Showing posts with label Marco Rubio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marco Rubio. Show all posts

Saturday, March 12, 2016

The Only Way to Stop Trump


It's probably too late for Republicans to keep Donald Trump from getting the Republican presidential nomination.  There is a  remote possibility that Gov. John R. Kasich could defeat Trump if Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out and threw their support to Kasich.

Neither Rubio nor Cruz has any chance of winning the nomination.  They appeal to only a portion of Republicans with little chance of appealing to those Republicans who don't call the selves "conservatives".  Many of the people who are voting for Trump are only doing so because  they don't want Cruz or Rubio and Trump is the only other Republican with a chance to win the nomination.

If Cruz and Rubio drop out the voters who are supporting Trump as the least of the three "evils" might switch to Kasich    If there are enough Republicans in this category, Kasich might be able to compete with Trump.

Perhaps Rubio and Cruz could be bought off with promises of positions in a Kasich administration.  Rubio is a plausible vice presidential running mate.  Cruz could be offered the Attorney General position
with a secret promise of a Supreme Court nomination late in the administration.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Republicans Who Don't Want Trump Need a Viable Alternate Candidate

Those Republicans who don't want Donald Trump need a better alternative candidate than either member of the Cuban junior varsity.  

Neither Senator Ted Cruz nor Senator Marco Rubio can win in November.  Cruz and his supporters aren't even smart enough to realize that he isn't eligible to be president.  Rubio might be a viable candidate when he grows up, but right now he's just an inexperienced virtual political child.   Their only appeal is to Republican true believers who don't understand that most people don't share their simplistic view of political reality. 

The Republican Party is a minority party and must attract Democrats and Independents to win.  Cruz and Rubio can't attract Independents or Democrats.  The only thing they can do is attract enough Republicans to keep Trump's competitors from winning  enough votes to compete.   If they had stayed out of the race it is very possible that one or two of the governors would have been competitive with Trump.   Some of those who want a candidate outside of politics  might be supporting Dr. Ben Carson or Carly Fiorina if they hadn't been stuck at the back of the pack because they couldn't pass the Cubans. 

Trump is winning because the Cubans have eliminated his competition.  Those who would have voted for the other candidates have switched to Trump as it has become apparent the other candidates cannot  win.  Trump is also winning because people recognize he is a leader who is larger than life.  He's the only presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan who is larger than life.  Being larger than life refers to a person's personality.  Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon were larger than life in spite of their flaws.

Trump's opponents may have waited too long to stop him.  The longer they wait the lower their chances of stopping Trump. Chris Christie and Jeb Bush may be the only ones who have enough name recognition to have a chance.

Cruz is a naturalized citizen because his citizenship come from naturalization law.  He did not become a citizen by being born.  He became a citizen because his parents met the conditions necessary to have a child become a naturalized citizen.

A natural born citizen automatically and unconditionally becomes a citizen at birth if the birth occurs in the United States.    Consider the following examples.  A Mexican woman crosses the border into Arizona.  Fifteen yards into Arizona she gives birth.  They child would be a citizen because it was born in the U.S.   In a Los Angeles hospital an Iraqi woman gives birth just before dying from wounds she received while conducting a terrorist attack.  In spite of the mother's actions the child would become a citizen because it was born in the U.S. 

Cruz did not automatically become a citizen at birth because his mother had to meet certain conditions to obtain citizenship for him.  If she had only been 18 when he was born he could not have become a citizen.  If she hadn't been married to his father he could not have become a citizen.  

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

The Apprentice and the Presidential Island

I've  never been interested in the survivor type programs, including  Donald Trump's sophisticated program "The Apprentice", but am familiar with the basic way they work.  

"The Apprentice" provides the best model for choosing a president, but the political parties should also consider the process of "voting people off the island".   On the basic "Survivor"    programs contestants are divided into tribes and work together to survive in a wilderness setting.  They conduct periodic votes in which individuals are gradually "voted off the  island" until only one remains.  On "The Apprentice" contestants are assigned business related tasks.  Donald Trump, or comparable people in other countries, gradually eliminates  the least productive individuals by telling them "you're fired."

 Trump based his decisions on how well the individual contestants "walked the walk" rather than how well they "talked the talk."   Those who want to be the U.S. CEO [i.e.,  president] should have to first demonstrate they can run an organization such as a major corporation or state first.   Those candidates like Sen. Marco Rubio who have never run an organization should be fired or kicked  off the island in the first round.    Any candidate can mumble the appropriate political cliches and promise  to do this, that and the other thing.  Would be presidents need to demonstrate that they actually can do this, that and the other thing.
 
Governors should be the easiest to evaluate because their duties are similar to the president's particularly  in the area of working with the legislative branch of government.   Both corporate CEO's and governors  can be evaluated on how well they select subordinates. For example,  the New Jersey "bridgegate" scandal raises questions about  how well Gov. Chris Christie selects subordinates .  Voters would want to how well governors delivered on the promises that got them elected.   Investors are usually interested in the  profitability of a business which can depend on economic conditions.  Voters should be more interested in the type  of risks a CEO took while running the business.  For example, did the CEO take calculated risks or take reckless chances, or perhaps just continue doing things they had always been done.   Governors can also be evaluated on whether continued doing things the way they had always been done or found more effective ways to providing government services.

Democrats should have voted "Calamity" Clinton off their island long ago.  Calamity has been an ongoing disaster for the Democrats since her husband began running for President. She has a history of bad decisions. Her foolish decision to represent a corrupt savings and loan before a board appointed by her husband caused the appointment of a special prosecutor who eventually charged Bill with perjury. Opposition to  the health care plan she developed early in his administration helped the Republicans take control of Congress. 

She had our ambassador stay in Benghazi in spite of an attack on the British ambassador's motorcade in that city in June.  She seems unable to understand that she could have prevented his assassination by withdrawing him from Benghazi prior to 9/11/2012.  Many American cities recognize the possibility to terrorist activity on the anniversary of the original 9/11 attack.  Why didn't Clinton?  Her foolish decision to use a private e-mail server while Secretary of State may have compromised national security.