Well, the doubting Thomases received a resounding answer to that question on November 8. If the many Trump doubters had their way we would all be licking our wounds now having bet and lost yet again on the wrong horse. This time we would have lost America in the process. There was no other choice but Trump to win this most critical election. That is why it was necessary for Trump and his supporters to fight like hell what seemed to be the rest of the universe to win this one. It most certainly is one for the history books, a win against all odds with the survival of this great country in the balance. It was clearly worth all the criticism and effort and it feels terrific to be winning again.
Cruz would’ve been a great debater, but I don’t know if he would’ve been a great campaigner. Many of the GOP would try to “rise above” the attacks to let the public see them for what they were, except that the public probably wouldn’t have.
Trump was the only one who could have won since Ohio, PA, MI, and WI put him over the top.
ONLY his message of anti-NAFTA, phony free trade, removal of jobs and manufacturing would have resonated in those states.
Not one other candidate shared Trump’s pro-worker views on those subjects. Jeb, Cruz, Rubio, et al would not have won those states.
There are two things to consider as the behind the scenes of this race.
The first is that the Tea Party is still functioning, though in the background, and that their *purpose* is to purge Republican liberals from the leadership. Which has had some degree of success but has a long way to go.
Seeing the primary race through this lens, a stalemate was achieved. The conservatives easily blocked the worst of the liberals, despite their having vast funding and a willingness to twist the rules in their favor. They simply did not have the numbers to foist their candidates on the rank and file again.
But at the same time, the Republican liberals were able to effectively block the more conservative candidates who used conventional campaigning tactics.
This stalemate made an effective opening for Donald Trump, who said what conservatives wanted to hear, was wealthy enough to not have to go hat in hand to wealthy donors to beg for cash, which requires a huge amount of *time*, and critically, meant that he did not have to abide the conventional rules for running a race.
Added up, he had the money and the time on his timetable to win without compromising himself.
This is one side of the coin.
On the other is the Clinton-Obama political “apparat”, a gigantic criminal-political Mafia to a great extent funded by the US government, as well as corrupt billionaires who wanted and received ‘quid pro quo’ crony capitalist deals for their support.
With the unblinking support of moneyed interests, academia and the mainstream media, almost everyone assumed that they would now perpetually steer American down the toilet, tearing it down in any and every way, diluting its power militarily, diplomatically, and especially economically, until it was a ruined shell of a nation.
They are internationalist socialists, which means three things: first, they see nations and social institutions as an impediment to one-world socialist government, so seek their destruction; second, they despise republican-democracy and crave a dictatorship of the elites, who direct a gigantic and faceless bureaucracy to rule over “the masses”, the peasants, everyone else; and third, they want “the masses” to be impoverished and dependent on government in every way, under the guise of “equality”, which is the “equality of the lowest common denominator”.
This is government by rationing all that is desirable or essential to life, especially natural things. In its final form you find widespread pollution, crumbling infrastructure, food and fresh water scarcity, misery, decay and dehumanization under a brutal surveillance state secret police.
Yet at the head of this revolting and inhuman monstrosity was a woman so grotesque, repulsive, contemptible, hypocritical, and disdainful of others that no manner of cajoling could turn the tide in her favor. To the people of sensibility, she represented the forces of darkness and evil, which was not a difficult discovery, because she radiates it in a great aura around herself.
She is not a person who imparts vitality, creativity and purpose. She sucks the music from the air, and leaves feelings of despair, despondency, enervation and depression in her wake.
Had she not done this so openly, Donald Trump might have lost. Had he been a RINO, or even a conservative, he might have lost.
Now he has four years to right what has been wronged, to fix what has been broken, and dismantle the apparat of those who hate our nation. If he succeeds, the light and prosperity and optimism will propel his reelection.
It’s impossible to say for sure. If the nominee had been Rubio, who was widely regarded by the Establishment as the most electable, then perhaps he would have done better in states like Nevada and Colorado, and in states where the GOP had no chance to win, like California. But I don’t think Rubio would have flipped Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Wisconsin.
President-elect Trump on the other hand... He not only wanted it, he really did not want 4 or 8 more years of failed 'rat big-government socialist/fascist policies. President-elect Trump did not dance to the liberal tune. I am convinced that most if not all of his alleged "gaffes" and off-the-cuff remarks that got him so much negative attention from the MSM and 'rats were in fact carefully calculated and delivered.
Consider, these remarks, tweets, etc. kept the 'rats off their game plan, reacting to him and the MSM lapping it up. The remarks also kept the MSM paying far more attention to him - looking-for / waiting-for the next big one. They generated interest among the voters. Here was a guy unafraid to say what obviously many people felt. People came for the funnies, stuck around for the message, and ended up liking what he was really saying. In short, he played the MSM and 'rats so smoothly they didn't even realize it. Even if they did, they were trapped. They couldn't get their message out there when so many people were more interested in what he was saying or might say next. The liberals helped create the sound-bite social media generation, then got outplayed for their attention.
In short, no kid gloves, he took the gloves off and came out swinging. Remember "Because you'd be in jail." No-one else in the field of GOP candidates would have said that.
I think Walker could have, if we ever got any traction. I am surprised that he never did.
That’s a really good question.
I think a large chunk of the electorate is officially boycotting establishment Republicans and will from here on out.
On the other hand WikiLeaks and the server were doing tremendous damage to Hildebeast day by day. It’s a tough call.
Ted Cruz came the next closest, though still missing the target by a country mile.
Regular Republican politicians would rather be thought "polite" and "civilized" than win. Trump wanted to win.
Compare and contrast how somebody like McCain treated Obama in 2008, versus how he treated his more-conservative opponent primary-challenger for his Senate seat.
Trump spent half of what Hillary spent. I don’t know how you could quantify the media earned by being Trump and doubling down on political incorrectness, but it’s epic and unprecedented.
Alright, Trump is the only one of the 17 who could win. I liked others could have taken Cruz or Walker. Don’t write me about their merits. They proved to be good on each side of conservatism. But Trump had something that those two did not have. Trumps money did not go away when the going got tough. When everyone left Trump for dead, he still had his money. And secondly, Trump showed that he had far more energy than even his handlers. Trump out campaigned everybody. Trump worked it hard for 16 months.
You can see my second point with reference to both Jeb and Hillary. They both had more cash than they knew what to do with. But they did not have the energy to personally show up every day and every night in front of thousands of people. Trump did. Remember Trump going to a rally in California, getting out of his motorcade on the highway and walking to the venue over guard rails and through bushes. Jeb and Hillary would not do that.
And here is the dirty little secret that kills most candidates. Even if they want to stick to it. Their money gets weak in the knees. Rubio would have kept fighting. But his money wouldn’t. Money almost always gives up before the candidate. But Trumps money was not going to quit.
My contribution to all:
McCain and Romney actually got in the 60,000,000 range as well; same as Trump. Trump probably has more votes to be added on from Michigan and perhaps NH too.
All 3 did similarly, I think we are looking at a lot of voter fraud in ‘08 and ‘12.
So, it might be possible one of the others could have done well too; but the Dems could not commit as much fraud this time. They still did, 3 million illegals voted per voterfraud ; covered in a New American article today.
Walker
Yes; next inane”question.”
Who else was going to look Hillary Clinton in the face and tell the truth about the Clintons? For a Rep. Candidate to win, it had to be an outsider. Politicians are too PC and have their finger to the wind. Trump never backed down...he wasn’t afraid to lose, so that made him all the bolder.
But who can win next time? Pence! Pence did a great job campaigning. He was a great debater! His twitter is fabulous! And he was a governor and congressman. He knows his stuff. And he is a real conservative who stuck with Trump.
The Gentleman’s Republican party or it’s pretense has ended, forever. Trump has reset the tone on what it takes to beat them and be a winner.
If Pres.-E-Trump does not clean up the illegitimate vote, he and no other pub will ever win again. Seriously!
DJT demonstrated to all that may follow that if you do not fight to win, you are guaranteed to lose.
It is the most amazing win of all times in so many ways.
No, none of the other republicans would have won, this would have been another McCain/Romney defeat
The other Republican candidates would have been walking on glass trying not to offend anyone, pleasing the media that hates them and proposing policies that are no different then Hillary’s.
Trump won because he went after the democrats, did not care who he offended and proposed policies and changes that are nothing like Hillary’s. He won people who haven’t voted in years, or only voted democrat. He destroyed the establishment and took out big money in his campaign. He did very well, and only Donald Trump was the person who could have pulled this off.
He relied on rallies instead of press interviews, he drew huge crowds consistently, you had to wait in line 6 hours to get into a Trump rally. He was spreading his message around the MSMs, he made them essentially, obsolete.
Would have JEB, Cruz, Christie, Carson, Walker, Perry, Fiorina have done that? I doubt it. He did everything that we would dream that a Republican candidate would have done. I don’t see JEB drawing 10-15 thousand people per rally, 4-5 times a day, I don’t see Cruz or Christie doing that either.
Trump had a winning message, willing to fight for it and won.
Simple answer is yes
Ronald Reagan is the only GOP figure in the last 70 years who could have done the same thing.