“I’m turning out to be right. I’m always right… you’ll see, you’ll see. I’m always right.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the Wall Street Journal.
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Trump Invokes Global Warming for His Golf Course
Donald Trump says he is “not a big believer in global warming” and has called it “a total hoax,” “bullshit” and “pseudoscience,” Politico reports.
But he is also trying to build a sea wall designed to protect one of his golf courses from “global warming and its effects.”
“A permit application for the wall, filed by Trump International Golf Links Ireland and reviewed by Politoco, explicitly cites global warming and its consequences — increased erosion due to rising sea levels and extreme weather this century — as a chief justification for building the structure.”
Obama Lifts Vietnam Arms Embargo
“The United States is rescinding a decades-old ban on sales of lethal military equipment to Vietnam, President Obama announced at a news conference in Hanoi on Monday, ending one of the last legal vestiges of the Vietnam War,” the New York Times reports.
“The United States has long made lifting the embargo contingent on Vietnam’s improving its human rights record, and recently administration officials had hinted that the ban could be removed partly in response to China’s buildup in the South China Sea. But Mr. Obama portrayed the decision as part of the long process of normalizing relations between the two countries after the Vietnam War.”
Graham Privately Urges Republicans to Back Trump
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of Donald Trump’s fiercest critics, is now calling on Republicans to support their presumptive nominee, CNN reports.
“Graham urged GOP donors at a private fundraiser Saturday in Florida to unite behind Trump’s campaign and stressed the importance of keeping likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton from the White House… Graham said at the fundraiser Saturday that he has now spoken with Trump several times to discuss foreign policy.”
Trump Has Almost No Organization In Key States
Wall Street Journal: “Ohio, a state that has backed every presidential winner since 1964, presents both Mr. Trump’s best opportunity to carry a big swing state and reveals his team’s steep logistical challenges.”
“After winning the GOP nomination on a tight budget with a skeletal staff, Mr. Trump doesn’t have any general-election staff in the state, and senior aides in New York and Washington haven’t made contact with the state Republican Party. Efforts to recruit the state’s experienced operatives who helped elect Gov. John Kasich have so far been unsuccessful, people familiar with the matter said.”
“Mrs. Clinton has a small team of full-time aides in Ohio, where they are working to rebuild the organization that twice carried the state for President Barack Obama.”
Bill Clinton Keeps a Low Profile
“Bill Clinton’s schedule many days is more packed than Hillary’s, though by design it rarely registers on the national radar,” the Washington Post reports.
“This is the invisi-Bill campaign. The former president who flickers occasionally on cable news channels remains a big draw on the off-Broadway circuit of presidential politics. It is a low-altitude tactical deployment that leaves a light footprint, aiming to maximize his value as a political asset without stirring the negatives that also trail him.”
“His new duties have not come without stumbles, and they conjure the implications of a Clinton restoration. Presidential spouses are expected to exert their influence over china patterns, not China policy. No one, however, is under the illusion that Bill Clinton would remain cloistered in the East Wing. Still open to question is whether voters will welcome his return or worry about it.”
What’s Next for Bernie?
BuzzFeed: “Over the last month, Sanders backers have started jockeying for a say in, and piece of, the assets, influence, and energy that has driven the Vermont senator’s rise. A former Sanders adviser, Zack Exley, has co-founded an effort aimed at to coordinating a nationwide slate of progressive House and Senate candidates. A volunteer and longtime organizer, Patrick DeTemple, has circulated a draft proposal urging the candidate to drop out after the June 7 contests and transfer his movement to a new entity. And overlapping groups of current and former aides are discussing who will retain Sanders’ massive email list, the campaign’s most precious asset, and for what kind of project.”
“For all the talk of the future, however, the Sanders legacy remains uncertain, even amid the chaos on display in Nevada last weekend. Those closest to Sanders insist that the senator himself remains focused on the final contests. The question of what’s next, they say, should and will be his alone to answer, how and when he wants to answer it.”
Sanders Seeks to Extend Voter Registration in California
“A federal lawsuit alleging widespread confusion over California’s presidential primary rules asks that voter registration be extended past Monday’s deadline until the day of the state’s primary election on June 7,
the Los Angeles Times reports.
“At issue is whether voters understand the rules for the presidential primary, which differ from those governing other elections in California.”
Ohio and Florida Are Close
A new CBS News battleground tracker finds two key swing states in the presidential election are competitive.
Ohio: Clinton 44%, Trump 39%
Florida: Clinton 43%, Trump 42%
Quote of the Day
“I think Senator Sanders has every right to finish off his campaign however he chooses.”
— Hillary Clinton, in an interview on Meet the Press.
Trump and Clinton In Tight Race
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Donald Trump just ahead of Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, 46% to 44%.
Key findings: “Never in the history of the Post-ABC poll have the two major party nominees been viewed as harshly as Clinton and Trump. Nearly 6 in 10 registered voters say they have negative impressions of both major candidates. Overall, Clinton’s net negative rating among registered voters is minus-16, while Trump’s is minus-17, though Trump’s numbers have improved since March.”
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds Clinton edging Trump 46% to 43%.
Also interesting: “Asked if they would consider a third-party candidate if Clinton and Trump were the major party nominees, 47 percent of registered voters say yes — a higher percentage than those who said yes on a similar question in 2008 and 2012.”
Sanders Backs Challenger to Wasserman Schultz
Sen. Bernie Sanders “cranked up his crusade” against the Democratic establishment, declaring that he is supporting DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) primary challenger, Politico reports.
“The move, a clear and intended affront to the Florida congresswoman, comes amid long-standing tensions between the two Democrats. Sanders and his allies contend that Wasserman Schultz has not been an honest broker during his run for the Democratic nomination and they have seethed over a number of issues ranging from the debate schedule to the amount of representation on the convention standing committees.”
When Predictions Go Bad
Matt Lewis: “As of this week, Nate Silver — FiveThirtyEight founder, political prognosticator, and wunderkind — is giving Donald Trump just a 25 percent chance of defeating Hillary Clinton in November. I’m considering putting a few benjamins down on Trump.”
“Keep in mind, it’s not just the Trump nomination that he botched. In recent years, he has gotten Super Bowls wrong, the Oscars wrong, the 2014 Scottish independence referendum wrong and the 2015 U.K. elections wrong.”
“We all make mistakes, of course. The difference is that Silver’s entire raison d’etre — and he has been wildly celebrated for this — rests on his ability to make picks. But really, his track record for the last, I don’t know, four years, is spotty on some pretty big things. Now, if Silver were known for his flowery prose or for cultivating terrific sources on the House Budget Committee, we might forgive him for botching a big prediction. But this is his bread and butter. This is what he does.”
Quote of the Day
“Crooked Hillary wants to get rid of all guns and yet she is surrounded by bodyguards who are fully armed. No more guns to protect Hillary!”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the Washington Post.
Trump Has No Florida Strategy
NBC News: “The Trump campaign has said it will focus on about a dozen states during the general election, including Florida, but the candidate has not held a single campaign event there since winning the state’s primary in March… Even though Trump has become the presumptive nominee well before his Democratic rival, his general election team doesn’t yet have a real presence in the state. The campaign has yet to set up any of the infrastructure necessary to win a campaign in Florida, leaving its 29 delegates very much up in the air.”
“Trump’s lack of a ground game isn’t surprising. It’s been a criticism of his campaign throughout the primary process, but as both parties turn to the general election, the lack of local organization becomes more of an issue.”
How Transgender Rights Became a Big National Issue
New York Times: “How a clash over bathrooms, an issue that appeared atop no national polls, became the next frontier in America’s fast-moving culture wars — and ultimately landed on the desk of the president — involves an array of players, some with law degrees, others still in high school.”
“The sweeping directive to public schools seemed to come out of nowhere. In fact, it was the product of years of study inside the government and a highly orchestrated campaign by advocates for gay and transgender people.”
GOP Megadonor Explains Why He’s Backing Trump
“Republican mega-donor Foster Friess says he’s decided to support Donald Trump because he doesn’t believe people should be judged based on their past, or even present, behavior,” The Hill reports.
Said Friess: “My success came from harnessing people’s strengths and ignoring their weaknesses. And also, from assessing people not according to their pasts or where they are today, but rather based on what they can become. I believe that as Republicans continue to unite behind Donald Trump, he’ll become an even better candidate.”
New York Times: Key GOP donors still resisting Trump
Weiner
The AP reviews Weiner, “the compulsively watchable new film about Anthony Weiner and the implosion of his 2013 New York mayoral run amid a revival of his sexting scandal.”
“There are lots of fly-on-the-wall documentaries. But occasionally there’s one that makes you want to ask the fly: Just HOW did you get onto that wall, and how did you manage to stay there?”
