2016 elections - because it's never too early

[Jaron]

I have seen this rather tone deaf response to anti-immigrant stuff in the past as well. I don't know why they think waving Mexican Flags and doing anti-social things is going to help their cause.

It's  like how the Jews flip the fuck out over Jaron and his cult leaders baptizing Jewish Holocaust victims into the Moron Church:  it's their Jewishness that is kind of the whole point of the issue.

That was really uncalled for.

[Jaron]

Can we just crown Trump Clinton already and be done with it?

FYP

[CountDeMoney]

That was really uncalled for.

Fuck you and your magic moo moos.

[derspiess]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/25/politics/state-department-report-faults-clinton-over-email-use/

Nice to see the State Department catching up on what everybody has already known.

That Hillary was blatantly lying when she claimed she complied with policy?

[CountDeMoney]

That Hillary was blatantly lying when she claimed she complied with policy?

No, that she failed to comply with the Federal Records Act.

[jimmy olsen]

Trump's gonna burn the whole party down around him win or lose.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-primary-is-over-but-donald-trump-keeps-attacking-fellow-republicans/2016/05/25/f1ab3c4e-2291-11e6-aa84-42391ba52c91_story.html

Donald Trump keeps attacking fellow Republicans

By Jose A. DelReal and Jenna Johnson

May 25 at 6:28 PM 
A fresh string of attacks by Donald Trump this week on rivals in the Republican establishment — including one delivered against a prominent Latino governor in her home state — raised new doubts about his ability or desire to unite the party's badly fractured leadership.

Now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Trump had been expected by many political strategists and party leaders to extend olive branches to his foes and vanquished opponents, many of whom could be crucial allies in his coming general election race against probable Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Yet the real estate mogul does not always appear to be interested in doing so. The revived feuding this week has only added to the concerns of holdouts such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who reiterated Wednesday that he was not ready to endorse Trump and remained opposed to some of his core policies.

The intraparty skirmishing began with an attack on New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) during a campaign rally in Albuquerque, where Trump blamed her for mismanaging the state's economy and suggested that she was shirking her responsibilities to her constituents.

"She's got to do a better job. Okay? Your governor has got to do a better job," Trump told a cheering audience Tuesday night. "She's not doing the job. Hey! Maybe I'll run for governor of New Mexico. I'll get this place going. She's not doing the job. We've got to get her moving. Come on: Let's go, governor."

Next, during a campaign event Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif., Trump rattled off a string of attacks that played like a greatest-hits collection from the raucous GOP primary. He knocked South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's decision to endorse Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), mocked former Florida governor Jeb Bush for his energy level and blasted 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as a "choker." None of the three have endorsed him.

"Poor Mitt Romney. Poor Mitt. . . . I mean, I have a store that's worth more money than he is," Trump said, adding later: "He choked like a dog. . . . Once a choker, always a choker." He also called Romney "stupid" and joked that he "walked like a penguin" on stage.

The attacks — delivered in Trump's distinctive and belittling style — would no longer appear to be in his best interest now that the primary is over and he faces a tough and well-funded opponent in Clinton. They could also further undercut his standing among women and minorities, who are strongly opposed to him in public opinion polls.

Martinez — the first Latina governor in the nation and New Mexico's first female governor — is the chair of the Republican Governors Association, which has deep coffers and can play a vital role in driving GOP turnout during an election year. Before Trump, she was also widely considered to be a leading pick as a potential 2016 vice presidential candidate.

Martinez has criticized the way Trump describes illegal immigrants and decided not to attend his Albuquerque rally.

"The Governor will not be bullied into supporting a candidate until she is convinced that candidate will fight for New Mexicans," a Martinez spokesperson said in a statement after the event.


Rubio, who dropped out of the presidential race in March, defended Martinez on Twitter as "one of the hardest working and most effective Governors in America."

During a Wednesday news conference on Capitol Hill, Ryan declined to specifically address Trump's attacks on Martinez but defended her record. "Look, I'll just leave it at this: Susana Martinez is a great governor," Ryan said. "She turned deficits into surpluses. She cut taxes. She's a friend of mine, and I think she's a good governor. I will leave it at that."

He also said he remained undecided on endorsing Trump: "Look, I don't have a timeline in my mind, and I have not made a decision. "Nothing has changed from that perspective, and we're still having productive conversations."

But it is not just Trump's penchant for picking fights that continues to give some Republican leaders pause. Many remain skeptical that his ideas align with the core beliefs of the conservative movement itself.




Trump and Ryan, for example, remain divided on one of the central pillars of the mogul's campaign: immigration reform, specifically Trump's call for mass deportation of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. Ryan, who supports a path for legal status for such immigrants, said the House will not put such measures on its 2017 agenda.

"Obviously, securing the border is part of national security, we believe," he said. "But I've made my view on [mass deportation] pretty darn clear, and I'll just leave it at that."

Ryan's six-part House agenda for next year — which he previewed during the news conference — also does not mention trade, another area where Trump holds positions dramatically different from the party's pro-free-trade leadership. Ryan also suggested that he remained skeptical of Trump's understanding of the limits of executive authority.

"We want to make darn sure that our standard-bearer understands, appreciates and respects and supports the Constitution and the kinds of principles that come with it, and those are some of the conversations we have been having," he said.

Trump's allies have rejected the idea that he will be unable to unite the party's establishment. They note that many members of Congress and other elected Republicans have backed Trump since he emerged as the presumptive nominee.

"I understand that Paul Ryan is trying to have it both ways," said Mark Burns, an evangelical pastor and televangelist from South Carolina who frequently speaks at Trump's rallies, during the Anaheim rally. "Donald Trump is going to unite this party and, come November, we're going to elect a new president by the name of President Donald Trump."

Nearly 6 in 10 voters say they have a negative opinion of Trump, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released earlier this week, though they have improved since March. Even so, Trump's negatives are nearly matched with Clinton's, and the poll showed that the two are caught in a statistical dead heat, with Trump at 46 percent and Clinton at 44 percent.

The poll also showed that Republican voters overall are warming to the mogul, with 85 percent now backing Trump. Some of that support could be tenuous, however: Nearly half of Republican-leaning registered voters do not believe that Trump's views reflect the core tenets of the party.

Johnson reported from Albuquerque, N.M., and Anaheim, Calif. Mike DeBonis and Emily Guskin in Washington also contributed to this report.

[Jaron]

Bernie wants to burn the house down too. He knows he won't win - he can't win but he's willing to trash the Democratic party and its candidate until the very end. What a piece of human trash.

[Martinus]

Isn't it funny that for decades people have been complaining that politicians toe the party line and never criticise their own party's actions - but suddenly when you have two candidates who do, they are the devil incarnate to some.

[Jaron]

Few people complaints about politicians voting with their party. We complain when politicians ignore their constituents. As a whole, the Democratic platform is beneficial to people voting Democrat. It's stuff like "This Walmart will close x small businesses in the area, but the congressperson voted for it anyway to appease their Walmart donors" that has us reaching for our pitchforks. We don't mind if corporate America has its influence in politics, but we do mind when it overrides what is best for the people.

Your understanding of American politics is preschool at best. Maybe you should try some news sources beyond Breitbart?

[Phillip V]

Sanders-Trump Debate has been verbally agreed to.


http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/trump-sanders-kimmel-debate-223594

[Jaron]

This would be a very strange move for Trump.

If he attacks Bernie too ferociously he may alienate Bernie Bros. He can hypothetically pick some of them up.

Or will Trump throw the debate because it won't really impact him but it could strengthen Bernie's position and further split the Democratic party?

What does Trump gain?

[Admiral Yi]

Trump will try to play kissy face with Bernie.

I have no clue what Bernie will do.

[Martinus]

This would be a very strange move for Trump.

If he attacks Bernie too ferociously he may alienate Bernie Bros. He can hypothetically pick some of them up.

Or will Trump throw the debate because it won't really impact him but it could strengthen Bernie's position and further split the Democratic party?

What does Trump gain?

I think it is a very smart move by Trump. He is signalling to Bernie Bros that he is treating Bernie seriously, strengthens him (so ensures he continues as long as possible against Hillary) and possibly even gets a platform to talk to some of Bernie supporters who may otherwise never hear him actually talk.

At the very least Trump realises that while his early primary victory may have been good politically, it takes some of steam out of the show he is running, because his victories are no longer being reported in the same way they were before Rubio and Cruz dropped out (it's telling that we are not getting more Can't Stump the Trump episodes at the moment - there is nothing to report about). So he knows he must keep coming back on the news cycle somehow (his list of SCOTUS nominees served exactly that purpose). Even if the debate with Bernie does not achieve for him any of the strategic goals I mentioned earlier, it means he is back on news headlines.

[Jaron]

It can't extend Bernie past the convention and he was already planning on that.

It's pretty clear the intent here is to snuggle up to Bernie Bros and attack Hillary. Bernie is truly despicable.

[garbon]

Isn't it funny that for decades people have been complaining that politicians toe the party line and never criticise their own party's actions - but suddenly when you have two candidates who do, they are the devil incarnate to some.

Trump doesn't even act like a mature adult. I think it would be very hard to have any respect for the politicians he has called childish names if they were to suddenly make amends with him.