April 8, 2016
As outlined in The Great Bluff, the conversation revolving around the Establishment dropping in a non-candidate into the convention mix is a bluff. It may not be, but it may be. So I want to keep track of all that’s going on out there to perpetuate this bluff. On one side, you’re going to have the fear-mongering and finger-pointing saying “The Establishment is going to put Ryan in!”; knowing full well that it’s mechanically impossible. On the other side, you’re going to have the Establishment confirming and perpetuating these fears saying, “Yeah, that’s exactly what we’re gonna do!”; all while knowing full well that it’s mechanically impossible. They’ve been successful so far in amplifying this rhetoric in order to make getting Kasich on the ballot look like a compromise.
News has circulated around Paul Ryan’s new video, Politics These Days. Drudge Report offers up their analysis: PAUL RYAN LAUNCHES FIRST CAMPAIGN AD? Of course, Drudge is obviously a Trump surrogate. Drudge’s part of the bluff is to continue the narrative that the Establishment is trying to sneakily drop in Ryan as a candidate at the convention. This is despite the fact, that no one on earth has yet to explain how they’re going to do that. Paul Ryan’s part in this is unclear. Is he complicit in making videos that can be interpreted in this fashion? I think it’s a bit of a stretch. If anything, the video seems to be more anti-Trump and truly a stump for Cruz. If he’s complicit, he makes the video to feed speculations, and then acts like he did when they accused him of wanting the Speaker position: Just keep saying no. And everyone goes nuts: “See, it’s the same. He must want to be President!” And Ryan just keeps it going. And the supposed “anti-Establishment” keeps accusing. The Breitbart echo’s the call with more propaganda: CAMPAIGN AD? Funny, you never really see Cruz people perpetuating this. It’s usually Trump people. So that’s one side: The side that accuses and fear-mongers and finger-points. Look at this headline today (4/8/16) on Breitbart: Wash Post’s Robert Costa: ‘Party Elite’ Could Turn to Paul Ryan ‘in a Chaos Situation in Cleveland’.
On the other side, you got articles like this: Rasmussen Poll: Ryan Would Lose to Clinton/Sanders. Now what does this truly accomplish? This is put out there to feed the anger about Ryan taking the nomination. Yes, if somehow somebody figured out a way to get Ryan on the ballot, everybody would be hopping mad. Even just suggesting it gets the same effect. It gets Trump people mad. It gets Cruz people mad. So this article feeds that anger. It confirms the accusations, the fear-mongering, and finger-pointing. “You see what happens if the Establishment succeeds? We got to stop them!” This article is designed to get people talking and keep talking about something that will never happen. Here’s another one: Rick Santorum: GOP Race Still Wide Open. The writer states, “Santorum pointed out the possibility that delegates at the convention could choose a nominee that is not in the race.” Didn’t Rick endorse Rubio? Rubio hasn’t endorsed anybody and has not released his delegates. Why? Trump NEEDS Kasich and Rubio delegates. A deal on the convention floor could hand those to him.
How about Rush? He’s probably on neither side, but he eats this up and keeps repeating it. Look what he’s still saying right now (4/9/2016):
…If any of you are wondering what the establishment is gonna do and what they’re doing in preparation for a contested convention, and if they are, whom are they thinking of putting up, who would they like to be the nominee, there’s a way to find out what they’re doing. All you have to do is read The Politico. That’s where the Republican Party goes to leak things.
The second thing to do is to keep a sharp eye on — I’ll give you just a list of names as an example. Ryan, Walker, Romney, Jeb. If you start seeing in the media news stories that are essentially puff piece profiles, if you start seeing news stories about what has Jeb been doing since he got out, and how is Jeb reacting to it, and what’s Jeb planning for his future. Or about Scott Walker, or about Ryan, if you see news stories where there is an attempt to build the case for somebody and you wonder, “What’s this about?” They’re floating possibilities.
This is where you read between the lines and you figure out what they’re trying to pull off. And that’s how you can identify if there is somebody that they have singled out that they do want to nominate in a contested convention, just watch and see which Republican establishment types are getting a lot of it news coverage, the kind of coverage that would serve the purpose of establishing a reputation, establishing qualifications, establishing a sense of purpose. Yes, they might not have made it throughout the primaries, but has learned a lot and has stayed involved, is closely watching events and wants to do anything possible to help the party.
If you start seeing stories like that about anybody, that will be a good indication what the power brokers are thinking. I think we’ve seen that with Ryan. We’ve seen a lot of stories about Ryan…
So you have this false narrative being trumpeted by both sides. Trumpsters are accusing the Establishment on one side, and you got little hints coming from the Establishment that the accusations are true. Ping Pong Bluff Tactic. Good cop. Bad Cop. It’s all false. It will never happen. Especially, because Cruz is very close to locking down the eight state delegate majority. If you look at delegate count right now (as of April 7-8,9), you’ll see that Cruz has locked down a majority of delegates in seven states. The eighth one is Colorado and he’s getting very close to the majority this very moment: “Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz picks up another three delegates in Colorado’s district 7 on Thursday, with another four districts voting and state level Republican party voting this weekend.” Once he locks down the eight state majority threshold, then he doesn’t NEED a rule change to get on the ballot, like Kasich does. His delegates can lobby and vote to keep the rules as is, go into the contested convention and win this thing. (That’s if Trump, Kasich, and Rubio delegates don’t unite to change the rule. Why not? We’ll get you on that ballot and in the VP spot if you push your delegates our way)
The reality is that the front runners have the real power to change the rules or keep the rules the same. You’ve got Reince telling people over and over what the rules are: He’s states, “It’s not like the Rules Committee is going to come together and say, now it’s no states. They take all of the recommendations to the convention and the majority of delegates accept it.” As I’ve stated before, all these delegates are anti-Establishment delegates. There is no way they’re going to vote themselves off the ballot or some no-name on the ballot. So all the chaos and fear-mongering is a smoke-screen. It’s cover for the fact that all they really want is Kasich on the ballot; not to win mind you, but for Trump to win. Their strategy is to take out Cruz in the convention and Trump in the general.
UPDATE: (1:06 PM 4/8/16) Look at this junk: Conservatives Eye Gen. James Mattis as Presidential Alternative The writer states: “This summer’s Republican National Convention will have to be contested in order for Mattis to land on the presidential ballot.” Yet if you actually read what the Daily Beast article he’s referring to, it has absolutely nothing to do with the RNC. They’re talking about Mattis going 3rd Party.
Fascinating