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April 13, 2016 DONALD TRUMP: March 30, 2016
It’s only Trump — looking for a winner
T
he only question for Republi- winnable presidential election in 2012, Presidential elections are won by wincans is: Which candidate can says it’s impossible for Republicans to ning states. (Only someone who got his win states that Mitt Romney get one more white vote — and the me- a-- kicked running an eminently electable dia are trying to convince the GOP that candidate might not know this.) lost? Excluding third parties and breaking Start with the fact that, before any he’s right. Stevens says Romney tapped out ev- it down to a two-man race, Mitt Romney vote is cast on Election Day, the Demo88 percent of the white crats have already won between 90 and ery last white voter and still lost, so he w o n vote in Mississippi, 98 percent of the black vote and 60 to 75 says Republicans but only 40 percent percent of the Hispanic and Asian vote. are looking for of the white vote Unless Republicans run the table on the “the Lost Tribes of in Massachusetts. the Amazon” hopwhite vote, they lose. What sense does it ing to win more (c) 2016, Ann Coulter make to talk about IF THERE’S still hope, it lies with white votes: “In Trump and only Trump. Donald Trump 1980, Ronald Reagan won 56 percent his national percentage of the white vote will do better with black and Hispanic of white voters and won a landslide vic- with disparities like that? voters than any other Republican. But it’s tory of 44 states. In 2012, Mitt Romney ROMNEY LOST the white vote to with white voters that he really opens up won 59 percent of whites and lost with Obama in five crucial swing states: Maine 24 states.” the electoral map. Apparently, no one’s told Stevens (42 percent of the white vote), Minn. (47 A Republican Party that wasn’t intent on committing suicide would know that. about the 50-state Electoral College. percent), N.H. (48 percent), Iowa (48 But Stuart Stevens, the guy who lost a The national white vote is irrelevant. percent) and Wis. (49 percent). He only
Ann
Coulter
GOP RACE: March 31, 2016
GOP contenders: What we believe
A
fter months of Republican primary candidates vying for attention on debate stages around the country, this week’s CNN town hall from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, proved to be a study in contrast. Three hours, three segments, and three Republican candidates left standing — Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and John Kasich. The format provided an opportunity for longer answers and more pressing follow-ups from Anderson Cooper, the CNN moderator. Decided and undecided voters alike had an opportunity to question each candidate. The result? Trump showed his toughness and self confidence. A rookie interview question stumped Cruz, who elegantly weaved personal stories into his answers in an apparent attempt to humanize his image, and Kasich channeled Jimmy Stewart. TRUMP, WHEN asked about the arrest of his campaign manager, responded, “I stick up for people when people are unjustly accused. And, in my opinion, unjustly accused. She’s grabbing me. He walks in to stop it. She walked through Secret Service. She had a pen in her hand, which could have been a knife, it could have been just a pen, which is very dangerous. She should not have been doing that. “And she didn’t fall to the ground. She wasn’t dragged to the ground and all of the things that she said, Anderson. I stick up for people.” The message to voters: Trump is tough and won’t back down. Trump’s self-surety continued when answering the question, “When was
the last time you actually apologized for something?” “No, I do — I don’t know — I’ll think,” Trump answered. “Can I think? But look, I do believe in apologizing, if you’re wrong. But if you’re not wrong, I don’t believe in apologizing ... Yes, I mean — apologized — I apologized to my mother years ago for using foul language. I apologize to my wife for not being presidential on occasion. She’s always saying ‘Darling, be more presidential.’” The takeaway — no major messups that required an apology from Trump, he’s mostly right — well, about everything.
Jackie
Gingrich Cushman (c) 2016, Creators Syndicate
CRUZ WAS challenged by Shannon O’Connell, who asked, “My question is more personal in nature. What would you regard as your greatest personal failure and what did you learn from it?” Cruz answered, “What I will say is I’m a pretty driven guy. That has pros and cons. I have always been a very driven guy. I believe passionately in free-market principles and the Constitution ... And, you know, a lot of that, I think the reason that I’m so driven on this front has to do with my family background.” Ahh, the classic, college-interview response — my biggest fault is really a positive attribute — therefore I must not have any real faults, just pretend ones that make me a better candidate and hopefully a better president.
Kasich channeled Jimmy Stewart during his close when asked by Cooper, “You said that this campaign has caused you to slow down.” Kasich replied, “I think when people want to feel safe and for some reason they come to the town halls I have ... and for some reason people feel safe ... I want to ship a lot of programs back to the states, but here’s what I really want everybody to know I believe. The spirit of our country, Anderson, doesn’t rest in the president. I mean, the president’s important, but the spirit of our country rests in the neighborhoods. The Lord’s given us all a certain purpose in life, and we need to carry it out. We need to live a life bigger than ourselves... And, frankly, state government ought to be shifting more power to the neighborhoods. That’s the spirit of our country. The spirit of our country — don’t you think? Where we live? It’s in you. It’s in you. It’s in me, and him. It’s not in somebody, you know, down in Washington D.C. “You think? I mean, I hope so. I believe that.” While running for president, Kasich has learned to slow down, and become more articulate about what makes America great. The answer is not him, or not any person in Washington, but the people who live in the neighborhoods and help others out. Kasich understands it’s not about him.
narrowly beat Obama’s white vote in other important swing states — Ill. (51 percent), Colo. (52 percent), Mich.(53 percent), Ohio (54 percent) and Pa. (54 percent). Increasing the white vote in these states gives Trump any number of paths to victory. If Trump wins only the same states as Romney, but adds Mich, Pa., Ohio and Ill. — where Romney’s white vote was below his national average — Trump wins with 280 electoral votes. (Romney wasn’t an ideal candidate in the industrial Midwest.) Trump could lose any one of those states and make up for it by winning Minn. and Wis. — where Romney actually lost the white vote. Or he could lose two of those states but add victories in places outside the Rust Belt, where Romney’s white vote was also below average, such as Colo., Iowa, Maine and N.H. (In 1992, Ross Perot came in second in Maine, beating George Bush.) I haven’t even mentioned Florida, where Trump recently trounced Stuart Stevens’ dream candidate, Marco Rubio, a sitting senator — and a Cuban! — in a 20-point rout. Republican primary voters outnumbered Democratic primary voters in that election by more than half a million votes. If Trump wins Florida, he needs to win only two or three of the 10 states where Romney either lost the white vote outright or won a smaller percentage of it than he did nationally. Stevens’ analysis assumes that there will be no new voters — and, again, there isn’t a mammal on the North American landmass who knows less about winning presidential elections than Stuart Stevens. It’s as if we’re only allowed to divvy up the pile of voters from 2012. Unless you voted in 2012, you can’t vote in 2016! Use it or lose it, buddy. That’s not how it works. Trump is saying he’ll bring in lots of new people, as he has throughout the primaries. In the Florida GOP primary, for example, Trump got nearly half a million more votes than Romney did in 2012 — and about half a million new people voted. Trump may be wrong, but it’s insane to say that it’s impossible for him to bring out new voters. What’s impossible is for any Republican candidate, other than Trump, to win a single state Romney lost. Ted Cruz’s corny speaking style is creepy to anyone who doesn’t already agree with everything he says. He’s the less likable, more hard-edged version of Romney. Every other Republican is, one way or another, a less attractive version of Romney.
THE TOWN HALL left me thinking about the differences between the candidates. Trump believes in himself, Cruz MAYBE 50 years of Third World imbelieves his major flaw is being too driven and Kasich believes in the American migration means it’s too late, and even people. It will be interesting to see which Trump can’t win. But it’s an absolute certainty that any other Republican will lose. candidate wins out.