This just in: Donald Trump's name has been mentioned more in the news these past few weeks than the word and has appeared in news articles in that same time-span. While most in the media have agreed that Trump is loud, oddly entertaining, and good for sound bites, not many seem to be in agreement on just how seriously we should take the businessman's presidential run and how serious of a contender he is for the 2016 election.
Late-night talk show hosts have loved every minute of Trump's presidential run to this point. His big announcement even brought David Letterman out of retirement for a single night to read off a Top Ten List at the Republican candidate's expense, and had The Daily Show's Jon Stewart pondering whether it was the right decision to leave the show just yet. To such personalities, Trump is comedy gold, nothing more, nothing less, and they'll milk his often times comical campaign for as long as time will allow. However, I've heard more serious liberal commentators write articles entitled, "Quit Laughing at Trump! His Campaign Is Not a Joke!" and "Trump Could Win This Thing!" The less paranoid progressive media personalities have released articles entitled, "Trump may be full of crap, but he sparks interesting debate" and "What Trump's poll numbers really say about the modern-day Republican Party." On the other side of the aisle, I've read conservative commentators write articles entitled, "Donald Trump is bad for the GOP," "Trump won't win the Republican Primary," and "Trump's statements not reflective of the party as a whole." Like I said, it doesn't seem like many media personalities know exactly what's going to come of Donald Trump's campaign, what his actual odds are of winning the Republican Primary, and if he does happen to win, if he has a legitimate chance of winning the presidential election.
Just today, I read an article written by conservative columnist Edward Morrissey of The Week. The article is entitled, "Donald Trump is a crazy loudmouth. But he won't wreck 2016 for the GOP."
In the article, Morrissey talks about how many Republicans don't care for Trump's antics and are worried he could hurt their party's chances of retaining control of the White House after an 8-year absence. He then goes more in depth on the matter, touching on Trump's controversial immigration commentary and how some are worried this could hinder the GOP's much needed outreach toward Latino voters, as he wrote the following:
"...For one thing, the GOP wants to reach out to Latino voters, and has a legitimate opening after six-plus years of Latinos being largely overlooked by Barack Obama. Republicans have begun reminding Latino voters that Obama could have addressed immigration reform in the first two years of his presidency - as Obama in fact promised to do in the 2008 campaign - but instead shunted them aside in favor of other priorities."
Yes, this is very much a biased article, but it doesn't read as angrily as one written by Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity, so there are times these biases make me chuckle a bit harder than if the anger and exaggerations were constant throughout the article's duration. This quote in particular made me laugh quite heartily. Mr. Morrissey and the Republican Party feel they can make some inroads with Latino voters because President Obama failed to pass immigration reform in his first two years when Democrats had a non-filibuster-proof majority in Congress. Nevermind the next four years when Republicans slowly took over control of Congress, right? How dumb do they think Latino voters are? This appears to be their mindset:
"Republicans proudly filibustered any attempts Obama and other Democrats had of passing immigration reform during the president's first two years in the Oval Office. After we started gaining control of Congress over the next four years, Obama knew there was no chance of passing immigration reform, so he pretty much gave up on the matter. In other words, it's all President Obama's fault he didn't get immigration reform passed, and this will lead Latino voters to vote for more Republican politicians, which will continue decreasing the likelihood of immigration reform being passed!"
Morrissey and company seem to forget that the Affordable Care Act has largely aided Latinos in this country. There's been an 8% drop in the uninsured rate for Latinos following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (2.6 million have gained coverage). The president then signed an executive order to benefit the Latino community. In light of President Obama's announcement on the matter, Latinos were polled nationwide by being asked the following question:
"President Obama has said that Congress had many chances to pass an immigration bill and they failed. Now Obama has enacted executive action to provide relief from deportation for any undocumented immigrant who has not committed a crime, has lived here 5 or more years and is a parent of a U.S. citizen or legal resident child here in the U.S., and providing them with temporary work permits to they have legal status. Do you support or oppose President Obama taking this executive action?"
Survey says, 89% of Latinos supported the president's action.
So what can Edward Morrissey and other Republicans really tell Latino voters when they try convincing them they should vote for their party in 2016? If they were being honest, they'd say something like this: "No matter how hard we tried to prevent the president from getting anything done to improve your lives at all, he still did so, and his party should be punished as a result! If President Obama had full authority to pass immigration reform himself, he would have done so a long time ago, but our fellow Republican brothers and sisters prevented that from happening. So if you really want to see immigration reform passed, you'll pass on the party that actually tried improving the lives of those in your community and was able to do so a time or two, and vote for the party which shut down any other such efforts throughout the president's tenure!"
Another quote I liked from the article was this one:
"Trump rallied the disappointed and disgruntled in the Republican rank and file, especially those who had hoped for a more significant change in direction after the GOP's 2014 midterm victory. Unlike the Tea Party, which coalesced around a coherent agenda in reaction to expansion of government intrusion into private marketplaces (think the TARP bailouts and ObamaCare), Trump taps into an inchoate, ill-defined disillusionment."
Does Mr. Morrissey really want to claim Trump and him tapping into the "disillusionment" of voters is the polar opposite of the Tea Party, which has featured the likes of: Steve King, Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, Sarah Palin, and Michele Bachmann? Who has been more disillusioned in the world of politics than those five (okay, there may be one or two others)?
Morrissey then closes his article with this:
"Having Trump playing the reckless loudmouth might actually work in the GOP's favor. Trump allows all of the other candidates to appear more statesmanlike by comparison, even if the specific policies they favor closely mirror Trump's. It could, if handled deftly enough, show people that Republicans who have actual track records in the party provide rational leadership. It may not inspire the same voters that Trump does, but the contrast may well help the GOP make gains among independents and centrists in a general election. If nothing else, this will give the more serious candidates a good crucible for handling the media in a general election.
Trump may grate on Republican nerves, but he's in no position to damage anyone but himself..."
This sounds like denial and wishful thinking to the extreme. Current polling has Donald Trump ahead of the large pack of Republican candidates. In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, Trump leads GOP candidates at 17%, with Jeb Bush placing 2nd at 14%. These are the only two candidates currently in double-figures. However, in a hypothetical match-up with Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Trump gets trounced by the count of 51% to 34%. We're still very early in the seemingly never-ending campaign and election season, however, with Trump placing 1st or 2nd amongst Republicans in most all major polls, the chances are slim that he'll be leaving the campaign trail anytime soon. This will result in Trump continuing to constantly be given air-time, which will continue to place the Republican Party in a bad, yet realistic light. While Edward Morrissey may be seriously in denial about his belief that Donald Trump's antics could work in the GOP's favor come election day, he's right about one thing: "Trump allows all of the other candidates to appear more statesmanlike by comparison, even if the specific policies they favor closely mirror Trumps." Exactly... While the Republican Party has been able to be somewhat subtle with some of their more controversial policy positions through the past few election cycles (with there being exceptions, of course), especially with regard to race relations, Donald Trump has made the party's views known loud and clear - which a large percentage of people (like those coveted independents and centrists) don't much like. It's even reached the point where Florida Representative Carlos Curbelo (a Republican) said he believes Trump could very well be a secret Democratic operative trying to cast the GOP in a negative light, one which they won't be able to recover from come election day.
The main reason many conservatives aren't enjoying Donald Trump's antics is the fact he's a reflection of the modern-day Republican Party, and a very loud one at that. He possesses a very black-and-white mentality, logic and reason are foreign to him, he showcases very little empathy to others, and according to him, bigger and badder is always better. No, I don't see Donald Trump winning the presidential election next year, or even winning the Republican Primary, but so long as he's in the race, I see him being a handy weapon progressives and Democrats alike can use against the GOP. The Republican Party has long been able to slyly mask some of their more controversial viewpoints from the public, but now Donald Trump has brought them front and center, and instead of allowing other Republican candidates to suggest that Trump significantly differs from the rest of them, it's time to show the country that Donald Trump isn't some kind of aberration to modern-day Republican politics. He's a direct reflection of it: Full of fallacies and bumper-sticker talking points, short on logic and facts, little empathy for others outside certain demographics (theirs), with a vision set not on the health and happiness of the people in the short- and long-term, but on the increasing profits of major corporations and the increased income inequality as a result of that. While the Democratic Party is aptly named, Donald Trump continues to loudly illustrate that the GOP should change its party name from the Republican Party to the Oligarch Party.
http://theweek.com/articles/566218/donald-trump-crazy-loudmouth-but-wont-wreck-2016-gop
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2015/01/13/104283/5-key-facts-about-the-affordable-care-act-for-latinos/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/11/24/just-how-high-is-latino-support-for-obamas-executive-actions/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/07/14/usa-today-suffolk-poll-republicans-donald-trump/30102255/
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/rep-carlos-curbelo-thinks-donald-trump-is-a-secret-democratic-operative-7753345
Late-night talk show hosts have loved every minute of Trump's presidential run to this point. His big announcement even brought David Letterman out of retirement for a single night to read off a Top Ten List at the Republican candidate's expense, and had The Daily Show's Jon Stewart pondering whether it was the right decision to leave the show just yet. To such personalities, Trump is comedy gold, nothing more, nothing less, and they'll milk his often times comical campaign for as long as time will allow. However, I've heard more serious liberal commentators write articles entitled, "Quit Laughing at Trump! His Campaign Is Not a Joke!" and "Trump Could Win This Thing!" The less paranoid progressive media personalities have released articles entitled, "Trump may be full of crap, but he sparks interesting debate" and "What Trump's poll numbers really say about the modern-day Republican Party." On the other side of the aisle, I've read conservative commentators write articles entitled, "Donald Trump is bad for the GOP," "Trump won't win the Republican Primary," and "Trump's statements not reflective of the party as a whole." Like I said, it doesn't seem like many media personalities know exactly what's going to come of Donald Trump's campaign, what his actual odds are of winning the Republican Primary, and if he does happen to win, if he has a legitimate chance of winning the presidential election.
Just today, I read an article written by conservative columnist Edward Morrissey of The Week. The article is entitled, "Donald Trump is a crazy loudmouth. But he won't wreck 2016 for the GOP."
In the article, Morrissey talks about how many Republicans don't care for Trump's antics and are worried he could hurt their party's chances of retaining control of the White House after an 8-year absence. He then goes more in depth on the matter, touching on Trump's controversial immigration commentary and how some are worried this could hinder the GOP's much needed outreach toward Latino voters, as he wrote the following:
"...For one thing, the GOP wants to reach out to Latino voters, and has a legitimate opening after six-plus years of Latinos being largely overlooked by Barack Obama. Republicans have begun reminding Latino voters that Obama could have addressed immigration reform in the first two years of his presidency - as Obama in fact promised to do in the 2008 campaign - but instead shunted them aside in favor of other priorities."
Yes, this is very much a biased article, but it doesn't read as angrily as one written by Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity, so there are times these biases make me chuckle a bit harder than if the anger and exaggerations were constant throughout the article's duration. This quote in particular made me laugh quite heartily. Mr. Morrissey and the Republican Party feel they can make some inroads with Latino voters because President Obama failed to pass immigration reform in his first two years when Democrats had a non-filibuster-proof majority in Congress. Nevermind the next four years when Republicans slowly took over control of Congress, right? How dumb do they think Latino voters are? This appears to be their mindset:
"Republicans proudly filibustered any attempts Obama and other Democrats had of passing immigration reform during the president's first two years in the Oval Office. After we started gaining control of Congress over the next four years, Obama knew there was no chance of passing immigration reform, so he pretty much gave up on the matter. In other words, it's all President Obama's fault he didn't get immigration reform passed, and this will lead Latino voters to vote for more Republican politicians, which will continue decreasing the likelihood of immigration reform being passed!"
Morrissey and company seem to forget that the Affordable Care Act has largely aided Latinos in this country. There's been an 8% drop in the uninsured rate for Latinos following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (2.6 million have gained coverage). The president then signed an executive order to benefit the Latino community. In light of President Obama's announcement on the matter, Latinos were polled nationwide by being asked the following question:
"President Obama has said that Congress had many chances to pass an immigration bill and they failed. Now Obama has enacted executive action to provide relief from deportation for any undocumented immigrant who has not committed a crime, has lived here 5 or more years and is a parent of a U.S. citizen or legal resident child here in the U.S., and providing them with temporary work permits to they have legal status. Do you support or oppose President Obama taking this executive action?"
Survey says, 89% of Latinos supported the president's action.
So what can Edward Morrissey and other Republicans really tell Latino voters when they try convincing them they should vote for their party in 2016? If they were being honest, they'd say something like this: "No matter how hard we tried to prevent the president from getting anything done to improve your lives at all, he still did so, and his party should be punished as a result! If President Obama had full authority to pass immigration reform himself, he would have done so a long time ago, but our fellow Republican brothers and sisters prevented that from happening. So if you really want to see immigration reform passed, you'll pass on the party that actually tried improving the lives of those in your community and was able to do so a time or two, and vote for the party which shut down any other such efforts throughout the president's tenure!"
Another quote I liked from the article was this one:
"Trump rallied the disappointed and disgruntled in the Republican rank and file, especially those who had hoped for a more significant change in direction after the GOP's 2014 midterm victory. Unlike the Tea Party, which coalesced around a coherent agenda in reaction to expansion of government intrusion into private marketplaces (think the TARP bailouts and ObamaCare), Trump taps into an inchoate, ill-defined disillusionment."
Does Mr. Morrissey really want to claim Trump and him tapping into the "disillusionment" of voters is the polar opposite of the Tea Party, which has featured the likes of: Steve King, Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, Sarah Palin, and Michele Bachmann? Who has been more disillusioned in the world of politics than those five (okay, there may be one or two others)?
Morrissey then closes his article with this:
"Having Trump playing the reckless loudmouth might actually work in the GOP's favor. Trump allows all of the other candidates to appear more statesmanlike by comparison, even if the specific policies they favor closely mirror Trump's. It could, if handled deftly enough, show people that Republicans who have actual track records in the party provide rational leadership. It may not inspire the same voters that Trump does, but the contrast may well help the GOP make gains among independents and centrists in a general election. If nothing else, this will give the more serious candidates a good crucible for handling the media in a general election.
Trump may grate on Republican nerves, but he's in no position to damage anyone but himself..."
This sounds like denial and wishful thinking to the extreme. Current polling has Donald Trump ahead of the large pack of Republican candidates. In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, Trump leads GOP candidates at 17%, with Jeb Bush placing 2nd at 14%. These are the only two candidates currently in double-figures. However, in a hypothetical match-up with Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Trump gets trounced by the count of 51% to 34%. We're still very early in the seemingly never-ending campaign and election season, however, with Trump placing 1st or 2nd amongst Republicans in most all major polls, the chances are slim that he'll be leaving the campaign trail anytime soon. This will result in Trump continuing to constantly be given air-time, which will continue to place the Republican Party in a bad, yet realistic light. While Edward Morrissey may be seriously in denial about his belief that Donald Trump's antics could work in the GOP's favor come election day, he's right about one thing: "Trump allows all of the other candidates to appear more statesmanlike by comparison, even if the specific policies they favor closely mirror Trumps." Exactly... While the Republican Party has been able to be somewhat subtle with some of their more controversial policy positions through the past few election cycles (with there being exceptions, of course), especially with regard to race relations, Donald Trump has made the party's views known loud and clear - which a large percentage of people (like those coveted independents and centrists) don't much like. It's even reached the point where Florida Representative Carlos Curbelo (a Republican) said he believes Trump could very well be a secret Democratic operative trying to cast the GOP in a negative light, one which they won't be able to recover from come election day.
The main reason many conservatives aren't enjoying Donald Trump's antics is the fact he's a reflection of the modern-day Republican Party, and a very loud one at that. He possesses a very black-and-white mentality, logic and reason are foreign to him, he showcases very little empathy to others, and according to him, bigger and badder is always better. No, I don't see Donald Trump winning the presidential election next year, or even winning the Republican Primary, but so long as he's in the race, I see him being a handy weapon progressives and Democrats alike can use against the GOP. The Republican Party has long been able to slyly mask some of their more controversial viewpoints from the public, but now Donald Trump has brought them front and center, and instead of allowing other Republican candidates to suggest that Trump significantly differs from the rest of them, it's time to show the country that Donald Trump isn't some kind of aberration to modern-day Republican politics. He's a direct reflection of it: Full of fallacies and bumper-sticker talking points, short on logic and facts, little empathy for others outside certain demographics (theirs), with a vision set not on the health and happiness of the people in the short- and long-term, but on the increasing profits of major corporations and the increased income inequality as a result of that. While the Democratic Party is aptly named, Donald Trump continues to loudly illustrate that the GOP should change its party name from the Republican Party to the Oligarch Party.
http://theweek.com/articles/566218/donald-trump-crazy-loudmouth-but-wont-wreck-2016-gop
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2015/01/13/104283/5-key-facts-about-the-affordable-care-act-for-latinos/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/11/24/just-how-high-is-latino-support-for-obamas-executive-actions/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/07/14/usa-today-suffolk-poll-republicans-donald-trump/30102255/
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/rep-carlos-curbelo-thinks-donald-trump-is-a-secret-democratic-operative-7753345
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