Conservative Blogger
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Conservative chasm: Some pundits vow to fight Trump till the bitter end
From the insular political system to the naysaying media culture, Donald Trump essentially clinching the Republican nomination is a stunning development, especially the swiftness with which his two remaining rivals gave up.
But for the anti-Trump folks, it is sheer torture.
In the wake of an Indiana victory that drove Ted Cruz and John Kasich from the race, they are left with a series of unpalatable choices that will have an impact on fall campaign—and on the GOP’s future.
Some are already declaring themselves to be in the #NeverNeverEverTrump camp. They will oppose the billionaire up to and until he raises his hand over the Bible next January.
In doing so, of course, they will tilt the election toward Hillary Clinton. But the diehards are willing to accept another four years out of power as a reasonable price to pay for blocking Trump.
Trump, for his part, says he doesn’t want or need the support of everyone in the party. The truth is—and this is hard for his detractors to accept—he is remaking the party in his own image. Trump is not a doctrinaire conservative, and for the moment, he is the face of the GOP.
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“Donald Trump’s damage to the Republican Party, although already extensive, has barely begun. Republican quislings will multiply, slinking into support of the most anti-conservative presidential aspirant in their party’s history. These collaborationists will render themselves ineligible to participate in the party’s reconstruction.”
Trump fired back on “Morning Joe”: “Well, George is a major loser. You know, he’s a dour guy. Nobody watches him. Very few people listen to him. It’s over for him, and I never want his support.”
Steve Hayes, the Weekly Standard writer and Fox News contributor, quickly posted a piece titled “No Trump”:
“Trump's claim to be a unifier is not just specious, it's absurd. This casual dishonesty is a feature of his campaign. And it's one of many reasons so many Republicans and conservatives oppose Trump and will never support his candidacy. I'm one of them.”
Another Fox contributor, Townhall’s Guy Benson, tweeted: “Much to my deep chagrin (& astonishment ~8 months ago), for the 1st time in my life, I will not support the GOP nominee for president.”
Influential blogger Erick Erickson tweeted: “Reporters writing about the ‘Stop Trump’ effort get it wrong. It's ‘Never Trump’ as in come hell or high water we will never vote for Trump.”
The Daily Caller’s Jamie Weinstein: “There is just no question: I’d take a Tums and cast my ballot for Hillary — and I suspect so would many other life-long conservatives, whether they are willing to admit it now or not.”
There is a camp within this camp, led by the Standard’s Bill Kristol, that is actively encouraging a conservative third-party run. This would undoubtedly hand Hillary the keys to the White House. There is a fantasy that somehow it would throw the election into the House. But the Wall Street Journal editorial page, hardly a fan of Trump, calls this a truly bad idea.
An even smaller subset is finding Clinton, who is more hawkish than Trump, a better alternative. These include Mark Salter, once John McCain’s top strategist.
But there are other conservatives who are softening on Trump, saying that perhaps he wouldn’t be that bad. Some are acting out of party loyalty. Some want to clamber onto the winner's bandwagon (even after saying incredibly harsh things about him, according to Trump). Some think Clinton would be far worse. And some may be looking for jobs or contracts. I suspect this group will grow in size.
Here’s the bottom line for those on the right who still oppose Trump: How do they explain that he won one state after another, in some cases every county, before sweeping to seven straight victories? How do they explain that he beat 16 other senators and governors and assorted luminaries? How do they explain that his vision of conservatism proved more popular than theirs with Republican voters?
Maybe Trump’s critics are right that he will lead the party to a major defeat. The question now is how many will work toward that outcome.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.
Kasich suspends his GOP presidential campaign
Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday suspended his Republican presidential campaign, ending his underdog bid and hinting at a life perhaps beyond elected office.
“As I suspend my campaign today, I have renewed faith, deeper faith that the lord will show me the way forward and fulfill the purpose of my life,” Kasich said in Columbus, Ohio.
In a subdued, roughly 15-minute speech, Kasich first thanked his wife Karen, then other family members, staffers, volunteers, Ohio residents and those who contributed to his campaign.
“Nobody has ever done more with less in the history of politics,” Kasich said about his team. “We just got up every day and did the best we could.”
An underdog from the start, Kasich held on to become the last candidate standing against front-runner Donald Trump, despite his inability to win any contests beyond Ohio.
His decision to end his campaign comes a day after his other remaining rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, announced that he was suspending his own campaign.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
Touting his two terms as governor and 18 years in Congress, Kasich failed to gain traction with GOP voters in a race dominated by Trump's ability to seize on the electorate's anger and disdain of political insiders.
Kasich tried to pitch himself as the best Republican to take on Hillary Clinton and tried to take the GOP primary race to a contested convention.
Kasich, 63, now plans to return to Ohio, where his second term as governor ends in 2018.
He made no mention in the speech of Trump or any of the other 2016 presidential candidates, instead focusing on the inspiration he drew from Americans while on the campaign trail and on economic policy.
“The people of this country changed me,” Kasich said. “They changed me with the stories of their live.”
Kasich called economic growth “imperative” to the success of the country because, he said, “It gives people the opportunity to realize their hopes and dreams in life. … Some missed this message, it wasn’t sexy.”
As the race grew increasingly nasty on both sides, Kasich largely maintained his vow not to run a negative campaign, saying to voters that he would not "take the low road to the highest office in the land."
The governor originally had planned to speak with reporters Wednesday morning at Dulles airport in northern Virginia.
However, Kasich failed to show up and his campaign later confirmed that he was not coming.
Kasich placed last in the GOP Indiana primary Tuesday night, though his campaign initially said it would keep going.
A Republican candidate needs 1,237 pledged delegates to secure the nomination.
Trump has not yet reached that number.
Former presidents Bush plan to sit out 2016 general election
The last two Republicans to hold the White House do not plan to endorse the party's presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump, this year.
Spokesmen for George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush told The Texas Tribune Wednesday that the 41st and 43rd presidents will stay on the sideline this time.
George W. Bush's personal aide, Freddy Ford, said that his boss "does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign."
"At age 91, President Bush is retired from politics," Bush 41 spokesman Jim McGrath wrote in an email to the website. "He came out of retirement to do a few things for Jeb, but those were the exceptions that proved the rule."
According to the Tribune, the elder Bush has endorsed every GOP presidential nominee since losing his 1992 re-election bid to Bill Clinton. George W. Bush also campaigned on behalf of Sen. John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012.
Both Bushes campaigned heavily for Jeb Bush earlier this year, but he dropped out after disappointing results in the first three presidential contests. Neither former president made an endorsement during the rest of the primary season, though George W. Bush was recorded last year telling donors "I just don't like" Sen. Ted Cruz.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
"Strength is not empty rhetoric," Bush also said at the time. "It is not bluster. It is not theatrics. Real strength, strength of purpose, comes from integrity and character. And, in my experience, the strongest person usually isn't the loudest one in the room."
Trump also attacked George W. Bush during the run-up to the South Carolina primary, blaming the former president for failing to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The real estate mogul also said Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq in 2003 was "a big, fat mistake" and claimed his administration "lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none."
US Judge: Clinton may be ordered to testify in records case
A federal judge said Wednesday he may order Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton to testify under oath about whether she used a private email server as secretary of state to evade public records disclosures.
U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan signed an order granting a request from the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch to question six current and former State Department staffers about the creation and purpose of the private email system. Those on the list were some of Clinton's closest aides during her tenure as the nation's top diplomat, including former chief of staff Cheryl D. Mills, deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin and undersecretary Patrick F. Kennedy.
Also set to testify is Bryan Pagliano, the agency employee who was tasked with setting up the clintonemail.com server located in the basement of the New York home Clinton shares with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Pagliano has previously refused to testify before Congress, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Based on what might be gleaned in those interviews, which are to be conducted over the next eight weeks, Sullivan says in his order a sworn deposition from Hillary Clinton "may be necessary."
That raises the possibility that Clinton could be ordered to testify in the midst of the presidential race. A campaign spokesman did not respond Wednesday to messages about whether Clinton would oppose any order to testify.
At issue is whether the State Department conducted an adequate search of public records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Judicial Watch in 2013 seeking records related to Abedin's outside work as a paid consultant for the Clintons' charitable foundation and a financial advisory firm with ties to the former first couple.
The department's initial search did not include the thousands of emails Clinton exchanged with her aides, including Abedin, using private email addresses. The department said it didn't have access to those emails at the time.
Questions asked during the depositions are to be
limited to the circumstances surrounding the 2009 creation of Clinton's
private email system, including why she chose not to use a government
account.
"In sum, the circumstances surrounding approval of Mrs. Clinton's use of clintonemail.com for official government business, as well as the manner in which it was operated, are issues that need to be explored" to evaluate the adequacy of the department's records search.
There have been at least three dozen civil lawsuits filed, including one by The Associated Press, over public records requests related to Clinton's time as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
The FBI also is investigating whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton's email server was mishandled. The inspectors general at the State Department and for U.S. intelligence agencies are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken.
Critics of Clinton's decision to rely on the private server have suggested that it potentially made her communications more vulnerable to being stolen by hackers, including those working for foreign intelligence agencies.
Clinton has acknowledged in the campaign that her home-based email setup was a mistake, but insists she never sent or received any documents that were marked classified at the time.
In response to public records requests, the State Department has released more than 52,000 pages of her work-related emails, a small percentage of which have been withheld because they contain information considered sensitive to national security. Thousands of additional emails have been withheld by Clinton, whose lawyers say they contain personal messages unrelated to her government service.
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