Tag Archives: Ted Cruz

Is Donald Trump Right About Election Fraud?

Donald Trump has been pounding on the podium recently contending that there is ‘election fraud’ during this upcoming election.  Is he right?

I believe that there could be election fraud, but not for the same reasons as Trump.  Are you familiar with the Voter ID Laws?  A voter ID law is a law that requires some form of official identification in order for a person to register to vote, receive a ballot for an election, or to vote.

In the United States, voter ID laws have been passed in thirty-three states.  At the federal level, the 2002 Help America Vote Act requires a voter ID for all new voters in federal elections who registered by mail and who did not provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number that was matched against government records.

Voter ID laws first generated controversy in 1999 when Virginia attempted to implement an ID requirement in a pilot program.  Proponents argue that the laws are a common-sense effort to reduce voter fraud and place little burden on voters.  Opponents argue that voter fraud is extremely rare and has been magnified as an issue to create barriers to voter registration and voting that discriminates against minority groups and others who are statistically less likely to possess photo IDs.

So here are the ways that the states have dealt with voter ID requirements.  Seven states require strict photo ID in order to vote.  Three states have a strict non-photo ID requirement.  Nine states have a non-strict photo ID requirement, which includes my state.  I find this interesting as my home state would not issue us a ballot without a picture ID, so I am confused as to what non-strict photo ID requirement actually means.  It’s not the first time I have been confused.  I digress. Thirteen states have a non-strict non-photo ID requirement.  Appallingly, there are eighteen states and the District of Columbia that do not require any ID to vote at the ballot box.

By now, you realize that the voter ID requirements are certainly diverse and nondescript. If I could provide simple definitions for those five levels of voting requirements, I would.  But here is where I become concerned.  I view my vote as being precious as it is a part of the great democratic process by which we elect our political representatives.  Nowhere in any of these laws does it require proof of citizenship.  There are many states that will issue photo IDs without requiring proof of citizenship.  Thus, with the photo ID, an illegal alien is now voting in our elections.  With the number of illegal aliens now in the United States, there is little doubt that they will influence this election.

I have needed a photo ID to board a plane, to board a cruise ship, to renew my car insurance, to use a credit card, to write a check, to buy Sudafed, to see a doctor, to check in to a clinic or hospital and to vote.; to name a few.     How is this discriminatory as people of all races and backgrounds do at least two or three of what I have listed.  Provide a birth certificate and get a photo ID.  How difficult is that?  Yet, I have seen people vote by presenting an electric bill with an address that is located in the polling place precinct.  No ID was required as to whether the voter was the name on the electric bill.  How many times could that electric bill be used to vote?  How many times can dead people continue to vote?  No, I am not making this up.

Minnesota has had two election recounts in recent years.  In both instances, the Republican candidates where leading by small margins.  After the recount, both candidates lost.  In both cases, uncounted ballots were suddenly located in the heart of the liberal metropolitan area.  Surprisingly, just enough Democrat votes were found.  Voter fraud?  Ballot box stuffing?

Also in Minnesota, a young reporter went into a courthouse in a Minneapolis suburb with a hidden mini-camera.  He went into the courthouse with the following story, “I work in a nursing home, and I am concerned that some of our patients will have difficulty getting to the polling places.”  The result? The clerk handed him 25 absentee ballots without question, without proof.  What happened next? He was able to do it again with the same results at another courthouse!  Voter fraud?   That little item appeared on 60 Minutes.

It astounds me that we now have chips on our credit cards to avoid theft, but far less care is taken to protect the sanctity of our elections. If this is what Trump is referring to when he speaks of election fraud, then I certainly can concur.

Or, is Trump referring to the biased media reporting?  During the last debate, he came under fire for what he said about women in a tape from 2005.  His type of talk was referred to as ‘locker room talk.’ I have referred to it as ‘gutter talk.’  (By the way, this kind of talk would eliminate 90% of the men I have known in my life from being president, as well as an equal amount of women!)   Either way, the screaming liberals came out of the woodwork to express their disdain for such talk.  Republican politicians began jumping ship from his support. Donald scored some points during the debate by saying that talking about women was one thing, but abusing them in action was another.  Of course, this was a not so veiled reference to Bill Clinton. That pretty much rocked Hillary for the rest of the debate.   An then….and then….just as Grandma P predicted  (which I found very uncanny and somewhat frightening) women could not come forth fast enough to tell their stories of how Donald Trump groped them and made sexual advances upon them.  This was no doubt to bring Donald down to the level of Bill (he would have to practice to match Bill!) and to detract from those damn pesky deleted emails that Wikileaks keeps publishing.  As I am writing this, more of these accusation stories have proven to be fictitious.

Those deleted emails are getting more interesting by the day.  They have indicated that there is collusion between the Clinton campaign and the media.  There is plenty of evidence of what was done to erase those damaging emails.  There are references about influence peddling as Secretary of State coupled with  contributions to the Clinton Foundation.  There is now evidence that they attempted to pressure the FBI to declassify some of the emails, so the campaign can say that no classified emails were sent on a non-secure computer.  It appears Hillary received the questions concerning the debates before the debates.  Bill Clinton received a million dollar birthday gift from the country of Qatar, while at the same time, the State Department was indicating that Qatar was sponsoring terrorism!   I am waiting for the shoe to drop on Benghazi and the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation being the personal piggy bank of the Clinton family and no doubt funding a huge portion of her election campaign with foreign contributors.  Of course, this is illegal, but that has not stopped the Clinton money machine yet.

But with all of this information about the missing emails….with all the serious illegal, immoral and indecent items that are being released in these emails….the mainstream media has devoted seven times more TV air time to Trump’s female accusers than they have on the deleted emails.  In fact, some of the major TV networks are not reporting about the released emails at all!

The timing of these women accusing Trump could not be more suspicious.  If they were so concerned about how he treated women, why did they not come forth during the primaries.  Certainly these maidens of virtue would have been Ted Cruz supporters and would have wanted to do the proper Christian thing.  But noooooooo, after winning some points against Bill during the last debate, that is the response that Trump received.  I am not saying Trump is an angel, but the timing and the number of these accusations appears to be coordinated.

It is obvious to me that these ranting self-righteous Liberals are not students of history.  The Democratic party has had more than their fair share of presidential and political bad boys   When Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia; he was not with Eleanor, his wife.  He was with his mistress of decades, Lucy Mercer.  We all know that JFK was a presidential bad boy.  So were his brothers Teddy and Bobby.  Then we go to LBJ.  Another presidential bad boy who had mistresses in the White House.  Then there is Bill Clinton.  “I did not have relations with that woman.” Well, he did have relations with that woman and lied numerous times about it.  “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones!”

If Jesus Christ would appear on earth and run for president as a Republican, I am convinced the liberal, biased media would tear him apart.

This is the sleaziest election of my lifetime.  The personal attacks have no boundaries or limitations. I fear it will only sink further before election day.   It is very disheartening to see the media, our watch dogs of society and of truth, fall lockstep into this biased reporting and smear campaign.  Forget the issues, don’t report the relevance of those missing emails….smear, smear, smear!

Does Donald Trump have justification for saying the election campaign is rigged?  If you take into consideration the biased media, fictitious accusations, voters voting without an ID, voters voting who may not be US citizens, well, how could you disagree.

God Help America.  God Bless America.

Psychpathic tendencies. Who would have thunk???

Just about the time it appears that there is nothing to write about, (the Democratic National Convention is just too big a target) someone posts something that is just too juicy to overlook.  So, as I am taking a break from politics, I am going to write about the seven occupations that contain the most people that exhibit psychopathic tendencies.

Before going any further, it needs to be determined as to what psychopathic tendencies really entail, as it is estimated that 5% of the American population displays these traits.  According to my research, a typical person displaying psychopathic tendencies has a lack of empathy, lack of guilt, stress tolerance, manipulative behavior, egocentricity, impulsivity, but usually possesses plenty of charm.  Do not get this confused with psychotic traits.  The synonyms for psychotic behavior are insanity, madness, derangement, demented behavior and craziness.  There is a difference.  The total loonies come from the psychotic side of the fence, without any redeeming qualities.  Remember, we are talking psychopathic tendencies (sharing some of the traits), not someone clinically determined to be totally psychopathic.

So, beginning with number seven working our way to number one in the occupations displaying the most people with psychopathic tendencies.  Here we go!

7.  Police

When I first saw this list, I would have estimated that the police would have been rated a little higher. But it does make perfect sense that they are at number seven, because the police see the worst that our society provides every day.    They see the gruesome traffic accidents.  They see the grisly crime scenes.  They answer the calls for domestic violence.  Every day they make decisions that have to be fair and, more importantly, impartial.  In retrospect, they need some psychopathic traits in order to be good policemen.  It takes a person with lack of empathy to give a speeding ticket to mom or nana.  I am sure that scenario has been played out, usually resulting in a chilly reception at nana’s Thanksgiving dinner.

6.  Journalists

Who would have guessed this?    Here is a simple question:  Do you trust journalism in its present state?  If you said yes, you would be in the clear minority as over 70% do not trust any of the media. Could it be because of a lack of guilt widespread in the newsprint establishment?

With the national elections taking place this year, I am amazed as to how each presidential candidate is being skewered by biased journalism.  Journalism that does not seem to care about reporting anything that approaches the truth.  There have been many times when what was reported about a speech, liberally sprinkled with biased reporting, was nowhere near what was actually said during that speech.  In retrospect, it appears journalists should have been rated higher.

5.  Surgeons

Unfortunately, I have had way too much exposure to surgeons and surgery.  Happily, all of my surgeons had a very welcome business-like attitude, and instilled confidence in me before all of my surgeries.  Some decades ago, I had a very serious surgery.  I was in my late 30s, and the surgeon was younger than me.  Before the surgery, he came to my room with his surgical nurse and said, “I have looked at your x-rays, and when I get done with your surgery you are going to be my masterpiece.”  About an hour later, the nurse returned and wanted to apologize for the surgeon.  I asked why.  She said, “Because Dr. A. can be very much wrapped up in himself.”  My response?  “Maam, I feel very much more relaxed concerning this surgery because of Dr. A.’s confidence.  Did you think I wanted to hear that my surgery was extremely challenging and could be hit or miss because he wasn’t sure he could do it?”

Before this surgery, I was paralyzed from the neck down.  I did become Dr. A.’s masterpiece and have lived a full life ever since.  I am personally happy that he had psychopathic tendencies.  After all, nurses are the antithesis of surgeons and they will give you all the empathy you want.  The yin and the yang of the medical profession.

4.  Salesperson.

Much like the police, a really good salesperson needs some of the psychopathic traits.  After all, many salesmen are on some kind of commission/bonus structure that does place them in the position of having to ‘eat what you kill.’  If they don’t sell, they don’t eat.

Many salespeople provide very good service or provide information.  When I was in business, I looked forward to visits from salespeople as they would inform/educate me about new products or services.  Many of these products/services would improve my business, thereby increasing my profitability.

3.  Media (TV/Radio)

Who would have thought that different aspects of the media would take two of the top seven occupations displaying psychopathic tendencies?  What a ringing endorsement for the fact that people just do not trust the media, regardless of what type of media.

There are no shortage of political ads on the TV.  Does anyone believe that each and every one of these ads, especially the ads attacking a competitor are ever scrutinized for accuracy?  Of course not.  But yet, many believe everything they see on the TV or hear on the radio, regardless of the facts.

Unfortunately, there are no consequences for deliberately biasing reporting for political gain, or in some cases, just plain lying about what is being reported for political gain.  If there were prisons for media and journalistic liars, we would have to fence in Texas just to keep all of them incarcerated!  (We could use part of the wall between the US and Mexico to save money!)

It never was like this decades ago.  The media took pride in accurate reporting and the public had a much higher degree of acceptance.  An inaccurate report was always scrutinized.  Now, inaccurate/biased reporting is so widespread that the public has become complacent to the point of it becoming acceptable.

2.  Lawyer

Lack of empathy.   Lack of guilt.  Does any of this sound like any attorney you may know?  I know accused people are entitled to legal representation, but I have often wondered how someone could defend a murderer that they know is definitely, without question, guilty.  I know that my personality composition would not allow me to do that with a clear conscience.  “Your honor, I know my client is guilty as hell, and I recommend that he be fried in an electric chair connected to a nuclear reactor.”   Having said that, I would not make a good public defender.

But just like the TV commercial, “But wait, there’s more!”  The majority of our federal representatives are attorneys, far outweighing any other occupation.   I believe about 43%, if memory serves me correctly.  Why is that?  Maybe they were terrible attorneys and chose another avenue to fame, power and wealth.  (egocentricity?  lack of guilt?)  But as we are well aware, they all rather possess that desirable trait of having plenty of charm.  About half of the people that graduate from law school end up in a profession other than law.  Each year, law schools graduate double the number of lawyers than what is needed in the US.  Parents may want to remember this before sending your student to an expensive law school.  Drum roll please!

1.  Corporate Executive Officers (CEO)

Here again, to be a CEO for a large corporation, a few psychopathic traits would be helpful.  Do we expand or contract?  Where do we target for market penetration?  Where do we build our next facility?  Who stays, and who goes?  Many, many decisions that most people are not aware of and will never experience.   Being a CEO is not for the weak or timid.  I owned my own small company so in effect I was a CEO.  I was placed in some very uncomfortable positions where I needed to make a decision, even though I really did not want to.  I had to do what was right for the company, what was right for my employees/subcontractors and suppliers, what was best for my clients, and finally, what was right for me.

Unless you have been in business, you will never experience many of the things that business owners experience.  There were times when I paid the employees at the expense of me not getting a check for months.  I had to lay off or fire people I liked personally.  Many of  these people were great employees, but we ran out of work.   I had to fire a person that was stealing from the company.  By nature, I do not possess a lack of empathy, but I was put in a position where I had no choice.

There you have it.  Something other than politics and hopefully informative and entertaining.  But really, as you were reading this did any names come to mind about having psychopathic tendencies or traits?  I know I did.  The first name for me?  Ted Cruz.  The second name for me?  Hillary Clinton. Others?  Marco Rubio and Donald Trump.  But I want to point out one item…it is not necessarily a bad thing to have these traits.  Many of these professions are much more efficient and effective if they possess some of these traits, just not all of them.  It is only those who wrap these traits around personal gain, conceit, and selfishness that truly transforms psychopathic behavior into a true psychopath.

Oh.  The seven occupations displaying the least amount of psychopathic tendencies?  From one to seven: care aide, nurse, therapist, craftperson, beautician/stylist, charity worker and teacher.

 

Republican National Convention. Cleveland Rocks!

The Republican National Convention was recently completed.  It ran from 18 – 21 July and took place in Cleveland, Ohio; formerly known as the ‘mistake by the lake.’  There were many interesting facets to this convention.  Some good.  Some not so good.  One of my big concerns is that Grandma P has become a political junkie.  She watched more speeches during this convention than she has watched totally in the first almost 30 years of our marriage.    She maybe missed 90 minutes of the convention.  Should I be concerned?

Anyway, it is always more interesting to talk about the negative facets first, so here we go!

NEGATIVES

Do you realize how much money a convention brings into the hosting city?  It is in the tens of millions of dollars and the competition to be the host city is only exceeded by a city wanting to host the Olympics or a Super Bowl.  So, with the convention being in Ohio, where was the governor of Ohio, John Kasich?  Oh, I remember, he was one of the many participants in the Republican debates that swore they would support the eventual Republican candidate.  So much for your word, Mr. Boob.  You did not even have the decency to appear and welcome the delegates to your state.  You are only the first of many people that went contrary to ‘your  pledge of support.’

Ted Cruz.  What more can be said about a sore loser whose ego is barely eclipsed by the size of the state he represents.  That would be Texas.  Rather than show anything that approached denoting party unity, the wienie took his opportunity to extol his virtues, without endorsing Trump.  He was rightfully booed off the stage.  The next morning, he was speaking to the Texas delegation and was asked very pointed questions as to why he did not endorse Trump, the Republican candidate, as he had pledged.    Again, it was back to his principles and he was a master at ‘politcal speak’ in that his answers chewed all around the cookie without having to take a bite.  It was obvious it was all about him.  Never mind what is good for the country or what the electorate wants.   My respect for wienie Cruz has declined into negative numbers. (Is his ego so large as to run as a third party candidate just to defeat Trump and hand the victory to Clinton?)  Ted is lucky he has two more years to his term as senator, or he probably would have lost an election this fall.

Jeb Bush.  Another of those people that pledged support to the Republican candidate that just could not find the time or effort to attend the convention or even make a statement about party unity.  Quite honestly, he was not missed.  Jeb always seemed to be out of touch with what was important to the electorate, anyway.

The two people I am rather disappointed with are George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.  As the two former Republican presidents, they could have at least made some statements via video to support the party principles and bury the hatchet about the divided party by at least wishing Trump well in his upcoming campaign.  I like and respect both of those gentlemen, and it would have been my hope that they would have risen above the butt kicking their brother/son took during the primaries and shown some interest in the political party that got them both elected.  I do not remember any former presidents shunning the following party conventions such as the Bush’s have done.

After Trump’s speech on Thursday evening, Texas billionaire Mark Cuban went into warp drive tweeting his dislike for Donald Trump, referring to him as stupid and lazy.  What is it with these Texans?  Ted Cruz, the Bush’s, and now Mark Cuban?  Just because you lost the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, doesn’t mean you should carry a grudge for almost 200 years!  Just because Trump is not from Texas, doesn’t mean he can’t be president.  So here are my words for all four of you…..“GET OVER IT!”  Do any of you four believe the country and world would be better off with President Hillary?  Mark Cuban supported Trump until a few months ago.  What happened?

POSITIVES

I was very impressed by the quality of the majority of speeches given during this convention.  Yes, there are always a couple of marginal speeches, and some were clunkers, but the vast majority were very, very good.  Did you notice how many of the speeches were given by minorities and women?

Newt Gingrich.  Some of the speeches were beyond excellent.  Newt Gingrich gave an excellent speech.  I wish my college professors were as good as Newt.  I may have gotten better grades if they were.  He laid out the difficulties our country and the world will be facing because of Islamic Muslim extremists.

The Trump Children.  I would not know how to pick the best speaker from the four Trump children that gave speeches.  Not only were the speeches outstanding in content, they were delivered to near perfection.  Donald, Jr., Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany all did an absolutely wonderful job.  If the children are truly a reflection of the parents, then I would say that Donald Trump has done an excellent job of parenting.

Melania Trump.  Another great speech by another Trump.  But almost as soon as it was completed, the Democrats started yelling ‘plagiarism,’ as 58 out of the 1400 words were similar to a speech Michelle Obama gave in 2008.  With all of the things that have happened recently, this is the what the Democrats focus on?  I would say that criticizing this speech as a part of what all is taking place in this country and the world is a clear indication of ‘pole vaulting over mouse turds’ by the Democrats.

Make America Safe Again.  Make America One Again.  Make America Great Again.  I don’t know what adviser came up with these slogans, but they pretty much framed the content of all the speeches given during the convention.  I believe all of these issues are important to the electorate. With the latest ambush of the police, with the latest terrorist attack, and with the largest racial divide occurring in this country during my lifetime, how could the electorate not be concerned about these issues?

Donald Trump.  I will give Trump an A for the content of his speech, but only a B+ for delivery.  As Grandma P pointed out, there were times when it appeared he was screaming.  (I noticed it, also.)  But Donald is a very passionate man, and it is obvious he believes the United States is heading in the wrong direction because of the policies of the present administration.  I agree with him.  He is not a professional, lifetime politician who makes large group speeches for a living and for contributions.  I find that to be an asset rather than a liability.  If he is elected, he can scream all he wants if he can correct those passionate issues.

The Party Plank.   I thought the Republican National Committee did an excellent job of framing the issues and direction of the party.  By tying the slogans with the content of the speeches, a viewer would definitely see the direction that the Republican party is taking.  Background checks for immigrants.  Check.  Second Amendment rights.  Check.  Border Security.  Check.  Reducing the national debt.  Check.  Creating jobs.  Check.  Placing citizens before immigrants.  Check.  Assuring citizen safety.  Check.  Support the police.  Check.  Rebuild the military.  Check.  Did I miss anything?  Probably.

Democratic Critique.  Now that the convention is over, Hillary and her media machine have framed the convention as nothing but ‘doom and gloom.’  Just like Chicken Little, the Republicans have been accused of promoting ‘the sky is falling, the sky is falling!’  Even though I find this somewhat amusing, I believe the issues brought forth at the convention were brutally honest about situations and conditions that need to be addressed and corrected.  Democrats apparently do not want to face these issues and continue to portray the world and our country as if everything is just hunky-dory. This is disturbing as it would be my hope that the two parties would come together to resolve some of these various, serious issues.

So there you have it, readers.  My assessment of the Republican National Convention was that I was seldom bored and it was done very professionally.  The speeches were, if not perfect, very informative.  There have been accusations that Donald Trump is not a conservative.  I cannot even fathom how that could be proposed after watching this convention.  One political pundit said it was one of the most conservative conventions he has ever witnessed.  I agree.

If Donald Trump gets elected and is able to do half of what was proposed at this convention,  the country will indeed be heading in the right direction.

The Late Republican Party. Suicide By Stupidity!

There has been much political speculating that the Republican party will not survive if Donald J. Trump is the Republican nominee for POTUS.  I have been mulling this over and I have come to the conclusion that maybe the Republican party should not survive, and here are my reasons.

Two years ago, during the last mid-term election, the voters of America once again gave control of the House and the Senate to the Republicans.  That election should have been taken as the ‘warning shot across the bow,’ indicating that voters were no longer satisfied with the status quo or the Obama administration.  My initial thoughts were that at least, with both houses controlled by the Republican party, a set of brakes would be applied to stop the Obama insanity.  What have they done?  They were elected to overturn Obama Care, and they have not done that.  (Yes, I understand that Obama would veto anything concerning his health care program,   More on that later.)

We got rid of the gatekeeper from hell, Harry Reed,  as senate majority leader, and actually submitted and voted on budgets for the first time of the Obama administration.  Are those budgets being followed?  Are they cutting costs, eliminating waste, and reversing the spiraling national debt?  No. No. And No.

What has this Congress done?  From my viewpoint, Obama has forged ahead with all of his crazy ideas.  We elected that Congress to protect its citizens.   We elected that Congress to straighten out the financial mess that this country faces.  Why do we have this Congress, and all of the expenses of supporting it….if they don’t do anything?

With the Republicans in control of both houses, I blame them.  It has become obvious since the beginning of all those Republican presidential debates that the Republican party has lost contact with the average, conservative American.  Rather than listening to what the average American is concerned about which caused the Republicans to gain control of Congress, apparently they are too stupid to have read the tea leaves, or, they are so self-serving they just don’t care.  The perfect paragon of this was Jeb Bush.  Two years ago, he was the ‘golden boy’ of the Republican party.  He was known, and he was a dynamic fund raiser.  But how well did he do in the debates?  It was obvious that Jeb, much like the Republican party, had underestimated the concerns and anger of mainstream America.  Gun control.  Border security.  Immigration control.  Job creation.  When Jeb was talking, if you would have shut your eyes, it would have been difficult to tell which party he represented.

And there is one more very big thing that both parties have underestimated.  People are tired of the status quo, and they are really becoming tired of career politicians.  It was refreshing to see three non-political career people in the debates:  Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump.

Now here we are with less than two weeks before the Republican national convention.

Dump Trump!  Anyone but Trump!  Trump Sucks!  There is no shortage of this, and unfortunately, much of it is coming from career Republican politicians.

Here are three possible scenarios for the convention.

1.  Attempt to undermine the delegate process and replace Trump with another candidate.  

Now you would think that if your apparent front runner brought out more voters to vote in the primaries for one candidate than ever before in the history of the United States, your party would be ecstatic.  Obviously that is not the case.  There has been much talk about attempting to sabotage the delegate procedure and put someone else in, rather than Trump.  Who would they get?  That smooth talking Mitt Romney, who has gone out of his way to back stab and denigrate Trump at every possible opportunity?  His little tirades are so despicable that I am sorry I voted for him in 2012.  I would not vote for him in 2016.  Many Americans who voted for Trump during the primaries would not vote for someone else if they feel their wishes have been cast aside.  If this were done, for sure Hillary Clinton would be voted in as POTUS.

I have to admit that Trump has kind of been my guy from the beginning.  I don’t have his hats or bumper stickers or have my lawn covered with his signs.  When asked if I support Trump, my answer has always been the same, “Donald Trump may not be who you like, but he may be what this country needs.”

This is similar to the Rush Limbaugh approach.  During the debates, one Cruz supporter called his show and wanted to know why Limbaugh had yet to attack Donald Trump.  Rush’s response was priceless.  “I will not attack anyone who has a chance of defeating Hillary Clinton.”  That attitude should have been adopted by the Republican party.

2.  Run someone as a third party candidate.

This option gives me nightmares!  It brings to mind the 1992 election when Ross Perot ran against George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  Bush was seeking his second term.  Perot, an egocentric conservative decided to enter the race.  The end result?  Bill Clinton won the election with only 42% of the popular vote.  58% of the country voted conservative, but the liberal won!

Just think.  If it weren’t for Ross Perot, we may never had heard about Bill or Hillary Clinton.

Anyway, this is the worst possible scenario for the country.  If some established Republicans decide this is feasible, they obviously don’t care what happens to this country.  Hillary Clinton would win handily if the conservative vote is again divided.

3.  Support Trump.

It would be about time for the Republican party to step up and support Trump financially and morally.  He did not win so many delegates by mistake.  There is no mistake about what he is thinking.  He may not be as eloquent as Reagan, Kennedy or FDR, but everyone understands what he is saying.

Paul Ryan has played patty cake politics with his lukewarm, milk-toast attitude.  So hear is a word of advice to Paul and all of the other backroom schemers concerning this convention:  Support the people’s candidate….or be prepared to suffer the people’s wrath at the polls!  

Mr. Ryan, you are the speaker of the House of Representatives because the people entrusted the Republican party to right this floundering ship of state.  If you or the party decide to pull any underhanded shenanigans in this convention, you will not be speaker after the election, and you may not be a representative.

You gained control of Congress to repeal Obama Care.  Will you accomplish that with Hillary Clinton as President?  You gained control of Congress to provide security to the people.  Will that occur if Clinton continues with Obama’s policies?  Closing borders, and vetting immigrants are a top concern of the average American.  Have you kept track of the number of murders being done by Islamic terrorists in our country and in other Western countries?  Will anything be done about this if Hillary is President?  The Liberals look at an open border as providing more potential voters for the Democratic party.  How about the national debt?  If people think it is a difficult economic environment now, what would happen if the US basically goes bankrupt like Greece.  Like Spain.  Like Italy.  All Western countries whose socialistic policies have created a unmanageable burden because the governments were too weak and unwilling to address the overspending.  Do you think this would improve with Hillary as president?

I am definitely tired of living under an administration where the cops and the military are the bad guys and the black thugs are the heroes.  Is this what Obama meant when he said he was going to ‘bring the country together?’  This country has never been so divided!

So, Mr. Ryan and all you career politicians that appear to be quaking because a non-career politician may see just how deep the cesspool is in Washington, D.C; I suggest that it is time to quit worrying about how you are going to be reelected, and begin doing what is right for this country.  If the Republican party does not unite to defeat Hillary Clinton, then the United States will suffer and the Republican party may very well disappear because of stupidity, timidity and internal bickering by self-centered, power hungry bureaucrats.  Is this what the Republican party wants as its legacy?

Like I said earlier, “Trump may not be who you like, but he may be what this country needs.”

Make American Great Again.  Amen.

PS.  This blog was written the afternoon before the shooting of eleven police officers in Dallas, five of them fatally.  My heartfelt condolences to the families of these policemen that were murdered by snipers in a coordinated attack during a protest.  Some of these officers were standing in support with the protesters.

Newest Reality TV Show, Survivor…Washington, D.C.

When did the election year politics turn into a bad reality show?  Do we blame the Amazing Race? Do we blame the Bachelor?  How about the Kardashian’s or any of those Housewives of Wherever shows?

Trust me when I say that this is the most devisive and unprofessional year I have ever seen for people that are contending to be President of the United States.  What happened to dignity?  What happened to respect?  What happened to important issues?

The only winners in this media circus is the ………well, the media.  One pundit said that this year’s electoral campaigns are good for CBS, but bad for America.  No fooling!  As of this writing, there have been eleven Republican presidential debates.  I am being overly gracious when I actually describe these events as debates.  Same issues.  Same mud-slinging.  Same name calling. Different time slots, moderators and channels.  Why so many?  Frankly, I have watched about half of them and the debates I missed were pretty much reruns of the debates I watched.  Ugly!

After hours of contemplation, I have decided to contact Mark Burnett and propose a new show for the Republican debates….. Survivor….Washington, D.C!

Can you picture it?  Cue the music!

Blast the irritating horns!  Show some tribal symbols in the promo!  Show the panoramic view of the island that the competition will take place!  Yes, we can’t have this competition in the actual Washington, D.C  The crime rate there is high and  that would be too dangerous!  We will select a deserted island somewhere close to the continent of Africa; close to where the last Survivor winner was born.  With any luck, this island will be  full of cannibals.  Could we be so lucky?

Now the introduction of the contestants.  Firstly, the Gabber from Gotham, Donald J. Trump!  His opponent, from the state of Florida, Marco (I am the son of Ronald Reagan) Rubio!  Their opponent, representing the state of Texas, Ted, I can be trusted because I know what a Bible looks like, Cruz! And our last contestant, representing the state of Ohio and responsible for anything good that has ever happened in that state, John Kasich!

Jeff Probst was unable to be the moderator at this contest as he was previously committed to moderating the Democratic Survivor contest titled, Survivor…Leningrad.  In his place will be the intelligent, charming and witty, Megyn Kelly.  Ms. Kelly of Fox News fame has demonstrated impartiality when it comes to who survives and who wilts like a pansy without water.  And, she is just gosh darn good looking and as long as this is my idea, she will be the moderator!

Our first reward challenge will be the name-calling challenge.  First out of the gate and with a large lead is Rubio.  He is being closely followed by Ted Cruz.  Both attempt to trip up Trump.  Trump makes a half-hearted, half-assed rebuttal to the two leaders.  Con Man.  Charlatan.  Faker.  Failure.  Liar.  The competition is furious and vicious.  Kasich?  Well, this was obviously not his best challenge.  The name calling becomes more intense. The three leaders are miles ahead of Kasich. Eventually, Megyn calls a time out as it has been determined that more negative adjectives were used during this contest than in the last twenty presidential elections combined.  The winner?  Marco Rubio…by quite a distance over his opponents. As he approaches Megyn Kelly to receive his reward, she informs him that while he and Trump and Cruz were flinging the adjectives, Kasich had eaten the reward.

The next reward challenge will be the body part challenge.  Again, Rubio jumps off to a fast start by bringing up the size of Trump’s hands and feet.  He presses on that because these are small, it may be concluded that his man parts may not be adequate or manly.  Cruz is befuddled.  He is more concerned about the size of his Bible.  Trump counters by calling Rubio…little Marco Rubio.  He again, in a half-hearted and half-assed rebuttal counters that his man parts are adequate and manly and that his hands are strong, as verified by his golf instructor.  Kasich again is trailing in this challenge as he continues to ramble about such things as the national debt, ISIS, creating jobs and all those other unimportant things that no one cares about during this challenge.  It was suggested that maybe the boys should just expose their man-parts, and winner takes all!  Megyn Kelly knows a good story when she sees one, so she orders additional cameramen to film this historic event.  The co-winners of the body part challenge are Rubio and Trump.  Cruz and Kasich were outdistanced in this event.  The idea of exposing their man-parts is dropped as Vladimir Putin wanted to enter this part of the competition, which was determined to be against the spirit of this competition. (It would have been to easy to suggest Hillary would have won this competition, but that would be tacky.) Rubio and Trump are contented to each get half of a crap sandwich (I can’t say shit sandwich, as my grandkids could read this) as their reward.

The next and final reward challenge is the back stabbing challenge.  Megyn allows each contestant to select their weapon.  Cruz selects an old-fashioned Bowie knife in honor of the Battle of the Alamo, which of course took place in the great state of Texas.  Rubio selects a switchblade stiletto knife, as it is the knife of choice in Miami.  Trump selects a Scottish dirk as it honors his Scottish heritage.  Kasich selects a 2″ pen knife in honor of the pen knife he uses to open his mail.  The contestants take their places.  Megyn raises her hand and says, “are the contestants ready?”  All contestants nod their preparedness.  “Ready…….stop!”  Stop?  “What do you mean stop?”  Megyn replies, “we now have a new addition to this competion.  Now entering the back stabbing challenge, representing the great state of Utah, Mitt, (the Mormon Mauler), Romney!”  Romney, the loser in the last Survivor contest, makes his presence known.  The Mormon Mauler selects his weapon, a double edged machete, as he intends to cut a wide swath through his challengers, one in particular.  The final reward challenge is over before it really began.  Mitt Romney back stabs Trump repeatedly, much to the amusement of the other candidates.  No contest…Romney wins the back stabbing competition.  And….like all good things, my Survivor….Washington, D.C. fantasy must end.

What exactly is happening to the Republican party in general and why did Romney do what he did specifically.

If you have been observant, you will notice for every political pundit advancing one theory, there is another pundit advancing the opposite opinion.  Can Trump beat Hillary?  Yes responses followed by no  responses.  Can any of the other candidates beat Hillary?  Again, some yes polls followed by no polls.  Will Romney’s scathing and vicious attacks on Trump help or hurt the Republican party?   Again, opposite responses.

I have a theory about Romney.  If you remember, last summer he hosted Jeb Bush in Utah.  After their weekend together, Romney announced he would not seek the Republican nomination.  Jeb was the fair-haired boy.  He had name recognition and a vastly successful money machine for campaign funds.  Then. lo and behold, Jeb gets a lukewarm public response for his presidential bid.   My opinion?  Jeb has not been governor of Florida since 2006, campaigned as if he still was governor, and lost contact with the anger and concerns of most Republican voters.  Mitt must now feel like he opted out too quickly.

His attack on Trump is nothing like I have ever seen in my life.  Vicious, deliberate, unethical. Regardless of who Romney attacked, he has made me regret voting for him in the 2012 election.  All of this after he received financial and personal aid from Trump in 2012,    I have heard the 2012 Trump endorsement of Romney and I have heard Romney’s appreciative comments and over the top descriptions of the virtues of Donald Trump.  In the words of comedian Dennis Miller, “It’s too bad Romney didn’t go after Obama like he has after Donald Trump.”  I find Mitt Romney’s action despicable by any measure.  If his attempt is to become the Republican nominee, he can forget it.

The Republican party?  My theory is that much like Jeb Bush, the Republican party has lost contact with the majority of the people that call themselves Republican.  The ‘king makers’ may have lost track of the desires of the pawns.

I do not want to see a third party candidate.  That’s how we got Bill Clinton.  With a third party candidate, we would have Hillary Clinton and that would mean Survivor….Leningrad would become a reality.

Wake up Republican party!  Your debates have become bad reality TV.  Stop these candidates from ripping on each other and get into the business of ripping up the Democratic side of the house.  The last eight years should provide adequate ammunition for ripping the present administration…so start using it!  Get off your butts and come up with a party plank that the American public can understand. Much good and bad can be said about Donald Trump, but I and everyone who has watched this circus, knows where he stands on issues.  Where does the Republican party stand on issues?

Has Washington, D.C. become such a cesspool of graft, corruption, influence peddling, waste, fraud and abuse that an outsider like Trump, an outsider that can’t be bought, scare the hell out of them? The recent actions of Romney, coming out of the woodwork the way he did, makes me wonder.

The upcoming election could be Survivor…..USA!