Sorry, but I've already left....
"Cleveland convention bounce uncertain as Trump revisits Cruz feud" by Matt Viser Globe Staff July 23, 2016
CLEVELAND — David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader from Louisiana, made additional unwelcome news by singing Republican nominee Donald Trump’s praises as announced plans to run for the Senate.
Trump’s speech Thursday night, which dwelled on voter anger and anxiety, also gave his enemies within the Republican Party plenty of ammunition. Some Republicans even viewed the relentless stream of attacks on Hillary Clinton, by Trump and many of the convention speakers before him, as having gone awry.
“It was a horror show,” said Stuart Stevens, a longtime Republican strategist who helped put together the 2012 GOP convention but adamantly opposes Trump. “It’s incredibly negative. The idea of a bunch of people chanting, ‘Lock her up!’ is about as appealing to most people as human sacrifice.’’
I noted that, and you don't do that. You arrest quietly with indictments, etc.
Maybe Trump is a Trojan Horse for Clinton after all, as many have said lo these many months.
“The whole convention was about Trump’s ego and not any sort of vision for electing anyone,” he added.
Looking back on it now, yeah, from what little I saw.
But Henry Barbour, a Republican national committeeman from Mississippi, was willing to forgive the Trump campaign’s rocky showing in Cleveland.
‘‘Every convention, every campaign has mistakes, and that’s OK,’’ he said, in comments reported by the Associated Press. ‘‘It’s July. There is ample time for folks who need time to understand why Donald Trump is a better pick than Hillary Clinton. He’s not George Washington, not Abraham Lincoln, but he’s a heck of a lot better than Hillary Clinton.’’
Let the debate begin.
Trump failed to make good on a promise that his convention would deliver record TV ratings, as he has during the Republican primary debates. Some 31.5 million viewers tuned in to his speech, only slightly ahead of the 30.3 million who watched Mitt Romney in 2012 but far below the nearly 40 million who watched John McCain in 2008.
I've lost track of how many of those for Obama after 8 years.
Trump’s acceptance speech was read from a teleprompter, and he largely stuck to the script. But on Friday morning, he was back to old Trump, the one who never shies from a fight, even when no fight is required.
With his running mate Mike Pence — who had backed primary opponent Ted Cruz during the primary — standing awkwardly behind him in Cleveland, Trump rehashed old battles with Cruz. He also returned to his discussion of a tabloid news story alleging Cruz’s father met with Lee Harvey Oswald and may have had a role in the assassination of President Kennedy.
Trump cited a story in the National Enquirer, a tabloid that he thinks should have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize and “should be very respected.”
“I know nothing about his father. I know nothing about Lee Harvey Oswald. But there was a picture on the front page of the National Enquirer, which does have credibility.”
“All I did is point out the fact that on the cover of the National Enquirer there was a picture of him and crazy Lee Harvey Oswald having breakfast. Now Ted never denied that it was his father.”
Cruz and his campaign did, in fact, deny it. The claim was also ruled false by several independent fact-checkers.
Fine, but the did scoop the ma$$ media on John Edwards love child and O.J. stuff.
That's not an endorsement of the Enquirer or it's credibility, but what I'm reading is right next to them on the supermarket rack -- and it is reading more like them every day. Absolute fiction and foolishness.
While Trump spurred waves of new voters to cast ballots in the Republican primaries, one concern for many Republicans is that some of his supporters are far out of the mainstream.
I voted Sanders.
On Thursday night, Duke tweeted, “Great Trump Speech, America First! Stop Wars! Defeat the Corrupt elites! Protect our Borders! Fair Trade! Couldn’t have said it better!”
On Friday morning, Duke announced he was running for US Senate in Louisiana and again praised Trump.
‘‘I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I’ve championed for years,” Duke said in his announcement video. “My slogan remains America first.’’
Trump also uses the phrase America first.
“Our plan will put America first,” Trump said during his acceptance speech. “Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo. As long as we are led by politicians who will not put America first, then we can be assured that other nations will not treat America with respect.”
You can read the platform if you like.
In February, Trump did not immediately disavow Duke during an interview on CNN, which triggered concern about his willingness to identify himself with white nationalists. He later said he did not accept Duke’s support.
I don't like linking the site and don't have it on my roll; however, he does have a PhD and I'll let you judge for yourself.
“As you know, Mr. Trump has disavowed David Duke and will continue to do so,” Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an e-mail on Friday.
I suppose I kind of did, too, because I understand the tar baby that he is to the pre$$.
Trump on Friday canceled an event in Akron and instead appeared with Pence at a hotel in Cleveland. He said he didn’t mind that some top Republicans skipped the convention.
“I ran as an outsider, I didn’t want anybody. Now I have guys like Mike Pence,” Trump said. “See now if I don’t win, I’m going to blame Mike, right?”
Pence chuckled in the background.
Friday amounted to the start of weekend-long halftime show, between the Republican convention in Cleveland and Hillary Clinton’s Democratic National Convention, which opens Monday in Philadelphia, as attention began to pivot to the Democrats.
Oh, look, it's not a horse race, it's a football game!
While Trump focused on fear in the country, Democrats will focus on making the country fear Trump.
Paging Mr. Orwell. Please come to the front of the delegate hall. Please come to the front of the delegate hall.
Already on Friday, some Democrats were beginning to brand Trump as a would-be autocrat, because of his boast during his nomination acceptance speech that he is the only person who can lead the nation out of what he described as chaos and terror threats.
There will be Democrats in Congre$$ to check that, right?
Or have the executive orders gotten out of hand after Bushbama?
“Is this guy running for president or dictator?” Senator Bernie Sanders, whose supporters Trump has been trying to court, wrote on Twitter....
I'll be moving forward on them today or tomorrow.
--more--"
Trump decided to settle a score and downplayed the discord, even as he stoked it as he said it “was probably one of the most peaceful, one of the most beautiful, one of the most love-filled conventions in the history of conventions,” [during] another day of distractions.
