Donald Trump releases, "Healthcare Reform to Make America Great Again"

3/2/16, "Healthcare Reform to Make America Great Again," Donald J. Trump

Six Trump Policy Positions:

• Healthcare Reform
• U.S.-China Trade Reform
• Veterans Administration Reforms
• Tax Reform
• Second Amendment Rights
• Immigration Reform

............

Goldman Sachs method is to 'hug governments close' so public interest and Goldman Sachs interest appear the same. In run up to 2008 financial crisis, big banks including Goldman effectively merged with US government-UK Independent, Nov. 2011

Nov. 2011 article

11/18/2011, "What price the new democracy? Goldman Sachs conquers Europe," UK Independent, Stephen Foley

"Simon Johnson, the former International Monetary Fund economist, in his book 13 Bankers, argued that Goldman Sachs and the other large banks had become so close to government in the run-up to the financial crisis that the US was effectively an oligarchy....

This is The Goldman Sachs Project. Put simply, it is to hug governments close. Every business wants to advance its interests with the regulators that can stymie them and the politicians who can give them a tax break, but this is no mere lobbying effort. Goldman is there to provide advice for governments and to provide financing, to send its people into public service and to dangle lucrative jobs in front of people coming out of government. The Project is to create such a deep exchange of people and ideas and money that it is impossible to tell the difference between the public interest and the Goldman Sachs interest."...

"Stephen Foley is a former Associate Business Editor of The Independent, based in New York. He left in August 2012. In a decade at the paper, he covered personal finance, the UK stock market and the pharmaceuticals industry, and had also been the Business section's share tipster. Between arriving with three suitcases in Manhattan in January 2006 and his departure, he witnessed and reported on a great economic boom turning spectacularly to bust. In March 2009, he was named Business and Finance Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards."

===================

1/22/2011, "13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown," by Simon Johnson and James Kwak 

"In spite of its key role in creating the ruinous financial crisis of 2008, the American banking industry has grown bigger, more profitable, and more resistant to regulation than ever. Anchored by six megabanks whose assets amount to more than 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, this oligarchy proved it could first hold the global economy hostage and then use its political muscle to fight off meaningful reform. 13 Bankers brilliantly charts the rise to power of the financial sector and forcefully argues that we must break up the big banks if we want to avoid future financial catastrophes." from Amazon.com

Authors: Simon Johnson, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Kwak, a former consultant for McKinsey

.............................

July 2009 Rolling Stone article: Americans allow Goldman Sachs to rob them in broad daylight:

7/02/2009, "The Great American Bubble Machine: How Goldman Sachs has Engineered Every Major Market Manipulation Since the Great Depression," Rolling Stone, by Matt Taibbi

scroll to, "Bubble #6: Global Warming"...
 
"A groundbreaking new commodities bubble,

• disguised as an "environmental plan" called cap-and-trade.

The new carbon-credit market is a virtual repeat of the commodities-market casino that's been kind to Goldman,

• except it has one delicious new wrinkle:

If the plan goes forward as expected, the rise in prices will be government-mandated. Goldman won't even have to rig the game.

It will be rigged in advance....

It's not always easy to accept he reality of what we now routinely allow these people to get away with; there's a kind of collective denial that kicks in when a country goes through what America has gone through lately, when a people lose as much prestige and status as we have in the past few years. You can't really register the fact that you're no longer a citizen of a thriving first-world democracy, that you're no longer above getting robbed in broad daylight, because like an amputee, you can still sort of feel things that are no longer there.

But this is it. This is the world we live in now. And in this world, some of us have to play by the rules, while others get a note from the principal excusing them from homework till the end of time, plus 10 billion free dollars in a paper bag to buy lunch. It's a gangster state, running on gangster economics, and even prices can't be trusted anymore; there are hidden taxes in every buck you pay. And maybe we can't stop it, but we should at least know where it's all going."






..................

Romney had no desire to be president or to campaign for the office. He would've been ecstatic to step aside, per son, Tagg Romney, Dec, 2012, Boston Globe, Atlantic

Dec. 2012 articles:

“He wanted to be president less than anyone I'd met in my life. He had no desire to...run,” said Tagg, who worked with his mother, Ann, to persuade his father to seek the presidency. “If he could have found someone else to take his place. . .he would have been ecstatic to step aside." 

"So, yeah, that might explain why Mitt lost. Not wanting the job you need to publicly campaign for more than a year to get"... more than a year to get"..................... 
 
12/23/2012, "Mitt's Son Says He Never Wanted to be President Anyway," Atlantic Wire, Connor Simpson
...........  
"If you thought the tale of how Mitt Romney lost the general election was already told, you would be wrong. Because there is so much left to tell, like how Mitt never wanted to be President anyway.   ..............

At least, that's what Tagg Romney says in this new Boston Globe report on what went wrong with Romney's campaign. While the rest of the piece seems to say the problems lay in the Romney campaign's lack of technical advantage, and refusal to introduce the world to Mitt Romney, the human being, this little morsel from the Republican's son points to a larger problem:
 
“He wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life. He had no desire to...run,” said Tagg, who worked with his mother, Ann, to persuade his father to seek the presidency. “If he could have found someone else to take his place...he would have been ecstatic to step aside."

So, yeah, that might explain why Mitt lost. Not wanting the job you need to publicly campaign for more than a year to get is step one in the "Not Getting Elected Guide for Dummies" book. Again, the rest of the mammoth piece, which you really should read, paints a larger picture of the struggle between Mitt's inner circle and his campaign advisors over whether they should humanize Mitt, which was ultimately their downfall."... 

Dec. 2012 Boston Globe article:

12/23/2012, "The story behind Mitt Romney’s loss in the presidential campaign to President Obama," Boston Globe, Michael Kranish

.............................

Comment: Romney is very lucky he's not in jail having run a fraud. He's still around because the media likes "Republicans" who've lost or who have no chance of winning in the future.



.................

Romney: No connection between Islam and violent Jihad-June 3, 2009, US News

June 3, 2009, "Mitt Romney: Jihadism Is Not Part of Islam," US News, Dan Gilgoff

"Romney says recent remarks about the jihadist threat have nothing to do with Islam."

............

"With Obama's big speech to the Muslim world in the offing, I asked Mitt Romney in an interview yesterday about a major speech on national security that he gave on Monday at the Heritage Foundation (see above video). In it, Romney referred to Islam only insofar as he referred to "jihadism," a term he used four times in the address, and to "mullahs" and "ayatollahs." 

...........

I asked Romney how he'd respond to Muslim complaints that his speech characterized Islam in entirely sinister terms. His response surprised me:

"I didn't refer to Islam at all, or to any other religion for that matter. I spoke about three major threats America faces on a long term basis. Jihadism is one of them, and that is not Islam. If you want my views on Islam, it's quite straightforward. Islam is one of the world's great religions and the great majority of people in Islam want peace for themselves and peace with their maker. They want to raise families and have a bright future.

There is, however, a movement in the world known as jihadism. They call themselves jihadists and I use the same term. And this jihadist movement is intent on causing the collapse of moderate Muslim states and the assassination of moderate Muslim leaders. It is also intent on causing collapse of other nations in the world. It's by no means a branch of Islam. It is instead an entirely different entity. In no way do I suggest it is a part of Islam."

Romney sees no connection whatsoever between Islam and the jihadists? Experts often say that Islamic terrorists are promoting a distorted version of Islam, but they seldom claim that there's no connection between the religious tradition and the jihadists who claim to act in that tradition's name. 

The Heritage Foundation itself has issued papers and sponsored events on "radical Islam," "revolutionary Islam," and "militant Islam." Would Romney argue that none of these phenomena are related to Islam but rather constitute an entirely distinct phenomenon called jihadism?"






...............................

Romney lost must-win Ohio in 2012. By wide margin, Ohio voters thought Obama would be better for the middle class and overall economy than Romney, thus undercutting entire premise of Romney candidacy which included scripted speeches with no message-CNN, 9/26/2012

Sept. 26, 2012 article: 

9/26/2012, "Why Romney is losing must-win Ohio," CNN, Peter Hamby 

"Polls show Mitt Romney trailing President Barack Obama in just about every one of the swing states where the 2012 campaign is being waged. 

But Romney appears to be in deeper trouble in Ohio than elsewhere, an alarming development for Republicans who know that the candidate's White House chances begin and end with the kind of middle-class voters who reside in places such as Akron, Cincinnati and Zanesville.

So why exactly is Romney trailing?

Two surveys released in recent days, one from the Ohio Newspaper Association and another from The Washington Post, crystallized the challenge facing Romney as he embarks on his second straight day of campaigning in the Buckeye State.

The topline numbers-Obama led by 5 points among likely voters in the Ohio poll, and a startling 8 points in the Post poll -- only tell part of the story.

Romney's favorable rating is underwater. Almost two-thirds of voters approve of Obama's decision to bail out the auto industry, a staple of Ohio's manufacturing economy. The president leads Romney by a wide margin on the question of who would do more to help the middle class.

And when voters are asked which candidate would do a better job handling the economy, Obama has a sturdy lead, undercutting the thematic premise of Romney's candidacy.

Interviews with some two dozen Republican strategists and elected officials across Ohio revealed an array of explanations--and no easy answers--for Romney's failure to catch on there.

Some pointed to the Obama campaign's aggressive effort to hang Romney's opposition to the federal bailout of Chrysler and General Motors around his neck. Others said a hangover remains from the divisive 2011 battle over collective bargaining rights that hurt the GOP's standing with working class voters.

A handful of GOP strategists blamed Romney's standing on campaign staffers who aren't Ohio natives.

One longtime Republican strategist griped about the "arrogant top-down" approach of the Romney team and said they have done a poor job listening to the advice of savvy Ohio strategists -- a charge rebuffed by Romney aides who point out that field staffers from the Ohio offices of Sen. Rob Portman and House Speaker John Boehner have come on board.

Still others cited Romney's lackluster political skills and said his stiff CEO demeanor as a turnoff for Ohioans, with one Republican officeholder saying that former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour wasn't far off when he said recently that Romney is being caricatured as "a plutocrat married to a known equestrian."

The main criticism that emerged, though, is that Romney is man without a message.

"We are still at a point where I think it's still a winnable race for Romney," said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. "Generally when you talk people, there is a feeling that Obama hasn't done that great a job. But Romney hasn't made the sale. He still can. But he hasn't made the sale yet."

Another statewide Republican officeholder who-like others interviewed for this article-did not want to be identified criticizing the Republican ticket, offered a blunter assessment....

"Why is Mitt Romney running for president and what will his presidency be about?" the official asked. "I don't think most Republicans in Ohio can answer that question. He has not made a compelling case for his candidacy. Don't make your campaign about marginal tax rates. Make it about your children and your grandchildren and the future of this country."

Romney is adjusting. The campaign, prevented from spending general election funds until after the Republican National Convention concluded in late August, launched its first statewide television buy of the campaign last week.

The former Massachusetts governor has also intensified his rhetoric on trade, long a potent issue in Ohio, accusing the president of failing to stand up to China and costing Americans jobs.

But Romney's argument du jour -- he has spent a week attacking the president's handling of foreign policy and the recent turmoil in the Middle East -- isn't likely to resonate in Ohio as much as a concise and aggressive jobs-themed message, Republicans said.

Several Ohio GOP operatives even credited the Obama campaign for presenting a more consistent economic argument.

Obama forces have persistently reminded voters about the auto bailout -- on television and in small-scale earned media events around the state -- and Republicans faulted Romney for failing to develop a succinct response to the criticism in a state where one out of every eight jobs is tied to the auto sector.

Romney wrote a New York Times op-ed in 2008 titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" and argued for a managed bankruptcy for the industry, without the use of government funds. In May, he took credit for proposing the bankruptcy idea. In August, he tapped a running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, who voted in favor of bailout.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has aired multiple TV ads on the issue and synced their pro-bailout message with down-ballot Democratic candidates such as Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Labor organizations are leaving thousands of bailout-themed doorknob hangers and making phone calls to union members highlighting Obama's support for the auto industry.

According to The Washington Post poll, 64% of Ohio registered voters view the federal loans to GM and Chrysler as "mostly good" for the state's economy. Only 29% said the bailout was "mostly bad." Putting a finer point on the matter, one longtime Ohio GOP strategist called Obama's advantage on the auto bailout "a kick in the balls" for the Romney campaign....

"Nobody will win Ohio by 5," said Mark Weaver, a Republican consultant with more than two decades of campaign experience in the state. "Anybody who tells you that doesn't know Ohio."...

Weaver complimented the Romney campaign effort and predicted a 2-point victory for Republicans in November but advised the GOP nominee to spend more time in the state and rely less on scripted remarks before large crowds.

"I think they need to get Romney here in Ohio more, and talking off the cuff more," he said. "I think he is a sincere guy, and I think the more he talks off the cuff, the more people will like him."

Another Ohio Republican strategist said Romney should begin dispatching his wife, Ann, to the suburbs of Cleveland and Columbus, where there is "room for improvement" -- a nice way of saying that Obama has a double-digit lead among women voters in Ohio, according to the Post poll."...
..............
........

Above, Nov. 2012 final Ohio results Romney v Obama, Real Clear Politics chart

....................... 
...........

Links within above 2012 article:

Obama above 50% in some battleground polls

Poll: Brown ahead of GOP challenger in Ohio Senate race

=================

Ed. note: Please excuse wide spaces between paragraphs. Google dislikes free speech. They're on tilt nowadays.

 

..........................

2016 Ohio GOP primary early voting began Wed., Feb 17. Final voting day March 15. Only 10% of Cuyahoga County's 840,662 registered voters are Republican, 70% are independent. In 2012, 40% of Ohio GOP primary total was early voting-News Net 5

Feb. 25, 2016 article:

2/15/16, "Early voting set to begin in Ohio's 2016 primary," newsnet5.com, John Kosich, Cleveland 

"Ohio's March 15 primary may still be a month off but the first votes in that election will actually be cast on Wednesday (Feb. 17). That's when in-person early voting begins at boards of election around the state.

In 2012, roughly 40 percent of voters in that presidential primary voted early.

Many Cuyahoga County voters face a decision beyond who to vote for though--they have to decide if they want to give up their non-partisan voting status to vote as either a Republican or Democrat.

While New Hampshire last week and South Carolina this week are open primary states, meaning independent voters can vote in either primary, in Ohio voters must declare.

So in Cuyahoga County for example registration numbers show roughly 70 percent of the county's 840,662 voters are non-partisan and only 

20 percent are Democrats and 

10 percent Republicans.

In 2008 many of those independent voters declared as Democrats, heading into the election there were 250,159 registered Democrats but there ended up being 361,179 votes cast, a 44 percent jump.

Tuesday (2/16) is the last day to register to vote in the Ohio primary."




............



.........................

Donald Trump appears to have transcended regional and ideological divisions of recent Republican years-NY Times, front page, 3/2/16

3/1/16, "Donald Trump Overwhelms G.O.P. Rivals From Alabama to Massachusetts," NY Times, Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin, "A version of this article appears in print on March 2, 2016, on page A1 of the New York edition"

"Donald J. Trump won sweeping victories across the South and in New England on Tuesday, a show of strength in the Republican primary campaign that underscored the breadth of his appeal and helped him begin to amass a wide delegate advantage despite growing resistance to his candidacy among party leaders.

Mr. Trump’s political coalition-with his lopsided victories in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts and Tennessee, and narrower ones in Arkansas, Vermont and Virginia-appears to have transcended the regional and ideological divisions that have shaped the Republican Party in recent years."...
..........................

Linked in above NY Times article: "Surprising depth and diversity of support that could sustain him as a front-runner in the critical weeks to come."...

3/1/16, "Donald Trump’s Backers Express Deep and Diverse Support," NY Times, Ashley Parker, Maggie Haberman, "A version of this article appears in print on March 2, 2016, on page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Backers Voice Deep and Diverse Support." 

"Mr. Trump’s string of victories Tuesday, the biggest day of primary voting, was not unexpected. But interviews with Trump voters from the middle-class suburbs of Minneapolis to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains revealed a surprising depth and diversity of support that could sustain him as a front-runner in the critical weeks to come.

They delivered him victories in conservative Southern strongholds like Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, as well as Northern states like Massachusetts, where centrist Republicans hold sway. And though he lost to Senator Ted Cruz in Mr. Cruz’s home state, Texas, Mr. Trump prevailed in Virginia, fending off Senator Marco Rubio of Florida....
..............  
In interviews, Mr. Trump’s supporters did not appear defined by a common ideology. But they had a unifying motivation — a deep-rooted, pervasive sense of anxiety about the state of the country, and an anger and frustration at those they felt were encroaching on their way of life....
.............

“He’s saying how the people really feel,” said Janet Aguilar, 59, clad in a Red Sox jacket, who voted for Mr. Trump in Everett, Mass. “We’re all afraid to say it.”"...

 

Above, from NY Times front page banner, Wed., 3/2/16

================

Added: Trump support to date easily beats Romney's at comparable period in 2012: "Comparing Trump's results directly to Romney's support in states that had voted by Super Tuesday for both years further widens the gap. Trump's 3,365,355 total votes dwarfs Romney's total of 2,604,735 in that comparison."

3/2/16, "Donald Trump Voter Turnout: Is GOP Candidate Outpacing Romney In 2012 Following Super Tuesday Surge?" Int. Business Times, Tim Marcin

"Trump has recorded more total votes through Super Tuesday than former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney did on his way to the nomination in 2012, despite Romney having the benefit of seven additional states voting through Super Tuesday that year. And when comparing the states that have already voted in the 2016 GOP primaries and caucuses with the corresponding 2012 results, the gap between Trump and Romney widens considerably. 

Further anecdotal evidence and polls also suggest that Trump could be pulling in voters not typically aligned with the Republican Party. While it's still a long way until November, through Super Tuesday, Trump's signature brand of braggadocio seems to have inspired thousands to get out and vote for him, which can only be a good sign for his chances in a general election. 

Trump is "bringing in some people," said Ford O’Connell, a political analyst and Republican strategist who worked on the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign. "He is cobbling together a group of people we haven't seen in some time." 

Overall Republican turnout has been higher this election season so far than in 2012, when the GOP saw "dismally low" rates. In Virginia, for instance, just 265,000 eligible Republican voters took to the polls in 2012, compared with more than 1 million on Tuesday, according to Election Project data. And Trump, who has now won 10 total states and 316 delegates, has racked up the votes, especially in comparison with Romney in 2012.

Using data from the Federal Election Commission, Politico and CNN, International Business Times added up the numbers. Trump has earned 3,365,355 total votes through Super Tuesday, while Romney garnered a total of 3,280,028 through Super Tuesday in 2012. That's a difference of 85,327 or 2.6 percent, despite the fact that in 2012 seven more states had voted through Super Tuesday.

Comparing Trump's results directly to Romney's support in states that had voted by Super Tuesday for both years further widens the gap. Trump's 3,365,355 total votes dwarfs Romney's total of 2,604,735 in that comparison.

Trump's strongest base has been GOP supporters who are angry at the party leadership and working-class white voters without a college education, O'Connell said, but he added that the businessman is also poaching Democrats who feel left behind by their party. Some evidence backs that up. 

A poll released in early January [by Mercury Analytics] found 20 percent of likely Democratic voters would defect to vote for Trump, while a CNN exit poll in Virginia found 6 percent of voters in the Republican primary were Democrats. Nearly 20,000 Democrats left the party this year in Massachusetts, which Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin theorized was a product of the "Trump phenomenon," according to the Boston Herald. 

But two of Trump's key stances could also be inspiring voters. CBS News exit polls found that 60 to 80 percent of Republican voters across the Super Tuesday states supported Trump's call to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the U.S. and that he gained 40 to 55 percent of their support. Exit polls also found Trump earned support from about half of the Republican voters who wanted to deport undocumented immigrants, and performed well among voters concerned about the direction of the U.S. economy.

Party affiliation tends to run strong [Trump beat Rubio in Republican affiliation in Virginia 37-32%], but Trump has been able to capitalize on a sizable portion of Democrats who are concerned about illegal immigration and border security, said Yamil Velez, an assistant professor of government at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, who has taught a course on racial politics.

"When people care deeply enough about an issue…that might be enough to cause someone to defect. I think that’s particularly explaining what's going on," Velez said. Trump has also been able to appeal to "disaffected working-class voters," who are focused on economic issues, he added."...

===========
 

March 1, 2016, CNN Virginia exit polls,  http://www.cnn.com/election/primaries/polls/va/Rep

................