Trump in own words, demonstrating what a liar & opportunist he is. Other than the ego & the racism, no there there. https://t.co/ulakTvYboT
— Billmon (@billmon1) January 24, 2016
The people behind the ad, per Politico:
With less than two weeks until the Iowa caucuses, a new super PAC has formed with the intention of taking down Donald Trump.
The group, which is called Our Principles PAC, is founded by Katie Packer, a veteran Republican strategist who served as deputy campaign manager on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign…
Packer declined to say whether she had spoken with Romney about the group. The 2012 GOP nominee has been privately expressing worry to former aides about Trump’s ongoing lead in the primary.
With the start of primary voting just days away, much of the talk in establishment GOP circles about mounting a sustained anti-Trump campaign has dissipated. Castellanos, a veteran GOP ad man, recently said that it was “too late” for those concerned about Trump to begin a media campaign against him…
So like the R-Money people, to show up with a high-dollar product just a little too late to do any good.
Although it’s probably just as well for us Dems that this ad didn’t show up sooner, because the guy they quote would’ve made a pretty good progressive candidate, and that would confuse the simple honest Iowa caucus-goers.
waspuppet
Agreed. It could have done some good months ago, but now it would require conservatives, and Trump supporters in particular, to admit they were wrong about something. And they would rather kill people and destroy the country than do that – cf. the Medicaid expansion.
Chris
@waspuppet:
Huh. Now that you mention it, that sentiment alone might very well be enough to propel Trump through the nomination. All these good solid Real Conservatives who have been told for months that they should abandon Trump by people they consider RINOs and liberals sticking with him for no better reason than because “YOU’RE against him? Then I’M FOR him!”
Baud
If this ad came from Romney, I’m not sure I can trust it.
chopper
lol, so let’s give it to cruz instead!
these guys got no way out.
chopper
@waspuppet:
the fact that the ad is associated with not-conservative-enough romney and his loser stink at least gives trump a way to attack back.
RaflW
If this ad had come out sooner, it might have softened Democrats view of Donald, so I’m glad it didn’t. He’s a totally unprincipled narcissist, and would do great damage to the country. This ad plays into the GOP establishments idea that he doesn’t mean the right wing shit so moderates shouldn’t worry, and that is wrong.
goblue72
Let’s all just be good friends.
El Caganer
Wonder whether they really think they’ll change voters’ minds or whether they hope The Donald will have such intense butthurt that he’ll pack up and go away. He’s awfully thin-skinned.
Vince
So here’s a non-shitty story I just read: http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2016/01/tween-launches-1000blackgirlbooks-sick-reading-white-boys-dogs/
An 11 year old black girl in NJ is having a book drive to find 1000 books where a black girl is the main character since everything she’s assigned in school is about white boys.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Spent the time waiting for the games to start by catching up on The Expanse. There’s a good reason why people who like the science in their science fiction to be real science are going gaga over this show. And for the rest of us, we get yummy things like Shohreh Aghdashloo and Frances Fisher playing off each other.
Back to football.
gene108
Trump was grilled mercilessly about his past views, by Megyn Kelly*, during the first Republican debate. This add is not just too little too late, but yesterday’s news.
* To be fair, Megyn was suffering from severe blood loss, as Trump pointed out, she was bleeding from everywhere, so her rudeness to The Donald can be forgiven.
opiejeanne
@Vince: The article says she has collected 500 books so far. I wonder how many separate titles that represents.
dr. bloor
@Baud: MittBot 2016 features a new trustworthiness program. The developers insist that it will prove more effective than the old 2012 “empathy” program.
So if they trash the Donald, where do his voters go? I thought the Wise Men hated Cruz even more.
beltane
The anti-Cruz ad running in NH is hilarious. Not only is Cruz a natural born Canadian, he is plotting to bring Canadian-style socialism to the US. Maybe he will even make hockey the national sport. Be afraid, be very afraid.
lol chikinburd
Mom’s service yesterday went well, but went so fast. None of the three of us (sister, BiL, self) broke down horribly, and my meds kept me on an even enough keel to compose some eleventh-hour words for Mom that seemed to go over well. So one hard part down, X hard parts to go.
(Oh, and several-hundred-dollar replacement of broken washing machine may just have turned into couple-dozen-dollar replacement of a single part [motor coupler] in a surprisingly doable home repair…provided I can put the thing back together properly in the end.)
I may need better downtime diversions than youtubes of Dylan Thomas self-recitations, though. Need to steer head somewhere happier.
Mike in NC
Back in 2012 there was whispering about Mitt Rmoney’s family ties to Mexico, due to problems with Mormons and polygamy not being legal in the USA. Trump would have a field day dredging up that stuff. Bashing Mexicans got him where he is today.
Johnnybuck
“Make America great again!”
That’s the only issue Trump supporters care about. This might have worked 6 months ago, but I doubt it. This is pure on cult of personality we’re dealing with here.
MobiusKlein
@lol chikinburd: hooray for DIY home repair!
I fixed my washer once too – replaced the agitator dogs. Hardest part was finding the supply house with the right one
Vince
@opiejeanne: I’m hoping at least half are unique titles but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
east is east
This is a good and accurate ad. I don’t think it will matter because I think Trump voters will figure the Establishment is just out to get the Trump. But if it does work against Trump, that’s fine, because Cruz will benefit, and apparently everyone who has had any personal dealings with Cruz hates his guts.
22over7
The ad could have come from anywhere but it doesn’t matter. Honestly I think the establishment, as we mean here, is done for this election.
What if the Kochs backed Trump? Food for thought…
Gimlet
Was that a quick flash of “Bar” at the end with a wink, a smile and a thumbs up?
BillinGlendaleCA
@lol chikinburd:
@MobiusKlein: Depending on the age of the washer, it can make financial sense to replace rather than repair. The newer models are much more efficient(both with water and power) and out in these parts there are rebates that can help with the cost.
bystander
@beltane:
What? No mention of the metric system?
“Make America great again”, where “great” actually means “white.” Did I read it somewhere or did I make it up myself?
opiejeanne
@Vince: Yes; I’m thinking that books that fit this criteria are nearly as rare as hens’ teeth.
Tim C.
Again, The double whammy the GOP faces this time around is that if the nuke Donald, they probably end up with Ted. I’m not sure how they get someone from the “Still a turd, but not quite so obvious a one” lane into the nomination spot.
22over7
@Tim C.: I don’t think the GOP can nuke Trump, even if they wanted to. That’s what I’m saying, I think they’re helpless.
SiubhanDuinne
@Vince:
@opiejeanne:
I’m sharing her link on Facebook with the following message (which I pass along to the Balloon Juice readership):
I think this is a wonderful initiative. I’d especially like to call attention to my Canadian friends, who may be able to recommend (or donate) books about African-Canadian girls and women, or books BY African-Canadian writers.
Hardly a children’s book, but I would at least want her to be aware of Lawrence Hill’s “Someone Knows My Name” (“The Book of Negroes”), which has a strong female protagonist. I would also suggest “My Name is Phillis Wheatley: A Story of Slavery and Freedom,” by the Canadian writer Afua Cooper. (There are other biographies of Wheatley, including “A Voice of Her Own” by Kathryn Lasky, and “Phillis Wheatley: Young Revolutionary Poet” by Kathryn Kilby Borland.)
Anoniminous
Trump is up 4 over Cruz in Iowa and up 19 over Rubio in New Hampshire. He’s 16 ahead of Cruz in South Carolina. Who knows what is happening in Nevada. Trump could easily be 4 and 0 or 3 and 1 going into Super Tuesday. Some silly-assed ads cannot overcome the fact the Establishment/Corporate Wing do not have a viable candidate. They bet on JEB! and drew a busted flush.
BillinGlendaleCA
@bystander:
No, that was Lincoln Chafee; it just didn’t catch on.
22over7
@Anoniminous: Yup. And what if the Kochs go with Trump? The entire GOP apparatus would become moot. Kochs have their own network up and running.
Germy
What do the Kochs make of Bloomberg?
Baud
@Germy: We need a billionaire thunderdome to sort all this out.
Tim C.
Speaking of the Republican primary, it feels like that side has slipped beyond some kind if weird event horizon where what goes on simply can’t be understood but those of us in the real universe. The real question that has yet to be answered is the the negative coattail effect. Cruz and Trump will both give the Democrats a good shot at the Senate, it’s the utterly gerrymandered House that’s probably out of reach. Has Nate Silver or anyone like him done some analysis along those lines? what kind of percentage shift do we need in places like Ohio and NC to have a shot at taking some of those seats?
Germy
danielx
Trying to think of when, in the recent past, this has proved an insurmountable barrier for a Republican candidate.
Schlemazel
This is tricky. I think a lot of the morons that are frothing at the mouth for Trump will be deeply hurt to find out he is in favor of universal health care and raising any tax at all. Add in the abortion stance & this could kill him quiet dead.
As for end game, these are the moneyed people, the play might not be for Willard it could easily be a 2-step, torpedo Trump & then consolidate behind one of the two ass-kissing morons from Florida and squeeze out Crudz.
Germy
@Schlemazel: Rubio?
danielx
@Tim C.:
The problem there, as a producer once screamed at an obstreperous rock and roll band, is that you can’t polish a turd.
JGabriel
I bet Ted Cruz came in his pants when he saw that video.
Schlemazel
@Germy:
either him or W’s dumber brother. They may let them fight it out in a couple of primaries to see if one has better ‘legs’. They can’t afford to wait too long though or it will be Crudz
Schlemazel
@JGabriel:
my guess is the only thing that would get that reaction out of Cruz is when he snaps the heads off of small furry animals.
Mnemosyne
@lol chikinburd:
Here’s my weird advice for you: look for books/movies/whatever that have sad beginnings but happy (or at least optimistic) endings. If you haven’t seen it, “The Descendants” with George Clooney is pretty much exactly the kind of movie I mean. Some people got all huffy because it’s about a rich family, but half the point of the movie is that being rich doesn’t insulate you from grief when someone you love dies a complicated death.
ETA: I also love Julia Sweeney’s book (and one-woman show) “God Said ‘Ha!'” which is largely about her brother dying of cancer but is also funny.
WaterGirl
@Vince: @opiejeanne: My first thought was FIVE, but I thought that was too cynical to say out loud.
Mnemosyne
@Vince:
We still have a canon problem, especially for middle schoolers. “Sounder” only solves the problem halfway, since it’s about a black boy and his dog. Since it sounds like she’s interested in writing, I hope her parents and teachers encourage her to also write the kind of book she wants to read rather than waiting for someone else to write it for her.
Along those lines, can anyone explain why the heck “A Separate Peace” is still taught in high schools? I’m assuming it’s because it’s short and the symbolism is so ham-handed that it’s easy to teach, but it’s a crappy, boring book about dull, whiny prep school boys that no one cares about. Plus it has one of the stupidest endings for a “classic” book that I’ve ever read.
bobbo
Methinks it would have worked better as a flip-flop ad. Show all these “not a true conservative” positions and contrast them with what he says now. “Which is the real Donald Trump?”
J R in WV
Here’s my take on the Republican race: “Make America Great Again” is borderline treasonous.
Here’s why: It says America ISN’T great right now. You can’t say that and run for President – you just can’t
Hillary, or Bernie, either one, can use that slogan and bury him with it. I can’t believe Rafael Cruz or Marco Rubio haven’t jumped on that perspective already. I can’t believe Trump didn’t see that in the beginning.
Of course, I think all these Republicans are vile treasonous and stupid monsters, but that’s irrelevant to the election, as there are between 27% and 47% of people voting who are also vile, etc.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
You’re too cynical — you can probably round up five from Octavia Butler’s work alone. That whole linked website seems to have some great suggestions.
NotMax
@bystander
Maybe here, last August?
Patricia Kayden
@gene108: Republican women don’t seem to have any problem with the way Trump spoke about Meghan. I haven’t seen many (or any actually) coming out to condemn Trump’s sexist rhetoric.
JustRuss
@J R in WV: America has a blah president, so, not great enough. It’s a dog whistle.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Vince:
N.K. Jemisin’s Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.
NotMax
@lol chikinburd
If you can find it to watch, highly recommend the film White on Rice as a picker-upper, a movie you will come out of feeling better than when you went in.
scav
@J R in WV: Treason get’s tossed about a lot. Is is treason to suggest that American’s existing health care system or phyiscal infrastructure isn’t the best in the world already and incapable of improvement? One can utterly despise them for their very souls as revealed by their preferences, preoccupations and ideals, but seriously, treason?
NotMax
@22over7
All that potential lucre didn’t work out so well for Walker.
And the Kochs have publicly and multiple times evinced their distinct distaste, if not loathing, of Trump.
Mike J
@J R in WV: You’re not going to convince Republicans it’s a bad slogan.
Matt McIrvin
@JustRuss: Yeah. When Michelle Obama said she was finally proud of her country, that got outrage. A white guy says he wants to make America great again after a black guy ruined it? There’ll be no problem.
pea
perhaps some “bombshells” are being saved til closer to the election.
i’m still waiting for anyone to mention how trump defrauded students..
but then
in today;s america, TRUMP/KARDASHIAN!
if trump wins, we can kiss the world goodbye.
if clinton or sanders wins. america becomes malheur and
shit, i don’t own a gun
Germy
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I read that Scholastic pulled that children’s book about George Washington’s happy slaves baking him a birthday cake.
Suzanne
@Vince: One of my favorite books for my girls has been “Grace for President”, which is about a girl who learns that there has never been a woman president, and so she decides to run for president of her school. Grace is black and her opponent is a white boy, but there is never any mention of race, only about how the race almost breaks down into boys vs. girls. The illustrations and typography are fabulous.
As a young reader, I really enjoyed all of the “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” books.
Kay
@Tim C.:
The Ohio Senate race is winnable, but it won’t be easy. I don’t think it will be won or lost on whether the GOP candidate has coattails. It will be won or lost on the Democratic turnout.
It’s always a battle here. Josh Mandel was a terrible candidate. Sherrod Brown took him seriously, because if he didn’t do take him seriously, Any Random Republican could win.
We canvassed and identified Obama voters and Sherrod voters at the same time in 2012 – one list. The campaigns started really early. It was cold enough to wear a coat, so maybe April. Sherrod’s campaign manager was from Iowa. She ran Gillibrand’s campaign in NY before Sherrod’s. She must have been good because a county chair told me she had her pick of Dem Senate races to run and she wanted Sherrod’s.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
I was lucky enough to interview Mildred Taylor right after “Roll of Thunder” was published. A warm, wonderful woman.
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: I loved all of those books. There was also a series by an author named Sydney Taylor (I think) about a Jewish family with five daughters in early-20th-century New York. I enjoyed that series, as well.
gene108
@Patricia Kayden:
Republican women don’t have much of a problem with their men folk say, as long as they can make abortion illegal and put in place the rest of the right-wing agenda.
Anyway, what I was trying to convey is Trump was harangued early in his campaign about his earlier views. The first Reoublican debate featured a heavy dose of “Mr. Trump please explain why you were for ‘X’ but are now against it.” He blustered his way through those questions.
It did not hurt him then.
I am not sure, why people think it will hurt him now.
Robert Sneddon
On the subject of books with black female main characters, there’s “Zelde M’Tana” by F. M. Busby. It’s a space opera where Zelde is a side character given her own book to tell her own story.
There have also been a couple of Star Trek novelisations with Lt. Uhura as the main or focus character.
SiubhanDuinne
@Robert Sneddon:
If you haven’t done so already, please send these suggestions to the link in Vince‘s comment. I am guessing there are a lot of great books out there with black female protagonists, but they need a bit of publicity.
the Conster
I don’t know why everyone’s overthinking this ad. Trump is right – he can say or do anything, and have said and have done anything in the past – and his followers won’t leave him. Trump unleashed the conservative id and Trump and his followers are all riding the crest of that wave wherever it’s taking them, together. Hopefully the rest of us get to mostly just watch the wave crash, because I want nothing to do with him or his followers.
redshirt
@the Conster: Absolutely right. He could shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die. He’d be cheered and gain 5 points in South Carolina.
siciliandish
Another establishment miscalculation. Nobody supporting Trump now is going to care about this stuff. In fact, he’ll probably hit twitter hard – play the victim big time, and this ad will just be another nail in the mainstream coffin. Republican ‘kingmakers’ don’t understand the degree to which the base has internalized the Right-wing fear and loathing since 2007.
the Conster
@redshirt:
Yup – pure unleashed id. I wasn’t in Weimar in the late ’30s but I expect if I had been, this time right now would be setting off my antennae. Social media lets us all watch it unfold in real time, but so what? Knowledge of historical precedent and the desire to avoid the ugliness of what followed Weimar isn’t anywhere on the Trumpenlumpen radar. The GOP establishment is as helpless as we Dems are to put a leash on that id.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
I’m not sure how different those two views are. If either presidential candidate has coattails, it will probably be because of turnout effects, not because they’ve somehow convinced swing voters.
sm*t cl*de
@the Conster:
The classiness of Trump’s jackboots gets his followers’ saliva running and their tongues hanging out. The Evangelicals love him despite his lifelong uninterest in christianity. They know he has no hope and no intention of fulfilling his promises. They don’t care.
Ruviana
@Suzanne: All-of-a-Kind Family! I loved those books! I was thinking about them earlier when I saw the link about the book drive.
the Conster
@sm*t cl*de:
They love the fact that he’s off the hook, and no one is able to shame him, or get him to back off of anything he does or says – that’s what “strength” means to them. They’re non-ideological. They’re authoritarians, which is a psychological disorder, and that makes the whole situation dicey.
sm*t cl*de
@the Conster:
You say “psychological disorder”, I say “the norm for the human condition”. Tomay-to, tomah-to.
PurpleGirl
@lol chikinburd: Do you like cats and kittens? Then you can watch kitten cams — there are people who foster kittens and have a camera showing them 24/7 on Livestream. There is one regular watching who calls herself “Needs Kitten Therapy”. It can be fun to watch the kittens are they grow and are socialized, the foster/shelter they volunteer for aiming to get the kittens and the mom cat adopted.
ETA: One place to start is Foster Dad John’s FaceBook page, which has a link to his Livestream site. John fosters for a shelter outside Seattle.
https://www.facebook.com/TheCritterRoom
catclub
@the Conster: The Germans were DESPERATE for something by the time they tried Hitler. Unemployment there was 47%. Even though I know there are plenty of people who will say that things are really bad now (The world is on fire), things are actually VERY good right now, say, by comparison with 2008-9 when there was 10% unemployment. They do not mean it as someone who is facing 47% unemployment means it.
Kay
@Roger Moore:
This was the question, though:
I just don’t think Democrats in Ohio can rely on the Republican not having coattails to go from 48 to 50.8 or whatever Sherrod won with.
I spend a lot of time and (mostly) wasted energy trying to convince Ohio Democrats to treat this as a cooperative effort. IMO, Sherrod and Obama were a perfect pair. :)
Strickland loves Hillary and that might be a good match too, although it’s different, in that scenario it would be up to Clinton to drive turnout in urban areas. I haven’t seen a poll in a while but Portman is beating him 3/1 in fundraising. That might not matter. They threw giant bags of campaign cash at Sherrod and he still won.
workworkwork
@J R in WV: They can’t pull it off because the entire RW is insisting that America is currently a third-world, socia*ist hell hole. Trump is just using their marketing copy.
TriassicSands
At this point, is there any way for Trump to lose the nomination and not feel so personaImally aggrieved by the efforts being made to defeat him — within the GOP itself — that he willa not run an independent campaign?
Imagine a November 2016 ballot with Clinton or Sanders running against the GOP nominee plus Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg both running separately as independents.
Trump dwells on the polls. Those polls make him look strong within the GOP, but they don’t highlight how unpopular he really is. He has a sizable lunatic contingent that is far short of a majority, and among the voters supporting Trump’s opponents, it seems like Trump isn’t even a third or fourth choice.
Tehanu
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Thanks for the link. I love The Expanse only slightly less than I love the books it’s based on — they’re doing a bang-up job of dramatizing the series (even though they aren’t doing it exactly like the books in every single detail, or more to my point, like I would if I were in charge). Holden!
bupalos
So a policy/flip-flop ad is going to sink Trump? I think what otherwise sorta-smart people continue to fail to understand is that the Trumpenproletariat doesn’t actually care about any of these issues. They don’t know any Trump issues as it is.They wouldn’t define “universal healthcare paid for by the government” as being good or bad, they’d just know it would surely be better than that ObamaCare monstrosity put together for The Blacks by The Blacks. Same with abortion. A lot of the right that talks about abortion could not care less about actual abortion, it’s just handy ground from which to paint some people as proto-lesbian baby-killing monsters.
Trump has shiny new things for them to hate that are sooo much yoooger, they don’t really even need the old ones anyway plus LAMESTREAM MEDIA ATTACK.