What next?

[Snowflake]

After last evening's debacle, can't call it a debate, how much lower does it go now? Seriously, referring to penis size?

I have film-biz friends who are conservative. They are rabidly I the Trumpian camp. They're not stupid people, but, I just cannot understand the appeal. Can they not recognize the difference between a serious candidate and someone who looks everything like a reality star playing the media as only he knows how?

It is such a long political season already. Sigh, I am bewildered and it's just not all that humorous anymore.

#teambernie and will vote #teamhillary if she gets the nod.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I'm not a Democrat, but I'm WAY not a Republican either.
I would enjoy seeing the Party Of Hate self-destruct in a civil war over Drumph.

[Snowflake]

I'm not a Democrat, but I'm WAY not a Republican either.
I would enjoy seeing the Party Of Hate self-destruct in a civil war over Drumph.

Then what? Single party state?

Even Reagan could not get elected this season.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I realize they don't get any press, but there are other parties.

[RStar]

I cannot understand anyone being serious about Trump either. I'm just embarrassed to be an American right now after last night.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Yeah, it's freaky. We're gonna get stuck with one of them. I'm hoping it's Bernie, but we'll see what happens.

I think my favorite comment running around the internets is to hope that Bernie gets elected so Trump supporters can get the mental health care they so clearly need.

[RStar]

Ha! That's a good one! Bernie would be the lesser of all the evils.

[Ghoulish Delight]

My self-righteously-Jewish father in law is somehow a Trump supporter. Not that I have ever been able to wrap my head around his various forms of lunacy, but this one is far beyond me. I have not seen his reaction to Trump's hesitation to condemn the KKK (assuming he was even aware of it through is Fox New haze), but I have no doubt he'd find some way to twist his brain into passing it off.

I have never been a, "If so-and-so wins I'm moving to Canada" kind of guy...but I have suddenly been very mindful of the fact that I work for an Israeli company and have the legal right to emigrate to Israel at-will [yes, this is a scenario where moving to Israel is plausibly looking like the safer option]. I should start asking what the odds of finding a position over there are.

[alphabassettgrrl]

My father-in-law likes Trump, too, though thankfully not because he thinks he's a good candidate. No, this guy likes him because he's entertaining. And because he likes to shock people.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Mine definitely likes him for his blatant anti-brown-people stance and misogyny. And will no doubt willfully ignore his antisemitism.

Of course he also proudly displays a drawing of Obama dressed in traditional arab garb stabbing an Israeli soldier wearing traditional Jewish garb in the back, so "grasp on reality" is not one of his strong suits.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Yeah, I think a lot of Trump supporters don't quite have a grasp of reality.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Though I have been strongly opposed to many candidates through the years, this is the first time I've been truly frightened by the prospect of a legitimate candidate getting elected.

[RStar]

I think the phrase "legitimate candidate" is used rather loosely in this case...

[katiesue]

I also have acquaintances who are huge Trump supporters and I just can't quite get it either. They're not stupid people, they have good jobs etc. I've actually been sort of surprised that a large number of people that I know who are more "hick" are very anti-trump.

[Ghoulish Delight]

An interesting analysis.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/donald-trump-why-americans-support

This actually scares me more than anything. Because as we're busy attacking his racist clowning, the bulk of his supporters are saying to themselves, "Whatever, I'm not racist, I just want to keep jobs here." Hopefully once the campaign turns from the primary, if he's the candidate, the Democratic campaign managers recognize this and can start focusing on where his policies actually suck (or don't exist) rather than the dog and pony show he's effectively using as a smoke screen.

[katiesue]

Great article GD. And the folks I know who are supporters are talking about things like NAFTA and jobs.

Question. Trump the great deal maker. Has he ever really made any great deals or has he just said it enough about himself to make people think it's true?

[Ghoulish Delight]

It's hard to day. It might be easy to point to his 4 bankruptcy filings, but in reality that's part of the game at the level of investment he deals in. It's not unusual for that to happen, especially considering the overall decline of the gambling industry during the period he was going through them.

However, he inherited his position in the investment industry by virtue of birth. He didn't build his business, he's been playing with house money from the start. Doesn't mean he isn't capable of making smart business moves, but the fact of his wealth is not evidence of it.

[katiesue]

Right bankruptcies are a part of the game. I know a number of the buildings and projects that have TRUMP in big letters outside aren't actually owned by him. He licenses the name, which honestly is a smart business. But it also gives the illusion that he owns more than he actually does. I read an article last week that he's not even in the top 10 of real estate owners in New York. He only owns 2 floors of Trump Towers for instance. (hopefully I'm remembering correctly.)

[Ghoulish Delight]

Also - even if I were to believe him to be a successful businessman, that does not necessarily mean good President. 1) The President is not in charge of running the government and 2) Managing taxes and public spending is NOT the same as running a business. The goals and mechanisms are radically different, success in one does not translate to success in the other.

[katiesue]

Right I've said that all along running a big business is so not the same as running a government. The president has way less control, by design, than a CEO of a corporation. I work for and have worked for people who run large businesses and it's not remotely the same sort of thing.