What if Trump had won as a democrat?

[BlueSwan]

No, I'm not asking that question, because it is stupid, but I wanted to discuss a Politico article entitled just that. It is here:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/08/what-if-trump-had-won-as-a-democrat-215351

Now, that article pisses me off. You instantly know that it has to be written by a republican wanting to present the usual false equivalency of "both sides being equally bad".

His whole idea is that if Trump had won as a democrat, democrats and the "liberal media" would behave exactly like republicans and Foxnews are behaving now.

OK, let's look at some of his idiotic assumptions.

1) He actually believes that someone like Trump could have beaten Clinton in a DEMOCRATIC primary, while still promising a muslim ban, building a wall, and generally trashing minorities. How on earth that would even be close to realistic isn't really explored. In spite of what some people may recall, even progresssive hero Bernie Sanders was never actually close to beating Clinton. Everybody on here knows that, but loads of people in the general public think that it was super close. The writer should know better.

2) He feels that it would somehow be easier to win the democratic nomination because Trump wouldn't have to beat as many opponents as in the GOP primary. Here he is conveniently forgetting that the HUGE republican field was what enabled Trump to win, since there was never a consensus establishment candidate that the party could rally behind. Had the race been Trump vs Rubio or Trump vs Bush from the beginning, there's no way he would have won.

3) He is of the opinion, that is President Trump as a democrat would be hailed for his policies in the mainstream media, conveniently forgetting that even liberal outlets like The New York Times and MSNBC were regularly highly critical of even the saintly Barack Obama. During the 2014 midterms democratic candidates barely wanted to be seen with Obama and were quick to distance themselves from him. The Democratic party is not nearly as tribal as the republican party. It is not close. Nor are the liberal media outlets as hackish as Foxnews and talk radio. It is not close.

Sure there are a couple of semi-funny points in the article, but overall it is one big false equivalency.

[SATW]

The Dems would be half-shilling for him and half-hating him while the GOP would have their stupid equivalent of the "resistance movement."

[Devout Centrist]

No way a f**king birther wins the Democratic nomination.

There are superdelegates in the Dems primary, btw

[OSR stands with Israel]

Democrats have Super Depegates and don't have winner take all primaries . If the dem rules were in place for the GOP , Rubio would be president right now

[Kringla Heimsins]

No way a f**king birther wins the Democratic nomination.

[Devout Centrist]

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This man should not have a job.

[Mr. Smith]

If he won as a Democrat, he would've said vastly different things to get there.

[OSR stands with Israel]

If he won as a Democrat, he would've said vastly different things to get there.

He can't win as a democrat as the rules are there to ensure someone like trump can't win.

[Cashew]

Yes obviously there is a large enough constituency in the Democratic party that would have been suckered by a misogynistic racist protectionist wall street narcissist.

[uti2]

No way a f**king birther wins the Democratic nomination.

There are superdelegates in the Dems primary, btw

Maybe in 1988. People were talking about Iacocca as a dark horse candidate back then.

[7,052,770]

Democrats have Super Depegates and don't have winner take all primaries . If the dem rules were in place for the GOP, Hillary would be president right now

FTFY. All those Obama voters in the Great Lakes states wouldn't have switched over to Rubio like they did for Trump.

[Virginiá]

If he won as a Democrat, he would've said vastly different things to get there.

He can't win as a democrat as the rules are there to ensure someone like trump can't win.

Are there still though? I thought they were doing away with all or at least most superdelegates due to pressure from the Bernie wing.

Silly mistake if you ask me.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Trump could have potentially run as a Democrat in 2016, but he would have had to never bothered with birtherism or nativism of any sort. He also would probably have needed to have Clinton decide against running to have any chance of winning. Not that he would have had much of a chance. Without a divided field and the winner-take-all primary rules the GOP has, he certainly could not have locked down a majority of delegates, even without considering the superdelegates the Democrats have.

[pbrower2a]

If he won as a Democrat, he would've said vastly different things to get there.

But he would have still been a demagogue, and one would have seen huge defections of Democrats to the Republican candidate for President.

Well-educated people are much less likely to fall for demagogues than ill-educated people, making adjustments for class interests, ethnicity, and religion. 

[Adam Griffin]

You'd have to adjust the rhetoric to be of an equivalent, yet left-wing, caliber. Something like:

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[Kringla Heimsins]

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He has my vote.

[ProudModerate2]

If trump conducted himself exactly the same as he did during the past campaign, but was a Democrat, I promise you I would be just a hard on his immature, clownish conduct as I have been. PERIOD.

[Yank2133]

This is article is a waste of time.

The Democrats set up their primary system to prevent guys like Trump from winning. But still, the debates between him, Bernie, and Hillary would have been a hoot.

[Alabama_Indy10]

He would be very popular on this forum.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Democrats have Super Depegates and don't have winner take all primaries . If the dem rules were in place for the GOP, Hillary would be president right now

FTFY. All those Obama voters in the Great Lakes states wouldn't have switched over to Rubio like they did for Trump.

Rubio may not have won MI or PA but he keeps OH , FL , IA , and maybe  WI . Also he  adds NV , CO , NH and maybe VA to the GOP .

WI is not a populist state ever since Scott Walker moved the state significantly to the right and Rubio would capitalize on it .


2nd this is Rubio vs trump and Rubio basically wins all the bush 04 states against trump with the exception
of New Mexico while adding Wisconsin to his column .

[pbrower2a]

Trump would lose Virginia and New Hampshire, states that seem anti-populist. The ideal politician for winning Virginia is an Establishment type who eschews populism. For this, Eisenhower and Obama are very good fits, which explains how both broke long strings of victories for the other Party in Virginia and giving the state to the winner's Party for at least three more Presidential elections. Eisenhower and Obama are as poorly described with the word 'populist' as any President since World War II. Those are not the Presidents that one looks upon for political drama.

Donald Trump is definitely dramatic. So were Nero, Caligula, and Commodus.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

What if Obama had won as a Republican?

[The_Doctor]

To answer the question, the Democratic Party would be decimated in short order. Add the fact no party has won the White House 4 times in a row since 1945, and add Trump's incompetence on top of that, and his inability to restrain himself, and well, think of what damage he's doing to the Republican Party right now on steroids.

The Democratic civil war would make the Tea Party v. Establishment war look like a picnic.

[The_Doctor]

Basically, Democrats continue to thank whatever deity is out there and all their lucky stars that Trump isn't a Democratic President right now and that he remains the GOP's enduring problem. Every day that man is in office, that man costs the GOP at least 1500 votes.

[pbrower2a]

What if Obama had won as a Republican?

Not so ridiculous as it seems. The  Chicago machine wanted him out of Chicago, and foisted him upon the rest of America... irony intended.

Can  you imagine Barack Obama as one of the most dreaded prosecutors of corrupt public officials? Chicago offers plenty of opportunities for such prosecutions in addition to the usual street crime. If he didn't end up a federal judge, he could be on much the same track as Thomas E. Dewey.  Such would be his stepping-stone to really-high public office. He picks off a Senate seat to the surprise of everyone, but he is out of the running for the Presidency until about 2020.   Such might have led him to the Republican Party.

But he would be a much more adept politician than Thomas E. Dewey.

Map forthcoming:

The definitive moderate Republican may have been Dwight Eisenhower, and I have heard plenty of Democrats praise the Eisenhower Presidency. He went along with Supreme Court rulings that outlawed segregationist practices, stayed clear of the McCarthy bandwagon, and let McCarthy implode.

 
gray -- did not vote in 1952 or 1956
white -- Eisenhower twice, Obama twice
deep blue -- Republican all four elections
light blue -- Republican all but 2012 (I assume that greater Omaha went for Ike twice)
light green -- Eisenhower once, Stevenson once, Obama never
dark green -- Stevenson twice, Obama never
pink -- Stevenson twice, Obama once

No state voted Democratic all four times, so no state is in deep red.

This is my prized creation as a political map, and you can excuse the color scheme -- can't you?
Eisenhower and Obama are in different Parties in real history. In this scenario they are in the same Party. and I am projecting the 2020 or 2024 election map. Electoral votes are for 2008, so they don't matter.
 
As a rackets-busting prosecutor who has a distinguished, if short, career in the Senate, he picks up everything that the real historical Obama wins -- and Missouri, Georgia, Texas, everything west of Texas and north of Oklahoma.

He's the first Republican to win DC... Ike would have done very well among such blacks as could vote.

Unlike the historical Obama whom the GOP tried to thwart even before he was inaugurated, this Obama is able to cut deals with Democrats. Democrats might work to hone his policies into something better, and it's a win-win. Pragmatism has replaced partisanship in Washington DC. Intense partisans of each side lose House and Senate seats. You can assume that his government is clean, and that his foreign policy is sane.

OK, maybe I am expressing what I want to happen in 2020... the intense partisanship in American politics turns politics into patronage while fostering extremism.

The next election is good for a 45-state landslide for Obama.