sir_eccles

Trump Supporter Sucker-Punches Protestor at North Carolina Rally

Which is fine if you're talking about his own businesses. I don't particularly want him trying to run the country like that.

zargof

So, it turns out that Gordon Gekko is feeling the Bern.

Bernie Sanders Just Won Support from the Most Unlikely Person

I guess Bernie isn't an economic illiterate after all.

Steerpike

Welcome back! I for one enjoy your contributions. On the one hand, you do post some obviously inflammatory stuff, but on the other hand, I have seen a pattern here were certain posters are held to a different standard. Once you cross some unwritten threshold, suddenly your every word is analyzed and dissected.


Personally, I'd much rather read your posts that those of Boiler, who simply repeats the 'anyone but Hillary' mantra and refuses to ever post specific reasons why that makes sense in the context of today's alternatives; he recently offered to post a transcript of a debate in support of his position, as an example.

username.exe

Can't you just ask your dad for a small loan of $1m?

Isn't that how everyone does it?

RoadWarriorFromLP

I don't want him to run the country at all. But we should at least assess his business track record for what it is, which is not a bad one on the whole.

Leslie

Then we should look at Trump University which was clearly a scam. The big question is why? At a point in his life where he was clearly doing well financially, why get involved in a relatively low level scam?

I think he has serious judgment and impulse control issues. Any little thing can send him into a spiral. Mitt Romney said mean words and Trump fabricates that ridiculous showcase of fake products. It's frightening.

RoadWarriorFromLP

It's fair to argue about his lack of ethics; however, I would separate the Trump University/ Wealth Institute/ etc. scam issue from whether he knows how to build hotels.

Trump strikes me as a classic business sociopath, i.e. completely self-absorbed at the expense of others, the kind of guy who would pat you on the back so that's easier for him to put the knife in. I doubt that I would like him personally. If he was a scammer, then he should be brought down for it.

But putting commercial real estate projects into BK isn't exactly unknown. (I should know, because I've done it myself on behalf of others when it was appropriate to do so.) I am not judging him for doing that; I probably would have done the same thing.

Steerpike

Trump really is pulling off an amazing stunt; he is behaving like the worst politician - saying anything his constituents want to hear, but yet he manages to play the 'I'm no politician' card, and gets praise for being non-political (from supporters AND detractors). He has just changed his tune again, on healthcare (for example). No other politician would come anywhere close to getting away with this but his supporters just let it go.


I'm beginning to think he may keep this up throughout the election cycle (assuming he's nominated, which I'm beginning to think is a serious notion). He'll pivot back to center when he's up against Clinton, and simply drop all his recently-adopted positions that he needed to sway the right.


So ... in the (hopefully unlikely) event that he prevails over Clinton, I think the best indicator of his actual behavior as President will be his past performance in life, prior to his entry into the race. Unfortunately, I dislike the man so haven't followed his 'career' with any interest.


I'm certainly becoming more and more convinced of one thing - that he'll be a better option than Cruz.

dakota44

Personally I don't think he will let up on the hateful positions in the general. I think the response to his racist garbage has fed his ego to the point where he may even double down on it. After all, he may think, it worked so well in the primaries it should really work in the general.

Either way, he has torn the scab off the festering sore of underlying racism in the country and we are going to see more violence and hate crimes. Hell of a gift he has bestowed upon the country. I predict serious intimidation by his supporters of non white voters in the general.

scrubbedexpat091

California will be a safe democrat state as usual and Clinton will take it in the primary but by June there is a good chance Sanders will have dropped out unless he somehow really gains steam.

Not voting will do nothing to help Trump get in due to the state I vote in. Trump has no chance at taking the state in the general assuming he even wins the nomintation for that party.

California is not going to be a battle ground state.

Leslie

There's nothing interesting about his real estate or casino dealings. If America wants a president who does well in scum-baggy, yet technically legal, ventures then they can just go ahead and elect him. However, shilling for these fake universities is on another level --- plenty of people have had to pay back and/or gone to jail for these types of scams.

dakota44

He has to testify soon in a lawsuit of I think 40 million over Trump University fraud. One would hope he loses.

Leslie

All of the potential winners have impending lawsuits except Bernie. What a mess.

dakota44

Did not know that. Embarrasing to say the least.

Leslie

Clinton - emails (should go away but maybe not?)
Trump - Trump University
Cruz - will be sued over his citizenship/eligibility if he wins the GOP nomination