Trump’s Best News: Cruz, Rubio Still Here

So long as Cruz and Rubio stay viable Trump wins. His rivals did just that in the debate last night, landing punches that will encourage their donors.

488x-1The best news for Trump is that Cruz might win his home state of Texas next week. And that Rubio is the darling of establishment Republicans who despise Trump and Cruz.

Two-thirds of GOP voters don’t want Trump, but so long as they are split between his rivals his one-third keeps him on top. If Trump can keep these two humming while he whistles past them he will be the presumptive nominee by late March.

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Author: craigcrawford

Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.

74 thoughts on “Trump’s Best News: Cruz, Rubio Still Here”

  1. A trinity is more stable than a split personality. The rip up’s unholy trinity of 1. the guardians of the 1% of the 1% are the First Person, 2. the primitive Christian Flat Earther is the Second Person. 3. The Third person hates brown and black people, who cause our diseases, commit rape and murder, and steal our precious businesses. This third person is the klansman/neonazi, and this person incites violence for the fun of it. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-nationalist-david-duke-a-vote-against-trump-is-%E2%80%98treason%E2%80%99-audio/ar-BBq0u76

    Because the ripper party is a trinity rather than a simple split personality, it probably won’t split. Therefore, this election is going to be a lot harder for the Dems than I had believed earlier. Damn it.

  2. I dunno XR. The alignment strikes me as 1 alpha being challenged by two whippersnappers.  It’s not like three even length legs to a stool.

  4. note to mr pong:  last night you said mine was a “weak post on the reason the obamanation has little respect” and i’ll accept the criticism for my poor performance and beg forgiveness. the basis for it, the element of hatred for a black man being in the white house, however should not be dismissed.  it is very evident in a major swath of the country and reminiscent of the prelude to kristallnacht. it is underscored by the ready acceptance of scalia’s originalist interpretations by otherwise thoughtful people.  imho obama is dissed, ignored and denigrated by most of the goper groupies because he’s black not because he falls short of presidential competence.

  5. Best part of last night.  Lindsey Graham went and told the truth.  He may never work in DC again.  Best line which harked back to our discussion here of Julius Caesar:  “If Ted Cruz were killed in the Senate and the perpetrator were tried in the Senate, no one would vote to convict.”

    Graham Jokes About Bat Ship Crazy GOP

  6. In 2012, many pundits waxed eloquent about how deep the Republican bench strength was. And, there was some justification given the broad range of State and local offices that were held by the GOP. If what we have seen in this primary campaign is indicative of that strength, god help us all.  Too bad, though, that the Democratic field is so narrow and flawed.

  9. Trump’s Best News: Cruz, Rubio Still Here

    Pat

    I thought your post was spot on.. Of course Ping is not going to admit his party has lots of bat shit crazy racist people in it.. When i told Grace in 2008 her party was filled homophobes she said , no way.. I said your party is against gay marriage and civil unions, yes she said they have a right to believe how they want too.. Ugh..

  12. At Republican Debate, Donald Trump Falls Into the Line of Fire
    By Maggie Haberman

    “http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/26/

    Mr. Trump also offered a new explanation for why he has delayed releasing his tax returns and why he has refused to give a date as to when he will: He’s being audited, he said, and is audited every year, and he can’t release the taxes until they’re done. He did not explain why he was being audited personally for his company, and said in post-debate interviews on CNN that he believes he’s being targeted by the I.R.S. because he’s “a strong Christian.”

  14. Well…  that debate was truly something to behold.

    I agree with Pogo…  I saw it as a couple of kids trying to throw punches at the adult who was just standing there and saying “whatever”.  I know the pundits are saying that Rubio had a good debate.  But I saw the constant smacking of his lips and nervous smile and giggle as akin to a 12 yr old.

    For me best line of the night…   Ben Carson… “will someone please attack me.”

    I haven’t watched Blitzer in years…. OMG… what a lame ass host he was…

  15. Tony,

    2008 Republican Platform:

    Preserving Traditional Marriage
    Because our children’s future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage, we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, so that judges cannot make other arrangements equivalent to it. In the absence of a national amendment, we support the right of the people of the various states to affirm traditional marriage through state initiatives.
    Republicans recognize the importance of having in the home a father and a mother who are married. The two-parent family still provides the best environment of stability, discipline, responsibility, and character. Children in homes without fathers are more likely to commit a crime, drop out of school, become violent, become teen parents, use illegal drugs, become mired in poverty, or have emotional or behavioral problems. We support the courageous efforts of single-parent families to provide a stable home for their children. Children are our nation’s most precious resource. We also salute and support the efforts of foster and adoptive families.
    Republicans have been at the forefront of protecting traditional marriage laws, both in the states and in Congress. A Republican Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act, affirming the right of states not to recognize same-sex “marriages” licensed in other states. Unbelievably, the Democratic Party has now pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which would subject every state to the redefinition of marriage by a judge without ever allowing the people to vote on the matter. We also urge Congress to use its Article III, Section 2 power to prevent activist federal judges from imposing upon the rest of the nation the judicial activism in Massachusetts and California. We also encourage states to review their marriage and divorce laws in order to strengthen marriage.

     

  16. Why Electing Hillary in ’16 Is More Important Than Electing Obama in ’08
    A former Obama ’08 speechwriter explains how why Secretary Clinton is a lot more compelling than you might think.
    Jon Favreau
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/26/why-electing-hillary-in-16-is-more-important-than-electing-obama-in-08.html
    “Why Electing Hillary in ’16 Is More Important Than Electing Obama in ’08
    A former Obama ’08 speechwriter explains how why Secretary Clinton is a lot more compelling than you might think.

    “I hear you’re still not Ready for Hillary.

    I get it. I didn’t start off as her biggest fan either. During the 2008 campaign, I wrote plenty of less-than-complimentary words about Hillary Clinton in my role as Barack Obama’s speechwriter. Then, a few weeks after the election, I had a well-documented run-in with a piece of cardboard that bore a striking resemblance to the incoming Secretary of State.

    It was one of the stupider, more disrespectful mistakes I’ve made, and one that could have cost me a job if Hillary hadn’t accepted my apology, which she did with grace and humor. As a result, I had the chance to serve in the Obama Administration with someone who was far different than the caricature I had helped perpetuate.

    The most famous woman in the world would walk through the White House with no entourage, casually chatting up junior staffers along the way. She was by far the most prepared, impressive person at every Cabinet meeting. She worked harder and logged more miles than anyone in the administration, including the president. And she’d spend large amounts of time and energy on things that offered no discernible benefit to her political future—saving elephants from ivory poachers, listening to the plight of female coffee farmers in Timor-Leste, defending LGBT rights in places like Uganda.”

    Amazing piece and yes covers every reason Hillary gets my vote.. Umm a few won’t appreciate the piece but Hillary haters are seldom moved..

  17. Jamie

    Here is the major Republican problem with the Black community

     

    Children in homes without fathers are more likely to commit a crime, drop out of school, become violent, become teen parents, use illegal drugs, become mired in poverty, or have emotional or behavioral problems.

    The Reps have used this phrase so often as a dog whistle that everybody except for the most clueless whites spot it. It is GOP boiler plate and is highly offensive to the black community.

    Jack

     

  18. Trump’s Best News: Cruz, Rubio Still Here

    Yes Jamie, exactly.. In reading that, wow, they will never change.. Even after the Republican autopsy in 2008, nope traditional marriage it still is.. Being against gay marriage is being a bigot.. Seeking second class status for any peoples is wrong.. I tell Grace, it’s not about believing what you want too, it’s about equal rights and equal protection under the law..

  20. Why do you folks insist on watching those dysfunctional repugnant candidates stone each other rather than watch our wonderful Gamecocks women’s basketball team whup Mississippi State? It was a wonderful game. The women are now 14-0 in the SEC and finish the season on Sunday. Yours truly will of course be there. I will do my best to keep on the good side of Officer Mitchell.

  21. The Republican Party is broken
    Ezra Klein
    http://www.vox.com/2016/2/24/11103704/the-republican-party-is-broken
    “The party doesn’t have any magic powers. All it has is its credibility with its voters. Because, in the end, parties can only influence — it’s voters who actually decide. And the Republican Party has, for whatever reason, lost its ability to influence its voters. Donald Trump is winning this thing, and so far, Ted Cruz, the only guy elite Republicans hate more than Trump, is vying for second place.
    Parties are vehicles for structuring information. Their role is literally to help voters decide by helping them choose whom to trust. The fact that Republican voters seem to prefer candidates whom their party is screaming not to trust reveals a profound failure in the GOP’s core role. The Republican Party is broken.”

  22. we’re junkies flatus!! such a well coined phrase these days. the GOP debate was nothing but junk.

  24. Yup…  not only is the Republican  Party broken, but so isn’t the media.  After reading around the net this morning, it’s obvious that the media has finally become aware that they have helped with the creation of Trump as a viable candidate.  So now they are rallying around the meme that Rubio was the “big winner” in last night’s debate.

    what maroons…

  28. It is clear the repug base wants to be entertained rather than governed.  I was highly amused last night.

    For the lost pundits who can even declare a winner last night?   They need to do more research.  Look to the day after Super Tuesday for the crystal ball will be much clearer after that!

    Here is Trump’s detailed horoscope.   Start reading to understand the man and who he is!  I will be researching the numerology for March 1st, Super Tuesday.   If only I could get a hold of his bio-rhythms.  Predictions  and forecasts….the real future is in there somewhere.

     

  29. sung to the tune of
    https://youtu.be/XSjJIXOY2_A

    new anthem for the donald:

     

    On the cell phone as I twit, thinking brother, dear, of you and the white and happy home our goal to be. And the tears they fill my eyes, in spite of all that I can do, though I try to cheer my comrades and be me.

    Trump, trump, trump. The boys are marching. Cheer up, comrades, we’ll overcome. And beneath the starry flag, we shall breathe the air again, of a gay-free land where women stay at home.

     

    In the battle debate we stood, when their fiercest charge they made, and they swept us off, a hundred quests or more. But before they reached our lines, they were beaten back, dismayed. And we heard the cry of victory o’er and o’er.

    Trump, trump, trump. The boys are marching. Cheer up, comrades, we’ll overcome. And beneath the starry flag, we shall breathe the air again, of a gay-free land where women stay at home.

     

     

  30. Wapo 3 psychics predict from last June.

    Trump has announced his run six days earlier.  From the tarot cards…

    Trump? “I get him really being up there!” she said. “This is a very confident card.”

    The reporter did not photo the card as no one thought Trump had a chance…he should have gotten that card.

  33. former prez. fox best lines at end saying trump is not a republican….he’s not a democrat.  he’s just himself, an egocentric.

     

  34. BW, the winner is the  one who looks best – its like scoring a boxing match – blows landed with effect.  Who needs research to count punches?  And yes, next Wednesday things will be clearer – on both sides.

  35. Then, in an amiable, unhurried tone, with gentle waves of his hands, Mr. Clinton reached for a metaphor to describe the hopes and anxieties of voters in presidential election years.The American people are like a great composer — the words are always the same, but they are rearranged like notes, and they write a new melody and then they decide who they want to sing it,” Mr. Clinton said.     

     Love my Big Dawg!

  36. Flatus – Gamecocks women’s basketball team whup Mississippi State?

    Sigh.  A few of us Bull Dogs do have some Maroon and White feelings or currently black and blue.

    About the show last night.  I fell asleep and missed it.  Woke up around 11pm and went to bed to finish another hour or so.

    From the descriptions I have bothered to read it looks like the man who does not vote punched the bully in the nose.  I am enjoying the stills of Trump looking pissed off.  It is about time.

  37. from http://www.cc.com/video-clips/f9wuya/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-battling-for-donald-trump-s-scraps
    Trump’s acceptance speech was an “eloquent” series of non sequiturs and randomness claiming that in his pre-politics life he was greedy for money, grabbing it all for himself. “Now we’re going to be greedy for the United States,” Trump said. “We’re gonna grab, and grab, and grab.”

    “What is he even saying?!” Noah exclaimed. “Roargh! Roargh! Roargh!” Noah growled while gesticulating wildly. “That’s not a speech, that’s the battle cry of a pirate.”

    Noah continued, saying that Trump’s campaign has descended into madness. “Grab and grab? Are you running for president or PacMan?” He’s decimating everyone, even Marco Rubio who lost “so hard” that he didn’t even stay up for the final results. “Clearly, he knows that the only place he’ll ever beat Trump is in his dreams.”

  38. Even though people are now predicting a Trump presidency and prancing around saying they have always been right in the past and their model never fails — learn to live with failure.  He is not going to be president and if the Republicans allow him to be their nominee – soon they will be divorcing one another and be three parties

    Trump party – The Sound Bite People

    The Country Clubbers  — David Koch

    The People who don’t understand separation of Church and State

  39. racist robo calls story as reported by latin times:

    The xenophobic robo calls were produced the American Freedom Party, a pro-Trump PAC and white nationalist group, according to Fox News Latino. Trump has shrugged off support from white power groups in the past, saying of KKK and Neo-Nazi support “ a lot of people like me.” The calls were reported in Minnesota as well as Vermont, the home of Democratic senator Bernie Sanders.

  41. Remember the Pat Buchanan joke..at a rally when he ran for president–there were cries of racist! racist! from the audience and those were his supporters

  42. Chris Christie just endorsed Donald Trump.  The Mafia will be hosting a meet & greet at whichever casino has not yet failed.

  43. Donald Trump said the IRS targets him because he is a strong Christian. I’d like to hear from his own church’s pastor.  Do he and his wife belong to the same church?

  48. It was such a shameful event that it reflected badly on the US and the entire Western World.

  49. I heard on “Bernie Sanders Now” (formerly Democracy Now) with Amy Goodman that largest demographic in illegal immigration are Asians.  Where is Trump going to put that wall.

  50. tony, thanks for that jon favreau piece.  good to see a once-enemy say nice things based on actual experience with her. here’s how he said she responded to “Why are you doing this? What truly motivates you?” and his concluding paragraph:

    “I want this campaign, and eventually my administration, to be more about inspiring young people, and older ones as well, to find that niche where kindness matters, whether it’s to a friend, a neighbor, a colleague, a fellow student—whether it’s in a classroom, or in a doctor’s office, or in a business—we need to do more to help each other.”

    You think it might be another cynical ploy. But this turns out to be a theme that she’s repeated throughout her life. In her announcement speech, Hillary talked about being raised to believe Methodist founder John Wesley’s admonition to “do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, for as long as you can.” In her 1969 Wellesley Commencement, she called for a “mutuality of respect.” After working at the Children’s Defense Fund, she would often cite Marian Wright Edelman’s quote that “Service the rent we pay for living. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time.”

    As First Lady, Hillary spoke about the need for “a new ethos of individual responsibility, “a great renaissance of caring in this country,” and “going back and actually living by the Golden Rule.” In the State Department, she’d talk about Alexis de Tocqueville’s “habits of the heart,” and says in Hard Chocies that “I’ve also returned again and again to this question of universality—how much we all have in common even if the circumstances of our lives may be different.”

    If nothing else, you’ll notice that Hillary Clinton’s words are the very antithesis of the mean-spirited, xenophobic bile that spits from the mouth of Donald Trump.

    […..]

    At stake in this election is control of a Tea Party-run Congress, at least one Supreme Court vacancy that could tip the balance for a generation, and the very real chance that a highly unstable demagogue could become the 45th President of the United States. So while I may not have imagined myself saying this a few years ago, I certainly believe it now: It’s far more important to elect Hillary Clinton in 2016 than it was to elect Barack Obama in 2008.

     

  53. Pogo

    Well that will certainly be a problem for pleasure craft, ferry service etc not to mention shipping channels but could mean fireworks all year long

     

  55.  
    The ‘Stump for Trump’ Girls Just Said on CNN That Marco Rubio Had ‘A Gay Lifestyle’
    Lindsey Ellefson Video..

    “Oh these ladies are delusional. They can’t think to highly of gays cause we sure don’t want him, nope”

  56. Trump wants to ‘open up’ libel laws to sue media outlet
    Bradford Richardson

    “Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Friday vowed to “open up” libel laws in order to sue media outlets that write “purposely negative” and “horrible” articles about him.
    “I’m gonna open up our libel laws, so when they write purposely negative and horrible, false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money,” Trump said at a rally in Fort Worth, Texas.

    “We’re going to open up those libels laws,” he added. “So that when The New York Times writes a hit piece, which is a total disgrace, or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money.”http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/270956-trump-threatens-to-open-up-libel-laws-to-sue-newspapers

  58. This week has been a wonderful week.  I received good news at work, a TDY around the corner to a different division (I will be staying in my same cube though).  I learned how to pick loc view the world in a better way.  Once again I missed all that is from another, and apparently very warped, universe.  Save from a vivid and wonderful review by Ms. Petri.

    Something fun is watching the daylight hours grow longer.  It gives great hope that spring is near and summer around the corner.  My cats are getting a bit strange.  They want out, even the cat that does not like “out”, she just thinks she does.  Out means wind and cold and wet paws.  She is not into that at all.

    And, I started feeling the urge to write again.  Maybe I will finish Red Line to Shady Grove and Red Light on the Green Line.  Maybe.  Of course my autobiography, version #72, is in the milieu.  When you write your own biography you can write whatever you want.  It is like your family tree.  If someone has a better branch, go ahead and put it in your own.  It is your tree, you can decorate it the way you want.

  61. this had to send a bit of a chill thru folks (and especially the international folks) when  trump bragged

    “It’s hard for me to turn down money because that’s what I’ve done in my whole life; I grab and grab and grab. You know I get greedy. I want money, money,” Trump said, explaining how difficult it is for him to reject campaign donations from his wealthy friends. “Now we’re going to get greedy for the United States — we’re going to grab and grab and grab.”

     

  69. Watching the local reporter interview Rubio.  Get that man an I-V, stat!

    Or, just dump Gatorade on him.

  70. Melissa Harris-Perry Walks Off Her MSNBC Show After Pre-Emptions
    By John Koblin

    “For MSNBC, this is unwelcome news during a heated election. Cable news has had a bump in the ratings in the last few months, but MSNBC significantly trails in viewers to Fox News and CNN, and is in the midst of an overhaul. Since Mr. Lack joined NBC News as chairman last year, he has begun to steer MSNBC away from its liberal identity and move it toward harder news, particularly in the daytime hours.
    Ms. Harris-Perry said not being able to talk to her viewers felt like a “betrayal.”
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/business/media/melissa-harris-perry-walks-off-her-msnbc-show-after-pre-emptions.html?_r=0

  71. OK, the audience for Trump inFt. Worth was not all old, white folks. Just watching the news, it was diverse.

  73. Ha.  Sorry, no. I just meant it wasn’t homogeneous and there were some kids there that I would have assumed though they were lining up for Bernie…but they were wearing Trump shirts.

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