What if Trump announces tomorrow that it was all just an act?

[7,052,770]

Forget about whether this is likely or not. Imagine if, after Hillary is announced as the winner, Trump says this whole campaign was performance art and that anyone who actually supported him really is deplorable? What are the short- and long-term repercussions?

[GeorgiaModerate]

We finally find out what it takes to cause the Internet to actually melt.

[Cashew]

His cult stones him to death.

[SirMuxALot]

Some of us thought he essentially did that months ago.

[Old Man Willow]

As others have said, it makes no difference whether it was real or not, because he still changed American discourse for the worse, possibly forever.

[Meclazine for Israel]

That is not realistic.

[Hammy]

He's said Republicans can't win by running a mean-spirited campaign, or without introducing immigration reform, among other things--it's not outside the realm of possibility, given that he's running on the exact opposite of things he's said as recently as four years ago, that he's running to prove a point.

[Moderate Pennsylvanian]

He would be crowned King of the Trolls and would probably find a lot of followers on this forum.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

At least we all had fun!

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

I've thought about this many times, I still think it will happen.

[MasterJedi]

He better have some blackwater merchs at Trump Tower because his cultists will literally try and storm it.

[HisGrace]

If he actually went on television and said that everyone who voted for him was an idiot and that even he voted for Clinton, I'd want to find him and shake his hand. Imagine how great it would be if this campaign just turned out to be the longest ever episode of Punk'd.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

If he actually went on television and said that everyone who voted for him was an idiot and that even he voted for Clinton, I'd want to find him and shake his hand. Imagine how great it would be if this campaign just turned out to be the longest ever episode of Punk'd.

I'd still vote for him, because I believe in what he has been saying, whether he means it or not. This isn't about him, it is about us.

He better have some blackwater merchs at Trump Tower because his cultists will literally try and storm it.

I'm surprised the GOP hasn't tried hiring them to...uh..."fix" his plane or something.

[HAnnA MArin County]

I've thought about this for a long time. This will probably be his excuse for losing. "It was just an act. If I really wanted to be President, I would have tried harder and I could have beaten her, I just didn't want to."

I will say this: Donald Trump has done some good things. I personally would thank him as his campaign has exposed the pathetic hypocrisy of the Religious Right.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I've thought about this for a long time. This will probably be his excuse for losing. "It was just an act. If I really wanted to be President, I would have tried harder and I could have beaten her, I just didn't want to."

I will say this: Donald Trump has done some good things. I personally would thank him as his campaign has exposed the pathetic hypocrisy of the Religious Right.

This is why I consider the election already won by Trump; my long term career goal was to shatter the movement conservative/Reaganist stranglehold on the GOP. Trump has done that, and the GOP is cannibalizing him as a result.

Hence why I'm considering career alternatives.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Trump Denial persists to the end.
  
Trump is now in a position of real leadership.  He's the leader of the largest GOP faction that he didn't create, but did recognize and organize.  He's changed the GOP; it's no longer a contest as to who advocates the smallest government.  In his way, Trump is a modern-day Theodore Roosevelt, in positive and negative ways.  (T. R. spoke softly, but he carried a big stick because he loved war.)  

Trump's not going away.  I think he'll be a power to be reckoned with in the GOP.  He's likely to lose less badly than McCain and Romney, and he hasn't lost yet.  And if he makes inroads in the Rust Belt, win or lose, he'll help to re-establish the GOP as a national party again.

[Person Man]

I've thought about this for a long time. This will probably be his excuse for losing. "It was just an act. If I really wanted to be President, I would have tried harder and I could have beaten her, I just didn't want to."

I will say this: Donald Trump has done some good things. I personally would thank him as his campaign has exposed the pathetic hypocrisy of the Religious Right.

This is kind of a 1988 moment for Republicans. They, at this time, will realize that they can't just keep on demanding more and more unreasonable things and will actually have to have reasonable policies, whether or not their base wants it. Their base will have to learn to have a center-right choice that goes along with them 75 or 80% of the time instead of a far-right one that goes along with them 98-99% of the time.

[Hermit For Peace]

I expect it, because I've felt that all along.

Plus, he's mentally unstable so anything he says means nothing to me.

[HisGrace]

If he actually went on television and said that everyone who voted for him was an idiot and that even he voted for Clinton, I'd want to find him and shake his hand. Imagine how great it would be if this campaign just turned out to be the longest ever episode of Punk'd.

I'd still vote for him, because I believe in what he has been saying, whether he means it or not. This isn't about him, it is about us.

That makes no sense. If he doesn't believe what he's saying why do you expect him to do any of it?

[Simfan34]

The sexual assault and harassment claims would continue to pose a problem. Unless those, too, were part of the act.

[eric82oslo]

Forget about whether this is likely or not. Imagine if, after Hillary is announced as the winner, Trump says this whole campaign was performance art and that anyone who actually supported him really is deplorable? What are the short- and long-term repercussions?

The deplorables will be kicked out north and resettled in Canada and their families will be killed for supporting them. I think.

[HisGrace]

Forget about whether this is likely or not. Imagine if, after Hillary is announced as the winner, Trump says this whole campaign was performance art and that anyone who actually supported him really is deplorable? What are the short- and long-term repercussions?

The deplorables will be kicked out north and resettled in Canada and their families will be killed for supporting them. I think.

Wouldn't they prefer Russia?