So what makes you think Trump will make it to the White House?  He is losing in nearly every poll to Hillary Clinton (RCP Clinton + 2., and his negatives are lodged at 58%.

Meanwhile Cruz beats Clinton (RCP Cruz + . and Rubio beats Clinton (RCP Rubio +4.7). 

Did you watch the Chris Wallace interview that I posted here yesterday?  Tell me where he actually answered a question.

What troubles me is that you talk about the Cruz and Rubio schoolyard shenanigans, but never say the same thing or worse about Trump, and that's  consistent with all Trump supporters that I know.

Take any issue that I've posted here:  pro-eminent domain to give property to private owners, anti-First Amendment desire to "open up" the libel laws so he can sue people, and numerous other liberal positions, and I don't think I've received one post in defense of Trump. Not one. They have just been ignored.

But they will not go away.

I've heard that the dems are surfacing videos from Trump's appearances on the Howard Stern show, where he is rating women, saying "look at that face, she's only a 5" and "I'd do her".  I'll see if I can find that.  But how will that work with the "GOP war on women" narrative that is guaranteed to come out?

I am not a Trump supporter and feel no need to provide any defense.  I do find several positions he holds problematic although I think each of those issues have had more hay made about them than they deserve with respect to what it appears Trump's position actually is - bottom line is nobody in consideration is an ideal candidate, frankly none of them are even good candidates for a variety of reasons both political as well as personal.

WRT to national polling, it may or may not be accurate - the big unpredictable element is how a candidate Trump would campaign against Hillary (or Bernie), I believe scorched earth doesn't even begin to describe the withering assault I would expect a candidate Trump to unleash - if anyone can move the needle on Hillary (or Bernie) it is Trump, since the establishment has demonstrated again and again they are unwilling/incapable of actually taking it to the opposition - this belief I have by the way is one of the fundamental reasons that people who actively support Trump do so, in their own words - he takes no shit - we the people are tired of being shit on again and again by both parties and Trump is capitalizing on that (almost like he knows what he is doing).

WRT to shenanigans, the reason Trump folks call it out when others do it and not when he does is based on expectations I think more than anything - it is expected from Trump and is considered out of character for the Pols, that is also why they are so bad at it IMO.  He gets benefit of the doubt for his behavior in the same way Cruz is excused by his supoprters, and Rubio is excused by his supporters - there is zero difference there, it is pure human nature to support 'your guy'

WRT war on women trope, my belief is that like every other thing that was supposed to torpedo Trump's campaign, it is based on conventional beliefs, conventional experience and conventional assumptions which are inapplicable for Trump because unlike the other candidates (with notable exception of Dr. Carson) he is not a creation of the establishment or of the political media therefore neither can truly destroy him.  The bullshit identity politics victim card is overplayed and anyone trying to continue using it will be seen as, you guessed it a loser, a yuuuuuuge loooooser.

Trump is riding a populist groundswell that has not, in my opinion, even come close to its zenith - and the continued 'attacks' against him from the esablishment, the media and the Democrats will all only serve to continue to expand his support from the vast middle ground.  The consultant class has been telling both parties for decades that they can only win if they secure the middle, and that only they (the consultants) can help them - Trump is nuking that and that may be one of the best results of his involvement in this campaign season, but only if future candidates are taking notes.

'Gimp

The melting pot you credit as an asset to our country is exactly what Trump and his followers seem to want to greatly restrict.

So wrong as to not be in the same universe.  Immigration does not equal illegal immigration, not the same.

Show one single direct quote from Trump (or any of the folks here who people seem to think support him) that is blanket against legal immigration, I quadruple dog dare you. 

All sovereign nations control immigration to one extent or another - to include legally picking who can and cannot immigrate - without a border a nation is not sovereign.  This can include religious, ethnic or political grounds, and has, not only for America but for many other nations (like Mexico, or Cuba or Japan - basically all of them).  Many do so with fences and walls (e.g., Vatican City).

Many if not most of us are immigrants - my mom's family has been here since the 1700's but my Dad's family didn't come over until the early 1900's.  Came in accordance with the laws in place at the time - processed in through Ellis Island direct from Poland.

Trump is married to an immigrant (Slovenia), his previous wife was an immigrant (Czech) - look past the 2 second soundbites and do some actual research and think for yourself.

'Gimp

I think they are spot on. Trump does not have family values, or religious values, or traditional values. He has Trump values and they are whatever he sees fit. Like he said himself, he could shoot somebody and his supporters wouldn't care. They would just assume that person had it coming. He can do no wrong in their eyes.

Trump supporters are so drunk with this false idea that he is some sort of outsider maverick that is going to come to Washington, kick ass, yell "You're fired!!", shout down liberals, those in congress and clean house. They really hope they are somehow electing King Donald the 1st that will right this ship short order. So whatever he did, does or says is irrelevant. Sadly, they are delusional and it seems nothing can stop this train wreck in the making.

If this is what you actually think then you hold a pretty poor view of a large and growing number of the population. 

This is why Trump does well and people are left scratching their heads (Bush, Christie, Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, the establishment, etc.) - they, and you, are assigning/projecting onto the electorate in a haphazard, ill informed and ultimately petty way, underestimating the reasons why people support him, and worse, debasing people who do as stupid, angry, hate-filled, racist, homophobic anti-immigrant blind followers, etc.

This is the same language used to describe people who listen to Rush Limbaugh, by people on the left who completely don't understand his listeners.  It's the same derisive, dismissive and insulting look-down-your-snoot that we on the right have had to deal with from the left for decades, and now we are using the same tactics in describing people arguably on our side of the fence or those who would join us, for choosing to support the 'wrong' guy - it is truly disappointing.

There are rational and fact-based reason to support or oppose Trump as a candidate, the fact so many folks resort to name-calling not just towards Trump but the people who support him, and the hyperventilating about what those people believe he may or may not do is juvenile.  The fact people who apparently consider themselves intelligent and erudite fall for the very sound-bite attack dog misrepresentation or fabrications about the guy they say are why they can't support him only show they have largely not done any real research themselves, really pot and kettle stuff IMO.

'Gimp

I really like that idea.  Cruz would be a much better Justice than President (IMNSHO).

And unless everyone else drops out soon, Trump will be the GOP candidate and Hillary will be President (unless she gets indicted, but I don't see that happening).

Don't accept the hype - Hillary is no more likeable than Trump and if you think Trump has been hard on his GOP competition I predict we haven't seen anything yet if he gets to the General.

I also predict that Trump more than any Republican candidate in 30 years has the 'opportunity' to pull votes from the other side precisely for the very reason some die-hard conservatives don't like him - he is not a doctrinally pure conservative - but the dirty little secret is that nobody who has run since Reagan has been a doctrinally pure conservative, the difference is in the marketing and that's where Trump is at his best.

Republican turnout in the primaries has been epic, in both closed and open primaries, the people are moving and if we have to take a non-doctrinally pure outsider to put a stake through the heart of the RINO establishment that's a price I am willing to pay, especially if it clears the decks for better non-establishment/non-scion candidates in the future.

I wonder though if we won't have Dem-Bush levels of Trump Derangment Syndrome but within our own side (I am no longer a registered Republican, they spat in my face one too many times, that ship sailed a couple years ago).

'Gimp

So, lacking the ability to defend his positions, the Trumpkins continue to say to his critics "SHUT UP!"

And again, I am still not a Trump supporter, I am just tired of your endless bullshit hard-on obsession and your total inability to deal with his current success in the primaries.

I don't want you to shutup because you criticize him, I just wish you'd spend even 10% of the energy on something else, anything else, underwater basket weaving, your love for Klingon opera, your budding Bromance with the Bernster, why Hillary should never be President, don't really care - just ANYTHING else. 

There is a reason that the terms One Trick Pony and One Hit Wonder are pejoratives - it gets old.

Simple fact of the matter is that Trump has garnered a substantial amount of support, across a wide audience and for a wide array of reasons and like it or not that is what it takes to win elections. 

But there's only been 3 primaries so far, never mind Trump has more delegates than everyone else put together so far, he only has 3-4% of the total delegates needed, and Marco and Cruz are not going to drop out although Kasich and Carson soon should and I predict will (although Carson may go all the way if he can keep enough donations coming in to at least pretend to compete - and for good reason I am not ascribing any deviousness to him).

You may not agree with that support but to dismiss, deride and demean it in the ways you continue to do only shows you have no idea why he is actually so popular, but you are in good company in that it is a problem you share with essentially all of the mainstream media, the the Republican and Democrat establishments, basically everyone on K street, and all of his current opponents.

It's just tiresome Jeff, literally has cut down on the visits I make here because between your incessant harping and Jaybird's jihad this place really isn't as fun.

'Gimp

#RealDonaldTrump when asked about JeffDG's hard-on for him....

An hour and a half video?  Um, no.

I'm about half-way through, and so far it's quite enlightening.

I am not opposed to some form of amnesty, nor a long path to citizenship - people are an asset, not a liability.

But Cruz's squirming to try to explain away previous pro-amnesty statements and actions is pathetic. I'd respect him more if he owned his prior positions and explained how his views have changed over time and why.

It's clear he's just morphing into whatever position he thinks will get him elected.

And before you say, "They all do that...", maybe study up on logical fallacies and tell us which one you'd be committing.

Who says they aren't eager for Hillary's business as well?