HUNTSMAN IS THE PERFECT VP FOR TRUMP
What does he need?
There is no bigger personality in the world than Donald J. Trump. In the context of Trump, ego is a good word, and one that gets his platforms visibility and strength. For other people, the argument could be made that a large ego is a bad character trait, but that is not such for DJT. He knows what he has, and he knows how to wield it
Thus the case can be made that the VP pick cannot be made in an attempt to find someone with a similar ego/personality as Trump. Everybody else will look timid in comparison, and thus come out looking weak if looked at with the same lens that critics look at Trump. It will add nothing substantial to his ticket, and will in my opinion turn away voters who are looking for additional substance.
I might catch some flak for this, but I do not think that Trump needs someone to help coalesce the Cruz/NeverTrump votes. They are either going to support the Republican nominee or they are not; the picking of a VP candidate will have little bearing on that, and would unfortunately waste what could potentially be a very large olive branch to other population subsets.
So why Huntsman?
First of all, the guy endorsed Trump, so we can get that out of the way.
For those of you who don't know about Huntsman, let me give you a brief little rundown. He served as the Governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009, and as United States Ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011. He has served in the administrations of five U.S. Presidents and was a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The guy has virtually no baggage, has a wonderful family, and the Obama campaign is on record in 2012 as saying, "Huntsman would have been a particularly difficult candidate to face in the general election...would have been a very tough candidate."
Fiscal policy - Very similar to Donald. Huntsman has proposed reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%, eliminating corporate taxes on income earned overseas, and implementing a tax holiday for repatriation of corporate profits. He favors eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends. I could see the two of them working together very nicely here, and complimenting each other well.
Social issues - Doesn't like abortion BUT has supported same-sex marriage in the past. What I like about Huntsman is that he is religious (Mormon) but he's not a loon/holy roller like some other people in this party. He knows how to keep it separate, and we all need to realize that there are large issues facing the United States than this. No argument with Trump there.
Environmental and energy - On climate change, "There's not enough information right now to formulate policies in terms of addressing it over all, primarily because it's a global issue. We can enact policies here, but I wouldn't want to unilaterally disarm as a country. I wouldn't want to hinder job creators at a time when our economy is flat." Very common sense approach that pushes away either skeptics or believers.
Foreign policy - This is the big ticket item for me personally. The guy served as the US ambassador to China under the Obama administration. A lot of criticism for Trump on China is, "Yea that sounds great, but how are you going to do it?" This effectively asks Trump what his policies are, and who he actually wants to help enact them. He can only go so far as saying, "I'll sit down and talk to people" because at a certain point, being an executive consists of putting the right people in there for the job. I think that Huntsman's experience in this field offers him the chance to make a lot of suggestions that can help change the discourse on foreign policy, and cast Trump in a much more serious light, reducing people's concerns about his ability to do what he says.
When I look at Huntsman I see a guy that is more palatable to the general masses than Trump. This is /pol/, and while you're saying to yourself, "Trump is fine for me, what the heck do you mean", you have to understand that we can only go up from here. We need to think about how to attract people to the movement that were not previously on board. This is extremely important, and I think it would be a wrong decision for Trump to go to someone like Christie. We need a guy who can function well by himself, but also complement the commander in chief. Huntsman offers a lot of intangibles to the Trump movement, and I think a ticket with Trump / Huntsman could help to unify the party unlike any other.
I remember hearing about this guy in the 2012 race, and virtually everyone thought highly of the guy, left and right. That being said, I haven't heard much from him since, though MANY people said he was very well positioned for a great future in politics. I would be interested in hearing what other people have to say about this, and if you are aware of anything that I haven't thought of myself, positive or negative, please let me know. Looking forward to some good conversation
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I think a woman/minority pick will be seen as pandering too much. Everyone is already waiting to pounce on Trump for doing just that.
funny, I was just thinking this yesterday.
My thinking wasn't as detailed as yours but it basically reduced to two main factors:
-Trump needs to convince the faggot wing of the Republican Party (the part that's virtue signalling by saying they won't vote for Trump) that it's OK to vote for Trump. This is actually only about 10-15% of the (R) vote but in a close race it's important. Huntsman is basically the perfect weapon to do that, since the consensus among the chattering class coming out of 2012 was "candidates like Huntsman need a greater voice in the party if we're going to build a winning coalition."
Of course, that conventional wisdom was wrong; what the party actually needed was a new Pat Buchanan to convince disaffected voters across the ideological spectrum that Republicans actually give a shit about them. They were lucky to get Trump, which is pretty close.
-He wins a huge number of independents/undecideds. Actually in 2012 those were the only people who voted for him in NH (open primary). This could be especially valuable if Hillary picks someone awful like Sherrod Brown or one of the Castros, since Huntsman will easily win the VP debate simply by not being retarded.
Also the only thing Trump really CAN'T do is select a severe social conservative, because he's worked really hard to neutralize the "muh vagina/muh LGBT" line of attack, which might be the only thing that stops him from winning.
If Trump is smart enough to understand this (I suspect he might be) it severely limits the range of candidates he can choose and makes Huntsman much more likely. Scott Brown is the only other person I can think of who might fit.
Jon Huntsman did nothing wrong.
bummed that nobody's discussing this
if Manafort has someone monitoring /pol/ I hope they at least read this thread
>>74023825
Huntsman is kind of a cuck but would serve to cancel out Mittens RMoney and his dirty Mormon tricks.
>>74028398
This is a good point too:
The faggot vote I mentioned above is very prevalent among Mormons, since they're very worried about appearing racist. Obviously Huntsman negates a lot of that effect.
The Mormon vote isn't all that important since it's concentrated in uncompetitive states (UT and ID), but it might have some impact in CO and AZ.
>>74027229
>>74027637
I don't think Trump is idiotic enough to cater to the religious nutters, he won the evangelical vote pretty handily and it's not like they're going to embrace Shillary. He has never even really tried to pander to them.
Trump needs to display competence with the VP spot. Trump by nature is already the more risky choice, and that's the narrative Shillary is trying to push. Huntsman is uniquely deadly as someone respected in both parties, and feared by the Obama admin. The GOPe was totally braindead to mistreat Huntsman that way in 2012, so it's not like Huntsman has any love for them.
Trump needs to and will moderate his positions anyway, and what better cover to do that with than Huntsman? He can be the firebrand that energizes the base while Huntsman lends credence to his ideas and fleshes out the details. Together they can really rebuild the GOP for a new generation and stop this endless perverted zombification of Reagan. By dropping retarded social conservatism they can focus on economy, and break the demographic walls like Trump has managed to do in the primary. That's the only way the GOP will survive into the future.
And Huntsman's foreign policy experience uniquely has nothing to do with the stupid middle east fiascoes. No worries about Iraq and shit. With his Asia background, he has a lot better chances of getting more concessions from the Chinese.
He's 56 and can carry on Trump's work. He's respected by both parties right now. Unlike Gingrich who's 72 and heralds from another age.
Also, Trump / Huntsman sounds badass and rolls off the tongue so well.
>>74028398
The Romney and Huntsman families have a bitter feud. If Trump and Huntsman win, Romney is BTFO forever. He would go absolutely insane.
>>74029019
>The Romney and Huntsman families have a bitter feud. If Trump and Huntsman win, Romney is BTFO forever. He would go absolutely insane.
That's a big reason, Trump needs to punish Mittens for fighting harder against him than he ever fought against Obama. Also does Huntsman have any baggage or scandals? Unlike Gingrich he seems squeaky clean.
>>74023825
Whosman?
Not a chance faggot. Go do something better with your time.
>>74023825
I liked Huntsman in 2012, unfortunately the preferred Mormon was picked by the GOP. I would like him as a vp, Trump gathers the attention and huntsman is a presentable face
>>74029019
I'm not particularly worried about the "Dangerous Donald" line of attack. If anything it seems to have already backfired. There's broad agreement that the country is a fucking mess and Ms. Clinton is trying to sell hats that say "America Is Already Great". If anything being a little risky is something voters find appealing.
The sole reservation I have is that the VP nomination is typically used as an attack dog to shit on the opposing party's nominee mercilessly. In both his campaigns Huntsman didn't do any of that, and it's obviously not a natural way for him to play. But of course this is an atypical election, and I think the GOP has been severely chastened by the Palin debacle in '08 (hence Ryan '12, the dorkiest, least-threatening person possible).
>>74029392
>>74029492
Sorry, I'll go back to posting chimpout vids in a few minutes
>>74029238
If he has, then it as to be something either super recent or super secret cause he served under Obama until 2011. Rumor is Obama targeted him for oppo research in 2012 cause they really thought he was deadly, but obviously the GOPe screwed the pooch on that.
I can't see the guy fucking around or having major personal problems. There was some rumor he ran some underhanded video against Ron Paul in 2012, but that wouldn't matter in a GE against the Ds. About as squeaky clean a politician you'll find.
Plus his daughters are quite popular, so there's that.
>>74029682
Everything's reversed this election, and this is no exception. Do we need another attack dog other than Trump? Is there even one half as vicious as Trump? Trump has to somewhat muzzle himself as the election grows near (no National Enquirer stuff in October...) but it's not like he hasn't shown how many ways he can be utterly ruthless.
>>74029523
He was the only R worth watching, and they hounded him off the stage for speaking Mandarin. I think deep in his heart, he watched with intense satisfaction as Trump beat the establishment like a drum.
And hopefully, this is accurate:
http://fox13now.com/2016/05/13/president-of-sutherland-institute-says-huntsman-jr-on-donald-trumps-short-list-for-vp/
>>74030149
The link you posted is the first I've heard that this might actually happen, it's encouraging that the people who matter are thinking along the same lines as us.
You seem to know more about him than I do: is he on the record on Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China? Trump should make that a YUGE issue against Hillary, since Bill bears a lot of the blame for that. I noticed that even AEI has started admitting that giving the PRC PNTR was a mistake, which shows you how far the consensus has moved on trade (without even mentioning where the voters are).
>>74030883
There's only 2 sources on this, and they both came out yesterday. This is the other
http://www.good4utah.com/news/top-stories/former-utah-governor-in-talks-with-donald-trumps-team
I'm not sure about his stance on PNTR now. His ambassadorship coincided with the "jade revolution" which wasn't really anything at all but China was on edge at the time with all the Middle East chaos and regarded him with suspicion by default. He also made some comments about the internet undermining the CCP that probably fed their suspicions.
In dealing with China, I suspect Trump and Huntsman could put on a good cop/bad cop routine, similar to how Nixon used Kissinger clandestinely to establish relations. Revoking PNTR would be a major move, something I rather doubt would happen if Trump could get concessions from them first.
>>74030883
Ironically, Piers Morgan also thinks the same
https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/726314662770425856
This year is so nuts.
Trump/Schwarzenegger would be pretty based imo...
>>74033768
yeeah...nooooo.....
The first time Huntsman brought up Trump
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/22/politics/jon-huntsman-donald-trump-david-axelrod/
>>74033768
Schwarzenegger is ineligble because he is from Austria.
>>74035963
Even if he was, he's persona non grata for his love child, and pardoning a spic murderer.
>>74023825
well at least the Webb memers are gone
>>74036924
That was a pipe dream from the very beginning, though a cabinet position is not out of the question for Webb.
Only problem with Huntsman is he might be more suited for SecState.
You made this thread a month or two ago. I can't find the screenshot.
NEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWTTTTTTTT
>>74038432
What is this meme with newt and space
Literslly he's discount Kasich
>>74038773
One of his 2012 campaign promises was a moon base.
>>74038801
He's younger, better looking, eats less.
>>74023825
Trump would get JFKd in a heartbeat if he picked an establishment-friendly cuck like Huntsman.
Also you've conveniently omitted his position on immigration, which is to the left of John McCain.
>>74023825
I Hope it's Huntsman. Choosing Newt would be presidential suicide.
