Trump embraces ‘nationalist’ title at Texas rally

President Donald Trump declared himself a “nationalist” during his rally here on Monday night, officially tagging himself with the label that has long defined his populist rhetoric and protectionist policies.

“A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly not caring about the country so much. You know, we can’t have that,” Trump said, prompting boos from the crowd.

“You know what I am, I’m a nationalist,” he added, as the crowd erupted in “USA! USA!” chants. “Use that word.”

The comment marked the first time Trump has directly associated himself with the political ideology, which has long defined his outlook and the protectionist trade policies he has implemented in an effort to boost domestic manufacturing.

The remark came during a nearly hour-and-a-half-long rally in the arena that is home to the Houston Rockets, where the President rallied his base in this deeply red state 15 days before the midterms, stoking fears about illegal immigration, painting Democrats as criminal accomplices and basking in the glory of his accomplishments.

With his visit ostensibly aimed at boosting Sen. Ted Cruz’s re-election bid, the President took the stage after an introduction from his former political nemesis by addressing the elephant in the room.

“You know, we had our little difficulties,” Trump said to laughter from the nearly full house at the 18,000-capacity Toyota Center in downtown Houston.

He and Cruz, Trump said, had begun the 2016 presidential campaign as allies, rallying conservatives together in Washington early in the campaign. But eventually, Trump said, the two men decided it was “time” to begin hitting each other.

“And it got nasty,” Trump said.

But since he was elected, Trump said, Cruz has been one of his top allies in Congress.

“And then it ended and I’ll tell you what, nobody has helped me more with your tax cuts, with your regulation, with all of the things … including military and our vets, than Sen. Ted Cruz,” Trump said as he predicted that “in just 15 days the people of Texas are going to re-elect a man who has become a really good friend of mine.”

[CNN]

Reality

Donald Trump actually came out and said it, he labeled himself a “nationalist.”

Conservatives will bend over backwards to explain away how this has to do with a nationalist vs. globalist ideological context, but keep in mind this is the same week Trump is stoking racial fears of immigrants from countries he himself once labeled as “shitholes,” while wanting more European white immigrants.

This is the same week Trump pushed an anti-Jewish conspiracy theory and
echoed the Protocols of Zion, a faked document that white supremacists use as their “proof” that wealthy Jewish elites are puppetmasters “pulling the strings” to subvert democracy, by claiming without evidence that Jewish billionaire George Soros was secretly pulling the strings by paying migrants to come to American to illegally vote for Democrats, subverting democracy.

This is the same Trump who hired alt-right white nationalists, such as Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, who ran the white supremacist site Breitbart, a website that frequently used nationalist to mean “white nationalist” and frequently used “Jew” as a slur.

This is the same Trump who called Nazis “very fine people,” after one murdered and inured protesters by driving his car through a crowd.

This is the same Trump who kept retweeting known white supremacists, even after being told they were white supremacists.

This is the same Trump who said a judge, born in the United States, couldn’t be impartial because of his Hispanic heritage.

The Alt-Right, who Trump is again embracing, use “nationalist” to mean “a nation of white people” and “globalist” interchangeably with “elite cabal of Jewish puppetmasters.”

We’ve crossed a Rubicon here in America. Trump and the Republicans keep pushing themselves slowly towards white supremacy.

You should be alarmed.

Trump Doubles Down on Baseless Caravan Claim at Rally: ‘Very Bad People’ Are Coming, It’s an ‘Assault On Our Country’

As President Donald Trump ginned up support for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday night, he once again slammed Democrats over immigration policy and the migrant caravan approaching the U.S. southern border.

Trump didn’t bring up his dubious claim today that “unknown Middle Easterners” are mixing in with the refugees, but instead said “I think the Democrats had something to do with [the migrants].”

“Now they are saying, I think we made a big mistake. People are seeing how bad it is. How pathetic it. How bad our laws are. They made a big mistake…That is an assault on our country. In that caravan you have some very bad people. You have some very bad people. We can’t let that happen to our country, and it’s not.”

[Mediaite]

Senior HHS official placed on leave for promoting unfounded claims and conspiracy theories on social media

A top official at the Department of Health and Human Services has been placed on administrative leave after a CNN KFile inquiry while the agency investigates social media postings in which he pushed unfounded smears on social media.

Jon Cordova serves as the principal deputy assistant secretary for administration at HHS. A KFile review of Cordova’s social media accounts found that he pushed stories filled with baseless claims and conspiracy theories, including stories that claimed Gold Star father Khizr Khan is a “Muslim Brotherhood agent” and made baseless claims about Sen. Ted Cruz’s personal life.

“Mr. Cordova is currently on administrative leave while we look into this issue further,” a HHS spokesperson said in a statement.

Cordova did not respond to a request for comment.

Cordova joined HHS in February of 2017, initially as part of the Office of the White House Liaison. In his current role, Cordova oversees day-to-day operations for the Office of Human Relations, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of Security and Strategic Information, Equal Employment Opportunity Compliance and Operations Office and the Program Support Center, according to his biography posted on the HHS website.

Prior to joining HHS, Cordova served as a Trump delegate from California to the Republican National Convention and worked in communications for Donald Trump’s campaign in California.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Cordova routinely promoted stories on social media that pushed fringe claims about Trump’s opponents that have no basis in fact.

In July 2016, Cordova shared a story that asserted without evidence that Khan, who spoke out against Trump at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, was a “Muslim Brotherhood agent” and “a Muslim plant working with the Hillary Clinton campaign.” He also shared another story that falsely claimed the Clinton Foundation paid Khan.

Cordova also shared unfounded and false stories that claimed Cruz, a Texas Republican frequented prostitutes, was involved in a sex scandal and was hiding various public records related to his birth and education.

In a post in 2013, Cordova called Democrats “the real racists” and said that 95% of blacks would not have voted for President Barack Obama if he were white.

In a December 2016 comment on Facebook on an article about a nonprofit selling access to President Trump during the inauguration, Cordova called Clinton “a slimy trailer trash huckster.”

Cordova also repeatedly shared fake or conspiratorial stories, including one that claimed that Clinton was photoshopping her rallies to make them look bigger, one with a fake quote from Clinton about Democratic voters, one that claimed NBA star Dwyane Wade endorsed Trump and one with a photoshopped picture of a black man holding a sign that read, “No mother should have to fear for her son’s life every time he robs a store.”

Cordova also struck a conspiratorial tone on his since-scrubbed Twitter account, of which only a few tweets are archived on several websites.

In one tweet, Cordova called for a boycott of Budweiser because the company supported “jihadis” over white immigration.

In another tweet, Cordova speculated the reason the identity of the shooter at Umpqua Community College in 2015 hadn’t been made public was because he was a Muslim. The shooter was not a Muslim.

In another tweet, Cordova compared MoveOn.org and the Black Lives Matter movement to Nazis.

[CNN]

Trump Says Cruz’s Father Shouldn’t Be ‘Allowed’ To Say Mean Things About Him

Donald Trump hit back hard Tuesday at Ted Cruz’s father after he made an appeal to “every member of the body of Christ” to vote for his son, and not the “wicked” – calling the comments “disgraceful” and “horrible.”

The Examiner reported that Rafael Cruz had been meeting for days with Indiana pastors, many of whom have since endorsed the Texas senator.

Speaking with the head of the American Family Association of Indiana, the elder Cruz had warned of the “wicked electing the wicked” and urged fellow Christians to come out to vote.

I implore, I exhort every member of the body of Christ to vote according to the word of God, and vote for the candidate that stands on the word of God and on the Constitution of the United States of America. And I am convinced that man is my son, Ted Cruz. The alternative could be the destruction of America.

But Trump unleashed on the Cuban-born Rafael Cruz, a pastor, after he made his religious appeal to Indiana and other voters to support his son in the Republican presidential nominating contest. Indiana is voting Tuesday.

I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to do it. I think it’s a disgrace that he’s allowed to say it … You look at so many of the ministers that are backing me, and they’re backing me more so than they’re backing Cruz, and I’m winning the evangelical vote. It’s disgraceful that his father can go out and do that. And just — and so many people are angry about it. And the evangelicals are angry about it, the way he does that. But I think it’s horrible. I think it’s absolutely horrible that a man can go and do that, what he’s saying there.

In a sharp turn, the Republican presidential front-runner then abruptly invoked a tabloid story about Rafael Cruz’s supposed connection to John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

(h/t Fox News)

Reality

Trump has made the statement before that people shouldn’t be “allowed” to say negative things about him and that he would like to limit the freedom for people who disagree with him through litigation.

Also by claiming that Pastor Rafael Cruz shouldn’t preach about supporting a candidate (who happens to be his son) is the definition of a double-standard in the purest sense. Trump has had support from so many pastors who have used their position as a church leader to publicly preach about voting for Donald Trump that a new word was coined, “Trumpvangelicals“. These include Mike Murdock, Paula White, Robert Jeffress, and Joel Osteen, join the list of Kenneth Copeland, and 40 others who met with Trump at Trump Tower in September 2015.

There is also Rev. Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, publicly supported Trump, supported his stance on rejecting the Iran deal, and supported Trump’s plan to ban Muslims from entering America.

At Trump’s Cleveland rally, Pastor Darrell Scott of New Spirit Revival Center Ministries performed a sermon to introduce Trump to the stage. Pastor Scott called Trump humble, blamed “liberal media for brainwashing” you for thinking Trump could possibly be an out-and-out racist, and directed people to vote for Donald Trump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCHZbB-M9oE

Jerry Falwell Jr. publicly endorses Donald Trump, compares him to King David, and produced radio advertisements evoking Bible passages:

“Donald Trump lives a life of loving and helping others as Jesus has taught in the great commandment.”

Trump Backs Off Pledge to Support Party Nominee

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich all stepped back from their earlier pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee during Tuesday night’s CNN town hall.

“All of us shouldn’t even have answered that question,” Kasich said of the pledge party officials asked all the candidates to sign in September.

No, I don’t anymore,” Trump said, when asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper if he continued “to pledge to support whoever the Republican nominee is?”

Trump said he has “been treated very unfairly” by the Republican National Committee and party establishment figures. The billionaire front-runner accused rival Cruz of “essentially saying the same thing” in response to a question about the pledge.

Earlier, Cruz had told Cooper when asked the same question: “I’m not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and my family … I think nominating Donald Trump would be an absolute trainwreck, I think it would hand the general election to Hillary Clinton.”

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/politics/donald-trump-ted-cruz-nominee-pledge/

Cruz Blames Trump and His ‘Henchmen’ For Tabloid Story

Ted Cruz National Enquirer mistress article

Ted Cruz is accusing Donald Trump and his “henchmen” of smearing him with a salacious tabloid story, which the Texas senator called “garbage” and “complete and utter lies.”
“Let me be clear, this National Enquirer story is garbage. It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear, and it is a smear from Donald Trump and his henchmen,” Cruz said Friday, adding that he believes Trump “directed these attacks.”

There are no reports to suggest that the tabloid allegations are true or that Trump or any of his advisers are behind the story, which was published this week. The Daily Beast published an article claiming it was Marco Rubio, who for months and months, had anti-Cruz operatives pitched a variety of #CruzSexScandal stories to a host of prominent national publications.

Trump, in a statement released by his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, said he had no involvement with the story.

“I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this week’s issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it,” Trump said. “I have nothing to do with the National Enquirer, and unlike Lyin’ Ted Cruz, I do not surround myself with political hacks and henchman and then pretend total innocence. Ted Cruz’s problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz. I look forward to spending the week in Wisconsin, winning the Republic
an nomination and ultimately the Presidency in order to Make America Great Again.”

Cruz alleged that Trump’s campaign pushed the allegations in the National Enquirer story through Trump’s former top political adviser, Roger Stone, and suggested that Trump’s friendship with the David Pecker, the CEO of the National Enquirer’s parent company American Media Inc., made “the venue” for the allegations against him “not surprising.”

Reality

The Republican candidates for the President of the United States of America are engaged in sniping over a supermarket tabloid magazine? Is this really happening? It is? It is? How can this be? This is the Presidency. Is this really happening?

On Tuesday, Trump threatened to “spill the beans” about Cruz’s wife after a super PAC unaffiliated with the senator circulated an ad featuring Trump’s wife, Melania, in a state of undress. Trump and National Enquirer CEO David Pecker are friends, according to New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman, who says this is not the first time the Trump campaign has planted a negative story about a fellow Republican presidential hopeful in the Enquirer. According to Sherman, Trump was responsible for an October cover story accusing surgeon and former GOP hopeful Ben Carson of medical malpractice. Specifically, the story accused Carson of having left a sponge in a patient’s skull during brain surgery. There is no evidence that such a thing ever happened, and the Trump campaign denies it was responsible for the story.

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/25/politics/ted-cruz-national-enquirer-donald-trump/index.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/25/ted-cruz-affair-rumors-peddled-by-marco-rubio-s-allies.html

http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/ted-cruz-sex-scandal-mistresses-cheating-claims/

Trump Tweets Image Comparing Wives With Cruz

The scuffle between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz over their wives escalated briefly late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, after Trump retweeted an image comparing a photo of his wife Melania to Heidi Cruz.

“NO NEED TO ‘SPILL THE BEANS,'” the photo’s macro caption reads, over side-by-side images, one an unflattering screenshot of Heidi Cruz next to a glamour shot of Melania Trump. “THE IMAGES ARE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS.”

The Texas senator responded within the hour, tweeting, “Donald, real men don’t attack women. Your wife is lovely, and Heidi is the love of my life.”

Reality

This isn’t the first time Trump engaged in a dick measuring contest. While being overly sexist, his tasteless and crass humor should be reason alone to disqualify Trump for the presidency.

Please, someone convince me how this behavior can be seen as presidential. People who support Trump and choose to see past the sexist and dirty humor are simply refusing to see the big picture and must have no respect for our democracy.

Links

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/ted-cruz-trump-wives-feud-221187

Trump Tweets Attack On Ted Cruz’s Wife

Ted Cruz with Donald Trump

Trump tweeted the attack tweet at Cruz, in which he references an anti-Trump ad featuring a photo of Trump’s wife Melania during a risqué photo shoot in GQ Magazine. The tweet was quickly deleted, but repurposed so he could add his favorite nickname for his fellow candidate “Lyin’ Ted.”

This was the original tweet:

The final one:

Cruz responded to Trump’s tweet, calling him a coward.

Links

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-cruz-attack-tweet-wife

Trump Accuses Cruz of Stealing Iowa Caucuses

Twitter

Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Sen. Ted Cruz of stealing the Iowa caucuses, calling for either new voting there or the results to be nullified.

Cruz, the conservative senator from Texas, defeated Trump in Iowa Monday night.

“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it,” Trump tweeted. “That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated.”

“Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified,” Donald Trump wrote a Twitter, one of a series of Tweets attacking Cruz and questioning the outcome of the Iowa caucuses.

Trump slammed Cruz for sending out deceitful mailers that shared voter’s caucus attendance records with their neighbors and warning voters of “VOTER VIOLATION.”

(h/t CNN)

Reality

Outside of conspiracy theories from neo-nazi’s and 8chan, Cruz won Iowa.

Trump later admitted he didn’t have a good ground-game in Iowa. In fact he didn’t even know what that term was.