Tag Archives: RNC

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Trump needs to play by the rules

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The Republican National Committee says it won’t change the rules governing its upcoming presidential nominating convention.

Nor should it — despite the wailing and whining from Donald J. Trump.

Trump, until this week’s New York primary, hadn’t been faring well in some of the recent primary contests. Sen. Ted Cruz has been scoring a lot of convention delegates through a rules process that’s been written in stone for some time by the RNC.

Trump’s assertion that the process is “rigged,” that it’s a “disgrace” and that it’s a “sham” must be taken with a huge dose of salt.

The man entered the Republican nominating contest knowing — at least he should have known — how the rules work. Had he studied the process he would have crafted a campaign team trained to work within that process and would have been able to compete head-to-head with Cruz’s more experienced campaign staff.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/republican-committee-reject-convention-rules-delegates-222285

Now his campaign’s inexperience has been exposed and so Trump wants to change the rules.

The RNC has declared that the candidate who earns a majority of the delegates at the convention will be nominated. It’s not a plurality contest, which Trump seems to want.

The real estate mogul/reality TV celebrity should have known what to expect going in.

Oh wait. He’s not a politician, right?

That doesn’t excuse his ignorance on how one party’s political process works.

 

national news, political news

Whinin’ Donald needs to quit griping about delegates

cruz

Donald J. Trump has a trove of nicknames he tosses out at his political foes.

Lyin’ Ted is one. So is Little Marco. Now he’s come up with Crooked Hillary.

Oh, but one of those adversaries, Ted Cruz, may have coined a name for Trump.

Whinin’ Donald.

Sen. Cruz today told Trump to quit his “whining” about the Republican Party’s delegate selection process leading up to the GOP presidential convention in Cleveland this summer.

Trump is griping about the process, calling it a “sham” and a “disgrace.” He says the game is rigged against him.

Actually, it’s not. It’s the way the RNC has set up the selection process. It allows candidates to persuade delegates to join their team. Trump’s campaign staff apparently hasn’t gotten the word on how the process works. They’re being outhustled by the Cruz Missile’s team.

Trump doesn’t like it.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says he isn’t changing anything. The rules are the rules, he said. Trump has to work within those rules, the chairman added.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/276595-rnc-chief-no-changes-to-delegate-requirement-likely

Priebus said the RNC will continue to insist that one of the candidates for president must have a majority of delegates pledged to capture the party’s presidential nomination. Trump suddenly is looking vulnerable in the hunt for delegates and he is arguing now that a plurality ought to be good enough.

No can do, Priebus said.

Trump now has turned to whining about the process.

This GOP campaign gets more fun as each day passes.

 

 

 

national news, political news, Uncategorized

‘Unity’ appears headed for the cliff

reince-priebus-reforms

Donald J. Trump has a peculiar way of expressing his desire to bring the Republican Party together in a spirit of “unity.”

The GOP presidential frontrunner is emptying both barrels — rhetorically, of course — into Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus for allegedly stacking the nominating process against him … meaning Trump.

Trump is angry at the way U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas managed to corral all of Colorado’s Republican convention delegates this past week. He is steaming over losing the delegate count to Cruz while “winning” the Louisiana primary earlier.

Who’s to blame? Reince Priebus, said Trump. He’s working “against” the frontrunner. He calls the chairman’s alleged tactics “disgusting” and some other pejorative terms.

Priebus’s response is simple: The rules are the rules, Mr. Trump; get over it, work with them.

I’ve got to give Cruz credit, though, for outhustling Trump — the hustler in chief of this year’s GOP primary campaign — in obtaining committed delegates. Cruz’s team comprises political pros and veterans who know how to work the system established by the party. Trump’s team, until just recently, has been lacking in that kind of experience.

However, if Trump intends to “bring the party together” should he be nominated, he’s got to learn — as if he thinks he can learn anything — that you don’t accuse the guy who runs your political party of being a political crook.

You want unity? Trump might consider working more behind the scenes, quietly and with discretion, with the chairman. He also might consider tamping down the fiery rhetoric that keeps pouring out of his mouth.

That’s the tallest of orders. It would require the once-presumed GOP nominee to change the way he does business.

It won’t happen, which is OK with some of us out here.

I’m waiting anxiously for a fun-filled Republican convention in Cleveland.

 

national news, political news

Ryan settles it: He’s will not accept it

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I’ve been waiting for this declaration.

Today, it finally came from U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who declared that he will not accept the Republican Party’s presidential nomination if it’s offered to him.

There. It’s a done deal.

Ryan’s declaration spells out a gloomy prospect for the Republican Party. It’s going to nominate — more than likely — one of two men who hold tremendous negative ratings among rank-and-file voters.

Donald J. Trump will go to the GOP convention with more delegates than anyone else. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas will show up with the second-most delegate stash.

Neither of these fellows is going to defeat probable Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton, although surely their partisans will argue differently.

Ryan might have been able to rescue his party from what could turn out to be an electoral landslide loss. He’d bobbed, weaved, dodged and danced all over the question about whether he’d be open to a draft at the convention in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Count me out,” he said today. The convention should nominate someone who “actually ran for the job,” he said.

Don’t misread my intention here.

I don’t think Paul Ryan should become the next president. I voted against the ticket on which he ran in 2012 as the VP nominee with GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

It would have been a fascinating development in the extreme, though, to see whether the convention could turn to him as a sort of political savior.

It won’t happen.

Now the party is left with a sour choice.

national news, political news

RNC chairman warns Trump of ‘consequences’

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RNC chair

Reince Priebus has given Donald J. Trump fair warning.

He might face “consequences” if the fails to fall in line and support the Republican Party’s presidential nominee if it happens to be someone other than Trump his own self.

The RNC chairman might have little actual power to inflict damage on the still-presumed frontrunner for the GOP nomination.

Those consequences, though, could take on lives of their own if the convention in Cleveland gets out of hand.

Listen up, Donald.

Let’s flash back — shall we? — to 1972. The other major political party, the Democrats, had a raucous gathering in Miami, Fla. They had gone through a rough-and-tumble primary season and from the rubble of that protracted battle there emerged a candidate to seal the nomination.

U.S. Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota became the Democratic nominee. His campaign theme was as simple as Bernie Sanders’s theme is today: Bring the troops home from the Vietnam War, which Sen. McGovern opposed with every fiber of his being.

Well, he didn’t win the presidency that year. He lost it huge to President Nixon in that 49-state wipeout.

It might be that a partial reason for the huge loss was the timing of his acceptance speech.

The convention delegates had battled day and night over rules changes. McGovern’s forces had sought wholesale change in the rules, which usually are a sort of work in progress as the convention unfolds.

They fought, squabbled and bickered on the convention floor.

Finally, after all that fighting, Sen. McGovern strode to the podium and urged the nation to “come home, America.” It was quite a stirring speech. I watched him deliver it from my apartment in Portland, Ore., where I lived with the girl I had married less than a year earlier.

He gave the speech at 2 a.m. That’s 2 in the morning, man. It was 11 p.m. on the Left Coast. But he wasn’t really talking to us. His remarks were meant to  be heard by that big voter base back east.

A lot of those voters had hit the sack by the Sen. McGovern accepted his party’s nomination.

As I look back on it now, I figured that was a “consequence” of Democrats failing to have their ducks lined up.

There well might be a similar consequence this summer in Cleveland as Republicans gather to send their nominee into battle against the Democrats.

Will it be the work of Chairman Priebus? Maybe.

Then again, he might not have to do anything to make Trump pay for his rebellion.

 

 

 

national news, political news

Trump might be ready to retaliate

Donald-Trump_3372655b

Donald J. Trump more or less laid down the predicate for his candidacy when he announced it this past summer.

The Republican Party had better treat me nicely, he said, or else I’m going to make life miserable for the political brass.

I cannot help but wonder today if that prophecy is about to come true.

Trump and the other two surviving GOP presidential candidates are taking back their pledge to support the party nominee — no matter who it happens to be. Ted Cruz went back on his pledge, presuming the nominee is Trump; so did John Kasich, for the same reason.

Trump has more delegates than any other candidate. He’s in the best position as the primary campaign heads into its second half.

What happens, though, if he gets to Cleveland with a commanding delegate lead, but is still short of majority he needs to win the nomination on the first ballot outright?

This is where it might get real nasty for the Republican Party high command, which already detests the idea of Trump carrying the party banner into battle against the Democratic Party nominee.

Trump said he wanted to be treated “fairly” at the convention. I’m guessing by “fairly” he means that he gets his way. The other candidates would drop out and release their delegates to back Trump. He well might demand that the Republican National Committee insist that the others drop out. If it doesn’t, well, then what?

Trump then might have to decide if he’s going to carry through with his threat to run as an independent, which would guarantee the Democrats keep the White House.

What happens if he stays within his newfound party home, captures the nomination and then goes on to get blown out by the other party’s candidate who, I am going to presume, will be Hillary Rodham Clinton? You know as well as I know that Clinton’s camp is going to be loaded with ammo with which to launch a heavy barrage against Trump.

No matter which course Trump takes between now and the convention, the road ahead for the Republican Party appears to be strewn with land mines, sink holes, booby traps, crocs in the swamp … you name it.

I’ll hand it to the party’s presumptive nominee.

He gave the country — and his party — fair warning.

 

national news, political news

Memo to GOP: You don’t want to anger Trump

donald

Donald Trump’s latest shot across the bow of the Republican Party leadership leaves me with decidedly mixed feelings.

He again has refused to rule out categorically an independent run for president if he doesn’t get the GOP nomination next summer.

He wants fair treatment by the party. He wants to be treated, I gather, with respect.

Well, if I were to advise Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus, I’d tell him to be very nice to Trump. Treat him right. Baby the fellow. Tell him constantly how bright he is and how right he is … on everything.

I’m not sure what Trump means by insisting on fair treatment by the GOP.

Suppose he shows up in Cleveland next summer without the party presidential nomination locked up. Suppose another candidate has the delegate count in the bag. I’m guessing Trump will want a prime-time slot to make his speech.

Based on what we’ve heard so far along the campaign trail, such a concession could blow up in the chairman’s face. You’ve heard Trump, yes? He tends to, uh, ramble a bit. He says some rather insulting things about world leaders, his fellow politicians and tends to shoot from the hip on, oh, just about any subject under the sun.

However, does the party want to deny him that chance and risk having him bolt the GOP and launch that independent candidacy, which surely is going to siphon off more votes from the Republican nominee than from whomever the Democrats nominate?

Chairman Priebus, I reckon this is why the party pays you the big bucks.

 

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Let’s allow Dems to face media grilling

media

All this talk over the past few days about the alleged mistreatment of the Republican Party presidential candidates by the “mainstream liberal media” brings something to mind.

Let’s suppose as we travel down the primary campaign road that the Democratic field — or what’s left of it — decides to debate among themselves in a nationally televised event.

What might happen if the moderators all  turned out to conservative-leaning journalists? Believe me, there are plenty of them to go around.

Imagine a panel comprising, say, Britt Hume, Jennifer Rubin and Byron York grilling the likes of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders.

Hume is a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday; Rubin is a conservative columnist for the Washington Post; Byron York is a long-time conservative columnist whose work is syndicated in papers across the country.

They’re all smart and savvy political hands.

I’m trying to imagine how the Democratic National Committee might react to the tough line of questioning that such a panel would bring to a Democratic candidates debate.

I’m not sure the DNC would allow such a panel to present questions to their candidates. Yet the Republican National Committee signed off on the recent CNBC-sponsored debate and the moderators chosen by the network to quiz the candidates on the debate stage.

Still, there’s a part of me that wishes the DNC would agree to such an event, with that party’s candidates facing sure-fire relentless questioning on a whole array of issues facing the nation.

I know it won’t happen. But I can dream … can’t I?

 

national news, political news

RNC fights back: severs tie with NBC

horse race

Can it possibly true that the Republican National Committee doesn’t like its party’s presidential candidates to answer tough questions?

Someone, tell me that’s not possible.

The RNC has lashed out at CNBC and its parent network, NBC, by severing its relationship with the media outlet because of the nature of the questions asked by CNBC moderators this week at the GOP debate in Boulder, Colo.

This means NBC won’t take part in future Republican debates.

The questions weren’t “fair,” according to RNC chairman Reince Preibus. They were of the “gotcha” variety, he said.

I happen to agree with the view that the CNBC moderators did a poor job during the debate. My issue with them was that the debate became a madhouse during its two-hour duration. Candidates were interrupting each other; they were interrupting the moderators; the moderators were interrupting the candidates. Then came the attacks from the candidates against the mainstream media and CNBC.

One of the candidates, Ted Cruz of Texas, then said he thinks Republican debates need to be moderated by pundits who are friendly to the GOP. Donald Trump said more or less the same thing.

Look, the issue shouldn’t be the toughness of the questioning. What on Earth do any of these folks believe will await them if any of them gets elected president next year? Are they — and their political party apparatus — really fearful of tough questions that seek to determine the candidates’ ability to think on their feet and deal with unexpected occurrences?

I cannot believe what’s happening here. The Republican National Committee needs to get a grip on what it is demanding of the media that cover its candidates’ quest to assume the most powerful office on the planet.

 

political news

Trump to launch third-party bid? Oh, boy!

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Donald Trump says the Republican National Committee had better treat him right at its presidential nominating convention, or else …

He’s going to run as a third-party candidate for president of the United States.

Wow! Where do I begin?

Exclusive: Trump threatens third-party run

Trump has been hammering the daylights out of his GOP foes. They, too, have returned the fire. The name-calling, insults and cheap shots are piling up all around the knees of the principals.

Trump, who will not be the nominee, is going to insist on a prime-time TV slot to make his speech. His Republican foes don’t want that. They’re going to insist he gets pushed aside, forced to speak at some pre-prime time spot, or perhaps not at all.

But truth be told, RNC officials must be shivering in fear at the prospect of a Trump third-party candidacy.

Trust me on this: He’ll take far more votes from the Republican electorate than he would from the Democratic side — unlike the 1992 independent candidacy of Ross Perot, who gets blamed by Republicans for costing President George H.W. Bush re-election that year and for handing the election to the young Arkansas governor, William J. Clinton.

Polling data from that election, though, suggests something quite different. It is that Perot took votes equally from both Clinton and Bush and that without the third man in the fight, Clinton would have been elected anyway.

Does anyone believe Trump would have a similar impact on a 2016 general election if the nominees are, say, Republican Jeb Bush and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton?

If the RNC is smart, it’s going to give Trump the prime-time spot he desires, let him yammer his nonsense, then show him off the stage, escort him out the door and then let the nominee accept his party’s nomination.

However, the RNC will have to determine which course of action will do the party the least harm.

Heck, it might decide that giving this guy maximum exposure at its nominating convention isn’t worth the reaction he’s going to get.

Let’s all stay tuned.