March 3, 2016

Written by Juliana Simone

Everyone’s read or heard the results by now:

Businessman Donald Trump won seven states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.  The numbers vary, but according to the New York Times, Trump now has 319 delegates, gaining 237 Tuesday night. He was in the lead before Super Tuesday with 81 delegates from wins in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Iowa.

Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz won three: Alaska, Oklahoma and Texas. He now has 226 delgates, with a gain of 209. The state of Texas on Super Tuesday, had the largest amount of delegates to award at 155. Cruz, like Rubio, going into Super Tuesday were tied with 17 delegates each. It’s interesting Alaska went for Cruz, when their former Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, had just endorsed Trump for President. But Cruz was also endorsed by Palin, and she stumped for his Senate win in Texas.

Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio finally won one something with a win in Minnesota, which was a caucus and not a primary. He also was able to inflate his flagging delegate numbers from 17 to 110 with Tuesday returns. He came in second in Virginia, losing to frontrunner Trump by 3%.

Kasich came in second in Vermont with 30% of the votes tallied after Trumps 33%. He gained six votes yesterday, coming into this important primary day with 19 delegate votes. He now has 25.

Revered Dr. Ben Carson did not win a state and with Super Tuesday had eight delegates, and gained three at the final count for a total of eleven delegates. These results produced a statement from his campaign released this afternoon:

I have decided not to attend the Fox News GOP Presidential Debate tomorrow night in Detroit.  Even though I will not be in my hometown of Detroit on Thursday, I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America.  I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results. However, this grassroots movement on behalf of “We the People” will continue. Along with millions of patriots who have supported my campaign for President, I remain committed to Saving America for Future Generations. We must not depart from our goals to restore what God and our Founders intended for this exceptional nation.

I appreciate the support, financial and otherwise, from all corners of America.  Gratefully, my campaign decisions are not constrained by finances; rather by what is in the best interests of the American people.

I will discuss more about the future of this movement during my speech on Friday at CPAC in Washington, D.C.

So what do these results mean? For starters, the assault on Donald Trump by the RNC and its leadership, in addition to the state party leaders who quickly tow the line, is really a disgrace and more proof the Republican Party will never be able to pick the candidate who can actually win an election when it comes to our nations’ highest office. It’s more important to them to control the choice, regardless of what their actual registered voters believe, so they can maintain power and essentially keep their jobs.

This history with party leadership, is what has led the public to casting so many votes for any anti-establishment candidate. For those U.S. citizens paying attention, they are choosing Trump, to yes, as his campaign slogan states, “make America great again.” Tired of politics as usual, with the elected officials driving around in their limos, flying to events in chartered jets, staying safe with their security details, and living the high life on taxpayer’s dimes attending cocktail parties and cutting occasional ribbons at some local event to keep it real with their actual constituents, the general public is sick of this decades old pattern, and want someone from the outside who does not drink from this well.

The media has blatantly been against Trump from the beginning, way back to the first Republican Presidential primetime debate in August of 2015, with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly foaming at the mouth on her first question to Trump.  She addressed him believing she was still a prosecutor, not mentally making the transition she was now simply a debate moderator and journalist, who should not appear biased. Thinking their daily diatribe could quickly eliminate him that evening, or soon after time, they’ve dug deeper as his popularity has grown.

The only Republican candidate they perhaps despise more than Trump, is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who dropped out of the race for the nomination more recently. Christie, a strong, bright alpha-male who made it clear to the media on assuming office during his press conferences, he was not going to address their questions that bore only progressive agenda for a daily soundbite. As a result, they made a mountain out of a mole hill on a non-story, that involved a Christie staffer who organized two lanes on the Tappan Zee Bridge being closed for a short while during rush hour, when in the media’s view,  the Mayor of Fort Lee, a Democrat, did not endorse Christie for President.

This high profile story dictated by the media, actually makes no sense since no Republican, or few and far between, would expect any Democrat to endorse the Republican candidate over their own party’s candidate for any office. Nevertheless, the staffer was fired, and Christie, who always maintained he knew nothing of the call to the DOT, was cleared of all charges in this small incident. The mainstreammedia, however, dragged it out for weeks as a top news story.

Guns still aimed at Christie, his endorsement of Trump couldn’t have been better news for the media’s narrative…it kept him in their sights while they were lamenting his pulling out of the race, so he could no longer be daily fodder for their vitriol.

To their delight, Christie stood behind Trump on stage Tuesday evening, which oddly allowed collective hours of commentary ensued on how Christie even appeared in the background. Totally bizarre. Rush Limbaugh noted this today, as well, during his nationally syndicated talk radio show, and asked, well, what was he supposed to do?

To anyone normal watching, obviously not jumping jacks. I suppose like so many anchors on network shows, the botox could have kicked in, and he could have worn a frozen smile or stern frown.

Voters should see what the media has done to Christie over his years in service as a Governor, a candidate for the President of the United States, and now colleague of Donald Trump, that this is what they will continue to do to anyone anytime unless things change in Washington. More importantly, voters should notice how there is hardly any equal time given to Democrat President nominee Hillary Clinton, who is laden with so many scandals, the dedicated broadcast time could fill at least a year of discussion.

Moving on to Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who is placing second in the Republican challenge, and like Trump, is controversial in that his party does not want him to get the nomination either, as someone who bucks the status quo of how things get done in Washington. Cruz, has his devoted fans and an education a minority of Americans will achieve. Most reading this piece know his history, as Canadian born to an American mother and Cuban father, a Harvard Law graduate who went on to be the captain of the Harvard debate team, earning the highest of praise from even Professor Alan Dershowitz, a staunch liberal,who publicly acknowledges Cruz is one of the best debaters he’s ever seen.

The negatives with Cruz today, are some foul play outcries from competing campaigns that say he has used social media, robo calls and public remarks to mislead voters prior to primary dates in hopes of switching their votes. His likability is also considered, as D.C. colleagues argue he does not get along with any of his fellow legislators and has few allies there. Cruz supporters would say this is a good thing. How this resonates with voters and delegates is a more serious concern.

Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, as of Super Tuesday, had the one state of Minnesota under his belt, interestingly the only state Ronald Reagan did not win in his landslide victory in 1984. For someone perceived by party insiders and Rubio himself, as the candidate most like Reagan, this is an odd note. Minnesota also chose Democrat candidate Bernie Sanders over the presumed nominee Hillary Clinton. Rubio is under-performing among voters despite the push he’s getting from Washington and party supporters. His answer to this, he told the press as polls closed, was it did not matter as only the delegate count at the Republican convention mattered, so he was staying in the race because it was up to the delegates to pronounce the nominee, not the people.

This comment, illustrates how voters in terms of party nominees, have little to do with who the nominee is that appears on the ballot. In published stories weeks ago, former First Lady, New York State Senator and SOS Hillary Clinton, already had the Democrat superdelegates sewn up in the bag, so it ultimately didn’t matter how much of the youth vote competitor Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders had, or how many states he eventually wins during the primary process. He will not win the nomination at the National Democrat Convention. The fix is in for Hillary and had been before Bernie even knew that much about the process.

The question is, will Sanders supporters roll over in the traditional democrat way regardless of outcome, and just say, ‘­­­­­­okay, not happy it’s not Bernie, but we’ll just vote for Hillary instead.’­­­­­

1,237 delegate votes are needed at the Republican Convention. Although even higher numbers were expected for Trump on Super Tuesday, he still was way ahead of any contender even with the RNC and their state leaders nipping at his heels.

In terms of funding, anyone who has ever worked or volunteered for a campaign, or their state party, a primary argument for choosing a nominee is always the money – who has the most funds or can raise the most funds to use them to get elected?

Many unqualified candidates have been given the nod because they could bankroll their campaign regardless of outcome. Additionally, the usual party insiders with multiple lost races on their resumes, can be rehired or business contracts can be signed that will leverage support and votes.

With Trump, within the Republican Party, has anyone heard mention of how much money he has to spend? How he could even top the Clinton’s with all of their questionable donations to their foundation and typical donators like George Soros and other liberals? The only large treasure chest the public ever heard about on the Republican side was former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s, who spent over one hundred million dollars for naught.

He had the Bush family influence behind him, but in regards to the so-called political wizards backing him, they somehow failed to recognize what the general public did. In a Bush vs. Clinton race, Clinton would win – no matter how damaged a candidate she is, for two reasons.

One, the mainstream media hammered the Bush name for years, tarnishing it among the younger generations and uniformed voters, however wrongful the message was, and two, the mainstream media will never hammer the Clinton’s on the innumerable crimes, lies and corruption under any elected office they’ve held, or Hillary alone on anything unethical that’s plagued her throughout her career even before ever going to Washington.

For once, the Republican Party establishment needs to stop meddling with the nominee and start endorsing the candidate favored by the public. Their current excuse for not standing behind Trump is because if he wins the nomination, the U.S. Senate and Congress will lose the majority’s they hold today. But to anyone who follows politics, we’ve seen the majority gifted to these legislators in the past two elections, has amounted to little to nothing.

The power they were bestowed they did not act upon, and left them lamely and publicly shrugging their shoulders, basically asking, what can we do? So, this argument holds no water at all. Ultimately, it just sounds like they’re worried about keeping their jobs and the luxurious lifestyle that goes along with it. So much for “We the people…”

The momentum from the GOP establishment to stop Trump is in full swing.

Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, competition for the nomination for President with Trump, spent every moment speaking in public up to Super Tuesday, insulting Donald Trump with words and comments that made him look anything but Presidential. With catty remarks about Trump’s bad spray tan and small hands, he also continually calls the successful businessman and Wharton Business School grad, a con-artist. Rubio, is not problem free and should have taken a higher road to appeal to the public.

On Super Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, came out publicly to pick up the media’s latest anti-Trump message that former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke had endorsed him, and basically say the Republican Party could not have anyone as their nominee who did not reject any group that is built on bigotry, as the party of Lincoln. The story turned out to be false, like so many mainstream media attack pieces, with Duke himself saying he’d never even endorsed Trump. Regardless, Trump said innumerable times in every venue, including a press conference he disavows any endorsement from Duke.

This Thursday morning, 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, also took a turn at trying to tear Trump down from becoming the nominee, and urged voters to vote for three good candidates still in the race: Rubio, Cruz or Kasich. “Dishonesty is Donald Trump’s homework,” Romney said, giving examples of contradicting statements the front-runner has made on what he’s supported over the years. Romney scolded Trump for his insults, conduct, use of profanity, and lack of conservatism.

Romney has demanded Trump release his tax returns. Romney said it’s an issue to him personally, since he was repeatedly asked to produce his tax returns when he was running. In tweets on Twitter, Romney has called Trump a phony and a fraud and claims his domestic policies would put the nation into recession. One tweet included this: “He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.”

Critics of Romney making these tweets and calling for this press conference today, wonder why Romney never came out this strongly against his Democrat opponent in 2012, Barack Obama, and if he had, maybe he’d be President today and would have spared the country of four more years of Obama’s bad policies.

Remember when Romney was running for President, he was happy to receive Donald Trump’s endorsement and had completely contrary things to say about Trump at that time, in that they were all positive. For me, Romney is just another Republican doing the Democrat’s work for them and another who failed to honor Reagan’s eleventh commandment where no Republican should speak ill or another Republican.

We’ll have to see what else Washington will pull out of their hat next as they continue to attack the popular front-runner. An older argument the GOP maintains today, is that Trump’s background is a problem. I’ll take his background over Hillary Clinton’s any day.

Lastly, “likability.” A very important component to anyone who knows or works in politics and something that still holds fast and true. If you don’t have it, it does not matter how long your resume is, how many colleagues you have in D.C., how much money you have, or how hard you try…the public either likes you or they don’t. True, Trump has his haters, but Clinton certainly does, too. As the only Republican candidate bringing in cross-over votes from democrats and independents, which are unquestionably needed to win the general election in November, clearly he has many more supporters than adversaries.