Trump's Oath

[Dave Roberts]

Last night at a rally, Donald Trump administered an oath to the crowd. With a totally unhistorical knowledge, most pledged their support to him. This is frighteningly like another oath:

[Ed Pettibone]

Dave. Did you see and hear Trump's administration the "oath" or simply hear about it ?

Here it is: http://www.inquisitr.com/2859506/donald ... ain-video/

Along with a lot of reaction, or should I say, over reaction?

I seem to recall Donald and other Candidate's being asked for an oath to support the Party candidate. TWICE.

BTW, still have not decided who I will vote for.

[Haruo]

You raised your hand, God'll gitcha if ya don't vote for Trump. At this point I think the oath itself is sillier than it is scary. But I think the fact that such large numbers of people in this country think that it would be sensible to put a man like this in the White House is scary. I don't think Trump is as obsessed with killing Muslims or Mexicans as Hitler was with killing Jews and Gypsies, but I don't know; his inconsistency is noteworthy. But the idea that a businessman with his track record of failure should be entrusted with making America "great" "again" is not appealing to me. I would be worried about myself, and my country, if I entertained it.

[Dave Roberts]

I have watched several videos of the oath. My greatest reaction is not to Trump administering it. He is a showman of the first rank. My fear is the blindness of a crowd willing to take an oath with raised hands, an oath they have never seen or heard before. The herd instinct that is being cultivated is not the root of democracy but of totalitarianism. The content was irrelevant but the failure to dispute the request is extremely frightening.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Haruo]

Well, if I may invoke Glenn Beck...

[Sandy]

I did not actually see the live event, just the news clips of it. Trump feeds the "herd mentality" and as he's laid out the scattered issues that he's used to feed people's fears and superstition, this pledge is just one more way of helping people check their brains at the door.

It's been interesting to observe, as the primaries and caucuses head into states which require party registration and don't allow crossover voting, what has happened with a lot of Trump supporters. In the states where voting and caucus participation is restricted to registered voters affiliated with the GOP, Trump hasn't done nearly as well. Though he likes to take credit for "bringing large numbers of people into the Republican party", most of his supporters could care less about the Republican party. The GOP's stacked, quirky system for nominating a Presidential candidate might keep enough Trump voters out of the mix to prevent him from getting the number he needs to be nominated before the convention, provided the other three candidates stay in and hang on to the delegates pledged to them. I heard some complaining over the weekend from his campaign that many of his supporters aren't registered to vote in Florida, and will not be eligible to vote in the primary. Trump leads in the polls, except among registered Republicans eligible to vote, where Rubio has a slight lead. But since the deadline has passed, a lot of those pledge takers in Orlando won't be able to vote.

[Tim Bonney]

I can't decide which would be more disturbing, Trump as the GOP candidate or Cruz. Cruz's Christian Reconstruction connections are pretty darn scary too.

[Sandy]