Salon: Matt Drudge might elect Donald Trump: The GOP front-runner’s secret weapon is the conservative media icon

www.salon.com

Donald Trump has already won one important primary, and that’s why he’s not going anywhere any time soon.

Every time Donald Trump says or does something that would destroy the careers of most politicians, he maintains or even gains supporters. It seems that nothing he does erodes his support. His voters are loyal, that’s for sure.

If you want to understand the Trump phenomenon and the durability of his campaign, you have to understand his voters and how they get their information. Many on the left mistakenly think that Trump supporters are “low-information voters.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, it’s the opposite. They consume a lot of news and information, and almost all of it comes from their most trusted source — Matt Drudge.

Matt Drudge is all in for Trump, and he is making sure that his millions of daily readers are getting the news.

Drudge, of course, is the owner of the popular conservative news aggregator the Drudge Report, a site that records approximately 2 million unique visitors a day with about 700 million page views per month. His readers are loyal, too. A 2014 Pew Research Center study found that the Drudge Report is among the most trusted news sources among conservatives, while most mainstream media outlets register a very high level of distrust from that group.

His loyal readers don’t trust information coming from other sources, and that allows Drudge to carefully curate links to articles that help to further his pro-Trump point of view among that audience. The most pro-Trump conservative news site isBreitbart.com. Breitbart is so pro-Trump that some have charged that the Breitbart company is being paid by Trump for favorable coverage. The truth is that Breitbart’s loyalty is more to Drudge than it is to Trump.

Breitbart was founded by the late Andrew Breitbart, who was the Drudge Report’s first employee. He founded the Breitbart news site after leaving the Drudge Report, but remained personally and professionally close to Drudge. The Breitbart site established itself quickly as the go-to news source for grass-roots anti-establishment conservatives, with an assist from Drudge who regularly posted Breitbart article links on the Drudge Report. Over the years, the Drudge Report has directed millions and millions of readers to Breitbart stories.

It’s not hard to find evidence of Drudge’s success in gaining his audience’s support of Trump. Trump has won every post-debate online poll of Drudge Report readers — by a lot. Those polls attract hundreds of thousands of votes. After the last GOP debate more than 350,000 voteswere registered and Donald Trump won 43 percent, followed by Ted Cruz with 27 percent. That audience loyalty is translating into strong support for Trump in the public scientific polls, too. Thanks to Drudge, Trump has led the GOP field nationally since July.

You Might Also Like

The loyalty and respect go both ways — Trump goes out of his way to praise Drudge and mention his victories in the Drudge polls at every opportunity.

Why is Matt Drudge working to elect Donald Trump president? I haven’t asked him, but it’s not hard to connect the dots.

First, Drudge has a right-of-center point of view and describes himself as “more of a populist.” Trump’s campaign is clearly tapping into that conservative anti-establishment populism that’s been fueling the energy on the right in recent years. Drudge is primarily responsible for fanning the flames of that sentiment. He helped to build the Tea Party movement and is a constant thorn in the side of establishment Republicans in Washington.

The immigration issue is another example of Trump’s direct connection to Drudge. An opponent of immigration reform and “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants, Drudge has made it his top priority in recent years. His coverage of that issue has been credited with killing the “Gang of Eight” legislation in Washington, and even leading to the primary defeat of former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

Of course, Trump has made immigration the centerpiece of his campaign and he credits best-selling author and conservative provocateur Ann Coulter’s new book, “Adios America,” with shaping his view on that issue. Coulter and Drudge are close friends. In fact, they were seen sitting together in the audience at last week’s Republican debate on CNN. She even dedicated one of her many bestsellers to Drudge.

In addition to being anti-establishment and anti-immigration, Drudge is also famously anti-Clinton, both Bill and Hillary. The success of his site is a direct result of the attention he garnered when he broke the Monica Lewinsky story back in 1998. It put him on the political map. Since then, he’s unmatched in the distribution of anti-Clinton stories and rumors.

All of those things have enabled Drudge to cultivate the perfect audience for the time, and they are ready to engage in an epic battle. Matt Drudge’s dream 2016 presidential match-up is his anti-establishment, anti-immigration populist Donald Trump against his favorite target, Hillary Clinton. He’s going to do everything he can to make that dream come true by making sure that his sizable audience stays loyal to Donald Trump in the primary. So far, so good for Drudge.

More Jimmy LaSalvia.

COMMENTS

Russia Rearms for a New Era

www.nytimes.com

Russia is reinvesting in its bases in the Arctic: building new ones, expanding old ones and deploying personnel to operate them. Analysts say Russia’s efforts in the Arctic are driven in part by climate change, as the country seeks to exploit and defend maritime trade routes and oil and natural gas resources in areas made more accessible by melting ice.

Russia has made big increases to its military budget, including a jump of nearly $11 billion from 2014 to 2015. According to Moscow, it is making up for years of disinvestment after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But sanctions from the Ukrainian conflict, dropping oil prices and other financial problems have weakened the Russian economy, and analysts expect military spending to slow.

Russia has scheduled mobilizations of more than 100,000 troops, as well as unannounced exercises that move thousands of troops with almost no notice. These efforts serve as combat training for the troops and as a show of military strength to the world. They often involve units that control Russia’s nuclear arsenal, calling attention to the country’s nuclear abilities. NATO has responded by expanding its own exercises.

“The image that Russian official sources convey is that they’re preparing for large-scale interstate war,” said Johan Norberg of the Swedish Defense Research Agency. “This is not about peacekeeping or counterinsurgency.”

Russia has repeatedly entered or skirted the airspace of other countries, including the United States. Since it annexed Crimea in March 2014, the incidents have grown in number and seriousness. In November, Turkey shot down a Russian plane it said entered its airspace. The pilot was killed, as was a marine on a subsequent rescue mission.

Other incursions have been dangerous, like a near collision in March 2014between a commercial plane carrying 132 passengers and a Russian reconnaissance plane that did not transmit its position.

“Putin is trying to provoke the United States and NATO into military action and create the appearance that they are posing a threat to Russia, in order to bolster his own popularity,” said Kimberly Marten, a professor at Barnard College and director of the United States-Russia Relations program at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute.

In several regions, Russia has exerted its military authority, rattled its rivals, and seeded instability to preserve its influence.

Russia’s role in the Syrian war escalated in September 2015 when it started airstrikes to support the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad. Most of Russia’s airstrikes have been in rebel-held territory, rather than areas controlled by the Islamic State. Amnesty International has accused Russia of using cluster munitions and unguided bombs that it says have killed hundreds of Syrian civilians.

In early 2014, Russia sent special forces troops into Crimea, when Ukraine’s pro-Moscow president was ousted. Crimea then joined Russia in a referendum that Ukraine and Western leaders consider illegal. Later that year, Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine fought Russia-backed separatists. A cease-fire agreement in February 2015 slowed the fighting, but clashes continue.

Russia won a war with Georgia in 2008, driving Georgian forces away from the separatist region of South Ossetia. The Kremlin asserts that it is protecting the interests of ethnic Russians in those areas.

The country is buying, updating and developing its military equipment, with the intent to modernize 70 percent of its military by 2020.

“This is Russia catching up on where the West has gotten itself technologically,” said Nick de Larrinaga at IHS Jane’s.

COMMENTS

Trump: The Last Person Hillary Wants to Run Against Is Me

by PAM KEY23 Dec 2015696

Wednesday on Fox New Channel’s “On the Record,” Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump defended the term “schlong,” which he used to describe Clinton’s defeat in the 2008 Democratic party presidential primary race, and said the Clinton camp is most afraid of facing off against him in a general election.

Trump said, “To me it always meant to get beaten badly. That’s what happened to Hillary Clinton—to be beaten badly. To me that’s a reference to getting beaten and pretty decisively. When I said it, nobody in the audience thought anything about it. They clapped. They didn’t view that as being a horrible thing and then all of a sudden I get back in and people are calling about it. And, you know, when they checked it out, some pretty quality people have been using that term over the years. So I think I probably skirted by that one, Greta, What do you think? ”

Trump continued, “I really haven’t gone after Hillary yet and there is a lot to go after. She is very susceptible, I think—look, the job she has done. I think it’s going to be easier in some cases than some of the people I’m currently running against. My focus has been on this. If you look at the people that have attacked me, those people are are out of the race or they have gone down to nothing. They are sitting in the race but they are really down to nothing. So I’m fine with Hillary. I think the last person and I know for a fact — the last person she wants to be running against is me. And if you look at the CNN  favorability numbers, one of the commentators said he has never seen numbers go so high so fast. I think I’m going to do a great job. I think people like me but they have to hear me. People like me sometimes.”

He added, “I think I’m presidential, and I think I have done presidential work. I have built an incredible company. I have made great deals. I have had tremendous success even with The Apprentice and “The Art of the Deal” and I built one of the great real estate companies and some of the best assets in the world. We have 19 trillion in debt. Soon to be 21 trillion in debt. Trillion, hard to believe I’m even using that word. Trillion in debt. And it’s the kind of thinking you can’t have a politician doing it at this point. It’s too far. They are all talk, they are no action. Nobody knows politicians better than I do. I know all of them.”

Trump also weighed in on the omnibus spending bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama last week.

Trump said, “I wouldn’t have accepted. I thought it was an outrage. In fact, you look at Franklin Graham, I think is a fantastic guy and so do you. He left the Republican party over it and having to do with Planned Parenthood probably more but probably having to do with everything. How that got passed. It’s actually even more than 1.1 trillion is. You look at how that thing got passed. So quickly and so easily. And what was approved. I would have done a much different thing.  You would have negotiated. But I would have started a year ago, Greta. You can’t just go in there one day and start. You have to go and go back to the basics and you have to start much earlier. They passed this budget. Now, nothing will be done for 364 days. and then they will have another budget coming up and they will pass it. And you can’t do that. You have to start working from the day the last budget is passed. Now, you look at this bill, and it’s an outrage. I was amazed that it passed and it passed so easily and so quickly. I thought it was disgraceful.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

Read More Stories About:

Breitbart TV, 2016 Presidential Race, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Cliinton

The Nuclear Option: Donald Trump Schools Rivals on ‘The Art of the Schlong’

by CHARLES HURT23 Dec 2015716

If you think “The Art of the Deal” was a yuuuuuuuuuuge success — and it was — just wait until Donald Trump comes out with his latest masterpiece, “The Art of the Schlong.”

In “The Art of the Deal,” the real estate mogul tutors budding young mogul wannabes on how to make deals so that they, too, can build giant glass skyscrapers emblazoned with their names in gold.

“The Art of the Schlong” is a political treatise, like “The Art of War,” only more devastating and infinitely more entertaining. It is more psychologically sinister than Machiavelli’s “The Prince.” It is like Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” only the opposite. Except for the influence part.

The treatise is a tactical primer for anybody thinking of getting into politics, especially as a Republican these days. Tough world out there right now.

It is a schlong or get-schlonged world, so you’d better learn how to schlong.

One of the early chapters is titled “Why Jeb! Doesn’t Deserve an Exclamation Point.”

It is about the vaunted scion of a political dynasty with an immaculate pedigree who waltzed onto the political stage with trunks full of money other people gave him. The political scion was going to be the next Republican presidential nominee and would kneel to reward illegal aliens for acts of love and all would be right in the world again. And he would launch World War III, in all probability.

He went out and got himself some German-looking glasses, shed all the tubbiness he had gained and basked in the glow of front-runner.

America was less enthusiastic but, you know, whatever. Mr. Trump, instinctively understanding Americans’ low enthusiasm for the candidate they had been served, sized up the scion and instantly declared him “low energy.”

It is true that these dangerous diets can wreck a person’s energy level and slow the thinking. But Mr. Trump’s evaluation was clearly about so much more than the diet. It was how voters felt about the man. And, most important, it was a carnal assessment about the man’s ability — inability, really — to perform.

It was savage and devastating.

Another chapter is titled “Ain’t Brain Surgery: Saving Children’s Lives Won’t Spare You.”

It tells the story of a pediatric brain surgeon who performed miraculous feats to save children’s lives. He emerged from the worst poverty and social circumstances to become one of the kindest, sweetest, most decent men alive. And, basically, how he really didn’t belong in politics.

Just as the brain surgeon was gathering a real head of steam, Mr. Trump declared him “pathological” for all his past talk about his inability to control his temper as an angry teenager.

Game, set, match. Brain surgeon gone.

As genius as “The Art of the Schlong” is from page one, it doesn’t quite reach its complete and blinding brilliance until Mr. Trump gets into the general election campaign against the Joan of Arc character, who — spoiler alert! — winds up getting horribly schlonged after suffering a stunning and humiliating public schlonging eight years earlier.

But because Mr. Trump operates at a level of psychological sophistication so far above this modern world of dummy politicians, none of the politicos gets that Mr. Trump wasn’t even talking about the man who beat Joan at the polls.

He was actually talking about how Joan had been so horribly schlonged by her very own betrothed husband, who was a politician before her and has been her only meal ticket for her entire career.

It was during the primary in South Carolina in 2008 when Joan’s husband — gifted politician — became unhinged and started invoking racial undertones in a campaign against America’s real First Black President. Everyone marveled that he would have so openly sabotaged his own wife’s presidential campaign.

But, truth is, it wasn’t the first time he had publicly schlonged her in such a humiliating way.

You see, Joan’s husband has always been like a bull elephant in musth, with reproductive hormones leaking from his temples, charging at females of every size, shape and age. Females who know the couple tell their daughters to stay away.

And, so, now, thanks to Mr. Trump’s treatise, Joan of Arc will never again be pictured in the mind’s eye of the American voter except as the bride of the most unrestrained public schlonger of our time.

Charles Hurt can be reached at charleshurt@live.com and on Twitter via@charleshurt.

Read More Stories About:

2016 Presidential Race, Donald Trump,Hillary Clinton

Thai government poll apparently shows 99 per cent of citizens are happy with the leadership

www.telegraph.co.uk

Thailand's military-ruled government has claimed that 99 per cent of the country's people are happy with its performance since it took power in a coup last year.

The survey by the government-run National Statistics Office comes as Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the Thai prime minister, and his ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) are struggling to kick start Thailand’s slumping economy.

Of the 2,700 people questioned for the poll, 99.3 per cent said they were satisfied with the government’s overall performance, while 98.9 per cent said they were confident the NCPO could solve Thailand’s problems.

But the fact that the survey was conducted by a government ministry has raised doubts as to whether it was a truly independent poll.

Speaking on Wednesday, the prime minister defended his crackdown on dissent and brushed aside criticism of his government’s human rights record.

The former general also mounted a vigorous defence of the May 2014 coup that saw the junta topple the electedgovernment of Yingluck Shinawatra.

“Some people say I came to power illegitimately. I’d say we came in to fix things and push needed reforms,” said Mr Prayuth.

Since seizing power, the junta has been accused of gagging the media and of detaining an ever-increasing number of critics of the regime for so-called "attitude adjustment".

There has also been a steep rise in the number of people prosecuted under Thailand’s lese-majeste laws, which are designed to protect the country’s revered monarchy and are some of the strictest in the world. Human rights groups have claimed that the laws are being used to silence the junta's political opponents.

Mr Prayuth dismissed those criticisms during a speech at Government House in Bangkok on Wednesday morning, in which he outlined the NCPO’s achievements over the last year and said that Thailand remained on course to hold elections again in 2017.

“To those who say we have lost our democracy, I’d say I am sorry, but we cannot afford to waste the time we have now to change our country,” said Mr Prayuth. “Those accusing me of breaching human rights need to understand that we are operating in unusual circumstances.”

Mr Prayuth has also sought to boost morale in Thailand by penning his own songs. His latest tune, Because You Are Thailand, was released at the beginning of the week and includes lyrics such as, "If we join hands and breathe together, the day we hope for is not far away". It follows the release of Returning Happiness to the People, which Mr Prayuth composed soon after the 2014 coup.

But the country remains mired in an economic slump. A combination of declining exports and record levels of household debt has resulted in the International Monetary Fund slashing its 2016 growth forecast for the Thai economy from four per cent to 3.2 per cent.

COMMENTS

TRUMP 39% CNN POLL DOMINATION 2016

Listen To Military Veteran Talk Radio

iHeart.SmythRadio.com

Facebook.com/SmythRadio

Trump dominates GOP field heading into 2016

www.cnn.com

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump seems set to end 2015 as the dominant force in the race for next year's Republican nomination for president, with Texas Sen.Ted Cruz now a clear -- yet distant -- second after a strong debate performance, a new CNN/ORC poll released on Wednesday has found.

Trump tops the field with 39%, according to the poll of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters. That's more than double the share backing Cruz, who, at 18%, has inched up 2 points since the last CNN/ORC poll, which was taken in late November.

Trump has been a constant atop the polls since his ascent to the lead in July, and this new poll marks the first time Cruz stands significantly apart from the other candidates vying for the nomination. Behind those two, Ben Carson and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio have each slipped a few points and now stand tied at 10%.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday found a tighter race between Trump and Cruz, a finding that clashes with most other recent polling on the national race. It is one of only two live interviewer national polls released since Thanksgiving that found Trump with a lead smaller than 10 points. Across the 10 polls released during that time, Trump's lead over Cruz averages 16 points.

The CNN/ORC poll was conducted after the Republican debate hosted by CNN and Facebook in Las Vegas on December 15. Among those Republicans who say they watched, 33% say Trump did the best job in the debate, 28% Cruz, 13% Rubio. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie follows with 6%. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, widely seen as needing a strong debate performance to boost his standing in the polls, was rated best by just 1% of debate watchers.

Six in 10 Republican voters in the poll now say there are one or two candidates they'd prefer to see win over the rest of the field, up from 48% who had identified favorites in July. That consolidation is reflected in voters' overall preferences. This marks the second CNN/ORC poll in a row in which more than three-quarters of Republicans now support one of the top four candidates (77% choose one of Trump, Cruz, Carson or Rubio), and 57% now support one of the top two candidates. That latter figure marks the highest share for any two candidates combined this cycle.

Trump's standing in the race for the nomination is bolstered by widely held trust that he can best handle the top issues facing the nation. Trump holds massive advantages over the rest of the field as the candidate best able to handle the economy (57% Trump, his next closest competitors are Cruz at 8%, Rubio at 7%, Carson at 6% and Bush at 5%), illegal immigration (55% trust Trump, followed by Cruz at 15%, Rubio at 10%), and ISIS (47% prefer Trump, 21% Cruz, 7% Bush and 6% Christie).

And Republicans are coming around to the idea that the Republican Party has its best shot at winning the presidency by nominating the New York real estate mogul. Overall, 46% of GOP voters say the Republicans have a better chance to win in 2016 with Trump as the party's nominee, while 50% say the GOP has a better shot with someone else at the top of the ticket. In August, just 38% said Trump brought the Republicans their best chances.

Perhaps obviously, Trump's supporters are most likely to think the GOP has its best shot with Trump as its nominee (85% say so), but even among those who aren't current supporters, 21% think Trump would be better than the alternative.

Among those who say the party has a better shot with someone other than Trump, Cruz is the preferred candidate, 25% would like to see him win the nomination, 16% Rubio, 13% Carson, 9% are Trump backers, 8% Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, 7% Christie and 4% each Bush and Kasich.

There are signs in the poll that Cruz's debate performance may have helped improve his appeal. Though he remains well behind Trump, Cruz gained ground on the front-runner on handling illegal immigration and ISIS, both a central focus of the debate's questions, while Rubio and Carson faded on both issues. Cruz's favorability rating has jumped 22 points among Republican voters since September, and he now holds the highest favorability rating among Republican voters of any of the seven candidates tested. He's also posted the largest increase in favorability rating among all adults since September, climbing from 27% favorable in September to 45% now, an 18-point gain. Trump (+8) and Rubio (+14) posted smaller increases.

More Republican voters (62%) say Cruz has the right experience to be president than say so about Trump (57%) or Rubio (53%), and two-thirds say Cruz shares their values and is someone they would be proud to have as president (66% each). Slightly fewer say either sentiment applies to Trump (63% values, 60% proud) or Rubio (64% values, 62% proud).

Education remains a stark dividing line among Republicans, but since last month Trump has gained ground with the party's college graduates. In the new poll, 27% of GOP voters with degrees back Trump, up from 18% in the late-November poll. Among those without degrees, 46% back Trump, the same share as in November. Non-college voters could prove to be an Achilles heel for Rubio, who holds just 6% support among that group compared with 19% among those who hold degrees.

The CNN/ORC poll was conducted by telephone December 17-21 among a random national sample of 1,018 adults. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results among the 438 registered voters who are Republicans or independents who lean toward the Republican Party, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

COMMENTS

Warmest Christmas Eve on record to unfold across eastern US

www.accuweather.com

Any hopes of a white Christmas that the weekend chill brought will be dashed in the eastern United States, with this Christmas Eve shaping up to be the warmest on record in many communities.

According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tom Kines, "On Christmas Eve, parts of the mid-Atlantic and New England could be just as warm as they were on the Fourth of July."

Record high temperatures, including some record warm minimum temperatures, are likely to be set from Florida to Maine.

Balmy Christmas Eve

According to AccuWeather Chief Long Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok, "On Christmas Eve, daily record highs may be broken in the morning, followed by monthly record highs in the afternoon."

Records in the major cities of the Eastern states date back to the middle 1800s.

Another northward bulge in the jet stream will be responsible for the warmth in the East this week.

The jet stream is a strong river of air high in the atmosphere that guides weather systems and separates warm air to the south from cold air to the north.

Christmas Eve will feel more like Easter with highs ranging from the 50s in Maine to the 70s in the mid-Atlantic and the lower 80s in parts of the Southeast. That equates to highs that are 15 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.

"Temperatures could touch 80 as far north as the mid-Atlantic states," Pastelok said.

Widespread record highs will not only be challenged but also shattered in many towns and cities. The potential exists for records to be topped by more than 10 degrees from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia to New York City and to Burlington, Vermont.

"It appears high temperatures will be in the 70s on Christmas Eve in New York City, which is about 35 degrees above normal for the date," AccuWeather Meteorologist Bill Deger said. "It was also unusually warm last Christmas Eve in 2014, when Central Park reached 58 F for a high."

Subtropical air will be drawn northward along with the warmth and will make it feel humid to some people.

Along with erasing any hopes for a white Christmas, the warmth will mean residents can leave the heavy winter jackets, hats or mittens at home when heading out for last-minute shopping or to Christmas Eve services.

RELATED:January to yield winter's first outbreak of icy air in eastern, central USSnow drought, unusual warmth create 'extremely challenging' season for Northeast ski resortsForecast temperature maps

The only chance of a white Christmas will be in the Tug Hill region of New York state, east of Lake Ontario, and northern Maine, where old snow may remain on the ground.

The warmth will come despite some clouds and a couple of showers in the area. Those wanting to take advantage of the warmth by caroling, taking a walk, firing up the grill or engaging in any other outdoor activity should plan to keep an umbrella handy.

The passage of a cold front will ease the extreme warmth in the Northeast for Christmas Day, but temperatures will still be well above normal for the holiday. In the Southeast, Friday will likely be a repeat of Thursday.

Since temperatures will be so high during the overnight hours on Thursday, record highs for Christmas day may be set before dawn in a number of locations.

According to AccuWeather Meteorologist Ed Vallee, the return of persistent cold will not be the theme for the remainder of 2015.

"The extreme warmth of late will certainly be muted after Christmas Day, but above-average temperatures continuing through the end of the month will set the stage for December monthly temperature records to be broken in some areas of the East," he said.

COMMENTS