By even his own admission, Donald Trump has only a 10-20% chance of becoming the country’s next president. And most Republicans don’t consider him a threat to win the nomination.
But at least one prominent Republican figure is starting to worry that Trump could end up on the general-election ballot in another way: by running as a third party candidate.
At a meeting of Republican strategists and lobbyists reported by the New York Times on Thursday, former Republican congressman Thomas Davis raised the possibility that Trump could play spoiler as a third-party candidate.
“You’ve got to keep him in the tent,” Davis told the Times. “He’s Ross Perot as an independent. He just wreaks havoc, and every vote he takes comes out of our hide.”
According to the Times, members at the dinner said that the party needs to tread carefully as not to alienate Trump, who could be inspired to run as an independent candidate if he is shunned by the Republican Party.
Trump is a phenomenon. He is the only candidate saying the king has no clothes, as he appeals for the support of a constituency which appears tired of lies and fantasy. Then again, we have seen this movie before, when it was titled Ross Perot.
I read this, and thought, “Who else would even touch this issue?”
Donald Trump says that if elected president, he will abolish the gun free zones currently imposed on U.S. troops by “[mandating] that soldiers remain armed and on alert at our military bases.”
In an interview with Ammoland he said: “President Clinton never should have passed a ban on soldiers being able to protect themselves on bases. America’s Armed Forces will be armed.”
Trump went on to decry gun free zones on military bases as a product of “political correctness” and said removing those zones “will… [enable soldiers] to defend themselves against terrorists.”
I heard Trump say he would consider his good friend Oprah for Vice President, so don’t think I am all glassy-eye’d, and in love. Donald is a sharp guy damaging the media, so I am all behind him, but just like getting a date with an absurdly hot girl, I am braced for the inevitable breakup going in. No way it can be this good indefinitely.
He is a force who will need to be dealt with as the season goes on. He attacks issues the media tells us are contentious by plainly stating the obvious, politically incorrect, conservative truth. He is immune to media shaming. Either he will win, or somebody will have to offer him the VP slot, and fast, to keep him from going third party. Whether he will take it is another matter.
This is what the media dreads. If Donald has success, especially among the Tea Party and rank and file Republicans, then Republican candidates may start feeling that the path to success is to state the obvious, politically incorrect truth, and tell everyone who objects to go screw themselves. So far Trump has made the Lame Stream Media look like a paper tiger, compared to the force of those who want to hear the truth. That is good.
Politicians want power, pure and simple. If telling the truth is the way to get it, then that is what they will do. Hopefully Donald is merely priming the populace for more truth telling, and not setting the stage for even more socialism. Only time will tell.
[…] By Anonymous Conservative […]
If Republicans want someone other than Trump to be the nominee, they simply have to run someone who is willing to be a better politician than Trump.
Seriously. That’s it. It’s not a high bar to hurdle.
I’ve never been enamored of Trump as a person but the Republicans and Democrats are so lame he looks like a winner next to them.
Trump is also thinking about international issues, telling Fox News he has a “foolproof” plan to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, though he didn’t disclose details.