Additionally:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senior-gop-officials-exploring-options-trump-drops/story?id=41089609

Republican officials are exploring how to handle a scenario that would be unthinkable in a normal election year: What would happen if the party's presidential nominee dropped out?

ABC News has learned that senior party officials are so frustrated -- and confused by Donald Trump's erratic behavior -- that they are exploring how to replace him on the ballot if he were to drop out.

So, how would it work?

First, Trump would have to voluntarily exit the race. Officials say there is no mechanism for forcing him to withdraw his nomination. (Trump has not given any indications that he no longer wants to be his party's nominee).

Then, it would be up to the 168 members of the Republican National Committee to choose a successor, though the process is complicated.

One Republican legal expert has advised party officials that, for practical reasons, Trump would have to drop out by early September to give the party enough time to choose his replacement and get the next nominee's name on the ballot in enough states to win.

8/3/2016 10:02:04 AM

Quote :

"What is sad about all that is how hard he is having to try to look worse than Hillary. Goes to show you just how terrible she actually is."

come the fuck on, dude

8/3/2016 10:20:10 AM

Quote :

"Trump's national campaign spokeswoman blamed Obama and Clinton for Kahn's death in 2004. Obama didn't take office until January 2009 and of course Hillary then became Secretary of State."

What a marvelous bunch of fucking idiots.

8/3/2016 10:23:47 AM

the Illinois State Senate has a big impact on the US Military's SOP

also no was does this egomaniacal asshole drop out and give up shit like getting a purple heart from some dumbass vet

[Edited on August 3, 2016 at 10:26 AM. Reason : .]

8/3/2016 10:25:47 AM

Kahn = Jewish
Khan = Muslim

8/3/2016 10:59:16 AM

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-small-are-trumps-hands-916593

epic reporting here.

and trump does have small hands. I'm 6'1 and have half to a quarter inch on his fingers. and I've always considered my hands small (can't palm a basketball)

8/3/2016 11:49:22 AM

Katrina Peirson blew a shot at salvaging something today LOL wow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFPTtCDLNcg

8/3/2016 12:00:06 PM

haha this bitch won't apologize or even admit that she misspoke. hilarious.

i actually feel bad for anyone who has to publicly attempt to spin the narrative away from the crazy shit that dude says.

8/3/2016 12:07:13 PM

they deserve absolutely no sympathy for going all-in for him

8/3/2016 12:24:21 PM

full meltdown mode



[Edited on August 3, 2016 at 12:42 PM. Reason : i want to subscribe to angela ryes newsletter]

8/3/2016 12:41:02 PM

Whenever I see those panels I turn it off. There is nothing useful in 5 minutes of people shouting over each other.

8/3/2016 1:11:37 PM

That girl in pink reminds me so much of my ex-wife. She thinks that just because she has an excuse to blow up on somebody, she should go ahead and blow up on somebody, at full force.

[Edited on August 3, 2016 at 1:45 PM. Reason : h]

8/3/2016 1:36:52 PM

^ You don't think he deserved it?

I like how she's smiling prior to speaking. You can tell she's about to go off.

In other news:

Quote :

"Dakota Meyer: Medal of Honor Recipient Calls for Donald Trump to Apologize to Family of Fallen Soldier "If @realDonaldTrump wants to be the Commander in Chief, he needs to act like one. And that cant start until he apologizes to the Khans," Meyer tweeted. "

8/3/2016 2:05:58 PM

Quote :

"haha this bitch won't apologize or even admit that she misspoke. hilarious. i actually feel bad for anyone who has to publicly attempt to spin the narrative away from the crazy shit that dude says. "

Wow, nice. That was the most thorough crushing on Trump's spokesperson i've seen to date-- not that it's hard when almost nothing she's saying is based in facts.

I might need to start watching more TV news.

8/3/2016 2:21:51 PM

Quote :

"That girl in pink reminds me so much of my ex-wife. She thinks that just because she has an excuse to blow up on somebody, she should go ahead and blow up on somebody, at full force."

Based on the stupidity of the accusations at hand I'd say she went well under the amount of force justifiable

8/3/2016 2:53:45 PM

8/3/2016 3:04:30 PM

Quote :

"2nd grade election"

8/3/2016 3:08:38 PM

Quote :

"Trump: "I should play Obama for the presidency. I'll do it. Then I'll be assured of winning""

Not sure if this is real, but was tweeted by a time journalist.

https://twitter.com/zekejmiller/status/760936481116528640

8/3/2016 5:15:55 PM

Play him like an actor? Like adopt his strategies and policies?

Or like, play him in a game of pickup basketball, winner is president?

8/3/2016 6:42:57 PM

hungry hungry hippos

8/3/2016 6:47:03 PM

Ignorance, fear, and hate all captured in this raw video from various Trump rallies:
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/videos/10150863688069999/

8/3/2016 6:57:04 PM

^ nice

this nicely dissects trump's words against the khans and shows how he would be a liability in the WH:

https://www.facebook.com/ezraklein/videos/10154440021668410

8/3/2016 8:35:05 PM

Nobody is watching, its anti-Trump time for the liberal media.

8/3/2016 10:08:53 PM

I love how Trump tries to claim that employing people is a sacrifice he has made. Employees aren't a sacrifice they are a business asset. When employees stop being assets they are no longer employees. "You're fired" was Trump's literal motto for over a decade and he's gonna claim that he employed people out of the goodness of his heart? Yeah what a grand sacrifice, he would have made so much more money if he just laid every brick and cleaned every toilet himself, but he let someone else do it for a few dollars an hour because he's such a wonderful human being.

8/3/2016 10:56:22 PM

^ yeah trump clearly has no real concept of sacrifice. He's a spoiled rich kid acting like a spoiled rich kid.

8/3/2016 11:16:44 PM

This was today...
https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10155123036336509/

Does trump think this will help him...?

8/4/2016 12:24:49 AM

^ unbelievable, simply unbelievable...

he is an utter disgrace to the human race, to america, and to americans.

no, i am not just spitting put hyperbole, i truly mean that.

probably the crassest, most vile-mouthed, most puerile, and most snidely egoistical "politician" i can remember from the past couple of decades.

8/4/2016 1:07:29 AM

i hate trump as much as the next guy but cnn is lousy and can't talk about more than one thing at a time.

8/4/2016 4:04:45 AM

I'm becoming more and more convinced that he never thought he would get this far, and he doesn't want to go any further.

The whole throwing out the baby thing just bothers me, and boggles the mind as to why he said what he said. He could have had the baby removed very politely and quietly, but no, he fucking made fun of the mother.

He's trying to tank his own campaign, that is simply the only explanation.

8/4/2016 1:07:05 PM

Quote :

"I'm becoming more and more convinced that he never thought he would get this far, and he doesn't want to go any further."

So, I've seen this in a couple of the other threads, and I just dont buy it. If he never wanted the nomination, why would he even run? Its not like he has made money of this. And his "brand" seems to be taking a huge hit. What else would he get out of wanting to run and lose in the republican primary?

Additionally, it's not like he didn't have every opportunity to drop out before or during the convention. Hell, I am sure the GOP leadership would have happily taken the hit to replace him with a more traditional candidate.

8/4/2016 1:12:39 PM

Nothing, and I mean nothing, would drive GOP voters into Hillary's arms (or away from the polls entirely) than the idea they've been played for fools by that orange turd. I don't think it's true but I definitely think Dems should start floating that idea in national ads and stump speeches.

8/4/2016 1:20:14 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qIQbydyHwc

8/4/2016 1:22:35 PM

There's no shortage of former vanity candidates who've managed to monetize being an ex-candidate. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump hoped to do the same, though he did well enough early enough and long enough to miss the easy opportunities for a graceful exit a la Carson.

8/4/2016 1:23:06 PM

There are definitely enough idiots that actually support Trump to provide him a money making opportunity from all of this. Will it be enough to make up for the hit his brand has taken with the rest of the population? Not sure.

8/4/2016 1:41:41 PM

But it's not like he wasn't already making tons of money before running (according to him). So even if he could somehow monetize this through book deals and speaker fees, its still less that what he was doing before starting his campaign.

I think you all are giving him too much credit. The guy has shown to clearly be a sociopath during this campaign (Obviously I haven't met him, so who really knows). I think this is all about power, not money. I don't think he has any intention of dropping from the race. I hope I am wrong though.

8/4/2016 1:42:43 PM

i dont see why the baby thing was a headline. i thought it was pretty funny.

8/4/2016 1:45:50 PM

^^ I think it's both and the thought of him getting crushed in the general and that being so embarrassing might be the only thing we can hope for to get him to drop out

8/4/2016 1:51:59 PM

Quote :

"He's trying to tank his own campaign, that is simply the only explanation."

he's the same awful person he's always been

that same person won the nomination

some of us were able to see that from the very beginning, and now some are hilariously just now figuring it out

just look at your original post in this thread

8/4/2016 2:14:30 PM

Quote :

"I think this is all about power, not money."

It's possible that it's not really about either. He's shown no previous inclination towards wielding significant political power, that I'm aware of. He doesn't seem that interested in power in the sense of wielding control - witness "his" business ventures, in which his contribution began and ended at the Trump name. And while I'm sure he loves money, I'm not sure that's the thing that drives him. Does "The Apprentice" even make economic sense for such an (allegedly) wealthy person? I don't know what his compensation looked like, but the whole thing puts me in mind of the old line about how if Warren Buffet/Bill Gates/Rich Person dropped $100 on the street, it wouldn't be worth their time to pick it up.

But I can absolutely believe that publicity does. I think it drives him. I think it's what makes him wake up in the morning. I think he is legitimately addicted to attention. Tabloids were his gateway drug, reality TV was his heroin, and this political campaign is him sucking dick in an alley for one more hit. It's attention whore apotheosis.

Quote :

"Nothing, and I mean nothing, would drive GOP voters into Hillary's arms (or away from the polls entirely) than the idea they've been played for fools by that orange turd. I don't think it's true but I definitely think Dems should start floating that idea in national ads and stump speeches."

Agreed 100%. Some Super PAC should start suggesting it. No frontal assault on the orange bastard is going to sway his supporters, but the suggestion that they've been duped might work. And though I don't exactly believe it, either, I think there's plenty of evidence to point to.

8/4/2016 2:36:02 PM

From his Wikapeida page:

Quote :

"Trump floated the idea of running for president in 1988, 2004, and 2012, and for Governor of New York in 2006 and 2014, but did not enter those races.[232][233] He was considered as a potential running mate for George H. W. Bush on the Republican Party's 1988 presidential ticket but lost out to future Vice President Dan Quayle. There is dispute over whether Trump or the Bush camp made the initial pitch. In 1999, Trump filed an exploratory committee to seek the presidential nomination of the Reform Party in 2000"

So he has long had at least an interest in politics. But you may be right about the "celebrity" of it all. Even before he took over his father's business, he was a part of the NY tabloid scene.

8/4/2016 3:42:13 PM

Trump gave an interview to playboy in 1990 saying he didn't want to run for president, but would if he saw the country "going down the tubes" and sketched out a campaign that pretty much mirrors the campaign trump has run. I think he does want to be president but he's a spoiled brat surrounded by yes men his whole life, and is not aware of the work and depth of knowledge required for the job.

I think he literally thought he could skate by giving vague non answers and when he won, find the people to fill in the details. And this almost worked. Trump repeatedly references his victory over the GOP primary field, of respected, veteran republicans, and this keeps the wind in his sails.

There's a saying that you shouldn't presume malice when incompetence suffices, and I think Trump is just incompetent.

Most businesses outside of real estate have failed for him, his single biggest asset used to be his celebrity status, and even his real estate business has been a mediocre investment for his wealth:
https://twitter.com/noahpinion/status/761250478172741632

I think trump is just a true idiot. Who here knows of a person who's actually intelligent that goes around telling people how smart they are and that they have a high IQ?

8/4/2016 3:46:12 PM

His flirtations with running could go either way. They could demonstrate an actual interest, but I think that's more than counterbalanced by his behavior when it's not an election year. It's not the behavior of someone who wants to be president. But coyly mentioning up the possibility every four years fits in fine with the idea that he just wants attention.

8/4/2016 4:04:20 PM

How old is this guy???

https://www.facebook.com/topic/Ms-Pac-Man/106180372746917

8/4/2016 4:33:09 PM

Quote :

"I think trump is just a true idiot. Who here knows of a person who's actually intelligent that goes around telling people how smart they are and that they have a high IQ?"

GeniuSxBoY

8/4/2016 5:31:46 PM

Quote :

"Intelligent people are voting for trump for a simple reason... Every single one of us is disappointed at the politicians we elect in every election. They promise the works yet normally change nothing. Everyone is tired of career politicians to the point that some are willing to roll the dice on a blowhard billionaire. It's an emotional response. And there is not going to be much trump can say at this point that will change that. It is why he continues to say dumb things. It doesn't matter. I fucking hate Ted cruise. He is the most fake asshole on the entire stage, and I love it when trump poles at him. He is a fake Harvard elitist to the core."

-CarZin

8/4/2016 5:54:26 PM

I mean, the dude kicked off his campaign by calling Mexicans rapists. If you didn't see this coming than the jokes on you.

Quote :

"Mark Murray Verified account ?@mmurraypolitics New natl NBC/WSJ poll: Clinton 47%, Trump 38% (July 31-Aug. 3; MOE 3.5%) Was Clinton 46%, Trump 41% before both conventions"

Quote :

"McClatchy-Marist Clinton 48 (42) Trump 33 (39) http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article93763582.html"

[Edited on August 4, 2016 at 6:46 PM. Reason : NEVER]

8/4/2016 6:39:13 PM

it would be interesting to see what would happen if trump dropped out early. i'm pretty sure most of the people voting for hillary "so trump won't be president" would be stuck in a lie and vote for her anyway. They'd probably just swap trump for johnson in those statements because the libertarian party would easily become the challenger.

8/4/2016 8:10:56 PM

Gary Johnson totally has a shot bro

8/4/2016 9:50:47 PM

Is Shrike drunk?

8/4/2016 10:15:12 PM

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/trump-s-presidential-campaign-has-crushed-traffic-his-hotels-casinos-n623081

Ouch, visits possibly down by up to 20% for multiple trump properties.

I wonder how many of these places just license the trump name and are owned by trump. I feel bad for the saps that licensed his name.

[Edited on August 4, 2016 at 10:44 PM. Reason : N]

8/4/2016 10:43:17 PM