PRIORITIES USA FRIDAY HOT TAKES
PRIORITIES USA FRIDAY HOT TAKES: “IT’S DONALD TRUMP’S PARTY NOW” — STEP ONE FOR TRUMP: UNITE THE PARTY. HOW’S THAT GOING? — TRUMP AS A UNIFIER? LOL — TRUMP LOVES HISPANICS! — MORE FOREIGN POLICY FLOPS — SO LONG, CRUZ, KASICH
Hello and welcome to an action packed edition of Priorities USA Friday Hot Takes. When the week started both Ted Cruz & John Kasich were still vowing to go all the way to the convention, Donald Trump hadn’t yet eaten his way into the hearts of Hispanics everywhere, and the modern day Republican Party still existed. Let’s take a look at the week that was and then make plans to leave work early because it’s going to take us hours to get home if we use the metro…
“IT’S DONALD TRUMP’S PARTY NOW.” After vanquishing his two remaining foes, Donald Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States. No matter how many times you see that phrase it’s still hard to get used to. As the New York Times editorialized “Republicans will all but certainly nominate Mr. Trump, who would be the most volatile and least prepared presidential candidate nominated by a major party in modern times. A man once ridiculed by many prominent Republicans will become the G.O.P. standard-bearer.”
STATEMENT FROM PRIORITIES CHIEF STRATEGIST GUY CECIL: “Donald Trump is a reflection of the modern-day Republican Party, born in 2010 with the launch of the Tea Party and expanded to include exclusionary policies that seek to divide our country, one against another. The Trump Republican Party scapegoats Latinos and African Americans, demeans women, marginalizes LGBT Americans, embraces climate change deniers, and does nothing to raise wages for those who have waited too long to reclaim the American dream.
We must do better and we can. Democrats, Independents, and reasonable Republicans must unite to reject these outdated ideas. Priorities USA will do all we can to shine a light on this race and to present a clear contrast between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
We cannot take this race for granted and we won’t.”
STEP ONE FOR TRUMP, UNITE THE PARTY. HOW’S THAT GOING? Donald Trump is uniting the GOP in the best way, in a really professional way. Many people are saying he’s uniting the party better than anyone else ever has before. He’s winning so much at uniting the party it’s almost getting boring. Check it out:
Buzzfeed: Republicans Are Burning Their Voter Registration Cards After Trump Becomes Likely Nominee
In response to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus calling on Republicans to unite behind Trump, “some voters responded by literally burning down their ties to the GOP.”
Daily Beast: When #NeverTrump Becomes #ImWithHer
Trump is so disliked within the GOP that many are considering voting for Clinton. Leon Wolf, editor of RedState.com said, “I do feel pretty confident that she would actually be a better president than Trump. I wouldn’t go to bed every night worrying about a mushroom cloud opening up somewhere in the world because of some insane thing Trump had done.”
New York Times: With Donald Trump in Charge, Republicans Have a Day of Reckoning
Many Republicans are bending over backwards to avoid fully endorsing or denouncing Trump. As the New York Times reported, “Others tied themselves in knots as they praised and criticized Mr. Trump in a single breath, or suggested that they could abide Mr. Trump but loathed his agenda… The journey from denial and resistance to grudging acceptance, and even peace, with the Trump nomination may never be complete for some Republicans.”
Politico: Republicans consider Clinton over Trump
It’s a “bizarro world.” -Katie Packer, Romney’s former deputy campaign manager
MSNBC: Former top McCain aide: I’ll vote for Clinton over Trump
“Salter is hardly alone among Republican operatives and policy hands expressing disgust with Trump.”
New York Times: Run on a Ticket With Donald Trump? No, Thanks, Many Republicans Say
Asked about being Trump’s Vice President:
“Never,” said Chris Schrimpf, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who is still running against Mr. Trump. “No chance.”
“Hahahahahahahahaha,” wrote Sally Bradshaw, a senior adviser to Jeb Bush, when asked if he would consider it.
“Scott Walker has a visceral negative reaction to Trump’s character,” said Ed Goeas, a longtime adviser to the Wisconsin governor.
Or, as Senator Lindsey Graham put it, “That’s like buying a ticket on the Titanic.”
On top of all that, less than 48 hours after Reince called for party unity, Speaker Ryan announced that he was “not ready” to support Trump as the nominee. Winning!
TRUMP AS A UNIFIER? LOL. During the primary a Trump Super PAC released an ad that had the audacity to call Donald Trump a “unifier” while playing audio of his remarks over images of him campaigning. Now that we know Donald Trump’s going to be the Republican nominee, Priorities USA decided to fix the ad by switching in more accurate footage. Donald Trump’s not a unifier, he’s too risky and divisive to be President of the United States. Debuting in Sidewire’s “Stitch,” watch “Unifier?” below:
TRUMP LOVES HISPANICS! Forget about calling Mexicans criminals and rapists, Trump has a photo of himself eating tacos so it’s all good! Never mind that all Hispanics aren’t Mexican, you’d be loco to think Trump isn’t going to crush Hillary with these voters now. Just take a look at all he’s accomplished in the last week.
LA Times: Trump spurs a fresh wave of Latino activism
AP: Fears of Trump drive immigrants to become citizens
Washington Post: Republicans are digging themselves into a deeper hole with Latinos (again)
Politico: Trump deportation plan would wreak economic havoc, study says
TRUMP’S DANGEROUS FOREIGN POLICY. Donald Trump’s foreign policy plan is the best. He will have the greatest experts in the world. His mind is better equipped than anyone else’s to deal with the problems facing us today. That’s why Trump claims to have more foreign policy experience than “virtually anyone” in the race, and when you think about it his lack of awareness and credentials are terrifying. That’s right, the joke’s over. A Washington Post columnist noted his foreign policy was “an incoherent philosophical mishmash,” full of contradictions and nonstarters, where he “manage[s] to embrace isolationism, realism and internationalism — all at the same time.” Even Republican leaders are concerned about his brashness and lack of experience. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC that “his unpredictability, his lack of understanding of the complexity of international affairs, his threats, his claims that he’s going to make other countries do things, when, in fact, the president of the United States does not have the power to make them do things.” But hey, Miss Universe was held in Russia once, so it’s all good.
IN MEMORY OF THE CRUZ CAMPAIGN. That’s all, folks. With both Cruz and Kasich suspending their campaigns this week, the GOP officially has their nominee. Congratulations? Cruz had a “miserable final 48 hours on the trail in Indiana” before his campaign finally imploded, including an uncomfortable confrontation with a Trump supporter. The Washington Post got it right when they said, “if Cruz hadn’t established himself as a singularly unlikable candidate, one could almost have felt sorry for him in that moment.” Almost. Cruz’s attempt to make his campaign more likable fell flat (literally) when Carly fell offstage during a campaign stop in Indiana and Cruz ignored her. Cruz’s decision to drop out came as he realized that Republican voters would rather elect a racist egomaniac rather than their Senate colleague. As Politico reported, “Cruz’s image nationally had plunged to new lows… Almost a year after he announced his candidacy, Cruz still had the backing of only four of his Senate Republican colleagues, less than 10 percent of the conference, and one of them (Lindsey Graham) likened it to picking poison over being shot and another (Jim Risch) wasn’t even sure his tepid approval qualified as an endorsement.”
AND DON’T FORGET KASICH. Kasich “had long ago been mathematically eliminated from clinching the GOP nomination outright,” but stayed in the race as long as possible in order to stuff his face full of as many pancakes and local deliciousness as possible. At least now he’s back in Ohio where he can eat Graeters, Skyline, and Jeni’s until it’s smeared all over his clothes like a toddler eating spaghetti.
MINI-TAKES:
Reuters: Anti-Trump protests break out for second day in California (Bringing the country together already eh?)
Politico: Trump accuses Cruz’s father of helping JFK’s assassin (This happened before Cruz dropped out. Had to include)
NBC: Cruz Calls Trump ‘Serial Philanderer’ and ‘Pathological Liar’ in Blistering Attack (So no chance of a Trump/Cruz ticket?)
MSNBC: Donald Trump is obsessed with race-baiting conspiracy theories (And he’s the GOP nominee!)
TWEET OF THE WEEK: This week’s tweet of the week goes to Fenway Strategies’ Jon Favreau who tweeted:
Have a great weekend!
Justin Barasky
@JustinBarasky |
Courtney Rice
