Enthusiasm always plays a part - the question is whether or not one can positively harness it. Cruz did a masterful job of that with his campaign. The question now is has Trump burned so many bridges that those who voted for Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, etc. now just stay home?

Well, Cruz (who I supported) is out. G. J. has no chance. We're pretty much down to doing nothing and jumping overboard, or hoping someone can stop the ship from sinking.

OK. The US was not worth salvaging anymore anyway.

Trump is up against a very powerful and well funded establishment headed by Hillary. We will know in a few months.

We have tried establishment people in government for a long time now. Look where its gotten us. Trying a businessman isnt such a bad idea for a few years. With Hillary, we are going to get more of the same that we had for 8 years now.

I agree the black card and the woman card are powerful. But look where its gotten us with the black card- a person who is a socialist muslim, and who makes terrible foreign policy decisions. Blackness or womanhood are NOT proper qualifications for presidency. It shouldnt be about women or men- but about people

Hillary IS crooked, and I hope that comes out during the election process.

As Boss Tweed said, "I don't care which candidate you vote for, I picked both candidates." To that end, I'll fall back on the words of wisdom of my best friend's mom of 50 years ago: "I vote for the SOB that tells me the lies I want to hear." Trumps lies are better than Hillary's.

The problem is "gary- who??". If he actually talks about his principles, he wont get traction in a presidential race. Its too soon intellectually in this country. What he CAN do is expose more people to the ideas, and thats good and supportable. He should run but not expect to win. But, if we dont vote for Trump, we will get Hillary this time.

Ever met the Chance Brothers, Fat and Slim? I don't have much use for Trump but like Ann Coulter's reasons for supporting him. In a nutshell, when the nation is at risk of destruction, one doesn't worry too much about the particulars of how to save it, one just saves it. Will such saving destroy it anyway? We'll see. One thing is for sure: if the flood of illegals continues, demographics will largely decide our future, as it has throughout world history. Trump at least understands that.

"Bad news lies ahead for America, I fear."

That's the only truth around this place!

According to the polls, it wasn't until very recently that any poll had Trump beating Hillary one-on-one. Prior to that, Cruz and Rubio both were beating Hillary, so your point (which you've brought up before) is wishful thinking at best. We'll know in six months one way or the other.

"Trump has the votes of the people fed up with government. Thats a lot of support."

But is it enough to get him elected? You don't win elections by advocating merely votes against one's opponent, but votes for you. What says those people just aren't going to stay home altogether? Or vote third party?

"Hillary will keep the same cronyism going strong, plus she is a terrible administrator."

No one here is denying that Hillary Clinton is the most corrupt person in the United States and an unmitigated disaster to the Constitution. The question is can Donald effectively sell that message? The real way to do that is to say that you are different, and Trump suffers mightily on policies wherein he can differentiate himself from Clinton. That's been my point all along.

"As to the woman card..."

I wouldn't discount it so easily. It is much of the reason Obama got elected: he played the "black" card. And Trump's views towards women don't really allow him to capitalize on Hillary's outright persecution of women - which is the real play of the "woman" card. Clinton was holding a seven. Trump only has a five.

"And you'll also see the lowest voter participation rate in 40 years"
In Indiana, last night, CRUZ, loser to Trump, got 100,000 more votes than Hillary. I think that enthusiasm will play a part in participation in the General..

"Gov. Gary Johnson in double digits in Monmouth University poll"
http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/gov-gar...

We'll see in six months.

Both Trump and Clinton have 100% name recognition and both are net negative candidates, but Trump is much more negative than Hillary: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2...

I agree with you that many Democrats do not want to vote for Hillary, but the same is true (and more) about Republicans and Trump. And where the electoral college is already stacked heavily in favor of the Democratic candidate, Trump really can't afford it if 50% of the Republican voters stay home, where Hillary can afford the same thing on the other side of the aisle.

I also look at Trump's debating skills: they are a joke. If Marco Rubio's quips could get under "The Donald's" skin like that, imagine what Hillary is going to do to him! And he can't just brush aside the debates like he did with Ted Cruz. Nor is he going to face a panel which is nearly as friendly as those in the Republican debates - we saw that with Romney v Obama. He's going to get skewered.

Don't get me wrong: there is no one - not a single person on Earth - I want to see in the office of President of the United States less than Hillary, but how is Trump going to differentiate himself from Hillary? He's not going to get the Hispanic vote - his immigration policies alienate that base. He's not going to get the black vote (not that any Republican is going to be able to overcome the sheer ignorance in that voting population). He's the one candidate women like less than Hillary. So you tell me where he's going to get the votes to win the Presidency? From Democrats? I'd love to see it happen, but I think it's a pipe dream. Both McCain and Romney were supposed to be able to put more States in play and that ploy failed miserably.

As far as rapidly expanding socialism- Sanders is #1, Hillary #2. I do think Trump will slow down the process at least a little bit, so I am voting for him. Cruz wouldnt have gotten anything done- the establishment hated him. Trump is anti-establishment but he got popular support for that and basically hijacked the floundering GOP.

If Trump cant beat Hillary, no one could except perhaps Sanders. Cruz couldnt even get enough votes to get the GOP nomination. How would he EVER beat Hillary and her bought and paid for machine ? As to Kasich, he got ONE state- he couldnt beat Hillary's machine.

Trump has the votes of the people fed up with government. Thats a lot of support. Sanders nearly beat Hillary basically on the same platform of anger against the government.

Hillary will keep the same cronyism going strong, plus she is a terrible administrator.

As to the woman card- If we could stick to the real qualifications for president, we would realize its not "womanhood" or "manhood" at all. Makes no difference if you are a man or a woman

Rand Paul, a supporter of the consitution, dropped out early. Cruz, a self proclaimed religious zealot and supporter of the constitution, just dropped out. Gary Johnson has NO chance of getting traction. Doesnt that tell us all that the culture of the country will not support objectivist principles AT THIS TIME. Politics comes after philosophy, and the dominant philosophy at this point in our history is unfortunately socialism (look at the popularity of Sanders).

We would waste efforts on Johnson. He wont be elected, and probably wont even get any press because of the small number of voters who would support him.

I think McAffee would be a better LP choice. He is truly an outsider, has business experience, is well spoken, and does not think a jewish baker should be forced to bake a cake for a Nazis --- as does Johnson.

I'm going to say that you are 100% wrong. More people voted for Trump in this past primary, than any other candidate in the past several election cycles, INCLUDING SUCCESSFULLY ELECTED PRESIDENTS.

Hillary herself, while she is winning, has gotten less votes than when she did last time WHEN SHE LOST. Add on to that the fact that many of my extreme leftist liberal friends, acquaintances and family members despise Hillary so much that they outright refuse to vote for her in the general election, and it's adding up to be...

A gigantic landslide for Trump. But there is a cherry on top of the sundae, too. Once Trump wins, Hillary will be put behind bars.

It's been a long, long, LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG, LOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGG time since we have not kept the republic that the founders gave us.

You are right. G.J. has a great opportunity to at least get the attention of the left and right dissidents. However, It would require much advertising which would require much $$$. A few multi-millionaire sponsors would surely come in handy at this point.