Top Republican establishment forces are planning to work together on a project to get themselves back in the game. Their only goal at this stage is to destroy Donald Trump, to force him to exit the presidential race. They plan to do it through what has been called a “guerrilla campaign,” backed by secret donors, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.
The WSJ front-page story says the anti-Trump efforts are spearheaded by a one-time Republican National Party online communications director who briefly worked on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s failed bid for the GOP nomination.
No word on whether the failed communications director pitched the establishment on the gig or if establishment insiders went looking for someone to do the hatchet job on The Donald.
The group, called Trump Card LLC, is headed by former RNC employee Liz Mair. A detailed memo of their plans, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, says without efforts from GOP establishment, “Trump is exceedingly unlikely to implode or be forced out of the race.” Further, Mair asserts in the memo, “the stark reality is that unless something dramatic and unconventional is done, Trump will be the Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton will become president.”
Things are about to get dirty. As they have “leaked” their own plans to the media, it seems obvious they will continue to use the media to do their dirty work.
According to the Wall Street Hatchet Journal, Trump Card’s plan is to expose Trump’s policy positions as not conservative. Their angle is that in the past, The Donald has advocated higher taxes, supported affirmative action, called for a government-run, single-payer healthcare system similar to those used by Canada and Britain. They say he also backed the Supreme Court’s Lowe decision that gives government the right to easily seize private property for private businesses.
There are more organizations than Trump Card going after Donald Trump, as he remains the conservative front-runner.
The conservative establishment is clearly worried, and it looks like they have millions to throw at destroying Donald Trump. A super PAC for Ohio Gov. John Kasich already created and started a series of anti-Trump advertising. On Friday, candidate and ex-Florida Governor, Jeb Bush directly attacked Trump. Another super-PAC related to Club for Growth, which has previously attacked Trump, is apparently planning to restart their Trump attack ads in Iowa.
The Club for Growth attack ad campaign in Iowa is being credited with causing Trump to drop in the polls there, opening up a lead for Trump’s rival, Ben Carson.
Rick Wilson, a noted Republican strategist, has apparently offered to prepare attack ads, hitting Trump on his record. Right now, Wilson works for a Rubio super PAC.
Trump is by no means down an out, but as the days pass with him at or near the front, the GOP wolves will close in with massive harassment until they can get in for the final kill.
Going back to Trump Card LLC, led by former RNC employee, Liz Mair, we can probably trace her motivation for attacking Trump to March this year, when she was called her out for making a series of comments on Twitter that bashed the state of Iowa and its role in the presidential nomination process. After that, Mair resigned from the Walker campaign.
On Saturday morning, Trump retaliated against Mair on Twitter.
No Mair is blaming Trump’s popularity on the Media, and the Media is pushing back saying they are just reporting what voters are telling them. Mair is clutching at straws.
The media can help end Trump any time they want by stopping giving this gigantic bag of hot air so much damned oxygen.
– Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 18, 2015
Speaking of upsetting people in Iowa, Trump retweeted something he shouldn’t have, about the agricultural “American Heartland” state. It was a tweet from someone else that insinuated Monsanto corn caused problems in the brain. The Donald needs an advisor to stop him putting his foot in his mouth on twitter.
It has been reported that donors who currently back other conservative candidates have considered backing the Trump Card attack ads, but their worry is that if their contributions became known, it would negatively impact their candidates. Mair disclosed that donors who currently back Cruz, Kasich, and Bush are interested in backing her, to help push Trump out of the race.
Talking to The Wall Street Journal, strategist Rick Wilson said he believes support for anti-Trump efforts is due to the worry that Trump “will destroy the Republican Party and lose the general election to Hillary Clinton.”
The Kasich-backing super PAC New Day for America just started an ad series linking the need to handle global security concerns such as the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks to an inexperienced Trum. The ads said “on-the-job training” for the White House does not work.
Huh – What about Obama, who never had any experience, or George W. Bush, who went after the 9/11 terrorists and Saddam Hussein? Bush was the GOP Establishment’s candidate. There isn’t much that prepares you for that. Not even being a state governor.
Apparently the main goal of all these groups is to stop Trump supporters from voting at all, rather than getting them to switch allegiance to other candidates. Trump Card is after the money. They are apparently looking for at least a quarter-million dollars from donors to fund their attacks.
Can Trump weather the onslaught? And for how long? It could be a fight to the death.
