Category Archives: Politics

Trump’s No Pat Buchanan

Intellectualism, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Old Right, Paleoconservatism, Political Correctness, Politics

The “New York Magazine’s” Jonathan Chaffe compared Donald Trump to Pat Buchanan. I’d take that as a compliment. Whenever readers—my editor @ WND, too—have mentioned that I remind them of Pat Buchanan, it flatters. Chaffe, however, meant to insult Trump. He also insults the intelligence. (What’s new? That’s the definition of a liberal; an insult to the intelligence.) Chaffe tweeted: “Trump isn’t Cain or Bachmann redux, he’s Pat Buchanan redux and that’s bad.”

An insult to the intelligence because, while Trump is smart and certainly smarter than most of the political class, which is to be expected; Trump is no intellectual. Buchanan is most certainly an intellectual.

Here’s the exchange between CNN’s Michael Smerconish and the great Pat Buchanan:

SMERCONISH: Donald Trump has run a campaign like nothing we have seen before, or have we? Well, he’s often been compared to flash in the pan frontrunners like Herman Cain or Michele Bachmann, maybe the real comparison should be to conservative lightning rod Pat Buchanan in 1992 and 1996. That’s what “New York Magazine’s” Jonathan Chaffe believes.

He tweeted “Trump isn’t Cain or Bachmann redux, he’s Pat Buchanan redux and that’s bad.” Perhaps the most obvious parallel to Trump is style like Buchanan’s red meat speech at the 1992 GOP convention. Listen to the way that he described that year’s democratic convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT BUCHANAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIOS DIRECTOR: We’re 20,000 liberals and radicals came dressed up as moderates and centrists in the greatest single exhibition of cross-dressing in American political history!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: That was Pat Buchanan 23 years ago. It’s funny, I remember exactly where I was when I watched that speech. And he joins me now. Hey, Patrick, thank you so much for being here. Is Trump taking a page out of your playbook?

BUCHANAN: I think he certainly is an outsider, an insurgent the way I was in 1992 and 1996, Michael. And he’s also taken up the issue of illegal immigration and unfair trade deals that robbed this country of factories and jobs and investment. And he is really riding those issues extremely well. The difference is, Donald Trump is far, far ahead of where I was.

SMERCONISH: How so?

BUCHANAN: Well, in the polls he’s running two to one ahead of the former frontrunners in the Republican party. The polls never had me that far ahead nationally. In 1992 I did well against President Bush but we never had the kind of massive enormous crowds that Donald Trump is getting or the enormous coverage he’s receiving or the poll numbers he’s got right now. Look, Donald Trump as of right now I think is pretty much the favorite for the Republican nomination in 2016.

SMERCONISH: I want to show you something that Jeb Bush said this week because the terminology that’s being used in the immigration debate become a touch point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Did you use the term anchor baby yesterday on the yesterday?

JEB BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No I didn’t. I don’t.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: You don’t regret it?

BUSH: Do you have a better term?

UNIDENTIFED MALE: I’m asking you.

BUSH: You give me a better term and I’ll use. Don’t yell at me behind my ear, though.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Sorry about that.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: The language, anchor baby is that bombastic?

BUSH: No, it isn’t. Give me another word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Patrick, what’s the proper word choice?

BUCHANAN: Well, the word choice is anchor baby. What you mean by that is people come into the country in San Diego, California places like that, something like 22 percent of the babies. The illegals come in. They have their baby born in the United States, achieves automatic citizenship and entitlement to all these benefits which eventually is going to bankrupt the country if we don’t stop it.

SMERCONISH: But it’s regarded as a slur by Hispranic for no other reason. Is it not losing electoral strategy?

BUCHANAN: Michael, political correctness is killing this country. I think there’s nothing demeaning about saying anchor baby because it anchors the family in the United States. It’s a child of an illegal alien who broke into this country and broke the law. Nothing wrong with the baby at all –

[18:05:03]

SMERCONISH: I don’t think they mean that it anchors the family.

BUCHANAN: It certainly does!

SMERCONISH: I think it means they dropped an anchor here just to have a baby. That’s the way people interpret it.

BUCHANAN: That’s not the way – look, that’s not the way I interpret it. Let me say this, Michael, what you’re doing, with due respect, is just why the people, excuse me, detest the media. He’s got a valid point. It’s a tremendous issue. People are upset by it and the media are saying, “why did you use those two words? Why didn’t you get another two words?” What is the matter with this country given the crises we are in? People are running around asking if the verbiage is politically right or not.

SMERCONISH: Pat, respectfully, we have known each a long time. This is no liberal hit job I’m doing on you. The “Wall Street Journal” on Friday, a lead editorial, born in the USA said, hey what happened to republicans? Didn’t they use to believe in exceptionalism? Yes, the 14th amendment is exceptional. Are they now ditching that?

BUCHANAN: Let me talk to that. First, “The Wall Street Journal” has been a horrible influence on the Republican Party on the issue of immigration. Secondly, you’ve got to get control of this, the borders in this country, deal with the policy and Donald Trump went out there, I think some parts of it are going to be tough to do but the part about stopping that, it isn’t in the 14th amendment.

SMERCONISH: Patrick, let me crunch numbers with you, because Mitt Romney’s pollster – Mitt Romney’s pollster has pointed out that to win 50.1 percent of the vote in this cycle, the Republican candidate, if the trends stay the same, is going to need 64 percent of the white vote. Well, the problem is that Romney and McCain got 59 percent and 55 percent respectfully.

There aren’t enough whites only to win a presidential race for the republican party if they don’t expand the tent, they will be a party of controlling the House but not the White House.

BUCHANAN: All right, look, let’s take Donald Trump. His appeal to Hispanics in America, even some African-Americans when Barack Obama is no longer on the ballot, is going to be whether he can deal with an economy which just saw a 500-point drop in the Dow on the last day of this week. These are the issues. He’s up against Bernie Sanders and there’s the possibility given Hillary’s trouble, you don’t think Donald Trump couldn’t beat Bernie Sanders?

Given Hillary’s problems, look at him now. I mean when a judge tells the FBI to start looking at her server and see if she’s telling the truth, the lady is in real trouble, she’s getting lawyered up. If she cracks and something happens to her and dies and losses her security clearance who steps in for the democratic party?

SMERCONISH: Patrick, Joe Biden, probably, right?

BUCHANAN: If he steps in and shoves Hillary aside, how do you think American women will react to Joe Biden?

SMERCONISH: Patrick, I want to play for you something that happened on my radio show on Friday. A truck driver from Texas called and here’s a piece of our conversation. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Here’s why he’ll win, people, the wages are stagnant. One of the reasons why the wages are stagnant is because of illegal immigration. Big companies are going to pay lowwe wages for people that are not even citizens and they get away with it. The immigrants years ago, when they came in to this country they built their roads, their schools, their churches, their houses. They built the subways, they built the railroads and they obeyed the laws, they assimilated they learned the English language and they paid their taxes. Today, the immigrants come over here and as me “what have you got for me?”

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: I thought that was the epitome of the Trump supporter, maybe the Buchanan supporter of all, the guy who believes that his wages are stagnant because of illegal immigration overlooking the impact of globalization and technological changes.

BUCHANAN: Look, you have 41.3 million people who have come into this country in the last I think 30 to 40 years who are immigrants now legal and illegal. Most of them are unskilled, many of them have no skills or semi-skilled or some of them skilled, don’t tell me that doesn’t depress wages of American workers.

Secondly, the trade deals that Donald Trump is hitting, what do you think about the first decade of the 21st century, 55,000 factories disappeared in the United States and six million manufacturing jobs. What we predicted has come to pass. One thing – look, I’m not saying Donald Trump is going to be the next president of the United States, but I do think there’s a possibility he can. What is driving that is the anger of the American people and what has been done to them, what they have failed to do in the capital city.

SMERCONISH: But Pat, what I’m suggesting to you that that gentleman who was nice enough to call my radio program, his anger is misplaced. It’s not the 11 million who are here illegally who are depressing his wages. It’s all of these other factors that are at work.

BUCHANAN: You’re telling me that 40 million people from countries all over the world, third world countries, haven’t had anything to do with that? Are you telling me the export of our factories through these lousy trade deals –

SMERCONISH: I’m saying Tom Freeman has it right when he says the world is flat and the dynamics have changed. Here’s a final thought, here’s what makes me uncomfortable about this conversation and some of the things that my friend, Pat Buchanan, is saying.

These are the same things that could have been said about my Slovak ancestors in the 1920s by the WASPs.

[18:10:08]

BUCHANAN: Look, your Slovak ancestors, my Irish and German, Scott- Irish ancestors, they came here and after they all got here by 1925, Michael, we had a time-out of 40 years so we could assimilate and Americanize all the kids and grandkids of those people. So that by the Kennedy and Eisenhower years, we were one united America.

What we are becoming is what Theodore Roosevelt warned us about, said it would be the end of the country if we become a (polyglot) boardinghouse for the world. I don’t want that, I don’t think Donald Trump wants that, and I hope Michael Smerconish doesn’t want that.

SMERCONISH: The next time you come here, don’t hold back. Let us know what Pat Buchanan really thinks about the issue, OK?

BUCHANAN: I’m getting older. That’s why I’m so reticent.

SMERCONISH: Thank you, Pat.

BUCHANAN: Thank you, my friend.

Buchanan in conversation with historian Tom Woods:

Donald Trump Does Presidential

Business, Elections, Iraq, Politics, Republicans

VA Worker: Do you think the VA has run out of money to help veterans?
Donald Trump: I think they have run out of competence. They have incompetent people running it.

At his New Hampshire press conference, Friday afternoon, Donald Trump was relaxed, commanding, decisive and … dare I say presidential? MSNBC even uttered the last adjective following the event.

While the other candidates, the parasites, hire “experts” to tell them what the people desire, so that they can get elected by promising them the earth; Trump is gathering the best, most productive and creative people around him to solve problems, not make people-pleasing promises. Note how pundits—mediocrities who enjoy their perches for no other reason than that they make themselves agreeable to the powers that be—are struggling to adapt to the way private enterprise thinks and works. The same incompetents who can’t make heads or tails of the Trump candidacy believe that when Trump says “our leaders are stupid”; he’s being simplistic, childish. But it really is as simple as all that—although I’d add that the traitor class is also venal.

Transcript courtesy of CNN (which still believes in the written word):

REPORTER: When are we going to see you roll out specific policy?

TRUMP: It will be very soon. Yes. I mean, I have some of the most brilliant people in the country working on tax, which I’m involved in very much because I understand the system very well, probably better than anybody that’s ever run for office, if you want to know the truth, because I am part of the system.

But we have some amazing people working on immigration. So, I would say over the next two or three weeks, probably sometime during September. OK?

REPORTER: Aren’t you worried about what Putin has done over in Ukraine —

TRUMP: So, Ukraine is a problem. But at some point, don’t you think that the countries of Europe should be a little bit more involved than they are? We are leading all these fights, and Ukraine is a big problem.

Germany is a very rich, powerful country, Germany, economically tremendous power — tremendous unbelievable unleashed economic power. Why isn’t Germany — do we have to lead every fight?

So, Ukraine is a problem. We should help them. But let Germany and other countries over there that are directly affected — let them work it. Let them work it.

We’ve got enough problems in this country. We have to rebuild our country. China and other countries have drained us. China has created the greatest theft in the history of the United States.

I mean, if you think about it, it’s the greatest theft in the history of the United States. The money they have taken out from us. It’s a one-way street. So, we have enough problems. Now, we back our folks and we back our friends and we want them

to straighten out Ukraine. And I want to see it straightened out also. But don’t you think maybe Germany and those countries directly affected should be fighting — it’s almost like they don’t even care. They don’t even care.

TRUMP: I think I get along great with them. I get along great. Who knows? But I think I’d get along great with them.

REPORTER: How are you doing?

TRUMP: How are you?

REPORTER: Rand Paul spent three days here in New Hampshire and he spent those days criticizing you.

TRUMP: Well, that’s because —

REPORTER: What did you do to tick him off?

TRUMP: Yes. No, Rand Paul — you have to understand — is a disaster in the polls. He’s a disaster on military and defense. He is getting decimated by everybody. And other than giving him a lot of money for an eye center at his request — he asked me, could I have money? I said, absolutely. Because I thought it was worthwhile. But I gave him a lot of money for an eye center, which is very hypocritical when you think of it. But other than giving him a tremendous amount of money for his eye center, which I’m happy about, frankly, because I’m sure they do good work, I hope they do good work, he is doing so badly that he figures he has to attack Trump because I’m leading by a lot everywhere.

And I don’t mind. I think he’s — he is never going to make it. Never going to make it. Can’t make it. Got the wrong message. I mean, this is not a time to be weak on defense. Okay? And I’m the opposite. I want to make our military so strong, so powerful, so great that nobody is going to mess with us. And I want to take care of our vets who are treated like third-class citizens. You know, two weeks ago on Wednesday, our vets, as you know — you probably reported on it, because you have a big problem here with vets that are not taken care of properly. Our vets had the longest wait in the history of the V.A., waiting for doctors in rooms. They wait four, five, six days. And in one case, they waited five days and the doctor said, sorry, I’m going on vacation now.

So our politicians all talk, no action. They’re all the same. Our politicians have let the vets down. Rand Paul has let the vets down. He has let the vets down. You know, I don’t blame him. He is doing so poorly in the polls so he attacks the person — you know, hey, look, I’ve been attack now by Perry of Texas. And he went peeing like a rocket ship except in the wrong direction. I was attacked by Lindsey Graham. And he had two points. Now he has zero. Now, Rand Paul has very few points. But I think he’s going down, too. I will say one further thing about Rand Paul then let’s not waste a lot of time. But Rand Paul is using the people of Kentucky.

Either run for Senate and do a good job or run for president. You don’t run for president and by the way, if I don’t make it, I will become your senator reluctantly. If I were somebody — a good, strong republican from Kentucky, I would run against him in a heartbeat. And you would win. Because the people of Kentucky are being used by Rand Paul. Now, think of it. They’re saying is, oh, if he doesn’t make it, we will take him. That’s not the way it works. The people of Kentucky should get a senator that wants to represent them, not a senator where it’s a backup plan. So, if I was in Kentucky, I would run against him. Believe me, I would win. Yes. Hi. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I understand that you care a lot about vets.

TRUMP: I do, a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I’m glad about that. I work as a veterans claims advocate, the disabled veterans.

TRUMP: Good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The problem I have helping with them is that it takes over three years to process one claim.

TRUMP: Unbelievable. You hear that, it takes over three years to process one veteran’s claim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And my question to you is, do you think the V.A. has run out of money to help them because it’s been out —

TRUMP: No. I think they have run out of competence. They have incompetent people running it. And it starts with our senators and our congressmen and our president. And I run things properly. What I run runs properly. One of the things I will do is take care of our veterans. It’s going to be very important. You know, you are a perfect example when you say three years to process a claim that should take 24 hours. Yes, ma’am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On a lighter note, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has challenged you to take the ice bucket challenge. Is that something you will do?

TRUMP: Look, he’s a clown Marty Walsh. I don’t even know who he is. This guy Marty Walsh, he spends all this time and effort and money on an Olympic bid and then he goes out and, you know, he is talking about ice bucket challenges. Get a real mayor. You know, he came out and he was strongly against — when we had the original problem with, as you know, when I was totally misquoted. Now everybody has apologized to me. Illegal immigration, I don’t like Trump’s statements. Now, everybody apologized because I turned out to be right. And you have had massive crime. You had beautiful Kate in San Francisco and so many others, even three days ago a 63-year-old woman — in fact 66-year-old woman was raped, sodomized and tortured by an illegal immigrant. And they caught him. And it’s just disgraceful what’s going on.

So I brought up — and I’m so proud of it. I brought up and I took a lot of heat that first week, week and a half. A lot of heat. They called it incoming from you people, incoming. Now so many people have apologized to me. And it has become a main stay of everybody’s campaign. The problem is they don’t know what to do about it. I do. I know how to solve the problem. And it starts with building a wall. Believe me. Okay. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor Baker has said that some of your recent comments were reprehensible about women —

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I don’t think he said that. No, I don’t think he said that. Let me tell you something. Jeb Bush said that on women’s health issues that he won’t fund them. He apologized. Are you okay? Jeb Bush said that on women’s health issues, he won’t fund them. Whose phone is that? You ready? Third time. Ready? Jeb Bush said that on women’s health issues, he won’t fund them. Then he said, I misspoke. I’m so sorry. I cherish women. Women will be taken care of better with a President Trump than anybody else republican or democrat. Anybody else. And you know you can look at my company. I have many women executives. They make in many cases more money, because the second question, how many do you have, many.

And I am going to be introducing them over a period of time, too. They are unbelievable executives. And they are paid almost — I think they are paid more. We’re looking into it. We’re studying it right now. But they get paid more. They are phenomenal. They are incredibly talented. And even years ago, in charge of major construction projects. I’ve had women in charge, which years ago was unheard of. So I’ve been way out in front. And Governor Baker should only dream about doing for women what I’ve done and what I will do. But on the women’s health issue, I will — there will be nobody better than Donald Trump.

It might be more. You know what it means? Whatever it takes. That’s what it means. Whatever it takes. Yes, ma’am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bernie Sanders has gained a lot of traction over Hillary Clinton —

TRUMP: Bernie Sanders has gained a lot of traction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: — in New Hampshire. What do you think the voters are looking for (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: Well, they’re looking for real change. You know, Obama said they’re looking for a change. And look what we got. We got change. But they’re looking for something different than what they have. And you know, Bernie Sanders is not going to end up being the standard. But certainly he and I are getting by far the biggest crowds. I mean, look at the crowd tonight. Other people have 51 people, 54 people. We have 2,500 people and 1,000 people or more than that are standing outside listening to microphones. And loudspeakers. So we have had, you know, we’ve had tremendous growth. I had 15,000 in Phoenix. We’ve had, you know, every crowd is a record crowd. Every crowd is totally sold out. And he has done the same thing on the other side with a very different philosophy, to put it mildly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Trump, Rand Paul has come out with this ad that sort of strings together comments about —

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: — healthcare and single payer healthcare and supporting Hillary Clinton. How concerned — you said your positions have evolved. But how concerned are you that people are going to —

TRUMP: I don’t think so. Look, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I’ve been a world class businessman. All over the world I build. I have some of the great assets of the world. And I don’t say that in a braggadocios way. That’s the thinking that our country needs to take our jobs back from China and Japan and Mexico and clean up the border, by the way, speaking of Mexico. But that’s the kind of thinking we need to take back our jobs, bring back our money, bring back our manufacturing. You take a look at China, what they have done. They have taken our money, our jobs, our base, our manufacturing. And we owe them $1.4 trillion. That’s like a magic act. They have taken everything and we owe them money.

You know, we owe right now China $1.4 trillion. It’s like a magic act. They get everything and we owe them money. Not the other way around. Because we’re led by people that don’t have a clue. Honestly, I think we’re led by stupid people. I don’t think they’re bad people. You know, it used to be they said it’s so bad it has to be that they’re bad people. I actually don’t think — I think they’re very stupid people. Our leaders don’t have a clue. They’re incompetent. And China is a great example. I met with Carl Icahn, one of the great business people. And I had dinner with him two nights ago. And I said, Carl, if O do this, I’m going to put you in charge of China and I’m going to add in Japan. And you know what? Everything is going to be just fine for us.

Going to be just fine. We have people negotiating for us that — they have no idea what they’re doing. They’re not even business people. And remember this, Bush and Hillary and all this — they have a lot of money. They raised a lot of money from my friends. I used to be one of them. I contribute to everybody. And they’re always there for me. But that’s not good for the country. That’s not good as a system. But Jeb has raised $114 million, approximately. Everybody that puts money up for Jeb Bush, it’s like he is a puppet. He is totally controlled by these people.

Jeb Bush is controlled by the people that put up the money. And so are the other candidates. I don’t want money from people. Other than small donations, because I have so many people — one woman sent $7 and other one sent one. I love that where they invest in my campaign. They invest. I don’t want that for the money. I want that because psychologically I think it’s great. But Jeb Bush has $114 million. What’s he going do with it? He’s start hitting me with ads, I guess, you know, at some point he has to. Because he’s going down the tubes. The guy is going down the tubes. There’s no energy. So, when Jeb and Hillary and all of these other candidates start spending money, remember this, that money was given by people that have total control over them. And those people, many of whom I know very well, they don’t care about him, they don’t care about the color of his hair, they don’t care anything about him. And they don’t care about the country in many cases. They only want whatever they want. And they will get plenty. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many of people who have contributed, we don’t know who they are. Would you call on Jeb Bush to have his PAC released the names of the donors?

TRUMP: They should release the names of the donors. I think we should be much more open, talking about campaign finance. I think we should be much more open. If somebody contributes a lot of money, we should know who those people are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Citizens United, did you think that was a bad decision or did you agree with it?

TRUMP: Well, it’s not a great decision for me. And they are friends of mine. David Bossie, they’re friend of mine. Because I’m putting up my own money. So, here you have other people putting up money into other campaigns where they will have total control. A hundred percent Katie, they will have control of those people that are running for office. One of the reasons I’ve done so well in the polls is because everyone knows I’m not going to be controlled. I’m going to do what’s right for the country. No lobbyists. I know them all. I’ve hired many of them over the years. They’re very good. But when they give a million dollars or $5 million to Jeb Bush, they have total control over him. He will do like a puppet whatever they say. With me, there’s none of that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, would you push for legislation to change that?

TRUMP: I love the idea of campaign finance reform. And one of the things you should do is everybody should be known. If somebody gives a million or two million or five million it should be known. And I will tell you this nonsense with PACs where they have millions of dollars raised, a hundred million dollars raised and they don’t coordinate with the other people. I mean, Bush puts his best friend in there. They don’t talk. You are not allowed to talk. Do you really believe that that doesn’t happen? Okay. They’re not allowed to talk. Okay? They play golf on Saturday, but they don’t talk about the $100 million and where they’re going to invest. Come on. We’re not babies. It’s a shame. It’s a disgrace. And what I would like to see is if you put money up, you can put money into either or both. Do whatever you want. But there has to be transparency. You have to know where the money is coming from. And that would help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about limits —

TRUMP: Limits, okay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about Al Gore running, have you heard about that?

TRUMP: I would love to have — I think the concept of a woman running with me would be fabulous. Too soon to say. It’s too soon to say.

Well, I think that they will be probably involved at some point, because there’s a lot of pressure on Hillary right now. It has been brutal. It has been brutal for Hillary. And I think at some point she’s perhaps not going to be able to run. She’s going to have to end her campaign. That seems to be the thinking by so many. And I was saying that two months ago. And everyone thought, well, you, you know, you are not right. But it looks to me like what they have done — this is top secret stuff. Look, General Petraeus, his life was destroyed with a tiny fraction of what she’s done. So, it’s very unfair to him if they’re going to destroy him over doing by comparison nothing, I don’t see how she can run. I think she has got much bigger problems than running for office. Yes, ma’am?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last question.

TRUMP: Okay, last question. We will do two more questions. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: — Giving donations is bad for the country. Does that mean when you were giving donations to politicians, you were doing something bad for the country?

TRUMP: No, I don’t think donations when people don’t know who is donating are good. I think the concept of donations should be people should know who they are and who is contributing. I would rather see that. Don’t forget, while I’m friends with Citizens United and I like David Bossie who is the head of it all. I love him. I think he’s a great guy. But to me that doesn’t help me. Because I’m spending my own money. Okay? So, on a personal basis, I don’t love it. I think there should be better transparency. And I think when the money comes in, you should be able to use the money and do what you want. Because that’s what they do anyway. Everybody does it, unfortunately, not us because I’m not doing it. But these candidates are doing it illegally. Because they’re telling the people that are running the PACs exactly what to do. And if anybody thinks they’re not, they’re children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are headed to the Iowa State Fair next week —

TRUMP: I will be doing jury duty — can you believe? I’ll be doing jury duty on Monday morning. I knew you would ask me that question, Katie. I will be doing jury duty on Monday morning in New York City. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Criminal court or district court?

TRUMP: I don’t know. It’s one of the courts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you looking forward to it?

TRUMP: Yes. I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s fine. It’s going to be rolled out soon. Thank you very much. I will see you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you still going to give free helicopter rides?

TRUMP: I don’t know. Are we giving helicopter rides? I think so. To the kids.

The Stuff That The GOP ‘Stars’ Are Made Of

Democrats, Iran, Israel, Politics, Republicans

“GOP Stars Go Gaga Over Democrat” is the very apt title of a WND news headline dealing with Sen. Chuck Schumer’s poke at Barack Obama’s Iran deal. The GOP can’t wait to find a bipartisan way into the arms of a hip and powerful Democrat like Chuck Schumer, who showed what he’s never concealed: he’s a hawk for Israel; a dove when it comes to the US. And and an all-round hypocrite. But Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee beams and creams himself.

Watch the other Republicans—except The Donald—do the same. All the Republicans who turned out the other night for a performance of a lifetime, at Quicken Loans Arena, can’t wait to get on the DC party circuit.

“Thank God for Sen. Schumer and his opposition to this reckless nuclear deal with Iran,” Huckabee said in a statement. “While I disagree with Sen. Schumer on most things, I applaud him for putting peace in the Middle East above partisan politics. Despite endless arm-twisting and enormous political pressure from the White House, Sen. Schumer chose statesmanship over partisanship.”

The former Arkansas governor said he hopes the decision will inspire other high-ranking Democrats to follow.

What’s next? Find out in “Showdown with Nuclear Iran.”

In recent weeks, two powerful Jewish Democrats in the House, Reps. Steve Israel and Nita M. Lowey, also from New York, announced their opposition to the nuclear agreement.

“Sen. Schumer’s opposition to the agreement sends a signal to every pro-Israel Democrat in Washington that they don’t have to ‘walk the plank’ for President Obama – they can stand for peace and reject this bad deal. And I pray that they will,” said Huckabee.

Schumer, the likely future Democratic leader of the Senate, announced his decision to oppose the deal on Thursday.

“Advocates on both sides have strong cases for their points of view that cannot simply be dismissed,” Schumer said Thursday night.

“This has made evaluating the agreement a difficult and deliberate endeavor, and after deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval,” he said.

MORE.

UPDATE II: Cleveland Debate Stars: The Moderators And Question-Writers (Sisters For Donald)

Elections, Journalism, Media, Politics, Republicans

Joy! Text is back. TIME has the full transcript of the first primetime Republican debate, in Cleveland, Ohio.

My general impressions after last night:

Compared to previous debates overrun by Democrat journos, the quality of the journalism, courtesy of Fox News, was outstanding. I’d venture that the true stars of the debate were the ruthless, impartial, analytical Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. Perhaps the indubitably lousy, future Democratic-debate moderators of CNN will rise to the standard set by the Fox News three? Perhaps the left’s Idiocracy will omit, from future debates, bogus questions about bogus constructs that rape reality (such as structural racism)???!!!

The opening question was a brilliant example of strategic showmanship:

Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person.
Again, we’re looking for you to raise your hand now — raise your hand now if you won’t make that pledge tonight.

And Trump was magnificent in his response. Honest, too. From there on, it was downhill for Mr. Trump. He delivered the same slogans. He failed to flesh out positions and show understanding. The man is quick and engaging; but he came unprepared.

Rand Paul fell flat in his refusal to tackle the probe about his aversion to neocons. He’s a mean little man, too, although I loved his retort to Gov. Chris Christie on the latter’s eagerness to flout the Fourth Amendment and the governor’s bear hugs for Barack during the Romney campaign. Rand’s emphasis on negotiations in diplomacy was good, too.

Marco Rubio is a slick, smart, personable neocon. But if you want truly nice, then Dr. Ben Carson is lovely. A good man. Naturally, I disagree with him on almost every matter of policy. I just love the self-made, talented, clean-living, non-politician. Dr. Carson is also a beautiful-looking man.

Item: The audience was most certainly not comprised of The Republican Base. It was more establishmentarian.

Item: That buzzer noise must go. Use the opening bars to Beethoven’s Fifth, or something like it, instead.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: Don’t ask me why, but I tune them out. It’s an automatic response. They are not that intelligent. My mind drifts when they talk. Ditto Jeb Bush. I did love his, “They called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget.”

Ted Cruz’s performance disappointed greatly—and not because he is not quick on his feet. Cruz is most certainly brilliant. His liberal professor, Alan Dershowitz, said as much. But he angered me when he did not turn the matter of providing jobs for ISIS into a principled point illustrating the role of limited, American government, which is not to lift the world out of poverty:

When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy ISIS, he said there is no military solution. We need to change the conditions on the ground so that young men are not in poverty and susceptible to radicalization. That, with all due respect, is nonsense.
It’s the same answer the State Department gave that we need to give them jobs. What we need is a commander in chief that makes — clear, if you join ISIS, if you wage jihad on America, then you are signing your death warrant.

The bankruptcy questions to Trump were excellent; his replies were good, too. He’s the consummate businessman. We knew that.

One expects Huckaubee, who made thoughtful points on Social Security, to deliver a good turn pf phrase:

Ronald Reagan said “trust, but verify.” President Obama is “trust, but vilify.” He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him.

As for a Bush talking about the value of life. That would be funny, if it were not so sad. Allow me to quote from “It’s About Federalism, Stupid! (2006)”: “Would that Republicans fussed as much over the many fully formed human-beings dying daily in Iraq [and wherever else they choose to war], as they do over fetuses.”

The best closing lines in the evening Act were these:

HUCKABEE: “It seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who’s very high in the polls, that doesn’t have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I’m talking about Hillary Clinton.”

CARSON: Well, I haven’t said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I’m the only one to separate siamese twins … The the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother’s womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it.

THE END.

UPDATE I: COME AGAIN, T. CRUZ.

CRUZ: President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There’s 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking.
A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer’s gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate.

Did Cruz really mean to imply that if Hillary ascends to the throne, and a good portion of 7 billion people are granted permission to come to the US legally, that would be OK? That’s the inference from what he said. Crazy.

UPDATE II (8/10): All your fav Republican females with short skirts are feminists. What did you expect from Megyn Kelly? A good wake up for her fans. Still, it’s better that Kelly ask crappy fem-oriented questions of The Donald than the Dem moderators. It neutralizes the latter.

Here are the two fabulous Sisters for Donald Trump. Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson unleash on Megyn Kelly or “Kelly Megyn, whatever you’re name is”: “Go back to reporting news for Sesame Street,” they recommend.