Day 90: Had enough “otherwise,” RNC?

Rule Number 9 of the Republican National Committee, in its entirety *my bold*

RULE NO. 9

Filling Vacancies in Nominations

(a) The Republican National Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise of the Republican candidate for President of the United States or the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States, as nominated by the national convention, or the Republican National Committee may reconvene the national convention for the purpose of filling any such vacancies.

(b) In voting under this rule, the Republican National Committee members representing any state shall be entitled to cast the same number of votes as said state was entitled to cast at the national convention.

(c) In the event that the members of the Republican National Committee from any state shall not be in agreement in the casting of votes hereunder, the votes of such state shall be divided equally, including fractional votes, among the members of the Republican National Committee present or voting by proxy.

(d) No candidate shall be chosen to fill any such vacancy except upon receiving a majority of the votes entitled to be cast in the election.

Had enough “otherwise” — especially after today’s Second Amendment travesty, RNC?

Your move.

Day 96: “What is this, an intervention?”

Yeah, we’ve all heard it.

In popular culture, we’ve seen it in the movies or on television, or we’ve read it in books or even in magazine headlines at the checkout stand.  Some of us have even been on one side or another of that question ourselves in real life!  And the answer — if the adoring assembled don’t immediately yell “Surprise! Happy Birthday!”–  usually is, “Yes [yournamehere] it is.  We care about you and we’re worried.”

Who to include is always a challenge.  You want to bring close friends and family members who will model good behavior as you work through the challenge of getting the object of the intervention to recognize, acknowledge, and agree to face the issues.  Not everybody who participates needs to be always-sober, or currently drug-free, or completely free of anger issues (depending upon the reason for the intervention).  But you need some stalwarts who can help steer the ship.

Key Republicans close to Donald Trump’s orbit are plotting an intervention with the candidate after a disastrous 48 hours led some influential voices in the party to question whether Trump can stay at the top of the Republican ticket without catastrophic consequences for his campaign and the GOP at large.

“Influential voices” you say?  So who has RNC chair Reince Priebus corralled into being a part of this admittedly very challenging assignment?  What upright, steady, forthright citizens among party elders does the RNC chair want to have next to him when he faces Donald Trump about his “issues?”

Republican National Committee head Reince Priebus, former Republican New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are among the Trump endorsers hoping to talk the real estate mogul into a dramatic reset of his campaign in the coming days, sources tell NBC News.

Because when I think of without-ego, selfless, steady-headed public servants, these two guys spring to mind.

Good luck, Reince: you’ll be lucky to come out of that room alive.

 

 

Day 96: Medal of Honor Recipient Slams Trump

Medal of Honor Marine veteran Dakota Meyer slammed Donald Trump on Twitter today for his criticism of the Gold Star parents of Captain Khan.  He tweeted that if Trump wants to be Commander-in-Chief he needs to start acting like one.

And that that begins with an apology to the Khans.

You’ll note above that Hillary Clinton re-tweeted Dakota Meyer’s statement.

Dakota Meyer is Sarah Palin’s son-in-law.

Yes, Sarah Palin: who couldn’t attend Donald Trump’s remarkably damaging Republican National Convention two weeks ago because, as Trump said, Alaska is “a long ways away.”

 

Day 97: Fourteen Weeks

America is fourteen weeks from Election Day.  And today we learned from the Gallup Organization that, for the first time since they started asking the question about quadrennial political conventions, voters are less likely to vote for a candidate at the end of the four-day infomercial than they are likely to vote for him.

By a lot.

Donald Trump’s efforts to make the Republican National Convention “unlike any we’ve ever seen” produced an unexpected first: the first time more voters came away from a convention less likely to vote for the party’s nominee than they were to support him or her, according to Gallup.

Gallup has surveyed on this question since 1984, and the 2016 GOP convention was the first time where a candidate ended up in negative territory.

Donald Trump would have been better off having no convention at all.

Whether subsequent weeks will provide the Trump Campaign™ (such as it is) this same kind of remarkable, record-setting results — only time will tell.  As long as Trump continues his unseemly criticism of Captain Khan’s parents, it’s hard to say how low his numbers might drop.  Alienating Iraq War veterans and grieving Gold Star families seems like the kind of think a Democratic candidate might do in the old days, doesn’t it?

Heh.

 

Attend closely, please: facts on the ground and situational alliances are shifting rather quickly.  We’d all do well to check all our assumptions at the door.  Georgia is in play.  Georgia.  The factoid that 2016 is unlike any other election year?  That lesson Our Liberal Media cite regularly whenever Donald Trump flummoxes?

That lesson has only just begun, it seems.