Post-debate Trump polls, all in 1st place (w/trendlines):
NBC: 23
Morning Consult: 32 (25)
Ipsos/Reuters: 24 (24)
PPP (Iowa): 19
— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) August 10, 2015
Another highly predictive Frank Luntz focus group, I guess.
Reader Interactions
155Comments
Comments are closed.
rikyrah
EJ DionneVerified account
@EJDionne
EJ Dionne retweeted Commonwealth Fund
If all states expanded #Medicaid under #Obamcare, we’d cut the number of uninsured almost in half.
David Koch
BWHWHAHAHHAAHHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHH
DougJ
I have to admit I’m genuinely disturbed that Carson has gone up and Jeb has gone down. Trump has his own weird appeal, and that amuses me. But in some ways I can’t see the positive side of a major party preferring the guy who wants everyone to tithe to the guy who gave reasonably informed answers about education and immigration .
Tom Q
@DougJ: If they wanted reasonably informed answers about education and immigration, they’d be Democratic voters.
Alex
Trump’s fallout (if he has one) will occur about one week after a disastrous media feud with conservative news.
That’s about how long it takes to get to the general population and is probably his greatest weakness.
So if there’s a drop… it’s going to be this weekend and reflected in next week’s polls.
Betty Cracker
But surely his vile comments about Megyn Kelly will sink him! (Says an increasingly nervous establishment cabal, which previously said Trump’s comments on McCain would be his doom…)
DougJ
@Tom Q:
True dat.
srv
Lies. He’s much higher. I look forward to a final two of Trump and Sanders, the two great hopes of Capitalism and Marxism.
We need to get this battle over early, and not drag it out into a century of war.
Carson will make a great VP. Think of what an example he can set.
goblue72
TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!
different-church-lady
It’s all going perfectly according to plan. At this rate it will be safe to vote for Bernie in about three months.
Poopyman
@DougJ: The definition of “major party” is changing before our very eyes. Pay attention, because the implosion of one of the parties in our 2-party system occurs only once a century or so.
Maybe the Whigs shall rise again.
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker: Overheard conversation in the
boardroom at
UTVUBS: “Let’s see if we can get him to call the female moderator the C-word at the next one!”Amir Khalid
@Alex:
IF.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@DougJ: is that in the national poll, or the Iowa poll? As I understand it the Iowa Republican party is as hardcore fundie as any in the South. And even nationally, as some exasperated TV pundits remind their fellow travellers from time to time wrt to Trump, we’re talking about fractions of less than one third of the country
dedc79
Prediction: the next PP video to be released will show Trump trying to barter for fetal hair follicle cells to use for implantation.
trollhattan
@DougJ The Donald’s love is yoooger than a Cadillac.
Belafon
If a fortune teller always chose the wrong side of a coin toss, you could still use it to make predictions.
trollhattan
@dedc79:
If Cheney can buy himself some poor donor heart, surely the Donald Can score an actual scalp transplant. Have to find it in strawberry shortcake, however.
the Conster
Not that he didn’t think it, but now Trump knows it – he can get away with the most outrageous statements he can think of. Filters are down, and the mob is egging him on. This is epic.
elm
Stop the presses! I can’t believe that acting like a giant asshole hasn’t hurt Trump’s support!
trollhattan
@Poopyman:
Bull Moose to the rescue!
BobS
Fox and the Republican Party (redundant, I know) might want to rethink their strategy — a pissed-off Trump seems a lot more likely to run an independent presidential campaign.
dmsilev
Question: Would a Trump nomination be sufficient to convince Centrist Pundits ™ that the GOP has gone off the rails?
Honestly, I’m not sure.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Alex: Nope.
Most of the more psychotic people on my FB “feed of failure” are denouncing Fox and Kelly as though they were members of the 19th Soviet Politburo. I did not think anything could break these people from Fox but this is doing the trick. Big time.
Interesting times. This election is going to damage the GOP badly, but at this rate the people who are going to walk away from this, “bleeding from everywhere”, is Fox News.
gian
Not fade away is the title for the last episode of Angel
And the soundtrack for Christine used two versions.
Trump appeals to a large plurality of the GOP base. Having the knives out for him so blatantly in the debate has triggered a response that ailes did not anticipate
DougJ
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Three national polls, one Iowa, all pretty similar.
beltane
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I just saw an Iowa poll that showed Trump leading comfortably, though not with as big a lead as his national one.
DougJ
@dmsilev:
They’ll just use it to pimp No Labels.
lowercase steve
@Belafon:
That is the role of Bill Kristol; whatever he says, the opposite happens.
beltane
Our Republican friends are surprising me with their classiness this year.
goblue72
@Betty Cracker: Given that I treat Trump’s “candidacy” as a performance art piece mixed with a summer reality show series, I can’t get too offended by Trump. You’d think his red and white cheapo baseball caps with the DIY lettering of “Make American Great Again” that looks like he literally bought it on the boardwalk of the Jersey Shore for $10 would be a clue…
The real icing on the cake is how the Republican activist that decided to lead the charge criticizing Trump’s misogyny was RedState’s Erick Son of Erick – a guy with such a long, well-documented history of vile misogyny and homophobia, that I’d be tempted to call it a double ratf@%k. It took all of half a day for to completely backfire on the Republican establishment. Thanks Internets!!!!
I really can’t wait for the next episode of “TRUMP!” I keep thinking the GOP is going to realize that attacking him is like wrestling a greased pig and their best option is to just get out of the way and let him eventually get bored and run out of steam. Dude hosts a TV game show where various losers get “fired” until the last loser standing gets to win the prize to be Donald Trump’s unpaid intern. But nope, they just keep trying to grab that pig…
Belafon
@dmsilev: Only if it affected their pocketbook.
dmsilev
@DougJ: Unity16! Featuring, um, let’s say Carly Fiorina and Jim Webb. With special guest appearance by David Brooks.
David Koch
Fox just caved.
beltane
Where is R2R? Has Jeb! cancelled his credit card?
lowercase steve
Why exactly would misogyny hurt Trump? The people who support him view it as a positive trait.
22over7
Since some other candidates (Rubio, Cruz, Walker, Jeb!) have their own billionaires, I can’t imagine that they’d quit any time soon. It’s months until Iowa. So what will they do to get some sweet sweet media oxygen until then? When is the next debate?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@beltane: I was referring more to the Carson bump. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the fundie vote as things settle into Bush v Walker (which is still my prediction). I gather at the last dog and winger show in Iowa, Walker really hit their sweetspot in a way I can’t see Jeb managing, he’s more his father’s son than his brother’s brother in that regard.
White Trash Liberal
Ha ha ha it’s Jeb’s turn in the barrel
RaflW
@dmsilev:
Yes, but. And the but is that they would aggressively increase their fluffing of the establishment “no labels” type groups in a desperate desire to remake a moderate-right party that meets their cushy white male no-disruption-of-normal needs.
wuzzat
@srv: The problem is that you aren’t particularly good at this. You’re saying what you think we expect you to say, and it rings hollow. You need a little fire in your eyes and a little blood in your whatever to really sell us on your commitment to the cause.
White Trash Liberal
@David Koch:
Yup Trump tweeted that Ailes called him and promised fair treatment. LULZ
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@White Trash Liberal: Trump did that? that’s the kind of ad I’d be putting together for an anti-Jeb campaign, though mine would be longer
Peale
@Alex: Nope. I think his supporters will view this “feud” as being between Kelly and Trump and it will blow over. She’s not a sacred cow. If he were fighting with Nancy Reagan, that would be a different story.
dmsilev
@22over7: Next debate is mid September, so there’s another 5 or so weeks to go. If Trump is still on top by then, expect to see some desperate Other Candidates.
Amir Khalid
@beltane:
Jeb!’s been a deeply underwhelming candidate. R2R must be off in some corner, quietly weeping bitter tears of disappointment.
White Trash Liberal
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: he’s broadcasting it through his Instagram and Twitter feeds via his hash tag. Not sure if it is directly his work, but he’s carrying it to the end zone.
MattF
@DougJ: What Trump and Carson have in common is that neither is a politician. I think R voters are seeing the unattractiveness of the other candidates, and thinking, “Well, WTF.”
Bobby Thomson
@Tom Q: this, man. This.
dmsilev
@Amir Khalid: I’m sure R2R is filling out job applications with other Republican candidates. “Will do poor job trolling liberal websites for cheap!”.
Bobby Thomson
@dmsilev: nope. The downside is that very ugly rhetoric will be normalized.
White Trash Liberal
This may be the turning point where Fox and hate radio align and have to back Trump. Fox was supposed to have the market share on the winger thought space, but Trump is bringing pure uncut crazy uncle liberty.
goblue72
@MattF: Yup. Amongst the portion of the GOP base composed of downwardly mobile angry whites, the most direct public policy cause of their downward mobility has been the GOP. But since they certainly can’t start agreeing with those libtards – otherwise their brains would explode – they instead latch onto the closest non-politician populist echoing the rants inside their own heads.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@DougJ: You serious? JEB! has the least personality and the worst presentation of anyone running right now. He is awful and he knows he is awful. Truth be told, I’m not even sure why he’s running because it seems like he really wants nothing to do with the entire process.
Jeffro
Floored at the anti-Jeb! ad but hey, I’ll take it!
I am having trouble thinking of any media/moderator’s question that would stump Trump or expose him for being a huckster. Anything.
smintheus
This is rich. John Fund at National Review demonizing Trump as the equivalent of a teenage bully.
We’re still waiting for NR to weigh on in actual teenage bully Mitt Romney.
NonyNony
@dmsilev:
Meanwhile I’m sure R2R is thinking “crap – I thought I’d be able to do this performance art piece of trolling until the election using Jeb! Now I need to think of a whole new nym and figure out which of these clowns I’m going to pretend to support to make these guys laugh. And srv already has the Trump trolling market cornered – what the hell will I do now?”
Calouste
@DougJ: Carson has some kind of fundie dog whistle going on that we can’t hear. Fundie relatives of mine were already going on about him last thanksgiving.
Peale
@lowercase steve: Yep. And I don’t view antipathy to poor Mexicans immigrants as being much of a drag for him, either. I mean, if it were for anyone, Republicans would have done poorly last election as outraged Democrats and especially Latino voters went to the polls, insulted that the GOP spent the summer demonizing their children as criminals and bringers of disease, who Obama was coddling in “resorts.” I don’t think any amount of insulting any one of the Democratic voting blocks loses any votes or inspires Democrats to teach anyone a lesson in manners.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid:
MattF
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Jeb!’s deer-in-the-headlights look doesn’t inspire confidence.
David Koch
Why would misogyny bother Megyn Kelley when she’s built a career on it.
Peale
@Calouste: Yep. That and people who didn’t know anything about him found out that he hadn’t held office before. I think the three big winners (Trump, Fiona (who I thought jumped off the “loser table” in the last poll) and Carson share the trait that they haven’t ever been in office at any level. Summing them up, about 45% of Republican voters don’t want someone with government experience at the head of their party.
Iowa Old Lady
Mr IOL is still hoping he can vote for Trump in the caucus in February. I hasten to say, he’d be trolling.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Peale: Being that they don’t like government to begin with, that makes perfect sense.
Aqualad08
@beltane: Iowa has a lot of exclusively Christian voters. Hell, Santorum won a squeaker last time.
Jeffro
@BillinGlendaleCA: You have to also add in Mr. Shutdown (Cruz) and the “Libertarian” (Paul). There’s another what, 15% of GOP voters who dgaf who’s President, as long as it’s one of them and keeps the gubmint out of their Medicare.
Samuel Knight
Fox didn’t do too badly. They got 1 our of 2.
They were just too obvious in their anti-Trump shot. If even a Fox viewer knows your spin, it’s pretty blatant.
But they got that vile Fiorina to bounce up. They desperately want her to be the VP pick for obvious gender balancing reasons. But she’s about as qualified as Thomas was and is for the Supreme Court.
sukabi
@White Trash Liberal: now that’s funny.
LWA
Count me among the nervous. Although I like heightening the contradictions as much as anyone, what would it take for America to turn to a Peronist savior, a man on horseback to make the rabble obey and other nations fear us?
A plane shot down by a dark skinned man with an Arabic name? A white woman ravished on camera by ISIS?
If that sounds too fearmongering, consider that there are still plenty of people, NOT of WWII vintage, who think the internment camps were a reasonable response to Pearl Harbor.
When posters over at RWNJ sites talk about cattle cars for Mexicans and turning the Mideast into glass, they aren’t just talking. They would gladly vote for someone who promises to put that into action.
Calouste
@Jeffro:
1) Trump has been on his own reality TV show for a decade, and has been in the press for a few decades more. He has had a lot of experience with a mixture of prepared lines and improvisation.
2) He had a pretty good answer to the bankruptcy question he got during the debate, blaming the system for allowing people like him to abuse bankruptcy laws. He was obviously well prepared for that.
Between that experience and his preparation, it’s indeed hard to see him being tripped up. He’s a decent actor, more improv than Reagan, but not necessarily worse.
Bobby Thomson
@David Koch: she’s an idiot. Essentially.
jl
@DougJ:
” I have to admit I’m genuinely disturbed that Carson has gone up and Jeb has gone down. ”
” the guy who gave reasonably informed answers about education and immigration . ”
Jeb! can give answers that sound reasonably informed only by the conventional VSP pundit political gobbledy speak standards. Jeb! has revealed he is ignorant of basic facts about social security and economic growth, for example.
Trump and Carson are the only candidates who have a record of any actual accomplishment at all. Carson leagues more than Trump, if you set aside the massive Trump dollars. So, GOP rank and file might be going by that.
Edit: plus Jeb! leaves the general impression of a mouthful or rotting grease scraped off of three day old roadkill on a hot Florida highway, which does not help.
The Other Chuck
@Poopyman: The Republican nominee could get up there and promise to torture puppies and dump strychnine in the public water supply, and roughly 47% of the country will vote for him anyway. There will be no party implosions ever again. Country implosions perhaps.
sukabi
@Bobby Thomson: that ship sailed about 15 years ago.
The Other Chuck
@jl:
Making it even more mysterious why he isn’t the Republican front-runner.
Belafon
@Calouste: He’s the black man that makes it OK to publicly hate Obama. He is the dog whistle.
trollhattan
@Samuel Knight:
Carli was on my radio this a.m. mewling about The Donald’s unforgivable thoughts about women and I was thinking, “What the hell about the blatant misogyny of three-quarters of your competition? You all hunky-dory about everything they’ve been saying?” For a so-called “experienced leader” she sure follows the playbook.
Poopyman
@The Other Chuck: Wait and see. Wait and see. I talk to plenty of Republicans who find this whole shitshow depressing and abhorrent. They’d be happy to see Trump split off.
BillinGlendaleCA
@The Other Chuck: It’s not the fact that jeb!’s ignorant about these things, he sounds ignorant and unsure. St. Ronnie was also ignorant, but he said it with confidence.
Turgidson
@dmsilev:
Maybe, but they’d still be claiming that both sides do it.
jl
@The Other Chuck: Watching Jeb! try to explain his latest mispeak, and trying to follow his explanations for why it is not fair to hold him accountable for his latest verbal spewgaffe is like trying to locate a missing frat boy after a party by sniffing for the trail of beer vomit he left behind.
That hurts Jeb! and will hurt him more as time goes on.
On, they will long and yearn for Romney before this is over, not that he would get anybody to vote for him, but at least he was not such an obvious loser as any in this bunch.
BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: Following the playbook is an important trait for a VP.
Gimlet
@Betty Cracker:
If the base perceives that Megyn was out to get him, his response was to her was “deserved” and thus OK.
BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Now you take that back right now, Trump is not a loser, he’s yoooge and very classy. A winner!
ETA: Obviously just thinking that make you a loser.
sukabi
@BillinGlendaleCA: someone should call up Frost and have him make a diagnosis, because it sure seems like Jeb! either really doesn’t want to be running, or he’s got a bad case of vegetative state.
Bobby Thomson
@sukabi: question of degree. See also Atwater, Lee.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Fully acknowledging that it’s a long, long, long way until the election, if Trump decides to go Perot, the GOP had better pray that a True Believer like Cruz or Walker winds up with the nomination.
Otherwise if they nominate Bush, they may wind up in third place, at which point the bloodbath at the RNC would make Wes Craven wince.
jl
@sukabi: You mean Frist? Good idea. He can make diagnoses out of his area of expertise, and over the TV. Frist would give us as good an explanation for Jeb! as any random BJ commenter, or even Trump, and that is, my friend, really saying something.
sukabi
@sukabi: that should have been Frist…stupid auto correct
jl
More I see of Jeb!, it amazes me that he hasn’t lost both of his hands wiping his ass by now.
I am developing a distinct bias against Jeb!, though I try to be fair and balanced.
Kay
@jl:
Be happy. He’s bad at this. Good! I still think they nominate him. They have to.
Peale
@BillinGlendaleCA: Yep. They spent a good deal of time complaining that Obama had no experience and saying stuff like “there should be a constitutional amendment that in order to run for President, you have to have run a business” to mock Obama’s “community organizer” background. Well, it appears that that message has stuck. I think Carson with his “tithe” is going to go the way of Mr. 999 from last cycle, who If I remember right, also surged early and was famous for his Radio work and CEO experience and never held office. Romney tried running as a businessman, but let’s face it, He was dull as all get up and Private Equity isn’t exactly known for “creating jobs”, but is easily portrayed as a bunch of well-heeled looting schmucks who loot companies and don’t care if they make a profit. Trump, for what its worth, can’t really be accused of trying to create unprofitable companies. He’s lost money, but no one could accuse him of purposefully trying not to make money, even when he did such foolish things as buy Eastern Airlines loaded with debt.
sukabi
@Grumpy Code Monkey: I don’t get the appeal of either of those 2… Walker has the look, personality of a beady eyed weasel…and Cruz a smarmy, snake oil salesman. The are just repulsive…looks, policies, everything. BIG YUKs
Steeplejack (phone)
@trollhattan:
Win!
cokane
heh
good lord i know it’s improbable but how awesome would be if Trump gets the nom? honestly all liberals should be rooting for this.
I know a lot here are confident that Clinton can beat Bush/Walker/Rubio/whoever but if Trump gets in that’s going to create a wave of defeat down the ticket. Senate, House and Gov races are going to open up that wouldn’t have otherwise. It will be bloodbath. Every good liberal should be ratfucking hard for a Trump nomination.
jl
@Kay:
But Jeb! has competition!
Walker Urges People To Visit Website For Policy Details, Which Aren’t There
TPM
” Walker’s website includes landing pages for “Meet Scott,” “News,” “Shop,” and “Volunteer.” None of the sections include details about Walker’s policy proposals. The “Meet Scott” section details certain accomplishments from his time as Milwaukee County Executive and governor of Wisconsin, but does not note what Walker would attempt to accomplish as president. ”
talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scott-walker-website-issues
BillinGlendaleCA
@Peale: Well a tithe and 999 are pretty close. 999 was 9% of everything.
Origuy
@Calouste:
His comment calling a flat tax “tithing” is definitely a dog whistle.
Poopyman
@sukabi: You mean like Dick Nixon? Elected twice?
mikeinIreland
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ireland-jails-first-bankers-since-financial-crisis-155550845–sector.html
Unrelated but Ireland actually jails bankers!
Cacti
Trump’s candidacy is also a useful illustration of the dark side of political populism.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@srv: Ok, that made me laugh.
SFAW
@The Other Chuck:
Well, that because only The Poors use the public water supply. Real Americans drink beer, whiskey, or bottled water.
Kropadope
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
It didn’t hurt them all that badly when Taft came in third behind Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.
Bluetable
What concerns me, is when Trump does drop out, whoever is left will be deemed the serious one by the villagers. And that’s just fucking insane.
sukabi
@Poopyman: ok, but even Nixon had more going on than those 2
Calouste
@cokane: Either that or a Trump third party run (is the name “Freedom Party” already taken?) with some yooooge, classy downticket candidates.
PurpleGirl
There’s a an ad on the left-had side of the page that asks “Did Donald Trump win the debate?” I’m sorely tempted to click and would want to write in “No, but maybe the critter on his head did.”
RSA
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Is a sense of victimization at play? I mean, Fox News plays the victim card among media companies, but Trump (even as rich as he is) can in turn claim to be a Fox News victim. If he were an evangelical, we’d be hearing a lot of King James right now.
I don’t know; just a guess.
rk
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I can understand why they’re doing this. Kelley was clearly after Trump. Fox was trying to take him down. For example if I were a Hillary supporter and the moderator of a debate started asking questions about Monica Lewinsky, or filegate or any other old scandals (this is not a perfect analogy), I’d be pissed too. Similarly, I’m happy when Obama puts a repulsive scum like Ed Henry in his place at a press conference. Media in this country is disgusting. Fox has spent the last decade or so saying the same disgusting things which Trump has been saying. Fox’s position on women is that they should be barefoot and pregnant. It’s a bit much for them to suddenly become champions of womankind. I’m in Trump’s corner on this one. I despise Trump, but with him it’s all out in the open. Kelly is not a journalist and sunk pretty low with her questioning. This is the white santa, white Jesus woman. She got exactly the reaction she wanted for her bosses.
trollhattan
@PurpleGirl:
Day after the debate my BJ rolling header ad was “Rand Paul wins debate! Donate $20.16 now!” It was so sad I had a [yoooogly fleeting] sympathy pang.
Cacti
@trollhattan:
The Republican Party has been officially anti-misogyny since August 7, 2015.
Kay
@jl:
I don’t think Walker will win, so I don’t consider him competitive. He’s horrible. H’e just not presidential material. Wisconsin is a small-ish state and Walker didn’t help Romney at all there. I think his success is specific to that state during that period.
Kasich is more of a threat because he was almost “national” at one time as a House member, but Kasich is in the Jeb Bush section of the Party and Jeb covered that ground, preemptively. Kasich plus Bush is redundant.
Another Holocene Human
Read a claim that deray and netta were arrested by officers from DHS, not STL PD.
W’s poisoned fruit lives on.
JPL
@jl: The only thing Frist never acknowledged was that if someone blind, saw a balloon, it would be a miracle. It’s a miracle, praise jebus. I wonder if Jeb will say that it was apparent to him that she could see.
Randy P
@srv: Unskewed polls!!
Eric S.
@Calouste: He must be replacing Alan Keyes. I had some fundie friends that were all over his candidacy for President in 2000 and his run against PBO in the 2004 Senate race.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@sukabi: I don’t get it either, but they have their fans.
Wandered over to Red State after the whole Trump disinvite/stop being mean to Megyn debacle, and they are genuinely fractured over this. The wild-eyed Republican base know they are getting screwed over by the party establishment again, but this time they aren’t taking it lying down. They held their noses and voted for Romney in 2014 and still lost to the soshulist Negro mooslim what’s coming to take their gunz and destroy Israel, and they are not going to do it again, not if Trump gives them an excuse.
These are people who are almost literally pissing their pants in fear about illegal immigrants, terrorism, and soshulist Negro mooslims coming to take their gunz and destroy Israel, and the only person they loathe more than Obama or Clinton right now is Jeb Freaking Bush. Right now Trump is telling them what they want, no, what they need to hear, in plain, unapologetic language.
Like I said, it’s a long way until the first primary, much less the election; Trump may decide to do better things with his time, and things may calm down a bit when the weather gets cooler.
But if Jeb is the nominee and Trump pulls a Perot? It could get ugly. It would split the conservative vote, effectively guaranteeing a Democratic victory (although Trump would steal some of those votes too; Republicans don’t have a monoply on stupid crazy racist shitheads). But the truly scary part is that the GOP could come in third. Ponder the repercussions of that.
Of course, they’ll keep a lock on Congress and state houses, which are the elections that actually fucking matter, but nobody seems to pay attention to that.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Eric S.:
That went well… for Obama.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
No wonder he lost in 2012.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Nice.
sigaba
@RaflW:
Trump is really a textbook Bizarro Universe No Labels candidate — he’s independent of “party bosses,” he’s ideologically heterodox, and his leadership pitch is basically technocratic: he’ll hire “the best people,” he’ll “make people negotiate”, etc. Trump just inverts the typical No Labels presentation of a studious, sober businessman and comes out and effectively calls everyone on stage a moron.
“No Labels” activists are always raging sanctimonious assholes who think parties and establishment politicians are simply too venal and stupid to lead. What they may think of the people who vote for them is carefully left unsaid.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I know it’s a typo, but I couldn’t resist.
SatanicPanic
@cokane: THIS. Because there is absolutely nothing short of a deadly disease that only affects Democrats could possibly cause Trump to win. I don’t want to hear anything about some black swan event- oil shocks or something. That’s ridiculous.
srv
It is amazing all the shrieking liberals and cuckservatives who do not think Trump will last. If Pat Buchanan could make it to the final two, this will be a skate for Trump.
Mr Bula
@cokane: If the democratic nomination were not contested, I think a ton of progressives would be registering as repubs to vote for Trump.
Botsplainer
@Calouste:
Carson, like Keyes, is that colored guy that fundamentalcases and klukkers can all claim to love, support and be capable of voting for because “he ain’t no nigger and don’t put up with their shit”. Since neither Keyes nor Carson will ever be allowed within an inch of actual power, this empty support can be stated smugly as proof that the utterer totally isn’t racist.
Meanwhile, Keyes and Carson get to profit handsomely from the grift.
SatanicPanic
Republican party bosses are hoping that Trump’s old stances are incoherent and will out him as a closet liberal. Please. Republicans can barely make sense of their own views and they love their come-to-Jesus stories. The fact that he supported Single Payer means nothing. Half of them would support it to if Rush Limbaugh explained to them why it would be a good idea.
Eric S.
@BillinGlendaleCA: Yes, yes it did. The 2004 Senate race also brought us the “27% Rule.”
Mandalay
Winning tweet sent to Trump:
Mike J
@Another Holocene Human:
It’s bullshit.
pbs.twimg.com/media/CMEUkpvVEAARvua.jpg:large
Shoulder patches very clearly say St Louis Police.
Redshift
@rk:
Look at the questions that were asked of most of the others. The opening question was a clear shot at Trump, but the rest? I don’t think so. They were the sort of questions that should be asked in a debate, actually questioning the candidates on their qualifications — the governors on their bogus economic boasts, the inexperienced on their lack of experience, etc. It’s understandable that the Fox audience would consider them all attacks by Fox, since they’re unaccustomed to any conservative ever being asked a tough question, but we shouldn’t be fooled into thinking the same way.
The others were more than happy not to call attention to their tough questions and non-answers (or blatantly false answers.) We’re still talking about the questions to Trump because Trump’s response to anything is to attack and generate controversy.
maya
Trump & American Pharoah 2016! The most unbeatable team since Caligula & Incitatus 37
Redshift
@sigaba: It’s pretty bizarre, when you think about it, that the thing that distinguishes Trump from both being a perfect No Labels candidate and a perfect Republican candidate is only that he’s too coarse.
On second thought, I guess it’s not too bizarre, because a perfect No Labels candidate is essentially an establishment Republican who pretends not to be a Republican.
Schlemazel
I realize I am a little black ray of sunshine but you know that if T rump gets the GOP nod there is a chance he could get elected. I admit I still believe he is only in it for the short run but what if we are wrong & the asshole really believes he could be President? I have no faith in an electorate that gave a second term to Reagan or any term to dumbbell-u
Baud
@Schlemazel:
Same is true for all of them. But someone is going to get the nom.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@BillinGlendaleCA:
:p~~~~
What’s a couple of years between friends?
SatanicPanic
@Schlemazel: And I could become Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular, but I would put a lot of money on both outcomes not becoming reality.
Chris
@RSA:
I think it’s habit. Republicans have been told again and again that all the problems with their party are due to the fact that the Republican Establishment is filled with counterrevolutionary saboteurs, and that the solution to this is to purge themselves of elites that are obviously too liberal, and chase after a REAL conservative.
In that climate, it’s not so hard to understand that even Fox News could eventually be branded Liberal RINO Traitors. After all, part of the Tea Party Movement’s shtick was to claim that Bush was too liberal and the solution to all his messes was to give the party back to Real Conservatives. George W. Bush. Too liberal.
Mandalay
@Redshift: The evidence that FoxNews was out to get Trump was not just with the opening question. FoxNews was obviously going after Trump with the Frank Luntz questioning immediately after the debate. The targeting was so blatant, and so poorly executed, that it became embarassing to watch.
While Trump got a small bump in the polls from the debates, his real victory was over FoxNews today. They’re not going to repeat their mistake and go after him again. They’ve finally realized the obvious: he’s a honey badger, he truly doesn’t give a shit, and he’ll attack anyone.
White Trash Liberal
I just want the Bush family to lose. That family has done such massive harm to the nation and profited ever so handsomely. Trump is a piker in comparison.
trollhattan
@Mandalay:
Knew they were in the bag when they asked !JEB! “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” immediately after asking Trump, “Which one of your wives would you most like to kill, and how?”
rk
@Redshift:
I’m not so sure about that. Maybe I was not paying close enough attention, but to me it seems that there was more hostility towards Trump then the others. Of course Trump was ridiculous in his answer and even more so in the days following. But I can understand the annoyance of Trump supporters. Of course politicians should be asked tough questions and held accountable for their statements and behavior. But I find it grotesque that a loathsome entity like Fox News spends years generating hatred for women and minorities and then suddenly seems to care when a candidate trash talks women. The type of people who support Trump have to be the stupidest of the stupid, but I’m sure even they can figure out that they’re being played and get mighty pissed, clinging even more to their candidate.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
Report from a bus in Armenia where nobody but the friends spoke English: everybody was trying to ask the American something. Finally, a younger local gets on, and says everybody wants to know who Meghan Kelly is.
RK
It’s hard to see Trump as serious or his motives pure considering his absolutely juvenile behavior.
Gimlet
Guardian – Nurses opt for Bernie, not the woman running.
National Nurses United, which has 185,000 members nationally and is the profession’s largest representative, announced its backing for Sanders at a rally with him in Oakland, California.
The decision of its executive council to announce a formal endorsement follows a poll of members said to show widespread backing for his more radical policies on healthcare and social inequality.
Although the union is well-known as one of the more leftwing labor groups, its leaders claim to be surprised at the depth of support among their largely female membership given Clinton’s chance of becoming America’s first female president.
Calouste
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
I don’t think Trump wants anything better to do with his time than being at the center of attention, and he has never been more at the center of attention than now. And he basically has the future (at least short term) of a major political party in the palm of his hand, how powerful must that feel?
Turgidson
@jl:
Since all Scott Kochgobbler Walker cares about is decimating unions, his “issues” page will probably end up being a picture of him as David, with slingshot, while an SEIU director is made out to be a rampaging T. Rex he’s about to bravely do battle with. After all, he seems to genuinely believe that hiding out in his office avoiding protestors behind a small army of capitol police was the greatest act of bravery undertaken by an American since D-Day.
Cervantes
@DougJ:
Why? It’s early days. Remember that, last time around, everyone and her uncle each apparently held the lead for a while.
Chris
@sukabi: Been hanging around here too long ’cause i KNOW you meant Frist…..not Frost….wow…the little pieces of political scrap that we blend together into a complete vocabulary….lol
jnfr
Fox News is already making nice with Trump again because they have a mutually fulfilling relationship. Needful Things, if you recall the novel, covers it pretty well.
Brachiator
@DougJ:
Apparently, this bothers some Republican big wigs also, who have decided that Carson needs to be shown an early exit:
Breitbart is pushing some insider BS about reasons why Carson was not invited to Erik Erickson’s Atlanta meet-and-greet. One nugget stands out (the Williams referred to here is a Carson advisor):
Some of this appears to be done to help shore up support for Jeb! by eliminating someone who some fundamentalists like.
I’d like to breitbart, but I don’t like them.
sigaba
@Redshift:
This isn’t surprising, considering what most No Labels folks want to vote for is a Republican. They just want to vote for that unicorn “reformer with results”/”straight talk” Republican.
J R in WV
@Turgidson:
I’m sure that that day took all the bravery Scott could muster.
Think how hard it was for him not to get into a big black GMC Suburban with black tinted windows, with troopers and shotguns, and floor it outa there!
Safe, running out the freeway with his big strong bodyguards, just like in the movies… but he mustered the courage to stay in his big office, with big bodyguards in the surrounding rooms. What a hero! Bravery personified!
A Republican Hero! Right out of Atlas Shrugged…