Originally Posted By Mr X After spending several minutes pandering to his new best friends the Mormons, Trump had this to say... “Did he choke? Did this guy choke? He’s a choke artist,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Mr. Romney’s loss to President Obama in 2012. Mr. Trump added, “Are you sure he’s a Mormon? Are we sure?” <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/19/donald-trump-on-mitt-romney-are-you-sure-hes-a-mormon">http://www.nytimes.com/politic...a-mormon</a> The sheer obnoxious hubris of this guy is really off the charts. After chastising the POPE for daring to question HIS amazing level of Christianity, he turns around and questions the religious conviction of others. Wow. Frankly, I can't figure out why anyone even remotely religious (Christian, Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, or otherwise) would even consider casting a ballot for this charlatan whore. But then again, I can't figure out how anyone who is female, black, hispanic, or asian could possibly vote for him either, and yet he's getting *some* votes from all of the above.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 There are many things for which one can criticize Mitt Romney. One would think "not Mormon enough" wouldn't have cracked the top 20.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 The thing is, I think (definitely hope, but think too), that all these statements Trump is making will come back to bite him in the butt. It doesn't seem to him like they will, because they just endear him to his acolytes, and thus he's having great success in the GOP primaries. So they seem to be "working." But his acolytes, I think (again, definitely hope, but think too) don't make up anything like a majority of the country. And you can only offend and insult so many people so many times before they just don't want to hear it when you try to make nice. One poll recently said that 50% of women had a "very unfavorable" view of Trump. Women, of course, are slightly more than half of the entire electorate. And while you can sometimes win back people who have an "unfavorable" view, everyone says winning back "very unfavorable" is extremely difficult. That alone would make it difficult for Trump to win nationwide. Add to that negative views from Hispanics, African Americans, Muslims, white liberals... it's almost at the point where I'm hoping he does get the nomination - especially since the only viable option seems to be Cruz, who scares me even more. I go back and forth between rooting for a contested convention, and not. On the one hand, I'd love to see the food fight and the GOP tear itself apart. Plus the possibility of a 3rd party run which would split the conservative vote. On the other hand, I do fear actual violence, which isn't good for anyone, and I still have the nagging feeling that MAYBE Trump's supporters are so passionate that they'll come out in droves while others stay home in November. If I were Clinton, I'd have a two-pronged strategy of attacking him on the issues - thus appearing presidential and certainly she has a far greater grasp of the issues (which doesn't matter much in GOP primaries this year, but could matter to the general electorate), while having her superpacs and surrogates hammer home the fear of what a Trump presidency would look like and driving Democratic turnout, if only ON fear. Many people have said that Trump's message has nothing to do with the head, and all based on the heart (or gut), and therefore you can't appeal to people's heads, but must appeal to their hearts/guts as well. I think there's something to that, but as long as we have this candidate-plus-superpac system we have, I see nothing wrong with appealing to both.
Originally Posted By ecdc I watched the livestream of Trump's speech and he was making a joke. He was praising Mormons and then saying Mitt's a failure. So it was like, "You guys are so good at everything and Mitt's so bad, are you sure he's one of you?" It's not a good joke and it plays into Trump's MO of questioning anyone's legitimacy, be it Obama's birth, Cruz's citizenship, Jeb!'s "energy," and so on.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <So it was like, "You guys are so good at everything and Mitt's so bad, are you sure he's one of you?" > So... pandering, then.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Yep. He's currently polling third of three in Utah (and I don't think he's come in third anywhere yet, has he?), and check THIS out: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.politicususa.com/2016/03/20/bombshell-poll-shows-democrats-win-utah-trump-gop-nominee.html">http://www.politicususa.com/20...nee.html</a> A Deseret News poll has him losing Utah in the general to either Clinton or Sanders. I mean, it's a long way to November, and the numbers with Clinton are close, but come on. Utah should be a gimme for any Republican. And would be for either Cruz or Kasich. The Romney slam is too recent to be reflected in this poll. So what is it? The crassness? The crude comments about women? The narcissism? I doubt any plays very well with the LDS.
Originally Posted By ecdc It's three things: 1) His "immorality"--his crassness and profanity and his three marriages. You cannot overstate how much Mormons are obsessed with right and wrong behavior. It is primarily how they define themselves--don't drink, don't smoke, don't have sex, don't swear, etc. 2) Immigration--believe it or not, Mormons are pretty progressive on this. The church's growth largely comes from South America and they speak officially about compassion and the need to change the laws to benefit immigrants. And on a practical level, tons of Utah Mormons served missions in South America. They speak Spanish (or Portuguese) and they know and love the people. 3) Muslims--I'm inclined to think that even two or three years ago this would not be a big deal to Mormons and they wouldn't much care about Trump's Islamophobia. But with major rulings on LGBTQ issues, Mormons have been heavily focused on "religious freedom." It's raised awareness and in a lot of ways Mormons are realizing that they are still a religious minority and they could find themselves on the receiving end of bigotry. (Mind, I'm *not* saying Mormons are discriminated against because of LGBT issues, but it's the catalyst that's had them looking at religious civil liberties issues.)
Originally Posted By Mr X ***I watched the livestream of Trump's speech and he was making a joke.*** Well, sure, but a lot of his greatest 'hits' have been in joke form one way or another ("Little Marco", "He's such a low energy guy, isn't he folks?" and of course "We need to treat them very gently. Oh, please be gentle with the disrupter!").
Originally Posted By Spree Coming in 3rd in Utah isn't always a bad thing......(see election of 1992)
