Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Transgender bathrooms become a POTUS campaign issue?

Transgender-Bathroom-600x321

What in the name of bathroom breaks has happened to the presidential campaign?

Let’s see: Donald J. Trump said something about it being OK with him if a transgender individual wants to use a bathroom that makes him/her comfortable.

Then we hear from fellow Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who starts peppering Trump with criticism over his statement.

Holy mackerel, man!

First of all, I am not dialed in to this transgender issue. If I were king of the world — which Trump seems to aspire to become — I wouldn’t waste a moment of time worrying about this issue.

Transgenderism isn’t on my radar. I guess if I had to make an argument for it one way or the other, I’d oppose allowing transgender individuals to use whatever rest room they wish.

People are born with certain physical attributes that make them either male or female. I guess physiology rules out over emotional psyche.

OK. That said, why are presidential candidates even talking about this issue?

It won’t matter one bit to any president. This is a state issue exclusively. If there’s a law to be enacted, it will be done by state legislatures and signed into law — or vetoed — by governors.

The LGBT community seems to want to make an issue of it. While I oppose laws aimed at discriminating against Americans based on their sexual orientation, this transgender bathroom issue that has blown up in some states takes this tempest a step too far.

And for the life of me, I don’t understand why presidential candidates are talking about it now.

 

 

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.

 

GOP nomination fight becomes hazardous … for GOP

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This story just knocks me out.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker is a Mississippi Republican who heads the Senate’s GOP campaign committee.

His advice to senators facing tough re-election battles? Don’t go to Cleveland this summer for your party’s presidential nominating convention.

What in the world … ?

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/276910-gop-campaign-chief-to-vulnerables-stay-away-from-convention

U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona — the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee — is staying away. Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire aren’t planning to go, either. And get this. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, in whose state the convention will occur, isn’t sure he’s going to attend.

Does this say something about what lies ahead for the GOP combatants and the delegates who’ll select the next party nominee?

I’m wondering now if it means that the nomination for president of the United States will even be worth the fight.

What in the world is keeping all these folks away? It might the threat leveled by GOP candidate Donald J. Trump that there will be “riots” if the convention chooses someone else to be the nominee. Who wants to be a part of such a melee?

Chaos reigns supreme in this year’s GOP nominating fight.

Tonight, to be sure, Trump did take a big step toward securing the nomination by scoring the big win in the New York Republican primary. He’s still a ways away from getting the required delegates he’ll need to win the nomination on the first ballot.

If the fight goes to a second ballot or beyond, well, then the chaos is likely to erupt.

Meanwhile, the head of the Senate’s GOP campaign committee has issued fair warning to senators who might be in trouble: Stay away or you, too, may become a victim of the fallout.

Pass the pills to Rep. King?

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 06: Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz listens at the restaurant Sabrosura 2 on April 6, 2016 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Cruz, who won last night's Wisconsin primary, was visiting New York in advance of New York's Republican primary on April 19, 2016. (Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images)

There’s hyperbole.

Then there’s this, from U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., about the prospect of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz becoming the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.

King said he might “take cyanide” if Cruz gets nominated.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/276789-rep-pete-king-i-hate-ted-cruz

Holy moly, Congressman. Don’t sugar-coat your feelings.

“I hate Ted Cruz,” King said.

I guess his mother needed to tell young Petey what most of our mothers told the rest of us: “If you can’t say something nice … ”

It must be Cruz’s “New York values” comment that got New Yorkers all riled up. Perhaps it’s the idea that a Texan could lead the party’s election ticket this fall.

I’m pretty sure, though, Cruz’s values statement really got under King’s skin. He said any New Yorker who votes for Cruz should “have their head examined.” That’s a clue, yes?

But then King said some more curious things.

He believes Donald J. Trump will be the GOP nominee, but he’s not “endorsing” his fellow New Yorker. Then King said he voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich in early voting, but he isn’t endorsing Kasich, either.

A vote isn’t an endorsement? C’mon, Rep. King. Shoot straight with the rest of us. OK?

He said that Kasich would make a “good vice president” running with Trump at the top of the ticket.

King needs to go back just a few days. That was when Kasich said, in effect, that hell would have to freeze over for him to run on a ticket led by Trump.

Well, that’s what Kasich said. Politics, though, does have this way of changing politicians’ minds.

I’m sure, therefore, that Rep. King won’t be popping any poison pills if the Republican Party launches the Cruz Missile at the Democrats this fall.

 

McConnell wants Cruz to be nominated?

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

It must take a lot — as in a whole lot — to make Mitch McConnell angry.

Consider what he has said about the prospects of a contested Republican National Convention this summer.

The U.S. Senate majority leader said he is “optimistic” that the convention will go to a second ballot or even longer as it tries to nominate someone to be the GOP’s next presidential candidate.

What does that mean? It means that Sen. Ted Cruz’s chances of being nominated over Donald J. Trump might be enhanced.

So, why speculate on McConnell’s anger level?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/04/18/jab-at-trump-mcconnell-optimistic-about-contested-convention.html

Cruz has called McConnell a “liar.” Moreover, he recently said he has no intention of taking back that bit of name-calling. He means what he says, Cruz said.

So, it now seems that McConnell is lining up behind his Senate colleague in his fight against Trump.

The Republican presidential primary fight is getting down to brass tacks. Trump and Cruz are running first and second in the fight for the GOP prize. Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. John Kasich is hanging on, hoping that polls that show him as the only GOP contender who can beat Hillary Clinton this fall somehow will persuade convention delegates to defect to his side.

But the Senate’s leading Republican is saying he is “increasingly optimistic” that the convention will turn into a donnybrook.

From where I sit, an expression of optimism means the individual making it wants something to happen.

I guess it can be no secret that McConnell would detest a Trump nomination this fall. It would doom the Republicans’ quest for the White House, not to mention greatly jeopardize the GOP’s control of the Senate.

If, however, the most plausible alternative is Ted Cruz, then that must mean McConnell is ready to forget that Cruz has insulted the majority leader’s character as a human being.

I guess the enemy of one’s enemy really is a friend.

 

Constitution silent about the nominating game

DENVER - AUGUST 26: Ohio delegate Peggy Tanksley displays her Democratic Party pride during day two of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the Pepsi Center August 26, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will be officially be nominated as the Democratic candidate for U.S. president on the last day of the four-day convention. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

All this yammering and yapping about the delegate selection process has given the 2016 presidential campaign its unique feel.

Interesting, to say the very least.

So-called Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump is getting wiped out by Sen. Ted Cruz in these caucus states, resulting in Trump griping about the selection process. He calls it “rigged” against him.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is wiping Hillary Rodham Clinton out in those caucuses, but can’t seem to make a serious dent in her delegate lead. She owes her lead at the moment to the “super delegates” who pledged to support her; these are the political heavy hitters who are free to declare their support for whomever they wish.

The U.S. Constitution doesn’t say a single word about the nominating process. This belongs to the parties exclusively. They make their own rules and force the candidates to play by them.

For that matter, the Constitution doesn’t even mention political parties. The founders wrote only in terms of governance.

We need not amend the Constitution to create a political party presidential selection system that everyone must follow.

How about, though, if the party bosses were to huddle along with selected members of their respective brain trusts to hammer out a uniform system that both parties could follow?

Is that so hard?

My first priority would be a way to apportion the delegate selection process for primaries and for caucuses that make sense for every state. Why not dole out the delegates in direct proportion to the votes they get in a primary election? But what the heck, perhaps the parties could follow the framework used in electing a president: Give the winning candidate all the delegates up for grabs in the primary state. If a candidate wins a state in the general election, he or she gets all the Electoral College votes in virtually every instance.

The caucuses also could be made uniform in those states that choose to select delegates in that fashion.

This whining and griping about delegate selection — which seems heightened this year by Trump — need not cloud the issue of the nominating process.

This is the most serious purely partisan political activity that occurs; I must add that it’s serious in spite of the picture of a 2008 Democratic convention delegate that accompanies this blog post. We do this only once every four years.

It seems we ought to be able to make these choices without quibbling and quarreling over whether the system is rigged.

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.

 

 

 

‘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.

 

Gov. Kasich faces a bitter irony

kasich

John Kasich must feel like the unluckiest politician in America.

He’s caught in perhaps the most bitter irony in recent political history.

The Ohio governor is running for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. He’s one of three men still standing in what began as a 17-candidate GOP primary free-for-all.

Given that we’ve been talking — a lot! — about public opinion polling in this presidential campaign, it’s good to mention this: Kasich stands alone among the three men still running as the only candidate who can defeat probable Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton. Donald Trump loses big to Clinton; so does Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Why, then, does Gov. Kasich still struggle as the longest shot of all the GOP candidates who will become the party’s presidential nominee this summer?

The Republican base has endorsed Trump and Cruz in all those primaries and caucuses. Kasich has won exactly one contest: in Ohio, the state he governs. Hey, man, he had to win that one, right?

I’ve heard pundit after pundit, voter after voter say the same thing: Gov. Kasich is the last grown-up in this race.

Trump and Cruz are despised by the Republican establishment for varying reasons. Trump lacks a governing philosophy; Cruz seems to have virtually no friends in the U.S. Senate, where he has served since January 2013.

It appears, though, that one of those two individuals is going to carry the GOP banner into the fall against Clinton. Those polls? They keep showing they’ll lose. Maybe by a lot.

Kasich continues to poll far better vs. Clinton than either of them.

He also continues to lag far behind in the Republican Party polls of primary voters.

Poor guy. I feel sorry for Gov. Kasich.

 

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.