[brid video=”36984″ player=”2077″ title=”Sarah Palin Endorses Paul Ryan’s Challenger “I Will Do Whatever I Can to Support Paul Nehlen””]
[unipress-video]
Sarah Palin told CNN’s Jake Tapper “I will do whatever I can” to support Paul Nehlen, who is challenging Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in the Wisconsin congressional race. Former Alaska Gov. Palin’s remarks come after Speaker Ryan last week told Mr. Tapper he was “not ready” to support Donald Trump, his party’s presumptive nominee.
“I think Paul Ryan is soon to be ‘Cantored’ as in Eric Cantor,” Gov. Palin said, a reference to the former House majority leader and only one ever to be defeated in his party primary. “His political career is over but for a miracle.”
David Brat defeated Eric Cantor in a deeply conservative congressional district in Virginia (Read Why Here).
The former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee was an early supporter of Mr. Trump, endorsing him over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ahead of the Iowa caucus. As PPD reported, Mr. Trump’s populist platform–to primarily include his promises to renegotiate trade deals and stop the unfettered flow of illegal immigration–directly threaten Mr. Ryan’s top donors and benefactors.
When asked by Mr. Tapper about a potential second VP run, Gov. Palin said she didn’t want to be a “burden” on Mr. Trump’s ticket.
“I want to help and not hurt,” Palin said.
FULL INTERVIEW
[brid video=”36983″ player=”2077″ title=”Sarah Palin on State of the Union Full Interview”]
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets supporters as he arrives for a rally in Spokane, Wash., Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, said Saturday that former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham are lightweights who don’t honor their words. The Donald called out his former rivals for breaking their pledge to support the party’s nominee, something all 17 of the candidates agreed to do during the first Republican debate hosted by Fox News.
“Jeb Bush isn’t an honorable person. Lindsey Graham isn’t an honorable person,” Trump said at a rally in Spokane, Washington. The campaign visit comes ahead of the state’s May 24 primary and, even though the remaining two candidates suspended their campaigns after his big win in Indiana, Mr. Trump is on track to break the record for the most popular votes ever received by a Republican presidential candidate in the party’s primary.
Mr. Trump surpassed Mitt Romney’s vote following his five-state sweep through the Northeast last month. Ironically, the record currently belongs to former President George W. Bush, who along with the rest of the family said they will be sitting out the Republican National Convention this summer. Then-Texas Gov. Bush set the record while running for the nomination in 2000.
Nevertheless, all 17 major Republican presidential candidates officially signed the loyalty pledge issued by the Republican National Committee in September 2015, including Mr. Trump. In doing so, they also committed to not running as an independent, third-party candidate, write-in candidate or supporting a candidate from another party.
“Bush signed a pledge. While signing it, he fell asleep,” Mr. Trump joked to the crowd, returning to his devastating branding tacts that labeled the former Florida governor as “low energy.”
“Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham are lightweights,” he said. “When we went to South Carolina, he thought he had power. My 10-year-old son Barron had more power,” adding that he was “a total dope constantly on TV knocking me.”
Mr. Trump also took aim at his likely Democratic rival and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a darling of the far left and potential running mate for Hillary Clinton. The first-term senator went on a Twitter tirade last week calling the Republican candidate xenophobic, racist and a bully.
Mr. Trump repeatedly called Sen. Warren a “goofus” and reminded the crowd she had lied about her Native American background to stage her education and career at an Ivy League college. While it was a minor issue during her successful bid against former Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., it was largely ignored by the media. When asked by journalists, she claimed her family always told her she was Native American and cited her mother’s facial features.
“She’s been going around pretending that she’s a minority because she felt that her mother had high cheek bones” Mr. Trump mocked. “Let’s see what she does when they say we want real proof that you’re a Native American.”
In a preview of the general election strategy, he repeatedly referred to his rival as “Crooked Hillary” and once again fired back at her for playing the woman’s card by reminding the audience of her husband’s history. The two had a similiar showdown a few months ago, when he responded to her calling him a misogynist by bringing up her role in attacking women who have accused her husband of sexual assault.
“She’s married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics,” Mr Trump said of Clinton.
142 Delegates Proportional Allocation: Tuesday 7 June 2016
Total delegates include 84 in congressional districts, 28 at-large; 14 Pledged PLEOs and 16 Unpledged PLEOs. Read rules below table.
[election_2016_polls]
eGarden State Polling Data
[wpdatatable id=74]
(H/T Green Papers) Tuesday 7 June 2016: 126 of 142 delegates to the Democratic National Convention are pledged to presidential contenders based on the results of the voting in today’s New Jersey Presidential Primary. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates at either the congressional district or statewide level.
84 delegates are to be pledged proportionally to presidential contenders based on the primary results in each of 20 “delegate districts” (unlike the Democratic Parties in most other states, New Jersey’s Democrats will not be allocating the state’s district delegates to the Democratic National Convention by congressional district but, instead, will utilize 20 special “delegate districts”, each of which will consist of two Legislative Districts paired together. (New Jersey elects its State Legislature by Legislative District shared by both the Senate [the upper house] and the General Assembly [the lower house]: each of the state’s 40 Legislative Districts [LD] elects 1 of the 40 state senators and 2 of the 80 state assemblymen).
In addition, 42 delegates are to be pledged to presidential contenders based on the primary vote statewide.
28 at-large National Convention delegates
14 Pledged PLEOs
District-level delegates are elected by a two-part primary in which delegate positions are allocated based on a Presidential preference primary and filled through the election of delegates directly on the ballot. National Convention District delegates slates are approved by each Presidential candidate prior to the primary.
51 Delegates Winner-Take-All Allocation: Tuesday 7 June 2016
Total delegates include 36 for 12 congressional districts, 10 base at large, 3 party and 2 bonus. Read rules below table.
[election_2016_polls]
eGarden State Polling Data
[wpdatatable id=73]
(H/T Green Papers) Tuesday 7 June 2016: All of New Jersey’s 51 delegates to the Republican National Convention are bound to a presidential contender in today’s New Jersey Presidential Primary.
51 delegates are bound to the presidential contender receiving the greatest number of votes in the primary statewide. [Rules Governing the selection and allocation of delegates to the Republican National Convention. Rule 5(B)(3)]
The delegate candidates appear on the ballot as a slate on the same ballot line, column or row as that of their respective presidential candidate.
The 3 party leaders, the National Committeeman, the National Committeewoman, and the chairman of the New Jersey’s Republican Party, will by virtue of their position, attend the convention pledged to the winner of the primary. [Rule 5(B)(3)]
“All delegates … committed to a particular candidates … shall be obligated and required to cast their vote for the candidates at the first vote … at the Republican National Convention. In the event any candidates … declines to participate … or makes known publically that he/she no longer seeks the nomination … New Jersey’s delegates … shall no longer be … committed to any candidate. … Any delegates … who fails or refused to act in accordance with their … commitment … shall to subject to censure ….” [Rules 6 and 7]
34 Delegates Selection Primary Allocation: Tuesday 10 May 2016
Total total delegates – 10 base at-large / 9 re: 3 congressional districts / 3 party / 12 bonus.
[election_2016_polls]
wMountain State Polling Data
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(H/T GreenPapers) Tuesday 10 May 2016: All 34 of West Virginia’s delegates to the Republican National Convention are bound in today’s Presidential Primary. Each delegate candidate is individually listed on the ballot along with their presidential preference. The delegate candidate receiving the most votes in each contest is elected.
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. Of these 22 At-Large delegates that will be selected on the statewide ballot not more than 2 may come from the same county and only the 7 top vote-getters from each Congressional District that have been voted on by all Republican primary voters in the state, are elected as Delegates- among the 21 of these 22 not including the delegate-candidate with the most votes statewide; since the top vote-getting At-Large Delegate is immune to geographic restrictions (that is: the delegate-candidate with the most votes is elected outright in any event), he/she will not factor into the geographically-determined counts restricting the other 21 At Large Delegates. Please note that, despite these geographical restrictions, this system does allow, say, a voter in CD 3 to cast his/her vote for At-Large delegate-candidates in CD 1 or CD 2 and vice versa.
The 3 party leaders, the National Committeeman, the National Committeewoman, and the chairman of the West Virginia’s Republican Party, will attend the convention, by virtue of their position, bound to the candidate receiving the most votes statewide.
If any of the directly elected Delegates are unable to attend the convention, for any reason, then the next highest vote getter on the ballot shall be designated as the alternate.
The table below shows the raw election night vote only.
Worthing noting, delegates committed to candidates who have suspended their campaigns are free to support another candidate. These delegates to the Republican National Convention are under no obligation to vote for that candidate at the National Convention.
37 Delegates Proportional Allocation: Tuesday 10 May 2016
Total delegates include 20 district, 6 at large, 3 Pledged PLEOs and 8 Unpledged PLEOs.
[election_2016_polls]
wMountain State Polling Data
[wpdatatable id=71]
(H/T GreenPapers) Tuesday 10 May 2016: 29 of 37 delegates to the Democratic National Convention are pledged to presidential contenders based on the results of the voting in today’s West Virginia Presidential Primary. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be pledged National Convention delegates at either the congressional district or statewide level.
20 district delegates are to be allocated proportionally to presidential contenders based on the primary results in each of the State’s 3 congressional districts. (estimated allocations)
9 delegates are to be allocated to presidential contenders based on the primary vote statewide.
Saturday 11 June – Sunday 12 June 2016: The West Virginia State Convention in Charleston / State Executive Committee meeting.
National Convention District level delegates are elected during the District Caucuses at the 11 June State Convention according to the results of the primary.
National Convention At-Large and Pledged Pledged PLEO delegates are elected during the 12 June State Executive Committee Meeting according to the results of the primary.
The remaining 8 National Convention delegates consist of
1 Member of Congress (1 Senator and 0 Representatives).
1 Governor.
0 Distinguished Party Leaders.
Saturday 11 June – Sunday 12 June 2016: The West Virginia State Convention in Charleston / State Executive Committee meeting.
National Convention District level delegates are elected during the District Caucuses at the 11 June State Convention according to the results of the primary.
National Convention At-Large and Pledged Pledged PLEO delegates are elected during the 12 June State Executive Committee Meeting according to the results of the primary.
The remaining 8 National Convention delegates consist of 8 Unpledged PLEO delegates, 6 Democratic National Committee members, 1 member of Congress (1 Senator and 0 Representatives) and 1 governor. In West Virginia, there are 0 Distinguished Party Leaders and 8 delegates who will go to the Democratic National Convention officially “Unpledged”.
Iranians burn the American and Israeli flags following the announcement of the negotiated nuclear agreement in Tehran. (Photo: Hamed Malekpour)
Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama’s Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications, is highlighted in a recent piece by the New York Times. The article quotes Rhodes as admitting the Obama administration lied to the American people, Congress, and our allies in how they “spun” the Iran nuclear deal.
The revelations are simply astonishing but not surprising. It seems the goal behind the Iran deal was to extricate the United States from long-standing alliances in the Middle East, including Israel. This was done to be able to close the Iran nuclear agreement.
The Soviet Union would have been proud. This disclosure shows that anything the Obama administration puts out is nothing short of sheer propaganda and cannot be trusted; but, we knew that already didn’t we.
The reaction to the NYT piece by David Samuels has been swift and fierce. Hudson Institute adjunct fellow Michael Pregent opined: “Dude thinks he’s on ‘House of Cards’ – Rhodes lied to sell Iran Deal and is proud of it.”
“In the spring of last year, legions of arms-control experts began popping up at think tanks and on social media, and then became key sources for hundreds of often-clueless reporters,” Samuels wrote. “We created an echo chamber,” he quoted Rhodes as admitting. “They were saying things that validated what we had given them to say.” “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns,” Rhodes was quoted as telling him. “They literally know nothing.”
According to the article the administration put out a deliberately misleading narrative about the way the nuclear negotiations came about, linking them to the rise in 2013 of the “moderate” President Hasan Rouhani at the expense of “hardliners,” ushering in a supposedly new political reality in Iran, reports CNS News. Obama was known by insiders to have wanted to make a deal with Iran from the beginning of his presidency in 2009, but the idea that the rise of “moderates” provided the opportunity was “largely manufactured for the purpose for selling the deal,” Samuels wrote.
“By obtaining broad public currency for the thought that there was a significant split in the regime, and that the administration was reaching out to moderate-minded Iranians who wanted peaceful relations with their neighbors and with America, Obama was able to evade what might have otherwise been a divisive but clarifying debate over the actual policy choices that his administration was making,” he wrote.
Now the next president and our children will have to deal with a world where Iran obtains nuclear weapons along with the capability to deliver them as they continue to test intercontinental ballistic missiles. America’s allies in the Middle East no longer trust us. Heck, after reading these reports, how could any of our allies trust us? Obama has done immeasurable damage to the national security of the United States and our allies around the world. But again, we knew that already; we just didn’t know how bad it was yet.
Ryan’s Biggest Benefactors Will Lose Oodles Under President Trump
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., left, holds a news conference on Capitol Hill on March 17, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel in D.C. on Wednesday April 27, 2016. (Photo: Reuters/Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Thursday he’s “not ready” to support the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, despite Hillary Clinton being his only alternative in November. While the media and Mr. Ryan’s allies have tried to portray this as an ideological conflict, research conducted by PPD may shed some light on why the Republican Speaker of the House isn’t yet on board the Trump Train.
Like a real locomotive, the Trump Train steamed over the 17-strong bench of 2016 presidential contenders, and he did so with on an “America First” platform that promised to renegotiate imbalanced trade deals. He vowed to work to reverse the harmful impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has syphoned off U.S. manufacturing jobs, and finally get illegal immigration under control.
Of course, those promises would become broken promises if the U.S. adopted the massive 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, which was completed in early October.
“When it comes to trade, Paul is an ideological free trader,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., an early and staunch supporter of Mr. Trump. “He’s up for any and all trade with any and all nations. These two men are diametrically opposed on trade.”
“The American people are behind Mr. Trump.”
Well, then it begs the question. Who’s behind Speaker Ryan?
Much of Main Street America is unaware of them, but former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, affectionately referred to his army of K Street lobbyists as citizens of “Boehner Land.” They secured hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaigns, played at luxury golf resorts, and threw waterfront and warehouse parties. While it’s true that former Speaker Boehner was known even among his fellow Republicans for having particularly deep ties to corporate lobbyists, Mr. Ryan now enjoys support from many of the same interests.
Mr. Ryan’s benefactors are also members of the U.S. Coalition for TPP. According to the group’s website, the “U.S. Coalition for TPP is a broad-based and cross-sectoral group of U.S. companies and associations representing the principal sectors of the U.S. economy including agriculture, manufacturing, merchandising, processing, publishing, retailing, transportation and services.”
To be sure, not every member has given their full-throated support for TPP, but they are all part of the 487 groups that paid lobbyists some $2.6 billion while TPP was on their agenda, according to a report by OpenSecrets.org. Worth noting, that figure only includes the period from 2008 up until the third quarter 2015.
But notable Coalition members include groups that have supported harmful trade deals and unabated flows of low-wage workers in the past, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and Boeing. These same entities were behind the fight to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, which even the anti-Trump Club for Growth calls a “slush fund for corporate welfare.” That fight was lost until Republican leaders snuck it back in a late-night vote on a last minute spending bill.
Together with their allies, they form a long list that includes other Republican leaders, a coalition of Big Business Democrats (i.e. Trump’s fellow-New Yorker Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer) and a diverse range of business groups. All of these forces worked hard to pass trade promotion authority (TPA) this summer and need Speaker Ryan to help push it through the next Congress.
Akin Gump et al, a K Street firm representing corporate members of the U.S. Coalition for TPP–to include Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)–is number 8 on the list of the 25 top contributors to Speaker Ryan. Akin Gump, with other lobbyist firms such as BGR Group, weren’t even on the list prior to Mr. Ryan becoming speaker.
But hey, that’s just how D.C. works, right?
Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, another vocal critic of Mr. Trump (who won his state in a landslide during the primary), is now head lobbyist at BGR Group. He represents several U.S. Coalition for TPP members such as Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), Toyota Motor Company ((NYSE:TM), as well as the the Building and Construction Trades Department at the AFL-CIO.
They shelled out $32,425 to his campaign committee and Leadership PAC in just the latest filing period. Pfizer, which is leaving the U.S., directly contributed a combined $57,150 during only the same period. In total, from 2015-2016, Pfizer contributed the second most on the top 25 list.
And that list, specifically narrowing those who have tirelessly lobbied for TPP, goes on and on. Candidate Donald Trump threatens to waste the more than $2.6 billion spent on TPP, but a “President Donald Trump” would mean a total waste of that money.
Unemployed Americans wait in line for to fill out applications for jobless benefits. (Photo: Reuters)
The Labor Department reported the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0% and the U.S. economy added 160,000 jobs in April, far below the median forecast for 202,000 jobs. Meanwhile, wages continued to increase at an abysmal pace and the labor force participation rate fell to 62.8% from 63.0%.
Under the heavy burden of government regulation, mining employment continued its now years-long trend of decline in April by shedding -7,000 more jobs. Worth noting, the coal miner union in West Virginia endorsed Donald J. Trump for president on Thursday, marking the first time in five elections they have not chosen the Democratic candidate. Since reaching a peak in September 2014, employment in mining has decreased by a whopping 191,000 jobs, with more than three-quarters of the loss in support activities for mining.
Employment in other major industries, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, leisure and hospitality, and government, showed little or no change over the month.
Subgroups for American workers remained largely unchanged this month. The unemployment rate for Hispanics increased to 6.1% in April, while the rates for adult men (4.6%), adult women (4.5%), teenagers (16.0%), Whites (4.3%), Blacks (8.8%), and Asians (3.8%) showed little or no improvement.
The Labor Department this week continued to boast the lowest number of first-time unemployment benefits weekly in decades. However, as PPD repeatedly explains, the number of long-term unemployed workers– or, those jobless for 27 weeks or more–impacts the sheer number of eligible applicants. While the long-term unemployed number declined by 150,000 in April, it still remained at a whopping 2.1 million in April.
These individuals accounted for a staggering 25.7% of the total 5.0% designated as unemployed. Further, the number of American workers employed part time for economic reasons, also referred to as involuntary part-time workers, remained flat in April at 6.0 million. This has shown little to no improvement since November. These American workers either would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or were unable to find a full-time job.
In April, the labor force participation rate decreased to 62.8%, marking a 37-year low. The less-cited but arguably more important employment-population ratio also fell to an abysmal 59.7%. Coupled with flat wages, the report is the latest in a string of economic data suggesting a slowdown in the U.S. economy and a loosening in the labor market.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours in April. The manufacturing workweek, plaqued by regional contraction, remained unchanged at 40.7 hours. Overtime was also unchanged at 3.3 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was up by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours.
[brid video=”36742″ player=”2077″ title=”Reince Priebus Rips National Review’ “That’s a Stupid Idiotic Statement””]
National Review Online, specifically David French, called on Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to resign after he urged the party to unify behind Donald Trump. With his win in Indiana on Tuesday, Chairman Priebus tweeted that Mr. Trump is the presumptive nominee and it was time to unify behind #NeverHillary.
We won’t be linking their reaction, but the folks at the neoconservative outlet were none too happy, basically calling voters stupid and preparing for the rapture.
Mr. Priebus, after responding to the call, also confirmed what PPD had reported earlier Thursday, which is that Mr. Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will be meeting sometime next week to discuss the party agenda and the election. Speaker Ryan told CNN earlier in the day that he was “not ready” to support Mr. Trump as the nominee.
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