Trump

[Absolute_Zero]

Mitt Romney is sticking the boot into Trump [with gusto] on the news right now.

Which only elevates my concerns over the Cruz-er.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-35717888

[pogo]

It does not matter; establishment figures like Romney condemning Trump will not hurt him. If anything it will help him as it feeds into the narrative that he is an outsider, not under the thumb of Washington insiders and donors. And anyway Romney is hardly a popular and influential Republican now, after managing to lose to Obama in 2012. Romney gets the blame for this as in Republican eyes Obama is a disaster and failure, and should have been easy to beat.

Their problem then was the same as now; they find it hard to chose the best candidate as the Republican base is so extreme. This drives out competent moderates and leaves only extremists and flawed candidates. Except it is even worse now; Trump is the outcome, while the alternatives Cruz and Rubio are even more extreme.

[F-ZeroOne]

OTOH, Trump's shtick is mostly political showbiz

Well...

It has been pointed out by some historians that some high-ranking Nazis weren't entirely up on the fact that Hitler actually meant what he was saying.

[Absolute_Zero]

@pogo I hope you're right.

Still, it was an attack without precedent. If his assertion that Trump "would enable Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the presidency" gains any traction [it should as it's very likely true], then he could yet be stopped.

[pogo]

@pogo I hope you're right.

Still, it was an attack without precedent. If his assertion that Trump "would enable Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the presidency" gains any traction [it should as it's very likely true], then he could yet be stopped.

Oh they still want to stop him. He terrifies the Republican elite for many reasons. He is not beholden to them, using largely his own money and relying the media to get his message out. He is far too moderate on many issues. And he is likely to lose in November and set back Republicanism for years.

What can they do? Plan A (Bush) failed. Plan B (Rubio) seems about to do the same. Cruz is not an option as he is disliked even more than Trump. Plan F is perhaps to do him in at the convention.

To win the nomination you need a majority of delegates. Right now Trump has a little less than half. If this continues he will not have enough to win outright at the Republican Convention. What happens then is a brokered convention, in which the Republican hierarchy have a great deal of say. They can set the rules and so manipulate the result, maybe even denying Trump a win. The problem is it might split the party, if they contrive to make e.g. Rubio the winner. And it would probably still hand the election to the Democrats, as whoever won after such a convention would be very weakened, perhaps subject to legal challenges, with the party in open revolt.

[gravy]

Full speech. It's pretty brutal

[pogo]

His response:

Mitt Romney was a failed candidate; should have beaten Barack Obama easily,

The standard Republican narrative. Romney comes across pretty well in that speech; freed from having to spout nonsense to win the Republican nomination in 2012 he is quite sane. But few Trump supporters will watch it.

[gravy]

Their problem then was the same as now; they find it hard to chose the best candidate as the Republican base is so extreme.

I have no idea what you're on about!

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... -1.2551320

[F-ZeroOne]

Seriously - when even the news article reporting how much of a scumbag an elected Republican official can be labelled NSFW (and not in the usual "Caught with guy who isn't his wife" way)... well, the Republicans wonder why they're in the mess they're in.

[gumboot]

I blame democracy. What a bloody stupid idea that was.

[pogo]

Another debate tonight. No more Bush or Carson – the latter has not announced his formal departure but is sitting out the debate – so there will only be four and so more time for each.

[gravy]

The debate tonight was pretty raw. Trump's idiocy and the final outcome aside I'm not sure how the GOP will be able to come through this without splintering in to bits.

Cruz came out with some amazing stupidity in between the insultfest. "We'll get rid of the IRS and your taxes return will fit on a postcard, you can see an example of the postcard on our website!" Lots of cheers.

ffs.

[pogo]

Their economic plans are all laughable. Basically massive unfunded tax cuts for the rich, whether because they are rich (Trump) or are in the pockets of the rich.

It was pretty entertaining this one. Trump asserting that he has a big dick had me in fits. Although he tried to tone it down the more time he had the more he rambled, avoided answering and spouted rubbish. Cruz and Rubio got in some good hits. Kasich did well too, mostly as he got more time to say his piece. I doubt any of them can stop Trump though. They seem to be hoping they can deny him enough delegates so he cannot win before the convention, at which they can somehow engineer a victory for someone else.

[Absolute_Zero]

The GOP strategy is straightforward [see Romney's speech]:- to split the delegates as widely as possible --conferring party backing to whichever candidate is best placed to minimise Trump's takings on a state by state basis-- such as to deny Trump the majority he needs. This would force a deadlocked, so-called 'brokered' convention, allowing the party elite to rally around a Trump alternative.

It can't work though if Trump does well in the winner-takes-all states.

So many here are probably still thinking: if Trump fails in his nomination... hurrah!

I'm still thinking: if Trump wins the Republican nomination, Hillary wins the Presidency. Conversely, she could well lose to a Trump alternative. So excuse me my [too clever by half] "go Donald!"

[Absolute_Zero]

Having now seen the highlights from last night...

They gave him the rope and he may well have hung himself. Incoming, an avalanche of attack adverts: e.g. “In 2008, I supported Hillary Clinton.”