Donald Trump and a leadership checklist

For those Tea Party people who are distressed that Donald Trump is now the presumptive GOP candidate, there’s an article on the American Spectator website by Don Surber about Trump’s qualifications. The intro and bullet points are extracted below. Click here to read the entire thing. For those who are still hoping that somehow Sen. Cruz still has a chance, perhaps this article will make you less apoplectic.

If a year ago someone told me I would be an advocate of Donald Trump, I would have laughed, because everyone knew he was a joke with a toupee. But on August 27, 2015, at a rally in Greenville, South Carolina, when Mary Margaret Bannister pulled his hair, we learned he does not wear a wig.

And in researching my upcoming book, Trump The Press, I learned he is no joke. He has developed the leadership skills needed to lead the free world.

In December 2014, Peter Economy of Inc. magazine wrote, “The Top 10 Skills Every Great Leader Needs to Succeed.” Trump has them all.

1. Inspires and motivates others.

2. Displays high integrity and honesty.

3. Solves problems and analyzes issues.

4. Drives for results. 

5. Communicates powerfully and prolifically.

6. Builds relationships.

7. Displays technical or professional expertise.

8. Displays a strategic perspective.

9. Develops others.

10. Innovates.

Bonus: Champions change.

The rest of Surber’s article is here. The photo at the top was deliberate: Take a look at Trump's kids and family. 

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Do the math, Senator Cruz

 photo credit: youtube

Desperation. From The Daily Caller:

Sen. Ted Cruz’s abrupt suggestion he might reenter the Republican presidential race went up in smoke Tuesday night as he suffered a crushing defeat against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Nebraska’s GOP primary.

Cruz suggested if he were to win in Nebraska and saw a “path to victory” at the convention, he would consider restarting his presidential campaign, despite dropping out last week after being beaten badly in Indiana.

“We launched this campaign intending to win. The reason we suspended our campaign was that with the Indiana loss, I felt there was no path to victory,” Cruz told radio host Glenn Beck. “If that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly.” (RELATED: Cruz Says He Won’t Run Third Party)

Such notions were almost immediately crushed in spectacular fashion Tuesday night, as early results showed Trump racking up almost 60 percent of the vote in Nebraska, about 40 percentage points ahead of Cruz at 19.5 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich was in third with about 14 percent of the vote.

Although no polling was conducted in the state, it was seen as a potential Cruz victory prior to him dropping out. But if Nebraska ever was a Cruz state, it stopped being one the moment he dropped out as GOP voters instead flocked to the party’s presumptive nominee.

Cruz also suffered a massive defeat in West Virginia’s primary, though that defeat was more predictable.

Nebraska’s 36 delegates are awarded on a winner-take-all basis, meaning Trump will take another big step towards the 1,273 delegates he needs to lock up the Republican nomination on the first ballot.

The delegate chart after yesterday's primaries:

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America First Unity Rally 2016

For Immediate Release
Contact: info@citizensfortrump.com

Cleveland, Ohio (July 18th, 2016) – Citizens for Trump grassroots political organization, announces the America First Unity Rally and March to celebrate the nomination of Donald J. Trump as the Republican nominee for President.

Tim Selaty Sr., Citizens for Trump Co-founder stated; “We’re planning to hold a YUGE victory celebration and have been told by local authorities to expect several thousand of Mr. Trump’s detractors to stage a massive counter protest in hopes to disrupt the official GOP nomination ceremony. We need all Trump supporting patriots to converge on Cleveland in large numbers to make sure that doesn’t happen! We’re truly blessed that so many great pro-trump groups and individuals have joined with us for this event. We are expecting many more to come aboard in the following weeks ahead.”

The America First Unity Rally will feature guest speakers Roger Stone who is renowned as a veteran Republican strategist, Jan Morgan who is well known as a national spokesperson on FOX news that advocates for Second Amendment Rights, Wayne Dupree of Conservative Radio fame, Diamond & Silk who have become thrust into the spotlight as strong Trump advocates on their viral YouTube Channel. Following the rally there will be a march from Voinovich Bicentennial Park to the Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland to show our solidarity for Donald J. Trump.

ONE TEAM, ONE FIGHT!
#TeamTrump #CitizensForTump #AmericaFirstMovement

Visit the America First Movement event page additional information.www.AmericaFirstMovement.com



Trump, Sanders, and American discontent

art credit: www.writerscafe.org

From Pat Dooley’s FB page:

Trump, Sanders and American discontent

Trump is now the presumptive GOP candidate. He started as a joke candidate. The pundits trashed him from left and right. But, somehow, he resonated with ordinary Americans and gained traction in the polls. National Review, the leading conservative magazine, devoted a complete issue to attacking Trump. He survived that broadside. His GOP competitors spent 10's of millions of dollars on attack ads against him. He spent virtually nothing. He said stupid things, insulted virtually everyone, and still he kept winning. This is actually a unique event in modern American history. No outsider has ever done what Trump has just done.

How did he do it? He chose a great campaign slogan and he hammered illegal immigration, bad trade agreements, job losses, and political correctness. He used his media savvy to garner free airtime his opponents could only dream of and he found ways to dominate virtually every media news cycle. He spent virtually nothing on advertising and his whole campaign was run on a shoestring. Jeb Bush blew through $130 million and got nowhere.

Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary a run for her money, and he is appealing to people on the left who are disillusioned with "politics as usual." He doesn't have a chance because the system is rigged against outsiders. Hillary picks up pledged delegates that were committed before a vote was cast.

Sanders and Trump reflect a general malaise that American people feel. The Federal government is working against us, not for us, and it is costing far too much.

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Jeb! reneges

photo credit: observer.com

Back in December, and shortly before Jeb! dropped out of the race, Guy Benson at Townhall reported on the GOP candidates' loyalty oath to support whoever became the eventual nominee for President. The headline then was “Jeb: I'm Considering Breaking My GOP Loyalty Pledge if Trump's the Nominee":

By declining to raise their hands when prompted by Fox New anchor Bret Baier, every other candidate on stage that night made a promise to voters: No matter who is nominated, they'd throw their backing behind his or her campaign, and would rule out an independent run.  

Ironically, that question was crafted specifically for Trump, but now it applies at least as much to moderates like Bush and Kasich as it does to the capricious frontrunner.  If you're seeking the Republican nomination, and if you've vowed to endorse and support the Republican nominee, you shouldn't go back on your word -- neither out of genuine frustration and disgust, nor as a campaign tactic. 

Not only would this be a breach of trust, it would reek of spite. Trump's been smacking Jeb around as a low energy loser for weeks; if the former governor were to follow through on this quasi-threat, Trump could tweak his taunt and cast Bush as a low energy sore loser.  

Jeb and friends have spent tens of millions of dollars so far, yet the campaign has failed to gain traction with voters (to put it kindly).  Reneging on the pledge now would be akin to pouting in the corner -- yet another indignity.  

Sure, guys like Bush and Kasich could use Trump's odious conduct and controversial proposals as a fig leaf to justify their potential reversals, but that would require them to feign shock that Donald Trump is comporting himself like...Donald Trump has always comported himself.  

Plus, it would infuriate a large segment of the Republican base, who would accuse the establishment of demanding party unity in support of "safe" nominees, then refusing to abide by the same standard when they don't get their way. 

Today, The Hill reports that Jeb! has reneged on his pledge.

“In November, I will not vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, but I will support principled conservatives at the state and federal levels, just as I have done my entire life,” Bush wrote in a Facebook post.

Jeb! does not seem to have a clue about “conservative” principles, nor why Trump would appeal to conservatives who are sick and tired of “conservative” GOPe legislators who promise conservative values on the campaign trail and embrace the liberal agenda once in office.

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John Kasich's delegates

photo credit: minutemennews.com

What happens now to Kasich's delegates? 

Now that Gov. John Kasich has suspended his campaign for the GOP nomination, my question is: what happens to his delegates? Does it make a difference if he “suspends” his campaign or officially withdraws? Here’s something I found by Rober Eno at ConservativeReview (March 28):

Last week we debunked the myth that John Kasich’s Ohio delegates would be forced to vote for Trump if the Ohio governor withdrew from the nomination fight. To recap, they remain bound to Kasich for the first ballot and were hand selected by his campaign. Now that 66 of Kasich’s delegates are accounted for, what happens to the remaining 79 of his delegates were he to suspend?

Twenty-one additional delegates from Iowa, Virginia, Illinois, and North Carolina are bound to Kasich, even if he withdraws or suspends. That means a total of 87 delegates are bound by rule to vote for Kasich on the first ballot—that is, 60 percent of his delegates.

Thirty-two delegates would be unbound from Kasich on the first ballot were he to publicly suspend his campaign. The delegates are from New Hampshire, Maine, Michigan, and the District of Columbia. Of those, 13 of the actual delegates were selected by the Kasich campaign. The rest were selected by the state party or at a convention.

Twenty-five delegates would become unbound if Kasich specifically unbinds them in writing to a state party, mostly by informing the party that he has withdrawn. They include delegates from Massachusetts, Vermont, Kansas, and Kentucky. These delegates were not handpicked by the candidate.

The single delegate from Nevada can unbind him or herself upon withdrawal by Kasich if she or he so wishes.

If no candidate reaches 1,237 delegates prior to the convention, and John Kasich has dropped out prior to the convention, only 58 of his delegates would be free-agents on the first ballot in Cleveland.

The entire analysis is here.

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Trump wins Indiana

All the advance polls, including those on RealClearPolitics, showed lower numbers for Trump. All the website election HQs are calling Indiana for Trump. The Democrat race as of 8pm is too close to call.

Politico election results are regularly update here. Exit Question: Will Cruz bow out now?

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