The 2016 Presidential Election Trainwreck

[creekster]

I'm with y-Ohi and mbn. I can't stand either trump or Hilary and will not vote for either one. I have been in Switzerland and Germany the last week and everyone asks me how we can even consider trump. And I have no answer. And Hillary is also as deeply flawed as yohi says and the euros understand that too. It remains a depressing situation.

[byu71]

I'm with y-Ohi and mbn. I can't stand either trump or Hilary and will not vote for either one. I have been in Switzerland and Germany the last week and everyone asks me how we can even consider trump. And I have no answer. And Hillary is also as deeply flawed as yohi says and the euros understand that too. It remains a depressing situation.

Add me to your group that is depressed. I have been adding up all the minuses they both bring to the table and sadly in the end I will probably vote for the one who has a negative 87% rating with me over the one with a 94% negative rating with me.

[YOhio]

Add me to your group that is depressed. I have been adding up all the minuses they both bring to the table and sadly in the end I will probably vote for the one who has a negative 87% rating with me over the one with a 94% negative rating with me.

Not sure if me, mbn and HFN can be in a group with you and creekster. We'd be catching nonstop hell from JL.

[byu71]

Not sure if me, mbn and HFN can be in a group with you and creekster. We'd be catching nonstop hell from JL.

Yea, as far as I am concerned hell from JL is nothing more than a mesquito bite. Irritating, but harmless. However, I can totally understand why there are people who take his views seriously.

[YOhio]

Yea, as far as I am concerned hell from JL is nothing more than a mesquito bite. Irritating, but harmless. However, I can totally understand why there are people who take his views seriously.

Good post.

[Maximus]

[Donuthole]

[Jeff Lebowski]

YOhio, have you seen any of the Hitler memes or hilarious John Oliver skits about Trump? Clearly not if you think anyone is close to as bad as him. Lebowski will add you to his email forward chain.

[Shaka]

I'm stealing that. Watch for it on my FB feed.

[byu71]

YOhio, have you seen any of the Hitler memes or hilarious John Oliver skits about Trump? Clearly not if you think anyone is close to as bad as him. Lebowski will add you to his email forward chain.

John Oliver the British comedian?? If that is who you are referring to, would you also suggest listening to Beatle Songs?

[Moliere]

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[Omaha 680]

This really could be a big splash year for a third party, if the right candidate emerged. Not that he/she would threaten to win or even win any electoral votes. But I think a reasonable candidate could get a larger % of the popular vote than Perot did. Independents don't want to vote for Hillary or Trump.

Nearly one-in-four voters say they will stay home or vote third party if Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the major party presidential candidates.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Trump and Clinton tied at 38% each. But 16% say they would vote for some other candidate if the presidential election comes down to those two, while six percent (6%) would stay home. Only two percent (2%) are undecided given those options. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Among voters not affiliated with either major party, nearly one-third say they would opt out: 21% would choose a candidate other than Trump or Clinton, and 10% would stay home. Trump leads Clinton 38% to 27% among unaffiliated voters.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publ...ton_trump_race

[USUC]

At this point, the Republican Party needs to keep its branding from being completely destroyed by a Trump nomination. The RNC committee meets a week before the convention to finalize and change rules. If Trump gets to 1237 delegates, then they rewrite the rules to say you need 1400 delegates. They have to prevent Trump from getting the nomination. The Trump people will be up in arms and will boycott the party and Hillary will win the presidency, but the GOP will keep its branding and be able to challenge in 4 years. I keep hearing that trump will run as a 3rd party candidate. I'm not even sure that Trump could get on the ballots of many states as a 3rd party by the time the convention rolls around. It won't take long for Trump to fizzle once he has been ousted. History will not look back kindly on Trump. And the GOP will be forever tainted if he is allowed to be their nominee. The Republican Party is a private organization. They can do what they want. They made a big mistake in allowing the state chapters to have open primaries, now there is a hostile takeover of the organization from people not part of that organization. Trump has a plurality of votes but not a majority. What would a corporation do in this situation? They will do whatever is necessary to protect their branding.

[BlueK]

This really could be a big splash year for a third party, if the right candidate emerged. Not that he/she would threaten to win or even win any electoral votes. But I think a reasonable candidate could get a larger % of the popular vote than Perot did. Independents don't want to vote for Hillary or Trump.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publ...ton_trump_race

Mitt Romney would win Utah's electoral votes. Both Trump and Hillary are extremely unpopular in Utah. It wouldn't be that hard for an independent candidate who talks like a traditional Republican to carry the state.

[Clark Addison]

At this point, the Republican Party needs to keep its branding from being completely destroyed by a Trump nomination. The RNC committee meets a week before the convention to finalize and change rules. If Trump gets to 1237 delegates, then they rewrite the rules to say you need 1400 delegates. They have to prevent Trump from getting the nomination. The Trump people will be up in arms and will boycott the party and Hillary will win the presidency, but the GOP will keep its branding and be able to challenge in 4 years. I keep hearing that trump will run as a 3rd party candidate. I'm not even sure that Trump could get on the ballots of many states as a 3rd party by the time the convention rolls around. It won't take long for Trump to fizzle once he has been ousted. History will not look back kindly on Trump. And the GOP will be forever tainted if he is allowed to be their nominee. The Republican Party is a private organization. They can do what they want. They made a big mistake in allowing the state chapters to have open primaries, now there is a hostile takeover of the organization from people not part of that organization. Trump has a plurality of votes but not a majority. What would a corporation do in this situation? They will do whatever is necessary to protect their branding.

Trump being the nominee is a bad thing for the Republican party, but I tend to think that changing the rules at the last minute to prevent him from being the nominee is just as bad. Sure, they are a private organization, and they can do it, but people expect the nominee to be chosen by a fair and democratic process. Even though it has never been as fair and democratic as many people think, it would be very bad to just say "We don't care what the people think. Our nominee is Ted Cruz." Trump's supporters, who are prone to conspiracy theories even when they don't exist, will go absolutely crazy when proof of one becomes public right before their eyes. A huge number of them will never go back to the Republican party. I think you would also have a number of people who don't like really like Trump, but would be so put out by the move that they would stay away, many of them permanently.

Republicans are really in a bad position if Trump gets 1237 delegates, and ends up not being the nominee. If the Democrats had a decent candidate themselves, I would expect the Trump replacement to end up with no more than a couple of states (Utah being one of them). Even with Hillary running, a Republican that is widely seen as an illegitimate candidate will struggle to pick up 150 electoral votes, I think.

I think that the Republicans have, in large, brought this on themselves, so I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. I only wish it was happening to the Democrats too.