He is just nutty enough that he might – but if he were going to, I think he would have done it already.

If they get past the Repub convention (in about a two weeks) and THEN he quits, then the Republicans are in world of hurt, because they don’t have any real mechanism to determine and crown a new candidate. (yes, there’s probably something in the bylaws that says the RNC can ‘select’ someone (in case of death, for example), but if they did so, there would be all sorts of second and third and fourth guessing about who that person would be.

It also depends on who he picks as his VP. Some people (not me!) could tolerate Gingrich as the VP, but Gingrich as president? Gag me with a spoon.

Back to your original question, @LostInParadise – It is more likely that he is brought down by one of the legal accusations (fraud at Trump U, bankruptcy, whatever) than he resigns. But anything is possible in 2016.

I doubt it. Too many people are behind him and he’s come too far, in my opinion. He’s the only thing that the Repubs have, and they’ve ditched all other hopes to stand behind him.

Stay vigilant. You can’t count Trump out until he’s down.

At this point Hillary is her own worst enemy, IMO, blanketing all media with ‘All Hillary, All the Time’ Commercials. Campaign fatigue is always a factor, but it’s usually pretty even. At the moment Trump has no ads running and no plans to run any. I think that’s in his favor.

Careful what you wish for. If Trump tires of the campaign, all he has to do is hire top-notch political staff and turn everything but the Teleprompter over to them. That might get him elected. All he needs is a veneer of sanity for his negative to drop and let Clinton’s negatives drown her.

No, I don’t think Trump will quit the race, and I don’t think his detractors should ever lose sight of the fact that it’s still a two person race, and that one of them is going to win.
If you think that outcome is a foregone conclusion, look no farther than Brexit.

IMO, the polls will never show him losing that badly until the race is over. If the media doesn’t manipulate the numbers enough to keep the race “close”, regardless of reality, there’s no story. No story, no income.

@ibstubro – where are you seeing this advertising? I’m in Georgia, and I haven’t seen a single Hillary advertisement. Bumper stickers, yes. Ads, no.

Actually…I haven’t seen any advertisement either.

It would be a wonderful thing if he did quit.

The Republican party, badly represented as it is, and it is, is a necessary foil to Democratic control, ambition and unilateral governance. As things stand now, Mr. T threatens to not only lose the presidential race for himself – which would not be particularly catastrophic, except that it would usher in a truly rotten President in Hillary Clinton. I’m all in favor of having a woman president, truly. Just not that one. The Republic will probably survive her, but what an odious candidate she is.

No, the looming catastrophe for the Republicans is that he will bring down not only the House and Senate majorities – which I realize that for most here is not a tragedy at all (and I hardly care myself for most Republicans) – but it would open the door to the Monster Raving Loony Democrats, which have so far been held in check by their own more or less sane colleagues, and a functioning opposition in the Republican Party. Wiping out the Republican Party will not create the Utopia that many Democrats seem to want; that would more or less open the door to Venezuelan-style utopianism.

Aside from the good result of not having Trump destroy the Republican party, it should not be terribly difficult to find a breathing, moderately rational, human-appearing, vocal – and willing – opponent for Hillary. Right now, I think a presentable high school graduate with only a misdemeanor prison record and some kind of past employment, who can string two sentences together, laugh and still sound human and not scare children could beat her pretty easily. And THAT would be a boon for all.

The problem is that so few people truly understand politics – and we are so badly misled by “journalists” who speak and write about politics with just as little understanding – and the mechanism to select and approve that candidate isn’t well know, and would not have time to be accepted by the rank-and-file of voters. But if the candidate could be put forth and have credibility as a candidate, he (or she) could beat HRC.

And we still have this pair of popular ex-governors running from another party who sound pretty reasonable and sensible, who were not run out of office, are not under indictment or formal investigation – and who will probably not poll much above 2% when the votes are actually cast. It’s pretty sad.

Look at the states that are “solidly Democratic” and have been for many years, such as my own, Connecticut, or Illinois for another good example, to see how bad things can get without a functioning opposition. We’re in a race to become the first bankrupt State in the Union.

Wishful thinking.
He is going to run, and he is going to win.

@CWOTUS: “Wiping out the Republican Party will not create the Utopia that many Democrats seem to want; that would more or less open the door to Venezuelan-style utopianism.”

Tell me more about how an unopposed corporate Democratic party could result in “Venezuelan-style utopianism”.

Wishful thinking, @ragingloli. He’s gonna run and he’s gonna lose… HUUUGE.

My statement was based on a report I heard on NPR, but the text and verbal versions aren’t always the same.
Here are some supporting articles about Clinton’s TV ad saturation:

Clinton outspending Trump by $116 million on ads

Hillary Launches Major TV Ad Campaign In Eight Swing States

Hillary Clinton Is Outspending Trump’s Broke Ass Campaign $17 Million To $0 On TV Ads

PAC Backing Hillary Clinton to Run $10.5 Million in Ads in Pennsylvania

One could only hope.

Trump would have left the race long ago if he felt he was going to lose this contest.

I keep waiting to find out if the Democrats have paid him to run. What it takes to make Hillary look good.

@Jeruba that was my take at the outset, and he’s done nothing to convince me otherwise. As for dropping out, if there’s one thing at which the Don truly is a master it’s cutting his losses at the expense of others. I bet if it appears that he is clearly in the toilet, he’ll drop out if the GOP Offers him his money back. Come to think of it, they’d probably double his money if he would drop out now.

Story today that Trump hasn’t been tweeting.

I don’t think he will ever officially quit, but I can see him losing interest and delegating the campaigning. Of course, he would blame others like the Republican National Committee for not supporting him, because you know it would never be his fault.

It’s going to be close. We’ll see a good number of anti-trump republicans who plan to “sit this one out” turn out and vote for Trump in the end rather than let Hillary run amok for four to eight years

Don’t think he’ll drop out. He’ll have to lose first.

Who in the wold cares? There are far greater concerns than Trump or what the party of Twiddle Dee, or Twiddle Dumb is doing.

Actually, @Hypocrisy_Central I would say that MOST of the world cares.

Like it or not, the US is the pre-eminent player in much of what goes on in the world – foreign affairs, defense, economics, culture, and so on.

If we have a blithering idiot as president, it will make a huge difference as to what the US can do (and how other countries react).

To dismiss the Trump situation as “who cares” is terribly naive.

Maybe Trump can run as a third party candidate, and name Sanders as his vp.

@RedDerrGuy1 It doesn’t work like that. Through the primary elections, Trump has a large enough majority of delegates to the Republican Convention to secure the nomination, unless some of the powerful politicos in the party find some way out of that. It would be extremely unlikely, but not unheard of. It’s more likely that some other conservative would run a third party campaign, but it’s getting pretty late in the game to get on the ballot in some states.

As for Sanders, even though he has no chance for the nomination, his delegates will still have input to the Democratic Party Platform.

He has stopped just short of an endorsement of Hillary.

@RedDeerGuy1 “Maybe Trump can run as a third party candidate, and name Sanders as his vp.”

That particular pairing seems almost as plausable as Vladimir Lenin and Joseph McCarthy.

@Darth_Algar But not 0.

@RedDeerGuy1

Trust me, there’s no way in hell Bernie Sanders would ever be running mates with Donald Trump.

@RedDeerGuy1 The chances are 0. Bernie’s campaign is over. It’s pretty much a formality until the Democratic Convention.

The crisis for the GOP is truly stark, for even with Trump’s withdrawl, what viable candidate is there in the wreckage. There isn’t a ghost of a chance at bettering Clinton minus Trump’s festering supporters. And regarding those supporters, what possible oddball exists as a reasonable substitute acceptable to believers. As it stands, Trump has no campaign money, no discernible campaign, a party distinguished for its disgust at the very sight of him, and supporters whose devotion is based in the main on the sheer obtuse absurdity of their candidate. It’s the sort of show that leaves you with your mouth agape.

The crisis for the country is even starker.
The only people I encounter that are openly supporting a candidate for president are supporting Trump.

And that is, they are supporting Trump’s public persona. They’re proud to be America Firsters in the most ignorant sense. Isolationists that believe America should pull up the drawbridge and deepen the moats. Have a vague notion that American can produce what it consumes, and consume what it produces. An even vaguer notion that a woman’s place is close to home. That, if left to their own devices, the rest of the world will sink or swim, leaving America to enjoy their own little peace of Heaven. That it should be is codified in the Constitution that Guns are Great, and God is Good.

There are still only two candidates in the race and as near as I can tell the smallest group are those that are passionately pro-Clinton.
The most passionate group certainly appears to be pro-Trump.
The race is down to battle for the “anti-” votes. Negative is what Trump and his campaign do best. Simple, ineloquent, good-natured (to the choir) negativity. As long as Clinton is carrying more baggage that the Titanic and as long as there is a day left in the race, Donald Trump will not give up.

Remember when Trump lost his first primary and became the big Loser? When the handwriting was on his wall?
Yeah, me neither. Seems a lifetime ago.

Yeah, most of that “baggage” is just a sustained, nearly two and a half decade long campaign of character assassination from the Republicans.

^ As well as legitmate opposition from progressives. Remember – the Clintons have been an enemy of the left since the 90s.

The baggage exists, and and is exploitable, regardless of the origin, @Darth_Algar.
Witness Donald Trump labeling John McCain a “Loser” because he was a prisoner of war. Mocking McCain for injuries suffered while serving his country.

Not to mention two and a half decades of “I never liked her when she was an unelected public figure.”

There are plenty of issues regarding Clinton without having to dredge up old garbage: speech fees, donations to Clinton Foundation by Saudi Arabia, lingering issues over her email and support of trade associations. If Trump limited himself to genuine issues he might be doing much better.

@Darth Algar makes a very strong point, and I can tell you that I’m not convinced that any aversion I have toward her is of my own objective doing. For the truth is that there is very little that either of the Clintons have done that is outside the NORMAL path of any successful politician in this country. The only real difference concerning Clinton is that it was recognized by the GOP from the outset that she was smart, tough, ambitious, and an undoubted future threat. And I can tell you that you can’t find another politician as doggedly picked at and hounded to the extent of Hillary Clinton. There isn’t a booger in the woman’s nose that hasn’t been “investigated” then scandalized. No aspect of her life, from the “crime boss” wedding she threw for her daughter, to the “sleazy” abandoning of the stage to take a leak, NOTHING is allowed to remain unnoticed or without a negative perspective. When you step back to look at it, the effort has been the most relentless and sustained bad mouthing of an individual since Adolf himself. Now if there’s anything I’m not about, it’s bloviating defense of millionaire politicians, but as I said the constant droning has almost certainly affected my judgement, whether I recognize it or not.

I did not like Hillary Clinton when she was the wife of President Bill Clinton.
My aversion to her is my own objective doing.
She is a poor candidate in all respects, in my opinion, and I wouldn’t even consider, for the briefest moment, voting for her if there was a candidate that presented a less damning option.

When you are First Lady of the United States and people feel like they have to assassinate your character – not just plain gossip and innuendo, mind you, but character assassination – there is a reason for that.
A reason that does not immediately make most people think, “Hmm. Now there’s a future president in the making!”

My distaste for Hillary Clinton goes back to the first years of Bill Clinton’s presidency. And let me tell you, she had to have earned it, because I can’t think of another First Partner that I have a negative impression of. Including Michelle, Laura, Barbara (oops. I did have a bit of a bad impression of Nancy), Rosalind, Betty, Pat….

@ibstubro So you’re saying she deserves to have her_character assassinated_ due to the fact that she’s been the subject of character assassination? That sounds like circular logic to me.

@ibstubro

So what are the reasons for your dislike of Hillary Clinton?

Not at all, @Yetanotheruser.

Personally, I did not like Hillary Clinton when she was the wife of President Bill Clinton.

Now that Trump is leading Hillary in the Rasmussen Reports even after not spending one red cent on the General Election race you will never get rid of him now.

Funny that you would pick the only polling group where that is the case.
all others, including FOX ‘news’ have Hillary in the lead.

What’s funny about it, @ragingloli?

That there is a poll showing Trump in the lead is the point, it seems to me.

@ibstubro
Eat some fish meat and try again.

Stay tuned @ragingloli as just a week ago Rasmussen had Hillary up by 5.