The Commentariat -- March 13, 2016

Presidential Race

District of Columbia: With 100 percent reporting, Rubio got 37.3 percent of the vote & 10 delegates, followed by Kasich with 35.5 & 9 delegates, Trump with 13.8 & no delegates & Cruz with 12.4 & no delegates. ...

... The Washington, D.C., Republican caucuses end at 9:00 pm ET. ...

... Katherine Shaver of the Washington Post: "Thousands of District Republicans -- usually such a small cohort that they joke about holding meetings in phone booths -- waited in long lines Saturday to vote in what many saw as the city's most influential GOP presidential primary in years."

Wyoming is holding "county conventions" Saturday which will "allocate twelve pledged delegates on March 12. The remaining delegates will be allocated at the state convention on April 16," per the New York Times. At 8:00 pm ET with all of the counties reporting, Cruz has 67 percent of the vote & 9 delegates, Rubio 19.5 & one delegate, & Trump has 7 percent & one delegate. That only adds up to 11 delegates, but then Republicans don't do math. Update: According to Politico, "Uncommitted" gets one delegate.

CNN: "Ted Cruz ... picked up a delegate in Guam, but the state's other five delegates remain uncommitted."

Dangerous Times. Karen Tumulty, et al., of the Washington Post: "An already ugly presidential campaign has descended to a new level -- one where the question is no longer whether Donald Trump can be stopped on his march to the Republican presidential nomination, but whether it is possible to contain what he has unleashed across the country. Violence at Trump's rallies has escalated sharply, and the reality-show quality of his campaign has taken a more ominous turn in the past few days.... The racially tinged anger that has both fueled Trump's political rise and stoked the opposition to it has turned into a force unto itself....

     "But Trump should not be viewed in isolation or as the product of a single election, President Obama said Saturday at a fundraiser in Dallas. Obama said those who 'feed suspicion about immigrants and Muslims and poor people, and people who aren't like "us," and say that the reason that America is in decline is because of "those" people. That didn't just happen last week. That narrative has been promoted now for years.'...

     "GOP political consultant Stuart Stevens, who was a top strategist for 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, said Trump's rhetoric is 'almost verbatim' what segregationist George Wallace was saying in his third-party 1968 presidential campaign." ...

     ... CW: It's nice to see the MSM & public figures catching up to what we've been saying here since last year. ...

... NEW. Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "Donald Trump early Sunday accused Bernie Sanders of lying by saying the Vermont senator's 'disrupters' aren't told to go to the GOP front-runner's events. Trump also threatened in a tweet that his supporters would go to Sanders events if the Democratic hopeful wasn't 'careful.'" ...

All I know is what's on the Internet. -- Donald Trump, Sunday, on why he accused a man who tried to jump on stage with him of probably being linked to ISIS

... Kevin Robillard of Politico: "Donald Trump ... said Sunday he would consider paying the legal bills for an elderly man who was arrested after sucker-punching a protester at a Trump rally in North Carolina, while defending his claims a man who rushed the stage at Trump rally was linked to ISIS. 'We'll see,' Trump said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet The Press. 'I'm going to take a look at it.'"

... Evelyn Rupert of the Hill: "Video from outside of Donald Trump's rally in Kansas City, Mo., shows at least five police officers using pepper spray against protesters." ...

... Evelyn Rupert: "Trump ... promis[ed] to press charges against people who interrupt his events from now on. 'I'm going to start pressing charges against all these people,' he said at a rally in Kansas City, Mo. 'And then we won't have a problem.'"...

     ... Update. Mark Tracy of the New York Times: "During the event, inside a grand old theater with inlaid carvings, a chandelier, a mezzanine and upper deck, Mr. Trump, notably hoarse, called on the police to arrest people who were merely demonstrating. He drew some of the audience's loudest cheers when he pledged, 'I'll file whatever charges you want.' The police escorted people out throughout the event, though they did not appear to have arrested anyone just for speaking up. At one point Mr. Trump held up the protesters as examples of the kind of people his campaign was massed against: 'It's all a little group that wants free lunch.'" ...

... Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump announced from the stage at a rally in Kansas City, Mo., that a man who had charged him at an event earlier Saturday was 'probably' linked to the Islamic State, appearing to base his statement on an Internet video that has been described as a hoax." CW: So, speaking of suing people, it sound like that guy has a pretty good case of defamation of character against Trump. On the other hand, all bets are off if Trump should become president because there's a good chance he would declare himself not-sueable. ...

... Jose DelReal & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "An unidentified man charged at ... Donald Trump on Saturday during a campaign event ... in Dayton, [Ohio,] one day after increased security concerns forced his campaign to cancel an event in Chicago. The Secret Service quickly surrounded the real estate mogul after a man attempted to get beyond the barricades to the dais where Trump was standing. The man, whose motives remain unclear, was charged with disorderly conduct and inciting panic by the Dayton Police Department, according to an official familiar with the matter." ...

... CW: Trump told the crowd he was "ready for it"; that is, to take on the interloper, "but it's much easier if the cops do it." Yeah, right. Our superhero. ...

... It's All Obama's Bernie's Fault. Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "In the wake of last night's canceled Chicago rally, Donald Trump has taken to blaming Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and supporters of his Democratic Party bid for president for incitement. He debuted the argument on Friday night's cable news coverage, as footage of protesters cheering 'Bernie' played under Trump's phoned-in interviews. He honed the argument at rallies Saturday. 'They were taunted, they were harassed by these other people,' said Trump at his [Saturday] morning rally in Dayton, Ohio. 'These other people, by the way, some represented Bernie, our communist friend. With Bernie, he should really get up and say to his people: stop. Stop. Not me, stop.' In a statement released Saturday afternoon, Sanders chose not to do that. 'As is the case virtually every day, Donald Trump is showing the American people that he is a pathological liar,' Sanders wrote. "Obviously, while I appreciate that we had supporters at Trump's rally in Chicago, our campaign did not organize the protests. What caused the protests at Trump's rally is a candidate that has promoted hatred and division against Latinos, Muslims, women, and people with disabilities, and his birther attacks against the legitimacy of President Obama. What caused the violence at Trump’s rally is a campaign whose words and actions have encouraged it on the part of his supporters.'" ...

... Alex Seitz-Wald of MSNBC: "When Ja'Mal Green, a prominent black activist and Bernie Sanders supporter in Chicago, saw that Donald Trump was coming to the University of Illinois Chicago, he knew what he had to do. 'Everyone, get your tickets to this. We're all going in!!!! ‪#‎SHUTITDOWN‬,' he posted on Facebook last week. Little did he know they actually would shut it down." Seitz-Wald reports on how activists organized via social media & developed a plan to disrupt the rally. MoveOn.org, which has endorsed Sanders, assisted the protesters. This all happened within a four-day span.

... CW: The Audacity of Both-Siderism. Michael Barbaro, et al., of the New York Times write a classic both-sides-do-it report. If you want to know how Trump gets away with blaming Sanders for the violence at the Chicago rally, you need only read this above-the-fold New York Times "analysis." Why, it's kinda like the reporters got together with Hillary Clinton to blame the anti-Trump protesters. ...

... NEW. Evelyn Rupert: "Hillary Clinton penned an article in Medium Saturday, expanding on her previous apology for praising Nancy and Ronald Reagans' response to HIV and AIDS." Her essay is here. ...

... Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: Hillary Clinton's message about "political unity" in response to the violence at Donald Trump's rallies failed to even mention Trump &, by the way she invoked the massacre in Charleston, S.C., seemed to blame black protesters. "Later on Saturday, [perhaps in response to reaction to her initial statement,] Clinton addressed Trump more directly in a statement, criticizing him for encouraging violence at his rallies." ...

... CW: I have no idea what Barbaro & Clinton really think, because, like Will Rogers, I only know what I read in the papers. And what the papers say is that the problem isn't Trump so much as it is the reaction to Trump & his ilk. The idea is that the rest of us should show more restraint & let the demagoguery proceed. I'll bet that's what a lot of well-mannered Germans thought in 1930s Germany. Sorry about the argumentum ad Hitlerum, but I kinda mean it. In the meantime, over the course of 24 hours, Clinton has managed to alienate gay voters, black voters & everyone in solidarity with their interests. Something is way off here. ...

... Marc Caputo of Politico: "Donald Trump claimed Saturday that he's 'asking law enforcement to check for dishonest early voting in Florida,' but neither the state's law enforcement agency nor elections officials have received any complaints or reports of voting irregularities." ...

... The Trump supporter who made a Nazi salute outside the Chicago rally to fend off protesters says she was born in Germany but she's not a Nazi. Great. ...

     ... The Nut Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree. Daniel Politi of Slate: Donald Trump, Jr., retweeted a claim by the "Supreme Dark Lord" that the not-Nazi woman was actually Bernie Sanders campaigner Portia Boulger in disguise; Junior complained "the media will never run with this." Perhaps because it's not true. Boulger, who doesn't look like the not-Nazi lady, was in Ohio. ...

... Robert Mackey of the Intercept: "For months now, Donald Trump has been complaining about the level of violence inflicted on protesters at his campaign rallies. Complaining, that is, about protesters -- who have been tackled and kicked, pushed, spat on, and sucker-punched -- not being subjected to nearly enough violence." ...

... Ezra Klein: "Violence is scary. But violence-as-ideology is terrifying. And that's where Trump's campaign has gone.... The great mistake the media makes with Donald Trump is to pretend he has no ideology.... Like most nationalists, the emotional center of Trump's ideology is an Us vs. Them argument.... He is a man with an evident appetite for suppressing dissent with violence, a man who believes America's problem is that it's too gentle to its dissidents. Trump is making an argument for a politics backed by force, for a security service unleashed from 'political correctness,' for a country where protesting has consequences. The results are playing out before us, night after night, on our televisions." ...

... Isaac Chotiner of Slate: "It was once easy to root for Trump to blow up the GOP. Not anymore." ...

... Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed: "Breitbart senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak ordered staffers in an internal chatroom to stop defending Michelle Fields, the staffer who was allegedly manhandled by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski."

Beth Reinhard of the Wall Street Journal: "One day after he officially endorsed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, former rival Ben Carson said he would be 'willing' to be his vice president.
Asked at a Republican Party fundraiser in Broward County, one of the biggest counties in Florida, whether he would be amenable to the No. 2 slot, Mr. Carson said, 'I've told Mr. Trump that if it was really going to make a big difference I'd be willing to.'" CW: Okay, then, one more thing I don't have in common with Ben Carson.

Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "A day after many of his supporters protested at a rally for Donald J. Trump [in Chicago], Bernie Sanders defended the demonstrators and pointedly attacked the city's mayor, Rahm Emanuel, for closing schools and firing teachers."

Amy Chosick of the New York Times: Hillary Clinton said Saturday that Bernie Sanders "had not always been such an advocate [for healthcare reform].... 'I don't know,' Mrs. Clinton said. 'Where was he when I was trying to get health care in '93 and '94?'... The answer: 'Literally, standing right behind her,' a Sanders spokesman, Mike Casca, said on Twitter, posting a photo from a 1994 news conference that shows Mr. Sanders next to Mrs. Clinton when the then first lady spoke about the White House's proposed health care overhaul. A spokeswoman for Mrs. Clinton, Jennifer Palmieri," responded, 'Exactly, he was standing behind her. She was out in front.'"

Caitlin Yilek of the Hill: Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg tweeted a 1993 vintage photo of Clinton & Sanders conferring one-on-one & side-by-side, apparently about healthcare; at the bottom of the photo is a handwritten note from Clinton to Sanders: "With thanks for your commitment to real health care access for all Americans...." Includes photo with readable inscription. CW: Clinton is really off her game. Or else she thought Bernie had burned the evidence & she was free to make up stuff.

Other News & Views

Edward O. Wilson, in a New York Times op-ed: "Unless we wish to pauperize the natural world drastically and permanently, believing that later generations will be smart enough to find a way to bring equilibrium to the land, seas and air, then we, the current inheritors of this beautiful world, must take more serious action to preserve the rest of life." CW: I'd be happy to let the species Drumpfus donaldus go extinct; unfortunately, there's already a Drumpfus donaldus secundus, & he's just as much a mutant form as the primus.

Oh, Good Lord! Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "The Christian Educators Association International, an organization that sees the nation's public schools as 'the largest single mission field in America,' aims to show Christian teachers how to live their faith -- and evangelize in public schools -- without running afoul of the Constitution's prohibition on the government establishing or promoting any particular religion.... Although the Christian Educators Association is small, it is at the center of a pending Supreme Court case that has the potential to substantially weaken public sector unions in more than two dozen states. The association is a plaintiff in the case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which challenges the right of teachers unions to collect dues from nonmembers."

The Commentariat -- March 12, 2016

President Obama spoke at a Democratic fundraiser in Austin, Texas, last night:

... Niraj Chokshi of the Washington Post reports on some of the more serious remarks the President made about the state of the Republican party.

*****

Presidential Race

Extreme, Bizarre Revisionist History. No, people, Republicans do not have a lock on it:

It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. And because of both President and Mrs. Reagan, in particular, Mrs. Reagan, we started national conversation when before no one would talk about it, no one wanted to do anything about it, and that too is something that really appreciated, with her very effective, low-key advocacy, but it penetrated the public conscience and people began to say 'Hey, we have to do something about this too.' -- Hillary Clinton, Friday, speaking to MSNBC in the environs of Reagan's funeral ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "Clinton's Iraq War vote was a big mistake, but it's possible that she's never been more wrong than she is here. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the first medical report about HIV in 1981. President Reagan gave his first major public address on the subject in 1987. In 1984, after more than 3,000 Americans had been killed by the virus, the notion that the president may have given the matter any thought was cause for laughter in the Reagan White House.... When the Reagan administration finally did start 'the national conversation' about the disease six years and 25,000 deaths into the crisis, he made sure to note that the 'final judgment' on the souls of the dead was 'up to God.'" ...

It's almost tempting to interpret this as withering, devastating sarcasm. The Reagans 'started a national conversation about AIDS' in the same sense that George W. Bush 'started a national conversation' about Iraq. -- Sam Biddle of Gawker

Marie Antoinette did some incredible LOW KEY ADVOCACY for the French Underclass. -- Dan Fishback, a writer and performer, on Twitter

... Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "She faced a swift and fierce backlash, and issued a contrite apology within hours." ...

While the Reagans were strong advocates for stem cell research and finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease, I misspoke about their record on HIV and AIDS. For that, I'm sorry. -- Hillary Clinton, apologizing for her praise of the Reagans' work on AIDS, praise she repeated in a tweet

... Matt Yglesias of Vox comes to Hillary's & Nancy Reagan's defense, sort of. ...

... CW: Hillary Clinton was an adult in the 1980s. She had access to newspapers & TV news. Her husband was a politician & usually the governor of Arkansas. How Clinton can have missed the incessant public cries for the Reagan administration to address the AIDS crisis in a meaningful, serious way, & the continual criticisms of Reagan's failure to do so, I cannot imagine. She must know something about Nancy Reagan the rest of us don't know. ...

... Like the rest of us, Kevin Drum is flummoxed: "I can't imagine why Clinton said something so dumb and inflammatory, and I can't imagine she was pandering to anyone. What the hell caused her to momentarily lose her senses over this?" ...

... CW: The one thing I can think of is this: Hillary Clinton & Andrea Mitchell (to whom she was speaking) belong to the same Elite Schmooze Club, & Nancy Reagan of course was one of them. The Schmooze Club knows no political, ideological boundaries, & its members praise each other all the time. You see it at public & quasi-public events. If you care to surf C-SPAN for the introduction portions of policy forums or other events where people of various political persuasions appear, Schmooze Club etiquette is on full display. Usually, but not always, the encomiums fall somewhere within the range of the truth, even as they gloss over the actual whole truth. As Drum & other noted, apparently Nancy did encourage Ronnie a bit to take AIDS more seriously after the death of her friend Rock Hudson (whom she refused to help when he was dying of AIDS & asked her for assistance). So there was that teeny grain of truth to Hillary's remarks. Maybe Hillary got caught up in the funereal moment -- the prime venue for this kind of laudatory half-truth -- & forgot she wasn't just talking to her Schmooze Buddy Mrs. Greenspan but also to all of us non-Club members. (This explanation, lame tho it may be, does not cover the tweet Hillary or her campaign sent out, making the same claim about Nancy's endeavors for AIDS victims.)

ABC News: "Hillary Clinton won the Northern Mariana Islands' Democratic caucuses, according to the commonwealth's Democratic Party. Clinton won four delegates in addition to a previously pledged superdelegate. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders won two delegates."

Let's see what President Obama says about Nancy Reagan's work on AIDS. Oh, nothing:

Chicago Politics, Bernie-Style, & a Rahm Referendum. Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Top campaign surrogates [for Bernie Sanders] have been dispatched to Chicago, and Sanders is running two separate television ads critical of [Chicago Mayor Rahm] Emanuel in an attempt to highlight [Hillary] Clinton's connections with the mayor." ...

... Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "A group of 17-year-olds in Ohio has successfully persuaded a state judge to allow them to vote in the state's primary on Tuesday. The ruling comes after Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont sued Ohio's top elections official, Secretary of State Jon A. Husted, in federal court on Tuesday arguing that Mr. Husted had 'arbitrarily' discriminated against young black and Latino voters by not allowing 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election in November to vote in the primary on Tuesday. On Friday, an Ohio state judge ruled that the teenagers can vote in the primary as well as in congressional, legislative and mayoral races. Mr. Husted has vowed to appeal...." ...

     ... Also from Flegenheimer's report: At a Sanders rally in Toledo, Ohio, "Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio announced her endorsement" of Sanders.

Clinton & Sanders, back in the day. Photo via the Week.... Paul Waldman on how the very different political histories of Bernie Sanders & Hillary Clinton explain each of their unique strengths & weaknesses now.

Patrick Reis & Eliza Collins of Politico: "Nineteen delegates are on the line Saturday when the D.C. Republican party holds its caucus, which will be conducted at a lone polling place a few blocks from the White House in the Loews Madison Hotel."

Jason Williams of the Cincinatti Enquirer: "Donald Trump is no longer planning a rally in Downtown [Cincinatti] on Sunday afternoon. The Secret Service security supporting the GOP presidential front runner's campaign could not complete its preparation work in time to hold the event at the Duke Energy Convention Center, said Eric Deters, a local spokesman for Trump's campaign." In an update, Williams writes, "... Trump has scheduled a campaign stop at the Savannah Center in West Chester on Sunday at 2 p.m." CW: West Chester, a new, upscale suburb of Cincinatti, about 22 miles from the Cincinatti city center. Ha ha. The median house size is about 3,500 sq.ft. The West Chester population is 83 percent white; in Cincinatti, it's slight less than 50 percent white. ...

... CBS News: "A CBS News journalist covered all of Friday night's events until he himself was detained.... Sopan Deb was on the floor of the arena as tensions built - raw emotions on both sides. He interviews both protesters and Trump supporters.... Deb says he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed, without notice or warning. Illinois State Police charged him with resisting arrest although there is no sign of that on the video [he was shooting]." Includes video you should watch. In a taped segment, you can hear Deb attempting to show the cops his press credentials. He said an officer held him down on the ground by placing his boot on Deb's neck. ...

... Arturo Garcia of the Raw Story: "A scheduled rally for Donald Trump's presidential campaign in Chicago on Friday was postponed. A spokesperson for the GOP presidential front-runner cited safety concerns for the 'tens of thousands gathered in and around' the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavillion." ...

     ... Update. Monica Davey & Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "With thousands of people already packed into stands and music blaring to warm up the crowd, Donald J. Trump's campaign abruptly canceled his rally [in Chicago] on Friday night over security concerns as protesters clashed with his supporters inside an arena where he was to speak. Minutes after Mr. Trump was to have taken to a podium on the campus of a large, diverse public university just west of downtown, an announcer suddenly pronounced the event over before it had begun. Hundreds of protesters, who had promised to be a visible presence here and filled several sections of the arena, let out an elated, unstopping cheer. Mr. Trump's supporters, many of whom had waited hours to see the Republican front-runner, seemed stunned and slowly filed out in anger.... Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich, condemned the disruptions, but said Mr. Trump was responsible for the tenor of his rallies. Mr. Cruz said Mr. Trump 'affirmatively encourages violence.'" ...

... Jenna Johnson & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "The decision [to scrub the rally] immediately sparked nasty verbal and physical fights between protesters and Trump supporters.... soon as the cancellation was announced, shoving matches broke out between the two groups, and police tried to break up one scuffle after another. Everyone moved outside, and the crowd grew in numbers and the altercations continued.... The Chicago Police Department said it was informed shortly before 6:30 p.m. that the Trump campaign had canceled the event, an announcement that took the department by surprise, according to the police chief." According to the Trump campaign, Trump consulted with police before making the decision. CW: So Drumpf, who during Thursday night's debate answered a question about his antipathy to Muslims by praising cops, doesn't even play well with the police. ...

     ... CW: Earlier this week, my high school stadium illustrated the demise of Marco's candidacy; yesterday my college alma mater U of I - Chicago put a big crimp in the Donald's modus operandi. I'm feeling like a time-traveling, virtual Forrest Gump. ...

Part of the problem and part of the reason it takes so long [to kick them out] is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore. There used to be consequences. There are none anymore. These people are so bad for our country. You have no idea, folks; you have no idea.... They contribute nothing. Nothing. And look at the police, they take their lives in their hands. -- Donald Trump, at a St. Louis rally Friday morning

I expect "these people" who "contribute nothing" are black. -- Constant Weader

... Sasha Goldstein, et al., of the New York Daily News: "Donald Trump's divisive hate tour exploded in violence Friday with a bloody stop in St. Louis and chaos in Chicago -- while the tone-deaf hate-monger denied his role in the madness. The fury filled day began with clashes outside St. Louis' Peabody Opera House, leaving one man bloodied and another charged with assault." ...

... Bethania Markus of the Raw Story: "A demonstrator at a St. Louis rally for GOP front runner Donald Trump had his face bloodied and was taken to an ambulance by police officers, according to video posted online and the New York Daily News. The African-American man is a locally-known activist named Anthony Cage. He became a local activist against police violence and racism after the killing of unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, in 2014, by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson." With photos & video. ...

... Before the Chicago fiasco, Sam Stein & Dana Liebelson of the Huffington Post wrote a piece cataloging Trump rally violence. "Racial slurs, nasty rhetoric and violence at Trump rallies have become commonplace against protesters, bystanders, and reporters. Assaults are committed not only by rowdy Trump fans, but by the staff he employs to keep the events safe. But rather than denounce these incidents, Trump is making them part of his brand, and uses them to rev up crowds." ...

... Here's Rachel Maddow on the same topic, aired just after Trump cancelled his Chicago rally. Thanks to Victoria for the link:

     ... CW: Trump keeps promising to pay the legal costs for his followers who beat up on protesters. Let's see if he pays to defend John McGraw, the white guy who sucker-punched black protester Rakeem Jones in Fayetteville, N.C., then said "Next time, we might have to kill him." ...

... Steve M.: "... even if there's really bad violence at Trump rallies, the Republican rank and file will assume the victims deserved it. And I'm not sure the even moderate whites will find that this violence shocks their consciences. Trump is playing with fire. But he's not going to get burned at the ballot box -- not with the voters he's trying to reach." ...

... Gail Collins attempts her usual fun take on the clown parade, but Trump finally has managed to shake her out of Erma Bombeck mode: "He's going all the way. Running for president on an anti-Muslim platform. Good God." ...

... Hate Speech, the New Normal. The Washington Post Editors have had enough, too: "THE REPUBLICAN presidential race, the headlines tell us, suddenly turned civil and substantive this week.... Donald Trump merely stated that 'there is tremendous hate' among 'large portions' of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims. 'We better solve the problem before it's too late,' Mr. Trump said. A debate is not civil when it includes this kind of ignorant stereotyping. It is not substantive when such rank prejudice earns inadequate protest from the others onstage. In fact, it is a measure of how crude Mr. Trump has made GOP politics that the front-runner's hateful spewing seems increasingly normal." ...

... Elements of a Con Game -- The Trump "University" Review. Michael Barbaro & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "Interviews and documents show that employees of Trump University at times applied pressure on students to offer favorable reviews, instructed them to fill out the forms in order to obtain their graduation certificates, and ignored standard practices used to ensure that the surveys were filled out objectively. 'It's absolutely a con, said [Robert] Guillo, who spent $36,000 on Trump University classes and later requested a refund. 'The role of the evaluations were a defense against any legal actions. They anticipated those actions.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Brain Surgeon Testifies Trump Has a Brain. Sean Sullivan & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson endorsed Donald Trump on Friday, throwing his support to the GOP front-runner in a 45-minute joint appearance where Trump said he doesn't see a need for any more televised debates. Carson ... said he and Trump have 'buried the hatchet' after trading nasty words during the primary. He also said there are 'two different' Trumps: the one the public sees and a more 'cerebral' Trump in private." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Valerie Strauss, a Washington Post's education reporter: "Donald Trump ... declared that Carson was going to help him with education issues because he knows so much about them." Strauss looks into how much of an education expert Carson is: his Website is full of inaccurate information [CW: no doubt gleaned from other Wingnut Websites] about education programs, testing, school performance, etc., & he has shown such a lack of familiarity with the basic structure of K-12 education that Strauss thinks he has no idea that charter schools are public schools & that Congress has repealed No Child Left Behind. CW: So there's your new Secretary of Education. And don't be thinking, "Oh, well, Ole Doc is smart; he'll learn on the job." This is a guy whose own adviser said he was incapable of grasping any information about American international policy. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Quinn Hilyer of the National Review: "Dr. Ben Carson has just made a hypocrite of himself and done great damage to the country by endorsing the moral monster, Donald Trump. Carson has spent an entire campaign pleading for honor and decency and decorum, only to endorse a man who is the crassest, most vulgar, most deceitful person in the race -- a man who has repeatedly attacked in the most vicious ways, and lied about, every other candidate in the race. Trump is a man who has repeatedly incited violence at his rallies, saying that protesters should be punched out and carried away on a stretcher, and promising to pay the legal bills of those who throw the punches." ...

... Kevin Drum: "Ben Carson has been grifting the conservative movement for years. He knows the main chance when he sees it, and right now Trump offers him the best prospect of staying in the spotlight and selling more books. I wonder if Trump will make him stand obediently behind him during his next rally, like he did with Chris Christie?" ...

(... CW: I think Ben Carson is a true believer, a fundamentalist's fundamentalist Christian. So how in his mind does he justify this never-ending grift? If he took a really good look in the mirror, he'd see more of an anti-Christ figure than a saint. I realize his belief system requires him to constantly reject evident facts, but it's extra-weird that he -- any many other self-identifying super-Christians -- ignores his own decidedly anti-Christian life choices. ...)

... Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "Earlier this week, a reporter for the website Breitbart News said that she had been dragged down by the arm as she was asking Donald Trump a question at a campaign event at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla. Another reporter present said that the Breitbart reporter, Michelle Fields, had been grabbed by Corey Lewandowski, Mr. Trump's campaign manager.... Mr. Trump's campaign has continued to vehemently deny that Mr. Lewandowski grabbed Ms. Fields.On Friday, according to the Jupiter Police Department, Ms. Fields filed a police report alleging 'battery-simple (touch or strike).'” ...

... How the Trump Machine Stands up to Hysterical Women. Gabrielle Bluestone of Gawker: "New video from the Donald Trump press conference Tuesday appears to show Donald Trump's campaign manager grabbing the reporter he swore he didn't grab.... The video also appears to invalidate a theory advanced by Fields' own employer, Breitbart, which today published a story by Joel B. Pollack concluding there was no way Lewandowski could have done it." ...

... Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed: "Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella is no longer working with the company in the wake of controversy over Donald Trump's campaign manager allegedly roughly handling one of the site's reporters.... Asked if it would be fair to say he was parting ways with Breitbart because he disagrees with its handling of the situation with Michelle Fields, Bardella said 'It would be fair for you to say that' but that he wasn't going to."

... Janell Ross of the Washington Post responds to Trump's racially-coded responses regarding violence at his rallies. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eli Stokols of Politico: "Marco Rubio on Saturday said he is no longer sure he can support Donald Trump should he become the GOP presidential nominee following the protests and unrest sparked by a planned Trump rally in Chicago. 'I don't know,' the Florida senator said, pausing in despair.... 'I already talked about the fact that I think Hillary Clinton would be terrible for this country, but the fact that you're even asking me that question ... I still at this moment intend to support the Republican nominee, but ... it's getting harder every day.'" ...

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "Perhaps you heard the news that Jeb Bush met with Cruz, Rubio and Kasich on Wednesday in Florida prior to the debate last night. If Erick Erickson is to be believed, they have hatched a 'stop Trump' plan. It all comes down to this: 1. Marco Rubio gets Florida. 2. John Kasich gets Ohio. 3. Ted Cruz gets Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina."

Eli Stokols & Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Marco Rubio, desperate to save his presidential campaign in his home state, is adopting the Mitt Romney strategy -- asking Republicans hoping to stop Donald Trump to support his rival, John Kasich, in Ohio. 'John Kasich is the only one who can beat Donald Trump in Ohio,' Rubio said.... The flip-side of that strategic gambit is to convince any voters in Florida not backing Trump to support him in Tuesday's primary. 'I'm the only one who can beat Trump in Florida,' Rubio said during a press conference Friday morning.... 'We were going to win in Ohio without his help, just as he's going to lose in Florida without ours,' said Kasich campaign spokesman Rob Nichols." CW: Either Kasich didn't understand Jeb!'s memo or he doesn't negotiated with the terrifieds.

Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "Speaking to reporters at a local Republican dinner outside Chicago, where Mr. Trump had just canceled a rally..., [Ted] Cruz began by saying that the 'protesters who took violence into their own hands' were responsible for the episode. 'But in any campaign, responsibility starts at the top,' Mr. Cruz continued. 'And when you have a campaign that disrespects the voters, when you have a campaign that affirmatively encourages violence, when you have a campaign that is facing allegations of physical violence against members of the press, you create an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discourse.' BUT also everything is Obama's fault: because he "sought to divide us on racial lines, on ethnic lines, on religious lines, on class lines." ...

     ... CW: See, if President Obama weren't so blackity-black-black (or, more accurately, half-blackity-black, but let's not get into math & the fractions that divide us), that old white guy would not have felt the need to cold-cock a black guy at a Drumpf rally this week, & Corey Lewandowski would not have had to shove around a white reporter. Really, Mr. President, stop being so damned black. You're scaring the nice white peoples. ...

     ... AND speaking of black & white & Chicago & Nancy Reagan, there was that time "when she telephoned from a fundraising event in Chicago in 1980. 'Oh Ronnie,' she enthused, 'I wish you could be here to see all these beautiful white people ... black and white people, I mean.'" R.I.P., Nancy. The beautiful Black Person in the White House has been saying nice things about you.

The National Review Editors endorse Ted Cruz for president.

Other News & Views

Sari Horwitz, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Obama is finalizing his decision on a Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia and appears to have narrowed his choice to three candidates, according to people with knowledge of the vetting process. The three under consideration are Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Sri Srinivasan, a judge on the same court; and Paul Watford, a judge on the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Obama said this week that he wanted to make a decision quickly, and his announcement could come as early as next week, the sources said." ...

     ... CW: So disappointing he's overlooked my neighbor's favorite: Judge Judy. First of all, a lot of people think she's already on the Supreme Court, so her appointment to an actual seat would go practically unnoticed. Second, she'd whip the asses of those old farts on the Judiciary Committee if they tried to deprive her of a hearing. A President known for his pragmatism should be more pragmatic here.

Jemima Kiss of the Guardian: "Barack Obama today attempted to heal a rift between the technology community and the government, saying the two sides must engage constructively to build technologies that balance individual privacy with the government's obligation to keep people safe. Addressing a small and enthusiastic audience at the SXSW festival, Obama told the 2,400 festival-goers, technologists, local politicians and media that the American constitution and bill of rights are a system designed to protect the public from government overreach." ...

... Joe DeLessio of New York: "Delivering a keynote address at South by Southwest Friday, President Obama said he couldn't discuss the ongoing battle between Apple and the FBI over access to the iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. But the president ... took a stand against pro-Apple 'absolutism.' Said Obama, via Chris Welch of the Verge: 'What will happen is, if everybody goes to their respective corners, and the tech community says, "either we have strong perfect encryption or else it's Big Brother and an Orwellian world," what you'll find is that after something really bad happens, the politics of this will swing and it will become sloppy and rushed and it will go through Congress in ways that are dangerous and not thought through.'" ...

... Video of President Obama's full conversation is here.

     ... CW: I see the President is still promoting macroeconomic hoohah. Here he misinforms a new generation: "There is growing inequality because of globalization." Right. Because if only we didn't import Chinese toys, rich Americans wouldn't get tax breaks.

Elements of a Con Game -- Manufacturing VA "Scandals." Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "At [Thursday] night's debate in Miami, the Republican candidates - as they have all primary season - attacked the VA health care system and demanded its radical restructuring. Few viewers were aware, however, that the candidates were following a script written by the Koch brothers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Alicia Mundy has the full story: "Working through the CVA [Concerned Veterans for America], and in partnership with key Republicans and corporate medical interests, the Koch brothers' web of affiliates has succeeded in manufacturing or vastly exaggerating 'scandals' at the VA as part of a larger campaign to delegitimize publicly provided health care. The Koch-inspired attacks, in turn, have provided the pretext for GOP candidates to rally behind the cause -- only recently seen as fringe -- of imposing free market 'reforms on the federal government's second largest agency." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Peter Hermann, et al., of the Washington Post: "The mysterious death of [Mikhail Lesin,] the Kremlin-connected businessman -- found two days after he failed to show at an exclusive Washington fundraiser -- is fueling conspiracy theories around the globe. Speculation ranges from Lesin being targeted by a political or financial rival to being the victim of a mundane bar fight."

Beyond the Beltway

Lead, Lead Everywhere. Marc Santora & David Chen of the New York Times: "On Wednesday, water at 30 of Newark's 67 schools was shut off after being found to contain high levels of lead. The move left state and school officials trying to reassure nervous parents that they had the situation under control, even as questions swirled about how the problem had been handled in the first place. The potential danger of lead exposure was something school officials in Newark had been aware of for years, and the district had installed lead-reduction filters on water fountains and kitchen prep sinks, particularly in schools built before 2006.... But it took a crisis in Flint, Mich., to focus attention on the issue of lead contamination in Newark, New Jersey's largest city." Previous "solution": Just let the taps & drinking fountains run a while.

Lynchings as "Humor": "I Didn't Like the Gumbo." Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: A couple complained to the NAACP (for some odd reason) after they went to Joe's Crab Shack (a national chain) in Roseville, Minnesota, & found themselves seated at a table into which had been laminated a blow-up of an early-20th century photograph of the hanging of a black man. The "joke"? The hanged man says, "All I said was 'I didn't like the gumbo.'" Ha ha. The restaurant removed the image after the NAACP's complaint & apologized, but the head of the Minneapolis NAACP says Joe's parent company, Ignite Restaurant Group, has not made a commitment to survey its other restaurants for offensive material. CW: To be clear, the photo depicted a public hanging, not a lynching. But still. The story raises questions not answered about how this image got there, & how long & why it stayed.

AP: "A man suspected of intentionally driving a snowmobile into teams of two mushers near the front of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was arrested Saturday in a Yukon River village. Arnold Demoski, 26, of Nulato was arrested on suspicion of assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and six counts of criminal mischief."

Way Beyond

The Assassins' Cold Feet. Lorenzo Tondo of the Guardian: "Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York, was targeted for assassination by the Sicilian mafia during a trip to Italy in 1992, according to an imprisoned Cosa Nostra hitman. Maurizio Avola, 54 -- who is currently serving a life sentence for his part in 43 murders and 40 armed robberies -- told the Guardian that mobster bosses planned an ambush involving about a dozen gunmen armed with assault rifles and explosives. The attack was only called off when the scale of Cuomo's security detail became apparent, he said."

Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "Israel Kristal is 112 years and 178 days old. That's quite an achievement. On Friday, representatives of Guinness World Records came to his home in Haifa, Israel, to officially give him a certificate. He's now officially the world's oldest living man." He has lived a remarkable life, even surviving Auschwitz.

The Commentariat -- March 11, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Elements of a Con Game -- The Trump "University" Review. Michael Barbaro & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "Interviews and documents show that employees of Trump University at times applied pressure on students to offer favorable reviews, instructed them to fill out the forms in order to obtain their graduation certificates, and ignored standard practices used to ensure that the surveys were filled out objectively. 'It's absolutely a con, said [Robert] Guillo, who spent $36,000 on Trump University classes and later requested a refund. 'The role of the evaluations were a defense against any legal actions. They anticipated those actions.'"

Elements of a Con Game -- Manufacturing VA "Scandals." Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "At last night's debate in Miami, the Republican candidates - as they have all primary season - attacked the VA health care system and demanded its radical restructuring. Few viewers were aware, however, that the candidates were following a script written by the Koch brothers." ...

... Alicia Mundy has the full story: "Working through the CVA [Concerned Veterans for America], and in partnership with key Republicans and corporate medical interests, the Koch brothers' web of affiliates has succeeded in manufacturing or vastly exaggerating 'scandals' at the VA as part of a larger campaign to delegitimize publicly provided health care. The Koch-inspired attacks, in turn, have provided the pretext for GOP candidates to rally behind the cause -- only recently seen as fringe -- of imposing free market 'reforms on the federal government's second largest agency."

Brain Surgeon Testifies Trump Has a Brain. Sean Sullivan & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson endorsed Donald Trump on Friday, throwing his support to the GOP front-runner in a 45-minute joint appearance where Trump said he doesn't see a need for any more televised debates. Carson ... said he and Trump have 'buried the hatchet' after trading nasty words during the primary. He also said there are 'two different' Trumps: the one the public sees and a more 'cerebral' Trump in private." ...

... Valerie Strauss, a Washington Post's education reporter: "Donald Trump ... declared that Carson was going to help him with education issues because he knows so much about them." Strauss looks into how much of an education expert Carson is: his Website is full of inaccurate information [CW: no doubt gleaned from other Wingnut Websites] about education programs, testing, school performance, etc., & he has shown such a lack of familiarity with the basic structure of K-12 education that Strauss thinks he has no idea that charter schools are public schools & that Congress has repealed No Child Left Behind. CW: So there's your new Secretary of Education. And don't be thinking, "Oh, well, Ole Doc is smart; he'll learn on the job." This is a guy whose own adviser said he was incapable of grasping any information about American international policy.

Janell Ross of the Washington Post responds to Trump's racially-coded responses regarding violence at his rallies.

*****

Presidential Race

Jonathan Martin & Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "After 11 adversarial debates, the two chief antagonists to Donald J. Trump on Thursday night largely abandoned their strategy of brutally attacking him, choosing instead to use their final face-off before next week's round of big Republican primaries to project gravitas and champion conservative positions on trade, jobs and Israel. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, whose candidacy is on the line in his state's primary on Tuesday, passed up easy chances to challenge Mr. Trump on immigration and foreign visas, and he stopped insulting the front-runner after his recent jabs backfired. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who is running second to Mr. Trump in many states, stuck to policy at first but gradually turned tougher against Mr. Trump, eventually saying he would be a disaster as the Republican standard-bearer." ...

... New York Times reporters are liveblogging the debate. CW: I didn't watch the debate, but I followed the liveblog. By failing to bring up Donald Trump's inciting violence against black Americans at his rallies, CNN moderators committed another act of journalistic malpractice. ...

     ... CW: Update/Correction: Oops! I missed the last part of the liveblog (I thought the debate ended at 10:30, as scheduled. It didn't.) My apologies to Jake Tapper & CNN. ...

... The Washington Post's annotated transcript of the debate is here. CW: I just read the part, near the end, where Tapper questions Trump & the other candidates about the violence at Trump rallies. The responses are really sickening. ...

... Jonathan Chait: "The exchange that captured Thursday night's Republican debate -- possibly the final debate of the primary -- came when Jake Tapper asked about the violence pervading Donald Trump's campaign rallies. Tapper quoted Trump egging his supporters on to attack protestors, and indeed, Trump's own campaign manager just accosted a female reporter the other day. Trump's response was terrifying, a virtual confession of his own authoritarianism. The candidate who had called the peaceful Tiananmen Square protests a 'riot,' and who insisted without evidence that protesters had initiated violence at his speeches, rationalized attacks as a response to his supporters' anger at conditions in the country. This was the chance for Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich to make the case ... that Trump is ... a singular danger not only to their party but the country. Instead they simply echoed Trump's message. People are angry. President Obama is a menace to freedom. Police are wonderful. And that was it." ...

... Jim Newell of Slate: "Everyone applauded [Trump's] incredible hybrid of dodging and pandering, because nothing matters." ...

... Elias Isquith of Salon thought the most important moments of the debate came early when moderators asked Trump & the other candidates about Trump's remark -- made Wednesday -- that "Islam hates us." Trump refused twice to walk it back & the other candidates equivocated, although they used the term "radical Islam" instead of "Islam." CW: Anyway, it turns out the real problem is our Muslim President. BTW, reading the transcript of what these jamokes said is just as infuriating as watching them on the teevee. ...

... Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The Republican presidential candidates will gather in Miami on Thursday for their last debate before voters in Florida, Ohio and three other states go to the polls next week for primary elections that could reshuffle the race. Chances are dwindling for Donald J. Trump's rivals to slow his campaign's momentum. With Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida under pressure to hold their home states on Tuesday, this face-off on the debate stage could prove to be decisive.... The debate will begin at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time and will air on CNN. CNN International and CNN en Español will simulcast the event."

If You Comp Me an Overnight at Your Glitzy Club, I'll Endorse You. Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Conservative favorite Ben Carson, who last week suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, plans to endorse Donald Trump on Friday morning, according to two people familiar with his thinking. The endorsement, perhaps the most high-profile nod for Trump since New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie backed him, was finalized Thursday morning when Carson met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the luxury club owned by the Republican front-runner, the people said." ...

... CW: Maybe you thought Ben Carson was a well-meaning but uninformed dingbat who was overwhelmed by the harsh realities of cutthroat politics. Nope. He's a conniving, hypocritical uninformed dingbat without an ounce of moral fiber. Listen up, Ole Doc, hanging a picture in the front hall of you & Jesus together don't mean you're a "real" Christian. Like the Jesus guy, you went into the wilderness for 40 days & 40 nights (& then some), & in the end, when the Great Satan of the Skyscrapers tempted you, you said, "Thank you, Lord, & pass the caviar." By your deeds shall you be known, Doc Ben.

It's Getting Worse. Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "A black protester [-- Rakeem Jones --] being escorted out of a Donald J. Trump campaign rally on Wednesday in Fayetteville, N.C., was sucker-punched and shoved by a Trump supporter, several videos on social media show.... Mr. Jones stumbled, then could be seen on the floor surrounded by sheriff's deputies. In some of the videos, at least two deputies who were following Mr. Jones up the arena steps could be seen walking past the man who had just punched Mr. Jones. But on Thursday, WRAL, the local NBC television affiliate, reported that a 78-year-old man, John McGraw of Linden, N.C., had been charged with assault and battery and disorderly conduct.... Later in the Fayetteville rally..., when another in a series of demonstrators was being led out, Mr. Trump himself lamented what he called 'the good old days' when someone who acted up would be carried out 'on a stretcher.'" Emphasis added. CW: Local authorities should arrest Trump, too, for inciting violence & for civil rights violations. The guy belongs in an orange jumpsuit. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Trump also complained during the Fayetteville rally that there were too few protesters & they were not troublesome enough: "It's always like one person. Can't we have a little more action than this?"' ...

     ... Update. Inside Edition: "The [old white guy] Trump supporter [John McGraw] who was filmed sucker punching a [black] protester [Rakeem Jones] during Wednesday's rally in North Carolina said: 'Next time, we might have to kill him.... We don't know who he is. He might be with a terrorist organization.'... On Thursday, officials arrested and charged McGraw with assault and battery and disorderly conduct, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office." CW: Just because Inside Edition covers it, doesn't mean it's entertainment. ...

     ... CW: The Rules According to Old White Guys: Always suspect black people of being terrorists. It's best to beat them up first & ask questions later. To rekindle the good old days, try to inflict enough bodily harm that the black terrorist suspects have to be carried out on stretchers. Maybe to the morgue. ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic was at the Fayetteville rally: "Just below the surface of a Trump rally runs an undercurrent of violence. There are few overt threats. But there are thousands of people who are deeply angry at the state of the nation, whose anger is being intensified by the speaker on stage.... What is disturbing about Trump's handling of the media at an event like this is that he knows he's playing a game -- but doesn't tell the crowd." ...

... Freedom of the Press. Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast on how Trump & his, ah, news organ Breitbart, handle the press. Nixon kept his enemies list a secret. Trump is right out there in the open, beating them up & screwing them around. And, yeah, Breitbart, that paragon of journalistic excellence is willing to throw its "girl reporter" under the bus. Ben Terris of the Washington Post has a bit more: After finding out that Terris had witnessed Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski rough up Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, Lewandowski made Terris wait for his scheduled interview, then cancelled the interview. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... It's Okay to Rough up MSM Reporters. CW: Steve M. on a point in Grove's report that jumped out at me, too: "The Daily Beast tells us, 'Lewandowski's explanation ... was that he and Fields had never met before and ... he didn't recognize her as a Breitbart reporter, instead mistaking her for an adversarial member of the mainstream media.' If she'd been from the 'adversarial' media, I guess roughing her up would have been just fine, according to Team Trump." ...

     ... Update. Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "When a protester was kicked and punched at a Donald Trump rally in November, the candidate's excuse was that the activist deserved it. Now that a reporter has been grabbed -- hard enough to leave bruises -- by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, the Republican presidential front-runner is trying an even more audacious defense: Saying it never even happened.... Fort Trump is accusing Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields -- and Washington Post reporter Ben Terris, who saw Lewandowski grab her roughly after a Tuesday-night press conference -- of fabricating the whole thing. After remaining silent on the incident for almost two days, the campaign issued a statement on Thursday afternoon, declaring Fields's accusation to be 'entirely false.'" ...

     ... Update Update. Hadas Gold of Politico: "A roughly two and a half minute audio recording of the incident obtained by Politico -- while not definitive -- supports the reporter's version of the events, which were witnessed by Washington Post reporter Ben Terris." ...

     ... AND More. Claire Landsbaum of New York: "Following the millionth GOP debate Friday night, Donald Trump told reporters he didn't believe the incident had taken place at all. 'I wasn't involved in it,' he said. 'The Secret Service was surrounding everybody, they said nothing happened, everybody said nothing happened -- perhaps she made the story up. I think that's what happened.'... Trump has taken the opportunity to turn the assault into a punch line": Trump told a female reporter, "If you go down, it's not my fault." CW: Because assaulting women is hilarious. ...

     ... CW: Maybe we shouldn't worry so much about Hillary's losing to the Donald. During the general election campaign, he won't be able to keep himself from making "jokes" like this about Hillary herself. He's already done it. All but the worst misogynists will be appalled.

Otto Von Drumpf XIV. Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's blistering critique of American trade policy boils down to a simple equation: Foreigners are 'killing us on trade' because Americans spend much more on imports than the rest of the world spends on American exports. China's unbalanced trade with the United States, he said Tuesday night, is 'the greatest theft in the history of the world.' Add a few 'whereins' and 'whences' and that sentiment would conform nicely to the worldview of the first Queen Elizabeth of 16th-century England, to the 17th-century court of Louis XIV, or to Prussia's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in the 19th century.... Mr. Trump is bringing mercantilism back. The New York billionaire is challenging the last 200 years of economic orthodoxy that trade among nations is good, and that more is better." CW: You'll have to read Appelbaum's full report to find out why Von Drumpf -- who tells us he is very, very smart -- is so wrong. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michael Gerson: "Trump is the guy your Founding Fathers warned you about.... We have reached the culmination of the founders’ fears: Democracy is producing a genuine threat to the American form of self-government.... The founders may not have imagined political parties as a check on public passions, but that is the role the GOP must now play -- as important as any in its long history. It is late, but not too late." ...

     ... CW: If you've watched 5 minutes of any political convention of either party in your lifetime, you'll find Gerson's argument laughable. Gerson describes the delegates as the "chosen body of citizens," a la James Madison's Federalist 10: "a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country." While it's likely that some of the GOP delegates will be wearing their tricorns in the convention hall, that is where the likeness to the Founders ends. There is not an ounce of wisdom beneath the hats of the delegates. Delegates are parochial poobahs come to party hard in the Big City, not to ponder & debate delicate determinants of our national future. They will be unable & unwilling to save the country from the grip of a demagogue.

Repulsive Senator Endorses Repulsive Senator. McKay Coppins & Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed: "Utah Sen. Mike Lee endorsed Ted Cruz for president on Thursday afternoon."

Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "Overall, the [Democratic] debate was a bummer.... But insofar as it demonstrated how well [the candidates] hold up under ... attempts to trip them up, it suggested Clinton's simply better at it. She got a lot more questions in that vein and never really stumbled. Sanders got only one such question and ended up proving some of the worst concerns about his readiness for prime time." ...

... CW: If it's fair to question Hillary Clinton about what she said during her husband's 1990s administration or even to question her about her husband's decisions, then it's fair to question Bernie Sanders about his support for totalitarian governments in the 1980s. His equivocations aren't going to cut it. Some of his views back then were disturbing, even in the context of the times. He should acknowledge that he was a radical, naive jerk in 1985, & try to demonstrate he isn't a naive jerk any more. Anyway, I'm going downtown to vote for the naive jerk today.

Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker: "Fascism may have appealed to the economically insecure, but it did not appeal by giving them an economic answer. It appealed by giving them an enemy. As in France, or throughout Europe now, the extreme right flourishes not because there is insecurity but because they have an answer for insecurity: blame the Muslims (they've also blamed the Jews, though they're quieter about that right now). Or: blame the Muslims and the Mexicans. They work, in the classic manner, not by providing answers to insecurity but by blurring the lines between genuine anxieties and imaginary fears and then by offering an imaginary solution -- the Jews/Muslims/terrorists/Commies who are coming -- to the imaginary fears as though that would alleviate the real anxieties." ...

... CW: I'd like to point out that it isn't only fascists whose appeal centers on creating "enemies." Bernie Sanders can barely utter a sentence that doesn't include the words "Wall Street billionaires." He's not stupid. He does this on purpose. A difference of course is that Bernie is essentially right, although our economic problems, as he readily acknowledges, are not caused solely by financial titans. Moreover, many of Bernie's solutions not only address real economic problems; they are workable.

     ... For instance, one of his proposals that makes people roll their eyes is "free" college tuition. To two generations of Americans who never experienced such a thing & went into debt because of the high cost of college, Bernie's plan -- which he would partially finance on the backs of "Wall Street billionaires"! -- sounds like a pipe dream. But up thru the 1960s, many or most state colleges & universities charged little or no tuition to in-state residents. If we could do it then, we can do it now. Hillary Clinton, BTW, has pooh-poohed the idea, arguing, for one thing, that it isn't "fair" for taxpayers to fund the college educations of the children of the rich. But they did it back then, & nobody squawked (or even thought about squawking), so, again, we can do it now. College entrance that is merit-based rather than means-based makes a lot of sense. Besides, the wealthy, who pay more in taxes than others, would in fact be paying more for their kids' "free" tuition than would poor & middle-class parents.

Other News & Views

BBC News: "US President Barack Obama and Canada's new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have lavished praise on each other during the first official visit by a Canadian leader in nearly 20 years. At the official state dinner Mr Trudeau toasted the two nations as 'siblings'. Mr Obama raised his glass to the 'great alliance', and made several jokes about Mr Trudeau and his previous careers. 'If things get out of hand, remember the prime minister used to work as a bouncer,' said Mr Obama. In a joking reference to Canadian-born presidential candidate Ted Cruz, Mr Obama laughed 'Where else could a boy born in Calgary run for president of the United States?'"

Steven Mufson & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama said Thursday he is not responsible for the Republican Party's 'crackup' even though some GOP leaders have blamed him for Donald Trump's divisive but effective campaign for the party's presidential nomination." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Here's the full press conference:

     ... digby & President Obama agree on who's responsible for extreme political polarization.

President Obama welcomes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada to the White House:

Andrew Dugan & Frank Newport of Gallup: "President Barack Obama earned a 50% job approval rating for the week ending March 6, his highest weekly average since May 2013." CW: Gosh, why is that? Because he's friends with Justin Trudeau? Probably not. "While it's hard to pinpoint precisely why Obama's approval rating has risen among Democrats recently, there are a number of plausible explanations. The unusual status of the Republican primary race -- exemplified in particular by front-runner Donald Trump's campaign style and rhetoric -- may serve to make Obama look statesmanlike in comparison."

KXAN Austin, Texas: "The South by Southwest Interactive Festival is kicking off on Friday. Perhaps the most anticipated event is President Obama's appearance at a Keynote Conversation. He will be talking with Evan Smith, CEO and Editor in Chief of the Texas Tribune."

New York Times Editors: "On Monday, John Cornyn, the senior Republican senator from Texas, warned President Obama that if he dares to name a successor to Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court, the nominee 'will bear some resemblance to a piñata.'... It is disgraceful for a senator to play the thug, threatening harm to someone simply for appearing before Congress to answer questions about professional accomplishments and constitutional philosophy. On Thursday, during the first Senate Judiciary Committee hearing since Justice Scalia's death last month, Mr. Cornyn and his fellow Republicans ... look[ed] like deranged obstructionists." ...

... David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Senators on the Judiciary Committee clashed openly on Thursday over filling a Supreme Court vacancy during an election year, with Republicans insisting that they were doing the right thing by refusing to consider any nominee put forward by President Obama and Democrats accusing them of shirking their constitutional duty. The Judiciary Committee chairman, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, denounced Democrats for the pressure they have brought in recent days in pushing him to convene confirmation hearings once Mr. Obama picks a nominee, which could happen as soon as next week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Michael McAuliff & Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "... [Sen.] Lindsey Graham (S.C.), admitted Thursday a stark fact that the rest of his colleagues have tried their best to avoid: that their blockade of any Supreme Court nominee by President Barack Obama is unprecedented. And he insisted that he was going to go along with it, even though he predicted it would worsen relations between the parties and the functioning of the Senate.... 'We're headed to changing the rules, probably in a permanent fashion,' he said."

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Responding to a drug crisis that has contributed to more American deaths than car crashes, the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a broad drug treatment and prevention bill, the largest of its kind since a law in 2008 that mandated insurance coverage for addiction treatment.... The bill was threatened by Democrats who were angered that Republicans turned away an accompanying measure to provide $600 million in extra funding to pay for some of the programs that the bill authorizes.... The fate of the legislation in the House is uncertain. A companion bill there does not have strong Republican support...." ...

     ... Empty Suits. CW: If Republicans won't fund the bill, the vote today was just a campaign ploy, giving senators an I-Care talking point while not mentioning they won't spend a dime on prevention or treatment. Maybe they can come up with a few thousand bucks to print up & distribute some Nancy Reagan Just Say No posters. That should help. Thanks, Republicans!

Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department said Thursday that Apple's attempts at linking an ongoing fight over a locked iPhone to broader questions about encryption are 'a diversion,' pushing back against an argument repeatedly made by the company and its supporters in Silicon Valley. Federal prosecutors argued in a court filing that this fight is one of Apple's own making, accusing the company of having 'deliberately raised technological barriers' that are keeping the iPhone locked." ...

... Radley Balko of the Washington Post: "... the 'sneak-and-peek' provision of the Patriot Act that was alleged to be used only in national security and terrorism investigations has overwhelmingly been used in narcotics cases.... National Security Agency data will be shared with other intelligence agencies like the FBI without first applying any screens for privacy. The ACLU of Massachusetts blog Privacy SOS explains why this is important: '... In short, domestic law enforcement officials now have access to huge troves of American communications, obtained without warrants, that they can use to put people in cages. FBI agents ... can simply poke around in your private information in the course of totally routine investigations.... And we don't have to guess who's going to suffer this unconstitutional indignity the most brutally. It'll be Black, Brown, poor, immigrant, Muslim, and dissident Americans: the same people who are always targeted by law enforcement for extra 'special' attention.'"

Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the Washington Post: "The board of the Wounded Warrior Project, one of the largest veteran support organizations in the country, has fired the nonprofit's chief executive officer and the chief operating officer.... The departure of two top executives, CEO Steven Nardizzi and COO Al Giordano, comes at a time when the wounded veteran-focused organization is awash in controversy amid news reports accusing the group of wasteful spending.... According to Wounded Warrior Project tax forms obtained by a CBS News investigation, the organization spent $26 million on conferences and meetings in 2014, up from $1.7 million in 2010.... According to the charity watchdog, 'Charity Navigator,' Wounded Warrior Project only spends 60 percent of its budget on veterans.... The Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, on the other hand, provides more than 98 percent to veterans."

Paul Krugman writes that politicians should be honest about trade deals. CW: That is never going to happen. There is so much at stake, so many potential winners & losers, there are few honest analysts. Economists like Krugman can shed light on the realities &, well, tradeoffs of international trade & trade agreements (see Binyamin Appelbaum's piece on mercantilism, linked yesterday, for what was an eye-opener to me), but even their work suffers from various biases & preconceptions, & because there are so many moving parts subject to so many fluctiations, some of them unforeseen, what economists might agree is a "good" trade deal one year may prove to be a bad deal the next. Politicians really don't know what they're talking about; they all start from a particular slant -- sometimes toward something as parochial as a particular business in a particular Congressional district -- and work backwards from there. The fact that they understand almost nothing about macroeconomics renders their views meaningless, except for the fact that those vews are among the ones that will prevail; some politicians, like Bernie Sanders, hold honest views, but they're based on nonsensical or fantasy-based premises. Add to that that even a "good" trade agreement is probably unenforceable & subject to myriad variables, most notably corruption, & the average citizen doesn't know what to think.

News Lede

Washington Post: "A former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin who was found dead in a Dupont Circle hotel room in November died of blunt force trauma to the head, the D.C. medical examiner's office said Thursday."