Businessman Donald Trump and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton dominated the Super Tuesday primaries, with projections showing Trump in possession of more than 300 Republican delegates—nearly 100 more than his closest opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)—and Clinton’s more than 1,000 Democratic delegates far surpassing the 408 of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
The results cemented Trump and Clinton as the likely nominees of their respective parties for the 2016 election in November. The results also come just days after Trump was criticized for his belief that he should not take sides regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he expressed in the final GOP debate before Super Tuesday last week. Trump defended his view, telling Israel Hayom in an interview published last Friday that his “friendship with Israel is stronger than any other candidate’s.”
“I want to make one thing clear: I want to strike a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It is what I aspire to do. Peace is possible, even if it is the most difficult agreement to achieve. As far as I understand, Israel is also interested in a peace deal. I’m not saying I’ll succeed, or even that an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is within reach, but I want to try. But in order for an agreement to happen, the Palestinians need to show interest. It’s a little difficult to reach an agreement when the other side doesn’t really want to talk to you,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, another batch of Clinton’s controversial emails was released Tuesday, revealing an email from adviser Sidney Blumenthal in which he alleged that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disrespected Clinton in a closed meeting. “If we can’t sleep, Hillary is not going to sleep,” Netanyahu reportedly said while asking meeting participants to be more aggressive in pressuring Iran.
In another email from 2010, Blumenthal writes to Clinton that she should “[h]old Bibi’s feet to the fire,” reminding her that “Israel has no oil” and only values, which it is sacrificing by not making peace with the Palestinians. He also urges Clinton to acknowledge the controversial left-wing Jewish lobby group J Street.
“Bibi is stage managing US Jewish organizations (and neocons, and the religious right, and whomever else he can muster) against the administration. AIPAC itself has become an organ of the Israeli right, specifically Likud. By acknowledging J Street you give them legitimacy, credibility…and create room within the American Jewish community for debate supportive of the administration’s pursuit of the peace process. Just by mentioning J Street in passing, AIPAC becomes a point on the spectrum, not the controller of the spectrum,” Blumenthal writes.
JNS.ORG
{Matzav.com}
Various media proprietors and their steerers are trying to make it seem that it is a done deal that it will be Hillary vs Trump for the Presidential race. e.g. Jpost’s headline yesterday said “Trump and Clinton leave rivals in the dust after Super Tuesday races.” Various media’s headlines and editorials are highly mischievous. It looks like the owners and steerers of these media outlets want it to be a Hillary vs Trump race whereby Trump will blow his chances and Hillary will be a shoo in. Some people are trying to fix the race.
Let me explain…
Yes it looks like Hillary Clinton is a certainty for the Democratic Party nomination. But the Republican side of the equation is where it gets very interesting. Jpost and others are trying to make it seem that Trump is a sure winner of the GOP race. However the facts suggest otherwise. Trump’s overall percentage of the popular votes is stagnant. He has not moved beyond a 34.2% average. He is not gaining momentum at all.
Ted Cruz did better in his home state of Texas than what was predicted. He won 44% of the vote. He also has won Oklahoma and Alaska. Thus giving him four states in total. Rubio is not down for the count either. His win in Minnesota with 37% of the vote was surprisingly strong. And Kasich and Carson are hanging on to make the race interesting.
It all depends now on how the race plays out. If Carson and Kasich drop out then it will be a three horse race. Based on the delegate maths the probability that there will be a brokered GOP convention has increased dramatically after “Super Tuesday”.
It looks almost impossible for Trump to secure the 1227 delegates by July 18th. Cruz will certainly not drop out to hand the nomination to Trump on a plate. The way a brokered convention could also be avoided is if various candidates drop out and their delegates pledge to support a certain candidate.
Thus the GOP race is certainly on in earnest. Stay tuned everyone…
I repeat…I think Ted Cruz would make a good Commander in Chief of the great USA from early 2017 to early 2025. He is not perfect by any means. He needs to heed some wise counsel on a number of issues, especially foreign policy. But overall he has the makings of a decent President.
P.S. The delegate count has worked out better for Ted Cruz in the last few hours. Tricky maths with various proportional systems in states like Texas. It appears that the Texas Delegates ended up totaling 115 for Cruz and 40 for Trump. That means that Super Tuesday was essentially a tie with a difference between Cruz and Trump of only 14 delegates. Updated Delegate Counts : Trump 321; Cruz 242; Rubio 110; Kasich 25; Carson 8; Bush 5; Fiorina 1, Huckabee 1, Paul 1. And Ben Carson has just announced he is pulling out of the race. Thus the race really is on…The next hurdle in the race is on Sat. 5th March. Four states up for grab for GOP delegates. Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine. 155 delegates. Proportional allocation.