I’m grabbing this image from @EsotericCD, largely because I don’t want to play ‘favorites’ on who should leave the primaries next, but: there are some candidates who need to ask themselves what their victory conditions are. Scott Walker has decided that he’s not going to win this pot, and that there’s no point throwing good money in after bad. Who will follow his example?
This will take some time to get over.
dammit. and my 2nd choice (Jindal) is doing even worse in the polling, so I don’t see him lasting long either at this rate. which means I guess its Fiorina now
Who should? Bush III, Kasich, and Graham.
Chance of it happening?
Zero.
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With respect to the Republican party as it currently exists…
Burn It Down.
I’ll be happy if the power players in the party have a road to Damascus moment and throw their support behind an actual conservative. But it’s not going to happen without the sword of Damocles hanging overhead (and most likely, not even then).
So, until that unlikely event comes to pass, Trump for Pres. At least he hasn’t betrayed us. Yet.
With all due respect, throwing your support to a blowhard who has a history of advocating leftist policy positions — on the grounds that he hasn’t betrayed conservatives yet — is a bit like deciding it’s probably safe to gargle Clorox for the first time, on the grounds that it’s never burned your mouth and throat before.
I don’t know how I can explain this sent more clearly than I already have.
1) He’s still better than Bush III.
2) I expect him to be an egomaniacal control freak who will cheerfully destroy other power centers in the party apparatus that he’ll be in control of.
3) I have no goodwill left for the Republican party. The only support it will get from me is strictly on a pay-to-play basis. With payment delivered up front. Mere promises that they’ll do something in exchange for my support have been proven worthless. And yes, I’d like to see much of the GOP die in a grease fire.
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My support for Trump is much closer to Captain Ahab’s last lines than any sort of hero worship.
I freely admit that he’s an a$$hole.
You could have just typed “I want my bread and circuses” and saved yourself a lot of time.
Just that much closer to Graham/Kasich 2016: “Screw you, conservatives!” Oh, wait, that was the 2012 GOP campaign motto. Or was it the 2008 motto? It’s all kind of blurry.
I voted for Johnson last time.
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To quote a noted Ferguson protestor, time to burn this bitch down.
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Mew
Cthulhu for President! Why settle for a lesser evil?
Sweet Meteor of Death 2016!
Any conservative who supports Trump should look at the two good candidates that have exited the race — both extremely accomplished, conservative governors of the type we all said we were wanting — and consider whether the oxygen Trump sucked from the room might have been a factor in those candidates losing (or never gaining) traction. I suppose the same is true to a lesser extent with Carson and Fiorina, but let’s be honest. There’s one really YUUUUUUGE elephant in the room, and the problem is, he’s not really an elephant.
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I swear to God, it’s as though Trump supporters secretly want Bush to be the nominee.
Son, I’ve been playing this game for decades. If you believe that this is the first time highly qualified conservatives have been pushed out of the race early, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
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The Republican primary system is set up to deliver the nomination to a squishy charlatan.
If Trump hadn’t come along, then Bush III would be cruising to victory.
And you know this to be true. You witnessed it happen for years ago.
Actually, what I saw four years ago was a large group of primary voters swing their support all over the place, trying to find a not-Romney that would be acceptable and could coalesce into a majority pick, then deserting their latest choice overnight because of a single gaffe he made, or because a cooler shinier new candidate came along. Result: The steadiest candidate in the field looked more and more inevitable, until eventually he became inevitable.
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The Republican primary system is set up to deliver the nomination to the person who can win the most delegates. If that turned out to be a “squishy charlatan” in 2012 (which characterization is just wrong…squish though Romney may be, he’s an honest man and a decent one), then may I suggest that it’s not the system at fault, but rather the voters — and not the roughly 30% that were in Romney’s corner to begin with, but the 70% who couldn’t find one or two opposition candidates to coalesce around and learn to live with their faults. In short, if you’re one of them, you made Romney happen, your protestations to the contrary.
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And now that we have the largest, most qualified Republican field in history, several members of whom would have been acceptable to conservatives and moderates alike (and two of whom have now dropped out), who are our three frontrunners? The only three people in the field (well, two people and a combover with a mouth) who have served not one single day in office. Wasn’t one of our primary complaints about candidate Obama that he had insufficient political experience to run the country? And how much political experience does Ben Carson have? Or Carly Fiorina? Or Donald Trump? Yet it’s the same group of people driving those three names to the top of the polls. Again, I think they secretly want a Bush-Clinton race, because they certainly seem to be working most assiduously in that direction.
How much political experience does Carson, Fiorina, or Trump have? Lots, I’d say. Have you spent any time near hospital departmental administration, board rooms, or the real estate business?