Posted on 07/09/2015 2:17:39 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
By even his own admission, Donald Trump has only a 10-20% chance of becoming the country's next president. And most Republicans don't consider him a threat to win the nomination.
But at least one prominent Republican figure is starting to worry that Trump could end up on the general-election ballot in another way: by running as a third party candidate.
At a meeting of Republican strategists and lobbyists reported by the New York Times on Thursday, former Republican congressman Thomas Davis raised the possibility that Trump could play spoiler as a third-party candidate.
"You've got to keep him in the tent," Davis told the Times. "He's Ross Perot as an independent. He just wreaks havoc, and every vote he takes comes out of our hide."
According to the Times, members at the dinner said that the party needs to tread carefully as not to alienate Trump, who could be inspired to run as an independent candidate if he is shunned by the Republican Party. The dinner meeting featured "some of the capital's leading Republican elected officials, strategists and lobbyists," according to the Times....
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.in ...
White blue collar workers are overwhelmingly republican voters.
Trump/Cruz 2016
Trump is a very smart guy, but he’s also a guy who can make you cringe. Cruz I think knows this, he seems to be positioning himself for this particular eventuality. I don’t trust Cruz, but the man isn’t stupid.
0% chance he runs third party. He can’t really run at all.
They should call his bluff. Dare him to run third party.
It was the pro-abortion, anti-gun Perot, who got Clinton elected.
Bill Clinton is also Trumps favorite president, Trump didn’t like Reagan, which is probably why he joined the Democrat party in 2001.
How so?
He may be right about immigration but he’s still a liberal.
So was Romney, McCain, both Bushes, Ford....
If the GOPe had not been so feckless they would not have to worry about some one like Trump coming along and spoiling things for them. What was the line from Shakespeare, “Methinks the lady protests a bit too much.”
Trump was going to run as an Independent in 2000, before he became a Democrat.
TRUMP PUMPED TO HIT STUMP – WANTS TO RUN WITH OPRAH ON HIS TICKET
By Deborah OrinOctober 8, 1999 | 4:00am
The Donald and The Body met in Manhattan last night to discuss The Presidency, which Trump wants to seek with Oprah Winfrey as his running mate.
Trump and Minnesota Gov. Jesse “The Body” Ventura talked politics over dinner – hours after Trump announced he’s starting an exploratory committee to study a White House run.
Asked by The Post afterward if he’s running for president, Trump said: “Yeah, I am.”
Trump said earlier that he needs an exploratory committee “because so many people have put so much pressure on me to run. I would not be running if I thought I couldn’t get the nomination and win.”
Trump says he wants Oprah as veep because “she’s great,” and if she joins him in the race, “we’ll win.”
But a spokeswoman for TV’s daytime diva said, “Oprah is not running” – although she didn’t totally slam the door, saying that’s Oprah’s position “at this point in time.”
I’d vote for that, or the other way around.
I’m tired of these GOPES running over to The New York Slimes or Huffpoo to get their dirty work minimizing the messenger and issue done.
I like Cruz for what he says, but I am one of those Birther types, consistent even if others here on FR don’t like it. I don’t believe Cruz (or Jindal or Rubio) is a natural born citizen, hence ineligible IMO. Even if we put that aside, I don’t think Cruz can jar people into a conscious state the way Trump can. I am also troubled by Cruz’s wife’s long-time employment with Goldman Sachs, the major Dog wagger of our country.
If the nose-holders let go of their noses, Trump wins.
Yeb Bush is not an appealing candidate.
Then, my advice to the GOPe’s is don’t ignore the concerns of your base
and you won’t have the Trumps and Perot’s running as independents.
More than anything, the establishment is terrified that Trump will point out their candidates’ “nakedness”, which makes it much harder to run on the platform of “Vote for me or the Democrat will win!”, having no other popular platform.
In effect, Trump is running against the Republican establishment, so at this point it doesn’t actually matter that he isn’t a tried and true conservative. As long as he can draw blood from them, he should be appreciated by us.
Trump Takes Lead In NATIONAL Poll – Significant Lead… (Full pdf Included)
If Cruz got the nomination, Trump wouldn’t go third party.
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