The Front Page Cover
2016 The truth will set you free
Featuring:
Mr. liar-Trump Goes to Washington
by Peggy Noonan
~~~
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liar-HILLY’S EMAIL LINE DOESN’T WORK
liar-Hilly Clinton's often used line that her use of private email was acceptable has run into a problem due to a newly released State Department report.
In true liar-Clintonian fashion her campaign is sticking with that defense in rebutting a State Department watchdog group’s audit released Wednesday that said the former secretary “did not comply with the Department’s policies” in using a private server. The audit also said that had the Department known about the server they would not have given its blessing because of “security risks in doing so.”
Whether or not security was compromised remains to be seen. liar-Clinton’s FAQ’s page claims there wasn’t a breach, but the hacker known as “Guccifer,” who was indicted on Wednesday for other identity theft charges, claims he did access liar-Clinton’s private server, though he has refused to provide evidence of such a hack. The State Department audit did not find specific evidence of a breach, but notes that the liar-Clintons’ outside I.T. consultant twice shut down her home-based server because he feared that someone was trying to hack the system.
While a separate FBI investigation continues to loom over liar-Clinton, the fallout from the report is likely to send liar-Clinton’s already poor numbers on honesty and trustworthiness down even further as she fights a two-front war with Donald liar-Trump and Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders.
The audit’s findings play right into liar-Trump’s repeated characterization of “Crooked liar-Hilly” and makes Sanders’ backers even more infuriated with her in a nominating process they already feel is corrupt.
All the while, liar-Clinton has continued to cast a narrative of the scandal as a Republican witch hunt designed to cast her candidacy in a bad light. As WaPo’s Chris Cillizza points out, “That’s a very hard story to sell, given that the current inspector general was appointed by President nObama.”
With editorials using terms like, “inexcusable,” and phrases like, “proof of her deceptions,” hitting the presses, how long the liar-Clinton camp can maintain her current line of defense is questionable.
Short of an indictment this is about as bad as things have yet to get in liar-Hillyland. And though few are questioning her security of the nomination, how she maneuvers her way out of this will be very telling of the general election back-and-forth yet to come. -Fox News
liar-Hilly Clinton's often used line that her use of private email was acceptable has run into a problem due to a newly released State Department report.
In true liar-Clintonian fashion her campaign is sticking with that defense in rebutting a State Department watchdog group’s audit released Wednesday that said the former secretary “did not comply with the Department’s policies” in using a private server. The audit also said that had the Department known about the server they would not have given its blessing because of “security risks in doing so.”
Whether or not security was compromised remains to be seen. liar-Clinton’s FAQ’s page claims there wasn’t a breach, but the hacker known as “Guccifer,” who was indicted on Wednesday for other identity theft charges, claims he did access liar-Clinton’s private server, though he has refused to provide evidence of such a hack. The State Department audit did not find specific evidence of a breach, but notes that the liar-Clintons’ outside I.T. consultant twice shut down her home-based server because he feared that someone was trying to hack the system.
While a separate FBI investigation continues to loom over liar-Clinton, the fallout from the report is likely to send liar-Clinton’s already poor numbers on honesty and trustworthiness down even further as she fights a two-front war with Donald liar-Trump and Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders.
The audit’s findings play right into liar-Trump’s repeated characterization of “Crooked liar-Hilly” and makes Sanders’ backers even more infuriated with her in a nominating process they already feel is corrupt.
All the while, liar-Clinton has continued to cast a narrative of the scandal as a Republican witch hunt designed to cast her candidacy in a bad light. As WaPo’s Chris Cillizza points out, “That’s a very hard story to sell, given that the current inspector general was appointed by President nObama.”
With editorials using terms like, “inexcusable,” and phrases like, “proof of her deceptions,” hitting the presses, how long the liar-Clinton camp can maintain her current line of defense is questionable.
Short of an indictment this is about as bad as things have yet to get in liar-Hillyland. And though few are questioning her security of the nomination, how she maneuvers her way out of this will be very telling of the general election back-and-forth yet to come. -Fox News
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The Judge's Ruling: The Seriousness of Lawyers' Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano describes several instances when government officials and attorneys lied to judges during legal cases or investigations: “The problem of lawyers lying to judges is extremely serious. Our system of litigation -- lawyers present facts and argue about laws, and judges rely on the truthfulness of what the lawyers have told them -- is built on trust. Because lawyers know the facts in their cases more intimately than judges do, judges rely on lawyers to tell them the truth.” -Fox News
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Syrian Quagmire Delays Hizballah's
Pursuit of Ultimate Objective
by Yaakov Lappin
by Yaakov Lappin
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{investigativeproject.org} ~ Abrutal Sunni-Shi'ite war is raging across the Middle East, and the Lebanese terror organization Hizballah, originally formed to wage jihad on Israel, now finds itself in the middle... Hizballah is a formidable component of the Middle East's Iranian-led Shi'ite axis. The axis is a transnational network of allies and proxies that once was focused on fomenting attacks on Israel. It still does that, but the axis is primarily engaged in an altogether different, day-to-day fight against Sunni organizations, as well as against the Sunni states like Saudi Arabia that back some of these groups. This war is raging in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and other battlegrounds, and it has reshaped the Middle East, making it almost unrecognizable. For example, in the second half of the 20th century, Syria often would send military forces into Lebanon to dominate it. Today, Lebanese Hizballah formations dominate and shape events inside Syria... http://www.investigativeproject.org/5388/syrian-quagmire-delays-hizballah-pursuit#
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Of Metro and missile defense
by Jon Bergner
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by Jon Bergner
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{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ If you are a resident of Washington, D.C., you are bearing witness to decades of neglect that have thrown the area's Metro system into a downward dysfunctional cycle... With a safety and reliability record worthy of a third-world transit system, residents are struggling to understand what happened to their once-celebrated Metro. The answer is a lifetime of shortsighted decisions by officials who failed to spend the necessary time, energy and resources on the maintenance and improvement of a complicated mechanical system. The reasons for Metro's decline are legion: A tradition of managerial and employee incompetence and even corruption at WMATA; a lack of effective oversight and direction by a multi-jurisdictional board; and no dedicated funding stream like other major metropolitan subway systems enjoy. All of this has led to a culture of politically calculated decision-making, underfunding, corner-cutting and attempting to do more with less. While extending service and neglecting repairs and upgrades, Metro has been able to keep up appearances while in fact the system was in steep decline... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/of-metro-and-missile-defense/article/2592438?utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI&utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI%20-%2005/27/16&utm_medium=email
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VA falsely declares thousands of Veterans dead,
then it gets WORSE…
by Allen West
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{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ OK, is Veterans Affairs Secretary McDonald still in the position? Ya know, a simple call by President nObama from Vietnam or Japan could’ve taken care of this situation... However, as we originally pointed out, nObama embraces the same sentiment in comparing Veterans waiting for medical care to waiting for a ride at Disneyland. How utterly despicable, but yet expected from this administration. Well, here’s something else I suppose you can find happening at the nearest amusement park — according to McDonald and nObama. As reported by the Washington Examiner: Department of Veterans Affairs officials wrongly declared 4,201 veterans as deceased when they were still living, and stripped them of their benefits between 2011 and 2015... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/va-wrongly-declared-4201-veterans-as-deceased-cut-off-benefits/article/2592229
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{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ OK, is Veterans Affairs Secretary McDonald still in the position? Ya know, a simple call by President nObama from Vietnam or Japan could’ve taken care of this situation... However, as we originally pointed out, nObama embraces the same sentiment in comparing Veterans waiting for medical care to waiting for a ride at Disneyland. How utterly despicable, but yet expected from this administration. Well, here’s something else I suppose you can find happening at the nearest amusement park — according to McDonald and nObama. As reported by the Washington Examiner: Department of Veterans Affairs officials wrongly declared 4,201 veterans as deceased when they were still living, and stripped them of their benefits between 2011 and 2015... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/va-wrongly-declared-4201-veterans-as-deceased-cut-off-benefits/article/2592229
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New State Department Audit Disqualifies liar-Hilly Clinton From Running For President
by Tony Elliott
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{freedomoutpost.com} ~ A State Department audit released 05/26/2016 faults liar-Hilly Clinton in stating that her and her team ignored clear guidance from the State Department that her private email use in sensitive government matters broke Federal standards and could leave sensitive materials vulnerable to hackers... The Inspector General's review goes on to say hacking attempts forced then Secretary of State liar-Clinton off of using email at one point in 2011. The 78-page analysis, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, says liar-Clinton ignored clear directives. She never sought approval to conduct government business over private email, and never demonstrated that the server or the Blackberry she used while in office "met minimum information security requirements." Twice in 2010, information management staff at the State Department raised concerns that liar-Clinton's email practices failed to meet federal records-keeping requirements. The staff's director responded that liar-Clinton's personal email system had been reviewed and approved by legal staff, and that "the matter was not to be discussed any further." By Federal law, this means liar-Hilly Clinton is ineligible to run for President, according to 18 U.S.C. § 2071(b), which states:... http://freedomoutpost.com/new-state-department-audit-disqualifies-hillary-clinton-from-running-for-president/
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Public Debate: The Bible and the Qur’an:
Which One Should We Trust? Tony Costa vs. Sadat Anwar
by Tony Costa
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{jude3.wordpress.com} ~ On Saturday April 23, 2016 I had the great pleasure of engaging with my good friend Sadat Anwar of the Muslim Debate Initiative on the topic of the Bible and the Qur’an at the Toronto Thinking Conference 2016... The event was hosted by the Network of Christian Scholars, Apologetics Canada and a number of other Christian ministry groups. I began by listing a number of points regarding the Bible, its textual history, the different types of genres that it contains (narrative, prophecy, poetry, apocalyptic, etc) and most importantly that the Bible is not just one book. Rather, the Bible is a collection of 66 books, a divine encyclopedia if you will of 66 volumes. It was written during a 1600 year period by over 40 different authors, some were contemporaneous with each other, others were not, and that the Bible came down to us in 3 languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The Bible was not written in one place, but in different geographical locations (Babylon, Persia, Israel, Greece, to name a few). The amazing reality about the Bible is how all these various texts came together under the one rubric of “the Bible”. The ultimate focus of the Bible is Jesus Christ, thus the Bible is Christocentric and also Christotelic (having Christ as its goal and end). Jesus Himself recognized this when He said... https://jude3.wordpress.com/2016/05/15/public-debate-the-bible-and-the-quran-which-one-should-we-trust-tony-costa-vs-sadat-anwar/
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Jihadists stockpiling explosives in EU, says Europol
by Pamela Geller
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{pamelageller.com} ~ “We have some information reported by the member states that terrorists groups are trying to establish large clandestine stockpiles of explosives in the European Union to be used eventually in large scale home attacks,” he said... Paniagua was briefing MEPs in the civil liberties committee on the yet-to-be published EU Terrorism Situation & Trend Report (TE-SAT) compiled by Europol and member states. The report is set for publication in a few weeks’ time. Paniagua cited figures and broader conclusions due in the report, noting that “jihadist terrorism” remains the top threat to security in the European Union. The latest attacks in the EU suggest much better coordination among the terrorists than previously thought. He said their combined use of explosives and firearms was also a novelty and a threat that is evolving rapidly... http://pamelageller.com/2016/05/jihadists-stockpiling-explosives-in-eu-says-europol.html/
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liar-Trump’s God Fraud is Revealed,
Exposed, and … Sigh
by Caleb Howe
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{redstate.com} ~ Dr. Ben Carson was lately fired from Donald liar-Trump’s Vice Presidential selection committee for, it seems, letting too much slip when speaking to the media... so it’s not hard to imagine that soon he’s going to lose his new job of pitching liar-Trump as a man of faith to men and women of faith, considering his latest oopsie: outing liar-Trump as a faith faker. Dr. Carson, who is in fact demonstrably a practitioner of his faith, gave a sit-down interview with The Hill and revealed the unsurprising “secret” seemingly inadvertently and without guile. You don’t have to care if Donald liar-Trump is a Christian. You ought to care if he a dirty liar who used Christianity on the campaign trail to exalt himself and debase others. That’s something you should care about. Yes, even you, “I’m about stopping liar-Hilly” voters. He’s caught. As inconvenient as it is for your cause that he’s a filthy liar, he’s caught. He’s caught holding the Bible high and using it to lie. That’s your guy. Congratulations... http://www.redstate.com/absentee/2016/05/28/through-ben-carson-donald-trumps-god-fraud-is-revealed-exposed-and-sigh/?utm_source=rsmorningbriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
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nObama and liar-Clinton Are Double Agents
Working for the CIA and the KGB
by Dave Hodges
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{thecommonsenseshow.com} ~ Since America was founded on principles related to personal and national sovereignty, one would expect our sitting Presidents to reflect this spirit. In actuality, nObama stands for everything outside the American culture... He has opened our borders to terrorist incursions. He has promoted controversial LGBT lifestyles as superior to that of traditional American values in which marriage is a matter of one woman and one man. He has taken steps to limit the practice of Christianity in the American military, while promoting the religion of Islam at the same time. He has refused to admit persecuted Coptic Christians to the United States under the Refugee/Resettlement program, while admitting unscreened Muslims from a part of the world who traditionally hate the United States. I could go on, but these facts speak for themselves. Unfortunately, for America, nObama does not just hold traditional American values in contempt, he holds our national sovereignty and national security in contempt as well. The remainder of this article will make the case that President nObama is an absolute traitor to the people of the United States. He is determined to see America fall...
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Medicare Cuts Killing Seniors
by Betsy McCaughey
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{amac.us} ~ President nObama’s Medicare cuts are killing seniors. His health law changed Medicare, adding bonuses for hospitals that spend the least per senior. The result?... Hundreds of hospitals are skimping on care to win bonuses. Seniors at these hospitals aren’t getting the right antibiotic or other treatments they need. They’re dying from pneumonia, heart attacks and heart failure at higher rates than patients in other hospitals that provide more care. So much for nObama’s promise that cutting Medicare wouldn’t harm seniors. News of the deaths at low spending hospitals, reported in Health Affairs, comes just as GOP front-runner Donald liar-Trump meets with House Speaker Paul Ryano. Medicare cuts are on the long list of policy disagreements between the two Republicans. liar-Trump pledges not to cut Medicare. Ryano and GOP members of Congress are pushing to repeal nObamacare but want to keep nObama’s Medicare cuts... http://amac.us/medicare-cuts-killing-seniors-2/
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Red Tape Rising 2016:
nObama Regs Top $100 Billion Annually
by James L. Gattuso and Diane Katz
by James L. Gattuso and Diane Katz
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{heritage.org} ~ The nObama Administration is responsible for an unparalleled expansion of the regulatory state, with the imposition of 229 major regulations since 2009 at a cost of $108 billion annually using the regulatory agencies’ own numbers. The actual costs are far greater... both because costs have not been fully quantified for a significant number of rules, and because many of the worst effects—the loss of freedom and opportunity, for example—are incalculable. The need for reform is urgent. The White House, Congress, and federal agencies routinely breach legislative and even constitutional boundaries, and increasingly dictate lifestyle choices rather than focusing on public health and safety. Immediate reforms should require legislation to undergo an analysis of regulatory impacts before a floor vote in Congress, and require congressional approval of each major regulation before it can take effect. Sunset deadlines should be set in law for all major rules, and independent agencies should be subject—as are executive branch agencies—to the White House regulatory review process... http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2016/05/red-tape-rising-2016-obama-regs-top-100-billion-annually
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Mr. liar-Trump Goes to Washington
by Peggy Noonan
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{peggynoonan.com} ~ What is needed among Republicans in Washington now is patience, soberness of thought, and a kind of heroic fairness. Reflection and humility wouldn’t hurt either.
One of our two great parties is either shattering or reconstituting itself. It is not united and has not been since the George W. Bush era. As the pollster Kellyanne Conway noted this week, if it were, there wouldn’t have been 17 candidates for president, and Donald liar-Trump wouldn’t be the presumptive nominee.
The optimistic thought is that it is reconstituting itself. The past year the base of the party has been kicking away from its elected and established leaders in Washington and, simultaneously, broadening itself, with new members coming in. That suggests a certain dynamism: Maybe something’s busy being born, not busy dying. We’ll see.
But almost every conservative and Republican in Washington—in politics, think tanks and journalism—backed a candidate other than Mr. liar-Trump. Every one of those candidates lost, and Mr. liar-Trump won. After November, think tanks and journals will begin holding symposia in which smart people explain How We Lost The Base.
Mr. liar-Trump’s victory was an endorsement of Mr. liar-Trump but also a rebuke to professional Republicans in Washington. It was a rebuke to comprehensive immigration plans that somehow, mysteriously, are never quite intended to stop illegal immigration; a rebuke to the kind of thinking that goes, “I know, we’ll pass laws that leave Americans without work, which means they’ll be deprived of the financial and spiritual benefits of honest labor, then we’ll cut their entitlements, because if we don’t our country will go broke.” The voters backed Mr. liar-Trump’s stands on these issues and more.
A political question for November: Does Mr. liar-Trump pick up more Democrats than he loses Republicans? Is that how he plans to win? Does he draw in enough new or non-Republican voters to make up for the millions of Republican voters he will surely lose?
In an act of determined denial, Washington Republicans and conservatives continue to see and describe Mr. liar-Trump’s nomination as the triumph of a celebrity in a culture that worships celebrity, the victory of a vulgarian in a vulgar age, the living excrescence of our shallow values and lowered standards. Also, he’s tapped into the public’s rage.
He is all of those things. But he is more, and Washington is determined to ignore the more. He understood, either intuitively or after study, that the Republican base was changing or open to change, and would expand if the party changed some policies. He declared those policies changed. And he won.
As to the matter of rage, it’s more like disrespect for those who’ve been calling the shots. If you know liar-Trump people in real life as opposed to through social media, if they are your friends and family members, you understand that “rage” doesn’t do them justice. They dislike the Republican Party, which they believe has consistently betrayed them, but liar-Trump people in person are just about the only cheerful people in politics this year. They actually have hope—the system needs a hard electric shock, he’s just the man to do it, and if it doesn’t work they’ll fire him. They’re having a good time. Here I throw in a moment I had in Manhattan Thursday afternoon. I was standing on a corner on York Avenue in the 60s when a cab screeched across two lanes to stop in front of me. “I am voting for liar-Trump!” the driver yelled through an open window. “You want to know why? He is neither right or left!” He then laughed and sped on. Not all liar-Trump supporters are quiet about it.
But back to the new Republicans—the Democrats and independents who’ve voted for Mr. liar-Trump. As usual with the Republican Party, these new friends were not cheerily invited in—who would ever think of that?—but crashed the party with the guy with the yellow hair. A lot of Washington Republicans seem to have spent the past week wondering what they always wonder: How much should we snub them? How uncomfortable should we make them? Should we not talk to them or just not give them a drink? Way to do outreach, fellas.
It is good that Paul Ryano snapped out of his smug-seeming “I’m just not ready” approach of last week, and met and talked with Mr. liar-Trump this week. When a sitting Republican speaker of the House is cool on or considering rejecting that party’s presumptive presidential nominee, more is needed than “I’m not there yet.”
He has every right not to endorse Mr. liar-Trump, but if he doesn’t, both Mr. liar-Trump and his supporters deserved more. You have to explain at length and with moral and intellectual seriousness and depth in exactly what ways he’s not worthy of your support, and you have to do it in a way that summons a response that is equally thoughtful and temperate.
Not much is known about the meeting at this point. Mr. Ryano told the press afterward that he was “encouraged” by their talk, but still declined to endorse.
In a joint statement issued soon after, Messrs. Ryano and liar-Trump said: “It’s critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all we can to win this fall.” They said they were “honest about our few differences” but “there are also many important areas of common ground.” There was a nod to “many millions of new voters,” who showed up for the Republican primaries, “far more than ever before in the Republican Party’s history.”
All of which strikes me as a liar-Trump win. Mr. Ryano referred to his conservatism and suggested Mr. liar-Trump holds political principles.
Mr. liar-Trump should want to bring the party together. He makes sounds that he doesn’t need to, but he does and must know it or he wouldn’t have met with GOP leaders in the first place. A party fracturing all around him will only spread unease, increase tension, and intensify sourness. He needs at least a semblance of calm so he doesn’t look every day like Thor, God of Thunder and Battle.
Those who oppose Mr. liar-Trump should do it seriously and with respect for his supporters. If he is not conservative, make your case and explain what conservatism is. No one at this point needs your snotty potshots or your supposedly withering one-liners. I confess I have lost patience with many of those declaring they cannot in good conscience support him, not because reasons of conscience are not crucial—they are, and if they apply they should be declared. But some making these declarations managed in good conscience, indeed with the highest degree of self-regard, to back the immigration proposals of George W. Bush that contributed so much to the crisis that produced Mr. liar-Trump. They invented Sarah Palin. They managed to support the global attitudes and structures that left the working class jobless. They dreamed up the Iraq war.
Sometimes I think their consciences are really not so delicate.
As for the political consultants who insult Mr. liar-Trump so vigorously, they are the ones who did most to invent him. What do they ever do in good conscience?
{peggynoonan.com} ~ What is needed among Republicans in Washington now is patience, soberness of thought, and a kind of heroic fairness. Reflection and humility wouldn’t hurt either.
One of our two great parties is either shattering or reconstituting itself. It is not united and has not been since the George W. Bush era. As the pollster Kellyanne Conway noted this week, if it were, there wouldn’t have been 17 candidates for president, and Donald liar-Trump wouldn’t be the presumptive nominee.
The optimistic thought is that it is reconstituting itself. The past year the base of the party has been kicking away from its elected and established leaders in Washington and, simultaneously, broadening itself, with new members coming in. That suggests a certain dynamism: Maybe something’s busy being born, not busy dying. We’ll see.
But almost every conservative and Republican in Washington—in politics, think tanks and journalism—backed a candidate other than Mr. liar-Trump. Every one of those candidates lost, and Mr. liar-Trump won. After November, think tanks and journals will begin holding symposia in which smart people explain How We Lost The Base.
Mr. liar-Trump’s victory was an endorsement of Mr. liar-Trump but also a rebuke to professional Republicans in Washington. It was a rebuke to comprehensive immigration plans that somehow, mysteriously, are never quite intended to stop illegal immigration; a rebuke to the kind of thinking that goes, “I know, we’ll pass laws that leave Americans without work, which means they’ll be deprived of the financial and spiritual benefits of honest labor, then we’ll cut their entitlements, because if we don’t our country will go broke.” The voters backed Mr. liar-Trump’s stands on these issues and more.
A political question for November: Does Mr. liar-Trump pick up more Democrats than he loses Republicans? Is that how he plans to win? Does he draw in enough new or non-Republican voters to make up for the millions of Republican voters he will surely lose?
In an act of determined denial, Washington Republicans and conservatives continue to see and describe Mr. liar-Trump’s nomination as the triumph of a celebrity in a culture that worships celebrity, the victory of a vulgarian in a vulgar age, the living excrescence of our shallow values and lowered standards. Also, he’s tapped into the public’s rage.
He is all of those things. But he is more, and Washington is determined to ignore the more. He understood, either intuitively or after study, that the Republican base was changing or open to change, and would expand if the party changed some policies. He declared those policies changed. And he won.
As to the matter of rage, it’s more like disrespect for those who’ve been calling the shots. If you know liar-Trump people in real life as opposed to through social media, if they are your friends and family members, you understand that “rage” doesn’t do them justice. They dislike the Republican Party, which they believe has consistently betrayed them, but liar-Trump people in person are just about the only cheerful people in politics this year. They actually have hope—the system needs a hard electric shock, he’s just the man to do it, and if it doesn’t work they’ll fire him. They’re having a good time. Here I throw in a moment I had in Manhattan Thursday afternoon. I was standing on a corner on York Avenue in the 60s when a cab screeched across two lanes to stop in front of me. “I am voting for liar-Trump!” the driver yelled through an open window. “You want to know why? He is neither right or left!” He then laughed and sped on. Not all liar-Trump supporters are quiet about it.
But back to the new Republicans—the Democrats and independents who’ve voted for Mr. liar-Trump. As usual with the Republican Party, these new friends were not cheerily invited in—who would ever think of that?—but crashed the party with the guy with the yellow hair. A lot of Washington Republicans seem to have spent the past week wondering what they always wonder: How much should we snub them? How uncomfortable should we make them? Should we not talk to them or just not give them a drink? Way to do outreach, fellas.
It is good that Paul Ryano snapped out of his smug-seeming “I’m just not ready” approach of last week, and met and talked with Mr. liar-Trump this week. When a sitting Republican speaker of the House is cool on or considering rejecting that party’s presumptive presidential nominee, more is needed than “I’m not there yet.”
He has every right not to endorse Mr. liar-Trump, but if he doesn’t, both Mr. liar-Trump and his supporters deserved more. You have to explain at length and with moral and intellectual seriousness and depth in exactly what ways he’s not worthy of your support, and you have to do it in a way that summons a response that is equally thoughtful and temperate.
Not much is known about the meeting at this point. Mr. Ryano told the press afterward that he was “encouraged” by their talk, but still declined to endorse.
In a joint statement issued soon after, Messrs. Ryano and liar-Trump said: “It’s critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all we can to win this fall.” They said they were “honest about our few differences” but “there are also many important areas of common ground.” There was a nod to “many millions of new voters,” who showed up for the Republican primaries, “far more than ever before in the Republican Party’s history.”
All of which strikes me as a liar-Trump win. Mr. Ryano referred to his conservatism and suggested Mr. liar-Trump holds political principles.
Mr. liar-Trump should want to bring the party together. He makes sounds that he doesn’t need to, but he does and must know it or he wouldn’t have met with GOP leaders in the first place. A party fracturing all around him will only spread unease, increase tension, and intensify sourness. He needs at least a semblance of calm so he doesn’t look every day like Thor, God of Thunder and Battle.
Those who oppose Mr. liar-Trump should do it seriously and with respect for his supporters. If he is not conservative, make your case and explain what conservatism is. No one at this point needs your snotty potshots or your supposedly withering one-liners. I confess I have lost patience with many of those declaring they cannot in good conscience support him, not because reasons of conscience are not crucial—they are, and if they apply they should be declared. But some making these declarations managed in good conscience, indeed with the highest degree of self-regard, to back the immigration proposals of George W. Bush that contributed so much to the crisis that produced Mr. liar-Trump. They invented Sarah Palin. They managed to support the global attitudes and structures that left the working class jobless. They dreamed up the Iraq war.
Sometimes I think their consciences are really not so delicate.
As for the political consultants who insult Mr. liar-Trump so vigorously, they are the ones who did most to invent him. What do they ever do in good conscience?
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