Posted on 01/15/2016 7:07:02 PM PST by Red Steel
In the stakes to see who can make the most political hay out of the new action movie "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi," it didn't take long for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump to best Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, the man who's chasing him for the GOP nomination.
After Cruz plugged the movie's Friday release in Thursday night's GOP debate, calling it a story of brave Americans "and the politicians that abandoned them," The Des Moines Register reports that Trump has rented space at a movie theater in that city and will screen the flick for free, just weeks ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
"Mr. Trump would like all Americans to know the truth about what happened at Benghazi," the GOP presidential candidate's Iowa co-chair, Tana Goertz, said Thursday night, according to the Register. "The theater is paid for. The tickets are paid for. You just have to RSVP."
The move seems designed in part to help hold off Cruz, who's been locked in a tight battle with the real estate mogul in the critical early primary state. Escalating the competition, Cruz and Trump junked their monthslong goodwill gambit and turned Thursday's debate into a two-man mosh pit, trading blows on Trump's stealth campaign to question the Canadian-born Cruz's citizenship and Cruz's suggestion that Trump represents uber-liberal "New York values."
The film by Michael Bay – the director behind the highly successful "Transformers" action franchise – tells the story of a small unit of American contract commandos battling heavily armed militants who launched assaults on a U.S. diplomatic compound and a nearby CIA facility in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, died in the attacks, which began on Sept. 11, 2012, and quickly became shorthand for the Obama administration's foreign policy and national security failures.
The movie, based on a nonfiction book by former Boston Globe investigative reporter Mitchell Zuckoff, purportedly is apolitical: Bay himself insists the story avoids politics and focuses primarily on the military contractors and their against-all-odds fight for survival. But conservatives have eagerly awaited its big-screen release.
Though early reviews suggest the film studiously avoids mentioning Hillary Clinton, the Democrats' presidential front-runner who was President Barack Obama's secretary of state at the time, "13 Hours" is expected to be a blockbuster hit that will almost certainly reinsert the tragedy – and her role in it - into the national political conversation.
So Don Trump feels Ted’s breathe on his neck? Good.
Tickets actually went to Trump supporters who sat through a training program for the coming caucus. After that meeting they all did movie. A second hall was needed for the overflow
We will see.
It was arranged two days before debate Sorry.
Wait, two weeks ago you were saying Cruz was leading. So you agree Trump is leading, because only the leader feels “breath on his neck.”
Yes, but Ted arranged it first!
/s
Boingggg!
LOL
2 tickets for matinee tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing this movie.
“So you agree Trump is leading, because only the leader feels “breath on his neck.â€
Treed. Hehehehe
Tickets actually went to Trump supporters who sat through a training program for the coming caucus. After that meeting they all did movie. A second hall was needed for the overflow
That was brilliant. Show them how to caucus is a brilliant move. He is going to be the best President in history.
I think it was a brilliant Trump move that accomplishes so many things.... not the least of which it was an incredibly low cost tactic to keep the media talking about him.
It raised the public awareness of the movie.
That seems like a decent thing.
oops double post but got my tagline in order. ;)
That’s what the polls say at the moment, although the “gold standard” has Cruz slightly ahead, but within the margin of error. Being from Iowa (half my life) I know that the ground game & organization are key, but perhaps Don Trump will be able to translate big rallies into big turnout.
The whining when Trump starts his Iowa ground game is going to be epic.
He’s buying the election,” they’ll be screaming...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.