On the one hand, Trump is a truly loathsome public figure. On the other hand, he's doing more to destroy the GOP than the 1929 crash.
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) July 10, 2015
This. RT @morningmoneyben Donald Trump now leads in GOP polls just like Presidents Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich did. http://t.co/nefvEgGVuC
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) July 15, 2015
In other words, Trump doesn't speak for us, but the idiots who support him are an integral part of our coalition. pic.twitter.com/iWQUgGPhV4
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) July 10, 2015
Every 4 years GOP base faced with grim prospect of marrying rich boring old man it doesn't like, so has brief wild flings with a few rascals
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) July 13, 2015
craigie
Except that the rascals are nothing to write home about either.
PurpleGirl
I don’t think Trump will do an independent run for the presidency. That would require him to spend his own money. I don’t believe he’ll want to do that — he’s rich but not as rich as, say, Mitt Romney.
Tree With Water
This afternoon in Lake County, Ca. Dex the Wonder Dog showed other cops how it’s done (story below). He should be recruited to teach police departments around the country the right way to make an arrest, i.e., with cool headed, intelligent resolution in the performance of duty, all the while using minimal force (cap letters mine):
“Devin Walker, 23, was arrested on multiple felony warrants….Walker attempted to flee police, but he was apprehended with the assistance of a K9 officer named Dex… Dex bit Walker in the leg, and at one point, Walker tried losing the police dog by jumping over a wire fence. WITH DEX STILL BITING HIM, WALKER PULLED THE DOG OVER THE FENCE WITH HIM.
Soon after, Walker was arrested and booked into Lake County Jail. He had a MINOR LACERATION on his leg and was treated at St. Helena Clearlake Hospital, according to police. Dex was not injured during the arrest”.
srv
11 million more Americans are going to watch those debates because of Trump and liberals think that’s a problem.
For every Reagan there was a Goldwater.
BillinGlendaleCA
@srv:
People also slow down to gawk at car crashes for similar reasons.
mike with a mic
@srv:
You referring to how badly Goldwater lost or that Goldwater lead to Reagan?
James E Powell
Oh my! Scott Walker for president ads are flashing as I load this page.
His logo looks less like the flag and more like a red E.
Major Major Major Major
@James E Powell: Adblock adblock adblock, but I repeat myself.
Hkedi
@srv:
It’s going to be Hilarious when Trump pulls a Gish Gallop on Jeb! and probably destroys him. Jeb likes to think he’s above the fray with all of his cash, but remember the hit that Obama took when he thought that Romney might try to debate him on the merits. Jeb seems to be phoning it in with his contacts, there’s a good chance he could be destroyed.
As far as Jeb trying to structure the debate to avoid that, it’s laughable. First, Trump “Ain’t gonna lie down for some “inside the beltway” rules”. Second, even if Trump gets shut down, that’s a massive victim card for him to play.
SRW1
Of course The Donald comes up trumps.
His strength is in his name!
Also, too: Samson!
Sadly, JEB! will have his head on a platter.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@PurpleGirl: He’s already spending his own money; his campaign is self financed. It gives him an advantage because Super PACs may have lots of money, but they don’t benefit from the special rules that govern how broadcast media have to treat actual campaigns. They have to sell ad time to candidates at their lowest rate, and candidates can preempt other ads. Depending upon how much he wants to spend, Trump could force all of the Super PACs off the air at critical moments by buying all of the ad time.
EconWatcher
How much you wanna bet Trump’s claimed net worth of $9 billion is gross assets (with some wildly optimistic valuations), and his net assets are actually in the negative range?
The truth is, we’ve all met plenty of blowhards just like him in life. But most of them weren’t born with a huge inheritance that allowed them to pretend to be in the big leagues right away.
I hope and think that his “fortune” will one day implode, and he’ll be exposed as basically a Ponzi operator.
JCJ
Riding a train in Bangkok. First look at balloon-juice in a while. I am not looking forward to all the Scott Walker signs so many of my neighbors will certainly have when primary campaigning begins. Some of them still have their signs from the last election for him.
mai naem mobile
I was listening to a radio show this AM. They said Forbes has Trump at $4 billion(around 400th richest American.) My problem with Trump is that how can you consider him competent when he can’t even himself a nice looking hairpiece?
Amir Khalid
@mai naem mobile:
The Donald doesn’t appear to wear a hairpiece. For some reason, he likes to style his hair that way.
mai naem mobile
@Amir Khalid: I forgot,.he has his special.scaffolding hairdo. That’s even worse. He’s got enough money and he.chooses to.have crappy hair. I don’t want my president to embarrass me by his hairdo falling apart when he’s in Mongolia or somewhere windy and his hair’s all.standing up. If a president is going to embarrass me it’s going to be for invading the wrong country. I have standards.here.
BillinGlendaleCA
@mai naem mobile: We did have a pResident that couldn’t figure out which door to use to leave a room.
AnonPhenom
Something happens once and suddenly it’s an immutable law of the phuckn’ universe.
And they wonder why their economic theories suck.
Amir Khalid
@mai naem mobile:
Here’s another Trump-hair picture I found in the Google image search. I think you’ll like it.
Donut
@EconWatcher:
I’ve always assumed that dude is basically a franchisor – willing to license his brand name out to whomever is willing to pay and let him act as though he’s running the whole show. No doubt he’s earned seven figures annually but no way he’s actually got net assets in the billions.
My ultimate theory about Trump is that this campaign is meant as a red herring; I can’t prove it but given the all-Trump, all-the-time nature of Fox News’ campaign coverage, I would wager that Roger Ailes is advising Trump behind the scenes. Trump is a distraction to take the focus off of ¡JEB! We are still a long way off from any votes being cast. Anyone with half a brain about modern campaigns knows you need to peak at the right time – not in July the year before the election. While Donald burns bright, ¡JEB! is busy building out his campaign structure and trying to lock down the real $$$. Trump is a shiny object. IMO, the movers and shakers in the party are mostly in the tank for ¡JEB! unless he totally fucks up between now and the first primaries.
Donut
@Donut:
To explain better, it strikes me as no simple coincidence that Trump is out there taking the extreme positions on several issues, especially immigration, to gin up the base and suck up most of the media oxygen. This keeps the most idiotic of the 27% tea-hadi (redundant) pumped up and interested in the race, thinking someone is finally talking about “their” issues. That’s no accident. Puh-lease.
After Labor Day and after the first debate, when Jeb! buckles down and starts spending real time in IA, NH and SC, Jeb is going to look much more centrist and moderate in comparison to the stunt-queen that is the Donald.
There were maybe some unintended consequences in terms of negative blow-back, but ultimately the brand name that is the Donald won’t suffer too much in a way that really hurts him. Trump will just transition from a mainstream figure (“the Apprentice” and the Miss USA pageant) to a more standard right-wing grifter. Plenty of cash to be made in that arena…
Zinsky
Trump winning the presidency would be a demotion and mean a pay cut!
SFAW
@Donut:
Probably should be “even if he totally fucks up.”
Another Holocene Human
@Tree With Water: That’s a tricky combo for a dog, latch, grip, hold on no matter what, but don’t shake.
Genetically tricky, training tricky. I guess good on that police force to insist on a proper K9. Plenty of forces don’t.
Some po-po even detrain their pot sniffing dogs to alert on the handler’s command. But it’s all good, Scalia said so.
Donut
@SFAW:
Good point!
Matt McIrvin
@Donut: I don’t know that it’s any kind of intentional plan, but I’ve been watching the primary polls, and the main thing that’s happening is that Trump is sucking out all the oxygen for the not-Jeb, not-Trump candidates. Jeb is neck and neck with Trump but they’re pulling away from the pack of everyone else. (Though Ted Cruz does seem to be gaining at the moment, he’s still down there with the rest of them.)
Punchy
@mai naem mobile: Wait…. $4 billion makes him 400th richest American? I know theres a lot of rich Americans, but $4 billion only gets you 400th? Doesn’t sound right…
Aimai
@Donut: this.
Applejinx
@Punchy: On the contrary, that’s how it works.
Trump’s gonna go after the rich and tear hell out of the 0.000001% so that he can buy his hairpiece a new pair of shoes :)
He IS the 99%!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Donut: g
Yes, “get out there and keep talking” Fox News is about ratings at the end of the day what ever Ailies fantasies about being kingmaker are.
lol
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Once of the reasons that despite the UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH, the Obama campaign with its sophisticated targeting still made its dollars go farther than all of the GOP SuperPACs combined.
Ksmiami
@Applejinx: it’s true- a billion dollars isn’t what it used to be… Trumps a chump and a piker compared to buffet and the Koch-suckers
Chris
@srv:
Goldwater introduced something new, or at least something that hadn’t been dominant in the GOP for a while. He lost badly, but the movement of which he was the first major candidate went on to take over the party, and the nation, with Reagan.
Trump is not introducing anything new. Trump is repeating what’s been the Republican “id” ever since Reagan’s takeover. That explains both his current popularity (he’s not saying anything different from what “serious” Republican candidates have been telling their base for thirty five years; why shouldn’t they listen to him just as they did Reagan and Bush?) and the huge problems he’s going to face trying to maintain that popularity for another year (what does he have to offer than every other candidate doesn’t? Think the parade of Not Romneys four years back).
The idea that Trump is introducing some kind of movement that’ll eventually take over the party like Goldwater once did, OTOH, is just good for a laugh. About as dumb as the Tea Party Movement pitching itself as a “grassroots” rebellion against the Republican Party when everything it said was indistinguishable from what the Republican Party had stood for for more than a generation.
Chris
@Donut:
I actually buy this.
Matt McIrvin
I think the one way in which Trump actually is like Sanders is that both of their campaigns are getting most of their support by concentrating on a single issue.
It’s just that for Sanders it’s economic justice, and for Trump it’s hating Mexicans. He’s going to get most of the unapologetic anti-Mexican bigot vote for “saying what we all really think”. The question is just how far that can take him.
Bobby B.
It speaks volumes that the National Review intelligentsia are crafting “theses” to suggest that Trump is an Obama plant.
burnspbesq
A friendly reminder: Jeet Heer has never been right about anything.
James E Powell
@Donut:
While I don’t know that it is planned and managed, I do agree with your description of what is happening.
Trump’s “campaign” can only happen months before Iowa & New Hampshire. Once we get close to counting, he can disappear in a week. Bush, Walker, Rubio, and Kasich all benefit from not being the subject of big news stories. Being out of the news leaves them free to raise money and organize.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Gonna take Donut’s hypothesis one step further – Trump is pulling a Colbert. He’s acting the part of the batshit crazy canididate to highlight just how far the GOP has fallen down the rabbit hole. The fact that he’s getting traction among the base shows that the strategy is working.
I really want to believe this is true.
JustRuss
I think the GOP should be very afraid of Trump going third-party. He clearly loves all the attention he’s getting, and I don’t see him letting that go if can stay in the race by spending a few million bucks. Sure, he’ll destroy what little chance the GOP has to win the presidency, but Trump doesn’t really care, he floated some pretty liberal positions when was looking at running in 1999.
If I ran the GOP, I’d have a ton of investigators digging into Trump’s past to find something to “persuade” him to drop out. Wait, no, I’d double-dog dare him to go third party. Yeah, that’s what they should do.
James E Powell
@JustRuss:
The GOP is more afraid that he will stay in the Republican mix, emphasizing the bigotry, ignorance, and unhinged nature of their core constituency.
Sourmash
Trump has real money behind him. His father had a massive portfolio of small and midsized apartment buildings around the outer boroughs. The donald is the one who stepped out on his own and brought the whole show to broadway. Brother drank too much and dad died and voila! The Donald’s got hisself a big ego, a big vision (gotta give him that) and now the cash flow to fund it all.
Turgidson
@PurpleGirl:
He claims he’s wayyyy richer than Romney. But since he’s totally full of shit, who knows.