Trump’s Unification Tour

[Dos Equis]

Good commentary.  This man is dangerous. 

Trump’s Unification Tour
No debates, a threat of riots, and a one-man foreign-policy team.

Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, center, speaks during a news conference with his son Eric Trump, right, and Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for Trump, at the Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., on Tuesday, March 15, 2016. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS
March 16, 2016

Donald Trump is the likely GOP presidential nominee, but he still hasn’t won over enough reluctant Republicans he’ll need to get 1,237 delegates and win in November. His unity tour is off to an odd start.

Mr. Trump started it Wednesday on “Fox and Friends” by declaring that he’s done with debates. “We’ve had 11 or 12 debates—I did really well in the last one, I think I’ve done really well in all the debates,” he said. “But I think we’ve had enough. How many times can the same people ask you the same question?” Fox News then canceled the debate scheduled for Monday. So the man who so easily conquered his opponents now thinks he’s above engaging them.

Next he traveled to CNN, where he said he is entitled to the nomination even if he doesn’t reach a delegate majority. “I think we’ll win before getting to the convention, but if we didn’t and we’re 20 votes short, or we’re, you know, a hundred short, and we’re at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, cause we’re way ahead of everybody, I don’t think you can say we don’t get it automatically. I think you’d have riots.” He added that “if you disenfranchise those people . . . I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before.” Riots?

A GOP convention can’t steal something Mr. Trump doesn’t own. Since 1860 the rules have required a candidate to have a delegate majority to win on the first ballot—not a mere plurality. If a candidate fails, the rules allow delegates to support someone else. If Mr. Trump can’t win a majority of Republicans, he can’t win a majority of Americans in November. By the way, Hillary Clinton’s primary vote total so far is 8,646,551, according to the Real Clear Politics count. Mr. Trump’s is 7,533,692.

Mr. Trump also visited MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” where Mika Brzezinski asked about foreign affairs and “who are you consulting with consistently so that you’re ready on day one?”

“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things,” Mr. Trump replied, invoking a book he published in 2000 that riffed on Osama bin Laden. “So I know what I’m doing, and I listen to a lot of people, I talk to a lot of people, and at the appropriate time I’ll tell you who the people are. But I speak to a lot of people, but my primary consultant is myself, and I have, you know, I have a good instinct for this stuff.”

Richard Nixon forgot more about foreign policy than Mr. Trump has ever known, and he still brought in Henry Kissinger. George H.W. Bush, a former Vice President and CIA director, had James Baker and Dick Cheney. All Presidents need trusted lieutenants who have thought about the world. On stage with Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump will have to do more than point to his real-estate deals as a qualification for negotiating with China’s Xi Jinping.

Maybe Mr. Trump figures he can keep blustering his way to the White House. But the anti-Trump coalition could grow if voters see a front-runner who won’t debate, threatens riots if he doesn’t win, and whose foreign-policy brain trust consists of one brain.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-unification-tour-1458170326

[SOMEPARTS]

The reasoning behind Trump saying only him on foreign policy? His policy is dead simple. USA first is what he calls for....now in the real world that won't work, but generalization is working so why change? It's like a new CEO coming in to a company and saying "we're going to change the culture of the company"...they all say that. Obama generalized "hope and change" with little voting record. This is really not that much different. Hillary was usurped by Obama doing a lesser version of the same things....

I find it so interesting the huge vacuum of trust for establishment politicians. They only need look at themselves to know why Trump can jump in to fill that and basically do whatever he wants.

[Dos Equis]

You are giving him too much credit.  He's going to consult himself, because he's a narcissist. 

One of the reasons I didn't vote for Obama in 2008 was an interview he gave during which he refused to acknowledge his obvious mistake about opposing the Iraq surge.  He had said the surge would not only fail, but increase violence in Iraq.  He was wrong.  When pressed about whether he was wrong, he could not bring himself to say he made a mistake.  That looked like an enormous leadership flaw to me (the inability to admit mistakes).  I turned out to be right, unfortunately. 

I see the same thing in Trump, but actually worse.  He combines his extreme narcissism with dishonesty. 

And Trump really isn't an outsider IMO.  He has been entrenched with Democrats, giving them money, and has already likely been trading favors (and money?) for endorsements.  Just more of the same with him IMO.   

[Straw Man]

Good commentary.  This man is dangerous. 

Trump’s Unification Tour
No debates, a threat of riots, and a one-man foreign-policy team.

Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, center, speaks during a news conference with his son Eric Trump, right, and Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for Trump, at the Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., on Tuesday, March 15, 2016. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS
March 16, 2016

Donald Trump is the likely GOP presidential nominee, but he still hasn’t won over enough reluctant Republicans he’ll need to get 1,237 delegates and win in November. His unity tour is off to an odd start.

Mr. Trump started it Wednesday on “Fox and Friends” by declaring that he’s done with debates. “We’ve had 11 or 12 debates—I did really well in the last one, I think I’ve done really well in all the debates,” he said. “But I think we’ve had enough. How many times can the same people ask you the same question?” Fox News then canceled the debate scheduled for Monday. So the man who so easily conquered his opponents now thinks he’s above engaging them.

Next he traveled to CNN, where he said he is entitled to the nomination even if he doesn’t reach a delegate majority. “I think we’ll win before getting to the convention, but if we didn’t and we’re 20 votes short, or we’re, you know, a hundred short, and we’re at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, cause we’re way ahead of everybody, I don’t think you can say we don’t get it automatically. I think you’d have riots.” He added that “if you disenfranchise those people . . . I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before.” Riots?

A GOP convention can’t steal something Mr. Trump doesn’t own. Since 1860 the rules have required a candidate to have a delegate majority to win on the first ballot—not a mere plurality. If a candidate fails, the rules allow delegates to support someone else. If Mr. Trump can’t win a majority of Republicans, he can’t win a majority of Americans in November. By the way, Hillary Clinton’s primary vote total so far is 8,646,551, according to the Real Clear Politics count. Mr. Trump’s is 7,533,692.

Mr. Trump also visited MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” where Mika Brzezinski asked about foreign affairs and “who are you consulting with consistently so that you’re ready on day one?”

“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things,” Mr. Trump replied, invoking a book he published in 2000 that riffed on Osama bin Laden. “So I know what I’m doing, and I listen to a lot of people, I talk to a lot of people, and at the appropriate time I’ll tell you who the people are. But I speak to a lot of people, but my primary consultant is myself, and I have, you know, I have a good instinct for this stuff.”

Richard Nixon forgot more about foreign policy than Mr. Trump has ever known, and he still brought in Henry Kissinger. George H.W. Bush, a former Vice President and CIA director, had James Baker and Dick Cheney. All Presidents need trusted lieutenants who have thought about the world. On stage with Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump will have to do more than point to his real-estate deals as a qualification for negotiating with China’s Xi Jinping.

Maybe Mr. Trump figures he can keep blustering his way to the White House. But the anti-Trump coalition could grow if voters see a front-runner who won’t debate, threatens riots if he doesn’t win, and whose foreign-policy brain trust consists of one brain.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-unification-tour-1458170326

Sounds fine to me

What could go wrong?

[SOMEPARTS]

Every candidate at the national level is a narcissist. It just so happens that the biggest one generally wins. Trump is taking advantage of both how lousy the current party offerings are as well as the expanded executive precedents set by Bush and Obama.

[240 is Back]

i was at a bar tonight.  people who normally chat about music and people, they were all about Trump tonight.  In florida, mind you. everyone there agreed - trump is batshit crazy and maybe a democrat, but he's fun as shit to watch.  It's like WWF wrestling as a kid - dumb as can be, but ya just watch to see what happens.