Surprise: Trump Attacks Walker For...Not Raising Taxes in Wisconsin

Townhall.com ^ | March 29, 2016 | Guy Benson

[Kaslin]

It's been a rough 24 hours for Team Trump. The billionaire's campaign manager has been arrested for battery against a female reporter -- with new surveillance conclusively proving that he lied about the incident and smeared his accuser -- and the candidate himself was subjected to a string of inhospitable interviews with conservative radio hosts in Wisconsin. We wrote about his exchange with Charlie Sykes yesterday; later, he hung up on Vicki McKenna after he grew exasperated with her questions about his threats and insults against Heidi Cruz.  The Texas Senator narrowly leads in recent Badger State polling and just landed the endorsement of Scott Walker, who is extremely popular among Wisconsin Republicans.  Trump, as is his wont, responded to Walker's decision by blasting the governor's record.  First, he regurgitated the debunked Democratic attack that Walker racked up a multibillion-dollar deficit, a blatant falsehood that Trump blamed on Time magazine during yesterday's Sykes interview.  Using inaccurate left-wing talking points to slam Walker wasn't his fault, the candidate told the host's large statewide audience, because all he did was was repeat what Time had written back then.  Over to you, Washington Post fact-checker:

The only time that the $2.2 billion figure has appeared even on Time’s website is after the magazine published a transcript of the second Republican debate, on Sept 16 — and quoted Trump as jabbing at Walker: “In Wisconsin, you’re losing $2.2 billion right now.” He added: “You were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state and you lost $2.2 billion. You have right now a huge budget deficit. That’s not a Democratic talking point, that’s a fact.” But here’s the rub: weeks before Trump uttered the claim at the September debate, fact checkers had already called him out for using it. On July 28, PolitiFact Wisconsin gave Trump a “mostly false” for making this claim in a campaign event. And on July 29, FactCheck.org published an article titled “Wisconsin’s Trumped Up Deficit.” Both fact checks made similar points: Wisconsin, under state law, is required to have a balanced budget. There had once been a projected budget shortfall of $2.2 billion over two years, back in November 2014, after an earlier projection of a $1 billion surplus. But the shortfall was never a deficit — because the law requires a balanced budget. Indeed, on July 12, two weeks before Trump made the comments that were fact checked, Walker signed into law a two-year balanced budget.

The only time that number appeared in print at Time was when they quoted...Donald Trump. And the broader point he was using to pummel Walker had been disproven multiple times. So by repeating the Democrat-approved smear, Trump was either knowingly lying, or he was too lazy and ill-informed to understand the truth. Both options seemed plausible at the time, but not anymore.  Less than 24 hours ago, he was called out for the misstatements, for which he blamed the media. The very next day, he repeated the misstatement. There's your answer to the 'lie vs ignorance' question. And here's the kicker:

.@realDonaldTrump bashes @ScottWalker for not raising taxes in the Badger State https://t.co/oLxgS0VFyb pic.twitter.com/alN9StloAH— Justin Green (@JGreenDC) March 29, 2016

Let's be crystal clear: Donald Trump is not a conservative. He would not govern as a conservative. He distorts (wildly successful!) adherence to bedrock conservative principles as a means to launch self-serving broadsides against actual conservatives.  Let's pretend for a moment that the $2.2 billion number wasn't total garbage.  Trump's policy critique would be that Scott Walker did not seize upon that 'opportunity' to justify tax hikes on Wisconsin's workers.  This coming from a man who routinely -- and rightly -- bemoans the looming national debt crisis, while rejecting responsible and necessary conservative reforms to the largest drivers of that crisis and vowing not to raise taxes.   It's incoherent.  It's untenable.  It's unserious.  It's Trump.  I began by asserting that Trump has encountered some campaign turbulence this week.  I'll leave you with more evidence to that effect, courtesy of two staunch Trump defenders:

Ann Coulter: Defending 'mental' Trump like constantly bailing 16-year-old out of prison.https://t.co/mIWBjUdxMU pic.twitter.com/pEemmcGDCL— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) March 29, 2016

Newt Gingrich on Hannity tonight: Trump's retweet disparaging Heidi Cruz "utterly stupid." It sent a signal of "instability" to voters.— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) March 29, 2016

And oh, by the way:

Poll: 73% of women have unfavorable view of #Trump https://t.co/mKt9ZmLyGc - panel weighs in #TheLead— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) March 25, 2016

Trump earned his 70% unfavorable rating among women *before* his campaign manager was arrested for battery against a woman. That's skill.— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 29, 2016

[nathanbedford]

Trump traduced Governor Walker by repeating a known falsehood, a lie not as egregious as Trump's claim that he opposed the Iraq war which was also shown to have been a lie, but fully in keeping with the character of Donald Trump.

Yet we will no doubt have poster after poster slandering Ted Cruz as "lyin' Ted" as they ape one more lie of Donald Trump.

[LMAO]

He has the entire media and other candidates out for blood No other candidate In history has been through a total wall of naysayers then trump. I would guess 100 million has been spent on stop trump.

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Whaaaaa! Trump has competition for the nomination

Whaaaaaa! Trump is actually criticized

Whaaaaaaa! Whaaaaaaaaa! Whaaaaaaaa!!

(waiting for response that mentions Cruz or anyone else)

[AndyTheBear]

The article’s author is trying a too hard to get Trump and has become deranged. I just watched the video of the “assault” on the female reporter....and even if I hated Trump, I would be embarrassed out of my mind to try to call it “assault”. It doesn’t pass the red-face test of absurdity.
If that was assault, then the whole human race needs to be locked up.

[Iowa David]

Trump would negotiate the best tax increases EVER.

[The Toll]

Wait a minute! Trump has competition for the nomination?

WHO?

This is breaking news for sure!

[ilgipper]

At the time, I brushed aside Trump’s BS attacks on Walker, who has been an absolute godsend to the state of Wisconsin. It’s up to Walker to stand up and handle the charges, and his campaign was already in free fall. While I did not like Trump using false left-wing charges, I excused it.

Then this year, he again started using false leftwing, charges about GWB and lying to war...a la Code Pink. He even blamed Bush for 9/11, which is utterly disgusting. He then proceeded to attack Cruz like the left and entrenched establishment wing of the party does. At that, point, I gave up. This was not what’s needed to head our party. We’re not going to trash our own champions in this process.

[Agnes Heep]

We need someone who has the guts to raise taxes.

[jospehm20]

I noticed that too.

[Agnes Heep]

"Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."

[Mase]

How does he have a 73% unfavorable rating with women when he wins the female demographic in the primaries?

[John Valentine]

If he is our nominee, he will pulverize Hillary.

Blind Freddie could pulverize Hillary. The question is, will enough people vote for Trump to defeat Hillary even after she's been pulverized?

You must not forget that Trump will be put through an entirely different milling machine and what will come out will be considerably smaller and less impressive than what went in. In fact, I think that lathing and milling process has already begun.

Here's what I think: Hillary Clinton is by far the worst candidate the Democrats have put up in my lifetime and ought to be beaten soundly by any random Republican picked from my local school board or County Board of Supervisors.

The ONLY way she wins is if the Republicans counter the Democrat's profoundly flawed selection of Hillary Clinton by nominating our own even worse, more deeply flawed candidate, Donald Trump. Getting Trump as an opponent is the quite literally ONLY chance she has of getting elected.

So, once again we commit political suicide with absolutely no reason to do so.

What fun. Not.

[builder]

I agree with you. It is not assault.
However - Trump and Lewandowski said he never even touched her.
A plainly visible lie.
And it would have been so easy to just say “ sorry, you were in the way” but they had to instead choose to lie.
And then say Lyin Cruz. What a campaign.

[Bubba Gump Shrimp]

-—with new surveillance conclusively proving that he lied about the incident and smeared his accuser
.
.
.
Anyone have a link to this? I cannot find any new footage.

[Washi]

Oh, you just know Walker is going under the Trump bus.

No conservative, no matter how respected and revered, will be spared from the onslaught of the zombie horde if they fail to show the proper respect to "The Donald".

Watch the replies to this post as proof of what I say.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“All of the Cruz talking points in one handy article from TedHall.”

Which one is a lie?

[Agnes Heep]

If that was assault, then the whole human race needs to be locked up.

You can start with the State of Florida.

[Bubba Gump Shrimp]

——Trump has competition for the nomination
.
.
.
Do we have any links that support that?

[dware]

So, you are in favor of gratuitous tax increases, assaults against women and general jackassery?

To be entirely truthful, we all are, yourself included. After all, we've consented to this government for too many years.

"Governments are instituted among men...deriving their just powers from the CONSENT of the governed."

We consent to all of it since, while pi$$ing & moaning about it, we've failed to do anything about it. We like our paychecks and mortgages and car payments and insurance premiums and toys and big screen TV's and football games and booze WAAAAAAAY too much to do anything about it. Somehow, we have more to lose than the Founders did.

[LMAO]

Blind Freddie could pulverize Hillary. The question is, will enough people vote for Trump to defeat Hillary even after she’s been pulverized?

You must not forget that Trump will be put through an entirely different milling machine and what will come out will be considerably smaller and less impressive than what went in. In fact, I think that lathing and milling process has already begun.

Here’s what I think: Hillary Clinton is by far the worst candidate the Democrats have put up in my lifetime and ought to be beaten soundly by any random Republican picked from my local school board or County Board of Supervisors.

The ONLY way she wins is if the Republicans counter the Democrat’s profoundly flawed selection of Hillary Clinton by nominating our own even worse, more deeply flawed candidate, Donald Trump. Getting Trump as an opponent is the quite literally ONLY chance she has of getting elected.

So, once again we commit political suicide with absolutely no reason to do so.

What fun. Not.

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The fact that as of now she out polls him speaks volumes even if his supporters shut their ears.

[LMAO]

Which one is a lie?

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The one he doesn’t like ;-)