The Commentariat -- March 17, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Maggie Haberman & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "In unusually candid remarks, President Obama privately told a group of Democratic donors last Friday that Senator Bernie Sanders is nearing the point where his campaign against Hillary Clinton will come to an end, and that the party must soon come together to back her. Mr. Obama acknowledged that Mrs. Clinton is perceived to have weaknesses as a candidate, and that some Democrats did not view her as authentic. Mr. Obama made the remarks after reporters had left a fund-raising event in Austin, Tex., for the Democratic National Committee." ...

... Zach Carter of the Huffington Post: Hillary Clinton "is doing a terrible job turning out voters, particularly in the states that will matter most in a November matchup against Donald Trump.More  people voted for Trump than for Clinton in two states Tuesday night — Missouri and Ohio. In Florida, Clinton edged Trump by a nose — less than 2 percent. Clinton had only one other candidate splitting the Democratic vote in a contested election, while Trump was embroiled in a four-way contest that factionalized Republican voters. In Ohio, Trump bested Clinton by about 50,000 votes despite coming in second in the GOP contest to John Kasich, the state’s current governor. In Missouri, both Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) bested Clinton’s vote total by nearly 20 percent."

... Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "As Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton begin to tighten their grips on their respective party nominations, President Obama is plunging into the campaign fray, not only to help Democrats retain the White House but in defense of his own legacy in a political climate dominated by Trump.... Obama is poised to be the most active sitting president on the campaign trail in decades."

The Gang's All Back -- Mostly. Michael Shear: "President Obama has said for years that he has finished his last campaign. But you would not know it by looking at the team he has assembled to push for his Supreme Court nominee. The Constitutional Responsibility Project, which was formed to lead the fight to get the nominee, Judge Merrick B. Garland, confirmed, is a virtual who’s who of Mr. Obama’s two presidential campaigns.... Founded within the last several weeks as a nonprofit organization, the project will accept donations, develop advertising, coordinate messaging, help manage operatives in the field, respond to attacks on Judge Garland and collect opposition research on Republican opponents."m

"Name Your Poison." -- "Okay, 'Ted.'" Matt Flegenheimer & Emmarie Huetteman of the New York Times: "Less than two months ago, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that deciding between Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas amounted to selecting whether to be 'shot or poisoned.' He has made his choice. Mr. Graham, who recently joked about murdering Mr. Cruz on the Senate floor, plans to attend a fund-raiser on Monday in Washington as a special guest of the Cruz campaign.... In a statement, Mr. Graham called his colleague 'the best alternative to Donald Trump.'”

*****

CW Note: I plan to reopen the Comments section as soon as I can stand to do so. I acknowledge that I am responsible for allowing commentary to go off the deep end. My hesitancy to shut it down earlier was a mistake with consequences. I have been priviledged to provide a platform for contributors' insights about our treacherous political landscape, & I look forward to doing so again.

Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Obama on Wednesday nominated Merrick Garland to serve on the Supreme Court, setting up a protracted political fight with Republicans who have vowed to block any candidate picked by Obama in his final year in office." ...

... Here's the transcript of remarks by President Obama & Merrick Garland made yesterday when the President anounced Judge Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court. See yesterday's Commentariat for video. ...

... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "A small group of Senate Republicans is breaking with its party's Supreme Court strategy, with lawmakers saying they're willing to meet with President Obama's pick to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia. Seven Republicans so far have said they are open to considering or meeting with Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia who was nominated for the Supreme Court earlier Wednesday by Obama." They are Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Az.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Roy Blunt (Mo.) & Jim Inhofe (Okla.) & Thad Cochran (Miss.) CW: Yeah, I know that eight, but some, like Ayotte, said they'd just meet Garland to tell him why he hasn't got a prayer. ...

... CW: In fact, what most of these senators said is not so different from what top obstructionists Mitch McConnell & Chuck Grassley said: the same ole implicit "Barack Obama is not the President of us." ...

... Karoud Demirjian of the Washington Post: "President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee will make his first official visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with top Senate Democrats. But Republican leaders plan to make him wait for an audience, if they grant him one at all.... They have refused to schedule any confirmation hearings, and many Republicans — including McConnell — are also rejecting face-to-face meetings." ...

... Of course, they have no objection to Judge Garland, per se, as some of their past remarks indicate. No point in shouting "Hypocrite!" The problem isn't with Garland, it's that "Barack Obama is not the President of us" so he has no right to appoint justices. ...

... Russell Berman of the Atlantic has more on Senate Republicans' machinations. They are horrible human beings. ...

... AND Nina Totenberg of NPR reports Senate Republicans “sent some sort of a back channel message to the White House” that they would confirm Garland “in the lame duck session” if A Democrat wins the presidency in November. CW: Yeah, thanks Republicans! ...

... BUT Greg Sargent points out that President Obama might not play into the GOP's game plan. ...

** ... Linda Greenhouse disproves Republicans' (and confederate "journalists"') claims that they're treating Merrick Garland's nomination just as Democrats treated Judge Robert Bork's: "The president might even say: Remember Robert Bork? Treat my nominee in the same way. Have a conversation and let the public in on it. Of course the president and his allies know that’s exactly the public conversation that the Republicans fear, because it was clear from the first moment that any Obama nominee would inhabit the constitutional mainstream much more securely than either Judge Bork or Justice Scalia — whose 'originalist' philosophy never gained more than a toehold at the court — ever did. Now with the nomination of Merrick Garland, there is not the shadow of a doubt."

... Bloomberg Editors: "There are at least two criteria on which to judge President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court. First are his qualifications. Second is the ideological space that he would occupy on a polarized court in a polarized political environment. Garland is a superb choice on both counts.... The Senate voted 76 to 23 to confirm him 19 years ago, and his reputation has only grown since; just last week, Senator Orrin Hatch [R-Utah] called Garland a 'fine man' but doubted Obama would ever nominate him. Hatch was taken by surprise. Now it's time for Senate Republicans to give Merrick Garland the serious consideration he deserves." ...

... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "The Garland nomination ... appears to be an attempt to box in Senate Republicans who've refused to confirm anyone Obama nominates. There are strong reasons to doubt whether this strategy will work, however." ...

... Paul Waldman: "I’ll bet that a big part of his selection was that Garland was willing to go through the process knowing he probably won’t get to actually serve on the court, while a younger judge who could have another chance later might not want to." ...

... Garrett Epps of the Atlantic: "Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, has already drawn a line in the sand against the Garland nomination, tweeting moments after the nomination that the president is trying 'to politicize it for the purposes of the election.' The reality, however, is that this is perhaps the least political nomination Barack Obama could have made. In a sane world, that would make Garland’s confirmation more likely. In the world we live in, it probably makes it less likely. That’s because Garland brings nothing novel to the demographic table." ...

... Steve M.: "I'm sensing disappointment with President Obama's Supreme Court pick -- Merrick Garland, who's white, male, moderate, and too old at age 63 to be on the Court for forty years. But the president didn't choose someone to put on the Court. He chose someone to be blockaded. I think it was a canny choice.... So [Republicans are] going to block someone who's been acceptable to them for years." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "It just ain't happening, folks. Now there is a convoluted scenario whereby Garland might be confirmed in a post-election lame-duck session if Hillary Clinton has won the presidential election and Democrats have retaken control of the Senate.... [BUT] Precisely because he's a white-bread 60-something jurist who already has a lifetime appointment to the best non-SCOTUS judicial gig in the land, nobody's going to get that upset if she turns elsewhere. He's the perfect sacrificial nominee." ...

... CW: Here's the way Repubicans do it. They find some obscure ruling(s) by Garland that they can twist into a subject of outrage, & they all go into high dudgeon over this horrible ruling or rulings (which must have something to do with social issues like marriage or abortion). To confirm Garland would be a travesty that would end American freedom as we know it. They'll provide little buzz-phrases for the angry peoples to paint on their signs: "Baby Kiler" or "Jesus Yes! Garlin No!" or whatever. Merrick Garland seems like a nice man. It's a shame on our nation that Republicans will put him through this. But I suppose they will. ...

... Oh, It's Already Started. Mark Stern of Slate writes that, based on "no evidence whatsoever..., conservatives are trying to paint [Garland] as a warrior against the Second Amendment."

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve has again pared its plans for raising interest rates, citing the weakness of the global economy as a reason for greater caution about the prospects for domestic growth. The Fed’s policy-making committee voted not to raise its benchmark rate at a meeting that ended Wednesday, though an increase this month was widely expected at the beginning of the year. And it pulled back sharply from a December prediction that the rate would rise by one percentage point this year. Fed officials now expect to raise rates by just half a percentage point this year."

Sewell Chan of the New York Times: "Denmark has reclaimed its place as the world’s happiest country, while Burundi ranks as the least happy nation, according to the fourth World Happiness Report, released on Wednesday. The report found that inequality was strongly associated with unhappiness — a stark finding for rich countries like the United States, where rising disparities in income, wealth, health and well-being have fueled political discontent.... Of the world’s most populous nations, China came in at No. 83, India at No. 118, the United States at No. 13, Indonesia at No. 79, Brazil at No. 17, Pakistan at No. 92, Nigeria at No. 103, Bangladesh at No. 110, Russia at No. 56, Japan at No. 53 and Mexico at No. 21. The United States rose two spots, from No. 15 in 2015."

Joe Stiglitz: "Something interesting has emerged in voting patterns on both sides of the Atlantic: Young people are voting in ways that are markedly different from their elders. A great divide appears to have opened up, based not so much on income, education, or gender as on the voters’ generation." Read the whole essay. Thanks to carlyle for the link.

Presidential Race

Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "With more than half the states having now held their nominating contests, Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz are quietly directing their attention to a second, shadow election campaign.... This parallel campaign is to select the individual delegates who will go to Cleveland in July for what could be the first contested convention in American politics in more than 60 years. Chosen through a byzantine process in each state, most of the delegates will become free agents if no one wins a majority on the first ballot." ...

... Curly Says Republican Primary Voters Don't Matter. Matthew Belvedere of CNBC: "Political parties, not voters, choose their presidential nominees, a Republican convention rules member told CNBC, a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump rolled up more big primary victories. 'The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination. That's the conflict here,' Curly Haugland, an unbound GOP delegate from North Dakota, told CNBC's 'Squawk Box' on Wednesday. He even questioned why primaries and caucuses are held." CW: Time for Larry & Moe to weigh in.

... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Advisers to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz say there's no way they'll allow John Kasich to even compete at a contested national convention — let alone prevail. Trump and Cruz are betting that their dual dominance in the delegate hunt will permanently box out the Ohio governor, who has no mathematical path to the nomination and is openly pursuing a floor fight at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. And their aides say Kasich won't even make it to the floor." ...

     ... Just to highlight how bad GOP politics have become, here's Charles Pierce: "I would remind them that John Kasich is the governor of Ohio and, as such, he's the commander-in-chief of the Ohio National Guard of long historical memory. If he wants to get to the floor, he'll get to the floor." CW: Pierce is writing tongue-in-cheek, at least to some extent, but when you reasonably can invoke the Kent State massacre as a potential campaign tactic, you have to worry that w're on a path that could lead to that. ...

I think you’d have riots. -- Donald Trump, Wednesday, if Republicans don't nominate him even though he has the most elected delegates ...

... Threats of Violence as Political Strategy. Greg Sargent: "It’s hard to say whether this is intended as a threat or a prediction.... There is no particular reason to rule out the former — that it was indeed intended as a tacit threat, as least of a certain kind. Trump has been playing a clever little game where he hints at the possibility of violence while stopping short of explicitly threatening it — yet he also doesn’t denounce such an outcome as unacceptable, so his hints effectively function as a threat. And as Philip Klein detailed the other day, this could well emerge as an aspect of his convention strategy." ...

... Adele Stan of the American Prospect: "In a nation conceived in a violent revolution, and whose popular culture revels in entertainment violence, it should perhaps come as no surprise that the presidential frontrunner of one of our two major political parties is carving a path to victory fueled in part by aggression.... With the Trump candidacy, violence is not merely the outcome of a toxic campaign; it’s the show, it’s the game. A feature, not a bug. And a savvy, cynical calculation of the kind of show that turns America on."

I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things. -- Donald Trump, Quote of the Day

Daniel Lippman of Politico: The Economist Intelligence unit, a "well-respected global economic and geopolitical analysis firm put a possible Trump presidency in its top 10 global risks this month, released Wednesday. Other risks include a sharp slowdown in the Chinese economy, a fracture of the Eurozone, and Britain's possible departure from the European Union.... Electing Trump could also start a trade war, hurt trade with Mexico and be a godsend to terrorist recruiters in the Middle East, according to the latest EIU forecasts.... Until Trump, the firm had never rated a pending election of a candidate to be a geopolitical risk to the U.S. and the world."

Neil Irwin of the New York Times on what Donald Trump gets right & wrong about U.S.-China trade relations: "To people who spend time studying the United States’ economic relationship with China, Mr. Trump’s accounting of its dysfunctions contains both legitimate, accurate complaints and elements that completely misstate how things work between the world’s largest and second-largest economies."

Dylan Byers & David Goldman of CNN: "Fox News has canceled its March 21 Republican presidential debate following Donald Trump's decision not to attend.... The cancellation comes after Trump said on Fox News a few hours earlier that he would not attend the debate, leading John Kasich to pull out as well. Ted Cruz said he was willing to debate either Trump or Kasich, or both." ...

... OR, as Paul Waldman writes, "Let there be no doubt that Reince Priebus is firmly in control of the Republican party nominating process."

Hadas Gold of Politico: "Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger was denied entry to Donald Trump's press conference on Tuesday night, despite having previously been granted credentials by the campaign. The move followed a threat last week from Trump officials to exclude Politico reporters from campaign events. On Tuesday morning, Schreckinger, who has covered the campaign regularly for more than six months, received an email granting him credentials for Trump's speech and press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida that evening. But less than 10 minutes later, another email arrived saying those same credentials were denied. Upon arriving at Trump's private club, he was denied entry and escorted off of the property. Schreckinger, whose latest story on Trump's campaign was a report on concerns about campaign manager Corey Lewandowski's temperament and behavior, never received an explanation as to why his credentials have been denied." ...

... Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, denied on Wednesday that the Trump campaign blacklists reporters who write critical stories about the candidate.... 'I’m not trying to limit anyone’s access to anything, that’s not what we do,' [Lewandowski said]. The Trump campaign has at times, as noted by Mother Jones, denied press credentials to National Review, the Des Moines Register, Univision, BuzzFeed News, The Daily Beast, Fusion, Huffington Post, and Mother Jones, usually following critical stories." ...

... Read Patrick Caldwell's full piece in Mother Jones. The list of horribles is impressive. Stuff like this: "Earlier this month, Trump's campaign credentialed the Political Cesspool, a radio show that labels itself 'pro-white.' Meanwhile, for the same event, the Trump campaign didn't respond to a request from the New Tri-State Defender, an African American newspaper in Memphis.... In January, Trip Gabriel of the New York Times was 'ejected' from a campaign stop in Iowa, just a few days after Gabriel wrote an unflattering piece on Trump's campaign in the state."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The Family that Hates Together Stays Together. Jordan Sargent of Gawker: A heartwarming PBS News Hour story about a North Carolina family that has been inspired by Donald Trump's candidacy to get into politics for the first time fails to mention that the sweet 33-year-old daughter in the story -- who is pictured in the piece phone-banking for Drumpf -- has large, heartwearming white-power symbols tattooed on each of her hands. ...

     ... CW: Thanks, Judy Woodruff, et al., for mainstreaming white supremacy. I'm sending in my tax-deducitble donation right away. Send one of those PBS mugs with a white-power symbol on it, please. And to think Republicans want to defund PBS because you're an arm of the liberal media. Thank you for proving, once again, that the liberal-bias charge is totally unfair.

A Skin Head in Search of a Rug. Eliza Collins & Nick Gass of Politico: "Florida Gov. Rick Scott is calling on the Republican Party to come together and support Donald Trump. Scott — in a Facebook post the day after his home state voted and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out — said that Trump’s victories Tuesday show it is time to rally around the businessman." ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday said she hoped Ted Cruz would pull through with the Republican nomination. The statement comes a day after Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the candidate she had previously supported, suspended his campaign." CW: As for the veep slot, "Pick me! Pick me!"

David Wasserman of 538: "If Donald Trump somehow falls three delegates short of reaching the magic 1,237 delegates needed for the Republican nomination, he may be haunted by an obscure outcome from the primary voting in Illinois on Tuesday. There’s clear evidence that Trump supporters in Illinois gave fewer votes to Trump-pledged delegate candidates who have minority or foreign-sounding names like 'Sadiq,' 'Fakroddin' and 'Uribe,' potentially costing him three of the state’s 69 delegates.... Of the seven Trump delegate candidates with minority or foreign-sounding names, all seven were among the dozen worst-trailing Trump candidates in the state: Sadiq, Fakroddin, Tolbert, Alonso, Uribe, Sandra Yeh and Rolando Arellano." ...

... Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate: "Wasserman notes that a Trump delegate named Jim Uribe got 2,500 fewer votes than one named Rich Nordstrom, which is, technically speaking, the whitest name in history. Rich Nordstrom!"

Eli Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Five sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina have been disciplined for failure to act after a black protester was punched by a white supporter of Donald J. Trump at a campaign rally, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday. Three of the deputies have been demoted and will be suspended without pay for five days for 'unsatisfactory performance and failing to discharge the duties and policies of the office of sheriff,' according to a statement released by Sheriff Earl Butler of Cumberland County on his Facebook page. The other two deputies were suspended for three days without pay. All five were to be placed on probation for the next year, Sheriff Butler said."

Ben Carson is okay with Donald Trump's comparing him to a child molester, but when he said Trump had offered him a job in the Trump White House, implicity in exchange for his endorsement of the Drumpf, he was only kidding. Probably that's because someone pointed out that such quid pro quos are illegal: Josh Israel of Think Progress: "Federal law expressly prohibits candidates from directly or indirectly promising 'the appointment of any person to any public or private position or employment, for the purpose of procuring support in his candidacy.' The penalty for violations could include fines or a year in jail -- two years if the violation was willful."

Matt Flegenheimer & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: Ted Cruz & John Kasich "had scarcely said a cross word about each other before Tuesday night’s contests.... Now, it seems, Mr. Cruz and Mr. Kasich will get to know each other a bit better. And their opening gambits were to argue that the other has no chance of becoming president.... 'There are only two people who actually have a viable path to the nomination,' Jason Johnson, Mr. Cruz’s chief strategist, told reporters. 'There’s one spoiler in the race: John Kasich.'... Mr. Kasich countered on Wednesday by suggesting that Mr. Cruz, along with Mr. Trump, was too extreme to attract wide support in the fall."

“There are only two people who actually have a viable path to the nomination,” Jason Johnson, Mr. Cruz’s chief strategist, told reporters. “There’s one spoiler in the race: John Kasich.”

Other Elections

Carimah Townes of Think Progress: "The prosecutor who stalled the investigation of Tamir Rice’s shooting, fought against charging Rice’s killer, and launched a smear campaign against Rice’s mother was just ousted. Following years of controversy and calls for his resignation, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty lost to challenger Mike O’Malley on Tuesday night...."

Beyond the Beltway

Charles Pierce: "I know you'll be shocked to learn that, yes, voter-suppression laws actually, you know, suppress votes. Especially in the newly insane state of North Carolina.... It's a good thing that John Roberts declared the Day of Jubilee because, otherwise, people might wildly speculate that there are certain kinds of people who other people would rather not have voting in their elections."

News Lede

CBS.AP: "Frank Sinatra Jr., who carried on his famous father's legacy with his own music career and whose kidnapping as a young man added a bizarre chapter to his father's legendary life, died Wednesday. He was 72."

The Commentariat -- March 16, 2016

Afternoon Update:

A Skin Head in Search of a Rug. Eliza Collins & Nick Gass of Politico: "Florida Gov. Rick Scott is calling on the Republican Party to come together and support Donald Trump. Scott -- in a Facebook post the day after his home state voted and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out -- said that Trump's victories Tuesday show it is time to rally around the businessman."

Charles Pierce: "I know you'll be shocked to learn that, yes, voter-suppression laws actually, you know, suppress votes. Especially in the newly insane state of North Carolina.... It's a good thing that John Roberts declared the Day of Jubilee because, otherwise, people might wildly speculate that there are certain kinds of people who other people would rather not have voting in their elections."

*****

Supreme Court

Michael Shear & Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "President Obama on Wednesday will nominate Merrick B. Garland as the nation's 113th justice, according to White House officials, choosing a centrist appeals court judge widely respected even by Republicans in hopes his choice will be considered by the Senate." CW: Guess Obama wasn't listening when I begged him not to nominate the old white guy.'

Sarah Almukhtar of the New York Times on President Obama's considerations in nominating Merrick Garland.

Lincoln Caplan of the New Yorker: "Garland has been a judge for almost nineteen years and a chief judge for three. He has developed an indisputably illustrious record; he has proved himself to be the moderate, first-rate judge whom, in the mid-nineties, Republicans as well as Democrats one-upped each other in predicting he would become."

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama will announce his nominee to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the White House Rose Garden at 11 a.m., he said in an email to supporters Wednesday." Here's the full text of the e-mail.

Michael Shear: "The White House has created a new Twitter handle, he said -- @SCOTUSnom -- and he urged people to follow it for 'all the facts and up-to-date information.'... .... At a news conference on Thursday, Mr. Obama said that Republicans must 'decide whether they want to follow the Constitution and abide by the rules of fair play that ultimately undergird our democracy and that ensure that the Supreme Court does not just become one more extension of our polarized politics.'"

The New York Times is liveblogging developments, which so far run to speculation & a lament the trains aren't running.

Bill Chappell of NPR: "Obama added that he had consulted with legal experts across the political spectrum before making his decision. And he listed three qualities he sought in a potential Supreme Court justice:

• An 'independent mind, unimpeachable credentials, and an unquestionable mastery of law.'
• A recognition of 'the limits of the judiciary's role.'
• Awareness 'that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook.'

     "... Obama said he wanted a candidate who had experienced life outside academic or justice settings, so they would understand the way the law 'affects the daily reality of people's lives in a big, complicated democracy, and in rapidly-changing times.'"

Reuters: "President Barack Obama is likely to announce either Judge Sri Srinivasan or Judge Merrick Garland as his pick for U.S. Supreme Court nominee and the announcement could come as early as Wednesday, a source familiar with the selection process said."

Paul Waldman: "A group of lawyers from the Supreme Court Bar, who argue in front of the Court, pen a letter to Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid arguing that the Court needs a full complement of justices in order to function properly, so the Senate should get its act together and confirm a nominee." The letter is here. The lawyers write, "We have different ideologies and no doubt would have many different views on any given case. But we are united in the belief that a fully functioning Supreme Court is of vital importance to the country."

Presidential Race

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "The Missouri Secretary of State's office, which oversees elections in the state, is reporting that all votes are in and counted. Results are that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have won the state. Races on both sides are so close that recounts are likely because the law requires a recount if the loser requests it. That margin is 0.5 percent."

John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "At about eight-thirty last night, after the news came in that Donald Trump had trounced Marco Rubio in Florida, and that Hillary Clinton had won big victories over Bernie Sanders in Florida and North Carolina, Tony Fratto, who was a White House spokesman for George W. Bush's Administration, tweeted, 'What essentially happened today is @HillaryClinton was elected president. We have 8 months of hyperventilating before its official.'" ...

... Ezra Klein: "... the Clinton campaign couldn't ask for weaker opponents than Trump or Cruz."

Abby Phillip, et al., of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton won big victories Tuesday in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio, pushing her closer to the Democratic presidential nomination even as rival Bernie Sanders pressed on with his insurgent campaign.... Sanders ended the day further behind in the delegate count -- and needing to win a slew of upcoming states by improbably large margins." ...

... Jeremy Stahl of Slate: "Hillary Clinton gave every indication that she is going to start to pivot to a general election message against Republican front-runner Donald Trump in her victory speech on Tuesday, as wins for the former Secretary of State in Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina clarified the Democratic primary contest further. Here's Clinton's full speech:

... Josh Voorhees of Slate: "Hillary came into the night as the dinged-up cautious favorite; she'll leave it as the presumptive nominee." ...

... Tim Egan, who has mocked & dismissed Bernie Sanders in previous columns: "But that doesn't mean the 74-year-old socialist-lite should get out. He's done a real service, for the party he only recently joined, and for the country. Clinton is a far better candidate because of him. More than that, the Democratic Party is paying attention to the angry millions in the margins, those who may be tempted by the demagogue who wants to make America white again. Thank Sanders for that."

He probably wouldn't [accept the presidential nomination] but everyone thinks he's Republican Jesus. -- GOP Senate staffer, on Paul Ryan ...

... Patrick Temple-West & Jake Sherman of Politico: "Former Speaker John Boehner said Paul Ryan should be the Republican nominee for president if the party fails to choose a candidate on the first ballot. 'If we don't have a nominee who can win on the first ballot, I'm for none of the above,' Boehner said at the Futures Industry Association conference [in Boca Raton, Florida]. 'They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I'm for none of the above. I'm for Paul Ryan to be our nominee.'... In the same question-and-answer session here, Boehner referred to Ted Cruz as 'lucifer.' He previously called the Texas senator ... a 'jackass.'... Boehner ... said he voted for his governor, John Kasich." ...

     ... CW: Last week, the New York Times reported that Boehner had endorsed Kasich, but in fact he said -- as the Times reported -- only that he had voted (early) for Kasich in the Ohio primary.

Nick Gass & Eliza Collins: "Donald Trump on Wednesday sounded like a man ready to take the stage as the Republican Party's nominee by acclamation.... Denying him the GOP nomination as part of a contested convention, he declared, would 'disenfranchise' the millions of people he is bringing into the party and could spark riots. The only problem: Delegate math. Trump, who flooded the morning television shows with a deluge of off-camera telephone calls..., said that even if he doesn't amass a majority of delegates by July, the party should unite behind him anyway. But Trump has a ways to go when it comes to getting to the magic number of 1,237.... [Trump] also declared that he would not participate in Monday's Fox News debate in Salt Lake City, telling the network's morning show that he would instead speak at the convention for pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, in Washington. 'I think it's enough,' Trump said of the 12 GOP debates to date."

Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump rolled to victory in the Republican presidential primaries in Florida, Illinois and North Carolina on Tuesday, driving Senator Marco Rubio from the race and amassing a formidable delegate advantage that will be exceedingly difficult for any rival to overcome. But with a victory in Ohio, his home state, Gov. John Kasich denied Mr. Trump one of the night’s biggest prizes and made it considerably harder for him to clinch the nomination outright before primary voting ends in June."

Robert Costa & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Years of carefully laid plans to repackage the Republican Party's traditional ideas for a fast-changing country came crashing down [in Florida] on Tuesday when Sen. Marco Rubio suspended his campaign for the presidency after a crippling defeat in his home-state primary."

Margaret Hartmann: "Donald Trump ... used his victory speech to underscore his disdain for the press, and his lack of concern about allegations of sexism. Compared to other Trump speeches, the front-runner's remarks at Mar-a-Lago were repetitive and disappointingly meat-free, but the real action was taking place just off his right shoulder. Rather than showcasing Chris Christie's look of horror, Trump signaled his support for campaign manager Corey Lewandowski by having him stand by his side."

Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker: "... in America, populism is driven not solely by distress at economic malaise but also by fears inspired by racial progress -- and the belief that these two things are synonymous. This is the reason the Tea Party took hold not amid the economic collapse that occurred during George W. Bush's tenure but in the midst of Barack Obama's Presidency, its anger siphoned into conspiracy theories about the President's Kenyan origins rather than Wall Street cronyism.... Trump's brand of populism is cemented in the ideal that he will not be out-Muslimed, out-Latinoed, or out-baited regarding any other signpost of American change. And it's selling. They are all Dixiecrats now."

Marco Rubio announced his withdrawal from the presidential race, which, apparently was for once God's fault instead of Obama's. "'It is not God's plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever,' and thus, 'today my campaign is suspended.'" On to Fox "News"! Oh, wait, as even probably forgot, he still has a job. ...

... Here's Marco's full speech announcing the suspension of his campaign:

... Jonathan Chait: "Rubio declared that he had decided not to take Trump's easy path for moral reasons. 'I chose a different route and I'm proud of that...' he said. 'That would have been the easiest way to win.' This is all revisionist nonsense. Until the very end, Rubio's response to the rise of Donald Trump was to co-opt him, not to confront him.... Rubio ran a different strategy not for moral reasons but because he thought it would work. His plan was to fashion himself as the front man for the Republican donor class.... He attached himself to wealthy patrons, and moved between politics and lobbying throughout his career, seamlessly blending public service with moneymaking.... It was entirely plausible to believe that Rubio could have smuggled his right-wing policies past the electorate by running on cheerful slogans and a winning smile.... His failure is a bullet dodged."

... Requiem for a Lightweight. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: Rubio "claimed to be the only candidate who could unite the Republican Party, but he could never unite enough voters behind him to persuasively make that case. And one crucial shortcoming was out of his control: his youth. Many Republicans were simply unwilling to entrust the presidency to a young first-term senator." ...

... Russell Berman of the Atlantic recalls the ups and downs and downs of the Rubio campaign. ...

... Eli Stokols & Shane Goldmacher of Politico Magazine: "Rubio's strategy was always an inside straight -- overly reliant on a candidate's ability to dominate free national media in order to outperform, outwit and eventually outlast a wide field of rivals. It was sketched out by an inner circle of advisers who believed they could eschew the very fundamentals of presidential campaigning because they had a candidate who transcended. That's exactly what happened in 2016; it just turned out Rubio wasn't the one transcending."

"Plan C." Ed Kilgore: "So as the pollsters predicted, Marco Rubio joined fellow Floridian Jeb! Bush on the scrapheap of the 2016 Republican presidential nominating field, going from everybody's smart-money candidate with the golden favorability ratings to toast in his home state with amazing speed. For the Trump-fearing, Cruz-hating Republican Establishment, the only survivor is John Kasich of Ohio, either as a potential nominee or as a stalking horse for some player-to-be-named-later, presumably at a 'contested convention.'" ...

... Gail Collins: "There was a time, people, when you would really not have been throwing confetti in the air just because a Republican governor ... won the presidential primary in his own state. But we are where we are.... Right now he certainly seems like the only non-appalling option the Republicans have, even though there are a lot of people in Ohio right now who are shaking their heads in stupefaction at the sight of their governor as the nation's poster boy for moderation. He's signed an absolute mountain of anti-abortion bills -- nearly half of the clinics in the state have shut down during his tenure. His enthusiasm for giving public funding to private, for-profit schools has been scandalous. And on the economic front he has the usual conservative contempt for taxing residents according to their ability to pay." ...

... Wait, Wait. Here's Plan D. John Harwood of CNBC: "House Speaker Paul Ryan decided not to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, but he declined to rule out accepting it if a deadlocked party convention turns to him this summer."

Primary Results

Democrats

Florida. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning wa-a-ay Clinton. The AP has called the race for Clinton. With 98 percent counted, Clinton received 65 percent; Sanders 33 percent. The Florida Democratic party awards delegates proportionally.

Illinois. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning Clinton. With 48 percent counted, Clinton is leading Sanders 52-47, a percentage lead that has held pretty steady so far. With 94 percent of the vote counted, the AP has called Illinois for Clinton. With 97 percent counted, the current tally is Clinton 50, Sanders 49.

Missouri. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning wa-a-ay Clinton. With 28 percent counted, Missouri is leaning Sanders. With 98 percent counted, the tally is Sanders 50, Clinton 49. Too close to call. Whoops. With 100 percent of the vote counted, the tables have turned & Clinton leads 50-49 percent. Actual vote totals are about 1,500 apart. As CNN notes, Sanders has a right to contest the count. However, as the vote stands today, each candidate receives 34 delegates.

North Carolina. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning wa-a-ay Clinton. The AP has called the state for Clinton. With 99 percent counted, Clinton had 55 percent, Sanders 41.

Ohio. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning wa-a-ay Clinton. The AP has called the race for Clinton. With 85 percent counted, Clinton leads Sanders 58-43. The Ohio Democratic party awards delegates proportionally.

Republicans

Florida. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning wa-a-ay Trump. The AP has called the race for Trump. With 98 percent counted, Trump received 46 percent, Rubio 27, Cruz 17 & Kasich 7. Florida is a winner-take-all state for Republicans.

Illinois. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning wa-a-ay Trump. the AP has called the race for Trump. With 46 percent counted, Trump has 40 percent of the vote, Cruz 28 & Kasich 20.

Missouri. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning wa-a-ay Trump. With 28 percent counted, Trump has 43 percent & Cruz 41. With 62 percent counted, Trump & Cruz are tied at 42 percent. With 100 percent counted, Trump & Cruz are still tied, at 41 percent. Vote totals between Trump has about a 1,600-vote lead over Cruz. The AP has not called the race.

North Carolina. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning wa-a-ay Trump. The AP has called the race for Trump. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Trump has 40 percent, followed by Cruz with 37 percent, Kasich with 13 & Rubio with 8.

Ohio. With less than one percent of the vote counted, the state is leaning Trump. A few more precincts counted, & it's leaning Kasich. The AP has called the race for Kasich. Ohio is a winner-take-all state for Republican candidates.

The New York Times' primary results are here.

The New York Times reports first poll closing times for today's primaries.

Gail Collins & Arthur Brooks have a conversation about the state of the race.

Eliza Collins of Politico: "Hillary Clinton on Monday defended the intervention in Libya that she championed as secretary of state, telling MSNBC's Chris Matthews that the United States 'didn't lose a single person.'... [Now I'll write something stupid:] Clinton may have been referring strictly to the U.S.-backed overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, which indeed saw no loss of American lives and cost just around $1 billion. But her comments ignore the 2012 attacks at the U.S. mission and CIA outpost in Benghazi, which killed four people including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens."

Shane Goldmacher of Politico: "Three influential leaders in the conservative movement have summoned other top conservatives for a closed-door meeting this Thursday in Washington D.C. to talk about how to stop Donald Trump and, should he become the Republican nominee, how to run a third-party 'true conservative' challenger in the fall. The organizers of the meeting include Bill Wichterman, who was President George W. Bush's liaison to the conservative movement, Bob Fischer, a South Dakota businessman and longtime conservative convener, and Erick Erickson, the outspoken Trump opponent and conservative activist who founded RedState.com." CW: So, adult men acting silly. ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Donald Trump has exploited the wedge between the party's voters and the ideologists of its master class, placing the latter in an awkward spot.... The ... National Review's Kevin Williamson['s' ... antipathy for Trump has expanded to include Trump's white working-class supporters.... To the libertarian true believer, capitalism is a value system.... Capitalism means economic freedom. People are entitled to their economic rights (meaning their market income) in exactly the same way as they are entitled to their political rights.... The marketplace hasn't failed the white working class; the white working class has failed capitalism[, according to Williamson & his ilk]. Measured in political terms, this is a suicidal mentality for the Republican Party. But who says ideas must be measured in political terms?" ...

... Matt Yglesias of Vox: "One of the great conceits of conservative punditry over the past 15 years has been the notion that American politics is dominated by affluent liberal snobs who disdain white working-class America and its communities. Typically, arguments in this vein -- like recent pieces from Charles Murray and Clive Crook -- do not adduce specific evidence of such snobbish disdain.... But now that white working-class voters are beginning to unsettle the conservative political establishment by flocking to Donald Trump, some conservative pundits are unleashing sentiments about white working-class communities that are a good deal more vicious than snobbish disdain.... These are politically explosive thoughts because the basic political reality is that Republicans rely on heavy majorities among white working-class voters to win elections.... It was taken for granted that the governing class had an obligation -- a practical one, if not a moral one -- to actually make the system work for average people. Over the past 20 years, that idea has been increasingly abandoned on the American right." ...

... ** Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Thanks to Donald Trump, the specter of class war is haunting the Republican Party. But this isn't a traditional class war wherein the masses overthrow capitalism. Instead, it features the poor and the working class destroying the country-club establishment. In response to Trump's successful use of populist rhetoric (although rarely populist policies) to woo less well-to-do Republicans, some conservative intellectuals have taken the curious tack of wholesale condemnation of the working class.... The [National Review] was founded as the organ of a distinctively aristocratic conservatism, one that in the early days never concealed its scorn for ordinary people. In recent decades, that aristocratic conservatism has sometimes been obscured by a populist mask, but under the pressure of Trumpism, National Review is showing its true face."

Nicholas Confessore & Karen Yourish of the New York Times: "Of all the ways Donald Trump has shocked the political system, one of the most significant is how he wins primary after primary with one of the smallest campaign budgets.... The big difference between Mr. Trump and other candidates is that he is far better than any other candidate -- maybe than any candidate ever -- at earning media [as opposed to paid advertising].... Over the course of the campaign, he has earned close to $2 billion worth of media attention, about twice the all-in price of the most expensive presidential campaigns in history. It is also twice the estimated $746 million that Hillary Clinton, the next best at earning media, took in. Senator Bernie Sanders has earned more media than any of the Republicans except Mr. Trump." ...

... Katrina vanden Heuvel of the Nation, in the Washington Post: "... as the Trump [media] spectacle overshadows the other candidates, it also drowns out a much-needed conversation about issues of vital importance, including those that help explain why Trump and Sanders have generated so much passionate support.... For the corporate media, clicks and ratings amount to profits, and Trump undoubtedly attracts more eyeballs than deep reporting on, say, trade policy. Last month, CBS President and Chief Executive Les Moonves bluntly acknowledged the motives behind the media's election coverage. 'It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS,' he said of Trump's rise, adding, 'The money's rolling in and this is fun.'"

Kevin Freking of the AP: "President Barack Obama said Tuesday he was dismayed by 'vulgar and divisive rhetoric' directed at women and minorities as well as the violence that has occurred in the 2016 presidential campaign, a swipe at Republican front-runner Donald Trump that also served as a challenge to other political leaders to speak out and set a better example. 'The longer that we allow the political rhetoric of late to continue and the longer that we tacitly accept it, we create a permission structure that allows the animosity in one corner of our politics to infect our broader society,' Obama said. 'And animosity breeds animosity.'"

Eun Kim of NBC: "Donald Trump tells Today's Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie "the biggest people in the party" are already calling to sit down with him as the presumptive GOP nominee."

Jessica Roy of New York: "You know that video that's going around highlighting some of the most upsetting things Donald 'What's going on?' Trump has said about women? Though its star may look and sound exactly like Trump, it actually wasn't at all. According to his spokesperson Katrina Pierson, it was his TV character saying stuff like, 'A person who is very flat-chested is very hard to be a ten.' Our mistake!" ...

     ... P.S. That was not Marie Burns who shut down the Comments section on accounta its being hijacked by opera buffos. That was the Constant Weader. Totally different. (Opera fans [& others] can still read yesterday's Comments by clicking on the heading "The Commentariat -- March 15.")

The Great Schism of 2016. Jon Ward of Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump's candidacy has sparked a civil war inside American Christianity. Trump's popularity among self-identified evangelical Christians has led national figures in American Christianity to question whether large swaths of the church even know what their faith teaches, and how it applies to public and political life.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Jerry Springer, the former Democratic mayor of Cincinnati who is most famous for hosting a raucous talk show that often leads to guests brawling onstage, says that the 2016 race has become too lowbrow even for him.... 'This is not a joke,' said Mr. Springer, whose show Tuesday featured women wrestling in an inflatable pool. 'The symbol of America is the Statue of Liberty, not a wall.'"

Nick Gass: "Even if he loses in his home state of Florida on Tuesday, Sen. Marco Rubio said he will continue on the campaign trail. 'Tomorrow, our plan is to be in Utah campaigning irrespective of tonight,' Rubio told Orlando sports talk station WDBO on Tuesday." CW: Turns out that was a bit of a feint. ...

... Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "The Republican party will be consigned to the wilderness at November's US presidential election 'and beyond' if it chooses Donald Trump as its candidate, rival Marco Rubio has said. In an interview with the Guardian on Monday evening, the Florida senator -- whose fate is likely to be sealed if he fails to win his home state on Tuesday night -- said the New York billionaire was an embarrassment who would not be respected around the world."

Manu Raju of CNN: "Senior Senate Republicans are calling on Sen. Ted Cruz to rebuild his trained relationships with his colleagues and apologize to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell before the party establishment considers consolidating behind his presidential bid.... Republican senators said that Cruz must return to Capitol Hill and make the case directly to his colleagues to help ease long-festering tensions. And a large number of Republicans said the fence-mending starts with this: Apologizing to McConnell for calling him a liar last year on the floor of the Senate. That message was personally delivered by fellow Texan and McConnell's chief deputy, Sen. John Cornyn, who spoke with Cruz by phone after the candidate won their home state's primary earlier this month."

Katherine Krueger of TPM has more on Ben Carson's remarks regarding his endorsement of Donald Trump: "... while he wished there was a 'path' for him to endorse another candidate, he's anticipating a role in Republican Donald Trump's possible administration." (CW: I linked another report on the same interview yesterday.)

Other Election News

CBS Chicago: Rep. "Tammy Duckworth cruised to a decisive victory on Tuesday's Democratic primary for U.S Senate. Her victory creates a dramatic showdown with incumbent Mark Kirk, which is expected to be one of the most expensive and closely watched contests in the country."

AP: "Voters have ousted the Chicago area's top prosecutor in a Democratic primary race focused on the office's handling of the shooting death of a black teenager at the hands of a white police officer. Kim Foxx's victory Tuesday over Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez sends her to a November matchup in which she will be heavily favored." ...

... Meaghan Murphy of the New Republic: "The Black Lives Matter movement scored a big electoral win in Chicago.... The well-funded incumbent [Anita Alvarez] lost her primary with just 29 percent of the vote.... This is mostly thanks to the #ByeAnita campaign, led by young black activists who creatively combined direct action with electoral strategy. They ousted Alvarez without even endorsing an opponent, spending just $1,000."

Winger Takes All. Theodoric Meyer of Politico: "Businessman Warren Davidson ... beat out more than a dozen other Republicans today in the primary to fill former House Speaker John Boehner's vacant seat in Ohio. Davidson, who was endorsed by House Freedom Caucus member Jim Jordan and the conservative Club for Growth, handed the conservative Republicans who ousted Boehner another victory."

Other News & Views

Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "Under rough questioning from lawmakers, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency's Midwest region repeatedly refused Tuesday to acknowledge that she or her agency did anything wrong in the tainted-water disaster in Flint, Mich., though she acknowledged that officials 'could have done more' for residents. Susan Hedman, speaking publicly for the first time since she resigned in January, told a congressional committee that she 'did not sit on the sidelines,' 'did not downplay any concerns raised by EPA scientists' and did not retaliate against an official who was raising concerns about the lead contamination in the city's water supply."

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Obama administration officials said Tuesday that the decision [to rescind its proposal allowing Atlantic oil drilling] was driven by many factors, but two stood out: an organized outpouring of opposition from the mayors and municipal councils in more than 100 of the coastal communities in the four states that would be affected by the drilling, and concern from the Pentagon that oil and gas exploration could threaten activities around Virginia's Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base.... While Obama administration officials knew they would face an angry response to the move, they also benefited politically from another factor: The price of oil has plunged to near record lows, easing the public demand for fresh drilling."

Ylan Mui of the Washington Post: "The Federal Reserve is expected to leave its influential interest rate unchanged after the central bank's top officials wrap up their meeting in Washington today, following a rocky start to the year in the financial markets that is forcing them to reevaluate their plans."

Jennifer Hansler of ABC News: "A bill to recognize magic as a 'rare and valuable art form and national treasure' was introduced into the House of Representatives Tuesday.... Representative Pete Sessions (R-TX) introduced HR 642. Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH), Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA), Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY), Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA), Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) are co-sponsors. It has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform." CW: So please refrain from suggesting that the Republican Congress is a do-nothing Congress. OR, as Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) tweeted: "@HouseGOP believes in magic but not climate change."

John Eligon of the New York Times: "The City Council [of Ferguson, Missouri,] voted on Tuesday to approve a settlement with the Justice Department to overhaul the city's police and courts, capping a tense few weeks of indecision over how to push forward a community at the center of more than a year and a half of racial upheaval in America. With the 6-to-0 vote, the Council reversed itself and avoided an expensive legal fight with the federal government. Ferguson must now begin the long, deliberate and costly process of carrying out reforms to a criminal justice system that has been under fire since a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in 2014."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "An Iranian naval commander said Tuesday that Iran retrieved thousands of pages of information from devices used by U.S. sailors who were briefly detained in January. The claim, published by Iranian state media, marks the latest example of how the authorities in Tehran has kept an incident considered embarrassing to the United States in the media in the two months since it occurred."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Hadas Gold of Politico: "Breitbart ... sent out cease and desist letters to some of the employees who left the company in the past week.... Six staffers resigned in the past few days, citing the aftermath of how the site handled one of its reporters, Michelle Fields, accusing Donald Trump's campaign manager of strong-arming her as she tried to ask the candidate's attention. Several of the now former employees issued scathing statements about the company as part of their resignations, and some have given interviews on television and in major newspapers. Breitbart has gotten into legal battles with former employees in the past."

Beyond the Beltway

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "After years of emotional legal wrangling, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday that a member of a violent drug gang who killed two undercover detectives on Staten Island more than a decade ago will not face the death penalty. Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn wrote in a decision marked by notes of hesitation that the gang member, Ronell Wilson, was ineligible for execution because he was considered to be intellectually disabled under a relatively recent Supreme Court ruling." ...

... Jen Kirby of New York: "Wilson, a reputed gang member who committed the gruesome crime in 2003, was the last New Yorker on federal death row. (New York State abolished capital punishment in 2007, and all death sentences were converted to life imprisonment; Wilson, though, was prosecuted in federal court, which still has the death penalty, though no one's been executed since 2003.)"

Way Beyond

Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "An all-female crew lands a plane in Saudi Arabia. But they can't drive from the airport."

News Lede

Washington Post: "The University of Virginia student being held in North Korea was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years of hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel in Pyongyang. Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old from Cincinnati, Ohio, was convicted after a one-hour trial at North Korea's Supreme Court, China's Xinhua news agency ... reported Wednesday."

The Commentariat -- March 15, 2016

Presidential Race

Amy Chozick & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The chorus of anyone-but-Trump from Republicans reached a roar as voters prepared to go to the polls in Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Florida.... Mrs. Clinton, who has struggled to connect to white working-class voters in the pivotal Midwestern states, faced intense criticism over comments she made in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday. 'We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,' she said, in explaining her plan to create clean energy jobs. America Rising, an anti-Clinton 'super PAC,' said the comment showed a 'brazen disregard for the men and women who help power America.'"

Leo Shane & George Altman of the Military Times: "In an exclusive survey of American military personnel, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders emerged as active-duty service members' top choices to become the next commander in chief.... Trump was the most popular candidate in a subscriber poll that closed Sunday, with 27 percent saying they would back the business mogul if the election were held tomorrow. Sanders ... was a close second at 22 percent. The results -- based on responses from 931 active-duty troops, reservists and members of the National Guard -- do not offer a scientific status of military voting preferences. However, they do show that the outsider candidates' messages are resonating with individuals in uniform."

** Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker on the "great divide" in the Democratic party: "By the time Sanders made his decision to run, last April, there was a restless base ready to support a candidate who broke with the perceived centrism of both the Clinton and the Obama Administrations.... Hillary's campaign was slow to grasp the scale of that movement and to acknowledge the momentum of the Sanders campaign."

Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "Bernie Sanders, campaigning at a feverish pace on Monday, made last-minute pitches to supporters on the eve of crucial primaries, holding five rallies in four states as he seized on his anti-trade message to rally people to turn out to vote on Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: Bernie Sanders "has spent a quarter-century in Congress working the side door, tacking on amendments to larger bills to succeed at the margins, generally focused on working-class Americans, income inequality and the environment.... Yet in spite of persistent carping that Mr. Sanders is nothing but a quixotic crusader -- during their first debate, Hillary Clinton cracked, 'I'm a progressive, but I'm a progressive who likes to get things done' -- he has often been an effective, albeit modest, legislator -- enacting his agenda piece by piece, in politically digestible chunks with few sweeping legislative achievements.... Over one 12-year stretch in the House, he passed more amendments by roll call vote than any other member of Congress. In the Senate, he secured money for dairy farmers and community health centers, blocked banks from hiring foreign workers and reined in the Federal Reserve, all through measures attached to larger bills."

Here It Comes. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A North Carolina pastor warmed up the crowd at a Donald Trump rally by urging Sen. Bernie Sanders to become a Christian. Televangelist Mark Burns spoke to Trump supporters at a campaign event in Hickory ahead of Tuesday's North Carolina primary election, reported the Friendly Atheist blog. 'Bernie Sanders, who doesn't believe in God, how in the world (are) we going to let Bernie -- I mean, really?' Burns said, as the crowd applauded. 'Bernie's got to get saved, Bernie's got to meet Jesus. He's got to have a coming to Jesus meeting.'"

Matthew Daly of the AP: "Nearly two years after it was created, the House Benghazi Committee is ... promising a final report 'before summer' that is certain to have repercussions for Democrat Hillary Clinton's bid for the presidency.... 'The only real deadline is the presidential election' in November, said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the Benghazi panel and a longtime [Trey] Gowdy critic." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hot Mic Moment. Abby Philip of the Washington Post: "... during a commercial break while taping an MSNBC town hall on Monday, [Hillary] Clinton and host Chris Matthews chatted it up about the state of the race. Clinton scolded the media for its constant coverage of ... Donald Trump, speculated about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's political future and his motivations for endorsing Donald Trump.... 'Did he have a debt?' Clinton mused [about the reason for Christie's endorsement]. ...

... MEANWHILE, Trump himself mocked Christie, who sat dutifully behind his master at a rally in Columbus, Ohio. ...

... As for the debt thing, it may be the other way around: Trump is paying off Christie. According to NJonline, Christie may have spent a couple of days last week vacationing at an unspecified "Trump resort" in Florida. Christie won't say. Meanwhile, the folks back home are understandably criticizing him for doing the Trump roadshow instead of attending the funeral of a state trooper killed in the line of duty. CW: Living it up on other people's (including taxpayers') money is what Christie does.

Paul Singer of USA Today: "While you were sleeping, a few hundred people in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands were voting, and most of them voted for Donald Trump. Trump took 343 votes of the 471 total cast in the CNMI Republican caucuses, giving him about 73% of the total and all 9 delegates. Ted Cruz got 113 votes, John Kasich got 10 and Marco Rubio got 5 votes. Turnout on the tiny islands was down quite a bit from 2012, when 848 people voted in the CNMI GOP caucuses, and Mitt Romney won with 87% of the vote."

John Santucci & Lisette Rodriguez of ABC News: "... Donald Trump today said that despite some of the recent violence at his rallies, he has no plans to change the script. 'Well, I don't think I should be toning it down,' the real estate mogul told 'Good Morning America' in an interview this morning. 'We have had very little difficultly.'"

The Art of the Demagogue. Dana Milbank sat with the crowd at a "relatively tame for a Trump rally [in Boca Raton, Florida], in part because Trump supporters fingered suspected infiltrators in the crowd and had them removed by private security guards before Trump spoke.... Those around me were almost all white and mostly men. Their T-shirts and caps said they were gun owners, veterans, Marines and Harley riders. I heard nothing racist or angry or paranoid in their conversations. But once Trump arrived, they became ominously transfixed and aggressive. They pumped their fists, flashed thumbs up..., chanted 'Trump! Trump! Trump!' and hung on the candidate's every word -- often with looks of ecstasy and some visibly trembling." ...

... Daniel Lippman, et al., of Politico Magazine: "Donald Trump says he is a truthful man.'"Maybe truthful to a fault,' he boasted last week at a North Carolina rally.... But truthful he is not.... Politico subjected a week's worth of his words to our magazine's fact-checking process. We chronicled 4.6 hours of stump speeches and press conferences.... The result: more than five dozen statements deemed mischaracterizations, exaggerations, or simply false.... It equates to roughly one misstatement every five minutes on average." CW: When a lying liar inspires "ecstasy & trembling" in his followers, what you have is more a pseudo-religious cult (with a sexual undercurrent) than a political movement. ...

... Charles Pierce pointed out a moment on Press the Meat that illustrated in real time Trump's uncanny denialism: "My man Chuck Todd is playing the clip under discussion while He, Trump denies what is plainly happening on the electric teevee machine. Isn't this about where a rational television show would conclude that this man is a Gong-Show caliber crank and cut him off? Isn't this where the average late-night radio talk-show would drop the call?"

Wing-Nuts Also Notice Trump Is Winging It. Seung Min Kim of Politico: "The candidate of 'build that wall' is suddenly having a hard time with ... immigration hard-liners.... 'He hasn't done a very good job of connecting what he's been saying in both debates and his other press appearances and in his pep rallies ... versus what he wrote in his immigration policy,' Chris Chmielenski ... of Numbers USA, said in an interview on Monday. 'I think for us, what is posted on his website is very, very helpful. But the rhetoric hasn't matched.'... 'I thought it was an excellent paper written by someone in [Sen. Jeff] Sessions' office,' added Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute. 'And it's apparent that he never read it.' Others who call for stricter immigration laws are also adopting an increasingly critical tone toward Trump. 'He doesn't know enough about the subject and won't listen to his own staffers to be able to distill a clear, coherent message,' added Mark Krikorian ... of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that calls for more restrictive immigration policies. 'In other words, I'm not sure he's so much flip-flopping as just making this stuff off the top of his head.'

More on the Alternate Reality of Drumpf. Jose DelReal & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump ... insist[ed] during an event [in Hickory, N.C.,] that violence has not been an issue [at his rallies]. 'The press is now going, they're saying, "Oh but there's such violence." No violence. You know how many people have been hurt at our rallies? I think, like, basically none except maybe somebody got hit once,' Trump said at Lenoir-Rhyne University after several protesters were escorted out during the first of three interruptions. 'It's a love fest. These are love fests,' Trump added later. 'And every once in a while ... somebody will stand up and they'll say something.... It's a little disruption, but there's no violence. There's none whatsoever.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... That's odd, because ...

David Fahrenthold & Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post: "A North Carolina sheriff's office is investigating whether Republican front-runner Donald Trump's actions at a Fayetteville, N.C., rally last week 'rose to the level of inciting a riot,' according to a statement from the department's lawyer.... The statement said the sheriff's office was also looking into further charges against John Franklin McGraw, 78, who allegedly was the man seen sucker-punching a protester as that person was being led out of the Trump rally by police. In addition, Mitchell said, the office was investigating how its own deputies reacted -- or didn't -- during the incident." CW: Huh. Drumpf has said President Drumpf would look into prosecuting Hillary Clinton because "she seems to be guilty." Maybe he'll end up being the one behind bars. I just hope that can get him an orange jumpsuit that perfectly matches his hair. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Disappointing Update. The story's new lede: "Republican front-runner Donald Trump will not face charges of inciting a riot after a raucous rally in North Carolina last week, the investigating sheriff's office announced in a news release Monday night."

Andy Borowitz: "Republican front-runner Donald Trump was crying foul on Monday after Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders allegedly dispatched an army of vegan thugs to attack a rally of peace-loving Nazis in Cincinnati." CW: I'm pretty sure this is satire. However, witn Trump, it's hard to tell, isn't it? Thanks to D.C. Clark for the link.

Roger Cohen of the New York Times: "Nobody who knows [former Italian PM Silvio] Berlusconi and has watched the rise and rise of Donald Trump can fail to be struck by the parallels. It's not just the real-estate-to-television path. It's not just their shared admiration for Vladimir Putin. It's not just the playboy thing, and obsession with their virility, and smattering of bigotry, and contempt for policy wonks, and reliance on a tell-it-like-it-is tone. It's not their wealth, nor the media savvy that taught them that nobody ever lost by betting on human stupidity. No, it's something in the zeitgeist. America is ripe for Trump just as Italy was ripe for Berlusconi."

In his own words:

The Wisdom of Joe. Joe Scarborough, in a WashPo op-ed, says Trump's Chicago spectacle was deliberate. He wishes the protesters had been more articulate. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Wild Man. Ken Vogel, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump's staff and advisers have expressed concerns about campaign manager Corey Lewandowski's quick temper and heavy-handed leadership, and some even planned a coup against him last month.... A series of presidential primary victories ended the talk of deposing Lewandowski, the sources said.... In interviews with more than 20 sources who have dealt with Lewandowski during his nearly year-long tenure with the Trump campaign and in his previous job with the Koch brothers-backed advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, complaints emerged about Lewandowski being rough with reporters and sexually suggestive with female journalists, while profanely berating conservative officials and co-workers he deemed to be challenging his authority." CW: Still think (former) Breitbart "reporter" Michelle Fields was making up the manhandling incident?

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Sarah Palin ... canceled a planned campaign event in Florida to support Donald J. Trump on Monday because her husband was hospitalized after a snow machine accident, according to Mr. Trump's campaign." CW: My apologies. It was on the front page of the NYT, so I kinda have consider this news. (Also linked yesterday.)

What Confederate Elites Really Think about the Base. Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "... you probably can't understand the appeal of Trump to white working class voters without understanding that there's a widespread suspicion that Republican elites think ... these communities are filled with white trash junkies who should die quicker so they cost less to maintain." Read the whole post. ...

... It's little wonder the elites disdain their base. digby points out that today's Trump fanboy is yesterday's Reagan Democrat. "They've been part of the GOP coalition or more than 30 years. And their views have always been the same. Nativism/racism, authoritarian/lawandorder, nationalist/militarist, economic populists. These are blue collar white people who used to vote for Democrats until Democrats became the party of civil rights, civil liberties and anti-war protests."

Dave Weigel of the Washington Post on Mitt Romney's non-endorsement endorsement of John Kasich. "It looked like an endorsement, and it sounded like an endorsement.... 'You look at this guy, and unlike the other people running, he has a real track record. He has the kind of record that you want in Washington. That's why I'm convinced that you're going to do the right thing tomorrow,'" Romney said at a Kasich event in North Canton, Ohio. CW: I'd say this was Mitt, keeping open the option for a Draft Mitt moment at the GOP convention.

Hadas Gold of Politico: "Two more staffers for Breitbart have resigned from the company, citing the website's pro-Donald Trump stance. National security correspondent Jordan Schachtel and associate editor Jarrett Stepman sent their resignations to management on Monday afternoon. '... Some of us have been fighting behind the scenes against the party-line Trump propaganda for some time, but without any success, unfortunately,' Schachtel said in a statement. "Breitbart News is no longer a journalistic enterprise, but instead, in my opinion, something resembling an unaffiliated media Super PAC for the Trump campaign. I signed my contract to work as a journalist, not as a member of the Donald J. Trump for President media network...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Michelle Grynbaum of the New York Times: "... Breitbart ... is now facing a problem similar to the one roiling the Republican Party it likes to torment: a scathing internal dispute, with Mr. Trump at its center." CW: Kinda breaks your heart, doesn't it? P.S. Still thinking of you, Shirley Sherrod.

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Giving what sounded like a valedictory address, Sen. Marco Rubio on Monday cited 'the disintegration of our culture' for the increasingly nasty nature of American politics. Rubio made the comments amid a final campaign bus trip along the eastern coast of Florida before Tuesday's Republican presidential primary." ...

... Steve M.: "Rubio's fall is so dispiriting to the national political press that there's a 2,777-word elegy for his presidential campaign running in The New York Times right now. The article, by Mark Leibovich, suggests not that Rubio is a failure as a candidate, but that -- tragically -- he just wasn't made for these times.... [Steve sez] If he never gets back into politics, he'll find himself on a lot of corporate boards, and he'll show up on a lot of political talk shows. At worst, he'll be a Republican Harold Ford, a moderately ethnic, moderately telegenic corporatist who plays a savant on TV. He'll land on his feet. So shed no tears for him after he loses today."

Ben Carson Is Still Ben Carson. Hanna Trudo of Politico: "Ben Carson said on Monday that even if Donald Trump turned out to be a lousy president, he'll only be in office for four years." CW: If only Ole Doc could be more like Gov. Chrisco.

Senate Races

Greg Sargent: "In a preview of what Republicans will face from Democrats if Trump does win the nomination, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee just released this new video:

Other News & Views

Suzanne Goldenberg of the Guardian: "The Obama administration is expected to put virtually all of the Arctic and much of the Atlantic off limits for oil and gas drilling until 2022 in a decision that could be announced as early as Tuesday. The decision reverses Barack Obama's move just last year to open up a vast swathe of the Atlantic coast to drilling -- and consolidates the president's efforts to protect the Arctic and fight climate change during his final months in the White House. The five-year drilling plan, which will be formally announced by the interior department, was expected to block immediate prospects of hunting for oil in the Arctic...." ...

... Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Obama administration is expected to withdraw its plan to permit oil and gas drilling off the southeast Atlantic coast, yielding to an outpouring of opposition from coastal communities from Virginia to Georgia but dashing the hopes and expectations of many of those states' top leaders.... The decision represents a reversal of President Obama's previous offshore drilling plans, and comes as he is trying to build an ambitious environmental legacy. It could also inject the issue into the 2016 presidential campaigns, as Republican candidates vow to expand drilling."

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Americans will be allowed to travel to Cuba for individual 'people-to-people' exchanges under new regulations announced Tuesday by the Treasury Department ahead of President Obama's trip to the island this weekend. Those previously wanting to visit Cuba were required to travel under a general license issued to organizations sponsoring authorized trips. Although visits purely for tourism remain prohibited, the new regulations shift the responsibility for legal trips to individuals who declare they will engage in 'educational' purposes. They follow the signing of a new U.S.-Cuba commercial airlines agreement that is expected to bring the first U.S. flights to Cuba later this year."

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The Republican National Committee (RNC) is teaming up with a prominent conservative advocacy group to block President Obama's effort to nominate a justice to the Supreme Court. The RNC has formed a task force to launch radio and digital attack ads, petitions and media appearances to back up Senate Republicans, who have pledged not to hold hearings or votes on Obama's replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Oliver Milman of the Guardian: "The EPA's role as a national regulator of water is questioned by Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House oversight committee, who said the Flint crisis demonstrated serious flaws in the federal agency's ability to protect the public.... On Tuesday, the committee will hear from former EPA regional administrator Susan Hedman and Darnell Earley, the former emergency manager of Flint.... Hedman resigned in the wake of the disaster, after it emerged the EPA was aware of problems long before a state of emergency was declared in December. In a previous committee hearing, the EPA said it warned of the crisis but was 'met with resistance' from Michigan authorities, with scientists ignored and officials sidelined when concerns were raised." ...

... Gina McCarthy, the EPA administrator, in a Washington Post op-ed: "This week, I will testify along with Gov. Rick Snyder and others from Michigan and Flint about the health crisis in the city.... Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Congress gives states primary responsibility for enforcing drinking water rules for the nation's approximately 152,000 water systems, but the Environmental Protection Agency has oversight authority. The EPA's relationship with states under the act is usually a strong and productive partnership. But looking back on Flint, it is clear that, from day one, Michigan did not act as a partner. The state's interactions with us were dismissive, misleading and unresponsive."

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The Justice Department on Monday called on state judges across the country to root out unconstitutional policies that have locked poor people in a cycle of fines, debt and jail.... In a letter to chief judges and court administrators, Vanita Gupta, the Justice Department's top civil rights prosecutor, and Lisa Foster, who leads a program on court access, warned against operating courthouses as for-profit ventures. It chastised judges and court staff members for using arrest warrants as a way to collect fees. Such policies, the letter said, made it more likely that poor people would be arrested, jailed and fined anew -- all for being unable to pay in the first place." (Also linked yesterday.)

Des Bieler of the Washington Post: "A top official with the NFL made a stunning admission Monday, agreeing with a neuropathologist before a Congressional panel that a link exists between football-related brain injuries and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The league had never before publicly acknowledged such a connection."

Beyond the Beltway

Lynh Bui, et al., of the Washington Post: Landover, Maryland, police officer Jacai Colson was likely shot & killed by another officer amidst a man's unprovoked attack on the town's police station & passing vehicles. The attackers two brothers, standing nearby, recorded the attack. The man, Michael Ford, who was attempting suicide by police, survived. "Police Chief Henry Stawinski ... said Ford, who was shot during the incident and is still at a hospital, and his two brothers would face 21 charges for the baffling and coldblooded attack, including conspiracy, second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. Police said the Ford brothers did not work with any outside groups...." CW: And here's hoping these horrible SOBs remain guests of the state for life.

Jeffrey Collins of the AP: "A white former state trooper pleaded guilty Monday to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for the 2014 shooting an unarmed black driver seconds after a traffic stop. Ex-Trooper Sean Groubert faces up to 20 years in prison.... He will serve some prison time. The shooting was captured on dash-cam video from the trooper's patrol car and shocked the country, coming during a wave of questionable police shootings. The video shows Levar Jones walking into a convenience store in September 2014 when Groubert gets out of his patrol car and demands Jones' driver's license. Jones turns back to reach into his car and Groubert fires four shots. Jones' wallet is seen flying out of his hands." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Wow! Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has ordered the start of a military withdrawal from Syria, where Russian forces have been bombing insurgent enemies of the government for five months, Russia's state news media reported Monday....The United Nations special envoy on the Syria conflict, Staffan de Mistura, resumed his efforts on Monday to broker a peace deal between [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad's forces and the array of insurgent groups aligned against him." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... CW: Count the hours till Donald Trump takes credit for this.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "In an unprecedented move, officials will shut down entire Metrorail system for at least 24 hours starting at midnight tonight so that crews can inspect 600 electric cables in tunnels throughout the system, General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld announced at a late-afternoon news conference Tuesday." The WashPo's Dr. Gridlock has some advice on alternative means of transportation.

New York Times: "Three police officers were shot and slightly wounded on Tuesday afternoon during a counterterrorism operation in Brussels linked to the Paris terrorist attacks of Nov. 13, according to Belgian news reports."

BBC News: "Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun who worked with the poor in the Indian city of Kolkata (Calcutta), is to be declared a saint on 4 September, Pope Francis has announced."