Rick Perry unloads in speech: Trump is a cancer on conservatism and I will not stay silent on his mean-spirited politics

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Allah:

I’ll quote a little but you’re better off reading the whole thing. There’ll be lots of media noise around it for the next few days, especially after Trump responds. And it’s a fine indictment of Hopenchange even apart from the Trump stuff. He’s trying to do two things here, picking a fight with the media’s favorite candidate to gain some reflected exposure and re-introducing himself to righties who disdain Trump but aren’t sure which way to go yet as an alternative. This is Perry telling Trump-haters, of which there are many, that their choices aren’t between Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz.

By the way, when was the last time one candidate attacked another this extensively this early in a primary? You can imagine that in the context of a primary challenge to an incumbent president, where the insurgent wants to make a comprehensive case against the tenure of the man in charge, but I can’t recall an example in an open field like this one.

In times of trouble, there are two types of leaders: repairers of the breach and sowers of discord.

The sower of discord foments agitation, thrives on division, scapegoats certain elements of society, and offers empty platitudes and promises. He is without substance when one scratches below the surface.

He offers a barking carnival act that can be best described as Trumpism: a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued.

That’s just the warm-up.

Donald Trump is the modern-day incarnation of the know-nothing movement.

He espouses nativism, not conservatism. He is negative when conservatism is inherently optimistic…

But most telling to me is not Mr. Trump’s bombast, his refusal to show any remorse for his comments about Senator McCain, but his admission that there is not a single time in his life that he sought the forgiveness of God.

A man too arrogant, too self-absorbed, to seek God’s forgiveness is precisely the type of leader John Adams prayed would never occupy the White House…

When a candidate under the Republican banner would abandon the tradition of magnanimous leadership of the presidency, when he would seek to demonize millions of citizens, when he would stoop to attack POWs for being captured, I can only ask as Senator Welch did of Senator McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”…

Resentment is the poison we swallow that we hope harms another. My fellow Republicans, don’t take the poison.

If you want a sneak preview of how Trump will reply, here you go. One smart thing Perry’s done here that the rest of Trump’s critics in the field haven’t is that he’s committed fully to the antagonism. He’s not doing Lindsey Graham style potshots at what a “jackass” Trump is, which is easily dismissed by voters as squabbling. He’s presenting his critique as something important not just to the race but to conservatism.

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Let us just hope that, if nominated, Perry will take the same amount of fight to whomever the Democrat nominee is.

In times of trouble, there are two types of leaders: repairers of the breach and sowers of discord.

The sower of discord foments agitation, thrives on division, scapegoats certain elements of society, and offers empty platitudes and promises. He is without substance when one scratches below the surface.

He offers a barking carnival act that can be best described as Obamaism: a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued.

There, fixed that for you Perry. That’s where the real Republican outrage should be focused.

I can tell you that Texas conservatives are not happy with the tactic Perry seems to think he needs to employ. A recent report was leaked that showed exactly how bad crime committed by aliens really is in Texas. We have dealt with the reality that illegals bring crimes, and diseases, that we don’t need to allow in our state.

Rick Perry is making a grave mistake and is losing support every time he slams Trump.

@retire05: Agree. Trump has the right message. Secure the border. McCain and Graham, Gang of Eight solution is to not enforce the border or immigration laws. Why? At least Obama lied and said he was for a secure border. Most Conservatives won’t say it whether it’s a lie or not. At some point, someone needs to care if the border is secured. Now that Trump is saying it, it’s political envy that his message is what the conservatives want to hear. Do I think the border would be secured if Trump got elected? NO. Because it takes action by the house and senate to get something done and they won’t do anything.

@Redteam:

Do I think the border would be secured if Trump got elected? NO. Because it takes action by the house and senate to get something done and they won’t do anything.

Sorry Redteam but you are 100% incorrect. As the President is the highest law enforcement and national security officer in the nation, with the executive office power, authority and the manpower (with both the federal enforcement agencies and can bring in the military if need be,) he absolutely has the power, responsibility and ability to protect this nation from invasion by foreign nationals. In fact, the security of the nation is supposed to be his primary responsibility as Commander In Chief. He does not even need Congress’ approval to secure the borders.

@Ditto:

He does not even need Congress’ approval to secure the borders.

No but he does need the Congress to give him the money to do anything. From ‘enforcing laws’, yes I think he would do that. Build new fences, only if he got the money. If there is a Repub congress, they might approve the money. Depends on whether they can do it over such as the gang of eight, McCain, Lindsay Graham, etc. Rubio and Bush are not interested in securing the border, but neither of them will be in Congress. I think Trump would ‘intend’ to, just not sure he can make the ‘do nothings’ do anything. Hope you’re right.

There is quite a bit of military funding that he could divert to use towards building a fence. Yet, if you have the military actively securing the border, there is less need for an actual physical barrier. I’m also quite certain that a presidential appeal to the nation for citizens to contact their Congressional representatives and demand they fund the building of a border fence would result in a flood of phone calls letters and petitions. Any Republican president could do this, it doesn’t have to be Trump.

@Ditto: I think that one act, securing the border, would be the single most popular act any president could do. Almost all Americans would support that activity.

@Redteam:

You seem to have forgotten that Congress passed the Secure Fence Act in 2006. Thanks to RINOs like Kay Bailey Hutchison, subsequent Congresses defunded it. That one action on the part of Kay Bailey cost her the governorship of Texas and caused her to retire. We replaced her with Ted Cruz.

The original 2006 bill was for 700 miles of double and triple tiered fencing. Playing the games they play, less that 10% of that has been built.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3033555/posts

It would be impossible to build a fence across the entire border region of Texas. That much Rick Perry is right about. How do you build a fence down the center of a river with a river base that is shifting sand? If you build the fence on our side of the Rio Grand, the Mexicans will claim ownership to the entire river and that is not a thing we want to happen. Also, most of the land on our side of the Rio Grande is privately owned and those ranchers who access the water are not going to fence their cattle in so they die of thirst. Water is a most precious commodity in those border counties.

But we can build some fence and that would drive the illegals to certain crossing points where we could concentrate our Border Patrol. We also need to put the National Guard down there, armed. Anyone seen crossing with the huge cotton bale looking bundles of drugs are their backs should be dealt with extreme prejudice.

@retire05: No I remember that very well and I know the Rino’s were the ones that stopped it. I said:

Depends on whether they can do it over such as the gang of eight, McCain, Lindsay Graham, etc. Rubio and Bush are not interested in securing the border,

I know the Dimocrats don’t want to secure it, but as long as we have Rino’s that don’t want to also, it’ll be hard to do. I do agree that securing it with the military is possible, it just takes the intent and will to do the right thing.

@Ditto, #5:

There might be a big problem with that, owing to the Posse Comitatus Act. I doubt most Americans would want to go there.

During the administration of George W. Bush a successful effort was made to curtail the Posse Comitatus Act and give the President of the United States power to use military forces to enforce law and maintain order within the United States (Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007) but this legislation was wisely repealed in 2008 by the new democratic Congressional majority.

Giving any president such broad powers to use U.S. military forces within the United States without first obtaining Congressional authorization is an extremely dangerous step. It’s still hard for me to believe this had actually been done.

@Greg: I don’t think you are ‘exactly’ correct. That act was clearly for restoring order after ‘an event’ occurs. I believe the military services can be used for securing the US Border without falling under the Posse Comitatus act.

Myth #1 The US Constitution prohibits posting US troops on the border.

The US Constitution says no such thing. In fact, Article IV states:

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.

So the US Constitution clearly requires the federal government to protect states from invasion. Almost a million aliens illegally pouring across the border into states each year is clearly an invasion.

Myth #2 The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits US troops from guarding US borders.

This 1878 act was enacted to prevent Union troops from continuing to enforce federal laws in the defeated South after the American Civil war. Here is the text as modified by Congress in recent years:

Sec. 1385. – Use of Army and Air Force as posse comitatus

Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Guarding US borders from foreign invasion is not “law enforcement.”

The US Army exists to defend the US from foreign invasion, which is expressly authorized by the US Constitution. Guarding the Mexican border was the Army’s primary peacetime mission until 1940, and no one ever declared this was in violation of this 1878 act. The US Border Patrol wasn’t even formed until 1924, so claiming the intent of this law was to prevent US Army troops from guarding the border is absurd. The map at left shows US Army forts in Texas in the late 1880s when the entire US Army had fewer than 40,000 soldiers; it has 500,000 today. Clearly, defending the US border was a primary mission of the US Army for decades after this act was passed.

The Posse Comitatus Act does not prohibit US Military on our borders.

@Greg:

There might be a big problem with that, owing to the Posse Comitatus Act.

As Redteam correctly points out, the Posse Comitatus Act has no bearing whatsoever on the defense of the border. That you think it ‘might’ tells us that you are completely ignorant to what the Posse Comitatus Act is as well as to it’s purpose

Greg, if you really think that the President of the United States, as Commander in Chief can not mobilize our military to secure the borders of this nation from an invasion, then we can only conclude that you are a complete ignoramus.

@Redteam:

I think that one act, securing the border, would be the single most popular act any president could do. Almost all Americans would support that activity.

I agree, and the candidates who will step up and take that pledge are the only ones I will consider voting for.

@retire05:

But we can build some fence and that would drive the illegals to certain crossing points where we could concentrate our Border Patrol. We also need to put the National Guard down there, armed.

I’ve been thinking that we could reduce some of the costs of building the border fence by using illegal immigrant prison labor to build it. And if some of them escape the labor gangs into Mexico, let them go with the knowledge that if they come back the will be put right back to work on the border fence, but in the worse work details.

@Ditto, #13:

If it were a military invasion you would be correct. Since it isn’t a military invasion, you aren’t.

If republicans want changes, they should pass the legislation they believe to be appropriate and provide the necessary finding to put it into effect instead of placing blame and passing the buck. They do have majorities in both the House and the Senate.

What do people believe the appropriate military response would be, anyway? Apparently this goes beyond the use of National Guard troops in support roles on the southern border than Obama has ordered in the past.

@Greg:

If it were a military invasion you would be correct. Since it isn’t a military invasion, you aren’t.

is there something in the water where you live? I posted a link above, I guess I was giving you too much credit to assume you could click on it and read it. Guarding the US border is the primary goal of the US military services. and that is against all enemies, nothing says the enemy can only be in the form of a ‘military invasion’.

Guarding the Mexican border was the Army’s primary peacetime mission until 1940, and no one ever declared this was in violation of this 1878 act. The US Border Patrol wasn’t even formed until 1924, so claiming the intent of this law was to prevent US Army troops from guarding the border is absurd. The map at left shows US Army forts in Texas in the late 1880s when the entire US Army had fewer than 40,000 soldiers; it has 500,000 today. Clearly, defending the US border was a primary mission of the US Army for decades after this act was passed.

@Greg:

If it were a military invasion you would be correct. Since it isn’t a military invasion, you aren’t.

No Greg, I am correct and you are an ignoramus. An invasion by foreign nationals is an invasion regardless of whether it is performed by military or civilians.

Invasion definitions:

an act or instance of invading or entering as an enemy, especially by an army.

Note: “Especially by”, not “only by.”

entrance as if to take possession or overrun:

infringement by intrusion.

The act of invading, especially the entrance of an armed force into a territory to conquer.

Again Note the use of the word: “Especially”, not “only by.”

An intrusion or encroachment:

the entrance or advent of anything troublesome or harmful, as disease.

any entry into an area not previously occupied; “an invasion of tourists”; “an invasion of locusts”

And of course; an invasion by illegal aliens.

Since the goals of an invasion are usually large-scale and long-term, a sizable force is needed to hold territory and to protect the interests of the invading entity. Whether it is perpetrated by a sanctioned military or it’s a force of purely civilian operatives does not change the fact that it is an invasion.

By your stupidity based opinion, if the Mexican cartels en mass organized and flooded across the border killing, burning and ravaging their way across the Southern United States, Greg’s asinine opinion is that the President of the United States would have to just let the blood thirsty gangs do as they wish, and even going so far as to take control of our whole nation. Because, as they are not military, his “hands are tied.” You’ve made a lot of very idiotic claims on FA, but this has to be, hands down, one of the most mindbogglingly imbecilic loads of crap you’ve ever tried to pass-off..

By the way, you seem to have missed it, but weapons have been fired from the Mexican side into the United States by Mexican citizens. Ranchers on the Border and their family members have been threatened and even killed by illegal immigrants. Our Border Control forces have been under attack throughout Obama’s presidency, including last week when a Patrol helicopter was forced down due to hostile fire from Mexican criminal citizens. Mexican smugglers, gangs and criminal cartels have been waging a campaign of smuggling, armed attacks and have even been working with Islamic terrorist organizations to plan their invasions. There have even been cases where Mexican military forces have fired across the border at US citizens. You can continue to keep your head up your butt, but that doesn’t make the facts go away. I say again that your comments above prove that you are a complete ignoramus regarding the military powers, authority and responsibilities of the Commander in Chief.