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It was only a matter of time before we had a populist backlash to 30 years of flawed globalization policies that both parties embraced. There were, in retrospect, clear signs of what was to come--signs that if Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders did not appear on the scene, someone else like them would have. We've had decades of forewarnings as the top income earners --the "one percent"--began taking bigger shares of our economy starting in the 1980s: The anti-globalization protests of the late 1990s. The rise of Ross "NAFTA-will-suck-our-jobs-away" Perot and Pat "Pitchforks" Buchanan against the GOP establishment. The brief...

Trump: We Should Take Libya's Oil 4/19/2011 6:23PM In an interview with WSJ reporter Kelly Evans, potential presidential candidate Donald Trump claims he only supports Libyan intervention provided the U.S. can "take the oil." He also warns of Iran controlling Iraq's oil if the U.S. doesn't secure it first.

Fresh off back-to-back victories in the Republican presidential race, Donald Trump is moving to expand his tight-knit campaign by building a political kitchen cabinet that includes former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Giuliani, who has not made an endorsement in the 2016 contest, said in an interview Sunday that he has conferred at length with Trump at least three times in the past month, both in person and by phone, and has counseled the real estate mogul "as a close personal friend" about campaign issues. "We've been talking. Donald and me, Donald and a few other friends who know...

Senator Schumer appeared Sunday on ABC's This Week and responded to suggestions that the Senate might not confirm the lame-duck President's nomination to replace the late Justice Scalia: "show me the clause [in the Constitution] that says [the] president's only president for three years." True, Presidents serve four-year terms. But here's a question for Senator Schumer: Can you show me the clause that says the Senate must vote on, let alone confirm, a President's nominee? I'll save him the effort: There is no such clause in the Constitution

It’s not every day that anti-war groups find themselves cheering on leading Republican presidential candidates. But, then again, this hasn’t been a presidential campaign that’s stuck to the script. The morning after he called the Iraq War a huge misstep and argued that President George W. Bush lied to get the country into it, Donald Trump has earned praise from, of all places, Code Pink, the group best known for protesting the Iraq War and subsequent military interventions. “I watched the debate last night and LOVED IT,” Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin said in an email.

A truism has developed during the 2016 election campaign that Donald Trump can say the most outrageous things and not have it affect his poll numbers. That principle may be put to a severe test as a result of Trump not only claiming that President George W. Bush lied about Saddam Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction to justify the Iraq War but also blaming him for 9/11. These claims certainly livened up the debate in South Carolina where George W. Bush is regarded with some reverence

There's nothing irrational about Donald Trump's appeal to the white working class, writes Charles Murray: they have every reason to be angry If you are dismayed by Trumpism, don't kid yourself that it will fade away if Donald Trump fails to win the Republican nomination. Trumpism is an expression of the legitimate anger that many Americans feel about the course that the country has taken, and its appearance was predictable. It is the endgame of a process that has been going on for a half-century: America's divestment of its historic national identity. For the eminent political scientist Samuel Huntington, writing...

Donald Trump on Friday threatened to sue Ted Cruz for "not being a natural born citizen" if the Texas senator "doesn't clean up his act" and stop running negative ads against him. "If @TedCruz doesn't clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen," he tweeted. If @TedCruz doesn't clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen. -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2016 Trump has previously argued that if...

Donald Trump announced Friday he raised $6 million for veterans at his fundraiser in Iowa the night before. Iowa was amazing last night. The event could not have worked out better. We raised $6,000,000 for our great vets. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) > But this would appear a significant increase from what he's given to the cause before, according to some reports which questioned whether the billionaire businessman has been a consistent donor to vet groups. Showbiz 411 reports that the Donald J. Trump Foundation gave a total of $2.6 million in charitable donations in the last three years,...

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump took to Twitter to “thank the evangelical Christians for the warm embrace [he’s] received on the campaign trail.” In his appeal to the evangelical vote just two days before the Iowa caucus, Trump posted a video on Facebook where he holds his mother’s Bible and also thanks the evangelical voting block for keeping him high in the polls. “I really appreciate the support given to me by the evangelicals — they’ve been incredible,” Trump said in the video. “Every poll says how well I’m doing with them.” He adds, “My mother gave me this Bible —...

The most politically active members of the Republican Party have warmed to Donald Trump’s bid for the party’s presidential nomination since last summer, according to a new YouGov poll, which finds 68 percent now think he could win the general election. While most surveys attempt to reflect the entire electorate, this one is the latest in a trio of polls focusing solely on Republican activists: well-informed party stalwarts who've run for or held office, served as party officials, worked on campaigns or volunteered their time before elections. They provide some insight into the role of GOP political leaders in an...

Research from the polling firm Gallup has found that Donald Trump is the "most unpopular candidate" for president in either major party - both in this election and all the way back to 1992. Trump's unfavorable rating currently stands at 60 percent, which is substantially higher than that of any of his Republican rivals. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush is at 45 percent, and everyone else is even lower: Chris Christie is at 38 percent, Ted Cruz is at 37 percent, Marco Rubio is at 33 percent, and the reliably likable Ben Carson is only at 30 percent. In the...

Last night poster IwaCornDogs on Free Republic posted what Trump's campaign is mailing to Iowans. The poster scanned the letter and you can read it at the link. The letter nicely asks for support and explains how easy it is to caucus, provides the voter's caucus location, and also a voter registration form to change their registration from independent to republican at caucus night. Probably hundreds of thousands of Iowans are receiving these letters. There are no vile scare tactics or attacks. There is no begging you for money or donations. It simply tells you how to caucus for Trump...

Of all the many things said about Donald Trump, what was said by Roger Ailes, head of the Fox News Channel, said it all in just two words: “Grow up!” It is amazing how many people have been oblivious to this middle-aged man’s spoiled brat behavior, his childish boastfulness about things he says he is going to do, and his petulant response to every criticism with ad hominem replies.

Bernie and Trump boast about inspiring new people to head to the polls but less than a week away from the Iowa caucuses, the number of registered voters has decreased in the state over the past year. If the major political parties had some trick up their sleeves to get more voters registered ahead of the Iowa caucus, it hasn't happened yet. With under a week left until people vote for the first time in 2016, the number of registered Democrats and Republicans has remained fairly static in the last six months. So the big crowds at rallies for Bernie...

As the end of the year approaches, Donald Trump is solidly ensconced at the top of the Republican polls nationally. The man just behind him? Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) , an establishment bugaboo. The establishment’s favorite candidate, Senator Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) , is currently running far behind in national polling, a distant third in Iowa, and in a deadlock with Cruz and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for second in New Hampshire. Panic time. So, here’s the establishment roundup for Christmas week. If You Support Donald Trump, You Want to Lose. Earlier this week, Bret Stephens of The...

THE vice president of the United States was unhappy. In 1983, a "Conservative Digest" poll of conservatives found that 64 percent of right-leaning party leaders wanted George H.W. Bush replaced on the 1984 Reagan ticket. "Light reading," Bush scribbled across a cover sheet as he sent a copy to his friend James Baker - adding a frowning face. Reagan would have none of it - he liked and appreciated Bush. But the gulf between establishment and insurgent Republicans has only grown in the ensuing decades. The elder Bush's struggles through the years with a restive right shed light on the...

Cheri Jacobus ‏@CheriJacobus I will not vote for @realDonaldTrump under any circumstances in the primary OR general election I will write in a real Republican.

It occurred to me last night, as random strangers were tweeting this story at me, that I’ll be expected to commit ritual seppuku if Romney somehow ends up jumping into this clusterfark. Even though I have no influence over anyone, I took the joke too far. I planted the seed. And I watered it with the tears of thousands of bored readers who sat through post after post about it. All I want is a trial. I admit guilt. I just want to contest the sentence. The party establishment is paralyzed. Big money is still on the sidelines. No consensus...

Had a funny thought this morning...that is all.