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Jersey Republicans remain split over the 'divisive' Donald Trump
The Star Ledger of Newark ^ | 11.08.18 | Paul Mulshine

Posted on 11/17/2018 8:38:03 PM PST by Coleus

The election is over. Let the infighting begin.  For me it began Wednesday morning just after I awoke. I had spent the prior evening covering Republican senatorial candidate Bob Hugin's loss to Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez and didn't get to sleep until 2 a.m.

After fortifying myself with some strong coffee, I checked my phone. There was a voicemail from the most prominent conservative Republican in the state Senate, Mike Doherty of Warren County.  Doherty was upset at the comments in my election-night column from the most prominent moderate Republican in the Assembly, minority leader Jon Bramnick.

Bramnick had pinned the blame for the Jersey Republicans' dismal day on President Donald Trump.  "This is what happens when you piss people off," Bramnick colorfully remarked.  Not at all, said Doherty. The problem was that the Republicans didn't unite behind their commander-in-chief.

"Classic military strategy is you have to have a mission and have to stick together," said the West Point grad and former Army officer. "Our soldiers were scattered all over the battlefield. The base of the party was totally de-energized going into this race."

Meanwhile the unarmed forces of the Democratic Party were totally unified. Even though Menendez had been "severely reprimanded" by his Senate colleagues last year, his fellow Democrats decided to "hold their noses" and vote for him anyway.

With all those noses being held in places like Essex and Hudson counties, it's amazing no Democrats died of asphyxiation. The senator got more than 76 percent of the vote in both. The other Northeastern counties piled up margins just a bit lower.

Meanwhile Republican results in the suburban and rural counties were literally all over the map. Hugin didn't crack the 60 percent barrier in key

(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: 2018; 2018midterm; bramnick; doherty; gopestablishment; hugin; nevertrumpers; newjerseyrepublicans; nj; rinos; senate; trump
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Hugin and Bramnick are RINO's and are part of the old, moderate, WASPy Republican party in NJ supported by Kean, Whitless, Frelinghuysen, etc.

Hugin lost because he didn't have a platform and didn't excite the republican or conservative base. Hugin was proud of being pro-abortion and gay marriage and that was it. He never mentioned Trump or Immigration or lowering taxes, cutting regulations or anything else. He was very evasive and stood for nothing. There is only one Republican district left in NJ and that district is occupied by a pro-life RINO.

1 posted on 11/17/2018 8:38:03 PM PST by Coleus
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To: Coleus

Hugin lost because he ran away from Trump. He got no love from NJ voters.


2 posted on 11/17/2018 8:39:44 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Coleus

All Hugin had to do was ask a blessing from the Orange One yet he declined. Pathetic.


3 posted on 11/17/2018 8:42:59 PM PST by max americana (Fired libtard employees 9 consecutive times at every election since 08'. I hope all liberals die.)
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To: Coleus
Thanks for all that info. All I recall from the campaign is an ad by Bob Hugin saying he would stand up to Trump.

To be perfectly frank, now I'm really glad he lost.

4 posted on 11/17/2018 8:44:10 PM PST by stormhill
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To: stormhill

Just what NJ needed: another Flake Never Trumper Republican. No thanks.


5 posted on 11/17/2018 8:46:43 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: stormhill

Well Frank, it is good y’all dropped a Never Trumper.


6 posted on 11/17/2018 8:53:16 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's fore sure)
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To: Coleus

New Jersey is too liberal for a Trump-type conservative to win.

I’m from Jersey, I know.


7 posted on 11/17/2018 9:13:22 PM PST by GuavaCheesePuff (I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee-Old Yankee Stadium (1923-2008))
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To: GuavaCheesePuff
"Yeah, we from New Joisey, and we tough!", and yet the same people say "Trump's tone turns me off".

What a crock.

8 posted on 11/17/2018 9:24:22 PM PST by PallMal
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To: GuavaCheesePuff

New Jersey is too liberal for a Trump-type conservative to win. >>

and for a RINO like Hugin too.


9 posted on 11/17/2018 9:29:47 PM PST by Coleus
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To: Coleus
This is bullshit. Republicans were losing power in these states long before Trump was a factor. If they had embraced Trump's MAGA agenda, and held rallies with him, I have hard time seeing them do worse than they did. It may not have won them elections, but I think it would have helped them a lot more than it hurt them.

A lot of the republicans Trump campaigned for didn't even campaign on the MAGA agenda. You can't expect to get democrats that voted for Trump on an issue like trade, when they didn't make it an issue. A lot of them didn't talk about the MAGA agenda in detail because they didn't support it.

10 posted on 11/17/2018 9:37:37 PM PST by LeeClementineKenny (STOP ELECTION FRAUD!!! - TRUMP 2020!!! - MAGA!!! - www.DonaldJTrump.com)
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To: PallMal

The state has a lot of liberals. But conservatives are disillusioned here. It depends on the candidate.


11 posted on 11/17/2018 10:19:19 PM PST by GuavaCheesePuff (I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee-Old Yankee Stadium (1923-2008))
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To: Coleus

Hugin couldn’t beat a pedo crook. He’s a loser.


12 posted on 11/17/2018 10:37:34 PM PST by mindburglar (I like spelling it Lazers. It looks cooler.)
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To: goldstategop

That may be true, but at this point in our nations history, if you stay away from the polls because Hugin, or anyone else, ran away from the President, you’re one of the ones that is contributing to the rapid decline of this country. A RINO is better than any Democrat, any day of the week. Even at 50/50, the RINO will be with you at least half the time. The Dem will be against you 100% of the time.

And as the Democratic Party goes even more to the radical Left, you can expect more mass immigration, more fraud, higher taxes, more spending, more gun control, more EVERYTHING BAD. RINOs go with the wind. They’ll tow the party line when they have to and vote their conscience when they can, to prove their independence. Folks like Flake, McCain, Collins, Murkowski know their days are numbered, are entrenched, corrupt to the core, too old to care and don’t give a damn. But, at the end of the day, there’s only a few of them. And they vote with the party most of the time, even if they are clamoring for attention.

Now, because some of the base stayed home because they weren’t unified or like the candidate, because he/she distanced themselves from the President, we have Sinema, almost had Abrams-Scott-Gillum, and might have Espy. Not to mention all the cowards that refused to run.

As was stated on another thread...

The Left will circle the wagons and support each other no matter what....Leftist Voter..there are 100 issues and the candidate only supports one, just one, of the voters issues. Guess what? The voter shows up and votes for the Democrat because at least they got that one issue.

The Right wants to publicly fight all day, every day over what kind of Republican is necessary. RINOs vs Conservatives. They pick and choose who to support based on whether its a cloudy or sunny day....Right Leaning Voter...100 issues..Voter and Republican candidate agree on 99 of the 100. But that one issue, just that one issue, causes the Right Leaning voter to stay home and grumble that it doesn’t matter.

Now, the Republicans lost 7 Governorships and the Dem’s control the House. It’ll be nothing but 2 years of obstruction, subpoenas, investigations, mass hysteria, uncontrolled immigration and a level of voter fraud in 2020 that will be legendary. So, to all those that stayed home because the candidate strayed from the President or wasn’t Conservative enough for you...Thank You.

By the way, I’m typing this from Iraq and I voted. This was the most important election in our nations history, surpassing the election in 2016. The election in 2020, will surpass this one, although, with all the voter fraud that is about to occur, I doubt it will matter much.


13 posted on 11/17/2018 11:11:05 PM PST by qaz123
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To: goldstategop

And now NJ has nothing but Democrats with which to raise taxes even more and flood the state with more illegals.


14 posted on 11/17/2018 11:12:26 PM PST by qaz123
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To: All

He is dividing the sheep from the goats, so far it looks like this:

PACIFIC ... GOATS ....... SHEEP ........ GOATS ... ATLANTIC

There’s the west goats and the east goats.


15 posted on 11/17/2018 11:30:03 PM PST by Peter ODonnell (Trump -- apres moi, le deluge -- hey Macron, three strikes and yer out)
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To: Coleus

Totally agree. I know people in solid Republican Morris County who voted for Mikie Sherill because they thought Webber was to conservative or had a personal bias against him. Some party leaders there actually stabbed him in the back and supported Sherill. They went so far as to run a Democrat, Ghee, against Webeer in the primary. The guy registered Republican one week before declaring himself a candidate for Frelinghuysen’s seat. ( Rumor has it Frelinghuysen dud not support Webber either.)

Hugin and Lance, despite their positions,would have been far better for Trump.

Hugin ran on the “Vote for me, I’m not crooked Menendez” ticket and it didn’t work.
Lance actually SAID he was endorsed by Gabby Gifford’s anti gun group in his commercials. He touted himself as the “most bipartisan in Congress.”

And yes, the NJ GOP is dominated at the top by okd money blue blooded Wasp types of the Nelson Rockefeller mold like Bramnick, Whitman, Frrelinghuysen and Kean - leaders who are hopelessly out of touch with the rank and file state Republicans ethnically, socially, economically and politically. Uber rich family dynasties who probably made their fortunes swinDeLong Indians.

And the idiot who took over from sleezy Kyrillos ran an awful ground game over there too.

Further, the crooked Democrats throughout the state were pulling tricks like Broward County everywhere


16 posted on 11/18/2018 12:20:36 AM PST by ZULU (Jeff Sessions should be tried for sedition.)
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Grow a pair, Jersey.

Your FRiend from Long Island :)


17 posted on 11/18/2018 12:23:37 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: GuavaCheesePuff

Abd who did YOU vote for?
Statewude, they had a good Crack at beating the pedophile, the best in years.

But Hugin was directed by Chrissie Birdbrain Whitman and waspy Tom Keane Senior.
.


18 posted on 11/18/2018 12:23:43 AM PST by ZULU (Jeff Sessions should be tried for sedition.)
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To: goldstategop
Trump lost this state in 2016 by a wide margin. Distancing yourself from him in a statewide election is a sound political move for a GOP candidate.

Folks on this site have to come to grips with the fact that many elements of Trump's agenda don't have much support in affluent suburban counties.

19 posted on 11/18/2018 2:46:34 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them ... like Russians will.")
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To: Coleus

Good for you,now you can so sit in your corrupt shit hole and be “split” all you want.


20 posted on 11/18/2018 5:04:11 AM PST by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberal is lies.)
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