But Seriously...

Is is possible that the republicans are writing off the presidency in hopes of saving a lot of down ticket races? I admittedly don't follow this as much as some of you but if democrats see that the GOP is essentially split between Rubio/Cruz and third party Trump would there be lower voter turnout by democrats since they'll figure the presidency is a given and then republicans have a better shot at winning house and senate races? Or is there another factor in there that would screw that up for them?

 

Yes, this is exactly what the Republicans are doing. They are trying to save the party as it is. This statement from Romney can be taken as the defacto Republican establishment position and almost assuredly means Trump will run as an independent. They are willing to give up the presidency to Hillary and do what they've done to Obama the past for years (Obstructionism) hoping to stabilize the party in those years and put forward a more moderate candidate in the next presidential election that will be another competitive one.

 

Woof. A super majority in Congress and up to 6 justices.

If you're a Republican, at what point do you say to your constituents, "You guys are stupid. This is how politics works. You give a little, you get a little. A good agreement makes everybody mad."

 

Because for so many people in this country, being in a political group is practically a religion to them. It doesn't matter what the issue is. If that guy believes this, then I HAVE to believe the opposite. People are far less nuanced these days when it comes to issues, all the issues.

This board shows that people really think about things. But look at the general, moderately educated public. They feed their brain with confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance and sound bites.

And that's how A LOT of people are nowadays.

 

100%. Go read a story on Fox News and then the comments. Now go on HuffPo and read the article from their slant and read the comments. Between the two, your head will want to explode.

A great many people lock themselves in echo chambers and really don't give a damn about finding out what the actual facts are, they are only concerned with the facts that align with their current viewpoint.

 

This is the like the part in San Andreas where they have just had a magnitude 9 earthquake but realize the second, bigger one is on the way.



I just really hope that the Republican party learns from this and tries to catch up with the times. Unfortunately, based on what a lot of you are saying, it seems like they are going to double down on stupidity and try to keep the same platform. As someone who identifies more closely as a Libertarian than part of the Democrat/Republican party, this may be just the opening needed to bring Libertarianism into the mainstream.

 

Fleeing Trump (or Clinton): Look Out, Canada, Here They Come

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...y-come/ar-BBqiyVV?li=BBnba9J&ocid=mailsignout

I seriously had a great uncle leave the US for Canada after Kennedy was elected because"The Catholics are in charge now" and he figured it was just a matter of time before Protestants were rounded up.

 

Is it time to play "Feels So Good" yet?

Seriously, yawn, boring. Eight years ago all the hayseeds were saying the same thing when President Blackenstein got elected. This time it's somebody much more stupid: Miley Cyrus.

 

Would it really? If the GOP cedes the White House but successfully maintains control of congress, why would they need to do anything but engage in complete obstructionism of any justice nominee? Or any Democratic-leaning legislation at all? I'm no constitutional expert, but from what I understand the checks and balances on the legislature only pertain to things the legislature actually does, but there are really no consequences if the legislature decides to do nothing at all. Hell, isn't that actually a feature of the Constitution, not a bug?

The Republican party is in no danger of losing its prominence, regardless of what happens in the presidential election. Not when the GOP controls both houses of Congress, has the majority in sixty-nine out of the 99 state chambers - including 24 state trifectas (compared to 7 for the Democratic party) - and 34 governors.

 

The entirety of Congress is up for grabs. The Senate has 34 seats up, 9 of which are needed to shift the majority. The republicans need to keep their base content. Congress right now has an 11% approval rating. The voter turnout is going to be high as opposed to mid-term elections and that might favor Democrats. Some seats are republican vs republican though, so more Tea Party members might steal seats from moderates.

I think this is the reason a lot of the incumbent GOP hasn't explicitly condemned Trump. They don't want to piss off his constituents. That might be why they dug up Mitt of all people to harangue Trump. I just don't see why else they would dust him off for a press conference about the GOP front runner.

 

Team Romney explores blocking Trump at RNC

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/mitt-romney-stop-trump-at-convention/index.html

 

On that same note:

Cleveland looking to buy 2000 sets of riot gear in anticipation for RNC.

There will be blood. I called this a few pages ago how they'd look to block him. When they do, it's going to get ugly. This is fucking nuts.

 

Sure, a Democratic president can and probably would veto a lot of Republican sponsored legislation. But aside from repealing Obama care the only real major Republican platform issue that's by necessity at the federal level is the budget. Most of their other major platform issues such as gun control and abortion restrictions are handled at the state level, where they control the majority of governments. For those issues, the only concern at the Federal level is if SCOTUS rules state laws unconstitutional or if Congress passes legislation that will supersede them. So really the GOP can be successful on a lot of its platform if it merely prevents action at the Federal level, and the only way this will change is if we US citizens vote them out of Congress and state legislatures.

 

It would take a brokered convention to keep Trump from the nomination, meaning no candidate has 50% of the delegates. It can easily happen if Rubio and Cruz stay in the race, which is why neither will drop out. It's their only hope, because after the initial vote where all the delegates give their vote to who they promised, everyone is up for grabs and free to vote for who ever they want. Doesn't even have to be a current nominee, I don't think. In theory, they could pick anyone to run. You'll hear about lots of deals between camps, and cabinet positions promised for delegate support from other sides.

I suspect that is the only way Rubio becomes the nominee at this point. No way in hell they pick Cruz, he's almost as unpopular as Trump with mainstream republicans.

There are two ways that doesn't happen. First is Trump manages to get 61 percent of the remaining delegates (I think that was the number I saw) which isn't out of the question. He just has to win a few take-all states like Florida, and the majority in the rest. The other way is Cruz sees the writing on the wall and drops out. His supporters would shift to Trump before Rubio and that would end it, effectively sewing it up for Trump.

Ultimately, I think Trump will be a gift for democrats, for a few reasons. First, he will unequivocally make sexist remarks to Hilary, and bully her, and while that works against guys like Cruz and Rubio, people in general will be turned off by a guy bullying a woman. His typical behavior will look a lot different juxtaposed against a woman to most independent and moderate voters. Just look at how much shit Trump got for the Megyn Kelly incident. They'll point out how many foreign nations have female leaders and ask questions like "how would Trump deal with Angela Merkel?" it would make for a compelling case against him.

Second, trump has his supporters who will vote for him no matter what, he has to convince moderate republicans and independents to go for him, and I just don't see that happening. I think moderate republicans will stay home, and independents will vote for Hilary. They may not like Hilary, but it will be a "lesser of 2 evils" or "devil you know vs devil you don't" situation for most independents. For better or worse, you know what Hilary will do and where she stands. You can't say that for Trump at all. He goes to the George Constanza school of truth telling - it's not a lie if YOU believe it. And he has flip flopped so many times on so many issues no one knows really what he'll do.

 

Consider this strategy: If the GOP could gain enough state legislatures while maintaining control of Congress they could theoretically render POTUS and SCOTUS irrelevant. Right now they have 24 state trifectas. They could gain 6 more just by winning the governorships of Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. If they could get to 38 the GOP would more or less have free reign to pass whatever Constitutional amendments they please. Amendments bypass both POTUS and SCOTUS so they could concede those offices without concern. Of course there's a pretty deep division between the Tea Party caucus and the establishment, but with that kind of control they could play quid-pro-quo with each other.

It's a risky strategy to be sure - and pretty unprecedented, I'm sure - but with the amount of control the GOP already has at the state level and control of both houses of Congress, is it really that far-fetched that the GOP could play that long game?

 

This is the most desperate of the GOP debates so far, and that's saying something. They are straight-up trying to Kangaroo court Trump, and the rockstar lines of blow are wearing off on Rubio and making him sweat.

 

I've not seen such a naked attempt to take down a candidate. And during a debate no-less. That video montage of him contradicting himself was funny. But it was such a crock of shit. No matter how you feel about Trump, I don't feel he was done right.