Conservative Blogger
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Anti-Trump Republicans urge Kasich to run as part of last-ditch bid
The stop-Trump movement isn't dead yet -- and Ohio Gov. John Kasich could be their last hope.
Republicans opposed to Donald Trump’s 2016 bid reportedly are making a fresh pitch for Kasich to step up as an alternative candidate ahead of the party’s convention in Cleveland. Former New Hampshire Sen. Gordon Humphrey asked Kasich allies Sunday to contact the former presidential candidate and urge him to offer himself as an alternative at the convention, according to Cleveland.com.
"Given our shared effort in the Kasich campaign, I am sure you agree," Humphrey reportedly wrote. "But, John needs encouragement to make the move. Please email John and offer him your encouragement and continued backing. ... It's not going to get better than this, but time is of the essence."
Humphrey’s email highlights a key difficulty the anti-Trump Republican have faced – they don’t have an alternative candidate waiting in the wings as a rallying point for those opposed to the billionaire’s nomination.
Prominent anti-Trump commentator William Kristol made a similar call on Sunday, calling for either Kasich or 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney to step in at the last minute.
Kristol previously had tried to convince a number of possible candidates to step up to the plate against Trump, to no avail. He eventually eyed National Review writer David French – who opted not to run.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
“I’m not shutting my political operation down,” the governor of the host state said. “I’m not closing any doors. But my focus right now is going to be on the House, the Senate, and the down-ticket here in my state.”
The anti-Trump movement also faces a hurdle in party rules binding delegates to the candidate they were assigned by their state contests. To have a chance at the convention, supporters have to convince the GOP Rules Committee to change those rules in order to allow delegates to vote their conscience.
The committee is set to meet Wednesday and Thursday.
Politico reports that anti-Trump delegates led by Colorado’s Kendal Unruh are trying to scrape together support for a so-called "conscience clause" at the convention.
Unruh told Fox News Tuesday that the rules committee delegations from five states, as well as two individuals, are preparing to announce their support for a rule change, and that she has the support of more than a dozen others.
Anti-Trump delegates were given a small boost Monday when a Virginia judge ruled that the state can’t force its delegates to vote in a winner-take-all fashion, as stated in an obscure portion of Virginia election law. But the law in question was so obscure that Republicans had already decided to allocate delegates in a proportional fashion, based on the results of the state's March 1 primary, which Trump won. The ruling leaves that unchanged.
Still, Virginia delegate Carroll Correll Jr., who filed the lawsuit last month, counted the ruling as a symbolic victory.
"Requiring delegates to vote for any candidate is unconstitutional and today's announcement is a blow to Trump's efforts," said Correll.
Trump demands Ginsburg resign after her comments on his campaign
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ripped Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a Twitter message late Tuesday.
"Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me," Trump wrote on his Twitter account. “Her mind is shot — resign."
Trump has been on the defensive after Ginsburg told the Associated Press last week that she felt he was unqualified for the position. She said in an interview that she didn't want to think about the possibility that Trump would be president and predicted that Democrat Hillary Clinton would win.
Ginsburg also joked that she would move to New Zealand if Trump were elected.
Trump told the New York Times earlier Tuesday that her comments were “highly inappropriate” and a “disgrace to the court.”
“It’s highly inappropriate that a United States Supreme Court judge gets involved in a political campaign, frankly … I think she should apologize to the court. I would hope that she would get off the court as soon as possible,” he added.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
McConnell said that members of the Supreme Court shouldn't weigh in on American elections.
"It raises a level of skepticism that the American people have from time to time about just how objective the Supreme Court is, whether they're over there to call the balls and strikes, or weigh in on one side or another," he said.
Cleveland catastrophe? Media forecast a disastrous Trump convention
The media appear to be declaring the Republican convention to be a failure even before it gets under way.
The overwhelming narrative, now hardening into concrete, is that so many important GOP honchos are blowing it off, and the party is so seriously shattered over Donald Trump, that the Cleveland gathering is destined to be a flop.
I guess I’m old-fashioned and would like to see what happens while I’m actually in Cleveland.
Now there’s no question that most conventions are coronations and this will be far different. And there’s no dispute that there are danger signs that must be covered by the press.
Trump still hasn’t released a list of convention speakers, for instance, and it’s surreal that the former Republican presidents, most of the previous nominees and a number of his campaign rivals are skipping the proceedings.
But let’s not forget: Trump ran against the party establishment. He’s the billionaire outsider, the political newcomer who did what none of the insiders thought was remotely possible. He frequently attacked the party poohbahs and has broken with GOP orthodoxy on several major issues.
Of course he’s not going to be embraced in some kind of lovefest.
But media narratives have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophecy. A Politico piece yesterday was headlined “GOP Operatives Dread Trump Convention”:
“Many GOP regulars are skipping Cleveland entirely. (‘I would rather attend the public hanging of a good friend,’ says Will Ritter, an up-and-coming Republican digital strategist who worked on the three previous conventions.) And among those who are making the trek, there’s an overwhelming sense it won’t be fun at all. At a time when many Republicans are deeply dissatisfied with their nominee, pessimistic about their prospects for victory in the fall and alarmed about the direction of their party, there’s a reluctance about attending the convention more typically reserved for going to the DMV, being summoned for jury duty or undergoing a root canal.”
The RNC is worse than the DMV???
“For most, the convention’s lack of appeal boils down to one thing: Trump. The New York businessman has shunned the establishment class, reaching out to few of the operatives who worked for his primary rivals and making little effort to bring them on to his team. As a result, many of the Republican ad makers, pollsters, and fundraisers who populate Washington have little desire to witness his expected nomination.”
My reaction: Who cares what the insiders think?
Yes, it would have been nice for Trump to unify the party and have everyone singing kumbaya. But that was never going to happen. Instead, he’s got Jeb Bush trashing his campaign in an hourlong special on MSNBC.
Given the wall-to-wall cable coverage of conventions, the chorus of punditry will be important. But ordinary folks watch these things very differently than journalists.
If Trump gives a great speech, and if his running mate gives a good speech, that’s half the battle.
If the lineup is entertaining, that’s a big help, too.
The couch-watchers aren’t going to sit around and say, gee, why isn’t Marco Rubio there, or I really wish John Kasich was the keynote speaker.
And here’s the wild card: The audience will probably watch in pretty large numbers. For one thing, there will be more dissent and drama in Cleveland than at most conventions (and less in Philly after Hillary and Bernie hugged it out yesterday).
But also, the star of the show is Trump, the same guy who boosts the ratings of the programs he appears on, the same guy who helped Fox draw 24 million viewers in the first presidential debate.
The convention may or may not go well, but the country may reach a different verdict than the many pundits who have soured on it in advance.
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.
The overwhelming narrative, now hardening into concrete, is that so many important GOP honchos are blowing it off, and the party is so seriously shattered over Donald Trump, that the Cleveland gathering is destined to be a flop.
I guess I’m old-fashioned and would like to see what happens while I’m actually in Cleveland.
Now there’s no question that most conventions are coronations and this will be far different. And there’s no dispute that there are danger signs that must be covered by the press.
Trump still hasn’t released a list of convention speakers, for instance, and it’s surreal that the former Republican presidents, most of the previous nominees and a number of his campaign rivals are skipping the proceedings.
But let’s not forget: Trump ran against the party establishment. He’s the billionaire outsider, the political newcomer who did what none of the insiders thought was remotely possible. He frequently attacked the party poohbahs and has broken with GOP orthodoxy on several major issues.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
But media narratives have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophecy. A Politico piece yesterday was headlined “GOP Operatives Dread Trump Convention”:
“Many GOP regulars are skipping Cleveland entirely. (‘I would rather attend the public hanging of a good friend,’ says Will Ritter, an up-and-coming Republican digital strategist who worked on the three previous conventions.) And among those who are making the trek, there’s an overwhelming sense it won’t be fun at all. At a time when many Republicans are deeply dissatisfied with their nominee, pessimistic about their prospects for victory in the fall and alarmed about the direction of their party, there’s a reluctance about attending the convention more typically reserved for going to the DMV, being summoned for jury duty or undergoing a root canal.”
The RNC is worse than the DMV???
“For most, the convention’s lack of appeal boils down to one thing: Trump. The New York businessman has shunned the establishment class, reaching out to few of the operatives who worked for his primary rivals and making little effort to bring them on to his team. As a result, many of the Republican ad makers, pollsters, and fundraisers who populate Washington have little desire to witness his expected nomination.”
My reaction: Who cares what the insiders think?
Yes, it would have been nice for Trump to unify the party and have everyone singing kumbaya. But that was never going to happen. Instead, he’s got Jeb Bush trashing his campaign in an hourlong special on MSNBC.
Given the wall-to-wall cable coverage of conventions, the chorus of punditry will be important. But ordinary folks watch these things very differently than journalists.
If Trump gives a great speech, and if his running mate gives a good speech, that’s half the battle.
If the lineup is entertaining, that’s a big help, too.
The couch-watchers aren’t going to sit around and say, gee, why isn’t Marco Rubio there, or I really wish John Kasich was the keynote speaker.
And here’s the wild card: The audience will probably watch in pretty large numbers. For one thing, there will be more dissent and drama in Cleveland than at most conventions (and less in Philly after Hillary and Bernie hugged it out yesterday).
But also, the star of the show is Trump, the same guy who boosts the ratings of the programs he appears on, the same guy who helped Fox draw 24 million viewers in the first presidential debate.
The convention may or may not go well, but the country may reach a different verdict than the many pundits who have soured on it in advance.
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.
GOP draft platform will include Trump's proposed border wal
The Republican platform committee included language calling for a border wall along the U.S. and Mexican border in the draft party platform, getting behind one of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump's keystone proposals.
The group wrapped up drafting the plan Tuesday in Cleveland in advance of the convention there next week, when the platform will officially be voted on by the full convention's 2,472 delegates.
The proposae platform will express support for a “border wall” that must cover “the entirety of the Southern Border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.”
The measure was proposed by Trump supporter Kris Kobach, the secretary of state from Kansas.
"This is why we support building a wall along our southern border and protecting all ports of entry," Kobach told Fox News. "The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic."
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, appearing on "On The Record with Greta Van Susteren," said that including the border wall in the party's proposed platform was a "hat tip" to Trump.
“Whether it's a fence or a wall, I mean, for years and years the platform has included the border fence, which congress passed in 2006 but never actually funded," he said. "The idea of a border fence has been in our platform for many, many years and just changing the word from fence to wall is what they did and maybe it was a little hat tip to Donald Trump on that issue and that's fine."
"It's something that the party had in the platform for a long time," he added. "We are just saying what our position is but as far as who pays for it, you know, Congress already agreed that it would be paid for 10 years ago and now it will be up to President Trump to figure that one out.”
In addition to the border wall proposal, the draft party platform calls for a slowdown in any new multinational trade deals and eliminates support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
While embracing some of Trump's proposals, the proposed GOP platform continues the party's previous stance against same-sex marriage, and other socially conservative issues.
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