So what do you Brits make of Trump ?

[fred41]

http://www.artcraftonline.com/pot-belly-cabinet/

[Stavros]

The New York Times in the past week has produced two articles, one of which exposes the rift on policy between Trump and the GOP in Congress; the other on the state of despair in the GOP over Trump's success.
The former notes the cleavage between Trump and the GOP on issues such as illegal immigration, eminent domain, planned parenthood, Israel and energy. In the other article, the institutional shortcomings of the party are exposed, to the extent that it appears to have no real respected or authoritative voice not taking part in the election who can distance the party from Trump.
That Trump appears to have got ahead of Rubio by receiving Chris Christie's endorsement should in fact raise eyebrows the other way, given that Christie once mocked Trump as a 'childish whiner who couldn't be President', and, best of all 'Showtime is over. We are not electing an entertainer-in-chief'. No wonder Atlantic City is in decline.

Who knows, looking ahead, we may yet be allowed to ponder a President Ryan in the White House, albeit not a Jack one.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/25/us...pgtype=article

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us...can-party.html

What has me baffled are the rules the RNC has for selecting their Presidential candidate at the National Convention. Using a byzantine form a proportional representation still makes it possible for Trump to arrive at the Convention with the majority of delegates from the Primaries and Caucuses, but lose at the Convention as those delegates can switch their vote after the first ballot and there is a contest between two or three candidates. I have included the Rules and Regulations of the GOP where you can lose yourself in admiration at the ability of this party to strangle the English language, or take this snippet from the Wikipedia explanation-

Texas is the second-most populous state and a GOP stronghold. Its delegation would consist of 155 members, as follows:

• Texas is allowed 10 delegates under the at-large rule.
• The chairperson of the Texas GOP, the state national committeeman, and the state national committeewoman each count as one delegate, for a total of three delegates.
• Texas has 36 members in the House of Representatives; thus, Texas is allowed 108 delegates (36 * 3) under the House membership rule.
• As Mitt Romney carried Texas in the 2012 United States Presidential Election, and as Texas has 38 electors (36 House members plus its two Senators), Texas is allowed 4.5 delegates under the at-large provision plus an additional 22.8 delegates (38 * 60%), for a total of 27.3 (4.5 + 22., rounded upward to 28 delegates.
• Texas is allowed the following additional delegates as follows:
  
  • One additional delegate as the current Governor of Texas (Greg Abbott) is Republican.
  • Of the 32 current members of the House, 20 are Republicans; thus, one additional delegate under this provision.
  • As both houses of the Texas Legislature are controlled by the GOP (98-52 in the Texas House of Representatives and 20-11 in the Texas Senate) and both chambers are presided over by a Republican (Joe Straus as the Speaker of the House and Dan Patrick as Lieutenant Governor, which presides over the Senate), two additional delegates (one for having any chamber meeting the criteria, and one additional for having both chambers meet the criteria).
  • As both United States Senators from Texas are Republicans (John Cornyn and Ted Cruz), and as both have been elected within the past six years, two additional delegates.
  
  

The Texas delegation would thus consist of 10 + 3 + 108 + 28 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 155 members.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republ...nvention#Texas

https://s3.amazonaws.com/prod-static..._S14090314.pdf

[trish]

Ironically the GOP extracted from Trump the promise that he won't abandon the party and make an independent run; the 'great' deal-maker should've negotiated in return a commitment from the GOP that they wouldn't abandon him.

[broncofan]

Ironically the GOP extracted from Trump the promise that he won't abandon the party and make an independent run; the 'great' deal-maker should've negotiated in return a commitment from the GOP that they wouldn't abandon him.

It will be interesting to see what Donald Trump's promise means if the delegates switch their vote after the first ballot. As much as I think Trump would be the worst possible president, he would have an argument to run as an independent if the GOP ignored the will of their constituents.

I don't know anything about the labyrinthine process Stavros outlined above (perhaps I should take a civics class...or perhaps parties should adopt a nomination process that is more straightforward and sensible).

I'm not sure what the point is of having an alternate contest at the convention, except to reconcile the difference between what Republican voters and Republican leaders want. Perhaps it was designed this way with people like Trump in mind, who might win the vote of party members but not move the party in a direction the leadership is comfortable with. But couldn't such a person always cannibalize votes as a third party candidate?

[flabbybody]

If Trump has the prerequisite delegate count and is somehow denied the nomination then the GOP will get a shellacking in November that will exceed the '64 Goldwater contest. It's precisely the perception of establishment "fixing" that has made the Trump candidacy viable and has made the opposition look so pathetically weak.

[Stavros]

Until yesterday, when I watched the whole of Mr Romney's diatribe against Mr Trump, I had never heard of Trump Steaks ($199 for a pack of 12 burgers? Seriously?) Trump Vodka, or Trump Ice and had only vaguely heard of Trump University, so I have found a breakdown of the various Trump businesses for those who want to know, and it is here-
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump...4-10?op=1&IR=T

[bluebottle]

William Hill has him at 3-1 second favourite to Jeb Bush at 13-8 to win the nomination.

He's 5-1 to be the next president behind Bush at 4-1 and Clinton at 11/10.


The view here is that he's a complete asshat

Most people in the UK reckon he's a senile twat..........

Until yesterday, when I watched the whole of Mr Romney's diatribe against Mr Trump, I had never heard of Trump Steaks ($199 for a pack of 12 burgers? Seriously?) Trump Vodka, or Trump Ice and had only vaguely heard of Trump University, so I have found a breakdown of the various Trump businesses for those who want to know, and it is here-
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump...4-10?op=1&IR=T

here in the UK, Trump is a euphanism for fart.........

[Stavros]

Last night on the BBC2 Newsnight programme, there was an item in which Donald Trump's (alleged) relationship with the New York Mafia -specifically, the Genovese clan- was explored, including an interview first aired in 2013 with 'The Don' which was cut short by the wise guy when the questions got a bit too hot, particularly in relation to a man called Felix Sater, his former adviser of whom 'the Don' claimed he wouldn't know if he saw him in a room. In the programme it was alleged that the concrete for Trump Tower in Manhattan was purchased from a firm owned by 'Fat' Tony Salerno of the Genovese crime family, although the S&A company was jointly owned with the Gambino family, headed by 'the Don' Paul Castellano.

The links will whet your appetite. Maybe it is a pity neither Ted Cruz nor Marco Rubio refused to endorse Trump should he win the nomination, but at what point will these allegations become part of the campaign to prevent 'the Don' from becoming 'the President'?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...w-8695855.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/31/po...ump-mob-mafia/

[NRT]

Im a londoner and secretly hoping he gets in. The world will be totally different and more interesting for one thing. America would be at war home and abroad. At home, a war against illegals, latinos, mexicans who will have to prove they are not illegals once the wall has started to be built. The same with muslims who maybe in interned just to make sure they are not terrorists at the borders as well as at home. The will be more black deaths by cops and security , because he wont support at all 'black lives matter' beleiveing instead 'all lives matter' so cops would get a green light to do as they please with stiffer sentences for rioting blacks. America will start more wars and invasions abroad and guantanamo bay is more likely to be expanded

[martin48]

All sounds good to me. Why not take Britain out of the EU as well, then the EU will start to fall apart. We can all have those European wars, like in the old days, then who cares what's happening in the US.

Im a londoner and secretly hoping he gets in. The world will be totally different and more interesting for one thing. America would be at war home and abroad. At home, a war against illegals, latinos, mexicans who will have to prove they are not illegals once the wall has started to be built. The same with muslims who maybe in interned just to make sure they are not terrorists at the borders as well as at home. The will be more black deaths by cops and security , because he wont support at all 'black lives matter' beleiveing instead 'all lives matter' so cops would get a green light to do as they please with stiffer sentences for rioting blacks. America will start more wars and invasions abroad and guantanamo bay is more likely to be expanded