Tim_N
4662
I remember reading a quote from him that your post made me find again:
“Nowhere in the Bible does it say that America will be here 100 years from now,” supposedly said in 1994 at a rally.
It isn’t exactly a “I believe in the Rapture” quote, but I don’t see any conservative christian saying that without implying that they think the rapture is coming soon, and this is coming from someone who grew up in the conservative christian environment (mostly protestant, granted, but catholic too).
Timex
4663
No, actually that wasn’t at all what he was saying. I’m no fan of Santorum, but you are repeating an intentional misquote of him, which had previously been used exactly as you are using it.
The full quote was this:
“I’ve read the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that America will be here 100 years from now. We … can … blow … this. This country can fail. This government can take your freedom. I know you feel safe for now … but DON’T GIVE UP YOUR FREEDOMS. Don’t give up your freedom.”
His statement was saying that there is nothing that says the US is somehow invincible, and that our decisions don’t matter. It had nothing at all to do with the rapture.
Trump is officially out of the Fox New debate.
The other candidates wasted no time ridiculing him:
Ted Cruz: Donald is a fragile soul. You know, if she asks him mean questions, I mean his hair might stand on end.
Jeb Bush: Do you know who else is scared of tough [questions] from Fox & @megynkelly? Barack Obama. Enough whining.
I don’t think those lines will work.
Trump dropped out because he was winning, and there was very little to be gained from participating. Likewise, his absence will undermine the legitimacy of the debate. He reduced the prime time debate to also-ran status. Whatever the other candidates say, Trumps absence will be the story.
Meanwhile, others have taken a higher road:
Dear Voter,
Do you like me? Check one:
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
Carly, from the back row.
Timex
4667
This is silly.
The front runner does not normally drop out of a scheduled debate simply because they are winning.
Trump is acting like a little girl, and he’s afraid of looking bad. Honestly, he got absolutely destroyed in the last debate and came off looking like a joke, and was only able to salvage it because Cruz foolishly let him their out an empty “but…but…911! New York is 911!! America!” And it ended up making the simpleminded forget that he had looked like a total joke for the entire debate up until that point.
Whatever, I’m glad he’s sitting out. He’s a joke.
It’s part of his continuing campaign to use his power to bully the media into compliance. The more power he has, the more effective he will be at this. This is, of course, a key tenant of Fascism.
magnet
4669
That might get your boss fired. But an intent to break the law is not a crime. Just look at the criminal code cited above. It refers to actions, not words.
In fact, countless people have voiced their intent to overthrow the government, kill cops, cheat the IRS, and do all other sorts of horrible things. But intent is insufficient without some sort of related action. It does not have to be a successful action, but someone has to do something before they can be charged with a crime.
Some of my Republican friends have now commented they’ll be interested in watching the debate now that he’s out. I’m not sure how widespread the sentiment is, of course, but from my anecdotal experience it doesn’t seem to be winning him any new support.
Timex
4671
Giving someone an order to do something is in fact an action from the perspective of the law.
I don’t see how Trump’s constant bullying raises his favorability or appears presidential to independents. If he does get the nom, man’s gonna have to go full Sybil this summer.
Tim_N
4673
Thanks for the full quote, I read it in an article about Santorum opposing environmental legislation with the implication being he didn’t care about environmental protection since the US might not be around when all these ill effects will occur anyway. I really hate internet misquotes, it’s good to solve them one by one.
I feel like we could settle this if we all just rewatched A Few Good Men.
I don’t think Trump will skip the debate. They’ll go through the first round of questions without Trump present. The audience will be bored by the usual empty platitudes. All of a sudden there’s a commotion at the back of the arena and Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Going to Take It” blares out over the speakers. “Good God, that’s Trump’s music!” exclaims Chris Wallace. Out of a cloud of dry ice and fireworks, Trump enters the room. He walks through the crowd high-fiving everyone and then steps up on to the stage and hits Ted Cruz with a chair. He knows his base.
Quaro
4676
Trump’s Official Statement is worth a post. LOL.
As someone who wrote one of the best-selling business books of all time, The Art of the Deal, who has built an incredible company, including some of the most valuable and iconic assets in the world, and as someone who has a personal net worth of many billions of dollars, Mr. Trump knows a bad deal when he sees one. FOX News is making tens of millions of dollars on debates, and setting ratings records (the highest in history), where as in previous years they were low-rated afterthoughts.
Unlike the very stupid, highly incompetent people running our country into the ground, Mr. Trump knows when to walk away. Roger Ailes and FOX News think they can toy with him, but Mr. Trump doesn’t play games. There have already been six debates, and according to all online debate polls including Drudge, Slate, Time Magazine, and many others, Mr. Trump has won all of them, in particular the last one. Whereas he has always been a job creator and not a debater, he nevertheless truly enjoys the debating process - and it has been very good for him, both in polls and popularity.
He will not be participating in the FOX News debate and will instead host an event in Iowa to raise money for the Veterans and Wounded Warriors, who have been treated so horribly by our all talk, no action politicians. Like running for office as an extremely successful person, this takes guts and it is the kind of mentality our country needs in order to Make America Great Again.
Like Sarah Palin he is impossible to parody.
I wonder if this is an attempt to sabotage Kasich.
What’s that, you say?
If Sanders does well in Iowa, that might lessen the aura that HRC is the inevitable nominee, and may make independent voters more inclined to vote for Sanders instead of Kasich [edit: in the NH primary]. Kasich is currently in second and if he can get independents to vote for him, he can end up as a strong second which should give him some momentum to be the ‘mainstream’ candidate for the Republican nomination (Christie is all but done given the way he handled the recent storm, and I can’t see Bush gaining traction.)
What leads me to this is that a dark money group just made an ad buy with WMUR in NH to run negative ads against Kasich (appears to be a Koch group, but the donors to the PAC are shielded.) We know the Kochs don’t like Kasich and probably prefer Rubio.
I don’t think this ploy would work for a normal candidate.
Oghier
4679
I agree – this is a tactic, not a tantrum. Trump is winning, and he risks more by showing up. He’s stronger making speeches alone and unchallenged. He will surely schedule an event the same night or soon after, 25,000 people will show up, and he’ll say something newly outrageous that will dominate the news cycle for a week.
A Trump-Sanders general election would be a true referendum on the country’s future, more so than any election since 1932, perhaps even 1860. I’m a Clinton supporter, but a (large) part of me would like to see that. Potentially scary, though.
Yep – normal candidates would get less free TV time and attention by skipping a debate. Trump will get more.
Oghier
4680
Heh, that could happen. Trump blurs the line between satire and reality.
It only works to shore up his already-locked in base. Trump still seems to be going for an all-out win the primary strategy, regardless of what it’ll cost him in the general. It’s part of why the R establishment is so freaked out. There’s a good chance he would blow the general really, really badly, pulling down the R’s all across the board while doing it.
I don’t know if it’s because Trump doesn’t give a damn or he’s just winging it and figures he can totally flip once the primaries are over, with everyone forgetting what he’s said before.
