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Donald Trump Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 25, 2016 101 Comments
The biggest take away from the CNN Republican Debate is that contrary to prior promises, Donald Trump says he will not release his income tax returns because he is being audited. There is no law, that I'm aware of, prohibiting such release. It sounded like a massive dodge, since IRS audits can go on for years. Trump even said his last 4-5 years of returns are being audited. Trump was his usual, petty self, gratuitously insulting Hugh Hewitt for supposedly having low ratings, even when Hewitt hadn't asked hostile question at the time, but reminded Trump of the prior promise to release the returns. I guess Trump supporters will see such conduct as "tough" and being a "fighter," but it was childish. Perhaps more important, Marco Rubio was the first person in any of the debates to successfully take on Trump on a range of issues.  Rubio mocked and belittled Trump in the humorous, mocking and highly effective manner that Trump used to make Jeb look small.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 24, 2016 111 Comments
In an interview with Fox News today, Mitt Romney suggested there was reason to believe there is a bombshell in the tax returns Donald Trump has not yet released:
There might be a “bombshell” revelation to be discovered in Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s tax returns, 2012 party nominee Mitt Romney said Wednesday. He also called on the entire GOP field to release their tax returns. “I think there’s something there," Romney said of Trump's returns, "Either he’s not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn’t been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay,” Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on “Your World.”

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 24, 2016 51 Comments
Hillary Clinton is not the only presidential contender muddling through legal battles this election season. An upcoming trial scheduled for May 6 could pull Donald Trump off the campaign trail. Listed as a witness by both sides of the bench, Trump will likely be required to testify in a trial over the now defunct Trump University which has been accused of fraud. Yahoo News reported:
Here’s a part of the political calendar that nobody in the Republican Party seems to have noticed: This spring, just as the GOP nomination battle enters its final phase, frontrunner Donald Trump could be forced to take time out for some unwanted personal business: He’s due to take the witness stand in a federal courtroom in San Diego, where he is being accused of running a financial fraud.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 23, 2016 69 Comments
Earlier this month, Donald Trump called for a boycott of Apple products if Apple didn't unlock a terrorist phone for the feds, even though the case is in the courts. I made this comment at the time:
What, me worry about him in control of the IRS, FBI, DOJ, CIA, NSA, EPA, and Park Police?
Senator Ben Sasse made a similar comment on Twitter yesterday, after Trump threatened the owners of the Chicago Cubs for spending money against him in the campaign: https://twitter.com/BenSasse/status/701902499289161729

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 23, 2016 83 Comments
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Republican side of the 2016 election has been the sharp divide among conservatives over Donald Trump. People tend to fall into one of three camps; love him, hate him or will support him if he's the nominee. On one side, you've got multiple conservative writers and thinkers who insist Trump isn't a conservative at all, as we saw with the special edition of National Review. On the other side, you have people like Sean Hannity of FOX News, Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit and John Nolte of Breitbart, all conservatives who appear enthusiastic about Trump's rise.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 20, 2016 45 Comments
The video below was released last night on Facebook by former Clinton Secretary of Labor and noted liberal Robert Reich. Reich's argument is that Cruz actually believes his conservatism. Reich is right on a big picture basis, even if he exaggerates or distorts a couple of Cruz's positions. Trump, by contrast, is someone Reich feels will make deals and has no ideological foundation so while he's a bully, there's actually less to fear. Basically, Reich is telling liberals to be afraid, very afraid of Ted Cruz. This Facebook comment reflects the general sentiment:

Posted by New Neo on February 20, 2016 36 Comments
[See the UPDATE at the end of this post, which indicates that the information published in the Time article was most likely incorrect.] Donald Trump has said repeatedly that on the morning of 9/11 he watched the burning World Trade Center towers from his midtown Manhattan apartment. One controversial aspect of his claim is that he could see people jumping from the WTC as he watched from his apartment, which is four miles away. Some experts doubt that is feasible. But no one has disputed that Trump was in NY that morning. Here is Trump talking about 9/11, and mentioning that he was in his apartment at the time:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 18, 2016 106 Comments
Asked about Donald Trump Thursday, Pope Francis responded to a reporter saying, "“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” Pope Francis' full remarks are here: pope francis full remarks The news reached Trump shortly before a press conference. He responded by calling Pope Francis, "disgraceful."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 18, 2016 104 Comments
At the South Carolina Debate, Donald Trump accused George W. Bush of lying us into the Iraq War by knowningly claiming there were WMD in Iraq when he knew there were none. While Trump has backed away from that statement slightly saying it might have just been a mistake, though not admitting he has backed away, his debate accusations were clear: Trump further has claimed that he was against the Iraq War before it started, though no one has been able to find any record of Trump saying so prior to the War starting.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 17, 2016 25 Comments
In this edition of Today in Political Attack Ads, no one is handling the mudslinging too well.

Cruz campaign asks stations to stop airing anti-Cruz attack ad

Oh, boo hoo. Politics is a blood sport. Time for everyone to put their big boy pants on and stop whining about attack ads. Politico reports:
Ted Cruz's campaign sent a letter to TV stations across South Carolina and Georgia on Tuesday, demanding that they stop airing what it calls "a false attack ad" from the conservative super PAC American Future Fund that goes after the Texas senator on national security. "The ad falsely claims 'Cruz proposed mass legalization of illegal immigrants.' Ted Cruz has never introduced, outlined, or supported any policy that would give legal status to illegal immigrants," wrote Eric Brown, general counsel to the campaign, in the letter shared with the media. "Indeed, quite the opposite, Ted Cruz led the fight in Congress against legislation written by Senator Rubio, among others, that created legal permanent status for millions of people in the country unlawfully. At least two fact-checks have evaluated this claim and determined it to be false, and others found no evidence to support it.”

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on February 16, 2016 127 Comments
Following Trump's eye-brow raising assertions that President Bush was not only responsible for 9/11 but purposefully and intentionally lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he faced a barrage of criticism from the right. Those on the right argued that he was not only wrong but that he sounded a bit too much like the "Bush lied, people died" sputterings of the fringe left (and of left-leaning "journalists" like Ron Fournier). Indeed, Dick Cheney noted on Monday that Trump's comments make him seem like a "liberal Democrat." The Blaze reports:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 13, 2016 7 Comments
In this edition of Today in Political Attack Ads, "Hillary Clinton" goes gangster on a printer, the PAC wars heat up to melt a life-sized Donald Trump, and the Club for Growth doesn't mess around.

It feels good to be a Clinton

Attackee: Hillary Clinton Attacker: Ted Cruz A spoof from a relatively famous scene in the movie Office Space, Hillary and gang whoop up on a server. Pls print.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 12, 2016 166 Comments
It's Friday afternoon. This should get the holiday weekend off to a nice, quiet start. Donald Trump, angry that negative ads are being run against him, is threatening to sue to keep Ted Cruz out of the race based on the claim that Cruz is not a "natural born Citizen" and not eligible. (h/t Hot Air) My view is here. I *thank* the people who have emailed me to call me a traitor and fraud and hack because of my view on the subject. Here is Trump's Friday Twitter Trumpertantrum: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/698231571594276866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Trump also is retweeting some some hoorahs for his threat:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 11, 2016 12 Comments
We're pleased to present what will be a reoccurring election feature here at Legal Insurrection -- Today in Political Attack Ads. As long as the mud is flying, you'll find it here. Political attack ads are as old and colorful as America. To our cultural credit, negative ads are far less personal these days. "John Adams is a hideous hermaphroditicly character with neither the force or firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman," claimed Thomas Jefferson (one of my personal favorites). "Do you want to see your dwelling in flames?! Female chastity violated?! Children writhing on a pike!! Well that's what will happen if you vote for Thomas Jefferson!" warned John Adams. Back in 2010, Reason put together a video chronicling some of the best campaign rhetoric from the election of 1800.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 10, 2016 148 Comments
An ad put out by the Ted Cruz campaign attacking Donald Trump is brilliant. The production quality is high, it's funny, and it goes to a core public perception of Trump as a candidate -- that he is not to be treated as a serious person. Trump has the highest national negatives of all candidates of either party, and does poorly in head-to-head matches not only with Ted Cruz but also with Hillary and Bernie. The ad plays on this perception by having children with a Trump Action Figure doll laugh as they recite Trumps policy positions and friendliness with people like Nancy Pelosi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvPh9I_jwBo The end, in which the children smash a house while shouting 'eminent domain' is quite effective. Core Trump supporters are not the target of the ad. They will not be shaken.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 10, 2016 69 Comments
I had forgotten Obama's 2011 speech at the White House Correspondent's dinner, in which he used the platform to "roast" Donald Trump, until I saw a video retweeted today. Trump, you will recall, had been demanding release of Obama's birth certificate. If Trump were to become president, I wonder how the transition would go. Probably not well.
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