Columnist.
This past week, a group of conservatives were invited to meet Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in California. Facebook scrambled to do damage control over a story that suggested conservatives were being censored on Facebook. The specific allegation, made by one aggrieved self-identified conservative former Facebook employee, was that humans controlled the trending news section on Facebook and those humans were predominately liberals intentionally ignoring conservative news. On the basis of this one report, Facebook's CEO summoned leading conservatives from around the country for a face-to-face meeting.
In Nebraska Tuesday night, with only Donald Trump still running for the Republican nomination, 40 percent of Nebraska's Republican voters voted against him. In the last two weeks, Donald Trump has publicly declared that he does not need the Republican Party to unite behind him to win and that he does not need conservative support.
"Angry voters made a terrible miscalculation in the Republican primary."
Upon arrival in Washington, DC in January of 1993, Bill and Hillary Clinton found themselves in a never-ending independent counsel investigation. The investigation began over a land deal that was known as Whitewater. Then there was a travel office investigation, abuse of FBI files, and President Clinton's behavior in a sexual harassment case. Ultimately, the American public learned several things. They learned that Bill Clinton had loved women a lot. They learned that feminists did not really believe their rhetoric when it came to women treated badly by Bill Clinton. They learned that Bill Clinton had a sexual relationship with an intern and lied about it.
It should be a no brainer of a statement. Smoking cigarettes causes cancer. In fact, there are many things a person can smoke that do less damage. Cigars and marijuana are less likely to cause cancer than smoking cigarettes. Back in March, when people started asking me to smoke cigarettes, I declined. Not only did I decline, but I said I would never smoke cigarettes. Why? Because smoking cigarettes causes cancer. It is a no brainer.
In the two years that I have written this column, I have always tried to make it about the news of the day. I find myself in the awkward position of being the news of the day. Last week, for the first time since I began this national column, I missed my deadline. No column was forthcoming. I had started the column, and I presumed I would finish it last Thursday morning after a doctor's visit.
One of the things candidates for president sometimes find is that, as they gather strength, their campaign nature changes. Gone are the friendly faces a candidate is long accustomed to. Those who know the candidate's routines get shuffled out. The general election pivot brings on more professional types and more mercenaries who are in it to win, not in it for the candidate.
This weekend is the anniversary of the single most important event in human history. What came after was entirely different than what came before. While many dispute even the basic facts, historians have long acknowledged that the events more than two billion people worldwide will remember this weekend fundamentally reshaped the planet.
For seven months, Republicans — myself included — have argued against the data. The data showed that Donald Trump would be a viable candidate. Many of us presumed he would eventually fade. Many of us presumed he would eventually burn out his supporters with his gaffes, waffling and walk backs. What many of us misunderstood was Republican voter anger. There are a lot of angry people out there and they are flocking to Donald Trump. They have good reason to be angry. Washington politicians, particularly Republicans, have broken promise after promise. People in Washington seem to be doing quite well while the nation suffers.
One of the greatest challenges a human being can face is to find a "political strategist" on any cable news network who has actually worked for well-known politicians within the last four years — or even last decade. The lack of core competence in campaigns actually shapes the lack of core competence in reporting on campaigns. Many of those who report on campaigns have never actually worked on one. Many of those on television pontificating about campaigns as so called "political strategists" do not know the difference between a margin of error and a margin on paper. They go with the conventional wisdom that sounds good.
The United States has hit a pivotal moment. Throughout the country, while Washington elites have gotten rich off the system, the poor and middle class have seen their jobs and positions in life go stagnant. Harry Reid's family has done quite well off the Senator's time in the Senate, and Senator Reid himself now lives at the Ritz. John Boehner left the Speaker's Chair and will now make a very comfortable living in the private sector, trading on his ties and influence. Washington thrives while America suffers. The Democrats promised to improve the lives of blue-collar workers, but instead began an aggressively regulatory campaign that saw coal miners out on the street, factories close and lives upended. Republicans promised to fight back, but never mounted much of a fight or held the president accountable. When Ted Cruz was willing to go the ultimate step to stop the president with a government shutdown, his Republican colleagues threw him under the bus as quickly as possible.
Robert Jeffress is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, TX. Jerry Falwell, Jr. is the President of Liberty University and son of moral crusader Jerry Falwell. Both have endorsed Donald Trump. Falwell has vouched for Donald Trump's strong Christian faith. Jeffress called Trump "a great leader, a great visionary and a great American." Both men have used their ties to the evangelical community to bolster Trump's credibility. But Trump has said repeatedly that he has never had the need to repent - a basic tenet of Christianity. The man has committed adultery, among other sins, is on his third marriage, says he has no need to repent, and Jerry Falwell and Robert Jeffress are lending their credibility to Trump's.
I have a new book out this week titled "You Will Be Made to Care." I chronicle the disturbing trend of persecution in the United States against people of faith. Several years ago, I had an encounter with a young man who told me in no uncertain terms that he did not care about the rapid movement to legalize same sex marriage in the United States. It did not affect him, would not affect him and he did not care about the issue at all. I replied to him that he would be made to care by the secular left in America. They will abide no dissent on the issue. If he decides, because of his faith, that same sex marriage is a sin, he will be made to change his mind or shut up. He could lose his job, his home, and see his career annihilated if he cared the wrong way. Sadly, since that time, I have been proven right.
Neither Iowa nor New Hampshire is really Republican country. The base of the Republican Party lives in the South and West of the United States, which is where the primary now shifts. Ted Cruz, in Iowa, saw an evangelical turnout over 60 percent that helped him win. Donald Trump, in New Hampshire, saw a secular turnout of around 75 percent that helped him win in New Hampshire. Impressively, Cruz came in third in New Hampshire, only spending approximately $18.00 per vote in advertisements while Jeb Bush came in fourth, spending approximately $1200.00 per vote garnered in advertisement. Rubio, who came in third in Iowa, came in fifth in New Hampshire. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie essentially took out Rubio in a political murder-suicide.
I have, since last September, written several times that I think the 2016 campaign comes down to a race between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. The loss in Iowa after leading in the ten polls preceding the caucuses has taken the wind out of Donald Trump's sails. He is refusing to invest in New Hampshire and will not buy expansive data to micro-target voters. I suspect Christie, Bush, Kasich, and Fiorina fade. Ben Carson is already fading. Despite Carson's attacks on Ted Cruz over urging Carson supporters to stand with Cruz, the facts are that Ted Cruz's campaign relied on CNN reporting to tell Cruz's supporters that Ben Carson was getting off the campaign trail after Iowa. Carson's campaign has cut fifty staffers and is already announcing more cuts after New Hampshire. Carson will be out soon. He is using Ted Cruz as a way to stay on life support, but his campaign is over.
"Trump's position supporting a socialist healthcare scheme is about the only consistent position he has maintained."
"As far as single payer, it works in Canada, it works incredibly well in Scotland." "I would press for universal healthcare. ... I would put forward a comprehensive health care program and fund it with an increase in corporate taxes." "We must have universal healthcare." "I hate the concept of it, but on a humanitarian basis, you have to [take in Syrian refugees]" "I support the ban on assault weapons and I also support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun." "I hate the concept of guns." "The Republicans walk the NRA line and refuse even limited restrictions." "I probably identify more as a Democrat."
Former Senator Bob Dole entered the 1980 Republican presidential primary to stop Ronald Reagan. At the time, Dole declared Reagan would be deeply destructive to the Republican Party. When no one rallied to Dole he called for former President Gerald Ford to get into the Republican primary to stop Reagan. Ford did not get in. Reagan did not destroy the Republican Party. Reagan, in fact, became the standard bearer for the party. It is worth noting that every Republican nominee since Reagan, with the exception of John McCain in 2008, actively opposed Ronald Reagan in 1980.
We now know that there was no mechanical problem with the two U.S. Navy boats the Iranians captured. Our sailors were treated like prisoners while the American president refused to even acknowledge the incident in his State of the Union address. The Obama Administration claimed that Iran's quick release of our sailors was proof of a new and better relationship with the Iranians. Please pay no attention to the number of Americans being held in Iranian prisons for, among other things, reporting on Iran for American newspapers.
"If you see 10 troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you," said the ever wise Calvin Coolidge, who was both the best American President and most conservative. Washington politicians of both parties, in an ever-greater quest to play to the crowd and earn free media, are desperate to just do something.
