By the time House Speaker Paul Ryan finally backed Donald Trump on June 2, the polls showed Trump and Hillary Clinton in a virtual tie. Clinton was still fending off a Democratic primary challenge from Bernie Sanders while Trump was slowly uniting a fractured Republican Party once his final challengers dropped out in early May.
How things changed in just one week.
Trump has been pilloried by opponents and supporters for what has been called racist comments about a judge presiding over a lawsuit involving Trump University. Trump has said the judge, Gonzalo Curiel, could not be impartial because of “his Mexican heritage.”
Five days after his endorsement, Ryan had to distance himself from Trump’s comments, saying it is the “textbook definition of racist.” But Ryan has not withdrawn his endorsement of Trump.
Trump has tried to defuse the controversy, saying the comments were “misconstrued”, but several Republicans are calling on him to apologize and retract his comments. Democrats will continue their attacks on Trump as a racist.
Will Trump’s head start on unifying his party wither under the weight of the candidate’s own words?
“VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussion and opinion on these policies.” — VOA Charter
Trump, the Judge and the Campaign
Trump and the Republicans
Mainstream Republicans have had 11 months to defeat Donald Trump. 16 candidates, 12 debates and 47 primaries or caucuses later, Trump is on the precipice of winning the party’s nomination. And the Republican Party is facing an identity crisis.
Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham are among Trump’s former presidential rivals who say they will not vote for him. Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Bobby Jindal are among the former candidates who are backing Trump because they say the option of voting for Hillary Clinton is worse. We have yet to hear directly from the last of the vanquished, John Kasich and Ted Cruz.
Both living Republican former presidents of the United States, George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, reportedly will not endorse Trump. Nor will the most recent Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.
The top elected Republican, House Speaker Paul Ryan says he could not support Trump…yet. The two will meet this Thursday, and the outcome may determine whether the ideological fault line that is Donald Trump will continue to split the Republican party. Or, can enough common ground be found to bring together the leaders of the Grand Old Party and the man who would be its new standard bearer?
Campaign ‘Cuisine’ Isn’t Always Presidential
Political pundits have already decided the outcome of today’s five-state presidential primary contests. It goes something like this: Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton will widen their leads, leaving their competitors (Bernie Sanders, John Kasich and Ted Cruz) that much further from securing their party’s nomination. Election season in America is a taxing months-long, 24/7 exercise, requiring a lot of stamina, and fuel to keep on keeping on. Sampling corn dogs, milkshakes, burgers, five-alarm chili and apple pie in state after state is a campaign must for every candidate. Why? Because breaking bread with the locals, whether in a small Idaho town or the big city of New York, is a sure way to connect with the voters. Today, we offer you a glimpse of American campaign “cuisine.” We check in on the latest thinking about the candidates, and Trump’s alleged pivot away from his raw and rowdy campaign style.
Donald Trump Takes Illogical Anti-abortion Rhetoric to Its Logical Conclusion
What Mr. Trump identified was the shocking intellectual dishonesty of the anti-abortion argument: If abortion represents murder (as opponents claim over and over again) and a fetus is equivalent to a baby lying in the crib, then how could they not punish the women who seek to “kill” that “unborn child?”
Chris Christie Is Now Ruined
Trump has rendered Christie an isolated, pathetic object of scorn. Other Republicans should take note.
Fearing Trump, Republican Power Brokers Turn to Rubio
The Republican presidential nominating contest turns to South Carolina, where polls show Donald Trump holding onto to his frontrunner status over Senator Ted Cruz, who prognosticators say will most likely come in second place. Neither candidate is very appealing to the party establishment’s money machine. Most were counting on Jeb Bush, whose lackluster campaign and poor showing in both the Iowa and New Hampshire contests has put his bid in peril.
Traditional Republican donors have been both stunned and panicked by the steady rise of Trump, whose insults to women, Latinos and pretty much every other voting bloc have only seemed to increase his popularity. Cruz has support from Tea Party conservatives, but has made enemies in Congress and elsewhere in the mainstream. Florida Senator Marco Rubio is projected to finish third in South Carolina, and very likely with the backing of the Republican establishment.
Where Jeb Bush Went Horribly Wrong
The thesis of the Bush campaign is that voters crave a competent manager to make reasonable decisions — not a celebrity or a personality. This, of course, is ludicrous, a total misunderstanding of the modern presidency. And I can prove it. My first witness is his father.
Ted Cruz’s Syria ‘Dog’
Ted Cruz’s bid for the GOP’s presidential nomination has always rested on the proposition that he is the only “real Republican” in the race. So why is the junior Senator from Texas advocating a Syria policy that seems to have been drawn from President Obama’s situation room?
Donald Trump’s Fascist Inclinations Do Not Bother His Fans
Trump is Don Rickles with the political inclinations of Francisco Franco.
The Hard Truth About Donald Trump
The Republican Party leaders know they have a serious problem. More significantly, America has a serious problem. Throughout our history, economic anxiety has brought out the worst in people.
5 Takeaways From the GOP Debate
There were sharp, sometimes contentious exchanges on immigration and military intervention, but for the most part the eight GOP contenders presented themselves – for the first time – as a diverse but essentially coherent field united against Hillary Clinton, who seems increasingly likely to win the Democratic nomination. Read more:
The Fox Business Debate Should Put The Focus on Growth, Jobs And Energy Independence
Let’s hope some of the GOP candidates who take the stage tonight will seize the opportunity and worry less about soundbites and displacing Donald Trump and offer ideas for energy and manufacturing growth.
Bush Looks to Curtail Federal Power
Unlike his father, former President George H. W. Bush, and his brother, Jeb Bush is a small government conservative.
Trump and Fiorina’s Snake Oil Sales
They’re both right. Fiorina’s tenure at HP was indeed a disaster, and Trump’s casino interests did indeed file for bankruptcy multiple times. Now that Trump and Fiorina are number one and number two in a recent poll — oy! — it’s worth taking a closer look at their business records.