“Well, you have to go with Lincoln and Washington. The classics, you know? You have to go with the classics.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by Esquire, on his favorite presidents.
Archives for December 2015
Anyone But Cruz
Frank Bruni: “Anyone but Cruz: That’s the leitmotif of his life, stretching back to college at Princeton. His freshman roommate, Craig Mazin, told Patricia Murphy of The Daily Beast: ‘I would rather have anybody else be the president of the United States. Anyone. I would rather pick somebody from the phone book.'”
“It’s not easy to come across on-the-record quotes like that, and Mazin’s words suggest a disdain that transcends ideology. They bear heeding.”
Trump Continues to Lead GOP Race
A new Reuters poll finds Donald Trump leading the Republican presidential race with 34%, followed by Ben Carson at 16%, Ted Cruz at 14%, Marco Rubio at 11% and Jeb Bush at 7%.
White House Says GOP May Force Shutdown
The White House “accused Republicans of threatening a government shutdown by attaching dozens of controversial riders to a must-pass spending bill,” The Hill reports.
Said White House press secretary Josh Earnest: “Congressional Republicans are whistling past the graveyard of a government shutdown.”
Senate Republicans Advise Candidates to Copy Trump
In a seven-page confidential memo that imagines Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee, “the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee urges candidates to adopt many of Trump’s tactics, issues and approaches — right down to adjusting the way they dress and how they use Twitter,” the Washington Post reports.
From the memo: “Trump has risen because voters see him as authentic, independent, direct, firm, — and believe he can’t be bought. These are the same character traits our candidates should be advancing in 2016. That’s Trump lesson #1.”
Behind Carson’s Plunge in the Polls
Rick Klein: “If there’s a Paris effect in the GOP race, it looks like Ben Carson is the one feeling it – and not Donald Trump. The new Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday morning shows Carson down 7 points over the past month, with Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz now in a virtual tie with him for second place. His numbers have suffered across the board, but this may be the most telling: Republicans saw him as having the right experience to be president, 64-30, a month ago; now that’s 42-46 – turned around and underwater.”
“It’s no collapse, but it’s a major warning sign for a candidate with weak credentials on foreign policy and national security, notwithstanding a trip to a Syrian refugee camp right after Thanksgiving. This is another factor that makes the Ted Cruz-Marco Rubio rivalry fascinating and important. If Carson supporters are up for grabs, it’s those two senators who seem, for now, best positioned to take advantage.”
The Latest on Wonk Wire
Emanuel Rips Reporter Over Leaked Vacation Plans
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unleashed on Politico‘s Mike Allen this morning after he reported a private conversation they had before going on stage.
Brad Phillips: “Emanuel later threatened to give Allen’s cell phone number to his wife so that Allen could explain to her directly why he had broken their secret vacation plans. When Allen tried to apologize, Emanuel—who looked like he could barely contain his rage—snapped: ‘I don’t know if you know this, it’s not gonna work.'”
Trump Would Not Impeach Obama
Donald Trump wouldn’t back impeachment hearings for President Obama, saying such a move would only make Obama a “martyr,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “The best thing that we have going with Obama is that he’s got a year left.”
The Dumbest of 2015
Donald Trump makes the cover of Mad Magazine‘s “20 Dumbest People, Things and Events in 2015” issue.
Cruz Battles Rubio In Adelson Primary
Michael Isikoff notes “the bidding to become the winner of what is informally called the ‘Adelson primary’ has gotten complicated. After being wooed by virtually all the major GOP contenders, the 82-year-old Adelson was believed to be close to announcing his backing of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio shortly after the Dec. 15 Republican debate — an event that conveniently enough is being held at the Venetian Las Vegas, a hotel Adelson owns.”
“That scenario, however, has run into resistance from a surprising source: Miriam Adelson, the megadonor’s strong-willed and equally hawkish wife. An Israeli-born physician, Miriam Adelson has become enamored of late with Ted Cruz, according to four Republican sources close to the couple.”
Graham Faces Key Deadline in South Carolina
NBC News: “South Carolina’s State Election Commission has warned the state’s Republican Party: If a candidate wants to stay off the ballot for the Feb. 20 presidential primary, they have until Dec. 21 to get out of the race.”
“It’s set a potentially critical deadline for South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who will have to weigh whether it’s worth continuing his long shot presidential bid in the face of a potentially embarrassing showing in his home state. And it has the state’s political class — many of whom have been sitting on the sidelines of the First-in-the-South primary out of loyalty to Graham — buzzing at the possibility they’ll soon be able to take sides in a competitive and lucrative presidential race.”
Can Anyone Take Down Trump?
First Read: “Even if there’s the will to take down Trump, can you do it when there is almost perfect information out there about him? After all, you can’t say that Trump’s background, claims, and positions have gone unchallenged over the past six months. And he has perfect name identification in our NBC/WSJ polls: All Americans know who he is. When past presidential insurgents have failed — see Howard Dean, Herman Cain, or Ben Carson (at least for now) — it’s been because voters get new information about them. But what new information stops Trump? And does it even exist?”
“Given the perfect information on Trump, if establishment Republicans truly want to stop him, we can see them making these two arguments: One, he’s unfit for the presidency. Two, he can’t beat Hillary Clinton.”
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Cruz Pledges to Stack Court with Conservatives
Sen. Ted Cruz told Bloomberg that Republicans have “an abysmal record” when it comes to picking Supreme Court justices, and it is something the Texas senator promises to rectify if he’s elected president.
Said Cruz: “Unlike many of the other candidates, I will be willing to spend the capital to ensure that every Supreme Court nominee that I put on the court is a principled judicial conservative.”
Lawmaker Supports Executing Undocumented Felons
Iowa state Sen. Mark Chelgren (R), who is running for Congress, told the Knoxville Journal Express that if someone “is found to have crossed into the country illegally, committed a felony while here, then been deported, he supports executing that individual if they break America’s immigration laws a second time.”
Feuding Breaks Out in GOP Race
“As the first primary contests rapidly approach, a rash of bickering has broken out among several Republican presidential candidates, marking the beginning of a new, more serious phase of the race,” the Washington Post reports.
“The feuding is particularly notable among New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who have shown signs of strength in recent weeks and are attempting to carve out distinct identities within the party… The change in tone from several candidates underscores the difficulties they have had distinguishing themselves from the pack as Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson have dominated the polls.”
Carson Seeks to Reinvigorate Evangelical Base
“Ben Carson, whose widespread support among evangelical voters has shown some signs of slipping, will hold a news conference in South Carolina on Wednesday that his campaign has called an ‘Evangelical Rollout,'” the New York Times reports.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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