Rich Hoffman's Blog, page 339
March 12, 2016
Ann Becker’s Endorsement for Warren Davidson: Standing up for the people who put themselves on the front line
It doesn’t matter if it’s Donald Trump running for President, or Warren Davidson being the only qualified candidate to run for John Boehner’s old seat—Ann Becker from the Cincinnati Tea Party made a great point in her below observation and comment as to why America’s best people do not run for public office. The consequences are that the worst of our society ends up running and winning the seats of government which most effectively runs our society—and the results have been dismal. During this particular March of 2016 there are several really good options—and Ann is one of them for State Central Committee. To my mind she’s the only option. And that is additionally the case with Warren Davidson. For the sake of brevity and effectiveness, I have included Ann Becker’s endorsement of Warren Davidson in the following paragraphs because her reasons are nearly identical to my own. If you really want good people in government—then we need to support them when they come under fire—because they always get attacked. When they put themselves out in front the way Warren is offering, we need to have their back—because they will need it. There is a reason that good people get so attacked in public office—it is to protect the many bad guys effectively destroying our republic. So when you get a good one—give them a little cover fire.
I have been in politics for 7 years. One of the questions I get asked all the time – when are people going to wake up? When are the principled people going to take a stand?
I have been looking, searching, supporting and teaching people how important it is to find politicians that will put the Constitution first. Many people have stepped up to the plate, and it has given me hope.
A few months ago, after Speaker Boehner stepped down from his Congressional seat, my search for the right person to replace him went into overdrive. I live in the 8thDistrict. Finding someone who I could consider a leader, someone who I would trust to represent me and my views was a tall order.
Several candidates emerged to run for the seat. I took it upon myself to research and vet the candidates, this is not an official Cincinnati Tea Party endorsement, just a personal endorsement coming from Ann. The man who I chose to endorse was Warren Davidson.
Warren is a former Army Ranger. His military background helps him to understand the scope of the problems we face in the War on Terror and issues overseas. He also cultivated a deep sense of duty and discipline in the military that has carried over into his work in the private sector.
Warren is a small business owner of a multimillion dollar company. He came back from his military service and wanted to build something. He is the owner and President of Global Source Manufacturing in Troy, Ohio. His experience with his business has given him first-hand knowledge of how the government has hindered the growth of his business, from Obamacare and taxes to regulation and unions.
Beyond that, he is a good man. There aren’t many of those running for office.
There is a reason good people don’t run – the attacks.
Over the past week, a PAC called Defending Main Street has started to attack Warren Davidson. If you listen to the radio or live in the 8th district, you have gotten the mailers. They are vicious. At first, I thought it was kind of interesting. I must have picked the right candidate if he is getting attacked. It’s kind of a badge of honor in politics.
Yesterday, they crossed a line. They sent a flyer, big enough to wrap a gift to every Republican in the district. It was ridiculous. Who are these people? Why are they meddling in the 8th district race? I did a little research.
What I found made my blood boil. Defending Main Street is Steve LaTourette and John Boehner’s ‘I hate the Tea Party so I must destroy them’ PAC. Their website says, “The goal of the Republican Main Street Partnership is simple; to find commonsense solutions to problems that people are wrestling with each and every day. In short we represent and support the governing wing of the GOP.” In other words, if you don’t support the establishment you must be taken out.
I did a little more research. Defending Main Street raised most of its money from labor unions. “These unions include the National Education Association (the superpower of unions in America, along with the public employees unions), the operating engineers, the Teamsters, the air traffic controllers, transport workers and other building and trades unions,” from the Washington Times.
The accusations they were spreading in their flyers bothered me. The ads accused Warren Davidson of ‘Shipping jobs to China’. I knew his company was called Global Source Manufacturing, and China is on the globe – but after I got several messages from people asking what these flyers were all about I decided to talk to Warren himself and get to the bottom of it.
The answers were very simple. Warren said, “I do not have a manufacturing plant in China. I have not shipped jobs there. My company employs over 200 workers in Ohio – none in China.” I asked him about the website www.cheapasiantools.com. “The site is nothing but a marketing tactic meant to show up in search engines. If someone looked up tools in China, they would come to our American made tools company.” He also encouraged me to look at the website. It took me to Global Source Manufacturing’s buy American page.
This is another example of the establishment spreading lies. Telling people things that will make them questions a man’s character. This is why good people don’t run for office.
Don’t give into the lies. Stand up to the establishment.
Yours in Liberty,
Ann Becker
Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.
Donald Trump in West Chester, Ohio: Get your tickets to the free event on March 13th at 2 PM
I am proud to announce that Donald Trump will be conducting a town hall type meeting at the Savannah Center in West Chester at 2 PM March 13th 2016. Congratulations to Robert Scott, the Ohio State Director for setting this up along with many others. This will be a unique opportunity to touch the face of history. It’s not just about Trump—it’s about all of us and those who want to Make America Greta Again! Get your free ticket quickly at the link below. They will go fast.
– SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2016 –
CINCINNATI, OH
Savannah Center
2:00 PM
Town Hall
http://www.donaldjtrump.com/schedule/
Rich Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.
Moveon.Org Attacks Trump Supporters in Chicago: Read a firsthand account who witnessed the violence and its perpetrators
The purpose that the political left, in this case sponsored by Moveon.org (George Soros), has in conducting violent protests such as they did at Donald Trump’s rally in Chicago—is to shut down arguments that they have no other way of defending. Through violence and intimidation, they intend to erode away American’s republic until there is nothing left. That has been their strategy for years, and now with Donald Trump showing that he will in fact be the Republican nominee for president—the violent desperation of that reality is taking full effect—and the Marxist oriented insurgents within America are now desperate.
Trump smartly cancelled the rally and received much more press than he otherwise would for the event. The difference between Donald Trump and every other Republican politician for most of a century is that he knows how to turn the tables on those who stand against him. In this case, Trump took a rally intended for several thousand people and exploded his coverage leading into a weekend news cycle only talking about him—and sounding very presidential in the wake of these Chicago protests. I have been to Chicago several times, most recently about a month ago. Outside of the immediate downtown area—Chicago is a socialist experiment gone bad. You can really see it most spectacularly while landing or taking off out of O’Hara. Those protestors were poised to move against Trump in Chicago in the same say that the communists took over Russia during the revolution of 1917. Young people today are raised to embrace socialism and communism from their public schools, so college campuses especially in downtown areas are particularly dangerous to any ideas other than socialism—and the results were as follows. The description provided comes from a first person perspective of a cognoscente participant who witnessed the trouble brewing and correctly identified the true villains in the escapade. Read what they have to say to understand the truth.
At 2:30 p.m., I arrived at the Donald Trump rally located at the UIC pavilion in Chicago, IL. There was light police presence at the Blue Line station, and the pavilion was short walk away. There I waited in line for about an hour until making it to the front doors, going through a security scanner, and finding a seat in the main hall.
For nearly two hours the pavilion filled until it neared capacity. It was clear that protesters were seated around the room, given easily away by their manner of dress. Most of the Trump supporters, being suburbanite or small town white people from outside of Chicago, were dressed strikingly normal—jeans and t-shirts, yoga pants or dresses, and the occasional suit.
The first protestors began around 5:30 when two young white males pulled off their coats to reveal t-shirts with anti-Trump slogans. At this point I noticed the police presence inside the rally was a mere 8 police officers, bolstered with hands-off event staff.
Before 6:00 p.m., a man spoke on the microphone and requested that rally attendees do not touch or harm protesters who interrupt the event. He reminded the protesters that Donald Trump supports the first amendment as much as the second.
Following this was a string of smaller incidents, such as people holding up improvised signs and shouting.
One entire bleacher row was filled with protesters and they began chanting and throwing around torn up signs.
A few people who began standing up and screaming, and were slowly escorted out by police. The police kept leaving the protesters unattended throughout this, taking 4-8 officers to escort protesters out one at a time.
A black man in a black jacket ran up to the front stage, bumped into the podium, and attempted to speak, but was wrestled down by two men in suits. As they escorted him through the crowd, he took a swing at a Trump supporter. The men escorting him were incredibly gentle and restrained themselves from using any force.
Then voice came on and declared that the event was postponed. A few minutes later, they informed us that Trump had landed in Chicago and spoken to Chicago Police officers, and that due to safety concerns, the rally was canceled.
At this point, the protesters began to descend into chaos. Aside from a few mild “TRUMP” and “USA” chants, the Trump supporters were mostly quiet and bewildered as the protesters began to scream, chant, and run around the main floor area in a huge pack, flipping off the rally attendees and swearing at them. There were a few tense altercations between the two groups, but from what I saw at this point, no violence.
The rally was instructed to leave the pavilion, and I have to admit, the Chicago Police messed up bad here.
We walked straight out of the building and into enormous packs of protesters screaming at us, with little police presence to protect the Trump supporters.
Following this, I wandered the protest grounds to see what was going on. My memory is a bit jumbled at this point because I was so pumped up, but let me string together the events as clearly as possible:
Many of Trump propaganda signs, most commonly depicting him as Adolf Hitler, but others showing him with a small penis, simple signs of text English and Spanish, signs.
Young women shouting anti-white racial epithets.
“THE PEOPLE ARE UNITED. WE WILL NOT BE DIVIDED” being shouted at Trump supporters who holed themselves up in a parking garage, quietly fearing for their safety. Another good one by the protesters was “FREEDOM FIRST! FREEDOM FIRST!” Strangely enough, there were a good amount of signs calling for peace and freedom. Lots of peace signs being flashed with the fingers.
A single white Trump supporter who held up a sign and stood quietly as three dozen people surrounded him, smiling and screaming, snatching and pushing at him until he had to run for police cover. Someone grabbed his American flag and threw it on the ground and he fought to recover it. The police escorted him away.
Two young men, perhaps 17-19, standing quietly as they waited for a ride home. They were wearing their MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN hats, looking terrified as people cursed and swore at them, and occasionally threw furious challenges for debate. The two young men held their ground. Only once did one of those hats come down, and it quickly went back on again.
A general atmosphere of pleasure and happiness from the protesters. A common chant was “WE WON!” and “WE STOPPED* TRUMP!” It honestly felt like a social event for the protesters. There was plenty of mingling
Plenty of shouts at Trump protesters that Trump and his supporters are not welcome in Chicago. I challenged one on the first amendment. He said he does not consider himself an American and continued insulting the grizzled old white man he was arguing with.
Extremely inefficient police presence. The cops were lined up on their horses or standing behind barricades, but generally were not present where Trump supporters were being hounded and occasionally struck by protesters.
The protesters were primarily composed of millennial-aged: white hipsters, African Americans, Hispanics, and Muslims. Some of the protesters were teenagers below voting age.
The protesters flew a big set of American, Mexican, and Puerto Rican flags. There were lots of small American and Mexican flags too. *The Trump supporters mostly fled for safety immediately. You have to understand, they were outnumbered by thousands of protesters.
There was media presence, but not as much as you’d think. Plenty of areas where chaos was going on had no media nearby. The reporters were mostly getting people to talk to them off to the side where nothing was going on, or focusing ongoing debates between Trump supporters and rally members.
A small amount of the protesters were smoking weed. (I have nothing against this personally, just included for accuracy.)
Plenty of chants for “BERNIE! BERNIE! BERNIE!” Some Trump supporters looked at each other in bewilderment. “But Bernie Sanders isn’t even running against Donald Trump,” was the common sentiment.
Edit: The Trump supporters had a general trust for the police, while the protesters saw their presence as antagonistic. This is especially interesting to me, because as a foreigner and person of color I am generally afraid of police.
Closing statement:
Obviously I did not see everything that occurred as I wandered the protest grounds outside the cancelled Chicago rally. What I did see, however, was fear. Fear from the rally attendees for their immediate safety, and fear of Donald Trump from the protesters.
More than that, I feel that I experienced today, for the first time in my life, true totalitarianism and authoritarianism, expressed laterally from citizen to citizen, in order to silence opinions from being shared. This enforcement was shared through sheer numbers and intimidation, and in a few cases, violence.
People brought their children, loved ones, and friends to attend the Trump rally. I saw an older Asian man and his white wife in attendance, and the looks on their faces when the rally was declared cancelled almost broke my heart. I saw scared children clinging to their parents’ sides as they exited the building to the screams of protesters. I saw a quiet, but excited crowd of Donald Trump supporters get thrown out of Chicago.
Worst of all, I saw the first amendment trampled, spit on, and discarded like trash.
This cannot go on. As I finish this, I feel a sense of utter dread and hopelessness for what is becoming of the youth in this country, particularly those of the regressive left. So polarized has political opinion become, that dissenting thoughts on college campuses are now seen as hateful. These people deal in absolutes. They are right, and whatever means they must take to achieve their ends, they will do it. They will not stop themselves from violence or censorship. They will do it, and they will call hell down upon you if anyone dare does upon them the same.
Tonight I went to the Trump Rally to hear the thoughts of not only the man who was supposed to come and speak, but the people who support him. I found respect. I found calmness. I found peace.
The truth is, I am a legal immigrant, not a US citizen. I am not American. I am not white. I cannot vote.
After tonight, I support Donald Trump.
Lastly, for anyone who thinks the protesters didn’t incite violence tonight, I offer you this.
Updates:
Tallon5 posted a bunch of images and videos that match up to my personal accounts
Super Hat Bros FOUND! Personal friend of theirs speaks out
Another account from the PoliticalDiscussion subreddit
Thanks for the gold and all the kind comments. I hope you guys stay safe. Remember that the best way to make America great again isn’t just voting, but making yourself great too. That goes to anyone who reads this, regardless of who you support or what you believe.
https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/4a2bu9/what_really_happened_at_the_chicago_rally_my/
Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.
March 11, 2016
Trump’s Shangri-La Cincinnati Office: How to find it and what you can do to help
So, you’ve seen the last debate before the massive votes across the United States—specifically Florida and Ohio—and you want to know what you can do to help Trump have a big night. Maybe you want to help walk neighborhoods in Ohio to keep Kasich—who has been an epic failure to those who know him best within the state—from winning on Tuesday, March 15.th Maybe you want to do one little thing to rob him of that diminutive joy of at least winning Ohio during a primary process that has turned out to be a massive failure for him. Kasich started running for president in 2013 and spent much of his second term positioning himself essentially as a Democrat to expand his influence to the northern part of the state just to run for president in 2016. In the process he let down the people who helped elect him and that deserves some rectification. Trump is the best chance we have of setting many things right, especially robbing Kasich of the Tuesday night prize. Perhaps you want to make calls on behalf of Trump, or maybe you just want a yard sign. Well, here is the information you need to make all those things happen over the next couple of days.
I went looking for yard signs for Trump and whatever else I could do to help and found that the Cincinnati office was nestled in a neat little business park behind Chuckee Cheese right off Kemper Road near Tri-County. It was the second building south of the complex and on the second floor. I noticed immediately in the windows facing north the Trump signs advertising the Shangri-La of American politics—the epicenter of the most exciting political movement in over an American century—perhaps longer. Literally stepping into the building after parking on the west side of the building was a magnificent water garden with office complexes facing inward toward the lush atmosphere—a little bridge extended over a babbling brook filled with fish paved the way toward a Trumpian paradise beyond. It was quite a majestic feel complete with all the elements of heaven. I followed the path to its conclusion and found an elevator which took everyone upstairs to level 2. Once there a short trip down the hall, a left turn for about 10 feet and the Trump campaign office was on the next door on the right. Here is the information I used to find the office.
From: Robert Scott [mailto:Robert.Scott@donaldtrump.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2016 6:19 PM
To: Robert Scott
Subject: TRUMP CINCINNATI OFFICE OPEN
Greetings. The Cincinnati Trump Office is now open and we have only 6 DAYS!!! I personally, Robert Scott, the State Director of Ohio, will be manning the office until Election Day on March 15!
Here is what we need ASAP.
(1) Volunteers in the headquarters. We will be open from 9 AM to 9 p.m. starting tomorrow. If you would like to bring anything to hang on the walls and decorate the headquarters. We have snacks and other goodies!
(2) Volunteers to make phone calls from the headquarters. Please bring your Cell Phone and Computer/Tablet with you.
(3) Volunteers to walk their neighborhood for Mr. Trump immediately until Tuesday!
The office is located at:
1329 E. Kemper Rd., Suite 4212 (Second floor) Cincinnati, OH 45246
I found Robert Scott there who was busy setting up the Saturday Trump rally in Dayton where Trump will glide up to a Wright Patterson hangar to give one of his airport speeches by stepping straight out of his private 757 and up to a podium to address fans. Then a quick jump up to an arena in Cleveland to a packed house there. Robert was busy also arranging a Sunday rally. We spoke about the Duke Energy Center down in Cincinnati and we talked about Lakota Schools. Lakota wouldn’t return the phone calls, and The Duke Energy Center emerged as a possible venue for Sunday just ahead of the election. He and I spoke strategy and he loaded me up with campaign items and I left feeling that the Trump people were very well-organized and committed. But they do need the usual help, so the days ahead of Tuesday will be a fight that will require as many people as possible that should be in on it.
I was reminded of the Perot Campaign office in 1992 which was on Montgomery Road years ago, next to Camargo Cadillac. It was a very vibrant atmosphere that had the feeling of a revolution about it. Another location that I remember well was the Greenup Street location right next to the Suspension Bridge in Covington, Kentucky. Even all these years later I remember the camaraderie of going to war with those people in that time under those tenuous conditions. It felt important and it was–it actually paved the way for where we are today. I have been around other campaigns and there is a commonality to them—but nothing was quit like those experiences on Montgomery Road in the fall of 1992. With that said, the energy I felt at the Trump headquarters in Cincinnati was surging beyond that Perot experience—because there was a feeling in the air that finally one of these elections would actually make a difference. Most of the time, the kind of people who show up to volunteer for these kinds of things are full of love and passion—but the candidate is mostly all air. Ross Perot certainly wasn’t—but he was nothing like Donald Trump. Leaving that place and walking back through the indoor water garden back to my car was like the Trump candidacy itself. A lush landscape of unexpected possibility surrounded by multiple businesses thriving with energy always looking toward opportunity—it was probably the most bizarre, yet all-encompassing place for Trump to have a southern Ohio headquarters. What a great place to be a part of an emerging movement that carried on its back the hopes and dreams of a nation.
There are only a few days to make a difference. So get down there, pick up some signs and spread them around town. Get them in front of voting places around Cincinnati on Tuesday. Better yet, volunteer to go door to door. Kasich and Cruz will certainly have their people out and Trump needs to have that ground game in place to advance the cause. Even better than that, go down to the headquarters, order up some carry-out and make some calls under Scott’s direction. You will never forget the experience. It’s an opportunity to be a part of history and the memory of it will last a lifetime—regardless of the outcome. Fortunately for this particular ground shaking movement—the stars are aligning in the favor of reform—for really the first time in American history without an armed revolt to go along with it. And that is big news.
Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.
March 10, 2016
Secret Island Meetings Between Liberals and Republicans: Schemes to destroy Donald Trump
I have said nice things about many of the tech leaders who sat down in a secret meeting with the GOP establishment to scheme ways of destroying Donald Trump’s run for president. I still think what they are doing is important work for the future of our economy. But, they are not bastions of conservative principles and I find it very strange that they’d be included in a meeting with people like Mitch McConnell, Karl Rove and many others plotting an end to Donald Trump. This only supports what I have said many, many times—the people running the Republican Party, are not very conservative. They are easily swayed by the currents of finance and if those currents trend toward liberalism—then they adopt those positions to protect their party and their role in it as benefactors. When news broke of this secret meeting, I found the information extremely disrespectful of the American electorate. Not that it surprised me—I have been writing about such motivations for years. However, in the back of my mind I did hope to be wrong. The reality is quite the opposite—even more so than even the most conspiratorial mind could previously fathom. The GOP is far more corrupt than anybody thought and the situation is dire.
Not to put Donald Trump down, but I’d vote for a venereal diseased whore giving speeches for president topless and in a G-string at this point if she called herself a Republican—because at least she would be from the private sector. Even though her profession is illegal, she at least would understand money to some degree and how it’s made. Such a disgusting person would be better than the crop of politicians the GOP has been handing us for decades. Yet with quite a lot of presumption, they wish to rule us through an aristocratic commitment to a Party that has European foundations toward collectivism—and in America—it’s quite disgusting. Speaking for myself, I recognize no person on planet earth or in the entire Milky Way galaxy as my “better.” I recognize no king, no authority that is supreme to my individual integrity. Nothing is bigger than me—which to many may sound preposterous—especially with religious backgrounds. But it is the proper way to understand our role in this universe. Our minds are far more important than anything thing a black hole or celestial orbit might produce and it’s about time that Republicans learn that at the heart of conservative value and Constitutional principle is the preservation of the pronoun “I.” They often confuse the issue with religion which sways often into the fray of socialism, meekness, and putting bigger things ahead of individual identity. This is a failure in philosophy—which has not properly divided up religion and politics in the minds of mankind in spite of the founding fathers insisting on a separation of church and state for the very reasons that the Republican aristocracy uses both to hold themselves into power.
Trump is the perfect candidate for this new century and it gave me great satisfaction to watch him defend his record against Mitt Romney by holding a press conference to accept his winnings of Michigan and Mississippi offering members of the press high-priced mementos of his very successful life to take home with them. The whole situation reminded me of one of my favorite movies of all time, Tucker: A Man and His Dream. In that film Tucker was threatening the Big Three auto manufacturers with a much more advanced automobile at the time. Senator Ferguson set out to destroy Tucker for bringing harm through unwanted competition to GM, Ford and Chrysler. The Karl Rove meeting with top tech industry people who certainly lean liberal is the kind of stuff which indicates massive corruption and Trump had to do something to get out ahead of it. In the movie Tucker the hero of the story Preston played by Jeff Bridges had to deal with false reports that his car was a danger to the public, that it underperformed and that Tucker had misled investors with a massive scam. Tucker had no other option, so he took his prototype car out onto the streets and picked a fight with the police—forcing them into a car chase. Tucker’s highly advanced car ran circles around the police cars embarrassing them intensely. Tucker ended the chase by surrendering himself to the police at the police station in front of a mob of press who had witnessed the entire event. The public had witnessed that Tucker wasn’t a fraud the way the media had reported it, and the point was made.
To watch Trump after all that has been said about him, and all the millions of dollars in negative ads attacking him, point to the products that supposedly didn’t exist and offer them to the press was a Preston Tucker moment—and it was very stylish. Trump has such a large empire of business holdings that he doesn’t even consider little things like those products criticized to be a big deal. He owns them to facilitate his organization with internalized branding. If he sold them in local grocery stores it would cheap their value—they are part of the exclusivity he offers his customers. The people critical of him can’t even remotely compare themselves to his achievements. It’s laughable. And the debate format traditionally favors “back of the train types” (see the metaphysics of quality)—people who know what’s on the train and have memorized ways of regurgitating the information. Trump is a “front of the train” type, someone who moves fast, takes very few notes but remembers most everything, and delegates tasks to the best people he can manage to recruit. That’s how he’s been so successful. Politicians can’t understand that type of person. They only know how to give speeches to extract money from wealthy people in the form of donations. Trump, in 2016 has given so much money to so many politicians from both sides over the years, he finally just decided to do things himself because they were so ineffective. And that terrifies everyone who has made good livings off that corrupt system. If Trump succeeds the whole game of politics changes forever—there will be many copy cat-sub-retired executives who will follow in the wake and they will do a much, much better job at managing resources than the political class for years has—and that is something to cheer for. Again Trump is not to be compared with a mindless slut, but such a low-grade woman would do a better job at managing the country than ANYONE from the political class—anyone in that meeting with Karl Rove—because at least they know and understand how to make money by providing a service as opposed to the political class that is just in the business of begging for it and giving nothing in return.
The Big Three fought Tucker hard, pushing him out of business. Tucker did build the cars he promised, but his funding ran out, and he almost went to jail over the issue after Senator Ferguson drove him into a tough court case over fraud to protect his donors. It took twenty to thirty years for the Big Three to adopt the technical innovations that Tucker proposed in those delicate years between World War II and 1950. Eventually, they had no choice and of course they took all the credit leaving only history buffs to remember Preston Tucker. Nikola Tesla could tell a similar story. The political class of 2016 is trying to hold off innovation for their own protection. They are resisting the political innovation that the public is demanding to preserve the power it gives them. Trump is the biggest threat to them that they have because he will make the job look easy and others will see, and the end of their way of life will emerge. That is what they are so terrified of. Trump as he announced at his Florida press conference has an impressive résumé and since it has come into question, he has a right to defend it—which he did with a lot of style—and a measured amount of grace. Trump has expanded the Republican base, he has withstood all the incoming that a single person could expect to endure, and he is still winning. And he is by far more conservative than many of the Republican establishment types—as the proof of the meeting participants exhibits quite brightly. But they have been caught. Trump has been the perfect presidential candidate for the GOP, he’s a winner, he is great with the press, he can expand the base, market the party—if the goal was conservativism—Trump is perfect. Constitutional purists the Republican Party isn’t—going behind the people’s back the way they did to destroy a candidate—that is not how a Constitutional Republic functions. There is no way Ted Cruz can fight these guys off—he just doesn’t have the tools in the tool box. But what Trump did was get the establishment to show all their cards and the public has responded. And Trump had a reason to smile a little bit and take a victory lap. Tucker tried it years ago on a smaller stage—but he eventually failed. Trump has succeeded where nobody else has in history. And that is something to be proud of no matter what side of politics someone might happen to be on.
Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.
March 9, 2016
A Controversial Chuck Yeager Endorsement of Donald Trump: Whether or not he did or didn’t is irrelevant
There is some debate about whether or not Chuck Yeager actually put the following endorsement of Donald Trump up on his Facebook account. Yeager is someone I personally admire, and I’ve been a fan of him for most of my life. He’s certainly one of the greatest American heroes we have, not only as a World War II ace fighter pilot, but as a test pilot, most spectacularly being the first person to break the speed of sound. Reading this endorsement it sounded like him. But, he is a military man, and I can see a scenario where he might have posted it but was told to take it down for all the same reasons that Mitt Romney came out against Donald Trump. Regardless of its authenticity, it does make a very compelling case in favor of Donald Trump and is worth consideration ahead of the upcoming statewide primaries across the nation. I’m inclined to believe that Chuck Yeager believes what is aforementioned written, but the words are worth their weight free of official endorsement because they capture the essence quite well of what the Donald Trump phenomena is really about. God bless the World War II generation for their logic and resolve.
Chuck Yeager’s endorsement is printed below, in full.
Donald Trump……..who he REALLY is….The criticisms of Trump are amazingly missing something. They are lacking in negative stories from those who work for him or have had business dealings with him. After all the employees he’s had and all the business deals he’s made there is a void of criticism. In fact, long term employees call him a strong and merciful leader and say he is far more righteous and of high integrity than people may think.
And while it may surprise many, he’s actually humble when it comes to his generosity and kindness. A good example is a story that tells of his limo breaking down on a deserted highway outside of New York City. A middle-aged couple stopped to help him and as a thank you he paid off their mortgage, but he didn’t brag about that. Generous and good people rarely talk of charity they bestow on others. But as much as all this is interesting, the real thing that people want to know is what Donald Trump’s plan is for America. It’s funny how so many people say they don’t know what it is, or they act like Trump is hiding it. The information is readily available if people would just do a little homework. But, since most Americans won’t do their own research, here, in no particular order, is an overview of many of Trump’s positions and plans:
1.) Trump believes that America should not intervene militarily in other country’s problems without being compensated for doing so. If America is going to risk the lives of our soldiers and incur the expense of going to war, then the nations we help must be willing to pay for our help. Using the Iraq War as an example, he cites the huge monetary expense to American taxpayers (over $1.5 trillion, and possibly much more depending on what sources are used to determine the cost) in addition to the cost in human life. He suggests that Iraq should have been required to give us enough of their oil to pay for the expenses we incurred. He includes in those expenses the medical costs for our military and $5 million for each family that lost a loved one in the war and $2 million for each family of soldiers who received severe injuries.
2.) Speaking of the military, Trump wants America to have a strong military again. He believes the single most important function of the federal government is national defense. He has said he wants to find the General Patton or General MacArthur that could lead our military buildup back to the strength it needs to be. While he hasn’t said it directly that I know of, Trump’s attitude about America and about winning tells me he’d most likely be quick to eliminate rules of engagement that handicap our military in battle. Clearly Trump is a “win at all costs” kind of guy, and I’m sure that would apply to our national defense and security, too.
3.) Trump wants a strong foreign policy and believes that it must include 8 core principles (which seem to support my comment in the last point):
American interests come first. Always. No apologies.
Maximum firepower and military preparedness.
Only go to war to win.
Stay loyal to your friends and suspicious of your enemies.
Keep the technological sword razor sharp.
See the unseen.
Prepare for threats before they materialize.
Respect and support our present and past warriors.
4.) Trump believes that terrorists who are captured should be treated as military combatants, not as criminals like the Obama administration treats them.
5.) Trump makes the point that China’s manipulation of their currency has given them unfair advantage in our trade dealings with them. He says we must tax their imports to offset their currency manipulation, which will cause American companies to be competitive again and drive manufacturing back to America and create jobs here. Although he sees China as the biggest offender, he believes that America should protect itself from all foreign efforts to take our jobs and manufacturing. For example, Ford is building a plant in Mexico and Trump suggests that every part or vehicle Ford makes in Mexico be taxed 35% if they want to bring it into the U. S., which would cause companies like Ford to no longer be competitive using their Mexican operations and move manufacturing back to the U. S., once again creating jobs here.
6.) Trump wants passage of NOPEC legislation (No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act – NOPEC – S.394), which would allow the government to sue OPEC for violating antitrust laws. According to Trump, that would break up the cartel. He also wants to unleash our energy companies to drill domestically (sound like Sarah Palin’s drill baby, drill?) thereby increasing domestic production creating jobs and driving domestic costs of oil and gas down while reducing dependence on foreign oil.
7.) Trump believes a secure border is critical for both security and prosperity in America. He wants to build a wall to stop illegals from entering put controls on immigration. (And he says he’ll get Mexico to pay for the wall, which many have scoffed at, but given his business successes I wouldn’t put it past him.) He also wants to enforce our immigration laws and provide no path to citizenship for illegals.
8.) Trump wants a radical change to the tax system to not only make it better for average Americans, but also to encourage businesses to stay here and foreign businesses to move here. The resulting influx of money to our nation would do wonders for our economy. He wants to make America the place to do business. He also wants to lower the death tax and the taxes on capital gains and dividends. This would put more than $1.6 trillion back into the economy and help rebuild the 1.5 million jobs we’ve lost to the current tax system. He also wants to charge companies who outsource jobs overseas a 20% tax, but for those willing to move jobs back to America they would not be taxed. And for citizens he has a tax plan that would allow Americans to keep more of what they earn and spark economic growth. He wants to change the personal income tax to:
Up to $30,000 taxed at 1% From $30,000 to $100,000 taxed at 5%From $100,000 to $1,000,000 taxed at 10%$1,000,000 and above taxed at 15%
9.) Trump wants Obamacare repealed. He says it’s a “job-killing, health care-destroying monstrosity” that “can’t be reformed, salvaged, or fixed.” He believes in allowing real competition in the health insurance marketplace to allow competition to drive prices down. He also believes in tort reform to get rid of defensive medicine and lower costs.
10.) Trump wants spending reforms in Washington, acknowledging that America spends far more than it receives in revenue. He has said he believes that if we don’t stop increasing the national debt once it hits $24 trillion it will be impossible to save this country. Even though he says we need to cut spending, he does not want to harm those on Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. He believes that the citizens have faithfully paid in to the system to have these services available and that the American government has an obligation to fulfill its end of the bargain and provide those benefits. Therefore, he wants to build the economy
Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
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March 8, 2016
The Blue Collar Billionaire: Why Donald Trump is far better than Ted Cruz in 2016
It is very interesting that one of the biggest faults being leveled at Donald Trump for president is that he is willing to compromise and make deals from the Executive Office and that makes him in the eyes of establishment Republicans–untrustworthy. Given the nature of our Republic, that is the means of managing our government–negotiations. Ted Cruz on the other hand represents an uncompromising approach to upholding the Constitution—which sounds great on the surface, but as he says, the Washington “Cartel” has no interest in the Constitution, and will simply outmaneuver him at every juncture would he be in the White House instead of Trump. That is why I say that Cruz would be perfect for a 2024 run, but Trump is perfect now—because Trump has the skills to come out on top in the current deal making culture that embodies modern Washington. Cruz needs to have some things fixed before he could be effective. Essentially, the party rule that is currently in place on both sides needs to end—before someone like Cruz could be effective in the White House. In its present form, Cruz would be paralyzed by the bureaucracy.
The most epic condition of compromise and coming out on the bad side of a deal was Ohio’s very own Governor Kasich and Speaker of the House John Boehner who went golfing with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. The Republican Party was essentially neutered in that exchange leaving neither Boehner nor Kasich able to do anything against Obama after it. I expect deals to be made in Washington. Our own Constitution was written by making deals between the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists—with Alexander Hamilton coming out mostly on top giving us the Constitution that Ted Cruz reveres so fervently to this day. Later the Bill of Rights was added to appease the Jeffersonian Anti-Federalists because the Constitution didn’t go far enough and they screamed and pushed until somebody listened.
I’m a pretty rigid person—I stick to my guns on things. But I also negotiate a lot. I work with professionals intensely at times, I negotiate around my community, within our family—dealing with children is a constant negotiation—(you can have this if you do that….etc.) But I most of the time get exactly what I want out of the situation. I know where my inner bar is set and what parameters I can live with—which is the benchmark of sales ability. Ted Cruz apparently is missing that. Honesty is a wonderful trait so long as the people you are dealing with don’t want to play any games—but the human race is currently addicted to games and that is unlikely to change anytime within the next thousand years—so the skills needed to lead a capitalist country like America swarming with socialist sympathizers, aggressive global banks, and clandestine terrorists are elements that must be well represented in the White House. And Trump is the only guy in centuries able to even come close to performing such a tricky job. The other one that I can think of was Andrew Jackson, whom even though he was a Democrat, I think a lot of. He did many things wrong, but he had a swagger that was uniquely American and he paid down the debt. Trump reminds me of that type of potential president—which after all the cross-fire and debate, helped make America one of the greatest countries on earth. We wouldn’t have Florida if not for Jackson, and likely would have lost the War of 1812. American needs charismatic characters in the White House once again to rebuild the Republican brand, because right now, that brand is terrible. And before everyone says that Jackson was a racist and was vile, understand that Woodrow Wilson, the progressive hero was far worse. Understand history before placing characters from the past into present context.
I am not disturbed at all by The Washington Times secret tapes. Trump cannot be literal in anything he does because in his mind he knows where his margins are. Do the American people deserve to know where those margins are—traditionally yes? But under the circumstances of our present condition, where you can’t trust politicians or understand what their real motivations are—or trust the media and the hit groups behind them which fund everything—information in this day and age has to be somewhat obscure. It’s a game that has to be played—and the only people you can trust are people who have actually done things. With Trump, I can see the things he’s built. I see his nice family, and that is résumé enough for me. I have a pretty good idea where his margins are based on what he produces. As it stands for instance our immigration policy is an open sore that is guided by George Soros policies. That effort has to be undermined by a really good negotiator who can convince a majority of congress, the senate, and the media of its relevance. A good salesman knows that there is no chance of that happening unless the other party thinks it can get something out of it. Trump knows that the best way to negotiate is to start off with a strong position that scares that crap out of everyone, then working back from that position to make the other side think it got something out of the deal. In reality, Trump gets what he wants, which is an enforceable immigration policy and people will eventually be happy with it—as opposed to the Ted Cruz method which is to draw a line in the sand and force a floor battle over budgets and policy that just angers everyone—and gets nothing done at all. Good management often requires this constant back and force in negotiations, and a good manager knows where to set their high points and how to achieve at their margin without breaking the other side. Optimally, the other side will feel like they got something out of the deal and everyone walks away happy.
I know this game—but I am surprised that more people in politics don’t understand it. It could be said that they don’t know it out of convenience. But after watching the barrage of establishment Republicans berate Donald Trump over the last couple weeks—after the Super Tuesday wins made it very evident that he was really in a position to win the nomination—I was convinced that they really are just stupid. For that reason, they shouldn’t even be in public office. Ted Cruz is a legal mind, and we certainly don’t need people like that negotiating anything. They’ve been doing it for years and they lack the imagination to set a bar at a high mark that they can work to a margin to show compromise. It sounds good on a campaign trail to tell people you won’t compromise, but the Cruz rigidity has given him no ground as a senator to work from. He has no allies, and as a President members of his own party will defy him just to spite him. I think Cruz would have the best of intentions but we all know the path to hell is always paved with good intentions. Personally, I don’t want any more paths to hell. I want a president who knows how to win negotiations domestically, and internationally.
What I want out of a president is a guy who can golf with a couple of politicians and win for a change at the real game being played—the negotiations on position. I was so embarrassed by Kasich and Boehner because they were out-witted by a guy so inept, and has no background in achievement, that they came out looking like fools. Kasich and Boehner came away from that famous golf game licking the feet of Barack Obama. I want a guy on the Republican side who can turn those tables for a change, and leave Democrats thanking Trump for all his hospitality afterwards—for expanding the economy, enforcing immigration, opening up the Second Amendment, getting rid of Common Core, and many other things—then stripping down naked to sell their cloths to a charity that Melania Trump is hosting—then thanking the couple and asking for another chance to give their very shirts off their backs again. That is how Trump will win where Cruz will just create more government gridlock.
You know the situation is dire when the Republican Establishment is dying for Ted Cruz over Donald Trump—even after Cruz had called them essentially an organized crime syndicate. They figure that they can at least stand up to Cruz and make him appear ineffective—and punish voters for going in his direction. But with Trump—they can’t deal with a private sector guy in the White House. Trump would change their culture and that is something that terrifies them. And what we’d end up getting as a result would be so much more than we have right now paving the way for a true Constitutional Republic in the aftermath.
When playing this kind of chess, you sometimes have to think not just four or five moves ahead, but four of five games ahead. That is what is needed to beat these establishment types. This election with Trump is only game one—and we need a lot more victories than one. We need to start winning for the next 100 years. People need to start thinking bigger and working toward those goals with an understanding of how the game is played. This isn’t checkers. It’s certainly chess. Ted Cruz and the rest of the GOP are playing checkers.
Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
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March 7, 2016
The Facts About Trump University: Ambulance chasers and political hacks trying to stop history at the expense of truth
Many people from the Republican establishment hope and pray that the legal issues surrounding Trump University will sink Donald Trump as a presidential candidate. However, unlike them, Trump has put himself into contact with thousands and thousands of people who want to sue him at the slightest provocation—because he is so incredibly wealthy. Public sector politicians really don’t understand that kind of risk—yet Trump has thrived in spite of that treacherous trend. Even so, it is hard to find people out of literally the many tens of thousands who have been in direct contact with him as either employees, or customers who can say anything bad about him. I’m a really good person and it would be easy for people to find two or three hundred people who hate me and would love to bury me anyway they could. Trump runs an even greater risk of that kind of attitude, yet even on such a large stage, very few can actually step forward and say anything against him. Those that do are obvious ambulance chasers and that is the situation surrounding Trump University. Here is Trump explaining the situation with evidence to provide clarification to the controversy.
When it comes time to vote for Trump in your state—do it! It’s not just a vote for a really good guy who doesn’t say enough about all the people he’s helped. It’s a shot in the hull of a really corrupt band of pirate outlaws holding the GOP hostage—and they need to be driven out. Trump is our best shot at doing it—so don’t waste the opportunity. Send this to someone you know who wants to learn more about Trump University and Donald Trump in general. If they are on the fence—get them off it and into a voting booth to vote in for Donald Trump.
Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
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Black Ops III: Life in 2065 and the future of human evolution
It’s been a while since I have played console games. For several years now my wife and I played Star Wars: The Old Republic on our PC and loved it, until the new Star Wars movie pretty much ruined my love of that George Lucas creation. So I was looking for options and finally picked up a PS4 for all the obvious reasons, and the unit I bought happened to be a Black Ops III bundle specific for the popular Call of Duty video game series. I know Call of Duty is a very popular title, but I haven’t played it before primarily because I thought it would be too “military” based, which I hate. I can’t stand the mission dialogue about sacrifice and duty trumping personal honor and all that crap—so the title to the popular console game turned me off. However, since Star Wars is now off-limits I’m willing to try a few other things, so I thought I’d give it a try to could quickly see why it’s so popular.
These video games continue to impress me with their immersive science fiction stories that are quite sophisticated. Going all the way back to the first person shooter Half Life, things have come a long way to this latest Call of Duty offering. But what continues to impress me is the exploration of science within these games and the possibilities of what life will offer us over the next one hundred years. I was surprised to find that the story was set in 2065 and it involved several elements of advanced robotics and nano technology. It also weaved a fairly sophisticated political plot within a story suitable for a House of Cards episode.
My life is unique in that I do things in the real world that are considered, “important.” I have hobbies that are very, “physical.” Yet I enjoy quite a lot to step behind a technological veil and explore worlds bridging the best of modern science fiction, science and art and mixing them all with contemporary politics and a Millennial skepticism of authority—and viewing the world from that vantage point. Not many people my age successfully go back and forth like that. They evolved in their thirties to playing golf by their forties. It is difficult play a round with important people on a Friday afternoon, then go home and play some Black Ops on PlayStation for the evening. I can do it, but not many can. I find that the ability to enjoy all aspects of modern life to be more valuable than just specializing in one particular thing during sectional moments of a lifetime. I value the childlike playfulness of harboring many interests and not regulating those passions due to a social context. Given that, I find the stories of modern video games to be very important mythologically into preparing our society for the massive changes that are about to occur over the next two decades.
For many years I have played video games and we’ve had just about every system since the Atari 7800 back in the 80s. I raised my kids on video games and I have played them a lot. Over the last few years, I’ve been very busy and I haven’t kept up with the big technological breakthroughs largely because I wanted to see where everything was going. 4k televisions and these incredible sound developments from Bose were poised to change the home entertainment industry a few years back, so I sat on the fence to sort of watch things before making big investments. A few of our family members have personal home theaters with projection televisions, which I thought were fantastic, but I was skeptical that they’d hold out to the strong resolution that gaming systems, and streaming services like Netflix were offering, so we held on and didn’t get a PS3 or an Xbox One. My big problem with the Xbox One was the emphasis on online content and downloadable offerings. I like to own things and if you lose your hard drive—which happens, then you lose your downloads. And I’m not a big fan of cloud storage systems, because they don’t exist within my control. So it was a bit of a treat to play a PlayStation 4 for the first time. It’s probably been three or four years since I last touched a PlayStation controller—so it was nice to turn it on again and see the throbbing lights which are new on the PS4 as it came to life.
In that regard, the story of Call of Duty Black Ops III pulled me in instantly and I found it to be a great adventure. The robotics and the ability to simulate reality I found most compelling. I really don’t think we are that far away from a day when we can download ourselves into new bodies or machines—whichever we see fit and that we as a human species will exist not as biological entities, but as an essence. In that way I found the story of Black Ops III to be extremely compelling. As I played it I couldn’t help but think of how these video game stories are changing the way that Millennials see the world. As of this writing, we are on the cusp of commercial space travel and nano technology as things are changing very quickly. It’s easy for me to see just in watching the evolution of PlayStation from the PS2 which I played like crazy during the first decade of the new century to the PS4. The creative use of lights on the console and controller along with the evolution of storage leads the mind to easily see a day where the stories in these video games will actually manifest into a reality—whether its alien life as seen in Half Life, or the future tech of warfare in Call of Duty Black Ops III, the options to us are going to be quite extraordinary.
The best science fiction of our age isn’t coming from books, or movies—it is coming from video games. I know a lot of young people buy Call of Duty for the online multiplayer content, but seriously, the campaigns on those games is very interesting. The science is “compelling.” It’s one thing to read these kinds of things in science fiction novels, but it’s quite another to interact with high science concepts in a 3D environment. In the case of Call of Duty, I’m glad that I have been mad at Star Wars, because I gave Black Ops III a chance I might have otherwise not had given it. While it would be fun to take a few weeks of my life and just sit around playing video games–it’s not very practical for me. I have to manage my time very carefully to fit everything in, and that kind of luxury is hard to find. So I appreciate a good gaming experience when I can get it and Black Ops III was certainly that. The science alone does it—the empowerment of interacting with objects within a virtual environment ahead of actual scientific invention is a marvelous attribute—and a necessary step toward the fulfillment of the next leap in mankind’s long evolution.
Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
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In Ohio Democrats are Switching to Republican to Vote Trump: Defining real conservativism during an important primary
This is a pretty important story. Republicans have a severe “branding” problem. People like me who are very conservative find people like George Will, Karl Rove, Mitt Romney, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, John Boehner and even locally, Patti Alderson, Don Dixon, Cindy Carpenter and many others terribly flat and unable to win contested issues against Democrats. They are what make up the Republican “establishment,” these days and it is their fault that the Republican “brand” has declined, and even failed in most cases. As I’ve discussed before conservatives won’t get everything we need in just one election. There has to be a multiyear plan enacted to repair the massive damage done to the party by Republicans moving left of center to attract new voters. And just for the record, Ronald Reagan was not conservative enough for me. He is not the benchmark of conservativism as far as I’m concerned. When Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz say they want to be the new party of Reagan, I cringe. Reagan actually toyed with joining the Communist Party and was a union leader for a time. Only late in life did he learn to speak like a conservative and very late—become one. I liked him-but when it comes to conservatives I am often very let down—because few people are as conservative as I am.
However, in this election I am emphatically supporting Donald Trump. He by far has the most conservative views on the stage currently, and he has a track record of accomplishing things. The fact that many people are making it fashionable to point out things that he has not done so well is laughable. I’d ask to see their track record—which they have nothing to compare to. Trump’s airplane is worth more than most of the critics of him put together. As Trump stated recently, just one of his stores in New York is worth more than Mitt Romney. I’d rather deal with a person who has a thousand failures and two or three blistering successes than a loser who sits on the sidelines and is afraid to do anything because they are the overly timid types. That describes most of the people I know in the Republican Party. Trump brings a lot to the Republican Party—particularly when it comes to “branding.” He also is attracting fence-sitting Democrats—which is exactly what the Republicans need if they really want to “expand” the party. When people say that Trump is not a conservative then where is the anger at actual Democrats like Butler County Commissioner Don Dixon who switched parties to win in a conservative Ohio county—and the many thousands across the nation just like him. Trump is much more conservative than Don Dixon, or the Ohio Central Committee representative Patti Alderson who makes the fundraising efforts of Claire Underwood from the Netflix series House of Cards look like an amateur. (Ann Becker is running against Patti—VOTE FOR ANN on March 15th.) Don’t tell me establishment Republicans are more “Republican” than Donald Trump. Trump is calling himself a Republican in a very liberal part of the country, and that takes guts. And don’t tell me he’s doing damage to the “party.” Read this article out of Youngstown, Ohio. This is where Trump is a lethal weapon for the GOP—if they were smart enough to use it—which they aren’t.
skolnick@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
About 1,000 Democrats in Mahoning County so far have switched their party affiliation to Republican with election officials saying several did it to vote for Donald Trump, the GOP presidential front-runner.
“We are seeing something this election cycle I’ve never seen before to this degree,” said board Chairman Mark Munroe, who’s also the county Republican chairman. “Every day I take phone calls or get voice messages from people saying they’ve been Democrats all their life and they’ve had it. They want to vote for Donald Trump. I’m surprised at the volume of inquiries we’re getting. It’s remarkable.”
A number of Democrats taking a Republican ballot when voting early at the board “say they want to vote for Trump,” said Joyce Kale-Pesta, Mahoning County Board of Elections director.
About 7,000 Mahoning County voters have cast early votes. Early voting started Feb. 17 and ends March 14, the day before the primary.
Of those 7,000, about 14 percent were Democrats who voted Republican, Kale-Pesta said. That’s about 1,000 so far.
The percentage of Democrats switching parties will grow even more, said board Vice Chairman David Betras, who also is the county Democratic chairman.
And it doesn’t concern Betras.
“I knew Donald Trump’s message would resonate with blue-collar Democrats,” he said. “But once they learn about his record – besides him being anti-trade – they will change their minds in the general election. I assure you that come the general election, voters will vote our way once we tell the story of Donald Trump. The more chaos created in the Republican primary, the better Democrats will do in the general election.”
Betras, who backs Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, said it “would make me happy for Donald Trump to beat John Kasich,” the Ohio governor running for president as a Republican.
About 5 percent of Republicans – 350 voters – cast Democrat ballots of those who’ve voted so far, said Chris Rakocy, the board’s information technology manager.
Munroe, who supports Kasich, said that if the governor isn’t the Republican presidential nominee, “I’ll be glad to support whoever is our nominee.”
When asked about Trump’s various controversial statements, Munroe said, “Should Trump be the nominee, he’ll have plenty of time to rehabilitate himself.”
Trump is the reason turnout will be higher than normal for this primary, Munroe said.
“We’re seeing this all over the country; the Republican vote is way up and it’s because of Trump,” he said. “Now, it’s happening in the Valley. Whatever you think of Trump, you can’t take away his ability to energize the electorate.”
There are 161,009 registered voters in the county, including 40,958 Democrats and 14,663 Republicans. The rest are independents, who don’t vote in primaries, with a tiny number affiliated with third parties such as Green and Libertarian.
In Ohio, party affiliation is basely solely on voting in a primary, Munroe said.
“All you have to do is tell a poll worker that you want to vote for a certain party in the primary and that becomes your affiliation,” he said.
Election officials in Trumbull and Columbiana counties say they aren’t keeping track of how many voters are changing party affiliations.
“But we’ve had some people say, ‘I want to switch to the Trump party,” said Stephanie Penrose, Trumbull County’s elections board director.
“There are a lot of Democrats switching over,” said Kim Meeks, Columbiana County’s elections board deputy director. “We see a trend, but we won’t know details until after the primary.”
– See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/mar/03/mahoning-co-sees-k-voters-defect-to-gop/#sthash.fKGSZKbz.dpuf
Let that simmer for a bit and think of what that could do for the GOP. Think about California come November 2016, or New York. Tell me there is another Republican in the party today who could win in these places. The answer of course is that there isn’t. Ted Cruz won’t. And nobody else will either.
Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.
