(Trump.news) Records will be shattered: Presumptive GOP nominee Donald J. Trump’s introduction into the 2016 Republican presidential race led to record numbers – of primary voters, of television coverage during debates, of the amount of money in free press he was given. Now, with the major parties set to formally pick their nominees in the next several weeks at their respective conventions, the networks are already salivating over the prospect of presidential debates between Trump and his likely opponent, Hillary Clinton. As per Bloomberg News:
Matthew Shields knows what he’ll be doing after work on the last Monday in September. “It’s going to be hilarious,” the Los Angeles hairstylist says. “I can’t wait.”
That may not be the appraisal a republic would prefer regarding any aspect of a campaign for the highest office in the land, but Shields speaks for many who are already breathless about the presidential debates. They’ll likely pit Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, against Hillary Clinton, who has sewn up the Democratic delegate count. He has called her a “fraud” with “zero natural talent” who should be in prison. She has said he is “temperamentally unfit” with “dangerously incoherent” ideas and “not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes.” That was all in about 24 hours. They haven’t even stepped onto the same stage yet.
“People are expecting a brawl,” says Allen Adamson, a former executive with the branding firm Landor Associates. “Nothing attracts viewers like a brawl.”
Some are even predicting the match-ups could rival viewership for the Super Bowl. No kidding. Read the full report here.
Hold the high court: As an aside, the Washington Examiner had a piece this morning by Paul Beddard speculating that constitutional originalist Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas may be the next retiree from the bench, and that it could happen after the presidential race is decided in November:
Justice Clarence Thomas, a reliable conservative vote on the Supreme Court, is mulling retirement after the presidential election, according to court watchers.
Thomas, appointed by former President George H.W. Bush and approved by the Senate after a bitter confirmation, has been considering retirement for a while and never planned to stay until he died, they said. He likes to spend summers in his RV with his wife.
His retirement would have a substantial impact on control of the court. The next president is expected to immediately replace the seat opened by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, providing a one-vote edge in the court that is currently divided 4-4.
Should Thomas leave, that slight majority would continue if Donald Trump becomes president. If it’s Hillary Clinton, then she would get the chance to flip two Republican seats, giving the liberals a 6-3 majority.
That would be a disaster for freedom-loving constitutionalists throughout the country, from eitherparty. Read how long the shift could last, here. Another reason to vote for Trump, who has released a list of men and women he would likely nominate for the high court, and they are constitutionalists.
Adding to his platform: Trump has always said he is a different kind of Republican and he demonstrated that again this weekend with a series of formal policy proposals, though he has already mentioned most of them in the past: Save Social Security and Medicare, and cut taxes. As Breitbart News columnist Patrick Howley notes, based on polling data, that platform is nearly unbeatable:
Republican candidate Donald Trump focused this weekend on his economic platform: Cut taxes and regulations across the board while also saving Social Security, Medicare, and other government safety-net programs.
Trump’s platform is nearly invincible in the general election if he stresses it enough, polling shows. Trump’s plan will also have a transformational effect on how people view his party. But he still needs to make the accounting work to ensure that his Third Way platform is feasible.
“We’re going to save your Social Security without killing it like so many people want to do. And your Medicare,” Trump said this weekend at a rally in Phoenix, which followed a rally in Las Vegas where he also highlighted Social Security. Trump is only starting to focus on the issue, but he’s been aware of its political potential at least since the Wisconsin primary, when he taunted conservative-movement candidate Ted Cruz and establishment rival John Kasich: “If we don’t make the country rich again, you’re going to have your Social Security cut by Cruz and Katich.”
More analysis, here.
