3922

That’s entirely possible. I work with one person who supports Carson (still), but the only people around here that “support” him admit they’re doing it for the spectacle paired with an active disbelief that he actually means what he says (… which is a safe assumption with politicians, anyways). That said, they know I’m a bleeding heart liberal so they may couch their support in a socially acceptable package.

3923

Excellent!

3924

I am one of those people. Of course, there’s no way come heck or high water that I’d vote for Trump. : P Still, does he actually have a chance at all? I’ve gotten tons of free entertainment out of this cycle thanks to him. (And yeah, I know he has a negative effect, too, so I’m being selfish.)

3925

So apparently the Trumpsters are angrier at Megyn Kelly than ever because she said he sent her creepy clippings of news stories about her that he signed.

Or something. She’s on Vanity Fair’s cover and the wingnuts have come out in force to say horrible things about her. And the nuts on the left as well, since she’s on Fox News and all. Basically it’s a gigantic hate-fest on Megyn. Because women and politics and schlongings and someone dared stand up to The Leader and she also doesn’t agree with my politics and whatever.

3926

This just in: Video of Mexicans swarming over the border, in Trump’s political TV advert, are not Mexicans.

In a new television ad – his campaign’s first – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shows footage of dozens of people swarming over a border fence. But the footage isn’t as it seems.

About halfway through the ad, a narrator says of Trump, “He’ll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for.” Video footage shows dozens of people streaming across the border, as if they were ants fleeing an anthill.

The clear suggestion is that the footage is of the “southern border” between the United States and Mexico. But it’s not – it’s 5,000 miles away, in a small Spanish enclave on the mainland of Morocco.

3927

Again… Trump supporters don’t care about facts.

3928

I still don’t really get this white knighting of Megyn Kelly. She isn’t a child and she isnt some weak idiot. This is what journalists have to deal with and she doesn’t need (or seemingly want) to be coddled because she is a woman.

It is typical republican tactics to attack journalists when something makes them look bad, no matter what the gender is. The news clipping thing signed by trump is so 100% trump too. I can totally imagine him doing that and being proud of it. I don’t personally find it creepy, but you do probably have to be a pretty arrogant asshole to do it.

3929

Honestly, Kelly is probably one of the better journalists on fox.

3930

White knighting? Uh, okay.

I’m not even sure how to respond to something so off the wall and out of left field.

3931

I can only suspect Murbella is referring to something that Kelly’s fellow journalists have done (perhaps Vanity Fair), not your post.

3932

They will care if he looks foolish or stupid, which is impossible to look foolish or stupid in a GOP debate.

3933

Like when he clearly had no idea what the nuclear triad was, and Rubio had to explain it to him? That kind of foolish or stupid?

3934

They won’t care because nothing he says or does makes him look foolish to them. Did you see that campaign ad? That’s not a joke. That’s the actual TV spot that he’s running to convince people to vote for him. People that respond positively to that ad aren’t critical thinkers. They don’t care who has facts and a solid policy agenda. They don’t care about a record of political success. The people that think Trump is what the country needs admire his “straight shootin’” talk and “no-nonsense” attitude. The idiocy that pours out of his mouth is pure gold to them.

3935

Probably because most people didn’t know what that was. Oh, Trump didn’t know what that thing I didn’t know about either? Who cares? I mean hell… Rubio even pulled his punches on that one, because all of the other GOP candidates don’t want to fully attack Trump, because they want his supporters to join their side. Like, the guy who attacks Trump will appear petty and small. Someone who actually cares about discrediting him won’t pull their punches.

When a candidate lives on image alone, his less-fanatical more centered fanbase will leave the diehards when he makes a bigger gaffe. I really don’t think that every trump supporter is fanatically in favor of his policies, the loud ones are. The quiet ones liked his speeches and his fun show on TV, and will leave him when he fucks up. You can spout far right lunacy, but a flub (like awkwardly drinking a glass of water) can seriously hurt you. Trump has been excellent at keeping up his image, because he has made a career out of it. But when you have a real debate between a mid-line democrat (Hillary) and a crazy (if not also more mid-line than not) guy like Trump. People on the fence generally side with the less crazy person. Ross Perot and Ron Paul had their die hard fans and support that all dwindled away once the real candidates made their way to the forefront.

I honestly think that Trump is no different in this respect, the crazy is just louder this time. The echo-chamber that is his fan base is loud, but I don’t see it lasting.

3936

That question was so stupid, even I forgave Trump’s puzzled response: “Which is more important to you, nuclear missiles, subs or bombers?” WTF?

3937

A few points here…

First, the question is actually legitimate in terms of demonstrating a few things, not the least of which is at least a superficial grasp of things like the US Nuclear arsenal. But beyond that, the question was actually a question of prioritization in terms of which areas of defense would you prioritize in terms of development and upgrading. Being able to formulate an answer to this demonstrates that you actually have some grasp of how the various elements of military defense would be applied.

Rolling Stone wrote up a good summary of how bullshity Trump was on this, and how it’s reflective of basically everything he says, always.

Even if you didn’t know the specific term “nuclear triad”, you could easily figure out from the context of the question that Hewitt asked that he was just asking about the prioritization of those different segments of the military. But trump couldn’t, because he is not a smart man.

But then Trump basically just gave his standard boilerplate bullshit response:

“Well, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible, who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important.”

Oh, good. Well, that totally didn’t answer the question.

So then Hewitt pressed him on it.

Trump’s response was even dumber than simple ignorance of the term though. He whipped out the response of, “Uh, yeah, nuclear bombs are super awesome and powerful.”

Hewitt: “Of the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Sen. Rubio after that and ask him.”

Trump: “I think – I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me.”

I mean, HOLY SHIT, that is like an answer a mentally handicapped person would give. The power and devastation is important to him? WTF does that even mean? It’s like he’s just pulling out random words from his big bag o’ bullshit. “Say stuff like ‘powerful’ and then people will associate it with you!”

And the fact is, when you see him speak, it is his entire being. He is more full of shit than any politician I can recall. He doesn’t just lie about stuff, but he literally just says particular tough sounding words! His entire campaign is the equivalent of jingling a shiny object in front of a baby.

3938

Timex, I’m familiar with the triad, and of course Trump’s answer was nonsense. My point is, who cares about this? If you listed the top 500 issues with which voters are concerned, “prioritize among the weapon systems in our nuclear arsenal” would not appear. And even for those voters who do, or who should consider the state of that arsenal to be important, “Which bomb the BEST bomb?” is a terrible way to introduce it.

It was just Hewitt trying to show he’s smarter than Trump. He is, but it was still a WTF moment.

3939

To me, what was the most stunning was just how impressively idiotic his answer was. The “Nuclear bombs are super powerful” was just mind numbing.

3940

To me the most entertaining part of this whole spectacle is watching establishment Republican (I include myself in this group) try to rationalize the Trump Phenom. I watched Micheal Gearson Wash Po columnist and Bush 43 speechwriter try to make sense of it for a year end review and the poor guy brain practically exploded he was so frustrated. About a month ago, I decide I’m not going waste any more mental energy about the guy. He isn’t going to be the nominee, and like America’s fascination with the Khardasians and bad reality TV shows he also isn’t go away. My brain simple isn’t wired to comprehend the appeal so I’m going to stop worrying about it. So Timex don’t let your brain blow up.

3941

Republicans are having trouble rationalizing the fact that Trump supporters are exactly what they’ve been cultivating for a decade.

It’s just that Trump was the first person to outright say what the Republican party has been training their constituents to believe.