BloggeRhythms

Yesterday’s Wisconsin primary results produced a huge, and likely extremely significant, swing in the Republican race for the White House.

Most important, is to go beyond the simple statistical results to gain a truer picture of what to expect in the future.

Vote-wise, Cruz collected 48.3%, Trump 35.1% and Kasich, 14.1%. Meaning that Trump remains in his rut, supported by the roughly the same percentage of dissidents he’s appealed to everywhere else to date. And also as usual, adding Cruz and Kasich supporters together amounts to 62.4% of voters rejecting Trump.

In the delegate count, Trump now has 739 in total, Cruz 502 and Kasich 143. Thus, Trump has a lead of 94 at present. However, that edge is misleading because there are 172 delegates still committed to Marco Rubio. And that may be quite problematical for Trump, as evidenced by the following item.   

On March 30,  only one short week ago, Ari Melber wrote @nbcnews.com: “Despite suspending his campaign, Sen. Marco Rubio is attempting to keep every delegate he won while running for president. 

“The unusual move reflects preparations for a contested convention this summer — and comes as Donald Trump backed away from an earlier pledge to support the Republican party's nominee if he is treated unfairly after winning more delegates than his rivals.” 

Crucially critical, however, were the words of Rubio aide Alex Burgos who told MSNBC that while the Florida senator is "no longer a candidate," he "wants to give voters a chance to stop Trump." 

Rubio, though, isn’t the only one concerned with Trump at present, as evidenced by an article @FoxNews.com by former White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer who was the primary spokesperson for President George W. Bush. 

Presented as an “Open Letter,” Mr. Fleischer writes: 

“Dear Donald, 

"Based on the possibility that you will become the nominee of the Republican Party, and perhaps the  president of the United States, I offer you the following thoughts on what you need to do as this unusual primary season approaches its homestretch. 

“I do this out of dedication to my country and Party.  I want Republicans to win the presidency and I am worried about the harm that will be done if Secretary Hillary Clinton becomes president. 

“Your loss in Wisconsin on Tuesday is a sign that your style of campaigning is catching up to you. 

“You have done a powerful job of energizing some 35 to 40 percent of Republican primary voters and you have made the Republican Party more attractive to lower-income, working Americans who typically question whether the GOP cares about them.  But getting to 50 percent is your problem and many of your recent statements and tweets are driving away the people you need to close the deal.” 

Then, Mr. Fleischer uses his vast White House experience to advise Trump regarding his shortcomings by writing: “If you want to close the gap and win a majority of the Party, you need to: 

1. Stop fighting with everyone and don’t be so nasty

2. Get your facts right.

3. Learn more policy.

4. Make policy announcements.

5. Stop citing polls.

And in each category above, Mr. Fleischer includes examples in a very positive, brilliant fashion, shredding Trump's assumed future approach entirely, leaving a blustering shell.  

Here’s a link to Ari’s article: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/04/06/open-letter-to-donald-trump-from-ari-fleischer-five-things-need-to-do-now.html

Staying on the subject of FoxNews.com, among their many talking heads, is a guy named Howard Kurtz. And, although not really familiar with his TV show, or daily published column, he's stumbled across at times while scrolling through the Fox website. As a result, one can’t help but notice that for many, many months now he’s been a continual, blatant, seemingly strongly biased tout for Trump. Promoting the candidate and his ideas continually. 

And now, today, the same guy, Kurtz, posts an article @FoxNews.com, titled: “Why Trump and Clinton are suddenly stumbling despite their huge leads.” 

So, here’s someone who formerly thought Trump was perfect. But, seeing him beginning to wobble, now wants to present his analysis as to why his guy is slipping. However, the truth is this guy Kurtz obviously didn’t know what he was talking about in the first place. Thus, who on Earth would want his opinion now?  

And by the way, Trump never had a “huge lead” to begin with.    

On another favorite issue, Rush posted the following on Facebook yesterday: “The climate change movement is dwindling and fading away. More and more Americans put it near the bottom of issues they care about. More and more Americans don't buy into this phony science in the first place. More and more Americans have come to see that it isn't happening and it isn't true, and that's why the panic from the climate change side. They're losing the argument.”

And then, underlining Rush’s point, Dr. Jeff Masters wrote in Weather Blogs @wunderground.com via Drudge: “Another significant blast of cold air will impact much of the Midwest and East late this week, as another southward dip in the jet stream is expected sweep across those regions.

“Chilly temperatures will stretch from the Northeast into the Great Lakes and parts of the Southeast on Saturday. High temperatures will be up to 25 degrees below average for numerous locations east of the Mississippi River. The Northeast will only see highs climb into the 30s and 40s, with 50s in parts of the Southeast.

“Low temperatures will also be colder than average and a few daily record lows cannot be ruled out Sunday morning in the Midwest and Northeast. 

“A few cities that could set new record lows include (current record is in parenthesis): 

“Potential record lows Sunday: New York (28 degrees); Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (26 degrees); Buffalo, New York (19 degrees); Erie, Pennsylvania (22 degrees); Detroit (20 degrees); Cincinnati (23 degrees); Indianapolis (23 degrees); Traverse City, Michigan (13 degrees).

“Temperatures may drop into the 30s in many areas in the Tennessee Valley and Southeast. A frost or a freeze is even possible this weekend in parts of the mid-South.” 

So, it looks like the $500 million the POTUS paid to the Green Climate Fund last month is beginning to work already in reversing global-warning. Which means that if, perhaps, he gave another few billion or so to ISIS they’d reverse themselves too, just like Mother Nature did. 

Bringing us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife. 

It didn’t take very long, but the newly disclosed Panama Papers, which pertain to offshore bank accounts set up by the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, don’t directly implicate Bill’s wife: “But the Democratic presidential candidate’s connections to two subjects named in the leaked documents show the vastness and depth of her international relationships. The revelation also comes as Clinton continues to receive criticism for her financial relationships with shady businessmen through her family charity, the Clinton Foundation.” As reported @dailycaller.com. 

“As the Free Beacon notes, Sberbank is named in a report from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which was provided access to documents from the Panama Papers leak. 

“Sberbank and a related company called Troika Dialog are linked to companies that members of Putin’s inner circle use to hide assets. Troika Dialog, which is based in the Cayman Islands, is listed with Sberbank on its lobbying registration form with the Podesta Group. 

“Ivanishvili is named in a separate report on the Panama Papers published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. 

“Worth an estimated $4.8 billion, Ivanishvili was required under Georgian law to disclose all of his financial assets as prime minister. But he kept his control of an entity called Lynden Management off of those disclosures. According to documents reviewed by OCCRP, Ivanishvili stalled for nearly four years to respond to Mossack Fonseca’s request that he provide his passport to verify his address. 

Where all of this begins to come together is that: “Ivanishvili is also at the center of a lobbying effort aimed at Clinton.” 

While at the same time, the name Sidney Blumenthal is mentioned as part of the mix. He’s the one who’s “frequently emailed Clinton with items ranging from political gossip to in-depth intelligence briefings gleaned from his deep reservoir of intelligence community sources. He lobbied heavily on behalf of a company called Osprey Global Solutions, which sought contracts in post-Gaddafi Libya.” 

So, it seems another “gate” may be opening into questionable Clinton behavior, not an unusual event at all. But the only real question is; considering Bill’s wife’s total lack of significant personal or professional accomplishment, coupled with her crookedness, what in the world do her supporters see in her anytime, anywhere for any reason? 

It also brings up the ongoing query: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this?    

 

That’s it for today folks.      

Adios