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Retired Four Star General Predicts “Civil-Military Crisis” If Trump Elected, Reflects Pathetic State of Modern Flag Officers

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By Connor O’Brien. The election of Republican Donald Trump as president could mean a breakdown in the relationship between civilian and military leaders, a former top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan warned Sunday.

In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” retired Marine Gen. John Allen criticized Trump for his rhetoric on the wider use of military force and torture. And if Trump followed through with those pledges, Allen said, it would create “a civil military crisis, the like of which we’ve not seen in this country before.”

“It’s an inherent responsibility in who we are,” Allen said. “So what we need to do is ensure that we don’t create an environment that puts us on a track conceivably where the United States military finds itself in a civil military crisis with a commander in chief who would have us do illegal things.”

“That’s a major issue that we’re facing here, the potential for a civil military crisis where the military could be ordered to conduct illegal activities,” he added.

But Allen, a supporter of Hillary Clinton who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, said he hoped it wouldn’t come to a public feud between military leaders and a Trump administration. (Read more from “Retired Four Star General Predicts “Civil-Military Crisis” If Trump Elected, Reflects Pathetic State of Modern Flag Officers” HERE)

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Former Joint Chiefs Chairman: Retired Generals Shouldn’t Speak at Political Conventions

By Jeff Schogol. Retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is arguing that retired general officers should not endorse political candidates.

In a letter to the Washington Post, Dempsey wrote that retired Marine Gen. John Allen and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn crossed the line by speaking at the Democratic and Republican conventions, respectively. . .

“As generals, they have an obligation to uphold our apolitical traditions,” Dempsey wrote. “They have just made the task of their successors — who continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our security — more complicated. It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so.” (Read more from “Former Joint Chiefs Chairman: Retired Generals Shouldn’t Speak at Political Conventions” HERE)

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Clinton: Trump’s Comments on Gen. Allen ‘Prove’ He Should Not Be Commander-In-Chief

By Liz Kreutz. Hillary Clinton on Saturday ripped into Donald Trump for his critique of retired four-star Gen. John Allen, saying it’s unpresidential to “insult and deride our generals.”

“Just yesterday, he went after retired Gen. John Allen who commanded our troops in Afghanistan. . . . Our commander in chief shouldn’t insult and deride our generals, retired or otherwise. . .”

On Friday, Trump unleashed on Allen, who delivered a scathing critique of the Republican nominee during remarks to the Democratic National Convention.

“Let me tell you, I think my kids have more star power, I really do. I think they do, than everybody I saw,” Trump said of the DNC. “They had a general named John Allen. And he, I never met him, and he got up and he started talking about Trump, Trump, Trump. Never met him

“And you know who he is? He’s a failed, he was the general fighting ISIS. I would say he hasn’t done so well, right? Not so well.” (Read more from “Clinton: Trump’s Comments on Gen. Allen ‘Prove’ He Should Not Be Commander-In-Chief” HERE)

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Backlash Against Trump Continues in Fight With Slain Army Captain’s Family

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Hillary Clinton defended the bereaved parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain, saying Donald Trump has a “total misunderstanding” of American values and has inflamed divisions in American society. Her comments came after the Republican nominee refused to back down from his criticism of the Gold Star parents’ remarks.

Making her most extensive statements about the Khan family since Trump criticized their Thursday night convention appearance, Clinton expressed concerns about the GOP nominee’s character, saying he repaid a family that made the “ultimate sacrifice” with “nothing but insults” and “degrading comments about Muslims.”

“I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans, who would insult people because of their religion, their ethnicity their disability,” she told parishioners in a Cleveland church on Sunday morning. “That’s just not how I was raised.” (Read more from “Backlash Against Trump Continues in Fight With Slain Army Captain’s Family” HERE)

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Actress Debra Messing Goes After Singer Blake Shelton’s Donald Trump Remarks

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Debra Messing is apologizing for her social media outburst.

The outspoken Democrat, 47, came under fire Thursday after she urged Gwen Stefani to take Blake Shelton to task for his comments about Donald Trump.

Shelton, 40, didn’t exactly endorse the Republican nominee when he told Billboard, “Whether you love him or hate him, he says what he thinks, and he has proven that you don’t always have to be so afraid. A lot of people are pulling for him, no matter how much Hollywood fights it.”

Messing had a knee-jerk reaction to the remarks, tweeting to Stefani (before later deleting it), “Omg. How? @gwenstefani please talk to your man to not vote for the person who will STRIP you of your rights.”

Stefani never responded, but Shelton stood up for himself in a series of tweets of his own. “Hey before this gets going like it always does… I haven’t [endorsed] ANYBODY for president,” he wrote. “And I [I’m] not going to. I don’t do that s–t. My comment about ‘wish there was another option but there’s not’ is across the board … period. Now go dig up another story.” (Read more from “Actress Debra Messing Goes After Singer Blake Shelton’s Donald Trump Remarks” HERE)

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Trump: DNC Speech Beamed Down From Clinton’s ‘Fantasy Universe’

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s speech Thursday night “an insulting collection of clichés and recycled rhetoric … delivered from a fantasy universe, not the reality we live in today.”

In statements released on Twitter and Facebook, Trump lambasted the speech and said it proved Clinton was not fit to be president.

Trump criticized Clinton’s foreign and domestic agenda.

In a statement released on Facebook, Trump said the speech showed Clinton’s disconnect from the American people.

“She spent the evening talking down to the American people she’s looked down on her whole life,” the statement said, adding that Clinton’s “globalist agenda denies American citizens the protections to which they are all entitled.”

“Her radical amnesty plan will take jobs, resources and benefits from the most vulnerable citizens of the United States and give them to the citizens of other countries. Her refusal to even say the words ‘Radical Islam,’ or to mention her disaster in Libya, or her corrupt email scheme, all show how little she cares about the safety of the American people,” the statement said.

The statement said that although Clinton talked about unity, her proposals would not achieve it.

“Excluded from Hillary Clinton’s America are the suffering people living in our inner cities, or the victims of open borders and drug cartels, or the people who’ve lost their jobs because of the Clintons’ trade deals, or any hardworking person who doesn’t have enough money to get a seat at Hillary Clinton’s table,” the statement said. (For more from the author of “Trump: DNC Speech Beamed Down From Clinton’s ‘Fantasy Universe'” please click HERE)

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Pence Breaks With Trump on Russian Hacking

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Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Gov. Mike Pence issued a statement saying Russia should face “serious consequences” if it hacked the Democratic National Committee, at nearly the exact same time Republican Nominee Donald Trump told reporters “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”

Trump continued, “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Pence’s statement by contrast reads, “If it is Russia and they are interfering in our elections, I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences.” Espionage, it should be noted, in all forms, is widely considered fair game in the international world. Trump’s comments, even in jest, go a step further by appearing to encourage a foreign power’s hacking of an American leader.

Trump doubled down shortly after the press conference, tweeting “If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the FBI!”

Reports now indicate U.S. intelligence agencies have told the White House they now assess with “high confidence” that Russia was responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee’s email server. Trump told reporters if Russia is behind the hack it only exhibits the weakness of the Obama administration, and that when he was in office respect for America by Putin would be restored. (Read more from “Pence Breaks With Trump on Russian Hacking” HERE)

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Trump Asks Russia to Find Hillary’s Missing Emails, Media Attacks, Makes Treason Allegation

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By Ashley Parker. Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, essentially encouraging an adversarial foreign power to cyberspy on a secretary of state’s correspondence.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said, staring directly into the cameras during a news conference. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Mr. Trump’s call was an extraordinary moment at a time when Russia is being accused of meddling in the United States’ presidential election. His comments came amid questions about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers, which American intelligence agencies have told the White House they have “high confidence” was the work of the Russian government. (Read more from “Donald Trump Asks Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails” HERE)

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Media Accuses Trump of ‘Treason’

By Joe Kovacs. Donald Trump’s suggestion Wednesday that Russia help find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails is being viewed by some as a joke, while others say it’s tantamount to treason. . .

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Former CIA Director Leon Panetta told CNN Trump’s remarks were “totally outrageous,” and he questioned the Republican presidential nominee’s loyalty to the U.S . . .

Journalist David Gregory, speaking on a CNN roundtable, said Trump’s comments were childish:

“You know, I’ve run out of words to express my shock in how, uh, completely beyond the pale that Donald Trump is as a potential leader of the Free World, the commander-in-chief of our country. This was truly beyond the pale,” Gregory said. . .

When asked if he was concerned that he may be encouraging Moscow to spy on the Democratic Party, Trump said, “It gives me no pause. If Russia or China or any of those country gets those emails, I’ve got to be honest with you, I’d love to see them.” (Read more from “Trump Asks Russia to Help, Media Accuses Trump of ‘Treason'” HERE)

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Obama Implies Russians Committed DNC Email Hack to Benefit Trump

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President Obama suggested there could be a relationship between Donald Trump and the Russians in an interview excerpt Tuesday, citing the Democratic National Committee email hack.

NBC’s Savannah Guthrie asked Obama a two-pronged question: the first was if the Russians were behind the hack, and the second was if they were trying in interfere in an American presidential election.

He said that the FBI still has an open investigation into this matter, but experts point to the Russians.

He then implied that there was a relationship between Russia and Trump. Even though the comment was vague, the suggestion was still present.

“Well, I think the FBI is still investigating what happened,” he said. “I know that experts have attributed this to the Russians. What we do know is that the Russians hack our systems, not just government systems, but private systems. But, you know, what the motives were in terms of leaks, all that, I can’t say directly. What I do know is that Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin.” (Read more from “Obama Implies Russians Committed DNC Email Hack to Benefit Trump” HERE)

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Donald Trump Would Most Likely Win the Election If It Were Held Today

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By Allan Smith. If the election were held today, Donald Trump would likely win.

That’s what renowned statistician Nate Silver projected on Monday for his data journalism outlet FiveThirtyEight.

In his “Now-cast” election model for who would win if ballots were cast Monday, Silver gave the Republican nominee a 57.5% chance of winning the presidency.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had a 42.5% chance of securing the nation’s highest office if voters were to take to the polls Monday.

Silver’s model had Trump winning in the swing states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire. He would win 285 electoral votes in Silver’s model. (Read more from “Donald Trump Would Most Likely Win the Election If It Were Held Today” HERE)

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Polls: Trump Now Tied With Hillary After Convention and DNC Email Scandal

By Dustin Siggins. A series of new polls show GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in a statistical tie with presumed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton — a dramatic reversal from just days ago, when Clinton was well ahead.

According to the newest Real Clear Politics (RCP) average of recent polls, Trump leads Clinton by 0.2 percentage points, 44.1 percent to 43.9 percent in a head-to-head race. While this means the candidates are in a statistically dead heat, this is a significant change from most recent polls, where Trump was several points behind.

Trump is closing the gap in other theoretical poll combinations, as well. Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson’s inclusion in the polling has Clinton up by 0.4 points, and Clinton leads Trump by 0.6 points when Green Party nominee Jill Stein is included in the polling.

The new numbers look at most of the major polls conducted in the last two weeks. However, they come at an opportune time for Trump — days after a raucous Republican Convention where a prominent Senator refused to endorse his candidacy, and a day after Democrats saw an email scandal verify liberal concerns that the Democratic National Committee worked with the Clinton campaign to stop insurgent Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT).

RCP is not the only top polling group showing Trump reversing months of losing in the polls. Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight shows the media mogul with nearly 60 percent odds of winning the White House in November compared to approximately 20 percent in late June. A CNN poll out Monday put Trump’s convention “bounce” at 6 points, enough to push him to a 3 point lead nationally.

If tradition holds, Clinton could expect at least some bounce herself from this week’s Democratic Convention. The four-day event, starring the former First Lady, her VP pick Senator Tim Kaine (R-VA), Sanders and President Barack Obama — among many others — gets underway today. (For more from the author of “Polls: Trump Now Tied With Hillary After Convention and DNC Email Scandal” please click HERE)

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Trump and Bernie: Where have the ‘outsiders’ gone?

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After Monday night the outsider narratives pushed by the Sanders and Trump campaigns during the primaries have finally both fizzled out into establishment coziness.

After months of railing against their respective party establishments, both populists have now started working together with those same establishments in order to forge something resembling party unity going into the election.

After thanking the bare minority of his supporters in attendance, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-V.T.), made it very clear that it’s time for everyone to get in line behind the presumptive Democrat nominee.

“Let me be as clear as I can be. This election is not about, and has never been about, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates who sought the presidency,” the former Democratic candidate at the party’s national convention in Philadelphia Monday night.

“This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions … By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that – based on her ideas and her leadership – Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States.”

At a convention that already looks more divided than the RNC could have ever appeared on national television, the Democrat elite are already running around with their hair on fire in order to keep calm among a still-tremendously fractured base.

The protests are already bigger in Philadelphia than in Cleveland, and a few days after her cheeky tweet to RNC Chair Reince Priebus, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was booted from party leadership position after a slew of emails from inside the DNC revealed, among several other things, an internal plot to sink the Sanders campaign, despite the façade of neutrality that the party tried to put up for months.

But it doesn’t look like the Clinton Sanders rift is going to heal up that quickly, at least on the convention floor, as Sanders’ endorsement seemed to be the first mention of the former Secretary of State that didn’t draw an audible mix of boos and cheers.

At several points during the night, the mention of the presumptive nominee and her selected running mate drew loud, sustained boos from Sanders supporters throughout the program. During Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) speech, Bernie supporters chanted “war hawk, and they also shouted “we trusted you” and eventually erupted into long, sustained boos at Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) after she endorsed Clinton onstage.

Bernie even tried to quell his still-devout followers on Monday afternoon. Against the chants of protestors saying “we want Bernie,” the senator raised his hand in the air and said to the crowd, “brothers and sisters, this is, this is the real world that we live in.”

“Trump is a danger for the future of our country and must be defeated … And I intend to do everything that I can to see that he is defeated.”

On the GOP side, unity seems more of a demand than an appeal. The past two weeks in Cleveland put Donald Trump’s current collusion with the Republican establishment on full display as well. As evidenced by everything from the combined whipping efforts on the rules committee that eventually ensured that there would be no roll call vote and that the RNC would retain its current level of authority over the grassroots, or having whips tell delegates to boo Ted Cruz onstage, the New York real estate developer’s outsider narrative from the Republican party now seems like a distant memory from the primary election.

In this context, Ted Cruz is the only “outsider” candidate from the primary season who can still claim a scrap of street cred at this point in the cycle. By refusing to endorse Donald Trump in Cleveland last week and encouraging voters to vote their conscience, the Texas Senator managed to earn the respect of grassroots conservatives and those conscionably incapable of supporting the Republican nominee, as well as the seemingly unforgiving ire of those demanding party unity solely for the sake of beating Hillary Clinton.

And the backlash for the Texas Senator is still rolling out days after his Wednesday speech. In addition to short term damage to his image in the polls among Republicans, he’s now having to deal with allegations against his father on an even grander scale than before.

Donald Trump doubled and tripled down on his comments about the Senator’s father two days after the conscience speech, and even the RNC Chair Priebus and DNC communications director Luis Miranda have gotten in on the fun, both, in some way, defending Trump’s speculation on the subject.

And now even some of Cruz’s donors are distancing themselves in light of the convention speech.

The establishment strikes back, hard; stay in line, or else.

But this is the realm of party politics, where yesterday’s outsider is tomorrow’s company man, yesterday’s insurgency is tomorrow’s game of “rally ‘round the candidate,” and the establishment duopoly still reigns supreme. (For more from the author of “Trump and Bernie: Where have the ‘outsiders’ gone?” please click HERE)

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Like a Moth to a Flame, Trump Heaps Scorn on Cruz, Keeps Feud Alive to His Detriment

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By Sandy Fitzgerald. GOP nominee Donald Trump said Friday that scorned former rival Ted Cruz added negative remarks to his controversial Republican National Convention speech after submitting it to Trump for review.

Trump dropped the bombshell during an even to applaud the volunteers and others behind what he called a very successful RNC. . .

“I knew his speech, I saw exactly what his speech was because when you go up to speak, you have to give your speech, you know? We don’t want surprises, right? So they gave it,” Trump said. “They came to me and said it’s a boring speech, Mr. Trump. He congratulates you on the victory — congratulates you on the victory

But “Ted Cruz took his speech that was done, was on the teleprompter, said hello, then made a statement that wasn’t on the speech and then went back to his speech,” he said.

“To me, that’s dishonorable. To me, not signing a pledge is dishonorable. OK? Not a nice thing to do.” (Read more from “Like a Moth to a Flame, Trump Heaps Scorn on Cruz, Keeps Feud Alive to His Detriment” HERE)

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Donald Trump Just Can’t Seem to Let Go of His Grudge With Ted Cruz, Because Donald Trump

By Amber Phillips. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Donald Trump through this campaign, it’s that, for better or worse, the man can hold a grudge.

And hours after winning the Republican nomination, Trump was celebratory, yes, but also in a mood to call out his enemies — mainly the guy who wronged him this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).

Trump spoke to Republican National Committee volunteers on Friday morning in Cleveland, where he spent a significant amount of time insulting Cruz after the runner-up gave a speech where he refused to endorse Trump. . .

Anyway, that whole drama happened Wednesday. And here we are on Friday, still talking about it. That’s because Trump spent so much time going on about Cruz that if you were suddenly dropped from outer space and forced to watch CNN on Friday morning, you would think America was still in the middle of a hard-fought, incredibly acrimonious and personally offensive primary campaign between the two men. . .

It’s not like Trump will have one flash of anger with a microphone in his face and this will all be over. In an interview taped Thursday with CBS’s Ted Koppel, Trump called Cruz being booed “beautiful.” (Read more from “Donald Trump Just Can’t Seem to Let Go of His Grudge With Ted Cruz, Because Donald Trump” HERE)

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