Thread: Lindsey Graham: We should have booted Trump from GOP

CHERYL CHUMLEY 2 hours ago

Senator accuses front-runner of worsening Hispanic relations

Failed presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham, who dropped his bid for the White House in December, sent a harsh message Donald Trump’s way, saying the Republican primary front-runner should have been booted from the party years ago.

He made the remarks in context of discussing with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer the billionaire’s rhetoric toward illegal immigrants.
“He took our [party’s] problems in 2012 with Hispanics and made them far worse by espousing forced deportation,” Graham said, Politico reported. “Looking back, we should have basically kicked him out of the party.”

Blitzer asked how Graham might have accomplished such a deed, and the senator said: Republicans could have united to press him to quiet his politics.

“The more you know about Donald Trump,” Graham said, “the less likely you are to vote for him. The more you know about his business enterprises, the less successful he looks. The more you know about his political giving, the less Republican he looks. We should have done this months ago.”

Graham also said the party’s work toward outing Trump as less-than-a-Republican has been working, and voters are starting to rethink their support of him.

“I think this whole assault on his credentials of being a successful businessman and being a true Republican conservative is beginning to work,” he said, Politico reported.

Polls would suggest otherwise, however. Trump has maintained his front-runner status in most all national and state polls for months.

But to Graham, the bigger picture is the state of the Republican Party, not just this election.

“This is not about who we nominate anymore as Republicans as much as it’s who we are,” Graham said. “This is a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. What is conservatism? If it’s Donald Trump carrying the conservative banner, I think not only do we lose the election, but we’ll be unable in the future to grow the conservative cause.”

He added: “As much as I disagree with [Sen.] Ted Cruz, if it came down to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, I would be firmly in Ted’s camp because I think he really is a conservative.”

Trump, in a tweet, responded to Graham’s initial call for voters to support Cruz with this: “Failed presidential candidate Lindsey Graham should respect me. I destroyed his run, brought him from 7% to 0% when he got out. Now nasty!”

Lindsey Graham: We should have booted Trump from GOP

August 31, 2015

http://www.cleveland.com/rnc-2016/in...decide_wh.html

Trump to decide soon whether to rule out independent run

By Sabrina Eaton, Northeast Ohio Media Group Washington Correspondent

on August 31, 2015 at 8:05 AM, updated August 31, 2015 at 10:02 AM

Donald Trump promised Saturday to make an announcement "very soon" on whether he will rule out running as an independent candidate, saying that "a lot of people are going to be very happy." In order to appear on the South Carolina GOP primary ballot, the Republican presidential candidate must pledge by Sept. 30 that he will not launch an independent or third-party bid if he fails to win the nomination. State parties have been trying to put the squeeze on the billionaire businessman, who has yet to rule out a potential spoiler role. Trump has refused to firmly close the door on such a move, most notably during the Fox News debate earlier this month: The Washington Post

Trump discussed the issue in Nashville, where he courted tea party-leaning voters at a conference hosted by the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, which describes itself as "a grassroots movement to take back the Republican Party for the vast and disenfranchised majority of its members." Many of his supporters' sentiments align with those that fueled the tea party's rise. Trump made clear Saturday that he welcomes tea party support. "I love the tea party!" he told the crowd during a meandering, hourlong speech at a Christian music venue and skateboard park, arguing they hadn't been treated fairly: The Detroit News

Trump on Saturday stood by his charge that disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner is a "perv," adding that he "obviously is psychologically disturbed" and alleging that his wife, Huma Abedin, a top adviser to Hillary Clinton, is passing sensitive information to him. "I think it's a very fair statement that I made and a lot of people have congratulated me," Trump said after the Nashville event. "(Abedin) is receiving this very, very important information and giving it to Hillary. Well, who else is she giving it to? Her husband has serious problems, and on top of that, he now works for a public relations firm. So how can she be married to this guy who's got these major problems?" CNN

Roughly 400 rain-soaked demonstrators, some with children on their shoulders, marched in Nashville to advocate for undocumented immigrants while Trump used violent imagery to characterize them as dangerous during his event. While Trump addressed "anchor babies" and building a wall at the Mexican border, rally leaders beat on bucket drums while the crowd circled the building chanting, "Who are we? Tennessee" and "Racism has got to go." The rally was organized by a coalition of social justice groups led by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and Workers' Dignity: The Tennessean

Bills to end birthright citizenship, as Trump advocates, have been around for years and have gone nowhere, and many, but not all, scholars believe such a change would need to confront the almost insurmountable task of amending the Constitution. A U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the citizenship of a Chinese-American cook born in the United States amid an 1895 outbreak of hostility towards Chinese immigrants backs that perspective: The Washington Post

Trump continues to lead Republican U.S. presidential candidates among likely GOP caucusgoers in Iowa, but retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson is closing the gap between them, according to a poll released this weekend. Trump is first with 23 percent support, and Carson is second with 18 percent support. The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics survey results found that, although Trump leads Carson by about five percentage points, the latter has the highest favorability rating among the 17 GOP candidates. Just 8 percent of those surveyed held negative views of Carson. The poll also found support for the other Republican candidates -- all seasoned politicians -- sank to single digits: International Business Times

The decision by other GOP candidates to go after Trump will have outsized consequences for the GOP "brand." Not since Joan Collins sauntered onto the set of "Dynasty" or Gary Coleman uttered his first "Whatch talkin' about, Willis," has anyone so dominated a universe as Donald Trump has the GOP. Trump single-handedly has moved the GOP to the right on immigration, to the left on free trade and in circles on pretty much everything else. He has the other candidates so confused that they are stepping all over their own messages. After all, how else can one explain Jeb Bush's latest effort to show he is not an establishment loser by going flaunting an endorsement from Eric Cantor, the most notorious establishment loser in history? Politico

Biggest. Best. Classiest. Maybe a little cheap. Trump, a maestro of ego and Republican presidential frontrunner, brags about political donations, but gives a slim fraction of the cash tossed around by other New York bigwigs. In Trump's hometown, he's given only about $144,000 to candidates since 1989, filings show. The developer and his associated companies have given $710,000 to state politicians and committees since 1999. By comparison, fellow New York real-estate mogul Leonard Litwin and his companies donated more than $10 million: Bloomberg

On Friday night, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin chatted with current GOP presidential candidate Trump. "If you look at what's happening with this country, it's so sad," Trump told Palin on the show "On Point With Sarah Palin" on One America News Network. "You've pointed it out for years." He added: "I have to tell you, you're a terrific person." Palin returned the compliments, saying, "Everything about Donald Trump's campaign, it's avant-garde, and he's crushing it in the polls:" TIME

September 3, 2015

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015...-2016-run.html

Trump signs pledge not to run as independent in 2016

Published September 03, 2015

Donald Trump announced Thursday he has signed a GOP pledge not to run as an independent in 2016, after a personal appeal from the Republican Party chairman.

"I have signed the pledge," Trump said, holding it up.

The decision by the Republican presidential front-runner helps ease concerns among party leadership that an outside Trump bid -- should he not win the nomination -- could threaten the party's chances in the general election by peeling off votes.

The party began circulating the pledge to virtually all the Republican campaigns earlier this week. But Trump was the obvious concern. He had been the only one who did not raise his hand when the 10 top-polling candidates were asked at last month's Fox News debate whether they'd commit not to mount an independent White House bid.

Trump, after meeting Thursday with party boss Reince Priebus, said the chairman has been "extremely fair."

"I just wanted fairness from the Republican Party," Trump said. After holding up the pledge, he said, "I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party, and the conservative principles for which it stands."

Trump said he got nothing in return, and sees no circumstances under which he would "tear up that pledge." There was one hang-up, though: the pledge form Trump held up had the wrong date on it, reading Aug. 3, 2015.

The pledge states in part that if the GOP contender does not become the nominee: "I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is," and "I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party."

The Associated Press reported that RNC officials had been working privately with Trump's campaign for several weeks to avert the possibility of Trump making an independent run.

On Thursday night, the RNC announced that all 17 GOP presidential candidates signed the pledge.

The pledge followed Virginia and South Carolina GOP state parties making a similar pledge effort.

Fox News' Serafin Gomez, Jessica O'Hara and Patrick Manning and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

“This is not about who we nominate anymore as Republicans as much as it’s who we are,” Graham said.

The people are getting a big eyeful of who you really are and they don't like it.

What amazes me about failed presidential candidate Graham and the GOP is they fail to recognize that the sum of Trumps crowd and Cruz' crowd is about 70% of the conservatives plus whatever else moved over. This number is huge and represents Americans who are overly concerned with illegal immigration not being dealt with in any way by any one other than these two candidates and want something done about it. This is what everyone is missing and when the GOP stops telling their electorate what is good for them and open their own eyes then they can see that 70% of their voters want something done with illegal immigration.

Originally Posted by joe s

What amazes me about failed presidential candidate Graham and the GOP is they fail to recognize that the sum of Trumps crowd and Cruz' crowd is about 70% of the conservatives plus whatever else moved over. This number is huge and represents Americans who are overly concerned with illegal immigration not being dealt with in any way by any one other than these two candidates and want something done about it. This is what everyone is missing and when the GOP stops telling their electorate what is good for them and open their own eyes then they can see that 70% of their voters want something done with illegal immigration.

No, that's not right. You do not observe that the GOP is backing Cruz heavily against Trump. There is no summation between Trumps crowd and Cruz's crowd. They are diametrically opposed. The idea that Cruz, a man who has only the vaguest position on his own citizenship should be a candidate to confront illegal immigration and our derelict immigration enforcement and policy is a sadistic prank on the US public. The GOP is holding hostage the US public's outrage at the global immigration mess against the legitimacy of Cruz's claims to valuing citizenship itself.

South Carolina should have run Ms. Lindsey Graham out of the state a long time ago!

w

No, that's not right. You do not observe that the GOP is backing Cruz heavily against Trump. There is no summation between Trumps crowd and Cruz's crowd. They are diametrically opposed. The idea that Cruz, a man who has only the vaguest position on his own citizenship should be a candidate to confront illegal immigration and our derelict immigration enforcement and policy is a sadistic prank on the US public. The GOP is holding hostage the US public's outrage at the global immigration mess against the legitimacy of Cruz's claims to valuing citizenship itself.

This was my point of summation back when we toiled with this thread which is reiterated by AnnCoulter:


Ann Coulter–Voters Deliver Subtle Message: Die, Donor Scum

by ANN COULTER
16 Mar 2016

It is no longer a question of what the party wants. The voters — remember them? — keep showering Trump and Cruz with Ceausescu-like percentages. The combined vote for Trump and Cruz is a ringing chorus of what this party wants: a wall, deportation, less immigration and no job-killing trade deals.

Originally Posted by joe s

This was my point of summation back when we toiled with this thread which is reiterated by AnnCoulter:

Ann Coulter–Voters Deliver Subtle Message: Die, Donor Scum

by ANN COULTER
16 Mar 2016

She doesn't seem to get it either. Cruz is a fake anti-illegal politician. Cruz's claim to citizenship, his elected position and his grasping at the presidency is the worse symptom of the problem. It is our derelict policy of legal immigration and birthright citizenship that drive illegal immigration. Not jobs. The jobs are a deliberate economic fabrication that exist to enable both illegal and legal immigration. Those jobs will vanish when we can cut off illegal immigration and cut back on legal immigration.

By the way, keep an eye out for this guy on the talk shows: Lt. Col. Michael Waltz. He's a former Green Beret who is against Trump. He wrote a book "Warrior Diplomat". Here is what he's up to now:

Michael Waltz

Author at Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret's Battles from Washington to Afghanistan

Washington D.C. Metro Area
International Affairs

Current

Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret's Battles from Washington to Afghanistan, New America Foundation, Askari Associates

Previous

White House, Department of Defense, US Army

Education

Virginia Military Institute

View Michael's Full Profile
Summary

As the President of Metis Solutions and Co-Founder & Partner of Askari Associates, Mike provides corporate leadership and strategic vision for two growing corporate enterprises that provide strategic analysis and planning solutions, policy development, intelligence and operational support, and foreign commercial development to Government and Corporate customers worldwide. Mike brings 20 years of military, senior government, and corporate expertise. He previously served as a Senior Advisor and Policy Director in the White House and Pentagon. Mike also has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Component and as a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is the author of the recently released book "Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan" and was a contributor to "Drone Wars: Transforming Conflict, Law, and Policy." He has contributed commentary on national security issues to CNN, FOX, BBC, and PBS. He is a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia with his daughter.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-waltz-0557964

Michael Waltz Companies:

http://www.metisolutions.com/

http://askariassociates.com/

Green Beret turned Ugly Globalist.

I just saw him interviewed on Megyn Kelly show after she interviewed Stephen Miller on the announcement of Jeff Sessions being appointed Chairman of Trump's Foreign Policy Advisory Committee.

Very disappointing to see someone from our US military now in cohoots with globalist forces working against US by interjecting their own agenda into their comments on our own US political elections.