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Donald Trump Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 24, 2015 42 Comments
All the way back on July 13, 2015, when Donald Trump's initial rise in the polls caused early onset apoplexia among Republicans, I wrote a column at National Review, Trump’s Lesson: Voters Are Furious about Illegal Immigration:
One section in Trump’s Phoenix speech jumped out at me as capturing especially well what is happening on the ground:
When I started . . . I didn’t think the immigration thing would take on a life like it has. I made some very tough statements about people flowing through, because that’s one of the things, to make our country great again, we have to create borders, otherwise we don’t have a country [italics added].
Any Republican who doesn’t understand what Trump was getting at is hopelessly out of touch with the most motivated portion of the electorate, Republican and otherwise.... The sense that we are losing control of our own country, by the design of politicians, is creating a fury — and an opening for a politician willing to recognize that the problem poses an existential threat to our own freedoms....
That's it. It's the sovereignty. Out of the general illegal immigration theme, Trump is focusing increasingly on the sub-theme of sovereignty:

Posted by New Neo on August 24, 2015 16 Comments
Those who were around during the Vietnam War protest days remember all those marches on Washington. I attended one, and it was absolutely huge and very impressive. And who can forget the photos of Martin Luther King standing in front of the Washington monument on the Mall? It's not clear how effective or important those marches were, even though they were actually dealing with administrations that appeared to care what the public thought, unlike the present administration. But visuals are powerful and they can affect some lawmakers and some of the public that hasn't made up its mind yet. They also help to rally energy on the part of those who are already aligned with the viewpoint of the demonstrators. And yes, the MSM would spin such demonstrations as it did the Tea Party demonstrations. But the MSM is not the only source of attention these days, and propaganda needs to be countered with better propaganda as well as facts. Facts all by themselves don't quite cut it, unfortunately.

Posted by Amy Miller on August 24, 2015 22 Comments
This month, we've seen Donald Trump levy a successful assault against Jeb Bush's presidential campaign. Trump forced Bush into a messaging pivot on immigration, revealed some ruffled feathers in the Bush camp, and successfully dangled reports that several of Bush's donors have approached a Kasich-friendly PAC in Ohio. When it comes to optics, Trump's winning. Trump's latest social media offering, however, may just fall flat on its face. Team Trump put together a short Instagram video featuring family matriarch Barbara Bush uttering the words no Bush in politics ever wants to hear: no more Bushes. Watch:

Even Barbara Bush agrees with me.

A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on

Posted by Amy Miller on August 20, 2015 26 Comments
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the Republican primary candidate causing the most excitement---at least when it comes to media coverage and outspoken grassroots support---is Donald Trump. Love him or hate him, Trump has found his niche in the voter base, and he's playing out his position by going consistently on the offensive against candidates who would prefer to turn focus on their budding policy initiatives for health care or education. While campaigning in New Hampshire this week, Trump took full aim at fellow contender Jeb Bush, who constitutes the prime example of a candidate we'd expect to pivot away from rhetorical attacks. Trump played off of this significant difference in tactics and personality, and the results were devastating.

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."
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