Establishment aligns behind Trump, demonizes Cruz

So we're supposed to believe Cruz is establishment and Trump is the savior of the Republican Party, right? So how then do you square the KING of establishment appeasement, disgraced former Speaker Johnny Boy Boehner, not only completely embracing Trump, but viciously demonizing Cruz in doing so? I guess they've all evolved...or rather devolved.

StanfordDaily: Segueing into the topic, Kennedy asked Boehner to be frank given that the event was not being broadcasted, and the former Speaker responded in kind. When specifically asked his opinions on Ted Cruz, Boehner made a face, drawing laughter from the crowd.

“Lucifer in the flesh,” the former Speaker said. “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”

Boehner described other Republican candidates as friends. In particular, he said he has played golf with Donald Trump for years and that they were “texting buddies.”

Hmm, I recall Boehner golfing with Kasich and Obama as well.

Related link: AWESOME: John Boehner basically just endorsed Ted Cruz

Bosom buddy and fellow establishment POS Petey King joined in the hatefest...

Examiner: Rep. Peter King said Thursday that he agrees with former House Speaker John Boehner's shocking assessment that Ted Cruz is "Lucifer in the flesh."

"I fully agree with John Boehner. Maybe it gives Lucifer a bad name by comparing him to Ted Cruz," King said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Thursday afternoon.

Cruz's response was EPIC!

TRS: The Teddinator has responded to John Boehner’s absurd comments insulting Cruz by calling him out on lying about “working” with him and reiterating his feud against the GOP establishment.

Boehner, who appears drunk 95% of the time, said that Cruz was a “miserable son of a bitch” and “lucifer in the flesh.” This amounts to an endorsement of Cruz in a year where the voters have made it clear that they are absolutely fed up with the ineptitude of morons like Boehner who have made so many promises and failed to fulfill them.

But it was fellow statesman Sen. Mike Lee who EPICALLY UNLOADED...

TRS: Mike Lee was in rare form as he responded to John Boehner on the Mark Levin Show tonight, ripping him for the insults he leveled at Ted Cruz today. Lee pointed out that Boehner never speaks this way about anyone else, noting that he’s heaped praise on Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. But for Cruz he calls him the devil!

On Thursday’s Mark Levin show, John Boehner, the quintessential big government Republican, made vile comments about Ted Cruz. His comments reveal all that is wrong with Washington DC and the establishment. Sen. Mike Lee calls in and said the fact that Boehner said this is appalling and he called on Boehner to apologize. Lee explained that what Boehner said should be a wake-up call for Americans and it shows the Republican Establishment’s true colors.

Indeed. So are you awake yet, Republican electorate, or sucked too deep into the Apprentice? Or more directly on the heels of a make-it-or-break-it moment in the Indiana primary: Will the Republican electorate focus and remove the rose-colored glasses, or be fooled yet again?

Related links: EXCLUSIVE!! TED CRUZ statement SHOOTS DOWN Boehner claim calling him a LIAR!
Ted Cruz says Boehner is LYING, destroys ‘Trumpkin’ talking points with Megyn Kelly! [FULL INTERVIEW]

A Clear, Principled Choice: the Cruz/Fiorina ticket

Cruz provides a clearer choice today...

CR: Senator and GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz hopes that his choice of Carly Fiorina as his running mate will provide voters with a “clear choice” for both the Republican Primary and general election.

“Elections are about choices,” stated Cruz as he announced the former Hewlett Packard CEO and presidential candidate would be running as vice president along side him, should he clench the Republican Nomination this Summer in Cleveland. “The Republican party is faced with a choice today; the American people deserve a real choice in November.”

“This fight is about far more than a ticket. This is about more than Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina,” said the newly-appointed running mate. “This fight is about all of us.”

It was also a choice that stands opposed to candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump “Two big government, New York liberals and Washington insiders.”

Cruz referred to Fiorina as an “extraordinary leader,” adding that she had the “knowledge,” “judgement,” and “honesty” necessary to hold the office of Vice President.

The announcement comes on the heels of rival candidate Donald Trump’s sweep of five northeast states on Tuesday night and widely criticized foreign policy address the following afternoon. A full morning’s worth of insider speculation was confirmed by unnamed campaign advisors early Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday’s Mark Levin show, Carly Fiorina calls in for her first radio interview after being named as Ted Cruz’s VP pick. She discussed her candidacy, the path forward for the Cruz campaign, the role of outsiders this year, and how Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin. Also, Donald Trump is not the presumptive nominee. If Trump doesn’t get to 1,237 he will be in big trouble and will most likely lose on the 2nd ballot at the Republican convention. In addition, getting over 50% is an achievement for a candidate who is running in the primaries. Reagan had over 70% of the vote in April and by June he had 80%. Trump doesn’t have the numbers that Reagan had when he was running. If Trump has a majority of people supporting him in the Republican primary, shouldn’t he have a bigger percentage of the popular vote? Later, if you could prosecute Trump for being a liberal, he would get a life sentence. Trump has filled his staff in south Florida with mostly foreign workers at his club Mar-a-Lago. He was using and abusing the H-2B visa system as much as he could. Finally, Andrew McCarthy former, U.S. Attorney in New York, calls in to talk about Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech.

Trump is nowhere near the ‘presumptive nominee’, so Dear @TedCruz: Fight to the end!

As for the Republican electorate: Be different. Be principled. Our future depends on it.

#CruzCarly2016

Related links: Cruz-Fiorina 2016
Top 6 Reasons Carly Fiorina is a Good Pick for Ted Cruz
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz on the Constitution

Cruz explains why Media is in the tank for Trump

Ever wonder why the media is in the tank for Trump? Well, reasonable, principled conservatives know, but for all other potential Republican voters, Cruz helped us understand in Knightstown, Indiana yesterday, fiercely hitting back at the media narrative that everything is now decided...

"You don't have to look any further than [yesterday's] USAToday front page. '40% of GOP doubt they'd vote for Trump' 40 percent. Now I want you to think for a second, the netword executives, are they Democrats or are the Republicans? Every one of them are ready for Hillary. And Donald Trump is the one man on earth Hillary Clinton can beat in a general election. And so the media has told us the candidates in this race, the Republican and Democrat, they're both gonna be New York liberals."

Cruz proceeded to point out that the campaign now shifts to more favorable states for him like Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, Washington and California.

He was also spot on with his announcement...

"Hillary Clinton has decided on her Vice Presidential nominee. Hillary has picked Donald Trump!"

Sharing healthcare, education and housing as 'top functions' of the federal government as Democrats see it says so much about where Trump's policy and principle lie.

"Donald and Hillary, they are flip sides of the same coin."

(H/t: TRS)

Related link: Poll shows Hillary Clinton beating Donald Trump, but losing to Ted Cruz, John Kasich

Yes We Will! Cruz on uniting the party and restoring America

No shocker that Trump and Hillary collectively won on home turf. If only the constituency of the Republican Party could come together and UNITE behind an articulate, conservative, principled leader to help pull us out of our 21st century mire. There's still time with one candidate...

"God bless New York and God bless the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
I am so excited to share with you what America has learned over the past few months.
And it has nothing to do with a politician tonight winning his home state.
It has everything to do with what we’ve seen in the towns and faces that have been weathered with trouble, joblessness, and fear. It is what we learned looking at the factories that have been shuttered and the hearts that are closing.
We have learned that America is at a point of choosing.
The media will say it is about choosing a president.
But it really isn’t.
Our real choice is personal, and every generation must make the same choice.
Will we continue to live in the past with what we know no longer works, or will we move forward to a new and better place?
The people in state after state have made it clear. They cry out for a new path."

On Tuesday evening, Ted Cruz gave a riveting speech in Philadelphia on uniting the party and restoring America, expressing that we are at a point of choosing, but first we must unite together, and though we don’t always agree on everything, we must focus on what we do have in common, which is our dissatisfaction with the direction of the country.

"This generation must first look inward to see who we really are, after years of being beaten down.
Years of being told we couldn’t, shouldn’t, or wouldn’t.
This generation needs to answer a new set of questions.
Can we? Should we? Will we?
Are we still those people?
Those dreamers and doers?
Are America’s greatest generations in our past?
Or are our best days yet ahead?
We must unite the Republican Party because doing so is the first step toward uniting all Americans.

The question is not whether all Americans can or will agree on a majority of issues all of the time.
The question is whether a majority of Americans are hungry to rally around a set of principles larger than any single issue that a politician may use to divide us."

Cruz said that once we’ve united, we can reclaim the vision of John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, and yes, even that 'hope' that Obama promised and failed to deliver upon in his 2008 motto of ‘Yes We Can’, proclaiming that now is the time to say ‘Yes We Will’.

"Our sitting president ran on a slogan that should have been a great first step…
It promised us, “yes we can.”
Now is the time to take that slogan and put it into action.
“Yes we can” was a recognition of the hope that we can and should recover. The problem was that Barack Obama’s prescriptions only led to more elitist control from Washington. Less freedom for the People.
But now is the time, as Americans, to once again reclaim that hope.
To take another giant leap for mankind.
To speak the words with all the power and might that we can muster and use the words that have changed the world time and again:
The words that the slaves yearned to hear from the American people and Abraham Lincoln when they cried out for freedom.
The words, that Europe and Britain heard when they cried out for help defeating totalitarian evil in the 1940’s.
The words that led two men in North Carolina to be the first in flight.
And half a century later the first man to reach the moon.
And decades later, two men in their garage to come up with Apple.
They are the words that will repair our tattered spirit, lift up our economy and those who are barely making it, they are the words that will vanquish the evil of ISIS. and return the rule of law.
They are the words that when Americans come together and say with conviction – they change the world.
They are the vision of this campaign:
Not yes we can, but now: Yes we will.
We will restore our spirit;
We will free our minds and imagination;
We will create a new and better world;
We will bring back jobs, freedom, and security;
We will find new ways to ignite an energy revolution with more jobs and greater choices;
We will defeat the evil of Islamists and ISIS;
We will live as neighbors, friends, and family in peace once again;
We will heal the sick, feed the poor, and defend the defenseless;
We will restore our rightful place in the world.
We will do what Americans do best.
We will live for others – we will change the world through the hope of freedom’s enduring promise and our unrelenting spirit.
You can be empowered, and in a digital age it is all the easier for your voice to be heard. Your choices to govern your work, your education, your future. If only Washington will get out of the way.
Join me now on this journey of less talk and more action, real solutions, because I know you. You may have been knocked down, but America has always been best when she is lying down with her back on the mat and the crowd has given the final count. It is time for us as a nation to get up, shake it off and be who we were destined to be.
Don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.
Here is the truth: You don’t need me or any politician.
But we do need each other, all of us, coming together as one, as We the People, because not only do we say – yes WE can, beginning here and now we pledge to each and every one of us, yes we will.
And now my friends, onward to victory."

Now is the time, America. Choose unwisely and lose it all to Hillary and the Democrats: the Presidency, the Senate, the House, the Judiciary. Or #ChooseCruz and begin anew in unity and restoration.

It's up to you.

(H/t: TRS)

SCOTUS appears split over Obama's lawless executive amnesty

"It's as if the president is setting the policy and the Congress is executing it. That's just upside down." ~ Justice Anthony Kennedy

As if? PRECISELY! Oh, how Justice Scalia is missed...

Oral arguments began today on the fate of American sovereignty vs imperial presidency...

NewsMax: The U.S. Supreme Court appeared closely divided on Monday as it weighed whether to revive President Barack Obama's plan to spare from deportation roughly 4 million immigrants in the country illegally, raising the possibility of a 4-4 deadlock that would block the program.

Based on questions asked during the 90-minute oral argument in a case that tests the limits of presidential powers, the court's four liberal justices seemed poised to back Obama while the four conservatives were more skeptical.

The court is evenly divided with four liberals and four conservatives following the February death of conservative Antonin Scalia. That raises the possibility of a 4-4 split that would leave in place a 2015 lower-court ruling that threw out the president's executive action that bypassed the Republican-led Congress.

And it's time for the SCOTUS to backup the lower court ruling and DEMAND the executive enforce law, not create fiat.

Related link: U.S. top court appears unlikely to revive Obama immigration plan

As Josh Hammer eloquently describes, this is about Texas defending U.S. Sovereignty on behalf of the states versus Obama ripping apart separations of powers, federalism and once again attempting to neuter the Constitution...

TheResurgent: U.S. Supreme Court oral argument took place today in the high-stakes U.S. v. Texas case. The case is about the scope of the President’s “prosecutorial discretion” power to confer de facto lawful status and sundry government benefits upon roughly one-third of all illegal aliens presently in the country. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled last year that the program — officially known as DAPA, and frequently referred to as Obama’s executive amnesty — violated the Administrative Procedure Act, and affirmed the trial court’s preliminary injunction. Upon deciding to hear the case, the U.S. Supreme Court added the intriguing constitutional question of whether the executive amnesty additionally amounts to a violation of Article II’s Take Care Clause — that is, the duty that the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

When DAPA was pronounced seventeen months ago, I argued that the program wildly abused any preexisting norms of “prosecutorial discretion,” and specifically urged House Republicans to — at minimum — publicly ponder filing formal articles of impeachment. For law buff readers, I’d highly recommend reading this amicus brief on the Take Care Clause inquiry, filed by my friends Josh Blackman of South Texas College of Law and Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute.

The stakes in this case are, frankly, enormous. Barack Obama repeatedly denied he had the authority to do what he did here, pretty much right up until the November 2014 unilateral decree. That it is even a live question as to whether or not the President possesses this power speaks volumes as to just how imperial — and, indeed, lawless — the Executive Branch has become under Obama. The President has historically enjoyed far greater discretion in the realm of foreign affairs — where “secrecy” and “dispatch” are most acutely needed, as Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist No. 70 — but it is much more intuitive and natural to think of immigration as being more inherently domestic in nature. And the Supreme Court has long recognized congressional plenary power over immigration, consistent with Congress’s Article I § 8 prerogative to “establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.”

Quite simply put, if the Court upholds DAPA, the Take Care Clause will be rendered a superfluous nullity, and future Presidents will have nearly limitless discretion to stretch and abuse “prosecutorial discretion” to choose which laws to enforce and not enforce according to their idiosyncratic whims. Such unfettered discretion would, for instance, directly abet unprecedented politicization of the IRS. And regarding DAPA, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are both on record as supporting an increase in the mass amnesty’s breadth. When you have a “pen” and a “phone” — not to mention a politically powerful and eager open-borders lobby — who needs Congress? ...

Conservatives should keep an eye on this case. In a term filled with many blockbuster cases, U.S. v. Texas might just be the most important of them all. Justice Scalia’s death looms large over the proceeding, and a 4-4 split is a distinct possibility. Given the Fifth Circuit’s affirmation of the district court’s preliminary injunction, such a split would not be the end of the world.

It'd be a saving Grace in the absence of Antonin.

Related link: full transcript of the oral argument

Tax Day...and 45% of Americans pay no federal income tax

Fair share? Hardly. Today is Tax Day, so this is the perfect opportunity to show how the statists conquer a society through the creation of a welfare state that doesn't give a damn...

MarketWatch: Many Americans don’t have to worry about giving Uncle Sam part of their hard-earned cash for their income taxes this year.

An estimated 45.3% of American households — roughly 77.5 million — will pay no federal individual income tax, according to data for the 2015 tax year from the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan Washington-based research group. (Note that this does not necessarily mean they won’t owe their states income tax.)

Roughly half pay no federal income tax because they have no taxable income, and the other roughly half get enough tax breaks to erase their tax liability, explains Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

Despite the fact that rich people paying little in the way of income taxes makes plenty of headlines, this is the exception to the rule: The top 1% of taxpayers pay a higher effective income-tax rate than any other group (around 23%, according to a report released by the Tax Policy Center in 2014) — nearly seven times higher than those in the bottom 50%.

On average, those in the bottom 40% of the income spectrum end up getting money from the government. Meanwhile, the richest 20% of Americans, by far, pay the most in income taxes, forking over nearly 87% of all the income tax collected by Uncle Sam.

Tax the rich? Sounds kinda like we already are. Maybe, just maybe, we've got an out-of-control government promoting the out-of-control governed? And by the looks of it, the middle class is being ripped apart between the makers and the takers: those who make more are taxed more; those who make less are given more all at the bequest of an all-powerful, centralized Leviathan...but don't dare call their progressivism by the 'S' word.

Related links: 45 Percent of Americans Won't Pay Federal Income Tax
57% of Americans Say Their Income Taxes Are Too High. Only 55.5% Pay Income Tax. What?
Bernie Sanders Took $60,200 in Tax Deductions!
THE SIMPLE FLAT TAX PLAN SUMMARY

Wyoming sweep! Cruz clenches all of state's delegates

It's official: Cruz clenches Wyoming in the delegate count!

It's a Ted Cruz sweep in Wyoming https://t.co/c4yxu7mZ0u https://t.co/mncKr5yrI5

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 16, 2016

TRS: Trump abandoned the effort here a long time ago, calling all those voters a “waste” of his time and money.

In fact, he didn’t even speak at the Wyoming Republican convention this morning, which Ted Cruz ROCKED!!!

And for those keeping tally...

#ChooseCRUZ

So easy, a 12 year old gets it...

Another young patriot steps forward to present logic and reason...to his parent's generation!

"Conservatives are angry. They are angry at the establishment and they are angry about untrustworthy politicians who didn’t do what they promised. Some believe the answer to this problem is Donald Trump. I, on the other hand, beg to differ.

We have a choice between two very different candidates. We have Donald Trump, a businessman who has used that title as a lifetime excuse to give money to democrats, including Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. There is not a Republican bone in his body, let alone a conservative one. This man’s ugly personal attacks on fellow Republicans shows very low character, and also breaks Ronald Reagan’s eleventh commandment- Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican. Then, we have Ted Cruz. Ted has proven to be a constitutional conservative; he has done exactly what he has promised to do as Senator. He is even one of only four Senators with an “A” Liberty Score, with an astounding 97% grade. Cruz has proven again and again that he will fight for us. If you’re a conservative, Cruz should really be an easy choice.

The problem is that people are so angry they don’t even care anymore about electing someone who represents their interests and values. They just want change. Trump supporters don’t see the striking resemblance of Trump’s campaign to Barack Obama’s - hope and change. Americans were angry with George W. Bush; they felt as if he let them down, including conservatives who felt he spent too much money. They elected Barack Obama, and look where that got us. We have no idea what Donald Trump would do as president of the United States of America.

This could possibly be the biggest decision of our lives. This is from a twelve year old who can’t even vote yet - please, I beg you, elect someone who will stand for us. Someone who will consistently fight for us and our beliefs. The candidate we choose must be someone who can unite our party, not the democratic party. All of us- Republicans, Conservatives, Libertarians- we all need to rally behind the candidate who can win the White House, and take back America."

America, are you listening?

Related link: 12 year old explains why she supports Ted Cruz

Nebraska: Another missed opportunity for Trump is another gain for Cruz

On Thursday’s Mark Levin show, The Republican primary system is not set up to stop Donald Trump. If anything the system helps him as he has 37% of the popular vote in the primary but has 45% of the delegates. If we are going to play by Trump’s rules then he should return 8% of his delegates to make the process fair. Also, it is going to be very difficult to unite the party around a man, Trump, who threatens to bolt if he doesn’t get his way. This will only give the election to Hillary Clinton. If Hillary becomes President, we will have no one to thank but Trump and the pseudo-conservatives who are abandoning their principles to support his antics. Later, Ted Cruz has out organized Donald Trump in Nebraska in collecting delegates. Nobody from the Trump campaign showed up for Nebraska. The fact is the Trump team has gotten its clock cleaned when it comes to getting a hold of delegates. He needs to clean up and organize his operation if he wants to cross the finish line.

Return the 8%, Donald! Great point from Mark. But moving on, it looks like Trump is failing in Nebraska similar to how he failed in Colorado...so prepare for more 'liar-cheat-system-is-rigged' antics from Trump and his sycophants...

TRS: It looks like Cruz is going to win the winner-take-all state of Nebraska and all 36 of its delegates in May when they hold their primary. And that’s great news!

But that’s not what this article is about. Rather, it points out that Trump is missing a great opportunity to hit back at Cruz in Nebraska like he’s been getting hit in Louisiana, South Carolina, and elsewhere.

Just as Cruz has been converting Trump delegates into Cruz delegates for the 2nd round of voting at the convention, Trump could be doing the very same thing in Nebraska as they are now electing their delegates to go to the convention.

But just like in Colorado, Trump has no ground game there and thus all the delegates are going to be Cruz supporters:

Politico: Another week gone, another opportunity lost for Donald Trump to pick up Republican National Convention delegates.

Nebraska is tailormade for Ted Cruz, and when the state holds its winner-take-all primary on May 10, party leaders say Trump is an all-but certain loser.

Facing those dim prospects, Trump’s best hope in the state might have been to get a few of his supporters on the list of people who will fill those delegate slots — supporters who, in later rounds of voting at a contested convention, would be inclined to abandon Cruz and help Trump.

But that’s where the billionaire appears to have missed his chance: Party officials say they saw virtually no organization by the mogul’s campaign last week when Republicans in all 93 Nebraska counties held local conventions. Those county conventions picked 800 delegates to May’s Nebraska state convention, where 33 delegates to the national convention in Cleveland will be selected.

Because there was little resistance, many county conventions became Cruz pep rallies, according to interviews with party insiders and convention attendees.

“I didn’t see any Trump supporters,” said John Orr, chairman of the Washington County Republican Party. Party leaders, who attended dozens of the conventions around the state, reported similar voids.

It could have been the reverse of a phenomenon that has plagued Trump for weeks. Cruz allies have repeatedly parachuted into states where Trump won primaries — South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee — and helped turn the mogul’s edge into a likely delegate deficit. That could put Trump at a steep disadvantage should he fail to acquire the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination without a contested convention in July.

In Nebraska, where Trump had a chance to return the favor, he didn’t.

If Trump is this bad at campaigning now, he’s going to get massacred in the general election by Hillary if he’s the nominee. Let’s pray it doesn’t even come to that.

Spare us, good Lord ...and deliver the righteous leader. #ChooseCRUZ

Related links: Trump’s Right That The GOP Primary Is Unfair — It Favors Him
Ted Cruz Picks Up Nebraska Delegates over No Show Donald Trump

Rubio encourages delegates to #ChooseCRUZ at the convention

In case you've been wondering which way Rubio's delegates might sway, here's where the Florida Senator is encouraging them to go! This came in Rubio's first interview since dropping out of the presidential race on LevinTV last night...

CR: When Levin asked Rubio who he would be supporting for the corner office, Rubio said that his delegates are bound on the first ballot. He added that on subsequent ballots, "I hope that they'll nominate a conservative." Rubio added, "the only one[presidential candidate] that fits that criteria is Ted Cruz."

Recently Rubio made it clear to state Republican parties that he has not withdrawn from the race completely. He did that in order to ensure that every one of his delegates was bound to him on the first ballot of an open convention. Most state GOP officials have complied with his wishes.

[Last] night was the first time that Rubio has made it clear that he would support Cruz on a second ballot, of all the candidates remaining.

So now Cruz has to continue his ground game of gathering delegates, while winning more states, to hold Trump from attaining that magic number. Still a tall task ahead of us, conservatives, but it can be done. #ChooseCRUZ

TheHayride: Rubio has hinted at a Cruz endorsement for a while, but hasn’t quite gone there yet. Even this isn’t what you’d call an official endorsement – he can’t really make one if he’s going to hold his delegates. This is as explicit as you’ll get until the convention.

Is it a big deal? It’s a pretty big deal. It shows that little by little, Cruz is stitching together the disparate elements of the Republican coalition. ...

That it happens only a few hours after Donald Trump mentioned that he likes Rubio as a potential vice-presidential pick adds a little flavor and irony to the proceedings.

You can bank on another Trumpertantrum over this one too.

Related links: Did Marco Rubio Just Endorse Ted Cruz?
VIDEO ADDED — Marco Rubio hopes his delegates choose CRUZ at the convention

ADDENDUM: By Levin's calculations, Rubio's attempt is to further prevent a Trump lurch on the first ballot at the convention, while encouraging them to head towards Cruz on the second...

On Wednesday’s Mark Levin show, On LevinTV Marco Rubio said he wants the Republican presidential nominee to be a conservative and that Cruz is the only one who fits that criteria, but fell short of a formal endorsement. Since then the media has questioned Rubio’s rhetoric, wondering why the he didn’t just outright endorse him. Rubio’s sort-of endorsement was for a distinct purpose. He wants to make sure his delegates are bound to him on the first ballot at the convention, so that they can’t support whomever they wish. If Rubio formally endorsed somebody it would appear that his delegates were free.

Related links: What's going to happen to Marco Rubio's delegates?
Cruz, Rubio join forces in Arkansas to block Trump delegates
Here's The Next State Where Cruz Is About To Outplay Trump

Total SHUTOUT: Cruz SWEEPS Colorado delegates!

Another VICTORY weekend for Ted Cruz!

TheHill: Ted Cruz has swept the Colorado GOP convention, winning all 13 of the state’s at large delegates.

And after also winning all 21 delegates awarded at the congressional district conventions throughout the week, Cruz leaves Colorado with a complete shutout of his opponents. In a statement Saturday night, Cruz said that the win proves that Republicans are coming together behind him.

“Today was another resounding victory for conservatives, Republicans, and Americans who care about the future of our country,” Cruz said in the statement. “Utah, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and tonight’s incredible results in Colorado have proven this: Republicans are uniting behind our campaign because they want a leader with real solutions who will bring back jobs, freedom, and security.”

Thank you Colorado for another resounding victory! https://t.co/PXWWcifJKK #ChooseCruz #CruzCrew pic.twitter.com/zhMVq5QpeH

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 10, 2016

TheRightScoop points out that this is victory comes after reports that the Trump campaign had no clue of their problems on the ground, and they even accidentally lead Trump voters to support Cruz nominations because they were so disorganized.

The media will make a huge deal out of New York when Trump wins it but they’re completely ignoring how Cruz has been slowly and steadily out-maneuvering the Donald.

Related links: How New York’s Voter Registration Law Is Going To Screw Donald Trump
Again?! Team CRUZ is out-organizing Trump in IOWA and gobbling up delegates!!
There’s a YUGE PROBLEM with Fox News’ poll showing Trump way ahead in Pennsylvania
Here’s how Trump might get SHUT OUT of the California primary!!

Turning Point: Cruz WINS BIG in Wisconsin!

In a mere 12 days, Wisconsin has gone from a Trump+5 state to a Cruz+15 victory!

TheResurgent: In a resounding win, across all demographics, educational backgrounds, among men and (especially) women, Cruz crushed all opposition. He crushed Donald Trump.

"Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry.

We had a choice. A real choice.

In Utah we won 69% of the vote, a landslide election.

And now tonight, here in Wisconsin…three weeks ago the media said Wisconsin was a “perfect state” for Donald Trump.

Four very different states: Utah, Colorado, North Dakota, Wisconsin"

Cruz beat Trump in a blue-collar, industrial state–Trump’s wheelhouse. Yet in the speech, he focused on Hillary Clinton...

"Either before Cleveland or at the convention, we will earn a majority of the delegates and we will beat Hillary Clinton in November.

We are winning because we are uniting the Republican Party.

We’ve got the full spectrum of the Republican Party coming together and uniting behind this campaign."

And separating himself from the negative campaigning, Cruz quoted JFK. “We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light a candle that can guide us through the darkness to a safe and sure future.”

Cruz has placed his marker down, and this is truly the turning point of this long, wearying race.

Related links: Ted Cruz Wins Wisconsin
BOOM: Ted Cruz Wins Wisconsin
Ted Cruz a strong win in Wisconsin
Trump faces new headaches in behind-scenes battle for delegates
Club for Growth: 'The Beginning of the End for Trump'
Trump Whines and Whines Until He Loses
Cruz Picks Up Big NY Endorsement as Momentum Continues

LIFE: Getting our 'First Right' right

Neither Donald nor Hillary (nor Bernie) can get it right on our First Right: LIFE!

Trump doesn’t have a damn clue what he really believes.

TRS: He had earlier gotten so confused about answering very simple questions about abortion that he stupidly said that he would leave it the way it was because “the laws are set,” as if abortion laws are like concrete or something that matures into perfection, but everything else, like the Geneva Conventions, are up for grabs. Idiot.

Related link: Trump flip flops on abortion ahead of Wisconsin primary

TRS: Hillary tried for her own Trump moment on abortion this morning when she gave both the pro-life and the anti-life movements enough ammunition to take aim at her statement.

First she haphazardly affirms that an unborn child is a “person,” which is a very important philosophical point, but then she affirms that it has no constitutional rights. The pro-abortion crowd will freak out that she called it a person, and the prolife crowd definitely has problems with her saying it has no constitutional protections. And there’s a real problem here – if this kind of person has no Constitutional rights, does that mean other kinds of persons don’t either? Hmmmmm….

Related link: Bernie Sanders Agrees With Hillary Clinton: No Constitutional Rights for Unborn Children

There's only ONE who has and will continue to get this first fundamental right right...

NRTLNews: Meeting in Arlington, Virginia, the National Right to Life Board of Directors Saturday voted to support Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the upcoming Republican presidential primaries, which begin tomorrow in Wisconsin.

In the week preceding the Board’s vote, Donald Trump first said on Wednesday that were abortion illegal he would “punish” women who had aborted. He said later the same day he wouldn’t punish these women.

Then, on Friday in a clip from an interview with “Face the Nation” moderator John Dickerson that would air Sunday, Trump said, “The laws are set now on abortion and that’s the way they’re going to remain until they’re changed,” adding, “At this moment, the laws are set and I think we have to leave it that way.”

Then, on Friday, after the clip aired, the Trump campaign issued another statement:

“Mr. Trump gave an accurate account of the law as it is today and made clear it must stay that way now — until he is president,” it read. “Then he will change the law through his judicial appointments and allow the states to protect the unborn. There is nothing new or different here.”

As reported in NRL News Today, Mr. Trump has said Planned Parenthood does “some good work” but would defund it.

An average of seven recent national political polls shows that Mr. Trump trails Hillary Clinton by 11.2%. In those same seven polls, Sen. Cruz trails Mrs. Clinton by an average of 3%.

National Right to Life believes Sen. Cruz is the only candidate for president who has always been pro-life, who has a 100% pro-life voting record with National Right to Life, who can win the Republican nomination, and who can defeat pro-abortion Hillary Clinton in November.

It's too precious to continue getting wrong, America.

Rising polls, pledged delegates mark Cruz weekend WIN!

'GREAT!' easily describes Ted Cruz's weekend.

With polls rising in favor of the only constitutional conservative in this race, particularly in Wisconsin, but elsewhere...

ANOTHER poll has TED CRUZ TROUNCING TRUMP in Wisconsin!!
Ted Cruz OBLITERATES Trump in Pennsylvania ‘Leadership Conference’ Straw Poll!!
CRUZ BEATS Trump by 5% in Wisconsin according to new CBS poll!!

...and with a contested convention on the horizon, the pledged delegates tell yet another story as Cruz collects more over the weekend, while Trump falters in Tennesee and the overall ground game...

CR: First Ballot binding and actual support from delegates are two completely different things. Donald Trump recently learned that the hard way in Louisiana, where Cruz added to his delegate totals. This weekend, more of the same played out as Cruz won a bevy of his supporters as actual delegates to the Cleveland convention on both the first ballot, and as bound votes for other candidates. This is while Trump faced roadblocks in Tennessee.

COLORADO

Cruz won first ballot delegates in Colorado this weekend. Two of Colorado’s seven congressional districts held their conventions yesterday. Cruz won the six delegates from those conventions, who pledged to the senator prior to the elections. There are five more district caucuses and the state convention left to go.

The precinct caucuses that selected delegate to each County Assembly was March 1, 2016. The County Assemblies met between March 1st and March 26th to select delegates to the district and state conventions. Cruz’s early strategy in those states has led to this early result. It is too late for Trump and Kasich to correct course. Nineteen delegates are needed for a majority in the Colorado delegation.

NORTH CAROLINA

In North Carolina, Donald Trump won 30 bound delegates at the primary, and Ted Cruz won 27. That is for the first ballot, where delegates are officially bound. District Conventions were held in four of the state’s thirteen congressional districts last weekend. A grassroots activist in North Carolina provided Conservative Review with the results of those districts. Nine of the 12 delegates elected yesterday are definitely Cruz supporters and have worked to elect Cruz for a significant period of time. Two others identified themselves as Cruz supporters at the convention so that 11 of the 12 are Cruz supporters. The State Party appoints 30 of the 72 delegates in North Carolina. Three additional delegates are the party chairman and the two National Committee members. The party chairman is a grassroots conservative, who is facing ouster. It is therefore important, for the rules committee, that Cruz supporters win 37 of the 39 remaining delegates to control who is on the rules committee from North Carolina.

TENNESSEE

Donald Trump faced a delegate setback in Tennessee this weekend as the State Party elected delegates that were not approved by the Trump Campaign. Politico reported:

Trump’s backers maintain Haynes engineered the removal of several Trump supporters from a list of at-large Tennessee delegates and replaced with Republicans likely to support Trump’s rivals at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland -- if the nomination fight takes more than two ballots to resolve. Tennessee's delegates to the convention are bound to the results of the state primary -- which Trump won -- for the first two ballots. Haynes rejected claims he had done anything improper and insisted there had been no agreement with the Trump campaign on an initial list of delegates. Rather, he noted, Tennessee's GOP rules give the party the ultimate authority to name delegates, and any guidance from the campaigns is purely advisory.

As the Tennessee delegation is bound for two ballots, this is more about the rules committee than actual delegates.

NORTH DAKOTA

The North Dakota GOP is meeting in convention today to pick their delegates to the National Convention. The delegates are officially unbound but the Cruz campaign announced who is supporting them. Here is the list.

NorthDakota delegates.I ask you to vote for the following people to represent us at the national convention #NDGOP16 pic.twitter.com/N8sLwDePuN

— Erik (@EStenehjem) April 3, 2016

UPDATE on North Dakota: Delegates went with CRUZ!

Politico: Ted Cruz’s preferred candidates won the vast majority of convention delegates available in North Dakota over the weekend, taking 18 of 25 slots in the state in another show of organizational strength over Donald Trump.

It’s still not clear how loyal all of Cruz’s slate will be if the Republican nomination heads to a contested convention in Cleveland, as several included on it told POLITICO they were only leaning toward Cruz, or simply opposed to Trump.

But the result was bad news for Trump, who may need unbound delegates like those in North Dakota to lift him above the 1,237 delegate threshold to secure the GOP nomination this summer on the initial ballot. Only one of the 25 delegates selected Sunday has publicly signaled he might back Trump.

“This is a catastrophic outcome for the Trump campaign in North Dakota,” said Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Cruz. “Just when you thought the Donald’s horrible, very bad, no good week couldn’t get any worse, it just did.”

The North Dakota delegation has been heavily sought after because they are free agents from the first ballot in Cleveland, able to support Cruz, Trump or John Kasich. State rules do not, however, require to name the candidate they support before being elected — leaving their votes in question up until the convention in July.

My informal breakdown:

20 Cruz/NeverTrump
2 Gov/First Lady
2 Unknown
1 Trump/Kasich/highest bidder#NDGOP16

— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) April 3, 2016

Mr. Brilliant Businessman out-organized by well-oiled Team Cruz once again!

Related links: Cruz wins all of Colorado delegates from Saturday’s two congressional conventions
Ted Cruz SHUTS OUT Trump in Colorado, WINS first SIX delegates!!
The officially unofficial North Dakota GOP delegate (Boom, baby!) count.
Ted Cruz claims victory in North Dakota party convention
TED CRUZ HUMILIATES TRUMP in North Dakota delegate pickup – team Trump declares victory!
Trump backers cry foul as Tennessee GOP picks convention delegates

Next in the Cruz camp's crosshairs: ARIZONA!

DCExaminer: Sen. Ted Cruz is out-hustling Donald Trump and looks set to ensure many Arizona delegates will defect to him in a convention floor fight.

The Texas senator, who ever since Iowa has played a stealthy ground game in contrast to Trump’s chaotic populism, is taking steps to snatch the Republican presidential nomination from The Donald at the convention in July.

The New York businessman easily won last month’s Arizona primary taking 47 percent to Cruz’s 25 percent, scooping up all 58 of the state’s delegates. That’s nearly 5 percent of the 1,237 Trump needs for the nomination, and they’re tied are to him on the first ballot.

But Cruz, exploiting deep opposition to Trump among grassroots Republicans, has been far more active in Arizona than Trump, insiders say. He’s recruiting candidates for the available 55 delegate slots, that along with the other three delegate positions filled by party leaders, would be allowed to vote for him in a multi-ballot contested convention.

“Cruz, out of all the campaigns, has the most folks on the ground and has been the most organized,” Michael Noble, a Republican consultant in Arizona who is neutral, told the Washington Examiner on Friday.

“Trump has no real organization in Arizona,” added GOP strategist Sean Noble (no relation) in an email exchange. “Cruz will get most/all Arizona delegates on second ballot.”

Grassroot boots on the ground will get us there, folks. #ChooseCruz!

Related links: Here’s what Ted Cruz needs to do to DENY Trump 1,237 delegates for the nomination
WATCH: RNC releases NEW VIDEO explaining a Contested Convention
Ted Cruz explains why RNC Chair is WRONG about 2012 rules not applying to 2016 convention
The man behind the secret to Ted Cruz's ground game
There Is No Such Thing As "Stealing" Delegates