After Republican Candidate Donald Trump won the Republican Primary in South Carolina on Saturday he predicted that he will face Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton in the general election, and the two will attract a record breaking turn out.
Trump also claims that he plans to sweep states that "Republicans don't even think of" into the Republican column. Among these states, Trump claims that he will find great success in both New York and Michigan along with other states "that aren't in play".
Additionally, Trump claims that he will also build a strong relationship with African American voters. "I'm going to do great with the African-Americans. African-American youth is 58% unemployed. African-Americans in their prime are substantially worse off than the whites in their prime, and it's a very sad situation," he said.
I think Trump may be over reaching with some of his statements but Trump still seems to be running the show on the Republican side of the election. What do you guys think? Is Trump biting off more than he can chew with some of the statements he's been making?
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/21/politics/south-carolina-nevada-state-of-the-union/index.html
5 comments:
Honestly, Trump probably will face off against Clinton in the general election. However, his other statements that he will do well with African American voters is unlikely. It's been clear Trump does not align himself with the Black Lives Matter movement and very, very few civil rights leaders align themselves with him. At a rally in Novemeber, a Black Lives Matter protestor interrupted a Donald Trump rally. Mercutio Southall, the 31-year-old activist, was attacked viciously by about six of the Trump supporters there, saying that they called him the n-word and other racial slurs. Trump's comments later about this were simply, "Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing," (Diamond). The likelihood that Trump will get the majority of the vote is small, especially because of the amount of civil rights leaders actively working against him.
Many of these leaders, in fact, have supported Hillary Clinton for her strong gun control stance. As the New York Times reported, Clinton Clinton met with Civil Rights Leaders such as Al Sharpton, Cornell W. Brooks, and Kristen Clark. According the to the NYT "Mrs. Clinton talked about affirmative action, voting rights and other issues that disproportionately affect black voters. 'What I am trying to do in my presidential campaign and what I will do as president,' she said, 'is to lead a concerted effort to break every barrier that stands in the way of people living up to their God-given potential. That has been my North Star ever since I went to work for the Children’s Defense Fund right out of law school."
So far, Erica Garner, Eric Garner's daughter, has endorsed Bernie Sanders. Eric Garner's mother has endorsed Clinton, along with Trayvon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, and Sandra Bland's mother. Essentially, no Black Lives Matter activists have endorsed a Republican, so the likelihood Trump will get much of a black vote is small.
https://www.facebook.com/NowThisElection/videos/544323252404166/?autoplay_reason=all_page_organic_allowed&video_container_type=0&app_id=2392950137
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/16/hillary-clinton-seeking-to-solidify-blacks-support-meets-with-civil-rights-leaders/?_r=0
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/04/14/6471219-trump-i-have-a-great-relationship-with-the-blacks
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/22/politics/donald-trump-black-lives-matter-protester-confrontation/
I have to disagree with Olivia here. Though America has scared me a fair amount with its support for Trump thus far in the race, I really still cannot imagine he'll be the one facing Hillary in the general election. I still believe that America's centrist majority will pull through and choose Rubio, or perhaps even a different more moderate candidate, for the nomination.
I do agree with Olivia regarding Trump's hopelessness when it comes to winning minority votes. Apparently, though it may seem impossible, Trump's standings among minorities has worsened over the past three days. In a showdown with CNN's Jake Tapper, Tapper condemned Trump for supporting alleged white supremacist groups: "Tapper said many Republican leaders don’t see Trump winning enough minorities to lead the party to victory, “given the fact there are white supremacist groups and individuals like that who support you, some of whom you’ve even retweeted" (Feldman).
I will add that, though I am a believer in the separation of church and state, Pope Francis denouncing Trump as "not Christian" certainly won't help his cause. These two recent events should cause at least minor damage to Trump's public image.
Source: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/tapper-to-trump-you-think-you-can-win-over-minorities-after-rting-white-supremacists/
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/world/americas/pope-francis-donald-trump-christian.html
What's frightening is, as Olivia points out, Trump has a strong chance of making it to the national election. He won in Nevada, South Carolina and New Hampshire. These wins mean that he certainly doesn't plan on bowing out anytime soon. Either Ted Cruz picks up steam, which is unlikely, or an act of god will render Trump unfit for office. Get ready for the Trump v. Clinton election, my guy.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/23/donald-trump-is-on-course-to-win-the-1237-delegates-he-needs-to-be-the-gop-nominee/
Though nobody could have predicted this a year ago, I might have to agree with Olivia. We have set a strong precedent of those who win early caucuses and primaries going on to be the nominee. This year will certainly continue to be interesting for a long, long time. Certainly, Trump is being boastful and hyperbolic but he isn't far from the truth. If he does get the nomination, I do somewhat agree with him that he will mobilize an unprecedented amount of voters, though not necessarily voters in his favor. I think many people, despite not supporting Clinton initially (if she is the Democratic nominee), will vote for her simply ensure that Trump doesn't gain office. On the other hand, I have heard many people say that if the nominees end up being Trump and Clinton, they just won't vote. So, the general election really could go either way.
On the issue of Trump getting the black vote, as the other commenters have said, I think it's highly, highly unlikely that he will be able to inspire much African-American support. Unless, somehow, Trump flips all of his other racially charged comments on their heads and starts supporting minorities in a big way, the black vote just isn't there for him. Also, he has repeatedly spoken out against "PC culture", claiming that this country "doesn't have time to be politically correct", which to me seems a lot like racists not wanting to get in trouble for being racist. Not exactly a shoo-in for African-American support. That said, Trump's campaign was basically a joke a little bit less than a year ago. Now, he's topping polls.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/23/donald-trump-is-on-course-to-win-the-1237-delegates-he-needs-to-be-the-gop-nominee/
As most of the other commentators have stated, I do think that Trump will end up being the Republican nominee. Despite many people taking his campaign for a joke early on, Trump has been atop polls in many states for months on end, with the other candidates trailing far behind. Now that we've entered into primary season, Trump has managed to pull of three consecutive wins, helping to increase his major momentum. His win in Nevada has been especially concerning to those against Trump, since many had thought that Jeb's exit from the race would result in his supporters shifting to some of the other candidates and thus help to close the gap in the polls. Sadly this was not the case in the Nevada primary. Clearly Trump can say/do anything and get away with it, with little fear of losing any supporters. Trump even went so far as to say he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and he still wouldn't lose support. Trump has some how tapped into the American public and they are responding. Although I do not see him winning support from many minorities due to his extremist statements. That being said though it would appear his winning enough support from elsewhere to launch him into the Republican nominee post.
As for Hillary Clinton, I definitely think that she will become the Democratic nominee, she too has continually led in the polls, especially in the South, and with the exception of New Hampshire has been able to win (and tie, in the case of Iowa). She, as opposed to Trump has major support from minorities, who certainly have been helping her stay ahead in the polls, and who will help her when it comes time to the general election.
That being said it will be interesting to see what the outcome of the general election is. With both candidates having their flaws many moderate Americans may find themselves backed into a corner, with some turning to Hillary so as to keep Trump out of office and others simply abstaining from voting.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/24/opinions/trump-will-be-republican-nominee-robbins/
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