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Donald Trump Tag

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 18, 2015 13 Comments
Josh Groban joined Jimmy Kimmel Live Tuesday night. As part of a sketch, a piano-playing Groban sang tweets written by Donald Trump. The tweets are in fact, real. "Josh Groban's The Best Tweets of Kanye West was the number one album of 2011. And now, his highly anticipated follow up, The Best Tweets of Donald Trump. "Donald Trump's tweets will make you laugh, will make you cry, but mostly will make you cry," said Groban.

Posted by New Neo on August 16, 2015 87 Comments
Donald Trump's immigration plan is certainly guaranteed to get him even more attention than before. It's a wish list for the most anti-illegal-immigrant wing of the electorate, although it also features some workable and laudable proposals that are not unique to Trump. Reading the text of Trump's document reminds me somewhat of Barack Obama in campaign mode. Not the content, of course---that is very different from Obama's---but the process: I will do this, I will do that, while ignoring whether what he suggests is workable, how much it would cost, and how Trump would probably have to don the mantle of dictator to accomplish some of it:
The problem with Trump’s wall is that it is infeasible; the geography of the border simply does not allow for one unbroken wall. Nor would it be effective. Even if you could erect this barrier around, say, Florida, walls can be surmounted, tunneled under, and circumvented in other ways. Policing the border requires police; human capital that comes at taxpayer expense. Mexico will not be paying their salaries, but Trump has a plan for that, too: confiscate all remittances from illegal immigrants working in America and hike the fees on all Mexican tourism and work visas. Erecting the structures necessary to identify much less confiscate illegal wages would prove daunting. Even if it was legal and could survive court challenges, a dubious prospect, this is a policy that would require a dramatic expansion of government’s ability to intrude on the lives of American citizens – a principle to which conservatives were once constitutionally opposed...

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 16, 2015 134 Comments
George Will has written a thought-provoking piece over at WaPo in which he argues that the GOP should purge itself of Trump and Trump's supporters. Will explains:
When, however, Trump decided that his next acquisition would be not another casino but the Republican presidential nomination, he tactically and quickly underwent many conversions of convenience (concerning abortion, health care, funding Democrats, etc.). His makeover demonstrates that he is a counterfeit Republican and no conservative.

He is an affront to anyone devoted to the project William F. Buckley began six decades ago with the founding in 1955 of the National Review — making conservatism intellectually respectable and politically palatable. Buckley’s legacy is being betrayed by invertebrate conservatives now saying that although Trump “goes too far,” he has “tapped into something,” and therefore . . . .

Therefore what? This stance — if a semi-grovel can be dignified as a stance — is a recipe for deserved disaster. Remember, Henry Wallace and Strom Thurmond “tapped into” things.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 14, 2015 96 Comments
Thursday night, National Review's Charles Cooke joined author of Adios America!, Ann Coulter, on Sean Hannity's Fox News show. The exchange is particularly interesting because it perfectly illustrates the deep divide in the conservative ranks over Trump's candidacy. The segment begins with Coulter and Hannity exchanging their favorite Trump insults of the day. "He's a funny insulter, but he's more than that," Coulter said. "I mean, he's clearly right about the Mexican wall thing. This is part of what's appealing about him. Not only is he the only one seriously talking about immigration and the only one I think saying, he'll believably build a wall while the rest of them are coming up with nonsense excuses."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 14, 2015 73 Comments
Megyn Kelly has not only been a rising star, she is at the top of the Fox News food chain, with the possible exception of Bill O'Reilly. We explored her success -- and anti-Fox News Media Matters' frustration -- in Megyn Kelly’s success must be driving Media Matters crazy-er. Kelly had some uncomfortable on-air back and forth with Donald Trump during the first debate, particularly on the issue of how Trump treats women: That was followed by a multi-day lambasting of Kelly by Trump post-debate, including the infamous (and disputed) "blood coming out of her eyes, or wherever" comment, resulting in Trump being uninvited from the RedState annaual gathering:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 13, 2015 26 Comments
The Ted Cruz campaign is holding its own in terms of polls and campaign fundraising; indeed, according to reports, the Cruz campaign raked in $1 million within the first 100 hours following last Thursday's debate.  His #CruzCountry bus tour is also creating a lot of buzz on Twitter, with enthusiastic supporters tweeting that they've just met the "next president." Watch: Winning the presidency is clearly Cruz's goal, and he seems to be playing a long game.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 12, 2015 37 Comments
Scott Walker was at or near the top of just about all polling until the Fox News debate. Now he's dropped in the rankings as Donald Trump has maintained his margin in most polls, though there's some evidence of weakening. Walker is now second or third in Iowa, where he consistently led, and is back in the middle of the pack nationally. Nate Silver notes:
Scott Walker: This one surprised me a little, but the polling is clear. Walker is the only candidate who lost ground in every single post-debate poll. In Iowa, where Walker had been leading, just 5 percent of voters said his performance was the most impressive of all the candidates. Walker’s debate night was bad enough that he has lost his edge in Iowa to Trump.
Perhaps I was wrong when I commented after the debate:
Scott Walker: A very workmanlike performance. Weaved his way around questions to answer the questions he wanted to answer, refocusing on Hillary when he could. Often had time left because he answered so succinctly. Not sure this will light his campaign on fire, but in playing the long game, he didn’t hurt himself.
That workmanlike debate performance let a huge debate audience, and intense media focus, get away. While we and our readers are very familiar with Walker, most people are not.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 09, 2015 35 Comments
Scott Walker appeared on CBS This Morning Friday to talk about his campaign and how he did in the debate. Oddly enough, as soon as Walker started talking about Hillary Clinton, Norah O'Donnell wanted to shift the conversation to Donald Trump and obviously wanted Walker to answer for Trump's words and actions. Walker handled it well and tried to steer the conversation back to his campaign but O'Donnell persisted. She clearly wanted Walker to comment on Trump. Partial transcript via NewsBusters:
Rather than accept Walker’s rejection of Trump’s language, the CBS host continued to press the governor over Trump’s comments and demanded that he “denounce” his opponent:
You know that your own party did a full dissection of what happened in the last presidential campaign about how the Republican Party does among women and how they do among minorities. If you have the leading candidate in the Republican Party saying those things about women, when it was the largest gender gap in history in the last presidential election, can you denounce those comments here today, or is it just part of a freewheeling debate?
Here's the full video:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 08, 2015 237 Comments
During an interview with CNN Friday night, GOP front-runner Donald Trump indicated he was less than impressed with Fox News host Megyn Kelly. Kelly was one of a panel of debate moderators in the first Republican Presidential Primary debate hosted by Fox News Thursday night. From CNN:
In an interview with Don Lemon on "CNN Tonight," Trump on Friday accused Fox of asking "vicious," unfair questions at the debate and called Kelly "overrated." Kelly had pressed Trump about misogynistic, sexist comments in his past. On CNN, Trump called the questions "ridiculous," called her "off-base," and said, "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever." Trump told Lemon that he didn't know whether he'd participate in a future Fox debate. "I might not, to be honest," he said. "I didn't think they were fair." Earlier in the day, Trump had blasted Kelly on Twitter and wrote that Fox News "should be ashamed."
http://youtu.be/M28z9y4yT6Y

Posted by New Neo on July 30, 2015 90 Comments
As a huge fan of the very articulate and forceful Carly Fiorina, I've been wondering why she continues to score very low in the polls for the Republican nomination. Here's my attempt at an answer. I believe Carly Fiorina scores low not only because she lacks name recognition, but because she has never held elective public office and she lost the one race she entered. Even though she did well (considering it was in bluer-than-blue California,) she still lost. Also, although she can explain her firing from Hewlett-Packard in a way that doesn't reflect poorly on her (see this and this), the firing still doesn't sound to the casual listener like a success story. But far more importantly, Donald Trump—-who naturally gains more publicity from his statements and his candidacy because he is flamboyant and somewhat outrageous---has taken the spot Fiorina would otherwise occupy, that of “business-oriented political outsider who has never held public office.” He is far, far more well-known than Fiorina via his long self-promoting stint in the public eye, and is therefore a magnet for the many protest voters on the right. Supporting Trump is a twofer for anyone who's angry at the establishment: he is not a member of the GOP establishment, and he really gets the goat of those who are.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 26, 2015 41 Comments
When it comes to the 2016 Republican nomination, one man is currently sucking all the media oxygen out of the room. Erick Erickson of RedState blames Donald Trump's rise on a failure of leadership in the Republican Party. Matthew Continetti of the Washington Free Beacon has a similar take. When it comes to assessing Trump's politics however, one of the right's happiest and most dearly missed warriors once told us everything we need to know. Matt Vespa of Townhall takes us on a trip down memory lane:
Flashback: When Andrew Breitbart Said Trump Is Definitely Not A Conservative In 2011, Juan Williams was filling in for Bill O’Reilly and there was an area where liberal talk show host Leslie Marshall and the late Andrew Breitbart found agreement: a Trump candidacy isn’t a good thing for America. Moreover, the late conservative blogger said the business magnate is certainly not a conservative:
“…Of course, he’s not a conservative. He was for Nancy Pelosi, before he was against Nancy Pelosi…celebrity is everything in this country if these guys don’t learn how to play the media the way Barack Obama played the media last election cycle and the way that Donald Trump is playing the election cycle–we’re going to probably get a celebrity candidate.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 23, 2015 35 Comments
My what a difference a few years makes. Coinciding with his speech Wednesday, Governor Perry's campaign released a video highlighting their "biggest supporter."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 18, 2015 126 Comments
When it came to Donald Trump's comments on violence from illegal immigrants, I argued that it was possible to differentiate between the man (Trump) and the issue. Whether or not you liked the man, he raised a legitimate issue. Trump in an interview today made a comment about John McCain that is reverberating around the internet:
“He’s a war hero ’cause he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”
https://youtu.be/qJ7JlUc82nA?t=1m40s Now there is no daylight between the man and the issue. It's ludicrous to argue that McCain is not worthy of hero status for his service just because he was captured. It's not like he was Bowe Bergdahl and deserted. McCain was shot down, and famously endured torture in North Vietnamese prison. He also refused release when the North Vietnamese learned he was the son of an Admiral, and sought to score political points. There were plenty of people just waiting to find an issue to go after Trump. Illegal immigrant violence wasn't the issue. This may be it. Is this the end, or at least the beginning of the end of Trump's rise? Will this be remembered as the moment the rise of Trump's campaign began to slow and the Republican Party began to heal? https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/622446366657265664

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 17, 2015 29 Comments
Ryan Grim (Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post) and Danny Shea (Editorial Director, The Huffington Post), have announced that because Donald Trump in their eyes is a sideshow, any news about Trump will be banished from the "Politics" section of HuffPo News to the Entertainment section, A Note About Our Coverage Of Donald Trump's 'Campaign':
After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president, we have decided we won't report on Trump's campaign as part of The Huffington Post's political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-note-about-our-coverage-of-donald-trumps-campaign_55a8fc9ce4b0896514d0fd66 This was a political decision by the higher-ups at HuffPo to tell the electorate how to view a candidate not as part of the editorial process, but as part of the news process. Because HuffPo News has become a powerful force in news coverage, this will have a ripple effect beyond HuffPo readership. Here's how HuffPo it pitching the story on its homepage:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 16, 2015 9 Comments
A reader, let's just call him Johnny, writes:
Seen on I-287 in NJ at 12:30 PM today [Monday, July 13, 2015]. It would appear the Dems have lost the teamsters. This is NOT a Photoshop.
I was skeptical, so I wrote back:
You promise it's not a photoshop?
He responded:
I took the photo with my Droid Turbo. If you think speaking to me personally will convince you, my cell is [xxx-xxx-xxxx]. Note that I was speeding!
Bumper Sticker - New Jersey - Trump on Truck Highway Me:
I assume you request anonymity, in that case.
Him:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 13, 2015 20 Comments
Sometimes publicly threatening to "kick someone's ass" elicits a nasty response. Twitter seems to be Donald Trump's favorite weapon of choice. In his latest social media tear, Trump targeted Mexican drug lord, 'El Chapo.'

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 13, 2015 64 Comments
I have a column posted at National Review, Trump’s Lesson: Voters Are Furious about Illegal Immigration As I've told readers before, I write elsewhere from time to time in order to gain exposure to new audiences. For this post, I particularly wanted it at National Review because it would speak to an audience for whom the Republican primaries and illegal immigration matter. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421077/trumps-lesson-illegal%20immigration-makes-voters-furious Here is an excerpt:
But something happened on the way to the denunciations and purges [of Trump]. Kate Steinle was murdered in San Francisco, a sanctuary city. Steinle was killed in broad daylight on a popular pedestrian pier in a business and tourist district, by an illegal immigrant with a long criminal record who had been deported five times and recently was released from custody....
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