One day after Rebekah Mercer, Stephen Bannon and Kellyanne Conway took over the campaign, Trump started apologizing

They took over August 17th.

Here was Trump, August 18th:

“Sometimes, in the heat of the debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that, and I regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain. Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues." 

Not exactly the Trump of July 2015:


Moderator Frank Luntz asked Trump whether he has ever asked God for forgiveness for his actions. "I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so," he said. "I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't."

Trump's new campaign manager as of Aug. 17, Kellyanne Conway, was all in with Zuckerberg's fwd.us in 2014

Kellyanne Conway participated in the fwd.us effort, here, which concludes:

There is a strong sentiment in the country that undocumented immigrants should not be granted amnesty; this immigration reform proposal addresses that issue by requiring that undocumented immigrants pay a fine, taxes owed, learn English and wait at least thirteen years until they can become citizens.

Americans across party lines believe this is not amnesty, but rather a fair and equitable way of dealing with the eleven million undocumented immigrants in the country. Hitting the 70 percent mark nationwide, this proposal wins broad support from the electorate.

Finally, this generates a more positive electoral environment for Republicans, as it creates an opening to a significant number of swing voters for GOP candidates.

Donald Trump: A bridge too far (you'll notice it doesn't say "Pence")

Mark Krikorian: Trump does Jeb Bush impersonation, throws away his only chance to win in November, spoils it for open-borders advocates

Here:

But Trump probably just threw away his only remaining chance to win in November with Wednesday’s Jeb Bush impersonation. He won the primaries with immigration control as his marquee issue; had he stuck to his guns, and still lost, the GOP Brain Trust, not to mention the Democrats, would more plausibly have been able to argue that opposition to their agenda was the reason. It still would have been a silly claim, since had he not grabbed hold of the immigration issue, the very idea of President Trump would have remained a Simpsons joke – if he’d remained consistent and still lost, it would have been despite his immigration position, not because of it. But now that he’s channeling Little Marco and Low-Energy Jeb on immigration, that story line has evaporated. Many of the voters who stuck with him through his various antics will start drifting away, so that in any state where the results are close in November could plausibly have been won if Trump hadn’t pulled a Schumer. It’s liberating, in a sense. ... His defeat will be on his head alone.

WaPo and The New York Times won't talk about Hillary's scandals, "conservative" media hide the anger over Trump's deportation flip flop

"If we don't report it, it doesn't exist".

The clueless sheeple bleat on their way to the slaughter.

Hard libertarian billionaire daughter Rebekah Mercer is behind Trump's shift to Bannon and Conway, away from deportation

The price of consensus for Mercer's "help" in retrospect was obviously that Trump soften his deportation stance. Bloomberg's story here in June completely misses the signficance of the Mercers' libertarianism.

The Hill had the story already on August 17, here, the day Trump shook up his campaign by hiring Stephen Bannon as CEO and Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager, detailing Mercer's links to Stanford, the Heritage Foundation, BREITBART, the Ted Cruz campaign and libertarian think tank CATO:

“The Mercers basically own this campaign,” said a source who has worked with Rebekah Mercer in her political activities. “They have installed their people. ... And now they’ve got their data firm in there.” ... Little has been written about the Mercers because they avoid the public spotlight, but conservative sources who know the family, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described them as “kind, civic-minded people and consensus-builders.” ... But that source, who has worked with Mercer in some of her other political ventures, said it was a surprise to some people that the Mercers had swung so forcefully behind Trump, given her ideological bent. “She identifies as a libertarian. At least she always did,” the source said, adding that Mercer was a big supporter of libertarian think tanks like the Goldwater Institute and Cato. “With Bekah you always had to prove your libertarian racing stripes,” the source added. “This seems really strange.”

Quinnipiac poll says 66% say Hillary's not honest, 53% say Trump's not, but Hillary still wins by 10 points

Poll here.

Calling Hillary crooked won't work when the voters are crooked, too. Sort of like promising to cut taxes of people who don't pay any.

Trump campaign CEO Stephen Bannon also needs to go out the door with Conway by his side

They never should have been hired in the first place . . . they're in for 8 days and Trump self-destructs over deportation. Bannon is as much at fault as Conway.

Ted Cruz' revenge: It took this woman only eight days to destroy the candidacy of Donald Trump

What Trump just did on deportation is the same caliber mistake committed by Romney and McCain, only worse

John McCain suspended his campaign in 2008 . . . to go to Washington to vote for bailouts which Bush engineered and Obama also voted for at the height of the financial crisis, making himself abhorrent to his free-market base and indistinguishable from his opposition at the same time. But it wasn't his signature issue.

Mitt Romney was caught telling a fundraiser in 2012 that 47% of the country, "the takers", weren't going to vote for him anyway, so forget 'em, which simply reinforced his image as "not really one of us" among the base, many of whom were in fact part of the 47% and at the same time people whom Romney had fired. But it wasn't his signature issue.

Donald Trump's signature issues have been illegal immigration and law and order, and there's no way in HELL forgiving immigration lawbreaking can be combined with law and order. Either all the laws are enforced, or eventually none of them will be obeyed.

Trump should have such a comprehensive view of that by now, but obviously doesn't, which means there's no there there.

The damage done thereby to the perception of Trump as a strong leader is incalculable.

Donald Trump can't claim to be the law and order candidate if millions of illegals aren't eligible for deportation

We are not mindless followers, Donald.

You just lost the election, and we just lost the country.

Trump has lost Mark Krikorian, says Trump is now the 9th member of the Gang of Eight, so it's over

Link repaired 1/14/24.

 

Quoted here:

Trump has also infuriated some of his supporters. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, declared that Trump's latest remarks were the "last straw" for him, especially his statement that there would be "no amnesty," which he made just before saying that illegal immigrants will have to pay back taxes.

"Those are terms of art in the pro-amnesty, Gang of Eight crowd. Every politician pushing an amnesty says 'this version isn't really an amnesty because fill in the blank,'" Krikorian said, declaring Trump the "unofficial ninth member of the Gang of Eight."

"What he just did was make clear that even on his central issue, which is the only reason he's the nominee ... was immigration, and he now has shown that he can't be relied on, even on that," Krikorian said, who had previously considered himself a reluctant Trump supporter — until now.

"I'm done with Trump at this point," he said.

Trump's "near flip-flop" on deportation puts Ann Coulter on her heels, and Rush opens the show laughing about it

P.O.S.

Rush feels vindicated in his "conservatism".

That four year contract he just signed will be spent trying to find a new patsy to run against Hillary in 2020. Meanwhile, ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

Obama scrubs "Can I keep my own doctor?" page from healthcare.gov because, well, YOU CAN'T

Oh they're out there control, they're out there: In 2008 approximately 94 million Americans who could have voted, didn't

Total who registered was 176.7 million out of 225.5 million voting age Americans. Difference: 48.8 million.

Total who voted was 131.5 million out of 176.7 million. Difference: 45.2 million.

Maximum who could have voted, but didn't: 94 million.

AP story, supposedly delayed for 3 years because of State Dept. stonewalling, says 55% of Hillary's private meet-ups while Secretary ended up donating to the Clinton Family Crime Foundation

The Associated Press story here outlines the corruption game of pay for play no doubt detailed in some of the 30,000 to 45,000 e-mails deleted by Hillary Clinton from her private server:

At least 85 of 154 people from private interests who met or had phone conversations scheduled with Clinton while she led the State Department donated to her family charity or pledged commitments to its international programs, according to a review of State Department calendars released so far to The Associated Press. Combined, the 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million. At least 40 donated more than $100,000 each, and 20 gave more than $1 million. 

WaPo doesn't mention the minimum wage is too high and attracts cheaper illegal immigrant workers, displacing teenagers, which is just fine with them

There are all kinds of jobs not worth the minimum wage of $7.25, and we should abolish it forwith. Youth employment would surge, as would respect for a dollar and the value of capitalism. Maybe that's why liberalism keeps raising the minimum wage.

US teenagers used to do those jobs, and gained the valuable work experience and good habits employers look for in adults but often do not find any longer.

In the United States children who have reached 14 years of age may work limited hours in many jobs. 

There are an estimated 24 million kids aged 14 through 19.

In July 2016 just 6 million aged 16 through 19 were employed, about 38% of that slice of teenagers.

Here:

[A]t least 8 million unauthorized immigrants are employed, most have been in this country for 15 years or longer, and typically they do jobs — tending crops, washing dishes, mowing lawns — that native-born Americans do not want. In basic economic terms, illegal immigrants meet the labor market’s demand for lower-wage employees, for which there is a shortage of available legal workers.

So, Hillary says her foundation will not accept foreign donations when she becomes president . . .

. . . but it was OK to accept them when she was Secretary of State because . . .?

For Congress to see Hillary's FBI file, Comey requires layer upon layer of security which Hillary was allowed to discard

From Kim Strassel, here:

[T]he process highlights not only the absurdity of Mrs. Clinton’s claim that her server was no big deal, but also the irresponsibility of the FBI’s decision not to prosecute. Duly elected members of Congress are traversing layers of security and guards, clearances in hand, to view a few top-secret documents. Ask Mr. Comey why what is demanded of them was not demanded of Hillary.

But the contradiction gets even more extreme. The FBI has placed additional, and unnecessary, strictures on the Hillary file. It warned lawmakers against publicly sharing any information from the documents—even unclassified information. So the FBI chief won’t prosecute Mrs. Clinton for spreading secrets across the globe, but he bars Congress from talking about unclassified issues that potentially get to the heart of today’s presidential race. One might wonder why. ...

The entire spectacle—from the investigation to this week’s handover of files—demonstrates how much damage Mr. Comey has done to the FBI’s credibility.

You will search this New York Times Hillary Clinton health "conspiracy" story in vain for the words "blood clot", caused by dehydration, caused by, you know, alcoholism

Here. 

Flashback here to the New York Times January 2, 2013:

Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose globe-trotting tour as secretary of state was abruptly halted last month by a series of health problems, was discharged from a New York hospital on Wednesday evening after several days of treatment for a blood clot in a vein in her head.

Mrs. Clinton, 65, was admitted to NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital on Sunday after a scan discovered the blood clot. The scan was part of her follow-up care for a concussion she sustained more than two weeks earlier, when she fainted and fell, striking her head. According to the State Department, the fainting was caused by dehydration, brought on by a stomach virus. The concussion was diagnosed on Dec. 13, though the fall had occurred earlier that week.

The clot was potentially serious, blocking a vein that drains blood from the brain. Untreated, such blockages can lead to brain hemorrhages or strokes. Treatment consists mainly of blood thinners to keep the clot from enlarging and to prevent more clots from forming, and plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration, which is a major risk factor for blood clots. ...

Dr. David J. Langer, a brain surgeon and associate professor at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, said that Mrs. Clinton would need close monitoring in the next days, weeks and months to make sure her doses of blood thinners are correct and that the clot is not growing. Dr. Langer is not involved in her care. ...

The fact that Mrs. Clinton had a blood clot in the past — in her leg, in 1998 — suggests that she may have a tendency to form clots, and may need blood-thinners long-term or even for the rest of her life, Dr. Manley said. ...