Octopus Overlords

Kraken wrote: Regardless of how much support he gets from Republicans -- and he's gotten a lot in the primaries -- Trump can count on lower-income, less-educated independents and those Democrats who support Bernie because he's not Clinton. Other Sanders supporters who refuse to hold our noses and vote for Clinton will simply stay home.

In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey conducted by Hart Research Associates this month, 7% of Sanders voters said they could see themselves supporting Trump. Some 66% said the same for Clinton.

A similar proportion of Sanders folk – 8% – gave Trump a positive likeability rating, compared with 48% for Clinton. That figure is unlikely to be causing Clinton campaign aides much loss of sleep.

“The data does not indicate any meaningful concern for Clinton that if she wins the Democratic nomination large numbers of Sanders voters would head to Trump,” said Jeff Horwitt, a senior vice-president with Hart Research.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to send his supporters to the campaign rallies of Democrat Bernie Sanders, showing no sign of toning down his rhetoric after clashes erupted at his own events over the weekend. Trump, front-runner for the Republican nomination, appeared unchastened after simmering discord between his supporters and protesters angry over his positions on immigration and Muslims turned into a palpable threat on Friday, forcing him to cancel a Chicago rally and shadowing his campaign appearances on Saturday. Trump blamed supporters of Democratic candidate Sanders for the incidents in Chicago, where scuffles broke out between protesters and backers of the real estate magnate. He called the U.S. senator from Vermont "our communist friend".

On Sunday, he went a step further in an early morning post on Twitter: "Bernie Sanders is lying when he says his disruptors aren't told to go to my events. Be careful Bernie, or my supporters will go to yours!"

Defiant wrote:

Kraken wrote: Regardless of how much support he gets from Republicans -- and he's gotten a lot in the primaries -- Trump can count on lower-income, less-educated independents and those Democrats who support Bernie because he's not Clinton. Other Sanders supporters who refuse to hold our noses and vote for Clinton will simply stay home.

Thing is, while much of his vote comes from independents, it doesn't look like there would be very many Sanders supporters that would vote for Trump:

In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey conducted by Hart Research Associates this month, 7% of Sanders voters said they could see themselves supporting Trump. Some 66% said the same for Clinton.

hepcat wrote:Trump is playing a dangerous game. It's either going to backfire on him and he's going to fall, or he'll successfully fan the flames until someone is killed in his name. I predict the latter, unfortunately.

Kraken wrote:
So if Sanders voters comprise roughly 50% of the votes cast in D primaries (and I think Clinton and Sanders will end up more or less tied in the popular vote, if not in delegates), 7% of his half will jump to Trump and 27% will stay home rather than vote for Clinton. The 34% of Bernie supporters who won't back her are about 17% of the D primary voters, give or take a few points, and most of those are going to be independents -- registered D's will fall in line.

That's rather a lot of folks withholding their support, even if only a small minority oppose her outright.

Kraken wrote:

hepcat wrote:Trump is playing a dangerous game. It's either going to backfire on him and he's going to fall, or he'll successfully fan the flames until someone is killed in his name. I predict the latter, unfortunately.

I have been trying to update "Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra when the walls fell" into something like "Santana and the Stones at Atamont when the Angels fought" to fit the Trump rally scenario, but that's too obscure and would likely amuse no one but me anyway.

Holman wrote:All the rallies have protesters. All politicians get heckled. Disruptive attendees are escorted out, having said their thing, and that's how the game is played.

What's different is Trump supporters roughing up the protesters and Trump actively encouraging them to do so. He just put out word that he might pay your legal fees when you're arrested for assault, which is pretty much the opposite of not condoning it.

Reactionaries in this country have been longing to beat up protesters since the 1960's. Trump is the first candidate to run on the promise of letting them do it.

(Actually he's the second. George Wallace famously threatened to run down protesters with his car, although he never followed through.)

Rip wrote:

gbasden wrote:

Rip wrote:

I'm sure that will comfort him when one of Trump's supporters assaults him for being too Mexican.

Defiant wrote:

Defiant wrote:

Kraken wrote:

hepcat wrote:Trump is playing a dangerous game. It's either going to backfire on him and he's going to fall, or he'll successfully fan the flames until someone is killed in his name. I predict the latter, unfortunately.

I have been trying to update "Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra when the walls fell" into something like "Santana and the Stones at Atamont when the Angels fought" to fit the Trump rally scenario, but that's too obscure and would likely amuse no one but me anyway.

Defiant wrote:This confused the heck out of me:

I suppose some people who hate Trump don't want his supporters to be able to vote for him, but I don't think that's typifies them. And I suppose some of the people who protested in Chicago protested to prevent Trump for being able to speek, so that might be anti-free-speech.

But most anti-Trump people just really hate Trump.

Rip wrote:

That's the ballgame folks!

Rip wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkYbBStofDo




VIN WEBER [Former Congressman]: I talk to people all of the time, as I’m sure everybody around the table does, and they say, “Why don’t you Republicans do something about this guy?” I’m sorry. This is not the Soviet Union. We can’t call a meeting and decide Trump is out.

RON KAUFMAN [White House Advisor Bush 41]: And we hate that.

[Laughter]

KAUFMAN: Deny dictatorship — Who’s for it? Trump is doing well for one reason. He understands the climate and the culture of America today better than anybody at this table.

LawBeefaroni wrote:

Defiant wrote:

That's what passes for political discourse these days.

"Fuck you!"
"Yeah, fuck you too, bitch!"


We deserve Trump.

Defiant wrote:Voters don’t seem to hold violence at Trump rallies against him. (Or at least Republican voters don't)

Zarathud wrote:Ugh. Watched raw, uncut video from the camera platforms at the Chicago Trump rally. The three physical confrontations repeated in the CNN video loop are put into context by a 50/50 mix of Trump supporters and protestors in the arena. The Trump campaign representative walked out to say Trump won't be here, then rushed off stage without saying anything to control the crowd. The protesters got jubilant, and the Trump supporters got very angry. Words were said (although there was no sound), and tempers flared starting mostly in the Trump camp.

“The man got carried away,” Trump said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday. “He obviously loves his country, and maybe he doesn’t like seeing what’s happening to the country.”

At Wednesday’s rally in Fayetteville, N.C., John McGraw, 78, was caught on video punching the protester, 26-year-old Rakeem Jones, as Jones was being led out of the event by security.

After the rally, “Inside Edition” interviewed McGraw, who freely admitted assaulting Jones.

“He deserved it,” McGraw said. “The next time we see him, we might have to kill him.”

Police arrested McGraw the next day and charged him with assault and disorderly conduct.

Correction at 9:58 a.m. on 3/09/2016: Due to an oversight involving a haphazardly-installed Chrome extension during the editing process, the name Donald Trump was erroneously replaced with the phrase “Someone With Tiny Hands” when this story originally published.

Defiant wrote:Oops

Correction at 9:58 a.m. on 3/09/2016: Due to an oversight involving a haphazardly-installed Chrome extension during the editing process, the name Donald Trump was erroneously replaced with the phrase “Someone With Tiny Hands” when this story originally published.

Captain Caveman wrote:Seeing reports that Ben Carson will endorse Trump tomorrow.

Carson then said that Trump had promised him a role in his administration, “certainly in an advisory capacity.” Asked by NewsMax’s Steve Malzberg whether this meant a cabinet position, Carson declined to “reveal any details about it right now, because all of this is still very liquid.”
Federal law expressly prohibits candidates from directly or indirectly promising “the appointment of any person to any public or private position or employment, for the purpose of procuring support in his candidacy.” The penalty for violations could include fines or a year in jail — two years if the violation was willful.