Perry and Trump have been engaged in a weeks-long war of words. Trump has taken swipes at Perry and other Republican candidates on the issues of immigration and border security, and Perry has fired back that Trump doesn’t understand what he is talking about, and that he is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief after attacking Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) service record last weekend.
After Trump referred to illegal immigrants from Mexico as “rapists” in his campaign announcement speech, Perry said that Trump’s remarks “did not reflect the Republican Party.” Trump fired back by attacking Perry’s record on border security, and Perry posted a YouTube video inviting Trump to “take a trip down to Texas sometime.” Trump is reportedly going to do just that, with a visit scheduled on Thursday to Laredo, as Breitbart Texas reported.
As Breitbart News reported, López-Cantera is Florida’s first Hispanic Lieutenant Governor and previously served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2004 until term limited out in 2012. During his time in the Legislature, he was Majority Whip and then Majority Leader. In 2012, he was elected Property Appraiser of Miami-Dade County.
That would be Charlie Crist, the former Florida Governor who used to be a Republican, then bailed on the party to run as an independent after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) surged to a double-digit lead in the 2010 Senate primary. Crist’s name has become a shorthand insult whenever someone wishes to challenge a candidate’s conservative credentials, and when Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) jumped into the Florida Senate race on Monday, the Club for Growth had thrown the Crist name at him within a few hours.
On Friday evening, former Hewlett-Packard CEO and GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina delivered a speech to the members of Peace Through Business — an international training and leadership program for women — at the George W. Bush Library in Dallas, Texas.
Some of the harshest criticisms came, unsurprisingly, from the leading Republicans who have served in the military, former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Perry’s sharp words come after Trump attacked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), saying that McCain was not a war hero and was only regarded as such because he had been captured and held as a prisoner of war. Trump, who has been trading insults with McCain for the past few days, continued his critical remarks about the Senator. When moderator Frank Luntz commented that McCain was a war hero, Trump, according to a report by Politico, responded, “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) had some sharp words for his fellow Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, slamming the New Yorker’s “fundamental misunderstanding of border security” and saying that Trump was not offering conservatism to primary voters, but instead “Trump-ism — a toxic mix of demagoguery and nonsense.”
Breitbart News previously reported that Rubio’s campaign had raised more than $12 million. The final figures, as reported by Politico, are $12,942,732.44 raised (including $3.2 million transferred over from Rubio’s Senate campaign account) and $3,083,666.95 spent. This resulted in a total $9,859,065.49 cash on hand and a burn rate of 18.37 percent.
The Clinton campaign raised $47.5 million, spent $18.7 million, with a total debt of $574,000, and cash on hand of $28.85 million. This is a burn rate of nearly 40 percent, a figure that is generally considered to be high at this point in the campaign cycle.
“The video showing a Planned Parenthood employee selling the body parts of aborted children is a disturbing reminder of the organization’s penchant for profiting off the tragedy of a destroyed human life,” said Perry in a statement provided to Breitbart News. “It is because of stories like this that I signed legislation defunding Planned Parenthood in the state of Texas – to protect human life and the health and safety of Texans.”
López-Cantera, Florida’s first Hispanic Lieutenant Governor, previously served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2004 until term limited out in 2012. During his time in the Legislature, he was Majority Whip and then Majority Leader. In 2012, he was elected Property Appraiser of Miami-Dade County.
This year, however, Texas will join eleven other states on a “Super Tuesday” primary on March 1. With fifteen-and-counting Republicans in the race, the chances that the field would significantly narrow with just the first four states are very low. “Texas is the reddest of the red states, and unfortunately, in previous cycles our primary hasn’t mattered much,” Texas GOP chairman Tom Mechler told the Morning News, sharing his satisfaction that in 2016, Texas Republicans would “have a say in who is the next Republican nominee for president.”
What she didn’t say: Many Americans have dropped out of the labor force during the Obama presidency, and even those still working have seen wages stagnate or their full-time jobs turn into part-time. Even Clinton’s Democratic competitor, Bernie Sanders, has recognized that the “true” unemployment rate is far higher than the figures pushed by the Obama administration, due to those who have given up looking for work.
Walker takes a swing at some of his opponents. “In the Republican field, there are some who are good fighters, but they haven’t won those battles, and there are others who have won elections but they haven’t consistently taken on the big fights.”
In a statement provided to Breitbart News, Perry campaign manager Jeff Miller touted the collective fundraising efforts. “Americans are looking for a tested leader with an optimistic vision for the future, and we are pleased with the broad support Gov. Perry is receiving across the country,” said Miller. “Governor Perry is well positioned and between the campaign and independent sources, the necessary funds will be in place to run a competitive, successful campaign.”
That’s not necessarily a knock on either Trump or his supporters. The latter are not foolish or irrational to value the power of celebrity in this deeply unserious age. They’ve seen how much the Left gains by pushing its ideas with star power, especially to young people.
Rubio’s official campaign has not released its fundraising totals yet. Sources close to the campaign told Breitbart News that they would release numbers soon and expressed confidence that the campaign would have the resources needed to be competitive.
Grayson has been battling the Democratic establishment for months, as many leaders within both the state and national party organizations threw their support behind Grayson’s fellow Congressman, Patrick Murphy (D-FL), who filed to run months ago.
Marco Rubio is expected to announce a big donation haul for his presidential campaign in the coming days.
Perry cited the additional personnel he had sent to the border as part of a surge operation last summer, and noted that these efforts resulted in a 74 percent decrease in apprehensions as fewer people dared try to cross. “Those are real results, not just rhetoric,” said Perry, who added that he knows that “securing the border is going to take a lot more than just building a wall,” including “personnel on the ground, aviation assets, quick response teams.”
“When it comes to race, America is a better and more tolerant and more welcoming place than it has ever been. So why is it that even today, so many black families feel left behind?” asked Perry, noting that African-Americans continued to economically lag behind other Americans. Democrats have long had the opportunity to govern in African-American communities. It is time to help black families hold them accountable for the results.
Perry himself is absolutely confident that his record and message will prove to be a winning combination in the minds of voters, telling Breitbart News, “I’ll be on the debate stage. I’m a lot more interested in what we’re going to say on the debate stage than whether I’m going to be there. I’ll be there.”
In Part III of our exclusive interview with Rick Perry, he shares his thoughts about Texas’ successful criminal justice reforms, his philosophy on the Tenth Amendment and how he would encourage more innovation and freedom for the states, and the special role his wife Anita will play in his campaign.
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Perry shared his perspective on how this campaign differs from his 2012 attempt, why he believes that his record stacks up favorably against any of his competitors, what he believes will be a major challenge for former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL), his thoughts on the abuses at the VA, and a special memory he shared about time he spent with Breitbart News founder, the late Andrew Breitbart.
