Posted on 01/21/2016 7:27:45 PM PST by TBBT
Donald Trump leads the polls nationally and in most states in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. There are understandable reasons for his eminence, and he has shown impressive gut-level skill as a campaigner. But he is not deserving of conservative support in the caucuses and primaries. Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones. Trump's political opinions have wobbled all over the lot. The real-estate mogul and reality-TV star has supported abortion, gun control, single-payer health care à la Canada, and punitive taxes on the wealthy. (He and Bernie Sanders have shared more than funky outer-borough accents.) Since declaring his candidacy he has taken a more conservative line, yet there are great gaping holes in it.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Meanwhile...
TRUMP: Vladimir Putin's praise is 'a great honor'
Business Insider ^ | December 17, 2015 | By Maxwell Tani
Republican US presidential front-runner Donald Trump is apparently "honored" that Russian President Vladimir Putin considers the real-estate magnate a "flamboyant" and "very talented" man.
"It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond," Trump said in a statement, according to Politico.
He continued: "I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect."
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
________________________________________
"I think that I would probably get along with him [Putin] very well."
--Donald Trump, CBS' Face The Nation, Oct 2015
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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Russia's push into Ukraine has put many on edge. But less known is that Russia is also strengthening its military links south of the Rio Grande and re-establishing itself as a power in the region.
Vladimir Putin has been strengthening military links here, and Russia is now the largest arms dealer to governments in Latin America, surpassing the United States.
Russia has even floated the possibility of building new military bases in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and putting its warships permanently in the Caribbean.
In the midst of the Ukraine crisis, Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov recently visited Cuba, Peru, Chile, and Nicaragua, where he announced that Russia would also pour money into the new Central American canal project. ..."
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/140508/russian-arms-military-trade-latin-america
_______________________________________________________________________
BY: Bill Gertz
February 20, 2015
Russia agreed to provide military training for three leftist regimes in Latin America and increase military visits and exercises following a visit last week to the region by Moscow's Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu, Pentagon officials said.
Shoygu met with defense and military leaders in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua and signed several agreements on warship visits and military training during the visit, which ran from Feb. 11 to 14. It is not clear whether any new arms deals were completed during the visit.
Defense officials said the Russian leader is seeking bases in the region for strategic bomber flights that Shoygu recently promised would include flights over the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-boosts-arms-training-for-leftist-latin-militaries/
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"Trump's relationship with Russia goes far back. In 1987, before the collapse of the Soviet Union, he was meeting with Soviet officials and negotiating the building of "luxury hotels" in Moscow and Leningrad .
A story at the time said Trump had met Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin, who mentioned how much his daughter had admired the "opulent" Trump Tower in New York City. This led to an invitation to Trump to visit the USSR. The story said Dubinin wrote a letter to Trump, who hosted a meeting with Soviet officials in New York.
The invitation to Moscow was issued by Intourist, the giant Soviet in-country travel organization which operated all the hotels for foreigners in the Soviet Union.
Intourist was created in 1929 by Joseph Stalin and run by KGB officials. Intourist hotels were designed for wealthy foreigners, and virtually all the Intourist guides were KGB informers. In fact, one aspect of their jobs was the recruitment of foreigners. ..."
"...we are left thinking [whether] Trump understands the aggressive intentions of Vladimir Putin.
"...when Trump was asked about the nuclear balance with Russia during the most recent Republican presidential debate, he displayed ignorance of the decaying nature of the U.S. nuclear triad, which constitutes our ability to deter and survive a Russian nuclear first strike.
"Putin has just presided over a ceremony honoring the KGB's successor agencies, and the Russia Today (RT) propaganda channel has announced the grand opening of a "cultural center" dedicated to mass murderer Joseph Stalin.
It looks like Putin has outmaneuvered Obama and Trump. It is an opening for Trump's opponents, especially Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL). But do they have the courage to "follow the money" and hold Trump accountable for doing business with a criminal regime that threatens the survival of the United States? At the end of this money trail, they may find an explanation of why Trump is so reluctant to hold Putin responsible for his crimes.
Follow Trump's Money to Moscow
Renew America ^ | December 25, 2015 | Cliff Kincaid
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/kincaid/151225
No flames. The manifesto speaks for itself. Many will reject it and the authors. Anxiety, it’s what’s for breakfast.
National Review has no power anymore. Just Like the rest of the LSM.
Globalist, amnesty whores are against Trump? Wow, that’s surprising.
Well, I'm glad that they're all on Cruz's team at least. So the senate tomorrow is defunding Planned Parenthood, illegal executive dreamer orders, calling hearings to find out what the heck happened to the 'secure fence' that they authorized...
Oh, right, I keep forgetting, for some odd reason, the National Review is using the same double speak that is used about 'global climate change' - broad ... consensus within the GOP.
Sure, there's loads of broad consensus - children shouldn't be having abortions without parental permission, and most especially, shouldn't have to wonder if the school is lying when they call to find out if their daughter is at school.
There's broad consensus that 'gun control' is using a two handed grip to ensure that your target is hit; the liberal version of it just means that criminals have guns while the people wait on an increasingly ineffective police force who may or may not respond.
There's broad consensus that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, no matter what five out of nine black robed dictators declare.
Is any of this 'broad consensus' part of what the National Review is concerned with? Nope, they're concerned that they won't get as much of the advertising bonanza (as well as some nice heavy consulting fees) that come from a typical GOPe presidential campaign. No sale, National Review.
Well, here we go, America on another lesson to find out what is behind a slogan. In this case, “Make America Great Again”.
Can’t wait to find out what is inside of it.
These guys who have been writing negative articles since June against Trump have very little effect on Trump winning the nomination, which is going to happen soon.
It’s a “Hail Mary” before Iowa. The NR crew are doing the cable news circuit now. Megyn had it “breaking” with her dramatic “breaking news” music. Saw a couple interviews and they were border-line hysterical.
The problem they have is the more they attack, the more supporters dig in.
Here is what has the best chance of working if they want to take out Trump: Every so-called conservative politician and pundit should apologize publicly for letting the country down. The country has been burning on their watch. They need to own up.
It’s the only shot they have.
He should wear this as a giant badge of honor. If they all stopped writing their drivel nobody would miss it. Best election ever!!!
Pray America wakes
Hahahahahahahaha!
I watched 4 authors of this article on Megyn Kelly tonight and was absolutely stunned at the vapidness and duplicity of their attacks against Trump. Most repeated the mantra over and over again that conservationism was all about “principles and ideas”, but not a single time did they mention anything about ACTING to do anything with those “principles and ideas”, or even what such “principles and ideas” consist of.
Much of what they said was simply false or ridiculous, like one comment about Trump destroying “centuries” of conservative ideas and principles. Multiple times they indicated that Trump was unfit because he hadn’t spent decades “paying his dues” or “honing” his conservatism. They attacked Trump for positions held decades ago and at the same time dismissed that same issue regarding Reagan’s evolution. The most outrageous accusation was that Trump was a “strong man” who wanted “the trains to run one time”, a vicious, not-veiled-at-all reference equating Trump to Mussolini.
These people were truly pathetic, and their absolute fear, panic, and hatred of Trump could be practically seen oozing out of very pore.
Clearly, these people are frightened that they and their ilk will become completely irrelevant when Trump is elected President. It was clear that they feared and loathed Trump FAR more than Hillary or any other Democrat. It was also clear that they are totally out of touch with the outrage in the GOP electorate as a consequence of the GOP elite winning both Congressional Houses and not doing a damn thing to stop any portion of Obama’s agenda.
This really looked like a last gasp by the old guard to put on a full court attack one last time before Trump actually starts winning primaries.
As far as I’m concerned these people are traitors and liars and don’t give a damn about conservatism or our country. They only care about themselves. Personally, I was completely outraged at how these people pretended like they are the great keepers of THE CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES and pretty much anyone who supports Trump is an uneducated yahoo.
[Finally, BTW, my impression was that Kelly was actually subtly on Trump’s side as her questions really seemed to be designed to give these Trump-haters substantial amounts of rope to hang themselves with, which they they proceeded to do with great gusto.]
They’re not out to stop Trump, they’re out to stop us.
Rockefeller's public relations head, Stuart Spencer said, "We had to destroy Barry Goldwater as a member of the human race."
Thank you for your report. I had given up on Kelly.
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
I know, I know...anyone that criticizes Trump is GOPe in your opinion./sarc
You know, if you just admitted that Trump is the GOPe liberal that his own statements prove him to be AND you still supported him then that would be fine, but trying to say Trump is a conservative is a joke and an outright LIE.
We follow the money would tell us what's what with these guys.
Well said and saw the same thing. They were all Rinos pretending to be guardians of the conservative castle. One was ex-Tea Party and you could tell she was a big sell out who was pissed she could not be a kingmaker.
You could almost see their pinheads exploding.
“Thank you for your report. I had given up on Kelly.”
me too. but after Rupert Murdoch tweeted some good things about Trump a week ago, there’s been a major turnaround on Fox News regarding Trump. BOR is clearly a major Trump cheerleader and has him on practically every night it seems.
There’s been a pretty big shift overall, including by Kelly. Seems like new marching orders have been sent down. i suspect that Murdoch, like many others, have concluded Trump’s going to win the Presidency and it’s time to try to get on his good side before it’s too late.
Are you incapable of short, readable posts? Apparently so
Trump is not a conservative. He is popular because he has impressed people with what he has said. No one endorsed his ideas. No one promoted him. He did it. He’s pro-American with many conservative plans.
What I don’t understand is the enmity on “our side”. I’m not voting for any democrat. You don’t trust Trump, that’s your prerogative. I don’t trust the socialists.
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