President Obama can’t wait to take on Donald Trump.
Obama has been largely sidelined in the presidential contest, a last-year officeholder with high approval ratings who has repeatedly shown he likes to spar with political foes.
With Bernie Sanders continuing to slug it out with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Obama largely has to choose his openings to talk 2016.
So on Friday, when the White House announced Obama would make a statement about the economy, the president knew he’d get asked about Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee . . .
“We are in serious times, and this is a really serious job,” Obama said. “This is not entertainment; this is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States.” (Read more from “Obama Itches for Trump Fight” HERE)
(Editor’s note: links to the other top stories are below) Ben Carson added more fuel to the fire of suspicion about Donald Trump’s conservative bona fides, when he suggested the presumptive GOP nominee’s running mate could be a Democrat.
Trump tapped Carson to head up a committee, which will make recommendations to the candidate who would best to fill the vice president slot.
Carson told the Wall Street Journal, in an interview published Thursday night, among those choices could be a Democrat.
Trump’s former GOP rival also took himself out of the running for the No. 2 spot saying, “I’m not interested in doing that for a number of reasons,” he said. “I don’t want to be a distraction. I’m sure you remember how crazy the media was about me, I don’t want to be a distraction, it’s too important a time in our life” . . . .
In an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier Thursday night, [Trump] added that he would prefer that person to have experience moving legislation through Congress, which would seem to eliminate most of the potential gubernatorial possibilities. He specifically stated South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is not under consideration and strongly suggested Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is not either.
Fox News digital politics editor Chris Stirewalt named someone who would check both the Democrat and congressional experience boxes: former Virginia Senator and presidential candidate Jim Webb. “I would say that the correct running mate for Donald Trump, and I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, is Jim Webb. Military experience. Democrat. Bi-partisan,” Stirewalt said on Fox Radio Wednesday. (Read more from “Ben Carson Just Made This Major Announcement About Trump’s Vice Presidential Pick” HERE)
Ben Carson, whose outsider candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination flared briefly in 2015 before limping to a conclusion this spring, will play a role in selecting presumptive GOP-nominee Donald Trump’s vice president.
Trump told the New York Times on Wednesday that he does not plan to pick a running mate until July and will have in place a collaborative process to select the right person. Trump also noted he would be looking for a vice president with a political background to “get things done” in Washington.
“I’ll set up a committee, and that I will do soon,” Trump said. “I think on the committee I’ll have Dr. Ben Carson and some other folks” . . .
Carson said the Trump campaign can win over African-American voters . . .
He also said the challenge of defeating likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will unite Republicans.
“You would have thought that after 2012 we would have learned the lesson, but we didn’t,” Carson said. “But now we just have some bigger wounds that have to be healed, but I think that the healing balm — the sap, the ointment — will be Hillary Clinton. When people begin to think about her and what she represents and the progressive ideology and how it’s going to destroy our financial underpinnings and our position in the world and empower our enemies.” (Read more from “Trump Makes Announcement About Ben Carson” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/16040661834_228f417246_b.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-07 23:06:022016-05-07 23:14:47Trump Makes Announcement About Ben Carson
If you want to know how Democrats will go about trying to destroy Donald Trump if he is the Republican presidential nominee, look no further than a campaign ad recently released by Conor Eldridge, a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas running as a Democrat against Republican Senator John Boozman.
One suspects that we will see a flurry of such campaign commercials in districts across the country in races up and down ballots during the 2016 general election if Trump is to triumph in the GOP primary.
As President Barack Obama did with Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton and a media that has to this point enabled Donald Trump’s rise with $2 billion in free messaging will seek to define Trump so damningly that Clinton will look comparatively angelic — which is saying something — ensuring his fall.
The Donald will be cast as a bigoted, misogynistic, unscrupulous oligarch with no principles except a lust for power. When Trump comes out swinging directly at Hillary, she will become just another one of Trump’s victims.
To his discredit, the New York businessman has provided the Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) with a target-rich environment for making this case over his decades in the public eye. And best of all for Democrats, their attacks will not only be powerful, but have the benefit in some instances of being true.
One suspects that the opposition research file will be rich with examples of, among other things:
Individuals burned by Trump’s business dealings
Duped Trump University students
Disgruntled ex-Trump employees
Homeowners squelched by Trump’s use of eminent domain for personal gain
Trump supporters who have partaken in acts of violence, threatened journalists and others and/or exhibited an animating ideology of neo-Nazism and white supremacism
The worst or most ill-conceived of Trump’s words, a la the Eldridge ad, but also with respect to Hispanics and others, which can be easily juxtaposed with the words of sympathetic women, Hispanics and others
The ads write themselves.
And as with Sen. John McCain in 2008, a media that to this point has served effectively as a friend, thanks to its hours of free airtime, will instantly become a foe. Recall that Sen. McCain was labeled a “maverick” by mainstream media outlets, and embraced by Democrats for his willingness to take Leftist positions against his party. The day he won the Republican presidential nomination, the formerly fawning press turned their guns on him unmercifully.
While the media has certainly proven more hostile to Trump than McCain during this election cycle, mainly in response to his rhetoric and lack of decorum (note: less so his “heterodox” ideology), its efforts to date have had the effect of providing Trump with a reliable enemy to rail against which resonates with his supporters, all while constantly keeping him in the news cycle.
The media in fact has had good reason not to seek to destroy Trump outright to date. First, Trump is good for ratings, which means he is good for business. Second, by enabling Trump’s rise, the media has created a candidate that they believe is incredibly weak given his unfavorable ratings and the aforementioned devastating charges that can be leveled against him. While the media may have underestimated Trump’s political acumen, and the mood of the American electorate to date, nevertheless they know that a concerted effort can be used to break him down just as they built him up. If Mitt Romney, a decent man and moderate Republican with a stellar business record, could have his image utterly sullied, imagine what the media can do with The Donald. Third, especially as more Establishment Republicans signal their approval, even if tacit, of Trump, he will be used as the representative of the party generally and conservatism in particular. The goal? To toxify those with an “R” next to their name in a bid to take back Congress. Trump may very well have the blood on his hands of real conservatives, few though they may be in Washington.
“Electability” is hard to evaluate, especially given Trump’s unpredictability and the Teflon nature of his candidacy to date. But what is undeniable is that negative and devastating Trump ads will be ubiquitous and likely highly effective come the general election season if Trump is the nominee, as reflected in the aforementioned ad already being run in Arkansas. (For more from the author of “This Is How Democrats Will Absolutely Destroy Donald Trump If He’s the Nominee” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/maxresdefault-118.jpg7201280Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-07 23:03:592016-05-07 23:22:36This Is How Democrats Will Absolutely Destroy Donald Trump If He’s the Nominee
Donald Trump once warned Speaker of the House Paul Ryan he would pay a “big price” if Ryan didn’t get along with him. Look who is paying now.
Yesterday Ryan, in publicly saying he will not at this point endorse the presumptive nominee called Trump’s bluff. When asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper if he would support Trump, Ryan said “Well, to be perfectly candid with you, Jake, I’m just not ready to do that at this point. I’m not there right now.”
And, with that, maybe Trump is forced to finally start realizing the consequences of how he conducted his campaign, rotten in both personality and policy. There’s a steep cost to the way Trump’s campaign has done its business and he, not Ryan, is going to pay.
Others in GOP leadership should follow Ryan’s lead. They have “leverage “as Trump would say. Get on record now, stating your opposition to Trump and make a demand for him to change. If he doesn’t improve, which he won’t, you are free to run as far away from the Trump train wreck as your legs can carry you.
People’s reactions to the prospect of a President Trump separates the wheat from the chaff.
And, the chaff is easy to see. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed Trump, robotically murmuring that Republicans must support Republicans to win and stop Democrats from winning the White House.
This time, however, Trump is scarier than Hillary Clinton to many. This is a man who gets his news from the National Enquirer for goodness sakes, who came on to the political scene during the Obama Administration by peddling birtherism on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Had any other candidate, any one of them, won the nomination, this would be the best news cycle of their campaign. People would probably disagree on various policies but Republicans could come together and agree the candidate was a man of integrity and character.
But not Trump.
This should be Trump’s honeymoon period, but good men and women should prepare for divorce. (For more from the author of “Ryan Shows Trump There’s a Cost to How Trump Does Business” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/12987395815_bbc510cf65_b.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-07 02:11:242016-05-07 02:11:24Ryan Shows Trump There’s a Cost to How Trump Does Business
Republican lobbyists in Washington are struggling to come to grips with the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency.
“A lot of people woke up [on Wednesday] and went, ‘Oh, gosh, this is not a dream,’ ” said Jeff MacKinnon, a principal at Farragut Partners. “I don’t think downtown was really prepared for it happening so quickly. It did catch people off guard” . . .
Much of the downtown Republican crowd — lobbyists, consultants and PR operatives — built their careers working for establishment politicians like former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and President George W. Bush . . .
Once Trump all but clinched the nomination this week, the topic of conversation among lobbyists quickly turned to the question of how Trump is going to finance a billion-dollar campaign.
Washington’s lobbying industry traditionally serves as an important resource for presidential candidates’ cash supply; supportive lobbyists often stay in close contact with campaign committees, participate in conference calls and recruit supporters. (Read more from “Lobbyists Struggle With Trump Reality” HERE)
It seems crazy to call it the ‘New Normal’, but once again, record numbers of Americans are renouncing citizenship. Every three months, the Treasury Department publicly names individuals who renounced. It is surely more about FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act enacted in 2010, than it is about politics. Still, numbers are flying, with one poll saying that 1 in 4 Americans would consider leaving if Trump is elected. Others claim they will leave if Hillary is elected.
In reality, of course, most who bristle about politics are not serious. And for those who are, they surely mean a temporary move, not a final exit. In contrast, giving up citizenship is a big deal. Yet the number of published expatriates for the first three months of 2016 was a record 1,158. In 2015, there were approximately 4,300 expatriations. Comparing present to past suggests that Americans renouncing citizenship have risen 560% from their Bush administration high. There are now 18 times as many renouncers as in 2008.
Of course, these numbers seem tiny compared to the influx of immigrants. Yet expatriations have historically been much lower, making the uptick worrisome. Moreover, the published list is incomplete, with many not counted. Surprisingly, no one seems to know exactly how big the real number is, even though the IRS and FBI both track Americans who renounce. There is no single explanation, though some renounce because of global tax reporting and FATCA. One law adding to the mix is the IRS power to revoke passports.
The reasons for renouncing can be family, tax and legal complications. Dual citizenship isn’t always possible, as this infographic from MoveHub shows. And leaving can be expensive. Some countries have no fee, but America charges $2,350 to hand in your passport. That is more than twenty times the average of other high-income countries. The U.S. government has collected about $12.6 million in fees since the fall of 2014, after hiking its fee to renounce citizenship by 422%. Some renouncers write why they gave up their U.S. citizenship. (Read more from “Many Americans Renounce Citizenship, Even Before President Trump” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/5440393641_6dabcc3f81_o.jpg31684752Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-07 01:51:452016-05-07 02:56:45Many Americans Renounce Citizenship, Even Before President Trump
By Newsmax. In a political jaw-dropper that would have been inconceivable just six months ago, billionaire industrialists and conservative GOP donors Charles and David Koch are weighing supporting Hillary Clinton in her battle with Donald Trump for the White House.
Politico reports that representatives of Koch brothers warn that they “could sit out the presidential campaign entirely — or even back Hillary Clinton.”
The Koch brothers’ discontent with Trump’s aggressive campaign style first emerged last month when Charles Koch told ABC News it was “possible” Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, would make a better president than Trump.
On Wednesday, Politico says, the Kochs would not rule out supporting the former secretary of state. (Read more from “Internationalist Koch Bros., Bush’s Apparently Think Hillary Is Better Than Trump” HERE)
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George W. Bush Sitting out Election With H.W., No Plans to Endorse Trump
By Clyde Hughes. George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush, will be sitting out the presidential election and have no plans to endorse Donald Trump, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
The Washington Post reported that it is the first time in five presidential election cycles that Bush 41 is not endorsing the Republican nominee.
A spokesman for his son, Bush 43, made a statement Wednesday evening after Ohio Gov. John Kasich followed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz to the exit, noted The Guardian.
“President George W. Bush does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign,” said the spokesman for the two-term president before President Barack Obama. (Read more from “George W. Bush Sitting out Election With H.W., No Plans to Endorse Trump” HERE)
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have at least one thing in common: they’re both turning to former Goldman Sachs executives to help lead their campaigns.
Trump announced Thursday that he has hired Steve Mnuchin as his national finance chairman, citing in part his “extensive and very successful financial background.”
Mnuchin currently heads his own private investment firm, Dune Capital Management, but spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs. His father, Robert, was also a longtime fixture at the Wall Street giant.
One year ago, Clinton announced that her campaign’s chief financial officer would be Gary Gensler, who rose to Goldman’s co-head of finance after 18 years with the firm.
Before joining the campaign, Gensler was actually a Wall Street watchdog, serving as the head of President Obama’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission. There, he gained a reputation as one of the administration’s toughest regulators, making his selection primarily seen as an effort to calm Wall Street skeptics to Clinton’s left. (Read more from “Clinton, Trump Both Have Goldman Sachs Alums in Key Jobs” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/hqdefault-5.jpg360480Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-06 00:09:242016-05-06 00:09:24Clinton, Trump Both Have Goldman Sachs Alums in Key Jobs
By CR Wire. In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said he is not ready to support Donald Trump.
Ryan said “we have a ways to go” in the unifying process, and that the burden is on Trump to unify the party on conservative principles and ideas. Ryan did go on to say that he hoped, for the sake of the party and country, that Republicans would come together. (For more from the author of “Speaker Ryan Will Not Support Donald Trump… Yet” please click HERE)
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Paul Ryan Spoils Trump’s Victory by Withholding Endorsement
By Newsmax. House Speaker Paul Ryan took the extraordinary step of saying he isn’t ready to support Donald Trump, and Trump fired right back, igniting a spat that pits one of the nation’s most popular and prominent Republicans against his party’s presumptive nominee.
Putting the brakes on Trump’s coronation, Ryan said on CNN that Trump needed to stop the bullying and demonstrate his conservative credentials in order to win the speaker’s support.
“I hope to support our nominee,” Ryan said. “At this point, I’m just not there right now.”
Trump quickly retorted: “I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan’s agenda.” (Read more from “Paul Ryan Spoils Trump’s Victory by Withholding Endorsement” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/12987441443_1b841d0bf9_b.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-05 23:14:552016-05-06 00:34:05Speaker Ryan Will Not Support Donald Trump… Yet [+video]
