John Hawkins: No, I Will Not Vote for Donald J. Trump in a General Election

The proprietor of Right Wing News, at Town Hall:

I hammered John McCain and Mitt Romney so brutally during the GOP primaries that I was blackballed from the 2008 and 2012 Republican conventions in retaliation, but when the time came in the general election, I did vote Republican. I will never be a fan of John McCain or Mitt Romney, but I could at least embrace Reagan’s my “80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy” mantra and support them.

I cannot say the same about Donald J. Trump.

He’s not a good man, a Christian or a conservative and he doesn’t care about the Constitution, the country or as far I can tell, anything other than making money and hearing his name repeated as often as possible. If Matthew 7:16 is right and, “By their fruit you will recognize them,” what fruits has Donald J. Trump borne into the conservative movement? He’s managed to turn longtime allies against each other, good people are approving of despicable behavior they would have unhesitatingly condemned a year ago and the way he behaves is so childish and disgusting that 35% of Republicans and Republican leaning independents want a third party if he’s the nominee. Many Donald J. Trump fans assume these people who detest him so much are “establishment” Republicans. While it’s true that many members of the GOP establishment dislike Donald J. Trump (And others, like Chris Christie, Rick Scott and Scott Brown have endorsed him), the majority of people who oppose him are grassroots conservatives. Donald J. Trump may have more backers than anyone else in a divided field, but so far roughly two-thirds of Republicans have picked someone other than him as their candidate.

I don’t insult people for supporting or endorsing Donald J. Trump, I haven’t called for any blacklists, I’m not calling for the nomination to be taken from him at the convention and I’m not encouraging anyone to start a third party. In fact, I know there are many good conservatives who support Donald J. Trump. Unfortunately, when a third of the Republican Party rallies behind an unelectable, unstable, misogynistic, authoritarian conman who says any stupid thing that comes into his head, there is no escape for the rest of us from the ramifications of that decision...

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Why It's Time for a Trump Revolution

From Michael Goodwin, at the New York Post.

And he's interviewed at Fox News, "New York Post columnist shares his thoughts on 'Fox & Friends'."

How David Brooks Created Donald Trump

From Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today (via Instapundit):

Political establishment denounced bourgeois Tea Party. Now, they must face raucous working-class Trumpsters.

Last week, in assessing the rise of Donald Trump, New York Times columnist David Brooks engaged in an uncharacteristic bit of self-reflection:

“Trump voters,” he wrote, “are a coalition of the dispossessed. They have suffered lost jobs, lost wages, lost dreams. The American system is not working for them, so naturally they are looking for something else. Moreover, many in the media, especially me, did not understand how they would express their alienation. We expected Trump to fizzle because we were not socially intermingled with his supporters and did not listen carefully enough. For me, it’s a lesson that I have to change the way I do my job if I’m going to report accurately on this country.” (Emphasis added.)

Well, it’s a lesson for a lot of people in the punditocracy, of whom Brooks — who famously endorsed Barack Obama after viewing his sharply creased pants — is just one. And if Brooks et al. had paid attention, the roots of the Trump phenomenon wouldn’t have been so difficult to fathom.

Brooks is, of course, horrified at Trump and his supporters, whom he finds childish, thuggish and contemptuous of the things that David Brooks likes about today’s America. It’s clear that he’d like a social/political revolution that was more refined, better-mannered, more focused on the Constitution and, well, more bourgeois as opposed to in-your-face and working class.

The thing is, we had that movement. It was the Tea Party movement. Unlike Brooks, I actually ventured out to “intermingle” with Tea Partiers at various events that I covered for PJTV.com, contributing commentary to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Examiner. As I reported from one event in Nashville, “Pundits claim the tea partiers are angry — and they are — but the most striking thing about the atmosphere in Nashville was how cheerful everyone seemed to be. I spoke with dozens of people, and the responses were surprisingly similar. Hardly any had ever been involved in politics before. Having gotten started, they were finding it to be not just worthwhile, but actually fun. Laughter rang out frequently, and when new-media mogul Andrew Breitbart held forth on a TV interview, a crowd gathered and broke into spontaneous applause. A year ago, many told me, they were depressed about the future of America. Watching television pundits talk about President Obama's transformative plans for big government, they felt alone, isolated and helpless. That changed when protests, organized by bloggers, met Mr. Obama a year ago in Denver, Colo., Mesa, Ariz., and Seattle, Wash. Then came CNBC talker Rick Santelli's famous on-air rant on Feb. 19, 2009, which gave the tea-party movement its name. Tea partiers are still angry at federal deficits, at Washington's habit of rewarding failure with handouts and punishing success with taxes and regulation, and the general incompetence that has marked the first year of the Obama presidency. But they're no longer depressed.”

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Donald Trump Fountain Hills Protesters Face Jail Time in Arizona (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Donald Trump Supporters Clash with Protesters in Arizona (VIDEO)."

At ABC News 15 Phoenix.

One of the women waiting to get into the rally says, "Trump just represents all my morals and values":

What David Brooks Wrote About Trump Could Be Just as Easily Said of Obama

From Aaron Goldstein, at the American Spectator (via Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit):

I am almost in complete agreement with David Brooks regarding his assessment of Donald Trump in his latest New York Times column:

He is a childish man running for a job that requires maturity. He is an insecure boasting little boy whose desires were somehow arrested at age 12. He surrounds himself with sycophants. “You can always tell when the king is here,” Trump’s butler told Jason Horowitz in a recent Times profile. He brags incessantly about his alleged prowess, like how far he can hit a golf ball. “Do I hit it long? Is Trump strong?” he asks.

So why am I almost in agreement with Brooks?

Well, to put it very simply, what Brooks has written about Trump could just as easily be said of Obama.

Remember when Michael Jordan dissed Obama's golf game shortly before the 2014 mid-term elections? While Obama acknowledged Jordan was a better golfer he added, "Of course if I was playing twice a day for the last 15 years, then that might not be the case." I realize Obama has played golf 270 times since taking office, but the idea he could compete with one of the greatest athletes in American history is delusional. But, of course, Obama would think like that. This is, after all, a man who has said with complete conviction, "I'm LeBron, baby. I can play on this level. I've got some game."

It takes a certain amount of hubris to think an iPod full of one's speeches is a fitting gift for anyone much less a Queen. Speaking of the Brits, it doesn't say a lot for Obama's maturity that he saw fit to blame British PM David Cameron for the debacle in Libya. To Obama, leading from behind means attacking one's friends from behind...

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Amanda Carpenter Creates List of Conservatives Blackballed for Supporting Donald Trump

She puts her money where her mouth is.

At Conservative Review, "Blackballing Those Who Endorse Trump":

Here is the list of current federal and state GOP officials, former Republican officials, and private citizens who have formally endorsed Trump if anyone else is interested in joining me. Each and every one of his endorsers should be held accountable in their future elections or political ventures.

Jan Brewer and Sarah Palin are on the list, two of my favorite conservatives, heh.

Amanda's throwing down the gauntlet.

More at Breitbart, "Blacklisted: Drudge, Coulter, Hannity, Carson, Breitbart, O'Reilly, Christie Make GOP Smart Set's List of 'Ideological Hustlers'."

And back at Conservative Review: Brian Darling, "Against Blackballing."

Donald Trump and the Rebirth of the Republican Party

From Pat Buchanan, at VDare, "Trump Isn’t the Suicide of the GOP, He’s Its Rebirth – And He CAN Beat Hillary In the General!":

“If his poll numbers hold, Trump will be there six months from now when the Sweet 16 is cut to the Final Four, and he will likely be in the finals.”

My prediction, in July of 2015, looks pretty good right now.

Herewith, a second prediction. Republican wailing over his prospective nomination aside, Donald Trump could beat Hillary Clinton like a drum in November.

Indeed, only the fear that Trump can win explains the hysteria in this city. Here is The Washington Post of March 18: “As a moral question it is straightforward. The mission of any responsible Republican should be to block a Trump nomination and election.”

The Orwellian headline over that editorial: “To defend our democracy, the GOP must aim for a brokered convention.”

Beautiful. Defending democracy requires Republicans to cancel the democratic decision of the largest voter turnout of any primaries in American history. And this is now a moral imperative for Republicans.

Like the Third World leaders it lectures, the Post celebrates democracy—so long as the voters get it right.

Whatever one may think of the Donald, he has exposed not only how far out of touch our political elites are, but how insular is the audience that listens to our media elite.

Understandably, Trump’s rivals were hesitant to take him on, seeing the number he did on “little Marco,” “low energy” Jeb and “Lyin’ Ted.”

But the Big Media—the Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times—have been relentless and ruthless.

Yet Trump’s strength with voters seemed to grow, pari passu, with the savagery of their attacks. As for National Review, The Weekly Standard and the accredited conservative columnists of the big op-ed pages, their hostility to Trump seems to rise, commensurate with Trump’s rising polls.

As the Wizard of Oz was exposed as a little man behind a curtain with a big megaphone, our media establishment is unlikely ever again to be seen as formidable as it once was.

And the GOP?

Those Republicans who assert that a Trump nomination would be a moral stain, a scarlet letter, the death of the party, they are most likely describing what a Trump nomination would mean to their own ideologies and interests...

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How Trump vs. Clinton Would Reshape the Electoral Map

This is pretty good, from Dan Balz, at the Washington Post.

Donald Trump Supporters Clash with Protesters in Arizona (VIDEO)

"#CrushTrump" is trending right now on Twitter, and that's for the New York protests against Trump today.

Also, more at "#Arizona Trump."

And at LAT, "Protesters block road outside Donald Trump rally, so supporters walk instead."

Plus, watch at CNN:

Donald Trump's Campaign Threatens to Steal Tea Party's Thunder

Ah, hardcore Ted Cruz supporters aren't going to love this argument.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Trump campaign threatens to steal tea party thunder":

Always a bit of a rebel, Debbie Dooley was so frustrated in 2009 over bank bailouts and stimulus packages that she threw herself into organizing Atlanta’s first tea party rally.

Today, the daughter of a Southern preacher has shifted her energy and passion into electing Donald Trump as the latest Washington outsider to shake up the status quo.

No matter that many of Trump’s policies stray from the tea party’s original small-government ideals. The tough-talking billionaire ignites that same anti-establishment fervor that fired up many tea party foot soldiers like Dooley.

In the process, Trump has recast their earlier champions — namely tea party darling Sen. Ted Cruz — as disappointing outsiders-turned-insiders who cater to corporate donors and fail to deliver on big promises.

“The support for Trump is not only a screw-you to the Republican establishment, it’s a screw-you to the conservative establishment,” said Dooley, 57, an energy consultant. “[People] are sick and tired of the same old, same old — just money corrupting the political process. They work hard, they vote for elected officials and they expect them to keep their promises.”

Trump’s candidacy has not only fractured the Republican Party, it’s threatening to break apart the tea party movement and erode a once-powerful voting block that has driven conservative politics and elections for the past seven years.

In addition to grass-root defections by activists like Dooley, tea party leadership has split over Trump’s presidential bid. Some conservative activists met this week to try to stop him, while others have joined his campaign.

Meanwhile, major financial backers, including groups funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, have been sidelined from publicly backing GOP primary candidates, partly out of fear they might alienate their divided base.

The soured relationship should come as no surprise. The tea party was always somewhat of a marriage of convenience between Washington’s free-market powerhouses and frustrated ordinary Americans who showed up at rallies with their tri-cornered hats and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.

Fighting President Obama provided an easy alliance that Republicans at first leveraged to their advantage. But it also was a relationship built on what now looks like a rickety foundation — less about think-tank-driven policies and more about voter outrage against perceived elitism.

From an ideological standpoint, the tea party’s natural candidate should be Cruz, the Texas senator who was swept into office in the tea party revolt and wears his unpopularity in Washington as an “outsider” badge of honor.

But in Trump’s long shadow, Cruz and rival Sen. Marco Rubio, before he left the campaign, suddenly looked to many rank-and-file activists as part of the problem.

“I don’t see Ted Cruz being a job creator,” Dooley said...

Still more.

Angry Anti-Refugee Protest at Church World Service Building in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (VIDEO)

Man, 2016's going to be the year of the epic anti-government protests.

My prediction: We're going to see violence, and it won't be isolated to so called "far-right" militias. Leftists are going start going all Red Army Faction on the hated reactionaries of AmeriKKKa.

At LancasterOnline, "Groups for and against Syrian refugees have loud but peaceful face-off in Lancaster":

Two very different visions of America emerged in the cold in downtown Lancaster Saturday afternoon over the Syrian refugee issue.

Rallies for and against refugees ended up in a peaceful — though sometimes punctuated by loud shout-downs — face-off on busy East King Street.

At noon, a group of about 30 people gathered outside the Lancaster office of Church World Service at 308 E. King St. for a series of speakers who warned of the dangers of letting refugees from war-torn Syria into the U.S.

Church World Service is a refugee resettlement service. Three Syrian families have been relocated in Lancaster County so far with at least two others on their way.

About 250 pro-refugee men, women and children soon showed up from a counter-rally in Musser Park and formed a block-long queue just on the other side of King Street.

Leaders for both rallies urged non-confrontational behavior and for the most part that was the case as participants let their many signs do the talking.

Those who want to see more Syrian refugees come to Lancaster County carried placards with such slogans as “We Are All Refugees,” “Welcome Refugees — Proud Lancaster Tradition,” “Compassion, Not Fear, Love, Not Hate,” and “Bigots Go Home.“

Across the street, amid waving American and Tea Party flags, signs read, “Aiding A Foreign Invasion is Treason,” “Keep Syrians Out,” “Remember Paris” and “No Sharia Law In America.”

One brief moment of solidarity surfaced when the anti-refugee rally started singing “God Bless America” and refugee supporters quickly joined in.

America is not being compassionate by bringing to its shores Islamic people who are not tolerant of other religions and homosexuals, said Dan Gray, a Schuylkill County resident and rally organizer.

“Sharia law is fundamentally incompatible with the Constitutional laws of the United States,” Gray said. “Syrians are not refugees. Bad things are happening there but we don’t have the space to take in everyone who had bad things happen to them.
“You want to help Syrians? Help them over there.”

It's going to get violent folks. Leftists are going to bring "some muscle" to silence the opposition.

More.

John Boehner Cries on 'Face the Nation', Wants to Be Remembered as 'a Good Man' (VIDEO)

Poor Boehner.

In the end, he's going to be remembered as a candy-assed compromising crybaby.

With John Dickerson this morning, at Face the Nation:



The full interview is here, "Full interview: John Boehner, September 27."

Don't Miss Mark Levin's Plunder and Deceit

I picked up my copy, at last.

Maybe commenter Art Deco will pick up a copy as well. He wasn't too pleased with Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes' biography of Jack Kemp.

Check out Levin's book on Amazon, Plunder and Deceit: Big Government's Exploitation of Young People and the Future.

Republican Discontent Isn't Easing Up

At the Wall Street Journal, "GOP Discontent That Helped Sink John Boehner Isn’t Easing Up":

WASHINGTON—The tug-of-war within the Republican Party that helped end Rep. John Boehner’s career is likely to intensify this year both on Capitol Hill and in the tumultuous GOP presidential race.

The House speaker’s announcement Friday that he would leave Congress on Oct. 30 isn’t expected to mollify either the House’s most conservative faction, which is determined to take an unyielding stance in the face of fiscal deadlines, or dissatisfied GOP primary voters rooting for outsiders who have pledged to uproot Washington politics. The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows political novices Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina leading the GOP race.

On Capitol Hill, tension is mounting between Republicans hoping to notch incremental progress in dealing with a Democratic president and hard-liners who say they would be willing to shutter the government. That struggle will play out both in House GOP leadership elections over the next few weeks and as lawmakers tackle several deadline-driven issues this winter, including a longer-term budget deal and the need to raise the federal borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling.

Mr. Boehner’s resignation will ease the most pressing problem facing Congress: the expiration of the government’s current funding on Sept. 30. Lawmakers are expected this week to pass a stopgap spending bill keeping the government funded through Dec. 11.

He could also help his successor by pushing through other bills that could pass only with the help of Democrats, such as raising the debt ceiling or reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, moves that would be unpopular with some in the House GOP but seen as necessary by others. Mr. Boehner, who leaves office Oct. 30, indicated Sunday he might do so. “I don’t want to leave my successor a dirty barn,” he said on CBS . “I want to clean the barn up a little bit before the next person gets there.”

Any issues left hanging after Mr. Boehner’s departure will pose an even greater problem for his successor, likely Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.). The new speaker will take the gavel at a time when the most popular Republican presidential candidates are echoing the criticisms of congressional GOP leaders that poisoned Mr. Boehner’s reputation and strategy with many Republican voters.

Keep reading.

'Influential conservatives who operate right-leaning news outlets or sit behind microphones for a living would be wise to tread carefully...'

From Noah Rothman, "No True Conservative":

“I think conservatives have no clue how bad the Boehner resignation is for them,” wrote Real Clear Politics analyst Sean Trende. The factionalism that has come to characterize the leaderless Republican Party today will manifest itself in that fight. “[W]however loses really might pick up their toys and go home,” Trende speculated. As an outgrowth of the bitter squabbles that have typified the primary race, this seems a reasonably likely if worst-case scenario.

I gather Rothman's headline is a riff on the logical fallacy, "No true Scotsman..."

'Our Civil Servants and Representatives Should Be Servant Leaders, Not Lying Manipulators or Dictators...'

A great comment, from the thread at the Wall Street Journal, blogged here, "Speaker John Boehner to Resign":

The departure of Speaker Boehner will do little to diminish the stench emanating from the dismal swamp called Washington, DC. It will do little to stanch the exacerbation of class hatred, racial strife, lying, corruption, cronyism, and political elitism that we have lived with for six years.

I wonder if Speaker Boehner had hoped that the Pope would endow the nation and our government with the grace that would restore civility, reverence for the Constitution, respect for our fellow citizens, and honesty. I wonder if he had hoped that Francis would provide a reminder that our civil servants and representatives should be servant leaders, not lying manipulators or dictators.

We shall see.

RELATED: At iOTW Report, "Paul Ryan’s Idiotic Statement on Boehner Resignation."

Speaker John Boehner to Resign

Well, I guess this proves there's no crying in congressional leadership.

Watch, at CNN, "John Boehner to resign as House Speaker."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "House Speaker John Boehner to Resign":

WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), long under fire from conservatives within his own party, will resign Oct. 30, according to GOP lawmakers and aides.

Mr. Boehner announced his plans to step down as speaker and resign from Congress at the end of next month at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Friday morning. The announcement came one day after the 65-year-old welcomed Pope Francis for the first papal visit to Capitol Hill, fulfilling a decadeslong ambition for the speaker...

Keep reading.

Also, at Hot Air and Memeorandum.

And at Also, at Althouse, "IN THE COMMENTS: David Begley said":

From altar boy and Jesuit college to meeting the Jesuit Pope in the House. Crying allowed.

Yes, that was my first thought: The Pope made that happen.

AND: There I was yesterday mocking the so-called "breaking news" of the Pope's meeting with John Boehner as "the height of banality."

Conservatives Need to 'Get Activist'

This is interesting, from Neo-Neocon, at Legal Insurrection, "Problem: Passive Right, Activist Left."

However, I don't know if conservatives are truly "passive." Are they right-wing Alinskyites? Not sure, but the tea party movement wasn't bean bag.

Conservatives Harden Opposition to the Export-Import Bank

I've gotta confess, this debate over the Ex-Im bank is completely esoteric. I mean, what does this bank even do? And I guess that's it. Total establishment cronyism.

At Foreign Policy, "Ahead of Friday Deadline, Conservatives Harden Opposition to the Export-Import Bank":

The fate of the Export-Import Bank, a key funding source for small businesses that want to do business abroad, and whose charter expired at the beginning of July, will soon be in the hands of the House of Representatives. Conservative lawmakers there are now preparing to buck their party’s mainstream in an attempt to kill something the White House and U.S. businesses say is necessary to stay competitive globally.

If this sounds familiar, it should.

A similar scenario played out in June, during the debate about fast track trade authority, something President Barack Obama and GOP leadership said was needed to push through trade bills like the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Conservative Republicans teamed up with some Democrats, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a close ally of the White House, to delay its passage. Obama ultimately got what he wanted when the renegade Democrats, boxed in by their leader, relented and voted for fast track.

This time, however, conservative members of the GOP and those affiliated with the Tea Party are on their own. Populist Democrats who initially rejected Obama on trade in this case support the bank, known as the Ex-Im. During a rare Sunday vote, senators voted 67 to 26 to attach the bank’s reauthorization to the highway bill, which faces a Friday deadline. The highway bill either has to pass by then, the House could vote on for a five-month extension, or some other compromise must be reached.

But that doesn’t mean Republicans can’t slow down the process. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wants the bank reauthorized. But House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday he would not bring the bill to the floor of the lower chamber. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, also has said he would not support the bill...

More.

How Joni Ernst Went from Republican Unknown to First Woman Elected to Congress from Iowa

Well, her breakout "make 'em squeal" ad sure didn't hurt.

But see Maeve Reston, at LAT, "In Iowa, GOP's Joni Ernst broke a gender barrier on her own terms."