Trump

[merman]

As far as I remember US law says that the child of an american parent living overseas is a native, this is by birth US Citizen if registered as so at the Embassy. Then there is something about making a choice around 18 or 21 about keeping the nationality or not. I mean if Cruz had chosen to be a Canadian citizen and stayed living in Canada he could loose the US citizenship. If he has been living in the US and paying his taxes as a US Citizen he is a US Citizen.

Out of curiosity does the First Lady needs to be a by birth US Citizen. I ask that because the First Lady has not just a role but also a defined job as First Lady and i remember Trump beig married to a European woman, not the first wife some time after, or has he divorced that one too?

I hate to say but by using that card Trump can pull some votes. A lot of the Republicans are very suspicious of anyone not born in the US.

No law about who the Presidential Partner is. Although it could have been awkward if Donald was still married to Ivana.

The GOP really are in a mess. "Obama's run this country into the ground". Yeah, halved unemployment, stock market higher, millions more with basic healthcare and better environmental protection.

[PFVA]

It seems that Trump's attorneys found a loophole in the law. I have seen Birth Certificates of Americans born overseas and they are registered as Americans by birth at the Embassies. What they are questionning is just the fact that when they wrote the Constitution they didn't plan for children of US Citizens being born overseas. If that story is taken serious then they will be excluding the children of all the service people workig overseas, etc. Does that mean that the child of an Ambassador can't run for President?

It sounds like the Republicans to create this kind of fuss.

[PFVA]

No law about who the Presidential Partner is. Although it could have been awkward if Donald was still married to Ivana.

The GOP really are in a mess. "Obama's run this country into the ground". Yeah, halved unemployment, stock market higher, millions more with basic healthcare and better environmental protection.

They always say things like that. And that the security of the country is at stake, etc, etc. What's worse that's popular with many voters.

[F-ZeroOne]

Remember the "This is what the constitution says!" one for the next time the teaching of creationism or intelligent design in schools comes up.

[gumboot]

So I thought it was a silly point that would all blow over, up until Cruz said that the person that Trump was citing was obviously biased because he worked for the Democrats. Legal proceedings like this aren't about the legitimacy of the claim, or even eventual success. They're about wasting your opponents resources.

If the claim does indeed come from the Democrat team, there's a suggestion of intent there which actually validates Trump's concern.

[k345y]

Remember the "This is what the constitution says!" one for the next time the teaching of creationism or intelligent design in schools comes up.

Why? I don't get your point dude.

[F-ZeroOne]

Okay, I may have misunderstood what was being pointed out, but if Trumps lawyers are looking for "loopholes" in the Constitution about "natural born Americans", it will be interesting to see the same legal team tackle the Constitutional separation of church and state or the right to bear arms. My apologies if I've grasped the wrong end of the stick in my original response.

[pogo]

Via Boing Boing, a demolition of the [self promoted] myth that Trump is an excellent business man:

Donald Trump was a stock market disaster

His main justification for running for president is that his business skills would make him an excellent CEO of the country. Except the facts of his business record are quite the opposite. It’s only a miracle that he has not been personally ruined by this, but for that you can blame the generous and forgiving US bankruptcy law.

[PFVA]

And Sarah Palin backs Trump as candidate. This promises. Who needs comedians.
The only thing to worry about is if he gets elected President.

[pogo]

It is a joke, but the serious side of this is that the endorsement of Sarah Palin was sought after by a number of the Republican candidates. While Trump and Cruz are cynically exploiting the fears and misunderstandings of the “Tea Party” wing of the Republican party she actually is one of them, or at least she embodies their attitudes better than any other national politician.

[gravy]

Cruz has been associated with and a favourite of the tea party for a good while now. Palin's endorsement of Cruz helped him get into the senate in the first place.

He's has a closer affinity to their politics than Trump is IMHO.

[merman]

It is a joke, but the serious side of this is that the endorsement of Sarah Palin was sought after by a number of the Republican candidates. While Trump and Cruz are cynically exploiting the fears and misunderstandings of the “Tea Party” wing of the Republican party she actually is one of them, or at least she embodies their attitudes better than any other national politician.

Wrong. As gravy says, Cruz was close to Palin during her VP candidacy. But her backing of Trump is a poison chalice - it might get him the nomination but there's millions of Americans who see her as a joke, so that will actually drain support for Trump in the presidential race.

[pogo]

Wrong how? Her being McCain’s running mate was rather a long time ago. Not only did they lose but his choice as her for VP was a significant factor in his loss.

You would think after she effectively lost the election for them, to a black man no less, that she would find it hard to stay in national politics. But perversely her inability to win is part of her appeal. Perversely as it shows how unhealthy Republican politics has become. The Tea Party appeals to people who were once doing well as white middle class Americans, living the American Dream, part of the Baby Boom generation.

The problem is their incomes and standard of living has stagnated for decades, while they can see other people have done well. It doesn’t matter that the people doing well (Blacks, Latinos, countries like China) have just been catching up and still lag badly behind. American whites feel like victims. They like Palin as she was also a victim of the Kenyan/Muslim that stole the election. And it’s that victimhood that Trump taps into, by blaming foreigners, Muslims, liberals for the problems in America.

The worst aspect of it is that if anyone is to blame for the problems in America it’s people like Trump. Maybe he is just as much a product of the system as a cause, but it is a system that benefits him at the expense of ordinary Americans, with low taxes leading to a lack of investment in education and healthcare, making them only available to those with money.

I don’t disagree with her being a poisoned chalice, except Trump is toxic enough on his own really. His whole schtick is a massive turnoff to most voters, i.e. almost all Democrats and independents as well as many Republicans. Palin does not help him but she could hardly do him more damage than he is already doing himself.

[gumboot]

You would think after she effectively lost the election for them, to a black man no less, that she would find it hard to stay in national politics.

I don't think losing to a black man is so much an offence as an excuse. It wasn't fair that he was black because he took votes he didn't merit; rather than that beating him should have been easy because he was black.

(arguing, obviously, from the presumed perspective of a teabagger)

[pogo]

Yes. Many strands of Republicanism, within the Tea Party and without, are conviction politics. People believe they are right and so think they should win, if not by right because their arguments are so much better. That’s why when they lose they think they were cheated. By politicians in general or by Obama in particular. Many Republicans still believe he is not American: 20% or more of them think he is Kenyan. A similar number think he is secretly Muslim, which would not disbar him from office but would just confirm him a fraud.

The appeal of Trump is part of this as he is not a politician, in that he has never held elected office. This means at the same time as he is blaming foreigners, Muslims etc. for America’s problems he is also blaming politicians for being weak and compromising. But politics (as opposed to war, or competition in business) is all about compromising. Many of his goals especially his foreign policy ones could only be achieved through negotiation with other countries, who will take a dim view of being lectured by Donald Trump (the recent debate here is only a foretaste of how he might be received if he became US president). He is a very good salesman, with a very good pitch, but his platform is barely coherent.