Time cover: How Trump Won, Jan. 7, 2016. "The man is moving people, and politics does not get more basic than that."

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Image from Time.com

1/7/2016, "In the latest issue," Time.com

Donald Trump’s Art of the Steal

How the real estate magnate took the Republican Party from its old bosses.

A Campaign Like No Other

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1/7/16, "Time’s New Cover Piece: ‘How Trump Won’," National Review, Morning Jolt, Jim Geraghty

"Looks like Time magazine is ready to declare the GOP primary over:

David Von Drehle writes:
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"The man is moving people, and politics does not get more basic than that. Trump is a bonfire in a field of damp kindling–an overcrowded field of governors and former governors and junior Senators still trying to strike a spark. His nearest rival, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, has traction in Iowa among the evangelical bloc and–in contrast to Trump–is a tried-and-true conservative. But with little more than half the support Trump boasts in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls, Cruz has a long way to go to show that he can move masses."
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We hear a lot of complaining from Republicans — often justified — that the media “tries to pick our nominee for us.” Trump fans probably won’t be complaining about this one." Time cover image from National Review

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Jeb Bush campaign admits he was 'mistaken' about continuous, elaborate claims including last weekend on Fox News Sunday that he received NRA Statesman of the Year Award from Charlton Heston. NRA has no such award. Campaign will remove Facebook and Twitter posts touting it-BuzzFeed

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1/4/16, "Jeb Bush Has “Mistaken And Conflated” Story About Receiving NRA Award, Campaign Admits," BuzzFeed News, Andrew Kaczynski

"Bush has repeatedly claimed that he received the NRA’s “statesman of the year” award." 

"As former NRA Statesman of the Year, I will fight to protect the 2nd Amendment. A clear contrast to @HillaryClinton. — Jeb Bush (@JebBush)"

"A spokesman for Jeb Bush’s campaign told BuzzFeed News on Monday that Bush had “mistaken and conflated” his story about receiving the National Rifle Association’s “statesman of the year” award. 

The former Florida governor has told the story on several occasions, saying he received a rifle from then-NRA president Charlton Heston and was the recipient of the group’s “statesman of the year” honor in 2003. 

While the NRA rates the records of politicians on gun issues, the group does not hand out a statesman of the year award. In 2003, the NRA held its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, with Bush as the keynote speaker. The NRA’s meeting page from that year makes no mention of Bush receiving any award.

A BuzzFeed News search of various archive search engines like Lexis Nexis for the “statesman of the year” award and Jeb Bush only turned up comments this year made by Bush. 

“In recounting the story, Jeb was mistaken and conflated multiple events unintentionally. Heston met with Jeb at that NRA convention and was the head of the NRA at the time, but it was Kayne Robinson who presented Jeb with the rifle for being keynote speaker,” a spokesman told BuzzFeed News. “Heston had previously said he supported Jeb’s reelection at a 2002 campaign event. Jeb was lauded by the NRA on multiple occasions for his second amendment record, including signing legislation that the NRA dubbed the ‘Six Pack Of Freedom.’ Jeb has a lifetime A+ rating from the NRA.”

The Sarasota Republican Party in Florida does hand out out an annual “statesman of the year” award, the most recent receipt being Donald Trump. 

Bush uses the anecdote to illustrate his long history of supporting gun rights. He told the story as recently as this past weekend, saying on Fox News Sunday, “The best approach is to have the laws be thoroughly vetted at the state level. And that’s why I’m proud of the fact I have perhaps the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment record as a governor of any state in the country. It’s why I was statesman of the year of the NRA. I received an award from Charlton Heston about 10 years ago.”

At an event in South Carolina in October, Bush said, “In Florida, when I was governor, I was the NRA statesman of the year, one year it was on my highlight reel where Charlton Heston gave me a gun on the stage in front of 15,000 people, that was pretty cool to be honest with you.”

Heston, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and was stepping down that year, was originally intended to present Bush the rifle. Heston left the convention early, and the rifle was instead presented by the new president, Kayne Robinson. Though, noted Marion Hammer a former NRA president from Florida Bush and Heston did meet at the convention.

Robinson, presenting the rifle to Bush, said, “In keeping with our tradition of giving a great American rifle to a great American patriot, I am proud to present this.”

The flintlock rifle is traditionally given to keynote speaker at the convention. 

A Bush spokesman noted the tweet and Facebook post on the award would be removed."



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Trump opening in Biloxi, Mississippi, first minute and 51 seconds video

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1/2/16, "Trump #Biloxi Opening," You Tube, Jay Robertson video

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Washington Post reports crowd of 15,000, more in overflow room.
 
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1/2/16, "Photos: In Biloxi, Donald Trump entices crowd of thousands," Sun Herald 

 

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Diamond and Silk open Trump rally in Biloxi, Mississippi, 1/2/16. Diamond: 'In this room we're united-we're the United States, not the Divided States.' Silk: 'That's right'

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At 1 min., Diamond: "Now listen, in this room it's unity, unity! In this room we are united! This is the United States, not the Divided States!" Silk says: "That's right." Crowd cheers.

1/2/16, "At a Donald Trump campaign rally in Biloxi, MS, YouTube stars Diamond and Silk from 'The Viewers View' took the stage to fire up the crowd before the event." Trump brought them back during the rally of 15,000 per Washington Post.

1/2/16, Diamond and Silk

Above, 1/2/16, "YouTube hosts Diamond and Silk speak at the Donald Trump rally at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on Saturday Jan. 2, 2015. JOHN FITZHUGH SUN HERALD," "Photos: In Biloxi, Donald Trump entices crowd of thousands," Sun Herald 

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Added: Washington Post calls Diamond and Silk, "boisterous You Tube stars."

Washington Post also reports Diamond and Silk encouraged the crowd to register Republican to vote in the Mississippi primary. WaPo says this was a slight mistake, as no party registration is needed in Mississippi. Sorry, we'll take Diamond and Silk's advice. First, GOP E continuously changes rules and procedures within states. Second, Mississippi, in particular, is viewed as the personal property of the GOP Bipartisan Ruling Class--no Republican voters allowed on the plantation when it matters most. See 2014 Mississippi Republican primary and runoff. (posted below).

1/2/16, "Trump rallies thousands in Mississippi with anger at media, Iran deal," Washington Post, Dave Weigel

"Trump spotted "Diamond and Silk," the boisterous YouTube stars from North Carolina who had become occasional campaign surrogates on TV and at rallies. They'd introduced him by asking the Mississippi audience to vote in the March 8 primary, slightly misstating the need to switch party registration (there is no party registration in the state) but delighting the crowd of 15,000. Midway through his speech, after discussing how he felt surrounded by "love," Trump brought them back.

"This time, we're going to have real change!" said Lynette "Diamond" Hardaway — the kind of jibe that a black woman could tell a largely white crowd with a bit more aplomb than Trump.

"Aren't they great?" Trump asked the crowd. In return, he got one of the night's many ovations."...

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Haley Barbour

Dr. Codevilla's recap of the 2014 Mississippi GOP primary and runoff including NY Times quote from a black Democrat paid to organize for Establishment Republican candidate Cochran. Photo above, Haley Barbour.

6/30/14, "The Ruling Class Went Down to Mississippi," Angelo M. Codevilla, Liberty Law site

"The mass of GOP and independent voters, having come to see themselves as disadvantaged and insulted by the ruling class, have increasingly supported anti-establishment candidates to challenge it in Republican primaries. Accurately, the Republican establishment sees this as a greater threat to themselves than any Democrats could be.

In the Mississippi primary, Republican establishmentarians from around the country solicited votes from Democrats to defeat the insurgent challenge to Senator Thad Cochran. Their arguments were the same ones used by the bipartisan ruling class that has ruled America for a generation: 

The role of government is to generate benefits for its clients, and those who object are bad people.  

They paid many Democrat voters (nearly all black) so called “walking around money” for their votes, and have refused in many counties to let McDaniel aides examine the voter roles to see whether these voters were eligible to cast ballots.

The retail corruption is much less remarkable than the acquiescence therein of the establishment’s leadership – such as Karl Rove and The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. This is very remarkable. Rove’s super-PAC, “Conservative Victory Project,” which played a leading role in recruiting Democrats for Cochran, exists explicitly to defeat insurgent Republicans everywhere. 

The Journal’s editorial page, whose editorials and featured columnists mobilized opinion against the Mississippi insurgency, had done the same throughout this and previous years’ primaries. Rove’s post election commentary glossed over the vote-buying as if it had not happened, while the Journal’s Jason Riley endorsed it cynically as “minority outreach.” To Republican and independent voters who are dissatisfied with the direction of the country, the conflict between the pretenses and the actions of such as Rove and of the Journal added insult to injury. The Journal, for example, never loses an opportunity to declare itself the mortal enemy of “crony capitalism” as it decries the direction in which America has been headed, while the word “conservative” as part of the title of Rove’s super-PAC intentionally evokes the complex of sentiments of voters angry at the ruling class’s characterization of them as, well, the litany: “racist, greedy, stupid,” etc.

Indeed, the Republican Party’s very identity, the one, sole, argument it makes to persuade voters to vote Republican rather than Democrat, is that it will take the country in a direction different from the one in which it has been going.

But, in the Mississippi primary, the Republican Establishment’s campaign was by and for crony capitalism, and employed the classic themes by which the ruling class has beaten down the rest of America.

To Mississippians white and black, the establishment’s message was: All this Tea Party talk about dangerous deficits and the need to cut spending is a threat to responsible officials’ capacity to bring you the jobs and federal assistance on which your prosperity depends.
Orchestrating that message was Haley Barbour, former governor of Mississippi, former national chairman of the Republican Party, and arguably Washington’s biggest lobbyist.

Day to day operations were run by Stuart Stevens, formerly chief strategist in Mitt Romney’s 2012 national campaign, along with Henry and Austin Barbour, Haley’s nephews. There could be few better personifications of crony capitalism.

To the blacks, who, according to The New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight.com provided some forty thousand votes, the message was:

Don’t be intimidated by the Tea Party....Mississippi cannot and will not return to the bygone era of intimidating black Mississippians from voting. We must rise up on Tuesday and have our voices heard on who will represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate. VOTE THAD COCHRAN.

The Times reported the effect: Roger Smith, a black Democrat who said he was being paid to organize for Mr. Cochran, said, ‘I don’t know too much about [Cochran’s opponent] McDaniel other than what McDaniel is saying:

that he’s Tea Party, he’s against Obama, he don’t like black people.” 

In short, those who oppose the way things are done in America are racists. You ought to hate them as they hate you.

Why do such things? Cui bono? Clearly such behavior by the Republican establishment has nothing to do with the role it claims for itself of opposition to the direction on which America has been taken in recent decades, never mind with anything “conservative.” 

It has everything to do with maintaining its status, and that of its clients, within the ruling class.

The Mississippi primary confirmed yet again that, if America is to go in a direction other than the one of which some three fourths of American disapprove, it is compelled to do so with a vehicle other than the Republican Party."

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"Angelo M. Codevilla professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University. He served as a U.S. Senate Staff member dealing with oversight of the intelligence services. His new book Peace Among Ourselves and With All Nations was published by Hoover Institution Press." Photo above from Liberty Law site.

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6/30/2014, "Yes, There Were Flyers and Robocalls That Accused the Tea Party of Racism," Patterico 

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"John Fund asked if this was the flyer that got Thad Cochran elected:"...

http://patterico.com/2014/06/30/yes-there-were-flyers-and-robocalls-that-accused-the-tea-party-of-racism/
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Added: From NY Times article linked in Codevilla piece, NY liberal billionaire Mike Bloomberg gave as much as $500,000 to support the GOP Establishment candidate in the 2014 Mississippi GOP primary:

6/24/14, "Cochran Holds Off Tea Party Challenger in Mississippi," NY Times, Jonathan Weisman

"A center-right super PAC, Defending Main Street, which contributed over $150,000 to Mr. Cochran during the runoff, received $250,000 from Michael Bloomberg in the same period, according to a source close to the former New York City mayor.

Mr. Bloomberg also contributed $250,000 to Mr Cochran’s super PAC, Mississippi Conservatives, before the primary."...


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Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announces execution of 47 including prominent Shia cleric as Saudi beheadings reach highest level in two decades-AP

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1/2/16, "Saudi Arabia executes 47, including Shiite cleric," AP, Dubai, UAE

"Saudi Arabia says it has executed 47 prisoners, including Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
 
The cleric's name was among a list of the 47 carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. It cited the Interior Ministry for the information. Saudi state television also reported the executions.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in Shiite protests that erupted in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring, and carrying out his execution may spark new unrest among the OPEC powerhouse's Shiite minority.

Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in 2015, with beheadings reaching their highest level in the kingdom in two decades, according to several advocacy groups that monitor the death penalty worldwide."
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1/2/16, "Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr: Saudi Arabia executes top Shia cleric," BBC

"Saudi Arabia has executed the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the interior ministry said.

He was among 47 put to death after being convicted of terrorism offences, it said in a statement. 

Sheikh Nimr was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that erupted in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province in 2011.

His arrest two years ago, during which he was shot, triggered days of unrest."




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'Angry, anxious Americans' seeking change were considered perfectly fine and exciting in 2008 when stated as the premise of the Obama campaign-Boston Globe, 7/20/2008

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In 2008, "anger" and desire for "change" were considered perfectly fine when they were described as the premise of Obama's campaign:

From Boston Globe:

page 2, parag. 5: "Unerring faith in the premise of the Obama candidacy that many Americans are angry, anxious, and engaged as never before in the political process because they want change."...

7/20/2008, "Obama's paid staff dwarfing McCain's," Boston Globe, Brian C. Mooney

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Trump holds double digit lead over Hillary in voter trust on economy and immigration. Independent voters prefer Trump to Hillary by 11 points-Rasmussen national poll, Dec. 22-23, 2015, 1000 Likely Voters

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December 22-23, 2015 national poll of 1,000 Likely Voters

12/28/15, "Clinton vs. Trump: Still A Dead Heat," Rasmussen

"Presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump remain all tied up in a hypothetical matchup heading into 2016....

Trump holds a double-digit lead in voter trust when it comes to the economy and immigration....

Unaffiliated voters prefer Trump 36% to 25%....
 
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on December 22-23, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology."... 


 
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62% of Likely Republican Voters who support Trump say their minds are made up, compared to only 34% of all GOP voters who say they're certain-Dec. 16-17, 2015 Rasmussen national poll

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Dec. 16-17, 2015 national poll of 624 Likely Republican Primary Voters  

12/18/15, "Trump Still Rules GOP Roost After Tuesday’s Debate," Rasmussen Reports

"Donald Trump still holds the lead in Rasmussen Reports’ latest look at the race for the Republican presidential nomination following Tuesday night’s debate. His voters also are by far the least likely to say they’re going to change their minds....

Just 34% of GOP voters say they are certain of their vote. But it's striking to note that 62% of those who support Trump have made up their minds, nearly twice as many as those who say that of their vote for any other candidate. 

The national telephone survey of 624 Likely Republican Primary Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on December 16-17, 2015. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Fieldwork for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology....

A sizable majority of Republicans still believe Trump is likely to be their presidential nominee next year. 

Trump leads in virtually every demographic category of Republican voters."...


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