Valin Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 The Weekly Standard: Remembering the first time Trump ran for president. JONATHAN V. LAST Jul 17, 2015 In this week’s newsletter, I talked about Donald Trump’s electoral prospects in the context to two other reasonably successful, non-traditional candidates: Jesse Ventura and Ross Perot. My basic point is that voters are more likely to support fringe candidates than the establishment often assumes. And that if Trump were to run as a third-party candidate with even half as much success as Perot, then the Republicans are likely to lose in 2016, no matter who the two major party nominees are. (Seriously: Ross Perot got 20 million votes in 1992. Mitt Romney only got 61 million in 2012. If Trump were to run as a third-party pulling 10 million votes next year, it’s difficult to imagine how any Dem-GOP split works out for Republicans.) But if you want to really get depressed about democracy and the state of American politics, a friend reminds me that back during the 2000 cycle—when Trump was kind-of, sort-of flirting with running as a Reform party candidate—he, Perot, and Ventura were all brought together by the bizarre carnival that was the Reform party. (Snip) In the end, it got so bad that Donald Trump—the Donald Trump—wound up writing to Perot and Ventura, asking them to figure out some way to broker a peace. Think about that for a moment: In the Reform party, Trump was the grownup. In the end, Trump couldn’t get the two sides to sit down. Ventura left the party in a huff. Buchanan won the nomination, but performed so badly that the party lost its national ballot access and federal matching money. And then—because it never had any ideological rationale—the Reform party died a quiet death. Perot and Ventura melted away. And Donald Trump is now leading in some polls for the Republican nomination. First time farce, second time tragedy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 Hugh Hewitt retweeted Barbara Haynes @barbhaynes 2h #DonaldTrump is like if a Comments Section ran for office. 10:25 AM - 18 Jul 2015 Barbara Haynes Nails It! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 Donald Trump Jesse Ventura Press Conference 1999. Will Trump Run For President Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now