Posted on 08/23/2015 8:13:02 AM PDT by conservativejoy
The geniuses in the Washington, D.C.- centered GOP establishment have a new plan to take down 2016 Republican frontrunner Donald Trump: Infiltrate his inner circle posing as an ally, then use their fabricated support of him to secretly plot to take him down.
But now they all admit: They were wrong, Trump is real, and he has a serious shot at winning this thing.
“Just like Humphrey Bogart said in Casablanca, I was misinformed,” Alex Castellanos, one such consultant, said of Trump in an interview with Bloomberg Politics on Friday. “He’s grown. He started off as the anti-Washington candidate, the angry man’s candidate, now he’s becoming not just an anti-them vote but a pro-him. He’s becoming the Make America Great Again candidate and that gives him room for growth.”
“Anybody who discounts Donald Trump—he’s going to be around through the convention now—I think is making a mistake,” Castellanos added.
From there, the conversation turned to how Castellanos thinks Trump might be taken down—and who might do it. He said:
Well you have two angles to look at that—he’s sitting on a bunch of people down there on the conservative side. He’s sitting on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)96%
. I doubt Ben Carson is going to do anything about that, but at some point Ted Cruz is going to wake and figure ‘this race is going to end and I’m never going to catch up.’ Then on the other side, the establishment side, you can wait a little longer. Whether it’s a Carly Fiorina or a Jeb Bush or a Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)80% , don’t stand in front of the tsunami right now and just coalesce—become a better, stronger candidate so you can be in the lead when everyone turns not to Trump but to the anti-Trump.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
There is only one way to effectively take down this “a$$clown” (as Michelle Malkin pointed out).
Trump is getting away with a bunch of leftist/populist talking points. But when the GOPe and RINO Establishment are the ones to point it out, it has no effect because it’s one group of fake conservatives telling another fake conservative that their not conservative enough.
For the attacks to come from the right and stick, they’ve got to come from someone with credibility on the issues.
Example:
Mike Huckabee is not a real conservative on most issues, but he’s at least regarded as being strong in the social conservative arena. Huckabee has the credibility to take Trump on the social issues for his previous misstatements/contradictions concerning abortion, PP funding, gay marriage and other SCOTUS decisions, and Trump’s brush off of the role of faith. Coming from him on these issues would have the most effect against Trump.
Ben Carson got his political fame as one of the first people to call out Obamacare for what it is. Carson would be the ideal person to attack Trump on his statements concerning his support for Canadian Health Care system and how Trump still appears to support socialized medicine and government intervention to an extent, and Trump’s trashing of insurance companies (Mobile Speech).
Scott Walker needs to hit Trump on the lies and leftist tactics Trump has used to describe the economic turmoil in Wisconsin. Trump recently cited false leftist numbers and talking points used by the left for disparaging WI’s economic turnaround.
Rick Santorum could hit Trump on Trump’s main issue of illegal immigration, including pointing out Trump’s previous statements just after the 2012 election where he called Romney’s idea of self-deportation “maniacal” and Republicans “Mean-spirited” for wanting to deport illegals. Santorum’s platform hasn’t changed on this and while he’s not as conservative on the other issues, he had the strongest plan out there concerning illegal immigration, especially curbing rising legal immigration. He could go after Trump on how he would define “productivity” in “expediting” illegals who return home back into the country.
Then there’s Free Trade. Trump has come out for starting a tariff war by making a 35% tariff on all imports which would “force” companies to operate in the USA but in the long run would just lead to a tariff war and lost jobs. Trade Protectionism is not the answer. There’s a number of free-traders in the race but the person who goes after Trump on this has to be someone with no ties to perceived crony capitalism or the Chamber of Commerce. I think Ted Cruz is the best free-trader in the race but because of those perceptions, this attack from him would have less effect. Perhaps Carly Fiorina might fine an opening here to go after Trump on this. Outside the 2016 race, Mark Levin has also been a strong pro-Free Trade supporter.
The examples cited above are the only way to stop this Trump BS. The attacks have to come from the right and they have to be done by people who at least have the perception of having some sort of credibility in the issue they take Trump on. Having the GOPe or RINOs point out the above arguments will have no effect on Trump.
McCain attacked conservatives in 2008 and then went on to defend Obama.
Romney attacked conservatives in 2012 and then went on to defend Obama.
When the GOP says they are going to take down Trump, they are really saying they are going to relegate more than a third of their party to inconsequential status. Maybe they are dumb enough to believe Trump is the cause of his current popularity, but he is really the effect of a disenchanted party, and an ignored platform. The real GOP message is, “Shut up, send money, and vote, we know what is best for the country.”
The GOP-e is teetering on the brink of permanent minority status in all three branches of government.
Of course, that may well be what they want.
A very compelling campaign position. Trump's massive support is fueled by the belief that he can give us the leadership we have been lacking on a number of fronts.
The Obama legacy is DOA.The WH ding-a-ling's hopey-changey flops; his incompetence; his visceral I-hate-America that imbued his every move....... 8 forgettable years of Obama are at an end. And let's not forget the 8 dismal years of the phony Clintons.
That didn’t actually work out well for Brutus in the end.
How about the look on the babies face?
‘’At least the Democrats never had to do that - we always knew what they were about.’’
Republicans are merely pikers compared to the democrats’ deceit & backstabbing. Though they do seem to be catching up. Rapidly.
Completely uncharted waters.
Sitting VPs don’t win the P. Taking the VP is a career killer.
That seems to be the prevailing sentiment here. Trump/Cruz sounds like a better ticket every day.
Amen, GBT/C
The genius plan goes something like this: Destroy the one who has the fire and grit needed to kill the democrat party. Offer a milk toast mediocrity who will promise to run a clean and respectful campaign. Sell this nobody by claiming that not voting for him/her will give us 4 years of democrat rule. On the first Wednesday of November, concede and return to the comfort of the DC cocktail/media circuit.
Hells a comin'.
“I guess asking the GOP to attack the Democrat candidates would be too much to ask.”
What? there are democrats running for President in 2016? Next, you’ll tell me we have sitting President who is a Marxist?
I can’t imagine the GOP knows this and would say nothing???
Before crap like this I merely had contempt for the Republicrat Party, but I now out and out HATE it!
TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT!
Amen, Bob!
Waiting for the tongue to dart out and flick a fly off Donald’s nose.
I love this picture!
Trump and Cruz are miles apart on legal immigration......Cruz has championed an expansion of legal immigration, arguing it would help the economy. During the 2013 immigration debate, the Texas senator proposed an amendment to the comprehensive “gang of eight” Senate bill that he boasted would “dramatically increase” the annual limit on H-1B skilled guest worker visas from—65,000 to 325,000—a five-fold expansion.
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It's disappointing that Cruz's transparent "VP-pick-me" gambit keeps propagating that "the two bonded over the issue of illegal immigration."
Cruz also voted for Obama's trade deal...a deal Trump plans to obliterate.
A huge red flag is that Cruz seemingly grovels for latino votes....consistently depicting himself as "latino" Yet his family bgrnd indicates only his father is Spanish; his mother is not---has two nationalities, one from each of her parents. Cruz has been living large, seeking the spotlight off his last name for ages. Could be a latino "us against them" battle-cry lurking behind all of his conservative blather.
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And while Trump has ignited America's visceral contempt for politicians... voters will be aghast knowing Cruz is a Washington Insider. He has yet to highlight even one of these committees as a campaign credential......guess he knows that would put the kibosh to his aspirations.
CURRENT COMMITTES (Cruz web site):
•Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
•Subcommittee on Seapower
•Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation
•Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, Chairman
•Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
•Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet
•Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security
•Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
Committee on the Judiciary
•Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, Chairman
•Subcommittee on The Constitution
•Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest
Joint Economic Committee
Committee on Rules & Administration
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BGRND (WIKI)---Elected US senator in 2012---Canadian-born Cruz was touted as "the first Hispanic or Cuban American to serve as a U.S. Senator" representing Texas. He is the chairman of the subcommittee on the Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.[7] He is also the chairman of the United States Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness, U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.
Between 1999 and 2003, Canadian-born Cruz was the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an associate deputy attorney general at the United States Department of Justice, and domestic policy advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. He served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to May 2008, after being appointed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.[8]
Cruz was also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, from 2004 to 2009.[12][13] While there, he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation.[12]
Cruz, born in Canada, is one of three US Senators of Cuban descent.
Cruz was the Republican nominee for the Senate seat vacated by fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.[15] On July 31, 2012, he defeated Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff, 57%–43%.[16] Cruz defeated former state Representative Paul Sadler in the general election on November 6, 2012. He prevailed 56%–41% over Sadler.[16][17]
On November 14, 2012, Cruz was appointed vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. (WIKI excerpt)
NOTE Cruz recently renounced his Canadian citizenship.
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