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Trump in Trouble Over ‘Second Amendment’ Remark

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Donald Trump on Tuesday said “the Second Amendment people” may be the only way to stop Hillary Clinton from getting to appoint federal judges if she wins the presidential election in November.

“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment,” he said as an aside while smiling. “By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.”

The reference to the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms, could be interpreted as a joke about using violence to stop Clinton or her judicial picks.

Trump was speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he repeated his regular claim that Clinton intends to “abolish” the Second Amendment, presumably by appointing liberal justices to the Supreme Court. But Trump punctuated that line with an aside, suggesting that Second Amendment supporters might be in a position to stop her even if she’s elected.

The Trump campaign rejected the notion that Trump was inciting violence against Clinton or anyone else with his aside at the Wilmington rally. Instead, the campaign said the Manhattan billionaire was simply appealing to the collective political muscle Second Amendment supporters possess. (Read more from “Trump in Trouble Over ‘Second Amendment’ Remark” HERE)

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How Evan McMullin Could Cost Trump the Presidency

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It’s unlikely that Evan McMullin, the former CIA staffer who just announced his bid for the presidency, can swipe votes from Republican nominee Donald Trump in any state — except one.

Utah is a state that has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1964, and yet it has taken on a distinct dislike for the GOP nominee: June polls showed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tied with 35 percent each, with Libertarian Gary Johnson drawing in 13 percent. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, this unique aversion to Trump is due to his “brash swagger” and “outlandish behavior” in a state full of Mormons.

“It’s interesting that Libertarian Gary Johnson is polling in double digits,” Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute, told the Tribune. “Clearly, there is a segment of the Utah population that is still willing to consider a third-party candidate.”

That third-party candidate may very well be Evan McMullin come November.

A Mormon himself, McMullin was born in Provo, Utah and studied at Brigham Young University, a private university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It would not be so surprising if McMullin gained the support of fellow Mormons Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, two of the most outspoken anti-Trump politicians in the GOP. (Read more from “How Evan McMullin Could Cost Trump the Presidency” HERE)

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Veteran Assaulted in Sam’s Club for Wearing Trump Hat

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A 67-year-old Hispanic Army veteran was assaulted as a result of his choice of apparel: a “Make America Great Again” hat in support of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The incident took place July 30 at a Sam’s Club in Brandon, Fla.

Ricardo Garcia told WTVT in Tampa that he was in the meat department of the store when he had to sneeze.

A gentleman standing to his side said, “Bless you.” Another man near him said, “I can not give you a blessing, because you’re wearing that stupid hat.”

Confused, Garcia asked, “What’s wrong with the hat?”

When the man remarked it was a Trump hat, Garcia said he jokingly told him the hat was his, not Trump’s.

WTSP reported the man said, “Ah, you go for Trump, I don’t like it.” To which Garcia responded, “Well, you can go for Hillary and I don’t like that, but that’s the way it is.”

Garcia then turned away from the man to avoid a confrontation, when he suddenly felt an impact to his head. The impact knocked the hat from his head and turned his glasses sideways.

Garcia said the man stood, staring at him, as if to say, “What do you want?”

The store manager was alerted to the incident and 911 was called.

Officers from the Hillsborough County Police Department arrived on the scene, where they located 36-year-old Patrick Marcus Mickens hiding in another aisle of the store.

After interviewing Garcia and Mickens, officers arrested Mickens and charged him with battery on an elderly person.

Mickens was later released on bond.

Garcia, who is originally from Puerto Rico, said he was privileged and honored to live in the U.S. “We should not be afraid to be in our country,” he said. (For more from the author of “Veteran Assaulted in Sam’s Club for Wearing Trump Hat” please click HERE)

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Trump Delivers Some Good Ideas, Backed by One Huge Misconception

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In his speech on Monday to the Detroit Economic Club, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump outlined a number of proposals to restore and revitalize the American economy. He touched on tax reform, regulatory reform, energy, trade, and more, and through it all delivered some pretty good ideas. However, there’s still a concerning lack of basic economic understanding behind many of his remarks.

Taxes

Let’s start with taxes: Mr. Trump wants them to be lower, and simpler, and who can argue with that? He calls for cutting the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, reducing the number of individual tax brackets from seven to three, and eliminating some of the loopholes and deductions that make filing taxes such a time-consuming and complicated mess. So far so good, although this last point about simplicity is somewhat undermined by his calls for new deductions to cover the cost of child care. I like the idea in spirit, but how do you prove to the IRS what is and isn’t a child care cost? It seems like monitoring those deductions could end up being both extremely expensive and a huge invasion of privacy.

Trump received some energetic booing when he announced that “for many Americans, their tax rate would be zero.” This is a divisive point even among conservatives, who generally want lower taxes for everybody. There is a perception that paying no taxes leaves a person without a stake in the system, and leads to irresponsible behavior as a citizen. Personally, I’m happy whenever the government steals less money from the taxpayers, and if that means not stealing at all from some people, so much the better. Trump would also work to repeal the estate tax, an insidious form of double taxation that absolutely has to go.

Regulations

On regulations, Trump says he would issue a temporary moratorium on all new agency rules. That’s a great idea, but I’d like to know how temporary is temporary, as would all the businesses trying to plan for the future. Trump talks about the importance of certainty, and a certain knowledge about when regulations will kick back in is certainly a crucial part of that. Tell you what, let’s just make the moratorium permanent and call it a day. Then everybody’s happy, right?

Trump also intends to request lists of unnecessary regulations from each agency so that they may be repealed. The only problem with this idea is that it’s hard to imagine the agencies that passed the rules being impartial arbiters of what is or is not necessary. I expect these lists will end up being very short indeed.

In a similar vein, Trump announced that he would immediately cancel all illegal and overreaching executive orders. Again, this is extremely impressive if true, but one cannot help but wonder who is going to make the call of what “illegal and overreaching” means. Given Trump’s rhetoric on security and law and order, it’s hard to imagine him rolling back some of the worst executive orders, such as order 12333, for example, which allows for mass spying on American citizens.

Still, despite these few stumbling blocks, so far this has come across as a rather good Republican policy speech, ticking all the boxes that conservatives usually care about. But it’s when he comes to trade that Trump reveals the underlying misunderstanding of how economies work that casts doubt on whether we can rely on him to be a true champion of economic growth.

Trade

Trump’s major mistake in talking about economic policy, both foreign and domestic, is that he holds a stubborn “us vs. them” mentality regarding the rest of the world. “We are in competition with the world!” he bellows. Unless he’s thinking of the Olympics, no, we’re not. Contrary to what Michael Douglas said in a movie from the 1980s, wealth is not a zero sum game. When one country becomes richer, it doesn’t mean another must become poorer. In fact, when some of us benefit, we all benefit. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Trump doesn’t see it this way. He repeatedly claims “I want wealth to stay in America” as if there is a finite, unchanging amount of wealth. The reality is that wealth is created by specialization, trade, innovation, education, and increases in human capital. When more wealth is created, it doesn’t mean America gets a bigger piece of the pie, it means the pie itself is bigger, and everyone can have a bigger piece.

Early in his speech, Trump attacked the policies of his Democratic opponent, saying that other countries would love to see us elect Hillary Clinton, because of the economic disaster she would create. While it’s undeniably true that Clinton’s policies would be ruinous, why on Earth would other countries delight in that? The U.S. is the largest economy in the world. We trade with everybody. We buy their exports. We send them tourists. We invest in their businesses. The idea that China, Russia, or the European Union would somehow benefit if the U.S. when down in flames is not only ridiculous, it’s insane.

It’s this mindset that leads Trump to reject international trade deals out of hand and to criticize NAFTA (which on balance has been pretty good for America, not to mention for Canada and Mexico), and which has led him to threaten companies who plan to move their operations overseas. This glaring blind spot has left him unable to see that there can be mutual benefit in international cooperation.

So while Trump’s speech contains plenty of good ideas to get the economy going again, his inability to understand something as basic as the gains from trade leaves me skeptical that he will usher in the economic renaissance he promises. (For more from the author of “Trump Delivers Some Good Ideas, Backed by One Huge Misconception” please click HERE)

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Trump Endorses Ryan After Week of Tension

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Donald Trump endorsed Paul Ryan on Friday night, after refusing to back the speaker’s reelection bid earlier this week.

“This campaign is not about me or any one candidate, it’s about America,” Trump said, although he did not immediately launch into his message of support.

“I understand and embrace the wisdom of Ronald Reagan’s big tent within the party,” he continued, acknowledging that he’ll need support in the House and Senate to get his agenda accomplished if elected. “So I embrace the wisdom that my 80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy.”

After a few minutes, Trump then uttered the magic words: “In our shared mission to make America great again, I support and endorse our Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.”

The mogul’s backing came at a rally in Green Bay, Wis., less than a week before Ryan faces a primary challenger whom has Trump praised, though Ryan appears to have little to worry about in the Tuesday race with businessman Paul Nehlen. (Read more from “Trump Endorses Ryan After Week of Tension” HERE)

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Dobson: Electing Trump to the White House ‘Would Unleash Christian Activists’

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Christian activist Dr. James Dobson believes that a Donald Trump presidency “would unleash Christian activists to fight for their beliefs.”

Writing on the website WND, Dobson recounted a June meeting in which he met with Trump and other Christian leaders at Trump Tower in New York City.

At the meeting, he told Trump, “Our Supreme Court has struck down Bible reading in schools and even prohibited prayer to an unidentified God. Then, they banned the posting of the Ten Commandments on bulletin boards. From there, the limitation on religious liberties has become even more egregious,” he wrote.

“Most recently, President Obama and Hillary Clinton have been referring to ‘freedom of worship,’ rather than ‘freedom of religion.’ Do you understand their motive? They are suggesting that Americans are free to worship in their churches and synagogues, but not in the public square,” he told Trump.

He said that Trump responded by calling it an “outrage that Christians have been deprived of their rights to speak openly on behalf of the values and principles in which they believe.”

Dobson noted that Trump criticized the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 piece of tax code that bans political participation by churches, as well as other tax-exempt not-for-profit groups. The amendment was supported by then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson, D-Texas.

Dobson said Trump’s promise to overturn the amendment “would have a great impact on Washington because it would unleash Christian activists to fight for their beliefs.”

Trump has kept faith with the ministers with whom he met. The Republican platform includes a plank to abolish the amendment.

“We’re going to get rid of that horrible Johnson amendment and we’re going to let evangelicals, we’re going to let Christians and Jews and people of religion talk without being afraid to talk,” Trump said last month.

Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, has said that eliminating the amendment “is almost as important for Christians as the appointment of Supreme Court justices.”

Trump himself has said that ending the ban can be a catalytic moment for religion in America.

“I think maybe that will be my greatest contribution to Christianity — and other religions — is to allow you, when you talk religious liberty, to go and speak openly, and if you like somebody or want somebody to represent you, you should have the right to do it,” Trump told Dobson and the other clergy at their June meeting, saying religious leaders in America were “petrified” of running afoul of the ban.

“You talk about religious liberty and religious freedom, you don’t have any religious freedom if you think about it,” he said then. (For more from the author of “Dobson: Electing Trump to the White House ‘Would Unleash Christian Activists'” please click HERE)

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What Happens If the Trump ‘Drop out’ Rumors Are True?

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The internet, as it is wont to do, is filled with rumors today. The rumors are specifically swirling about the seemingly preposterous notion that Donald Trump is on the cusp of dropping out of the presidential race.

Even ABC News has glommed onto the bandwagon.

Republican officials are exploring how to handle a scenario that would be unthinkable in a normal election year: What would happen if the party’s presidential nominee dropped out?

ABC News has learned that senior party officials are so frustrated — and confused — by Donald Trump’s erratic behavior that they are exploring how to replace him on the ballot if he drops out.

What happens if Trump were to surprisingly tell himself, “you’re fired?”

That’s when rule nine of the Republican National Committee would come into play. Rule nine deals with how the GOP would fill vacancies in nominations. Here’s the rule from 2012, which Conservative Review has learned was unchanged in 2016.

RULE NO.9

Filling Vacancies in Nominations

(a) The Republican National Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise of the Republican candidate for President of the United States or the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States, as nominated by the national convention, or the Republican National Committee may reconvene the national convention for the purpose of filling any such vacancies.

(b) In voting under this rule, the Republican National Committee members representing any state shall be entitled to cast the same number of votes as said state was entitled to cast at the national convention.

(c) In the event that the members of the Republican National Committee from any state shall not be in agreement in the casting of votes hereunder, the votes of such state shall be divided equally, including fractional votes, among the members of the Republican National Committee present or voting by proxy.

(d) No candidate shall be chosen to fill any such vacancy except upon receiving a majority of the votes entitled to be cast in the election.

Here is how that would work in plain English.

First off many have wondered if that means Mike Pence automatically becomes the nominee. The answer is no.

Either the Republican National Committee (RNC) would chose the new nominee, or it could call for a new convention that would see all 2472 delegates reconvene to pick the nominee. The former is probably what would happen; the RNC would pick a new nominee.

In that scenario, the individual RNC members from a state would vote as if they were all of the delegates from their state. For instance the three members of the RNC from Texas would vote as if they were all 155 delegates from the state, and the three RNC members from Ohio would vote as if they were the 66 delegates from the state.

Furthermore, if the three RNC members didn’t vote for the same candidate, each one of them would get votes equal to 1/3 of their committee (including fractional votes). This means that, in effect, each Texas member of the RNC’s vote would be equal to 51.66 delegates, and each Ohio member would be equal to 22 delegates.

The members of the RNC would continue voting until a candidate emerged with 1237 delegates.

That doesn’t end it though. While that’s how the RNC would select a new nominee, it does not mean that the new nominee would replace Trump’s name on every state ballot. Each state has different laws on the deadline by which a party can replace their nominee on the ballot. Ballotpedia has put together what they believe to be the deadline for each state. They are careful to note that this is what they “gleaned from reviewing relevant state statutes and other government documents.” Of course as with all election law, it could be challenged.

Here’s how the team at Ballotpedia explained what happens after the RNC would replace a candidate.

The bulk of the dates for certifying the names of major party presidential candidates are in August and September—35 states in total. The GOP would have until about mid August to find a replacement nominee and still be able to get his or her name on the ballot in enough states to be competitive in November. For example, if Trump dropped out in late August, his name would already be certified to appear as the Republican candidate for president in at least 18 states. If he dropped out in September, that number could rise to more than 30 states. The Republican Party would have few options available to it, at this point, to remove Trump’s name and replace it with their new nominee.

If the rumors are true, Trump would essentially need to drop out by next week to allow a new nominee to be chosen and appear on enough ballots if lawsuits were unsuccessful.

Granted, this is probably going to never happen, but now you know how it would. But then again, it is 2016. (For more from the author of “What Happens If the Trump ‘Drop out’ Rumors Are True?” please click HERE)

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The Obvious Question No One’s Asking Obama

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It’s clear Obama has no use for Donald Trump. But that’s not really the point here . . .

The question this harsh, unprecedented attack by a sitting president on a major-party nominee to succeed him raises should be obvious: What happens if Donald Trump wins the election in November?

Given what Obama has said about Trump, would he not have an obligation to prevent Trump from assuming office? And what would that mean to the peaceful process America has enjoyed for more than two centuries of transitions of power?

These are questions Americans have never before been confronted with in American history.

Should we not be concerned about what Obama might do? (Read more from “The Obvious Question No One’s Asking Obama” HERE)

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White House to Trump: Election Won’t Be ‘Rigged’

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Donald Trump’s declaration that the general election could be “rigged” against him reeks of a candidate poised for defeat, the White House suggested Wednesday.

“I know this is the subject of debate at the end of the last presidential election when some supporters of Gov. [Mitt] Romney complained of skewed polling. So this is not a new claim. I would just note that it is often a claim made by people who don’t end up winning elections,” press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at the daily briefing. “What I’ll just say in general is that the cornerstone of our democracy is the ability of eligible voters, citizens to cast a ballot and to have it counted and the more people participate in that system, the more people that participate in that process, then the stronger our democracy.”

Earnest went on to note that President Barack Obama has made a similar case in front of bipartisan audiences.

“You’ve seen the United States Department of Justice pursue cases in the court to ensure that the rights of eligible voters are protected when it comes to participating in elections and the president has actually worked in bipartisan fashion including signing up the lawyer for Gov. Romney’s campaign to offer up advice about what we can do to make it easier for eligible voters to participate in the process,” Earnest said. “And the reason for all of that is the president believes our democracy benefits when the American people are engaged in that debate and when as many eligible voters as possible cast ballots.” (Read more from “White House to Trump: Election Won’t Be ‘Rigged'” HERE)

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Conservative Icon Speaks out Against Paul Ryan

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Republican nominee Donald Trump has recently come under fire for withholding an endorsement for current House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump told The Washington Post Tuesday that, as far as endorsing Ryan, he was “not quite there yet.”

While many within the GOP criticized the move, conservative legend Phyllis Schlafly has spoken out with even stronger language than Trump against the speaker. In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, she called on all Americans to “get rid of him.”

Ryan’s opponent in the race, Paul Nehlen, is a businessman who has been rapidly catching up in the polls, as the Wisconsin primary closes in for next week.

The 91-year-old Schlafly had plenty of criticisms for the Speaker, primarily those that dealt with immigration, trade, and Ryan’s failure to represent the Republican electorate.

“Get rid of him! We don’t want anybody who believes in open borders,” she said. “Obviously Paul Ryan is not an ‘America first’ guy.”

Schlafly hopes for someone to replace Ryan and help defeat the “kingmakers” — that is, the political elite who have a donor class agenda. She has been particularly troubled by Ryan’s negative comments toward Trump.

Nehlen has said similar, saying previously that “Ryan’s repeated betrayals of the GOP nominee is beneath the dignity of the Speakers’ office and is morally disqualifying.” He predicted that if Ryan were to be re-elected, he would do his best to sabotage Trump even if he won the presidency.

In particular, Schlafly is against the philosophy of globalism. She has commended Trump on his “America First” motto, and explained that’s what the GOP really represents. In her interview with Breitbart, the conservative icon said she is hopeful of the future and believes Trump’s prowess and allegiance to the commonplace U.S. citizen will revive the Republican party. (For more from the author of “Conservative Icon Speaks out Against Paul Ryan” please click HERE)

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