. No “peter” principle, please.) That person was not on the Fox stage. That person, like it or not, is a flawed but extremely competent Hillary Clinton. She is the best choice among those seeking the nomination from either party. I want our government to work. I want a President who is a statesman, pragmatic, and who knows how to get things done to make America function for all of its people. At this juncture, the only person running who combines the requisite experience, intelligence and knowledge of working within the system (a skill which crippled Obama’s early days) – is Hillary Clinton.
I still maintain that the GOP ticket will be: Bush/Kasich, and the next president of the United States will be Hillary Clinton.
You may be right, mime, but I’m wondering about Fiorina as VP nominee. She’s becoming flavor of the month now, and including her on the ticket may help with the women’s vote. On the other hand, when her incompetence as a corporate CEO is highlighted along with her bragging about sending thousands of jobs to China, she may fade away.
I had enough when Walker (damn idiot IMO) was more than willing to let a Mom die to save the life of a fetus. Sorry arse-hats, my wife comes first. Sweet baby Jesus, the Republicans are doomed from the get go, stupid, stupid people. My grandma had 5 miscarriage and the old country doctor assured her that those miscarriages were natures way of getting rid of the children that could not take care of themselves when grown. It boggles the mind. It’s not pro life, it’s pro birth and to hell with the kids after they take their first breathe.
Amen! That is all, carry on.
It’s not pro life. It’s anti human.
Trump, Rubio, et al are in hot water with all of their various responses at the Fox Debate dealing with womens’ issues. Note, I said “womens’ issues”, because the genesis of the problem is that conservative men – including those seeking the GOP Presidential nomination – have not grasped that this is not. their. business. nor.their. right. And, it is dumb, when more than half of the nation’s electorate is female.
For more on this subject, and how it will impact the GOP candidates, read today’s NYT article.
One of the GOP aspirants, Mr. Trump, should lead the way in this regard. His poor showing at the Fox Debate and subsequent fall out over his treatment and remarks about Megan Kelley, have created more backlash. Eric Erickson, editor of the conservative Red State report, has dis-invited Trump to an event they are sponsoring in Atlanta this evening, unless he apologizes for his remarks. So far, he hasn’t. But, Trump is not alone among the Republican candidates who can’t seem to be tough enough in their remarks against womens’ rights. Well, let them dig their own graves. As is so often the case, we learn best from painful lessons. Or, not.
My April’s Fool date pick for Donald Trump’s collapse is woefully late. His ego simply will be his downfall.
He won’t apologize. He seems to think thats part of his appeal.
On a related note, I find extreme PC’ism as annoying as the next person. But that’s all it is: annoying. Its not a major issue fac8ng the United States. Everywhere i hear quotes from Trump supporters, they’re always saying sometjing along the lines of: “who cares about his policies? He’s against PC!! I say what I mean and so does he!”
I mean……is that REALLY the main trait we want for Prez? That he’s not “PC”? Doesn’t matter what his economic policies are, doesn’t matter what his foreign policy is. If he’s against trigger warnings at colleges, he’s in?
Even ostensibly smart ppl like Mark Cuban basically said that foolishness.
Even Mark Cuban said it’s foolishness…..
Don’t mess with the “alpha” shark!
Sorry all, here’s the NYT link on GOP candidates in hot water.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/us/politics/fear-that-debate-could-hurt-gop-in-womens-eyes.html?emc=edit_th_20150808&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=41048410&_r=0
1)You separate the elders from the tribal leadership 2)You separate the female from the male 3)You separate the children from the parent. Now that we have no bonds to one another, what’s left? You turn mankind away from God. What’s left? Where are you taking humanity?
Hilary Clinton is a conformist toff. No way in hell I’d vote for it. Not to mention the two-fer aspect which includes the former sleazoid in chief Wm. J. Clinton. I can’t see why you’d punish Bill Cosby for serial adultery and give monkey gank a pass.
You should nominate the socialist, at least he’s straight.
Well, I’m not any more worried about “turning mankind away from God” anymore then I’m worried about “turning mankind away from Zeus”.
I assume you mean the Christian God and not Allah? (Even though they’re actually the same dude, I’m surprised at how many American Christians don’t realize this).
If that’s what you’re talking about, mankind has been “turned away from God” for centuries. Christians only make up 31% of the global population.
When should we expect our smiting?
And Cosbys issue isn’t “adultery”. That’s none of our business just like it’s none of anyone’s business what ANY person do sexually with another consenting adult (yes, even the Presidents).
Cosby drugged and raped women. THAT’S why he’s “not getting a pass”.
Clinton was a brilliant politician and one ofnthe smartest policy wonks we’ve had in decades.
THAT’S what we need as president. Smart people with good ideas, period. I could care less what he does with his private life.
Rob, I can’t give Billy a pass on his sexual activity with Monica Lewinsky (especially and others as well). The time and place showed very poor judgment, disrespect for the office of President, his family, and a WH intern and young woman – regardless how complicit she was. Clinton is by far not the only President, member of Congress, clergy, or businessman to engage in sexual activities outside the realm of marriage while serving the public. We may differ on whether we feel that is wrong or not, but it doesn’t necessarily make them ineffective leaders, just personally flawed. There are a lot of glass houses in D.C. and elsewhere. Cosby’s situation is very different and deserving of punishment. For Lindsey Graham to throw the Lewinsky matter at Hillary Clinton is the penultimate cheap shot. She handled that situation with grace and dignity, a true mark of character.
Oh boy that debate was a disaster, it wasn’t even as funny as I thought it would be. At least Carson and Huckabee met my expectations of craziness. I think you were right about Bush not getting the nomination he was awful, he’s clearly not comfortable in front of that audience because he’s not not far-right enough. Kasich handled being more moderate than the base much better than Bush did (to be clear Kasich is VERY conservative but compared to that base Kasich looks outright moderate).
Kasich, to his credit, handled being on that debate stage a lot better than I thought he would, and his handling of the gay rights question was genuine and straightforward. I’d still call it a stretch to say that he can gain enough support to become the nominee (what with the Republican base’s increasing frustration with the perceived establishment), but good for him for sticking to his guns.
That aside, and though I’m still of the opinion that The Donald will fizzle out soon enough, it was interesting to see FOX News go out of its way to go after him the way it did. One has to wonder whether such antics will only strengthen Trump or actually accelerate his decline.
It’s my pet theory that Trump has only been doing so well because conservative media sources have been building him up. If they are turning on him as of this debate than I’ll be curious to see how much of a hold right-wing media has over the popularity of the nominees. If I’m wrong than it seems Ladd’s theory about the establishment being essentially pushed away by the grassroots alone is a much better theory.
Griffin – I think you are partly correct. I don’t think Trump becomes what he is now without strong Fox News (and other right wing media) support and promotion.
That said, the genies out of the bottle. This Frankenstein they’ve created is bigger then their ability to shut it down now.
Fox News turning in Trump now will likely only strengthen him and hurt Fox. They’ll be seen as protecting the “establishment”.
They’re in a bit og a conundrum. Make no mistake, Fox News was CREATED to serve the interests of the elites, the 1%, the very definition of “establishment”.
It was Fox’s job to generate the voters needed to support the elites core values (tax cuts for the rich, crushing organized labor, holding the line on minimum wage, cutting social services). They do this by pushing hard of the wedge issues that are largely culture war battlegrounds. This ties together the issues important to the base with the issues important to the elites, and give us the weird portrait of what a republican looks like in 2015.
And is worked well. Poll middle and lower class, blue collar staunch republicans and you will find overwhelming support for things that they should not support in any rational world. Things like opposing unions (even though unions represent their class), opposing the social safety net (even though THEYRE the ones who benefit from it) and support tax cuts for the rich (even though they are not rich). They would support these things without even.thinking about it. Why? Because Fox News has convinced them that this is what “real” conservatives support. No need to think abut it more then that.
Fox has done this by intimate connecting these issues with issues that these voters DO care about, namely the big culture war battles. Now, is there any logical reason why opposing gay marriage or abortion should be in any way connected to climate denial or tax cuts for rich people? Of course not. But they’ve convinced the base that it is.
So that’s where we see the split. The fact that, at their most fundamental level, Fox News and the right wing base have two very different motivations. They’ve managed to blend them together for the past 10 years or so but a schism is forming.
That schism is Trump. He’s a guy that is now becoming a serious menace for the GOP establishment, and a god send for the base. If Fox turns on Trump (which they will) my guess is it will start a fox news backlash among the base, and Fox will either need to get back in line and support Trump, or they’ll be the network equivalent of a “RINO”
Regardless of which way it goes, I’ve got my popcorn ready.
It was clear from the very beginning that the Fox moderators were hostile to Trump. I think their approach is going to backfire as many think he was treated unfairly. Some early polling at conservative sites shows strong support for Trump. For example:
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/drudge-poll-donald-trump-wins/2015/08/07/id/666039/
Ben Carson’s not crazy. That’s just a media smear tactic. To be expected, I suppose. Mr. Trump didn’t appear to do himself any favors, he seems a bit out of his depth policy wise. I’d also venture that there is an inherent conflict of interest for the party staging the debate to include past employees.
That’s what’s happening here. Each candidate that rises in the polls will be summarily smeared like a queer by the liberal media. To be expected, par for the course.
I try not to laugh when I hear the old “we can’t understand why you poor white trash don’t support us.” If they see how you’ve treated me they know what to expect from you. Good Faith is a term that is not within your vocabulary.
The Party’s going to have to be a lot more aggressive in combating the socialist creep, and I mean creep, of the Democrat party. To think that you’re the heirs to Jefferson, and Jackson, makes me want to vomit. They should be rolling over in their graves at the notion of Hillary trying to out left a practicing socialist.
From what I’ve seen this morning, Viking, it is backfiring even among Megyn Kelly fans.
I saw this posted on another blog and thought in was an interesting take on his personality.
“We all have personal growing, to do. Trump’s weakness is that he can be rude when someone is rude to him and he has to learn to overcome that. But what about everything else he’s saying?
I was leery about even considering him until he made it clear that, yes, there are people who need extra help in our society and we do need to accept that. He’s not a “down with The Poor!” kind of guy. Unfortunately, his bluster hides the fact that in his recorded actions, in many of his choices, he’s actually been a pretty fair, decent guy. That gets lost in translation.”
Carson isn’t crazy at all if you think one should compare military strength from 1917 to 2015 and pay for your modern nation infrastructure with revelations from God.
Now Huckabee, yeah, that’s crazy.
Nothing was surprising, except the belief of every candidate that complaining about how bad things are will win this election. Will be a little more interesting when they take questions from a less friendly Fox News panel.
Sanders will be our next president. Let’s start a pool on who will be our next president.
I would love to see Bernie as president. I hear Diogenes has been searching for him.
Yup!
My guess is “not Hillary.” What do I win?
Another Democrat as President.
I think Hillary is very vulnerable.
Right now she’s propped up by a strong current that is starting to take hold in the upcoming Canadian elections, name ABC: Anybody But Conservative.
2016 will be ABR. Its not that hard to imagine a Hillary defeat and I think she’s far from as inevitable as her supporters like to pretend.
The democratic nomination process is the true presidential election though. No way can the current GOP win the presidency, polling on the losing end of almost every major social issue, a legacy of decades of failed trickle down economic policies, as well as a strong economy (relative to the rest of the world) which should benefit any democratic candidate.
Hillary is definitely vulnerable but there isn’t a mainstream candidate out there who is running that could beat her. Bernie calling himself a “socialist” pretty much kills his campaign. The problem is that few people really knows what he means and that there are different types of socialists. The rednecks in the country think that socialist = communist = USSR.
Liz Warren would win if she ran. She has all the energy that Hillary lacks.
Hillary may be a weak candidate but there is little doubt in my mind that she will win.
Warren has said she won’t run and has endorsed Clinton.
I’m of the opinion that one should elect presidents not on their policies but on their personality, because most presidencies have been defined more by unpredictable events occurring than by the implementation of their previously-stated policies. Obama, for example, has mostly been defined by the Arab Spring, the Tea Party and the economic crash and recovery; before him, Bush was elected as a lightweight “MBA president” and ended up serving as the Great Crusader. What matters is how people respond to those events, and that’s a matter of personality.
For this reason, although my heart is with Sanders’ platform, I must support Clinton. She has proven herself to be carved out of granite, able to go toe to toe with thugs like Pelosi and Rove where necessary, but also work well with allies wherever possible.
When Zeus rolls the dice to see what happens during her term, I think she’s got the best chance of rising to the occasion.
EJ – That’s a good point.
Frankly, at this point, a pragmatic centrist with tons of experience in foreign and domestic policy is probably a pretty good president for what America needs.
Her gnder means that the GOP will despise her just as much as they despise Obama (based on their gender/race rather then necessarilytheir policies) and will likely be just as obstructionist.
I just hope Sanders can force her to make concrete policy statements on raising the minimum wage, education/infrastructure investment, taxing the rich/wall street, amd climate change.
If he can do that, I’d be more then happy.