2016 Presidential Election Thread

Maybe they found out from Trump lots of favors can be gleaned from donating to a Clinton.

 

What will Richard say when Trump says he was joking when he said he was joking? And what serious presidential candidate jokes about lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court?

 

This article says more against

This article says more against Trump than it does for him to a prolifer. But I feel sorry for Richard, because all articles on trump say more against him than for him.

 

Trump backs up pro-life rhetoric with concrete action; hires John Mashburn:

Donald Trump was never the first choice of committed social conservatives, whose organizations largely lined up behind Ted Cruz late in the Republican primary. Those groups raced to distance themselves from Trump after he went off-message by suggesting that women who have abortions would be punished if the procedure were banned, followed by hasty announcements of two additional positions.

But now that Trump is the only Republican running for president, he has begun to speak the right’s language on abortion, and some social conservative groups are sounding their approval. Crucially for them, last week, Trump hired as policy director John Mashburn, a man hailed by the head of a prominent anti-abortion group as “an excellent hire, especially for the pro-life movement and our legislative priorities.”

With Mashburn, an attorney who most recently worked as chief of staff for North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, Trump has brought into the fold someone social conservatives trust. “He is a rock solid pro-lifer and former Helms staffer. Someone we can work with,” Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, told The Washington Examiner. She was referring to the late North Carolina senator Jesse Helms, whose anti-abortion legacy lives on in the Helms Amendment, an ongoing ban on U.S. foreign aid going to abortion services.

While working for Helms in the late 1980s, Mashburn made his name on a different issue that fell under the banner of the culture wars: The fight against the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) for funding “blasphemous” work involving Christianity and sexuality — especially gay men’s sexuality. According to the book Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism, Mashburn was the one who brought the notorious “Piss Christ” work by Andres Serrano to his boss’s attention. Helms ran with it, beginning a long crusade against public funding for the arts.

According to Righteous Warrior, after Mashburn discovered the work of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Helms declared, “Pictures of male genitals placed on a table is not art, except perhaps to homosexuals who are trying force their way into undeserved respectability.” The pressure worked. In 1989, after the NEA withdrew funding for an exhibition about AIDS, Mashburn told The New York Times, “Senator Helms said he was much more pleased by this than he was by the N.E.A.’s reaction under the former acting chairman to the Mapplethorpe exhibition.”

Mashburn went on to work for a series of prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill, including then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay. He also served as the executive vice president of the conservative American Civil Rights Union (ACRU, not to be confused with the American Civil Liberties Union) and as executive director of a related group, The Carleson Center for Public Policy. The latter organization is named for former Reagan official Robert Carleson, whose widow, Susan, is chair of the ACRU. Notably, Susan Carleson endorsed Ted Cruz, and the ACRU, which cannot directly endorse candidates, ran several blog posts condemning Trump for displaying “a clownish … disregard for the law” in claiming Cruz was ineligible to run for president. The ACRU did not respond to requests for comment on its former vice president’s new role with Trump.

Mashburn’s fingerprints may already be visible on the Trump campaign, though an effort to interview him went unanswered...." http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-appeals-social-conservatives-his-hire-john-mashburn

 

Thank you Matt...for perfectly defining Donald Trump...and why he cannot be trusted....great read.



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Matt Walsh
September 25, 2015 ·
I said I would write an analysis of each candidate over the next few weeks. I've done Cruz and Carson.

Now let's talk about Donald Trump.

I am not a fan of Donald Trump. I have many reasons, for instance I dislike everything about him.

Donald Trump is a terrible candidate and would make a disastrous president for reasons that go much deeper than his opinions and statements about the issues. But as far as that goes, I find nothing to support:

On abortion, Trump spent the first 60 years of his life supporting every form of abortion, even partial birth, where a fully formed child is stabbed in the skull with a pair of scissors as it is leaving the birth canal. Trump says he suddenly and coincidentally became pro-life right around the time he wanted to run for president, but that's hard to buy. At any rate, it's impossible to trust the moral judgment of a man who took 60 years to figure out that you shouldn't stab fully developed babies in the brain.

Recently, he's been all over the map on Planned Parenthood, at various times supporting a government shutdown, and then days later saying Planned Parenthood does good work and parts of it should still be funded (in other words, keeping the status quo). No pro lifer could possibly justify supporting this man over any of the other candidates.

On taxes, he supports raising taxes on the rich, which is an idea Conservatives suddenly decided to embrace because Trump said it. The problem is that his tax plan, as half baked as it is, makes clear his intention to keep growing government.

On Constitutional rights, he doesn't often talk about liberty or freedom. He doesn't seem to care, as far as I can tell. He has at various points been for and against certain forms of gun control. Outside of that, protecting liberty doesn't appear to be on his agenda. He's the first Republican candidate I've ever seen who gets standing ovations while openly dismissing the Bill of Rights and promising to grow government.

On family issues, he declared that gay marriage is the law of the land and shouldn't be resisted. He says he's against it personally, but has never shown any ability to articulate or expand upon that position.

On foreign policy, he admits to knowing little about it. He doesn't even know the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah. He says he gets foreign policy advice from TV, and will eventually learn more about the subject. He hasn't yet taken the time to learn at any point in his 70 years, but we're supposed to trust he'll become an expert some time between now and halfway through his first term, I guess. Recently he said we should trust his judgment on Syria because he knows how to create jobs. That's about as sensible and coherent as Trump gets.

On immigration, he talks about building a fence, which puts him in the same camp as many other candidates. He says he wants to round up 11 million illegals, ship them back across the border, and then summarily let them in again if they're "terrific." This strikes me as silly, impractical, and expensive. He also seems to think he can or should deport naturalized citizens.

On government, he's supported bailouts and crony capitalism. This is no surprise considering he is a crony capitalist. He openly admits to bribing politicians. He makes, as I said, not even the slightest effort to convince us he plans to reign in the size of government. Mostly because he has no such plan.

On private property, he supports eminent domain and has personally used the government to confiscate private land so he could build casinos.

On faith, he says he believes in God but doesn't need to ask God for forgiveness. Recently he was asked to name a passage in the Bible and couldn't. A few days ago CBN asked him to elaborate on his belief in God and Trump spent most of the answer talking about his golf courses and business talent. It doesn't appear that he's ever opened a Bible in his life.

Outside of that, he's said little about policy and demonstrated virtually no interest or knowledge about any topic outside of himself. We all know he identified as a Democrat until recently, is great friends with the Clintons, and donated heavily to Nancy Pelosi and others.

But this all pales in comparison to his character, which is non-existent. He admits to being a corrupt swindler who bribes politicians and misrepresents his intentions. He blatantly lies on a regular basis, like when he denied trying to buy Bush's support for casino gambling in Florida. The records prove he did. He lied.

He is a sensitive, petty man with very thin skin. A whiny trust fund baby who has been surrounded with wealth and yes men his entire life, which has made him needy and weak and petulant. Even though the media lavishes him with attention, he constantly cries that they're all being unfair. He can't handle the slightest criticism and melts into a puddle when anyone on any level says anything negative about him. He regularly calls for his critics to be fired or banned from TV. A few days ago, he asked the FCC to punish someone who insulted him on Fox News.

It scares me to death to think of how he'd shutdown dissent and free speech if he actually controlled the government. Especially because, if voters are foolish enough to put him in the White House, he will have a mandate to act as president exactly as he's acted as a candidate. That means punishing dissenters and shutting down speech, just as he's done, or tried to do, on the campaign trail.

He gets credit for telling it like it is, but he doesn't. He lies. He also can't stomach when anyone else tells it like it is. Despite his reputation, he regularly toes the PC line on important things, like when he accuses Planned Parenthood critics of opposing "women's health."

He gets credit for being anti-establishment, but he isn't. He's admitted as much. Not long ago, he said in a press conference that he "was in the establishment until 2 months ago." He's been a part of the government establishment, corporate establishment, and Hollywood establishment. He's more establishment than Bush and McConnell put together.

Finally, he's a creep. He said his own daughter had a great figure and he'd date her if she wasn't related. He told a woman she'd look great on her knees. He is an unrepentant philanderer and adulterer. He is not a man of dignity, honor, courage, or integrity.

He is not the sort of man any rational human being should intentionally put in charge of a country. There is nothing positive to say about him, I award him no credit for anything he's done or said, and may God have mercy on his soul and on our nation if we are suicidal enough to elect him president.

 

If they were talking points, Richard, they would have to be democratic, because according to your reasoning, only Hilary supporters are against him now. Beth and I are arguing from the conservative point of view, but you have never been conservative in the American sense, so i understand your confusion.

 

I'll take Trump's actions over Matt Walsh's words. Even Penny Vance is coming around to Trump:

"With Mashburn, an attorney who most recently worked as chief of staff for North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, Trump has brought into the fold someone social conservatives trust. “He is a rock solid pro-lifer and former Helms staffer. Someone we can work with,” Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, toldThe Washington Examiner. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-appeals-social-conservatives-his-hire-john-mashburn

 

And I'll take matts word over trump and his surregots any day....Matt has credibility...because he is not a fraud....that's what makes him a trusted source.

 

So, Beth, it doesn't matter to you that Trump hires a leading pro-life advocate. You still insist on #NEVERTRUMP when Trump's own concrete actions demonstrate that he is committed to the pro-life cause. Unbelievable. Like I said earlier, it doesn't matter how many concrete pro-life actions Trump begins taking, you will never support him. Nothing he can do or say will satisfy you.

 

Well you'd better hope your guy trump isn't lying...it's hard to trust someone who has a reputation for not "telling it like it is"!

If he gets in and doesn't keep his promise, then a lot of babies will die. That's a lot of regret...a whole lot!

 

You know Richard....you have zero credibility with me right now. Do us both a favor and knock it off for the night....go off into your fantasy land and give it a break. Isn't it hard dividing yourself up into so many characters?

Since you obviously didn't read my last response to your repeated inquiries about this topic, I'll post it again. Maybe one of your other personalities read it, but you apparently did not....so here it is:




The Pro-Life Art of the Deal: Can We Negotiate with Trump?
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JASON SCOTT JONES Published on May 8, 2016 • 31 Comments

Jason Scott Jones
One of the things the voters find most attractive about Donald Trump is his vaunted success at making deals — at outbargaining, outwitting, and outmaneuvering the people with whom he negotiates, so that he comes out on top. Whatever we think of his business ethics, it’s undeniable that this is a man who knows how to come from behind, to put on a front, establish himself as a brand, and turn a truckload of rotting lemons into an Olympic pool full of lemon vodka — with supermodels swimming in it. Millions of Americans have turned to Trump in the hope that he will do the same thing for America. They are tired of all the Elmer Fudds whom the GOP likes to nominate, so they’re betting on Bugs Bunny — a fast-talking, scruple-free conniver with a rough-edged New York accent.

As pro-lifers and defenders of religious liberty, and citizens sincerely worried about the direction our nation is taking, we are faced with the question of how to deal with the triumph of Donald Trump in the GOP. Should we stand fast with the #NeverTrump movement, holding to the devastating criticisms which conservatives have made of Trump’s ideology, honesty, and character — and be ready to face the consequences if Hillary Clinton wins? Should we jump on the GOP bandwagon as fast as we possibly can, wagging our tails and panting for favors? Is the prospect of Hillary Clinton winning so terrifying to us that we will take any scrap of hope which the Trump campaign might toss us?

Here’s where we can learn something from Donald Trump himself. His most famous book, The Art of the Deal, is a kind of devil’s dictionary, predicated on the idea that any negotiation is finally zero sum: there’s a winner and a loser, and you want to come out the winner. Now in actual economics this isn’t really the case. When I pay the bill at a good restaurant, I usually feel that I’ve gotten my money’s worth. So does the restaurant’s owner. The free market economy is based on the fact that human beings best cooperate by freely naming their price, and providing goods and services to those who are willing to meet it. In the long run, everybody benefits.

But in Donald Trump’s world things don’t work like that. There’s a fixed, limited pie of money, privilege, and status, and their distribution depends on who can grab the power. That need not be true of business, but it is part of the essence of politics. When you hold an election, one side really loses, and the winning side wields more power. If we let politics meddle in the economy, this zero-sum logic takes over our productive lives as well. The winners of elections, the donors who grease politicians’ palms, can gain a winning edge over their competitors. That’s how Trump has always done business, anyway. No wonder he wants the government reaching its fingers even more deeply into business. As a practicing crony capitalist, he was always more of a politician than a businessman, anyway.

And now each of us as conservative voters, and the movements that speak for our interests, are forced to negotiate with Donald Trump — one way or the other. That doesn’t mean we endorse him, or even vote for him. Walking away from the table also counts as negotiating. Some deals just aren’t worth making. But if our decision to do that is to mean anything at all, we will need to make a public case for it. And that case will be stronger if we are clear about exactly what we are doing.

Or maybe there’s a deal out there to be made. Like most of you, I find the prospect of a Trump presidency repugnant. Like most of you, I’m horrified by Hillary, and the damage she could do, especially through the courts. Trump is counting on our horror to overwhelm our repugnance.

In other words, he thinks he holds all the cards. He is sitting in Trump Tower, sneering as long-time critics such as Gov. Rick Perry slink over to endorse him, like whipped dogs pleading for mercy. He sees social conservatives such as Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson, who endorsed him early on, as checks that he’s already cashed, and forgotten about. As for the rest of us, he waits for our terror of Hillary Clinton to wear us down and humble us, so we have to come to the Godfather to beg for some protection. (I recommend watching Godfather I and II as practical guides to this election.)

If we do it, we’re fools. Worse than that, we’re cowards. Pro-life leaders had some leverage over Trump early on in the campaign, and they managed to squeeze out of him a promise that he’d offer a list of judicial candidates, vetted by the Heritage Foundation. That was to reassure us after he talked about appointing his pro-choice sister to the U.S. Supreme Court. So where’s the list? Trump forgot about it, and so it seems has everyone else. He won enough Southern primaries, then moved on to the blue-state Northeast, so that promise went down the memory hole. Why on earth should he keep it now? Why offer any carrots when he wields an enormous stick: the prospect of four years of Hillary?

If we wince and cower at the sight of that stick, we have no hope of negotiating. It will mean that we are already bought and sold, at a piddling price. Then we would indeed see, as David Frum wrote in the Atlantic, pro-lifers and other social conservatives lose any clout we once had in national elections. If the Israel lobby, or the gun lobby, or any other organized political group behaved the way we do in elections, their causes would be lost. I saw from the inside of GOP politics how quickly, even desperately, pro-life leaders threw away their leverage and signed on with dubious leaders such as John McCain and Mitt Romney. We cannot afford to make that same mistake again.

I wrote once before, in “The Pro-Life Art of War,” that we must see our movement as a special interest group, whose sole concern is preserving the unborn by force of law. It’s our duty as prudent defenders of the helpless to fight hard on their behalf, and to fight smart. To do that, we must play hardball. And we still do have some leverage.

With Trump’s overpowering negatives among so many demographics, he relies more than most GOP candidates on a mighty conservative turnout. He really would be crippled by a potent third-party challenge. He needs to present the front of a mostly unified party. And so he will respond if we approach him with strength and integrity. Notice how he reacted when House Speaker Paul Ryan wouldn’t endorse him: he arranged a face to face meeting. How much face time does Chris Christie get with Donald Trump? How much influence will Rick Perry exercise?

Trump must know — because we know — that we’re free to walk away. If we see that a Trump presidency wouldn’t really be markedly better for unborn Americans than a Hillary win, but that we would have besmeared ourselves with all Trump’s other negatives, then we simply shouldn’t support him. We should count the presidential election as already lost — in Indiana — and pour every drop of blood, sweat, and tears into electing conservatives to Congress. We need to make Trump see that we are perfectly willing to do this. It’s the only way to deal with a man who prides himself on ruthlessness.

 

I'll take Trump's concrete actions over Jason Scott Jones' words.

Penny Vance has commended Trump for his concrete pro-life action in hiring John Mashburn . I'll listen to her over irrelevant naysayers like Jason Scott Jones and Matt Walsh.

 

There are other issues that haven't been mentioned. The Conservative Republicans are not the whole Republican Party. There is also the moderates...we also have the Reagan Democrats and the independents. When the conservatives use Reagan as leader they forget he actually worked with democrats. No one will tell you but Amnesty was a Reagan Law. Trump might be willing to work with others. Also, I remember the moment Reagan took over The American Flag and patriotism grew immediately. We will see but he will be a million times better then Obama and Hilary.

Al

 

Totally agree with you Richard. And I pray for the Warning to come this year. We need a wake up. I do feel it's coming soon because the evil in the world is escalating. Satan is clever enough to infiltrate even in the Internet. We need a William Wallace in the U.S. and fast.

 

Richard, the problem is he has not done anything yet. We can only go by what he says and what he says changes with the wind, not even the political wind, though, the wind of what he thinks is good for him. A person like that can't be trusted with the power to appoint Supreme Court members and control the best armed forces in the world.

 

There are no concrete actions yet, Richard. That is the problem. Since he is not a trustworthy person, we can only imagine what his concrete actions might be as president, and then it will be too late.

 

Richard, why is Washburn not tainted with neocon, elitest and globalist influences? Why does Tillis have an F on the conservative review, for not taking a stand on important issues? Is this how Washburn will advise Trump? If so, Trump will do none of the things you think he will and that is the best case scenario. Worst case scenario, he will do what he wants and has believed his whole life.

 

I do too Byron, because it may wake up this country in time before we actually put one of the two frontrunners in the position of most powerful single person in the world.

 

excellent analysis Beth. I hope Trump supporters read it, but so far it seems they don't.

 

No, Richard, what do you make of the fact that he only raised that non-issue, but DID NOT CRITICIZE OBAMA ON ABORTION, TRADE AGREEMENTS OR COOPERATION WITH GLOBALISTS AND NEOCONS? You claim these are your core issues. Trump supported all of these. When he turned against Obama he mentioned none of these, and none of any of Obama's actual policies. Since he supported Obama into his second term, you have to assume he was ok with all of Obama's policies and his only problem was the ridiculous Hawaii/Kenya thing. That is the question you were asked, Richard, and as usual, you don't answer.