Trump ends standoff with Ryan, strains to fix split GOP
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally today in Green Bay, Wis.
GREEN BAY, Wis. » Donald Trump endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan late today, ending a four-day standoff between the GOP’s most powerful men that exposed deepening concerns about the New York billionaire’s presidential candidacy.
Ryan, like other top Wisconsin Republicans, did not attend Trump’s evening appearance in their state.
Having refused to endorse the speaker earlier in the week, Trump said, “We have to unite” as he vowed to support Ryan in next week’s primary contest.
It was a stunning reversal for Trump, a candidate who is known for his refusal to admit mistakes and whose general election campaign has been defined by his constant attacks on fellow Republicans.
Trump also threw his support behind Arizona Sen. John McCain and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, with whom he has sparred.
“We will have disagreements,” Trump said. “But we will disagree as friends and never stop working together toward victory.”
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Ryan reiterated his support for Trump hours before the endorsement, but the Wisconsin Republican noted his support wasn’t a “blank check” and pledged to speak out against the businessman’s divisive positions if necessary.
Party divisions were easy to find today in Wisconsin, a state that Trump’s team insists he can win in November.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker skipped the evening rally, preferring to attend all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner instead of appearing with his party’s standard bearer. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos offered a blunt message ahead of the presidential nominee’s arrival.
“Welcome to Wisconsin, Mr. Trump, but let’s get something straight,” Vos wrote in an open letter to his GOP colleagues. “We are Ryan Republicans here in Wisconsin, not Trump Republicans.”
The Midwest mayhem underscored Trump’s mounting challenges during one of the most tumultuous weeks of his unorthodox campaign. He has skipped from one misstep to the next, sparking a fresh wave of Republican defections among longtime party loyalists who refuse to support their presidential nominee — including some who even publicly support for Democrat Clinton.
Eager to change their minds, Trump unleashed a torrent of insults at Clinton.
“If Hillary Clinton becomes president,” he said at an earlier rally in Iowa, “you will have really, in my opinion, the destruction of this country from within.”
Trump called his Democratic opponent “a dangerous liar,” ”an unbalanced person,” ”pretty close to unhinged,” ”totally unfit to lead,” and lacking “the judgment, temperament and moral character to lead the country.”
In Wisconsin, Trump added, “She’s a monster.”
The charges came soon after Clinton addressed her own political vulnerabilities while facing a group of minority journalists in Washington.
The former secretary of state sought to “clarify and explain” a recent statement on “Fox News Sunday” that FBI Director James Comey said her answers to the bureau about her use of a private email server were “truthful.”
“I may have short circuited and for that I will try to clarify,” Clinton said, though still insisting she “never sent or received anything that was marked classified.”
She also acknowledged many people don’t trust her.
“It doesn’t make me feel good when people say those things, and I recognize that I have work to do,” Clinton said. She added, “I’m going to work my heart out in this campaign and as president to produce results for people.”
Yet Trump’s own gaffes have largely overshadowed Clinton’s problems as the Democrats work to recover from a bruising primary election season.
Complicating the Republican Party’s 2016 challenge are fresh signs the nation’s economy is strengthening under a Democratic president.
The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers added a healthy 255,000 jobs in July, a sign of confidence that could point to a resilient economy.
Trump’s approach to national security came under fire Friday as well, with former CIA Director Michael Morell contending the Republican nominee would make “a poor, even dangerous commander in chief.”
Morell, outlining his views in The New York Times, also questioned Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation,” wrote Morell.
Trump conceded Friday he was wrong to claim repeatedly in recent days that he saw a video of a U.S. cash payment going to Iran.
The New York billionaire has cited a $400 million payment the U.S. made to Iran this year, delivered on the same day that Iran released four American hostages. Trump charged on Thursday in vivid detail that the Iranian government released a video of the cash exchange to embarrass America.
“The plane I saw on television was the hostage plane in Geneva, Switzerland, not the plane carrying $400 million in cash going to Iran!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.
The White House has insisted the payment had nothing to do with the release of the hostages. Friday night, Trump called that explanation “a lie.”
In Iowa, he blamed the “dishonest” media for the fuss over an incident earlier in the week in which he asked a screaming baby to leave a rally.
“I don’t throw babies out,” Trump said. “I love babies.”
64 responses to “Trump ends standoff with Ryan, strains to fix split GOP”
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He can do anything he wants at this point. He’s done.
New polls out today show he’s getting 1% (not a typo) of the black vote. The racism, bigotry, personality disorders and lying have all taken a toll. His base is poorly educated white men, and there aren’t enough of them to elect him.
His loss cannot be humiliating or embarrassing enough for my taste.
no he is not done, he has flaws, but still a better candidate then Hillary who knows nothing about foreign policy and saving this country, trump is our only hope to bring back a proud America and save us from being a commie nation.
A “commie nation?”
I’m sorry that you’re not proud of America now. You need a new savior, since Mr. Trump is going to lose in a historic landslide.
Thanks for that scholarly analysis.
Wasn’t it Michelle (Mooch) Obama that said “I’m not proud of America” a while back?
sarge22 – No, it wasn’t. You’re lying again.
I heard her say it.
sarge22 – You’re lying. Just try to find the tape. You won’t be able to, because it didn’t happen and you made it up to support your manufactured case.
You are unable to be honest.
For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction. Michelle Obama
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/michelleob409144.html
sarge22 – Change the quote if you want after you’re called out on your dishonesty You share Mr. Trump’s honesty problem.
The meaning is still the same and a lot more truthful then any of HiLIARy’s lies. You support HiLIARy and talk about honesty. Total insanity.
America Rising
Hillary Clinton’s Top 10 Lies & Exaggerations
Secretary Clinton’s claim that she tried to join the Marines in the 1970s is coming under fresh scrutiny from the media. As Chris Cillizza highlighted yesterday “this isn’t the first time that Clinton might have been caught exaggerating the details of her past life.” Far from it. While her campaign tries to prevent the Marine recruitment story from joining the all-time ranks of Clinton’s lies and exaggerations, here’s a refresher on the top ten lies and exaggerations of Secretary Clinton’s career in politics.
Clinton Claim 1: During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Clinton claimed she landed in Bosnia “under sniper fire” during the 1990s.
The Facts: Videos uncovered of then-First Lady Clinton’s arrival in Bosnia showed “a calm scene without any obvious danger”.
Clinton Claim 2: In an interview, Clinton stated that she “came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt”.
The Facts: PolitiFact rated Hillary Clinton’s claim “Mostly False” that she was “dead broke” when she left the White House.
Clinton Claim 3: Secretary Clinton claimed her e-mail server set up was in “accordance with the rules and the regulations in effect.”
The Facts: Federal Judge: Hillary Clinton “violated government policy” when she used a private server to store official State Department messages.
Clinton Claim 4: When talking about immigrant stories, Clinton asserted that “all my grandparents… came over here.”
The Facts: PolitiFact says it’s “very clear” that Clinton’s claim is “False.” In truth, only one of Clinton’s grandparents immigrated to America.
Clinton Claim 5: Secretary Clinton emphasized the famous Situation Room Bin Laden photo captured her reacting to the helicopter crash.
The Facts: In actuality, Secretary Clinton said “early spring allergic coughs”, not the helicopter crash, are responsible for her reaction in the photo.
Clinton Claim 6: Passing DOMA was a “defensive action” to prevent further action against same-sex marriage.
The Facts: Independent observers say that “any fair historical analysis” shows DOMA to be “a campaign tactic” by the Clintons.
Clinton Claim 7: Hillary Clinton claims concern over the cost of college is the impetus for her college affordability plan.
The Facts: While Secretary Clinton claims she has a plan to lower college costs, her family has “received millions” from universities across the country.
Clinton Claim 8: Hillary Clinton’s campaign has said they will go carbon neutral.
The Facts: Months after that pledge there have been no records that show Clinton moving to live up to this pledge, all the while she continues to fly around in private jets.
Clinton Claim 9: In an interview, Hillary Clinton declared that the Veterans Affairs scandals are not “as widespread as it’s been made out to be”.
The Facts: Clinton’s campaign was forced to immediately walk back the statement.
Clinton Claim 10: In response to questions about her tenure at State, Hillary Clinton claimed that there was “a long list” of her accomplishments.
The Facts: Given multiple chances, Secretary Clinton has been unable to name a “marquee” or “proudest” achievement from her four years as Secretary of State. Finally giving her something in common with Iowa voters.
With you 64hoo….TRUMP/PENCE 2016 “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN”!
Commie Nation? lol, Hillary is hardly a communist. But go ahead and vote for someone who has zero political experience, is ignorant, and flip flops all over the place.
A proven corrupt, incompetent liar is better due to her “political experience”. Hard to follow that.
64hoo tell me exactly how will Trump win when he has nary a vote from Blacks, Hispanics and Women with college degrees??
D1 my foot. More like 1Y.
“Now I have acknowledged repeatedly that using two email accounts was a mistake. And I take responsibility for that,” Clinton said. “But I do think, you know, having him say that my answers to the FBI were truthful and then I should quickly add, what I said was consistent with what I had said publicly and that’s really sort of in my view trying to tie both ends together.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/05/hillary-clinton-i-short-circuited-with-my-email-answers-video/#ixzz4GWFfgvGn
Lies, lies and more lies.
“And I have said during the interview and many other occasions over the past months, that what I told the FBI, which he said was truthful, is consistent with what I have said publicly. So I may have short-circuited it and for that, I, you know, will try to clarify because I think, you know, Chris Wallace and I were probably talking past each other because of course, he could only talk to what I had told the FBI and I appreciated that.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/05/hillary-clinton-i-short-circuited-with-my-email-answers-video/#ixzz4GWGRzhXt
Whaaaat?
“Well, Kristin, I appreciate you’re asking that because I was pointing out in both of those instances, that the Director Comey had said that my answers in my FBI interview were truthful,” Clinton said. “That’s really the bottom line here.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/05/hillary-clinton-i-short-circuited-with-my-email-answers-video/#ixzz4GWGoV4yI
Lies, lies and more lies. If she makes it to the White House we are in deep rotten Kim chee.
If you contribute to PBS you are contributing to the Clinton Campaign. Just sayin.
IRT Klastri, 1% of the Black vote support Mr. Trump, yet Mr. Trump is elected the President of the United States. True justice. Will the Black’s accept being Americans? As the Blacks in my Platoon fought together with me as American.
You are in diluted world not based on contemporary facts….are you deranged?? Everything says the opposite of what you are saying…..
IRT Ike, based on your post, you have nothing to comment or worry about. Ms Hillary has been elected the President of the United States.
“Will the Black’s (sic)accept being Americans?”
What, exactly, is wrong with you? Aren’t you ashamed and embarrassed posting things like this in a public forum?
Mr. Trump is an overt racist. People who have been victims of racism can see that very quickly in a person. He will never be elected President. Never.
Health-Care Gate: In 1997, federal judge Royce Lamberth levied $286,000 in sanctions against Bill Clinton’s administration for “running amok” in a “cover-up” of Hillary Clinton’s health-care task force. The scandal began when deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster made contradictory assertions about the first lady’s job status, in an attempt to keep the work of the task force secret. Foster later committed suicide, and a Secret Service agent saw Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff, Margaret Williams, carry boxes of papers out of Foster’s office before investigators showed up to seal it.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/354621/get-ready-all-hail-hillary-movies-john-fund
You’re not a teensy bit embarrassed at rooting for placing a disbarred rapist back in the White house? Not by Clinton’s perpetual parade of blatant lies? Not by her record of failure as Sec. State? Not by the Clinton Foundation corruption? Not embarrassed just a very little microscopic bit??? If the answer is no, then, sir or madam, you have no shame.
It was hilarious, and a bit gross, seeing Trump speak off his cue cards today. Looks like a real dork, afraid he’ll lose in a landslide and no hot former models will want to marry him.
Does anyone actually believe he’ll “Make America Great Again?” More like Make America Laugh Again!
1,000,000 apes, Clinton was doing the same thing in the press conference. She was sweating so bad she looked like she was 80 going on 90. They had to bring in a shovel to clean up the mess.
HiLIARy sure looks wrinkled today. The lies are putting serious pressure on her. Hope the meds don’t do her in. Trump has only just begun.
Sarge, these Clintonites were awful proud of themselves. This is going to be interesting. I’m with you all the way.
Apes and monkeys are not the same thing.
You really need to read more.
Klastri, back from Paris already? That was a fast trip. You must have been with Pierre?
Hey, listen, 90 days is a long time. A couple more press conferences and Shillary Hillary will be well done. It was pretty sad. As soon as the email issue came up she started reading her prepared comments. It wasn’t very convincing at all. Even the black panthers were saying “yo mama what was that?” Her speech writers need to come with something because this will come up every time there is a press conference. I can’t wait for the debates.
Check out Tim Kaine and the Mayor of Fairfax. Bosom buddies.
It’s not over until the fat lady sings.
Klastri, not after today. The BLM said “yo momma yo is one lieing soda wafer. I’m voting for the white boy. How kin she lie like that”.
This election was an easy choice….”would you bring home the likes of a Lying Crooked Pinocchio hiLIARy to meet your Mother?”
Sure would rather bring Hillary home than the Donald. Talk about Lying, no one can beat the Donald.
Filegate: The confidential FBI files of up to 900 former Reagan and Bush appointees were sent over to White House security chief Craig Livingstone. Deputy White House counsel William Kennedy, a close friend of Hillary Clinton’s from their days at the Rose Law Firm, would frequently call up the FBI and have someone’s files sent over on his say-so. Then–FBI director Louis Freeh called it “an egregious violation of privacy.”
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/354621/get-ready-all-hail-hillary-movies-john-fund
The Donald doesn’t American Blood on his hands.
American blood on his hands? That’s ridiculous and ludicrous, and you know it! If not, you have been drinking way too much Kool-Aid.
The Donald is so irrational, so out of touch with reality, that it doesn’t even count as lying. I believe some knowledgeable people believe he has some type of psychosis. What kind of person would support a psychotic for president?
He was great today in Green Bay. While Crooked Hillary was dripping mascara, the Donald addressed thousands of supporters.
Dripping mascara? You and sarge seem to have a contest about which one of you hates women more.
You are definitely a Trump supporter.
Too little, too late. And he’ll say something really stoopid next week. And the week after. And….
So he finally decided to support Ryan and McCain . Guess party members finally got to him.
Guess the sinking poll numbers got him in a panic.
That’s why he’ll be the next POTUS.
Les, in all honesty, if you want to support someone like Trump? It’s a boorish, bigoted, racist, and you know it. He’s unfit to be president.
boorish, bigoted, racist Is that the best you can do? I guess he’s not that bad after all. In all honesty do you think lying crooked HiLIARy is honest? “Make America Great Again”
Mayor Silverthorne and Senator Kaine
By City of Fairfax Government · January 24, 2014 · · Taken in Fairfax, Virginia
Mayor Scott Silverthorne and Senator Tim Kaine in City Hall
Buddies?
Birds of a feather flock together.
Trump has so few Electoral College paths—i.e., he’s losing the election—because he is an unqualified, ungrounded, and omnidirectionally offensive presidential candidate. If you look at the narrowing of his map and the still-scant post-convention state polls, you can see early signs of how and to whom that’s playing out. The arguments about how Trump could reshape the map have always centered on him rallying to his side white working-class voters, especially men, in overwhelming numbers. That’s not happening. What he is doing, though, is turning off college-educated suburbanites. And that’s why the narrow map you see is what it is.
Consider Pennsylvania, which, according to legend, is always decided in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Well, about that: As MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki noted on Thursday, Obama won the southeast counties of Pennsylvania by 9 percentage points in 2012, and he won the state itself by about 5 percentage points. The latest Franklin & Marshall poll of the state released Thursday showed Clinton up 11 points on Trump in a two-way race and 13 in a four-way race. She was leading in the southeast counties by 40 points, 60 to 20.
Obama won Allegheny County—i.e., the Pittsburgh metropolitan area in Western Pennsylvania—by 14 percentage points in 2012. Thursday’s poll had Clinton up by 19. It’s not because Clinton’s support had jumped, either; it was actually, at 52 percent, 4 percentage points lower than Obama’s 56 percent. But while Romney earned 42 percent in Allegheny in 2012, Trump was sitting at 33 percent. That means you’ve got Republican-leaners in the Pittsburgh area not sold on Trump.
It’s not just the college-educated, suburban swing voters in Pennsylvania who decide these elections anymore. It’s the folks in growing metropolitan regions around Denver; Northern Virginia; Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Atlanta. These are people with whom Republicans at the very least need to improve on from the Obama years instead of scaring them away even further. We’re talking 45-year-old suburban married women who are ready to vote against a third consecutive Democratic presidential term but can’t bring themselves to do it, because the Republican candidate thinks it would be sorta cool to play with nuclear weapons and watch them go BOOM.
Trump thinks he can stake his claim on the more demographically consistent states with higher numbers of voters without college degrees—Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire—but you don’t need to be a yuppie to also fear a nuclear winter. And if your hatred of Hillary Clinton surpasses whatever global apocalyptic fears Trump has reintroduced to the day-to-day political discussion, bless him, then you were probably already a Republican. There weren’t enough of them for Romney in 2012, and there look to be fewer for Trump in 2016.
Inkfromeli, you did not write this article. It’s on the Internet. Take it easy.
I never said I wrote it….it’s obvious it’s an excerpt of a longer article–just like this one.
One GOP operative close to Trump compared his campaign to that of Carl Paladino, the Buffalo businessman who won the 2010 Republican nomination for governor in New York thanks to his outsider, anti-establishment, “politically incorrect” appeal, but then got clobbered in the general election. Paladino is now Trump’s New York State chairman.
“Same candidate model,” the operative said. “Will Trump meet his New York state director’s 2010 fate and be crushed at the polls because of all the stupid comments? Carl talked himself into total defeat.”
Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University in Houston, said he cannot remember as big a collapse since then-Kansas Sen. Bob Dole’s post-convention decline in the 1996 campaign. Brinkley expects Trump’s polling numbers will recover to some extent. But he added that polling is not Trump’s biggest problem.
“The big story in August is the defection of the Republican establishment from Trump. You are creating Hillary Clinton Republicans,” Brinkley said. “It’s going to be hard for Trump to win with that brain drain. … It would have to be a complete collapse of the Hillary Clinton campaign for him to win.”
Anita Dunn, a longtime Democratic operative, said there was “no parallel” for Trump’s candidacy in terms of his temperament, approach to politics and propensity for self-immolation. “Nothing in any of our lifetimes.” But she did suggest that the closest comparison to the free-fall being witnessed right now was 1972, when George McGovern chose Tom Eagleton as his running mate and then had to withdraw the pick after it was revealed that Eagleton had been previously hospitalized for severe depression.
In that moment, McGovern’s candidacy seemed to fall apart under the assumption that he couldn’t get his own presidential ticket in order. But veterans of that campaign ― and others ― say it is not in the same vicinity as what’s happening in this cycle.
“If there is [a parallel], it escapes me,” said former Sen. Gary Hart, who managed McGovern’s campaign. “In terms of consequences both incidents may turn out to be the same, that is a reason for undecideds to decide. Without revisiting all the details of the Eagleton experience, Senator McGovern selected a trusted Senate colleague who was invited to reveal any personal matter that might be used against him, and he had won two statewide races without his medical condition being revealed. Today, I suspect it would be treated by the press and public much differently. Donald Trump has persisted in exhibiting demeaning, belligerent, nasty behavior that is also causing undecided voters to decide.”
You’re right about his electoral college path. There isn’t one. He’s done.
Thankfully.
Liar. Unbalanced. Unhinged. Isn’t that calling the kettle black?! Trump is a joke. And the only reason he’s supporting Ryan, McCain, ET al, is because he’s far behind Clinton in the polls and needs their help. Loser.
You got to do what you got to do. Crooked Hillary can’t improve. She’s between a rock and a hard place. Too much taint. Trump on the other hand just has to stay on the issues and keep on hammering. Something’s got to give.
Oh I see now. Pretty smart move by Donald. Who was the wrinkled old lady in the pant suit lying again on TV. I don’t think it was Martha Stewart who went to jail for lying.
I really hope that you don’t have a wife or daughters. Of all the people on here, you most often express your hatred of woman.
Have you been in prison?
You aren’t listening as usual you are lying again. We are specifically talking about one woman, the wife of a rapist, Mrs Bill Clinton. Why is she not in jail as was Martha? Both lied…Lest we forget—Benghazi – Clearly the most reprehensible lie of them all – Clinton failed to tell the truth about a terrorist attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi. She claimed for weeks, standing over the flag-draped coffins of murdered Americans, that an insensitive YouTube video had incited the violence that occurred that night. Why? Because a terrorist attack on the anniversary of 9/11 – which it was – would have destroyed President Obama’s re-election chances. But hey, at the end of the day it’s worth it to Clinton to tell a politically expedient lie, so long as her party can stay in power.
sarge22 – Just like Mr. Trump, you always think of something lame and unbelievable to explain away your behavior.
And you obviously don’t have the discipline to have read the Gowdy report.
Just one woman. Of course.
Klastri, you are right.
This “sarge” guy is probably a rapist himself; and he hates his own mother.
Here you go. Now read it and weep….Lock her up…Here’s a full transcript of the exchange:
Gowdy: Good morning, Director Comey. Secretary Clinton said she never sent or received any classified information over her private e-mail, was that true?
Comey: Our investigation found that there was classified information sent.
Gowdy: It was not true?
Comey: That’s what I said.
Gowdy: OK. Well, I’m looking for a shorter answer so you and I are not here quite as long. Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her e-mails sent or received. Was that true?
Comey: That’s not true. There were a small number of portion markings on I think three of the documents.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton said “I did not e-mail any classified information to anyone on my e-mail there was no classified material.” That is true?
Comey: There was classified information emailed.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton used one device, was that true?
Comey: She used multiple devices during the four years of her term as Secretary of State.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton said all work related emails were returned to the State Department. Was that true?
Comey: No. We found work related email, thousands, that were not returned.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton said neither she or anyone else deleted work related emails from her personal account.
Comey: That’s a harder one to answer. We found traces of work related emails in — on devices or in space. Whether they were deleted or when a server was changed out something happened to them, there’s no doubt that the work related emails that were removed electronically from the email system.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton said her lawyers read every one of the emails and were overly inclusive. Did her lawyers read the email content individually?
Comey: No.
Gowdy: Well, in the interest of time and because I have a plane to catch tomorrow afternoon, I’m not going to go through any more of the false statements but I am going to ask you to put on your old hat. Faults exculpatory statements are used for what?
Comey: Well, either for a substantive prosecution or evidence of intent in a criminal prosecution.
Gowdy: Exactly. Intent and consciousness of guilt, right?
Comey: That is right?
What nobody could predict, though, is the way that Trump would spin so spectacularly out of control, exacerbating the expected poll results and prompting the most epic media pile-on of his campaign. Including a social media pile-on (see our Wednesday post, “Donald Trump Has Become Twitter’s New Favorite Chew Toy”), in which every bit of bad (sad!) news about Mr. Trump gets seized upon, gleefully amplied and turned into a meme.
Major GOP fundraiser Meg Whitman’s Monday condemnation of Trump and endorsement of Clinton was bad enough (see: “#DumpTrump Roars Back to Life”). But this morning The New York Times is out with an op-ed by Michael J. Morell headlined “I Ran the C.I.A. Now I’m Endorsing Hillary Clinton.” Mr. Morell notes that he’s served presidents of both parties (three Republicans and three Democrats) during his 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, and is neither a registered Democrat nor Republican. He says good things about Hillary Clinton, but when he gets to Donald, he goes ballistic:
Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security. … [T]he character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief.
These traits include his obvious need for self-aggrandizement, his overreaction to perceived slights, his tendency to make decisions based on intuition, his refusal to change his views based on new information, his routine carelessness with the facts, his unwillingness to listen to others and his lack of respect for the rule of law. The dangers that flow from Mr. Trump’s character are not just risks that would emerge if he became president. It is already damaging our national security.
There’s also a passage about how Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims “clearly contradicts the foundational values of our nation [and] plays into the hands of the jihadist narrative that our fight against terrorism is a war between religions.” And, most extraordinarily, a deconstruction of how Russian President Vladimir Putin has been playing Trump that ends with this line: “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”
It’s worth noting that upon publication Mr. Morell’s op-ed quickly became the top trending story on nytimes.com and that two other Trump-related stories hold the No. 2 and No. 3 positions as of Friday morning: “Trump, the Bad, Bad Businessman” and “Trump’s Enablers Will Finally Have to Take a Stand.”
Meanwhile, Politico’s Steven Shepard is out with a story this morning titled “Insiders to Trump: Drop out” that begins,
Amid widespread chatter that Donald Trump could drop out of the presidential race before Election Day, Republican insiders in key battleground states have a message for The Donald: Get out. That’s according to The POLITICO Caucus — a panel of activists, strategists and operatives in 11 swing states. The majority of GOP insiders, 70 percent, said they want Trump to drop out of the race and be replaced by another Republican candidate — with many citing Trump’s drag on Republicans in down-ballot races.
So telling, 70%, yes seventy percent, and not Ds,,not independents, not pundits, but rather Republicans, yes Republicans, want him to drop out. So, very laughable it’ was not so pitiful to vast majority of the R party.
‘Clinton Cash’ author demolishes Hillary’s self-defenseGrave incompetence or brazen dishonesty?
Those are the only two conclusions one can reasonably come to after reviewing Hillary Clinton’s stunning Sunday interview on local New Hampshire TV.
When WMUR local TV host Josh McElveen asked Clinton why her State Department greenlit the transfer of 20 percent of all US uranium to the Russian government, Clinton claimed she had no involvement in her own State Department’s decision to approve the sale of Uranium One to Russia.
“I was not personally involved because that wasn’t something the secretary of state did,” said Clinton.
The transfer of 20 percent of US uranium — the stuff used to build nuclear weapons — to Vladimir Putin did not rise to the level of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s time and attention?
Beyond being an admission of extreme executive negligence on an issue of utmost national security, Hillary’s statement strains credulity to the breaking point for at least three other reasons.
First, nine investors who profited from the uranium deal collectively donated $145 million to Hillary’s family foundation, including Clinton Foundation mega-donor and Canadian mining billionaire Frank Giustra, who pledged $100 million.
Since 2005, Giustra and Bill Clinton have frequently globetrotted together, and there’s even a Clinton Foundation initiative named the Clinton-Giustra initiative.
But Hillary expects Americans to believe she had no knowledge that a man who made a nine-figure donation to her foundation was deeply involved in the deal? Nor eight other mining executives, all of whom also donated to her foundation?