Regardless of who you support in the 2016 Presidential primary race, most will admit there’s one strategic advantage held by Donald Trump over all other candidates – Trump’s willingness to “own the downside“.

All policies and proposals have a “downside“, there’s no such thing as a policy proposal with benefit to all and harm to none.   This empirical truth is toxic to professional politicians – therefore they spend an inordinate amount of time using pretzel logic to avoid it.

As a direct consequence of avoidance, the media love to use the downside as a weapon.  For the first time in recent political memory Donald Trump represents a candidacy who is unafraid of their spear; and as a consequence, immune to the damage. (more…)

Another enjoyable watch – Courtesy of Joe Dan Media and Intellectual Froglegs

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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 †

Someone in an earlier thread tried to claim that Candidate Ted Cruz was “out front” against the import of Syrian refugees.  Unfortunately, reality begs to differ.

Here’s video of Ted Cruz (from his own U-Tube channel) in 2014 specifically advocating for the direct import of additional Syrian refugees.  Additionally interesting, when confronted with the concern of terrorist embeds within the refugee population – Senator Ted Cruz was dismissive of the issue saying he was confident we have a way to insure that doesn’t happen:

Then again, this is “Senator” Ted Cruz, and not “Candidate” Ted Cruz – apparently those are two different people. (more…)

A recent poll from UMass (full pdf below) shows Donald Trump and Ben Carson clearly in the lead.  However, the real highlight is how low Jeb Bush polls.

AMHERST, Mass. – Donald Trump and Ben Carson have a dominating lead over the rest of the field of Republican presidential candidates, and should either of them drop out of the primary race the other stands to benefit the most, according to a new UMass Poll released today by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Overall, Trump leads the Republican field with 31 percent of likely Republican voters listing him as their first choice, based on a nationwide online survey of 318 likely Republican primary voters conducted by YouGov America under the direction of the UMass Poll from Nov. 5-13. Carson comes in second at 22 percent, followed by Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio at 13 percent and 9 percent, respectively. No other candidate was able to garner 5 percent support. (more…)

There has been a lot of discussion recently over “border walls”, protecting geography and “refugees”. Perhaps it would be interesting to revisit this earlier report from January 2015:

1,000km border wall called the “Northern Border Security Project”

SAUDI ARABIA – Islamic State lists the capture of Saudi Arabia, home to the holy Muslim grounds of Mecca and Medina, as a key goal.

Just over a week ago, IS militants launched an attack on a Saudi border post, killing a senior Saudi general and two border guards, marking the first direct IS assault on Saudi grounds, The Telegraph reported.

In an effort to defend itself from the IS threat and further attacks, the kingdom launched a massive project to construct a “Great Wall” along it’s northern border with Iraq, where IS presence is heavy. (more…)

Not a “bumper sticker”, I know, but pretty good smackdown by IowaHawk!  😀

UPDATE: Full Rally Video

Presidential candidate Donald J Trump will be holding a rally in Knoxville Tennessee tonight at 7:00pm.  This is the first rally since numerous candidates have jumped aboard the Trump policy/platform bandwagon.  Here is a livestream link:

(more…)

During a recent campaign rally in Beaumont Texas candidate Donald Trump remarked about flying in to the great state of Texas.  Paraphrased he encapsulated the greeting from the Air Traffic Control Tower:

…Mr. Trump you are cleared to land on runway one, and to Make America Great Again…

The tongue-in-cheek greeting speaks to a formidable positive energy surrounding the campaign.  Yes, indeed “make America great again” is an overwhelmingly supported message from within the #ColdAnger community who are sick and tired of the corruptocratic BS infecting the body politic.

In addition to the already professional security apparatus, Team Trump now have a full Secret Service team coordinating event and candidate security.   Advance teams now set up security operations ahead of campaign appearances. (more…)