Tag: Donald Trump

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The Fallout From Trump’s “Veterans’ Charities” Press Conference

Steve Benen, writing for MSNBC’s “Maddow Blog,” sums up the bits and pieces of Donald Trump’s poorly handled press conference yesterday regarding the dispersal of funds to veterans’ charities:

So where does that leave us? Trump said he’d raised $6 million for veterans, but that wasn’t true. He later claimed he never used the $6 million figure, but that wasn’t true. His campaign insisted Trump had contributed $1 million himself, but that wasn’t true. Trump said he “didn’t want to have credit” for the fundraising efforts, but that wasn’t true. He said he and his team were vetting groups they’d never heard of four months after the fact, but that wasn’t true.

And as of yesterday, all of this, the Republican candidate insisted, is the media’s fault. Indeed, Trump thinks journalists should be “ashamed” of themselves for scrutinizing his claims that turned out to be wrong.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but in a normal year, in a normal party, with a normal candidate, this is the sort of controversy that could end a campaign. Legitimate presidential hopefuls can get away with some dissembling and the occasional whopper, but Trump was caught telling obvious falsehoods about support for veterans’ charities.

If this happened to Hillary Clinton, is there any doubt it would be the #1 issue in the presidential race between now and Election Day? That every pundit in America would use this as Exhibit A in their takes on why Americans just can’t trust the Democrat?

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Quinnipiac Poll Shows Clinton Up Over Trump +4

A new Quinnipiac University national poll released Wednesday shows Democrat Hillary Clinton beating Republican Donald Trump 45%-41%.

When third party candidates were factored in Hillary received 40%, Trump 38%, Jill Stein of the Green Party 5%, and Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party 5%.

Hillary sees strong support from younger, more educated and predominantly women voters. The Donald did better among male voters 51%-35%, while 54% of women went for Clinton to Trump’s 30%.

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Donald Trump Rails Against “Sleaze” Media

In what was supposed to be a press conference about his fund-raising for veterans, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump went on an angry rant against the press, calling out reporters as “sleaze” for not giving him enough credit for raising money for veterans.

“Instead of being like, ‘Thank you very much, Mr. Trump,’ or ‘Trump did a good job,’ everyone said: ‘Who got it? Who got it? Who got it?’” Trump said. “And you make me look very bad. I have never received such bad publicity for doing a good job.”

ABC News’ Tom Llama earned the badge of “sleaze” for asking how much money Trump raised for veterans.

“What I don’t want is when I raise millions of dollars, have people say this sleazy guy right over here from ABC, he’s a sleaze in my book — you’re a sleaze because you know the facts and you know the facts well,” said Trump pointing to Llama.

Llama took the attack in stride on Twitter:

From Talking Points Memo:

During the Trump Tower press conference, Trump announced that he raised $5.6 million for veterans groups, down from the $6 million he originally said that he raised for veterans group at the January fundraiser he held in lieu of attending a Fox News debate.

But since his initial claim, it’s been unclear just how much Trump raised, how much he personally donated to veterans groups, and which groups received donations as a result of the fundraiser. Trump on Tuesday characterized the number as “almost $6 million.”

Throughout the press conference, Trump railed against the press for looking into the details of his fundraiser.

“The press should be ashamed of themselves,” he said, telling reporters, “You make me look very bad.”

Trump said that he wanted the donations to veterans groups to be “private” and that he didn’t want “credit” for the money he raised, and said he was forced to reveal details about the fundraiser because of the press. He also said that it took time for him to send donations to veterans groups because he had to vet the groups.

“The press is so dishonest and so unfair,” he lamented.

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Fly Lands In Donald Trump’s “Hair” – Becomes Internet Star

From: ABC7 News:

While speaking to the crowd at the Anaheim Convention Center, a fly landed in Trump’s distinctive hair.

Trump continued to speak, appearing to not notice the fly or simply choosing to ignore it.

The insect seemed very comfortable, making no attempt to fly away in the midst of the high-powered campaign event.

(h/t LGBTQ Nation)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders Calls Out #ChickenTrump Over Debate Snub

On last night’s edition of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Sen. Bernie Sanders was feeling a different kind of “burn” after the possibility of a debate with presumptive GOP White House nominee Donald Trump fizzled.

“First he said he would do it,” Sanders said. “Then he said he wouldn’t do it. Then he said he would do it. Then he said he wouldn’t do it. So I would hope that if he changed his mind four times in two days, [he’d] change it a fifth time. You know, Trump claims to be a real tough guy, pushes people around. Hey, Donald, come on up. Let’s have a debate about the future of America.”

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Donald Trump Says Debate With Bernie Would Be “Inappropriate”

Running out of cash in the days running up to the California Democratic primary on June 7th, Sen. Bernie Sanders threw a ‘hail Mary’ in his attempt to debate GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Trump appeared to take the bait at the time, but later said he was joking.

But Sanders has run full steam ahead hoping for the exposure in lieu of buying expensive TV time in California.

Trump finally put the idea to rest today with this statement:

“Based on the fact that the Democratic nominating process is totally rigged and Crooked Hillary Clinton and Deborah Wasserman Schultz will not allow Bernie Sanders to win, and now that I am the presumptive Republican nominee, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second place finisher,” Trump said.

“Likewise, the networks want to make a killing on these events and are not proving to be too generous to charitable causes, in this case, women’s health issues. Therefore, as much as I want to debate Bernie Sanders – and it would be an easy payday – I will wait to debate the first place finisher in the Democratic Party, probably Crooked Hillary Clinton, or whoever it may be.”

Moments before Trump’s statement was released, Sanders’ campaign team told the media that ABC and CBS had offered to make multi-million dollar donations to get the right to air the proposed debate. ABC later confirmed that, but CBS says they made no commitments regarding charitable donation.

Additionally, technology company Traction and Scale offered $10 million to help make the debate happen.

I think most folks never believed Trump would really debate with Bernie.

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Senate Democrats Growing Weary Over Bernie Sanders’ Trump Debate

Some Senate Democrats are groaning over Sen. Bernie Sanders recent attempt to debate presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in advance of the California primary on June 7th.

Via Politico:

“Bullshit,” said Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. “That confirms what we’ve been saying. Why would you expect Bernie should be considerate or be nice or be working to bring everyone together? Why? He’s not a Democrat.”

The party’s frustrations are boiling over with Sanders as the primary season winds down: Namely that Sanders seems unwilling or unable to admit that Hillary Clinton is on course for the nomination. The ire toward Sanders began earlier this year among the loudest Democratic cheerleaders for Clinton — and now it’s seeping into nearly the entire Senate Democratic caucus.

Lawmakers reacted with puzzlement, sarcasm and barely veiled anger as Sanders’ campaign and Trump himself played up an event that would exclude Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

“I don’t know why he would do that. I think it’s time to start to winding down the primary,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). “It’s time to move on.”

“It’s peculiar,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “It’s all about Bernie trying to get the advantage in California. It’s not going to work.”

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Marco Rubio: “I Want To Be Helpful” To Donald Trump

After spending months attacking – sometimes to the point of belittling Donald Trump – Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has finally turned the corner, reworked the thoughts in his head, and is fully behind the Trumpster for president.

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Rubio said, “I want to be helpful. I don’t want to be harmful, ’cause I don’t want Hillary Clinton to be president.”

Once considered the great, young hope of the GOP, I think he looks a bit defeated still.

In related news, although Rubio has announced he will not seek reelection for his U.S. Senate seat in Florida, folks in the Sunshine State are worried the seat could flip.

And so, Republicans – including one-time foe Donald Trump – are urging Rubio to reconsider.