The Crimson Cyclone wrote:I think the real damage to the GOP will come if he decides to run as an independent in the general

mozartpc27 wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:I have a better chance of one day being the Republican nominee for President of the United States than Donald Trump does

jersey is right. The Donald is... well, it's easier to say what he isn't: a serious candidate.

By my count, the Republicans have five, in roughly this order:

Scott Walker
Jeb Bush
Chris Christie
John Kasich
Marco Rubio

I think the odds are top heavy here on 1 & 2. Christie is a long shot but too good a politician to be discounted. Kasich is plausible but uninspiring I would think to the money or to the base. Rubio has electability going for him, but I don't think he is a serious contender otherwise.

The rest are wasting their own and everybody's time I think. The big thing to look at it is who has the real structure in place to run the enormously expensive and time consuming business of a state-by-state primary campaign; you need money and political will in the form of competent (and quite extensive) staff, and plenty of dedicated volunteers. There are really only two who can meet this threshold I believe.

I may be being unfair to Rand Paul, as I examine my list, and too kind to Kasich. I still think the PTB / the traditional base make Paul an unlikely choice, but if Rs are willing to shift to a more libertarian approach to their party it could work (and oddly, I think he would have a much better chance of winning the general than many in my list, because of his more libertarian positioning, which is I think where the majority of Americans really are). Meanwhile, Kasich is sort of a classic guy to run - governor of an absolutely must-win state for Rs to regain control of the WH, who won re-election in a landslide - but I think his national profile is lacking just now (which he can fix), and he is kind of a "dull" choice.

Monkeyboy wrote:I can't believe Trump is seriously running. I also doubt he wants his financials inspected. If he thinks his brand has taken a hit already, wait to people get to know his financial record.

If I was a conspiracy theorist, I might think he's running cover for the more legit candidates, making them look more centrist than they are and giving them a chance to polish their routines/stump speeches while also avoiding much scrutiny. It's hard for people to notice how dumb Jeb is when Donald is running around making insane comments.

TomatoPie wrote:Trump is an idiot savant - brilliant at making money in real estate

Grotewold wrote:

TomatoPie wrote:Trump is an idiot savant - brilliant at making money in real estate

Is that even true? He had a huge head start and filed several bankruptcies

Bucky wrote:how dare you lump pat paulsen in with those losers

Brantt wrote:

Grotewold wrote:

TomatoPie wrote:Trump is an idiot savant - brilliant at making money in real estate

Is that even true? He had a huge head start and filed several bankruptcies

Eh.....most of them were strategic and he made a fortune off of going that route.

pacino wrote:Anyway, kinda down on Sanders right now.

SK790 wrote:He responded well after the NetRoots thing. That black lady who interrupted has an article up on his site. At least he and MOM had the guts to go and talk about these issues.

Youseff wrote:Trump has a double digit lead in the polls for the Republican party but he's not a serious candidate and not a Republican.