Lead with your weakness, telegraph what will become your biggest problem

Ted Cruz' problem: He was for a wall in 2011 and 2012, but it's STILL not the centerpiece of his campaign

Patterico had the evidence of Ted Cruz' support for a wall in 2011 and 2012 in February 2016 here.

But Ted's problem is that he's FOR all kinds of stuff, and AGAINST all kinds of stuff, but nobody seems to believe him, primarily because he's too smart and too slick.

People believe Trump, because he's neither.

Under winner take all, Hillary would already be the nominee for the Democrats

Just counting the 35 states where a popular vote has been taken, under winner takes all delegates, including super delegates, Hillary Clinton has already clinched the Democrat nomination with her win in Pennsylvania.

Hillary has won 21 state contests so far, topping the 2382 delegates needed with 2523 because of Pennsylvania.

Bernie Sanders has won 14 state contests, but has garnered just 731 delegates under winner take all, including super delegates.

So far no popular vote was taken in Iowa, Nevada, American Samoa, Maine, Northern Mariana Islands, Alaska and Washington State.

The reality of the actual system, however, is that Bernie Sanders so far has accumulated 1357 delegates of both types, and Hillary 2165.

As in the Republican primaries, the also ran benefits at the expense of the front-runner.

ARG Inc. polls have gone 5 for 7 in the GOP 2016 primary season but were off by double digits in TX, MI and WI

Will ARG be right in Indiana after going 5 of 7 in other GOP contests, getting Michigan and Wisconsin massively wrong?

Scott Rasmussen didn't sound very happy about it on Mark Levin's show, but Trump and Hillary are tied at 38%

The punditocracy is increasingly unhappy about the popularity of Donald Trump with the Republican electorate. Scott Rasmussen seemed oddly eager to discuss the prospects for Ted Cruz against Trump in Indiana and the west.

Rasmussen Reports reported earlier here:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Trump and Clinton tied at 38% each. But 16% say they would vote for some other candidate if the presidential election comes down to those two, while six percent (6%) would stay home. Only two percent (2%) are undecided given those options.

Trump makes new national high of 44% in Real Clear Politics poll average

Marco Rubio sends message to delegates that Trump's entitled to the nomination because of massive voter support

Quoted here:

“Look let’s not divide the party. You have someone here who has all these votes, very close to get 1237, let’s not ignore the will of the people or they’re going to be angry. Delegates may decide on that reason that they decide to vote for Donald Trump but if they don’t it’s not illegitimate in any way,” he told Miami radio host Jimmy Cefalo.

Sally Kohn, looks like a white man, talks like a white man, dresses like a white man too, but is afraid white men will vote for Trump

Yeah, so? Look at you, you blue collar pervert.

Here.

One member of the Zero Hedge trinity commits apostasy, lifts the veil on the (very profitable) lunacy

Read about it here.

We've tagged the kooky stuff it says for years.

CNN says only "several thousand" attend Trump rally in Costa Mesa, California, when 18,000 fill the stadium and protesters RIOT outside

Here from CNN:

Scores of protesters took to the streets Thursday night outside a Donald Trump campaign event here, drawing out police officers in riot and tactical gear and on horseback who sought to disperse the crowd.

The crowd gathered in the streets outside the OC Fair & Event Center as Trump addressed several thousand supporters at the Center's amphitheater. At least one police car was damaged and several scuffles broke out amid the hectic scene.

Here contrast ABC7.com:


The Pacific Amphitheatre was filled to its capacity of about 18,000 and many hundreds more were turned away. ... [Trump] welcomed onto the stage parents whose kids were killed by individuals in the United States illegally, including Jamiel Shaw, Sr., whose son Jamiel Shaw, Jr., was killed in 2008 when he was 17. "Donald Trump is giving us hope. All of our loved ones were murdered. We don't care about illegal aliens, we don't care. Americans first!" Shaw said.

Ted Cruz to announce his least favorite Old Testament food law at noon Friday news conference

Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you. -- Leviticus 11:12

FL Gov. Rick Scott: Trump is going to be the nominee ... the people have spoken

Quoted here in WaPo:

“It’s time for our party to unite behind Donald Trump and focus our time and energy on defeating Hillary Clinton,” [Rep. Bill] Shuster [of Pennsylvania] said in a statement.

That echoes what Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday in a Facebook posting calling for an end to the “Never Trump” movement among conservatives: “Donald Trump is going to be our nominee, and he is going to be on the ballot as the Republican candidate for President. The Republican leaders in Washington did not choose him, but the Republican voters across America did choose him. The voters have spoken.”

Herman Cain urges Cruz and Kasich to withdraw for the good of the country

Quoted here:

“If I were Ted Cruz and Gov. Kasich I would step back and say, 'OK, let’s do what’s best for the party which would be best for the country now.' That’s putting patriotism above the delusional idea that there’s a path to victory for them ... There is no path to victory,” Cain said.

Cain said the same thing on an appearance on Sean Hannity's radio show this afternoon.

GOP delegate race update for Donald Trump, post-Tuesday's 5-state eastern primaries

With 502 delegates remaining in 10 contests beginning in Indiana next week, there are also tonight 70 unallocated delegates remaining in Colorado (3), Oklahoma (3), Wyoming (4), Louisiana (5), US Virgin Islands (9), Guam (8), American Samoa (7), North Dakota (18), New York (2), Pennsylvania (10) and Rhode Island (1).

Trump's total has risen since Tuesday's contests to 994, acquiring a total of 147 in his blowout victories as the final numbers have come in. 906 delegates belong to the eight other contenders.

This means he needs 48.4% of the remaining 502 to clinch the nomination, or 42.5% of the 502 plus 70, or an even smaller percentage if he forges an alliance with another candidate or candidates. Trump already has the endorsement of Carson (9 delegates).

Rush Limbaugh, master of the English language, sticks his quiver in his bag

I wonder where he puts his putter.

Here:

So I know everybody wants to put whatever quiver they can in the bag to say, "I got the bit of information that will prove to you Trump can't win and we're making a big mistake." People did the same thing with Cruz. I just don't think -- it's too soon. There's too much yet to happen. Nobody can possibly know what's gonna happen in November yet, despite what they might tell you.

German leftist critic of Trump's America First policy proclaimed the death of rapacious English and American free markets in 2008

Boltneck shakes hands mit Steinmeier in 2014

It took less than one day after Trump's speech for Germany to wet its pants. First VW kills profits, and now Trump is going to cost Germany a fortune. Steinmeier here went on record almost immediately criticizing Trump's remarks as incoherent.

Here the leftist was prematurely celebrating eight years ago about the death of right-wing economics in the West:

[T]he Social Democrats (SPD) are shifting hard Left to protect their flank. "The rule of the radical market ideology that began with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan has ended with a loud bang," said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister and SPD candidate for chancellor next year. "We need a comprehensive new start, so we can reestablish our society on fresh foundations. People create value, not locusts," he said.

Ted Cruz to announce what he's having for dinner at 4:00 PM Eastern

Famous supporters of the original America First Committee, just a bunch of Nazis to Rush Limbaugh, included presidents Ford, Kennedy, Hoover

Donald Trump's statement of America First foreign policy

From the transcript here:

My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people and American security above all else. It has to be first. Has to be. That will be the foundation of every single decision that I will make. America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration. ...

Americans must know that we’re putting the American people first again on trade. So true. On trade, on immigration, on foreign policy. The jobs, incomes and security of the American worker will always be my first priority.

No country has ever prospered that failed to put its own interests first. Both our friends and our enemies put their countries above ours and we, while being fair to them, must start doing the same. We will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism. The nation-state remains the true foundation for happiness and harmony. I am skeptical of international unions that tie us up and bring America down and will never enter.