Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

2016 Republican Primary Tag

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 25, 2016 14 Comments
If you've been following this election cycle, you're well aware that our current presidential primary/caucus setup is bunk. It's weird. It's complicated. It's arbitrary. And it's far more confusing than it ought to be. HBO's John Oliver also noticed the "erratic clusterf*ck" that makes up our modern presidential primaries. No, it's not suitable for work, but it is pretty darn funny:

Posted by Sarah Rumpf on May 24, 2016 141 Comments
Donald Trump may have won the Republican nomination in every way except the official coronation in Cleveland in July, but some prominent Republican voices refuse to cheer for him. One of these voices belongs to the communications chair for the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF), the nationwide organization that oversees all Young Republican (YR) clubs around the country. Monday afternoon, Katrina Jørgensen posted a resignation letter on her Facebook page, stating that she was "regretfully" resigning her position because her "principles will no longer allow" her to carry out her duties. The conflict, explains Jørgensen, is that she believes it will be impossible to promote pro-Republican messages along with promoting Trump (emphasis in original):

https://www.facebook.com/notes/katrina-elaine-j%C3%B8rgensen/resigning-as-communications-chair-from-yrnf/10155923659836515

As the head of our national communications my voice is part of our message, and I am intrinsically tied to it. Therefore I must step down. I cannot live with being seen as supporting a candidate I truly feels tramples on all of our values. Even if we, as an organization, focused exclusively on congressional candidates, we would still be seen as complicit. It would be impossible to resist the pressure to push for a straight-R ticket when we campaign.

Posted by Andrew Branca on May 20, 2016 83 Comments
Today at its Annual Meeting the NRA formally endorsed Donald Trump for President of the United States.  Immediately following Trump gave a nearly 30 minute speech to a packed room and was met with frequent applause and several standing ovations. The following reflects my rapidly-typed contemporaneous notes as Trump spoke.  I've phrased them as if I were quoting Trump, and mostly that's the case, but there is also some necessary paraphrasing here and there when he spoke too quickly for me to keep up.  The paraphrases accurately reflect the gist of Trump's comments.  There are also some passages of Trump's talk that I didn't capture in my notes.  Finally, I came into the speech after it had begun, but believe I only missed a couple of minutes.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 18, 2016 25 Comments
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, released a short-list of potential SCOTUS nominees Wednesday. Senate Republicans have thus far, made good on their promise to block President Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. Should that hold, the task of replacing the late Justice Scalia will fall to the next Oval Office occupant. According to ABC News, Trump's SCOTUS list includes:

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 18, 2016 23 Comments
After watching the segment below, all I can say is that if you want to see an interview that's heavy on policy, look elsewhere. This was more Barbara Walters than FOX News Sunday. That's not to say it isn't interesting or worth watching, because it is. "Megyn Kelly Presents" airs on the FOX Broadcast Network and not the FOX News Channel and this makes sense for reasons which are apparent. Kelly is obviously trying to expand her reach and kicking off this effort by interviewing Trump is brilliant from a ratings perspective. The first six minutes of the segment recalls the rocky relationship between Kelly and Trump starting with the first GOP debate on FOX News in August of last year using clips from FNC and other news outlets.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 11, 2016 15 Comments
Mexico's former president had some words for The Donald. And not very nice words either. Fox claims Trump owes American workers an apology for, "all the imports from China and Mexico." "Please apologize to them," Fox implored.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 11, 2016 18 Comments
With one man standing on the Republican side, the election battle is heating up. Wednesday, Donald Trump released a video on his Instagram account, reminding viewers of the Benghazi debacle. Then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton suggested the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the American embassy in Benghazi were the outcropping of a YouTube video. Extensive investigations have proven otherwise. Clips of family member testimony show Clinton claimed the video was responsible for the loss of Americans and the video concludes with Hillary laughing, flames, and giant letters that say "NEVER FORGET!"

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 10, 2016 16 Comments
If you're a single American looking for love who vowed to leave the U S of A should Donald Trump take the White House, today is your lucky day. Maple Match promises to help Americans find Canadian love. "Maple Match makes it easy for Americans to find the ideal Canadian partner to save them from the unfathomable horror of a Trump presidency," they claim.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 09, 2016 17 Comments
In 2012, I wrote about this subject. Post-election loss, desperate, and hopelessly facing President Obama's second term, the idea of a political savior made its way in to mainstream though. 2016 is not 2012 (obviously), but for different reasons than before, there's a collective hunt for the one man who will save the republic. For some that man is Trump, for others, he's an unnamed hero waiting in the wings. Real talk: He (or she) is not coming. There will be no Reagan incarnate, no William F. Buckley the Greater, no zombie Goldwater. No one person can save us from our current predicament.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 09, 2016 50 Comments
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he would leave his GOP convention chair if presumptive GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump asks him.
"He's the nominee. I'll do whatever he wants with respect to the convention," he said.
Speaker Ryan responded to Trump's interview on NBC's Meet the Press from Sunday. Trump told host Chuck Todd that Ryan's comments "blindsided" him.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 06, 2016 66 Comments
Friday afternoon, former Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate, Jeb Bush congratulated Donald Trump on becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Bush went on to explain that while he believes Trump successfully tapped into an undercurrent of anger and dissatisfaction, he will not vote for either Trump or Clinton in the upcoming election. Like many on the #NeverTrump bus, Bush committed to supporting Republican candidates down ballot. Bush's entire statement:
I congratulate Donald Trump on securing his place as the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee. There is no doubt that he successfully tapped into the deep sense of anger and frustration so many Americans around the country rightfully feel today. The tremendous anger of the current U.S. electorate – whether Republican, Democrat or independent – is a result of people fearful about the future, concerned with the direction of our country and tremendously frustrated by the abject failure and inability of leaders in Washington, D.C. to make anything better.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 06, 2016 37 Comments
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced he will meet with presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump next week. https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/728651496116633600 https://twitter.com/PRyan/status/728651792918155268

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 05, 2016 61 Comments
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today, white people everywhere will drink generic Mexican beer and have no clue what they're celebrating. Historically, the day is a celebration of the Mexican army's defeat of French forces in the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War in 1862. Over the years the Americanized version is more a celebration of Mexican culture than anything else. Meanwhile in New York, presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, is celebrating the day with a Trump Tower taco bowl. taco time

Posted by Taryn O'Neill on May 05, 2016 44 Comments
As we've seen for months, the burning question thrown at Republican candidates around the nation has been, "Will you support Donald Trump if he's the nominee?" Democrats and media alike have worked to tie republican candidates to the newly declared presumptive GOP presidential nominee, who is arguably the most despised political candidate in modern U.S. history. Unfortunately, 24 GOP Senate seats are up for election in November, many of which the Democrats see as ripe for the plucking. Due in part to the Tea Party effect in 2010, the Democrats are only defending 10 seats. Even worse, as the Huffington Post points out, is the fact that 6 of the Republican senators are in states that President Obama won twice. The Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee has wasted little time, launching its "Party of Trump" campaign back in March. The effort seeks to scorn vulnerable Senate Republicans with their prior remarks, including those promising that they would support the Republican presidential nominee, whoever he or she turns out to be.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 04, 2016 109 Comments
Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. Presumably he will face off against Hillary Clinton. Given the intense feelings and turmoil resulting from Ted Cruz suspending his campaign, I thought it would be useful to solicit views from all of the Legal Insurrection authors. Most of the authors took me up on the offer. The opinions below, listed in alphabetical order by last name or pseudonym, are the opinions of each individual author. I think you will be surprised at the breadth of opinion, from someone who was for Trump long before it was cool to be for Trump, to diehard #NeverTrump-ers. And many variations in between. As for me. Well, you'll have to find my name in the list. Hopefully I did alphabetical order better than I do math.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 04, 2016 32 Comments
John Kasich has a big announcement at 5:00 EST, but we all know what he will say. He'll formally announce he's suspending his presidential campaign. And yes, he was running for president this whole time. By the way, did you know his father was a mailman? Because his father was a mailman. By some theories, Kasich hung on just long enough to siphon votes from Cruz and serve as an anti-Trump spoiler. Not sure I buy this particular line because it assumes Kasich supporters would've defaulted to Cruz in the absence of the Governor. In any case, some have suggested (though none have confirmed), that Trump and Kasich struck a smokey, back-room deal which would explain the timing of Kasich's withdrawal from the race.
Accessibility by WAH