2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumFor those who think Hillary can't beat Trump in a General Election, I disagree
I don't think Trump will have as easy a time as you think he will. So far, Trump has not been on the receiving end of any really nasty opposition research campaign yet. Just because his 33% of the GOP electorate support his schtuck hook, line and sinker, doesn't mean that the rest of the electorate will. Let us recall that the GOP electorate is ANGRY. OOOHHH I'm afraid!!!! Let's look at the source of that anger.
It was the the GOP, led by Mitch McConnell, that decided on the eve of President Obama's inauguration that they were going to make Obama a one-term president.
1. JOBS. If white people and their kids don't have any jobs, it's because the GOP Congress may a conscious decision to sacrifice those people's livelihood for what they thought would be their path back to the White House in 2012. They were wrong.
Also, when Businessman Trump had a chance to bring jobs to this nation, he chose not to. Trump until recently had a clothing line at Macy's. Ivanka Trump, his daughter, had her clothing line there too. The clothes were all manufactured overseas. Just because NAFTA and other trade agreements exist, it doesn't force businesses to manufacture their products overseas. It's a choice. Trump chose to manufacture his high priced clothing line and accessories overseas. Someone also reported that his 'Make America Great Again' souveniers in his NY Hotel gift shops had made in China labels inside. When someone pointed them out, they removed the items. My guess is that they just removed the labels. Heck, Trump isn't going to throw away a perfectly good baseball cap with the MAGA logo on it when some fool is paying $20 for it in his gift shops.
Trump also makes the claim that Hispanics like him and he employs a lot of them. He's absolutely correct. Trump Hotels and Golf Courses employ lots of Hispanics as maids, cooks, dishwashers, other housekeeping positions, and grooming his magnificent lawns. His workers at his buildings in Las Vegas have been picketing for the right to organize but so far to no avail. We will see if that Great Wall ever gets built. Trump needs that immigrant population to help his bottom line in the low-skill labor intensive hotels that he owns.
2. HEALTHCARE. If poor white people in the Southern States don't have Healthcare, it is because their governors made a conscious decision to sacrifice theirs and their children's health in order to secure their path back to the White House. Mind you, they didn't sacrifice their own health because they all have health care. Also, he now has as part of his stump speech a claim that he will not let poor people die in the streets to which he claims he gets a standing ovation at his rallies. Well obviously no one has ever told Mr. Trump, his campaign, or his supporters that we have a solution already for that problem. We call it Medicaid. Now I'm not surprised that Trump may not have heard of Medicaid, but his supporters should have unless they really live off the grid.
3. VETERANS. Trump always likes to talk about how much he loves the Vets. Just loves the Vets. It was reported not too long ago that the sum total of Trumps contributions to all the Veterans organizations, over his lifetime, totaled about $50,000. That first event he had for the Vets on that Ship with a guy that all the legitimate Veterans organizations knew nothing about turned out to be a fraud. Also, the legitimate organizations that are actually out there supporting the Vets every day, say that had not received any assistance from Trump at the time. None of them had been contacted by the Trump for President Organization.
That second event recently where he 'raised' $6M, that money is sitting in his bank account until he decides how to dole it out, if ever. Mind you, those small contributions that he finds too meddlesome to return, is being spent to gas up his 757 Trump Aircraft that he uses to fly his family around. He has spent next to nothing on a political campaign because the media gives him all the free publicity he needs. They even run whatever campaign ads he claimed to have bought air time for (but didn't) for free.
Trump also insulted our Veterans, of whom I am a member, when he said that he felt like he had served in the Military because he went to a private military academy. When Trump had the opportunity to serve in our real U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam Era, he got a medical deferment due to bunions on his feet.
He claims he's going to rebuild our military and make our military great again and buy the things that the military actually needs rather than what the lobbyist make Congress buy, shows that he knows nothing about the military procurement process. Not surprising from a man who gets his military knowledge from the 'Generals on the Sunday talk shows', even though he couldn't name one at the time.
4. FRAUD. Trump has bilked a lot of people out of a lot of money with his misrepresentations of his TRUMP University before TU was finally shut down leaving a lot of pissed off people in the process. The article I read about the calamity of TU said that he was warned he couldn't use the word University unless his courses met certain Dept of Education requirements.
5. BANKRUPCIES. Trump has left a trail of unpaid businesses in his path as a result of his use of the nation's Bankruptcy laws. I'm sure there will be many stories surfacing just as soon as Donald has the nomination locked up that will probably make those claims made against Romney in 2012, where he bought and dismantled businesses, look tame by comparison.
6. LICENSING AGREEMENTS. There was an article recently about one of TRUMPS buildings in Panama a couple of months ago. Many retirees bought condos in one of Trumps beachfront condos in Panama because they believed in the Trump Brand. Well they were surprised to find out that Trump doesn't actually own that building, he licenses his TRUMP Brand for developers to use for a price. Well those people bought into the Trump Brand only to find their dream become a nightmare. First, and foremost, half of the condos never sold. The HOA doubled their fees due to the lack of unsold units but with fixed expenses that still need to be paid. The Condo owners could not replace the current HOA Mgmt which through some chicanery is run by the Trump family even though they don't own the building, they have an iron-clad contract which says that they, and only they, can manage the building. The Condo owners cannot replace them. One of Trumps son met with the unhappy condo owners to let them know that they should have read their Purchase Agreements better. The unhappy Condo owners, were afraid to speak of the problems that they are plagued with because, 1) they felt that doing so would devalue their investment in their condo unit even further, and 2) they might be sued by the litigious Trump, so for now they are stuck.
Trump might breeze his way through the GOP primary, but I don't think he's going to have a cake walk during the GE. The Clinton's warts have all been exposed to the light of day. Trumps will only be beginning. And Trump being the thin-skinned person he is will be burning up the Twitter feed trying to address his issues. Hopefully, the media will do their job and report the facts as they exist and not let him just ramble on and refuse to answer legitimate questions.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)He will not likely get the more moderate Republican vote either and he won't get the female vote.
thereismore
(13,326 posts)hoping, it's your right.
politicaljunkie41910
(3,335 posts)I don't live my life by HOPE. I live my life by being PREPARED for anything that life might throw at me. Always have. Always will. I've tried to teach my children the same thing. So far it's working for us. Maybe you should try it. That way you don't have to sound so angry all the time.
thereismore
(13,326 posts)politicaljunkie41910
(3,335 posts)Hillary and I don't need to justify my actions by way of providing you with a list of her weaknesses or anything else.
thereismore
(13,326 posts)hoosierlib
(710 posts)Oh yeah, and the GOP primaries are bringing out more voters than the Dems and this an anti-establishment election...
And as soon as the political "Sword of Damocles" drops on her by Director Comey, her GE election hopes and those of the down ballot races are toast...
SunSeeker
(51,572 posts)None of his GOP primary opponents have run the sort of ads that will bludgeon him in the general election. And Hillary will just destroy him in the debates.
still_one
(92,219 posts)against any republican I think are being quite naive.
The national polls that have been playing the matching game of the candidates against the republicans have inherent problems. For one thing, elections are NOT won through the states, and the electoral college, not through a national poll.
With Nixon's Southern strategy, he demonstrated that any party who is able to sweep all the red states would win the presidency. Bernie has yet to demonstrate that he would be able to overcome that barrier.
Purple states also present a similar problem.
Hypothetical match ups mean very little. It isn't real, which is another weakness of national polls
peacebird
(14,195 posts)Face it Hillary's numbers are trending down, like they always do. The more people hear her the less they like her.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)EmperorHasNoClothes
(4,797 posts)The republican party establishment does NOT want Trump, nor does large swaths of the repub voters. They have thrown a crapton of stuff his way but it all just seems to bounce off.
Never mind the national polls, if you look at the electoral map state by state, the outlook is not good for Hillary:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511310987
Shandris
(3,447 posts)...sphere of influence, you need some medicine for delusion.
I'll simply say this. Every single one of those has been discussed on his sites for months. There is nothing new in any of that, and furthermore there's nothing that matters in any of it. "B-but he had a bankruptcy!!!" LOL. His response will be, "According to the rigged system, it was the best move. I did what I had to do to save money and people's jobs."
THIS is what you want to put against Trump? "Sure, we reported he made 6 million dollars for charity, but like...he hasn't given it all to them yet!" "Yeah I know there are entire stories out there, years old, of him saving people's lands, but like, some people got fraud!" FRAUD?! You want to hammer on fraud as a HILLARY SUPPORTER?! Yall're braver than I thought. [i}Licensing?!? People are enraged at the system and you think licensing is a winning issue?!
"If you wanted healthcare, should have voted for us!" Yeah, that'll sell. "Jobs ain't got nothing to do with us, nevermind NAFTA." You do realize that we LIVE in the Midwest, right? That even some of us Democrats live out here, and we are around these people every day? That we know what causes job losses, and the losses in our heartland over the last 15 years isn't 'the 2012 Congress'. I'm seeing fellow Dems (not too many, to be fair, but ANY is bothersome!) talking about Trump already. Their frickin' primary isn't even over yet and we have people talking about backing the other side. And your best thoughts on Hillary are that she can win on licenses, fraud, and 'too bad so sad'.
I want some of what you folks have, because it must be REAL good.
((No, I refuse to vote for Donald Trump or any Republican, even if Bernie loses. This post is only intended as a warning, not a letter of love or support for this cretin.))
politicaljunkie41910
(3,335 posts)The vast majority of the nation does not support Trump and will not vote for him. That's my opinion and I'm welcome to it. Just as you're welcome to all of your opinions.
FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)Bernie doesn't even call her out on her record
You think Trump won't
Ferd Berfel
(3,687 posts)Marr
(20,317 posts)Sanders is 6-8 points ahead of him.
The same goes for all the other leading GOP candidates, except they actually *beat* Clinton while Sanders trumps them.
She's just not electable. If the party establishment foists her onto the ticket, we're going to lose.