Earlier this evening, CNN’s Don Lemon interviewed Donald Trump about the debate on Fox News Channel last night, and set off another Trump-related tempest. After noting that Kelly pushed Trump during the debate, and that she “pushed a lot of people” besides Trump, Lemon asked, “What is it with you and Megyn Kelly?” Trump’s reply was, er … colorful, to say the least [emphasis mine]:
TRUMP: Well, I just don’t respect her as a journalist, I have no respect for her. I don’t think she’s very good, I think she’s highly overrated. But when I came out there, you know — what am I doing? I’m not getting paid for this. I go out there, and they start saying this stuff [garbled]. But you know, I didn’t know there’d be 24 million people. I knew it was going to be a big crowd because I get crowds, I get ratings. They call me the ratings machine. So I have, you know, she gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions, and you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her … wherever. But in my opinion, she was off base.
Kelly did ask Trump tough questions in last night’s debate, but she asked tough questions of Marco Rubio on abortion too, and of other candidates on stage as well. As the front-runner, Trump should have expected tough questions, especially given his track record of supporting nearly every progressive idea at one time or another, including Hillary Clinton being President. Kelly also asked Trump about his remarks about women, which appears to have particularly rankled him — and pushed him into validating Kelly’s premise in asking those questions in the first place. After all, it’s not often when a major party candidate takes a shot at a woman by reminding everyone of her menstrual cycle. I’m certain that will really impress women about their place in the Republican Party.
Trump was scheduled to speak at the Red State Gathering tomorrow, in the final slot at the event. Not long after these remarks, event organizer Erick Erickson announced that he had withdrawn the invitation:
I have rescinded my invitation to Mr.Trump. While I have tried to give him great latitude, his remark about Megyn Kelly was a bridge too far
That will undoubtedly anger some Trump supporters, but after last night’s debate performance and his thin-skinned whining afterward, I wonder if that group wasn’t already in decline. This might fire up the die-hard Trump troops, but suggesting that a journalist went after his target-rich record only because she was menstruating should be a disqualifier for most voters. It’s vastly worse than anything Todd Akin said, and will almost certainly have media outlets demanding responses from the other Republican candidates. It’s practically tailor-made for Democrats to hoist up the Republican War On Women banner, especially Hillary Clinton.
Get ready for plenty of Team Trump dog-in-the-manger, sour-grapes quotes in the morning, if not overnight. There may be some legitimate anger among a small group of RSG15 attendees tomorrow who wanted to see Trump at this event, but Erick has a solid case for not wanting to have this overshadow the event tomorrow, with more presidential candidates on hand to make their pitches. Erick will almost certainly address this in the morning, and we’ll see what the fallout is over the rest of the day.
Update: Carly Fiorina appears to be the first Republican candidate to respond to Trump’s remarks, perhaps fittingly so (via Twitchy):
That’s interesting, because Fiorina actually deflected a Trump question at her presser today at RSG15 by asking why the media wasn’t calling out Obama for his offensive comments about opponents of the Iran deal. Not this time, apparently.
But I also think that while Mr. Trump resonates with a lot of people with his bluntness, including me to a degree, there are just real lines of decency a person running for President should not trust.
His comment was inappropriate. It is unfortunate to have to disinvite him. But I just don’t want someone on stage who gets a hostile question from a lady and his first inclination is to imply it was hormonal. It just was wrong.
I have invited Megyn Kelly to attend in Donald Trump’s place tomorrow night.
Well, that would be interesting. We’ll see if she can swing that.
She passed her audition months ago when she went after Hillary. She is the GOPe designated hitter because she can do it without the party being labeled as sexist. She would be a good fit for the GOPe ticket's VP attack dog slot.
Sadly and pathetically, you're probably right. THIS is how sick the current PC Rules are. ONLY a female/black/gay can verbally criticize other similar demographics.
So...Fiorina's main qualifications as VP: Female Attack Dog. How appropriate.
And as a matter of fact, poll numbers were the criteria used for participation in the main debate.
I wouldn't vote for ONE or any of those Klouwns that have appeared (or selected) in some "debate" (actually a circus), unlike some around this teenie-weenie wittle chit chat forum.
You are being given hogwash and you are eating every morsel you can suck up.
Yeah, Survey Monkey sounds like a real top outfit. ‹/sarcasm›
Trump doesn't make the rules. But it sure would be a whole different story were Jeb at the top of the GOP Leaderboard, wouldn't it?
I also recall the complete failure of polling in both the British and Israeli elections in the last year.
We really should not take polls at face value. Even Nate Silver is admitting there are fundamental problems with measuring public opinion in modern polling. Including the obvious fact that people deliberately lie to pollsters sometimes (but not all the time). Maddening.
Personally, I also believe Polls are too prone to manipulation. But whatever the numbers at the moment, SOMETHING is up. But don't worry -- the polsters will become hijacked/bribed/blackmailed as is usually the eventual case. *Eventually* Jeb will suddenly be leading, then President. And then "NO MONKEY BUSINESS!" can be claimed.
If you don't vote, Buck, it will only matter to you.
What's giving many hope (for the time being) is that a non-politician MIGHT steal the Presidency from the elites. Whatssa mattah -- don't believe that would make any difference?
You'd better believe I'm not the only one who'd slurp up that possibility up with a fork and spoon.
Forbes says an honest assessment is more like half of that, about $5 billion. And his liquid assets appear in the range of $300M. Other reporting is to take Trump's 10 billion, cut it in half, then cut in quarters...
Slice and dice it up anyway you want -- the equation doesn't change. Trump CAN finance his own campaign without bending over as a two-bit whore for China, the Saudis, or Commie Inc.
What's giving many hope (for the time being) is that a non-politician MIGHT steal the Presidency from the elites. Whatssa mattah -- don't believe that would make any difference?
What does the idiot stand for? I really don't know what the punk stands for; he changes his opinions every other day.
No matter WHAT you believe, the Trumps BUILT stuff
What hss "The Donald" built? Not his grandfather that left him a $12 trust fund when he turned 21,or his father that left him $200 million in CASH plus 15,000 NYC rental properties,but "The Donald" himself?
Still standing by your original statement?
Why wouldn't I?
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
What's giving many hope (for the time being) is that a non-politician MIGHT steal the Presidency from the elites.
He IS one of the elites! Hell,he brags about ORDERING Bubbette! to his most recent wedding.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
And she is STILL more qualified to hold public office than the lunatic you support.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
My wife likes his casinos; my billfold is solid proof.
I bet your wife ain't gambling there tonight.
Like everything else he has touched,it failed and went into bankruptcy.
So far the only thing I can think of that he has been successful at is running a teebee reality show,and he isn't even really doing that. He just gets a cut for showing up and for letting them use his name.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
You mean Trump doesn't stand for us wee little people?
Nope. He doesn't even stand for the big rich people. He only stands for himself.
What politician does?
Damn few today,but there are some.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Slice and dice it up anyway you want -- the equation doesn't change. Trump CAN finance his own campaign without bending over as a two-bit whore for China, the Saudis, or Commie Inc.
The 2012 election was just under a billion for Romney (including nomination battle) while Obama spent over a billion. This election will cost more, probably much more (assuming the market doesn't crash before the election as in 2008). And the market is creaking and groaning a lot like 2008.
Even Trump with virtual universal name recognition will have to do some major spending.
Have you donated to Teh Donald yet? Contrary to his claim to self-fund entirely, he is taking donations.
He shows up because his hairdo is magnificant; he is almost a GOD in his own sake for the amazing coiffure that no one else can immitate.
That's true,and I am sure he has a half-dozen or more people hired to remind of that several times a day.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
That's true,and I am sure he has a half-dozen or more people hired to remind of that several times a day.
He doesn't need them.
Donald Trump: I will say this, I was attacked by the people that you talk about. When you mention a couple of those names, I was attacked viciously by those people. I don’t mean a little bit, I mean viciously. When I am attacked, I fight back, but I was attacked viciously by those women. Of course it is very hard for them to attack me on looks because I’m so good-looking. But I was attacked very viciously by those women, and frankly, again we get back to the words ‘political correctness.’ Am I allowed to defend myself?
Of course it is very hard for them to attack me on looks because I’m so good-looking.
Well,who can blame him for thinking that when all the hot eastern European women he hires to marry him keep telling him how good-looking he is?
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
JEB's bankster grandfather helped to finance the Nazi party.
ICYMI, Prescott's father Samuel Bush, Jeb's grandpappy, served on the board of a Federal Reserve Bank and had close ties to the Rockefellers and Harrimans.
Samuel P. Bush, father of Senator Prescott Bush, grandfather of President G.H.W Bush, great grandpappy of President George W. Bush and Governor John Ellis (Jeb) Bush.
In 1901, Bush returned to Columbus to be General Manager of Buckeye Steel Castings Company, which manufactured railway parts. The company was run by Frank Rockefeller, the brother of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, and among its clients were the railroads controlled by E. H. Harriman. The Bush and Harriman families would be closely associated at least until the end of World War II. In 1908, Rockefeller retired and Bush became president of Buckeye, a position he would hold until 1927, becoming one of the top industrialists of his generation.
Bush was the first president of the Ohio Manufacturers Association, and cofounder of Scioto Country Club and Columbus Academy. He was an avid sports enthusiast and a skilled carpenter.
Political prominence
In the spring of 1918, banker Bernard Baruch was asked to reorganize the War Industries Board as the U.S. prepared to enter World War I, and placed several prominent businessmen to key posts. Bush became chief of the Ordnance, Small Arms, and Ammunition Section, with national responsibility for government assistance to and relations with munitions companies.
Bush served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (as well as of the Huntington National Bank of Columbus). In 1931, he was appointed to Herbert Hoover's President's Committee for Unemployment Relief, chaired by Walter S. Gifford, then-President of AT&T. He was once recommended to serve on the board of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, but Hoover did not feel he was sufficiently known nationally.
A financial magazine a couple of weeks ago put his actual net assets at between 2 and 3 billion.
And the magazine's guess would be better than Trump's... why?
Because they not only sift through public records to determine net worth,but they also have no reason to lie about it.
You know Trump is lying if his lips are moving.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
You just say stupid shit that isn't true all the time. Because you think you are clever.
Trumps words moved and he said he wouldn't run third party if he won the nomination. You called that a lie. Which shows you are quite the fool
We know you're lying when your fingers are typing. Example. You said you were going to vote for Bernie Sanders. Then you lied and said you didn't say that.
Trumps words moved and he said he wouldn't run third party if he won the nomination. You called that a lie. Which shows you are quite the fool
Well,it does show somebody is a fool.
We know you're lying when your fingers are typing. Example. You said you were going to vote for Bernie Sanders.
Once again you are lying,but even Bernie Sanders would be a better president than that gasbag Trump.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Or maybe you think NYC gives 40 YEAR tax exemptions to everyone building rental housing?
The former Commodore Hotel, now the four-star Grand Hyatt is hardly rental housing. It is on East 42nd St. between Lex and Park Place, next to Grand Central Station, and within walking distance of Times Square and the Empire State Building. This was the renovation subject to the 40 year abatement on property taxes.
The below article includes before and after images. Changing that from the 1919 Commodore to the 4-star 1980 Grand Hyatt made a small fortune for NYC. Only the property taxes were abated. They couldn't make much from the previous bankrupt owner. This is not unusual for major corporate investments now.
The Commodore Hotel, right next door to Grand Central Station, is still there, although you’d never recognize it today. The black glass Grand Hyatt New York is actually the Commodore, rebuilt by Donald Trump.
The original Commodore opened on January 28, 1919. It was designed by Warren & Wetmore, and was part of a project known as Terminal City that was conceived to bring hotel and office buildings to the area around Grand Central Station. All were owned by the New York State Realty and Terminal Company, a division of the New York Central Railroad—a company in which Cornelius Vanderbilt (a.k.a. the Commodore) had a controlling interest.
The Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corporation leased the property, designed the hotel’s interior, and ran it. Bowman-Biltmore's own Herbert R. Stone oversaw the decor of all 2,000 rooms, including the lobby, which was also the single largest room of the day. It had modern low ceilings and an indoor waterfall. By 1929, Bowman-Biltmore was also running the adjacent Biltmore Hotel and the nearby Roosevelt Hotel, which gave them access to all the northeast corridor railroad passenger traffic in and out of New York City.
With such a pedigree, it’s only fitting that the hotel ended up in the hands of Donald Trump. He bought it in 1977, when its railroad company owner was bankrupt. Trump decided to completely rebuild the hotel. The first few floors were gutted down to their steel frame. The architects left the exterior bricks of the Commodore in place, covering them with the reflective glass skin. The hotel re-opened in 1980 as the Grand Hyatt New York.
The Top Three represent giving the Finger to business/politics as usual, and complete rejection of the usual fake choices. The jig is up. Trump will be declared "dead and buried" two years into his Presidency.
I wouldn't jump that far ahead. I do not know who his opponent would be, and he may not be nearly as strong in the general as in the primary season. But if the GOPe screws him over as the only way to clear a path for their chosen son, they may well wind up with The Donald on another ticket. Like with Perot, his supporters would like a chance to vote for their guy, and against the GOPe.
Republican Assault on Trump May Only Make Him Stronger
Party insiders ganged up on Trump in the first GOP debate, but the tactic may backfire
By Matt Taibbi Rolling Stone August 7, 2015
Last night's debate was the funniest political program in our nation's history. Nothing really comes close.
There have been moments, obviously. Bush ducking a shoe. Admiral Stockdale saying "Who am I? Why am I here?" Sarah Palin being interviewed while a man in the background beheaded turkeys was a classic.
But for comic staying power and sheer WTF factor last night's debate went beyond 11. By my count there were over a dozen genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Mike Huckabee bringing pimps into a presidential debate for the first time ever was a landmark moment. Jeb Bush's attempt at a one-liner, "They call me Veto Corrleone," made millions of adults cringe at the same time. Then there was Megyn Kelly's brain-busting toss to commercial near the end:
KELLY: We have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and… God.
[...]
There was clearly an effort last night by Republican party interests to knock Trump off his frontrunner pedestal. We saw ambush tactics from the start.
Bret Baier started the whole thing off by asking the candidates to promise they wouldn't run on a third-party ticket. Trump declined, highlighting his non-Republican-ness. Megyn Kelly followed up by asking Trump to defend his record of calling women "fat pigs" and "disgusting animals" and then made his probable inability to score female votes in a race against Hillary part of her question.
Later questions targeted Trump's heretical views on abortion and health care, and his history of donating money to the likes of Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi.
No other candidate got anything near this kind of treatment in the debate. A more typical question was Baier softballing Mike Huckabee, asking: "Is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink?"
[...]
Trump is now also seeing a wave of punditry pieces flowing in from traditional conservative outlets slamming his campaign. The National Review's Jonah Goldberg wrote a long piece this month, "Trump fans, it's time for an intervention."
[...]
Meanwhile, Rich Lowry at the Review called the debate a "fabulously awful" night for Trump. He slobbered over the rest of the field. He said Bush "made no mistakes, " Christie was "forceful," Carson was "winsome," Kasich "more of a presence than I would have thought," and Huckabee was "incapable of having a bad debate."
Meanwhile, Fox contributor Charles Krauthammer gleefully declared the debate to be the "end of Trump," saying that he looked "lost."
[...]
Trump's followers are a gang of pissed-off nativists who are tired of being laughed at, belittled, dismissed, and told who to vote for. So it seems incredible that the Republican establishment thinks it's going to get rid of Trump by laughing at, belittling and dismissing him, and telling his voters who they should be picking.
These hysterical critics are making one of the world's most irredeemable bullies look persecuted and like a victim, a difficult feat. The desperation to get rid of him may just feed more and more into the right wing base's crazy victim complex, and in turn get Trump even more support.
The numbers aren't out yet, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the debate last night didn't have exactly the opposite impact that Krauthammer and Frank Luntz and the rest of those clowns thinks it had.
Trump’s Triumph: Billionaire Blowhard Exposes Fake Political System
by Mike Whitney August 7, 2015 Counterpunch
Last night’s FOX News GOP Presidential Debate Extravaganza featured the most riveting two minute political exchange ever heard on national television. During a brief colloquy between Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and Fox moderator Brett Baier, the pugnacious casino magnate revealed the appalling truth about the American political system, that the big money guys like Trump own the whole crooked contraption lock, stock, and barrel, and that, the nation’s fake political leaders do whatever they’re told to do. Without question, it was most illuminating commentary to ever cross the airwaves. Here’s the entire exchange direct from the transcript:
FOX News Brett Baier (talking to Trump): Now, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren’t you for it now?
TRUMP: As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you’re talking about here.
What I’d like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I’m negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid.
You know why?
Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. (uneasy laughter) But they have total control of the politicians. They’re making a fortune.
Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have…yourself great plans…
BAIER: Mr. Trump, it’s not just your past support for single-payer health care. You’ve also supported a host of other liberal policies….You’ve also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, and Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, “When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.”
TRUMP: You’d better believe it.
BAIER: — they do?
TRUMP: If I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I’ve given to, just so you understand, a lot of money.
TRUMP: I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. And that’s a broken system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you get from Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi?
TRUMP: Well, I’ll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why?
She didn’t have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn’t know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was.
BAIER: Hold on…..We’re going to — we’re going to move on.”
There it is, two glorious minutes of pure, unalloyed truth on national television. How often does that happen?
How often does a fatcat billionaire-insider appear on TV and announce that the whole system is a big-fat scam run by crooks and patsies?
Never, that’s when. But that’s what Trump did last night. And that’s why the clatter of ruthless miscreants who run the system behind the smokescreen of fake politicians are sharpening their knives right now before Manhattan’s rogue elephant does even more damage to their precious system.
Just think about what the man said. He not only explained that the whole system is rigged (Baier: “And when you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.”…TRUMP: “You’d better believe it.”), he also said that the politicians will do whatever they’re told to do. (TRUMP: Well, …with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn’t have a choice because I gave.”)
Doesn’t that confirm your darkest suspicions about the way the system really works, that money talks and that elections are just a way to get the sheeple to rubber-stamp a corrupt, fraudulent system?
Of course, it does.
So, let’s summarize: Moneybags capitalist loudmouth explains to 80 million dumbfounded Americans watching prime time TV, that the system is a total fraud, that the big money runs everything, and that even he thinks the system is broken.
How do you beat that? Seriously, my wife and I were laughing and high-fiving and like we just won the lottery.
And the magazine's guess would be better than Trump's... why?
Because they not only sift through public records to determine net worth,but they also have no reason to lie about it.
What magazine? And the public records of an organization like Trump's can only be guestimated from the public records. The magazines have to swag it. Trump has the real numbers.
If the GOPe puts someone at the top of the ticket who is not clearly committed to doing something about illegal immigrants, the GOP will lose.
The last time the base was this fed up was in 1992 when Ross Perot ran third party and collected nearly 20 million votes.
I see no sign the GOP is especially interested.
They are more interested in recruiting and funding challengers to Tea Party members of Congress who won't toe the line dictated by the open borders Chamber of Commerce.
