Republican rivals team up to stop Trump at all costs

Which of the original 16 (or whatever it was) didn’t fit that description?

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And sadly, it looks like the Democrats are doing a great job of winnowing down their candidates to just one.

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I wonder. When do they finalize the campaign platform, and will such statements be included in the final draft:

  • Mexicans are rapists
  • Refugees, especially Syrian refugees, will be allowed US entry upon completion of a religious purity written test
  • Refugees, especially Syrian refugees, will now be referred to in all US Government published documents, as “job takers” and “terr’ists”
  • Abortions will be made absolutely free, but each operation must be signed off by the POTUS
  • Wimmins will be contractually required to earn no more than 3/4 the salaries of their male counterparts
  • Global climate change is a myth brought about by Obama in order to usurp US Government authority in service of the United Nations
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So, there’s one guy in the lead and they want to band against him in order to get someone who can “unify” the party?

It sounds like the part has unified with someone, it’s just not someone the “Republican Party” ™ likes.

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The winnowing process started early.

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GOP Insiders have vowed that he’s not getting the nomination one way or another – and Trump’s handlers have since tried to placate them by promising that he’s just playing a character, one which he will shift and discard when the real race begins.

The primaries are only nominally democratic. The GOP has always been about party authority and party loyalty, not blind (fair) democracy. And after this year, I think they’ll tighten the screws on procedure even more.

A numerically believable defeat would save face for the party, but even if they have to be blunt and cut him down the hard way, they think it’s less poisonous to snub him than to run with him.

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I was really referring to years of racist/sexist/homophobic dog whistling more than whether they are democratic or not. the primaries of both parties are not democratic in the sense of the country picking them and in both cases, there are checks and balances by the party elite. The GOP have long courted the angry white voter still pissed off about integration and various rights movements, while giving them nothing in return (jobs are still going away, the material conditions of their lives aren’t improving, etc). It’s not a huge surprise that a populist candidate like Trump has emerged. It was bound to happen.

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I don’t think so. I think the oligarchs who run both parties basically have what they want in Mrs. Bill Clinton. So it’s fine with them if The Donald competes in the general and then loses to her.

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With the Republican party’s history of creating divisions and outside groups, it is amusing to watch it happen on the inside.

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Unlike the Democrats, whose superdelegates are beholden only to the voters.

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This is why it’s important to sanitize your data input: GIGO.

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Yeah, back in 1980.

Edited to add @Shuck’s comment

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Every poll I see still has Clinton winning the actual election. It’s not over, and we should keep fighting, but perhaps with less panic.

(Conspiracy theory) Trump is running to lose. He is playing the game to get himself nominated knowing that he’d be unelectable vs Clinton. It explains the crazy rethoric, the inconsistencies and the flip flops from previous positions. It’s the greatest trolling in the history of elections.(/ conspiracy theory)

Some people formerly in his campaign have said as much, that he didn’t expect to win. Seems easy to me to believe that his whole run is just a way to build up Brand Trump (though he’d probably be happy to win too; all he probably thinks he would have to do is hire, I mean appoint, little people to do all the work).

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well if we start from the premise that any naturally born Republican is a potential candidate then none of them.

I think it might have started like that, increase the Trump brand, bow out when the time comes.

But then he started winning.

And now, well, damn, I don’t care what you say, if it comes down to you and the other person running for President of the United States, you start thinking “holy shit, I can get a free plane and make kids remember my last name forEVER.”

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You gravely overestimate people like my family who are the people he panders to. He sees this ‘collusion’ (wouldn’t ‘alliance’ be a better term? The fuck does collusion mean beyond sounding vaguely like a swear word?) as Trump being strong enough that the system has to fight dirty against him.

I’m more skeeved out by Clinton really. Weren’t Trump and Clinton kinda working together til here recently?

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True, but professional pollsters were also extremely skeptical about Trump’s chances of being a real contender for the nomination. Just six months ago Nate Silver, the reigning god-king of political forecasting, was telling everyone that placing Trump’s odds of nabbing the nomination at 20 percent was “substantially too high.”

The prospect of a President Trump isn’t a joke anymore. I want this beast put down yesterday.

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Not really. When she was running against Obama, Trump vocally supported her and donated to her campaign, because I guess she seemed like a better choice to him than a̶ ̶b̶l̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶g̶u̶y̶ Obama. Heck, Trump used to have views that weren’t far from the Democratic platform, and has spoken in support of universal health care.

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That party hasn’t had a decent candidate since Jon Huntsman, and we all see how well HE did.

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