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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Second place has been flopping around — it was Fiorina for a while, then Carson, and now it's Cruz. The one thing that the runner-up has had in common throughout the race is that they are also an ideological outsider.
"Mainstream" conservatives seem to have no viable horse in the race. The voters look at the field and are rightly disgusted by the inanity of the Bush campaign, the self-loathing of the Paul campaign, the blatant hypocrisy of the Rubio campaign, and so on. But what is their alternative? They have none. So they think, "At least Trump says what he means. At least he's not one of those Washington insider wimps who refuses to stand up for us when it counts."
Fiorina briefly rose when she looked like she was going to capture the "CEO" slot in the primary — the outsider businessperson who can get stuff done — but she went down this rabbit hole of anti-abortion activism that just didn't resonate with the base the way it might have at one point. The assault on Planned Parenthood is not a majority cause within the GOP.
Carson, of course, got some press as a token black dude; he said some outrageous things and basically played Herman Cain redux, but his inability to string together coherent sentences about anything turned people off as they realized how ridiculous he was.
Cruz, for his part, represents the evangelical voters who distrust Trump for his aggressive, blatant secularism.
edited 11th Dec '15 8:19:15 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Also unlike Rubio, Trump is much much more skilled at manipulating the news cycle and TV networks.
Remember, he's been a TV celebrity for years. He knows how Hollywood and the like work with this shit.
Rubio and co. may appeal to the insiders, but Trump is arguably much better at working the front end. The 'rubes' so to speak.
That's part of it. He's already a celebrity, used to self-promotion and getting ratings with his outrageous behavior. He's a household name thanks to The Apprentice and his obsession with branding everything in sight. There's a mythos that's built up around him: send Trump in to straighten shit out, because he gets things done.
It's hardly surprising that people support him, given that the official Republican party line is that Washington is hopelessly broken. Never mind that they are the ones responsible for breaking it; don't look behind the curtain, folks!
edited 11th Dec '15 8:26:15 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"They would be smart to vote for Rubio, methinks. He's the only GOP candidate I can imagine looking good in a debate against Clinton or Sanders. Cruz is far too much of a Smug Snake to win people over.
Rubio has this habit of choking under the pressure of public speaking. He's mild-spoken, but his political positions are indefensible, and I have to wonder if his diffident demeanor is a mental compromise between his intellectual honesty and his political allegiance — a way to keep his conscience from strangling him.
I just don't see him coming across as Presidential even to a Republican audience.
Remember, the primary reason he's even in this race at all is that some folks in the GOP hoped that he might help with the Hispanic vote by being a token. He was not chosen for his eloquence or his experience or his political savviness, which you can clearly see whenever he opens his mouth in public.
edited 11th Dec '15 8:34:45 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Godwin is truly the face of this election cycle...
edited 11th Dec '15 8:59:46 AM by TotemicHero
Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)Rubio also has "Drinks a glass of water" meme which is just going to distract from him talking, hopelessly. Also the "Too lazy to do his job" thing that was going on a while back is going to bite him in the ass.
Though I do think we're looking at Trump as, well, The Donald and all the Trump Hotels and Trump Steaks it entails.
Rubio as the Establishment preference since Jeb can't appeal to a block of stone.
And Ted Cruz seems to be gathering up the people between Rubio and The Donald.
Basically, Trump has the Racist Vote. Rubio has the Establishment. And I'm pretty confident with Cruz as the Evangelical candidate.
He'd probably going along well with Front National, Orbanists and the other resident assholes in Europe while being shunned by polite society in general. Trump would be the first American president not allowed to enter our country, I think.
edited 11th Dec '15 9:30:46 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from history![]()
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It's been said before that if Trump was a European politician, he'd likely have his own party. Probably reaching a pretty solid double-digit number in the polls, too.
On the birght side, he'd never get to spread his toxic influence on the rest of the Republican Party and he'd be easier to politically isolate.
edited 11th Dec '15 9:57:09 AM by LogoP
It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.Members Of Donald Trump’s Christian Denomination Are Trying To See If They Can Kick Him Out
Which might only make him even more of a martyr to his supporters. After all, they're not super-religious themselves.
Plus, it's a liberal church, so even for his religious supporters, it might not count.
edited 11th Dec '15 10:22:09 AM by BonsaiForest
The Church of Donald. Nah, he worships the dollar, not the Bible. His faith is a show.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Oh. Noes. Ben. Carson. Might. Run. Independent. Ly.
I. Am. Really. Worried. Now.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"@ Potatoes I really don't see how the dam water thing was that big of a deal. If Obama had done such a thing you guys would probably be calling it the nothing it was, and of course the Republicans would be calling it the scandal of the century, such is the way of politics. And as for the not voting thing, he also shares that with Obama. Both were obviously being groomed for presidential runs, and therefore had an interest in being absent from any votes that could cause controversy.
I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.

Yes but Romney was always a close 2nd behind the "flavor of the month" candidates
Meanwhile, not only is Trump still fairly ahead, is there even someone who's "properly" in 2nd?