2016 elections - because it's never too early

[Monoriu]

One day this past May, Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., reached out to a senior adviser to Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who left the presidential race just a few weeks before. As a candidate, Kasich declared in March that Trump was "really not prepared to be president of the United States," and the following month he took the highly unusual step of coordinating with his rival Senator Ted Cruz in an effort to deny Trump the nomination. But according to the Kasich adviser (who spoke only under the condition that he not be named), Donald Jr. wanted to make him an offer nonetheless: Did he have any interest in being the most powerful vice president in history?

When Kasich's adviser asked how this would be the case, Donald Jr. explained that his father's vice president would be in charge of domestic and foreign policy.

Then what, the adviser asked, would Trump be in charge of?

"Making America great again"  was the casual reply.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/magazine/how-donald-trump-picked-his-running-mate.html

I probably won't take Trump's words at face value.  He is just going to say whatever it takes to get what he wants.  Then forget about what he said.

[derspiess]

Makes a certain kind of sense. Trump gets to do what is most important to him (expand his fame and continue selling his brand) while others do the actual work of, you know, governing. And he gets to take all the credit and shift all the blame, at minimal actual financial cost to himself.

He's a charlatan and it's disappointing to watch so many people fall for it.

He'll get things done.

[Valmy]

He'll get things done.

So many things we won't even believe it?

[Grey Fox]

Makes a certain kind of sense. Trump gets to do what is most important to him (expand his fame and continue selling his brand) while others do the actual work of, you know, governing. And he gets to take all the credit and shift all the blame, at minimal actual financial cost to himself.

He's a charlatan and it's disappointing to watch so many people fall for it.

It is going to be a wild & fun ride.

[Legbiter]

He'll get things done.

So many things we won't even believe it?

We'll have the best wins folks. The best wins. 

[CountDeMoney]

<boggle>

Hey Jeff, question:  last night Rudy Giuliani said that upstate New York was "impoverished" because the Obama Administration has banned fracking in New York state.  Is that true?  Is everyone impoverished up there with you because they can't frack and stuff?

[Jacob]

Makes a certain kind of sense. Trump gets to do what is most important to him (expand his fame and continue selling his brand) while others do the actual work of, you know, governing. And he gets to take all the credit and shift all the blame, at minimal actual financial cost to himself.

He's a charlatan and it's disappointing to watch so many people fall for it.

I reckon the important things to Trump as president would be:

1) Always being the most important person in the room, his every whim carrying the weight of the USA.
2) Have people grovel, suck up, squirm and otherwise continuously support 1).
3) Build the Trump business empire in the best style of Orban, Putin, and the grandees of the Chinese Communist Party.
4) Allow his cronies and business associates to benefit financially from the power of the US State - directly or through sweet heart regulations and deals - with fulfilling 3) as a precondition for such opportunities.

[Barrister]

So in discussing the Melania speech, the Trump capaign initially denied there was any plagiarism, then said Hillary planted the story, then said they weren't going to talk about it any more, then Trump says "hey any publicity is good publicity"... now releases a statement from one Meredith McIver, who wrote the speech for Melania.  In it she says she talked with Melania about people who inspired her, which included Michelle Obama.  Melania read her parts of Michelle's speech, she wrote them down, then accidentally incorporated them verbatim into the written speech.  McIver offered to resign, but The Donald refused to accept her offer.

https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/MeredithStatement.pdf

Would have been better to start with that perhaps.  But on the other hand this story is no worse than how Hillary handled the private email server...

[Valmy]

But on the other hand this story is no worse than how Hillary handled the private email server...

Exactly. Shit that the staff and underlings are supposed to handle. Next thing you know there will be a big scandal about what color the file cabinets are.

Can we discuss things that the President actually does during this campaign? That would be great.

[Barrister]

But on the other hand this story is no worse than how Hillary handled the private email server...

Exactly. Shit that the staff and underlings are supposed to handle. Next thing you know there will be a big scandal about what color the file cabinets are.

Can we discuss things that the President actually does during this campaign? That would be great.

I'm going to disagree.  These stories aren't about email servers, or plagiarism - it's about how each leader responds to controversy.  And here both Trump and Clinton denied there was a problem, then tried to hide the problem before ultimately, painfully, telling the truth.

Oh there were some reports that Donald, Jr may have plagiarized parts of his speech from a magazine article in American Conservative.  Turns out the speech writer was the same guy who wrote the magazine writer, which makes it not plagiarism.

[Savonarola]

Two days later, Melania's speech is still the lead story on CNN.com.  It's hard to imagine anyone actually caring about this (why can you imagine what sort of drapes she'll pick out for the White House?  They'll probably be the same as Michelle's.    Wake up America!)  It's obvious some media outlets were hoping for a brawl in Cleveland; some of our local stations here have even sent their anchors to the convention.  Deplorable as this may be (what kind of national improvement program will she run; children's nutrition?  It's time to say, enough is enough!  ), it's hardly Chicago, 1968.  Maybe things aren't quite as bad as we'd like (or at least our news outlets would like us) to believe.

[Barrister]

Two days later, Melania's speech is still the lead story on CNN.com.  It's hard to imagine anyone actually caring about this (why can you imagine what sort of drapes she'll pick out for the White House?  They'll probably be the same as Michelle's.    Wake up America!)  It's obvious some media outlets were hoping for a brawl in Cleveland; some of our local stations here have even sent their anchors to the convention.  Deplorable as this may be (what kind of national improvement program will she run; children's nutrition?  It's time to say, enough is enough!  ), it's hardly Chicago, 1968.  Maybe things aren't quite as bad as we'd like (or at least our news outlets would like us) to believe.

It's the lead story because two days later the Trump campaign decides to fess up and admit what happened.

Remember - Joe Biden withdrew from the 1988 presidential race when he was found to have plagiarized a speech.

[Savonarola]

It's the lead story because two days later the Trump campaign decides to fess up and admit what happened.

Remember - Joe Biden withdrew from the 1988 presidential race when he was found to have plagiarized a speech.

It's been the lead story for two days straight. 

Biden seems to have recovered and continued his career as a popular entertainer in the field of light comedy despite the plagiarism scandal; I'm sure Melania will do the same.

[garbon]

I think it is the lead story as the media don't have the balls to treat what is happening at the convention with the contempt it deserves.

[Valmy]

I think it is the lead story as the media don't have the balls to treat what is happening at the convention with the contempt it deserves.

Indeed it is a disgrace to our country. Instead lets focus on some non-issue scandal.