Posted on 01/02/2016 7:30:04 AM PST by Isara
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This is precisely what Donald Trump, national GOP front-runner but second place in Iowa, told an Iowa crowd this week while stumping for votes.
Just remember this -- you gotta remember, in all fairness, to the best of my knowledge, not too many evangelicals come out of Cuba, okay? Just remember that ... just remember.
...We will not dedicate time, space or energy to parsing those words in ways that might offer some alternative meaning than the one most evident and likely, which would be this: Donald Trump thought it would advance his political aims if voters in Iowa were reminded that Ted Cruz is a Cuban (technically half-Cuban) and/or cast doubt on whether Cruz is a true evangelical.
This comes from the the ever-useful section of campaign play books that say tell voters why your competition is "not like us."
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First, Donald Trump's knowledge of the Cuban religious diaspora is, apparently, limited and outdated.
In Cuba right now, Protestant and Protestant Evangelical churches are experiencing rapid membership growth. In the United States, Latino-Americans with ancestral and direct links to many different Latin American countries, including Cuba, are driving some of the only growth in many Protestant denominations. Latino evangelicals represent the fastest-growing religious group in the United States. Some are Cuban-American evangelicals.
To be clear, the majority of American Latinos are Catholic. But the share who are Catholic slid from 67 percent in 2006 to 59 percent in 2013....
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Finally, Ted Cruz is a self-identified evangelical and the son of an evangelical -- and many would say extremely conservative -- Cuban-American pastor. We have no more reason or authority to doubt that than Donald Trump's declarations that he is a life-long practicing Christian, even if he cannot name a Bible verse. That is between Trump and his God.
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(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I actually met the pastor who prayed with 8 year old Ted and baptized him. He was at a rally and he lives in Tennessee. Super nice man.
Oh, yeah, it’s all different this time around because TRUMP!
LOL
Tempest in a Teapot #4,894.
Anyone know how many Evangelicals come out of Cuba and does anyone really care? For me the answer is no on both counts.
Heck, I’m a Catholic and I think the Pope talks like a typical Democrat Communist Sympathizer. I guess I should never run for Office for fear of upsetting my fellow Catholics who think the Pope is the ultimate Authority in their lives unless their Daughter needs an Abortion of course.
I wonder how many of these offended folks have or will Vote for the Democrat in the General? Do Republicans get 100% of the Evangelical Vote? I doubt it.
The world burns and we pontificate about a silly throwaway line in a Trump Speech.
Iowa should just stick to growing Corn, watching American Pickers and being the subject of fantasy Baseball Movies if this makes or breaks their choice of a Candidate.
If it drives them to Cruz, so be it. If it’s the ONLY reason it drives them to Cruz, they are as brain dead as any Liberal out there. How many of these Evangelical purists wouldn’t Vote for a Catholic, Mormon or Jew?
Geez. I’m a Cruz(1), Trump(2) guy and I could not care less about this. Apparently it’s worth triplicate Threads here.
Just my $.02, your Mileage may vary. Maybe I just got up on the wrong side of the bed and this stupid same old, same old Thread topic just pushed my button one too many times.
Happy New Year, it will be a doozie for sure.
Cruz doesn’t support H1-B visas and TPP, which Cruz opposes, hasn’t been voted on.
I am not interested in what Mr. Trump supported as a private citizen & businessman. I want a wall! I want an end to illegal immigration.
“If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under” Ronald Reagan
“Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged” Ronald Reagan
How in the he** do you even pretend to know what Trump thinks? And, who are you, Miss Pharisee to thump your chest and proclaim yourself to be the better Christian? Jesus despised people like you - yes he did. I seriously doubt that if I were Trump that I would tell the entireworld what I talked to God about. FOr that matter, let’s hear what St. Cruz asks God’s forgiveness for? Crickets - eh? You should take the beam out of your own eye before trying to remove the toothpick from someone elses. (words changed for clarity of meaning).
You said it, Brother FReeper. In my opinion, all one needs to see of Trump in action is this approx. 6-minute video. It tells you all you need to know. He is hot-headed and slow-thinking.
Slimeball traitor fellow Republican McCain attacks Trump, and Trump is presented with an opportunity to highlight the traitorous kind of Republican he stands against; instead, Trump attacks by mocking possibly the one honorable thing about McCain, his POW status. Essentially, McCain is a loser because he got captured and "I like people who weren't captured." And the audience laughs in admiration. Mocking every POW who lived or died in quest of "winning." Chilling and sickening. Especially since Trump took five deferments from the Viet Nam war!
Then when he's asked the lame, stupid question if he's ever asked God for forgiveness, a cool-thinking person like ANY of us here, would basically say, "Of course. Next question, and make it relevant to the issues, please?" Self-absorbed Trump spends the next minute or two basically saying, "Ask God for forgiveness? Not me! I do it differently!"
He's a sincere patriot, I believe that, I believe he is well intended. But he is out of his league. He's a good salesman and deal maker. In the White House, that will take things leftward, especially considering his 26-year party-switching past. He (re-)joined the Republican party right at the time it totally left me, in the era of McCain and Romney.
Trump is just a bad risk.
Holy cow.
Add to that a certain talent for self-promoting showmanship? To the point of having a "personal brand" upon which he puts a self-worth value of several billion dollars?
Right on the money. His only certain talents.
All the rest, his supporters assume.
Did you ask for forgiveness today?
Just asking, because I did not see it or read about it.
Maybe you should have a vanity post each day, here, so I can see it and see that you actually do, every day.
Perhaps you do, over in the religion section, and I just miss it, because I do not read that every day.
I will be looking forward to your daily post.
To me, Cruz is exactly right on -- those of us who are Christians and/or who recognize the new Crusades approaching, understand this. This is a Christian nation founded on Christian values. That is a fact. All Cruz is doing is speaking to Christians as well as all others. America was founded by bible-believing Christians, and in fact Western Civilization is Judeo-Christian (decent enough term) values based. We ignore that at our peril. I like that Cruz is up-front about his faith and its role in how he views Constitutional government.
False. Posts here with links showing the lie of your spin are numerous. And even if those two items were as you wrongly perceive, what are they in comparison to Trump's flaws? Miniscule, that's what. Trump is old enough to be Cruz's pop, and his kids' grandfather. Yet in the 26 years since Cruz got out of high school, he's been a limited government Constitutional conservative and so excelled at law that be clerked for and later argued in front of, the Supreme Court. Trump, old enough to know better, spent that same time behaving as a showboating moderate billionaire.
Trump supporters completely ignore and make excuses for Trump, who switched political parties three times in the past 26 years, had effusive pointed praise and financial support for Hillary (and Bill) Clinton only eight years ago, and until only about seven years ago, donated more to Democrats than to Republicans. He only (re-)joined the Republican party at its McCain-Romney point, both candidates he supported.
Support for Trump among theoretically common-sense conservatives is baffling. I would bet that the more ardent the Trump supporter, the more frequent a consumer of MSM.
I don’t know about Jay, but Hamilton was absolutely a corporate-statist in the Trump mold, so I’m sure he’d be behind Trust Fund Donnie. Really bad guy.
Hank
"Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged" - Ronald Reagan
BUMP
It presented Trump an ideal opportunity to advance himself and take control of the interview, draw a line. I like to think that Cruz (or you or I) would have answered: "Of course. Next question, please? And make it relevant to the issues voters care about? How about ... " and thereby take control.
NOT TRUMP, no sirree. Self-absorbed, slow, playing to his audience, he spends the next few minutes bumbling through an answer that boils down to: "Ask God for forgiveness? Not me. I do things differently."
Sorry, that's just a piss-poor choice for my country.
Absolute truth. He's always been a master at orchestrating media coverage. He thrives on the attention.
One of the things that will never cease to amaze me is the fact that some folks actually find gasbaggery a positive, even laudable personality trait. I've never been able to stomach blowhards and braggarts. When did those characteristics become admirable?
{^)
Very well put! LOL!!
Except for one notable exception, ditto here.
My exception: the inimitable Foghorn Leghorn. He is the most admirable blowhard braggart in American or even perhaps world history. No better display than when he goes charging across the property to challenge a chicken hawk trying to abscond with a hen, blustering, "Un-hand that fair barnyard flower!"
Now that's a hero worth voting for! I say, you gotta listen up, son! No five-time draft-dodging influence-buying self-promoted show off, but a prize rooster!
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