[bray]

Another pundiot who has no clue of what is making him strong. All of those are strengths and why people are getting behind him. Nobody thinks he is perfect and he does not try to be.

What if he is proving, everything we know about politics is wrong?

Pray America is waking

[Caipirabob]

Even his shortlist of actual achievements dwarves anything the rats could assemble between all of them.

There no contest on competency.

OTOH, as always proceed with caution. I support Cruz but love Trump! It is still a long way to November.

I hope they BOTH make it...

[Teacher317]

To me, his biggest weakness is his mouth. Most people love it when he throws verbal bombs at his opposition, and says things that most others are afraid to say, but if he says something just a little too far over the line, just once, it can all come to an end... and the media is all too anxious to take ANY word and twist it against him at any moment.

[Sir Napsalot]

I pffft'ed at the whole article, thinking the author damned with faint praise. But I'll say this (I posted similar thoughts on The Alinsky Man thread by Richard Fernandez):

The truth is that not everybody can be the Alinsky Man.

We all wish that now that Trump has shown the way (by crossing over the Rubicon), our own preferred candidate will simply pick up his battle and lead us to the other side.

It doesn’t really work that way.

For some people (including FReepers here), abortion is their #1 issue; others, religion; yet it seem more people find illegal immigration is the top priority so far. For that, I am grateful for the general public opinion as we face a foreign invasion in our country.

Recently folks who come here illegally (and even legal immigrants, including those ME refugees Obama's been importing) don't want to be assimilated and becoming one of us. They just want to take over the country. And we have politicians of every stripes and media being very accommodating to it. In other countries, it is an all out war.

Finally I'll post what Subotai Bahadur wrote on the Belmont Club: "Either the country is worth defending, or it is not a country." (Rant off)

[exit82]

Quite frankly, none of these six items present a problem for Trump.

[evilC]

1) How Conservative Will He Turn Out To Be?
He is conservative the one issue, immigration, that is of vital importance to the White (for now) majority. His potential error here is going too soft and allowing more emphasis on the "... and expedite their return bit." White people are what decides elections not tiny (or even large) changes in Hispanic support.

Regarding conservatism: it is not like 'conservative' Supreme Court appointees have done a whole lot of good on issues conservatives care about. We have gay marriage and retain Obama Care. Conservatives appear to have trouble defunding Planned Parenthood even after Gosnell and the baby-parts-express revelations. With Trump we might win on the wall and be no worse off on other things.

5) He May Be Reluctant To Spend Money:
Actually this could be a problem. It is not clear how much of wealth is liquid. If much of his wealth is actually embodied in buildings and the abstract concept of 'brand' he may have much less than a ¡Jeb! size budget. He may be relying on bluff-and-bluster and a lot of free air time. So far that seems to working but there will likely be a time when he needs to spend decent sums of money, on ads and ground-game. If that happens will he decide golf and helicopters are more fun than presidential runs?

[Lopeover]

This bears reposting here:

August 28, 2015 at 9:06:35 AM PDT · 35 of 41
Ancesthntr to luke1825; Lopeover

“There is NOTHING more conservative than stopping a permanent democrat/marxist voting majority and doing whats best for the people and the country. By virtue of Mr.Trump’s position on illegal immigration he “Trumps” all others conservatism.” [Credit to FReeper Lopeover for this quote].

We face a critical choice in the Republican primaries. Which of these 2 people do we nominate for President:

1) The practical guy who will do what I want 75% of the time, and save the country in the process; vs.

2) The (mythical) ideologically-pure guy who will do what I want 100% of the time, but who can’t get elected.

I’ll choose Door #1 every time. “The Perfect is the enemy of the Good” - because trying to attain that which is perfect necessarily precludes being able to actually DO what is good. FYI, credit to General George S. Patton, Jr. for the quote about the Perfect and the Good.

[CodeToad]

“Because Donald Trump has never run for office, he has not been fully vetted”

Other candidates that have been so-called “fully vetted” suck, yet, they still run.

[Georgia Girl 2]

When you hold a press conference every 3 days followed by a rally and speech and every news channel carries it for free you can run a lean campaign. LOL!

[CodeToad]

“He Has Bad Polling Numbers Against The Democrats In 2016”

Against what democrat? Hillary?? O’Malley?? Sanders?? Who on the liberal side even wants any of those idiots??

[trebb]

I wonder if the author would be open to coming up with six reasons why he might not flame out....

[mountainfolk]

When all is said and done, I reflect on what is the upside and downside of Donald Trump as compared to our present Republican elected representatives who are mostly AWOL from their duty to protect and serve America and her citizens. I hope Trump has the needed billions to continue his campaign to win back America from the one worlders, in all of their manifestations be that socialist, communist etc. Money bought our American govt for the powers now in control, and money is the necessary fuel needed for taking back our Republic. Additionally and most important, I believe that Donald Trump is hardcore American and loves this country.

[Liz]

Hillary boasts an army of more than 350 paid staffers many of whom flit through the Clinton Foundation revolving door; she's burning through tens of millions of dollars. Trump's operation has a dozen paid staffers at campaign headquarters (Trump Tower where Donald lives and works).....no pollster, fundraisers or media consultant and a fulltime, big-name policy adviser announced this week.

Ever hear of Eric Cantor?

Then-House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor (R-Va), was considered untouchable and inevitable.

<><> Cantor had tons of money---spent 26X times his primary opponent's $100K.

<><> Cantor consistently polled an astounding 34 points ahead of his unknown opponent.

<><> Cantor was considered "inevitable" and "untouchable".

<><> Cantor had not even one ethics problems.

<><> Cantor sucked-up to an anti-tea party group.

<><> Cantor sucked up to the latino vote.

<><> Cantor showboated his leadership---was deeply into "diversity."

=============================================

BY CONTRAST HIS PRIMARY OPPONENT:

<><> ran as the one to term-limit Cantor;

<><> Brat roundly opposed, and was vociferous against amnesty.

<><> Brat ran as a staunch conservative (now in Congress he has a bonafide 100% conservative rating.)

<><> On election day, Brat got 18,000 more Repub out to the polls than the previous election that elected Cantor.

================================================

CANTOR IN DEFEAT----DUMBFOUNDED:

[Sybeck1]

What are the six reasons that will cause Jeb to collapse?

[Impy]

Perot didn’t want to win, he wanted to make sure Bush lost.

[Taxman]

I posted on two other Trump threads, and have combined and edited them for this thread:

Donald Trump is the enema the Republican Party needs! And, to a lesser degree, Democrats as well.

He is shaking the Republicrat establishment up, and rousing the American “Silent Majority” like no other prominent politician has done since Ronald Reagan.

There were roughly 100,000,000 otherwise eligible American citizens who did not vote in 2012, for many different reasons.

Those are the voters that need to be energized to get off their asses and vote in 2016.

Trump seems to be speaking to and energizing them.

This is exciting! Please pass the popcorn!

I am thoroughly enjoying the HUGE discomfort Trump is causing the “Inside the Evil Beltway Establishment Poobahs!

Bravo Zulu! Donald! Keep up the GREAT work!