Clarity from Chaos

By: Dave Campbell

Trump Is Not A RINO

By

From the very beginning of the first GOP presidential debate, Donald Trump was in the spotlight and under fire from Fox News commentators. The first question asked for a show of hands of all candidates who would not pledge to support the Republican presidential nominee. Only Donald Trump raised his hand, which led to the first of many confrontations during the debate. He was challenged by moderator Brett Baier and lambasted by Senator Rand Paul for “buying and selling politicians.” While Trump declared that he wants to “run as the Republican nominee,” he is wise to keep his options open.

The Republican establishment is terrified of Trump, who can finance a third party campaign and is independent of special interests. They will continue to mercilessly attack him, hence Trump is smart to maintain “leverage” and keep open the third party alternative.

It may also provide a needed choice for the American people. If the presidential nominees are Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Jeb Bush, or another RINO, Trump should enter the race to give voters a real alternative. The last thing the country needs is another Bush or Clinton in the White House.

In fact, in a three way race between Clinton, Bush and Trump, there is a possibility that Trump may win. There is great dissatisfaction with political dynasties and millions of Americans would refuse to vote for either Clinton or Bush, giving a well-funded third party candidate like Trump a chance.

There is certainly precedent for a strong third party candidacy. In 1992, Texas businessman Ross Perot was leading the presidential race before he exited amid claims that he did not want to throw the election into the House of Representatives. He later said he left the race because he was concerned that Republicans were planning to disrupt his daughter’s wedding. When he returned to the campaign months later, his prospects were severely diminished. Nevertheless, he finished with almost 19% of the vote, the highest third party total since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

Unlike Perot, who destroyed his chances when he abandoned the race, Trump would be a more formidable third party contender. He has universal name recognition, billions of dollars to spend, and no need to placate special interests or big donors. Clearly, the GOP establishment, and their media lapdogs, will try to destroy his chances. This is exactly what happened during the Fox News debate. After being immediately confronted on the third party question, Trump spent the rest of the debate fending off queries about his bankruptcies, his stand on abortion and Obamacare, his treatment of women, and his previous support of Democrat candidates. Throughout it all, Trump stayed on the offensive and refused to apologize.

This stance was extremely popular with the vast conservative audience of the Drudge Report website. After 531,000 votes were tabulated, Trump was declared the winner by over 45% of the voters, far outpacing second place finisher Senator Ted Cruz who received just 14% of the vote. While the public loved Trump’s performance, so-called experts such as analyst Charles Krauthammer and pollster Frank Luntz panned The Donald’s showing. In true Trump fashion, he blasted Luntz as a “low class slob.”

Clearly, Trump’s best chance for victory would be as the GOP nominee. Obviously, he would prefer to win the Republican nomination; however, he may be subjected to impossible hurdles as the race progresses.

While a third party candidacy is not the ideal scenario for Trump, he definitely needs to keep it as an option as the race progresses. It is too early to determine what will happen, but we do know that since Donald Trump is involved, practically everyone will be watching.

http://www.ringsidepolitics.com

Deflated Balls; GOP or NFL

By

Interview with Mr. Jeff Crouere:

The sports media has been in a tizzy covering the scandal known as “deflate gate.” After it was discovered that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots in their playoff game against the Colts were deflated, the media speculation has been intense about whether the Patriots purposely altered the footballs in an attempt to gain an advantage. Their coach, Bill Belichick, and the team’s quarterback, Tom Brady, have been peppered with questions. While they both have denied responsibility, the NFL and media investigation is continuing.

It is amazing that with all of the problems in the country, the media is fixated on such a trivial issue. Instead, a related topic is much more important, why do Republican Party leaders suffer from deflated balls, politically speaking? The party won a landslide mid-term victory in November, but they have been acting ever since like they lost the election to the Democrats.

Right after the election, Republican leaders in Congress passed the 1774 page “cromnibus” bill which cost $1.1 trillion and funded the President’s executive amnesty for 5 million illegal aliens and the unpopular and unworkable Obamacare legislation. This was in direct opposition to the wishes of voters who gave Republicans control of both houses of Congress. The anger was so intense that conservatives swamped congressional offices with demands that John Boehner be replaced as Speaker of the House. Again, due to a lack of courage, only 25 House Republicans voted against Boehner. It seems GOP congressmen do not have the appetite for real change either within their party or throughout the nation.

While the President has been aggressively building his liberal legacy and acting like he won the November election, the real winners have been acting like losers and working on ways to capitulate or compromise with Obama.

After the Boehner revolt, the House did finally pass a bill to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from funding executive amnesty, but the bill is now headed to the Senate where it faces an “uncertain” future. Senate leaders say they will “try” to pass the bill but no conservative should ever trust Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He claimed that he was going to stop the nomination of newly appointed Attorney General Loretta Lynch if she supported the President’s executive amnesty. Obviously, Lynch will support Obama’s amnesty policy, but her nomination is moving forward in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If she is confirmed by the Senate, it will be another win for the President and another loss for conservatives.

In the official response to the President’s State of the Union address, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) did not even mention executive amnesty, even though the vast majority of the American people disapprove of the President’s actions.

This lack of resolve on the illegal immigration issue was evident in a border security bill that House leadership was advocating this week. Fortunately, a revolt by conservatives postponed a vote on the inadequate measure. The initial bill did not contain enough border security measures to please the newly formed House Freedom Caucus, composed of nine courageous conservatives.

http://ringsidepolitics.com