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After Orlando, Trump Pitches for LGBT Support, Still Sending Mixed Messages About Marriage

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In the days after America’s deadliest mass shooting, presumed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is making a hard pitch for support among LGBT Americans by tying shooter Omar Mateen to radical Islamic beliefs he reportedly espoused before killing 49 people at a popular Orlando gay bar.

Earlier this week, Trump said same-sex attracted Americans should support his candidacy over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s. While the likely Democratic nominee has backed the full LGBT agenda, including redefining marriage and eliminating sex segregation in restrooms, Trump said her willingness to allow Syrian and other refugees into the country endangers same-sex attracted Americans.

An Attack on Who We Are

“Crooked Hillary wants to increase these immigration numbers very, very substantially,” said Trump at a campaign event on Tuesday. “She’s no friend of women. And she’s no friend of LGBT Americans. No friend, believe me.”

Mateen attacked the club “to execute gay and lesbian citizens for their sexual orientation,” he said. “It’s a strike at who we are as a nation. It’s an assault on the ability of a free people to live their lives, love who they want, and express their identity.”

Trump has given mixed messages with regards to the political issues often prioritized by LGBT groups. Last August, he said he believes marriage should be limited to between a man and a woman, but he also opposed a constitutional amendment making that view the law because it wouldn’t pass. “Anybody that’s making that an issue is doing it for political reasons. The Supreme Court ruled on it.”

The thrice-married Trump has said marriage should be a states’ rights issue, and that as president he would appoint judges that support traditional views on marriage and religious liberty. But he also supports workplace laws that puts same-sex sexual attractions in the same category as race or sex. According to leading social conservative Maggie Gallagher, he only “conditionally” backs the First Amendment Defense Act, a popular conservative bill that would guarantee religious liberty for business owners and others opposed to redefining marriage.

A Limited Response

Trump’s success to gain LGBT support appears to be limited, so far, with mostly small and anonymous backing. The Washington Examiner quoted three people who said they were gay and declared their support for Trump. In a post at PJ Media, an anonymous gay blogger backed Trump, saying that liberals believe “appeasing Muslims is more important than defending the lives of gay people. Every progressive who runs interference for Islamic murderers is complicit in those murders, and I can no longer be a part of that team.”

That blogger said he was writing anonymously thanks to the danger of being a public Trump backer.

One influential gay conservative who came out this week said LGBT Americans should stand with Trump. “It’s disgusting what the Democratic Party is doing right now. I’m shocked and that’s why I came out,” Gateway Pundit blogger Jim Hoft told Newsmax TV. “These Democrats, Steve, we are going to see more dead bodies, more dead mothers, babies and dead gays in nightclubs until they wake up!” In his original blog post, he called gays to “come back home to the Republican Party.”

While he declined to say whether Clinton or Trump would prove better for the LGBT movement’s goals, gay lobby Log Cabin Republicans president Gregory Angelo told The Stream that “national security is — or should be — an important issue for LGBT Americans. In his remarks in New Hampshire, Mr. Trump emphasized this point.”

Angelo previously described Trump’s views as “all over the place.” At the time, Angelo said he was encouraged that Trump

has attended a same-sex wedding, opposes discrimination against gay people in the workplace, and told a lesbian reporter that the LGBT community can expect ‘forward motion’ on equality when President Trump is in office, [but] the promise Mr. Trump has made to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn the 2015 marriage equality ruling is deeply concerning.

Some LGBT leaders are not taking so kindly to Trump’s outreach, however. Chad Griffin, President of the radical Human Rights Campaign, told CNN that “he is no friend to the LGBT community. … I bet there is not a single family member or friend or brother or sister or girlfriend or boyfriend that is suffering from this great loss that found any comfort in what Donald Trump had to say today.”

Angelo criticized people whose “knee-jerk reaction is to call someone a hypocrite simply because they are moved to offer support for a community in need,” in reaction to those like CNN’s Sally Kohn and Anderson Cooper who criticized Christians who oppose the LGBT movement’s goals yet condemned Mateen’s actions. “People who hadn’t so much as uttered the phrase ‘LGBT community’ are now stepping up to offer compassion and support. That should be embraced instead of shunned by injecting that compassion with politics.”

Normally Democrats

LGBT voters typically back Democratic candidates. In 2012, President Obama won their support three-to-one over GOP nominee Mitt Romney, and few expect Trump to make much progress in reversing that pattern.

Although, Angelo argued, “in a post-marriage equality country…the LGBT community dividing along ideological lines and eschewing traditional identity politics. There could be a shuffling of ideology among the LGBT electorate in this election cycle, but only time will tell whether that translates to more votes for the Republican nominee for president.” (For more from the author of “After Orlando, Trump Pitches for LGBT Support, Still Sending Mixed Messages About Marriage” please click HERE)

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Huckabee Tells Romney Republicans to Start Focusing on Beating Clinton

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee kept it simple Friday night when asked about the continuing opposition of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to Donald Trump, the party’s 2016 standard bearer.

“I think these guys are spiraling into utter irrelevance,” he said of Fox News’ The Kelly File. “I like Mitt, but he’s trying to divide the party at a time when we need to unite.”

On Friday, Romney attacked Trump once again, saying he would never vote for the billionaire but also making it clear he would not run in a third-party effort to deny Trump the White House.

Romney, who launched the GOP’s #NeverTrump movement three months ago, attacked Trump over the candidate’s criticism of the judge hearing the Trump University lawsuit, and accused Trump of inciting racism.

Trump replied to Romney’s latest comment by repeating his past criticism of Romney’s 2012 campaign.

On The Kelly File Friday night, guest host Trish Regan asked Huckabee why it was that Romney opposed Trump, but did not run against him.

“Good question. I mean I think that’s it. If you don’t like the product that’s on the shelf, say, ‘Let me put my product out there,’” Huckabee said. “I did that. I ran. I was rejected. Sixteen of us were told, ‘No thank you.’ I accept that. I’m not sitting around being bitter.”

Huckabee then cut to the core of the issue.

“Get behind him. We’re Republicans. We don’t want Hillary Clinton. It’s that simple,” Huckabee said. (For more from the author of “Huckabee Tells Romney Republicans to Start Focusing on Beating Clinton” please click HERE)

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Trump Addresses National Security, Renews Call for Temporary Ban on Muslims

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Donald Trump is doubling down on his promise, if elected, to institute a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S.

Trump spoke Monday in New Hampshire at a rally. He admitted he planned on addressing Hillary Clinton’s policies but was forced to address national security issues in light of the terrorist attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, which killed 49 and injured dozens more.

Having no problem, apparently, with the word choice, Trump described the attack in Orlando as radical Islamic terrorism. Seeming to some very presidential in his address to the nation, Trump said, “A radical Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub not only because he wanted to kill Americans, but in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation.”

Trump said the U.S. has a “dysfunctional immigration system” and “an incompetent administration, and if I am not elected president, that will not change over the next four years,” implying a Clinton administration would be four more years of failed Obama policies.

Promising to use executive order to keep America safe, Trump said, “I will use this power to protect the American people. When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats.”

Trump said radical Islam is “incompatible with Western values and institutions.” He vowed, “I refuse to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, and Jewish people are the targets of persecution and intimidation by radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence. It’s not just a national security issue. It is a quality of life issue.”

Saying the U.S. has “imported radical Islam” into the West, Trump pointed to the fact all of the 9/11 hijackers were given U.S. visas and were legally allowed to plot and carry out terrorism while on U.S. soil.

Trump said the U.S. has a “dysfunctional immigration system” and “an incompetent administration, and if I am not elected president, that will not change over the next four years,” implying a Clinton administration would be four more years of failed Obama policies.

He said the same could be said of Somalis in Minnesota who joined and attempted to join ISIS, as well as the Boston Marathon bombers who were granted asylum in the U.S. All came through the immigration system legally, therefore the system must be broken.

Trump also referenced the San Bernardino Islamic terrorists as further proof the immigration and resettlement program is broken and must be fixed.

Drawing a contrast between himself and Clinton, Trump promised to develop an intelligence system “second-to-none” to ensure radicals do not enter the country. But Trump says Clinton plans to increase Syrian refugee settlement by 500 percent.

Trump promised to work closely with Muslim communities in the U.S., but adds they have a huge responsibility to be vigilant as well. He said, “I want us all to work together, including in partnership with our Muslim communities. But Muslim communities must cooperate with law enforcement and turn in the people who they know are bad – and they do know where they are.”

Vowing to protect all Americans, Trump said, “When I am president, I pledge to protect and defend all Americans who live inside of our borders. Wherever they come from, wherever they were born, all Americans living here and following our laws will be protected.” (For more from the author of “Trump Addresses National Security, Renews Call for Temporary Ban on Muslims” please click HERE)

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Convention Chaos Would Have to Be Unprecedented to Dump Trump

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A lot of folks have been trying to figure out how to avoid being ruled by the future Clinton/Warren communist regime. As an ex-member of the Republican Party for over two years now, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is little hope for that party to win, especially in light of recent events.

Donald Trump has claimed that one can predict bias due to ethnicity, which has got to be one of the most anti-American things we’ve heard a Republican candidate say, in spite of the Democrats who say these kinds of things and thrive on race-insults and division. And we may be overthinking this, but, if someone of Mexican heritage is automatically biased against a guy who builds a fabled wall between Mexico and the United States, then wouldn’t that mean that in his brain, Trump believes he will not get “fair” treatment from any Latino voter?

Ah, forget it, trying to make sense of this egomaniac is tiresome. While we are told to unite behind him despite his lack of conservative qualities—not to mention absence of common sense and abundance of shallowness—some of us dream of a way to change the nominee rather than infringe on our self-respect.

But there is a bigger wrinkle than Trump at play. The Republican Party in our sometimes romantic minds is not the Republican Party Trump plans to take over. It’s not as if he’s going to turn the GOP into a big government party; it already is one. He will uphold the status quo and reinforce the establishment. He heaps praise on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) because he has power. He heaps disdain on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) because he does not have power. If Trump’s the nominee, and if he wins the presidency, there will be zero attempt made by the Republican Party to adhere to the conservative principles on which it was founded. So, really, nothing will change in that respect.

Steve Deace has interviewed an RNC official who believes the rules are not set that delegates have to stick with the outcome of the state primaries on the first vote. That official, Curly Haugland, wrote a book titled “Unbound,” and he presses that all delegates can and should vote their consciences on every vote. Another convention expert said that though Haugland’s meticulous reading of the rules usually garners him a collective eye roll among the RNC members, he is correct in that the rules are unclear on binding. According to a book by convention expert John Yob, “Chaos: The Outsider’s Guide to a Contested Republican National Convention 2016,” Haugland’s years of being a rules geek are perhaps coming to a head as the anti-establishment fervor is at a fevered pitch, and he presides at the head of a North Dakota delegation who are all unbound.

Yob is a Michigan operative who now lives in the Virgin Islands and has contested the Republican Chair from St. Croix for control of the delegation. The U.S. Virgin Islands are special in that all nine delegates are unbound and chosen by very few voters, giving them quite a bit of relative power. In his book, Yob runs down every state delegation, how it’s elected, whether the delegates are bound or unbound free agents and other nerdy details. But no matter how much he discusses the rules and some history of conventions, the book stresses, at least to my reading, that the rules are unclear. In fact, a pretty clear takeaway from the book is that 2016 is ripe for a chaotic unprecedented convention, not just because Trump is running (his book was published before the presumed nominee was named), but because of the fractious lead up to this convention and the shifts taking place within the Republican Party.

If the elites of the Republican Party only understood that the anger that fueled the rise of Trump can be traced back to them in the first place, a lot of the divisiveness within the party would subside; but they believe they are still right, so it’s not going to end. Heck, Trump doesn’t even understand who or what the problem in Washington is. He just figures he can make better deals.

But it seems if you are hoping for a different nominee coming out of the convention, the chaos would have to be ten times anything that’s ever happened before, thus making it quite a farfetched dream. The revolt would have to be led by the delegates themselves. They would have to secretly coordinate across states, identifying SINOs (supporters in name only) of Trump, those not poisoned by the lies Trump told about the rest of the primary field.

But though the Yob book gives a pretty clear picture of how “anything can happen” at a convention, the truth is, unless several rules are changed, and other rules clarified, a coup is unlikely. Considering all the risky business with the number of first-time convention attendees and the capitulating nature of the Republican Party in general, we must figure Trump will come out of the convention as the nominee, with probably an establishment guy for vice president. Because in the end, the establishment needs to protect the status quo.

For those of us who believe Trump will lose to Hillary, it’s all bad news. (For more from the author of “Convention Chaos Would Have to Be Unprecedented to Dump Trump” please click HERE)

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Trump Calls on Obama To “Immediately Resign in Disgrace”

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After Barack Hussein Obama again failed to credit Islamic terror for a slaughter on American soil, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump took to Twitter, slamming the President:

thumbnail_Donald Trump Tweets

Here is Trump’s full statement on the Orlando slaughter:

Donald J. Trump Statement Regarding Tragic Terrorist Attack in Orlando, Florida

Last night, our nation was attacked by a radical Islamic terrorist. It was the worst terrorist attack on our soil since 9/11, and the second of its kind in 6 months. My deepest sympathy and support goes out to the victims, the wounded, and their families.

In his remarks today, President Obama disgracefully refused to even say the words ‘Radical Islam’. For that reason alone, he should step down. If Hillary Clinton, after this attack, still cannot say the two words ‘Radical Islam’ she should get out of this race for the Presidency.

If we do not get tough and smart real fast, we are not going to have a country anymore. Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen – and it is only going to get worse. I am trying to save lives and prevent the next terrorist attack. We can’t afford to be politically correct anymore.

The terrorist, Omar Mir Saddique Mateen, is the son of an immigrant from Afghanistan who openly published his support for the Afghanistani Taliban and even tried to run for President of Afghanistan. According to Pew, 99% of people in Afghanistan support oppressive Sharia Law.

We admit more than 100,000 lifetime migrants from the Middle East each year. Since 9/11, hundreds of migrants and their children have been implicated in terrorism in the United States.

Hillary Clinton wants to dramatically increase admissions from the Middle East, bringing in many hundreds of thousands during a first term – and we will have no way to screen them, pay for them, or prevent the second generation from radicalizing.

We need to protect all Americans, of all backgrounds and all beliefs, from Radical Islamic Terrorism – which has no place in an open and tolerant society. Radical Islam advocates hate for women, gays, Jews, Christians and all Americans. I am going to be a President for all Americans, and I am going to protect and defend all Americans. We are going to make America safe again and great again for everyone.

– Donald J. Trump

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PATHETIC: McConnell May Rescind Trump Endorsement

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By Betsy Fischer Martin, Tammy Haddad and Steven T. Dennis. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Donald Trump needs to pick an experienced running mate because “he doesn’t know a lot about the issues” and strongly urged him to change course on his rhetoric.

In an extraordinarily frank interview with Bloomberg Politics’ Masters in Politics podcast, McConnell, who is on a book tour touting his autobiography The Long Game, also expressed broader concerns about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

“He needs someone highly experienced and very knowledgeable because it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t know a lot about the issues,” McConnell said. “You see that in the debates in which he’s participated. It’s why I have argued to him publicly and privately that he ought to use a script more often—there is nothing wrong with having prepared texts.”

The Kentucky Republican’s frustration with Trump has been clear, especially this week after Trump’s tarring of Judge Gonzalo Curiel as biased against him because the Indiana-born former prosecutor is “Mexican.” Still, McConnell said he remains “comfortable” backing Trump. (Read more from “PATHETIC: McConnell May Rescind Trump Endorsement” HERE)

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McConnell: Trump ‘Doesn’t Know a Lot About the Issues’

By Newsmax. …McConnell, perhaps the most careful and strategic politician in Washington, rarely goes off script himself, and has been sending Trump the same message for weeks in hopes he’ll pivot to the general election.

McConnell said staying on script “indicates a level of seriousness that I think is important to convey to American people about the job you are seeking.”

“I think he’d have a much better chance of winning if he would quit making so many unfortunate public utterances and stick to the script,” he said.

McConnell said he delivered that message in person when the two were in the green room together at the recent National Rifle Association convention in Louisville. (Read more from “McConnell: Trump ‘Doesn’t Know a Lot About the Issues'” HERE)

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Romney Makes Official Announcement About Third-Party Candidacy to Take on Trump

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Mitt Romney, excoriated for months by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as a failed candidate for the way in which he conducted his 2012 GOP campaign for president, attacked Trump again Friday but said he will not enter this year’s race as a third-party candidate to take on the billionaire.

Romney, who energized the party’s #NeverTrump movement in March by lambasting Trump’s policies and character, also indicated he would never vote for Trump for president and said he was looking with interest at the platform of Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson.

Romney was interviewed Friday by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

“I think you’re not going to find a credible candidate actually running as a third-party contender,” Romney said. “I’d like to see someone run, but that’s not likely.”

Romney said he would not be the one to oppose Trump, but spoke wistfully of battling the presumptive GOP nominee.

“I thought it was time for someone new. I’m glad I wasn’t out there with Donald Trump,” he said. “Had I been in the race, I can assure you I would have taken him on. I’m sure he believes he would have been successful pushing me aside just like he did others in part because I would have been seen as an establishment Republican.”

Romney continued his assault on Trump’s character, labeling Trump as a “dangerous” president who is “too great a departure from the values of our country.”

“Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extremely dangerous to the heart and character of America,” he said.

When asked if Trump was a racist, Romney said that Trump’s comments “appeal to the racist tendency that exists in some people, and I think that’s very dangerous.” (For more from the author of “Romney Makes Official Announcement About Third-Party Candidacy to Take on Trump” please click HERE)

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Media: We Would Cover Hillary Clinton’s Scandals If It Wasn’t for Trump

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Video Transcript:

As Hillary Clinton’s email and foundation scandal worsens, you may be wondering where all the media coverage is.

CHUCK TODD: The last 10 days could have been about nothing but emails, nothing but negatives about Hillary Clinton. We could be talking about Democratic hand-wringing. But, there’s Donald Trump.

Morning Joe admitted as much also, saying it’s Trump’s fault they aren’t covering Clinton’s scandals.

MICHAEL STEELE: Unfortunately, if you had a different nominee or a nominee with a different mindset, not talking about a personal legal matter but rather talking about the 38,000 jobs from last month, talking about the IG report, talking about trade and other issues that have palpable impact on the Democratic nominee…

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Can I stop you there Michael? Can you believe the IG report that came out talking about Hillary Clinton? Playing fast and loose with information regarding drone strikes? As top secret as it gets. And we have a Republican nominee that doesn’t, he’s talking about Trump University. Are you kidding me? That would be dominating the week but for Donald Trump’s own self-absorbed campaign.

So instead of actually talking about the Clinton scandals, they berated Donald Trump for not talking about them. Apparently that counts as journalism these days.

(For more from the author of “Media: We Would Cover Hillary Clinton’s Scandals If It Wasn’t for Trump” please click HERE)

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Bill Kristol Should Man up or Shut Up

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The #NeverTrump movement needs to get a grip.

The Weekly Standard’s open letter is an example of how desperate the #NeverTrump people have become. Anti-Trump Derangement Syndrome has infected the conservative movement and motivated many anti-Trumpers to embarrass themselves.

Jay Cost wrote a piece titled “An Open Letter to Mitt Romney.” This is basically an open letter to Mitt Romney desperately begging him to run for president. It is truly humiliating that the web site has sunk to the level of writing an open letter to a politician in an effort to shame him into a Kamikaze mission targeting the Republican nominee for President Donald Trump.

Although Cost makes the case that Romney is needed to be the statesman to stand against both Trump and Hillary Clinton, we all know that the primary objective is to stop Trump. If this effort is somehow successful, it will usher Hillary Clinton into the White House. Not coincidentally, Clinton has a foreign policy view that is much closer to the hawkish nation-building views of the Weekly Standard than that of the more restrained Donald Trump.

In the Weekly Standard open letter to Mitt Romney, Cost writes:

I write you not as a fellow conservative, not as a fellow partisan, but as a citizen of our republic. You have served your nation admirably for many years and by any ordinary standard are entitled to a happy retirement. But these are extraordinary times, and your nation still has need of your service. I respectfully implore you to run for president as an independent candidate in 2016.

Mitt Romney ran in the last election cycle and lost as a Republican. He would effectively be a write-in spoiler for the Republican Party under your scenario. Clearly, Romney could not win, but the candidacy would serve the purposes of the angry #NeverTrump gang.

Romney was the Republican nominee in the last election cycle, yet Cost argues for him to be the anti-Republican nominee candidate in this cycle.

Jay Cost writes the following:

Governor Romney, there is nobody else but you who is capable of such a bid. It is a credit to your modesty and sense of decency that you demurred and instead tried persuade others to run. But there really is nobody else. General James Mattis, Senators Ben Sasse and Tom Coburn, and David French are all estimable men, but the enormity of the task was too great for them to accept. Only you possess the experience, the political network, the good health, and the time to dedicate to this great endeavor. Only you have the standing with the voters to endure the assaults of Trump and Clinton.

The Republican voters have spoken and they chose Donald Trump. None of the candidates mentioned ran this cycle. Bill Kristol needs to grow a pair and run for president. It is easy to beg and cajole every other conservative under the sun to run as an independent against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, yet it deifies logic that anybody would do something that Kristol, over at the Weekly Standard, is unwilling to do himself.

So, William Kristol –should man up and run for President or shut up.

One of the more cringe-worthy aspects of Cost’s piece was the following:

This is an incredible request, but you know that some Americans are called by Providence to give more than others. George Washington defended his nation during the Seven Years War, led it to independence in the Revolution, and by 1788 he wanted only to retire to his beloved Mount Vernon. But the nation needed him to launch the new government, so he answered the call. Four years later, he again wished for nothing more than the peaceful life of a country planter, but the harmony of the fragile union required yet another commitment from him. Again, he answered the call.

So Mitt Romney is the second coming of George Washington? I don’t think even Mitt Romney would be comfortable with that comparison. The open letter only serves the purpose as a magnificent troll of the media as MSNBC, Fox News and CNN will pivot to the piece.

Mark my words, before the end of this election cycle – the Weekly Standard will officially endorse Hillary Clinton for President of the United States. Ultimately, many on the #NeverTrump bandwagon will end up being pro-Hillary – some are already there. (For more from the author of “Bill Kristol Should Man up or Shut Up” please click HERE)

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Top Latino Conservative Calls Trump’s Judge Comments ‘Morally Abhorrent,’ Defends Trump’s Immigration Policy

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Today a leading House conservative and Latino condemned Donald Trump’s comments about a judge with Mexican ancestry, even as he defended the presumed GOP nominee’s immigration policies.

“There is nothing wrong with saying you want to build a wall,” Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) said at a press briefing in response to a question from The Stream about Trump’s policies. “There is nothing racist about saying that you want an immigration system that works. There’s nothing wrong with saying that we have let down the American public by letting so many illegal, undocumented people into the United States.”

“But I will not stand idly by listening to a person attacking the integrity of a judge because of their ethnicity,” said Labrador, one of “Newsmax’s 50 Most Influential Latino Republicans.” “That is absolutely morally abhorrent. I believe he needs to take it back, and I believe he needs to figure out how he can articulate his policy positions in a way the American people understand clearly and effectively.”

Labrador’s comments were his first to the national press since Trump first criticized Judge Gonzalo Curiel for ruling against the candidate in a case involving Trump University. According to Trump, Curiel’s Mexican heritage — he was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants — create “an inherent conflict of interest” given Trump’s focus on building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Trump also criticized Curiel’s presence in a Hispanic law group, La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, which is one of at least 10 groups with which Curiel has associations.

Trump’s comments were the focus of much of his appearances on Sunday talk shows, and drew heavy condemnation from many leading Republicans, including the leaders of both chambers of Congress. Trump appeared to be backing off the comments as the week went on.

Still, in today’s press conference, Labrador criticized the media for asking about Trump. “I do find it curious that you go after Trump on this issue and yet you have absolutely no problem when Obama pointed his finger at Supreme Court justices in a State of the Union address, and he tried to embarrass them in one of the most disgusting acts I have seen him do,” Labrador said.

In 2013, Labrador was a key member of the House’s Gang of Eight, which attempted to create a comprehensive immigration bill. The effort collapsed in part due to Labrador’s departure from the Gang after Democrats insisted that illegal immigrants not be responsible for their health care costs, according to ABC News. (For more from the author of “Top Latino Conservative Calls Trump’s Judge Comments ‘Morally Abhorrent,’ Defends Trump’s Immigration Policy” please click HERE)

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