Buttload of Faith: the 2016 Presidential Primary Thread (Pt 2)

joe arpaio is on his way to iowa to campaign for trump

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/three-more-reasons-trump-will-be-the-nominee

the three reasons are the new CNN poll (eh), the endorsement of Falwell Jr (which is significant if you thought that evangelicals wouldn't vote for him for some reason), and a quote from a relatively obscure congressman from PA which argues that Trump is more malleable than Cruz.

The malleability thing is interesting, though. to the extent that trump describes policies, he does so in an extraordinarily vague and often inconsistent way. who knows whether he's being as clear as he can be or whether it's calculated, but it does give him plenty of room to adjust on many issues, both during the primaries and also the general election, if he's the candidate.

trump can be the nominee, it'll be amazing. all those pale blue states will become a darker shade of blue.

they trumped the white fandango

Of course he is

Xpost

Of the various establishment-for-Trump-rather-than-Cruz theories I've read, the most credible one to me is that, with Trump, he loses the election then disappears. If they nominate Cruz, even if he loses the election, he won't be going anywhere (like Palin to an extent, although even more so).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZrP5NNWEAA-Icc.png

LOL

looks like she's not getting joseph miller's vote

"Chelsea's fucking kid can pay for her own education. Creepy little spoiled brat."

she might if she blows it again and runs in 2024
xp

Quite a press conference (Trump)..."Do you apologize? Do you apologize? Do you apologize? Do you apologize?" Never seen that before.

i've lost track of what he's supposed to be apologizing for

That was Trump hectoring a reporter who quoted him--it was a question on abortion--but, according to Trump, left out part of the quote. He cut the reporter short, came back to him a few minutes later, and began by asking for apology. And then said "Do you apologize?" eight or nine times in a row.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/republican-ted-cruz-claims-about-rape-and-guns-in-australia-slapped-down-20160126-gme0ah.html

"And as you know, Hugh, after Australia did that [gun buyback program], the rate of sexual assaults, the rate of rapes, went up significantly, because women were unable to defend themselves," Mr Cruz told the radio host.

The Washington Post analysis found no significant spike or drop but a gradual increase in sexual assault rates over the decade after the 1996 changes in Australia.

I'm sick of fucking right-wing nutjobs lying about Australia and guns. We Australians are just sitting here watching America as a sort of horror show of ungovernability and narcissistic delusions.

Ha, Trump is just skipping the next debate.

He's upset because Fox made fun of him.

Many news outlets covered Univision Communications’ purchase last week of a stake in The Onion, the world’s leading news publication. According to NPR, Univision bought a 40 percent controlling interest in the company, and also acquired the option to buy the remainder of The Onion in the future.

But what’s gotten no attention at all is that Haim Saban, Hillary Clinton’s biggest fan and financial supporter, is Univision’s co-owner, chairman, and CEO. Saban and his wife, Cheryl, are Hillary Clinton’s top financial backers, having given $2,046,600 to support her political campaigns and at least $10 million more to the Clinton Foundation, on whose board Cheryl Saban sits. The Sabans are also generous supporters of the overall Democratic Party infrastructure, donating, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a total of $16.1 million since 1989 to Democratic and liberal candidates, party committees, leadership PACs, and federally focused 527s....

Beyond Saban’s deep connections to the Clintons, Onion staffers likely have taken note of his statement that “I’m a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel.”...

https://theintercept.com/2016/01/26/ha-ha-hillary-clintons-top-financial-supporter-now-controls-the-onion/

I love how you quoted that verbatim and left in the reference to "the world's leading news publication" without the link

there goes journalism I guess

i got fish to fry, man

Said Trump: “Let’s see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me. It’s time that somebody plays grownup.”

https://politicalwire.com/2016/01/26/trump-will-not-attend-next-debate/

here's an example of trump's vague language as an advantage:

http://i.imgur.com/NKK4ZKx.png

you know, pretty irrevocable. now he can go either way (and in fact, right now he has a twitter poll thing going asking whether or not he should debate: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/692045676079874048) and have a distraction ready to go in case someone bothered calling him out.

Gets fun at 19:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHHiJXXx9Cg

this trump debate boycott/power play would be a whole lot funnier -- and it IS hilarious -- if the whole reason for the boycott wasn't his shitty misogynist treatment of megyn kelly

Obviously Kelly's part of it--he's still sulking over the first debate--but I think it has more to do with a) Fox's press release today, and b) some kind of tactical move where he "walks away from the table," a negotiating skill that his big book (the one that's the second best book after the Bible) claims is crucial. And he thinks Iowa's already a lock and he has nothing to gain by showing up.

If he does follow through--he can still change his mind, although that might not look so good--it seems kind of risky to me. But every bizarre thing he says and does works out perfectly, so what do I know.

2016 is crazy times

What a time to be alive

Yeah, Fox's joke press release was a kind of "biting the hand that feeds."

trump has absolutely nothing to gain from a debate at this point.

Presumably there's also a calculation that for a lot of his voters, he's the show, and they would have very little interest in watching the depressing spectacle of the other seven sniping at each other.

I suppose it might backfire in so far as everyone else still in the race has dreams of "Without Trump I will prosper", and that is unlikely to happen for all of them, and less candidates is not good for Trump. But a) most of the ones more likely to quit while above 1% are looking at New Hampshire rather than Iowa and b) a sense of reality is not all that prized when there's money to burn.

If he's not there, he can spend the evening tweeting belittling zings about the lame-os on stage. Which they won't know about until afterward. I see that as a deliciously comical situation.

The non-Trumps on the dais will be trying to throw snark like, "A certain person who I will not mention," meanwhile Trump is tweeting out "@Governor Bush, your mom would say hello but she can't right now cuz my dick's in her mouth"

that clip above was the first trump press conference i've seen and omg he's going to be president isn't he? i mean probably not but that's terrifying, he is so confident at bullshit

I can imagine Trump daring the debate team to a tweet-off. "Let's count the number of people reading my live tweets and the number reading your debate tweets and see who gets more. Loser donates $1 million to the Wounded Warriors. Winner - and that will be me - will double that. Because I am really rich."

http://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/wills_1-021116.jpg

it's almost as if these guys are all on the same team

is trump jabbing jeb?

or giving him a terrible back massage

Five point palm exploding heart technique iirc.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/hillary-clinton-wants-to-talk-to-you-about-love-and-kindness#.ctrB0kz44

as she walks through
this wicked world

i'm just gonna put this here

mr. dilbert has turned himself into some kind of thought leader in the redditarian parts of the internet, mostly by being a pig, as far as i can tell. but this:

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/138023808851/the-second-american-revolution-what-then

this is by far the stupidest political analysis i've read. i really can't stand the internet sometimes.

To be perfectly clear, I support a Trump presidency ONLY under the following conditions:

1. Trump commits to regular televised meetings on key topics.

2. Both Sanders and Bloomberg are on the team.

3. Trump adds women and minority leaders to the televised meetings, as needed, so we hear all voices.

I support a Trump presidency ONLY under the following conditions:

1. Mr. Trump is forced into a small cage immediately after his inauguration, where he will be kept and cared for until his term is up.

That's pretty much it for me.

Ladies and germs, Scott Adams:

Direct democracy via social media – chaotic and ugly – is about to replace the Republic. No longer can a strong leader ignore the will of the people when it is pounding on every door and tapping on every window. The Republic was designed to give elected officials the power to decide for the people. But the elected elites have lost their legitimacy and The People are on the brink of taking back power.

so did the tomato hit him last night?

i skimmed a couple grafs of that Buzzfeed story w/out puking, but for once i can say read the comments.

the buzzfeed story is so weird. i had no idea. just deeply uncomfortable.

uh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG_pEGVpQfc