* What do we make of the fact that Carson and Kasich haven’t withdrawn yet, per National Review’s orders? Do we conclude that they don’t too much mind the prospect of Trump winning the nomination?
* I think it also shows cracks in the establishment. They are going to have to come to terms with Trump or back up those threats about supporting Hillary – which are fake I think. They thought they could scare the base off Trump. I think they thought the base would think that without the establishment support he would lose and if he was going to lose anyway they should fall in line and support what the establishment wants. The base said F-U – we will lose with Trump then.
* About three weeks ago, after the NH debate where Christie launched his devastating attack on Rubio, I posted something along the line that there was a deal between Trump and Christie involving that attack on Rubio with a promise to Christie AG of the Trump Administration. I learned later from Dave Pinsen that Scott Adams over on his dilbert.com blog not only thought the same thing but went further to speculate that the line of questioning had originated in the Trump camp. I agreed with his conclusion, since the style had all the hallmarks of the Trump campaign. Subsequently, I posted several times noting that Christie had not yet endorsed another candidate following his withdrawal from the race. So I am not totally surprised by today’s development. In fact, it seems to confirm what I and Scott Adams were speculating about three weeks ago. We should look forward to President Trump nominating Christie as his AG next year.
BTW I am still of the opinion that Christie will not be Trump’s VP. NY and NJ are right next door to each other, for one thing. Then there is the famous exchange between Christie and Paul at the Las Vegas debate where Paul said of Christie, “if you’re looking for someone who will start WWIII, then you’ve just found your candidate.” I don’t think Trump would want that baggage on his ticket. I look for someone like Kobach of Kansas or someone else not on the MSM radar screen (good resume, relatively young, holding political office, far from NYS).
* Sessions is crucial in the Senate, President Trump needs allies there.
Sessions is too old be carry on the Trump agenda after Trump leaves office.
Kobach is the insurance you want because he has been fighting this fight, down in the trenches, helping different states write anti-illegal legislation, he’s fighting in courts defending various laws which are being challenged. He’s fighting the good fight, he doesn’t have a high profile, he doesn’t appear to be corrupted, and his background checks all of the right boxes in terms of credentials and party without yet accumulating the taint of being a bought puppet, in fact, his anti-immigration activism likely stalls his career progression so being picked as VP works to drastically reshape the party.
He’s the perfect guy, but there are two flaws. The first is his low profile, he doesn’t add wattage to the Trump campaign, but I believe that Trump himself has this covered. The second is that he doesn’t round out the Trump policy platform or bring another faction into the fold. This is a toss-up, either you round out the platform but at the cost of weakening a core issue, or you strengthen the core issue but at the cost of giving voice to different factions.
I admire Kobach’s work on anti-immigration and feel that he can do more for America by fighting on a larger battlefield and so he deserves the boost to VP even if it comes at the cost of not giving another faction their time in the sun. Anti-immigration has been in the shadows, the odd man out, for a long, long time. Time to make up for that shunning by doubling down. Trump-Kobach 2016.
He’s also a scrapper, fighting for his cause and that aligns nicely with the Trump agenda for America’s future.
* It appears that some new software was installed in the Marcobot today. His backers have finally developed some Trump-based software. Marco was tossing out Trump-style insults at the Donald himself–saying he was lathering make-up on backstage, sweating profusely, and checking himself in a full-length mirror to be sure he hadn’t wet his pants. Somehow it doesn’t work so well coming from Rubio. Doesn’t feel genuine. Like he’s trying on the big-boy pants.
* A ‘solid conservative’ like Cruz is a deadweight if not a liability in the general. His opponent is Hillary Clinton. The Constitutional Cruz zealots will get their heads out of their asses when it’s down to him and her.
What he needs to do is win middle and working class white Democrat and independent voters. His immigration and jobs pitch will already sway a sizable percentage of them, but to win enough over, he’ll have to overcome his portrayal as American Hitler.
A lot of independent voters are milquetoast centrists who don’t want anyone too ‘extreme’ in any direction. They’re already scared of him, thinking he’s unstable, crazy, racist, fascist, bullying, etc. He needs someone moderate to help soothe these fears and make him a less embarrassing and uncertain candidate for middlebrow voters to go with.
Cruz is not that guy. Far-right religious candidates scare the Hell out of a lot of on-the-fence voters. No go. Going to be just like what Palin did for John McCain in ’08. He was losing regardless, but she became a downright liability by scaring off a ton of people.
Cruz is also a liability because Trump has been hammering him as the biggest liar around. One of Trump’s biggest angles of attack on Hillary is her dishonesty. He brings Cruz on board, suddenly he can’t capitalize anymore on her being the Queen of Liars when he’s got the King of Liars by his side.
* There is a lot of Trump in LePage so I’m not surprised by the endorsement. LePage is also one of the least politically correct elected officials that you will find, all while doing it in Maine. He told the NAACP to kiss his butt a few years back among other comments.
LePage’s 2014 Re-election was a surprise and to some extent one can draw similarities to Trump’s campaign this year. LePage’s approval ratings were supposedly low (low 40′s) and like Trump today, so were his favorability ratings. He was supposed to lose close in a three way race to the Democrat, but instead nearly hit 50% and won by 5 points.
As to Christie’s endorsement of Trump, I wonder if this is Christie’s way of sticking it to former NJ Republican Governor and 69 year old brat Christine Todd Whitman. She called Trump “Hitler” back in December and has said that she will vote for Hillary if Trump is the nominee. Her goal of helping continue the trend of turning the GOP into another social leftist, but fiscal “conservative” party has and will be an utter disaster for electability even in the region that she thinks it will help the most, the Northeast.
* Mexico will pay for The Wall one way or another when Trump shames Congress into repealing NAFTA. Big changes are a-comin’ for the Globalists. Just today was that a shot over the bow of Amazon by Trump?
