9:45pm A Live Stream also below – We anticipate the need for more than one thread with results tonight, hence the numbering as above. Tonight – West Virginia and Nebraska vote.

♦ West Virginia – Trump Wins w/ 75%+

♦ Nebraska – Trump Wins w/ 60%+

Polls close in West Virginia at 7:30pm EDT. Polls close in Nebraska at 8:00pm local (2 time zones) 9:00pm EDT / 10pm EDT

Prior to tonight Donald Trump retains the strongest delegate position with 1,080 delegates won. (Ted Cruz 564 delegates, Marco Rubio 167, John Kasich 155)

Tonight there are 70 delegates available:

♦ West Virginia – 34 Delegates available (directly voted): 9 district delegates are directly elected on the primary ballot (3 delegates are elected in each of the state’s 3 Congressional Districts). 22 at-large delegates (10 at-large plus 12 bonus) are directly elected statewide. 3 party delegates.
♦ Nebraska – 36 Delegates available (winner take all): All 36 of Nebraska’s delegates to the Republican National Convention are pledged to in today’s Nebraska winner.
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8:14pm Live Stream Added Below Fold – We anticipate the need for more than one thread with results tonight, hence the numbering as above. Tonight – West Virginia and Nebraska vote.

♦ West Virginia ♦ Nebraska

Polls close in West Virginia at 7:30pm EDT. Polls close in Nebraska at 8:00pm local (2 time zones) 9:00pm EDT / 10pm EDT

Prior to tonight Donald Trump retains the strongest delegate position with 1,080 delegates won.   (Ted Cruz 564 delegates, Marco Rubio 167, John Kasich 155)

Tonight there are 70 delegates available:

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Senator Marco Rubiobot reappeared for his first “on camera” interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper since dropping out of the presidential primary race.

[In an effort to recapture some conservative relevancy/credibility, Senator Rubio met with strategic war advocate Mark Levin prior to Jake Tapper]

Delivering and repeating his scripted and well-rehearsed talking points, a trademark of his political career, Rubio dismissed any notion that he would be a vice-presidential pick for Donald Trump and quixotically obfuscated away from any endorsement; preferring instead to repeat the ‘I-signed-a-pledge’ meme ad nauseam.
In essence the former presidential candidate proved in a post-election interview why he never stood a chance in the pre-interview election race.  Some things never change.

The best part of the interview was toward the end.  After Rubio praised NATO and the United Nations Jake Tapper correctly pointed out that Marco Rubio’s foreign policy, and global world view, is essentially identical to Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The interview became funny because Rubio responded: “but I wanted earlier intervention in Syria”, which left Tapper open to affirm his original framework with the bulls-eye retort: “well, um, so did she” DUH.
After stuttering, Rubiobot quickly moved on…
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Considering the long history of legislative abuse carried out by the insufferable GOPe, and knowing the only way to rid the apparatus of the corrupting infection is to cut out clear margins, Donald Trump would be well advised to take Paul Ryan up on his offer to resign his chairmanship at the national convention.

In addition, and considering the patriotic bench available for immediate dispatch, Donald Trump could request Reince Preibus resign from his post as RNC head and immediately replace him with a more favorable and competent executive.
We’re completely serious about this proposition.  Presumptive nominee Donald Trump is holding all the leverage he needs, the leverage of ‘We The People’ – and none of the customary party insiders should be trusted with any of the national campaign constructs, especially the financial matters. (more…)

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “2016 Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Presidential Race and/or any of the candidates therein.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

House Speaker Paul Ryan gave an interview today to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in Janesville Wisconsin. – AUDIO HERE – One of the interesting and revealing aspects was how Ryan framed the questioning of his visible/pubic opposition toward Donald Trump:

…”We have right now a disunified Republican Party. We shouldn’t sweep it under the rug without addressing it. That would be to our detriment in the fall”…

What’s interesting about that statement is the fact Mitt Romney had stronger opposition in early May 2012 than Donald Trump holds at the same point in the nomination process four years later.
Paul Ryan never spoke of “disunity” amid the party apparatus until 2016 and nominee Donald Trump.
Through May 5th 2012 Mitt Romney was opposed by 62.5% of the republican electorate with 37.5% support (Data Here). By comparison through the same period 2016 Trump was opposed by 59.8% with 40.2% support (Data Here).
When you add up Paul Ryan asking CNN’s Jake Tapper for the interview last week (where he publicly announced his concerns about Donald Trump), together with several statements today in retreat, what you begin to see is Ryan was setting up the framework of opposition – then encountered a backlash he did not expect. (more…)

When contemplating the “inevitability threshold” we anticipated last year the Wall Street power brokers would switch to supporting Hillary Clinton if Donald Trump became inevitable. 

[…]  The Tripwire we identified back in July 2015 remains today.  If Wall Street (writ large) views Donald Trump as inevitable, they will re-evaluate –QUICKLY– the opposite side of their controllable coin.  Meaning they will evaluate Hillary Clinton.
Wall Street (The U.S. CoC, Tom Donohue, and all varied interests, DNC/RNC et al) set this up as a win/win. A Clinton/Bush strategy.  If Trump is believed to be inevitable in victory over Bush, they need to re-evaluate the Clinton side STAT.

Today that outcome begins:

(Via The Observer) Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund founded by billionaire James Simons, donated over $13 million to Sen. Ted Cruz’s failed presidential campaign. For a guy who’s supposed to be pretty smart with his money, the ROI on that one has got to sting. (more…)

A poll of active military personnel conducted by Military Times shows Donald Trump with more than a 2-to-1 lead within the military service community.  We actually saw the first statistical evidence of this surface in the Virginia Republican Primary:

(Via Military Times) In a new survey of American military personnel, Donald Trump emerged as active-duty service members’ preference to become the next U.S. president, topping Hillary Clinton by more than a 2-to-1 margin. However, in the latest Military Times election survey, more than one in five troops said they’d rather not vote in November if they have to choose between just those two candidates. (more…)

This story is an example why the republican party consistently loses against the progressive left.   In response to the ridiculous, albeit recent, NC bathroom laws (which the MSM are having fun bashing conservatives on the head with) the Ted Cruz constituency wants to write bathroom laws into the 2016 republican party platform.
Yes, yes, unfortunately – that’s the modern right-wing cultural GOPe.  Look over there, shiny thing, shiny thing… quick, go chase it….. quick make a law to control it…. bathrooms, gays, transgenders… oh noes, the humanity !

WASHINGTON DC – After he lost the Republican nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz’s backers will now reportedly pivot towards trying to gain control of the GOP’s platform during the national convention.

According to The New York Times, top Cruz aide Ken Cuccinelli wrote in an email to supporters urging them to come to Cleveland in July to “protect against liberal changes to our platform.” Cuccinelli confirmed the effort to the Times, telling them that Cruz’s backers seek to protect “movement conservatism,” including a firming of the party’s core positions on abortion and the addition of language regarding transgender bathroom use.

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