Posted by Mike LaChance
on September 13, 201544 Comments
CBS News released new polling data today. Professor Jacobson covered the Democratic side and you can read about it here.
On the Republican side, Donald Trump has a massive lead in New Hampshire. Ben Carson is second but is still far behind.
Posted by Amy Miller
on September 12, 201540 Comments
On Friday night, Donald Trump joined the "Tonight Show's" Jimmy Fallon for a little late night...reflecting...on what it means to be The Donald.
Literally. Reflecting. Trump interviewed a "mirror image" of himself as played by Jimmy Fallon---who did a decent job at the impersonation.
Watch:
Posted by Kemberlee Kaye
on September 08, 20156 Comments
On "Fox and Friends" Monday morning, Fiorina spoke about numerous issues including Hillary Clinton, defunding Planned Parenthood, the refugee crisis, and her birthday.
Fiorina also suggested Donald Trump, "throw a little more heat at Hillary."
"Going after Donald Trump hasn't really gone well for other candidates who a lot of people aren't really talking about that much about anymore. Is that a smart line of attack to go after The Donald?" asked a Fox News host.
Posted by Mike LaChance
on September 07, 201551 Comments
Some classic cable news was created this weekend when CNN's Jake Tapper asked Sarah Palin what role she thought she could fill in a Donald Trump administration.
Palin volunteered for the role of energy secretary but said that she'd close down the department.
Even the Washington Post took notice. Vanessa Williams reported:
Sarah Palin would like to be energy secretary — but not for long
Sarah Palin thinks she would make a great secretary of the U.S. Energy Department because as a former governor of Alaska she knows a thing or two about "oil and gas and minerals."
But she would not stay in the job for long if Republican candidate Donald Trump won the presidency and asked her to serve. The businessman and reality TV show star has said that he would "love" to have Palin in his administration "because she really is somebody that knows what’s happening. And she’s a special person."
Palin, during an interview Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," said: "I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby ... And if I were head of that, I would get rid of it. And I would let the states start having more control over the lands that are within their boundaries and the people who are affected by the developments within their space."
Posted by Fuzzy Slippers
on September 06, 2015129 Comments
As political pundits struggle to find an explanation for Trump's indisputable success in the GOP 2016 presidential primary contest, Josh Barro wonders if Trump is the candidate reform conservatives are seeking. He writes:
For the last few years, a small but prominent group of conservative writers and thinkers has urged the Republican party to rethink its economic agenda with a greater focus on the needs of the middle class. The so-called reform conservatives have criticized the G.O.P.’s economic prescription of cutting entitlement programs and tax rates (especially on high earners) as unresponsive to the concerns of workers earning stagnant wages.
“Reform conservatism is based on a recognition that the American economy has not served middle-income people well, not just since the crisis of 2008 but at least since the year 2000,” said David Frum, the prominent Canadian-American conservative journalist and former speechwriter for George W. Bush who serves as a senior editor at The Atlantic.
Posted by Mike LaChance
on September 06, 201548 Comments
Early in the 2016 cycle, the Republican establishment pushed Marco Rubio aside in Florida and put its money and support behind Jeb Bush. That decision has created a scenario which could rob both candidates of the state's highly coveted delegates.
Jim Newell of Slate reported:
Has the Republican Establishment Created a Monster?
Last fall, when Jeb Bush was still mulling a bid for the presidency, Bloomberg Politics reported on what was considered then—and is still considered now—Bush’s greatest advantage as a presidential candidate: His ability to separate wealthy donors from vast sums of money quickly. “Unlike his competitors,” the thinking went, “Bush could lure donors off the fence in a hurry, without undergoing a hazing trial to test skill and stability.”
That is precisely what happened. Instants after announcing over the winter that he was “seriously considering the possibility of running for president,” Bush and his team set up the Right to Rise PAC and super PAC to serve as cash receptacles for eager GOP establishment donors. The money rolled in, and by July the super PAC announced that it had met its goal of raising more than $100 million in the first six months of the year.
Posted by Kemberlee Kaye
on September 04, 2015247 Comments
Thursday, Hugh Hewitt interviewed Donald Trump.
Among other things, Hewitt asked Trump a handful of foreign policy questions. "Are you familiar with General Soleimani?" asked Hewitt. "Yessss. Go ahead, give me a little. Go ahead, tell me," responded Trump.
Hewitt explained that Soleimani runs the Quds forces, which Trump confused with the Kurds, though Trump eventually remembered who Soleimani was. Hewitt was then complementary and reminisced of the time Trump "schooled the Senate" on real-estate, and then went on to explain that he's looking for a Commander in Chief that knows who the players in the vast battlefield of Islamic terrorism.
"Do you know who the players are without a score card, Donald Trump?" Hewitt asked.
"I think by the time we get to office they'll all be changed, they'll be all gone, I knew you were gonna asks me things like this and there's no reason because number one, I will hopefully find General Douglas McArthur in the PAC, I will find whoever it is that I'll find, but they're all changing, those are like history questions, do you know this one, do you know that one."
"I don't believe in gotcha questions, I'm not trying to quiz you," retorted Hewitt.
"Well that is a gotcha question," Trump accused. And then a media controversy was birthed.
Posted by Amy Miller
on September 03, 201541 Comments
Today, Donald Trump took a major step toward dispelling fears that his dedication to the GOP may be fleeting.
After a meeting with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Trump held a public press conference and signed a loyalty pledge to the party. Under the pledge, he promised to support the Republican party's eventual nominee, and not run as a third party candidate.
Watch:
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on September 01, 201590 Comments
Donald Trump thumped Jeb Bush the other day with an Instagram ad that has received a lot of attention, and a lot of free TV air time.
It was Willie Horton Part 2:
It was, of course, "unfair" in the sense that Bush's comment about Act of Love related to illegal immigration in general, not those crimes.
But it was brilliant political theater.
Trump has been relentless in going after, prodding, and yes, emasculating the person who he viewed as his lead competition. Allahpundit describes the approach:
Posted by Amy Miller
on September 01, 201561 Comments
During the first Republican presidential debate earlier this month, all hell broke loose after an exchange on the "war on women" between debate moderator Megyn Kelly and contender Donald Trump. The furor over Kelly's snark, and Trump's audacity, boiled over into a weeks-long debate between those convinced that Kelly had wrongfully attacked Trump, and those who felt like Kelly's question about Trump's tone toward women was fair.
So, who won?
I'm not ready to call this for either side yet (there's still plenty of time for either party to reload) but polling data suggests that as of right now, Donald Trump has come out on top over Fox News.
From Public Policy Polling [emphasis mine]:
Trump is winning his fight with Megyn Kelly. When we last polled her in December of 2013 her favorability with Republicans nationally was 44/9. Her favorability is in a similar place now at 42% but her negatives have shot up to 20%, largely because she's at 20/43 with Trump's supporters.
Trumps supporters are angry about the way the debate exchange went down, and it shows.
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on August 31, 201559 Comments
Donald Trump has surged to the top of the Republican field based not only on outsider status, but immigration.
Specifically, frustration and anger regarding illegal alien criminals. Early in his surge I wrote:
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….
In the wake of the murder of Kate Steinle, many Republican candidates have denounced the sanctuary-cities agenda. There is talk of withholding funding from cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. But who among the Republican candidates has stood side by side with the families who have lost loved ones to illegal-immigrant criminals?
Trump did….”
Now Trump is thumping his favorite target, Jeb Bush, with the issue in a brutal new Instagram Ad:
Posted by Amy Miller
on August 30, 201536 Comments
Donald Trump may be at war with the mainstream media, but he seems to have found safe harbor with a smaller, conservative base-oriented network.
The One America News Network has about a tenth of the viewership of major mainstream outlets like Fox or CNN, but leading presidential contender Donald Trump made a point to stop by their "On Point" program, guest hosted by Sarah Palin, for ten minutes of conversation on everything from taxes to caring for veterans, and his troubles with the mainstream media.
Watch:
Seems a little...toned down, no?
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on August 29, 201511 Comments
We know from recent polling that Hillary Clinton is in trouble in New Hamspshire.
Now she has problems in Iowa, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Saturday night:
Liberal revolutionary Bernie Sanders, riding an updraft of insurgent passion in Iowa, has closed to within 7 points of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race.
She's the first choice of 37 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers; he's the pick for 30 percent, according to a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll.
But Clinton has lost a third of her supporters since May, a trajectory that if sustained puts her at risk of losing again in Iowa, the initial crucible in the presidential nominating contest....
"This feels like 2008 all over again," said J. Ann Selzer, pollster for the Iowa Poll.
Posted by Mike LaChance
on August 29, 2015121 Comments
While speaking at a campaign event in the Boston area Friday night, Donald Trump was jabbing Hillary Clinton and slipped into a seemingly improvised monologue about embattled Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner.
Josh Feldman of Mediaite:
‘Bing Bing Bing': Trump Lets Loose on ‘Perv,’ ‘Sleazebag’ Anthony Weiner
Trump was talking about Hillary Clinton‘s emails and then roped her aide Huma Abedin into it due to her involvement.
But then Trump also brought in her husband, “one of the great sleazebags of our time.” Yes, Trump went on a whole riff about Weiner, who infamously engaged in sexting multiple times, calling him a “perv” and saying Abedin must be “desperately in love with him” if she’s staying with him.
He riled up the crowd as he talked about Weiner and Abedin, and said that it’s pretty clear she’s telling her husband about some of the email stuff.
Posted by Kemberlee Kaye
on August 27, 201521 Comments
"Ricardo Sanchez known as "El Mandril" on his Spanish drive-time radio show in Los Angeles has taken to calling Donald J. Trump, "el hombre del peluquin." In other words, "The Man of the Toupee," read Trump to an audience in South Carolina. "This is on the front page of the New York Times."
Entitled, Donald Trump Gets Earful in Spanish as Latino Outlets Air Disdain, the NTYs article Trump read explored how Spanish media was handling his remarks about the Latino community.
Ricardo Sánchez, known as “El Mandril” on his Spanish drive-time radio show in Los Angeles, has taken to calling Donald J. Trump “El hombre del peluquín” — the man of the toupee.
Some of Mr. Sánchez’s listeners are less kind, referring to Mr. Trump, who has dismissed some Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and criminals, simply as “Hitler.”
Mr. Sánchez says that he tries to focus on the positive in presidential politics, but he, too, at times has used harsh language to describe Mr. Trump, according to translations of his show provided by his executive producer.
“A president like Trump would be like giving a loaded gun to a monkey,” Mr. Sanchez said in one broadcast. “But a gun that fires atomic bullets.”
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on August 27, 201514 Comments
On July 17, 2015, two senior political reporters at Huffington Post announced that all future coverage of Donald Trump's campaign would take place in the Entertainment section of HuffPo, not the Politics section.
HuffPo played it up on its Homepage, with a graphic meant to get attention:
We reported about the decision at the time:
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’:
Posted by Mike LaChance
on August 26, 201554 Comments
Marco Rubio made a campaign stop in New Hampshire today and dismissed Donald Trump's current front-runner status, saying that Trump will not be the Republican nominee for 2016.
Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg reported:
Rubio Dismisses Trump in N.H.: He Won't Be 'Our Nominee'
"Ultimately the Republican Party will reach out to all voters based on who our nominee is. And I don't believe Donald Trump will be our nominee," the Florida senator said after speaking to a small crowd outside a car service center in this town of Orford. "I think our nominee is going to be someone that embraces the future, that understands the opportunities before us, that's optimistic but realistic about the challenges before us."
He acknowledged that "people are angry" and "they have a right to be," but insisted that "we should allow that anger to motivate us, but we shouldn't allow that anger to define us. We're not an angry nation. We are an optimistic nation who has every reason to be optimistic about the future."...
Posted by Amy Miller
on August 25, 201588 Comments
Today, Donald Trump renewed his public feud with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly over comments made during the first GOP primary debate:
Trump repeated a claim on Twitter Monday night that Kelly is a 'bimbo,' and Fox chief Roger Ailes demanded an apology on Tuesday after the billionaire leveled a new series of attacks on Kelly during her first show following a lengthy break.
'I liked The Kelly File much better without @megynkelly,' Trump tweeted while she as on the air. 'Perhaps she could take another eleven day unscheduled vacation!'
Fox News big wig Roger Ailes came out today with a statement demanding Trump apologize to Kelly:
