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I will never, ever understand how the entire Republican party lined up behind this guy.
Before Trump was elected, they were all vocal about how unfit he was. Too stupid. Too rude.
Then he got the nomination, and they all bent the knee, and became so loyal to him that they protected him from facing the consequences of his insurrection, even when he put their lives in danger.
They hate libs so much they will fall in line behind anyone.
Well, he became the guy who would sign their shitty legislation, appoint right-wing judges and other officials to long-term positions, undermine regulators, spread fascist propaganda amplified by the power of the presidency, etc. The person with the R next to their name opens the doors for the flood of partisan garbage and shuts down those pesky people who want things like "democracy" and "tap water that doesn't poison my family."
The people who were criticizing Trump in the beginning were the ones with brains, that had gotten to the top to exploit power. They're smart enough to know not to fight against the mob that is their support base. But also stupid enough to bring in someone that can rile up the mob better than they could.
Power. Plain and simple.
He did exactly what republicans wanted to do just he kept saying the quiet part loud. Now they are stuck. He is a result of decades of right wing talk radio and tv telling people everyone who disagrees is a satan worshipping pedophile. I fear he wont be the worst though
This is great news IMO
He'll run on his own Freedom Party ticket and we'll get a 3-party election. Oh no, now the rightwing votes are split. Bummer!
Much more likely at this point that he just wins the nomination. There is still time for that to change, but nothing that indicates that it will.
The GOP is in a terrible state
We all know they're in Mississippi, but there are chapters in some good states, too.
Ah, the ol'... Wait a minute, what site am I on?
He’ll run on his own Freedom Party ticket and we’ll get a 3-party election. Oh no, now the rightwing votes are split. Bummer!
Republicans are too spineless. Realistically trump will threaten to run third party, and they will forgo the primaries and hand him the nomination.
Then don't let him debate. Why is this hard?
Don't even let him run. Like grow a fucking backbone, ya ignoramuses.
No one will tune in to the debates if Trump isn't there and everyone knows it.
Because he is their most popular candidate and like we've seen from the failures of his copy cats he's only one with a hold on the alt right voter base
He doesn't WANT to debate, why does nobody see this lol. We will never see him debate again
Trump is loyal to no one but himself. Even if he did sign it he would never honor it.
Honestly they should all refuse to sign it because the bastards should not agree to support the traitor Trump if he wins the nomination.
Wow, so the shit show begins even before we had even one gop debate. Article states you can't participate if you don't sign the pledge to support the eventual nominee.
This is going to be really interesting....
Cue rally where he claims "they unfairly banned me from participating"
Lol yeah right. He'll be there anyway and won't have signed it
And call the others weak for signing it.
Where does this leave somebody like Chris Christie, who wants to debate, but has also been fervently outspoken against Trump. There’s no way he would support Trump should he become the nominee. Perhaps he has to just fade away at that point.
They were all against him in 2016 too. Until they weren't.
That photo of Ted Cruz phonebanking for Trump after Trump straight up insulted Cruz's wife? That one photo was all I needed to know about the direction things were headed in for the Republicans.
Of course not, he has no intention of debating. He'll say the rules are unfair and people are being mean to him.
Chris Christie would destroy him in debates. And Chris really wants to make Trump look bad in front of everyone. AND Trump is scared of Chris.
Plus Trump knows he will only look bad if he goes to the debates. He likes to lie without people correcting him in real time.
A substantial fraction of their base is his cult now, and the Republicans know that they cannot win without his support. Ultimately they will bow to his will because the parts of the party which have not been utterly brainwashed realize that it is currently their only path to victory, no matter how distasteful that is.
I think to some degree, everyone is brainwashed. But holy shit, imagine being brainwashed by THIS GUY.
Split the vote. Please.
Ooh maybe he can form a third party and field a bunch of candidates for the senate!
“I wouldn’t sign the pledge,” Trump told host Eric Bolling. “They want you to sign a pledge, but I can name three or four people that I wouldn’t support for president. So right there there’s a problem."
Is this all that's in the pledge? To support the nominee? I mean, if I were Christie or any other candidate, I wouldn't sign a pledge to potentially support Trump.
How many times you think this guy will run for president? If he loses again, will he just keep running until he is dead?
Well, I'm an optimist, so I would remind you that there's a non-zero chance he suffers a massive stroke before the end of the year.
Looking at it objectively, he actually shouldn't be participating in the debates anyway. He has an insurmountable lead that's growing by the day, and his next challenger is struggling to hold on to double digits. He gains absolutely nothing by participating in the debates, and puts himself at risk by participating in a debate where literally every other candidate would be dogpiling on him hoping to trip him up.
Now granted, he wouldn't sign that loyalty pledge and may not even participate in the debates for his own self-serving reasons, but those reasons and legitimate political strategy just happen to align right now. Even if he didn't have his own self-serving reasons, most political advisors would be advising him to do the same thing anyway.
Please run as a separate candidate and dilute the R vote. Fuckin please give the Dems the easiest possible win.
Your two party system is shit and everyone should be trying their hardest to force something else like STV.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he would not sign a loyalty pledge required by the Republican National Committee for participation in the first GOP debate this month.
During the interview, Trump also said he would announce next week whether he will participate in the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee, though a refusal to sign the loyalty pledge would make him ineligible under the RNC's criteria.
The loyalty pledge also asks candidates to agree not to participate in any non-RNC sanctioned debate for the remainder of the election cycle.
Trump, Christie and Hutchinson are among at least eight candidates who appear to have met the donor and polling thresholds required to participate in the debates.
Former Vice President Mike Pence was the latest candidate to announce he had qualified for the debate, which will be hosted by Fox News.
NBC News reported in June that Trump was exploring potential counterprogramming during the first debate, according to people familiar with his deliberations.
I'm a bot and I'm open source!
I mean, I can't say I disagree with him at all in this case. Loyalty pledges are fucked.
Nice bit of schadenfreude, since there's no primary without Trump, and Trump is almost certain to lose in another general. In the immortal words of Lindsay Graham from 2016, "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed. And we will deserve it."
He is absolutely not certain to lose. If he runs on the GOP ticket, we have every reason to believe that it will be close, and whether it is or not, the GOP will lie, cheat, and resort to violence in order to win, disrupt the process, or, barring either, overthrow the government. The Biden slam dunk narrative is a GOP talking point designed to get needed Blue voters to stay home. The Republic is absolutely at stake, and that means everyone needs to take it seriously.
Trump will only support a candidate who will pardon him, and maybe give him "an awesome job", like a diplomatic mission with diplomatic immunity. Saudi Arabia or some other rich kleptocracy, though, not just any s***hole country. Promising to support just any schmo, beforehand? There is no upside for Trump on that one.