Posted on 01/22/2016 2:09:35 PM PST by conservativejoy
He's not going to get fully pregnant, just a little bit pregnant. What's the harm in that?
"I think they're warming up. I want to be honest, I have received so many phone calls from people that you would call establishment, from people - generally speaking ... conservatives, Republicans - that want to come onto our team," Trump told reporters in Las Vegas before an appearance at the Outdoor Sportsman Awards...
At an earlier rally, Trump painted himself as a pragmatic dealmaker capable of working with lawmakers, in contrast with Cruz, his top rival in the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses...
"You know what? There's a point at which: Let's get to be a little establishment," Trump told the crowd at the South Point resort and casino. "We've got to get things done folks, OK? Believe me, don't worry. We're going to make such great deals."
A fine soundbite for a general election candidate, which I think is the point of him talking like this. He's not puffing either when he says that establishmentarians are cozying up to him. They are, and some of them aren't shy about admitting their preference for him over Cruz.
In private, some veteran conservative Republicans have been reaching out to Trump. And Trump himself called the ultimate establishment figure in Washington, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, for a talk late last year.
"If it came down to Trump or Cruz, there is no question I'd vote for Trump," said former New York mayor and 2008 presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has not endorsed a candidate. "As a party, we'd have a better chance of winning with him, and I think a lot of Republicans look at it that way."
"Between Trump and Cruz, it's not even close," said Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), a longtime House moderate who has not endorsed a candidate. "Cruz isn't a good guy, and he'd be impossible as president. People don't trust him. And regardless of what your concern is with Trump, he's pragmatic enough to get something done. I also don't see malice in Trump like I see with Cruz."
"With Trump, hey, it's just a deal," said Alex Castellanos, a longtime Republican strategist. "The primary's one deal, that's done. If he were to be the nominee, the next deal's a general [election]. You can see him saying, ‘We had to do what we had to do to win the primary, but now's the general, and we've got to beat Hillary.' You can see him pivot on a dime.
Exactly. Trump is for Trump and he makes no attempt to conceal it. That's why his endless reversals over the past 15 years don't damage him the way Romney's considerably fewer flip-flops did: Trump barely makes a pretense of standing for something beyond his own success. The goal is to win. If muttering about "Mexican rapists" helps him win the primary, okay. If pivoting and presenting himself as a dealmaker who can build a centrist consensus helps him win the general election, okay. If and when he's president, he'll figure out whatever he needs to say to "win" at that point. One way he could "win" is by surprising his relatively small base of hardcore fans and signing a comprehensive immigration deal, which would earn him all sorts of Strange New Respect from his critics and signal that he's capital-s Serious about governing. He's an opportunist down to his bones. And he's so confident that he's going to win the primaries now that he's not even afraid of lending a bit of credence to Cruz's attacks that he's a phony populist who'll play ball with Mitch McConnell if given the chance. Maybe I will, says Trump. McConnell and Chuck Schumer know much more about how to "get things done" in Washington than Trump does. If you want to make America great again, they're indispensable aides in that task, right?
Never mind Trump. He can count on his cult of personality to forgive him anything, and the rest of the primary electorate has already priced his opportunism into his stock. The newsy part about the establishment flirtation with him this week is that conventional Republicans do make a pretense of standing for something beyond their own political self-interest. And yet, as Philip Klein says, "they've convinced themselves that the party would be better off choosing somebody who represents everything they claim to abhor." The Paul Ryan wing of the party may detest Cruz personally, but as Klein says, they have more in common ideologically - or claim to - with Cruz than they do with Trump, and yet the soundbites from congressional Republicans this week have almost uniformly signaled a greater openness to Trump than to Cruz. Not only that, but I can't recall even one of them quoted in the stories I've read this week claiming that Trump is a better conservative or Republican than Cruz. What they like about Trump, per Peter King's quote above, is that he'll do "deals," exactly the sort of compromise-for-its-own-sake approach that usually leaves conservative populists spitting at their congressional leadership.
There are only two possible ways to explain the Beltway preference for Trump, says Klein, given how poorly Trump polls in favorability surveys of the general electorate. Either they'd rather lose with Trump than accept a better chance of winning with the dreaded Cruz, or they just don't care about conservatism as much as they've always claimed. (Or both.) So here's my question to Cruz fans: If Trump wins this primary thanks in part to the "mainstreaming" benefits he's now receiving from people like Bob Dole and Terry Branstad and various Republican senators, why should any Cruz fan continue to support this party? The point of preferring Cruz (or Rubio) to Trump is that conservatism matters; this week you've seen various party chieftains essentially say, "Well, no, it doesn't matter much." If that's where the party is now, then let the rest of the electorate decide between the two non-conservative parties. Trump fans have every right to say they'll stay home if their guy isn't nominee because, without him in charge, the GOP doesn't really represent their interests. The same is true for Cruz fans at this point, no?
Exit question via Klein: Didn't we spend a good two or three years after the 2012 election hearing from establishment concern trolls that the GOP desperately needs to get right with Latino voters on immigration? Wasn't that one of the core arguments for the Gang of Eight bill, that the party is finished as a national force if it allows even one more presidential election to happen without reconciling with Hispanics? Did I dream that? Because here we are in 2016 and suddenly those same establishmentarians seem to prefer the candidate in the race who's utterly destroyed his standing with Latinos with rhetorical bombthrowing on immigration to the guy who's been mean to poor Mitch McConnell in his floor speeches. We're left now with this: "Pass amnesty or else we're dead as a party. Also, take the guy who likes talking about 'Mexican rapists' over the other guy." Huh?
Hatred like Calling someone wife a nutcase or a banker shill?
Hatred like that you mean? Or how about a couple posters going on and on, with pix no less of how Ted uses his kids as props?
If you want to vote Trump, that’s fine. Your choice. But please spare us all the victim routine when this very thread is populated with some of the worst offenders trashing Cruz and his supporters.
Shhh, don’t mention that fact - it’s beyond the comprehension of Cruzbots. They are steeped in their ideology. This fact escapes them, but, shhhh, don’t upset their puritanical applecart.
Yeah, I’ve heard all that nonsense about how Trump is the man we need now. There are variations of it, but I’m not buying any of it.
Bottom line, returning the country to the Constitution is what needs to be done, or we go all the way down the drain. That’s a simple, enduring truth which hasn’t changed. Certainly the appearance of a reality-show star didn’t change it.
I sincerely think it’s very sad that you had it right to begin with, but you dumped the true conservative in order to support the man who says he wants to “get a little bit establishment.” I honestly don’t understand that way of thinking.
You know, you Cruzbots are as bad, if not worse than Trump supporters. You worship at the altar of St. Teddy Bear, Soccel Ball, Cruz. I believe there is a commandment - “thou shal have no other gods before me.” Cruz isn’t as pure as the snow - but, you all can’t see that . He’s just a man, and has made some big boo boos - but none of you will admit it. So, live with your delusions.
Nobody wants to vote for a Canadian in a US election?
They feel. They don’t think. One cannot think and conclude that a man going establishment by his own words is anti establishment. Words mean things.
“Puritanical”
LOL, we have a new catchword from the progressive Trump fans! I guess it stems from their contempt for Ted’s Christianity.
What was it he was called? Yes, that’s right...”the Christian Taliban.”
I compare Cruz to Grandpa Munster, and I don’t apologize for that.
Here you go. Post 18. Just in case you left the thread and missed it. Feel the love emanating.
To: conservativejoy
You know, you Cruzbots are as bad, if not worse than Trump supporters. You worship at the altar of St. Teddy Bear, Soccel Ball, Cruz. I believe there is a commandment - “thou shal have no other gods before me.†Cruz isn’t as pure as the snow - but, you all can’t see that . He’s just a man, and has made some big boo boos - but none of you will admit it. So, live with your delusions.
65 posted on Friday, January 22, 2016 4:16:38 PM by Catsrus (I callz ‘em as I seez ‘em)
Yes, they’re running on pure emotion.
Like you said, they read his words in black and white—”let’s get to be a little bit establishment”-—but they have to pretend he meant something else.
NFW, Donald
Doesn't matter, though. He could look like the Elephant Man but it wouldn't change the fact that he's the best man for the job.
Yes it is. Cruz blundered badly today. He went against the ethanol in the corn belt. I actually agree with him on this BUT Cruz has spent a lot of time and effort on Iowa. He blew it here. BIG TIME. He needs to stop burning bridges.
Why would you let invisible people on an internet forum choose your presidential candidate for you?
When did conservatives stop thinking?
How do you suppose things get changed? Would you rather he lie to a state then screw them later? How about when it’s your state’s turn in the barrel? Still good with it? Because thats status quo. And you want more?
I’m fairly sure if Ted did that his current detractors would then love him for doing it though.
Just remember folks. The opposite of purity is corruption. So these people screaming about purity want what? Corruption. Simple math.
Trump is bat to the dead horse. That is why his supporters keep brining it up.
For Trump to declare Cruz’s an issue, when he declared Obama a non-issue (”he’s eligible”) is curious since there are way more suspicious circumstances surrounding Obama’s citizenship.
It’s opportunism being masked as concern for our nation. He is selling a bill of goods, saying what he must to close the deal. Nothing more.
No. Just trying to keep it on the friendly side. Maybe I'm just trying to keep my responses as short as possible. Who wants to read paragraphs worth of opinions?
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