Trump Doesn't Need Sen. Kirk Endorsement

Newsflash: Donald Trump doesn’t need Sen. Mark Kirk’s endorsement. Kirk’s endorsement actually hurts Trump. If I were Donald Trump, I would be ecstatic that I had been “un-endorsed” by the likes of Sen. Kirk.

I’d consider it a shiny gold badge of conservative honor.

Why would Donald Trump want the endorsement of an unpopular U.S. Senator who is trailing badly in his home state? To use a Trumpian catch phrase, he’s low-energy. He’s a loser.

It’s not just Democrats who loathe Mark Kirk. Republicans loathe him too.

Kirk supported President Obama’s choice of liberal Elena Kagan for the U.S. Supreme Court. He has voted in favor of partial birth abortion. He is the only Republican senator to receive an “F” from the National Rifle Association.

Is it any wonder why Illinois GOP voters despise Kirk?

In Kirk’s own poll conducted in late March, his Democratic opponent, Rep. Tammy Duckworth (who lost both of her legs serving in Iraq) was trouncing him 42.7 to 39.6 percent. This was Kirk’s own poll!

In April, another Kirk-commissioned poll had him down 43-40 percent.

His own polls don’t lie. But Sen. Mark Kirk has.

Why would Donald Trump want the endorsement of an unpopular U.S. Senator who mischaracterized his military record?

In 2010, Kirk was forced to admit he had fabricated large portions of his military record, including a claim that under fire while flying aboard an intelligence reconnaissance plane in Iraq was not true.

On the U.S. House floor in October 2003, he said, “The last time I was in Iraq, I was in uniform flying at 20,000 feet and the Iraqi Air Defense network was shooting at us.”

However, there is no record of his aircraft being fired upon.

In a letter to constituents, he described himself as a veteran of Operation Desert Storm but he did not serve in that war.

Kirk’s staff also claimed he was the “only member of Congress to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom” after 9/11. However, Kirk never served in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Kirk also made false claims about the Pentagon. “In my role in the military, I command the war room in the Pentagon," said Kirk to a group of experts on U.S.-Chinese relations in May 2010.

It turned out that wasn’t true either.

The Pentagon has also confirmed that Kirk twice violated military policy by participating in political activities while on active duty in 2008 and 2009.

Kirk got himself in trouble again last year when he made an off-the-cuff remark about another #NeverTrumper Sen. Lindsay Graham.

Picked up by a live microphone, Kirk said of Graham, “He’s a bro with no ho. That’s what we’d say on the South Side.”

Why would Donald Trump want the endorsement of a U.S. senator who privately refers to women as “hos”?”

Even a top GOP donor in Illinois has called on Kirk to quit the race.

But Sen. Kirk still has a faint glimmer of hope.

His biggest supporter is also the nation’s sixth most unpopular governor – Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Rauner has said he is “disgusted” by Trump and won’t endorse the GOP nominee for President.

Of course, Illinois voters don’t seem to like Gov. Rauner very much either.

In the most recent survey of Illinois voters, just 33 percent of likely 2016 voters approve of Rauner’s job performance and 57 percent disapprove.

But Rauner isn’t your typical Republican.

As a major donor to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU’s Reproductive Rights Project, and the DNC, Rauner has a lot in common with his longtime friend and business partner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel — the record holder for the most unpopular mayor in Chicago history.

Under Rauner, the state’s record budget impasse, now in its 12th month, has saddled Illinois taxpayers with an additional $8 billion in debt and growing.

Yet Rauner made certain his Planned Parenthood pals still received their state paychecks.

According to Breitbart: "At the start of the state’s fiscal crisis [last] June, when spending authority expired, the Comptroller [appointed by Rauner] signed off on $1.5 million in grants to Planned Parenthood. This amount was five times greater than the amount awarded to the abortion provider the previous month.

"In late August, while the abortion provider was embroiled in a national scandal over its alleged “harvesting” of baby organs, Munger [the Comptroller] authorized another $200,000 for the group. Since the start of 2015, the Comptroller has approved $3.6 million in grants to Planned Parenthood, far above the $700k sent to the group for “contracted payments.”

With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats?

Definitely not Donald Trump.

William J. Kelly is an American producer, television and radio host, commentator, media strategist, and critic. In 1994, he ran for U.S. Congress. In 2015, he made waves when he busted the campaign finance caps in the Chicago mayor’s race. He is the founder of RevDigital, an independent TV and documentary production house. Kelly is a frequent contributor to The Washington Times, American Spectator, and others. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.