The 2016 Presidential Election Trainwreck

[Uncle Ted]

Just on the off chance that we needed another data point about Ted Cruz:

I was talking to a woman who works on my team yesterday. Her brother is some hotshot hedge fund guy in NYC, who went to school with Ted Cruz. According to him, Ted is one of the biggest jerks he has ever known (though he has good things to say about his wife). The whole family is pretty conservative, but will absolutely not vote for him in the primaries. She did say that they will hold their noses and vote for him in the general election due to who he will be running against.

Have we met anyone yet who likes Ted as a person?

Well, maybe not in the senate...

Correction: Ted Cruz still doesn’t have any friends in the Senate. Yesterday, the right wing dream journal National Review published a piece suggesting that Ted Cruz could report five endorsements from Senate colleagues this week.


National Review has since corrected its report, but in a somewhat confusing manner. Here’s a correction posted on the site’s Corner blog:

An earlier post stated that Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign was set to unveil a series of endorsements from Cruz’s fellow senators. The report was erroneous. As of this writing, the campaign has no pending Senate endorsements to announce.

https://newrepublic.com/minutes/1312...friends-senate

Why is it the two most hated candidates in the GOP are leading in the primaries? What does that say about the party?

[Uncle Ted]

Rubio is 4th in a new national poll...


http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016...w-poll-n534171

I hope Little Rubio can still win Florida.

[venkman]

He is getting a lot more than the white supremecist vote. He is finding a nerve with many folks who think reading about Hillary Clinton campaigning with Michael Brown's mother is crazy. There are a lot of people who find it troubling that Bernie Sanders would say white people do not understand poverty. The left is pandering to these movements and many people who are not racists recognize it and find Trump's perspective comforting. It is easy to dismiss these folks as being crotchety old white people just bitter that the new diverse America is coming but I think many of them are fine with diversity, they are not fine with movements based around arguments being made about the injustice to a dumb kid attacking a cop and being shot as a result. When Ferguson went down I said something about the lack of wisdom or vetting the truth about the stories that made the chosen martyrs, and how as the truth comes out it delegitimizes even the legitimate arguments about the historical impact of slavery and racism. Many of these might be blue collar white folks, but I think that is only the base. They were the first to buy in because between the left telling them foreigners are your enemy through outsourcing and the right telling them illegals are your enemy here because they will do your menial jobs cheaper, they were without a home. But I think Trump is finding a nerve and being a voice of reason, in this area as in many areas he is not a voice of reason, in a season of crazy political movements and the efforts from politicians on the left to pander to those movements.

I also think Trump panders to crazy right wing movements but the depth and breadth of the support he is finding indicates he has tapped into something with much more widespread appeal. Part of the explanation of Trump mania has been in response to these crazy movements and their inability to distinguish between legitimate examples of racism/discrimination with events where racism or discrimination was not the cause. In my opinion these movements are totally dedicated to identity politics and are more than willing to sacrifice honesty and that which I think is the American ideal, subordination of identity to a larger American culture that values meritocracy and freedom regardless of your identity, in order to foment the masses of their specific identity to some action.

Once again proving napper is the smartest guy on the board.

[pelagius]

Don't really want to wade into the Hitler stuff but I do think "the orange reich" is a great name for trump supporters.

[Moliere]

Don't really want to wade into the Hitler stuff but I do think "the orange reich" is a great name for trump supporters.

[YOhio]

If like for nothing more than for Goatnapper'96 to predict a Trump nomination.

[Moliere]

It doens't surprise me that Trump wins MS, what with it being in the South and the racial feelings that still exist down there. It does surprise me that he won Michigan, although looks like the vote was split quite a bit among the other candidates. With MI in the bag, this thing is pretty much over. Rubio is dead in the water in FL, so that will go to Trump...plus Florida is full of old white people. Kasich could still win Ohio, but I doubt it.

[Uncle Ted]

It doens't surprise me that Trump wins MS, what with it being in the South and the racial feelings that still exist down there. It does surprise me that he won Michigan, although looks like the vote was split quite a bit among the other candidates. With MI in the bag, this thing is pretty much over. Rubio is dead in the water in FL, so that will go to Trump...plus Florida is full of old white people. Kasich could still win Ohio, but I doubt it.

Yeah, Little Rubio needs to get out now. He didn't even break 5% in MS and didn't get enough votes in MI to get any delegates. What an embarrassment. Cruz might have a chance of picking up the pieces in FL with Rubio out.

[Maximus]

Yeah, Little Rubio needs to get out now. He didn't even break 5% in MS and didn't get enough votes in MI to get any delegates. What an embarrassment. Cruz might have a chance of picking up the pieces in FL with Rubio out.

If rubio gets out, chances trump wins FL are 100%. If he doesnt, he still has a shot at FL

[USUC]

If Rubio has aspirations of continuing his career in politics, he needs to get out before Florida. He can't lose his home state.

[byu71]

Sanders wins Michigan. Way to get out and vote old white people. Extra social security for old people

[SeattleUte]

So Goatnapper and Venkman are the first two here to come of the closet as Trump supporters. Why am I not surprised.

[Maximus]

If Rubio has aspirations of continuing his career in politics, he needs to get out before Florida. He can't lose his home state.

if trump wins fl it is all over. rubio is way ahead in early voting

[New Mexican Disaster]

if trump wins fl it is all over. rubio is way ahead in early voting

It's pretty close to being all over now.

[byu71]

So Goatnapper and Venkman are the first two here to come of the closet as Trump supporters. Why am I not surprised.

Who are you for. Tough choice who I will follow.