Trump not ruling out Independent presidential bid

[Mr. Morden]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-isnt-ruling-independent-run/story?id=35335721

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[Lief 🗽]

Good. If the Establishment isn't ruling out spending millions against him to deny him the nomination, why should he rule out running as an independent?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good sh**t go౦ԁ sh**t👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌sh**t right👌👌there👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO 0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good sh**t

[OSR stands with Israel]

The republican party needs to grow a spine and make him sign an official agreement that if he wants to be on the ballot for the Republican primaries he must agree not to run as an Independent. If he doesnt agree make him run as independent from now instead of later.

[The Other Castro]

The republican party needs to grow a spine and make him sign an official agreement that if he wants to be on the ballot for the Republican primaries he must agree not to run as an Independent. If he doesnt agree make him run as independent from now instead of later.

That would backfire horrendously on the party and only force him into an Independent run.

[Maxwell]

The republican party needs to grow a spine and make him sign an official agreement that if he wants to be on the ballot for the Republican primaries he must agree not to run as an Independent. If he doesnt agree make him run as independent from now instead of later.

GOP already tried that and it didn't work. They tried to bluster him and he called their bluff.

[dudeabides]

I think we have to ask ourselves as a nation if we want a President who can't be loyal to his/her political party. If we can't trust Donald Trump to be loyal to the Republican Party, how can we expect him to be loyal to the country? He claims he's "loyal to a fault" but look at his marriages, look at how he is treating people who he previously supported - namely Rand Paul - in this campaign. Now this.

[Türkisblau]

Dudeabides, I'm rather sure that absolute party loyalty is wildly unpopular among the American people!

[SteveRogers]

The republican party needs to grow a spine and make him sign an official agreement that if he wants to be on the ballot for the Republican primaries he must agree not to run as an Independent. If he doesnt agree make him run as independent from now instead of later.

That's not really a thing. There's no real way to make signing a legally enforceable contract of that sort a prerequisite to running. There's sore loser laws and filing deadlines that kick in to stop him from making the switch if he waits too long, but that's about it.

I think we have to ask ourselves as a nation if we want a President who can't be loyal to his/her political party. If we can't trust Donald Trump to be loyal to the Republican Party, how can we expect him to be loyal to the country? He claims he's "loyal to a fault" but look at his marriages, look at how he is treating people who he previously supported - namely Rand Paul - in this campaign. Now this.

Look, I'm no Trump fan, but loyalty to country obviously comes before loyalty to a political party. Think about what you just said.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I think we have to ask ourselves as a nation if we want a President who can't be loyal to his/her political party. If we can't trust Donald Trump to be loyal to the Republican Party, how can we expect him to be loyal to the country? He claims he's "loyal to a fault" but look at his marriages, look at how he is treating people who he previously supported - namely Rand Paul - in this campaign. Now this.

Uh, since when has a candidate campaigned on party loyalty in a general election? I don't recall Romney going around in the general saying, "hey look, I'm a good republican. I always agree with Republicans."

[/]

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Trump would probably win something.

[Simfan34]

👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good sh**t go౦ԁ sh**t👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌sh**t right👌👌there👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO 0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good sh**t

Are you okay?

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good sh**t go౦ԁ sh**t👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌sh**t right👌👌there👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO 0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good sh**t

wtf

[Cassius]

👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good sh**t go౦ԁ sh**t👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌sh**t right👌👌there👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO 0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good sh**t

Are you okay?

Someone evidently had a good night out in town... although that is actually a fairly accurate representation of Trump's oratorical style at times, so you never know.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

it's a meme, ya dorks

[Torie]

Didn't somebody research this, and conclude it would be impracticable for Trump to get on the ballot as a third party candidate in most places, if he decides next Spring that securing the Pub nomination is impracticable for him?

[Skye]

Trump, like usual, is just trolling.

[Senator Cris]

Good. If the Establishment isn't ruling out spending millions against him to deny him the nomination, why should he rule out running as an independent?

LOL. Are you saying that the establishment should let him win the nomination without fighting?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Good. If the Establishment isn't ruling out spending millions against him to deny him the nomination, why should he rule out running as an independent?

LOL. Are you saying that the establishment should let him win the nomination without fighting?

While establishment candidates (whoever they are at this point) can and should go after Trump, anything perceived as the "GOP elite" trying to hurt Trump is only going to help him.

[Likely Voter]

I think this threat may be one reason why we have yet to see a huge establishment-funded anti-Trump campaign. They have been hoping he would somehow implode on his own. But they may soon be faced with the choice, try to take him down and risk provoking a 3rd party run or leave him be and watch him win the GOP nomination.

[Mr. Morden]

Good. If the Establishment isn't ruling out spending millions against him to deny him the nomination, why should he rule out running as an independent?

LOL. Are you saying that the establishment should let him win the nomination without fighting?

While establishment candidates (whoever they are at this point) can and should go after Trump, anything perceived as the "GOP elite" trying to hurt Trump is only going to help him.

I doubt it.  There are plenty of ways of attacking him that will not leave any "fingerprints on the murder weapon", so to speak.  The average voter doesn't pay close enough attention to know who is funding anti-Trump TV ads, for example.

[Adam Griffin]

The GOP is now facing the final manifestation of its deal with the Devil. They originally wanted to prevent total meltdown of their party for a generation: done. Unfortunately, they had to create an unprecedentedly-cretinous movement in order to make it so. Said Frankenstein's monster grew and grew, until now they are in serious jeopardy of it infiltrating the very top echelons of their party. Trump is literally the id of what they created to leverage themselves back into power.

The GOP staved off a generation of total meltdown - this much is clear. Had they not created the Tea Party and the 2010 "surge", then they would have been facing a half-century of political irrelevance due to the pain of redistricting. With that now no longer an option and with them in absolute control of everything but the Presidency, the long-term strategists and thinkers within the party need to come to a pretty fundamental realization: they have to saw off their feet over the next few years in order to unchain themselves from the crazies. This means continue losing the Presidency.

A Trump nomination would likely result in defeat and a massive down-ballot effect that does serious damage to the party, Akin-style. Even if Trump won the Presidency, such will result in a total defiance by him of party officials and a complete transformation of the party into something that the business community and traditionalists mostly can't stomach. This means that the only option is to nuke Trump. Who cares if he runs as an independent, when winning with him means obliteration in one sense or another anyway? The party can:

• Nominate him and lose (while potentially losing tons of down-ballot races as well)
• Nominate him and win (but lose control)
• Not nominate him and lose (but maintain stability; proceed as part of a greater effort and nuke the monster they've created)

All of those result in the mainstream GOP not owning the Presidency in 2017. I think the choice is pretty clear.

[Likely Voter]

I bet the average voter will probably assume any negative anti-Trump TV ads they see as coming from Bush, even if they are from "Americans For A Better Tomorrow" or whoever.

But the goal of a negative campaign is to convince soft Trump supporters to stay home, which may be a good strategy because a lot of his supporters seem to be less than likely voters.

[Lyin' Steve]

I think this threat may be one reason why we have yet to see a huge establishment-funded anti-Trump campaign. They have been hoping he would somehow implode on his own. But they may soon be faced with the choice, try to take him down and risk provoking a 3rd party run or leave him be and watch him win the GOP nomination.

I think this is really what's happening here.  Trump demanded to be treated fairly and in return said he wouldn't run 3rd party.  Now that rumors of war are on the wind, with plenty of money being put aside to fund an effort to destroy him, he's reminding the GOP of the blackmail he has and what the consequences would be if they fight him.