Today in Campaign 2016
With the dust finally settling after Super Tuesday: Civil War, Donald Trump’s hold on the race for the Republican presidential nomination is beginning to impact every element of the campaign, from his own party’s preparation for the convention in July to the presumptive Democratic nominee’s focus on the November general election.
That is, if she isn’t too busy sashaying on RuPaul’s Drag Race:
As we count down the days until the next crucial set of primary contests, let’s look at the most important news from the campaign trail today:
- Former presidential candidate Marco Rubio told Minnesota supporters on a conference call that he thinks fellow senator Ted Cruz is the “the only conservative left in the race.” Rubio didn’t go so far as to endorse Cruz on the call, but he did warn of the dangers of potentially elevating a trailing candidate to nominee in a brokered convention. Rubio’s comments followed an assessment late Wednesday by Ben Carson, also a former candidate, that “turmoil” would attend a contested convention.
- Part of the reason for Rubio’s gloom-and-doom mood about the Republican nomination: A new Reuters/Ipsos poll that found half of American women have a “very unfavorable” view of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, up from the 40% who felt that way in October. “Women form just over half of the U.S. population,” Reuters notes, “and they have turned out at higher rates than men in every election since 1996.”
- But political opinions are malleable, as former presidential candidate Lindsey Graham showed earlier today. The South Carolina senator, who once compared choosing between Cruz and Trump to choosing between being poisoned or shot, has picked his poison: Graham now plans to host a fundraiser for Cruz.
- At least one person doesn’t hate Donald Trump: Onetime gubernatorial candidate and former grand wizard of the Ku Kluz Klan David Duke declared on his radio show that Trump’s success could go a long way towards rehabilitating Adolf Hitler’s public image. “They might be rehabilitating that fellow with the mustache back there in Germany, because I saw a commercial against Donald Trump, a really vicious commercial, comparing what Donald Trump said about preserving America and making America great again to Hitler in Germany preserving Germany and making Germany great again.”
- Bernie Sanders said today that he will not seek a recount of results in Missouri’s Democratic presidential primary, conceding defeat to Hillary Clinton, for whom the election was called by the Associated Press only this afternoon. “I think it’s unlikely the results will impact at all the number of delegates the candidate gets and I would prefer to save the taxpayers of Missouri some money,” the ever-conciliatory Sanders told the Associated Press.
That’s it for this evening - check us out tomorrow, the next day, and every day after that for up-to-the-minute coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Conservative leaders meet in Washington to plot anti-Trump candidacy
Members of the Republican party leadership met privately today in the nation’s capital in the hopes of crafting a strategy that would bring about the end of billionaire frontrunner Donald Trump’s pursuit of the party’s presidential nomination, according to the Associated Press.
Less than a week before another string of contests threatens to increase Trump’s considerable delegate lead over the remaining contenders for the party’s nomination, figures in the Republican establishment - which included commentator Erick Erickson and evangelical leader Bob Fischer - hoped “to strategize how to defeat Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, and if he is the Republican nominee for president, to offer a true conservative candidate in the general election.”
In a statement released after the conclusion of the meeting, the party leaders called for a “unity ticket that unites the Republican Party.” Such a ticket would likely include at least one of the Republican presidential candidates who have suspended their campaigns in the face of the Trump juggernaut. The group declined, however, to endorse one of the remaining Republican candidates.
“Lastly, we intend to keep our options open as to other avenues to oppose Donald Trump,” the statement said, in what appeared to be a veiled reference to a possible third-party run for the White House, either through a new party or the endorsement of a preexisting political party’s presidential ticket, like that of the Constitution Party.
Former first lady Laura Bush isn’t falling into the same trap that has ensnared so many other Republicans in recent weeks.
In an interview with USA Today, the wife of former president George W Bush was tightlipped about whether she would vote for billionaire Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who once slammed her husband as having been unable to prevent the September 11 terrorist attacks that occurred during the first year of his presidency.
“I’m not going to answer,” Bush told USA Today’s Capital Download. “Don’t ask that.”
Bush, who was promoting her new book, We Are Afghan Women: Voices of Hope, which makes the case for continued US troop presence in Afghanistan, told USA Today’s Susan Page that she hasn’t committed to vote for any of the remaining Republican candidates. Her brother-in-law, Jeb, dropped out of the race in February after a disappointing finish in the South Carolina primary.
“We got off the sidelines for Jeb,” she said. “He was our candidate.”
She did venture to state her opinion on proposals adjacent to Trump - namely, the proposed ban on foreign Muslims from entering the United States, now supported by roughly two-thirds of the Republican electorate.
“One of the reasons we are a country is because we believed in freedom of religion,” she said. “We believed that people could be religious. Or they could not worship, if they didn’t want to.”
“We do not have any religious test in the United States, and that’s what we need to remember - we need to remember what our values are.”
The former first lady was once a Democrat before she married into the Bush political dynasty.
Gimme a break!
I’ll air a full hour on Donald Trump, also including things I DON’T like about him, this Friday at 9pm ET @FoxBusiness
— John Stossel (@JohnStossel) March 16, 2016
Bernie Sanders said on Thursday he will not seek a recount of results in Missouri’s Democratic presidential primary, conceding defeat to Hillary Clinton.
“I think it’s unlikely the results will impact at all the number of delegates the candidate gets and I would prefer to save the taxpayers of Missouri some money,” Sanders said in an interview with the Associated Press.
“Whether we win by 200 votes or lose by 500, it’s not going to impact the delegate selection,” the Vermont senator added. “It’s going to be evenly divided.”
Clinton ended Tuesday night with a narrow lead of 1,531 votes, but under state law, Sanders could have sought a recount because the margin was less than one-half of one percent.
Clinton will get an extra two delegates from Missouri for winning the statewide vote.
Michigan governor Rick Snyder, who is under pressure to resign over his response to the ongoing Flint water crisis, appeared before the House oversight committee in Congress on Thursday morning, telling members that the tragedy weighs on his mind “day [and] night”.
Snyder has faced increasing criticism in recent weeks following revelations he was aware of the scale of the lead poisoning in the city months before he took action to address the problem.
Three bruising Congressional hearings into the Flint water crisis, possibly the gravest US public health emergency since Hurricane Katrina, have produced plenty of bluster and finger-pointing, but also troubling suggestions that America’s system of government is fundamentally broken.
A procession of elected officials, mayors, regulators and an emergency manager have appeared before the inquiry since February, to be berated over how a poverty-stricken city of 100,000 people was fed poisoned water for over a year before anyone started to heed warnings that all was not well. An estimated 8,000 Flint children risk growing up with learning and developmental problems due to the lead that leached into their drinking supply.
America’s complex web of water regulations gave ample opportunity for those questioned to hurl blame at others. There was no shortage of targets. At the time Flint fatefully switched its water supply to the Flint river in April 2014, the decision was made by a state-appointed emergency manager, a sort of financial tsar with wide-ranging powers. But there was still a mayor, a council, a state regulator, the governor the regulator reported to and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Everybody, yet nobody, was responsible.
It was intended, according to its creator, as a “warning to America”, a horrifying and fantastical vision of the future in which the US – ludicrously – had elected as its president Donald Trump.
But with the property billionaire now the favourite to gain the Republican nomination for the presidency, the episode of The Simpsons that in 2000 foresaw such a laughable outcome has begun looking unnervingly prescient.
A possible future Trump presidency, said the episode’s writer Dan Greaney, “just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom. It was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane”.
A few months ago, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin seemed on course to becoming best buddies.
Asked in December for his view of the Republican presidential frontrunner, the Russian president described him as “a colourful and talented person without any doubt” and “the absolute leader of the presidential race”. Trump welcomed the praise, saying: “It is always a great honour to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.”
Any cosiness has been brought to an abrupt halt, however, after Trump lumped Putin in with Islamic State in a bizarre campaign ad featuring Hillary Clinton barking like a dog.
The video, posted on Trump’s Instagram account, attempts to cast doubt over the Democratic party frontrunner’s ability to deal with Putin and America’s opponents in general, showing the Russian leader throwing an opponent in a judo bout, and an Islamist militant gesturing at the camera with a gun.
“When it comes to facing our toughest opponents, the Democrats have the perfect answer,” the video says, before cutting to footage of Clinton imitating a dog at a recent campaign event.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had seen the clip but did not know if Putin had. “Our attitude is negative,” he said.
Billionaire Republican frontrunner Donald Trump got flack this week for saying that he primarily consults with himself on foreign policy issues, “because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things.”
Speaking of just who presidential candidates are consulting on international relations, fellow candidate Ted Cruz has chosen an interesting addition to his shadow cabinet of advisers: Frank Gaffney, the founder of think tank Center for Security Policy dubbed “one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Gaffney, who has speculated that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim and that Saddam Hussein was the mastermind of the Oklahoma City bombing, was the orchestrator of the poll that Trump has used to justify his proposed ban on foreign Muslims from entering the United States. That poll, which purported to show that “25% of [American Muslims] polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad” and that 51% of those polled “agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah,” has been widely lambasted as methodologically incorrect.
Despite the popularity of his work with the Trump campaign, Gaffney has taken on the role of Cruz’s top adviser on national security and foreign policy.
Updated
AP calls Missouri primary for Hillary Clinton
Well, that took ’em long enough.
BREAKING: Hillary Clinton wins Missouri Democratic primary. @AP race call at 6:06 p.m. EST. #Election2016 #APracecall.
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 17, 2016
When there is upheaval within China’s own borders – riots, protests, vicious political power struggles – hardly a sniff of it will be found in the pages of the country’s heavily-controlled press.
When it happens elsewhere – and particularly when it underscores the perils and pitfalls of democracy – it becomes front-page news.
Such is the case of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who, for China’s authoritarian rulers, has become the latest example of how allowing the masses a say in choosing their leaders is a bad idea.
“The rise of a racist in the US political area worries the whole world,” the party-controlled Global Times crowed this week ahead of of Trump’s victory in the latest round of primaries. “He has even been called another Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler by some western media.”
It added, darkly: “Mussolini and Hitler came to power through elections, a heavy lesson for western democracy.”
John Kasich goes on Twitter rampage against Donald Trump's "riot" threat
Donald Trump’s speculation that a contested/brokered/open convention in Cleveland would lead to “riots” in the streets of Cleveland has lead to condemnation of the billionaire frontrunner’s apparent threat - with the sharpest condemnation coming from fellow Republican candidate John Kasich.
In a series of tweets, the Ohio governor excoriated the real estate tycoon for his “implicit acceptance of violence” this afternoon.
Donald Trump said there could be riots if he's "denied" the GOP nom in a contested convention. That's more unacceptable language.(1/4) -John
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) March 17, 2016
This implicit acceptance of violence is the kind of rhetoric that's pulling people apart. (2/4) -John
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) March 17, 2016
A true leader urges peaceful debate over violence. Leadership requires responsibility (3/4) -John
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) March 17, 2016
I have faith the American people want civilized debate over violence. It's what's kept our nation the strongest in the world. (4/4) -John
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) March 17, 2016
Criticism of the billionaire’s apparent acceptance - even endorsement - of violence at his campaign rallies has increased after a series of high-profile incidents, including an assault on a protestor, the manhandling of a female reporter by Trump’s campaign manager and the cancellation of a rally in Chicago that threatened to turn into a full-bore riot.
We’ll be watching and liveblogging...
Yes! Confirmed! @BernieSanders joins me live for his first interview since his tough night in Tuesday's contests. 9PM ET, MSNBC.
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 17, 2016
The bare knuckle fight over Merrick Garland could sway this election, writes Jill Abramson. Garland’s temperate record magnifies the extremism of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. - and voters will be taking careful note of how the Republicans behave.
Garland’s temperate record and demeanor also magnify the extremism of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the leaders for the GOP presidential nomination who could make their own court nominees if Garland is not confirmed by the election. That could further scare off moderate Republicans.
No one has any idea, really, about Trump’s judicial philosophy. His statements about the Court have gyrated, praising Thomas, but calling Chief Justice John Roberts, another conservative, a “disgrace” for voting to uphold President Obama’s health care law. Meanwhile, he has said that his sister, a federal appeals court judge in New Jersey, would be a “phenomenal” pick. But she scares some conservatives because of a pro-abortion ruling. Predicting the candidates Trump might choose for the Court is harder than figuring out who will be left standing on The Apprentice.
Cruz will seek someone more Scalia than Scalia. The Texan is a strict “originalist” who believes that only the literal words of the Constitution should guide the court’s decisions. His skepticism of federal power has been compared to John Calhoun, the states rights absolutist whose pro-slavery views helped spark the Civil War. Cruz, who, like Garland, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, prides himself on being a constitutional scholar and was heavily involved in George W Bush’s legal strategy to win the presidency in the contested election of 2000. His record as Texas’s solicitor general and his legal views as a senator put him way out on the right fringe, where he could scare voters more than Trump.
Marco Rubio on Garland nomination: “I know enough about his record to know I wouldn’t support him"
Two days after suspending his campaign for president, Marco Rubio wasted no time returning to his day job on Capitol Hill.
Rubio, while addressing reporters just before an intelligence committee hearing, was quick to put to rest any immediate speculation over his future.
“I’m not going to be anybody’s vice president. I’m not interested in being vice president,” Rubio said. “I’m not running for governor of Florida. I’m going to finish out my term in the senate ... and then I’ll be a private citizen in January.”
Rubio, who declined to seek re-election for his senate seat while running for president, also ruled out a late entry into the Florida race to hold on to his seat. Comments made by Rubio to his supporters earlier today on the state of the race garnered attention, after the senator reportedly said his former rival Ted Cruz was “the only conservative left in the race.”
Rubio downplayed their significance while speaking with reporters, adding he was not making any endorsements at this stage.
“Clearly Ted’s positions on issues are conservative, but I don’t have anything further to elaborate on,” Rubio said. He added that he likes Ohio governor John Kasich, too, but was simply stating his opinion on the remainder of the Republican field.
Rubio also held firm in his opposition to filling the supreme court vacancy left by the late justice Antonin Scalia under Barack Obama. The senator said he didn’t plan to meet with Merrick Garland, the president’s nominee, and even if they spoke it wouldn’t change his mind.
“I know enough about his record to know I wouldn’t support him and I know enough about the position in general to say I don’t think we should be moving forward on a nominee in the last year of this president’s term,” Rubio said.
Onetime gubernatorial candidate and former grand wizard of the Ku Kluz Klan David Duke has declared that the success of Republican billionaire frontrunner Donald Trump could go a long way towards rehabilitating Adolf Hitler’s public image.
Duke, who has endorsed Trump’s bid for the Republican nomination, declared on his radio show this week that “they might be rehabilitating that fellow with the mustache back there in Germany, because I saw a commercial against Donald Trump, a really vicious commercial, comparing what Donald Trump said about preserving America and making America great again to Hitler in Germany preserving Germany and making Germany great again.”
“This war that’s going on against Donald Trump is really a war going on against America, it’s a war going on against the European-American majority,” Duke said later in the program. “The media has incited hatred and violence and repression of Donald Trump and the hundreds of thousands, the millions of people who support him, and that’s what happened in Chicago.”
Trump has gotten heat for dragging his feet on condemning Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, telling CNN that “certainly I would disavow it if I thought there was something wrong.”
Trump subsequently reversed course, tweeting: “As I stated at the press conference on Friday regarding David Duke – I disavow.”
General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, discussed suggestions made by Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on dealing with Islamic State terrorists, while appearing before the Senate armed services committee today.
While Trump was not mentioned by name, the general said asking members of the military to “target civilian non-combatants and engage in techniques such as waterboarding” – both of which have been championed by Trump – would have “many adverse effects”, including on force morale.
Republican opposition to the nomination of a supreme court justice is crumbling now that the “stellar” Merrick Garland has been put forward, senate Democrats claimed on Thursday.
The Republican leadership is holding out against senate confirmation hearings or a vote after Barack Obama named Garland to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last month. Republican senators insist that the next president should make the selection.
But Chuck Schumer, Democratic senator for New York, said in response to a question from the Guardian on Thursday: “We are seeing cracks on the Republican side. About five or six members have agreed already to meet with the nominee and I think what happened is they saw how stellar the nominee was and they realised how bad it would be not to ... They’re feeling the heat and we believe we’ll see many more cracks over the next two weeks.”
Schumer and other Democratic senators addressed reporters outside the supreme court ahead of Garland’s first meetings on Capitol Hill on Thursday afternoon. He was due to make courtesy calls on Democrats Harry Reid and Patrick Leahy but not on Republicans.
Billionaire Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has discovered Twitter’s polling function...
Who should star in a reboot of Liar Liar- Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz? Let me know. https://t.co/ESdiEftWGs
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2016
Video – Top military official says Trump’s plans would have ‘adverse effects’
Kasich announces he will contest Utah, where Ted Cruz is expected to make a strong run among conservatives and Mormon voters.
John Kasich announces a Utah swing, well timed to deny Cruz the 50% threshold to get all the state's delegates.
— Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) March 17, 2016
Some observers raise an eyebrow, noting that by Utah’s rules, a candidate who takes a majority of the vote wins all 40 of the state’s Republican delegates. Wouldn’t that be a better outcome than a split verdict in which Trump snags some delegates from the state, bringing him closer to the coveted 1,237 majority?
The Kasich camp says the point is still to keep Trump out of the delegates – by keeping him below a 15% threshold for winning any delegates.
@ForecasterEnten @NickRiccardi Wrong. We can win delegates and keep Trump under the 15 percent threshold for getting any delegates.
— Team Kasich (@TeamJohnKasich) March 17, 2016
Update: it’s not clear that Kasich plan is so solid. Because the 15% threshold ceases to apply if only two candidates clear it. Who is the Kasich camp counting on to clear it, apart from Cruz and Kasich?
@TeamJohnKasich @ForecasterEnten @NickRiccardi But 15% threshold doesn't apply if only 2 candidates above it: https://t.co/wvilPWseWb
— Jonathan Jones (@JJ_159) March 17, 2016
Updated
Rubio rules out VP run
Florida senator Marco Rubio, who is still a senator for 10 months, has announced on Capitol Hill that he would not join a Republican ticket as anyone’s vice presidential running mate; that “I’m not running for [Florida] governor,” and that he would not run for reelection to the senate, according to various media reports.
Rubio tells reporters on Capitol Hill he won't run for reelection to the Senate or for Florida governor. No interest in being veep.
— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) March 17, 2016
What will he do?
Updated
You won’t hear us say this much. But. This probably calls for gifs.
Lindsey Graham, immediately after he endorsed Ted Cruz pic.twitter.com/9Eif7FLgj7
— john r stanton (@dcbigjohn) March 17, 2016
Breaking footage of Cruz accepting Graham's endorsement pic.twitter.com/4bDz94twdi
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) March 17, 2016
Bernie Sanders reacts to breaking news that Lindsey Graham has thrown support to Ted Cruz. https://t.co/E0gLQwos1Z pic.twitter.com/5n5bMwscF0
— Justice Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) March 17, 2016
Graham: 'I'm going to help Ted every way I can'
Here is video of senator Graham telling CNN’s Dana Bash about his decision to back Cruz.
He stops short of calling it an endorsement. “John Kasich I think is the most viable general election candidate, I just don’t see how John gets through the primary,” Graham says. “This is an outsider year, he’s seen as an insider.”
First on CNN: Lindsey Graham to fundraise for Ted Cruz's presidential bid https://t.co/0OE9FZCjfL via @DanaBashCNN https://t.co/V5kqmKzmHt
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) March 17, 2016
“I think [Cruz is] the best alternative to Donald Trump, he’s certainly not my preference, senator Cruz is not,” Graham says. “But he’s a reliable Republican conservative, of which I’ve had many differences with.
“I doubt Donald Trump’s conservatism and I think he’d be a disaster for the party, so I’m going to try to raise money for senator Cruz in the pro-Israel community.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is holding its annual policy conference in Washington next week. Graham was to host a fundraiser Monday night.
“I think the best alternative to Donald Trump, to stop him from getting to 1,237, is Ted Cruz,” Graham continued.
“I’m going to help Ted in every way I can.”
Asked about his past differences with Cruz, Graham says:
“It tells you a lot about where we are as a party.”
Updated
Is it any coincidence that just as news breaks of Lindsey Graham’s support for Ted Cruz, a bald eagle hatchling emerged from its shell in Washington, DC?
zomg. GAME ON. get in here. https://t.co/0t6r4I8cwm pic.twitter.com/Q1Gz2sCLsm
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 17, 2016
Graham joins Cruz fundraising effort
“If you kill Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody could convict you,” Republican senator Lindsey Graham joked at a press club foundation dinner last month.
That was then. Graham, heretofore one of Cruz’s most vocal detractors in the senate, now plans to host a fundraiser for Cruz on Monday, CNN reports.
Actual quote from Lindsey Graham on choosing Trump vs Cruz in January: “It’s like being shot or poisoned. What does it really matter?"
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) March 17, 2016
Callout to readers / your top election issues
By now we know a bit about the presidential candidates, and more about state rules for delegate allocation than we’d care to.
But we’re trying to get a read on which issues matter most to you, our readers, this election cycle. It’s plain from your comments that income and wealth inequality, social issues, civil liberties, and US conduct on the international stage are central concerns.
But if you have a second we’d like for you to tell us: which election issue matters most to you?
Open contributions: Which election issue matters most to you?
Thanks for taking the time!
Ask Al Gore?
.@TuckerCarlson: “The man w/ the most delegates is going to be the nominee...Question is what kind if fight will D.C. GOP Party put up?”
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) March 17, 2016
Question every Trump supporter should answer: Would a plurality of Electoral Votes entitle Hillary to presidency? https://t.co/Kw6CYiQZMy
— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) March 17, 2016
Half of US women have 'very unfavorable' view of Trump
Half of US women say they have a “very unfavorable” view of Donald Trump, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, up from the 40% who felt that way in October. The survey was taken from March 1-15, and included 5,400 respondents. Reuters expands:
The rise in anti-Trump sentiment among women could pose a problem for the New York billionaire in his quest for the White House. Women form just over half of the U.S. population, and they have turned out at higher rates than men in every election since 1996, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
A big general election challenge for Trump – especially, perhaps, if he’s running against Hillary Clinton. Read the full piece here.
Here’s a piece to go with the video we posted earlier, with expert advice on how to cope with Trump anxiety.
A Muslim-American, a woman, an African-American, a journalist and a Mexican-American describe what about Trump concerns them:
Here's why I'm terrified of Donald Trump https://t.co/kVrjl9DqR9 ... A laundry list of fear complements of The Guardian
— Maria La Ganga (@marialaganga) March 17, 2016
Kerry: 'Daesh is responsible for genocide'
US secretary of state John Kerry on Thursday declared that acts committed by Islamic State against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria are genocide, reports the Guardian’s Amanda Holpuch:
Kerry did not say how such a declaration would affect US involvement in areas controlled by Isis.
“My purpose in appearing before you today is to assert that in my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims,” Kerry said, using an Arabic acronym for the extremist group. “Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology and by actions, in what it says, in what believes and in what it does.”
Updated
John Kasich announces the endorsement of Michael Leavitt, former governor of Utah, which will award 40 Republican delegates in voting next Tuesday.
MAJOR UTAH ENDORSEMENT: Utah's fmr. 3-term @GovMikeLeavitt is backing John Kasich for president. pic.twitter.com/yN7iS1k8GB
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) March 17, 2016
Anybody miss Ted Cruz on Megyn Kelly last night? Just in case, let’s review: Cruz told Kelly that Donald Trump finds her “a very very terrifying person” and accused Trump of being “scared to debate.”
The Republicans scheduled a debate for Monday in Salt Lake City but then Trump said he wasn’t going and Kasich followed suit, and the debate was canceled.
“The race has shifted to a terrain that is not favorable for him,” Cruz says. “The closer we get to a one-on-one battle, the worse Donald Trump does.”
Rubio returns to day job
Marco Rubio returns to his senate office, to warm welcome from staff. The moment was captured by his comms team:
A few minutes ago, @marcorubio U.S. Senate staff welcomed him back to the office: pic.twitter.com/neRSJ1ANMD
— Alex Burgos (@BurgosGOP) March 17, 2016
Rubio got back to it after only two days. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie withdrew from the race more than a month ago and he still hasn’t gone back to work! (That isn’t strictly true. He has been campaigning for Trump a lot and that has kept him away from his home state. We kid because we love. Without the love part.)
Haley 'praying' for Cruz victory
South Carolina governor and Donald Trump critic Nikki Haley told the local Post and Courier that she was not prepared to make a new endorsement after her favored presidential candidate, senator Marco Rubio, dropped out of the race Tuesday.
But she is praying for Ted Cruz, Haley said.
“As of now, I strongly believe I will support the Republican nominee,” Haley said. “The only thing I can say now is my hope and my prayer is that senator Cruz can come through this.
“That’s who privately I’m fighting for. I do see a path for him, because I think he’s been solid and strong the entire way. I think that he’s been disciplined in the way that he’s done it.”
Deputies disciplined for 'failure to act' at Trump rally where protester sucker-punched
Three North Carolina sheriff’s deputies have been demoted and two suspended without pay for “unsatisfactory performance” at a 9 March Donald Trump rally at which a protester was sucker punched – leading deputies to pounce on the protester, ignoring his assailant.
The disciplinary measures were announced on the Facebook page of Cumberland County sheriff Earl “Moose” Butler.
“We have disciplined five deputies following a professional standards investigation arising from the events at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville,” the statement said.
“Three deputies were demoted in rank, and they were suspended for a period of five days each without pay for unsatisfactory performance and failing to discharge the duties and policies of the Office of Sheriff.
“Two other deputies were suspended for a period of three days without pay for unsatisfactory performance and the failure to discharge their duties.”
Here’s video of the incident:
The assailant, John McGraw, was later charged with assault and battery. In an interview at the rally he warned that the protester, Rakeem Jones, might be an Isis member and “the next time we see him, we might have to kill him.”
Jones is not an Isis member. He told local media that he was “satisfied” with the disciplining of the deputies but that his life had changed.
“When I was threatened on national TV, this man was saying, ‘we are going to have to kill him’,” Jones told TWCNews. “Though I’m satisfied with the discipline of the sheriffs, I would like to know who is ‘we’”.
The five disciplined deputies were placed on probationary status for a year, the sheriff’s statement said.
“The actions of the deputies and their failures to act in situations such as that which occurred during the Trump rally at the Crown Coliseum have never been and will not ever be tolerated under the policies of this office,” the statement said.
Updated
Carson, Rubio, Trump warn of brokered convention dangers
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson told CNN last night that there would be “a lot of turmoil” if Donald Trump was nudged aside by the Republican party in a brokered convention, should Trump’s lead in the nominating race remain strong.
“There’s no question that there would be a lot of turmoil if the establishment tries to thwart the will of the people, recognizing that millions of new voters have come into the Republican fold, largely as a result of Donald Trump,” Carson said.
Carson’s remarks were prompted by a warning by Trump Tuesday that if he holds a big lead going into the convention but not a full majority of delegates, and the party nominated someone else, “I think you’d have riots.”
Rubio also warned of potential chaos from a brokered convention, in a conference call late Wednesday with supporters.
“Winning a general election with a nominee that a significant percentage of the base thinks stole it, even though you did it through the rules of the RNC, would be pretty much fatal for the party,” Rubio said.
Rubio: Cruz 'only conservative left in the race'
Former presidential candidate Marco Rubio has told Minnesota supporters on a conference call that he thinks fellow senator Ted Cruz is the “the only conservative left in the race,” the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports.
Rubio did not endorse Cruz on the call. He did warn of the dangers of potentially elevating a trailing candidate to nominee in a brokered convention.
Rubio’s comments followed an assessment late Wednesday by Ben Carson, also a former candidate, that “turmoil” would attend a contested convention.
“Winning a general election with a nominee that a significant percentage of the base thinks stole it, even though you did it through the rules of the RNC, would be pretty much fatal for the party,” Rubio said.
“This election was entirely driven by national media coverage, in many ways,” he said. “When the media narrative goes negative on you, and all the news is bad, it kind of knocks us off.”
Read the full piece here.
Video – How to cope with anxiety caused by Donald Trump: experts lend advice
Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. It’s an active morning of foreign policy headlines with the sentencing in North Korea of an American student to 15 years of hard labor for trying to swipe a hotel poster ... and secretary of state John Kerry expected to announce this morning the administration’s finding that Islamic State fighters have committed genocide against Christians, Yazidis and Shia Muslims in Iraq and Syria.
A genocide against Christians may be a topic the presidential candidates feel inclined to weigh in on. Meanwhile the Hillary Clinton camp continued its slow starboard turn away from Democratic rival Bernie Sanders to take on anticipated – or current – rival Donald Trump:
Trump is fanning the flames of chaos and violence. That's not leadership—it’s dangerous. https://t.co/wGsfs9ZS8R pic.twitter.com/4ICA9VzSLI
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 17, 2016
Trump: making a joke of democracy – or revealing the power of the people?
Obama is heading to Cuba next week:
‘President Trump’ judged major threat to global economy:
Thanks for joining us for all our politics coverage today. What news lines are you following this morning? Let us know in the comments!
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