GOP memo suggests Trump reality check for establishment

'If you can’t beat him, join him’ appears to be the new directive coming from the Republican establishment, as Donald Trump maintains his lead for the 2016 the GOP nomination, months after political prognosticators had predicted his flame-out and demise.
A recently leaked memo by the National Republican Senatorial Committee calls Trump a “misguided missile,” but argues, ultimately, that he is worthy of emulation rather than condemnation.
The success of Republicans running for senate next year could count on it.
“Conventional wisdom has counted Trump out on several occasions.
But, Trump continues to rise and the criticisms seem to make him stronger, writes NRSC Executive Director Ward Bake in the seven-page missive, which was not supposed to be made public but was leaked to The Washington Post.
Several news organizations have reported on it since. Fox News has verified its authenticity.
“Trump has been gaining Democrat adherents and he’s solidifying
GOP cohorts who feel they’ve been totally ignored by the Washington Ruling Class. If the environment aligns properly, Trump could win,” Ward writes. “It’s not a bet most would place now, but it could happen. That’s why it’s important for our candidates to run their own races, limit the Trump criticisms (other than obvious free kicks), and grab onto the best elements of the anti-Washington populist agenda.”
The memo also offers several “lessons” on how candidates can deal with the “Trump phenomenon” without getting tarred when Trump indulges in more explosive policy positions, off-color jokes, or seemingly radioactive political rhetoric.
“Trump is subject to farcical fits,” writes Ward. While trying to keep out of the fray, continue to take “Trump to task on outrageous statements where the media won’t let you off the hook. Choose opportunities to take the moral high ground while exerting your independence.”
This would include what appeared to be his mocking of a disabled reporter and a host of comments about women’s looks, like openly asking if Hillary Clinton is wearing a wig.
“Donald Trump has said some wacky things about women. Candidates shouldn’t go near this ground other than to say that your wife or daughter is offended by what Trump said,” writes Ward. “We do not want to reengage the “war on women” fight so isolate Trump on this issue by offering a quick condemnation of it.”
That said, he memo not only suggests the establishment has accepted that Trump may be the presidential nominee in 2016, but is also willing to walk the fine line between keeping a check on the self-funding billionaire candidate, while taking advantage of the things that make him popular with Republican voters today.
“Trump has risen because voters see him as authentic, independent, direct, firm --- and believe he can’t be bought. These are the same character traits our candidates should be advancing in 2016. That’s Trump lesson #1."
"Trump is saying that the Emperor has no clothes and he challenges our politically correct times. Our candidates shouldn’t miss this point,” continues Ward. “Don’t insult key voter cohorts by ignoring that America has significant problems and that Trump is offering some basic solutions. Understand the populist points Trump makes and ride that wave.”
Contacted by Foxnews.com on Thursday, the NRSC said it was merely engaging in pragmatic political planning. “It would be malpractice for the Senatorial committee not to prepare our candidates for every possible Republican and Democrat nominee and election scenario,” NRSC spokeswoman Andrea Bozek said.
Aside from telling candidates to “run your own race,” and “show
your independence,” the memo suggests tapping into Trump’s ability to resonate with working people who have long decided Washington could not be trusted. It makes suggestions on using constituents to tell the story and “to bring the campaign back to real people and their daily struggle,” and not be afraid to take on China and immigration through the same Trump lens.
“You don’t have to go along with his more extreme positioning,” the memo reads. “Instead you should stake out turf in the same issue zone and offer your own ideas.” Just don’t spend “full time attacking our own nominee,” reads the memo, which Ward said was “written with the assumption that Donald Trump wins the nomination.”
“That will only serve to topple GOP candidates at every level.”

Investigators probe whether wife radicalized husband before San Bernardino massacre

Federal investigators believe there is a "very serious" possibility that Tashfeen Malik, one of two shooters who murdered 14 people and wounded 21 others in San Bernardino, Calif. Wednesday, radicalized her husband and co-assailant, county restaurant inspector Syed Farook, Fox News has learned. 
Investigators also believe that the couple had planned a second attack after the shooting at a social service center for the disabled when they were killed in a shootout with local authorities approximately two miles away.
Little is known about Malik's background prior to her meeting Farook. However, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that the two met and became engaged after Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia in September 2013. Malik, a Pakistani citizen, applied for a K-1 visa, reserved for the fiances of U.S. citizens, at the American embassy in Islamabad in May 2014 and Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia that July to bring her to the U.S. The Saudi Embassy in Washington has confirmed that Farook's 2014 trip lasted nine days.
They were married on Aug. 16, 2014, in nearby Riverside County, Calif. according to their marriage license. Both listed their religion as Muslim.
Investigators believe that on at least one of those trips to Saudi Arabia, Malik, Farook or both made contact with suspected Al Qaeda terrorists. The exact nature of that contact was not immediately clear.

More on this...

• New details on San Bernardino shooters' personal lives

• Muslim community reacts to San Bernardino attack

• First officer on San Bernardino scene speaks out

Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that tracks and analyzes extremists, told the Associated Press it hasn't found any connection between Farook and jihadi groups. But she also said that some of Farook's social media posts seem to have been deleted before the attack.
However, law enforcement sources told Fox News late Thursday that there was a "very strong" possibility that Malik functioned as Farook's terror trainer and may have even put together the pipe bombs found by authorities at the various crime scenes Wednesday.
Officials said Thursday that Malik underwent and passed a Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism screening as part of the process of getting the K-1 visa. The visa would have been effective for 90 days, after which Malik would have had to apply for green card status through the Department of Homeland Security as the wife of an American. It was not immediately clear whether she did so.
Wearing black tactical gear and wielding assault rifles, Farook, 28, and Malik, 27, sprayed as many as 75 rounds into a room at the Inland Regional Center, where about 75 of Farook's co-workers had gathered Wednesday morning. Farook had attended the start of the event but slipped out and returned in battle dress.
Four hours later and two miles away, the couple died in a furious gun battle in which they fired 76 rounds, while 23 law officers unleashed about 380, police said.
As part of the complex investigation late Thursday, authorities were trying to piece together a money trail that would have enabled the suspects to acquire over $30,000 in guns and explosives. Public records show that Farook made approximately $51,000 per year as an employee of the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, making it unlikely he could have afforded such an arsenal out of his own pocket. There is no evidence that Malik had a job.
Among the weapons found were three rigged-together pipe bombs at the social service center, each equipped with a remote-control detonating device that apparently malfunctioned; more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition and multiple pipe bombs in the rented SUV where they died; and 12 pipe bombs, tools for making more, and over 3,000 additional rounds of ammunition at a family home in the nearby town of Redlands.
Officials were also looking for a man who bought the two AR-15 rifles the couple used in the attack. The Associated Press reported that Farook legally bought two pistols found on the couple, but an unidentified man bought the rifles. It was not immediately clear whether the man was acting on Farook's behalf when he bought the weapons or if they were stolen and then used in the attack. A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that all the guns were purchased legally in California.
Law enforcement sources told Fox News that investigators believe the couple's death prevented a second attack Wednesday, though they have not established what the target would have been. They point not only to the sheer amount of weaponry left unused, but also the fact that the couple's rented SUV was due to be returned Thursday. Authorities believe it unlikely that the couple would have wanted to take the chance of the SUV and any unused munitions being found if the vehicle was kept longer than its rental period.
Farook was a devout Muslim who prayed every day and recently memorized the Quran, according to brothers Nizaam and Rahemaan Ali, who attended Dar Al Uloom Al Islamiyah mosque in San Bernardino with Farook.
Rahemaan Ali said he last saw Farook three weeks ago, when he abruptly stopped going to the mosque. Ali said Farook seemed happy and his usual self, and the brothers never saw a violent side.
"He never ever talked about killing people or discussed politics, or said that he had problems at work," Rahemaan Ali said. "He always had a smile on his face."
A profile on a matchmaking website for South Asians that matched Farook's name, California hometown, county health job and Muslim faith said his interests included target shooting in his backyard. Though the date of the posting was not clear, it listed his age as 22 so it could have been six years old.
Two weeks ago, Farook and one of the co-workers he killed, 52-year-old Nicholas Thalasinos, had a heated conversation about Islam, according to Kuuleme Stephens, a friend of the victim.
Stephens said she happened to call Thalasinos while he was talking with Farook at work. She said Thalasinos told her Farook "doesn't agree that Islam is not a peaceful religion."

Texas sues feds over plans to resettle Syrian refugees

Texas filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the federal government in an effort to block six Syrian refugees from resettling in Dallas this week.
The lawsuit comes after the International Rescue committee, a nonprofit group, said it would place Syrian refugees in Texas over the objections of Gov. Greg Abbot.
Texas hopes to delay the arrival of the refugees at least for a week until a federal judge can hear the challenge. The state said in the lawsuit that the IRC and the federal government have left Texas “uninformed about refugees that could well pose a security risk to Texans.”
The White House has said states don’t have the authority to block refugees. The IRC, which was also named in the suit has noted that Syrian refugees are the most security-vetted group of people who come into the U.S. The Obama administration has said the vetting process is thorough and can take up to two years.
“We have been working diligently with the (IRC) to find a solution that ensures the safety and security for all Texans, but we have reached an impasse and will not let the courts decide,” Texas Health and Human Services Commission spokesman Bryan Black told the Dallas Morning-News.
Abbot is among more than two dozen governors who have vowed since the November Paris terror attacks to keep Syrian refugees from resettling in their states, expressing fears that militants could plan a terror attack and enter the country under the guise of a refugee. Since the attacks, about 200 refugees have settled in the U.S., including in states where governors have resisted, according to the State Department.
The IRC was threatened with a lawsuit by Texas last week. The group said Monday it will still help all refugees in accordance with its obligations under federal guidelines. Texas responded Tuesday with a moratorium on resettlements until the state received “all information” on Syrians scheduled to arrive in Texas during the next three months. Texas also urged the State Department in a letter to give them more information about the “effectiveness of the screening procedures.”
In a statement issued Wednesday night, the IRC said it "has worked in coordination with Texas officials for 40 years — to the benefit of Texas communities and the refugees we serve. Refugees are victims of terror, not terrorists, and the families we help have always been welcomed by the people of Texas. The IRC acts within the spirit and letter of the law, and we are hopeful that this matter is resolved soon."
The Justice Department said it would review the complaint after formally receiving it. The White House declined to comment.
IRC spokeswoman Lucy Carrigan has said that two Syrian families are expected to arrive in Texas in the next 10 days, including the six who are noted in the lawsuit.
Texas currently takes in more refugees than any other state, including about 240 Syrian refugees since 2011. The Dallas Morning-News reports this is the first legal action by a state to block Syrian refugees.
The Refugee Act of 1980 dictates that refugee resettlement within the United States is managed by the federal government. State refugee coordinators are consulted by the federal government and the nine refugee resettlement agencies that have contracts with the government, but that consultation is largely to ensure refugees are settled in cities with adequate jobs, housing and social services.
Federal courts — including the U.S. Supreme Court — have upheld that immigration and admission of noncitizens to the United States is a federal responsibility and one managed wholly by the federal government.

Carson tumbles, Rubio rises and Trump still on top in new national GOP poll

A new poll released Wednesday shows Dr. Ben Carson falling to third place in the race for the Republican 2016 nomination, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio surges into second – but still a significant distance behind frontrunner Donald Trump, who holds a comfortable lead.
The Quinnipiac University National Poll shows Trump leading with 27 percent of Republican voters, while Rubio moves into second place with 17 percent. Carson, who was in a virtual tie with Trump in a Quinnipiac poll taken last month, finds his support dropping to 16 percent, now tied with Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
In October, Carson polled at 23 percent, just shy of Trump’s 24 percent. In a Quinnipiac poll taken at the end of September, Carson polled at 17 percent – putting him in second place at that time.
Meanwhile Rubio's numbers show a steady increase from the 9 percent he received in September, and 14 percent he received last month.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush still finds his support in single digits, polling at just 5 percent, while no other candidate tops 3 percent.
“It doesn’t seem to matter what he says or who he offends, whether the facts are contested or the ‘political correctness’ is challenged, Donald Trump seems to be wearing Kevlar,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
In the race for the Democratic nomination, frontrunner Hillary Clinton widened her lead over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The poll finds Clinton beats Sanders 60-30 percent, a significant boost over her 53-35 lead in the November poll.
In good news for the Democrats, the poll finds that in a general election matchup, Clinton beats Trump 47-41 percent, ties with Rubio, beats Carson 46-43 percent, and tops Cruz 47-42 percent.

Panic city: The GOP's pipsqueak 'revolt' against Donald Trump

Another day, another GOP panic.
The media underestimated Donald Trump from day one. The Republican power brokers underestimated Donald Trump from day one. And now journalists are quoting GOP hotshots as suddenly scared about what has been obvious for months: that Trump is in a strong position to seize their nomination.
After various stages of grief and denial, the noise from the “establishment”—or what remains of it, in this Super PAC era—is growing louder.
The New York Times is the latest to sound the alarm:
“Irritation is giving way to panic as it becomes increasingly plausible that Mr. Trump could be the party’s standard-bearer and imperil the careers of other Republicans.”
Which is pretty much the same P-word that the Washington Post used on Nov. 12:
“Less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses, there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among Republican elites about the dominance and durability of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and widespread bewilderment over how to defeat them.”
Is there something stronger than panic? Because we seem to be careening there.
And remember the pundits who said that Trump’s insistence that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated on 9/11, and his mocking of a reporter, would hurt him? Instead, he’s going up in the polls. Trump leads with 27 percent in the new Quinnipiac survey, trailed by Marco Rubio (17), Ted Cruz (16), and the sliding Ben Carson (16).
The GOP-in-revolt stories lead to endless speculation about a brokered convention or money men financing a stop-Trump venture, which is fun but ultimately pointless. One such anti-Trump outfit has gained little traction after being touted in the Wall Street Journal.
The notion that some aerial assault is going to badly wound Trump looks like a fantasy. According to NBC’s estimates, including Super PACs, Jeb Bush has spent $28.9 million on advertising—and his numbers have not budged at all. Marco Rubio has spent $10.6 million. John Kasich has spent $6.4 million, some of it on spots attacking Trump.
And The Donald has spent a grand total of $217,000, all on radio. Trump hasn’t aired a single TV ad. He gets all the free media he needs.
I’ve critiqued presidential ads in five campaigns, and I’ve never seen a cycle where they mattered less. With so many candidates and so many PACs and so many online videos, it just all seems like noise. That could change when the field winnows, but I don’t think you stop Donald Trump by airing bad things about him. The media say plenty of bad things about him, and it invariably ends up helping him.
Some are adjusting to the new era. In a Robert Costa scoop, the Post obtained a memo from the director of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign urging candidates to embrace the best parts of Trump’s “anti-Washington populist agenda,” but avoid saying “wacky things about women.” The memo suggests Trumpism without Trump, calling him “a misguided missile” who “is subject to farcical fits.”
The Times’ Jonathan Martin is savvy enough to recognize that the purported revolt lacks any real firepower: “In a party that lacks a true leader or anything in the way of consensus — and with the combative Mr. Trump certain to scorch anyone who takes him on — a fierce dispute has arisen about what can be done to stop his candidacy and whether anyone should even try.
“That has led to a standoff of sorts: Almost everyone in the party’s upper echelons agrees something must be done, and almost no one is willing to do it.”
The story quotes some party bigwigs on the record as saying a Trump nomination could endanger some GOP members of Congress. Ohio Republican Chairman Matt Borges says: “If he carries this message into the general election in Ohio, we’ll hand this election to Hillary Clinton — and then try to salvage the rest of the ticket.” So that’s what is really fueling the panic.
Trump’s detractors point to his high negatives, especially among minorities. But in such a crazy year, and with Trump taking moderate positions on Medicare, Social Security and taxing hedge-fund guys, who knows what would happen in a fall election? The Q poll gives Hillary a 6-point lead over The Donald, hardly a blowout.
But first he’s got to win the nomination. And that may well turn on his own performance and his ability to get his supporters to the polls, not on a party revolt that no one wants to lead or has the clout to pull off.

obama climate control cartoon

Huckabee: America needs a commander in chief, not a weather-obsessed meteorologist

President Obama’s national security priorities are dangerous. Two weeks after terrorist attacks rocked Paris, he is visiting France, not to focus on fighting global terrorism, but to tackle the global warming "security imperative." America needs a commander-in-chief, not a weather-obsessed meteorologist-in-chief.
The federal government cannot control the weather. Period. We can control borders, military assets, critical airspace, and American intelligence. We can also kill Islamic terrorists and radical ISIS murderers.  America needs a president focused on what we can control, not fixated on weather patterns which we cannot.
Even if we could control the weather, 95 percent of the world lives outside America, and we cannot control the behavior of seven billion people across the globe. Put another way, other countries refuse to tackle simple, dangerous threats like nuclear weapons proliferation. So how does Obama expect to persuade massive polluters like China, Russia and Pakistan to embrace expensive, job-killing global warming regulations?
Obama's obsession with global, utopian collaboration and building a personal climate change legacy has made him allergic to common sense. Meanwhile, the real "security imperative” keeps metastasizing.

Now more than ever, America needs a commander-in-chief focused on the global war on terrorism, instead we have a community organizer focused on global warming.

ISIS keeps swelling in size and power and Obama still has no strategy. In the Syrian city of Raqqa, which serves as the ISIS capital, Islamic radicals have established a treasury department with an elaborate system of taxes, public services and real estate rental agreements. Between oil production, smuggling, antiquity dealing and kidnapping, ISIS is building a comprehensive infrastructure.
What will it take for Obama to wake-up to this menace? Maybe he would take ISIS seriously if he discovered they didn’t recycle.
Homegrown terrorists and radicalized immigrants continue to pop-up across Europe. The Department of Homeland Security refuses to reform a dangerous travel program that allows unscreened foreign passengers from 38 countries, including France and Belgium, to enter the U.S. without a visa.
Illegal immigrants continue to cross our porous borders and thousands of immigrants overstay their visas each year. America’s cyber-defenses remain incredibly vulnerable and the White House has endless excuses for security breaches, intelligence failures and routine Washington incompetence.
Now more than ever, America needs a commander-in-chief focused on the global war on terrorism, instead we have a community organizer focused on global warming. Obama's blindness is beyond baffling, it’s dangerous. It shouldn’t take another Paris attack for this White House to open its eyes: radical Islamic terrorism is a much greater threat than a sunburn.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is a 2016 Republican candidate for president of the United States.

‘Saved us money’: Rubio wins conservative cred for ObamaCare change

Marco Rubio's Republican presidential bid is getting a surprisingly big boost from a little-known legislative tweak he helped tuck into last year's spending bill — one that ObamaCare critics are crediting with shielding taxpayers from jittery health insurance companies that may be eyeing shaky bottom lines.
The provision, similar to one he’s pushing this year, prohibits billion-dollar bailouts for private insurers under the Affordable Care Act.
It's now being touted by Rubio’s camp and others as a key factor that is protecting taxpayer dollars -- while also disrupting the law itself.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., former chairman of the House oversight committee, cited the provision in announcing his endorsement of Rubio on Monday.
“He saved us money on ObamaCare where others have simply wanted to repeal it,” Issa told Fox News. “He has already saved $2.5 billion by eliminating an unreasonable backstop by the taxpayers for a failed program.”

Rep. Darrell Issa endorses Marco Rubio for president

The program Rubio targeted is known as “risk corridors” – pricy provisions that allow the government to use taxpayer dollars to compensate insurance companies for losses suffered during the first few years of ObamaCare.
In 2013, the senator pushed legislation to repeal the risk corridor provision. Though the standalone bill failed, he had a hand in getting a rider into the “must-pass” omnibus federal spending bill last year that prevents the government from making up shortfalls in the program by tapping other funds.
Last year, insurers asked for nearly $2.87 billion in government payments from the program; though the Department of Health and Human Services had only $362 million available. Issa and others say the rider, then, helped save $2.5 billion.
Concern about a backstop for losses has been renewed amid continuing financial uncertainty in the market -- which has led to more than a dozen folded co-ops and prompted UnitedHealth, the country’s largest insurer, to threaten to pull out of the exchanges next year.
Rubio's campaign is claiming some credit for the turmoil, sending out a recent tweet that said: “Q: Did Marco Kill Obamacare? A: You bet he did.”
UnitedHealth’s CEO announced $425 million in losses and warned it may walk away from the health care exchanges altogether. It’s a threat Rubio believes will resonate with other insurers who he thinks may follow suit.
“I think it’s only going to accelerate now, because once these companies can’t get bailed out, many of them are deciding they no longer want to participate in the ObamaCare exchange,” he said in an interview with Breibart News.
Rubio wants to keep his restrictions in place going forward, as they are set to expire if not renewed.
In a Nov. 24 letter to Republican leadership, he argued that ObamaCare might not be worth saving if such deep safety nets are needed to keep private insurers interested.
He added, “It is our responsibility to completely shield the U.S. taxpayer from a deal in the omnibus that might reimburse health insurers retroactively for these losses or any other future losses.”
America’s Health Insurance Plans President and CEO Marilyn Tavenner, who played a key role in launching the health care overhaul in the Obama administration, recently defended the risk corridors.
“Stable, affordable coverage for consumers depends on adequate funding of the risk corridor program,” she said in an October statement. “It’s essential that Congress and CMS act to ensure the program works as designed and consumers are protected.”
Dan Holler, vice president of communications at Heritage Action for America, disagrees.
Holler told FoxNews.com his organization strongly supports eliminating bailouts for insurance companies and believes a similarly worded measure by Rubio will easily pass this year.
While Rubio’s social media team is claiming credit for delivering a death blow to ObamaCare, others argue it only did surface-level damage to the program.
Still, most agree Rubio’s efforts have had some impact on ObamaCare.
“It did draw some blood,” Tim Jost, a health law professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law, told Bloomberg News. “The restriction on funding is probably the most effective thing Republicans have done so far to limit the Affordable Care Act, other than the Supreme Court decision and subsequent decisions by Republican states not to expand Medicaid.”