#Winning!
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* You’ve undoubtedly seen this…
* The candidate was asked to explain by the Washington Post’s editorial board…
HIATT: I’d like to come back to the campaign. You said a few weeks ago after a family in Chicago gave some money to a PAC opposing you, you said, “They better watch out. They have a lot to hide.” What should they watch out for?
TRUMP: Look, they are spending vicious … I don’t even know these people. Those Ricketts. I actually said they ought to focus on the Chicago Cubs and, you know, stop playing around. They spent millions of dollars fighting me in Florida. And out of 68 counties, I won 66. I won by 20 points, almost 20 points. Against, everybody thought he was a popular sitting senator. I had $38 million dollars spent on me in Florida over a short period of time. $38 million. And, you know, the Ricketts, I don’t even know these people.
HIATT: So, what does it mean, “They better watch out”?
TRUMP: Well, it means that I’ll start spending on them. I’ll start taking ads telling them all what a rotten job they’re doing with the Chicago Cubs. I mean, they are spending on me. I mean, so am I allowed to say that? I’ll start doing ads about their baseball team. That it’s not properly run or that they haven’t done a good job in the brokerage business lately.
RYAN: Would you do that while you are president?
TRUMP: No, not while I am president. No, not while I’m president. That is two phases. Right now, look, you know, I went to a great school, I was a good student and all. I am an intelligent person. My uncle, I would say my uncle was one of the brilliant people. He was at MIT for 35 years. As a great scientist and engineer, actually more than anything else. Dr. John Trump, a great guy. I’m an intelligent person. I understand what is going on. Right now, I had 17 people who started out. They are almost all gone. If I were going to do that in a different fashion I think I probably wouldn’t be sitting here. You would be interviewing somebody else. But it is hard to act presidential when you are being … I mean, actually I think it is presidential because it is winning. And winning is a pretty good thing for this country because we don’t win any more. And I say it all the time. We do not win any more. This country doesn’t win.
* Related…
* Mark Brown: I know for a fact that Illinois GOP leaders have been dreading since last year the possibility of a Trump nomination and the detrimental effect it might have on their efforts down the ballot — in particular Rauner’s hopes of clawing back state legislative seats from Democrats and keeping his appointee Leslie Munger as state comptroller… Rather than speak out about Trump, Rauner says that if Trump is the nominee, he’ll do everything he can for him. If he does, I can only hope that Illinois voters make him pay a price for it.
* Jim Dey: Democrats smell what Republicans fear — another Goldwater-like landslide defeat — and they think either tying Republicans to Trump or forcing them to repudiate him will boost their electoral prospects.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:12 am:
===TRUMP: Well, it means that I’ll start spending on them. I’ll start taking ads telling them all what a rotten job they’re doing with the Chicago Cubs. I mean, they are spending on me. I mean, so am I allowed to say that? I’ll start doing ads about their baseball team. That it’s not properly run or that they haven’t done a good job in the brokerage business lately.===
Usually, a rant like that ends…
“Tanks fer takin’ my call, I hang up an listen fer my answer.”
The Cubs have been on and off awful for as long as I remember. What’s next for Trump, he’ll tell us water is wet?
- Johnny Pyle Driver - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:12 am:
“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things”
~Donald Trump
- Norseman - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:12 am:
And this is the pick of the majority of GOP primary voters so far. Kinda reminds you of another wealthy guy famous for threatening to ruin a life. So sad.
- Flynn's mom - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:14 am:
Your caption should be whining not winning!
- MSIX - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:15 am:
If I live to be a hundred, I will never understand how anyone can consider this dolt to be a viable candidate. But then again, we have The Bruce.
- Formerly Known as Frenchie M - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:18 am:
Crazy, but you slip “Rauner” in for each time “Trump” is mentioned — and still makes sense.
Or makes as much sense as Rauner and Trump do when they go about bullying people and issuing bellicose threats.
- Westward - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:18 am:
What informed people hear: white noise
What the rest of ‘Merica hears: “That’s GOLD Jerry, GOLD!”
#WakeUP
- perry noya - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:19 am:
Norseman, Trump is the pick of a plurality, not a majority, of GOP voters. Not that that excuses anything.
- LizPhairTax - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:20 am:
This will be Governor Rauner’s candidate in the fall
- 35/Shields - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:21 am:
So lemme get this straight–Trump wants to spend his own money to convince people of what Southsiders have been telling people for decades? Cubs suck. There, job done.
How about you invest the money you would have spent in whatever holding company owns the hair spray you use; you’ll actually get a return on that.
- sideline watcher - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:21 am:
He rambles nonsensically like Sarah Palin. I tell all my Republican friends that they nominated Sarah Palin to be a heart beat away from the Presidency. You can’t possibly tell me that you’re surprised by Donald Trump.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:22 am:
Andrew Jackson used to handle enemies by shooting them. He had two bullets in him when he was sworn into office. He was an emotional wreck, having lost his wife right after his second national campaign. Jackson went on rampages and fought against anyone he claimed conspired against him. He got involved in petty squabbles. He was a nut.
His movement changed America. Father of the Democratic Party. His administration created the Whig Party as well. Jackson was anti-establishment. Wild horses couldn’t keep Jackson from winning the White House. Lincoln hated him.
If you don’t want Trump, then find someone else to be his follower’s hero. If you earn over $80,000 and haven’t be harmed economically since 2008, you wouldn’t understand Trump’s appeal.
Worse, terrorists are killing innocents in Europe. The coverage is massive. Don’t expect logic or sound reasoning to win the 2016 election. The people in Europe are in a panic, and Americans don’t want that here.
Either go with the flow, find your own hero to trust, or drown. What we have here folks is an emotional election, and it doesn’t matter if Trump ran or not - it would be someone else riding this wave of populist revote.
Pick on him all you want, but the emotional tide isn’t turning. The majority of voters aren’t going to want an old First Lady who has failed to keep our country safe as Secretary of State, can’t explain why she’s gotten hundred of millions of dollars from Wall Street, and can’t explain how she took her jobs seriously when she thought national secrets could be put on a server hidden away in a closet.
I’m not a Trump supporter, but I can see what’s happening. It is called a reckoning.
- Abe the Babe - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:22 am:
1st rule in marketing, if you have a crap product sell the lie. 2nd rule, if you cant lie, get out of marketing…and politics.
- Trolling Troll - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:23 am:
I would laugh at that if he wasn’t “winning”.
- @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:23 am:
Democrats will force Republicans up and down the ballot to choose: Do you want to stand beside the skunk or fight against the skunk?
Neither choice is gonna leave GOP candidates smelling very good to voters.
– MrJM
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:24 am:
You are kidding me. And people actually listen to the incoherent rantings of a textbook narcissist?
I hate the cubs, always have. This could push me to be their biggest fan though.
My guess, the Rickets family can buy and sell Trump every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I am dumbfounded at how many people eat his garbage up, it really hurts my brain. He is so utterly full of crap and yet he has this following. Tomorrow they will all be selling Amway.
- Stones - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:24 am:
I can’t imagine this guy becoming President of the United States.
- Labghorne - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:25 am:
What a coarse, vulgar individual. It pains me to think he will be the candidate. Cruz is no better, but for different reasons.
- Twirling Towards Freedom - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:25 am:
The Ricketts family has owned the Cubs for 7 years. In that time they have turned a franchise that was a complete mess from top to bottom into one that appears to be well positioned for sustained success (of course there are no guarantees). It is difficult to picture what a “the Rickettes family has done a lousy job with the Cubs” argument would look like.
Now let’s look at the job Trump did with the USFL. . .
- Southside Markie - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:27 am:
“Democrats smell what Republicans fear — another Goldwater-like landslide defeat…” Not quite how the Carter camp felt about Reagan in ‘80, but they wanted him for the same reason: the perception that he was the most beatable candidate because he was the most extreme. Be careful what you wish for.
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:28 am:
What a rotten job the Ricketts family is doing with the Cubs? That’s it? The Cubs have dramatically improved.
I think a Trump nomination would potentially be great for Democrats. Trump has a treasure trove of campaign material that could be used against him, like a TV commercial showing the young African-American guy getting sucker punched and Trump saying he might pay the assailant’s legal fees. There could be much more to come.
But we never know what will happen between now and Election Day. It just looks real good for Democrats, unless something drastic happens.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:28 am:
==And this is the pick of the majority of GOP primary voters so far.==
35% is not a majority.
- hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:29 am:
Surprised he didn’t bring up Todd Ricketts throwing away the hot dogs instead of selling them on “Undercover Boss.”
- Wensicia - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:29 am:
==I’m an intelligent person. I understand what is going on.==
Yep, this is the guy we want in charge of our national security.
- Vote Quimby! - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:35 am:
==Now let’s look at the job Trump did with the USFL.==
Thank you for remembering this. It has been said we get the leaders we deserve…
- Angry Chicagoan - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:38 am:
VM, as much as I think Hillary is the wrong choice for Democrats, I must ask you this . . . . who is taking politics and governance less seriously, the wonkish and knowledgeable former SoS who is generationally clueless about technology and panders to a degree straight out of a 1990s satire, or the multiple-bankruptcied strongman reality star who incites violence at his rallies and says building a giant wall and making another country pay for it qualifies as immigration policy? I think people will conclude that the server is a pretty isolated incident compared to the multi-year farce that has been Trump’s emergence into politics.
- Anon221 - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:39 am:
Trump is a “Republican” because it suits him at this place in time. He wants the Presidency and all the ego-stroking that goes along with this campaign process. The media, social and business, are “paying” for his campaign, while the mainliners in the GOP simmer in outrage over his antics. It’s not going to get any better as the Republican Convention nears and he keeps gathering in delegates. It will, more likely than not, come down to the November vote. And, not unlike our situation here in Illinois, Republicans are going to have to choose between their Party or the Country. In Illinois, it’s coming down to Rauner or your Constituents. We have Rauner until 2018. Do you want Trump until 2020?
- Kathryn - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:40 am:
I am not a mental health professional but I have enough common sense to know this guy has a severe personality disorder.
- Archiesmom - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:47 am:
Vanilla Man +1
You nailed it, brother!
- Anon - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:51 am:
Vanilla man- you’re kidding,right? “If you earn over $80,000 and haven’t been harmed economically…you wouldn’t understand Trumps appeal” How does a guy that inherited millions & filed for bankruptcy appeal to the working people-especially since he hires undocumented workers? And referring to Hillary as “an old First Lady” when she’s a year younger than Trump? wow-just wow.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:51 am:
Trump is too dangerous not to be taken seriously.
As far as the concerns of the “Illinois GOP leaders,” who exactly are they leading? They went all-in for Kasich and he got less than 20% of the vote here in the GOP primary.
Apparently, more than 80% of Illinois GOP voters were not be lead.
Don’t count on “GOP leaders” to derail Trump. They’ve been a day late, despite being flush with money, every step of the way.
- Sue - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:54 am:
Folks/ I wish we had a better R candidate but after we woke up to another massive terrorist attack this morning- please tell me that you really think they Ovsma and Clinton have made the world a safer place in the last 8 years or that you really want another 8 years of s misdirected foreign policy. We have a lot of enemies very happy that Obama is in the WH
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 9:56 am:
“Thanks for comin’ to my party at the Palmer House, Ted. Those $40,000 seats were pretty good, right? You’re a good guy but I’m goin’ with Donald.”
- Michael Westen - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:01 am:
Has it occurred to anyone that by November Rauner might be too toxic for Trump to want to be associated with him?
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:04 am:
Mark Brown: “…Rauner says that if Trump is the nominee, he’ll do everything he can for him.”
God, I hate to be in the business of defending Rauner, but, no, Mark Brown, he didn’t say he would “do everything” for him. Giving lip service to your party’s nominee — “without enthusiasm” — is much different that doing everything for him.
Really disappointing by Mark Brown when there are so many legitimate points to be made.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:04 am:
perry noya, point taken. Mea culpa.
- Mama - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:04 am:
I do not believe the Dems are voting for Trump.
Is the Bern is our only hope?
- Anon221 - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:07 am:
Please, explain to me why Trump would even be interested in or need Rauner’s support to win Illinois if he becomes the nominee??? Rauner’s demeanor yesterday showed that he is feeling the toxicity of Trump, but he’s not goin’ public- he’ll let the voters decide and continue to hide behind that screen. Trump is toxic period, but, unfortunately, some voters think the country needs a “cleanse”. Illinois is learning this lesson right now in the “Shake Up”.
- CrazyHorse - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:10 am:
==I hate the cubs, always have. This could push me to be their biggest fan though.==
I’d campaign for Trump before I’d ever be a Cubs fan. In all seriousness though, Vanilla Man summed it up for me. It’s Bernie, Trump, or I’ll write in Sanders if Trump doesn’t get the bid. I can’t vote for more of the same. Just can’t.
- Jay Dee - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:12 am:
“Is the Bern is our only hope?”
If our only hope is a guy who can’t win his party’s nomination, we’re in trouble.
- Angry Chicagoan - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:12 am:
The pattern I see in the polling is that whether it’s Bernie or Hillary, the Trump vote is almost the same (Trump seems to go up about one percentage point if it’s Hillary) . . . . however, a huge number of people simply don’t show up to vote or else only vote downballot if the nominee is Hillary, because Bernie’s topline number is seven or eight points higher than Hillary’s. And that’s risky, especially if any fluidity develops among undecided voters.
And yet she’s ahead in the Democratic primary. All this time we’d been hearing America wouldn’t vote for a “socialist.” Turns out, it wasn’t “America” that had the problem. It’s just older partisan Democratic primary voters…..the ones who say, “yes, that’d be nice, but America just won’t go for it.” I guess they were conditioned by the Cold War and just never got over it.
Notice that younger voters don’t have this hangup. At. All.
- annonin' - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:16 am:
There is nothin’ that will make us a Cub fan, but a Trump Dump on em could make them a sentimental favorite to win it all in ‘16. And BigBrain endorsement of Trump could be icin’ on the cake.
Next up? How about Proft in the broadcast booth?
- Jack Stephens - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:20 am:
As long as Condi -N- Colin receive the same degree of scrutiny for their use of private email servers.
- Streator Curmudgeon - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:25 am:
News from the past month:
Republicans who scold President Obama for using Executive Orders, claiming he’s violating the Constitution, refuse to do their own Constitutional duty by giving his Supreme Court nominee a hearing;
Professional wrestler caught on camera committing adultery awarded $140 million by a U.S. court;
Presidential candidate threatens riots if he isn’t nominated.
Shouldn’t we be demanding, “Make America SANE Again?”
- Abigail Adams - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:27 am:
Rs stand against Pres. Obama’s Supreme Court nominee but can’t stand against Trump’s nomination as their own candidate for president?
Pshaw, says this old woman. The Rs take their stands as they please and get what they want as a result, whether that be Gov R in IL or the natl party leaders.
VM is correct.
- Graduated College Student - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:28 am:
===Folks/ I wish we had a better R candidate but after we woke up to another massive terrorist attack this morning- please tell me that you really think they Ovsma and Clinton have made the world a safer place in the last 8 years or that you really want another 8 years of s misdirected foreign policy. We have a lot of enemies very happy that Obama is in the WH ===
So you want more American service personnel to die or be crippled in an ultimately futile effort to “restore peace” in a region through methods that seem to pretty much do the exact opposite of winning those proverbial “hearts and minds.”
Brilliant!
Let me tell you a little secret…the “terrorists” would LOVE to have Trump or Cruz in the White House. You can’t make a better recruiting tool than those guys.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:30 am:
===or I’ll write in===
A stupid and completely wasted vote.
Illinois law forbids counting write-in votes for anyone who is not a registered write-in candidate. And whoever loses this nomination cannot legally run again as a write-in.
You might as well not even vote.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:34 am:
–Folks/ I wish we had a better R candidate but after we woke up to another massive terrorist attack this morning- please tell me that you really think they Ovsma and Clinton have made the world a safer place in the last 8 years or that you really want another 8 years of s misdirected foreign policy. –
What “direction” are you advocating, Sue?
One in which a president of the United States bears responsibility for law enforcement in Brussels?
That kind of small government?
- And I Approved This Message - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:37 am:
The brilliant Donald Trump is likely not aware that one of the dreaded Ricketts’ men is the Governor of Nebraska. Or that one of the Republican Senators from Nebraska has already come out and said he can’t vote for Trump. I think the Cubs should be the least of his worries.
- WTF - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:45 am:
Trumps partners in the USFL will never forget his contributions to professional sports: http://espn.go.com/30for30/film?page=small-potatoes-who-killed-the-usfl
- Jack Stephens - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 10:52 am:
Wished America would wake up. We spend Trillions of dollars a year supporting the terrorists by continuing to buy their oil.
- Agricola - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 11:04 am:
VanillaMan @ 9:22 am
Now I get it, thank you for breaking it down!
- AlfondoGonz - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 11:05 am:
“Let’s talk about the Cubs. Biggest bunch of LOSERS I’ve ever seen. I mean, they haven’t won for a hundred, a hundred ten YEARS. How can you lose so bad for so long? They are in Chicago, a city, which, by the way, I love, despite the GANG violence where people are literally killing each other in the street, but Chicago is great and there are great people and I love Chicago. But they’re in Chicago, and they can’t win. And Flaccid Tom is running that bunch of losers. Flaccid? Oh, trust me folks, BELIEVE me. So the Cubs are the biggest bunch of losers in sports, ever, and their owner, Flaccid Tom, is trying to keep me from being President. Who knows, maybe he is jealous of my winning, who knows. But he is LOSER, and the Cubs are LOSERS, and Flaccid Tom better be very very careful, folks. Very careful”
I’m Donald Trump and I approve this message.
- Vole - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 11:05 am:
A year ago the two dynastic candidates seemed to be the defaults of each party. Enter Trump and the fall of one dynasty. Now the safe bet seems to be with the remaining default — with the one who can keep the wheels on the system. While Trump proves over, over and over again that he is the one who could best monkey wrench it all. It doesn’t reflect well on the system either way. Our system of choosing candidates or having “candidates” force themselves on the system is very badly broken.
- @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 11:07 am:
“We have a lot of enemies very happy that Obama is in the WH”
The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks sure ain’t happy.
– MrJM
- Nearly Normal - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 11:13 am:
I believe the funds came from donations that Mrs. Ricketts made not the rest of the family. Of course The Donald does not want to look like he is going after somebody’s Mom so he goes after the whole family. Trump Logic at work.
- walker - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 11:18 am:
VMan is a dowsing rod for the emotional undercurrents in the voting populace. He called Quinn v Rauner exactly, months before that election.
Trump is clearly the weakest on substance, probably of all the recent candidates but Carson. His own words demonstrate that every day. But this cycle will be driven by emotional attachments to big fuzzy images.
- Rasselas - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 11:56 am:
Sue, who was President when there was the huge attack in Madrid in 2004? Or the huge attack in London in 2005? Or the huge attack in New York in 2001? Or the major huge attacks in Rome and Vienna in 1985? Or the huge attack in Beirut in 1983? Or the Lockerbie bombing in 1988? Or the Karachi bombing in 2007? Or the Bali bombing in 2002? Or the Manila Ferry bombing in 2004? Or the Sadr City bombing in 2006? Or the Mumbai Train Bombings in 2006? Or the Baghdad bombing in 2007? Or the Al Hillah Bombings in 2007? or the Yazidi Communities Bombing in 2007?
Isn’t it annoying when the facts don’t match your narrative? - http://list25.com/25-worst-acts-terrorism-committed/1/
- RIJ - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 12:07 pm:
Ugh. Somehow I was in the wrong post. My comment was regarding the tourism development post.
- Ghost - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 12:51 pm:
so whats the over under on the number of wars trump starts if elected? actual wars, not verbal conflicts….
- Jack Stephens - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 1:17 pm:
Anybody know what TrumpCare, CruzCare, or KasichKare will look like?
Will my ObamaPhone rollover into a TrumpPhone, CruzPhone, or KasichPhone?
I’m also on ObamaMortgageWelfare….is that ending?
Or do guv’ment programs only have snarky names when it’s a BLACK President?
- downstate commissioner - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 1:25 pm:
@ Alfondo Gonz: Never heard that excellent quote from Trump before. Most intelligent thing he has ever said about anything, and especially Chicago and the Cubs… /snark
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 2:10 pm:
Cruz said today the police need to start patrolling Muslim neighborhoods.
- Ghost - Tuesday, Mar 22, 16 @ 4:57 pm:
so cruz and trump looked at the ww2 era japanese internment campa and saw a model for addressing terrorism…..
the irony here is that more people die t gns i. the US and when the president tried to reduce that he got hammered….