“Hillary Clinton, you should be tried for treason, murder, and crimes against the US Constitution… then hung on the Mall in Washington, DC.”
— West Virginia House of Delegates member Michael Folks (R), quoted by WOWK-TV.
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Trump Suggests Obama Supports Police Killings
Donald Trump implied that President Obama has sided with those attacking police officers, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I mean, you know, I watched the president and sometimes the words are okay. But you just look at the body language. There’s something going on. Look, there’s something going on and the words are not often okay, by the way.”
He elaborated: “There’s just a bad feeling, a lot of bad feeling about him. I see it too. There’s a lot of bad feeling about him. We have a country that has not been like this since I can remember it.”
Confessions of a Republican
Hillary Clinton is out with a new ad as the Republican National Convention kicks off:
Kasich Snubs Trump at Convention In His Home State
NBC News: “Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of Ohio Gov. John Kasich becoming the final entrant in a crowded GOP primary field in which Donald Trump was viewed as little more than a celebrity sideshow. But that same day — July 21 — will also be when Trump steps on the stage in Cleveland to accept the party’s presidential nomination. And Kasich won’t be there to welcome him.”
On Today, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said that Kasich is “embarrassing the state” by not attending.
A Divided and Unpopular Party Convenes
First Read: “As Republicans begin the first day of their convention here, we can safely say that the state of their party is, well, not so strong. In the new NBC/WSJ poll, which finds Hillary Clinton holding on to her five-point lead over Donald Trump, only 38% of Republican voters say they are satisfied with Trump as their nominee, versus 54% of Democrats who say they are satisfied with Clinton.”
“What’s more, a combined 85% of all voters – including 78% of Republicans – say the GOP is not that unified or only somewhat unified. That’s compared with 48% of all voters (and 40% of Democrats) who say that about the Democratic Party. And overall, the Republican Party has a fav/unfav rating of 27%/51% (-24) in the poll, compared with the Democrats’ 39%/41% score (-2). So while you could look at our poll and fairly conclude that both Trump (-33) and Clinton (-22) are unpopular in our NBC/WSJ poll, there really is no comparing the state of the GOP heading into their convention and the Democrats going into theirs.”
Trump’s Ghostwriter Speaks Out
Tony Schwartz, who was the ghost writer for Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal, talks to the New Yorker:
“I put lipstick on a pig,” he said. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.” He went on, “I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”
If he were writing The Art of the Deal today, Schwartz said, it would be a very different book with a very different title. Asked what he would call it, he answered, The Sociopath.
Trump Prides Himself on Not Reading Much
Washington Post: “Presidents have different ways of preparing to make decisions. Some read deeply, some prefer to review short memos that condense difficult issues into bite-size summaries, ideally with check-boxes at the bottom of the page. But Trump, poised to become the first major-party presidential nominee since Dwight Eisenhower who had not previously held elected office, appears to have an unusually light appetite for reading.”
Trump said that he does not need to read extensively because he reaches the right decisions “with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I [already] had, plus the words ‘common sense,’ because I have a lot of common sense and I have a lot of business ability.”
Quote of the Day
“I think I am, actually humble. I think I’m much more humble than you would understand.”
— Donald Trump, in an interview on 60 Minutes.
GOP Insiders Not Looking Forward to Convention
Politico: “Nearly two-thirds of Republican insiders, 65 percent, said they are less excited about this year’s convention — which a number of top Republicans are avoiding — than previous editions.”
“Republican insiders are far less excited about their party’s convention than their Democratic counterparts: Roughly a quarter of Democrats, 27 percent, said they are less excited about their convention in Philadelphia next week.”
Trump Dominates First Joint Interview
Washington Post: “For their first lengthy public interaction, Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence opted for a sit-down interview with 60 Minutes. Trump did most of the talking during the 21-minute segment that aired on Sunday night, while Pence sat beside him, gazing approvingly and allowing Trump to answer nearly all of the questions, even those directed at him.”
“By the end, Trump had uttered more than 2,160 words while Pence’s word count clocked in around 900. When Pence did get the chance to speak, Trump would often cut him off with a correction or answer of his own.”
Convention Will Test Limits of Trump and Media
New York Times: “The can’t-look-away quality of his public persona and his media awareness have frequently pushed much of our national journalism into an unsavory corner where the imperatives of equal time, hard scrutiny and adherence to traditional standards have given way to the business lure of the huge television ratings and internet clicks that Mr. Trump uniquely provides.”
“Still, nothing will test the news media like the next few days in Cleveland, where the Republican convention gets underway on Monday. Mr. Trump will have something that even he has never had; something that only presidents and major party nominees get. And that is nearly full control of the national media stage for four straight evenings in prime time, across not only cable news, but, at least for one hour every night, the broadcast networks as well.”
‘Law and Order’ Becomes GOP Theme
“The attack on police officers in Baton Rouge, La., cast a grim mood over the opening of the Republican National Convention here, as Donald Trump responded to the killings with a stark warning that the country was falling apart,” the New York Times reports.
“A string of shootings targeting police officers, as well as the recent killings of two black men by police officers in Minnesota and Louisiana, had already pushed gun violence and social unrest to the center of the presidential campaign. Mr. Trump has campaigned on the theme of ‘law and order’ since the assassination this month of five police officers in Dallas, and he is likely to amplify that message in the coming days.”
Los Angeles Times: Trump under pressure to stay on safety message
GOP Convention Program Announced
The Republican National Convention announced the schedule of events for this week:
Monday: Make America Safe Again
Headliners: Melania Trump, Lieutenant General (ret.) Michael Flynn, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Jason Beardsley and U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke (Mont.).Tuesday: Make America Work Again
Headliners: Tiffany Trump, Kerry Woolard, Donald Trump, Jr., U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Ben Carson and Kimberlin Brown.Wednesday: Make America First Again
Headliners: Lynne Patton; Eric Trump; former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, and Indiana Governor Mike Pence, whom Donald Trump has chosen as his vice presidential running mate.Thursday: Make America One Again
Headliners: Peter Thiel, Tom Barrack, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump
Kasich Says Clinton Has Moved Too Far Left
Gov. John Kasich (R) hasn’t endorsed Donald Trump but he blasted Hillary Clinton in a New Hampshire Union Leader op-ed for being pushed to the left:
Hillary Clinton may have locked up her party’s nomination, but it is unclear who is in charge. It is starting to look more like Bernie Sanders is driving the bus and Clinton is merely a passenger.
It should be no surprise that Hillary Clinton is trying to be all things to all people. There is a reason she has been stereotyped over the years as being ambitious and calculating. But, at a time when Clinton has an opportunity to demonstrate leadership, she has instead chosen to double down on liberal orthodoxy in an attempt to please narrow interests rather than appeal to all Americans.
Police Want Open Carry Suspended for GOP Convention
“The head of Cleveland’s largest police union is calling on Ohio Gov. John Kasich to temporarily restrict the state’s open carry gun laws during this week’s Republican National Convention following Sunday’s shooting in Louisiana that killed three officers and wounded at least three others,” CNN reports.
However, Kasich responded to the request: “Ohio governors do not have the power to arbitrarily suspend federal and state constitutional rights or state laws as suggested.”
Jon Stewart Returns for the Conventions
Jon Stewart “just couldn’t stay away from this year’s election,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“The former Daily Show host is set to take part in Stephen Colbert’s Late Show live episodes for the Republican National Convention, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed. Stewart will also appear on the Late Show on Monday.”
Never Trump Running Out of Time
“Anti-Trump forces, preparing their final, desperate maneuver to deny Donald Trump the Republican presidential nomination, are struggling to settle on a strategy — and they’re down to their final day,” Politico reports.
“In hushed meetings in hotels dotting downtown Cleveland on Saturday, deflated leaders of the effort discussed a slew of parliamentary tactics that may disrupt the GOP national convention — which begins here on Monday — but are unlikely to derail Trump himself.”
Christie Was ‘Livid’ at Not Being Picked
Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was overheard by the Weekly Standard in a Starbucks confirming that Gov. Chris Christie was “livid” at not being picked as Trump’s running mate.
