Is Trump the worst candidate ever?

[catographer]

Trump would still manage to shoot himself in the foot even if the gun was a sniper rifle pointed directly above him.

http://nyti.ms/29ocyx7

Some gems:
- "vigorously affirmed his praise of Saddam Hussein, the murderous Iraqi dictator"
- "It was a striking display of self-sabotage"
- "'I said too bad, you should have left it up.' I would have rather defended it.'"

Here's the explicit blow-horn to white supremacists by claiming the media is anti-white: "'They're racially profiling, they're profiling, not us,' he said of the news media."

[Seriously?]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

[Gass3268]

He's single handedly helping Clinton push the email story out of the news.

Just stop talking and you are going to see bounce.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

For God's sake Trump literally praised Saddam Hussein in a public speech.

[Seriously?]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

For God's sake Trump literally praised Saddam Hussein in a public speech.

No. He didn't. That's what you red and faux red avatars want to believe. You are taking what he said completely out of context.

He pretty much said that Saddam was a scumbag, but he kept the terrorists at bay. And the war left a vacuum, which it did. That plus Obama pulling completely out of Iraq helped grow ISIS. He's right.

[Panda Express]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

Do you think someone with Donald Trump's favorability ratings (which are historically dreadful) is the mark of a good candidate? Willard Romney was never this unpopular. Don't you at least have some qualms with the way he's been running his campaign thus far?

[IceSpear]

Maybe he is just a plant. It seems like every time the media tries to give him an assist to further their beloved horserace, he throws it back in their faces by making yet another ridiculous and outrageous comment.

[psychprofessor]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

For God's sake Trump literally praised Saddam Hussein in a public speech.

No. He didn't. That's what you red and faux red avatars want to believe. You are taking what he said completely out of context.

He pretty much said that Saddam was a scumbag, but he kept the terrorists at bay. And the war left a vacuum, which it did. That plus Obama pulling completely out of Iraq helped grow ISIS. He's right.

No, he praised his leadership style. He said he was really good at killing terrorists. The connection being twofold: Trump would be really good at it and Obama isn't.

Now, mind you the terrorists Trump are referring to are Saddam's own people that he gassed. But Trump doesn't know this...he thinks Iraq was a hotbed for international terrorists. Further, he praised the idea that Saddam didn't have to read them their rights...he could just kill them at will. How can Republicans, who behold the Constitution like a warm blanket, listen to that and nod, and agree?

[Seriously?]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

Do you think someone with Donald Trump's favorability ratings (which are historically dreadful) is the mark of a good candidate? Willard Romney was never this unpopular. Don't you at least have some qualms with the way he's been running his campaign thus far?

Thank God he's not Willard Romney, who this time last cycle was getting skewered for taking American jobs overseas. Romney was the worst of a long line of RINOs the party nominated from Reagan in 1984.

Do I have any qualms? Some. I disagree with him on the Iraq War. We needed to topple that scumbag Saddam. Bush I should have done it when he had the chance.

I agree with Trump on why it went to hell though. Obama should have left a residual ground force in a base somewhere as a deterrent.

Do I think all Muslims should be banned? No. But I think it's a good starting point in a negotiation to ban those from countries like Syria that are risks.

Trump is right more than he is wrong, but the "worst candidate ever?" Not by a long shot. There are plenty of candidates who were worse historically. *coughs* Mondale. Go look at that inept, out of touch campaign. We're going to raise your taxes! Yay! That worked out real well.

[HisGrace]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

I voted for Romney last time and generally vote for Republicans for Congress and other stuff; Trump has nothing to do with what I previously conceived the Republican Party as being anti-Trump stuff is getting posted. Being anti-Trump is about being anti-ignorance/bigotry/emotionalism, the three things his campaign is build on.

but he kept the terrorists at bay.

Except that he really didn't. There's an entire thread about this somewhere else on here.

Not to necessarily defend the decision to invade, but if Saddam were still running the show in the late 2000's he likely would have been a victim of the Arab Spring, resulting in Iraq being an anarchic warzone like Syria today, in much worse shape than it is now.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

So Trump hates nation building, but thinks we didn't nation build long enough in Iraq?

[Gass3268]

Clinton's twitter account continues to be amazing

[john cage bubblegum]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

I don't think it's necessarily anti-Republican to marvel at the political malpractice of Donald Trump.  The Trump campaign should be in top form right now, going after Hillary on one of her primary weaknesses, the e-mail server. 

But he just went up on stage and rambled about Saddam Hussein and Chuck Todd and defended the Star of David tweet in an absurd fashion.  And again he makes the story about him.  It's astonishingly poor politics.  As a Democrat who wants to see Trump go down in flames, I love it, but as a follower of politics and elections, it's simply fascinating.

[Mike Thick]

Clinton's twitter account continues to be amazing

This belongs in a freaking museum

[Seriously?]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

I voted for Romney last time and generally vote for Republicans for Congress and other stuff; Trump has nothing to do with what I previously conceived the Republican Party as being anti-Trump stuff is getting posted. Being anti-Trump is about being anti-ignorance/bigotry/emotionalism, the three things his campaign is build on.

but he kept the terrorists at bay.

Except that he really didn't. There's an entire thread about this somewhere else on here.

Not to necessarily defend the decision to invade, but if Saddam were still running the show in the late 2000's he likely would have been a victim of the Arab Spring, resulting in Iraq being an anarchic warzone like Syria today, in much worse shape than it is now.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

So Trump hates nation building, but thinks we didn't nation build long enough in Iraq?

There would not have been an "Arab Spring" if Saddam doesn't get toppled. The "Arab Spring" concept was more or less end result of the neo-con strategy to topple Saddam and bring democracy to the region.

There's a difference between nation building and smart defense. Keeping a base there is what should have happened just as a deterrent force.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Do I think all Muslims should be banned? No. But I think it's a good starting point in a negotiation to ban those from countries like Syria that are risks.

No Islamist terrorist attack in the United States that I'm aware of has involved anybody from Syria.

[Seriously?]

Do I think all Muslims should be banned? No. But I think it's a good starting point in a negotiation to ban those from countries like Syria that are risks.

No Islamist terrorist attack in the United States that I'm aware of has involved anybody from Syria.

Pop quiz: name the two countries that house the Islamic caliphate known as ISIS?

[HisGrace]

There would not have been an "Arab Spring" if Saddam doesn't get toppled. The "Arab Spring" concept was more or less end result of the neo-con strategy to topple Saddam and bring democracy to the region.

That's highly questionable. The Arab Spring started in North Africa after all. And we were going to be very involved in the Middle East regardless post 9/11, with a continued presence in Afghanistan and strikes in Pakistan, Yemen exc.

[ProudModerate2]

Romney was the worst of a long line of RINOs the party nominated from Reagan in 1984.

Hilarious !
You have a lot of nerve calling Romney a "RINO."
And trump ? The perfect Republican ?

[Hermit For Peace]

He's single handedly helping Clinton push the email story out of the news.

Just stop talking and you are going to see bounce.

LOL!!!

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

This site might as well be the Daily KOS or Democratic Underground with the anti-Republican nonsense that gets posted here on a daily basis.

Do you think someone with Donald Trump's favorability ratings (which are historically dreadful) is the mark of a good candidate? Willard Romney was never this unpopular. Don't you at least have some qualms with the way he's been running his campaign thus far?

This is a fair question that begs a response.

Donald Trump's nomination is not a normal nomination.  It's not like a Walter Mondale 1984, or even a Barry Goldwater 1964 event.  It's a hostile takeover of the GOP in the sense of a corporate raider buying up stock in a company until he gets controlling interest.  He's the enemy of the competition (the Democrats), but he's also the enemy of the in-house incumbents (Ryan, McConnell, the National Review crowd, et al).  This explains a degree of Trump's high negatives; the folks who would normally provide the apologia are not served by doing so.

It's a hostile takeover that was long overdue because the GOP Establishment, as manifested in its nomination process for President, its donor classes, its most prominent interest groups, had long been advocating policies that were out of sync with significant mass constituencies within the party that had been loyal supporters, but were never seeing THEIR concerns addressed by the party.  Trump filled that void by providing a free-trade, anti-Neocon, pro-immigration law enforcement stance that rings true for a HUGE swath of the GOP, but is HUGELY out of sync with the Power Elites (but not the masses) of the GOP.  Indeed, Trump revealed the REAL Republican Party to be anything but a "small government" party.  In no small measure, Trump's candidacy has proven the Libertarian assertion that the difference between the GOP and the Dems is the difference in what type of Big Government party you prefer.

One reason I dismiss the polls and the chaos to a decent degree is that it's predictable.  The GOP Establishment isn't going to roll over and cry "Donald!".  They will be passively aggressive all the way until the end, when they can no longer avoid taking a stand.  Indeed, this goes for many Republican VOTERS, who talk the #NeverTrump talk now, but may not be walking the walk when it's clear to them that Hillary Clinton will be elected with THEIR help.  The Nixon analogy in 1972 doesn't fly.  Most Democrats For Nixon were pretty much closely aligned to where Nixon was, politically (a moderate big-government Republican who tilted rightward) but most #NeverTrumpers are closer to Trump than Clinton on most issues even given Trump's deviations from orthodoxy.  

Trump can't be judged by ordinary standards, but I still find it kind of silly to say Trump is the WORST candidate, given what he's pulled off.  The WORST candidate ever doesn't win the nomination as he has done; he gets blown away early.  Folks are selling Trump short because they're not thinking outside the box.  Thinking outside the box is Trump's strong suit.  I think he's a far stronger general election candidate than folks believe.

[Hermit For Peace]

Worst ever? Well, maybe the most entertaining.

[HisGrace]

Romney was the worst of a long line of RINOs the party nominated from Reagan in 1984.

Hilarious !
You have a lot of nerve calling Romney a "RINO."
And trump ? The perfect Republican ?

The whole concept of a RINO is that there were "real" Republicans before the RINOS, and then the RINOS came along as fake imitators and stole the mantle. If Reagan was a RINO, who were the genuine Republicans before him, considering he's pretty much defined what a "genuine" Republican is ever since his presidency.

[Taco Truck 🚚]

There would not have been an "Arab Spring" if Saddam doesn't get toppled.

I want one of what he is having.  That's some strong Koolaid.

[Ogre Mage]

If we talking about all presidential candidates, no.  But in terms of those who have become a major party nominee, Trump has to be among the very worst and probably is THE worst.  Trump's general election campaign is at least George McGovern 1972 level incompetent.  The only reason he won't lose that bad is because of the extreme political polarization these days.  By rights Trump should lose in a 1972 style landslide.

[Taco Truck 🚚]

The whole concept of a RINO is that there were "real" Republicans before the RINOS, and then the RINOS came along as fake imitators and stole the mantle. If Reagan was a RINO, who were the genuine Republicans before him, considering he's pretty much defined what a "genuine" Republican is ever since his presidency.

Not sure I agree with your definition of Republican.  But Reagan?  Let's review.

Democrat (voted for FDR 4 times)
Only divorced president (family values)
Head of a Union
Hollywood

Actually Trump may be the second coming of Reagan.