Presumptuous Politics

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Ohio Gov. John Kasich Cartoons

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.
Kasich has remained coy about his plans, telling The Washington Post he has no plans to endorse Trump or speak at the convention, but that he is not shutting down his political operation.
“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.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that it was "totally inappropriate" for Ginsburg to criticize Trump.
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.

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.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Black Lives Cartoons

Trade, delegates emerge as potential flashpoints as GOP preps for convention

Republicans launched into a debate Monday over the principles and rules that will guide next week's national convention and beyond -- a harbinger of whether the Cleveland event will go smoothly or devolve into party infighting.
The groundwork for the convention is being laid in meetings of the Platform Committee that kicked off Monday in Cleveland, to be followed by the Rules Committee.
And one potential flashpoint already has emerged on the issue of international trade, something that has separated the GOP establishment and presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Trump, since the start of his campaign, repeatedly has argued the Trans-Pacific Partnership recently brokered by President Obama and similar global trade deals are hurting American businesses.
However, members of the so-called GOP Platform Committee, meeting to finalize the party's guiding principles, told Fox News that references to TPP in draft platform documents were removed Monday.
Asked if the issue would re-emerge, Platform Committee Chairman Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox Business Network, "Trade is going to be a component of it."
But he predicted Trump would ultimately embrace the platform.
"If you talk to Donald Trump and he will tell you, he is for trade, but he wants to make sure they are good trade deals," he said.
Trump’s hardline stance on trade has given Washington Republicans a headache, considering their long-held beliefs in free trade and open markets, though -- as Barrasso noted -- Trump has tempered his views by saying he’s opposed only to bad trade deals.
The revelation about TPP references being removed came just minutes after Barrasso said the Trump campaign has essentially been hands-off on drafting the platform -- except for wanting language that allows him, if elected, to reject any trade deal he thinks would hurt the U.S. economy.
The 112-member committee divided Monday into small groups to focus on such issues as immigration, heath care and the economy.
They will regroup later this week. The convention itself begins July 18.
The biggest fireworks, though, could come later this week when the GOP Rules Committee meets to finalize the rulebook for convention delegates. This matters as it could become the last stand for Republicans trying to thwart Trump's nomination.
Most of the delegates awarded to Trump from state primaries and caucuses essentially must vote for him in Cleveland, according to 2012 convention rules. Under those rules, Trump has more than enough to seal the nomination.
However, if the committee overhauls the rules and gives delegates flexibility, the stop-Trump movement could have a last-ditch shot at pushing an alternative candidate. Still, few expect they can succeed at this point in upending the results of the primary elections.
Another issue that has divided Trump and Washington Republicans -- and that could become an issue in the platform debate -- is immigration.
Trump’s vow, if elected, to build a wall along the southern U.S. border and deport millions of illegal Mexican immigrants has upset party leaders trying to appeal to Hispanics, whose votes are crucial toward winning the White House and congressional seats.
Meanwhile, Trump doesn’t appear eager to insert himself into a potential intra-party battle over same-sex marriage.
Social conservatives seem to want states to decide on the issue, compared with the party’s previous position of trying to get a constitutional amendment to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and other party leaders say they have sought input for the platform from roughly 500,000 members over the past three years.
And in June, the party launched a website to get additional input.
“While Democrats are letting party insiders write their platform behind closed doors, Platform.gop is proof of our Party’s philosophy of listening to the voice of the people and honoring the democratic process,” Priebus said.

Party of Sanders? Bernie poised to back Clinton, after reshaping Dem message

Bernie Sanders is set to join Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail Tuesday, apparently ready to end the hold-out and formally endorse the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee – after having reshaped chunks of the party platform in his image.
The Vermont senator’s campaign declared victory over the weekend in helping write the “most progressive platform in party history,” after the Platform Committee adopted a slew of changes on climate change, the minimum wage and more. This comes after Clinton herself rolled out health care and college proposals that align more closely with Sanders’ positions.
He didn’t get everything he wanted: Most notably, the Democratic National Convention's Platform Committee voted down amendments to explicitly oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
But, in sum, Sanders appears to have succeeded in pulling the party – and potentially its standard-bearer -- to the left on key issues, as he moves to help Clinton unify after a fractious primary. At the same time, the liberal stances could help Donald Trump draw even more of a contrast with his presumptive presidential rival as the candidates look toward November.
“We have made enormous strides,” Sanders said in a statement Sunday. “Thanks to the millions of people across the country who got involved in the political process – many for the first time – we now have the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party.”
Sanders announced that he will join Clinton Tuesday at a high school in Portsmouth, N.H. – more than a month after the final primary.
Sanders has not yet said he will endorse Clinton, but told reporters on Saturday that the two campaigns were coming together and to stay tuned.
All along, Sanders had stayed in the race to pursue revisions in the party platform and other changes.
As the policy meeting concluded after midnight on Sunday morning, aides to Clinton and Sanders both hailed the newly amended platform draft as the "most progressive" in party history. The draft includes many of Sanders' priorities, including a call for a $15 federal minimum wage over time, steps to break up large Wall Street banks and support to end the death penalty. On the issue of global warming, it includes support for pricing greenhouse gases, prioritizing renewable energy and limiting fracking.
"I think if you read the platform right now, you will understand that the political revolution is alive and kicking," said Sanders policy adviser Warren Gunnels.
Meanwhile, Clinton over the weekend rolled out an updated health care plan that, among other things, backed giving Americans the choice of a “public-option insurance plan” – a move hailed by Sanders.
"We have more work to do to finish our long fight to provide universal, quality, affordable health care to everyone in America," Clinton said in a statement.
She also called earlier for ensuring that families with annual incomes up to $125,000 would pay no tuition at in-state public colleges and universities – not quite the free college tuition Sanders supports, but a move his campaign touted as a step in the right direction.
Clinton’s policy plans earned her scorn from the right, however.
Jeremy Adler, communications director with the conservative AR Squared, decried what he described as the “socialist takeover” of the party.
“Desperate to win over the Warren-Sanders crew that deeply distrusts her, Secretary Clinton is willing to adopt even the most extreme left-wing views as her own. There is quite literally nothing she won’t do or say to fit in today’s modern Democratic socialist party,” he said in a statement.