Trump has a collection of supporters that run the gamut.

Some are racist or very prejudiced and enjoy his rhetoric
Others are disillusioned with government and wants to shake things up
Others want to see the GOP implode and are actually democrats and are in a state where they can give him support
Others recognize that he's probably the most centrist and will support him accordingly.

For some of these voters i wish their motivations extended to Congress because real change doesn't come without an overhaul of the old guard

[Edited on February 26, 2016 at 1:42 PM. Reason : .]

2/26/2016 1:42:06 PM

the Pirate Captain was a subversive performance act with no real consequences

Trump isn't that

some people may vote for Trump for the same reasons they voted for the Pirate Captain, but that's totally missing the forest for the trees

2/26/2016 1:43:34 PM

I'm not a trump suppporter by any means, but out of the republican choices, i've come around to thinking he might be the best choice for the nomination based on ^^2-4

[Edited on February 26, 2016 at 1:44 PM. Reason : ]

2/26/2016 1:44:32 PM

He is certainly the best choice of the remaining Republicans.

Liberals should support Trump over the others, if for no other reason than he will destroy the GOP.

Well, destroy might be a strong word. If he wins the nomination, it will trigger a fundamental change in the party. The establishment leaders have completely lost control of the situation.

2/26/2016 2:24:43 PM

The party moved away from me and a lot of others when they went ultra right on the social agenda. And they still have little to no recognition of the environment and sustainability. If trump kills off those people (principally the tea bagging assholes), then so be it.

2/26/2016 2:32:53 PM

Quote :

"Trump has been running on a platform that he is a deal maker. That indicates compromise. The reason I would nut punch Ted Cruise is that he came from the entire crop of Tea Baggers that take a 'my way or the highway' attitude on just about everything. That doesn't get jack shit accomplished, because nearly half of the country will never be on his side. I have a real problem with a politician that thinks because he holds a slim majority in the polls, that he/she should hold the country hostage over those beliefs./quote you pretty much nailed it on why I see Cruz as Worst Case Scenario and would join the Trump campaign team if it meant fending off Cruz as president. [quote]you're wrong about cruise[sic]. Dude is far as fuck from fake. He believes that shit."

This is what scares me about Cruz. I do kinda respect the guy for actually believing in his ideals and carrying the message of his
base and not just blowing smoke. On the flip-side his base his made up of nut-job christian evangelists and ogliarchs of Big Oil. Either way
these views are the absolute antithesis of what direction this country needs.

On the flip-side I have trouble believing that Trump really believes half the shit he spouts. In my judgement this is all rhetoric being ingeniously weaved together to appeal to the dumb-fucking lowly educated Fox News "base" that eats this garbage up like McDonalds French Fries and sermons from Elevation church.

Quote :

"I equate Donald Trump to the Pirate Captain and yes, I'm nervous that he is going to win.... "

I liked the pirate captain!

Quote :

"The establishment leaders have completely lost control of the situation."

While I think the "establishment leaders" are a head-ache, any real revolution of the GOP needs to cast the Evangelical Christian Right crowd out to pasture. For me the Christian Right is the poison pill that prevents me from ever considering a Republican candidate. The global warming deniers and war-hawks are nearly deal breakers as well but the social conservatism crowd's agenda offers no economic benefit and is the biggest threat to our individual freedoms in this country.

2/26/2016 2:35:42 PM

The supporters who show up to Trump rallies seem very Tea Partyish though.

2/26/2016 2:35:59 PM

^ I haven't been to a rally, but I think those folks go more to cruze. You are going to pick up the stink of a tea party member no matter who the republican nominee is.

Quote :

"While I think the "establishment leaders" are a head-ache, any real revolution of the GOP needs to cast the Evangelical Christian Right crowd out to pasture. For me the Christian Right is the poison pill that prevents me from ever considering a Republican candidate. The global warming deniers and war-hawks are nearly deal breakers as well but the social conservatism crowd's agenda offers no economic benefit and is the biggest threat to our individual freedoms in this country."

Absolutely. The ultra right social agenda absolutely alienates so many from the republican party, when many people appreciate the conservative fiscal nature of the party.

[Edited on February 26, 2016 at 2:40 PM. Reason : .]

2/26/2016 2:39:07 PM

At some point there needs to be proof that the GOP can win without them. It's not like they're going to lose their folks to the democratic party. The real fear is that they'll feel apathetic and not vote at all and that difference would hurt the GOP. However, the "Christian Right" shares a lot of conservative fiscal values as well and could still be motivated to vote for other reasons.

2/26/2016 2:43:58 PM

I still haven't heard a response that answers my question. How can you support a candidate that says so many hateful things about so many different groups of people? Do you think he's just exaggerating? I'm legitimately curious.

2/26/2016 2:46:24 PM

^ yes. He's a business and marketing dude. He knows what to say and when to say it to rally the kinds of people behind in order to win the nomination.

Quote :

"Absolutely. The ultra right social agenda absolutely alienates so many from the republican party, when many people appreciate the conservative fiscal nature of the party. "

Blows me away that they are the ones that claim to be "persecuted for being Christian" and their candidate rally behind the call to "protect religious freedom". I guess banning gay marriage and abortions protects freedoms the same way that the Patriot Acts protect my 1st, 4th, and 6th amendment liberties .

2/26/2016 2:54:57 PM

The bigotry and racism is a dealbreaker for me. Otherwise, I'd be in support of Trump. He's still my most favorable GOP candidate after Paul.

I think there is a lot of truth to what trump is saying about the current leaders of the country. They have no concept about how to make deals and how to do business. He knows how to get things done and will put the right people around him to make good decisions. Thats all he does anyway. You think he knows how to build businesses? Sure, he started off with a lot of money but thats exactly where the country is. It just needs better leadership They don't seem to be living in the real world and are in the pockets of the corporations. There isn't really a big difference between democrat and republican establishments. Sure, theres Bernie and Cruz pulling both parties in opposite directions, but people like Bush and Clinton are very similar to Obama.

The trade deficit is a huge problem and needs to be addressed. There needs to be a penalty (tariff?) for producing products overseas.
The border needs to be resolved in a respectful way that allows for more legal immigration.
People need to be taken care of if they are sick.
Leave the rest of the world alone and let putin deal with Isis if thats what they want to do.

That is basically trump's entire platform and I agree with all of it in a strong way. The rest of his decisions will be made by the experts he surrounds himself with. I just don't want a racist xenophobe as president.

2/26/2016 2:55:03 PM

Quote :

"yes. He's a business and marketing dude. He knows what to say and when to say it to rally the kinds of people behind in order to win the nomination."

that's a pretty big leap of faith to assume that he doesn't mean what he says. Have these people not taken the time to consider what might happen if he's even halfway serious? That's pretty terrifying if not.



[Edited on February 26, 2016 at 3:12 PM. Reason : .]

2/26/2016 3:12:18 PM

Quote :

"The border needs to be resolved in a respectful way that allows for more legal immigration. "

You lost me here.....

While I understand why we have a lot of immigration of asian and indians, I think we need to invest more in education of our current population into STEM so that we don't rely as heavily on H1-B visas and so that PhD level knowledge can stay within this country.

I don't think we need to open the flood gates for every latino/latina to migrate here that is tired of living in Mexico/Honduras/Nicaragua/etc

2/26/2016 4:36:27 PM

Quote :

"Ok... Let's talk about Saudi Arabia. Another situation where they simply cannot afford to severe their relationship with us, or even strain it. If the U.S. pulled out the military, the Saud family would fall."

This is a half-cocked take on the situation. If Saudi became this destabilized in this way, this would cause energy prices to spike, and have domino effects through the entire world economy. Trump is maybe dumb enough to push this button, but no one should think this is a smart course of action just because they're "angry".

Quote :

"I'm not saying that I like some of his speech or word choice. I am just telling you that it just won't matter as much as you think. The U.S. holds most of the cards in just about every situation around the world. And we rarely play them. Hell, even when we help we are hated. Do you know how many South Koreans hate the American military? Even after they would be in famine without the aid of the U.S.? Yet we spend billions a year protecting their borders with North Korea. The U.S. is going to be hated and disliked no matter what we do. "

This is pretty nutty don't you think? The US throws its weight around constantly, and used to do it a lot more-- that's what got us involved in Afghanistan/Bin laden, that's what created the regime we have issues with in Iran, the US's attempts at one-sided intervention is literally responsible for all the problems youre citing in the middle east. Your proposed solution of even more heavy-handed actions and dick measuring would just lead to more of the same disastrous results.

Trump painting Mexico as an enemy we need to worry about is just playing on racism. Mexico is not an economically powerful country, they're struggling compared to us, they're not a thorn in our side. Trump only harps on Mexico, not because they're an actual problem, because racist idiots assume because they hate Mexicans, the entire country of Mexico must be evil too.

And regarding the South Koreans... they hate us, so your solution is to do things that make them hate us more?

Trump would be an absolute disaster for foreign policy. If the 20th century has taught us anything, it's that making large populations of people resent us never ends well (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.). As the world's leader, we need to lead by gaining respect, not by projecting anger and fear. Not only is this more effective, it's far cheaper, and actually not even difficult to do except when dummies like Trump start convincing gullible people this is the path to "greatness".

2/26/2016 4:50:11 PM

Quote :

"If Saudi became this destabilized in this way, this would cause energy prices to spike, and have domino effects through the entire world economy."

'
Sounds like a good idea to me.

A lot of us american think the us needs to get out of a lot of global affairs and trump seems to be in line with that general idea.

2/26/2016 5:24:20 PM

Quote :

"that's a pretty big leap of faith to assume that he doesn't mean what he says. Have these people not taken the time to consider what might happen if he's even halfway serious? That's pretty terrifying if not."

It seems like Donald Trump supporters believe that he intends to follow through on the things with which they agree and that he won't follow through on the things with which they disagree.

2/26/2016 5:48:11 PM

Can someone make a running list of TWW'ers who are going to (or did) vote for Trump?

2/26/2016 6:00:16 PM

a pro-business republican that's pro-choice and doesn't babble on about lowering taxes and shoving Christian conservatism down everyone's throat? You can add me to that list.

2/26/2016 9:32:49 PM

Quote :

"The bigotry and racism is a dealbreaker for me. Otherwise, I'd be in support of Trump. He's still my most favorable GOP candidate after Paul. I think there is a lot of truth to what trump is saying about the current leaders of the country. They have no concept about how to make deals and how to do business. He knows how to get things done and will put the right people around him to make good decisions. Thats all he does anyway. You think he knows how to build businesses? Sure, he started off with a lot of money but thats exactly where the country is. It just needs better leadership They don't seem to be living in the real world and are in the pockets of the corporations. There isn't really a big difference between democrat and republican establishments. Sure, theres Bernie and Cruz pulling both parties in opposite directions, but people like Bush and Clinton are very similar to Obama. The trade deficit is a huge problem and needs to be addressed. There needs to be a penalty (tariff?) for producing products overseas. The border needs to be resolved in a respectful way that allows for more legal immigration. People need to be taken care of if they are sick. Leave the rest of the world alone and let putin deal with Isis if thats what they want to do. That is basically trump's entire platform and I agree with all of it in a strong way. The rest of his decisions will be made by the experts he surrounds himself with. I just don't want a racist xenophobe as president."

Well said, except I don't think he is the racist everyone makes him out to be. We need to shut down the border with Mexico. Hispanics coming to America is a huge problem. They have totally taken over and destroyed the construction industry. When my parents built their first house it was a group of 5 black guys that did the brick work. The builder also had a second crew of white guys. Now it is all Hispanics doing the brick work and they are slowly taking over tile, framing, roofing, etc. Hispanics undercut American construction workers and the quality isn't as good. My dad does interior trim and I have helped him off and on through the years, so I've seen it happening with my own eyes. I have also seen plenty of anchor babies during my years at the grocery store. Those people collect all sorts of welfare which costs the American tax payer money.

Trump is also getting a lot of criticism for what he said about Muslims. That is BS too. Look what happened in France and now there are stories of Muslims in Germany sexually assaulting women. He said he wanted to shut down the borders and figure out what was going on first before we start letting more Muslims in. There is nothing wrong with that at all. The most dangerous terrorist groups in the world right now are made up of people with tan colored skin who are from the Middle East and practice the faith of Islam. That's not racism, it's just the truth. The humanitarian side of me feels bad for all of the people living in the crappy Middle Eastern countries, but at the same time it shouldn't be up to America to save the world and make things better every time something goes wrong. I am all for locking the borders.

[Edited on February 26, 2016 at 9:44 PM. Reason : .]

2/26/2016 9:42:11 PM

hahahaha holy shit

2/26/2016 9:46:09 PM

^Laugh all you want, but like I said, it's the truth.

2/26/2016 9:58:18 PM

A creeper and a racist!

2/26/2016 11:02:01 PM

^^^^ Anchor babies is one thing I agree with republicans over.

A child of an illegal immigrant or some torust who "just happens" to be in the US late in her 3rd trimester (apparently this is a whole industry in China...) should not be given the rights and privileges of an American citizen.

2/26/2016 11:11:27 PM

You can't deny entry to the United States based on religion. That would be ruled unconstitutional in the supreme court within a day. The fact that Trump doesn't seem to know and/or care about the constitution means he isn't qualified to be president.

2/26/2016 11:50:26 PM

Quote :

"a pro-business republican that's pro-choice and doesn't babble on about lowering taxes and shoving Christian conservatism down everyone's throat? You can add me to that list."

Assuming you actually believe all of this is true about Trump's platform, I would still like for you to answer my question. Assuming you're not a racist/bigot yourself, how are you OK with Trump's hateful remarks and attitudes toward many different groups of people?

2/27/2016 2:09:56 AM

http://fusion.net/story/273231/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-contribute-economy

2/27/2016 3:37:20 AM

take a look at the shitshow in Europe right now and tell me with a straight face that Trump's remarks over Muslim immigration are just bigoted racism.

regarding his comments about building the wall, why did Hispanics in Nevada support him 2:1 over any other candidate? They know that illegals are hurting them more than anyone. Trump never said kick out the Mexican-Americans; he said build a wall and kick out the illegals.

If you are so obsessed with PC rhetoric in this country to think those two comments are racist or bigoted, then so be it.

2/27/2016 10:06:10 AM

Quote :

"You can't deny entry to the United States based on religion. That would be ruled unconstitutional in the supreme court within a day. The fact that Trump doesn't seem to know and/or care about the constitution means he isn't qualified to be president."

I'm pretty sure you can deny any non-American the right to enter our country, if there is a security concern. People who aren't from here don't have rights here until they enter our borders and then they are limited. Freedom of religion and speech are rights given to people who already live here, not people who haven't entered yet. Was France racist for closing their borders and not letting anyone in, or out of the country the night Paris was attacked?

2/27/2016 10:54:55 AM

I hope Obama nominates Big4Country to replace Scalia.

2/27/2016 11:02:12 AM

Quote :

"take a look at the shitshow in Europe right now and tell me with a straight face that Trump's remarks over Muslim immigration are just bigoted racism. regarding his comments about building the wall, why did Hispanics in Nevada support him 2:1 over any other candidate? They know that illegals are hurting them more than anyone. Trump never said kick out the Mexican-Americans; he said build a wall and kick out the illegals. If you are so obsessed with PC rhetoric in this country to think those two comments are racist or bigoted, then so be it."

EXACTLY! That is why I have no problem with closing the borders to people from the middle east. With that being said, I heard something on the news a while back about how once they get to Europe it is pretty easy for them to get a Visa that allows them to travel the EU and enter the USA with very little trouble. It would be nice if that would change.

2/27/2016 11:49:34 AM

do you never get tired of being this dumb?

2/27/2016 11:53:12 AM

The fact that youre referencing a shitshow in europe confirms that youve been listening to xenophonic stories that have turned out to be false.

2/27/2016 12:05:02 PM

Quote :

"youve been listening to xenophonic stories that have [long since] turned out to be false."

2/27/2016 12:07:00 PM

Quote :

"do you never get tired of being this dumb?"

I'm not dumb, I'm just not the left wing PC America humanitarian that so many people seem to be these days. I do feel bad for all of the people living in the other countries of the world. There is Muslim extremism and Sharia Law in the middle east and the horn of Africa, poverty, drugs, and gangs in Central and South America, communist governments in Asia that don't treat their people as well as they should, and corrupt governments in other parts of Africa too. With all that being said, it shouldn't be up to America to always save the world. I'm not voting for Bernie Sanders, but he made a really good point on ABC one Sunday morning when he said something along the lines of the people in the middle east need to take back their countries and that it shouldn't be up to America to do it for them.

I'm always going to be for locking the borders for security reason and financial reasons. We do entirely to much to help the rest of the world. Someday when the rest of the world learns to behave themselves then maybe we can be a little more open. I don't see that happening anytime soon though.

2/27/2016 12:31:19 PM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-the-age-of-trump-grim-warnings-from-holocaust-survivors/2016/01/27/c65ea38c-c549-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html

When you watch trumps rallies, his racism is a big part. It's foolish to dismiss this because you think trump is saying something reasonable about something else (when trump is just being vague and you're projecting your own ideas).

2/27/2016 12:45:38 PM

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-trump-chant-20160226-story.html

This is he damage trump has already created and this is the future trump supporters want. Trump is happy to oblige too if this is what makes people like him more.

2/27/2016 12:49:40 PM

i don't think it's being dismissed because of what he says about other things, i think most people dismiss it because they believe that the trump is just taking advantage of the idiots who believe those things and doesn't personally believe them. that makes him a shit-heap, but a shit-heap that wins nominations because of it. if he were to win the election, he would no longer need to pander to this demographic and he also isn't beholden to the GOP establishment which means he would be less likely to tow the line on conventional positions.

[Edited on February 27, 2016 at 12:53 PM. Reason : ./]

2/27/2016 12:51:41 PM

^^"We are still far from that in America" is the one valid part of that article. None of these candidates are going to start concentration camps to kill off a certain race. Go ahead and live in utopia and not honor any international borders if you want, but I'm sticking with the people who want to secure our borders.

[Edited on February 27, 2016 at 1:00 PM. Reason : .]

2/27/2016 1:00:09 PM

^^ trump has been stoking racists long before running for president. Harping on Obamas birth certificate, claiming he had secret evidence, is what caused Fox News to popularize him, which likely helped push him to run for president. And there's no reason to think in the general election that being racist wouldn't have appeal, especially when people don't know they're racist, like ^.

This must be what Weimar Germany was like, of course no one signed up for killing off Jews, they just wanted to preserve their traditions .

2/27/2016 1:05:43 PM

^I don't think this is quite what Germany was like, or that Trump is racist. In the end there are two sides. The ones that want our government to look out for the best interest of Americans and not let people from terrorist nations come into our county and Hispanics illegally from Central and South America. Then there is the other side that says, "Oh they are all so innocent! Lets let all of those poor people come over here and give them everything they want! Who cares if they work under the table and use loop holes to get free stuff from the government."

I'm just with the crowd that doesn't want to help every poor person in the world. Their situations suck, but that doesn't mean we should try to save the world and be nice to everyone. There sure are a lot of people from those places that don't seem to want to be nice to us.

[Edited on February 27, 2016 at 1:24 PM. Reason : .]

2/27/2016 1:24:02 PM

Quote :

"I'm just with the crowd that doesn't want to help every any poor person in the world."

2/27/2016 1:45:50 PM

Quote :

"^^ trump has been stoking racists long before running for president. Harping on Obamas birth certificate, claiming he had secret evidence, is what caused Fox News to popularize him, which likely helped push him to run for president. "

this was all part of his plan, he has been planning this for decades now, he knows how to play the media

2/27/2016 1:46:29 PM

Rubio doesn't have any charisma, but this is still nice to see:
https://www.facebook.com/NowThisElection/videos/1113820538649435/

2/27/2016 3:40:15 PM

low energy

2/27/2016 5:08:22 PM

Quote :

"Assuming you're not a racist/bigot yourself, how are you OK with Trump's hateful remarks and attitudes toward many different groups of people? "

I think it's all rhetoric to rile up the ignorant blue collar base.

I consider myself progressive but agree with BigCountry. The one part of the liberal agenda I can't buy into is the whole heart felt humanitarian PC everyone is a victim mentality.

2/27/2016 6:44:45 PM

Quote :

"I think it's all rhetoric to rile up the ignorant blue collar base."

In other words: The most generous reading of Trump's rhetoric is that he's cynical enough to blatantly exploit the bigotry of others for his own personal gain.

I'm sold. Trump is a fantastic guy!

2/27/2016 7:00:33 PM

Maybe things just need to get worse to get better...

2/27/2016 7:05:29 PM

^I think that is what is happening right now. Trump is popular because he isn't a part of the establishment. People are sick of the lifers in congress who don't seem to care about anything but reelection. Trump wouldn't be popular if the government was doing its job well, but it isn't.

Quote :

"I consider myself progressive but agree with BigCountry. The one part of the liberal agenda I can't buy into is the whole heart felt humanitarian PC everyone is a victim mentality."

Exactly! We have enough Americans taking handouts from the government already. We don't need to add more people to that part of the population. With that being said, I have no problem at all with our military going on humanitarian missions to places like Haiti when a natural disaster destroys the country. And I am ok with privately funded groups helping people in other nations too.

2/27/2016 7:24:58 PM

Quote :

"In other words: The most generous reading of Trump's rhetoric is that he's cynical enough to blatantly exploit the bigotry of others for his own personal gain."

sadly, show me a politician that doesn't do this. they all play different angles, but it boils down to getting one group of people to hate another one, passionately enough to vote one way. the presidential race is the ultimate con job.

2/27/2016 7:38:37 PM