News & Politics

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who backs Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination, is slamming Chris Christie for his surprise endorsement of Donald Trump and praising Cruz and Marco Rubio for exposing Trump’s weaknesses in Thursday’s debate.

The Christie news dominated political coverage Friday afternoon, shifting the attention of analysts and partisans from the dissecting the debate to interpreting what Christie’s move means for the GOP race.

Just weeks ago, Christie was slamming Trump for his call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration and not having the temperament to be president.  Trump responded in kind, by saying Christie acted like a “little boy” when he enthusiastically embraced President Obama after Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey just days before the 2012 elections.

So why are the two aligning forces now?

“I guess blustery liberal Republicans flock together.  In that sense, I can’t say that I’m altogether surprised,” said Cuccinelli, although he says Christie decision flies in the face of the argument he made for months on the campaign trail.

“I’m a little surprised that the guy who said, ‘Governors, governors, governors must be president, governors, governors, only governors,’ endorses someone never elected to anything or responsible for anything in government ever, while there’s a governor still in the race,” said Cuccinelli.

As much as the Christie endorsement puzzled Cuccinelli, the media’s treatment of the story nauseated him.

“The media is really failing the American people.  I sat at CNN with Wolf Blitzer for an hour today, with someone for Rubio and someone for Trump,” said Cuccinelli.  “We all sat there while they just played the Christie-Trump press conference.”

The same was true when Trump and Christie moved to a rally and it wasn’t just CNN.

“All the networks, droolingly and slobberingly covered this event live, all of them,” said Cuccinelli, specifically mentioned the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network.

He says no other GOP candidate gets that kind of exposure, including Rubio, whom Cuccinelli believes to be favored by the mainstream press.

But Cuccinelli was a big fan of Thursday’s debate on CNN, as Cruz and Rubio took every opportunity to level attacks on Trump on issue ranging from the hiring of illegal aliens to specifics on Obamacare to Trump’s ongoing praise for Planned Parenthood and his history of donating to Democrats.

“Trump had no substantive answer to any of this,” said Cuccinelli.  “Think about this the next time you’re watching the guy.  Listen for anything specific.”

Cuccinelli says besides Trump’s vow to build a wall along our border with Mexico, he rarely offers specifics but does promise to provide health care for anyone who cannot afford insurance, with would cost taxpayers an additional $300 billion per year.

Trump was also asked about releasing his tax returns and said he would once he is done being audited.  Cuccinelli says Trump’s reluctance shows he’s the worst possible candidate to face Hillary Clinton, who Republicans constantly pressure to release speech transcripts and emails kept on her private server.

“Openness is going to be absolutely critical.  Our nominee needs to be 100 percent totally open to prosecute the case of dishonesty and deception by Hillary Clinton.  Ted Cruz made the case last night that he can do that and Donald Trump cannot,” said Cuccinelli.

While backing Cruz, Cuccinelli says he enjoyed watching how much Rubio enjoyed taking it to Trump.  But in the wake of the debate, he says both candidates are acting juvenile.

“Their back and forth has been so childish. ‘Oh, look how he sweats at the debate.  He’s so nervous behind the curtain’ and ‘Look at this, he can’t even spell right in his tweets,” said Cuccinelli, who says Cruz relentlessly went after Trump, but always on substance.

He says Rubio and Trump are “doing nothing to advance the cause of liberty” with their current attacks.

But only one other candidate will likely have the chance to emerge from the rest of the pack to face Trump for the nomination.  Cuccinelli says he thinks Cruz in the best position.

“One of them has to break away in the delegate count.  I think you’re going to see that happen for Ted on Tuesday.  Ted is better positioned in more states than Rubio,” said Cuccinelli.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Ian Tuttle of National Review cheer the relentless assault of Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz on Donald Trump’s record and lack of policy details.  They groan as Chris Christie emerges to endorse Trump.  And they discuss Trump’s panicked response to Mitt Romney’s demand that Trump release his tax returns.

The Ben Carson presidential campaign is deflecting calls from the media and other Republicans for the retired neurosurgeon to get out of the 2016 race, saying the voters will make that decision and hoping they will choose values over volume.

Retired U.S. Army Maj. General Bob Dees is chairman of the Carson campaign.  He says there’s no reason to demand any candidates to get out of the race after only four contests.

“There’s a lot of pundits who say,  ‘John Kasich ought to get out or Ben Carson ought to get out or Ted Cruz ought to get out of the race so that my guy can win.’  We’ve got a democratic political process and we ought to follow it, rather than preordain who’s going to survive the gauntlet,” said Dees, who also serves as a top foreign policy adviser to Carson.

Dees says this is not some quixotic effort after four disappointing performances.  He says the supporters are there but there are challenges in turning that into electoral success.

“There’s a lot of pent-up enthusiasm out there.  Folks are voting with their feet everywhere but the polls.  We’re hopeful it’ll reflect in the polls as well.  We recognize that needs to happen sooner rather than later.  As Dr. Carson will tell his supporters, ‘If not now, then when and if not us, then who?'” said Dees.

He says the same obstacles apply in the scramble for delegates.

“The good news about Dr. Carson’s grassroots support is that it’s really across the country.  Sometimes we wish it were concentrated in one state so you win that state and you get all those delegates at once.  The reality is that’s not the way a grassroots movement of ‘We the People’ works,” said Dees.

While Dees is optimistic for better results soon, he’s not expecting any shockers on Super Tuesday, when voters in 14 states head to the polls.

“I don’t know where we might compete for the victory.  That’s hard to project,” said Dees, who believes Carson is gaining strength in Texas and other southern states leading up to Tuesday.

In the primaries and caucuses already concluded, analysts often break down the vote by tallying support for Carson, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz as the outsider vote and everyone else as the mainstream or establishment vote.  Dees rejects that classification.

“[Carson] is the only true outsider.  To suggest that Donald Trump is an outsider is a bit duplicitous because inside politically and inside with buying influence in that and that.  That’s just a matter of record,” said Dees.

He wasn’t done contrasting his candidate with Trump.

“The questions we have to ask the American people are, ‘Do we want volume or do we want values?  Do we want wisecracks or do we want wisdom?  Do we want wild proclamations or do we want common sense solutions with Dr. Ben Carson?’  That’s been his hallmark, including standing in front of President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast,” said Dees.

Carson has been stung by a few different developments in recent months.  One is his reluctance to join the rhetorical fray in the debates unless called upon or referenced.  Dees says Carson is happy to contrast himself with his opponents but will never get down into the mud.

“Dr. Carson will never change his character because that’s who he is.  He will never make personal attacks.  At the debates, I would not expect him to attack anyone, but if there’s a lot of gladiator jousts, it might become obvious to the American people who the real adult in the room is,” said Dees.

Another common analysis is that when the focal point of the campaign turned to ISIS late last year after attacks in Paris and California, that Carson was not up to speed on foreign policy.  Dees says that is completely untrue and that Carson has shown great instincts and common sense in their foreign policy sessions.

And he says Carson’s leadership skills are well established.

“Who’s had more 2 a.m. calls than Dr. Ben Carson?  Just consider who’s dealt with more life or death scenarios.  Consider who is truly steady in a crisis,” said Dees.

For him personally, Dees says it was easy for him to sign on to the Carson campaign at the very beginning, noting Carson’s honesty, integrity and faith.

“It’s who he is a as a person.  You can do a lot of things and he’s done a lot of things.  You can know a lot of things and he knows a lot of things but ultimately who is a person internally?  What is their internal moral compass?” asked Dees.  “Ben Carson is as steady as they come.”

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review see political upsides if Pres. Obama nominates and Senate Republicans refuse to consider Nevada GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval for the Supreme Court.  They also sigh as more chatter emerges that John Kasich should be the VP nominee for the Republicans.  And they slam millennials for not eating cereal because it requires them to wash the bowl.

A top Reagan administration official says Donald Trump is in the driver’s seat in the race for the Republican nomination and is successfully confounding his opponents, but he cautions that the contests with the highest stakes are still to come.

Trump has scored dominating wins in the past three contests, most recently a blowout win over Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz Tuesday in the Nevada caucuses.  In a record Nevada turnout, Trump collected almost 46 percent of the vote in a five-candidate race.  Rubio was a distant second at just under 24 percent.  Cruz finished with more than 21 percent, while Ben Carson and John Kasich managed only single digits.

“The current environment favors Mr. Trump.  The foremost factor advantaging his candidacy is the split field,” said Frank Donatelli, who worked on three presidential campaigns for Reagan and later served as the administration’s political director.

“As long as the field is split the way it is with so many candidates, Trump, with his hardcore supporters will continue to win caucuses and primaries,” he said.

In addition to the logistics of the campaign favoring Trump, Donatelli says the GOP front-runner brings a new dimension to this year’s race that many struggle to comprehend.

“The Trump campaign is clearly not a campaign motivated by ideology.  It’s motivated by an attitude and a persona of a candidate that’s larger than life.  There’s been a lot written about public affairs and entertainment coming together and you see that in the Trump campaign,” said Donatelli.

As a result, Trump’s past positions on issues or policy changes within the campaign are tough for his rivals to attack effectively.

“He does not have a clear set of positions.  The positions clash sometimes and sometimes he changes the position from speech to speech, but it doesn’t seem to bother his supporters because they’re not motivated by his views on specific issues.  They’re motivated by what they think he stands for,” said Donatelli.

So what can other candidates do to blunt the momentum of Trump’s string of wins and a rock-solid base that is not swayed by some evolving policy positions.

“How do you attack it?  Probably the best way to do it start beating him.  I think a big part of his appeal is that he appears to be inevitable,” said Donatelli.  “The way you handle that is to show that it’s not inevitable and that means who’ve got to come close or start winning.”

That may be tough to do.  Trump’s 46 percent showing in Nevada may be evidence that reducing the field to two or three candidates may not be enough to stop him, but Donatelli says that is the only hope Rubio, Cruz and the others have at this point.

“If one of the candidates is able to maneuver the situation so the field can be whittled down to three or ideally two candidates, then, depending on how many delegates remain to be selected, that is the time I think that candidate would have the advantage,” said Donatelli.

For that to happen, two or three other candidates will have to admit they need to quit in order to help another rival stop Trump.  Donatelli says all of the remaining rivals have too much invested to get out right away.

“These are candidates that have given years of their lives preparing for this time to run.  They also know this is an historical opportunity for the Republican nominee.  This should be a Republican year, given that they are the out party after eight years.  They’re going to want to hang in there until the very last minute before they decide to pack it in,” said Donatelli.

Donatelli says if the field can be winnowed in relatively short order, the remaining rival to Trump could have some additional advantages going forward, starting with the chasm in how GOP voters look at Trump.

“He does have passionate supporters but he’s got a very, very high negative, even among Republicans.  A lot of Republicans saying they just won’t support him.  He has a pretty high threshold but I still do think he has a low ceiling,” said Donatelli.

Another possible edge for the non-Trump candidate in a two-man race is the shifting primary calendar when it comes to delegate math.

“After March 15, the delegate selection rules change, so you go from proportional awarding of delegates to a winner-take-all by congressional district with some bonus delegates for state wins being thrown in,” said Donatelli.  “That’s the time when a candidate would have an opportunity to play catch-up if he could get Trump in that kind of race.”

Whether it’s four Republicans going after Trump or just one in the weeks ahead, what strategy would work?  Candidates who heavily criticized Trump, like Rick Perry, Rand Paul and Jeb Bush, are all on the sidelines now.

And, as Donatelli points out, the hands-off approach of waiting for Trump to self-destruct as been a bust as well.

“Cruz thought that if he played buddy-buddy with Trump that when Trump began to descend that he would pick up that support.  He’s sort of boxed in on that side now.  And not only Rubio but all the other so-called mainstream candidates spent a lot of time attacking each other, because they felt if they were the last man standing, they could be the one to get Trump one-on-one and it still hasn’t happened,” said Donatelli.

“Those are the strategic decisions you make in a presidential year.  Sometimes they work out, sometimes not,” said Donatelli.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review marvel at Donald Trump’s huge win in Nevada and start to winder if getting the race down to two candidates will even make a difference.  They also scold Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio for constantly trying to paint huge losses as proof that they are the one to take down Trump.  And they react to Donald Trump saying he loves the poorly educated.

President Obama is urging Congress to approve the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, allow for the transfer of remaining detainees to the U.S. and try them in U.S. courts.

In calling for the policy change, Obama said the move would save taxpayers money without compromising security.  In fact, Obama argues that America is less safe because of the facility.

“For many years, it’s been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security.  It undermines it,” said Obama Tuesday.  “This is not just my opinion.  This is the opinion of many in our military.  It’s counterproductive to our fight against terrorists because they use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit.”

Retired three-star U.S. Air Force Gen. Tom McInerney isn’t buying it.

“That absolutely false.  It’s like, ‘If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan.’  There is no truth to that whatsoever,” said McInerney.

McInerney, who rose to the third highest position in the Air Force, is also a Fox News military analyst.  He says we can’t be safer when 30 percent of the detainees released return to radical groups and continue their efforts to kill Americans and other enemies.

He says the existence of the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay doesn’t change the terrorists’ game plan one iota.

“They’re beheading people because of their radical ideology of radical Islam; the Koran, the Hadith and Sharia Law.  That’s what motivates those people, not because they’ve got people in Gitmo,” said McInerney.

The general  sees countless downsides to Obama trying to shutter the camp but is struggling to see any good reasons to do it.

“Why would we do this and encourage other future radical Islamists to think, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter if I’m captured, they’re not going to do anything to me?” said McInerney.

When asked to answer his own question, McInerney says Obama has committed a series of national security blunders that make the U.S. more vulnerable.

“I do not know why he did all the things he does.  Why did he exchange Sgt. (Bowe) Bergdahl for five four-star general equivalents?  Why did he not respond in Benghazi and send reinforcements?” said McInerney.  “Why did he flip to supporting radical Islamists in 2012?  I don’t have those answers except every one of them ends up with aiding and abetting the enemy.”

McInerney also referenced the Obama administration releasing more than $100 billion in frozen Iranian assets as part of the Iran nuclear deal, even as Secretary of State John Kerry admitted some of that money would likely sponsor terrorism.

Obama says the American people should be reassured that federal courts can handle most of the remaining cases originating from Guantanamo, but McInerney is outraged that Obama would extend the constitutional protections enjoyed by all citizens to our enemies.

“Why would we give them the rights of every American citizen?  That makes no sense.  What kind of president do we have that is basically aiding and abetting the enemy,” said McInerney.

Obama says access to American courts did not stop the convictions of would-be terrorists such as attempted shoe bomber Richard Reid, attempted Christmas Day underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and attempted Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.  He says they were found guilty and pose no threat to the U.S. even though they remain on our soil.

Does that assuage McInerney’s concerns?

“They were not caught on the battlefield.  If you’re caught on the battlefield then you should be treated appropriately.  We didn’t let the German and Japanese POW’s go before the end of World War II, did we?” asked McInerney.

He says closing Guantanamo would be a huge mistake.

“Who knows?  We may have to put a lot more in there depending how the situation goes in the Middle East.  We ought to keep them there for the rest of their lives until the war is over.  We should not be releasing any of them,” said McInerney.

Obama will travel to Cuba in March to highlight the restoration of diplomatic relations between the long-estranged countries.  One of the conditions the U.S. imposed for improved ties was for Cuba to radically improve its human rights record.  That has not happened and Cuba now says it not only wants the detention camp shut down but that it wants the U.S. Navy to abandon Guantanamo Bay altogether.

While the administration has said that’s not on the table, McInerney fears Obama may be open to that.

“I do believe he is and that’s why he’s trying to get that number (of detainees) down.  We don not want to give Guantanamo back.  That is a valuable piece of real estate, even if it isn’t a prison.  It was a very important naval gunnery range that we had for many years.  So we should not want to give that back,” said McInerney.

 

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review relish watching Joe Biden’s 1992 Senate speech in which he tells President George H.W. Bush not to nominate anyone for the Supreme Court in an election year or it would do lasting damage to the Senate.  They also slam President Obama for pushing forward with his demand to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.  And they wonder why John Kasich is still running for president.

Donald Trump romped to an easy win in the South Carolina primary by being “ruthlessly honest” and reassembling the coalition of voters that gave Ronald Reagan two landslide presidential wins.

That’s the analysis of former South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Van Hipp, who is also the author of “The New Terrorism:  How to Fight It and Defeat It.”

On Saturday, Trump claimed all 50 Republican delegates at stake by winning statewide and in each of the Palmetto State’s congressional districts.  Trump scored more than 32 percent of the vote.  Marco Rubio edged Ted Cruz for second, but both were ten points behind Trump.  The rest of the field finished much lower, leading Jeb Bush to end his campaign after coming in a distant fourth place.

Trump defied expectations through the campaign in South Carolina, even winning a plurality of the evangelical vote.  The state is staunchly conservative and Trump’s conservative bona fides are regularly questioned.  So how did he win so convincingly?

“He won it not only with evangelicals but with national security conservatives and with economic conservatives.  These folks may have been angry but it looks a whole lot like the old Reagan coalition,” said Hipp.

“He’s connecting with these people and, whether you agree with him or not, regardless of whether you’re for someone else, you’ve got to look at how he did it.  He’s bringing new people into the Republican Party.  He’s bringing in the old independents and the Reagan Democrats,” said Hipp.

Cruz was banking heavily on not only winning but dominating the evangelical vote.  Instead, more than 30 percent went with Trump, who has publicly stated he has never asked God for forgiveness.

Hipp says it’s not that evangelicals think Trump is the strongest Christian in the GOP field, but that he is the one who is resonating with the voters over their greatest concerns.

“One very prominent Southern Baptist minister who endorsed him last week said it best, that he is ruthlessly honest.  People want someone (like that) right now.  They’re fed up with the government.  They’re fed up with politicians.  They want someone who is ruthlessly honest,” said Hipp.

Another minister echoed a similar sentiment in a conversation with Hipp.

“He said, ‘Look, I may not want the guy to be my pastor.  There are other people who would be a better Sunday School teacher.  But right now, we don’t need someone who will just slow down the death of America.  We need someone who’s going to make the tough decisions and call it like it is and show us some tough love and save this country,'” recounted Hipp.

Beyond Trump’s ability to win over voters thought to be more aligned with other candidates, Hipp says the campaign was well organized in all parts of the state and seemed to top notch in its voter data efforts.

“I think we can learn a whole lot, whether you’re a grassroots conservative activist or an establishment Republican.  Mitt Romney sure could have used this kind of advice in 2012, because we had so many people who didn’t turn out to vote who were conservatives,” said Hipp.

He says tactics like Trump organizers getting as many people as possible to vote via absentee ballots showed a level of sophistication many had not expected.

“We didn’t do that in 2012.  Obama did that in 2012.  I think he’s looked at how Obama did it, using technology, how he connects to the iPhone, how he built up a huge lead withe absentees.  That’s how you’re going to beat Hillary Clinton,” said Hipp.

He also credited Trump for getting his team into South Carolina very early and organizing well.

Where does that leave the rest of the field?  Hipp says Saturday’s results “wounded” Cruz, who seemed to be a good ideological fit for the state and kept lofty expectations all the way to election day.

“It’s tough to spin a third place finish when the day before you were saying, ‘This is going to look a lot like Iowa.’  It did not look a lot like Iowa.  South Carolina is different.  It is much more representative of the Republican and conservative electorate nationwide because you’ve got social conservatives, economic and national security conservatives,” said Hipp, noting the primary winner is almost always the eventual GOP nominee.

As for Rubio, Hipp says finishing second is a boost but it doesn’t change the most glaring statistic facing the senator’s campaign.

“He gets a boost but at some point he’s got to start winning.  I think they felt they had an outside chance to win in South Carolina,” said Hipp.

Hipp believes Rubio got a boost from the endorsement of Gov. Nikki Haley but he believes another endorsement made an even bigger difference.

“She definitely helped but let’s face it.  The most popular conservative in any red state in America is Sen. Tim Scott.  He made a big difference.  I think he gave him a lot of momentum going into Saturday,” said Hipp.

Nevada Republicans will weigh in on the 2016 race Tuesday and then Super Tuesday on March 1 could be decisive factor in the fate of the Cruz campaign.  Hipp sees another nomination-defining race just two weeks later.

“Florida’s going to be a defining moment.  That’s Rubio’s home state.  Trump has done very well there in the polls.  I think the winner in Florida is going to tell us an awful lot,” said Hipp.

Republican voters who don’t like Trump are increasingly anxious to winnow the field down to one strong alternative who can defeat the front-runner and the Democrats in November.  But would that strategy work and can the field shrink in time for that candidate to make up ground on Trump?

Hipp thinks it’s possible but warns the opportunity is quickly fading for someone to dent Trump’s momentum.  If Trump is the nominee, Hipp believes Trump will have an easier time uniting Republicans towards November than his critics suggest.

“If you look at the fact he’s getting out Reagan Democrats and independents that we need to win and he’s getting social conservatives, economic conservatives and national security conservatives, that sounds an awful lot to me like Ronald Reagan’s winning coalition,” said Hipp.

“But I do think it’s going to be important for him to have someone on the ticket.  If he were the nominee, he’s going to need somebody like a Rubio or a (Ohio Gov. John) Kasich as his vice president,” said Hipp.

 

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review clap for Jeb Bush for realizing he needed to get out of the GOP race.  They also groan as the Republican race appears to be shaping up to be a Trump win or a giant mess.  And they marvel at the media declaring Hillary’s win in Nevada as proof she is now the inevitable nominee.