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Top 10 GOP Betrayals in 2015

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2015 will likely be remembered as the year the GOP base finally rebelled against the party leadership, taking the half-century long schism within the party to the point of no return. The betrayal by the party establishment was so profound and blatant that GOP voters everywhere discovered what many of us have known for years – the party establishment does not share our values.

It’s not that there is anything new about the party establishment shying away from providing a bold contrast to the Democrats. This divide within the party was reflected in the battles between Eisenhower and Taft, Rockefeller and Goldwater, Reagan and Ford/Bush, and Gingrich and Dole. It’s that there are graver consequences to not providing that bold contrast, and the people have noticed it.

This ain’t your grandfather’s Democrat Party; nor is this the party of Tip O’Neill or even Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer of the early ‘90s who supported border security and religious freedom respectively. This is the party of transgenders, illegal aliens, and the Muslim Brotherhood. This is the party of licentiousness, totalitarianism, and post-Americanism. So yes, the consequences of remaining silent and even tacitly supporting this agenda are more deleterious than the ineptitude of former GOP House Minority Leader Bob Michael in fighting Democrats of yesteryear.

Last November, Americans went out and voted for a GOP Congress. Out popped Democrat policies, much like the rigged ballot machines in Maryland that would render Republican votes as Democratic ones. As Chuck Schumer jubilantly declared following the omnibus bill, “the bills we’re passing reflect Democratic values.” He boasted that “even though we’re in the minority, we are passing a program that we have been for all along.”

Let’s take stock of the top 10 betrayals of this year that have precipitated the final divorce of the GOP elites and its party base:

1. Re-electing John Boehner

This year started with a Speaker’s fight after the American people rose up spontaneously and flooded the capitol with tens of thousands of calls demanding the resignation of John Boehner. Following Obama’s executive amnesty, it was revealed that Boehner told Obama “do what you gotta do,” which was emblematic of his broader modus operandi of giving Obama everything he wanted. The voters were onto his betrayal, yet despite the spontaneous groundswell from their constituents, all but 25 members voted to reelect Boehner as Speaker. Their reason? An instinct for self-preservation and fear of intimidation by insiders outweighed the unanimous voice of their constituents. The year ended with the people rising up once again to force Boehner out of the Speaker’s chair, but despite the warnings of the GOP base, they replaced him with Paul Ryan, a craftier salesman for the capitulation agenda.

2. Funding the Entire Amnesty Program

In the greatest executive power grab of the modern era, Obama suspended immigration law in an act that even King George lacked the authority to do. Yet, Congress fully funded Obama’s amnesty both in last December’s budget bill, then in March, and every budget bill thereafter, despite promises to defund it. Even though the courts halted part of the program, the DACA amnesty and the complete suspension of Secure Communities and deportations have gone into effect. We are paying for it to this day, and as a result, the border surge is continuing.

3. Corker-Cardin Iran Deal

With news reports that Obama spied on Israel and members of Congress while promoting his Iranian alliance, we are still seeing the fallout of the most treasonous alliance cut by a modern president with an enemy nation. Despite the bipartisan public outrage over the Iran deal, Republicans not only declined to defund it, but they passed the Corker-Cardin bill. That bill gave Obama implicit blessing and legitimacy from Congress by essentially granting approval by default with just one-third of the Senate. Additionally, Mitch McConnell blocked all conservative amendments that would have embarrassed Democrats so that they could be provided a loin cloth and shielded from any blowback. Since then, Republicans have abandoned any meaningful opposition to the Iran deal, despite the fact that the details and the betrayal continue to worsen by the week.

4. Social Issues, Religious Liberty, and Judicial Tyranny

In June, we had a bloodless coup de ta from the federal courts, culminating with the SCOTUS decisions on marriage, Obamacare, and disparate impact. Decisions like these will remake America forever if nothing is done to reverse the courts’ power grab, but you would never know it from watching the behavior of the GOP. Many members failed to even issue press releases. They are done talking about marriage and have not proposed a single piece of legislation protecting religious liberty or reclaiming power from the courts. In fact, Republican leadership even blocked conservatives from using a special legislative process to circumvent a filibuster and place, on Obama’s desk, two resolutions nullifying anti-religious liberty edicts enacted by the D.C. municipality government.

Now we have people being thrown in jail for not signing marriage licenses, private business owners fined for not baking cakes, and schools and institutions turned upside down over the transgendered agenda. Republicans don’t want to utter a peep about these issues. This is one case where inaction truly speaks volumes and represents a monumental betrayal.

5. Funding of Planned Parenthood

While Republicans have agreed to continue funding Planned Parenthood for years, this year represents a most jarring betrayal. With the ubiquitous videos showing PP openly bragging about harvesting and selling baby organs, Republicans had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to simply cut off taxpayer funds in the budget bills (the bills that actually mattered). Yet, they couldn’t stand before the American people and say “not one penny of taxpayer funds for a private organization under criminal investigation for harvesting baby organs.” Sadly, a number of establishment pro-life organizations, which decided to play interference for leadership, were exposed as frauds.6. Criminal Justice Deform

This is the year that, thanks to Obama’s war on law enforcement, the two decade long trend of declining crime was reversed in many major cities. Rather than drawing a bold contrast and continuing the GOP tradition of standing with the silent majority of the country on law and order Republicans helped codify Obama’s agenda in multiple ways. Similar to the gang of eight on immigration, Republicans responded to Obama’s program of early release from prisons with a bill of their own to retroactively release violent drug and firearms offenders from federal prison. They have used the House and Senate judiciary committees as conduits for the left wing soft-on-crime agenda. Likewise they have done nothing to investigate the DOJ’s racist strong-arming and intimidation practices against local police departments. Instead the GOP gave the DOJ more funding to get involved in local law enforcement matters.

7. The Great Fiscal Betrayal

Ok, so Republicans have given up on defending our sovereignty, security, and civil society, but aren’t they fiscal conservatives? Not a chance. Republicans reversed the only fiscal gains they’ve secured since winning back the House in 2011 by busting the budget caps and essentially vitiating the budget control act. They suspended the debt ceiling twice this year, the latter time extending until the end of Obama’s presidency. Additionally, they passed a $70 billion highway bailout, 5-year extension of No Child Left Behind programs, and passed a massive Medicare doc fix bailout that will cost $500 billion over 20 years without any conservative structural reforms.

8. Obamatrade

Even those conservatives who are generally predisposed to support trade deals should be appalled by the lengths GOP leaders went to hand Obama one of his biggest political victories this year. They spent an entire month ignoring Obama’s fundamental transformation of our nation and begged Democrats to support their own party leader’s bill by offering them all sorts of goodies.

9. Islamic Refugees from the Middle East and Africa

Following the Paris terror attacks, and even before the San Bernardino terror attack, some friends told me not to worry about defunding refugee resettlement and move on to focus on some other issues. The issue had been won already, they said; there was no way Democrats could get away with continuing to bring in more refugees in light of the news. Well, despite the torrent of news about the break down in vetting of Tafsheen Malik, Republicans funded every aspect of Obama’s refugee program without placing any restrictions on immigration from the Middle East. Instead, the GOP passed a phony refugee bill, a visa waiver bill that did nothing but promote Obama’s distraction (it also contained a waiver Obama is now utilizing), and blocked all conservative amendments despite promises for an open amendment process.

10. Surrendering the Power of the Purse

The sum total of all the legislative betrayals this year, culminating with passage of the omnibus, is that Democrats know with absolute certainty Republicans will never use the budget process to stop even the most harmful policies. Obama now has his final year to fundamentally transform America with a clear playing field and the full confidence that he will not face any opposition.

The good news? You can’t fool all the people all the time. This year voters will respond to these betrayals, and if the polls are any indication, it appears the establishment is in for a rough 2016. (For more from the author of “Top 10 GOP Betrayals in 2015” please click HERE)

Watch a recent interview with the author below:

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Poll: Americans Trust GOP over Democrats on Guns, Terrorism and Economy

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A PEW Research Poll released December 15 shows the American public trusts Republicans over Democrats when it comes to guns, terrorism, and the economy . . .

According to PEW, the public supports Republicans on guns by a margin of 43 percent to 37 percent. Regarding the “terror threat,” the public sides with Republicans over Democrats 46 percent to 34 percent. On the economy they side with Republicans by a margin of 42 percent to 37 percent. . . .

Regarding the public’siding with Republicans over Democrats when it comes to guns, the different approaches of the two parties are stark. Republicans reacted to the San Bernardino terror attacks by focusing on border security and mental health, whereas Democrats reacted by wanting to expand gun control and introducing a ban on the manufacture of AR-15s and related weapons.

When it comes to terrorism, 46 percent of the public believes Islam is “more likely than [other religions] to encourage violence among its believers” versus 45 percent who do not. And when broken down by party affiliation, only 30 percent of Democrats believe Islam tends toward violence while 65 percent of Republicans believe it does. (Read more from “Poll: Americans Trust GOP over Democrats on Guns, Terrorism and Economy” HERE)

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These Two GOP Candidates Have Been Cut From Main Debate Stage

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When the Republican presidential hopefuls take the stage in Milwaukee on Tuesday night for their fourth debate, familiar faces will be missing from the prime-time lineup — Mike Huckabee and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.

On Thursday, Fox Business Network, the host of the debate, announced on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” the qualifiers for the main stage, and Mr. Christie and Mr. Huckabee — who had been slipping in recent polls — did not quite make the cut.

Then lineup for the main stage debate will be Donald J. Trump, Ben Carson, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

To qualify for the prime-time debate based on the network’s criteria, candidates needed to score at least 2.5 percent or higher in an average of the four most recent national polls through Nov. 4. Those below the 2.5 percent average in the polls could qualify for the so-called undercard debate, as long as they hit at least 1 percent in at least one of the four most recent national polls.

Dropping off the main stage is a huge blow to Mr. Christie, who has struggled to gain the traction for which he’d hoped ever since announcing his bid, and who saw his “tell it like it is” message inadvertently usurped by Mr. Trump’s freewheeling, tell-it-like-it-is campaign. (Read more from “These Two GOP Candidates Have Been Cut From Main Debate Stage” HERE)

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Zip It: GOP Students ‘Intimidated’ on Campus, Say Views Less Tolerated

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The rise of the Tea Party and a rowdy 2016 Republican presidential primary has done little to boost conservative speech on the nation’s college campuses where right-leaning students say they feel intimidated and their views sneered at.

In a poll sponsored by Yale University’s William F. Buckley Jr. program, 800 national undergrads said that by a nearly two-to-one margin, colleges were more tolerant to liberals. Pollster Jim McLaughlin of McLaughlin & Associates, found that 37 percent felt school more tolerant of liberals views, just 20 percent of conservatives, and 36 percent equally tolerant.

And while students believed their schools do a good job to bolster intellectual diversity, half, or 49 percent, said they have “often felt intimidated to share beliefs other than their professors.” And 50 percent felt intimidated to share their thoughts with students whose views differ.

And just in case there is any question that the liberal view is important and dominant on campus, consider this other poll result from McLaughlin’s survey: 30 percent of liberal students believe the First Amendment is “outdated.” Only 10 percent of conservative kids think that.

He said in an interview that some students are protesting with their feet, transferring to schools where they do feel free to express their views. (Read more from “Zip It: GOP Students ‘Intimidated’ on Campus, Say Views Less Tolerated” HERE)

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We Have Our Final Six GOP Candidates

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By Jonathan V. Last. Yesterday’s debate showed that the GOP field is smaller than it looks. Technically, there are still fourteen people running, but the winnowing is far along. We probably have a final six and possibly a final four . . .

Rubio ended Jeb Bush’s campaign with the kind of body shot that buckles your knees. That’s on Bush, who never should have come after Rubio in that spot for a host of strategic and tactical reasons. But what should scare Hillary Clinton is how effortless Rubio is even with throwaway lines, like “I’m against anything that’s bad for my mother.” Most people have no idea how fearsome raw political talent can be. Clinton does know because she’s seen it up close. She sleeps next to it for a contractually-obligated 18 nights per year.

Cruz was tough and canny—no surprise there. He went the full-Gingrich in his assault on CNBC’s ridiculous moderators. He did a better job explaining Social Security reform than Chris Christie, even (which is no mean feat). And managed to look downright personable compared with John Harwood, whose incompetence was matched only by his unpleasantness. If you’re a conservative voter looking for someone who is going to fight for your values, Cruz must have looked awfully attractive.

Then there was Trump. Over the last few weeks, Trump has gotten better on the stump. Well, don’t look now, but he’s getting better at debates, too. Trump was reasonably disciplined. He kept his agro to a medium-high level. And his situational awareness is getting keener, too. Note how he backed John Kasich into such a bad corner on Lehmann Brothers that he protested, “I was a banker, and I was proud of it!” When that’s your answer, you’ve lost the exchange. Even at a Republican debate . . .

So there’s your final six: Trump, Carson, Rubio, Cruz, and maybe—just maybe—Fiorina and Christie. (Read more from “We Have Our Final Six GOP Candidates” HERE)

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Republican Debate: Here’s Who Won…and Who Lost

By Jeff Cox. RUBIO: The senator from Florida faced some fundamental character questions, namely about the votes he’s missing while campaigning, and some personal finance missteps. Each time, Rubio deflected the challenges and focused on issues. “I’m not worried about my finances,” he said in one exchange. “This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country who are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families a better future that we always said this country is about” . . .

Score Rubio a winner . . .

Score Carson a loser . . .

Score [Ted] Cruz a winner . . .

Score [Donald] Trump neutral. (Read more from “Republican Debate: Here’s Who Won…and Who Lost” HERE)

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Overwhelming Numbers: Republicans Are Not Just Looking For a New Speaker, They’re Looking for a New Party

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Love him or hate him, John Boehner was by no means the dominant force of nature in American politics. The growing tidal wave of disapproval from GOP voters had nothing to do with Boehner as a person; it had everything to do with what he represents. Republican voters are not just looking for a new Speaker, they are looking for a new party. They are looking for a viable alternative to the Democrats. It’s time for elected Republicans to heed that lesson and forge an entirely new path.

Back in May 2014, when Dave Brat shocked the political world by resoundingly defeating sitting Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the GOP empire moved with swift agility and within 24 hours had blithely rallied around the “next in line.” There was no period of introspection or regard for what had just occurred. They pompously anointed Kevin McCarthy, the poor man’s Eric Cantor, as the next majority leader.

Now the House conference has a second chance to right the ship. It’s time for their colleagues across the Capitol in the Senate to heed the same lesson as well. According to a recent NBC/WSJ poll, 72% of Republican voters were dissatisfied with both Boehner and McConnell’s ability to achieve their party’s goals. A Fox News poll shows that 62% feel betrayed by their party. McConnell and Boehner are not dominant medial or cultural personalities like Newt Gingrich, Nancy Pelosi, or Hillary Clinton, yet their own party’s voters want them out. It was never about Boehner; it was about what he lacked. And what he lacked is the same thing McConnell and Kevin McCarthy lack—a desire to fight for issues concerning conservatives.

In many respects Mitch McConnell has been worse than Boehner this year. He has used control of the Senate to sabotage conservatives on every major battle, block conservative amendments, and undermine our leverage in an even more pernicious fashion than Harry Reid did during the last session.

As it relates to McCarthy, now is his time to shine. He is majority leader and Boehner is a lame duck. If he cannot stand up on the Sunday talk shows with his iPad in hand and play the Planned Parenthood videos and speak with moral conviction about why the president should not shut down the government in order to fund barbarism, he is unfit to replace Boehner.

Conservatives lack the votes to affirmatively push for the nomination of any particular candidate for Speaker, but they have enough votes to veto any choice. Even if a majority of the conference nominates a bad candidate in the private party conference, a group of about 30 members can always veto the decision on the floor because a Speaker must receive a majority from all those present and voting in the House body.

Nobody is going to get everything they want in a party leader and everyone is going to have to compromise, but the establishment is greatly mistaken if they seek to simply anoint a leader rather than allow all the candidates to air out their ideas over the next few weeks. This is not about personalities; it’s about laying out a vision for confronting Obama over the next 15 months and laying the groundwork for a conservative in the White House.

To that end, here are three overarching concessions conservatives must secure from any candidate for Speaker.

1. Restore Deterrent of the Power of Purse: At present, the biggest problem with leadership is that they have conveyed the message to Democrats that there is nothing they will ever fight for in the budget process that would possibly risk a shutdown. That must change. As we’ve noted before, Republicans will have to eventually use budget brinkmanship to get things done even if they win back the White House. The next Speaker has to be willing to draw a line in the sand on fundamental and easy-to-message issues and be willing to publicly fight for them and let the Democrats know there’s a new sheriff in town.

2. Focus on Meaningful Ideas: Aside from the obdurate refusal to block Obama’s agenda with the purse strings, the current leaders have no positive message of their own on meaningful issues. Most of the House schedule is wasted on naming buildings, trivial suspension bills, or downright liberal priorities. As we’ve observed before, there are numerous consequential issues that work in our favor and should be brought to the floor to draw a sharp contrast with Democrats. Drawing that contrast and highlighting liberal extremism should be a priority for the next Speaker.

3. Returning Power to the Committees: The House has been run like a plantation straight out of John Boehner’s office. The committee process has become irrelevant and even the good legislation that passes out of committee, such as the Davis-Oliver immigration enforcement bill, has never made it to the floor. The next Speaker must allow the committees to do their work and conduct votes on conservative legislation that is able to pass the committee process. They must also follow through on their promise to allow an open amendment process on the House floor.

If Republican members think that by merely shunting the current failed leaders to the next level on the totem pole they will assuage the concerns of voters, they are mistaken. Voters are looking for a clean slate. The longer the Republicans carry on with their tone deaf actions the more severely they will suffer repercussions in the long run.

(This article on the grassroots looking for a new party first appeared HERE)

When Will the GOP Start Fighting?

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MitchSlappingMediaThe debt ceiling.

The Obama income tax hike.

The Obamacare fight.

The sequester caps.

The Cromnibus.

President Obama’s executive amnesty.

Now, Planned Parenthood.

When does the GOP start winning? Here’s a better question, more appropriate to the times, when does GOP leadership even begin fighting? The GOP leadership has forfeited every one of the above battles without much more than a token, ex-post-facto, response, long after the outcome of the battles were determined.

While the GOP leadership continues to view its own base as problematic and unreasonable, the base is in full revolt, viewing the GOP leadership as deceitful and ineffective. Many in the grassroots community are leaning towards non-politicians in the early presidential selection process as a result of the continued failures of Party leadership. Most unfortunate is that the GOP leadership has made little effort to understand the frustrations of the base, or course correct itself and win back those who have knocked on the doors, waved the campaign signs, manned the polls, and donated their hard earned money. It is my sincere hope to be able to explain to them, in the simplest terms possible, why we have lost faith in their ability to do anything other than make flowery campaign promises.

First, what the heck is their strategy? Do they even have one?

They have forfeited nearly all of the important fights with nothing to show for it. Having campaigned for office myself I have found even the most passionate grassroots conservatives to be very reasonable when it involves using the political machinery to achieve conservative goals. Conservatives largely understand that not every legislative battle will be won but that principles matter and over time, principled votes, even if they fall short, will demonstrate to America that the GOP stands for something.

Being consistently on the right side of the debates on taxes, the debt, healthcare, defense, abortion, immigration, school choice and other issues important to conservatives would have earned GOP leadership a tremendous amount of “trust capital” with the base that would have afforded them some leeway in implementing a strategic legislative strategy. Stated simply, a history of principled leadership would have allowed them to lose a couple of short-term battles without significant consequences from the base because most of us would have understood that these short-term losses were critical towards marshalling resources for long-term, and lasting, Conservative victories.

Sadly, GOP leadership has no such political capital with the base because that’s not their strategy. Their strategy appears to be to forfeit the short-term battles, forfeit the long-term battles, and to do whatever it takes, and to say whatever it takes, to maintain power while ignoring most of what the Party actually stands for. How long do they think this can continue?

After punting on the debt ceiling, we wound up with the sequester spending caps which they then proceeded to punt on as well. After telling the base they would repeal Obamacare they forfeited that fight for a series of show votes, and many in GOP leadership have since moved on. Now we have the Planned Parenthood fight. This is a fight with such a clear and distinct, right and wrong side that it’s hard to believe even the insulated GOP leadership team is having a tough time picking a side. Then, doubling down on silly, they parrot the Left and the media’s ridiculous arguments about government shutdowns insisting, preemptively, that the shutdown would be the GOP’s own fault.

Yes, this is the utter fecklessness of this failed leadership team. A first-grader could follow, logically, that the GOP leadership CAN’T shut down the government. How can they shut down the government if they pass a proper budget, without funding for the organ traffickers at Planned Parenthood, using all of their assigned constitutional duties, and put that budget on the President’s desk? If the President refuses to sign that budget, knowing that his refusal to sign the budget will shut down the government, then the responsibility lies with him. Is this really that difficult for the allegedly bright people elected to GOP leadership on Capitol Hill to comprehend? Or, are they so afraid of the media, the Left, academia, the blogosphere, and just about anyone else with a platform, that they are afraid to take this common sense message to the American people?

If, as a Party, we are going to forfeit the short game, and the long game, because we are afraid to stand on principle, then what’s the point of the Party? If the constitutional power of the purse delegated to the congress is irrelevant, then why not just forfeit away the constitutional republic for a monarchy? Why continue to waste America’s time? Look no further for an explanation as to why there is a rebellion brewing in the ranks of the GOP. We are tired of being tired. We want our Party back and we refuse to waste another dollar, or another bead of sweat, on GOP leaders who are leading us across the eventual horizon of a political black hole. (For more from the author of “When Will the GOP Start Fighting?” please click HERE)

Watch a recent interview with the author below:

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

SMASHING the GOP ESTABLISHMENT: Trump, Bush, Cruz and Me

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t1larg.donald-trump.t1largContext: as has been expertly documented by The Last Refuge, the Republican establishment long ago designed and began implementing a convoluted strategy to nominate Jeb Bush and defeat Ted Cruz.

The GOP establishment (which the Refuge dubs “GOPe”) devised a wide-ranging set of tactics to achieve that goal:

1. Hidden within the massive CRomnibus bill to fund the government were obscure federal election law changes that allowed unlimited SuperPAC (large political action committees unaffiliated with specific candidates) contributions.

2. They funded SuperPACs in order to incentivize the desired candidate behavior

3. They changed the nomination rules of the 2016 primary (e.g., “winner take all delegates”) to allow an unpopular candidate like Jeb to secure the nomination with only 20% (one-fifth!) of the delegates

4. They altered the calendar dates of primaries to advantage a weak, establishment candidate (Bush) that had little, if any, grassroots support

All of these tactics were designed to support what the Refuge calls the “Splitter Strategy”: a plan to dilute the GOP field with as many candidates as possible in order to erode the support of a popular, grassroots candidate.

For instance, Cruz vs. Bush was projected to be an utter rout in Florida, with internal polling showing that Cruz would crush Bush. But what would happen if the GOPe added Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, and Marco Rubio to the mix?

With “splitters” fracturing the support of his biggest challenger, Bush might actually secure a bit more than a fifth of the vote. And — amazingly — that would be enough to dilute support for Ted Cruz sufficiently to win the state’s delegates.

It’s worth noting that Bush didn’t win by gaining support, but by employing “splitters” to fragment Ted Cruz’s support.

Note: the “Splitter Strategy” is not conjecture; the entire GOPe strategy has been copiously documented and exposed by The Last Refuge.

So who is funding the GOPe? While some point to Wall Street, I believe other forces are primarily responsible. Wall Street funds both Democrats and Republicans. They don’t care which party wins. After the 2008 financial crisis, for instance, did a single bankster see a courtroom? No, Barack Obama and Eric Holder were as beholden to Goldman Sachs as any Republican.

My belief is that the central banker for the GOPe is the Chamber of Commerce. While it threatens Republicans and sporadically funds Democrats, the Chamber knows that Democrats have moved sufficiently left that they are indistinguishable from European Socialists. And even they know that socialism is not good for business.

But the Chamber does need cheap labor. Which is where open borders and amnesty enter the equation.

The American people have embraced Donald Trump, in part, because the naked abuse of American sovereignty through open borders, chain migration, and administration endorsement of illegal immigration has resulted in a tidal wave of crime that is now too large to be ignored.

Willingness to Secure the Border as a Proxy for Dependence on the GOP Establishment

Given the GOPE and Chamber’s fervor for open borders, I suggest that we all do a gut-level candidate check: how likely is it that each of the GOP candidates would actually secure the border?

My ratings are as follows:

1. 100% Trump: his entire reputation has been staked on this tenet; failure to follow through would be an utter disaster for his reputation

2. 100% Cruz: unlike the rest of the field, Cruz has been unwavering in his opposition to amnesty and illegal immigration

3. 20% Huckabee: while his track record as governor is not encouraging, Huckabee has been a consistent and vocal opponent of illegal immigration

4. 5% Carson: while I don’t think Ben Carson is necessarily beholden to the GOPe, his positions on immigration are quite inconsistent and confusing.

5. 0% Bush: the third Bush is a lost soul when it comes to illegal immigration; he’s a Chamber man, plain and simple

6. 0% Fiorina: a two-time failure as a CEO (her stints at Lucent and HP were utter and complete disasters); she was also a massive loser as a Senate candidate in Cali. Fiorina is an establishment candidate who openly supports Amnesty for illegals

7. 0% Walker: his record as governor is outstanding; his secret dealings on amnesty make it obvious that he is a tool of the GOPe

8. 0% Rubio: his wavering positions on amnesty notwithstanding, as recently as last month Rubio asserted support for amnesty prior to a border closure initiative

9. 0% Christie: in-state tuition for illegals says it all; Christie has a long track record of tacitly endorsing illegal immigration

10. 0% Paul: a supporter of Mitch McConnell in 2014, Paul has transformed himself from a libertarian rebel to an establishment toadie. His record on amnesty is emblematic of his apparent ties to the Chamber

11. 0% Kasich: John Kasich is a vocal supporter of amnesty and open borders

12. 0% Graham: Lindsey Graham? Who?

To reiterate: my proxy for conservatism is now as simple as a candidate’s willingness to seal the border.

I encourage you to do the same thought experiment I engaged in. If you had to bet $1,000 on one candidate who would actually seal the border, on which person would you place your wager? (For more from the author of “SMASHING the GOP ESTABLISHMENT: Trump, Bush, Cruz and Me” please click HERE)

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The Establishment’s Lies Are Catching Up

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John BoehnerThey had it all. The GOP party bosses appeared to be winning every legislative and electoral battle with conservatives. After beating back almost every primary challenge in 2014 and after passing one liberal bill after another with the support of Democrats, the elite technocrats and cronies within the party were high-fiving and slapping each other’s backs over their successfully crushing of the tea party.

Except – they never won anything. It was all an illusion. And in fact, their temporary victories set the stage for an irrevocable defeat in the long-run.

Last cycle, in my previous job, I was heavily involved in recruiting primary candidates to run against the phony Republican political class. The most striking lesson throughout the election season was that not a single establishment Republican would run on the veracity of their views – the ones they espouse and pursue in Washington. They co-opted all of our talking points on the core issues while often accusing the conservative candidates of being ideologically impure. In addition, they used their superior money, resources, and talent to bury the upstart candidates – most of whom had only rudimentary campaign resources and novice staff – before the candidates could even define themselves.

The bravado from the GOP establishment was only emboldened by the smashing victory over the Democrats in the general election.

At the time, verses from Psalms (10: 5-6, 10) came to mind:

His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are far removed from him. All his adversaries-he blows at them. He says to himself, “I will not fall; for all generations I will not be in adversity.” He crouches, he bows down, and an army of broken people shall fall by his signals.

Blinded by their pomposity and a false sense of security, the oligarchs in the Washington Cartel – as Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) refers to them – overlooked two points:

1) They didn’t win anything. They actually won on a mandate to pursue the priorities of the very enemies they thought they vanquished – conservative Middle America. They wanted possession of the ball, and now they had it. But the voters did not plan for them to march the ball into the K Street or Obama’s end zone; they elected these politicians as one last opportunity to put them first. There were no more excuses and this was their last chance.

2) They forgot about Obama. They overlooked the fact that Obama is not your run-of-the-mill Democrat president who would fade away in his final two years after suffering a humiliating defeat in the midterm elections. The GOP elites projected their own impassivity to Obama’s radical transformation on Middle America voters as well, wagering that they won’t care about Obama’s dastardly deeds enough to demand action.

The establishment had planned to “clear the decks” of any contentious issue by giving Democrats whatever they desired, freeing them to focus on trivial items and payback for their donors. They would then ride a controversy-free year into the presidential election with Jeb Bush (or someone similar), raise a ton of money from day one, and crush the conservative base in the primary. After all, this formula had always worked auspiciously in their favor for the past few election cycles.

However, just two weeks after the November elections, Obama announced the nullification of all immigration laws and the suspension of enforcement of our borders and sovereignty. The GOP treated it like another day in the political playground and failed to see that this was a revolutionary act in the eyes of Middle America. And as 2015 came upon us, it was one issue after another and one broken promise after another. Between the fallout from amnesty and the release of criminal aliens, ObamaTrade, the Planned Parenthood videos, the fomenting of insurrection and dismantling of law enforcement, allying with Iran, the courts remaking the Constitution and redefining marriage while preserving Obamacare – there was a bursting sense of disquiet among the people. It became painfully clear that the GOP had no plans to lift a finger to stop Obama and his allies on a single important issue, and that he had a free lane to remake the country in his final months.

All it took was a man with money, pomp, and fame to burst onto the scene and strike the match on the lighter fluid that had long been marinating in the electoral wood pile. Trump’s official stances on a lot of critical issues are being overlooked because, for the most part, this is not even about Donald Trump. This is about a party that had long been disenfranchised but lacked any national vehicle through which to express its despair. And with a Democrat Party controlled by a Hillary Clinton/Bernie Sanders/Martin O’Malley freak show, many Middle America Democrats and Independents feel the same way.

The tables have been turned. It is now the Washington Cartel that is completely helpless and hopeless in controlling its destiny. Their candidates are polling below Martin O’Malley’s numbers in the Democrat primary, even though they are flush with cash, consultants, and pollsters. All because they “won” the inside game, but lost the people – most likely, for good.

It’s very likely Donald Trump could still gradually flame out over time, but that won’t change the equation because it was never about Trump. Ted Cruz has quietly positioned himself to win the hearts and minds of the people, and for once, he is beating the establishment in their own money game. Ben Carson is polling well just on his outsiders appeal alone. It’s not that Trump is sucking out all of the oxygen in the room; it’s that the establishment has run out of any oxygen to survive in this environment, irrespective of who else is in the room. Every candidate could drop out tomorrow leaving Bush as the de facto nominee and he still will still lack support outside of a few zip codes.

They forgot the old adage, “you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” (Re-posted with permission from the author, “The Establishment’s Lies Are Catching Up” originally appeared HERE)

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GOP Stars Tight-Lipped on ‘Huge Disaster Waiting to Happen’

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GOP-e1438995592249By WND. Is America headed for an economic collapse?

If so, presidential candidates are remaining eerily quiet about what’s being described as “a huge disaster waiting to happen.”

The U.S. stock market is on the verge of a massive collapse, warned David Stockman, OMB director during the Reagan administration, on CNBC’s “Futures Now” program. He said the recent price action has him even more convinced than ever that the bottom is about to fall out.

Stockman believes the excessive monetary policy from central banks around the world has created a “debt supernova,” and all the signs point to “the end of the central bank enabled bubble,” which could cause a worldwide recession.

In fact, he said, there’s no way to roll back the artificially inflated bubbles the Federal Reserve has caused. (Read more from “GOP Stars Tight-Lipped on ‘Huge Disaster Waiting to Happen'” HERE)

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Economic Reality Now Catching up to Market Fantasy

By Brandon Smith. In the mind of a schizophrenic person, internal elements of fantasy (negative and positive) are made manifest in the psyche and projected out onto the real world. Often, the daydream images of the mind are not merely images to them. Rather, what they imagine subconsciously becomes reality. Their faculties of observation become so limited, either due to a reaction to trauma or merely an inherent inability to cope, that they cannot decipher between fact and fiction. A person could go on like this for quite some time if all his needs are provided for by someone else. But the moment that support ends (and it will), the realities of necessity, not to mention supply and demand, take hold. One cannot live in a schizophrenic world indefinitely.

The current global mishmash of interdependent and socialized economies are, at bottom, schizophrenic. Our markets are not based in any fundamental reality. There is very little tangible foundation left to stand on, and this has been the case for several years. Yet some people might argue that since the derivatives crash of 2008, most of the world has continued to walk on air.

The power of fantasy is that it is self-perpetuating. Fantasies are fueled most commonly by misplaced hopes and unhealthy or unrealistic desires, and such things are darkly and grotesquely energizing. Fantasies can indeed keep economies around the world functionally alive even when they are clinically dead. But again, there is always an end.

Equities and commodities markets in particular have levitated despite economic fact that their fall will be ever more spectacular. That fall has now begun halfway through 2015 . . .

New signals of market crisis are generating every two to four weeks as we grind on toward the third quarter. This is in stark contrast to the heavily predictable market behavior of the past three years. I realize that we are experiencing a “slow boil” and that many people may not even be taking note of the exponential increase in negative economic signs, but really think about it: At the beginning of 2014, what was the general financial sentiment compared to today? (Read more from “Economic Reality Now Catching up to Market Fantasy” HERE)

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