Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: Russia should be our natural ally, but instead Obama is being belligerent

Here in The National Interest:

Today, we have . . . a waning military capacity coupled with petulant policies towards Russia, a country that could be an ally against such mutual enemies as radical Islam and, potentially, an expanding China.

It represents a stunning and total failure of vision, moral and strategic. We must cast aside such absurd, costly, unachievable and un-American ambitions that would have us policing and garrisoning the planet, intervening in every conflict. We must favor a policy that cultivates mutually beneficial relations with nations of like culture and values, negotiating smartly in the national interest—all, of course, while maintaining a defensive military posture second to none. 

That's it, folks: Rush Limbaugh just called him "Donaldus Magnus"

Just now on the show.

Mr. Money Mustache: Obsessive compulsive, and a bunch of other enthusiasms

From the story in The New Yorker, here:

The blog, which he started five years ago, is really an attack on consumerism and waste—a theology of conservation—disguised as a personal-finance advice column. The prospect of retirement is in some respects just a lure—the carrot, as opposed to the stick of his relentless polemical thrashing of anyone who thinks it’s O.K. to buy lattes at Starbucks or drive “a gigantic piece of shit that can barely navigate a parking lot.” He told me, “I’m really just trying to get rich people to stop destroying the planet.” ... [A]t one point I realized that he was almost angry at me for my half-witting participation in the destruction of the world. ... When you play devil’s advocate—for instance, if you suggest that if everyone lived the way he does the economy would shrivel up—he can get riled . . .. [Peter] Adeney has the behavioral-economics view that we should set our policies to encourage sensible behavior—the obvious example being a carbon tax. “It’s libertarian paternalism, or maybe it’s paternalistic libertarianism,” he said. “I am trying to improve the commons.” On his blog, he dispenses deep thoughts, product recommendations (credit cards, brokerages, laser printers), and D.I.Y. work-arounds (“How to Carry Major Appliances on Your Bike”—“It is absolutely ridiculous to buy even your first bottle of wine or restaurant meal if you do not yet have a good bicycle and a bike trailer”).

Trump is outpolling both Mitt Romney in 2012 and John McCain in 2008

The Weekly Standard reports here:

All told, Trump has now won approximately 420,000 votes. After the first four states had voted in 2012, Mitt Romney had won about 387,000 votes. Back in 2008, meanwhile, eventual nominee John McCain had won a little more than 250,000 votes after Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada had voted.

Trump crushes it in Nevada beating Rubio 1.9:1, Cruz 2.1:1

Everyone seems to agree: Ted Cruz is now the monkey in the middle

Trump unfurls frugal $24 million slingshot, fells $157 million giant named Bush

WaPo reports here:

[Y]ou have to give Trump a lot of credit for grasping early on that he didn't need to blanket the Iowa or New Hampshire airwaves with costly ads. Instead, he just sent tweets. Or called into "Morning Joe." Like it or not, Trump has redefined what money -- or, more specifically, fundraising -- means in the context of political campaigns.

Donald Trump is reminding voters today that Ted Cruz favors amnesty for illegal aliens

ICE officer Chris Crane challenges Marco Rubio to meeting after Rubio lies about his status on FOX

Reported here:

“You recently lied to the American public on FOX news regarding my current status and career as both an ICE Agent and Officer,” Crane writes in his email to Rubio. “I challenge you to make yourself available, as a United States Senator and Presidential Candidate, so that I may present my badge and credentials to you as proof that your comments on FOX news are false.”

Ex-Bush Establishment Republicans swarm to Marco Rubio like flies to a rotting corpse

Lavishly reported here about the candidate who so far is nothing but a loser:

Throughout Monday, a string of ex-Bush backers from across the country gravitated to the Florida senator, including former Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). In South Florida, Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Curbelo and former congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart — all of whom had backed Bush — also announced their support.

Rubio also picked up supporters who previously stood in the sidelines of the race, like former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

On the donor side, in addition to Kilberg, former ambassador Francis Rooney, who gave more than $2 million to a pro-Bush super PAC through his holding company, is now with Rubio. So is financial industry executive Muneer Satter, who also made a big investment on behalf of Bush.

New York attorney Phil Rosen, a major Republican fundraiser, said he has spent the last two days on the phone with former Bush donors now eager to join the Rubio effort.

“They have a lot of disappointment about Jeb, but they are ready to put full steam ahead for Marco,” said Rosen, who said he has gotten commitments from 15 top Bush bundlers. ...

Rubio’s backers concede that a loss in his home state to Trump would likely be a fatal blow.

So Donald Trump is on his third wife: The very definition of experience

Local sheriffs rise in support of ICE officer Chris Crane who was dismissed and discredited by Marco Rubio

From the story here:

Sheriff Tom Hodgson of Bristol County, Massachusetts similarly defended Crane against Rubio’s attacks.

“I’m not sure what Sen. Rubio is talking about,” the Massachusetts Sheriff said. “I don’t understand why Sen. Rubio would say that about Chris Crane. Anyone who has worked on the immigration issue knows that Crane is a federal ICE agent who is fighting for law enforcement to be able to do its job and protect our borders, so that the people we’re sworn to protect are not victimized financially or criminally.

“I’m really surprised by Rubio’s comment,” Sheriff Hodgson continued. “He knows very well who Chris Crane is. He met with law enforcement at some point [during the Gang of Eight push] when we were telling him that he had the wrong position on this issue.”

Laugh of the Day: 80% of Republicans reject Marco Rubio!

Mark Halperin clip, played just now on The Laura Ingraham Program.

Larry Kudlow made the right call NOT to run for the US Senate

Noted here:

A day earlier, Kudlow had announced that he would not run for the Senate from Connecticut. He had been toying with the notion for some time, and while there are many reasons not to go to Washington — he says he loves what he is doing now — he realized as he was touring the state that he had missed some AA meetings. “It’s not a good thing for me,” he told the New York Post.

Steady as she goes, Larry.

South Carolina primary turnout up 21.1% over 2012

Reported here.

730,000 in 2016 v 603,000 in 2012.

Trump received 44.6% more votes than second place finisher Rubio, or 1.45 votes to every vote for Rubio despite Gov. Nikki Haley's endorsement.

The daughter of anti-Trump billionaire Marlene Ricketts is a gay activist and bundler for Barack Obama

Seen here:

Laura M. Ricketts is co-owner of the Chicago Cubs. Ricketts is also a board member of Lambda Legal and the Housing Opportunities for Women organization. Ricketts' ownership stake in the Cubs is uniquely noteworthy because it makes her the first openly gay owner of a major-league sports franchise. ... Laura Ricketts is a former corporate lawyer. She lives with her partner on the North Side of Chicago. Ricketts received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1994, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1998. Laura talks of her own struggle to come out; "I came out to my family I would say early to mid 90s. I think for a long time I wasn't really out to myself growing up in Omaha, Neb., to a Catholic conservative family. It took me a while to come out to myself and not long after that I came out to them. I think that it really couldn't have been a better experience. They were all immediately supportive. ... I have been really really fortunate in that regard."

The Washington Post reported in 2012 that Laura Ricketts raised about half a million dollars for Obama, here:

[Joe] Ricketts has an unusual profile for a rising political player, with little in his résumé to suggest that he favors controversial or attention-getting tactics.

A former Democrat who became a Republican, he later renounced all party affiliation to become an independent. His daughter, Laura, is a lesbian activist and prominent bundler for Obama; she raised about half a million dollars for the president.

Joe Ricketts, Pete, Todd, Laura, wife Marlene, and Tom

Marlene Ricketts, whose family bought the always-losing Chicago Cubs in 2009, is bankrolling the anti-Trump effort

The New York Times reports here:

The wife of Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade and a major Republican donor, wrote a $3 million check to a group focused on halting the rise of Donald J. Trump, an adviser to the family confirmed on Saturday evening.

Marlene Ricketts, who had previously donated several million dollars to a “super PAC” supporting Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin before he exited the presidential race, wrote the check to Our Principles PAC, which was founded by Katie Packer, a former adviser to Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.

Separately The Hill reports here that the super PAC has spent more than $4 million trying to stop Trump just in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina:

The super-PAC has spent more than $4 million running attack ads against the GOP front-runner in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. It is the only serious anti-Trump group to date, in a campaign cycle where Republicans have been reluctant to take on their front-runner. ... Ricketts' family had previously given $5 million to a super-PAC supporting the failed presidential bid of Scott Walker. The family is yet to swing its full weight behind another presidential candidate, but clearly likes both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. In June last year, Marlene Ricketts gave $10,000 to super-PACs supporting Rubio and Cruz.

Let's see. Cubs? Losers. Scott Walker? Loser. Mitt Romney? Loser.

Go Trump! Go White Sox!

In the South Carolina GOP primary the polling averaged a miss of 16.1% v 14.2% in New Hampshire

The Real Clear Politics poll average predicted the lineup of the outcome in South Carolina, but the percentage of the vote received was off on average by 16.1%, with the polls getting it most wrong about Jeb Bush who underperformed predictions by 37.2%. The polling was most accurate for Trump, who outperformed the predicted result by only 2.2%.

Trump 31.8% v 32.5% actual = outperformed polling by 2.2%

Rubio 18.8% v 22.5% actual = outperformed polling by 16.4%

Cruz 18.5% v 22.3% actual = outperformed polling by 17%

Bush 10.7% v 7.8% actual = underperformed polling by 37.2%

Kasich 9.0% v 7.6% actual = underperformed polling by 18.4%

Carson 6.8% v 7.2% actual = outperformed polling by 5.6%

Average variance of actual result from polling in South Carolina = 16.1%, 13% worse than in New Hampshire. On the other hand, polling in New Hampshire did not predict the lineup of the result as it did in South Carolina, except for Trump who came in first and Chris Christie who came in sixth as predicted by the polls there.

It looks like the polling in South Carolina for establishment candidates Bush and Kasich has been especially expressive of wishful thinking, since both have fallen far short of expectations.

It was bad enough that Bush has already dropped out, and rather ignominiously. A falloff in donations to Bush has been said to be an important reason why he decided to quit at this still early stage, which just goes to show what a spendthrift the richest guy in the campaign next to Trump has been. He would have been a bad president for government spending too.

Trump wins South Carolina GOP primary with 32.5% of the vote, 10 points ahead of Rubio and Cruz

Jeb! folds like a house of cards

Pretty pathetic way to end it. The New York Times provides not a single statement on the record from the campaign.

Story here.