Image 01 Image 03

Donald Trump Tag

Believe me, I'm sympathetic to Russian conspiracy claims. I grew up reading John le Carre novels. No joke, I first read The Spy Who Came in From The Cold while riding the Moscow Metro back and forth from my dormitory on the outskirts to the classrooms in the center. When studying in the Soviet Union I learned that everyone was paranoid -- and justifiably so! The fire detectors on the ceilings of our dorm were really listening devices, a Hungarian student who hated the Soviets whispered to me. I couldn't prove it or disprove it. But based on circumstantial evidence of Soviet spying elsewhere, it certainly could have made sense. I had random, but minor, brushes with obvious KGB types.

The Wikileaks release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails threatens to set the Democratic National Convention on fire this week. Whether the leaks prove the election was fixed is one thing; that it is perceived that way is beyond doubt. Already Debbie Wasserman Schultz has resigned as DNC Chair. Not enough. Bernie supporters are furious, and are demanding he withdraw his endorsement of Hillary. That's highly unlikely to happen, which will shut close a possible relief valve. The left wing of the left wing of the Democratic Party is ready to bust a gasket, and go full #NeverHillary and mean it. It will only take a few percent of Democrats to stay home or run to Green Party candidate Jill Stein for Hillary to be damaged in the general election. The media cannot let that happen. So expect several narratives to permeate the convention coverage.

On the off chance that far-left Dem congressman Keith Ellison is on your holiday shopping list, we have the perfect gift suggestion: a good biography of George Wallace.  On today's This Week, Ellison claimed that Donald Trump was "the worst Republican nominee since George Wallace." Just one small problem, of course. As Republican Rep. Tom Cole pointed out, Wallace was a Democrat who sought the Dem presidential nomination [multiple times] and even addressed the Democratic National Convention [in 1972.] Ruh-roh!

A gaunt and scruffy Jon Stewart took over Colbert's Late Show Desk Thursday night. The retired Daily Show host compared Fox News host criticism of President Obama to some of those by Donald Trump. Those not thrilled with Trump leading the GOP ticket have complained he's far too much like the current president for their liking aaaaannnnd Stewart's mashup makes that argument hard to refute.

Donald Trump's acceptance speech last night was a hit with viewers, as Yahoo News reported:
The majority of viewers who watched Donald Trump's speech to the Republican National Convention on Thursday night said it made them more likely to vote for him in November, according to a CNN/ORC instant poll. The poll found that 56% of speech viewers were more likely to vote for the New York businessman after seeing him formally accept the Republican nomination. 32% of viewers said his speech had little effect on them, and 10% said it made them less likely to cast their vote for Trump in November. Overall, 57% of viewers said they had a "very positive" reaction to Trump's speech. Meanwhile, 18% said they were "somewhat positive" and 24% said it had a "negative effect."

I just sent this in for Morning Insurrection. (If you don't subscribe, you should here.) "TRUMP SPEECH - It was very good. Controlled, focused, full of 'red meat' for people left behind in the economy. And it was controlled. Did I say controlled? Of course, I'm writing this as the speech is nearing the end, and he hasn't hit Twitter yet. But in the moment, it's possible to believe that he has a message that may resonate." https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/756336349146382336 Some highlights:

Welcome to our live coverage of the final night of this year's Republican National Convention! Primetime speeches kick off at 7:10 EST. Watch speakers live and see real time commentary from political media and LI authors. I'll be updating throughout the evening as the situation warrants. Full speeches can be found beneath the Twitter feeds as they're available.

The lineup:

This is now one of my top five favorite moments in convention speeches. Senator Cruz was given a prime time slot in Wednesday's Republican National Convention lineup. Cruz didn't encourage convention goers and watchers to vote Trump, rather to vote their conscience. When delegates realized he wasn't going to explicitly endorse Donald Trump, they began booing and jeering. Then, Donald Trump made an entrance before Cruz had finished his speech. That moment in all its glorious awkwardness:

John Heilemann came up with a strange way to defend Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and to attack Melania Trump, for the plagiarism in speeches each of them gave. On today's Morning Joe, Heilemann argued that Biden and Obama's plagiarism wasn't as bad, because they ripped off fellow liberals: Neil Kinnock and Deval Patrick, respectively. In contrast, passages in Melania's speech came from a 2008 Michelle Obama speech. Per Heilemann, that made Melania, or the person who prepared those passages for her, a "moronic plagiarist." Heilemann omits one important thing: Melania is the wife of the candidate, for whom English is not even her second language. In contrast, at the time they gave their plagiarized speeches, Biden and Obama were presidential candidates themselves. They were almost certainly directly involved in the plagiarism.

When the 2016 election cycle started, I had no dog in the GOP primary fight—I had already decided on #NeverHillary. However, as the primary season unfolded, I was very surprised that business tycoon and showman Donald Trump was decimating the field of very experienced politicos and conservative icons. I eventually became a supporter of Donald Trump after regularly reading the posts of Don Surber, who has been covering the truly inept reporting we have been treated to during the 2016 election cycle on his wonderfully entertaining blog. Surber, a recovering journalist with over 30 years of experience, was recently inspired to consolidate his many posts on the woefully inaccurate punditry concerning Trump's campaign for his new book: Trump the Press.

It took less than 24 hours for liberals in media to begin attacking Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Just days ago, many of these folks never would have bothered writing anything about Pence but now that he's on the ticket with Trump, they're in a rush to define him. Here are some choice examples. Think Progress invented a new term for the Governor:
Mike Pence, Cigarette Truther Over his political career Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN) has consistently carried the tobacco industry’s water, denying the dangers of cigarettes, opposing government regulation, and slashing smoking cessation efforts. In return, they rewarded him with more than $100,000 in campaign donations.

The GOP handed the anti-Trump movement a defeat when they stopped an attempt to unbind delegates, which would allow them to "vote for any candidate they like." In fact, the voice vote for Trump was loud "the presiding officer did not need to call for an official count."

With all the money, all the resources, and all the graphic design talent at their disposal, the Trump campaign, in conjunction with the RNC's joint fundraising committee, decided to roll with TP2016. T.P. Which, given how the 2016 cycle has gone, I suppose is par for the course. Shortly after Trump tweeted confirmation he'd selected Indiana's Governor Pence as his running mate, the new logo graced a fundraising email and was slapped across the internet for all to see (and mock). The logo is rather...suggestive. At least to many a politico and casual observer.

It's on Twitter so it must be true. Using his Twitter account, Trump confirmed his selection of Pence as his Vice Presidential candidate Friday morning:

Want to see a textbook example of the kind of thinking that leads to the fall of civilizations? View the video of Richard Haass, President of the Council Relations on today's Morning Joe. A clip was played of Donald Trump favoring a declaration of war and repeating his call for the restriction of Muslim immigration, in particular Syrian "refugees," that we know little or nothing about. A hand-wringing Haass argued against "cutting down immigration" and other measures, because "our connections with entire populations and communities, our best measure of defense is making sure that people in these communities are working with us rather than threatening us." So according to Haass, we shouldn't defend ourselves against terrorists entering the country by restricting the immigration of Muslim "refugees" about whom we know little or nothing. Why? Because doing so would incite Muslims already in the United States and lead to them "threatening us." If that is so, our problems are even more serious than we have realized. If the Muslim population in the US is a tinderbox, on the brink of "threatening us" if we try to defend ourselves, why were they admitted in the first place? And whatever additional threat they might pose if we do adopt sensible measures, shouldn't the first thing we do be to limit the ability of more such volatile people to enter our country? Haass' attitude, which as you'll see is seconded by Mika Brzezinski, is the passive, self-disarming road to the decline and ultimately destruction of our nation and civilization.

Have you noticed that many of Trump's critics accuse him of things he hasn't done yet but which other people have actually done already? The latest example comes from the presumptive Democratic nominee who warns President Trump could use the IRS to target his enemies. Imagine that. Allahpundit of Hot Air notes the irony:
Hillary: Can you imagine electing a vindictive man who might … send the IRS after his critics? You know what? I can imagine it. Pretty vividly, actually. Right down to the names of the “hypothetical” IRS officers involved.