[h=1]Pathetic: Rick Perry Supports Donald Trump and Open to Being His VP[/h][h=2][/h]By: Jay Caruso | May 5th, 2016 at 10:00 PM | 64
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It’s pathetic how quickly some people will change their minds. Rick Perry was one of the first Republicans to stand up and say, “No” when Donald Trump burst on to the scene. He recognized Trump for the fraud that he is and although he had to drop out early, he knew told people what damage Trump would do to conservatism.
To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. All this does is lend credibility to those who say, “Oh most Republicans will come around. They’ll support Trump at some point.”
Claiming somebody is a “cancer on conservatism” is not just a political statement. It’s taking a stand against a person you don’t think should be anywhere near the White House. This notion that the “process” dictates what one is supposed to do is absurd.
Shame on you, Governor Perry.
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It’s pathetic how quickly some people will change their minds. Rick Perry was one of the first Republicans to stand up and say, “No” when Donald Trump burst on to the scene. He recognized Trump for the fraud that he is and although he had to drop out early, he knew told people what damage Trump would do to conservatism.
Back in July of 2015 Rick Perry said the following in a speech:
Let no one be mistaken – Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded.
It cannot be pacified or ignored, for it will destroy a set of principles that has lifted more people out of poverty than any force in the history of the civilized world – the cause of conservatism.
I feel so strongly about this because I believe conservatism is the only way forward for this country.
I will not go quiet when this cancer on conservatism threatens to metastasize into a movement of mean-spirited politics that will send the Republican Party to the same place it sent the Whig Party in 1854: the graveyard.
And now? This:It cannot be pacified or ignored, for it will destroy a set of principles that has lifted more people out of poverty than any force in the history of the civilized world – the cause of conservatism.
I feel so strongly about this because I believe conservatism is the only way forward for this country.
I will not go quiet when this cancer on conservatism threatens to metastasize into a movement of mean-spirited politics that will send the Republican Party to the same place it sent the Whig Party in 1854: the graveyard.
Rick Perry would be open to being the vice presidential candidate on a ticket with Donald Trump, CNN reported Thursday.
“I will be open to any way I can help. I’m not going to say no,” the former governor of Texas and two-time presidential candidate told Dana Bash, who recounted a phone conversation she had with Perry earlier that day on “Erin Burnett Outfront.”
“Rick Perry just told me on a phone call from his home state in Texas that he does support Donald Trump and that he’s going to do everything he can to help Donald Trump get elected,” Bash reported.
“He said that he believes in the process and the process meaning the voters inside the Republican electorate clearly said Trump should be the guy and he is going to follow that process.”
Seriously, man? When you announced for President, you had Marcus Luttrell standing by your side. Trump is the guy who mocked war prisoner John McCain.
Trump goes from a clown who mocks veterans and a “cancer” to somebody he endorses and would run with?“I will be open to any way I can help. I’m not going to say no,” the former governor of Texas and two-time presidential candidate told Dana Bash, who recounted a phone conversation she had with Perry earlier that day on “Erin Burnett Outfront.”
“Rick Perry just told me on a phone call from his home state in Texas that he does support Donald Trump and that he’s going to do everything he can to help Donald Trump get elected,” Bash reported.
“He said that he believes in the process and the process meaning the voters inside the Republican electorate clearly said Trump should be the guy and he is going to follow that process.”
Seriously, man? When you announced for President, you had Marcus Luttrell standing by your side. Trump is the guy who mocked war prisoner John McCain.
To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. All this does is lend credibility to those who say, “Oh most Republicans will come around. They’ll support Trump at some point.”
Claiming somebody is a “cancer on conservatism” is not just a political statement. It’s taking a stand against a person you don’t think should be anywhere near the White House. This notion that the “process” dictates what one is supposed to do is absurd.
Shame on you, Governor Perry.
Jindal: ‘My Vote’s For Trump’
STEVE GUEST
Media Reporter
Bobby Jindal, Sean Hannity, Screen Shot Fox News, 5-3-2016
Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says he will “support” and “vote” for Donald Trump in a massive departure from his critical comments about Trump earlier in this election cycle.
In an interview wish Fox News’s “Hannity” on Tuesday night, Jindal called on people to vote for Trump arguing, “I would encourage all those conservatives and Republicans out there, we’ve had eight, now it’s almost eight awful years under President Obama. We can’t afford four more years under Hillary Clinton.”
Host Sean Hannity asked Jindal if he would work for Trump in his administration to which the Jindal replied, “Look, I’m not looking for a job in the Trump administration. I’m going to support him and vote for him.”
Hannity interjected, “That’s not what I’m asking. If he called to ask you to serve and it was a position you thought you could help in, let me ask the question that way.”
“Look, again, he is not going to call me to serve after some of the things I have said,” Jindal claimed.
“I think he might actually,” Hannity said. “Don’t be surprised. The phone will ring right after this interview.”
“I don’t want a job in the next administration,” Jindal insisted. “But I am going to support him. I am going to vote for him.”
Later, Jindal said, “If you want to see this country become each more dependent on government and more in debt if, then go and vote for Hillary Clinton. Otherwise– it’s binary now. It’s Trump or Clinton, my vote’s for Trump.”
This is a major departure from what Jindal had argued against Trump when he was still running for president this cycle. (RELATED: Bobby Jindal: Trump Hasn’t Read The Bible Because ‘He’s Not In it’)
In a speech in September of 2015, Jindal called Trump among other things “dangerous,” “a narcissist,” “an egomaniac,” “unserious” and a “gift” to the Democrats.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/04/jindal-my-votes-for-trump/#ixzz47qsyiAb1
[h=1]Jindal: Trump 'a madman who must be stopped'[/h]
By Mark Hensch
4.2K
6
“Sane conservatives need to stop enabling him,” Jindal wrote in an op-ed published by CNN.
“They need to stop praising him, stop being afraid of him and stop treating him rationally,” he said.“Conservatives need to say what we are thinking: Donald Trump is a madman who must be stopped,” added Jindal, himself a Republican White House hopeful.
Jindal argued that Trump is duping voters by seeking to present himself like former President Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail.
“Like a kid in a superhero costume, Trump compares himself to Ronald Reagan, wearing the Gipper’s slogan on his forehead as if he just thought of it,” he wrote, referencing Trump’s frequent insistence that he will “make America great again.”
“But whereas Reagan was a terrible entertainer and a great statesman, Trump is a great entertainer who would be a terrible statesman,” the Louisiana governor added.
Jindal also said that letting Trump become the Republican nominee would virtually guarantee a Democratic victory in the general election next year.
“The problem with Donald Trump is that he will never be president,” he asserted. “His nomination as the Republican candidate would gift the White House to Hillary Clinton.”Failure to speak out against Trump is an endorsement of Clinton.”
“If you want to stick it to the man so badly that you are willing to see Clinton win, vote for Trump,” Jindal added. “But if you want a politically conservative revolution, I’m the guy who can lead it.”
Jindal began assailing Trump’s campaign during a scathing address at the National Press Club in Washington last week.
Trump countered by stating that he only responds to “people that register more than 1 percent in the polls.”
Jindal ranks 14th out of 16prominent Republican White House hopefuls, with less than 1 percent, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average..
Trump, in contrast, commands first place with the support of 29.8 percent of Republican voters nationwide.
Media Reporter
1:08 AM 05/04/2016
Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says he will “support” and “vote” for Donald Trump in a massive departure from his critical comments about Trump earlier in this election cycle.
In an interview wish Fox News’s “Hannity” on Tuesday night, Jindal called on people to vote for Trump arguing, “I would encourage all those conservatives and Republicans out there, we’ve had eight, now it’s almost eight awful years under President Obama. We can’t afford four more years under Hillary Clinton.”
Host Sean Hannity asked Jindal if he would work for Trump in his administration to which the Jindal replied, “Look, I’m not looking for a job in the Trump administration. I’m going to support him and vote for him.”
Hannity interjected, “That’s not what I’m asking. If he called to ask you to serve and it was a position you thought you could help in, let me ask the question that way.”
“Look, again, he is not going to call me to serve after some of the things I have said,” Jindal claimed.
“I think he might actually,” Hannity said. “Don’t be surprised. The phone will ring right after this interview.”
“I don’t want a job in the next administration,” Jindal insisted. “But I am going to support him. I am going to vote for him.”
Later, Jindal said, “If you want to see this country become each more dependent on government and more in debt if, then go and vote for Hillary Clinton. Otherwise– it’s binary now. It’s Trump or Clinton, my vote’s for Trump.”
This is a major departure from what Jindal had argued against Trump when he was still running for president this cycle. (RELATED: Bobby Jindal: Trump Hasn’t Read The Bible Because ‘He’s Not In it’)
In a speech in September of 2015, Jindal called Trump among other things “dangerous,” “a narcissist,” “an egomaniac,” “unserious” and a “gift” to the Democrats.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/04/jindal-my-votes-for-trump/#ixzz47qsyiAb1
[h=1]Jindal: Trump 'a madman who must be stopped'[/h]
By Mark Hensch
4.2K
6
Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) said on Tuesday that conservatives could only win in 2016 by abandoning GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.“Sane conservatives need to stop enabling him,” Jindal wrote in an op-ed published by CNN.
“They need to stop praising him, stop being afraid of him and stop treating him rationally,” he said.“Conservatives need to say what we are thinking: Donald Trump is a madman who must be stopped,” added Jindal, himself a Republican White House hopeful.
Jindal argued that Trump is duping voters by seeking to present himself like former President Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail.
“Like a kid in a superhero costume, Trump compares himself to Ronald Reagan, wearing the Gipper’s slogan on his forehead as if he just thought of it,” he wrote, referencing Trump’s frequent insistence that he will “make America great again.”
“But whereas Reagan was a terrible entertainer and a great statesman, Trump is a great entertainer who would be a terrible statesman,” the Louisiana governor added.
Jindal also said that letting Trump become the Republican nominee would virtually guarantee a Democratic victory in the general election next year.
“The problem with Donald Trump is that he will never be president,” he asserted. “His nomination as the Republican candidate would gift the White House to Hillary Clinton.”Failure to speak out against Trump is an endorsement of Clinton.”
“If you want to stick it to the man so badly that you are willing to see Clinton win, vote for Trump,” Jindal added. “But if you want a politically conservative revolution, I’m the guy who can lead it.”
Jindal began assailing Trump’s campaign during a scathing address at the National Press Club in Washington last week.
Trump countered by stating that he only responds to “people that register more than 1 percent in the polls.”
Jindal ranks 14th out of 16prominent Republican White House hopefuls, with less than 1 percent, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average..
Trump, in contrast, commands first place with the support of 29.8 percent of Republican voters nationwide.
[h=2]Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer[/h]On Tuesday night, the former press secretary for President George W. Bush announced he would be voting for Donald Trump, but just hours earlier he had been accusing Trump of lying about Iraq and getting away with it.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Bush's handling of Sept. 11 and the invasion of Iraq.
And this summer, Fleischer compared Trump to a car wreck: “Donald Trump is like watching a roadside accident,” Fleischer told POLITICO. “Everybody pulls over to see the mess. And Trump thinks that’s entertainment. But running for president is serious. And the risk for the party is he tarnishes everybody."
Trump has repeatedly criticized Bush's handling of Sept. 11 and the invasion of Iraq.
And this summer, Fleischer compared Trump to a car wreck: “Donald Trump is like watching a roadside accident,” Fleischer told POLITICO. “Everybody pulls over to see the mess. And Trump thinks that’s entertainment. But running for president is serious. And the risk for the party is he tarnishes everybody."
Rubio: Trump Is a Dangerous Con Man, and He’ll Have My Vote
By Jonathan Chait
Follow @jonathanchait
Photo: Alex Wong / StaffThe most important moment in Thursday night’s campaign came on the final question, when the three non-Trump candidates were all asked if they would support him as the nominee. They replied that they would, even though Rubio has made “NeverTrump” a slogan for his campaign. Rubio should have used the slogan “InconceivableTrump,” so that Inigo Montoya could correct him. (“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”)
The strength and weakness of Trump’s campaign is his ability to create a separate reality. In Trump’s world, there are no logical principles other than “Donald Trump is a winner,” no concrete facts that cannot be bent to suit the maximal principle. This is a limitation because anybody who refuses to enter Trump’s alternate reality — say, a person who is reasonably well-informed about public policy — finds it terrifying. But it is also a strength because, for those who choose to live in Trump’s world, literally nothing he says can reflect badly upon him, because if it was bad, Trump wouldn’t be doing it.
Moderator Megyn Kelly attempted to penetrate the internal logic of Trumpworld by showing clips of him contradicting himself flagrantly. Every previous debate has shown Trump violating the rules of logic. This one showed it as clearly as any. Those previous debates also failed to yield any decline in Trump’s polling. The same result is likely to follow. For the people nestled inside Trumpworld, “Trump loses” is an oxymoron.
More clearly than ever before, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio positioned themselves distinctly to Trump’s ideological right, hammering him for having donated to Democrats, failing to embrace the maximalist interpretation of the Second Amendment, and being fond of compromise. Trump seemed happy to let himself occupy the center.
The roots of Rubio’s failure to disavow Trump — thus repudiating the entire basis for his claim that Trump is a sociopathic con man — could be seen in an earlier answer about Flint, Michigan. Rubio was asked, “Without getting into the political blame game here, where are the national Republicans' plans on infrastructure and solving problems like this?” His answer has to be read in its entirety to be understood:
This belief system has been the strength of Rubio’s campaign. It is as open as Trump’s internal logic is closed — at least to anybody committed to the party. Rubio has run as the pan-Republican candidate, identifying the consensus position on every issue and locating himself there. That stance has made him widely acceptable. And it is the logic he instinctively fell back on in his final answer, when he was asked very simply if he meant what he said about Trump. Rubio did not mean it — Rubio would never turn against the party.
By Jonathan Chait
Follow @jonathanchait
Photo: Alex Wong / StaffThe most important moment in Thursday night’s campaign came on the final question, when the three non-Trump candidates were all asked if they would support him as the nominee. They replied that they would, even though Rubio has made “NeverTrump” a slogan for his campaign. Rubio should have used the slogan “InconceivableTrump,” so that Inigo Montoya could correct him. (“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”)
The strength and weakness of Trump’s campaign is his ability to create a separate reality. In Trump’s world, there are no logical principles other than “Donald Trump is a winner,” no concrete facts that cannot be bent to suit the maximal principle. This is a limitation because anybody who refuses to enter Trump’s alternate reality — say, a person who is reasonably well-informed about public policy — finds it terrifying. But it is also a strength because, for those who choose to live in Trump’s world, literally nothing he says can reflect badly upon him, because if it was bad, Trump wouldn’t be doing it.
Moderator Megyn Kelly attempted to penetrate the internal logic of Trumpworld by showing clips of him contradicting himself flagrantly. Every previous debate has shown Trump violating the rules of logic. This one showed it as clearly as any. Those previous debates also failed to yield any decline in Trump’s polling. The same result is likely to follow. For the people nestled inside Trumpworld, “Trump loses” is an oxymoron.
More clearly than ever before, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio positioned themselves distinctly to Trump’s ideological right, hammering him for having donated to Democrats, failing to embrace the maximalist interpretation of the Second Amendment, and being fond of compromise. Trump seemed happy to let himself occupy the center.
The roots of Rubio’s failure to disavow Trump — thus repudiating the entire basis for his claim that Trump is a sociopathic con man — could be seen in an earlier answer about Flint, Michigan. Rubio was asked, “Without getting into the political blame game here, where are the national Republicans' plans on infrastructure and solving problems like this?” His answer has to be read in its entirety to be understood:
Well, I know I've talked about it, and others in our campaign have talked about it, and other candidates have talked about it, as well. What happened in Flint was a terrible thing. It was systemic breakdown at every level of government, at both the federal and partially the — both the state and partially at the federal level, as well.
And by the way, the politicizing of it I think is unfair, because I don't think that someone woke up one morning and said, "Let's figure out how to poison the water system to hurt someone."
(APPLAUSE)
But accountability is important. I will say, I give the governor credit. He took responsibility for what happened. And he's talked about people being held accountable ...
(APPLAUSE)
... and the need for change, with Governor Snyder. But here's the point. This should not be a partisan issue. The way the Democrats have tried to turn this into a partisan issue, that somehow Republicans woke up in the morning and decided, "Oh, it's a good idea to poison some kids with lead." It's absurd. It's outrageous. It isn't true.
(APPLAUSE)
All of us are outraged by what happened. And we should work together to solve it. And there is a proper role for the government to play at the federal level, in helping local communities to respond to a catastrophe of this kind, not just to deal with the people that have been impacted by it, but to ensure that something like this never happens again.
Asked to avoid the blame game and offer specific solutions to urban-infrastructure problems, Rubio is unable. He conceives of the question entirely in partisan terms. He attacks the notion that Republicans consciously decided to poison children, thereby ruling out any possibility of government negligence as self-evidently preposterous. He has nothing resembling a specific idea on the issue, only the firm conviction that Republicans could not have done anything wrong.And by the way, the politicizing of it I think is unfair, because I don't think that someone woke up one morning and said, "Let's figure out how to poison the water system to hurt someone."
(APPLAUSE)
But accountability is important. I will say, I give the governor credit. He took responsibility for what happened. And he's talked about people being held accountable ...
(APPLAUSE)
... and the need for change, with Governor Snyder. But here's the point. This should not be a partisan issue. The way the Democrats have tried to turn this into a partisan issue, that somehow Republicans woke up in the morning and decided, "Oh, it's a good idea to poison some kids with lead." It's absurd. It's outrageous. It isn't true.
(APPLAUSE)
All of us are outraged by what happened. And we should work together to solve it. And there is a proper role for the government to play at the federal level, in helping local communities to respond to a catastrophe of this kind, not just to deal with the people that have been impacted by it, but to ensure that something like this never happens again.
This belief system has been the strength of Rubio’s campaign. It is as open as Trump’s internal logic is closed — at least to anybody committed to the party. Rubio has run as the pan-Republican candidate, identifying the consensus position on every issue and locating himself there. That stance has made him widely acceptable. And it is the logic he instinctively fell back on in his final answer, when he was asked very simply if he meant what he said about Trump. Rubio did not mean it — Rubio would never turn against the party.
Nikki Haley takes on Donald Trump
Donald Trump is driving the Republican Party into the abyss. Can Nikki Haley pull it back?
Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, talks of immigrants as rapists and women as bimbos and appeals to the angry white man. He invokes the “silent majority,” employs racial dog whistles and picks fights with everybody, but conspicuously with two well-known broadcasters, a Latino and a woman.
Then there is Haley, young and charismatic, often mentioned as a vice presidential prospect. The child of Indian immigrants, she is the first woman and the first member of a minority group to be governor of South Carolina. She responded admirably and forcefully to the police killing in her state of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, and she championed legislation to put cameras on police officers statewide — the first of its kind.
She wept with the mourners after a massacre at a black church in Charleston, and she led the subsequent effort to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol grounds. She told her children about Cynthia Hurd, one of the Charleston victims, whose motto was to “be kinder than necessary.”
“That’s now my life motto,” Haley, 43, said Wednesday afternoon.
Nobody ever mistook that for Trump’s motto. And Haley, although kinder than she needed to be, visited Washington on Wednesday with some sharp words for the man who has become the party’s standard-bearer.
“Every time someone criticizes him, he goes and makes a political attack back,” Haley said when asked about Trump during an appearance at the National Press Club. “That’s not who we are as Republicans. That’s not what we do.”
Americans, Haley said, “want to know they’re sending someone up to the White House that’s going to be calm and cool-tempered and not get mad at someone just because they criticize him. We would really have a world war if that happens.”
She also had advice for Trump on his immigration stance, which includes ending birthright citizenship and building a wall along the Mexican border.
“Republicans need to remember that the fabric of America came from these legal immigrants,” she said. “If you want to talk about tackling illegal immigration, then let’s talk about it, but we don’t need to attack so many millions of people who came here . . . and did it the right way, like my parents.”
Haley wasn’t finished. “Why are you going all the way to this side and talking about birthright citizenship when you haven’t even talked about illegal immigration itself?” she asked. “Are you as a candidate going to commit to putting troops along the border?” She also cited the high cost of drones, planes, and detention and deportation capabilities, which would be needed. Concluded the governor: “Don’t say you’re just going to build a wall, because a wall’s not going to do it.”
It was at times implicit and at times explicit, but it was clearly a rebuke of Trump from a lonely voice of tolerance within the party. More of this is needed, and fast, if the GOP is to avoid Trump’s siren call to alienate everybody but the party’s shrinking demographic base. Jeb Bush is finally challenging Trump, but for being insufficiently conservative. Trump’s rivals remain hesitant to condemn his winks at bigotry.
Haley is no squish. A darling of the tea party movement when she was first elected in 2010, she noted Wednesday her support for voter I.D. laws, which are often viewed as a way to suppress African American voters, and she blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for fomenting violence. But she offered a conciliatory racial message that could be a balm for a party alienating more non-white Americans by the day with its outlandish presidential contest.
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Thought-provoking opinions and commentary, in your inbox daily.
She spoke of the discrimination her family faced when she was young, and of the need for an “equality agenda” for African Americans. “There still remain the unfinished goals of the civil rights movement, and the civil rights movement is a critical part of the American movement, and the American story. It’s a movement in which every person regardless of their skin color is treated equally under the law.”
Citing the rapid move to prosecute Walter Scott’s killer and her successful effort to remove the Confederate flag, she asked for better behavior from her fellow Republicans. “The problem for our party is that our approach often appears cold and unwelcoming to minorities,” she said. “That’s shameful and that has to change. . . . It’s on us to communicate our positions in ways that wipe away the clutter of prejudices.”
Maybe those battling to lead the Republican ticket will take a cue from their would-be running mate.
[h=1]Nikki Haley signals support for Trump[/h]By DANIEL STRAUSS
05/04/16 05:56 PM EDT
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday tried to dispel any speculation that she would be Donald Trump's running mate, but she also signaled she would support him in the general election.
"I have great respect for the will of the people, and as I have always said, I will support the Republican nominee for president," Haley said Wednesday, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. "To the members of the press who are asking, while I am flattered to be mentioned and proud of what that says about the great things going on in South Carolina, my plate is full and I am not interested in serving as vice president."
Haley's comments came a day after Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the GOP primary for president and the same day that Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced that he was ending his campaign, leaving front-runner Trump on a certain course for the Republican nomination.
Haley has often been mentioned as a vice presidential prospect. She previously supported Sen. Marco Rubio and then Cruz after Rubio dropped out of the primary.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-...nikki-haley-donald-trump-222819#ixzz47ry3B95O
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
Donald Trump is driving the Republican Party into the abyss. Can Nikki Haley pull it back?
Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, talks of immigrants as rapists and women as bimbos and appeals to the angry white man. He invokes the “silent majority,” employs racial dog whistles and picks fights with everybody, but conspicuously with two well-known broadcasters, a Latino and a woman.
Then there is Haley, young and charismatic, often mentioned as a vice presidential prospect. The child of Indian immigrants, she is the first woman and the first member of a minority group to be governor of South Carolina. She responded admirably and forcefully to the police killing in her state of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, and she championed legislation to put cameras on police officers statewide — the first of its kind.
She wept with the mourners after a massacre at a black church in Charleston, and she led the subsequent effort to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol grounds. She told her children about Cynthia Hurd, one of the Charleston victims, whose motto was to “be kinder than necessary.”
“That’s now my life motto,” Haley, 43, said Wednesday afternoon.
Nobody ever mistook that for Trump’s motto. And Haley, although kinder than she needed to be, visited Washington on Wednesday with some sharp words for the man who has become the party’s standard-bearer.
“Every time someone criticizes him, he goes and makes a political attack back,” Haley said when asked about Trump during an appearance at the National Press Club. “That’s not who we are as Republicans. That’s not what we do.”
Americans, Haley said, “want to know they’re sending someone up to the White House that’s going to be calm and cool-tempered and not get mad at someone just because they criticize him. We would really have a world war if that happens.”
She also had advice for Trump on his immigration stance, which includes ending birthright citizenship and building a wall along the Mexican border.
“Republicans need to remember that the fabric of America came from these legal immigrants,” she said. “If you want to talk about tackling illegal immigration, then let’s talk about it, but we don’t need to attack so many millions of people who came here . . . and did it the right way, like my parents.”
Haley wasn’t finished. “Why are you going all the way to this side and talking about birthright citizenship when you haven’t even talked about illegal immigration itself?” she asked. “Are you as a candidate going to commit to putting troops along the border?” She also cited the high cost of drones, planes, and detention and deportation capabilities, which would be needed. Concluded the governor: “Don’t say you’re just going to build a wall, because a wall’s not going to do it.”
It was at times implicit and at times explicit, but it was clearly a rebuke of Trump from a lonely voice of tolerance within the party. More of this is needed, and fast, if the GOP is to avoid Trump’s siren call to alienate everybody but the party’s shrinking demographic base. Jeb Bush is finally challenging Trump, but for being insufficiently conservative. Trump’s rivals remain hesitant to condemn his winks at bigotry.
Haley is no squish. A darling of the tea party movement when she was first elected in 2010, she noted Wednesday her support for voter I.D. laws, which are often viewed as a way to suppress African American voters, and she blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for fomenting violence. But she offered a conciliatory racial message that could be a balm for a party alienating more non-white Americans by the day with its outlandish presidential contest.
Opinions newsletter
Thought-provoking opinions and commentary, in your inbox daily.
She spoke of the discrimination her family faced when she was young, and of the need for an “equality agenda” for African Americans. “There still remain the unfinished goals of the civil rights movement, and the civil rights movement is a critical part of the American movement, and the American story. It’s a movement in which every person regardless of their skin color is treated equally under the law.”
Citing the rapid move to prosecute Walter Scott’s killer and her successful effort to remove the Confederate flag, she asked for better behavior from her fellow Republicans. “The problem for our party is that our approach often appears cold and unwelcoming to minorities,” she said. “That’s shameful and that has to change. . . . It’s on us to communicate our positions in ways that wipe away the clutter of prejudices.”
Maybe those battling to lead the Republican ticket will take a cue from their would-be running mate.
[h=1]Nikki Haley signals support for Trump[/h]By DANIEL STRAUSS
05/04/16 05:56 PM EDT
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday tried to dispel any speculation that she would be Donald Trump's running mate, but she also signaled she would support him in the general election.
"I have great respect for the will of the people, and as I have always said, I will support the Republican nominee for president," Haley said Wednesday, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. "To the members of the press who are asking, while I am flattered to be mentioned and proud of what that says about the great things going on in South Carolina, my plate is full and I am not interested in serving as vice president."
Haley's comments came a day after Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the GOP primary for president and the same day that Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced that he was ending his campaign, leaving front-runner Trump on a certain course for the Republican nomination.
Haley has often been mentioned as a vice presidential prospect. She previously supported Sen. Marco Rubio and then Cruz after Rubio dropped out of the primary.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-...nikki-haley-donald-trump-222819#ixzz47ry3B95O
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
Long Island Rep. Peter King among Republicans horrified by Donald Trump
BY LEONARD GREENE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, March 1, 2016, 9:38 PM
Long Island's Republican Rep. Pete King says he might have to get out of politics if Donald Trump is his party’s nominee.
“Maybe I’ll become a reporter for the Daily News,” King quipped. “Listen, it’s not going to happen. Right now I’m just focusing on Marco Rubio becoming the nominee. I’m not going beyond that.”
But as the hypothetical moves dangerously close to actuality, King joined a squadron of GOP leaders on the front lines of an internal party showdown.
While wait-and-see party loyalists like King aren’t ready to say “never,” at least one Republican senator is shouting it from the top of the U.S. Capitol.
Sen. Ben Sasse said Sunday he won’t vote for Donald Trump if the billionaire and GOP presidential front-runner becomes his party’s nominee.
“If Trump becomes the Republican nominee my expectation is that I’ll look for some third candidate — a conservative option, a constitutionalist,” Sasse, a first-term senator from Nebraska, tweeted Sunday night.
An Associated Press survey of GOP senators and governors showed just under half of respondents would not commit to backing Trump if he is the nominee. Their caution foreshadowed what could be an extraordinary split in the party this fall.
“Right now, we are in a very dangerous place,” said former Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said there will be a frenzy among Republicans to stop Trump from winning the nomination.
“I don’t think the frenzy will work, and if it doesn’t, then both Trump and the Republican leadership — the traditional leadership — face a big decision,” Gingrich told Fox News.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who recently reemerged to predict “a bombshell” in Trump’s tax returns, called the candidate’s failure to immediately condemn former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke’s endorsement “repugnant and disgusting.”
Trump even has some white supremacists shaking their heads.
“I do not support Donald Trump, but I do support the CHAOS he brings in his wake,” said Tom Metzger, founder of the White Aryan Resistance. “David Duke is, as always, an ambulance chaser and has ruined careers several times before, just to build a mailing list.”
One senator was kicking himself for not dismissing Trump sooner.
“These are challenging times for the Republican Party,” said Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who endorsed Rubio last week.
“Those that care deeply, as myself, probably should have been engaged earlier in trying to show that Donald Trump is not the right one to lead the conservative movement and to lead our party.”
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Reps. Peter King, Lee Zeldin endorse Donald Trump for president
Updated May 4, 2016 6:50 PM
By Tom Brune tom.brune@newsday.com
Rep. Lee Zeldin endorsed Donald Trump on Wednesday, as has Rep. Peter King. (Credit: Newsday / Karen Wiles Stabile)
WASHINGTON — Long Island’s Republican congressmen, Peter King and Lee Zeldin, endorsed Donald Trump after the New York entrepreneur and reality TV star effectively clinched the nomination as the Republican presidential candidate on Wednesday.
BY LEONARD GREENE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, March 1, 2016, 9:38 PM
JIM COLE/AP
“Maybe I’ll become a reporter for the Daily News,” King quipped. “Listen, it’s not going to happen. Right now I’m just focusing on Marco Rubio becoming the nominee. I’m not going beyond that.”Long Island's Republican Rep. Pete King says he might have to get out of politics if Donald Trump is his party’s nominee.
“Maybe I’ll become a reporter for the Daily News,” King quipped. “Listen, it’s not going to happen. Right now I’m just focusing on Marco Rubio becoming the nominee. I’m not going beyond that.”
But as the hypothetical moves dangerously close to actuality, King joined a squadron of GOP leaders on the front lines of an internal party showdown.
While wait-and-see party loyalists like King aren’t ready to say “never,” at least one Republican senator is shouting it from the top of the U.S. Capitol.
Sen. Ben Sasse said Sunday he won’t vote for Donald Trump if the billionaire and GOP presidential front-runner becomes his party’s nominee.
“If Trump becomes the Republican nominee my expectation is that I’ll look for some third candidate — a conservative option, a constitutionalist,” Sasse, a first-term senator from Nebraska, tweeted Sunday night.
An Associated Press survey of GOP senators and governors showed just under half of respondents would not commit to backing Trump if he is the nominee. Their caution foreshadowed what could be an extraordinary split in the party this fall.
“Right now, we are in a very dangerous place,” said former Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota.
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“You’ve got a con man and a bully who is moving forward with great speed to grab the party’s mantle to be its standard bearer,” the Republican, who backs Rubio, told the AP. “That’s almost incomprehensible.”Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said there will be a frenzy among Republicans to stop Trump from winning the nomination.
“I don’t think the frenzy will work, and if it doesn’t, then both Trump and the Republican leadership — the traditional leadership — face a big decision,” Gingrich told Fox News.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who recently reemerged to predict “a bombshell” in Trump’s tax returns, called the candidate’s failure to immediately condemn former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke’s endorsement “repugnant and disgusting.”
Trump even has some white supremacists shaking their heads.
“I do not support Donald Trump, but I do support the CHAOS he brings in his wake,” said Tom Metzger, founder of the White Aryan Resistance. “David Duke is, as always, an ambulance chaser and has ruined careers several times before, just to build a mailing list.”
One senator was kicking himself for not dismissing Trump sooner.
“These are challenging times for the Republican Party,” said Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who endorsed Rubio last week.
“Those that care deeply, as myself, probably should have been engaged earlier in trying to show that Donald Trump is not the right one to lead the conservative movement and to lead our party.”
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Reps. Peter King, Lee Zeldin endorse Donald Trump for president
Updated May 4, 2016 6:50 PM
By Tom Brune tom.brune@newsday.com
Rep. Lee Zeldin endorsed Donald Trump on Wednesday, as has Rep. Peter King. (Credit: Newsday / Karen Wiles Stabile)
WASHINGTON — Long Island’s Republican congressmen, Peter King and Lee Zeldin, endorsed Donald Trump after the New York entrepreneur and reality TV star effectively clinched the nomination as the Republican presidential candidate on Wednesday.
