The companies behind the curtains

In the automotive field, there is a great deal of misdirection going on.  First, there are the parent companies; the company that owns several different brand names and keeps them all under one umbrella.  Then there are brother and sister companies, two different companies that produce the same vehicles under different names, but are still owned by the same parent company.  There are companies that have a stake in other companies, there are mergers, and there are collaborations that take place on a random basis.  To say it’s confusing is an understatement!

When you’re buying a new car from companies like Deals in the D, don’t you want to know a lot about it?  We want to know what kind of warranty is backing the vehicle, what we can expect from the brand, and how well that particular model has done in reviews, studies, and safety testing.  However, when we don’t know the lineage of the cars we’re driving, how can we ever possibly know enough to make us feel comfortable driving them?  There are many car companies with their hands in many different brands, so wouldn’t it be nice to know who actually made your car and who is backing it?

Toyota, the auto giant that produces one of the top selling sedans in the United States, is a Japanese brand that got their start in 1937.  What started as an effort to make quality automobiles has snowballed into a mega-corporation that is the parent company of four additional brand names, and holds a stake in several others.  Toyota is not only, the manufacturing company behind the high-end luxury vehicle company, Lexus, but also is the company responsible for the moderately priced brand name, Scion.  While they also hold a small stake in revolutionary car company, Tesla, it looks as though Toyota has nowhere to go, but up.

General Motors is the perfect example of a parent company, as they’re primary owners of four different automotive companies; Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC.  When the financial crisis of the early millennium took hold of General Motors, they faced some difficulties.  However, they were able to disband, and the new company General Motors Company, LLC was able to form to purchase all of the shares and keep the old name.  GMC and Chevrolet produce many models of the same vehicles, sold under each of the respective names, and they’ve stacked up well against their competitors.  There are also several European companies in which GM has a stake.

Many of the holdings are well known, such as Ford owning Lincoln and Honda owning Acura, but in shocking news Volkswagen is the owner of five major luxury brands.  While Volkswagen is a German company that specializes in producing affordable and approachable vehicles, their holdings are representative of their high-end goals.  As the owners of Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Porsche, Volkswagen has created an almost unstoppable empire founded on luxury.  These days, saying you’re a VW fan, could mean much more than it used to!

While VW’s ownership of several luxury manufacturers may come as a bit of a surprise, nothing is bigger than the sleeper Fiat acquiring a fleet of its own.  With a spotty history in the United States, Fiat hadn’t produced a vehicle in the country since 1983, despite having done major business in Europe for over one hundred years.  However, 2009 saw a resurgence of these vehicles here in the states, perhaps due to the major stake purchase in Chrysler.  In addition to being the owner of Chrysler, Fiat also owns Jeep, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Dodge, Lancia, Maserati, and Ram.  For a company that didn’t do well in the U.S. in the eighties, they’re sure doing alright now.

As of right now, Mitsubishi is the only independently owned vehicle manufacturer, with Mazda pulling up a quick second because Ford only owns a very small portion of their company.  Who knew that the classic Jeep vehicle could technically be considered a Fiat, or that Swedish born Volvo is actually owned by a Chinese company?  Much like the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, there certainly seems to be a man behind the curtain of some of the world’s most powerful vehicle brands.

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Planned Parenthood and the art of manipulation

There are three things that Planned Parenthood is good at – 1 good thing and 2 bad things. They’re good at women’s health as long as it doesn’t pertain to babies. They’re bad when it comes to recommending and performing abortions and in manipulating the press (and therefore, the perspectives from the general population).

The latest manipulation comes from CEO Cecile Richardson as she tries to compare promoting abortion to fighting racism:

Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards Compares Promoting Abortion to Fighting Racism @LifeNewsHQhttps://t.co/VpPG7LWnYt

— All American Girl (@AIIAmericanGirI) April 26, 2016

In this day and age, there are two awakenings. The first is the awakening happening among Bible-believing Christians that it’s time to fight the mess that’s coming at us from every angle. The second is the awaking of the inner evils that are justifying the types of manipulations we’re seeing from Planned Parenthood.

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No, Mr. Trump, you can’t run on a policy of nuclear proliferation

Half the time, I have to scratch my head and wonder if Donald Trump actually knows what he’s saying. The other half of the time I assume that I’m just having a long nightmare. The idea that Trump could be the nominee after saying that he wants Japan and South Korea to arm themselves with nuclear weapons is often too hard to believe.

That’s the GOP frontrunner. He told Anderson Cooper at the CNN town hall that we’re being treated unfairly (isn’t that what he says about everything?) and that they need to either pay us or we’re going to leave them vulnerable to a nuclear North Korea. He even recommended that they should build their own nuclear weapons. Is this real life? Did I just return from the dentist? Or is this all really happening and the possible Republican nominee wants more countries to possess nuclear weapons?

Donald Trump: make America great again by letting more countries have nukes https://t.co/W8xfXYcE4E http://pic.twitter.com/8VHFqYV0sP

— Conservative Haven (@ConservativeHav) March 31, 2016

If you support Donald Trump, please stop. If you ARE Donald Trump, definitely stop. You’re making a fool out of the country before you’re even in office. This is getting embarrassing.

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Even David Brooks sees the demagogy of Donald Trump

The notion that the New York Times would have a token conservative on their political opinion staff has always been a humorous thing. It’s not that they shouldn’t have one. It’s that they selected a “conservative” in David Brooks that made Mitch McConnell seem like a far-right wacko bird. For the first time in a while, he wrote something that made perfect sense.

Not Trump. Not ever.

Conservatives and liberals haven't had so much to agree on in forever. https://t.co/BoCIGaWIVP http://pic.twitter.com/8tDa3JQ1p6

— Katherine Senzee (@ksenzee) March 19, 2016

What’s also noteworthy is that Brooks actually pulled out the Bible to demonstrate how much of a demagogue Trump truly is.

David Brooks: "History is a long record of men like [Trump] temporarily rising, stretching back to biblical times.” https://t.co/zCbsSN1dgJ

— PJ Media (@PJMedia_com) March 18, 2016

Donald Trump is a menace to more than just the Republican party. Whether his nomination allows Hillary Clinton to become President or he’s able to win it himself, the end result is disastrous for America. For once, I agree wholeheartedly with David Brooks. Trump must be stopped immediately.

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Why does it take so long to buy a new car?

Buying a brand new car from the dealership is never a short process.  Don’t count on the paperwork taking a short period of time and don’t make plans for immediately after you walk through the doors.  Get comfortable, because you’re going to be there for quite a while.  But why is this?  What happens between choosing the car and walking out the door that makes the process take so long, and is there any way to speed it up?  Is it all part of the sales pitch to wear us down?

Short answer, no.  It isn’t an effort to wear us down and just make us sign any slip of paper that they put in front of us out of sheer frustration.  There is a combination of several factors that go into the car buying process that we aren’t privy to, and each one of these processes requires time.  While we may see one or two people during the entire process, there are several people behind the scenes making our exit in a new vehicle, possible.  However, there are also instances where the process takes so long because you’re being raked across the coals.  It’s up to you to make the difference.

First of all, there is a chance that the dealership is beleaguering the process in order to make more money on the deal.  If you’re a skilled haggler, and managed to get their bottom line down further than they expected to go, they’re not making a lot of money on your deal.  Not to mention, a salesperson doesn’t make a great deal of commission on the car itself.  It’s typically the after-market products that lead to high commission paychecks.  So, if your process is taking an inordinately long amount of time to complete your sale, there may be something sinister going on behind the scenes.

In this case, they’re looking to tear down your patience, and hope that you’ll agree to whatever to get out of there.  If you sit there for long enough, doubting that you’re going to get the car, and there are people whispering and passing paperwork in front of you, you get antsy.  At this point, you’re probably hungry, tired from work, or ready to continue with your weekend ritual, and you’re sick of being there.  This is the best opportunity to offer you additional services, because you just want to leave.  To combat this phenomenon, go into the dealership well-armed in advance.  Eat before you go, wear comfortable clothing, and get your errands done beforehand.  Know what you will and won’t pay for, and be prepared to say no.

The aforementioned situation is a rarity, however, as many dealerships try to remain as reputable as possible.  Sometimes you’re sitting because of, well, you.  It doesn’t matter what measure of preparation and research when into the process for you, if you’re not pre-approved or honest about your credit history, there can be a number of complications that will extend the sales process.  Sure, you’ve picked your car ahead of time, but did you make sure that the Discover card you got in college and didn’t pay off isn’t negatively impacting your credit score?

Okay, so your score on two reports is average, or even high, but if these aren’t the reports your dealership is using, they might as well be terrible.  To rid yourself of the potential for this situation, check your credit score across the board.  Check all three of the major reports and call ahead to see which report they’re going to use.  Apply for financing beforehand and see what you qualify for, as this will shorten the process of the F&I person finagling to get you out the door in the car you want.

Another reason for the extended process is the inexperience of the salesperson, or the dealership itself, or both.  By ensuring that you shop for a car from a battle-tested dealership with thousands of sales under its belt, you’re automatically making sure that you’re eliminating the potential for an inexperienced dealership.  Finding a reputable salesperson in a particular dealership and sticking with that member of the sales staff is the best way to streamline the process.  If you’re unsure of what salesperson has the most experience, call the dealership and ask.  Schedule an appointment with that person, even if it means having to wait.  Have your bottom line price in mind though, because the more experience he is, the best he will be at the sales process.

The process of buying a car doesn’t have to be painful.  There are efforts you can make to streamline the process, and there are some small safeguards to ensure that you’re not wasting your time or that of the dealership.  Know what you can afford, what your credit score is, and what are must-haves in your vehicle before you even walk out the door.  Sure, part of the process is deciding which vehicle you want, but other parts can be so much more time consuming.   Keep things simple, and make the process work for you.

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In Trump University ad, The Donald’s pitch certainly sounds familiar

If you’ve been hearing from Donald Trump at all over the last few months, you’re probably very familiar with his sales pitch. He makes strong promises and is extremely well-practiced at delivering a powerful value proposition. This isn’t new. He’s been making the same types of promises and even using the same words for a long time, particularly when he was convincing people that they should “attend” Trump University.

His entire Presidential pitch is based around one concept: “winning.” For Trump University, the keyword was “success.” If you listen to his Trump U ad and replace the words “success” and “succeed” with “win” and “winning,” you’ll have his current Presidential sales pitch. We hope that the similarities end there, but unfortunately it’s likely that a Trump Presidency will mean that the US is as defunct as his dozens of business disasters.

Here’s the video:

Donald Trump Promotes Trump University

Whether you support Trump for President or not, take a moment to watch this advertisement for Trump University. You will find that back then he was saying many of the same things he's saying today when promoting his bid for President.

Posted by Soshable on Friday, March 11, 2016

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Why I’m finally ready to embrace Ted Cruz

This has been the first Presidential primary season that I didn’t know who I was supporting before Iowa. Usually, it’s pretty clear cut and since I almost never support the “Establishment” candidate, I almost never get my wish. C’est la vie. This year, though, life has given me an opportunity to support a winner and that winner is Ted Cruz.

For full disclosure, I’ve been a Cruz supporter for a couple of months. Technically, he was my second choice behind Marco Rubio, but nearly a month ago they switched positions in my hierarchy. Before I go into the biggest reason that I have chosen to be all in for Cruz, I’m going to go through the obvious reasons to do so even if none of them are my reason. Consider it a good exercise in realizing what should be obvious but that’s apparently not clear to enough people thus far.

1. Cruz can Win the Nomination and Rubio Cannot

With every fresh and embarrassing loss, it’s becoming more clear that Rubio’s only path to the nomination is through a brokered convention. Even that is becoming less likely for him with rumors of Mitt Romney being drafted by the Establishment. As of the time of this writing, Rubio has won Minnesota and Puerto Rico and is polling behind Donald Trump in his own home state. That doesn’t bode well for any path to the nomination, brokered convention or not.

2. #NeverTrump

This should be the most obvious reason. Cruz is closest to Trump in delegates and has demonstrated an ability to beat the polls. Trump was ahead in the polls going into every state that Cruz has won other than Texas and technically Maine (only because they didn’t really have a reliable recent poll). Donald Trump is not a good leader (acting tough is not a quality of good leadership and is often a sign that he’s not a real leader), he’s not a good candidate (his shenanigans have prevailed in gathering his sheep so far but the same tactics will not be tolerated in the general election), and he would make a terrible President (to the point that some Republicans are hoping that he’d lose to Hillary Clinton in the general election rather than imposing his disastrous policy proposals).

3. The One True Conservative

While I’ve never been much of an Establishment guy, I’m also not a rock-ribbed conservative that believes in chopping taxes to the bone and removing every government program that requires money to operate. Rubio appealed because he seemed like a pragmatic conservative, though he came close to losing me altogether with the Gang of Eight debacle. Now that Rubio is professing to be against amnesty, I’ve called that a mulligan and lined up with him again based upon his voting record. Cruz seems to be a little too conservative for my tastes, at least on the surface. That’s a perfect segue to the one reason I now support him…

Ted Cruz is Real

While the previous three reasons are common among those of us converting to Cruz, they didn’t really work for me. As I’ve said, I’ve been backing losers all the way back to Pat Buchanan, so the fact that he can win the nomination is not really a factor. While I don’t want Trump, I’m still of the belief that he can implode before the convention, so #2 isn’t my reason, either. I already debunked #3, the reason that most of his supporters adore him, as a non-reason for me.

At the end of the day, the reason I support Ted Cruz for President is because he’s demonstrated an authenticity that runs at a stark contrast to the narrative created by the Trump campaign (and, unfortunately, perpetuated by the Rubio campaign). Cruz didn’t lie about Ben Carson in Iowa. First, it wasn’t a lie. It was a CNN report. Second, it wasn’t him. He was at caucus speaking. To say that he somehow had something to do with the release through their app is like saying that John Kasich commits domestic violence because one of his staffers was arrested for it back in November.

Despite the lies coming from the other campaigns, Ted Cruz says what he means and means what he says. He embodies the principled person that we’ve always wanted in a President but that we’ve only actually seen three times in the last century (Reagan, Kennedy, Coolidge). He, like many running for Senate in 2012, promised to go after Obamacare. He followed through with everything that he had even when every single other Senator abandoned the effort. He stood alone. That type of courage, the political suicide he committed for the sake of doing what was right for the people, is the one reason that I’ve decided to vote for him. My only qualm is that I didn’t do enough research to come to that decision from the beginning.

Don’t listen to the lies from Donald Trump and his supporters. He’s the best salesman that the political world has ever seen and he’s old the narrative that Ted Cruz, the most honest man to run for President in decades, is somehow considered to be a liar. It’s a tactic that anyone could see through if they took a moment to look at the facts.

Image: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

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Being angry is not a license for voters to be stupid

You’re sick of broken campaign promises. So am I. You can’t stand what politicians have been doing to this country for years. Neither can I. You want someone to get in there, shake things up, and make some real changes that will put politicians in both parties on notice. I couldn’t agree more. You’re voting for Donald Trump. I have to shake my head in disgust.

Those things that you’re feeling – anger, disenchantment, and a desire for change – are all righteous feelings coming from an electorate that has been screwed over time and time again, particularly over the last two decades. The problem is that Donald Trump represents a continuation of those practices. Donald Trump is one of the reasons we’ve had corruption, massive spending, and ineffective solutions since 1989. Donald Trump is not a change agent. Donald Trump is the status quo in every area that actually makes a difference.

He’s going to build a wall and halt Muslims from entering the country. That’s fine. Two ideas that are unlikely to ever happen do not make for a good President. We need real changes in Washington DC, the types of changes that have meaningful impact. We don’t need to replace Obamacare with a different variation of government-supplied universal healthcare. We need it removed altogether and handed back to the private sector with changes made to enable the poorest to be properly treated. We don’t need “fair trade” and tariffs that will raise prices on most products and reduce revenue for the majority of businesses that serve an international audience. We need better free trade enabling policies that encourage businesses to keep jobs in America rather than punish those who cannot. We need a plan of action to take on the Islamic State, not bravado during stump speeches and kowtowing to the Russians.

We need someone who will stand by Israel unashamedly, not someone who views the Palestinians on equal ground with our strongest Democratic ally in the Middle East. We need someone who will grow the economy through flat taxation and reduction of government spending, not a progressive tax plan that is somehow supposed to keep the country funded while also increasing expenditures greatly. We need someone who will fight Planned Parenthood, not make excuses for them.

There are many really bad ideas coming from Trump’s mouth lately that greatly outweigh his good proposal on immigration. The President of the United States is arguably the most important job in the world. The next President must be able to immediately address extremely pressing issues on day one, not someone who needs major on-the-job training just so he can understand the three legs of the nuclear triad. He has one good selling point. Everything else is either ludicrous or unattainable. We need someone with more than one or two good traits. Nominating Trump is like hiring an NFL head coach because he has a couple of trick plays that he wants to run. Everything that Trump proposes other than immigration would be disastrous for this nation.

Voters are making a statement that they want change, but they’re falling for a different variation of the same sales pitch we’ve heard for the last two elections. Outside of immigration, Donald Trump’s policies are more aligned with Barack Obama’s than with Ronald Reagan’s. He’s a failure in the making and we have nothing to blame but our own gullibility.

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Trump’s latest lie: He was ALL IN for invading Libya and taking out Qaddafi [VIDEO]

After six decades of shifting political views based upon whatever suits him at the time, Donald Trump’s confusion over his own perspectives on issues is really starting to show. Whether it’s a flip-flop, a lie, or just a senior moment, it’s clear that his adamant opposition to intervention in Libya today is not how he felt during the time period in question.

Buzzfeed has discovered one of Trump’s videos where he’s promoting the invasion of Libya. It’s a standard Trump strategy of go in, kill the bad guys, take the oil. This is contrary to what he said during the last GOP debate when he said that he wasn’t in favor of going into Libya and that he never discussed the subject. Not only did he discuss it, but he said the exact opposite of what he’s saying now.

Here’s where it gets strange. I’m going to put it in bullet format so readers can keep it all straight.

• Today, he says that we shouldn’t have gone into Libya to overthrow Qaddafi.
• Today, he says we’d be better off if we sat on a beach and did nothing.
• The reality is that we didn’t invade Libya. In essence, we did what he says we should have done.
• This is in conflict with what he said in 2011 when it was all going down. Back then, he chastised the government for not going into Libya.

If that’s confusing, here it is broken down into a Tweet:

#Trump condemns himself on #Libya: He's opposed to doing what we didn't do, but back then he wanted us to do what he opposes now. #SCPrimary

— JD Rucker (@0boy) February 26, 2016

Okay, if that didn’t help, here are the videos. The first is a comparison of what he said at the debate and what he said when everything was happening. Then, there’s one of his other videos where he condemns the US government for not going in to take the oil. In essence, he wanted us to go in but we didn’t in 2011. Now, he’s angry about us going in when we didn’t. It’s as if he’s mad today about what he thought we should have done back then, but didn’t.

Only Trump can get away with chastising his own recommendations and somehow spinning it as if he’s not a complete cluster. If there’s a chance for a President to come in and make Obama’s disastrous Presidency actually look decent, it will be Trump’s.

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Spin machine hits overdrive with ‘good news’ that Rubio only losing by 7 in his home state

The people of Florida know Marco Rubio the best and less than 1 in 4 Republicans are voting for him there. That’s the bad news. The good news from the Rubio camp is that a different poll shows him down by a mere 7%. Yes, he’s down. 7%. In Florida.

Again, that’s the good news. The bad news is that a more recent poll shows him down by 16% with Ted Cruz catching up. In Florida. His home state. The one that was supposed to be his first victory. If it slips away (and it would take a miracle for it not to slip away), then Marco Rubio, the Republican Establishment darling who is racking up endorsements from political insiders across the country, could finish the first two months of the nomination process without a single victory.

At this pace, his goal of a brokered convention won’t even be achievable since Trump or Cruz will likely have enough delegates to win outright.

Meanwhile, the Establishment’s mainstream media puppets at Fox News and the Wall Street Journal are doing everything they can to spin this in his favor. They were granted a glorious pre-weekend distraction after Rubio clobbered frontrunner Donald Trump during the CNN GOP Debate in Houston. He scored some major points, but as most analysts are pointing out, it’s probably too little too late to earn him an actual victory in any of the “SEC Primary” states coming up on Tuesday.

Here are some of the defensive Tweets coming from the campaign and their advisers:

Media needs to chill. The FL Q poll #'s are way wrong. We are going to win Florida. Period. Take it to the bank.

— Todd Harris (@dtoddharris) February 25, 2016

How reporters think: "There's 20 days, 15 elections, 3 debates, millions spent before Florida. BUT OMG A POLL SAYS MARCO IS LOSING TO TRUMP"

— Alex Conant (@AlexConant) February 25, 2016

Never a good day for bad numbers! But rest assured, these are wrong. No camp sees more Florida data than we do. https://t.co/T49ek33K9x

— Todd Harris (@dtoddharris) February 25, 2016

His campaign, the Republican Establishment, and Fox News can spin it any way they want, but the spin doesn’t negate the fact that when Rubio loses his home state, he cannot be allowed to be the nominee. The Democrats will eat him alive over it.

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3 reasons that a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for Hillary Clinton

Don’t worry. This won’t be one of those conspiracy theories that says Donald Trump only got into the race at the behest of the Clintons to clear a path for Hillary to win the White House. This will be a concise explanation about the dynamics of the Presidential race to demonstrate why Trump is incapable of beating Clinton in the general election.

If you’re a Trump fan, your blood is already boiling over. Go ahead and start writing your hateful comment now without reading further. To those who are discerning and who truly care for more than a great sales pitch from Trump, read on.

The Media has been Saving Ammunition

Depending on who you ask, the left-wing mainstream media either loves or hates Trump. Right now, they’re giving him all of the attention and despite a handful of occasional hit pieces, he’s been given a free pass by the media. In fact, the vast majority of the hit pieces have come from conservative journalists (this should tell us something about Trump’s alleged road-to-Damascus transition from liberalism to conservatism).

It’s not that the media doesn’t have ammunition. It’s not that they are saving it until he has the nomination. The last thing they would want to do is to prevent him from getting the nomination. Their ammunition is being saved for the general election when they will unleash journalistic hell and utterly destroy his campaign. They will attack him as a crooked crony capitalist with in-depth investigative reports showing the deviousness that has plagued his business dealings throughout his career. They will attack him as a person with acquaintances lined up around the corner to tell their tale of Trump’s evils. They’ll interview women and families that he’s hurt with his sexual escapades. They’ll interview minorities who were mistreated by him or his organizations. They’ll interview business partners who were the victims of his past business failures (of which, there are literally dozens). The carnage will be widespread and the result will be a picture painted of a man that deserves to be despised more than deserving of being the President of the United States.

The Debate Questions will Make Megyn Kelly’s Question Seem Like a Softball

There’s nothing an interviewer or debate moderator enjoys more than catching a candidate with a “gotcha” question. Before and during the primaries, it’s been clear that very few have wanted to truly tangle with Trump or demonstrate his complete incompetence when it comes to the geopolitical spectrum. In the debate when Hugh Hewitt asked about which wing of the nuclear triad Trump would prioritize, he laid out the triad in the question itself in hopes that Trump would catch on. He completely missed the lobbed softball that Hewitt tossed at him and failed to answer the question at all. When Hewitt pressed for an answer to the very basic question, Trump sounded like an utter moron. Here’s the question. Notice that Hewitt mentions all three components of the triad; this wasn’t a gotcha question.

This type of question exposed Trumps complete lack of understanding about the most important job that the Commander-in-Chief has. It was worded in a way that should have been a gimme. Instead, he failed miserably. As Rolling Stone put it, his answer should have ended his campaign, but it didn’t.

When debating Hillary Clinton, Trump will be made to look like a child. When faced with questions at GOP debates that challenged him, he got away with diversion techniques. The moderators during general election debates will not be so forgiving. They will annihilate him. They will make him wish Megyn Kelly was asking her question (which, by the way, wasn’t very challenging at all despite his tantrum over it).

In the general election, debate performances matter much more than they do during the nomination process. Mitt Romney actually pulled ahead of President Obama after their first debate based upon the President’s poor showing. Trump will look like a fool in every debate because he has no idea how to answer actual policy questions.

His Appeal is Capped

There are likely enough Republicans who are willing to support him no matter what that he’ll be able to win the nomination. Then, there are a lot of people who fear a Clinton Presidency to the point that they’ll still vote for him even if he’s not their favorite. Unfortunately, the “lesser of two evils” campaign will not be able to convince enough Democrats and Independents that he’s the right choice to lead the country.

He has strong support from about 1/4th of the Republican party and lukewarm support from another 1/4th of the party. Pretty much everyone else doesn’t like him at all. This is why his net favorability is lower than any nominee since before Jimmy Carter. It’s not even close. He’s less liked than even Clinton and is the only Republican candidate that polls show her being able to beat. He’s only beaten her in 2 of the last 18 national polls.

His fans are all in. Unfortunately, they only represent about 15% of the electorate.

If Trump isn’t stopped, we will have at least four more years of a Democrat in the White House. He has the best chance of winning the GOP nomination and by far the worst chance of winning the general election. The media knows this. The Democrats know this. Will the Republicans wake up before it’s too late?

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Every aspect of this Trump attack ad is bad except for one moment

When Jeb Bush finally suspends his campaign, much will be made about how much money he and his super PACs spent on ads. The pundits will blame him, Donald Trump, or a combination of the two, but it seems more likely that his message simply didn’t resonate based upon the poor quality of his ads. The last attack ad on Trump is no different, but there was a notable plus.

In 30-seconds, they attempted to rip on Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio for not attacking Trump. They also tried to highlight that Bush is the only one standing up to him.  In all of this, they attempt to squeeze in Trump’s friendly history with the Clintons, his attacks on women, his insults of the disabled, and the comments he made about John McCain. As you can see, they tried to squeeze way too much into a 30-second ad which made the message a lost one as usually. Even an important fact, that Trump had 4 draft deferments, was only given less than a second screen time.

While they didn’t completely redeem themselves at the end, they did a very good job in that direction. Notice how they took footage from the ABC News debate entrance debacle. Trump and Ben Carson were standing there waiting for their names that had already been called while Bush strides past them and jabs Trump in the arm as he passes. This is literally the best optics the campaign has had. In one brief moment, Bush looked Presidential and was symbolically passing the frontrunner in stride. It was beautiful.

If they want to make a real campaign ad that would work (though it’s too late) they should roll that footage over and over again between shots of Bush doing good things alternating with Trump doing bad things. It would be wonderful. It would finally be a Jeb! moment.

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Despite calls to drop out, Carson staying in to win South Carolina

Let’s announce the breaking news now: Ben Carson isn’t winning South Carolina. It would be news if he can somehow climb out from the bottom and beat John Kasich who is putting absolutely zero effort into the state. Why, then, is Carson staying in?

One theory is that he is setting himself up for a meaningful post-campaign life. He has a list. It’s a great list. In fact, it’s a golden list that he can use to promote himself, his organization, or he can rent the list out and make tons of money. This might sound like a devious reason for staying in, but call it payback for all of the abuse that he’s received since hitting the campaign trail.

There’s another theory that he simply doesn’t know when to call it quits. He had his shining moment at the top of the board for a few days before being unceremoniously chopped down by Donald Trump and mainstream media. Perhaps he believes he can regain that glory.

As Bustle pointed out, his debate performance was the nail in the coffin.

Will Ben Carson Drop Out Before South Carolina? Judging By That Debate, He Ought To https://t.co/6JzXRY5KWu http://pic.twitter.com/Swurc4gfFv

— Cactus Williams (@truckals) February 15, 2016

I like Ben Carson a lot. I just don’t think this Presidential campaigning thing is for him. Perhaps he’ll end up as Surgeon General.

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Mathematically, Ted Cruz is the only candidate that can stop Donald Trump

Onlookers often complain when races are called early on. With dozens of other states to go, how can anyone know mathematically that something is impossible? The answer is the same basic reason that some races, like New Hampshire, could be called literally seconds after the polls closed while other races like Iowa didn’t get called until over 70% of the precincts had reported. It all has to do with the mathematical path to victory.

Karl Rove embarrassed himself in 2012 when he refused to accept some of the states that were called for Obama after less than 10% of the votes in the state were calculated. He huffed and puffed, but in the end Obama easily won those states. This is based upon a fundamental misunderstanding about how the election process works. It’s the same thing that’s keeping Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Ben Carson in the race. It’s part of the reason that Marco Rubio is still in the race, though that one is a bit more complex.

Keep in mind that most candidates end their campaigns because of money, not because they no longer have a chance. The campaign trail is grueling, but there are benefits in the form of future campaigns, contacts, and placement within a winning ticket (a la Joe Biden) that compels candidates to keep pushing when there is no path to victory. Right now, Bush, Kasich, and Carson have no path to victory. Rubio is the wildcard with a mathematically improbably path, but it’s worth exploring so we can gain an understanding of why Ted Cruz is the only person who can realistically stop a Donald Trump nomination.

Rubio’s original plan was 3-2-1 Liftoff. He wanted to finish 3rd in Iowa, second in New Hampshire, and 1st in South Carolina. Iowa worked out nicely, but New Hampshire was a disaster and he’s fighting to keep third in South Carolina. Then, we have Nevada followed by 11 states in the “SEC Primary” on March 1. His best-case-scenario is having two wins in the first 15 states. Let’s look at the path to nomination for the previous GOP candidates:

• 2012: Mitt Romney won New Hampshire, lost South Carolina, then went on to win eight of the next 10.
• 2008: Many candidates will point to John McCain’s comeback as a reason to keep going. He lost Iowa, didn’t compete in Wyoming, and won New Hampshire. Then he won two of five leading up to Super Tuesday. Then, he won nine of 21, but the real coup was that he received all of the delegates in California, New York, Arizona, Missouri, and New Jersey. This is important to note because this year the winner-take-all states don’t kick in until March 15.
• 2000: George W. Bush came out of Super Tuesday with 16 of 23 states.
• 1996: Even Bob Dole, who had a rocky start in 1996, won 10 out of the first 15 states., including a 5-state win streak going into Super Tuesday.

In any of those years, Rubio would have been able to continue. He would have had a chance. He happens to be running in the one election with a schedule that makes it impossible for him to win the nomination. Instead of the blue-state advantage that helped McCain come back in 2008 or Dole in 1996, Rubio is faced with a very red Super Tuesday that includes Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma. He will have a hard time meeting the 20% threshold to receive delegates in Texas, Tennessee, and Alabama unless Bush, Kasich, and Carson all drop out before Super Tuesday, which is highly unlikely. Moreover, if Cruz can get 50% in many of the districts in his home state of Texas, the delegate pool favors him greatly. As National Journal details:

Seventy percent of [Texas’] 155 delegates will be allocated based on the March 1 election results, following a winner-take-all by congressional district formula: If a candidate fails to earn more than 50 percent of the votes in a given congressional district, the delegates will be divided two-to-one between the first-place and second-place finishers. The remaining 30 percent will be awarded by a caucus at the state convention in May.

As Breitbart put it, Texas could be the kingmaker this year.

What does all of this mean?

Based upon the primary schedule, Trump and Cruz are the only candidates with a realistic chance of winning the nomination. Rubio would need a massive win in South Carolina to even compete in the March 1 Super Tuesday and that’s very unlikely. Those who oppose Trump should strongly consider switching to Cruz as I did.

Update: There have been questions about why this isn’t being reported in the mainstream media. Their agenda requires a different narrative that keeps Rubio in the race until they can muster a brokered convention. Their goal is to suspend disbelief long enough to hurt Cruz as he would stand in the way of their goals.

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Dispelling the fiction that the Democrats fear Donald Trump

Here’s a sad truth about American politics: if you want to see who the left really hates and fears, all you have to do is check mainstream media. Their puppeteers at the DNC and the moderate Republican Establishment tell them exactly who they want helped and who they want destroyed.

Perhaps the easiest place to see this in full form is to do searches for the candidates by name on Google News. The system is allegedly operated solely by algorithm and scans the most popular mainstream and semi-fringe news sites on the internet. Then, it orders the stories based on prominence, time decay, and clicks. It sounds pretty simple, but it’s actually a very sound system, assuming you’re not a conspiracy theorist who believes that Google News is manually edited for political reasons. Either way, it tells us where the narratives are being steered.

The general consensus among Donald Trump’s supporters is that the Democrats and therefore their mainstream media lapdogs are fearful of him. This is actually the exact opposite of reality. Mainstream media, through their own biases as well as the guidance they’re given by the power brokers, are giving Donald Trump a free pass on nearly everything. They’ll report the news, of course, but their general spin is neutral. As strange as it sounds, neutral is good in politics. An unbiased report that doesn’t go into the positives or negatives associated with a piece of news allows the readers or viewers to make their own assessment. This favors Trump.

What you won’t find are mainstream media talking heads bashing Trump. Before anyone starts to make the ignorant argument that Fox News is against him, look at what actually transpired without listening to Trump’s spin on it. The initial question that Megyn Kelly asked him at the first Fox News debate wasn’t unfair at all. It was very legitimate to ask him about his misogynistic history and he would address it with the Democrats if he’s the nominee since at the time it appeared that Hillary Clinton was the most likely Democratic candidate. PLEASE rewatch the question itself. If you’re discerning, you’ll realize that it was far from being in the same realm as “unfair” or off limits in a Presidential debate. If you watch it and think that it’s unfair, you clearly want your President to be someone who needs to be protected from the harshness of the world. If he can’t take Megyn Kelly, how in the world will he handle Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or Vladimir Putin?

Now, let’s take a look at Google News from today. Here’s an unedited snippet of the stories found with a search for “Donald Trump”:

Pretty neutral. All of it seems to be newsworthy. There are a few inflammatory headlines, but the stories themselves turn out to be relatively Trump-neutral or even Trump-supportive.

Now, let’s compare that to Democrat Bernie Sanders:

Once again, some good, some bad, mostly neutral. When you look at almost all of these stories, even some of the Sanders-negative stories have positive spins to them.

So far, so good. Pretty consistent, right? It gets weird from here. Let’s look at Ted Cruz, this time with convenient notes so you can see the difference.

I didn’t notate the last four because it would have been too many lines to maintain sanity. As you can see, the DNC and the Republican Establishment that guide the headlines and narratives of mainstream media have an extreme hatred towards Ted Cruz. One cannot look at this and have an ounce of reasonable doubt that they are in the midst of a concerted effort to remove him from his perch as one of the two Republican frontrunners.

It’s utterly blatant. They don’t attempt to disguise their viciousness towards him. Read those headlines, compare them to Trump’s, and ask yourself who the Democrats REALLY fear.

In case you think that it’s a case of the media just having anti-DC sentiment, let’s look at Mr. Establishment himself, Jeb Bush.

Clearly, it’s more negative than the news for Trump or Kasich, but it’s not personal. It’s mocking, but it’s not a visceral series of attacks like they offer for Cruz.

If the liberal mainstream media wanted to take down Trump, they would roll out investigative reports and interviews with women, minorities, former business partners, and others who would paint Trump as evil. They won’t… until he gets the nomination. If that happens, they will unleash hell and put another Democrat in the White House.

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NH says that Rubio is not the droid you’re looking for

Donald Trump won New Hampshire, as anticipated. Marco Rubio did not get 2nd as most pundits believed just last week. Did his debate performance hurt him that badly? Did John Kasich’s and Jeb Bush’s organization doom Rubio? Regardless of the reasons, RoboRubio has some big changes to make moving forward.

Rubio isn’t done, but he has a lot of damage control to do. Will he be able to right the course of his campaign? To do so, he’ll have to become less robotic. He’ll have to tout his sincerity and stop declaring talking points. He’ll need to start thinking on his feet. We’ll see if he can do it.

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Is John Kasich the Jon Huntsman of 2016 in New Hampshire?

If you were to take an average Republican not in New Hampshire and ask them who came in 3rd in the 2012 primary with almost 42K votes, most would think it was Ron Paul (who came in 2nd), Rick Santorum, or Newt Gingrich. Those were the three who were standing the longest against Mitt Romney before he officially earned the nomination. It may surprise Republicans outside of New Hampshire to know that Jon Huntsman came in a relatively close 3rd with 17% of the vote compared to Paul who had 23%.

The former Utah Governor put all of his eggs in the New Hampshire basket and was rewarded with a respectable 3rd-place finish. It wasn’t enough to continue his campaign, though, and he ended his campaign six days later, endorsing eventual nominee Romney.

This narrative seems to be shaping up again in New Hamsphire as another moderate Republican governor is making an unlikely push in the state. Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is way behind on the national polls, seems poised to finish in the top three or four. Part of this is due to his all-in attitude in New Hampshire. He’s put the bulk of his campaign focus on winning the state and using the momentum to prolong his candidacy until the winner-take-all March 15 Ohio primary.

The other thing in his favor is Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s debacle of a performance at the New Hampshire GOP debate during which he repeated the same memorized talking point four times. He was called out for it by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and both traditional media and social media took notice.

Here’s the problem. Kasich really doesn’t have a chance. As much as his supporters seem to like him, he’s not a candidate that can carry the moderate mantle to victory. None of them can. Regardless of what pundits and spindoctors are saying, this has come down to a three-man race between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Rubio. With Rubio likely to hit the “SEC Primaries” without a single win now that he muffed this important debate, it’s very likely down to a two-man race.

Kasich is another Hunstman. He’s there to block the frontrunners from getting enough early delegates to put the race away. With the way the race is shaping, it’s likely that a vote for Kasich is actually a vote for Trump. Those who are supporting Kasich or considering Rubio who do not want to see a Trump nomination should be backing Cruz instead.

As Huntsman had a respectable showing in 2012 before dropping out and wasting many New Hampshire votes, so too will Kasich likely finish third or fourth before dropping out. Looking at the math, a vote for Kasich or Rubio in New Hampshire will benefit Trump the most.

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Why Christians should consider faith with their vote: every other religion does

Within the general Christian community in the United States, even the most devoutly faithful often proclaim the separation of church and state as the reason they don’t take faith into account with their votes. This is silly because in for every other religion, faith is a top consideration. Even atheists and agnostics hold the secularism of candidates in high regard.

Why do so many Christians feel that politics and religion shouldn’t mix?

The rise of Donald Trump among Evangelicals and Catholics is a perfect example of this dynamic at play. Even Trump’s Christian supporters will admit that he claims Christianity for the sake of political expediency, but since he promises to protect Christians and make department stores say “merry Christmas,” that’s enough faithful credibility for them. To those of us who practice our faith daily, this is insane and utterly obtuse.

Don’t take this as an attempt to dump on Trump. He’s a good candidate with some strong ideas, but his support does highlight the abandonment of faith as an important factor in the minds of many churchgoers. Other faiths don’t see it like this. Hindus and Buddhists maintain a separation from politics as a lower concept, a necessary evil, but they always take the faith of their politicians into account and often favor the most spiritual with their votes. As noted, atheists and agnostics (yes, they practice a form of religion) will eliminate candidates from consideration altogether if they sound too “churchy” or indicate that their faith will play a role in their governance.

Jews and Muslims have faith deeply ingrained in their political decision making, though in completely different ways. Jews are divided between two groups both in the United States and in Israel. Ethnic Jews who do not practice their religion regularly still take faith into account, but in ways that are similar to atheists and agnostics. Faithful Jews look at the relationship between their leaders (whether in the US, Israel, or other nations) and their perspectives on the well-being of the nation of Israel itself. For Muslims, there is no separation of religion and government. Islam is government. Even in the United States, over 70% of Muslims would embrace some variation or melding of Shariah law into the American political structure. As impossible as that may seem today to those who aren’t watching, it’s actually unfolding in many places around the country. One need only look at Dearborn, Michigan.

Mich City First to Fully Implement Sharia Law https://t.co/vgVZzkJVFs https://t.co/FcDXkI0iat @AmyMek @censoredbee http://pic.twitter.com/sk4scUg0N8

— Foxo (@FoxoSteven) February 1, 2016

Some view the problems we’re facing in America as requiring secular answers. The problem with that argument is that our downward trend can be traced back to after Ronald Reagan left office. Reagan was the last truly faithful Christian to sit in the White House. We’re in the middle of the most secular administration the country has ever seen. Donald Trump will not be asking for forgiveness from the Father nor will he be asking for guidance from the Holy Spirit. He may bring about a more secular government than we’re seeing today.

Christians who vote for a secular leader like Donald Trump can do so because of his strong sales pitch, his success in real estate, or any number of other reasons. However, they shouldn’t try to convince us that he’s faithful. He uses religion as a campaign prop, not an actual guiding force. In that way, he’s just like President Obama.

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‘Rubio the politician’ has always betrayed ‘Rubio the campaigner’

In 2010, Marco Rubio earned the support of the Tea Party and conservative personalities like Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh by swearing to never support amnesty for illegal immigrants. After the election, he didn’t just break his promise in less than a year. He demonstrated that he’s extremely easy to manipulate when political expediency is dangled before him.

Donald Trump often takes flack for his ever-changing views, but at least he’s honest about it all. With Rubio, we have someone who betrayed the conservative principles that got him elected and denied the importance of these changes. This more than anything else should send up warning bells to anyone considering voting for him as the Republican party’s nominee. It paints him in a light that makes him vulnerable to attacks by the Democrats.

With a Trump nomination, the Democrats will attack his personality. With a Ted Cruz nomination, they’ll attack his ideology. Those are both defensible positions. Rubio will be attacked for not having a strong core to his beliefs and a willingness to bend in the face of pressure or incentive. Whether it’s John McCain and Chuck Schumer manipulating him to abandon the very promise that got him elected, the financial support that has made him beholden to Big Sugar for years, or the shifting back and forth from evangelical conservative to pragmatic moderate depending on who he’s talking to, Rubio has shown that his leadership doesn’t align with anything he says while campaigning.

Many Republican voters are falling into the “electability trap.” Rather than supporting the candidate that can defend his own perspectives while attacking the Democrats’ perspective, they tend to look for the candidate who seems to be most acceptable to Independents. This is why we had people like Bob Dole, McCain, and Mitt Romney as nominees. Rubio will be worse than any of them because his lack of core and his willingness to annihilate campaign promises makes him the most vulnerable.

On the surface, he’s the most electable. However, if Republican voters look at things from a devious Democratic strategy perspective, it’s clear that he would be one of the easiest to destroy.

In 2012, Republicans had a vulnerability to exploit in President Obama. The rise of Obamacare represented an issue that could have pulled Independents over to the Republican candidate. Unfortunately, we didn’t give them an appropriate contrast to Obamacare. We gave them the architect of Romneycare, so the contrast was lost.

Remember, one of Hillary Clinton’s most vulnerable aspects is that her campaign promises aren’t trustworthy. Why would Republicans want to nominate the one candidate who has the same problem, one that’s magnified by his most publicized action as a Senator with the Gang of Eight betrayal. He broke his most important campaign promise within a year of entering office. The Democrats will exploit this to prevent Republicans from attacking Clinton’s weakest character trait.

In a general election, Trump’s bombast or Cruz’s principles will stand in contrast to the Democrats. Rubio’s willingness to abandon his values for political expediency will make him seem as slimy as Hillary Clinton. There will be no contrast and she will win the White House.

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The 2 biggest problems with Rubio’s Gang of Eight

Much has been said about Marco Rubio’s support of amnesty, but there are two things that should concern every Republican about his Gang of Eight bill that have nothing to do with illegal immigration. In fact, these character flaws should have Republicans searching far and wide for any candidate other than Rubio.

The first is the set of absolute lies that led up to the bill itself. He was supported by the Tea Party because he promised not to support amnesty. He received his first major publicity by appearing on the Mark Levin Show where he declared in no uncertain terms that he would never support amnesty. Just last night on the show, Levin lamented his interview that helped launch Rubio’s national career. At the time, Rubio was at 5% in the polls and by swearing to never support amnesty, he was able to win his seat. A year later, he was not just supporting amnesty. He was sponsoring the bill that would have destroyed the country. He pushed it. He promoted it. He was the face of it. He was the Gang of Eight’s secret weapon.

The second and more concerning aspect was how easily he was manipulated by the Democrats. Democrat Chuck Schumer owned him. Liberal Republican John McCain steered him along from beginning to end. Rubio followed along like a puppy who had no ability to do anything other than follow the leader.

This was three years ago. In other words, the man that wants to be the President of the United States didn’t possess the abilities to discern what was happening or take charge of the situation. He’s a puppet. That’s not the type of leader we need in the White House.

He’s had time to correct the issue. During that time, he’s done nothing. Among all of the Presidential candidates, he is the only one has fewer accomplishments than Hillary Clinton. He hasn’t had a single major success in his entire political career other than being a very good talker.

Rubio will likely be a very strong candidate in 4-8 years, but his recent history shows nothing other than potential. We can’t have a President today that needs leadership coaching. We can’t have a President that is so easily manipulated. Rubio hasn’t developed his core. Not yet.

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