VANITY: Could Any Other Republican Have Beaten Hillary?

Self | November 12, 2016 | PJ-Comix

[PJ-Comix]

Okay the election is over and all is well but now I have to ask the question: Could any other Republican besides Donald Trump have beaten Hillary in the election?

Personally I don't think so. Jake Novak of CNBC wrote that Trump was essentially a third party candidate who was endorsed by the Republicans. Many Democrat voters in the Rust Belt which was key to victory voted not for a Republican but for Trump who himself repudiated by many/most of the Republican establishment.

When I look back at the other Republican candidates, I see no one who would have been capable of beating Hillary. Jeb Bush? Puh-lease. He would have spent a lot of his general election campaign apologizing plus he was a complete throwback to the past.

Ted Cruz. Okay I initially liked Cruz but I have come to see faults in him as a candidate. For one thing he had sort of a preachy tone which doesn't translate well to the campaign trail.

Chris Christie? Good on the campaign trail but Bridgegate would have doomed him.

John Kasich? A disgusting human being as we found out.

Marco Rubio? It would have been like a boy campaigning.

All I can say is we are extremely lucky that Donald Trump came on the scene. Only he was able to save us from a Hillary Regime which would have brought a liberal Supreme Court, eroded the Second Amendment, brought hordes of illegals and terrorist "refugees" across America, and, I believe, the basic end of our civilization.

Instead we dodged that horrible Hillary Bullet and the Democrats are now in total disarray. America has been saved and we have one man to thank for that...Donald Trump.

[napscoordinator]

Cruz is a horrible speaker. The preaching is a turn off in politics. He would have lost 49 states at least.

[Randy Larsen]

I don’t think so!

[poconopundit]

Forgive me Bill, for going off the deep end on this reply. It's past midnight and it's long past the time I should have let it be :- )

---

Aren't you being a bit unfair to poor Jeb?  After all, it's not the number of people who show up for rallies so much as the opportunity to spend $100 million on a handful of hardcore voters who commit to showing up on a Tuesday night when no Bingo game is going on.

Another thing Jeb! deserves more credit for is the splendid way he merchandised those terrific guacamole bowls!

Look, people rightly blasted Trump for his lack of experience in politics.  But there was Jeb! surprising the over-rated "business genius" Trump by the way he marketed those guac bowls.

Remember, here was a guy who never sold a thing in his life, yet he proved an incredibly quick study.  He frankly missed his calling as an import/export and marketing genius.

Imagine having the smarts to source the bowls directly from real Mexicans!  Little known fact: the guacamole dip was invented by the Aztecs, in what is now the country of Mexico.  So Jeb! was able to make that key historical link -- and that Aztec association made the bowls all the more valuable to the discriminating purchaser of these one-of-a-kind, machine-stamped works of art.

I mean, these were authentic, high-quality guacamole bowls made of 100% recycled, pure petrochemical-based plastic.  The bowls are delicate to the touch, yet sturdy enough not to crack when you drop them from a 13 inch height.

And choosing the guac bowl was perfect in another way, too: it showed Jeb!'s full support for Mexican illegal aliens and NAFTA.  True.  And to make that point even stronger, Jeb! hired a few illegal "craftsmen" to stamp out these exclusive guac bowls for 50 cents a pop in the basement of his Florida home -- his own "sanctuary factory" as it were.

It was a brilliant way to both save campaign costs and send a message to all those blue collar American who lost their jobs to Mexico.  Very thoughtful of you, Jeb!

Today, of course, almost a full year after all Jeb!'s donated campaign money was spent, his guac bowls have gone viral!  Truth be told, the market has greatly matured. Since so many copycat companies got in on the guac bowl action, they can no longer command the luxury $75 price that Jeb!'s GUCCI-quality guac bowls did at the height of the market.

Sadly, the guac bowl is a mass produced product now.  With a current suggested retail price of only $2.29 a piece, families can afford to buy a guac bowl for every room in the house.  Too bad what's being sold these days is a much lower grade of guac bowl.  They don't even include Columbia's special Sunday night recipe.

So I guess Jeb! has the last laugh at Trump and all those FReepers who poke fun at him for being low energy.  In another way, it's sad that his genius is still so widely unappreciated.

He's a humble and kind guy at heart actually.  When Lehmann Brothers gave him a salary of $1.3 million for showing up at the office, he never complained.  And when the state of Florida lost a billion dollars when Lehmann Brothers went belly up, there was honest Jeb! to console the voters and thank them for their support for that fine and solid company.

[af_vet_1981]

I don't think any other Republican would have won. Consider the one nice thing answer Donald Trump gave about Hillary Clinton in the second debate.

“I will say this about Hillary; she doesn’t quit and she doesn’t give up. I respect that. She’s a fighter. I disagree with much of what she’s fighting for…But she does fight hard, and doesn’t quit, and I consider that to be a very good trait.”

[Billthedrill]

Yeah, the Guaca Bowl. (Sighs) We had a chance to put the Guaca Bowl in the very Oval Office itself, and we threw it all away. We’ll regret it. (Sobbing)

[poconopundit]

Wow. That’s quite a comment Trump made.

[kiryandil]

No, all would have been curled up in the fetal position when the first woman came out to say they sexually harrassed them. Trump is a street fighter and that’s why he won.

I knew it was going to be OK when Paula Jones sucker-punched the "reporter" at the end of the press conference just before the second debate. :)

[faithhopecharity]

while I liked a couple of the 16 candidates for the R nomination, none of them looked nearly as able as Trump at CAMPAIGNING and tossing some of the D sh*t/corruption/lies back in their faces

therefore, none of the other R possible candidates would have beaten HilLIARy.

Go Trump!

[deek69]

What states would the other candidates put in play? I cant think of any, plus which one of the 16 would be competitive in Pa, Wi and Michigan let alone win them.

[jmaroneps37]

No! Next question.

[trebb]

Nope - ironic that the other side thought he would be the easiest to beat and he turned out to be the only won who could beat her.... the man fights and if they bring a gun, he brings a cannon.....nobody on our side has had the gonads to do what he did for as long as I can remember.

[ought-six]

Read my post, fool. I said that Newt would likely NOT defeat Clinton in the election, but he would destroy her in the debates.

[Enlightened1]

Nope...

[Cboldt]

Maybe, but not with my vote.

[semantic]

The answer is a definitive no, because all the other Republican candidates where actually republicans in some form or fashion ie free trade, open borders, etc.

Trump, on the other hand, ran as a Kennedy type of traditional conservative Democrat ie protect domestic jobs. So in that regard, the 2016 election was really a virtual democratic primary a la 1968.

It really is amazing that someone finally ran straight up the middle. The progressive left and the remote right either attacked or ignored (didn't support) him, but to no avail.

[PCPOET7]

I think Scott walker could of won against Hillary. he was the only one who ran that had been through the ringer as far as unfair attack ads and threats on those that supported him. unfortunately he was the first to exit when his polling numbers showed no real support

[Sans-Culotte]

No. As you said in the original post, Trump was essentially an Independent who appealed to voters of both parties.

[HamiltonJay]

Look, to the Cruz guys, he couldn’t have won this election.... You need to just wake up to reality here. Cruz couldn’t win a republican primary, he wasn’t going to win the general... no R, besides Trump had any shot at winning this election.

Why?

Simple.

Trump was the only candidate who had the freedom to toss the globalist agenda overboard, Cruz, and all the rest were beholden to the same money men as every previous R candidate, which meant, open borders and “free trade” was going to be their stand, and that stand meant, they could not win.

Even if they had the intellect to see that dropping those stands would put the rust belt into play, none of them, not any of them other than Trump would have been able to take those stands... because they were all backed by the same corrupt globalist folks... They would never be allowed to attack free trade or open borders, not a one of them.

Sure another R might have gotten Fl, Held NC (pretty much any R was going to hold NC, the press advertising this being in play was a joke from day one).. Likely would have gotten OH and IA as well... heck some of them might have even picked off NH as well.. but guess what? Even if they managed that, Hillary still wins. No R could win this election without taking at least 1 of PA, WI an MI.... and nobody, no republican other than Trump could put forth an argument that would play there.

Why do you think the left was so damned arrogant all cycle? Because they knew they had plenty of the map to give, and not a one of them, in their wildest dreams could picture a scenario where Trump would win 1 of the 3 states I mentioned, let alone all 3.

They were wrong of course, Trump had laid out his road map to victory from day one, and the left mocked him for it, laughed at him, and up until election night itself continued to feed each other the lie that they were on the cusp of a Hillary land slide.

The working class in the rust belt/upper midwest were not going to go republican as long as republicans were making the same globalist arguments as the Dems. They were long overdue for a realignment, but they just disengaged because neither side gave a damn about them. Trump did, and Trump won.

Just like Only Nixon can go to China... so to it was true from the get go... Only Trump could win 2016.

If you think otherwise, you need to open your eyes a good bit.

[HamiltonJay]

I disagree, Cruz was a non starter in the general election.... He had no shot out of the gate.. yes I know ideologically most here would have preferred him, but he had zero shot in the general.

Christie was one of my underdog pics.. if there was another candidate that could have at least had a shot at taking out Trump it was Christie, because Christie also had the X factor... He, like Trump, is someone who you can’t ignore when he’s in the room. I don’t think Christie would have won the General had he managed to pull off the nomination, for the same reason no other R beside Trump could have won this...

Christie, and Cruz and the rest, all had the same money men backing them, and they were never going to let htem take a anti free trade, anti open border stand... even if they had the intellect to realize that message would put the upper midwest/rust belt in play... not a one of them would have done it because the money men behind them would have never allowed it.

Trump was the only candidate who could have won 16, period.

Look at the map.. Sure other R’s may have taken FL... any R was going to get NC.. it was never in play and nearly any R probably would have gotten OH and IA... hell a few of them might have even gotten a NH... but that is it... not a single one was going to manage any other state to swing there way..... And that math doesn’t get you to 270.

Trump was the only one who had any shot at 270+... all the others would have resulted in President Hillary.

Why do you think the left was so damned arrogant all cycle? They knew they could give up a lot of the map and still win... they could not perceive in a million years MI, WI and PA being in play let alone flipping... and without at least one of them flipping there was no path for any R to get to 270 and they knew it.

Anyone other than Trump and they would have been right.. but Trump freed from the money men, tossed the globalist crap overboard, and made a play right to the working class and won them.. and won the presidency.

[fieldmarshaldj]

They were legitimate concerns. Right now, and for most of us, we have little objections to his serving as Attorney General (so long as he goes hard into making sure the immigration laws and deportations go into full effect — which was another issue he was squishy on in 2008).