The Patriot Post Digest 2-26-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 2-26-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Daily Digest

Feb. 26, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.” —Benjamin Franklin, 1777

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
GOP Debate: Rubio and Cruz Finally Fight1

Well, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz obviously got the memo. They didn’t exactly unite the clans2 in Thursday night’s debate, but they sure did land some punches on Donald Trump instead of each other. Rubio in particular unleashed a barrage of attacks on the casino mogul that left us wondering, where was this before Trump locked up a third of voters as diehards and became a freight train3? Frankly, Rubio and Cruz were both brilliant in assailing the frontrunner, hitting him on just about everything from his bankrupt business record to hiring illegal workers to his incoherent pronouncements to his tax returns and support of leftist causes, including the Clinton Foundation and a long list of Democrats.

Was Round 10 too late? Super Tuesday may answer that question. Until now, Trump has largely skated unchallenged. Rubio calculated he’d be better off taking out Cruz, while Cruz slipstreamed Trump hoping to snag his voters when Trump flamed out. Neither happened, and Trump romped, largely unhindered by blows from real conservative candidates.

Here’s a sampling of the punches:

Rubio:

“I also think that if you’re going to claim that you’re the only one that lifted [the issue of immigration] into the campaign, that you acknowledge that, for example, you’re only person on this stage that has ever been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally. … He hired workers from Poland4, and he had to pay a million dollars or so in a judgment.”

“If he builds the wall the way he built Trump Towers, he’ll be using illegal immigrant labor to do it.”

“About the trade war — I don’t understand, because your ties and the clothes you make are made in Mexico and in China. So you’re gonna be starting a trade war against your own ties and your own suits. Why don’t you make them in America?”

Responding to Trump’s charge, “You don’t know a thing about business,” Rubio said, “I don’t know anything about bankrupting four companies. I don’t know anything about starting a fake university5.”

“The position you’ve taken is an anti-Israel position. … The Palestinians are not a real estate deal, Donald.”

“If he hadn’t inherited $200 million, you know where Donald Trump would be right now? Selling watches in Manhattan.”

“I see him repeat himself every night. He has five things: everyone’s dumb; he’s going to make America great again; win, win, win; he’s winning in the polls; and the lines around the states. Every night. Same thing.”

Cruz:

“Donald Trump says he’s being audited. I would think that would underscore the need to release those [tax] returns. He doesn’t want to do it because presumably there is something in there that’s bad.”

“[Donald] is promising if he’s elected he will go and cut deals in Washington. And he’s right. He has supported — he has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats. Anyone who really cared about illegal immigration wouldn’t be hiring illegal immigrants. Anyone who really cared about illegal immigration wouldn’t be funding Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi; wouldn’t be funding the Gang of Eight. And, you know, he is right. When you stand up to Washington, when you honor the promise you made to the men and women who elected you and say enough with the corruption, enough with the cronyism, let’s actually stand for the working men and women of this country, Washington doesn’t like it. And Donald, if you want to be liked in Washington, that’s not a good attribute for a president.”

“You know, there is a reason why, when Harry Reid was asked, of all the people on this stage, who does he want the most, who does he like the most, Harry Reid said Donald Trump. Why? Because Donald has supported him in the past, and he knows he can cut a deal with him.”

“Donald, true or false, you’ve said the government should pay for everyone’s health care?”
Trump responded, “That’s false.”

Oh no it’s not. Trump has most definitely said6 what Cruz alleged.

Finally, we’ll highlight what we thought was perhaps the night’s funniest moment. After being challenged by Rubio on his health plan, Trump, as usual, just said the same things over and over. Rubio, burned by that same charge two weeks ago, happily pointed out that Trump was just repeating himself.

To which Trump responded — we kid you not — “I don’t repeat myself. I don’t repeat myself. … I don’t repeat myself.”

We certainly hope it’s not too late for voters to realize that Trump is not the answer7. He’s nothing but insanely idiotic bluster, repeated over and over and over again, ad nauseum. We’ve endured eight months of it. Can you imagine four or eight years? To re-employ one of his phrases, that is not going to make America great again, believe us.

How to Attack Trump8

By Paul Albaugh

Instead of going after Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have been relentlessly attacking each other. It’s as if they think that whoever can destroy the other first will win second place. But second place is the first loser. And if the battle between the top two conservative candidates continues, then we’ll be left with a non-conservative Donald Trump.

On Thursday night, however, Cruz and Rubio went on offense against Trump, attacking his background, his record, his ideology, his proposals, his speaking style and more. Last night, Trump’s two strongest challengers finally realized that failing to go after the frontrunner and failing to draw clear distinctions between his record and theirs is a losing strategy. Time will tell if they waited too long.

If Trump is not exposed now, then he will win the nomination and face an onslaught9 of relentless attack ads from the entire Democrat machine, including the Leftmedia. The mainstream media are keeping their powder dry, enjoying this ratings bonanza until Trump secures the nomination. Then they’ll destroy him.

So what exactly should Rubio and Cruz attack Trump for? There’s plenty to go on.

First, they could go after10 what Stuart Stevens, who was Mitt Romney’s senior strategist, calls “the essence of Donald Trump.” He notes, “Donald Trump is a ridiculous figure. He’s not a particular business success. Four bankruptcies! He doesn’t have a junior-high-school-level understanding of policy — he doesn’t know what the nuclear triad is. You’ve got to turn to Donald Trump in a debate and say, ‘You’re a ridiculous figure. You don’t know what you’re talking about. And this tariff idea will cost jobs, it will damage the economy, just like you bankrupted Atlantic City.’” (Granted, Romney lost, but his senior strategist is pointing out a lesson learned: If you don’t go after a candidate for who he is, then you’ll lose. Romney rarely went after Obama for who he was — a narcissistic socialist who despises the very things that made America great. And he lost.)

Second, Cruz and Rubio could explain11 that Trump’s business record is very questionable, specifically that under his leadership he bankrupted a casino, that he has already declared his support of Planned Parenthood and ObamaCare (including praising a single-payer system), that he’s faking his religion simply to appeal to evangelicals, and that his whole life has been about him and not the average worker.

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The Patriot Post Digest 2-26-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Next on the short list is Trump’s “tough on immigration” stance. The issue is one of the most pressing concerns for conservatives, and Trump has capitalized on this better than any other candidate. This has led to what Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute calls “Trumpism”12. Murray, among others, recognizes that government officials from both parties have failed miserably on immigration policy, and that American workers are suffering because of it.

He notes, “There is nothing conservative about how they want to fix things. [Voters] want a now indifferent government to act on their behalf, big time. If Bernie Sanders were passionate about immigration, the rest of his ideology would have a lot more in common with Trumpism than conservatism does.”

But Trump’s rhetoric on immigration is quite the opposite of his deeds. In fact it’s downright hypocritical13. At Trump’s highly regarded private club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, he hired only 17 American citizens out of 300 applicants for positions such as waiter, waitress, cook and housekeeper, opting instead for mostly foreign workers. This is quite ironic given Trump’s criticism of Disney for hiring foreign workers under the H1-B Visa program. It turns out Trump and Obama would get along just fine14.

Finally, Cruz and Rubio should turn up the heat on Trump to release his tax records15. Doing so will reveal to voters where his loyalties truly reside and will very likely show lavish support for leftist causes. Simply follow the money.

Editor’s Note: On Monday, Mark Alexander will post a special edition, “The Most Taxing Questions for Trump,” including an open letter requesting very basic documentation for each of the last five years: 1. Net Income; 2. C-3 and C-4 contributions; 3. Federal and state taxes paid: 4. Net worth. This information must be certified by an independent accounting firm.

And it’s not just Cruz and Rubio; the GOP strategists and political consultants need to change16 as well. Of the $215 million in Super PAC expenditures so far in political ads, only $9 million has been spent attacking Trump. Why?

The same mistake cannot be made this presidential election cycle as was made in 2008 and 2012. In 2008, moderate John McCain was defeated by a neophyte liberal socialist. In 2012, mild-mannered Mitt Romney was defeated by the incumbent liberal socialist. America won’t start winning again until a principled conservative is the Republican nominee, and his name is not Donald Trump. The clock is ticking. That’s why it was good to see some play-calling adjustments from Rubio and Cruz.

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

ANALYSIS: Hillary Hearts Single-Payer17
Trump’s Tax (Return) Evasion15
Veteran Groups Still Waiting for the $6M Raised by Trump18
Is Obama Still Receiving Tainted Intelligence?19
Fraud at Government Exchange? HHS Doesn’t Care20
Anti-Gun Democrat Gun Trafficker Sentenced to Prison21
Clinton: Constitution? Declaration? Whatever!22
U.S. Assists Iran’s Terrorism Funding23

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

David Harsanyi: Why President Trump Would be a Bigger Disaster Than President Clinton24
Rich Lowry: The Coming Anti-Trump Onslaught9
Erick Erickson: How Much Must We Compromise Our Values?25
Charles Krauthammer: While Obama Fiddles…26

For more, visit Right Opinion27.

TOP HEADLINES

Mizzou Finally Fires Anti-Free Speech Professor Melissa Click28
Judge Rules There’s No First Amendment Right to Film Police29
After Passing ‘Living Wage,’ Seattle Pushes for ‘Livable Schedules’30

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report31

OPINION IN BRIEF

Michael Reagan: “My question to the angry Republican voters who support Trump is this — How are you going to feel when The Donald is not able to follow through on his promises? It’s inevitable, even if he beats Hillary. What will you do when your Republican hero goes to D.C. and fails to deliver? Take to the streets? Electing a president named Trump or a qualified candidate like John Kasich this fall won’t be enough to get things done in D.C. if the GOP doesn’t increase its hold on the Senate. No matter who he is, a Republican in the White House is going to need 60 votes in the Senate or everything important he proposes to pass or repeal will be filibustered to death. All remaining Republican primary voters — especially conservative ones who excuse Trump’s wide liberal streak or are too blinded by his celebrity bluster to see it — need to ask themselves something important before it’s too late. Do you know in your heart that the nominee you’ve picked — even if he wins — has a chance of changing anything in D.C.? Or are you just hoping? Hoping for change isn’t going to work. Ask Obama. If you really want to start getting things done in Washington, you can’t just be angry, you need to be realistic.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Under fascism, citizens retain the responsibilities of owning property, without freedom to act and without any of the advantages of ownership. Under socialism, government officials acquire all the advantages of ownership, without any of the responsibilities, since they do not hold title to the property, but merely the right to use it — at least until the next purge. In either case, the government officials hold the economic, political and legal power of life or death over the citizens.” —Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

Food for thought: “Just how much must evangelicals and conservatives compromise themselves to support Trump? That is the ultimate problem. Every person supporting Trump has not just compromised on a candidate, but compromised their core values. … These people are compromising their integrity for a presidential candidate willing to use profane language on the campaign trail and bombast to overcome a lack of knowledge of details. ‘For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?’” —Erick Erickson

Upright: “I’m not saying someone shouldn’t blow up the Republican Party. I’m saying that that someone shouldn’t be an unprincipled imposter. Because at some point there’s going to be a counterrevolution. Those who swear up and down that they would never vote for Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio because they aren’t conservative enough shouldn’t be surprised that a large faction on the Right — more than likely, the larger faction on the Right — won’t support a candidate who is adversarial to its belief system.” —David Harsanyi

Race bait: “What you are seeing today in this Supreme Court situation is nothing more than the continuous and unprecedented obstructionism that President Obama has gone through. … A racist effort to try to de-legitimatize the president of the United States.” —Bernie Sanders

The BIG Lie: “I’ve never believed in dividing America between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ We’re all in this together, and we all have to do our part.” —Hillary Clinton, who divides constantly and thinks she’s facing attack from a “vast right-wing conspiracy”

Late-night humor: “NASA said this week it has received a record high number of 18,000 applications for their astronaut training program. NASA said it shows a growing interest in space exploration. Then people said, ‘Nah, we just wanna get off the planet before this election.’” —Jimmy Fallon

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.