By Gerry Urbanek. During the eighth Republican debate, a question directed to Donald Trump regarding his support for eminent domain turned into a nasty argument with Jeb Bush and resulted in the audience booing.
“A lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are, I think I’m more [conservative] than they are, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn’t go ten feet. You need eminent domain. It’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” said Trump . . .
After a back and forth,Trump was given an opportunity to respond, and that’s when things got heated.
“He wants to be a tough guy… and it doesn’t work very well,” Trump began. “How tough is it to take property from an elderly woman?” Jeb interjected. “Let me talk, quiet,” Trump said raising his finger to his mouth.
At this the audience erupted into booing of Trump as he was trying to make his point.
“That’s all of his donors and special interests out there,” Trump said, visibly irritated. “That’s what it is, and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets, you can’t get them. You know who has the tickets to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That’s who it is,” Trump said, shrugging as he continued to be booed. (Read more from “Watch: Debate Crowd Viciously Turns Against Trump, Then He Drops a Bombshell” HERE)
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Poll: Trump, Sanders Lead Ahead of New Hampshire’s Vote
By Jennifer Agiesta. Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican race in New Hampshire on the eve of the vote, the final CNN/WMUR tracking poll finds.
On the Democratic side of the race, it remains Bernie Sanders’ primary to lose, with the Vermont senator holding a 26-point lead over Hillary Clinton.
The field of candidates vying for a second place finish behind him is finally beginning to separate, according to the survey.
Trump holds 31%, down two points from the February 3-6 release, but within the poll’s margin of sampling error. (Read more from “Poll: Trump, Sanders Lead Ahead of New Hampshire’s Vote” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/hqdefault-19.jpg360480Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-08 22:52:462016-04-11 10:52:54Watch: Debate Crowd Viciously Turns Against Trump, Then He Drops a Bombshell
By Cheryl Chumley. Donald Trump and his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, have been told via lawyer letter to stop making “false and defamatory” statements about Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus, or face the legal consequences.
Politico, which obtained the letter, reported attorney Bruce Barket of Barket, Marion, Epstein & Kearon in New York, said Lewandowski and Trump have falsely painted Jacobus in public statements as holding a grudge against the billionaire businessman because of her supposed failed try to obtain a job on his campaign.
Barket said it was actually one of Trump’s staffers who contacted Jacobus and asked if she was interested in working on the campaign, Politico reported.
His letter states, in part: “By impugning Ms. Jacobus’ status as an objective and serious political commentator, your live-television statements to Morning Joe and follow-up ‘Tweets’ were per se defamatory because they painted her as petty and biased in a profession permitting neither. Any violation of this cease-and-desist demand will be treated in Court accordingly.”
Jacobus gave Politico screenshots of a May 2015 Facebook messaging chat with Jim Dornan, a Republican strategist who at the time was working for Trump, that read: “Would you consider working for us? We need a top notch communications director.” (Read more from “Trump Is Being Threatened With This Major Lawsuit” HERE)
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Trump’s Unwelcome Support: White Supremacists
By Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin. New Hampshire voters may be stunned to hear the latest robocall asking for their vote; it’s from white nationalists with a simple, disturbing message.
“We don’t need Muslims. We need smart, educated, white people,” according to the male voice on the calls, which began Thursday night and urge voters in New Hampshire to vote for Donald Trump.
Three white nationalist leaders have banded together to form their own super PAC in support of Trump, even though Trump doesn’t want their support.
The American National Super PAC is funding the robocall effort, which is organized under a separate group called the American Freedom Party. (Read more from “Trump’s Unwelcome Support: White Supremacists” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-06 01:06:232016-04-11 10:52:58Trump Is Being Threatened With This Major Lawsuit
By Neetzan Zimmerman. Donald Trump is accusing Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz of committing fraud ahead of Monday night’s Iowa caucuses, and he is calling for a “new election.”
“Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
During primetime of the Iowa Caucus, Cruz put out a release that @RealBenCarson was quitting the race, and to caucus (or vote) for Cruz.
Earlier in the day, the real estate mogul tweeted, then quickly deleted, a claim that Cruz didn’t earn a fair victory in Iowa, saying he “illegally stole it.”
“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he illegally stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong any [sic] why he got more votes than anticipated. Bad!” the GOP front-runner tweeted.
Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!
(Read more from “Trump Makes Huge Accusation Against Cruz, Calls for ‘New Election'” HERE)
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Donald Trump Tells Crowd in Arkansas, ‘I Think I Came in First’ in Iowa
By Katharine Q. Seelye. Donald J. Trump, back in fighting form, told a record crowd here Wednesday night that he believes he won the Iowa caucuses.
“Actually, I think I came in first,” he told a cheering crowd of more than 11,500 people who packed into Barton Coliseum to hear him.
Mr. Trump, who placed second in Iowa, was continuing a theme he had been unspooling over the previous 24 hours — that in his view, Senator Ted Cruz, who won Monday’s caucuses, had in fact stolen the election.
Mr. Cruz was declared the winner, with 27.6 percent of the vote; Mr. Trump came in second, with 24.3 percent. (Read more from “Donald Trump Tells Crowd in Arkansas, ‘I Think I Came in First’ in Iowa” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/5440392565_25abd8a695_o-1.jpg31684752Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-04 02:29:012016-04-11 10:53:05Trump Calls for ‘New Election’, Makes Fraud Accusation Against Cruz
Republicans have always specialized in running candidates that accept the most important premises of liberal governance and make themselves indistinguishable from their Democrat counterparts. They should patent their pale pastels, which blend in so effectively there is no discernable ink contrasting their talking points to Democrat policies.
In 2012, Republicans concocted a brilliant electoral plan. In a race fought over healthcare, they managed to nominate the only human being in America who implemented Obamacare before President Obama did. Now that the Democrat front-runner is Hillary Clinton, the original god-mother of single-payer healthcare, Republicans are on the cusp of nominating the one man in the GOP who has long championed Marxist healthcare policies.
In case anyone thought Donald Trump has indeed undergone a cathartic change since deciding to run for president and is no longer promoting New York values, he wants everyone to know if you oppose universal healthcare, you don’t have a heart. Here is what he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos this morning:
We’re going to work with our hospitals. We’re going to work with our doctors. We’ve got to do something. You can’t have a — a small percentage of our economy, because they’re down and out, have absolutely no protection so they end up dying from, you know, what you could have a simple procedure or even a pill. You can’t do that. We’ll work something out. That doesn’t mean single payer. And I mean, maybe he’s got no heart. And if this means I lose an election, that’s fine, because, frankly, we have to take care of the people in our country. We can’t let them die on the sidewalks of New York or the sidewalks of Iowa or anywhere else.
Somehow Trump “opposes” Obamacare, but believes that if you don’t champion something similar to it you have no heart. He declined to defend “single-payer,” which he championed for years, but left out the fact that he praised Canada and Scotland’s dysfunctional Marxist system during one of the early presidential debates.
What’s worse than Trump’s support for the Democrat position on healthcare (wait, how is he going to debate Hillary again?) is the way he articulates this position. He uses the most antiquated tool in the Marxist/Alinsky shed, which is to play on emotions over intelligence, thereby achieving neither sound policy nor compassionate outcomes. Let’s not even discuss the constitutional powers of government; evidently that is never a factor with Trump.
Had Trump spent more time studying the government he seeks to run instead of pandering for the endorsements of Bob Dole and his less charismatic mini-me, Terry Branstad, The Donald would understand that we already spend hundreds of billions on Medicaid, S-Chip, and an array of state programs for those who would “die on the sidewalks” because they have no money. Medicaid alone will cost us $350 billion this year. The “dying on the sidewalk” Alinsky argument is a non-sequitur. The real question is what happens with the rest of us. Either we are all forced into single-payer, which has been Trump’s long-standing position. Or we are forced into something similar to Obamacare’s coverage mandates that he won’t specify. Here are the results of such a plan from my personal experience:
This is the outcome of a liberal “heart” in which no middle class family will be able to afford health insurance with dignity. When you pursue increased coverage at the expense of reducing costs you achieve neither objective. I can’t wait to see the premiums under Trump-care. Then again, under single-payer the problems will go much further than health insurance but will spill over to healthcare itself. Perhaps he will then take his rode show onto universal housing, college, and transportation.
Many of us who believe immigration is the single most important issue have tolerated Trump’s New York values on many critical issues so that we could engage in the long-overdue discussion of national sovereignty. But as Trump devotes less time to immigration (shocker!) and promotes one left-wing idea and talking point after another, the circus has come full circle. Moreover, doesn’t Trump’s Alinsky thought process on healthcare sound awfully similar to his immigration views he harbored prior to running for president?
“You have to give them a path and you have to make it possible for them to succeed…“You have to do that.”
“How do you throw somebody out that’s lived in the country for 20 years?…You just can’t throw them out.”
Again, it’s not just the positions he took in recent years that are problematic, it’s the way he expressed them. Trump’s comments are not taken out of context; they are clearly coming from a deep-rooted liberal intuition on the most critical issues facing our nation. You might even say they come from the “heart.”
As someone who has fought for national sovereignty over the past decade I can tell you there is no such thing as a politician who is to the left of Susan Collins on most issues but is somehow aligned with Jeff Sessions on immigration. If you believe that in your heart I have some property to sell you in Ciudad Juárez. (For more from the author of “Trump Reveals His Liberal Heart” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/trump-speaking-pointing.jpg6751200Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-01 23:40:062016-04-11 10:53:10Trump Reveals His Liberal Heart
While attending a church service in Iowa Sunday, Donald Trump momentarily mistook the silver communion plate for an offering plate and started to dig into his pockets for cash.
The candidate, who was attending the First Christian Church – Orchard Campus in Council Bluffs with his wife Melania, quickly realized his mistake and took the communion element instead . . .
Trump gave an offering to the church (which is part of the Four Square denomination) several minutes later, when the appropriate plates were passed, the Associated Press reported.
“As Trump was leaving, one of the church pastors put his hand on Trump’s shoulder and offered a prayer, ‘That Jesus would guide his decisions and that only Christ could guide his decisions,’ the pastor later said. Trump gladly accepted, bowing his head,” according to the AP . . .
Last summer, Trump spoke about partaking in Holy Communion. “When I drink my little wine — which is about the only wine I drink — and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed,” he said, according to CNN. “I think in terms of ‘Let’s go on and let’s make it right.’”
On Saturday, Trump released a new video with him holding up a Bible, which he said was given to him by his mother. “In fact, it’s her writing, right here,” he said opening to a page near the front of the Holy book. “She wrote the name and the address, and it’s just very special to me.” (Read more from “Trump Just Made an Embarrassing Mistake in Church That Has Many Shaking Their Heads” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/20547823830_c0b0686586_b.jpg1024683Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-01 23:28:432016-04-11 10:53:11Trump Just Made an Embarrassing Mistake in Church That Has Many Shaking Their Heads [+video]
By Fox News. Leading Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz traded shots Sunday on the eve of the Iowa Caucus, hoping to persuade the remaining undecided voters in the first-in-the-nation voting.
Both candidates hammered on familiar points, with Trump again questioning Cruz’s citizenship and financial records. Cruz, meanwhile, asked whether Trump is indeed a conservative and suggested that his bluster covers his weakness on issues.
“He’s the height of chutzpah,” Cruz told “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s astonishing. He’s not honest.”
The Texas senator trails the front-running Trump by 5 percentage points, 28-to-23, with the caucus on Monday, according to a Des Moines (Iowa) Register poll released Saturday . . .
With Cruz and Trump essentially battling for the social conservative vote to win Iowa, Cruz told Fox News that he’s “thrilled” to be in second place, despite having led Trump in Iowa just a few weeks earlier. (Read more from “Trump, Cruz Trade Shots on Eve of Iowa Caucus” HERE)
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Cruz: ‘A Vote for Marco Rubio Is a Vote for Amnesty’
By Curt Mills. Republican presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ratcheted up his rhetoric Sunday against Sen. Marco Rubio, claiming a vote for his primary rival is tantamount to support for amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
“A vote for Marco is a vote for amnesty,” Cruz said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Cruz in a tight race with the Florida senator and frontrunner Donald Trump for the conservative vote and ultimately the party nomination also said “This race is a simple choice. A vote for Marco Rubio is a vote for amnesty. And a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for ObamaCare.The reason conservatives are uniting behind our campaign is because I am the only candidate in the race who has been a consistent conservative.”
Cruz has hit Rubio for months on the issue, saying he sided with Senate Democrats on comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
Rubio originally supported the bill, then essentially distanced himself from the measure when conservatives did not support it. (Read more from “Cruz: ‘A Vote for Marco Rubio Is a Vote for Amnesty'” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-01 00:00:152016-04-11 10:53:13Trump, Cruz Trade Shots on Eve of Iowa Caucus
Most political and media commentators have at this point installed Donald Trump as the GOP front-runner on the eve of the first actual voting set to begin on Monday in Iowa. But this narrative tends to obscure the fact that Trump is the most unpopular candidate of either party when the entire U.S. population is taken into account — and that he has a higher unfavorable rating than any nominated candidate from either of the two major parties going back to the 1992 election when we began to track favorability using the current format.
At this point (two-week average through Jan. 27), 33% of Americans view Trump favorably and 60% unfavorably. It’s that 60% unfavorable figure that I can focus on here.
Hillary Clinton currently has a 52% unfavorable rating among all Americans, while Jeb Bush is at 45%, Chris Christie 38%, Ted Cruz 37%, Marco Rubio 33%, Bernie Sanders 31% and Ben Carson 30%. Trump’s 60% is clearly well above all of these. Putting his favorable and unfavorable ratings together yields a net favorable of -27 for Trump, far above the -10 for Clinton and for Bush, the next lowest among the major candidates.
I wanted to see how Trump’s unfavorable played out in the context of previous elections, so I went back to look at the unfavorable ratings of the major-party candidates from 1992 through the current election. The bottom line is that Trump now has a higher unfavorable rating than any candidate at any time during all of these previous election cycles, and that conclusion takes into account the fact that unfavorable ratings tend to rise in the heat of a general election campaign as the barbs, negative ads and heightened partisanship are taken to their highest levels. Gallup routinely reports favorable ratings based on national adults, but some of the favorable ratings in the final months of an election year that I discuss below are based on registered voters. (Read more from “A Poll Just Revealed How America Really Feels About Trump – He’s Not Going to Like This” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-01-31 23:56:392016-04-11 10:53:14A Poll Just Revealed How America Really Feels About Trump – He’s Not Going to Like This
As Iowans prepare to cast the first votes in the 2016 nomination process, we owe you our thoughts. While we are not officially endorsing a candidate at this time, we believe it is important to share some critical thoughts on the race, or at least on one candidate in particular.
As Catholics, we are called to participate in the democratic process. The Church does not endorse candidates for public office. That job rests with us, the laity. No candidate is perfect, and no simple checklist is sufficient. Prudence is a necessity. Some candidates ought to be disqualified from receiving the support of a Catholic voter. Others must be weighed in light of the moral principles given to us by our Church.
We have asked for your feedback on multiple occasions. Thousands of CV members have written. We’ve read them all. In addition we follow the daily news, analysis, polling, and have crafted our strategy for 2016.
And so today we begin with the elephant in the room.
Should Catholics support Donald Trump? No.
We have sifted through the most popular arguments in defense of Trump and listed them below along with our own take. Here they are:
1. “Trump is a leader we can trust”
While we share much of the frustration over the failure of the GOP to make significant progress, we are reminded of Republicans’ once oft-quoted criticism of President Bill Clinton: character matters.
Donald J. Trump left his first wife and married his mistress, only to leave her a few years later for another mistress. Reportedly he left his second wife by leaking the news to a NY newspaper and left the headline on the bed for his wife to find. In his book, The Art of the Deal, Trump bragged about having sex with many women, including some who were married. He has appeared on the cover of Playboy Magazine with a model wearing only his tuxedo jacket. He has mocked the disability of a NY Times reporter. He belittled John McCain for being a prisoner of war. His casino in Atlantic City was the first in the country to open up a strip club. His Twitter account is a running barrage of insults, lies, and personal attacks on anyone who disagrees with him. And did we mention he famously cheats at golf? Now who does that remind you of?
Now ask yourself: does this man have the character becoming of the President of the United States?
2. “Trump can’t be bought because he is rich!”
Trump is a salesmen, and salesmen don’t buy, they sell. So he won’t be “bought.” Instead he will sell out everyone and anyone when it benefits him, as he has his entire career. He was a liberal democrat, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-universal health care, pro-government bailouts, and a financial backer and friend of Hillary Clinton until he decided to run as a Republican last summer. He is the definition of an opportunist with no guiding principles.
3. “Trump is a leader who will get things done”
Trump markets himself as an effective leader who will get things done simply by making “smart deals.” He refuses to explain precisely how he intends to deliver results, and more often than not, promises to use force or work around or outside the law. Such a leader mirrors what we currently see in the White House. It would be incredibly harmful to our system of government, which is limited by our Constitution — even if we like the policy outcome. We must be a nation of laws. For Trump, it is all about power. For a Christian, the presidency should be about service.
4. “Trump is a successful businessman who will make great deals”
If you believe the headlines, you would assume everything Donald Trump touches turns to gold. Not so. Trump has only demonstrated an ability to make deals that benefit him personally. Four times he bailed on his own casinos to shield himself from their impending bankruptcies. And then there is Trump Magazine, Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks/Steakhouse, Trump Vodka, and most famously Trump University, to name only a few — all bankrupt or closed, and massive failures. “Losers” as Trump is fond of saying.
He has constantly cozied up to big government to trample the little guy, either by abusing private property rights, or selling out small contractors and vendors, many of whom lost their life savings. Just ask elderly widow Vera Coking, whom Trump attempted to displace via eminent domain laws to make way for a limousine parking lot for his New Jersey casino — the same casino he put into bankruptcy. Vera stood tall against the politically-connected billionaire Trump for years in court, enduring his practice of belittling personal attacks. She eventually won and called Trump a “maggot, a cockroach, and a crumb.”
5. “Trump will end illegal immigration”
Trump has pledged to build a massive wall on our southern border and to make Mexico pay for it. Meanwhile he has promised to deport 11 million+ illegals, without explaining how, then plans to allow them all back in legally according to criteria he has yet to fully explain.
We agree illegal immigration is a problem that must be solved. Trump’s solution is delusional, strikes us as xenophobic — and truthfully, will never happen. If anything, Trump’s demagoguery on immigration showcases the emptiness of many of his promises. As President Obama has learned, American presidents don’t dictate laws. The Senate and House would have to pass any change of this magnitude, and such a solution has little to no chance of being approved. Border security and immigration enforcement are realistic fixes. Rounding up 11 million+ people and sending them back to Mexico is not practical or realistic, let alone humane. Those who rightfully want to solve the problem of illegal immigration deserve more than crowd pleasing platitudes. And it’s certainly worth noting that Donald Trump criticized Mitt Romney for being too harsh on immigration back in 2012. This is just another issue where Donald Trump had a very recent and rather convenient conversion.
Several other presidential candidates have outlined more realistic policies to deal with problem. And that’s what real leaders do. They outline solutions and build consensus. Hyperbole and demagoguery are tools of salesmen (see above) out for your money or your vote. Trump’s lack of detail reminds us of another famous politician who proclaimed: “we have to pass the bill before you can see what’s in it.”
6. “Trump will fight the Establishment!”
This defense of Trump is somewhat rich, given the irony that Trump himself has boasted of playing the game, paying off politicians and enriching himself from the very system he now purports to reform. Case in point: in the past week a growing number of so-called “establishment Republicans” have warmed to supporting Trump, people like Bob Dole and Trent Lott — including establishment Republicans in Iowa like Gov. Terry Branstad. Why? Because they believe, rightly in our view, that Trump doesn’t have any principles at the end of the day. He’s someone who will wheel and deal — and you and I will be stuck with the bill.
Electing Donald Trump would send the pro-life movement back to the 1990s, when the Republican Party wanted to run away from defending the unborn. In fact, Trump recommended his own sister, Maryanne Trump Berry, for the Supreme Court. She’s the federal judge who overturned New Jersey’s ban on grisly partial-birth abortions. The next President may choose as many as three or more new justices. Trump’s suggestion of his pro-abortion sister as an example ought to worry anyone who cares about the Court. And let’s not forget he once said Oprah would make a great Vice President. Enough said.
7. “Trump is one of us”
Trump’s political conversions have all happened at very convenient times. As recently as 2000, Trump was firmly “pro-choice,” even refusing to oppose partial birth abortion! He was in favor of gay civil unions. He is open, even now, to subsidizing abortion giant Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars. He considers gay marriage a settled issue and has offered no plan to protect religious freedom. He is pro-universal health care, supported the stimulus package and government bailouts, supported gun control and a host of radical positions. Trump is like many Democrats we know. He is a political opportunist.
Conclusion
Trump is right about something — it is time for a change. We do need to shake things up and make America great again. And his awakening of working class voters who are often sidelined by terrible policy and poor leadership is a lesson every Republican must take seriously or they will lose in November.
But the power to change does not require a fear mongering business mogul, appealing to our worst fears instead of our best hopes.
With other good candidates in the race, we encourage our members to look beyond Trump.
This is an historic opportunity to win back the White House with someone we can be proud to have as President.
Iowa, New Hampshire… we’re looking to you to lead the way. (For more from the author of “Truth on Trump” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-01-30 00:19:552016-04-11 10:53:16What Should A Catholic Do With Trump?
Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski announced that Trump would be happy to debate Senator Ted Cruz — once Cruz is determined to be eligible for the presidency by a federal judge.
“Once you’ve gotten that ruling from the federal judge and you’re the last man standing in this presidential contest next to Donald Trump, we’ll be happy to have a debate with you one-on-one, anywhere you want, because that’s the way the system works,” Lewandowski said. “But, as it stands right now, we don’t even know if Ted Cruz is legally eligible to run for president of the United States” . . .
Cruz had challenged Trump to a one-on-one debate after Trump refused to participate in the Fox News debate on Thursday night. Trump wanted the network to remove host Megyn Kelly as a moderator for the event. (Read more from “According to Trump, This Is the Only Way He’ll Debate Cruz” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-01-30 00:17:242016-04-11 10:53:16According to Trump, This Is the Only Way He’ll Debate Cruz
By Brian Stelter. Donald Trump’s counter-programming stunt succeeded in stealing viewers from Fox News’ Republican presidential debate.
Thursday night marked the second lowest rated GOP debate of the season. And Trump was the most-talked-about candidate without even being there.
Trump, who had refused to attend the debate, showed off his ratings magnetism by depriving Fox of it . . .
But Trump’s rivals, like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, still reached a big audience by debating, which suggests that there are some limits to Trump’s power.
Practically speaking, there is no way Trump’s event could have out-rated the debate. But ratings experts said Trump did appear to take a chunk out of Fox’s audience. (Read more from “Who Won the Ratings Race: Fox News or Donald Trump?” HERE)
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Debate Without Trump Gets Better Ratings Than Last Debate With Trump
By John McCormack. Donald Trump’s campaign manager predicted that Thursday night’s GOP presidential debate on Fox News would only get “about 2 million” viewers because Trump refused to show up. In fact, “Fox News likely had 11 million to 13 million viewers for the debate,” CNN’s Brian Stelter reports.
Thursday’s debate ended up getting higher ratings than the the last debate in which Trump participated. “Fox’s Trump-less debate had an 8.4 household rating, according to early Nielsen data from so-called metered markets,” reports CNN’s Stelter. (Read more from “Debate Without Trump Gets Better Ratings Than Last Debate With Trump” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-01-30 00:12:422016-04-11 10:53:17Who Won the Ratings Race: Fox News or Donald Trump?