Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows: Is Ted Cruz Being “Assimilated” By the Vichy Republicans?

On March 15, 2016March 15, 2016 By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. – Groucho Marx

The Washington Post reports that

CONCORD, N.C. — Sen. Ted Cruz stood on a stage straddling the lanes of a dragway at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, speaking directly to blue-collar workers with “calluses on your hands” and railing against the political establishment — prompting cheers and stomps on the metal bleachers.Meanwhile in Florida, a group of volunteers, including wealthy donors who supported Jeb Bush’s candidacy, was knocking on doors this weekend in Jacksonville, asking voters to cast ballots for Cruz (Tex.) in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

As Cruz hopes to land a knockout blow against Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida and narrow the primary contest to a two-man race between himself and Donald Trump, he is increasingly trying to appeal to two very different groups: working-class voters who may find themselves drawn to Trump, and voters from the traditional political establishment who want to stop him.

“For a lot of supporters I think it comes down to this sudden reality of a Donald Trump nomination,” said one of the Jacksonville door-knockers, Paul Dickerson, a Houston lawyer who supported Bush but is now backing Cruz, whom he considers a friend. Trump, he said, “would be a disaster for the country and embarrassment for the nation, and Ted is the best chance to defeat Donald Trump.”

The fit is not a natural one for Cruz, who pillories the political establishment on the campaign trail and wants to blow up what he calls the “Washington cartel” of lobbyists and special interests. He is detested in the Senate — Cruz jokes that he needs a “food taster” in the dining room there — and only one colleague has endorsed him.

But with Rubio’s candidacy sputtering and with Ohio Gov. John Kasich far behind, the establishment is warming to a man who called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a “liar” on the Senate floor. Even Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a longtime Cruz nemesis, now says the party may need to unite behind him. And Neil Bush, Jeb Bush’s brother, is supporting Cruz.

Many point to Cruz’s second-place standing in the delegate race and his organized and well-funded campaign as reasons to support him.

“Most of the people that I know would not have been naturally with Ted,” said Charles Foster, a Houston lawyer who backed Bush in the presidential race and Cruz’s opponent in the Republican primary for his Senate seat in 2012. “. . . Some are reluctant because that’s not where they were to begin with, and some are still sitting on their hands.”

The establishment world is hardly foreign to the Texas Republican. Cruz; his wife, Heidi; and his campaign chairman, Chad Sweet, all worked for George W. Bush and are making overtures to people who supported Jeb Bush, Cruz backers said. Foster said Cruz called him, while Dickerson said the campaign has been quick to extend a “welcoming hand” with no hard feelings. (Cruz’s campaign said there is no concerted effort to woo Bush supporters.)

Cruz is making the same type of overture to voters on the campaign trail, asserting that he is the only candidate who can beat Trump and directly appealing to those who support other candidates. But he is also infusing more populism into his stump speeches — a direct appeal to would-be Trump backers.

The Establishment warming up to an “outsider”. Now, where have I seen this before? Oh, yeah.

In the 1939 Frank Capra Classic, “Mr Smith Goes to Washington”, naïve and idealistic Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart), leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed on a lark by the spineless governor of his state. He is reunited with the state’s senior senator–presidential hopeful and childhood hero, Senator Joseph Paine. In Washington, however, Smith discovers many of the shortcomings of the political process as his noble goal of a national boys’ camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss, Jim Taylor.

However, in this case, as the political shenanigans pulled by his Campaign Staff have sadly shown us, Senator Ted Cruz is no “Jefferson Smith”.

He is as much a Professional Politician as Jeb! Bush.

Hence, the support by Jeb!’s brother, Neil, and the reluctant embracing of his campaign by the Vichy Republicans.

The well-worn phrase, “Politics make strange bedfellows”, has never been more appropriate when describing a political alliance, than this situation.

Back on March 22, 2015, in a post reporting on Cruz’s announcement that he was running, I wrote

Get ready for the worst attempt of character assassination of a politician running for the Presidential Candidate Nomination of their Party by a coalition of the Main Stream Media and the Good Ol’ Boys in the Beltway, since Sarah Palin.

Just after Midnight, Conservative Firebrand, the Republican Senator from the great state of Texas, Ted Cruz, announced that he was in the hunt for his Party’s Nomination as their Candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America.

…I’m not shy about stating that I like Senator Ted Cruz. He is a straight shooter, who is not afraid to tell it like it is.

The Republican Establishment, or Vichy Republicans, as I have dubbed them, are presently pushing potential Presidential Candidates for 2016 whose platforms are so similar to those of their potential Democrat Opponents as to be virtually indistinguishable.

Oblivious of their past failures (i.e., Dole, McCain, and Romney), while pursuing their milksop Political Philosophy, the Vichy Republicans, or GOPe, as an internet friend has named them, still cling to their mission to hold onto their cushy Seats of Power, recently given to them last November by us, their Conservative Base, by playing an old, tired political game.

Make no mistake, they will defend the Washingtonian Status Quo to their last breath, and savage anyone who threatens it, with the help of their allies from “across the aisle”, the Democrats and their minions in the Main Stream media. Look at how they have attacked Former Alaskan Governor and Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin, in the past, and, in recent years, Ted Cruz.

They have called them both everything but Children of God.

Little did I know that, as his campaign for the Republican Nomination progressed, this “New Maverick”, Ted Cruz, would align himself with those whom he had fought so hard against in the Senate “on behalf of the people”.

I realize that Donald J. Trump has his shortcomings, as well.

However, as a political candidate, when you promise to fight against the “Washingtonian Status Quo” and then you join forces with its purveyors, in order to get elected, you may gain some potential voters, but you also disillusion a lot of your base.

Just like Captain Jean Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, it appears that “Man of the People” Ted Cruz has been “assimilated”, with the Vichy Republicans playing the role of “The Borg”.

Only, in the case of Republican Voters,

Resistance is NOT futile.

We have a choice.

Until He Comes,

Jeb! to Meet With Republican Candidates Today…Except Trump. “Red Rover, Red Rover…Send Donald Trump Over!”

On March 10, 2016March 10, 2016 By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again…and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein

Foxnews.com reports that

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, after ending his campaign last month, is returning to the 2016 fray to meet with the remaining not-Trump candidates in his home state on Thursday – potentially the first step in an effort to power-broker a consensus alternative to take on the Republican front-runner.

It’s unclear whether Bush plans to endorse anyone before Florida holds its all-important primary on Tuesday. But the former candidates sense a quickly closing window to pick their horse as Donald Trump racks up ever-more wins and delegates.

Another former candidate, ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina, announced her endorsement earlier Wednesday for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during a surprise appearance in Miami.

Fiorina, who dropped out of the 2016 race in February, called Cruz a “leader and a reformer” and urged voters to rally around Cruz as the candidate who can challenge Trump.

“Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin. They’re not going to reform the system. They are the system,” she said.

Sources confirmed to Fox News that Bush plans to meet Thursday with Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich while the candidates are in Florida for a GOP debate Thursday night. He has no plans to meet with Trump.

…While Bush was in the race, Trump was relentless in his criticism of Bush’s family, his “low energy” and the big-money super PACs supporting him – which could explain why Bush does not have plans to meet with Trump in Florida on Thursday.

Evidently, despite having his clock cleaned, in his bid for the Republican Presidential Candidate Nomination, Jeb! believes that he has a winning strategy to offer the remaining candates, who like he did, appear destined to lose to Donald J. Trump.

Why is Jeb! doing this?

His was a failed campaign from the start…a homogenized, low-energy, Vichy Republican-sponsored effort, reminiscent of his Father’s, George H.W. Bush’s, Destiny and Power Campaign in 1980, which he lost to the greatest American President in my lifetime, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

H.W.’s uninspired campaign promise was that he was “a president we won’t have to train”, as opposed to both Carter and his chief competitor, Reagan.

During Jeb!’s Campaign, he followed a similar tact, frequently taking two-sided shots at his primary foes. The younger Bush’s argument was that America shouldn’t elect another first-term senator as president, slamming Sitting President Barack Obama, a former senator, and both Rubio and Cruz.

Unfortunately for H.W., and, fortunately for us, he soon learned that experience took a back seat to ideology in the 1980 Republican primary race, just as it has in 2016.

Back then, just as today, Americans are angry…fed up with empty promises, made by the Washington Elite.

George H.W. Bush’s “inability to project great conviction” in 1980 was mirrored in his son’s “low-energy” label in 2016. While H.W. was seen as weaker than Reagan in 1980, Jeb! was perceived by the Base as being weaker than Trump in 2016.

Jeb!’s meetings today are a continuance of the Republican Establishment’s Campaign against Trump, born of a desperation, which has been building to a fever pitch, once the Republican Establishment realized that Trump was well on his way to garnering the required number of delegates to lawfully receive the Republican Nomination as their Presidential Candidate.

On March 3rd, Failed Republican Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney, came on National Television, on behalf of the Republican Establishment. His speech began thusly:

Now, I’m — I’m not here to announce my candidacy for office. And I’m not going to endorse a candidate today. Instead, I would like to offer my perspective on the nominating process of my party.

Back in 1964, just days before the presidential election — which, incidentally, we lost — Ronald Reagan went on national television and challenged America, saying that it was a time for choosing. He saw two paths for America, one that embraced conservative principles, dedicated to lifting people out of poverty and helping create opportunity for all.

And the other, an oppressive government that would lead America down a darker, less free path. I’m no Ronald Reagan and this is a different moment in time, but I believe with all my heart and soul, that we face another time for choosing, one that will have profound consequences for the Republican Party, and more importantly, for our country.

I say this, in part, because of my conviction that America is poised to lead the world for another century. Our technology engines, our innovation dynamic, the ambition and skill of our people are going to propel our economy and raise the standard of living of Americans.

America will remain, as it is today, the envy of the world. You may have seen Warren Buffett. He said, and I think he’s 100 percent right, that “The babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history.”

Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t have real problems and serious challenges. We do. At home, poverty persists. And wages are stagnant. The horrific massacres of Paris and San Bernardino. The nuclear ambitions of the Iranian mullahs. The aggressions of Putin. The growing assertiveness of China and the nuclear tests of North Korea confirm that we live in troubled and dangerous times.

“Mittens” also said that

Frankly, the only serious policy proposals that deal with a broad range of national challenges we confront today come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich. One of these men should be our nominee.

Now, I know that some people want this race to be over. They look at history and say a trend like Mr. Trump’s isn’t going to be stopped. Perhaps. But the rules of political history have pretty much all been shredded during this campaign.

If the other candidates can find some common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism. Given the current delegate selection process, that means that I’d vote for Marco Rubio in Florida and for John Kasich in Ohio and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state.

First, Life-long Vichy Republican Moderate Romney would not know “Conservatism” if it French-kissed him. That is why hundreds of the Conservative Base stayed home in 2012, rather than vote for him in the Presidential Election.

Second, all the current polls show that Trump is on-track to beat both Kasich and Rubio in their home states.

Rut ro, Rooby Roo.

Here’s some advice from ol’ KJ, if I may be so bold: you members of the Republican Establishment need to climb down off of your bar stools at the Congressional Country Club, and travel outside the Echo Chamber of the Beltway, where actual, average Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, trying to provide for their families, while attempting to make a better life for their children and grandchildren.

You are not helping what, at this point, appears to be the inevitable fact that the next President of the United States will be a Republican.

The problem you face, as the Republican Establishment, is that is will not be one of you.

The public wants new ideas. We are tired of dancing to the Washington Two-Step.

That is the reason for the popularity of Donald J. Trump. He is saying the things that Americans have been wanting to hear for some time now.

That is the reason that he is in the process of running away with the Republican Primary Elections.

Contrast the energy and the “Populist Movement” behind Trump to the candidates whom the Democrats are offering: two old white folks from the Northeast Corridor, one who is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg and the other, a demented old socialist, who resembles Doc Emmett Brown from “Back to the Future”.

You “Vichy Republicans” as I have referred to you as being for the last several years, are looking a Gift Horse in the mouth.

You are positioned to sweep the nation, on the way to placing your Party’s Candidate in the Oval Office, buoyed by a Grassroots Movement, the likes of has not been seen since the 1980 Presidential Election, which put into office the greatest president in my lifetime, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

All you have to do to be successful is something that you seem to have forgotten how to do, since you were swept into Congressional Power in the 2010 and 2012 Mid-Term Elections.

You need to pay attention and actually listen to the voters who gave you your cushy jobs, instead of trying to tell us what we should believe and attempting to shame us into voting for a Professional Politician of your choice, who only represents the Washingtonian Status Quo.

You need to stop backing the wrong “horse”.

As Ronald Reagan, himself, said, at CPAC in 1975,

It is time to raise a banner of BOLD COLORS! Not PALE PASTELS!

Until He Comes,

Trump Wins MI, MS, and Hawaii. Why? “I’m a Unifier.” No Brag. Just Fact?

On March 9, 2016March 9, 2016 By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

Last night, American Entrepreneur and Businessman, Donald J. Trump, won 3 out of the 4 Republican Primaries by securing victories in Michigan, Mississippi, and Hawaii. Senator Ted Cruz won in Idaho, with John Kasich and Marco Rubio being shut out.

Per usual, Trump was exuberant following his victories.

Realclearpolitics.com reports that

At a press conference held after his victories in the Michigan and Mississippi Republican presidential primaries, Donald Trump called on the Republican party to come together and unify behind him.

“Given your statement to Major [Garrett] about how easy it would be to beat Hillary Clinton do you agree you’re going to need to get mainstream Republican politicians, the establishment as it has been labeled behind you? And if so, what do you say to them tonight, given so many are pouring their money in to trying to beat you?” FOX News’ Campaign Carl Cameron asked Trump.

“I say let’s come together folks,” Trump said Tuesday night. “We’re going to win. I say let’s come together. Carl, the answer is not 100 percent but largely I would say yes. Some people you are just not going to get along with. It’s okay.”

“I am a unifier,” Trump said in Jupiter, Florida tonight. “I unify. You look at all of the things I built all over the world. I’m a unifier. I get along with people. I have great relationships. I even start getting along with you, right? Campaign Carl. But, no, I get along with people. And I really say this, Carl, I think it’s time to unify.”

CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS: Given your statement to Major [Garrett] about how easy it would be to beat Hillary Clinton do you agree you’re going to need to get mainstream Republican politicians, the establishment as it has been labeled behind you? And if so, what do you say to them tonight, given so many are pouring their money in to trying to beat you?

DONALD TRUMP: I say let’s come together folks. We’re going to win. I say let’s come together. Carl, the answer is not 100 percent but largely I would say yes. Some people you are just not going to get along with. It’s okay.

But largely I would like to do that and believe it or not, I am a unifier. I unify. You look at all of the things I built all over the world. I’m a unifier. I get along with people. I have great relations. I even start getting along with you, right? Campaign Carl. But, no, I get along with people. And I really say this, Carl, I think it’s time to unify.

We have something special going on in the Republican party. And, unfortunately, the people in the party, they call them the elites or they call them whatever they call them. But those are the people that don’t respect it yet. We have millions and millions of people, I’ve discussed it before. We have millions and millions of people coming up and voting, largely for me.

It’s a record. It has never happened before. In 100 years what is happening now to the Republican party has never happened before.

Now, before you dismiss Trump’s claim to be a unifier, look at what he is accomplishing and how it is happening.

In order to be an effective President, you have to build a Coalition. The most effective President in my lifetime did.

On July 27. 2012. John Heubush, Executive Director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, wrote the following op ed for The Daily Caller about the succerss of Ronald Reagan’s Presidency:

…How in the world did Reagan do it? Experience.

Matching wits with Jack Warner (of Warner Brothers) as head of the actors’ union and Jesse Unruh (speaker of the California State Assembly) as governor taught Reagan to come to the bargaining table prepared. “I’d learned while negotiating union contracts,” Reagan wrote, “that you seldom get everything you ask for.” (Years later, the press asked him about negotiating with Gorbachev. “It was easier than dealing with Jack Warner,” Reagan shot back.)

Although the Democrats were in a tough position after the Carter years, their big trump card was that nothing would get done unless Reagan won over a substantial number of them in the House. It’s no wonder that O’Neill was so full of braggadocio.

Somehow Reagan had to build a coalition.

The strategy to get the Economic Recovery Act passed by a conflicted Congress had two major parts.

First, Reagan would use his tremendous skills as a communicator by making repeated televised appeals to Congress and the American people. “Every time he spoke,” Reagan Chief of Staff Jim Baker recalled, “the needle moved.”

Second, the Legislative Strategy Group led by Baker and Ed Meese “did the grunt work” of inviting Democrats to the White House, while the president worked the phones. “I spent a lot of time in the spring and early summer of 1981 on the telephone and in meetings trying to build a coalition to get the nation’s recovery under way,” Reagan wrote. At the time, he even noted in his diary, “These Dems are with us on the budget and it’s interesting to hear some who’ve been here ten years or more say that it is their first time to ever be in the Oval Office. We really seem to be putting a coalition together.

2. In order to become President of the United States, you must garner more votes than the other party’s candidate. This cannot be done simply by relying on the votes of your own poltical party.You must have ‘crossover votes”.

Back on August 15, 1984, Mark Green, in an article written for the New York Times, titled, “Reagan, The Liberal Democrat”, wrote the following…

…If Ronald Reagan holds to this path, he may soon end up back among the Americans for Democratic Action, which he fled and renounced in the 1950’s.

Not surprisingly, ideological fellow-travelers such as the commentators William F. Buckley Jr. and Pat Buchanan have expressed dismay over their champion’s apostasy. Mr. Buchanan worries that by flirting with the idea of a summit meeting, the President ”is playing with the national security of the U.S.”

Mr. Reagan’s election-year liberalism appears designed to win over those political independents and weak Democrats who might otherwise recall him as the man who has opposed all but one of the major civil rights laws and nuclear arms control pacts of the past two decades.

Will it work? Only if these constituencies believe his reversals to be principled and permanent – and that seems unlikely. To conclude now that Ronald Reagan has suddenly become pro-environment, pro-arms control, pro-food stamps and pro-regulation is to believe that a sow’s ear can become a silk purse merely by declaring itself so.

Besides, swing voters faced this fall with the equivalent of two Democratic tickets may just as well decide to vote for the real McCoy rather than the imitation brand.

Sound familiar?

Every day, on Political Websites and Facebook Political Pages, Conservatives and Liberals, alike, are arguing from dust to dawn, whether Trump can actually win the presidency.

One of the oft-repeated arguments that they present is a modern version of the final argument that Mark Green made in his article:

Why should Liberals vote for Trump, when they can vote for Clinton or Sanders?

The answer to that is as obvious as Kim Kardashian’s brunette roots (if you actually noticed them in the two “nekkid [that is when you are sans clothes and you’re up to something] selfies” that she just released).

The Democrat Candidates STINK ON ICE.

Would you vote for them?

The indisputable fact of the matter is that, in “Open” Primaries, Trump is doing even better than he is in those primaries in which only Republicans can vote.

Trump is building a Coalition.

Americans are fed up with the Washingtonian Status Quo.

We are tired of professional politicians empty promises and their failure to properly address the issues facing America, in any way, except a self-serving one.

While I would never equate Trump with Ronaldus Magnus, they do have this much in common: Like Reagan, Trump is unabashedly America and an advocate for American Exceptionalism.

Trump speaks of “possibilities” and is offering a view from outside of the Washington Beltway.

The reason Trump is winning so many votes, including those of Democrats?

He is offering the possibility of a brand new “Morning in America”.

And. voters are desperate to wake up from this Long National Nightmare.

Until He Comes,

The “New Coke” of the 2016 Republican Primaries: The Scripted Failure of Marco Rubio

On March 7, 2016March 7, 2016 By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

Sometimes, power brokers are so convinced of their own intelligence that they overlook whether the American public actually wants the product they’re shoving down our throats, and the result is a major fiasco. America witnessed a classic example of this in the 1980s.

Start the Wayback Machine, Sherman.

Boys and girls, our tale takes place back in early 1985, as big news started leaking out, that the Coca-Cola Co. was developing a new kind of Coke, a revamping of the legendary American Soft Drink, that reached back through American history, that was being created in an effort to stem a very real challenge from an upstart soft drink named “Pepsi”.

Coca-Cola had already been in development with the new product for almost two years, conducting taste tests and research, with all the top-level secrecy of a military operation.

Finally, on the 23rd of April, 1985, New Coke was launched through the means of a huge (or YUGE, as Donald J. Trump would say) Marketing Campaign, including prime-time TV ads.

The “experts”, including Company Chairman Roberto C. Goizueta, himself, lauded New Coke as being “smoother, rounder yet bolder,” speaking of it more like a fine wine than a soft drink.

An unforeseen problem with Coca-Cola’s brilliant idea soon arose: The American People weren’t buying their B******t.

The reaction of the American Public was overwhelmingly negative (like the reaction to Roseanne Barr singing the National Anthem).

The old formula of Coca-Cola’s had become such a part of Americana, that some people compared the change in Coke to trampling the American flag.

Soon Americans were hoarding cases of the old formula.

In June 1985, Newsweek reported that sharp black marketeers were selling “old” Coke for $30 a case.

Things were so far out-of-hand that a Hollywood producer, was reported to have rented a wine cellar to hold 100 cases of the old Coke.

Finally, losing money hand-over-fist, on July 11, Coca-Cola finally pulled the plug on “New Coke” yanking their brilliant idea from store shelves.

According to company President Donald R. Keough,

We did not understand the deep emotions of so many of our customers for [old] Coca-Cola.

Gee, DiNozzo. Ya think?

New Coke thus joined Billy Beer and other failures in the pantheon of failed products that their creators though were can’t-miss ideas at the time.

Per Sam Craig, professor of marketing and international business at the Stern School of Business at New York University,

They didn’t ask the critical question of Coke users: Do you want a new Coke? By failing to ask that critical question, they had to backpedal very quickly.

(**information courtesy of msnbc.com**)

Back to the present…with some help from The Washington Post , who reports on a Political Campaign, which is quickly becoming the “New Coke” of the 2016 Republican Primaries:

…Party leaders, donors and other supporters of Rubio portray a political operation that continues to come up short in its message, in its attention to the fundamentals of campaigning and in its use of a promising politician. The failures have all but doomed Rubio’s chances of securing the GOP nomination, leaving him far behind Trump and Cruz in both delegates and states won.

Many Rubio backers say they still believe Trump would be a political disaster but are worried that the freshman senator is not doing enough to make an effective case against the billionaire. Even with a strong win Sunday in Puerto Rico, Rubio has lost 18 of 20 nominating contests so far, and he faces grim odds in many of the states to come.

All of Rubio’s hopes now ride on his ability to win his home state’s 99 delegates. But even if he prevails in Florida’s winner-take-all contest, it will be difficult for him to secure enough delegates before the party convention in July, meaning he would have to try to win the nomination in an unpredictable floor fight.

“They have no infrastructure,” said Scott Reed, who is unaffiliated with any campaign but serves as the chief political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “His campaign hasn’t been able to keep up with his candidacy. . . . They don’t have the operation in the states to help him get over the top. He should be a finalist going all the way to California, and he’s not.”

One prominent Rubio supporter, who is an elected official and spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment candidly, said Sunday that he now doubts that Rubio can win and is privately preparing to support Cruz should the race narrow. He said Rubio’s recent decision to go hard in attacking Trump does not seem to have helped him.

“Cruz seems to be the only one benefiting from Marco’s hits on Trump. Marco hits Trump and doesn’t go up in the polls,” the supporter said. “It wasn’t easy to watch television on Saturday night. Nothing is happening. A lot of us, we love him, but we think we might have to end up with Cruz.”

One major Rubio donor was more dour, referring to Rubio’s dismal 2-for-20 record: “That’s not good.”

The race has tightened in Florida, according to recent polls, but Rubio still trails Trump. With just $5.1 million in his campaign account at the beginning of February, Rubio is relying on super PACs to air millions of dollars in attack ads against the front-runner. One of the state’s most revered Republicans, Jeb Bush, has so far declined to endorse him.

The failure of “Third Generation Professional Political Legacy” Jeb! Bush and the unabashed success of American Entrepreneur Donald J. Trump in the Republican Primaries, forced the Establishment (Vichy) Republicans to “throw a lateral pass” and to bankroll Senator Marco Rubio, who, by default, became, “Their Guy”.

In the two years since the TEA Party propelled them to victory in the Mid-terms, the Establishment Republicans, who rode our coat tails back to the Halls of Power, have increasingly treated us badly, at first, shunning Conservatives like we were red-headed step-children, and now, insulting and degrading us like we are lepers…or their enemy.

The good ol’ boys in the Northeast Republicans’ Club, or Vichy Republicans, as I like to call them, after the failure of Jeb!, put the pedal to the metal, doubling down on stupid, by failing to realize that the majority of Americans out here in the Heartland are fed up with the greed and machinations of self-serving Professional Politicians., and are scrambling to maintain their Positions of Power.

What slays me is the fact that the Establishment Republicans seem to be quite content, in their moderately left-leaning stupor, to be totally oblivious and tone deaf of their Base, average hard working middle-class Americans like you and me.

You know, the people who actually put them into office.

They keep on making bad choices.

They have pushed for maintaining the Washingtonian Status Quo because they erroneously believe that new citizens, provided through amnesty, will vote for them instead of the Democratic Party, who are ready to be their own personal Santa Claus and buy their votes with free admission to the Welfare State.

Spineless Vichy Republicans have been a barrier to Republican victory for as long as I can remember. Like Quakers, Establishment Republicans seem to believe that passive resistance and reaching out to their sworn enemies as “friends”, is the way to defeat those who oppose you.

The 2016 Republican Primaries are a prime example of that.

Last week’s lecture to the Republican Base from the “Severe Conservative” himself, Mitt Romney, was a failed attempt, as was his Presidential Campaign in 2012, to force Americans to “settle” for a “product” that we do not want.

Just like the Coca Cola Company Executives, who tried to fool Coca-Cola drinkers by giving them a new kind of “Pepsi-Cola”. the Republican Establishment are trying to force a new Jeb! down our throats in the person of the Former “Gang of Eight” member and “bright young star”, Marco Rubio.

And, judging from last weeks Republican Primary Results, Americans are reacting the same way that they did to the “New Coke” of 1985.

This “New Coke” is being rejected, also.

Until He Comes,

The 2016 Republican Primaries: A Clash Between Political Elitism and a Populist Reality

On March 5, 2016March 5, 2016 By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

Populism – (NOUN) 1. support for the concerns of ordinary people: “it is clear that your populism identifies with the folks on the bottom of the ladder”

Liberals love to brag that they are the most intelligent and the most tolerant people in any room that they walk into.

That is a bunch of self-conceit and downright baloney. When a Conservative (the political ideology of majority of Americans) calls them on their overestimation of their intelligence, and humiliates them in public, if you will (as Legendary Professional Wrestler, the “American Dream”, the late Dusty Rhodes, used to say), they stalk them, like a hyena stalking a wounded gnu, waiting for the opportunity for revenge.

After the Political Massacre, that was the Mid-term Elections of 2014, the Main Stream Media has been waiting to get revenge of the Republican Party.

And, the arrogant obtuseness of the Republican Elite has given them that opportunity.

The Washington Post’s Lead Story today states the obvious…

Only a year ago, Republicans were congratulating themselves on having the strongest field of presidential candidates in a generation — diverse, highly credentialed conservatives who might be the salvation of a party that had lost the popular vote in five of the past six elections.

But now, the question is how close the Grand Old Party will come to annihilating itself and what it stands for.

Donald Trump — dismissed by GOP elders for months as an entertaining fringe figure who would self-destruct — has staged a hostile takeover and rebranded the party in his own image. What is being left by the wayside is any sense of a Republican vision for the country or a set of shared principles that could carry the party forward.

A substance-free shout-fest billed as a presidential debate Thursday night marked a new low in a campaign that has seen more than its share of them.

The increasingly prohibitive front-runner and his three remaining opponents spent nearly the entire two hours hurling insults back and forth, with Trump at one point making a reference to the size of his genitalia.

“My party is committing suicide on national television,” tweeted Jamie Johnson, an Iowa political operative who had been an adviser to former Texas governor Rick Perry, one of the dozen Republicans whose presidential campaigns have been incinerated by the Trump phenomenon. The latest, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, formally dropped out Friday.

Also Friday, Trump clarified earlier statements that as president, he would order the U.S. military to waterboard militants and carry out other acts that violate international law.

In a statement, he said he understands “that the United States is bound by laws and treaties and I will not order our military or other officials to violate those laws and will seek their advice on such matters.”

In Thursday’s debate, moderator Bret Baier had asked Trump what he would do if service members refused to comply with his orders for exteme measures. The candidate replied, “If I say do it, they’re going to do it. That’s what leadership is all about.”

Trump’s musings on torture were among the many remarks that have alarmed establishment Republicans as worrisome and reckless.

“Republicans in general tend to be a group of people who like to view themselves as serious, having decorum, being orderly, being thoughtful,” said Roger Porter, who served as a senior policy official in the White Houses of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and who is now a professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Uh huh.

I guess the writer never saw President Reagan chopping wood at his ranch or Dubya clearing brush at his.

But, I digress…

The word “populism” first reappeared in the American Lexicon, when Sarah Palin almost dragged John McCain’s RINO Rear across the Finish Line, in the Presidential Election of 2008.

The Grassroots Movement, which began back then has led us to a seminal moment in American Politics.

A “Citizen Statesman”, such as our Founding Fathers envisioned, is on track to be the Republican Candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America.

The American People are speaking, loud and clear.

A Candidate has to build a coalition, in order to win the Presidency.

But, how does a Candidate accomplish that?

Ronald Reagan figured out in 1980, that, in order to win the presidency, you had to bypass the Republican Establishment and go directly to the American People.

That is exactly what Donald J. Trump has done.

As the article from the Washington Post shows, both the Republican and the Democrat Elite, alike, are having trouble wrapping their heads around the reality of Trump’s Insurgency.

The Godfather of Conservative Talk Radio, Rush Limbaugh, broke it down for us, during his program on February 10, 2016…

This is what the Republican Party’s been telling us they need to win. I’ve had ’em come to my office. I’ve told you. I’ve had Rand Paul here, Mitt Romney’s here. One thing they’ve all said in common is that Republican Party can’t win with Republican votes alone anymore. We have to branch out, we have to reach out. This is what they were telling me to prepare me for some of the campaign tactics that I was gonna see. That they were gonna have to reach out and immigration was one of the ways of reaching out, supporting amnesty. Well, all along Trump has built that coalition the Republican Party claims to want and they’re out there badgering it and bashing it. It’s exactly what they claim to want. They could have had it. The Republican Party could have had the Trump coalition. They could have had it at health care. A majority of Americans opposed Obamacare from the get-go. The Republican Party could have seriously attempted to form an alliance with the Tea Party and the anti-Obamacare people and been a dominant majority party on that issue alone. And then on subsequent issues to come down the pike the Republican Party could have formed an alliance with majorities in other areas of opposition, and they didn’t.

Reagan’s Attorney General, Ed Meese, in an article about reforming the Reagan Coalition from 2006, written for the Heritage Foundation after the Republicans blew the Mid-term Elections, stated that

Republicans failed to be the champions of the middle class; Republicans failed to be reformers, particularly on ethical matters; and Republicans became the party of big corporations and big corporation welfare-all of which tended to expand government and certainly increased the spending of government.

Since then, the Republican Establishment kept on repeating those same mistakes.

Now, Trump is riding the crest of an ever-growing anger over the inaction of Professional Politicians, whom, after being voted into National Office by their constituents back home, have literally bitten the hand that feeds them, tossing Ma and Pa Kettle aside for Big Money Donors and the Political Prestige of “reaching across the aisle”, i.e.. “selling out”.

By the way, I understand the frustration that Cruz Supporters feel right now.

I like him, too. In fact, during his ongoing quest against the Establishment (Vichy) Republicans, I’ve stood by him 100%.

If you would have told me, before Trump entered the race, that he would not be the Primary Leader, I would have disagreed with you.

Trump changed everything.

The problem is, Moderates and Democrats, for whatever reason, do not trust Cruz. I wish that they did.

Holding one’s breath until they turn blue, or telling Christian American Conservatives, such as myself, that they are somehow condemned to Hell and are Unpatriotic, for pointing out the reality that Trump is the Undisputed Leader in the Republican Primary Race, is not going to change the reality of the situation.

Neither will staying at home and not voting this November, if Trump receives the Republican Nomination.

That’s been tried before.

That is how we got stuck with Petulant President Pantywaist.

Actions (and Inactions) have consequences.

Until He Comes,

March 3, 2016: The Day That The Republican Establishment “Mooned” Its Base

On March 4, 2016 By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

Indeed, we gave birth to an entirely new concept in man’s relation to man. We created government as our servant, beholden to us and possessing no powers except those voluntarily granted to it by us. Now a self-anointed elite in our nation’s capital would have us believe we are incapable of guiding our own destiny. They practice government by mystery, telling us it’s too complex for our understanding. Believing this, they assume we might panic if we were to be told the truth about our problems. – Ronald Wilson Reagan, March 31, 1976

In the middle of a day which saw the Grand Old Party attack its own Political Primaries Front-runner, with a savagery unseen during the 7-year reign of Petulant President Pantywaist, the following self-serving example of the Vichy Republicans’ oblivious nature broke on CNN.com:

Washington (CNN) – Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney’s inner circle says.

The 2012 GOP nominee’s advisers are examining what a fight at the convention might look like and what rules might need revising.

“It sounds like the plan is to lock the convention,” said the source.

Romney is focused on suppressing Trump’s delegate count to prevent him from accumulating the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.

But implicit in Romney’s request to his team to explore the possibility of a convention fight is his willingness to step in and carry the party’s banner into the fall general election as the Republican nominee. Another name these sources mentioned was House Speaker Paul Ryan, Romney’s running mate in 2012.

You don’t have to read too far between the lines of the speech Romney gave Thursday at the University of Utah to see the imprint of this plan. He urged voters to support the candidate most likely to prevent Trump from racking up delegates in their states — saying he’d back Florida Sen. Marco Rubio if he were voting in the Sunshine State, Gov. John Kasich if he were voting in Ohio, or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the states where he polls as Trump’s strongest foe.

“If the other candidates can find common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism,” Romney said.

According to the source, Romney does not expect Rubio, Cruz or Kasich to emerge as the single candidate that can accumulate 1,237 delegates and outright defeat Trump before the convention. So the only way to rob Trump of a victory would be to keep him from reaching that magic 1,237 number.

For those of you who don’t know, a brokered political convention comes about when no single candidate has secured a pre-existing majority of delegates (whether those selected by primary elections and caucuses, or superdelegates) before the first official vote for a political party’s presidential candidate at its nominating convention.

In other words, the Leaders of the Political Party choose their Presidential Candidate, regardless of the wishes of the American Voters.

In Former Governor and Presidential Election Loser. Mitt Romney’s scripted attack on Trump yesterday, he spoke, to a great extent, in the same didactic tone in which Barack Hussein Obama has insulted, cajoled, and lectured us in for the past 7 years.

The day-long attack continued last night, during the Republican Candidate Debate, held by Fox News at the historic Fox Theatre, as The Washington Post describes:

Billionaire Donald Trump entered Thursday night’s GOP debate as the race’s front-runner — but he spent much of the night on the defensive, struggling to explain his positions to skeptical moderators, arguing with his rivals, even trying to drown out their arguments with shouted insults.

“I won 10 states,” Trump said at one point, reasserting his dominance on a night when it seemed to be under assault. “I am by far the leader!”

Throughout the debate, both Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) returned to the furious attacks they had mounted on Trump a week before. Rubio, as before, assailed Trump with an eye toward moderate voters — asserting, again and again, that Trump was an unserious con man who was simply telling them what they wanted to hear. Cruz made a different pitch: Aiming at conservatives, he repeatedly sought to assert that Trump was a closet liberal, who had donated and befriended conservative enemies such as Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Trump replied, as before, that he was beating them both. Which he is. With the anti-Trump vote still split between Cruz, Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, it will be hard for a single challenger to pass Trump.

…The debate reflected the degree to which Trump has changed the GOP’s discourse — at one point, he made an unprompted joke about his genitals — but also the degree to which the other candidates have mimicked his style. Cruz often treated Trump like a child with a temper tantrum, urging him to “breathe” with mock concern. Rubio repeatedly interrupted Trump, as Trump had interrupted others, saying “False. False,” as Trump tried to make a point.

Kasich, as he did in the last debate, did not participate in the attacks on Trump. Instead, he seemed to be holding his own private event at the side of the stage, ignoring the fighting next to him and trying to speak directly to voters.

At the end of the debate, all four candidates onstage refused to break the last taboo of a party debate. The other three said they would vote for Trump, if he became the GOP nominee. Trump said he would vote for one of them, if the nominee turned out to be somebody else — a vow he has made, and then reconsidered before.

But first, Trump mocked the idea that he might have to face the choice at all.

“Even if it’s not me?” he asked, as if the idea were something he hadn’t thought of before.

The way that the Republican Establishment is orchestrating their failing attacks on Donald J. Trump reminds me of “Blazing Saddles”:

We must protect our phony baloney jobs, gentlemen! Hrumph!

During his speech yesterday, Mitt Romney said,

I understand the anger Americans feel today. In the past, our presidents have channeled that anger, and forged it into resolve, into endurance and high purpose, and into the will to defeat the enemies of freedom. Our anger was transformed into energy directed for good.

Pardon my bluntness, Governor, but

You guys don’t understand squat!

The anger that you are witnessing, that has propelled an outsider to the undisputed lead in the Republican Primaries, is one which has been building since January of 2009, when a Lightweight, who seems to have as much in common with us as a Martian would, was inaugurated as President of the United States of America.

That anger, a result of his anti-American actions and resulting policies, which have affected Americans’ daily lives, has been exacerbated by you out-of-touch, pompous professional politicians that comprise the Republican Elite, whom, in your desire to “reach across the aisle” and “go along to get along”, have distanced yourselves from the average Americans, here in “Flyover Country”, who elected you to Congress in the first place.

Meanwhile, average Americans, like myself, remain mired up to our necks in an abysmal swamp of bills and taxes, living paycheck-to-paycheck, afraid to make a move, for fearing of drowning in an ocean of debt.

Seemingly forgotten, among all of your self-righteousness and empty promises, are the 94 million Americans, who are no longer, largely through no fault of their own, participating in our Workforce.

You want to talk about anger and frustration?

Try looking for work, when you are over 55 years of age.

It makes you want to give up…daily.

But, I digress…

Anger has played an important part in the forging of this great country, which will be lucky to survive Obama’s final year in office.

It was anger that formed our country….an anger over being held captive to “Taxation Without Representation”…an anger which, as a prime example of history repeating itself, Americans are experiencing, even as I type this blog.

It is this anger, which has propelled Donald J. Trump to his lead in the Republican Primary Race…and those, like yourself, who prefer your beloved “Washingtonian Status Quo” know it.

Hence, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s alluding to it in her Rebuttal to this year’s State of the Union Address, something which has never been done before.

When delivering a Rebuttal to the SOTU Address, the Opposition Party’s Spokesperson is supposed to discredit the sitting President, not one of their own.

In conclusion, concerning the “Mantle of Anger”, I, like Trump, wear it proudly.

And, judging by the reality of Trump’s overwhelming lead in the Republican Primaries, I am not alone.

It is an American’s Right…and Heritage.

And…it shows that you and your fellow Vichy Republicans, don’t have a clue.

Until He Comes,

Trump Takes “Super Tuesday”: The Rebellion Continues

On March 2, 2016March 2, 2016 By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

Boys and Girls, the Results of the “Super Tuesday” Political Primaries have shown us that Americans have opened their proverbial windows and are screaming at the top of their lungs,

I’m mad as hell, and I won’t take it anymore.

According to The Washington Times,

Republicans continued to shatter turnout records in their presidential primaries and caucuses Tuesday, while Democrats lagged behind in what analysts said was a clear indication of an enthusiasm gap heading into the general election.

Virginia’s GOP primary tallied more than 1 million votes, shattering the record set in 2000 by more than 50 percent. Democrats, meanwhile, were 200,000 votes shy of their own record, set in the contested 2008 primary.

In Tennessee, GOP turnout crossed the 800,000-vote mark, leapfrogging the previous record by nearly 50 percent.

Records were also likely to be set in Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Massachusetts.

Democrats, though, were struggling, seeing turnout drop by massive levels in all of their races Tuesday night. That included Vermont and Arkansas, where their two candidates had home-state advantages of sorts, yet still couldn’t match the enthusiasm of the 2008 contest.

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said he’s the chief reason for the shifts in both parties, saying he’s drawn Democrats and independents into the Republican process this year, boosting his party at the expense of Democrats.

So, is this true? Or, simply some of Donald J. Trump’s World-Renown Braggadocio?

As the late Professional Baseball Player and member of their Hall of Fame, Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean, used to say,

It ain’t braggin’, if you can do it.

The Professional Politicians, on both sides of the aisle, and the Liberal Lapdogs, known as the Main Stream Media, have become victims of their own sensationalism…used against them.

Why do I believe that Donald J. Trump is still the frontrunner among all the Republican Presidential Candidates?

This brash, unabashedly American, business entrepreneur and quintessential showman has dominated the media for the past several years.

The popularity of his reality program on NBC and the catch phrase that came leaping out from it, “You’re fired!”, spread across America like wildfire.

Now, his Presidential Campaign continues to do the same.

It is not just his flamboyance that has caught the eye of Americans.

The fact is, after almost two terms of an Administration taking the greatest country in the world on a scenic tour of the Highway to Hell, Donald Trump is the only Republican Candidate shouting, “Hit the brakes, you idiots!”

Trump’s straightforwardness has struck a chord in the hearts of average Americans, tired of the wussification of America, being so relentlessly pushed by both modern political parties.

This is what I don’t understand about the Republican Establishment:

They run around telling everybody how Conservative they are, when in reality, they actually hold the same beliefs as Liberal Democrats.

Ronald Reagan gave a famous stump speech about the fact that the Republican Party at one time, needed “bold colors, not pale pastels”, which I posted an excerpt from, last week.

Back in the day, that political strategy propelled Ronald Reagan to the Presidency of the United States.

Per learnourhistory .com:

Through the 1970s, the United States struggled through a terrible recession and government became much more involved in Americans’ lives. Additionally, America showed significant weakness globally, as the Soviet Union flexed its muscles and smaller nations began to lose both fear and respect for the United States. It was clear the country needed a change.

Ronald Reagan was the right man for the job and was elected in a landslide. He swiftly changed the course of the nation, lowering taxes and reducing regulations to stimulate the economy and standing up for America’s principles and beliefs around the world. In addition to his changes to foreign and domestic policy, Reagan was an “American Exceptionalist”, meaning that he understood that there was something special and different about America that set it apart from all other nations. During his time in office, Reagan reduced the intrusive role of the government and helped the nation re-discover its greatness, power and economic growth.

The Political Strategy of “Bold Colors” is the reason that Trump is still leading all of the Professional Politicians, who are currently seeking the Nomination for the Republican Presidential Candidacy.

From what I’m seeing, from both sides of the Political Aisle, Professional Politicians are not even presenting Americans with pale pastels.

…Donald Trump is.

The Vichy Republicans have shown their color to be Liberal Blue, while they claim to be Conservative Red.

It is almost as if they believe that the Political Tsunami, which resulted in Republicans holding both Houses of Congress, came about because they made themselves look like Democrats.

They need to come down off of Capitol Hill every now and then.

And, visit Realityville.

Liberals, from both sides of the Political Aisle, are beside themselves trying to figure out why Donald Trump is leading all of the other Republican candidates, several of whom more closely mirror their own political ideology, as I mentioned earlier.

Daonald J. Trump has struck a resonding note with the majority of American people, simply because he is saying the things which we would like to say to these professional politicians, who have forgotten who gave them their phony baloney jobs.

Liberals, during the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama, have had their way in the course of a great many things.

Plain talk and forthrighteousness have been replaced by weasel words and political correctness.

The fulfilling of promises made to constituencies by Republican politicians, has been replaced by “Vichy Republicans” “going along to get along” with their drinking buddies from across the Political Aisle.

Just as the colonists revolted against taxation without representation, I believe that we are seeing a rebellion by average Americans, like you and me, living here in the Heartland of America, who have had enough of lies and broken promises, given to them by politicians who are supposed to be serving them and not the other way around.

Average Americans, like you and me, living from paycheck to paycheck in America’s Heartland, are fed up with the Washingtonian Status Quo.

If we wanted to continue to put up with their Liberal Stupidity, we would have left all of them in office.

Instead, in the Mid-term Election of 2014, we showed them the door.

In summation, the American people are tired of Political Correctness and anti-American political expediencies being forced down our throats by both political parties and trumpeted by their lackeys in the Main Stream Media.

Donald Trump, for all of his brashness and braggadocio, is a breath of free air and, quite frankly an anomaly. He’s not a professional politician. He is a businessman who wants to become a public servant.

Now, where did I hear that before?

Oh, yeah.

That’s the way the Founding Fathers envisioned our system of government, led by citizens, who served their terms as public servants…AND THEN WENT HOME.

But, I digress…

You know what tickles me the most about “The Donald”?

He reminds me of one of my favorite movie characters.

He actually has a backbone.

Just remember what ol’ Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol’ storm right square in the eye and he says, “Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it.” – Jack Burton, Truck Driver (Kurt Russell) “Big Trouble in Little China”

…and that, boys and girls, regardless of how you feel about “The Donald”, is a refreshing change.

Until He Comes,

The Republican Debate: Rubio Attacks! Cruz Attacks! Trump Responds! Did Anything Actually Change?

On February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

After the debate last night, when the dust settled, according to CNN, there were 6 things that we learned about the Republican Candidates for that Party’s Presidential Nomination.

In today’s blog, I present their analysis and then, I analyze their analysis.

Hey, us “rubes”, here in “Flyover Country” are entitled to our opinion, too. Aren’t we?

CNN.com reports that

Donald Trump is leading the race, but Marco Rubio owned the stage — finally turning against Trump in a late effort to block the real estate mogul from running away with the Republican nomination.Rubio attacked Trump’s character. And Ted Cruz followed up by questioning Trump’s conservative credentials.

The big questions of the night: Which senator did a better job convincing voters they can best take on Trump? Did Rubio’s attacks and interruptions show a new side of himself? Did Cruz do enough to persuade people he’s worth another look? Or did Trump’s dismissive counters — Rubio is a “choke artist,” while Cruz is a “liar” — leave him looking like a strongman swatting away the sorts of politicians that turned his supporters furious in the first place?

Here are six takeaways from the final Republican debate before Super Tuesday:

Rubio stands up to Trump
From the opening minutes, Rubio mercilessly prodded, slammed and taunted Trump, talking over him in the sort of sustained way that Jeb Bush never could.

Rubio called the real estate mogul’s Trump University “a fake school.” He invoked Trump’s business record to question his sincerity on immigration, saying: “You’re the only person on this stage that’s ever been fined for hiring people that worked on your projects illegally.”

When Trump dismissed those allegations as old news, Rubio shot back: “I guess there’s a statute of limitations on lies.”

Later, as Trump insisted that the crux of his health care plan would involve allowing insurance purchases across state lines, Rubio pressed for more specifics, saying that “now he’s repeating himself” — an ironic response from a candidate who has been mocked as robotic for repeating talking points at speeches and debates.

“I don’t repeat myself,” Trump said.

“He repeats himself every day,” Rubio answered, adding that Trump’s refrains are all familiar: “Everybody’s dumb, we’re gonna make America great again, we’re gonna win, win, win…”

Rubio also got in a memorable retort on Israel. Even as Trump called himself “totally pro-Israel,” he said he didn’t believe there was any reason for labeling Israel and the Palestinians as the “good guy” and the “bad guy.”

“The position you’ve taken is an anti-Israel position,” Rubio said.

When Trump said he was simply a “negotiator,” Rubio shot back: “The Palestinians are not a real estate deal, Donald.”

Through it all, Rubio kept a smile on his face — almost as if to say to the audience, “Can you believe this guy?”

Rubio finally showed a fire in his belly last night, because, as I reported last week, with Jeb! quitting and going “home to Mother”, Rubio, has been selected as the Republican Establishment’s “Guy”.

Why Rubio was relentless against Trump

For Rubio, it was now or never. His attacks, and those of Cruz, weren’t necessarily new in substance — Trump isn’t a conservative, Trump is untrustworthy, and so on — but what stood out was Rubio’s sense of urgency to put himself center stage with the billionaire front-runner.

What it was about: Lighting a fire under the donor class and GOP establishment.

Rubio has to demonstrate that he’s worth a massive investment — right this minute — to try to block Trump from winning a nomination that the establishment grows more convinced by the day is his for the taking.

“We have an incredible decision to make, not just about the direction of America but the identity of our party and the conservative movement. The time for games is over,” Rubio said in his closing statement.

“I know you had a lot of choices to make, but now it’s time to narrow it down and I’m asking you to get behind me … so we can bring an end to this silliness, this looniness.”

The new “Chosen One” has a problem, however.

The Republican Voters don’t want to vote for him.

With 19 days to go until the Florida Republican primary, Trump has a 16-point lead over Rubio, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll. Even as the Junior Senator from Florida, Rubio has failed to win any of the early nominating contests, facing absolute must-win situation in the state he represents in the U.S. Senate. If Trump wins Florida’s 99 delegates, it would probably “all be over, but the shoutin”, as regards Trump’s securing the nomination.

Trump’s counterattacks draw blood

An underestimated Trump quality: His counterpunches often play extremely well with conservatives who distrust politicians and the media.

For instance, an early exchange, when Rubio asserted that Trump is “the only person on this stage that’s ever been fined for hiring people that worked on your projects illegally.”

Trump’s response: “I’m the only one on this stage that’s hired people.”

Another of his one-liners may have been the most damaging. “This guy’s a choke artist, and this guy’s a liar,” he said, turning to first Rubio and then Cruz.

Expect to hear more of that in the days ahead. Time and time again, Trump has proven that he owns the post-debate.

Whether it’s leveraging his massive influence on social media to wage a war against Fox’s Megyn Kelly or driving home his best lines of attack by calling in to every news television show on the air, he has a way of shortening the half-life of bad headlines.

As soon as the debate ended, he mocked Rubio’s perspiration.

“It looked like he just came out of a swimming pool. He was soaking wet,” Trump told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “He’s a meltdown guy. I mean I look at him, he’s just pouring sweat. … We need somebody that doesn’t sweat.”

Boys and girls, Trump did not become a billionaire by being an idiot.

Remember, he is a master at “owning the stage”. He is also an American Businessman, who has negotiated multi-million dollar deals. He knows that perception is a powerful thing and a sharp, strong, effective comeback stays with the listener longer than the original accusation does.

Trump shows why he’s winning

He was hit from both sides of the stage Thursday night, but Trump managed to score some points of his own.

He consistently owns some issues that none of his rivals fight him for.

Trump laid into Mexico and China, blasting U.S. trade policies and giving Americans a direct outlet for their anger about job losses and wage stagnation.

He used former Mexican President Vicente Fox’s attack in a Fusion interview, when he said he’s “not going to pay for that f—ing wall” that Trump wants to build, to showcase his strength in the face of adversity.

“The wall just got 10 feet higher,” Trump said.

Yesterday, all across the Internet, Trump opponents from both sides of the political aisle, were posting a quote from him, in which he said that he liked “uneducated people”.

The quote came back to bite them in the hindquarters, because it was proven to have been an incomplete quote.

As I have written,

Trump is riding the crest of an ever-growing anger over the inaction of Professional Politicians, whom, after being voted into National Office by their constituents back home, have literally bitten the hand that feeds them, tossing Ma and Pa Kettle aside for Big Money Donors and the Political Prestige of “reaching across the aisle”, i.e.. “selling out”.

Did Cruz do enough?

He spent much of his time attacking Trump, too — but Cruz was clearly Robin to Rubio’s Batman in going after the front-runner on stage.

The Texas senator’s line of attack was designed to undercut Trump’s conservative credentials. And if that was the goal, he had some success — with Trump asserting at one point that “millions of women are helped by Planned Parenthood,” a group that is anathema on the right.

Mostly, though, Cruz waited for openings that were never there — because Rubio had spotted them first.

Cruz did regain his footing late in the debate, laying into Trump for donating to Democratic politicians and deflecting Trump’s goading that he not “get nervous” by saying, “I promise, Donald, there is nothing about you that makes anyone nervous.”

But the most raucous debate yet was about personality, and Cruz showed less of it than Rubio and Trump.

His best line might have come at the start of the debate.

“In 2013 when I was leading the fight against the ‘Gang of Eight’ amnesty bill, where was Donald?” Cruz said. “He was firing Dennis Rodman on ‘Celebrity Apprentice.'”

Cruz’s problem — Rubio’s attacks showed a new side of the Florida senator, and that may get him more of a second look than Cruz gets.

It “may”. But, then again, with the anger and resentment toward the Establishment (Vichy) Republicans by average Americans, here in “Flyover Country”, Rubio’s newfound “Establishment Creds” “may” stop his “surge” dead in its tracks.

Also, there are still a lot of Americans who still like Senator Cruz. I like him. I just don’t see any “coalition-building” happening in his campaign.

‘Can someone attack me, please?’

That was Ben Carson’s unsuccessful effort to work his way into an explosive exchange between Rubio, Trump and Cruz.

There were five candidates on stage. But Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich were both off to the side — their refusal to engage with other candidates, or criticize anything at all, turned both into afterthoughts.

Asked to judge his whether his opponents understand the importance of winning the support of Latinos, Kasich delivered a line that underscored his entire night, starting his answer by saying: “I’m not going to talk about that.”

But Carson may own social media for another line. When it comes to choosing a Supreme Court nominee, Carson said, he would look examine “the fruit salad of their life.”

It is a shame about Dr. Carson. He is a great American and a very good man.

However, it is time for both him and Gov. Kasich to call it a day and “suspend” their campaigns.

Going into Super Tuesday, it’s time for preliminaries to be over with. It’s time to separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s “Crunch Time”.

“This is it. Make no mistake where you are.”

“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”

“When the going gets tough…”

Oops, sorry. I got carried away on the Cliché Train…again.

Anyway, it is time to focus on the top three Candidates for the Republican Presidential Nomination.

Because, the way this campaign is shaping up, the Republican Nominee may be decided on Super Tuesday.

Until He Comes,

Trump Wins Nevada. Why Does He Keep Winning? “It’s the Economy, Stupid!”

On February 24, 2016 By kingsjesterIn Politics7 Comments

Well, like it or not, the Trump Train continues to gain momentum, as he rides the rails toward the Republican Nomination as their Presidential Candidate.

Politico.com reports that

Donald Trump trounced his rivals in the Nevada caucuses on Tuesday, notching his third consecutive victory and giving the Manhattan mogul even more momentum heading into Super Tuesday next week, when voters in a dozen states will cast their ballots.

Trump’s decisive win, which the Associated Press announced immediately after polls closed, was propelled by an electorate even more enraged than the ones that had swept him to wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and a second-place showing in Iowa.

“We love Nevada. We love Nevada,” Trump declared in his victory speech. “You’re going to be proud of your president and you’re going to be even prouder of your country.”

For the first time in the 2016 primary season, media entrance polls showed that a majority of voters, 57 percent of Nevada caucus-goers, said they were “angry” with the federal government.

And, as significantly, they want to bring in an outsider to fix it. More than three in five caucus-goers said they favor someone from outside the political establishment rather than a candidate with political experience as president.

It all added up to Trump’s biggest night yet.

“Now we’re winning, winning, winning,” Trump said. “And soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning.”

The outcome was bad news for Marco Rubio, who is now 0 for 4 in the February contests, and Ted Cruz, who won the Iowa caucuses but finished a disappointing third in South Carolina on Saturday.

Those two senators continued to vie for the crucial mantle of the best candidate to eventually take down Trump. With 36 percent of precincts reporting, Trump led with 43 percent of the vote, with Cruz and Rubio trailing far behind, both tied at 24 percent.

Rubio skipped an election-night speech, while an exhausted-looking Cruz proclaimed himself the only legitimate alternative to Trump.

“The only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump and the only campaign that can beat Donald Trump is this campaign,” Cruz told supporters.

Stopping Trump now looks like a steeper proposition after he trampled Rubio and Cruz on Tuesday, scoring huge wins across nearly every cross-section of the Republican Party. Entrance polls show Trump won moderate voters and very conservative voters by huge margins. He won in rural and urban areas, and among voters with only high school diplomas and those with post-graduate degrees.

Trump even handily bested Cruz among his supposed based of evangelical Christians, and, though the sample was small, topped his two Cuban-American opponents among Hispanic caucus-goers.

Trump reveled in the details. “I love the evangelicals!” he yelled. ““Number one with Hispanics,” he bragged.

And he pointedly called out the home states of his remaining rivals — Texas for Cruz, Florida for Rubio and Ohio for John Kasich — as places he now leads in the polls and will win the coming weeks.

“It’s going to be an amazing two months,” he said. “We might not even need the two months to be honest, folks.”

Indeed, it’s not clear where anyone can next beat Trump, though Cruz looked ahead to Texas, which votes on March 1, in his speech.

“I cannot wait to get home to the great state of Texas,” he said.

Cruz and Rubio now face a political calendar that plays even more to Trump’s strengths: massive made-for-TV rallies and free national media coverage, with a dozen states voting in only seven days.

Kasich, who was in last place in early returns, continued to insist he was in the race to stay. His chief strategist, John Weaver, released a memo after the race was called taking aim at Rubio, Kasich’s rival for the mantle of establishment favorite.

“Contrary to what his campaign is trying to portray, Senator Rubio just endured another disappointing performance despite being the highest spending candidate in Nevada,” the memo read. “Republicans are now left to wonder whether investing in Marco Rubio is throwing good money after bad.”

Cruz, who was neck-and-neck with Rubio in early returns, also said the Florida senator underperformed.

“Marco Rubio started working early and put a significant amount of resources into making Nevada the one early state he could win,” Cruz’s campaign wrote in a statement. “But despite the hype, Rubio still failed to beat Donald Trump.”

Low turnout put a particular premium on early organizing, in which both Rubio and Cruz quietly invested. Cruz had the backing of the state’s Republican attorney general, Adam Laxalt, and made appeals to Nevada’s rural voters with a television ad highlighting his opposition to the fact that the federal government controls 85 percent of the state’s land. (Kasich targeted the same issue in TV ads, as well.)

Rubio, meanwhile, tried to connect with Nevada voters from his time living there as a child in the late 1970s and early 1980s, telling audiences about how his father worked as a bartender at Sam’s Town and his mother as a maid at the Imperial Palace. (He still has numerous cousins in the state.) Rubio’s family’s dabbled with Mormonism during those years and Rubio hoped an active Mormon political network that lifted Mitt Romney to a landslide win, with 50 percent of the vote, would turn out for him.

But it didn’t happen.

Stumping in rural Nevada on caucus day, Trump continued to boast of his strong poll numbers in states coming up on the voting calendar, including Cruz’s home state of Texas. He warned supporters to be wary of “dishonest stuff” from Cruz, whom he dubbed a “baby” and a “liar.”

And Trump issued a warning shot to Rubio to beware taking him on: The two have largely avoided tangling but that could change if Rubio builds on his second-place finish in South Carolina on Saturday.

“When he hits me, ugh, is he gonna be hit,” Trump said. “Actually, I can’t wait.”

Trump was in a far more ebullient mood at his victory rally, where he stood behind a lectern for his third straight win, flanked by two of his sons.

Alluding to his practice in his earlier life of raking in money whenever he had the chance, Trump said: “Now we’re going to get greedy for the United States.”

Trump walked off the stage mouthing, “USA, USA, USA.”

Why is Billionaire Entrepreneur Donald J. Trump continuing to win?

To quote Ol’ Serpenthead (as his wife, Mary Matalin, calls him), James Carville,

IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID!

Andy Puzder, the chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants, does a great job in illuminating the point, in an op ed, posted today on realclearpolitics.com.

Jobs and the economy are top of mind for voters from both parties this election cycle according to a recent Gallup poll. This is hardly a surprise. But what was a surprise to many is the importance of immigration and free trade as economic issues for working class voters and the level of betrayal they feel with respect to their government’s handling of these issues.

These voters feel stuck between free trade policies that encourage companies to move good paying jobs outside the U.S. and the failure to enforce our immigration laws allowing people here illegally to take jobs that remain. While the economic wisdom of legal immigration and free trade policies is compelling, politicians would be well advised not to minimize these voters’ concerns.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over the past thirty years the number of people employed in U.S.-based manufacturing has dropped dramatically by 5 million. When people are living in towns where the local plant closed because a big company moved jobs to Mexico or China, it’s extremely difficult to convince them that free trade policies are working to their benefit. Recent announcements by companies like Ford and Carrier Air Conditioning that they’re sending jobs to Mexico only reinforce their frustration.

Arguments on the benefits of liberal immigration policies also have little appeal when employers are hiring illegal immigrants for good paying jobs–such as those in construction–because they’ll work for less. Lacking higher paying jobs in sectors such as construction and manufacturing, working class Americans are often left to compete for lower paying retail positions and again find themselves competing with immigrants willing to work for less.

While free trade is unambiguously good for the worldwide economy and for each individual nation, including ours, there are adjustment costs. Working class Americans of all racial and ethnic backgrounds have borne a disproportionate share of those costs, made worse by inexcusably lax enforcement of our immigration laws.

Scapegoating immigrants won’t solve these problems any more than the Democrats’ efforts to scapegoat the rich. But these voters have little interest in complex arguments on how free trade or immigration will improve the economy overall. Rather, they want to hear specifically how candidates are going to protect their jobs, their families and their children’s futures.

When Donald Trump talks about punishing China, building a wall, and restricting immigration–rightly or wrongly–he hits these voters where they live. Their level of betrayal with what has come to be called “Establishment” politicians is so great that they’re apparently willing to ignore any political and ideological differences they may have with Mr. Trump.

These working class voters are essential to a Republican victory in 2016. While much has been said about Mitt Romney getting a mere 27% of the Hispanic vote in 2012, Nate Silver’s “Swing the Vote” web site shows that even if he had gotten 67% he would still have lost the Electoral College vote and the election. However, with an increase of just a few percentage points in the college and non-college educated white vote, Romney would have won the presidency despite getting only 27% of the Hispanic vote.

With respect to the popular vote, the Census Bureau’s Center for Immigration Studies found that Romney would have had to increase his share of the Hispanic vote by 23 percentage points–from the 27 percent he actually received to 50 percent–to win it. However, he could also have won it by increasing his share of the white vote by only three percentage points, from the 59 percent he actually received to 62 percent.

And this assumes stagnant turnout. According to the Census Bureau, between 2008 and 2012, voter turnout for white voters without a college degree declined a disconcerting 3.7% (from 48% to 44.3%), or nearly 4 million fewer voters.

These voters are a proxy for all working class voters whose concerns cut across racial and ethnic barriers. Any candidate seriously intent on winning the presidency in 2016 must understand why they didn’t show up in 2012 and, more importantly, how to get them to show up in 2016. That will require solutions on how working class voters (white, Hispanics, black or Asian) can build a better life, pursue a career, find a path to the middle class, send their kids to college and retire with dignity.

Republican candidates should proclaim at every opportunity a simple, relatable and heartfelt economic message that allows working class Americans to believe their candidate is protecting their interests. In different times, they believed it about Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Today they believe it about Donald Trump. The question for the rest of the Republican field is whether they will believe it about anyone else.

Bingo.

Give that man a cee-gar.

As the polls show, and will continue to show, Trump is striking a resonant chord in the hearts of Average Americans, living here in the part of America, which the snobbish Political Elites refer to as “Flyover Country”, but which we refer to as “America’s Heartland”, or, quite simply, “HOME”.

Our palpable anger is one which has been building since January of 2009, when a Lightweight, who throws a baseball like a girlas inaugurated as President of the United States of America.

That anger, a result of his anti-American actions and resulting failed Foreign and DOMESTIC Policies, which have affected Americans’ daily lives, including our Household Incomes, has been exacerbated by the Republican Elite, who, in their desire to “reach across the aisle” and “go along to get along”, have distanced themselves from the Middle Class Average Americans, like you and me, who elected them to Congress in the first place.

Meanwhile, these same average Americans, (i.e., you and me), remain mired up to our necks in an abysmal swamp of bills and taxes, living paycheck-to-paycheck, afraid to make a move, for fear of drowning in an ocean of debt.

Seemingly forgotten, in all of the forgotten promises, made by Barack Hussein Obama, and Establishment Democrats and Republicans, alike, are the 94 million Americans, who are no longer, largely through no fault of their own, participating in our Workforce.

You want to talk about anger and frustration?

Try looking for work, when you are over 55 years of age.

It makes you want to give up…daily.

But, I digress…

Anger has played an important part in the forging of this great country, which will be lucky to survive Obama’s final year in office.

It is this anger, which has propelled Donald J. Trump to his lead in the Republican Primary Race…and those who prefer the Washingtonian Status Quo know it.

Hence, South Carolina’s Governor Nikki Haley’s alluding to it in her Rebuttal, something which has never been done before.

When delivering a Rebuttal to the SOTU Address, the Opposition Party’s Spokesperson is supposed to discredit the sitting President, not one of their own.

But, again, I digress…

In conclusion, concerning the “Mantle of Anger”, I, like Trump, wear it proudly.

It is an American’s Right…and Heritage.

And…we will wear it all the way to November.

Until He Comes,

An American Insurgency: The People Vs. Big Money Donors: Welcome to the Rebirth of Populism

On February 22, 2016February 22, 2016 By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

The Main Stream Media and the Know-It-All Political Pundits, Amateur and Professional are all aghast at the results of the Presidential Primaries, which have been held so far, and the repudiation of the Washingtonian Status Quo.

The New York Times reports that

A seven-month, $220 million surge of spending on behalf of mainstream Republican candidates has yielded a primary battle dominated by Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, two candidates reviled by most of the party’s leading donors.

Now, as they approach a pivotal and expensive stage of the campaign, the two insurgent candidates — who have won the first three contests — appear to be in the best position financially to compete in the 11 states that will vote on Super Tuesday, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Saturday.

Mr. Cruz is the best financed candidate in the Republican race, beginning February with $13.6 million in cash on hand. Mr. Trump, a billionaire, has raised millions of dollars from small donors and lent himself millions more, including nearly $5 million in January. He paid out more than $11.5 million that month, the most sustained spending of his presidential bid so far.

The outcome is a rebuke to the party’s traditional donor class, which poured record-breaking amounts of money into the race last spring and summer in the hope of grooming a nominee with broad national appeal and a chance at winning over more Hispanic and other nonwhite voters. Instead, the candidates backed most lavishly by wealthy establishment-leaning Republican donors burned through much of the cash they accumulated last year, beginning the month deeply depleted. Those remaining in the race on Sunday, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, had less than $7 million in cash between them.

Jeb Bush, who entered the race last summer with more money behind him than every other Republican candidate combined, ended his campaign on Saturday with just $2.9 million in the bank and a fourth-place finish in South Carolina, a state the Bush family once considered a political stronghold.

Much of the donor class’s money was spent on a shootout among its favored candidates. Groups backing Mr. Bush, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Kasich and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey devoted almost three-quarters of the money they spent on negative advertising to attacking those other candidates rather than Mr. Trump or Mr. Cruz, according to the commission’s data. The outside group aligned with Mr. Bush, Right to Rise, spent an astonishing $34 million in January alone, with little impact on Mr. Bush’s own fortunes.

“The establishment G.O.P. is lying to itself. This election at its core is a rejection of their globalist economic agenda and failed immigration policies — and of rule by the donor class,” said Laura Ingraham, the conservative talk-radio host and political activist. “Millions want the party to go in a more populist direction.”

That proposition will be tested in the coming weeks, as Republican donors begin to organize more strategically against Mr. Trump. Our Principles PAC, a group devoted to highlighting his past support for Democratic positions like universal health care, higher taxes and abortion rights, is now spending significantly to persuade Republicans that Mr. Trump is not a reliable conservative.

On Saturday, filings revealed that Marlene Ricketts, a prominent Republican donor who previously supported the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, provided the group with $3 million in January. Richard Uihlein, a wealthy Chicago-area businessman and conservative patron, also contributed to the group.

Katie Packer, a Republican strategist overseeing Our Principles, said the group’s ads had helped reduce Mr. Trump’s margin of victory in South Carolina. “Our hope is that the field will winnow and conservatives will coalesce behind a candidate that believes in conservative principles and can unite the party,” Ms. Packer said. “We intend to keep the heat on in Nevada and the March 1 states and as long as it takes for that to occur.”

Mr. Kasich had just $1.4 million on hand at the end of January — virtually dry against the scale of modern presidential campaigns — while Mr. Rubio had $5 million, though both campaigns were expected to capitalize on strong showings in the first two contests. After spending tens of millions of dollars between them, the “super PAC” backing Mr. Kasich reported only $2.4 million in cash on hand, while the group backing Mr. Rubio had $5.6 million.

The disparity between traditional and insurgent candidates was echoed to some extent on the Democratic side, where Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont raised almost $6.5 million more than Hillary Clinton in January — the first reporting period in which his campaign has taken in more money. Virtually all of that money came from donors giving small checks.

But Mr. Sanders also spent heavily to win in New Hampshire and fight Mrs. Clinton to a virtual tie in Iowa, dropping $35 million in January, reports filed late on Saturday showed. He ended the month with less than half as much cash on hand as Mrs. Clinton.

A super PAC backing Mrs. Clinton, Priorities USA Action, also continues to stockpile cash, reporting $45 million in cash on hand at the end of last month. The group took in almost $10 million in January, including $3.5 million from James H. Simons, a retired hedge fund founder from New York.

Mr. Kasich and Mr. Rubio are now hoping to take advantage of Mr. Bush’s decision to quit the race, leaving them to divvy up his remaining large donors. Both have been heavily dependent on donors making large contributions: Mr. Kasich raised just 17 percent of his contributions from donors giving $200 or less in January, and Mr. Rubio 19 percent.

“South Carolina is the political equivalent of the parting of the Red Sea,” said Theresa Kostrzewa, a Bush fund-raiser in North Carolina, who predicted most of Mr. Bush’s supporters would flow to Mr. Rubio. “Republicans: This is your sign from God.”

Jeff Sadowsky, a spokesman for the pro-Rubio group, Conservative Solutions PAC, said on Saturday that he expected the race to “go on for quite some time.” The group is planning to begin what Mr. Sadowsky described as a “multistate, multimillion-dollar advertising effort” on Tuesday.

Mr. Kasich’s chief strategist, John Weaver, told reporters on Saturday that Mr. Kasich’s fund-raising had increased “dramatically” since his second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, but did not specify by how much. And Mr. Kasich faces perhaps the biggest challenge. He is bypassing this week’s Republican caucuses in Nevada, and he is counting on strong performances in Michigan, whose primary is March 8, and his home state of Ohio, which votes on March 15. He is not likely to have another attention-grabbing finish before those contests.

“We’re confident we’re going to get enough to run the kind of campaign we need,” Mr. Weaver said after results came in on Saturday. “The days of us being outspent 10 to 1 are over because of what happened tonight.”

Dictionary.com defines “populism” as

1. the political philosophy of the People’s party.
2. (lowercase) any of various, often antiestablishment or anti-intellectual political movements or philosophies that offer unorthodox solutions or policies and appeal to the common person rather than according with traditional party or partisan ideologies.
3. (lowercase) grass-roots democracy; working-class activism; egalitarianism.
4. (lowercase) representation or extolling of the common person, the working class, the underdog, etc.:populism in the arts.

That word first reappeared in the American Lexicon, when Sarah Palin almost dragged John McCain’s RINO Rear across the Finish Line, in the Presidential Election of 2008.

The Grassroots Movement, which began back then has led us to a seminal moment in American Politics.

The American People are speaking, loud and clear.

Yesterday, I wrote a factual article about why Donald J. Trump was winning in the Republican Primaries, so far.

And, I caught Hell about it.

I was called everything, but the Child of God that I am.

If y’all have any doubts about my Christian American Conservative Bonafides, there are almost 2,200 blogs which prove them, going back to April of 2010, when I started.

A Candidate Has to build a coalition, in order to win the Presidency.

Ronald Reagan, and, again, I am not comparing Trump to Reagan, figured out in 1980, that, in order to win the presidency, you had to bypass the Republican Establishment and go directly to the American People.

That is exactly what Donald J. Trump has done.

The Godfather of Conservative Talk Radio, Rush Limbaugh, broke it down for us, during his program on February 10, 2016…

This is what the Republican Party’s been telling us they need to win. I’ve had ’em come to my office. I’ve told you. I’ve had Rand Paul here, Mitt Romney’s here. One thing they’ve all said in common is that Republican Party can’t win with Republican votes alone anymore. We have to branch out, we have to reach out. This is what they were telling me to prepare me for some of the campaign tactics that I was gonna see. That they were gonna have to reach out and immigration was one of the ways of reaching out, supporting amnesty. Well, all along Trump has built that coalition the Republican Party claims to want and they’re out there badgering it and bashing it. It’s exactly what they claim to want. They could have had it. The Republican Party could have had the Trump coalition. They could have had it at health care. A majority of Americans opposed Obamacare from the get-go. The Republican Party could have seriously attempted to form an alliance with the Tea Party and the anti-Obamacare people and been a dominant majority party on that issue alone. And then on subsequent issues to come down the pike the Republican Party could have formed an alliance with majorities in other areas of opposition, and they didn’t.

Donald Trump has the exact coalition the Republican Party, to a man, has told me they need to win, that they need to thrive. And now they’re reduced to bashing it by virtue of bashing Trump. And now they’re reduced to bashing it by virtue of bashing Cruz. The two people who are showing the Republican Party all they had to do all these past seven years, but they didn’t. They purposely, strategically, tactically refused to push back, refused to make a spectacle of stopping Obama, and they have themselves to blame for this predicament.

People are not gonna donate and donate and vote and vote and hear the right things during campaigns, the promises to stop Obama, to oppose Obamacare, to seriously make an effort to repeal it. Even if they don’t have the votes to override a veto, the effort, all it would have taken was the effort, all it would have taken was put the onus on Obama, make Obama illustrate that all this is his fingerprints. No such strategy was ever seen.

As I wrote yesterday, Trump is riding the crest of an ever-growing anger over the inaction of Professional Politicians, whom, after being voted into National Office by their constituents back home, have literally bitten the hand that feeds them, tossing Ma and Pa Kettle aside for Big Money Donors and the Political Prestige of “reaching across the aisle”, i.e.. “selling out”.

I understand the frustration that Cruz Supporters feel right now.

I like him, too. In fact, during his ongoing quest against the Establishment (Vichy) Republicans, I’ve stood by him 100%.

The problem is, Moderates and Democrats, for whatever reason, do not trust Cruz. I wish that they did.

Holding one’s breath until they turn blue, or telling a Christian American Conservative that they are somehow condemned to Hell and are Unpatriotic, for pointing out the reality that Trump is the Undisputed Leader in the Republican Primary Race, is not going to change the reality of the situation.

Neither will staying at home and not voting this November, if Trump receives the Republican Nomination.

That’s been tried before.

That is how we got stuck with Petulant President Pantywaist.

Actions (and Inactions) have consequences.

Until He Comes,

Kingsjester's Blog

Tag: Ted Cruz

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An American Insurgency: The People Vs. Big Money Donors: Welcome to the Rebirth of Populism