As I predicted, The Donald is still on top of the GOP presidential polls, including in some early primary states. If a bunch of state primaries were held today, Trump would be the GOP nominee.
Joan Walsh thinks she has found the tidbit that will end Trump: A 1989 biography with details of brutality toward his then-wife, Ivana, and then Trump’s lawyer went ballistic on Politico writers who were using the details in the story. I don’t see how brutality toward a wife or a nasty lawyer will register as negatives with Trump supporters, though. It’s also the case that Ivana has disavowed the story, which makes it kind of a non-starter.
Reince and Co. are going to have to get tough and make The Donald an offer he can’t refuse. If there is such a thing.
To Dumb-‘n-old Chump’s supporters, this is not a scandal.
After all, Ivana was an immigrant!
She deserved some marital rape like those Messican “illegals” do to the white women they encounter.
(Yeah, I know this doesn’t make any sense, but then, what does when it comes to Chump and his fans?).
And Chump’s lawyer reminds me of Roy Cohn – another conservative gem!
Oy……………
Trump’s supporters are genuinely besotted with The Donald; he can hardly do any wrong. He is perfectly reflecting their ids; the only thing that might make them think twice is if they caught him being nice to somebody. The other day I ran into a comment in which a guy was comparing Trump to Theodore Roosevelt, for pity’s sake. If you know anything at all about T.R., you’d know he would have absolutely hated The Donald.
Take the cannoli, Donald.
(Secretly praying: please please please run as a third-party candidate!)
“Reince and Co. are going to have to get tough and make The Donald an offer he can’t refuse”
Oh I think this is the deal, Trumps job is to trash Jeb and in the meantime act so fucking bizarre that knuckledraggers like Scott Walker looks like a moderate, he’s the one the Koch’s want and I think Trump is in on the deal. We’ll see trying to cipher what the republicant puppet masters are thinking just gives me a headache!
We can all rest assured that GHWBush has got this all worked out in his own way.
I would give anything to see another Clinton victory over a Bush.
The other day I ran into a comment in which a guy was comparing Trump to Theodore Roosevelt, for pity’s sake.
The Teddy Roosevelt in Arsenic and Old Lace?
Swami — Nah; the Arsenic and Old Lace T.R. was rather sweet, as I remember.
The Bush crime family can arrange it so that Il Donaldo will be sleeping with the fishes.
Joan Walsh is mistaken if she thinks that little tidbit is going to bring down the Donald. If anything, it will reinforce the I want my country back crowd with the notion that their liberties are being eroded..What ever happened to a man’s conjugal rights,and the time when a man was Lord and master of his own domain?
Ivana was just being a rebellious wife who needed correction and Donald took control; just like he’ll take control of America’s foreign policy when he becomes the Commander in Chief.
“Oh I think this is the deal, Trumps job is to trash Jeb and in the meantime act so fucking bizarre that knuckledraggers like Scott Walker looks like a moderate, he’s the one the Koch’s want and I think Trump is in on the deal.”
Lol…okay.
Trump can’t call Luca Brasi. But he CAN call Nicky Scarfo. and until 1992, he could always call Fat Tony Salerno.
http://www.alternet.org/21-questions-donald-trump
zoomar — I was thinking Reince would call Luca Brasi.
Assuming that Ivana is lying now rather than then (she’s disavowed this claim now) why would this impact Trump’s GOP fans? Misogyny coupled with brutality? That’s supposed to turn them against him? Has no one been paying any attention to the GOP these past few decades?
Swami — Nah; the Arsenic and Old Lace T.R. was rather sweet, as I remember.
Off to Panama! (Any yellow fever victims this time?)
Why would beating or raping a WIFE (or for that matter any woman) be a problem for a Republican? Their platform is to beat up on women as much as possible. That she is a ‘foreigner’ just puts icing on the Dixie Swastika cake.
This is the first time I’ve examined the numbers. If the GOP plays by their own rules % such, Donald could win the nomination. He seems to have drawn from the Tea Party crowd and from JEB. As the others drop out, I don’t see his standing will collapse which is what I had expected to see. The GOP spectrum is wierd – at one end is JEB, the establishment candidate. At the other end is the conservative Tea Party crowd, including Walker who may have been annotated by the Koch Bros. Trump isn’t a moderate, but he occupies a place between the two poles and the dynamic shift as candidates drop out won’t damage Trump. If three or more TP candidates stay in the primary race for a while, trump may rack up enough delegates OR – there may be a knock-down drag-out in the GOP convention if there’s a three way split.
In terms of entertainment value, could anything beat a Trump vs Sanders debate?
Yeah, I’m beginning to think Trump may not flame out. He’s certainly not got problems being in front of a camera or working the spotlight, and he’s situated himself firmly within the mainstream of the GOP. Add in his available money, and I don’t see any real reason at this point that he can’t mount a legitimate campaign with a real shot at the nomination.
I just heard on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show that Ivana’s divorce settlement was completed with a gag order on her about the marriage. Maybe that explains her answers or non-answers.
We can do our bit by purchasing Glenfiddich single malt Scotch, which Trump, out of spite, has banned from all of his facilities. Next time you want a wee dram of the malt, folks, remember to ask for Glenfiddich by name.
Trump’s wealth has been continually downgraded: from his self-proclaimed “$10 BILLION DOLLARS” to Forbes’ $4.2B assessment to Bloomberg’s $2.9B.
Also, I have a problem seeing Mr 4x business bankrupt Trump as some kind of entreprenurial genius. Would it be rude to point out that he was born a multimillionaire (like Romney)?
All that said, however, I hope he will remain in the “race:” He gives voice to the outraged rightwing populist conservative id; his only contender in that area is Huckabee…who, like Trump and the entirety of Faux News, is totes about the grift.
Here in the sticks, I tend to filter out a lot. As the media swings the watch back and forth, I try to keep my eyes elsewhere. So making sense of the Trump phenomenon is just a wild guess and nothing more, on my part.
But, I catch a glimpse of the hydra-like monster that has been “raised up right.” I think Trump is the apotheosis of their collective id, as Maha wrote, and they seem to be overstocked in the id department. So when Trump says something hateful and ridiculous, they hear him speaking the “truth.” The more hateful and visceral it is, the more it angers pointy headed liberals, the truer it seems. They want to throw their righteous tantrums without the tyranny of political correctness. They want to punish those who disagree with them. So they gravitate towards an authority that they believe will recognize their virtue and smite their enemies. They want to remain on their blanket, (q.v. “Blanket Training”) and they want others to stay there as well.
There has been some discussion of epistemic closure among our political camps. We should ask ourselves the question, “what do I mean when I say, ‘I know?'” For some, to believe is that same as to “know.” If others around them also believe it, that cinches it. If someone starts to blather about facts, well, they’re obviously just an elitist. Shout them down and the louder you shout, the more admirable you appear. If you pitch a proper fit on a regular basis, you might even earn the reputation of a “dangerous intellectual,” the good kind of dangerous intellectual, like Cliven Bundy or Alex Jones. This achievement renders certain perks.
So the establishment types like Jeb!, are in a sticky situation. They cultivated their demographics to embody certain traits and to respond to certain stimuli, if they start to rein in their dog after it has a taste of blood, they will be seen as traitors and apostates. They will have betrayed the cause that the have constructed in the minds of the mindless.
So it’s “anything can happen” day. The party that seemed so monolithic may splinter, the Judean Peoples’ Front may take on the Peoples’ front of Judea.
Wow, I wasn’t expecting a rant, but, there you have it.
Ed,
We’re on one of our frequent health kicks, so it will be a few months before I can have even a wee dram. I’m more of a Islay man, so I’ll opt for a Laphroaig when the time comes. This is not to bad mouth Glenfiddich, just enhancing the dream of smokiness.
What caused Trump to single out Glenfiddich?
@goatherd
It has to do w/ Trump’s failed attempt to sully the Scottish coastline with one of his excessive golf resorts. Glenfiddich apparently gave an award (“Scot of the Year”) to the farmer who held out against selling his land to Trump, making it impossible for the resort to go forward. Pure nursery school/sandbox stuff.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/05/donald-trump-bans-glenfiddich_n_2247458.html
Thanks, BlueLoom, that’s good to know. I’ve always liked the Scots, now there’s one more reason.
Of Trump, Billmon tweeted:
He added that the amount of schadenfreude one experiences is inversely proportional to the chance that person gives Trump of winning.
The 2011 movie about Trump’s Scottish golf resort building, and intimidation methods, You’ve Been Trumped, was pretty good.
BlueLoom is correct about what got Trump’s goat.
Glenfiddich offended Trump by giving an award to a quarryman and fisherman named Michael Forbes, who owns 23 acres near a planned Trump golf resort and refuses to sell his land. Why should he be allowed to prevent the Donald from constructing a five star hotel on that land where he has his little pigsty? Aberdeenshire authorities should force him out, shouldn’t they? Well, William Grant & Sons, the distiller of Glenfiddich, named Forbes Top Scot, an egregious slap in the face to the only man on the face of the earth who can make America great again. Hence Trump’s desire to utterly destroy everyone in sight.
Immediately, social networking sites like Twitter were set ablaze with pledges of support for Glenfiddich and with promises to go out and buy extra bottles and shares in the company. Who the hell are the people of Scotland not to recognize that they have been insulted when some little twerp gets in the way of Donald Trump?
My mistake in the reply, Maha. Apologies. Reading you correctly now, I agree, Reince may be at wits end. But he must know the number of a real life ratf***ker or two. Gordon Liddy is too old. Scooter Libby is damaged goods. Rove’s gone soft. Roger Stone maybe? James O’keefe? Maybe Ray Donovan?
Interesting Donald’s recent praise for Palin. He must hate her privately. He knows who he can “dis” publicly and who he can’t. Folks are wondering just what he has to do to cross the civility line with his supporters? Insulting Palin might do it.