John DeProspo

Trump’s Exit Strategy Finally Revealed

October 6, 2015 By John DeProspo 13 Comments

The man who hates quitters, may himself be a quitter. Donald Trump told Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s “Meet The Press,” that if his poll numbers started going south, he would leave the GOP race and go back to his business.

“Number one — I’m not a masochist,” said Trump. “And if I was dropping in the polls where I thought I wasn’t gonna win, why would I continue? I’d go back to my business. I have no problem with that.”

Finally, the long awaited Trump exit strategy!

As anyone who has been following the polling will tell you, Trump’s national poll numbers are all headed in one direction: down. This was inevitable; as predictable as your Aunt Ruthie flying south to Florida every winter. The old line of “I’ll tell you what I’ll do once I’m in office … trust me, I’ll make this country great” is wearing thin for a number of Trump supporters. They are starting to see through the con. They are gravitating to candidates with real policy chops.

You can only defy political gravity for so long. Yes, there will always be a group of hardcore Trumpites who will stick with the showman no matter what. But at perhaps 20% of Republican voters, they just aren’t enough to seal the deal for Trump. I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I believe this scenario was always his plan.

Will he run as a third party candidate? Fuggedaboutit! With all his early bluster of not ruling out a third party run, the man was doing what any good businessman would do. The guy who wrote “The Art Of The Deal” was simply using his leverage. He has not intention, nor did he ever, of making good on what was always a bargaining chip.

If Trump’s goal was to market his brand to the largest possible audience, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. If his goal was to bring down the early Republican frontrunner, Jeb Bush, he did so fabulously. If his goal was to entertain people normally not involved with politics and create a ratings bonanza for the media, he is a superstar!

There is no doubt Trump will milk this for all it’s worth. Only Trump will know the right time to retreat. But once the table turns against him, like any smart gambler, he will pick up his chips and cash out big time, all the while thinking, “All went according to Hoyle! Those losers!”

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Photo | nbcnews.com

What The Bajeezus, Trump’s For Real!

October 5, 2015 By John DeProspo 4 Comments

For all those who believe Donald Trump is seeking the Republican presidential nomination as a joke, as I once did, we now have clear evidence to the contrary. For all those skeptical Trump watchers who think the Donald’s quest for the Republican presidential nomination is fake, I suggest you think again. For all those naysayers who believe the man is doing all this to set-up his new reality show or to promote a forthcoming book, I would like for you to consider this … Donald Trump had hands laid on him by a group of crazy Evangelicals.

Donald Trump is a self-described germaphobe. He hates handshakes. He doesn’t like being touched. He has even admitted he doesn’t like to push a ground floor elevator button because it’s been tapped by so many people!

In what can be only be described as his weirdest political stunt so far, the GOP presidential frontrunner met and prayed with about 40 “religious leaders” in his Trump Tower office last week. And he allowed the crazies to press some flesh!

If you haven’t seen the video, you owe it to yourself to watch (YouTube). The highlight comes towards the end of the performance when a Jews For Jesus rabbi (hum, I thought that’s the definition of a Christian?), lays his hand on Trumps forehead. Trump reflexively reaches to repel the fake rabbi’s hand as it is about to touch him, but pulls back at the last second. That had to be so hard.

Only a true candidate would go through such a trying and painful experience. Only someone who is in it to win would put up with what must have seemed like an eternity just to pander to what I’m sure Trump secretly believes are right-wing, religious headcases. As I watch Trump’s unease and pained facial expression, he looks to me like a man who hasn’t had a good bowel movement in quite some time.

I had to laugh at the delicious irony of listening to the “religious leaders” offer up prayers for a man who most likely has never read a biblical passage in his life! As Trump stood there, clutching a Bible, I couldn’t help but think, “This man is as much a man of God as I am the illegitimate son of the Dalai Lama.”

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United States Sen. Marco Rubio, Washington Outsider

October 4, 2015 By John DeProspo 4 Comments

As of today, the Republican Party has a total of 15 candidates seeking the party’s presidential nomination. If you are convinced, as I am, that Donald Trump will not be the party’s nominee, just who will it be?

One establishment candidate has already called it quits (Walker) and another (Bush) seems to be continually sticking his foot in his mouth. The “stuff happens” gaffe made after the Oregon College gun massacre is just the latest in a steady string of faux pas. (see What’s Wrong With Jeb?)

What was touted as an embarrassment of riches only a few months ago is now just an embarrassment. How could so much equal so little? There doesn’t appear to be an “A” student in the class.

The smart money right now seems to be moving behind Marco Rubio. But at a time when Republican voters are flocking towards candidates with zero political experience, how does the Senator from Florida paint himself as a Washington outsider?

“Four years ago, for the United States Senate, the establishment was actively trying to undermine my candidacy,” Rubio recently told an audience in Davenport, Iowa.

“The truth of the matter is, when I decided to run for the presidency, all the same people that told me not to run for the Senate came out of the woodwork again and said, ‘It’s not your turn; you haven’t been around long enough; we’re all going to line up behind somebody else,’” Rubio said. “And that’s fine. That’s OK.”

Will this well-calculated stratagem resonate with Republican voters sick of establishment candidates? Probably not. Even the dimmest voter will understand Rubio is talking about four years ago, before the Cuban American defied the odds and made it to Washington; before the outsider became an insider.

Marco Rubio’s profile as a good-looking 43-year-old with just four years of experience in the Senate is awfully reminiscent of Barack Obama’s in 2008. But as Texas Sen. Lloyd Benson said to the young Dan Quayle during the 1988 vice presidential debate, after he defended his inexperience as similar to that of John F. Kennedy, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”

Senator Rubio, with all due respect, you are no Barack Obama.

Photo | marcorubio.com

Cars Don’t Kill People, People Kill People

October 3, 2015 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

I’m an 18-year-old male in desperate need of some wheels, but I can’t get my license. You see, I keep failing my road test. I think I have a constitutional right to own a car.

People at the DMV tell me I have to pass my driving test to prove I’m a good driver. But I know a lot of people who passed their driving test, and who now own a car, but are bad drivers. I even know some people who drive without a license! My not getting a license is pure and plain discrimination.

As Dwayne La Derriere, president of the KNC (Kids Need Cars) has clearly said, “Cars don’t kill people, people kill people.”

Our government is out of control with all its regulations. In my social studies class last year, I learned that the Fourteenth Amendment says, “No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property … nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Well, my state is depriving me of property … the car I want! Just because I can’t pass my road test, I’m being discriminated against. This is governmental tyranny.

I’m really a good driver. I just don’t do well on tests. Is that a reason to refuse me my license? Deny me my Constitutional right to own and operate a car?

I know I will eventually pass my road test. But I’m going on my fifth try. This is costing me big time.

And talking about cost, when I do get my license and buy a car, I’m told I can’t operate it on the road unless I pay for insurance. WTF! This is government overreach, I tell you.

For all those kids in a similar situation as me, stand up for your rights! Mr. La Derriere needs, and would appreciate, your generous donation to the KNC. Just go to www.governmentregualtionssuck.com.

Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Universal Background Checks And Political Dissonance

October 3, 2015 By John DeProspo 5 Comments

Has there ever been a greater gap between the will of the American people and the actions of their elected officials than on the issue of universal background checks? In a poll released just one week before this week’s gun massacre at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, a Quinnipiac University poll found that 93% of Americans favor universal background checks for gun purchases. And most startling, the high number cuts across the political divide. While more Democrats favor background checks than do Republicans, the difference is a paltry 8% … 98% to 90%.

Here are the Quinnipiac University poll results:

Some conservatives are attacking the poll as “rigged” and are claiming respondents didn’t fully understand the question. As discussed in Breitbart News, “The American voter has to be lucid enough to understand that when people are pushing background checks” these “checks might not really be the end goal. The goal might actually be something larger, something which cannot be accomplished without first getting a foot in the door via background checks.”

Ah, the old “foot in the door” analogy. (Breitbart News)

Perhaps the more startling dissonance is not that of the American people and there elected representatives but that of the American voter and his or her voting pattern. How could so many voters how favor background checks keep voting for politicians who are against such legislation?

My theory is that they are confused by the NRA’s scoring system. Voters who see an “A” next to a politician’s name incorrectly think it’s a good thing. After all, aren’t “A’s” better than “D’s?”

Another Gun Massacre Brings Out More “Thoughts and Prayers”

October 2, 2015 By John DeProspo 6 Comments

Like clockwork, you can be sure whenever a mass shooting occurs in our nation, elected leaders will be quick to offer up their heart-felt thoughts and prayers to the families of victims killed and to the injured.

Yesterday, the usual group of concerned politicians took to the Twittersphere after a gunman shot and killed 10 people and wounded 7 at a college in Oregon. Here are some of their messages:

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and all those affected by this terrible tragedy at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. – Sen. Pat Roberts

My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this tragedy at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College. – Sen. Dean Heller

I join in sending my thoughts and prayers to victims and their families and thanking first responders on the scene. – Rep. Steny Hoyer

But an angry President Obama was having none of this business as usual.

“Our thoughts and prayers are not enough,” declared Obama in comments made from the White House briefing room. The president urged voters to demand changes to our nation’s gun laws by pressing their elected officials for action.

Said the president, “Somehow, this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine … we’ve become numb to this.”

“I hope and pray that I don’t have to come out again during my tenure as president to offer my condolences to families in these circumstances,” Obama said. “But based on my experience as president, I can’t guarantee that — and that’s terrible to say. And it can change.”

With about 15 months remaining until the end of his term, and having now spoken after more than a dozen senseless killings during his administration, the odds of President Obama not having to offer his condolences to any more families of shooting victims are as slim as any sensible gun legislation passing through Congress.

Pope Francis Big Kim Fan

October 1, 2015 By John DeProspo 6 Comments

After his successful first visit to the U. S., highlighted by an unprecedented address to a joint meeting of Congress, it appears the first Latin American pontiff has “some splainin’ to do.” It was recently revealed that Pope Francis secretly met with Evangelical martyr and conservative media star, Kim Davis, while in Washington D.C.

Many liberals and progressives who just a few days ago praised the Holy Father for his openness on issues such as immigration, climate change and income inequality, were taken aback by the Pope’s surprise meeting with Davis. Supporters had lauded Francis for avoiding hot-button issues polarizing American society.

Kim Davis has made a name for herself by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples due to her deeply held religious beliefs. The fact that issuing marriage licenses to all eligible couples is what she was elected to do does not matter to the new religious-intolerance poster girl.

“Why would the Pope take all that goodwill and moral capital he accumulated on his American visit and flush it down the crapper,” asked a confused supporter of the Pope. “There has got to be some explanation, some rationale we don’t know of.”

In an effort to get to the bottom of the story, this reporter interviewed Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office and Vatican spokesman.

“The Pope grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at a time when the main form of entertainment was watching Hollywood movies. He especially loved female film stars. When he was asked if he would meet with Kim Davis, he of course said “yes.” You see, the Pope’s favorite star of all time is Kim Novak. So he got a little confused. He is 78 years old after all … and a little hard of hearing.”

“So does the Pope believe a government official should be paid for refusing to do the job they were elected to do?” I asked Lombardi. “Absolutely not, “ said the spokesman, “ the Pope believes in an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. That is the message he gave to John Boehner during their private talk. And as you saw, Mr. Boehner took it to heart, announcing his resignation from Congress the very next day.”

Like the Pope, Father Lombardi misunderstood my question. But it didn’t pay to tell him I was talking about the Evangelical Kim Davis. The 73 year old Lombardi, I’ve been told, is also a little hard of hearing.

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House Hearing On Planned Parenthood Is Anything But

September 30, 2015 By John DeProspo 4 Comments

In the clearest display of how little the truth matters to rabid House Republicans, Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood president, was raked over the coals yesterday during a marathon Congressional “hearing.” Led by Jason Chaffetz,, chairman of the House’s Committee of Oversight and Government Reform, the farce devolved into an inquisition as Chaffetz continually interrupted and cut off Richards as she tried answering his questions.

On what many observers have labeled one of the more “shameful days” for House Republicans ( and that is saying a lot), the five hour interrogation was filled with more lies than you might find at a Pathological Liars’ convention.

If Congressional hearings are meant to get at the truth of whatever is being investigated, this was not one of them. The topic of defunding the women’s health service provider is turning into this season’s Benghazi.

As the feisty and unshakable Richards observed, “ “I think the whole purpose of this hearing was to convince themselves that it is OK to deny women the ability to go to the health care provider of their choice, because 2.7 million women and men choose Planned Parenthood, and they were trying to say they wanted to take that choice away from them.”

The highlight of the “hearing” came when Rep. Chaffetz surprised Richards with a graph proving how, over the years, Planned Parenthood has provided more abortions than cancer screenings and preventative services.

When Richards said she’d never seen the graph before, Chaffetz replied: “It comes straight from your annual reports.”

After being briefed by her lawyer, Richards shot back, “My lawyers just informed me that the source of this information is Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion group. I would check your source.” A red-faced Chaffetz ended his questioning at that point.

More shameful than the source of the graph, however, is its complete lack of meaning. The graph is the type of representation that would earn a high school student an “F” in any math class. The problem is that it does not contain a “y” axis. This allowed its creators to simply plot the results wherever they chose in order to create a compelling, but false, visual effect.

The irony of all this is that, while this spectacle will play well with their base, the Washington witch hunt will only hurt the GOP in the upcoming election since 69% of Americans believe the federal government shouldn’t be shut down over Planned Parenthood’s funding.

What’s that you say, Bobby, your party needs to stop being the “stupid party?”

Trump And Fox News Make Up … Again

September 29, 2015 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

The on-again, off-again war between Donald Trump and Fox News is off again. Just five days after Trump told Fox he “won’t be doing any more Fox shows for the foreseeable future, ” the billionaire presidential candidate is slated to appear on today’s broadcast of “The O’Reilly Factor.”

It appears Trump sees time in Biblical terms. You know, how the Bible states that with God a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but this ongoing feud seems too convenient for the two combatants. I believe it is a well-orchestrated way to generate interest for both protagonists. Look for this pattern to continue to play out … for the foreseeable future.

Trump has turned his run for the Republican presidential nomination into a new reality show. With Fox as an important cast member, the two will milk this stroke of good fortune for all it’s worth.

Let’s just think of this as the “Trump and Ailes” show. A ratings bonanza! Both sides win in this fake war. Ailes laughs all the way to the bank, and the Donald is showered with media attention.

Photo | deadline.com

Pope To Redskins, “Name Must Go”

September 28, 2015 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

In his speech to a joint meeting of Congress, Pope Francis waded into some turbulent political waters: climate change, immigration, and income inequality. But he avoided perhaps the most controversial issue of the day … the Washington Redskins; more particularly, the football team’s offensive name.

In his private meeting with House Speaker John Boehner, however, the Holy Father asked, “How can a football team have a name that offends so many people, especially native Americans? The name must go.” Boehner replied diplomatically, “I’m not a big football fan so I don’t get involved in issues like that, Your Excellency.”

When word of the Pope’s comment to Boehner was made public, all hell broke loose.

Republican presidential candidates immediately tackled the issue, looking to score points on the pontiff’s gaffe. Jeb Bush offered, “ The Pope needs to stick with what he knows best, religious issues. He’s not qualified to weigh in on American football.” This critique is very similar to Bush’s scolding of the pontiff for delving into the topic of climate change. “He’s not a scientist,” said Bush.

Ted Cruz was quoted as saying, “Are we to get rid of all names that refer to American Indians, such as Braves, Chiefs, Warriors? These names honor the American Indian not insult him.”

Perhaps the sharpest criticism came from the Republican presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump. “With all due respect, the Pope is out of his league here. What does he know about American sports anyway? Sure the name is a slur against Native Americans, but so what? This political correctness has got to stop. People need to grow a pair.”

“What’s next?” asked Trump. “Are we going to have the Kansas City Puppies playing the Dallas Kittens in a non- contact flag football Super Bowl with Kenny G as halftime entertainment? Let’s get real. We’re a society of wimps.”

Pope Francis’ director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, weighed in on the controversy. “The team already calls itself ‘hogs” and fans come dressed up as pigs. Why not call them the Washington Hogs?”

Upon hearing Lombardi’s suggestion, Trump, in true Trumpian form, sarcastically replied, “Well, a lot of fat women might be offended!”

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump’s Exit Strategy Finally Revealed

What The Bajeezus, Trump’s For Real!

United States Sen. Marco Rubio, Washington Outsider

Cars Don’t Kill People, People Kill People

Universal Background Checks And Political Dissonance

Another Gun Massacre Brings Out More “Thoughts and Prayers”

Pope Francis Big Kim Fan

House Hearing On Planned Parenthood Is Anything But

Trump And Fox News Make Up … Again

Pope To Redskins, “Name Must Go”

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