Presumptuous Politics

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Trump on defensive as media paint judge controversy as Republican problem

This is what it looks like when the whole world is against you.
The media are denouncing Donald Trump. The Democrats are denouncing Donald Trump. Other Republicans are denouncing Donald Trump—in fact, not a single prominent member of the GOP is defending him.
And it all stems from a self-inflicted wound.
When the House speaker, Paul Ryan, who just reluctantly endorsed Trump, describes Trump’s remarks about a judge of Mexican heritage as “a textbook racist comment” that is “indefensible,” you’ve got a problem.
Trump tried to subtly tone things down when Bill O’Reilly asked him about the firestorm. Trump had doubled and tripled down in a series of interviews—with the Wall Street Journal, CNN and CBS—saying that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not be fair to him in the Trump University suit because of his Mexican heritage. Curiel was born in Indiana.
On the Factor, without retracting his previous comments, Trump said: “I don’t care if the judge is Mexican or not.”
He also tried to shift the spotlight to the press: “The question was asked to me.” Trump said he would rather be talking about other issues, “but every time I go onto a show, all they want to do is talk about Trump University…Frankly, I don’t even like wasting my time talking about this lawsuit.”
But any candidate can brush off questions he doesn’t want to deal with, as Trump sometimes does. It’s harder when you’ve made an ethnic-based criticism against a sitting federal judge, that journalists naturally want to ask about.
Trump tried again yesterday with a campaign statement: "It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage...I do not feel that one’s heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial."
But the most important sentence may have been this one: "I do not intend to comment on this matter any further."
During the primaries, there was a similar uproar over Trump’s proposal to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the United States, with widespread media and political condemnation. But it turned out that most Republican primary voters agreed with him. Now, however, Trump has to deal with a much broader electorate.
More important, the Muslim proposal was connected to national security. Whether you found the plan offensive or not, Trump could always pivot to the argument that we had to get the system under control to ensure that Islamic terrorists didn’t slip through and kill innocent people.
But the only larger issue in the Curiel case involves one of Trump’s business ventures. The allegations have been kicking around, and journalists have been writing about them, for years. So Trump has allowed his campaign to be diverted over a private grievance at a time when he is trying to unite the GOP against Hillary Clinton.
The media are loving this, and not just because it’s a juicy story. For a year now, journalists have been reporting on Trump saying controversial and inflammatory things and predicting his imminent demise, only to see him keep winning. So there is a bit of see-we-told-you-so now that this story has blown up.
Newt Gingrich, despite reports that he is on Trump’s VP list, said it was the candidate’s biggest mistake. Lindsey Graham, who had been tiptoeing toward a rapproachement with Trump, is now asking GOP leaders to un-endorse him. It has been painful to watch other Republicans, from Mitch McConnell to Chris Christie to Bob Corker, dance around the controversy.
Former rivals like Marco Rubio can’t resist: “I ran for president, and I warned this was going to happen.”
And the press seems determined to make this a Republican Party problem.
Just take a look at the Washington Post’s op-ed page yesterday:
George Will: “The ‘Big Price’ Paul Ryan Has Paid for Supporting Donald Trump.”
Richard Cohen: “Paul Ryan’s Profile in Cowardice.”
Dana Milbank: Republicans Discover that Trump is an Actual Racist.”
Gene Robinson: “Endorsing Trump Will Leave a Mark.”
And he gets whacked by the New York Times editorial page: “Mr. Trump holds the rule of law in contempt.”
Plus, Buzzfeed has decreed that he is so odious it is canceling a million-dollar RNC advertising contract on Trump’s behalf.
You’re even starting to see comments like this, from CNBC contributor and former anchor Ron Insana:
“I am beginning to think Trump will not be the Republican candidate for president this year. The GOP may abandon him. He may not be able to field a VP. He can't find surrogates. I predict he may take his ball and go home.”
Trump isn’t going anywhere. The question is whether his statement enables him to move on from this mess and how much he has damaged himself, especially with Hispanic voters and leaders of his own party.
He has been a master of changing the subject in the past. But scrutiny as a general election nominee is more intense than when you’re mocking your rivals as Lyin’ Ted and Little Marco. Trump had better hope that Clinton, who has clinched her own nomination, is subjected to the same level of media probing and skepticism.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

Trump brushes aside judge controversy, goes after Clinton

Donald Trump brushed aside the latest controversy over his remarks on a federal judge Tuesday night to deliver a broadside against Hillary Clinton -- even promising to deliver a blockbuster speech on her next week -- as he closed out the primary season with another set of wins, while saying he understands the “responsibility” of being the presumptive GOP nominee.
“I understand the responsibility of carrying the mantle,” Trump said. “I will never, ever let you down.”
His remarks come as Fox News projects Trump has surpassed a new milestone in the Republican primary contest Tuesday night.
With fresh victories in California, New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota, Trump now has enough bound delegates alone to clinch the GOP nomination, no longer having to rely in part on ‘unbound’ delegates, technically free to change their minds, to amass the 1,237 needed to secure the nomination.
In turning his attacks on Clinton, the billionaire businessman said she and former President Bill Clinton “have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves” and that Hillary Clinton “turned the State Department into her own private hedge fund."
“They’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts,” Trump said from Trump National Golf Club, in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
Trump also promised to deliver a speech next week on Clinton, and as a likely preview again mentioned her problems using a private email server while running the State Department.
“Secretary Clinton even did all of the work on a totally illegal private server … designed to keep her corrupt dealings out of the public record.”
Trump made no mention of U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, presiding over a civil fraud suit related to Trump University, attempting to end a controversy that has hurt his campaign in recent weeks.
He has said that Curiel, whose parents are Mexican, cannot be impartial in the case, considering Trump has vowed to build a wall along the southern U.S. border to keep out Mexican “rapists” and “drug dealers.”
“It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage,” Trump said earlier Tuesday, in a 700-word statement, an apparent attempt to move past the controversy,
Trump also wrote that he does not intend to comment further but used the statement to elaborate on his initial claim that a federal judge’s Mexican heritage presented a conflict of interest for him in Trump University litigation.
The statement capped what was arguably Trump’s toughest day of criticism from leading members of his own party.
House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier Tuesday called the remarks the “textbook definition of a racist comment.” Ryan disavowed Trump’s comments, calling them “unacceptable.”
Trump’s comments were immediately denounced by a number of high-profile Republicans.
Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who is facing a tough re-election race, said Tuesday he will no longer support Trump for president.
He said he would not support presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, either, and would instead “write in General Petraeus.”

Sanders to lay off most campaign staff over next week

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will lay off "over half" of his campaign staff over the next week, a senior campaign official confirmed to Fox News Wednesday.
Confirmation of the layoffs, which were first reported by The New York Times, came after Sanders vowed to continue his bid for the Democratic nomination despite Hillary Clinton securing a majority of pleged delegates and superdelegates ahead of next month's convention.
The Times reported that most of those being laid off are advance and field staff members, some of whom may be moved to jobs at Sanders' Senate office. Politico reported that campaign personnel whose work isn't related to next month's District of Columbia primary or the convention will be let go.
"Most of the field staff will likely get their 10-day notice tomorrow because there's no work for then to do," a former Sanders state director told Politico.
Sanders plans to return to his home in Vermont Wendesday before traveling to Washington Thursday for meetings with President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Clinton clinches Democratic nomination – Sanders vows to fight on

The Democrats deserve her as Their Leader :-)

Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the first woman in American history to top the ticket of a major political party and putting immediate pressure on primary rival Bernie Sanders to step aside – though the Vermont senator vowed to keep fighting for “every delegate.”
As Clinton now launches a general election battle against presumptive rival Donald Trump, Sanders remained defiant at an early Wednesday morning rally in Los Angeles. Far from bowing out, he vowed to campaign through the final primary next Tuesday in Washington, D.C., and then “take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” the site of the convention.
The crowd erupted in cheers as Sanders announced he’d keep going, a decision he kept close to the vest right up until his remarks.
Sanders closed by declaring: “Thank you all, the struggle continues.”
The remarks were in some ways surprising considering not only Clinton’s historic achievement but her strong performance overall in Tuesday’s primaries. While winning at least three states, she also is leading in early returns out of delegate-rich California, though Sanders predicted that gap would close.
Clinton earlier claimed victory over Sanders – after attaining the delegates needed to claim the nomination with a New Jersey primary win – during a lofty speech to supporters in Brooklyn.
“Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone,” Clinton declared.
Marking the historic moment, Clinton said: “This campaign is about making sure there are no ceilings, no limits on any of us.”
She also congratulated Sanders, calling his campaign and the debate he brought about income inequality good for the party – while also saying this is a moment to “come together.”
In a potential move toward reconciliation, the White House revealed that President Obama called both Clinton and Sanders Tuesday night – and plans to meet with Sanders at the White House on Thursday, to discuss "how to build on the extraordinary work he has done to engage millions of Democratic voters."
Clinton tried to pivot to November at the close of the last major day of primary voting.

2016 Democratic Presidential Primary Tracker | InsideGov

Eight years to the day after she conceded to rival Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary, the former first lady and secretary of state became the presumptive 2016 nominee with the help of delegates in New Jersey. She won the state's primary, and with it enough delegates to easily surpass the 2,383 needed to clinch the nomination. She also is projected to win New Mexico and South Dakota.
Clinton's victory, however, is based in part on the support of superdelegates, officials who are free to support any candidate and who do not technically vote for a nominee until the Democratic National Convention next month. Sanders has vowed to stay in the race in hopes of convincing enough of them to abandon Clinton and support him instead.
Speaking in Los Angeles, Sanders again vowed to fight “for every vote and every delegate,” hammering his campaign themes of campaign finance reform and economic justice and calling for “transforming our country.”
It is still too early to call a winner in the California race, whose outcome could also weigh on Sanders’ calculations going forward.
However, Fox News can project that with the delegates she is winning in California, Clinton will have now won a majority of all pledged delegates at the Democratic convention -- making it more difficult for Sanders to argue she’s winning only because of support from superdelegates.
Sanders did notch projected wins Tuesday in North Dakota’s Democratic caucuses and the Montana primary. A total of six states were voting Tuesday.
On the GOP side, Trump -- the only major Republican left in the race – was projected to win the primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey, South Dakota and New Mexico. Trump also surpassed a new milestone in the primary contest Tuesday night, winning enough bound delegates alone to clinch the GOP nomination.
Marking his victories during remarks at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., Trump said: “Tonight, we close one chapter in history and we begin another.”
Previewing the general election battle, he slammed the Clintons, alleging they “turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves.” He also appealed to Sanders supporters, saying, “We welcome you with open arms.”
Clinton, in her victory speech, also took shots at Trump, claiming he would “take America backwards.”
“The stakes in this election are high, and the choice is clear. Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president,” she said.
The contests Tuesday largely conclude one of the most unpredictable and rowdy primary seasons in modern history – one that saw a brash billionaire clear through a formidable field of 16 rivals to defy the pundits and claim the GOP nomination, and the front-runner on the Democratic side locked in a fight to the end against a socialist-leaning senator from Vermont.
Voting formally ends next week when the District of Columbia holds its Democratic primary.
Even before Tuesday’s contests, both parties effectively had their presumptive nominees. Trump clinched the nomination last month as late support from unbound delegates put him over the top, and his remaining rivals suspended their campaigns. The Associated Press declared Monday night that Clinton had hit the 2,383-delegate mark, thanks to a burst of support from free-agent superdelegates.
But unlike Trump, Clinton’s last remaining rival has not exited the race.
“There is nothing to concede,” Sanders said in a TV interview Monday night.
Sanders also had said he’d “assess” his plans after Tuesday’s elections, as he heads home to Burlington, but gave no indications of having second thoughts during his Los Angeles rally.
The Democratic Party pressure on him, however, is sure to mount in a matter of days, if not hours. Obama reportedly is planning to get behind Clinton and start campaigning for her, and senior Democrats have been voicing mounting frustration with Sanders’ campaign.
At the same time, the senator has touted general election polls suggesting he may be better positioned to go up against Trump in the fall. Over the course of the campaign, he mounted an unexpectedly strong challenge to Clinton, buoyed by the support of young and energetic voters whose enthusiasm at times echoed the spirit behind Barack Obama’s bid in 2008. Clinton was dogged all along by questions about her private email use while secretary of state – and a still-ongoing FBI investigation – though Sanders largely steered clear of the issue in his campaign.
Trump, by contrast, will have no compunction about hammering Clinton for what he describes as “criminal” activity with her email use, as the general election race now moves into full swing. He did so Tuesday night, ripping her use of a "totally illegal private server."
Both presumptive nominees have been cranking up their attacks on each other in anticipation of their November brawl.
Yet even as Trump has seen all 16 of his rivals fade away, he’s still struggling in a historic way to unite the GOP behind him. The tensions flared again this week as leading Republicans condemned his comments that a federal judge of Mexican heritage had a conflict of interest in a Trump University case. On Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan called it the “textbook definition of a racist comment.”

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Obamacare Illegal Alien Cartoons

California lawmakers try to extend ObamaCare to illegal immigrants


ObamaCare offers $3,000 incentive to hire illegal aliens

California is on the brink of becoming the first state in the nation to offer illegal immigrants the chance to buy insurance on an ObamaCare exchange -- testing what's being described as a "loophole" in the law.
The Affordable Care Act technically bars illegal immigrants from the insurance exchanges.
But the California bill, which last week passed the state legislature and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, would allow the state to apply for a federal waiver to open its exchange -- Covered California -- to undocumented residents.
There's no guarantee that will happen. Brown first would have to sign the bill and the Obama administration then would have to green-light the waiver. Even if that is granted, it wouldn't necessarily give illegal immigrants access to insurance subsidies.
Critics, though, say it’s a slippery slope and yet another example of how the federal government has hoodwinked Americans into getting behind the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare.
“This is the first step in another misrepresentation of the Affordable Care Act,” Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform told US News & World Report. “It was sold to the American people on the fact that you wouldn’t have to subsidize health care for illegal immigrants.”
During his monthslong public pitch for the health care overhaul, President Obama had promised repeatedly the benefits that come with the federal and state health care exchanges would not be made available to illegal immigrants.
Currently, it is illegal under ObamaCare for undocumented immigrants to buy into the ACA.
According to HealthCare.gov, “undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible to buy Marketplace health coverage, or for premium tax credits and other savings on Marketplace plans.”
However, a provision in the law called the “innovation waiver” allows states like California to change portions of the law as long as the state makes coverage available to more people and as long as the federal government doesn’t get stuck footing the bill.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Democrat, says if Brown signs the bill, 390,000 illegal immigrants would be eligible to receive health insurance.
“We are talking about our friends. We are talking about our neighbors and our families who are denied basic health care in the richest state of this union,” Lara, the son of an undocumented worker, said during Senate negotiations last June.
While the California waiver would be the first of its kind on a large scale, 18 states already have offered subsidies for prenatal care for undocumented women and health insurance for all undocumented children, according to Think Progress.
Requests for comment to Brown's office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well to Lara's office, were not immediately returned.

Secret Service agent's book claims Clinton has 'volcanic' leadership style

An ex-Secret Service officer's forthcoming book on Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton reportedly claims she has a “volcanic” leadership style and lacks the "temperament" to hold office -- the same charge the candidate leveled last week at Donald Trump.
The book, “Crisis of Character,” is due to be released June 28 – a month before Clinton is likely to take the stage to accept the Democratic presidential nomination in Philadelphia. Written by ex-Secret Service Officer Gary J. Byrne, who was “posted directly outside President Clinton’s Oval Office,” the 285-page book paints Clinton as disdainful of rules and erratic in her personality.
While some extracts have already been released on the Amazon.com preview page, the New York Post reported Monday that Byrne claims Clinton is too “erratic, uncontrollable and occasionally violent” to become commander-in-chief.
Byrne describes Clinton as switching quickly from friendly to angry in a moment, and repeatedly screaming obscenities at her husband, the Secret Service and White House staffers. Secret Service agents even had to consider what to do in case the first lady attacked the president physically, Byrne claims.
“Hillary Clinton is now poised to become the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, but she simply lacks the integrity and temperament to serve in the office,” Byrne wrote, according to the Post.
“From the bottom of my soul I know this to be true. And with Hillary’s latest rise, I realize that her own leadership style — volcanic, impulsive, enabled by sycophants, and disdainful of the rules set for everyone else — hasn’t changed a bit.”
Incidentally, Clinton last week accused presumptive Republican nominee Trump of being "temperamentally unfit" for office.
In the Amazon preview of the book, Byrne recalled an alleged fight between the first couple during the summer of 1995 in Chapter 1, “The Vase.” Byrne said a vase was smashed during the loud argument and the next morning President Clinton sported “a shiner, a real, put-a-steak-on-it black eye.” Clinton’s personal scheduler Nancy Hernreich allegedly told Byrne the eye condition was a result of Clinton’s allergy to coffee.
Clinton's critics say the book sheds light on the Clintons’ character and suitability for office.
"It’s about them having a separate set of rules or not having to follow the rules, and there are basic questions of character … in how they treated others and how they treated their colleagues,” Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, said Monday on Fox News.
However, Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh, a former adviser to John Kerry, said it was an example of the negative 2016 campaign and would only play into the tactics of Trump.
"I think this book is just one more example of where this campaign is going, which is straight to the gutter,” Marsh said. “A really negative campaign is the bet Donald Trump is hoping for because it’s the only one he can win, because people get turned off by truly negative campaigns.”
The Clinton campaign dismissed the book, telling the Post it belongs in the fantasy section of a store.
“Gary Byrne joins the ranks of Ed Klein and other ‘authors’ in this latest in a long line of books attempting to cash in on the election cycle with their nonsense,” spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement. “It should be put in the fantasy section of the book store.”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest wouldn’t be drawn into commenting directly about the book.
“I'd think I'd reserve judgment about the wisdom of writing a book from such a perspective until I know more about the book,” Earnest told reporters.

Why Bernie won't acknowledge Hillary's win, despite the obvious math

Is Bernie Sanders in denial, or just milking his moment?
With Hillary Clinton having now captured the 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination today—as declared last night by the AP—the long contest would seem to be over.
But no.
Sanders says he’s heading for a contested convention in Philadelphia.
The Vermont senator risks looking like a sore loser, but at this point, what else has he got to do?
Many people forget that Sanders was not a Democrat until adopting the label last year to make his run. The Democratic establishment has been clearly lined up behind Clinton.
He doesn’t really owe the party anything.
Sanders was kind of marginalized as an independent member of Congress. Now he’s drawing huge crowds, raising big money and garnering endless media attention. Of course he doesn’t want to give up the limelight.
Plus, the man is 74 years old. It’s not like he can bide his time until 2020. Ted Cruz dropped his campaign against Donald Trump, despite repeatedly vowing to take the fight to Cleveland, because he’s young enough for another presidential bid. This is it for Bernie.
Now obviously he’s accomplished far more than anyone expected and gained a measure of clout within his new party. He’s already pushed Clinton significantly to the left. He can make demands for such things as platform concessions at the convention. I don’t see Hillary picking him as her running mate, given that he’d be 78 at the end of the first term, but stranger things have happened.
Maybe he's engaging in pregame bluster. Sanders told a presser he'll be returning to Vermont to "assess where we are" rather that discuss things based on "speculation." (Hillary had a media availability yesterday, perhaps signaling a shift in her limited-access policy.)
It’s clear, in retrospect, that Sanders might have had a shot at beating the Clinton machine. And that is prompting some early political obituaries.
“According to interviews with the candidate, his advisers, allies and other Democrats,” says the Washington Post, “Sanders fell short because of missed opportunities, a failure to connect with key constituencies and stubborn strategy decisions.”
Once his campaign got hot, “he struggled to connect with black and Latino voters, as well as with older Democrats, groups that carried Clinton’s candidacy. Sanders repeatedly clashed with another vital constituency — the party leaders whose votes as superdelegates he would ultimately need to pry the nomination away from Clinton.
“Sanders also overestimated the power of his economic message and, adamant that he run the kind of positive campaign that had been his trademark in Vermont, initially underestimated the imperative to draw sharp contrasts with Clinton.”
By failing to compete with Clinton in minority communities, Sanders won states with large white populations but fell behind to the point where he couldn’t catch up. Clinton, for instance, swept 73 percent of the vote in South Carolina.
By spending limited time on the trail and tending to Senate business in 2015, Sanders acted like a message candidate who didn’t expect to win—and by the time that changed, it was too late.
By saying he didn’t care about Clinton’s “damn emails,” Sanders gave up a major weapon and showed he wanted to fight only on “the issues.” But that only takes you so far.
Even if he ekes out a slight victory in California, the math is totally against Sanders. Of the superdelegates who have announced their support, 547 are for Hillary, 46 for Bernie. The weight that the Democrats give superdelegates may be totally unfair, but the notion that large numbers of them are going to flip for a guy who attacks the party system as rigged seems far-fetched.
The real question is whether all those Feeling the Bern will transfer their allegiance to Clinton, or whether a sizable number will defect to Trump or simply stay home. And that’s why Sanders’ tone is important.
Of course, reporters can also be tendentious. A female journalist asked Sanders yesterday whether it would be “sexist” for him to keep resisting the first woman to win a major-party nomination. He dismissed the question as not serious.
Clinton is talking about unifying the party. Her spokesman Brian Fallon told MSNBC yesterday, “I think it would be helpful to not seek to delegitimize the process that has led to Hillary Clinton clinching this nomination as will happen tomorrow night.”
So Hillary is going to declare victory. The press will say she’s the winner. And Bernie Sanders will have a hard time convincing anyone that he’s still got a shot at the nomination.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.