AN OPEN LETTER TO TRUMP SUPPORTERS

To my friends supporting Donald Trump:

The Trump coalition is broad and complicated, but I believe many Trump fans are well-meaning. I have spoken at length with many of you, both inside and outside Nebraska. You are rightly worried about our national direction. You ache about a crony-capitalist leadership class that is not urgent about tackling our crises. You are right to be angry.

I’m as frustrated and saddened as you are about what’s happening to our country. But I cannot support Donald Trump.

Please understand: I’m not an establishment Republican, and I will never support Hillary Clinton. I’m a movement conservative who was elected over the objections of the GOP establishment. My current answer for who I would support in a hypothetical matchup between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton is: Neither of them. I sincerely hope we select one of the other GOP candidates, but if Donald Trump ends up as the GOP nominee, conservatives will need to find a third option.

Mr. Trump’s relentless focus is on dividing Americans, and on tearing down rather than building back up this glorious nation. Much like President Obama, he displays essentially no understanding of the fact that, in the American system, we have a constitutional system of checks and balances, with three separate but co-equal branches of government. And the task of public officials is to be public “servants.” The law is king, and the people are boss. But have you noticed how Mr. Trump uses the word “Reign” – like he thinks he’s running for King? It’s creepy, actually. Nebraskans are not looking for a king. We yearn instead for the recovery of a Constitutional Republic.

At this point in Nebraska discussions, many of you have immediately gotten practical: “Okay, fine, you think there are better choices than Trump. But you would certainly still vote for Trump over Clinton in a general election, right?”

Before I explain why my answer is “Neither of them,” let me correct some nonsense you might have heard on the internet of late.

WHY I RAN FOR SENATE

***No, I’m not a career politician. (I had never run for anything until being elected to the U.S. Senate fifteen months ago, and I ran precisely because I actually want to make America great again.)
***No, I’m not a lawyer who has never created a job. (I was a business guy before becoming a college president in my hometown.)
***No, I’m not part of the Establishment. (Sheesh, I had attack ads by the lobbyist class run against me while I was on a bus tour doing 16 months of townhalls across Nebraska. Why? Precisely because I was not the preferred candidate of Washington.)
***No, I’m not concerned about political job security. (The very first thing I did upon being sworn in in January 2015 was to introduce a constitutional amendment for term limits – this didn’t exactly endear me to my new colleagues.)
***No, I’m not for open borders. (The very first official trip I took in the Senate was to observe and condemn how laughably porous the Texas/Mexican border is. See 70 tweets from @bensasse in February 2015.)
***No, I’m not a “squishy,” feel-good, grow-government moderate. (I have the 4th most-conservative voting record in the Senate: https://www.conservativereview.com/members/benjamin-sasse/http://www.heritageactionscorecard.com/membe…/member/S001197 )

In my very first speech to the Senate, I told my colleagues that “The people despise us all.” This institution needs to get to work, not on the lobbyists’ priorities, but on the people’s:

Now, to the question at hand: Will I pledge to vote for just any “Republican” nominee over Hillary Clinton?

Let’s begin by rejecting naïve purists: Politics has no angels. Politics is not about creating heaven on earth. Politics is simply about preserving a framework for ordered liberty – so that free people can find meaning and happiness not in politics but in their families, their neighborhoods, their work.

POLITICAL PARTIES

Now, let’s talk about political parties: parties are just tools to enact the things that we believe. Political parties are not families; they are not religions; they are not nations – they are often not even on the level of sports loyalties. They are just tools. I was not born Republican. I chose this party, for as long as it is useful.

If our Party is no longer working for the things we believe in – like defending the sanctity of life, stopping ObamaCare, protecting the Second Amendment, etc. – then people of good conscience should stop supporting that party until it is reformed.

VOTING

Now, let’s talk about voting: Voting is usually just about choosing the lesser evil of the most viable candidates.

“Usually…” But not always. Certain moments are larger. They cause us to explicitly ask: Who are we as a people? What does the way we vote here say about our shared identity? What is actually the president’s job?

THE PRESIDENT’S CORE CALLING

The president’s job is not about just mindlessly shouting the word “strong” – as if Vladimir Putin, who has been strongly bombing civilian populations in Syria the last month, is somehow a model for the American presidency. No, the president’s core calling is to “Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution.”

Before we ever get into any technical policy fights – about pipelines, or marginal tax rates, or term limits, or Medicare reimbursement codes – America is first and fundamentally about a shared Constitutional creed. America is exceptional, because she is at her heart a big, bold truth claim about human dignity, natural rights, and self-control – and therefore necessarily about limited rather than limitless government.

THE MEANING OF AMERICA

America is the most exceptional nation in the history of the world because our Constitution is the best political document that’s ever been written. It said something different than almost any other government had said before: Most governments before said that might makes right, that government decides what our rights are and that the people are just dependent subjects. Our Founders said that God gives us rights by nature, and that government is not the author or source of our rights. Government is just our shared project to secure those rights.

Government exists only because the world is fallen, and some people want to take your property, your liberty, and your life. Government is tasked with securing a framework for ordered liberty where “we the people” can in our communities voluntarily build something great together for our kids and grandkids. That’s America. Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of speech – the First Amendment is the heartbeat of the American Constitution, of the American idea itself.

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO MR. TRUMP?

So let me ask you: Do you believe the beating heart of Mr. Trump’s candidacy has been a defense of the Constitution? Do you believe it’s been an impassioned defense of the First Amendment – or an attack on it?

Which of the following quotes give you great comfort that he’s in love with the First Amendment, that he is committed to defending the Constitution, that he believes in executive restraint, that he understands servant leadership?

Statements from Trump:
***“We’re going to open up libel laws and we’re going to have people sue you like you’ve never got sued before.”
***“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. They were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak…”
***Putin, who has killed journalists and is pillaging Ukraine, is a great leader.
***The editor of National Review “should not be allowed on TV and the FCC should fine him.”
***On whether he will use executive orders to end-run Congress, as President Obama has illegally done: “I won’t refuse it. I’m going to do a lot of things.” “I mean, he’s led the way, to be honest with you.”
***“Sixty-eight percent would not leave under any circumstance. I think that means murder. It think it means anything.”
***On the internet: “I would certainly be open to closing areas” of it.
***His lawyers to people selling anti-Trump t-shirts: “Mr. Trump considers this to be a very serious matter and has authorized our legal team to take all necessary and appropriate actions to bring an immediate halt…”
***Similar threatening legal letters to competing campaigns running ads about his record.

And on it goes…

IF MR. TRUMP BECOMES THE NOMINEE…

Given what we know about him today, here’s where I’m at: If Donald Trump becomes the Republican nominee, my expectation is that I will look for some third candidate – a conservative option, a Constitutionalist.

I do not claim to speak for a movement, but I suspect I am far from alone. After listening to Nebraskans in recent weeks, and talking to a great many people who take oaths seriously, I think many are in the same place. I believe a sizable share of Christians – who regard threats against religious liberty as arguably the greatest crisis of our time – are unwilling to support any candidate who does not make a full-throated defense of the First Amendment a first commitment of their candidacy.

Conservatives understand that all men are created equal and made in the image of God, but also that government must be limited so that fallen men do not wield too much power. A presidential candidate who boasts about what he’ll do during his “reign” and refuses to condemn the KKK cannot lead a conservative movement in America.

TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT

Thank you for listening. While I recognize that we disagree about how to make America great again, we agree that this should be our goal. We need more people engaged in the civic life of our country—not fewer. I genuinely appreciate how much many of you care about this country, and that you are demanding something different from Washington. I’m going to keep doing the same thing.

But I can’t support Donald Trump.

Humbly,

Ben Sasse
Nebraska

Read more: http://therightscoop.com/ben-sasse-pens-open-letter-on-what-constitutionalists-should-do-if-trump-is-nominated/#ixzz41aIJHNwZ

Chris Christie’s endorsement of Donald Trump should not come as a surprise to anyone given Christie’s long history of pandering, opportunism, hypocrisy, and backstabbing.

Does anyone remember Christie’s love fest with President Obama in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012? And how badly it hurt his own party’s candidate for president that year? Political analysts regarded the event as one of the turning points of the election. One month later, Obama carried New Jersey handily. It was one of the few states that voted against Obama in 2008 to turn blue in 2012.

Just six months ago, Christie gave his thoughts on Donald trump to Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. “I just don’t think he’s suited to be President of the United States,” Christie opined. “I don’t think that his temperament is suited for that and I don’t think his experience is.”

Later, Christie added that “I’m not going to answer every crazy thing that Donald says.”

Now Christie has endorsed Trump three months prior to the New Jersey primary on June 7–and he did it in Texas. The endorsement conveniently stole news coverage away from Trump’s poor performance in the pre-Super Tuesday Republican debate. No one can argue that Trump is a media-meister, if nothing else.

The timing is more than curious. Does anyone doubt that Trump was holding the Christie card up his sleeve for just such an occasion? And does anyone doubt that Christie will be amply rewarded–assuming Trump wins?

This weekend Senator Chuck Schumer  stated on ABC’s “This Week” that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was being “obstructionist” when he vowed to block any Supreme Court nominee by President Obama to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Further, Schumer stated that “When you go right off the bat and and say ‘I don’t care who he nominates, I am going to oppose him,’ that is not going to fly.”

Look no further than the like below to see Schumer’s stance on a potential Supreme Court nomination  by President Bush in 2007, 19 months before his term expired.

Apparently, the Constitution has changed since then.

By Jon Campbell, Gannett Albany Bureau

ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo will help out with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign next week — and he won’t even have to leave his home state.

Cuomo, who was housing secretary under President Bill Clinton, will raise money for Clinton’s campaign on Feb. 16, when he will appear with the former secretary of state at a $2,700-a-head fundraiser.

The Democratic governor is a Clinton supporter, but has long shown a resistance to leaving the state. For the fundraiser, he won’t have to: It’s slated for New York City, though the exact location hasn’t been disclosed.
“I’m doing a fundraising event for her coming up,” Cuomo told reporters Monday. “I’ll do whatever I can to help her.”

A recent poll shows Clinton with a big lead in New York, the state she represented in the Senate from 2001 through 2008.

Clinton had support from 55 percent of Democrats polled, according to the Siena College poll released Monday. Her opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, picked up support from 34 percent.

Cuomo on Monday dismissed the idea that Clinton’s campaign is having problems shaking off Sanders campaign. Clinton and Sanders split the delegates in the Iowa caucuses, and Sanders has a large lead in the polls heading into today’s New Hampshire primary.

The governor, who has been critical of Sanders’ record on gun control, said both the right and left sides of the political spectrum are making their voices heard.

“I think there’s an economic anxiety,” Cuomo said. “The quote-unquote angry electorate is demanding change on both the right and the left.”

The Clinton Foundation is  “organized crime” at it’s finest, and we are financing it. Here is a  good, concise summary of how the Clinton Foundation works as a tax  free international money laundering scheme. It may eventually prove to  be the largest political criminal enterprise in U.S.  history.

This is a textbook case on how you hide foreign money  sent to you and repackage it to be used for your own purposes. All tax  free. Here’s how it works:

1. You create a separate foreign  “charity.” In this case one in Canada.
2. Foreign oligarchs and  governments, then donate to this Canadian charity. In this case, over  1,000 did – contributing mega millions. I’m sure they did this out of  the goodness of their hearts, and expectednothing in return. (Imagine  Putin’s buddies waking up one morning and just deciding to send untold  millions to a Canadian charity).
3. The Canadian charity then  bundles these separate donations and makes a massive donation to the  Clinton Foundation.
   4. The Clinton Foundation and  the cooperating Canadian charity claim Canadian law prohibits the  identification of individual donors.
4. The Clinton Foundation  then “spends” some of this money for legitimate good works programs.  Unfortunately, experts believe this is on the order of 10%. Much of  the balance goes to enrich the Clinton’s, pay salaries to untold  numbers of hangers on, and fund lavish travel, etc. Again, virtually  all tax free, which means you and I aresubsidizing it.
5. The  Clinton Foundation, with access to the world’s best accountants,  somehow fails to report much of this on their tax filings. They  discover these “clerical errors” and begin the process of re-filing 5  years of tax  returns.
6. Net result — foreign money, much of it from other  countries, goes into the Clinton’s pockets tax free and untraceable  back to the original donor. This is the textbook definition of money  laundering.

Oh, by the way, the Canadian “charity” includes as  a principal one Frank Giustra. Google him. He is the guy who was  central to the formation of Uranium One, the Canadian company that  somehow acquired  massive U.S.  uranium interests and then sold them to an organization controlled by  Russia. This transaction required U.S. State Department approval, and guess who was  Secretary of State when the approval was granted? As an aside, imagine how former  Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell feels. That poor schlep is in jail  because he and his wife took $165,000 in gifts and loans for doing  minor favors for a guy promoting a vitamin company. Not legal but not  exactly putting U.S. security risk. Sarcasm aside, if you’re still not  persuaded this was a cleverly structured way to get unidentified  foreign money to the Clinton’s, ask yourself this:

Why did  these foreign interests funnel money through a Canadian charity? Why  not donate directly to the Clinton Foundation?  Better yet, why not donate money  directly to the people, organizations and countries in  need?

This is the essence of money laundering and influence  peddling.  Now you know why  Hillary’s destruction of 30,000 e-mails was a risk she was willing to  take.

Bill and Hillary are devious, unprincipled, dishonest and  criminal, and they are Slick! Warning: They could be back in the White  House in January 2017. Don’t let it happen. Remember, most people are  not well informed. You must inform and educate them.