Hilarious TRUMP Lovers

[superbeets]

[h=2]'Every time she blinks there is a breeze!' Witty viewers lash out at Megyn Kelly for the 'over-the-top' eyelashes she modeled at debate[/h]

Donald Trump may have made headlines for skipping Thursday night's Republican debate because of his feud with moderator Megyn Kelly, but it was the Fox News host's eyelashes that ended up commanding a vast amount of attention on the night - at least on Twitter. The 45-year-old joined fellow journalists Bret Baier and Chris Wallace to moderate the seventh Republican presidential primary debate, held in Des Moines, Iowa. And while the debate itself received plenty of coverage in the media, it was Megyn's 'ridiculous' and 'fake' eyelashes that started a social media frenzy. 'I'm worried Megyn Kelly's eyelashes are going to stab me through the TV,' Mark Hemingway tweeted last night, while Ellis Riojas added: 'Megyn Kelly's eyelashes are longer than this debate #GOPDebate.'

 

[superbeets]

[h=1]Trump clobbered the Republican field on social media during GOP debate without being there as Google searchers wanted to know why Ted Cruz was born in Canada![/h]

• New York real estate tycoon dominated presidential debate without even being there
• Billionaire dominated Google, Twitter, Facebook - and gained the most Twitter followers
• Trump boycotted debate because of long-running personal feud with network reporter Megyn Kelly

• SHARE PICTURE

​

+3


GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump was only a few miles away from the Republican presidential debate on Thursday night - yet he was very much inside the room

 

[neverbend]

Trump won last nights war vs. Fox. Odds at 5Dimes this morning much more in Trumps
favor than they were even yesterday & yesterday he was far ahead. Trump's gamble worked.

 

[superbeets]

[h=6]- JANUARY 29, 2016 -[/h][h=1]DONALD TRUMP THROWS A GRAND OLD PARTY[/h]CNN
No one ever really doubted that Donald Trump could pull off a major counter-programming feat -- even when competing with a GOP debate that was expected to draw millions of viewers.
He did it Thursday night, dazzling a crowd of hundreds of enthusiastic supporters by announcing that he had raised more than $6 million for veterans in one day -- $1 million of it from his own checkbook. "We love our vets," he said.
"You know, my whole theme is make America great again and that's what we're going to do --- and we wouldn't have even been here if it weren't for our vets," Trump said.
Even Trump seemed a bit surprised that he had pulled off his stunt: "Look at all the cameras. This is like the Academy Awards," the real estate magnate said as he took the stage in an auditorium at Drake University about 20 minutes after the debate began a few miles away. "We're actually told that we have more cameras than they do by quite a bit, and you know what that's really in honor of our vets."
The rally was a restrained performance by Trump standards. He dispensed with his usual riff about his poll numbers and mostly avoided jabs at his fellow candidates (with the exception of a "low-energy" shot at Jeb Bush).
Instead he delivered a speech mostly focused on the problems veterans have faced when returning from Iraq and Afghanistan -- inadequate healthcare and housing, drug abuse, mental health issues and homelessness.
"Our vets are being mistreated. Illegal immigrants are treated better in many cases than our vets and it's not going to happen any more. It's not going to happen any more."
Clearly enjoying his evening away from the debate, Trump also told the audience what could be another media sensation for his campaign: the fact that his daughter Ivanka is pregnant. "Ivanka, I said, it would be so great if you had your baby in Iowa. It would be so great -- I'd definitely win!"

Huckabee and Santorum join the party

In a somewhat extraordinary move for someone who has reveled in taunting his rivals, he invited Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum -- two candidates who had been relegated to an earlier undercard debate -- to join him on stage to speak about veterans issues. While appearing generous, it was also politically savvy maneuver given that the two men were the respective winners of the past two Iowa caucuses, but stuck in the bottom-tier this time around.
Huckabee and Santorum are still well-liked and admired by core Republican voters here in Iowa, even if their campaigns have failed to ignite this time. And their presence on stage with Trump could go a long way toward negating the criticisms from Trump's rivals like Ted Cruz, whose allies have claimed that Trump will be punished by Iowans on Monday for skipping the debate stage.
Santorum, who narrowly defeated Mitt Romney here in 2012, tried to stand to the side of Trump's podium, noting to laughter that he didn't want to be photographed in front of a Trump sign.
"I'm supporting another candidate, but that doesn't mean we can't work together" to honor America's veterans, Santorum said.
Trump declares victory against Fox NewsTrump has regaled in the media spectacle that he created over the past few days after withdrawing from the Fox News debate with complaints that he'd been mistreated by the network. He told the crowd that he wished that he'd been able to participate, but once he had withdrawn -- no amount of cajoling, even by the likes of Fox News host Bill O'Reilly --- could bring him back.
"When you're treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights," he said to cheers. "And that's what our country has to do.... We have to stick up for our country when we're being mistreated."
He added that Fox had been "extremely nice," but it was too late. In an interview with CNN just before the rally, Trump said Fox News "apologized" to him for a mocking statement the television network issued.
"Once this started and it was for our vets there was nothing I could do," he added, reflecting on whether the pundits were right that his maneuver might damage his campaign. "I don't know. Is it for me personally a good thing, a bad thing? Will I get more votes? Will I get less votes? Nobody knows. Who the hell knows."

$6 million for 22 veterans' groups

He predicted that the amount of money that he had raised through a website and through personal calls to wealthy friends who contributed to the cause would impress Iowans. "I think this money is going to continue to pour in."
The Trump campaign on Thursday night released a list of 22 veterans' organizations that will share the more than $6 million fundraising haul.
The organizations run the gamut from groups focused on helping veterans with disabilities and mental health problems to those aimed at helping veterans reintegrate into civilian society.

'Donald Trump isn't scared of anything'

Trump supporters who waited hours in the cold to see him roundly disputed the notion that he would see any attrition in his support in Iowa, where he has led in recent polls.
In interviews, many voters here said the controversy was yet another example of Trump bucking the establishment -- a trait that has endeared him to them from the beginning -- and that they were proud of him standing up to Fox News.
Ernie Ratcliffe, an army veteran who served two tours in Vietnam, drove in from Kansas City for the rally, scoffed when asked for his thoughts on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's contention that Trump skipped the debate because he was afraid of taunts or difficult questions from the Fox moderators or rival candidates.
"Donald Trump isn't scared of anything. He's not scared of absolutely anything," said Ratcliffe, who has signed up with his wife to call New Hampshire voters on Trump's behalf next week. "Donald J. Trump said he was going to do this and he's done it. He's a man of his word."
Ratcliffe said he was convinced that Trump was the only candidate who could clean up the Department of Veterans Affairs and that it would be "one of the first things he does when he gets into office."
"He's going to get it squared away," he said. "It's not going to take him very long to do it. He's going to put the right people in. He knows how to manage things. He's a very successful businessman. He's going to get it done very quickly and very, very well."
Randal Thom, a former Marine who was among the first admitted to Trump's event, said he loved it that Trump refused to back down.
"When it came out yesterday that he was actually doing this (rally) in less than 24 hours, it was amazing," Thom said. "It just shows he has the ability to rally and get things done."
Thom, who raises Alaskan Malamute and Pomalute puppies in Minnesota, and plans to spend Monday in Iowa volunteering for Trump, dismissed Cruz as "a Canadian-born citizen" and described the Texas senator, as well as the other GOP contenders as "weak."
"Trump is a 100% strongman. He's bullet proof," Thom said. "People say, 'Oh look at his background. Look at the number of wives he's had.' You know what? I don't care about that. What I care about is his future."

 

[superbeets]

[h=6]- JANUARY 29, 2016 -[/h][h=1]TRUMP’S IOWA STATE CO-CHAIR TANA GOERTZ: DONALD TRUMP ‘A MAN OF HIS WORD’[/h]Breitbart
Trump “took a chance on me,” by inviting her to join his reality show “The Apprentice,” she said. Goertz said she “learned so much being mentored by Mr. Trump … and experience what a wonderful man he was.”
Trump is a “wonderful husband” and a “wonderful father,” she said. Goertz said Trump lives a “clean” life, explaining that he “doesn’t drink alcohol” and “doesn’t smoke.”
“That’s what I want in my president,” she added.
“This is a man of his word,” Goertz said of Trump, adding that he will do exactly what he says he’s going to do once he’s elected President of the United States.
She said that meeting Trump impacted her family’s life, “He changed our life forever.”
Goertz told the audience that if they caucus for Trump on February 1st, “you will have a great America again!”

 

[roadreeler57]

C-Span phone calls about Trump
http://newsninja2012.com/democrats-...e-trumps-veteran-rally-listen-to-these-calls/

 

[roadreeler57]

From 1995".

For those that say Mr Trump just got interested in helping our Vets .

Police estimated 500,000 people attended the largest military parade ever held in New York. Organizers, who placed the turnout at closer to a million, said the parade would not have been a success if it hadn't been for real estate developer Donald Trump, who contributed $200,000 and raised another $300,000. 'Donald Trump saved the parade,' said parade director Tom Fox, himself a Vietnam veteran. 'We had asked for donations from 200 corporations, and none of them came through,' he said. 'This donation is the single most important thing I've ever done,' said a beaming Trump. 'This is more important than all of my buildings and my casinos. This is my way of saying thank you to all the men an women in the armed services who have made it possible for me to become a success. Without them freedom and liberty would be gone.'

 

[superbeets]

[h=2]Trump says 'Ted Cruz is an ANCHOR BABY in Canada' as he twists the knife on rival senator's foreign birth[/h]

'When you're born in Canada, you're not supposed to run for President of the United States,' Trump told a New Hampshire crowd. 'Prime minister of Canada? No problem.'

 

[superbeets]

Still think he's just a BUFFOON? Liberals wrote him off as an offensive joke. But on Monday, Donald Trump could take a giant step towards the White House

• In recent months, Donald Trump has made an unlikely transition from buffoonish celebrity into serious contender for the White House
• Once dismissed as a joke candidate, he has managed to utterly dominate the early running in the race
• His appeal to electorate is based around a single, defining emotion: anger
• As a self-styled outsider, Trump exerts a magnetic pull on Americans' loyalties, seemingly allowing him to flout traditional rules of politics

By GUY ADAMS IN IOWA FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 00:11, 30 January 2016 | UPDATED: 02:20, 30 January 2016




Lunchtime in rural Iowa and an orderly queue begins to form outside the locked doors of a high school gymnasium in a small community called Marshalltown.
A chill wind is blowing flurries of snow into the faces of anyone hardy, or foolish, enough to venture out of doors — but that hasn't stopped growing numbers of locals from standing patiently in line to be first across the threshold when the doors open in three hours' time.
To keep at least partially warm, many in the crowd are wearing distinctive woolly hats. They bear the stars and stripes flag and a four-word campaign slogan that can also be found plastered on billboards across the county.

+9


Once dismissed as a joke candidate, Donald Trump has managed to utterly dominate the early running in the race — which culminates in November

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Yet to the utter bafflement of his countless liberal critics, Trump's bandwagon has only gathered pace

+9


Trump's campaign rallies have become some of the hottest tickets in America

It reads: 'Make America Great Again' — the slogan of Donald J. Trump, the outspoken entrepreneur and TV personality mounting an audacious bid for the U.S. presidency.
Loathed by the Establishment, and with no prior experience of politics, the 69-year-old billionaire was until last year known primarily for building luxury apartment blocks named after himself, owning a gold-plated toilet, having flamboyant golden hair, and travelling in a private jet with his name embossed on it in large, gold letters.



.
Since 2004, he has cemented his status as a household name by fronting the hit U.S. version of The Apprentice.
Yet recent months have seen Trump make an unlikely transition from buffoonish celebrity into an increasingly serious contender for the White House.
Once dismissed as a joke candidate, he has managed to utterly dominate the early running in the race — which culminates in November — by generating endless news coverage via a series of provocative statements and policy pronouncements.
Before Christmas, for example, Trump, who is bidding to become the Republican nominee, called for 'a total and complete shutdown' on Muslims entering America, in order to prevent terror attacks.
A few months earlier, he pledged to build a vast wall across America's southern border to keep out illegal Mexican immigrants, saying: 'They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists!'
Yet to the utter bafflement of his countless liberal critics, his bandwagon has only gathered pace. At present, Trump leads every single poll of potential Republican candidates, with the backing of between 35 and 40 per cent of the party's supporters, across the U.S.

+9


The Republican presidential candidate holds a depiction of himself in The Simpsons and a photo with Mike 'Iron' Tyson

That's roughly twice the figure of his nearest rival, an evangelical Christian called Ted Cruz, and four times that of the Establishment's preferred candidate, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, brother of George W. Bush.
Bookmakers this week also made Trump clear favourite to eventually become the party's nominee, with his odds shortened to 6/4.
On Monday, the hype surrounding the perma-tanned property mogul's campaign will finally be tested at the ballot box, when Iowa becomes the first of the U.S.'s 50 states to allow supporters of both the Republicans and Democrats to select their preferred presidential candidate.
One thing is certain: Trump's campaign rallies have become some of the hottest tickets in America, which is why the crowds outside Marshalltown's gymnasium are hoping to get front-row seats.
Many wear badges with their favourite Trump slogans: 'Bomb the s*** out of ISIS,' or 'Up Yours, Hillary!' — a reference to Mrs Clinton, his likely Democratic opponent should he win the Republican nomination. Others wave placards proclaiming: 'Mr Trump, you're hired!'
By the time the show starts, just before 6pm, more than 2,500 people are shoehorned into the room. It's one of the biggest crowds that Marshalltown, which has a population of just 27,000, has ever seen.
What follows turns out to be quite unlike any political rally I have ever seen. Trump, who strides onstage to the music of Adele, doesn't bother to stand at a podium and deliver a speech. Nor does he lay out any sort of grand, sweeping vision for America.
Instead, in a spectacle that is part chat-show, part circus act, he parks his backside on a sofa and, with a flick of gravity-defying hair, begins complaining about the state of America and the 'idiots' who run it.
'Jobs are being lost,' he tells his interviewer, a local radio host. The economy is a 'mess'. Illegal immigration is 'out of hand', the government is 'weak' on the international stage and allows 'political hacks' to conduct its affairs.

+9


Trump's appeal to the electorate is based around a single, defining emotion: anger

+9


Many are drawn to Trump because of — rather than in spite of — his lack of political experience

Across the world, he says, things are equally out of hand. Europe is a 'disaster' thanks to 'stupid politicians' who have allowed immigration to get 'out of control'. 'We've got to get rid of ISIS,' he says, 'because we can't just have people chopping off heads.'
As for his rivals for the Republican nomination, they are all 'hopeless'. Ted Cruz is 'a nasty guy; people don't like him'. Jeb Bush 'has no shot'. Glenn Beck, an influential commentator critical of Trump's campaign, is a 'wacko . . . a total nut-job'.
He pauses for breath only when the tirade is interrupted by a group of Hispanic protesters who stand up to complain about his attitude towards minorities. As they are carted from the room by security, the atmosphere turns briefly ugly, with sections of the crowd shouting 'Shut up!' or 'Go back to Mexico!' and 'Go home!'.
The Punch and Judy nature of proceedings seems out of place in Iowa, a state roughly four hours' drive west of Chicago and famous for its corn farms, traditional values, and modest, God-fearing residents. Yet spend a little time following Trump's bandwagon and you'll soon realise that it reflects a simple truth.
For Trump's appeal to the electorate is based around a single, defining emotion: anger. It's been this way since last June, when he launched his campaign with a simple message: 'The American dream is dead.' The country is being run by 'losers', he told a press conference. 'We have people that are morally corrupt. We have people that are selling this country down the drain.'
It was to prove a compelling pitch to the crowds who have since flocked to his cause. Indeed, almost every Trump supporter you meet sings from a similar hymn sheet: they distrust career politicians and want to deliver a firm kick up the backside of the Establishment.
Many of them were drawn to Trump because of — rather than in spite of — his lack of political experience. Many are also attracted by the fact that he can finance his bid for office without the help of wealthy donors.
'He's different. He's paying his own way, so he isn't going to owe rich people favours down the line,' says Dan Chyma, 67, who clutches a copy of Trump's new book, Crippled America. 'He's his own man.'

+9


The rise of Trump is part of a global phenomenon that has seen anti-Establishment parties such as Ukip (in Britain) the Front National (in France) and the Left-wing Syriza in Greece prosper

Jesse Gale, a 21-year-old student who will be voting for the first time in November, adds: 'Trump's not an ordinary politician. America is in crisis. We need real change, and he's a breath of fresh air.'
Little wonder, one might observe, that Trump has chosen for his campaign anthem the 1984 song Stay Hungry, by Twisted Sister, with its chorus: 'We're not going to take it / No we ain't going to take it / We're not going to take it any more.'
To comprehend the appeal of this sentiment in the U.S. right now, you need perhaps to look to statistics. On paper, America is booming: unemployment is at a seven-year low, GDP is growing steadily, and the stock market, despite recent wobbles, is nearly double the level President Obama inherited in 2008.
Yet not everyone is cashing in. For while elites have prospered, many middle-class families and blue-collar workers — the demographic which, perhaps more than any other, shaped modern America — have seen their fortunes steadily decline.
Indeed, figures from the respected Pew Research group estimate that the average income of a middle-class U.S. household fell by 4 per cent, in real terms, between 2000 to 2015. Their overall wealth is down 28 per cent over a similar period.
To blame are a number of factors, from the great recession to complex economic trends that have seen blue-collar manufacturing jobs disappear overseas. It is the victims of these trends who are the bedrock of Trump's support.

+9


Supporters also appear happy to overlook holes in Trump's CV that would have felled a lesser candidate

Cary Covington, an associate professor in Politics at the University of Iowa, says: 'There is a core component of the Republican base who are not wealthy, or elite, but who have been on the losing end of government policies and global trends for some time.
'Politicians have been promising them action for decades, but have never delivered. So they are angry — and they want someone who speaks to that.'
To Covington, the rise of Trump is part of a global phenomenon that has seen anti-Establishment parties such as Ukip (in Britain) the Front National (in France) and the Left-wing Syriza in Greece prosper.
It also, he argues, reflects a growing distrust of mainstream politicians that is perhaps most evident, in Britain, in the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.
'Wherever you look, there is a section of people who feel they are on the losing end of the cultural bargain and want to take dramatic steps to correct the balance,' he says.
In the U.S., such people blame the Washington elite for everything from the Iraq war to the doubling of the national debt in the past seven years.
As a self-styled outsider, Trump exerts a magnetic pull on their loyalties, seemingly allowing him to flout traditional rules of politics.
So it goes that socially conservative voters seem prepared to ignore his three marriages (Melanie, his wife, is a 45-year-old Slovenian former model), his previously liberal views on abortion and gay rights, and seemingly ambivalent attitude to religion.
He also seems able to survive, and indeed thrive, after mis-steps that are traditionally supposed to kill a campaign stone dead.
In July, for example, he appeared to insult war veterans by putting down Republican Senator John McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war who was the party's presidential candidate in 2008, with the words: 'He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured.'

+9


The son of Fred Trump, a self-made property tycoon, Trump owes his wealth largely to an inheritance he received in the mid-Seventies

This week, he dominated the news agenda by refusing to take part in a campaign debate chaired by Megyn Kelly, a Fox News host who has previously asked the twice-divorced Trump awkward questions about his attitude to women.
Critics argued that a man scared of a TV presenter is hardly qualified to face down Vladimir Putin.
Yet on these, and every other one of the many occasions he has made what would normally be regarded as a mistake, Trump's poll ratings have gone up, rather than down.
Partly, his success has been due to an ability to generate headlines. While his rivals are dull, professional politicians, he embraces such colourful eccentrics as Sarah Palin.
Only last week, he was endorsed by the former Alaska governor. Unthinkably, perhaps, for the Washington establishment, Palin is now expected to have a role in any future Trump administration. She may even be his running mate.


On matters of policy, different rules seem to apply to Trump, too. 'Trump hasn't allowed himself to get nailed down on policy — he doesn't have ten-point plans, or anything that a normal politician would have,' is how Steffen Schmidt, a professor of political science at Iowa State University, puts it.'He just says, 'I'll sort it out. I've made deals. I'm very wealthy. Trust me.' In a time of chaos, people can be attracted to a strong person who has simple explanations and solutions to very complex problems. Trump is that man.'
Supporters also appear happy to overlook holes in Trump's CV that would have felled a lesser candidate.
The son of Fred Trump, a self-made property tycoon, Trump owes his wealth largely to an inheritance he received in the mid-Seventies.
During his subsequent business career, he's presided over four corporate bankruptcies, and a string of failed ventures. Critics often claim that Trump's net worth is put by the Bloomberg financial service at $2.9 billion. Had he merely invested his inheritance in a stock market tracker fund, he'd have more than $8 billion.
With this in mind, there are many who still regard Donald Trump as a flash in the pan.
Some analysts believe his supporters will fail to turn out. Still more believe a new candidate, such as the admired former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg could make a late entry into the Republican race.
Yet even if Trump loses, he will, as he recently told the New York Times, simply 'go back to being Donald Trump, but even bigger'.
Whatever the outcome, it will be a win-win for him and a kick in the teeth for a political establishment who, in the U.S. and across the developed world, have never seemed more removed from the people who elect them.


.

 

[roadreeler57]

Donald J. Trump

7 hrs ·
Hillary Clinton is a major national security risk. Not presidential material!

 

[Dave007inVegas]

Trump rules all day, every day even when he doesn’t try.


NBC, CBS and ABC spent 21 minutes Friday morning covering GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s boycott of the Fox News GOP primary debate, “while only managing 7 minutes for the GOP contenders who participated in the event,” according to the Media Research Center.


http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/29/2895843/


Be in awe of the master.

 

[SheriffJoe]

Trump rules all day, every day even when he doesn’t try.


NBC, CBS and ABC spent 21 minutes Friday morning covering GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s boycott of the Fox News GOP primary debate, “while only managing 7 minutes for the GOP contenders who participated in the event,” according to the Media Research Center.


http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/29/2895843/


Be in awe of the master.

Trump is playing everyone like a fiddle, including conservatives.

 

[superbeets]

[h=6]- JANUARY 30, 2016 -[/h][h=1]DONALD J. TRUMP AND JERRY FALWELL JR. IN DAVENPORT, IA[/h]

Donald J. Trump Media Advisory
Davenport, Iowa
January 30, 2016​

Who:
Donald J. Trump and Jerry Falwell Jr.

What:
It was just announced that Jerry Falwell Jr. will join Mr. Trump's Town Hall Discussion in Davenport, Iowa.

Where:
Adler Theatre
136 East 3rd Street
Davenport, IA 52801.

Schedule:
4:30 p.m.: Doors Open
6:30 p.m.: Event begins

Please submit credential requests at: www.donaldjtrump.com/schedule/media-request

 

[Dave007inVegas]

Genius Trump had seen it coming.


During Thursday night’s Republican primary debate, in order to attack and bloody both Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Fox News used selectively-edited video montages of both senators saying stuff. Video is the most powerful propaganda weapon ever conceived, and not only is the use of gotcha-video in a presidential debate highly prejudicial and subjective, a debate setting is not the proper venue for any sort of gotcha question.


Save the cheap gotchas for interviews. Debates are about issues, the differences between the candidates, and the differences with one another that they wish to highlight.


Fox’s destructive precedent of using gotcha-video needs to be strangled in the crib. The candidates, both Republicans and Democrats, should come together and put an immediate stop to the use of this misleading nonsense.


Note how Fox News used its powerful gotcha-video against only two candidates, and not all seven. These were devastating moments served out in unequal portions, another example of how an unelected media attempts to choose our candidates.


Now just try to imagine the video the anti-Trump Fox News had in store for The Donald. On top of everything else the embattled cable giant had planned to sandbag Trump with last night (illegal alien and Muslim activist questioners), it is safe to assume the “fair and balanced” network had a brutal gotcha-video all cued up.


Anyone else want to question Trump’s decision to walk away from “a bad deal?”


http://www.breitbart.com/big-journa...ideo-is-sign-of-media-sucker-punches-to-come/

 

[SheriffJoe]

Looks like Trump and Sanders in Iowa.

Cruz walked right into an ambush and the poker millionaire mush picked Hillary.

 

[neverbend]

Genius Trump had seen it coming.


During Thursday night’s Republican primary debate, in order to attack and bloody both Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Fox News used selectively-edited video montages of both senators saying stuff. Video is the most powerful propaganda weapon ever conceived, and not only is the use of gotcha-video in a presidential debate highly prejudicial and subjective, a debate setting is not the proper venue for any sort of gotcha question.


Save the cheap gotchas for interviews. Debates are about issues, the differences between the candidates, and the differences with one another that they wish to highlight.


Fox’s destructive precedent of using gotcha-video needs to be strangled in the crib. The candidates, both Republicans and Democrats, should come together and put an immediate stop to the use of this misleading nonsense.


Note how Fox News used its powerful gotcha-video against only two candidates, and not all seven. These were devastating moments served out in unequal portions, another example of how an unelected media attempts to choose our candidates.


Now just try to imagine the video the anti-Trump Fox News had in store for The Donald. On top of everything else the embattled cable giant had planned to sandbag Trump with last night (illegal alien and Muslim activist questioners), it is safe to assume the “fair and balanced” network had a brutal gotcha-video all cued up.


Anyone else want to question Trump’s decision to walk away from “a bad deal?”


http://www.breitbart.com/big-journa...ideo-is-sign-of-media-sucker-punches-to-come/

You hit the nail on the head. Since that 1st Fox debate in August when Ms. Kelly
attenpted to bring Trump down I've never watch Fox at 9PM again. Not to fond
of there 6 o'clock crew of Will & Hayes either.

Never thought I'd say this but MSNBC new show 'With All due Respect' at 6PM
is far more fair & balanced & much more interesting to me than any show Fox
puts on.

 

[superbeets]

[h=1].[/h]
Iowa is nothing like the coastal states and big cities where most Americans live. Rural and sparsely populated, it’s almost devoid of minorities and wedded to fundamentalist Christianity.
Here, voters mark a candidate down for getting a biblical quotation wrong.
‘Did you hear Trump the other day?’ Rhonda Moore, 62, asked me after a speech in Centerville by Trump’s closest rival, the Texan Senator Ted Cruz.
‘He cited 2 Corinthians, verse 14. Honestly. He said two Corinthians! He didn’t even know it’s second Corinthians. I’m going to vote for Cruz. When he quotes the scriptures, he gets it right.’
For Trump, the stakes are high. Repeatedly, he has insisted that he is in Iowa to win. If he fails, every front page in America will brand him a loser.
But if he succeeds, seasoned Republicans believe the Trump juggernaut will be irresistible. ‘It’s hard to see who can stop Trump at this point,’ said Richard Perle, a veteran of Republican administrations since the eighties.

+8


Success: Republican veterans believe if Trump wins Iowa the momentum of his campaign will be irresistible

‘We all thought when he first emerged his candidacy was a joke. No one thinks that now.'
Dave Wurmser, a top official under Bush, added: ‘The more the party establishment in Washington tries to stop him, the more it helps him.’
I followed Trump in Iowa for more than a week. And the longer I spent, the more bizarre it became.
Take the fact he claims to be standing up for America’s middle class. Where other candidates criss-cross the state by road, he flits in and out in his Boeing 757.
It is said it contains so many gold fittings that melted down, they could gild a rival’s campaign bus. Apparently weight is not a problem, because instead of the 170 passengers on a commercial 757 airliner, ‘Airforce Trump’ rarely carries more than ten.
Trump’s wealth allows him to boast his campaign is self-financed, and that he is not beholden to donors.
He adds he has spent almost nothing on ads, because he attracts twice as much free TV coverage as all the other candidates put together.
For this, he shows no gratitude. At my first rally he pointed at the camera crews and reporters at the back, and to jeers from the crowd, snarled that we were ‘liars’, adding: ‘The best thing about this campaign is the people.
'You’re so smart, so honest – not like those scum back there.’ By the time I’d heard these jibes four times, I realised they calculated.

+8


Pledge: One of the promises Donald Trump has made to the US electorate is that he'll 'kick the a**' of ISIS

But it has to be said: he knows how to generate a sense of occasion. Set against other politicians, his TV career has given him something priceless: celebrity.
Danielle Pletka, deputy director of the influential conservative Washington think tank, the American Enterprise Institute, said that Trump’s candidacy was ‘a natural phenomenon in a country obsessed with the Kardashians and reality TV – and where Kanye West can speak of running in 2020 and actually be taken seriously.'
The connection between Trump’s campaign and reality television is direct. His warm-up act is Tana Goertz, famous in Iowa since she almost won The Apprentice 10 years ago.
She introduces him as ‘a man who changed my life for the better,’ promising that if ‘you go out and vote for him, he will change your life for the better too’.
She adds that he is a drug-free, non-smoking teetotaller who has raised ‘great kids’, who are all ‘poised, professional and productive’.
And then, to Adele’s song Rolling in the Deep, Trump emerges, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and either a blue or red tie – a combination, a Washington image consultant once told me, that makes a politician look sincere. By now the audience is roaring like an international football crowd: ‘USA, USA.’

+8


David Rose said by the time Trump came out at a rally in Iowa his audience was roaring like a football crowd

Trump’s utterances aren’t precisely scripted, and as he likes to boast, he doesn’t use a teleprompter.
But he always devotes a lot of time to bragging about his poll numbers, claiming that his more dangerous opponents – Cruz especially – are ‘dropping like a rock’. ‘Why do I mention the polls?’ he asks. ‘Because I’m in first place’.
The policy content is astonishingly light. It can be summarised in a sentence: Trump stands for Americans’ right to bear arms, cutting taxes, blocking Chinese imports, expanding the military, supporting veterans, crushing ISIS, and keeping out immigrants – not only Muslims but Latin Americans, with his promised Mexican border wall.
‘Who’s going to pay for it?’ The crowd roars back, knowing the answer from previous speeches: ‘Mexico!’ Exactly how he would achieve this, is never spelled out.
Repeatedly, he refers to his brilliance at making deals, saying this will provide the foundation for a new American prosperity. ‘All my life I’ve wanted money. Now I’m greedy for the United States.’
Trump revels in insults: not just of his political opponents – Cruz, he says, is just a ‘really nasty guy’; Jeb Bush the ‘low energy candidate’ - but anyone who crosses him.
Last week the the National Review, long an important forum for US conservative debate, published a story attacking him.

+8


Trump signs autographs for supporters who have queued up outside at a campaign rally in Dubuque, Iowa

For Trump, its authors were ‘a bunch of real losers’, while the magazine was ‘going down the tubes’ and soon would ‘not even exist’.
His platform might be free from detail, but it works, often with educated, seemingly rational voters. ‘That was fantastic,’ Taylor Becker, 22, studying for a masters in engineering, told me after hearing Trump at a rally in Pella.
We were outside the hall and the temperature was minus 10C, and he wasn’t wearing a coat. ‘I’m so excited I’m not even cold,’ he said. ‘He’s so tough and he can get things done. He’s definitely energising people, awakening us.’
Asked why, he was no more specific than the beauty queens. ‘I like his foreign policy and his attitude to tax reform. Plus, he’s electable.’
At a rally at in Muscatine, I met Jodi Reindl, 40, a hospital IT specialist turned campaign volunteer, who said she had been ‘completely hooked’ since first hearing Trump in March.
‘I’ve been to 90 per cent of all the events in Iowa. It’s easy to make that effort when you’re completely on board. I don’t like politics. But Trump is different. He dares to say what no other politician says. That’s why he’s going to win.’
Reindl said she had been urging everyone she knew to come listen to Trump in person, and having accepted her invitation, many of her friends had also become local campaign ‘ground game’ activists, dedicated to ensuring that, come Monday, his vote will turn out.
‘I’m politically incorrect, so I love him,’ said Kim Tefler, 50, at Pella, sporting a campaign badge with the slogan ‘Bomb the S*** out of ISIS.’

+8


Trump often loses his temper when faced with protesters and hecklers, writes David Rose. Pictured, Protester Elias Benda (L), who was ejected from a Trump campaign event at the Dubuque Regional Airport in Iowa

Could she say any more about why? ‘Finally we have a candidate who will deal with the issues. People don’t realise how much trouble this country is in, but he does.’
Much younger voters expressed similar sentiments. ‘He knows what to do to make America great again,’ said Carissa Hite, 18.
‘I rate Trump as our saviour,’ added Tom Cooper, another engineering student. ‘I truly believe he is the one who can get this country back on track, financially and militarily, and he’s going to take care of immigration.’
It used to be said that Ronald Reagan was a Teflon president: despite numerous scandals, mud never stuck.
Trump has this quality. Having abused the disabled, Mexicans, the war hero Senator John McCain and the Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, he has seen his poll ratings only rise.
But it doesn’t take long to see his dark side. At Muscatine, two protestors unfurled a banner condemning his pledge to stop all Muslims entering America.
One was a Sikh, wearing a red turban. As Trump’s private security force manhandled them from the hall, accompanied by chants of ‘Trump, Trump, Trump,’ he jibed that the Sikh was ‘a moron, a dirty, rotten moron, like the guy in the dirty hat’ – a reference, he explained, to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the leader of the Paris massacres.

+8


Unlike fellow candidates who travel the country in cars and buses, Trump, pictured, flies around in his own jet

That led on to an extended riff on how the Paris casualty rate would have been much lower if French gun control laws were less strict, because the terrorists’ victims could have shot back.
In Iowa City, he was speaking on the local university campus – known as a liberal bastion. It can hardly have been a surprise that among the crowd of 2,000 were many who disagreed with him.
But when he was heckled for the third or fourth time, he lost his temper, yelling at the security men to ‘get that guy the hell out of here,’ then cutting off his speech and leaving –ignoring the fact that his supporters had been patiently standing in the hall waiting for him for more than three hours.
His central flaw is his very thin skin: the reason for his decision to withdraw from last week’s Fox News debate because Kelly would be moderating it.
This backfired: the debate scored high ratings, and many Republicans told me they would no longer consider supporting Trump: ‘I thought Trump might be ok,’ said Terri Bennett, a charity fundraiser. ‘But now he’s totally lost it. He’s disrespecting the voters. If Trump goes down in Iowa, it will have been his own doing.’
The polls say if Trump doesn’t win in Iowa, it will be Ted Cruz. Superficially more polished, to British ears, his message sounds equally extreme.
He told an audience in Bloomfield that if the next president were a Democrat, he would shift the balance of the US Supreme Court by appointing liberal judges.
Bizarrely, he warned: ‘We are just one more liberal judge away from a radical, left-wing court that will order the tearing down of our veterans’ memorials; that will order the removal with hammers and chisels of crosses and stars of David from tombstones up and down our country.’
He pledged to ‘start a criminal investigation’ into Planned Parenthood, the family planning group, on day one of his presidency.

+8


If Trump wins Iowa, the changes he has wrought to US politics may well be permanent, writes David Rose

He added that said the Supreme Court’s decision last year to recognise gay marriage was ‘lawless judicial activism of the very worst kind’, and said he would strain every sinew to get it reversed.
That leaves the Democrats. Bernie Sanders, the avowed socialist from Vermont, is running Hillary Clinton close, and may win both in Iowa and the next state that votes, New Hampshire. But few analysts believe he can get the nomination.
For most Americans, his modest proposal to introduce a version of the National Health Service is simply too radical.
The ultimate beneficiary of the Trump insurgency may well be Clinton. ‘For us, Trump would be the ideal nominee,’ one Democrat strategist told me.
‘It would be a bloodbath. We might win control back of the Congress. Trump or Cruz would be fantastic news for Hillary.’
Tomorrow will be the day that the Trump balloon, which has so far defied all known laws of political physics, either soars or starts to deflate.
If he wins, the changes he has already wrought to the shape of American politics may well be permanent.


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[superbeets]

[h=1]Clinton and Trump take narrow leads in final poll before Iowa caucus[/h]

• Donald Trump is in the lead for the GOP in the final Iowa poll at 28 percent
• His rival Ted Cruz had at 23 percent while Marco Rubio has 15 percent
• Hillary Clinton is ahead for the Democrats with 45 percent while Sanders has 42 percent and Martin O'Malley has three percent
• The poll was conducted by the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics
• On Monday, Iowans will gather for the caucus to select their favorite for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations

By REGINA F. GRAHAM FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and REUTERS
PUBLISHED: 02:22, 31 January 2016 | UPDATED: 02:49, 31 January 2016





Despite opting out of the most recent GOP presidential debate, The Donald has taken the lead in the latest and most regarded poll out of Iowa.
Trump is currently at 28 percent while his rival Ted Cruz has slid down to 23 percent, according to the highly respected Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll, which was released Saturday ahead of the caucuses.
Coming in third place is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with 15 percent and former neurosurgeon Ben Carson received 10 percent of support.
Sen. Rand Paul received five percent in the poll while the other remaining Republican presidential candidates received less than five percent of support.

+9


All smiles: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives on stage for a campaign event at Clinton Middle School on Saturday. Despite opting out of the most recent GOP presidential debate, he has taken the lead in the latest polls out of Iowa

+9


The Donald is currently at 28 percent while his rival Ted Cruz has slid down to 23 percent, according to the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll

+9


Trump blasted Cruz to enliven the crowd as he barnstormed through eastern Iowa. At the Dubuque airport, Trump's plane, with his name emblazoned on the side, did a fly-by before he spoke to a crowd of about 400

On the Democratic side, former first lady Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders are locked in a close race.
Clinton received 45 percent support in the new poll, which is a three percent increase from the last poll conducted.
The Vermont senator received 42 percent, while Martin O'Malley dropped one percentage point down to three percent.
The pollster for the Iowa Poll, J Ann Seizer, has conducted polling on the Iowa caucuses since 1988.
According to Politico, she was the only person to predict the order of the Democratic candidates in 2004, she accurately predicted the surge of first-time caucus attendees in 2008, and she also was the only pollsters to see the rise of Rick Santorum in 2012.

+9


Trump told the crowd, 'You've got to go out and caucus. You've got to get out there. I don't care what happens'. Above he is pictured signing autographs at the airport rally

+9


He added: 'If your wife leaves you for another man, if you leave your wife because you don't like her, I don't care what it is. If you're sick, you've got to get out'

This poll, which is known as the most respected one, was conducted of 602 likely Democratic caucus-goers and 602 likely GOP caucus-goers from January 26-29. It has a margin of error of +/- four percent.
On Monday, Iowans will gather in homes, gymnasiums, libraries, taverns and even grain elevators for caucuses to select their favorite for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations.
When they are finished, the race will take on a new dynamic and several candidates are expected to drop out altogether.
'This is your time,' Cruz told a crowd of about 1,000 at a hotel ballroom. 'This is the time for the men and women of Iowa to make a decision. We are inches away.'



.

+9


Ted Cruz told a crowd of people during a campaign event at a hotel ballroom that 'This is your time. This is the time for the men and women of Iowa to make a decision. We are inches away'

Across the state, Trump used stagecraft and blasted Cruz to enliven the crowd as he barnstormed through eastern Iowa.
At the Dubuque airport, Trump's plane, with his name emblazoned on the side, did a fly-by before he spoke to a crowd of about 400, small by Trump standards.
'You've got to go out and caucus,' Trump told them. 'You've got to get out there. I don't care what happens.
'If your wife leaves you for another man, if you leave your wife because you don't like her, I don't care what it is. If you're sick, you've got to get out.'
While Trump made his remarks before the release of the Iowa poll, he noted that other polls have shown his lead in Iowa more tenuous than in other states.
'I'm not used to 5 points,' he said.

+9


On the Democratic side, former first lady Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders are locked in a close race. Above she is pictured with her daughter, Chelsea, at a campaign event in Carroll, Iowa Saturday

+9


Clinton received 45 percent support in the new poll, which is a three percent increase from the last poll conducted

While at his event in Ames, Cruz refrained from attacking Trump but the New York developer was not so circumspect.
He continued to suggest that Cruz may not be legally qualified to be president because he was born in Canada.
'How the hell can you run for president?' Trump said. 'Ted has a big problem.'
On the Democratic side, Clinton and Sanders, along with former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, agreed in principle to add four debates to their calendars,
Clinton's campaign said, although the Sanders campaign said there remained disagreements over where they should be held. If the campaigns can find agreement, the first will be next week in New Hampshire, contingent on approval by the Democratic National Committee.

+9


The Vermont senator received 42 percent, while Martin O'Malley dropped one percentage point down to three percent. Above Sanders is pictured in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at a rally on Saturday



.

 

[superbeets]

[h=1]MAKE AMERICA COLD AGAIN: Trump stages dramatic flyby in massive private jet and offers children the chance to run through the plane as hundreds hear their hero in the freezing wind[/h]

• Trump's iconic Boeing 757 flew past an open airport hangar where 1,000 fans gathered, as the theme music from 'Air Force One' played loudly
• He offered children under 10 the chance to 'run through the plane' but joked that parents couldn't come because they'd damage it
• Said 'it's hard to believe' the Democrats might nominate Hillary Clinton
• Blasted Fox News and said Thursday's debate was 'lousy' and 'Boring! Boring. It was a hard thing to watch, wasn't it?'
• Said a threatened blizzard could depress turnout on Monday and cost him a victory, but 'You're from Iowa! Are you afraid of snow?'

By DAVID MARTOSKO, US POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN DUBUQUE, IOWA
PUBLISHED: 20:27, 30 January 2016 | UPDATED: 02:52, 31 January 2016





Speaking on the frosted tundra of the Dubuque, Iowa regional airport, Donald Trump returned to Iowa to a hero's welcome as his hulking Boeing 757 staged a dramatic flyby before landing on a tiny airstrip.
Then he offered children the chance to run through the airplane.
'This is now crunch time!' he told screaming fans gathered at the mouth of a hangar. 'This is what it's all about. We have to get out there and caucus and do all the things we have to do, otherwise we've just wasted our time.'
Then he said he had 'a little bit of an idea,' asking if there were kids under age 10 present.
'Without their parents,' Trump insisted, 'we'll let them run through the plane!'
Scroll down for video

+4


ARE YOU AFRAID OF SNOW? Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump urged his supporters in Dubuque to support him in Monday's Iowa caucuses even if a blizzard hits the state

+4


HIGH DRAMA: Trump's private Boeing 757 touched down after staging a thrilling flyby while the theme music from the movie 'Air Force One' played over loudspeakers

Look, the parents are upset!' he laughed, likening the offer to the helicopter rides he offered children at last year's Iowa State Fair.
'I don't want he parents running through, because they'll damage it!' he laughed as moms and dads looked around nervously.
Trump's iconic plane made a dramatic flyby at the small airfield before landing in front of nearly 1,000 cheering supporters.
His campaign staff blared the theme music from the film 'Air Force One' as the plane, sporting massive letters spelling 'TRUMP,' zoomed past at low altitude and then climbed again – only to circle the airport before finally touching down.



.

The gathered Trumpeters could also hear radio chatter from air traffic controllers as they relayed landing instructions to John Dunkin, the Republican front-runner's longtime pilot.
'Don-ald! Don-ald! Don-ald!' they screamed as the aircraft door opened.
Trump said the United States government had just agreed to spend nearly one-third the amount of his net worth on a replacement for the official presidential aircraft.
'Three billion dollars they're spending on Air Force One!' he boomed.
'I guarantee we could do better. We could negotiate cheaper.'

+4


MAKE AMERICA COLD AGAIN: Temperatures hovered just south of 40 degrees Fahrenheit as Trump spoke into an open airport hangar where about 1,000 people had gathered

Trump did allow that 'it's time' to get a new Air Force Once 'because it's an older plane' with engines that 'spew' carbon emissions – 'if you believe in that to begin with.'
He mocked President Barack Obama for using the aging 747 to escape to Hawaii for holiday golfing vacations.


.
'Who wants to leave the White House for two or three weeks?' Trump asked, saying he would work harder and rest less.
Trump also took a jab at another Democrat – Hillary Clinton, the party's leading presidential contender who is enduring a fresh news cycle about 22 top-secret classified emails found among personal messages she once kept on a home-brew server..
'It's hard to believe, but it looks like she's going to get the nomination,' he said as a stiff breeze rippled his hair.
'They're not going to do anything about it!'
Iowans are accustomed to frigid winds blowing through their quadrennial political circuses.
Monday's caucuses, though, might see a new level of numbing weather.
Some forecasts are calling for as many as 20 inches of snow in parts of the state, making travel impossible on Tuesday.
If the storm comes early, it could affect turnout on caucus night, limiting participation to only those Iowans who are the most dedicated and motivated.
'If a lot of people come, Trump wins by a lot. If they don't come, I don't win!' he predicted on Saturday.
'Get out on Monday! Caucus! I think the storm's going to be on Tuesday. I hope.'
But 'supposing it's on Monday,' he mused aloud. 'You're from Iowa! Are you afraid of snow?
Iowa's polls, Trump noted, represented his smallest lead in any state where surveys have been taken.
'I'm leading only by five points!' he fretted. 'I'm not used to five points!'
Before Trump arrived, a campaign official threw dozens of 'Make America Great Again' winter hats to supporters clustered around a makeshift stage, under a pregnant shelf of cloud cover.
The entire event had the feel of improvisation, from the 'America's Got Talent' contestant who blasted the National Anthem, Jimi Hendrix-style, to the absence of an American flag for attendees to face while they recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
'Since we don't actually have a flag here, we're going to pretend we have one,' a master of ceremonies said.

+4


'CRUNCH TIME': Trump will make three campaign stops on Saturday, two on Sunday and two on Monday before settling in to see how devoted his screaming fans really are

But the political planning behind an event like Friday's lunchtime Iowa arrival made it anything but spontaneous.
Organizers handed out voter registration cards and caucus location guides. Police screened cars as they entered the airfield's seam-bursting parking lots.
'We've never seen anything remotely like this,' one officer told DailyMail.com. 'Never. Not at a little airport like this.'
Trump also mocked the Fox News Channel for sacrificing half of its audience by refusing his offer to participate in Thursday night's Iowa debate if the network donated $5 million to his veterans-charities fundraising efforts.
'They did about half the number they should have. They did 12 million,' he said, referring to the size of Fox's debate viewership.
He also dismissed reports that his decision to boycott the event was motivated by a feud with one of Fox's anchors.
'What's her name again, Megyn Kelly?' he asked. 'I don't care about her. What the hell difference does it make?'
'I wanted $5 million to go to our veterans. Actually, for awhile I thought they said yes.'
'It was a lousy debate anyway,' Trump claimed. 'Boring! Boring. It was a hard thing to watch, wasn't it?'


.

 

[superbeets]

[h=6]- JANUARY 30, 2016 -[/h][h=1]DONALD TRUMP LEADS TED CRUZ IN TOP IOWA POLL[/h]The New York Times
DES MOINES – Donald J. Trump has widened his edge against Ted Cruz in Iowa, according to a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll on Saturday that shows the billionaire gaining momentum right ahead of Monday’s caucuses.
The survey, considered the most authoritative poll of Iowa caucus-goers, found that 28 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers support Mr. Trump, while 23 percent back Mr. Cruz. Trailing the two leading candidates are Senator Marco Rubio at 15 percent and Ben Carson at 10 percent.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The results come as the Republican presidential candidates are crisscrossing Iowa in hopes of turning out their supporters and persuading remaining undecided voters to caucus for them.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders were battling for the lead position, with Mrs. Clinton getting the support of 45 percent of likely caucus-goers to Mr. Sanders’s 42 percent. Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor, trails them with just 3 percent.
Of Democrats who are planning to caucus, 30 percent say they could still be persuaded, while 45 percent of Republicans remain open to changing their minds.
Backed by evangelical Christians and social conservatives, Mr. Cruz, Senator of Texas, had surged to the top of the Iowa polls a month ago only to see his momentum dampened under sustained attacks from Mr. Trump. A poll from the same group in mid-January showed Mr. Cruz with a three-point lead.
For months the candidates had been been publicly friendly toward each other, but Mr. Trump has recently raised questions about the eligibility of the Canadian born Mr. Cruz to run for president and has assailed his lack of popularity in the senate. Mr. Cruz has largely sought to remain above the fray, but has been urging Iowans not to be lured by a candidate without a conservative record who will “burn” them if chosen as the Republican nominee.
Some political analysts suggested that Mr. Trump might have blunted his momentum by skipping the Republican presidential debate earlier this week. However, Saturday’s results show that his gamble appears to have paid off.
Most voters said they did not care about Mr. Trump missing the debate. However, the survey did show that some of the candidates’ attacks appear to be resonating. A majority of respondents said they were bothered by Mr. Trump’s previous pro-choice views and his use of eminent domain as a businessman.
Voters were also perturbed by Mr. Cruz’s failure to disclose loans he took from big banks during his senate run, but they did not seem to care about his Canadian roots.
Among the lower-tier Republican, candidates, the poll showed Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky with 5 percent support, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey with 3 percent, and Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio each with 2 percent. Mr. Christie, Mr. Bush and Mr. Kasich have focused their efforts on winning New Hampshire, visiting Iowa only sporadically.