Posted on 04/22/2016 1:10:18 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Since the debate over what he said yesterday is still raging, it’s only fair that you get to hear his latest comment about it. Skip to 8:35 of the clip below from last night’s interview on Trump TV.
His response to Hannity’s question about North Carolina is a dodge but it’s a dodge with a conservative pedigree. If you’re a Republican who’s been put on the spot about a hot-button social issue, you can’t go wrong saying, “Leave it to the states.” Even righties who disagree with you on the merits will tip their caps at your nod to federalism. In fact, this is Cruz’s go-to answer whenever he’s asked about gay marriage or marijuana. He’s against legalizing either, he’ll tell you, which pleases social conservatives, but he’s also not looking to use federal power to impose his personal preference, which pleases everyone else. Trump’s answer is trying to create the same dynamic — with a twist. Instead of reassuring non-Republicans that he’ll defer to their local preference, as Cruz does when he gives the federalism answer, Trump’s reassuring his own party. He’s telling the same evangelicals who helped him crush Cruz across the south that he’ll pose no obstacle to them on this issue as president, which is an … interesting position for a soon-to-be party nominee to find himself in with respect to his own base.
There’s one other key difference: Cruz opts for a federalist answer on gay marriage and marijuana because each of those issues has been pushed by social conservatives at the federal level. Marijuana is regulated by the federal government, of course, and SSM opponents have spent years calling for a Federal Marriage Amendment. Cruz, in choosing federalism, is answering a bona fide question of whether the states or the feds should govern on those topics. There’s no similar state/federal dispute over North Carolina’s law. No one’s calling for a Federal Transgender Bathroom Amendment. Trump seizes on federalism, in other words, not because there’s a legitimate question of which government should address this subject but because he understands that federalism is a crowd-pleasing way to dodge when you don’t know what to say. It’s another small example of him not knowing how to speak conservative fluently.
I wouldn’t call it a flip-flop, though, as some Trump critics have on social media. This is a flip-flop:
Trump went from fiscal hawk to dove in 3 weeks. Obama would agree with much of this: https://t.co/SXKiPa4lRo pic.twitter.com/s0RMW3VT2Z
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) April 22, 2016
That’s from an interview with Fortune Magazine, which pressed him on why he could possibly believe he might pay off America’s $19 trillion debt in 10 years. “I didn’t say 10 years,” Trump replied. Er, three weeks ago he said he could pay it off in eight years, and that he’d do it mainly by renegotiating America’s trade deals, which wouldn’t remotely approach $2-3 trillion per year in surpluses. How you reconcile that with what he said to Fortune, I have no idea. Maybe that’s what Paul Manafort meant by Trump playing a “part” earlier and shifting to a more sober approach now. The old Trump would lie, lie, lie right to your face about his superheroic powers of debt-slashing. The new, serious Trump will be more realistic, “realistic” in this case meaning somehow spending more on the military and on infrastructure and not laying a finger on entitlement spending (as Trump has promised before) and yet somehow still reducing the debt in the process. Old Trump, in other words, was more like Superman whereas new Trump is more like Batman — wildly implausible, if not quite outright impossible.
Here’s the Hannity interview, followed by Cruz trying to capitalize on Manafort’s comments to the RNC.
Statehood has been nullified. We are now the Unified Socialist State of America. Enjoy your new Utopia.
You are dreaming if you think this would remain a state issue.
the problem saying it is a state issue is that it will need up in the Federal courts where they overrule, look at marriage as a perfect example.
Should have said both cruz and Trump if you are born with a penis then you are male end of.
Love how some on here are saying this is a state issue. While I agree it is they do not and it will end up in fed court just like homosexual sham marriage.
I wish people would wake the hell up and understand we have been down this road about state issues before with marriage.
cruz and Trump needs to both mention that if you are born with a penis then you are a male and therefore you use the male locker rooms, bathrooms etc.
No use one attacking the other when one does not say anything but attack and the other is all over the place.
Was just thinking of that one but did not know how to word it!!
It’s just that clear. If you are a man, use the men’s room. Done.
why cruz or Trump or anyone on our side can’t say a basic common sense thing like that is beyond me.
born with a penis you are male you use the male locker rooms, bathrooms.
Job done lets move to more pressing issues.
It’s all about destroying the foundation of the Judeo Christian west, one brick at a time.
“I’m sick of all thios homosexual, cross dressing crap.”
Are not we all? Why does one very small, mentally ill part of society get so many “rights”. This is wrong! These people need to use the bathroom in the local Nervous Hospital! If I was not angry about it before I sure am now.
I think I went to that “House” one time. :)
“It’s just that clear. If you are a man, use the men’s room. Done.”
amen!
LBGT bathroom $hit? Puh-leeze....
This is one grain of sand on a beach full of trouble. The biggest trouble is a 20 trillion grain pile just sitting there that no one is willing to deal with, except Trump.
Quit being little sCruz mouth-breathers. This issue is meaningless in the grand scheme of decisions a President will make.
Kudos to the brain-dead media for making it an issue with the morons that listen to their crappola.....
How have we managed this for the last 100 years?
Congress could simply prevent the courts from considering the issue and the problem would be solved.
But the real problem is all those critters in Congress who get elected pandering to social conservatives who don’t believe a word of it, and the social conservatives who keep sending these charlatans back into office time and time again.
Yep. That’s why the once-solid ‘federalist’ argument is ringing increasingly hollow these days. I used to get a sense of confidence when a leader would make such an argument, but with the reality of today, with Federal government run by degenerate, left-wing filth, it can also be seen as a dodge. By letting the Feds and the Courts do the dirty work, while you ‘pretend’ to be against it to your constituents. Hence, crap like faggot-marriage, and the GOP-er who was too cowardly to put up a fight, keeps his hands clean.
It’s happened so many times. It’s probably why I just don’t trust anyone these days. Lying bastards.
Exactamundo! That’s exactly what it’s about. And we need more leaders who recognize it.
the problem saying it is a state issue is that it will need up in the Federal courts where they overrule, look at marriage as a perfect example.
1) Say what pops into his head.
2) Handlers view the reaction.
3) Handlers tell him what his position really is.
4) The Donald clarifies.
Hey, his poll numbers are good, so his fans obviously don't pay attention to what comes out of his mouth anymore...
One time we used to lock these nutcases up.
Notice how the very same people state the white woman who lost her job at the NAACP claimed she was black was told she needs mental help and yet the same people have no problem with a guy saying he is a woman? Then to use girls locker rooms at a school,, swimming pool, changing rooms, bathrooms.
The media keeps harping about bathrooms , but it more than bathrooms. It is everything where a woman or girl changes, does their business etc.
I have said this before, but I have a 15 year old daughter and like hell is a guy getting in there if she is there and I will take my chances with a jury if I have to.
My first job as a dad is to protect my daughter.
No. While I agree that successful business people don’t pay attention, as they should, to social issues, The Donald has been very clear on whatever he did to make a success of his business. Unlike Cruz, he’s never hid or lied about his business dealings.
Yep.... Hannity coached him to this position. What’s another flip flop for King Trumpy. He flips on something every day.
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