The Commentariat -- May 11, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Andrea Peterson & Jonelle Marte of the Washington Post: "Google announced Wednesday that it will ban all payday loan ads from its site, bowing to concerns by advocates who say the lending practice exploits the poor and vulnerable by offering them immediate cash that must be paid back under sky-high interest rates." ...

... CW: So now we have Google, a for-profit corporation which stands to lose millions by its decision, showing more concern for suckering poor people that does the chairperson of the Democratic National Committee. Fire Debbie Wassterman Schultz! Turns out corporations have souls, my friend; Wasserman Schultz sold hers to the devil with the deep pockets.

Xi Are Not Amused, Either. China Censors Queen Elizabeth's Remarks. Peter Hunt of BBC News: "Coverage of the comments has been censored in China where a report on BBC World News was blanked out. Instead, state media outlets have dedicated their coverage to the Queen's dress sense and notable party attendees. Social media users have been keen to comment, but many appear to have had their posts removed by online censors." -- CW (See related story linked below & video.)

Many Happy Returns? David Graham at The Atlantic on why Donald Trump's tax returns are important: He's far wealthier than any other candidate to run for president, and he has a long history of questionable finances, and faces other allegations. His companies have declared bankruptcy four times. He's been fined by the Federal Trade Commission for improper behavior. He incorrectly received a tax break for people making less than $500,000 per year. All of this means that people might have legitimate questions about what Trump is doing with his supposed vast sums...and further whether the techniques he likely uses to reduce his tax obligations (like many wealthy people) are appropriate, even when they are legal. -- Akhilleus

*****

Presidential Race

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "Bernie Sanders warned the Democratic Party against 'moving toward the middle' when it comes to picking a vice presidential candidate for the general election. During an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board on Tuesday..., [Sanders said,] 'I've always believed, very honestly, that good public policy is good politics.'... 'And I think the Democrats should have a ticket of a presidential candidate and a vice presidential candidate who will speak to the needs of the vast majority of our people and not just the wealthy campaign contributors.'" -- CW

The Jackass Mandate. Patrick Healy & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's behavior in recent days -- the political threats to the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan; the name-calling on Twitter; the attacks on Hillary Clinton's marriage -- has deeply puzzled Republicans who expected him to move to unite the party, start acting presidential and begin courting the female voters he will need in the general election. But Mr. Trump ... said he had a 'mandate' from his supporters to run as a fiery populist outsider and to rely on his raucous rallies to build support through 'word of mouth,' rather than to embrace a traditional, mellower and more inclusive approach that congressional Republicans will advocate in meetings with him on Thursday." -- CW

The Miss Universe Version of a Political Convention. Lisa Hagen of the Hill: "Donald Trump's campaign convention manager promised an exciting GOP gathering this summer in Cleveland, calling the Republican National Convention the 'ultimate reality show.' During an MSNBC interview on Tuesday night, Paul Manafort said he's traveling to Cleveland on Thursday and Friday and will convene with the leadership running the event to start discussing ideas." CW: The swimsuit competition may be a bit of a letdown: only white Republicans will be allowed to participate.

Shane Goldmacher of Politico: "Donald Trump's campaign has enlisted influential conservative economists to revise his tax package and make it more politically palatable by slashing the $10 trillion sticker price. Their main targets: Lifting the top tax rate from Trump's original plan and expanding the number of people who would have to pay taxes under it.... the campaign last month contacted at least two prominent conservative economists -- Larry Kudlow, the CNBC television host, and Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation and a longtime Wall Street Journal writer -- to spearhead an effort to update the package." ...

... CW: I'm pretty sure those two doofuses will make Trump's tax plan great again. Here's Jonathan Chait on Kudlow (February 2015): "The interesting thing about Kudlow's continuing influence over conservative thought is that he has elevated flamboyant wrongness to a kind of performance art." And here's Krugman on Moore (February 2015): "... this is a guy who has a troubled relationship with facts. I don't mean that he's a slick dissembler; I mean that he seems more or less unable to publish an article without filling it with howlers...."

Abby Phillip, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was projected to win the Democratic primary in West Virginia Tuesday, the first of a string of potentially strong showings this month that are nonetheless not expected to cut significantly into front-runner Hillary Clinton's march toward the Democratic nomination. Additionally, Republican Donald Trump won Republican primaries in West Virginia and Nebraska -- virtually foregone conclusions given that he was the only Republican remaining in the race." -- CW

Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont captured the West Virginia primary on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, forcing Hillary Clinton to continue a costly and distracting two-front battle: to lock down the Democratic nomination and to take on Donald J. Trump in the general election." -- CW

Primary Results:

Democrats:

West Virginia. With less than one percent counted, the New York Times reports that the state is leaning Clinton, who has 50.6 percent of the votes to Sanders' 41.3 percent. I have no idea who the other 9 percent of voters might have picked. Update: Here's the answer to who the other candidates are, one of whom is Paul Farrell, a West Virginia attorney, who with 3 percent of the vote counted, has 6 percent. With six percent counted, the vote is leaning Sanders, 47.7 to 43.3 percent for Clinton. According to a USA Today banner at 8:54 pm ET, Bernie Sanders has won the primary. The NYT & WashPo have yet to designate Sanders the winner. With 27 percent counted, the AP has declared Sanders the winner; current percentages: Sanders 49.8, Clinton 39.6.

Nick Gass of Politico: "Hillary Clinton won the Nebraska Democratic primary on Tuesday, but she's not getting any delegates out of it. The Associated Press called the race in favor of Clinton, whose victory amounts to mere expression of preference.... The candidates' delegates to the Democratic National Convention were awarded in the state's March 5 caucus. Bernie Sanders won the caucuses by 15 percentage points, receiving 15 delegates to Clinton's 10." -- CW

Republicans:

West Virginia. With zero percent of the votes counted, the Washington Post projects that Donald Trump has won the primary. Which is not exactly unexpected, since he doesn't have any actual opponents.

Nebraska. Nick Gass: "Donald Trump has won the Nebraska Republican primary, according to three separate news networks."

Alex Seitz-Wald of MSNBC: "Bernie Sanders' decision to stay in the Democratic presidential race until the end has complicated what is typically one of the first orders of business for any new presidential nominee: taking over the party apparatus ahead of the national convention." CW: And there's this: "Party chairs usually stay on -- and there's no sign Clinton wants to replace Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz...." Nice to know.

Steven Myers of the New York Times: "A review of the 30,322 emails from Mrs. Clinton's private server that the State Department has made public under the Freedom of Information Act provides an extensive record of how such sensitive information often looped throughout President Obama's foreign policy apparatus on unclassified systems, from embassies to the United Nations to the White House." CW: Okay, then, there's just enough time to impeach President Obama. Get on it, House Republicans.

Julie Pace & Jill Colvin of the AP: "As part of his general election planning, Trump is moving aggressively to identify potential running mates and says he now has 'a very good list of five or six people,' all with deep political experience. While he would not provide a full list of names, he did not rule out New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the former rival whom he's already tapped to head his transition planning." -- CW ...

... Robert Costa of the Washington Post: Corey "Lewandowski, Trump's traveling confidant and campaign manager, will be in charge of the team that will survey and vet potential vice-presidential candidates for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, two top Republicans said." -- CW ...

... Gideon Resnick of the Daily Beast: So Ben Carson is off Trump's veep-vetting team. "... Carson has stepped away to focus on other things, according to his business manager, Armstrong Williams." CW: Yes, Ole Doc will be overseeing Trump's U.S.-Egypt trade deal -- something about storing Kansas wheat in the pyramids.

For many, many years, when I would say these things, other white people would call me names: 'Oh, you're a hatemonger, you're a Nazi, you're like Hitler. Now they come in and say, 'Oh, you're like Donald Trump.' -- William Johnson, prominent white supremacist & Donald Trump convention delegate ...

... Josh Harkinson of Mother Jones: "On Monday evening, California's secretary of state published a list of delegates chosen by the Trump campaign for the upcoming Republican presidential primary in the state. Trump's slate includes William Johnson, one of the country's most prominent white nationalists. [Update: Responding to this story late Tuesday, the Trump campaign blamed Johnson's selection on a 'database error,' and Johnson told Mother Jones he would resign. Here are documents showing the Trump campaign's personal correspondence with Johnson yesterday.]... Whether or not Johnson was vetted by the Trump campaign, the GOP front-runner would have a hard time claiming ignorance of Johnson's extreme views: Johnson has gained notice during the presidential primary for funding pro-Trump robocalls that convey a white nationalist message. ...

     ... CW: Yes, accidents will happen. Those darned "databases"! OR, as Popehat tweeted, "A database error in the sense of 'we prefer to ignore the data about who our base is'." At the link, Steve M. has more on William Johnson. ...

     ... Update. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: The Trump campaign did not remove Johnson from its delegate list before the statutory deadline, according to California's secretary of state, so the white supremacist who would not allow non-whites to be permanent residents of the U.S., is Trump's guy in California. ...

     ... Update 2. Josh Harkinson: "Although the Trump campaign blamed a 'database error' for including Johnson as a delegate, the campaign corresponded with him personally just over 24 hours ago." -- CW

Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed Republicans who have ruled out being his running mate in an apparent swipe at Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). 'It is only the people that were never asked to be VP that tell the press that they will not take the position,' he tweeted." -- CW

The Race Goes to the Liar. Greg Sargent: "While ... swing voters [attending focus groups] are willing to see Trump as a risky, divisive figure, they are not yet prepared to believe the Dem argument that Trump's policy proposals would benefit the rich, a senior Democratic strategist who has been directly involved in extensive focus groups tells me." CW: These people probably aren't low-info voters; after all, they care enough about the election to take the time to sit through a focus group session. But they just can't belieeeve what we well know: that Trump's off-the-shelf GOP economic "plan" would be a boon to the rich.

Senate Race

Phil Willon of the Los Angeles Times: California's top five U.S. Senate candidates debate Tuesday night. "The 7 p.m. [PT] event is sponsored by KPBS Public Broadcasting and will be aired by public radio and public television stations around the state, including KCET-TV Channel 28 and KPCC-FM (89.3) radio in Los Angeles. The debate will be live-streamed at KPBS.org and the Los Angeles Times will cover it live on the Essential Politics news feed. -- CW

Other News & Views

Julie Davis & Jonathan Soble of the New York Times: "President Obama will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, the White House announced on Tuesday, making a fraught stop this month at the site where the United States dropped an atomic bomb at the end of World War II." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jim Tankersley of the Washington Post: "In a new report out Tuesday..., [U.C.-Berkeley researchers] find that one-third of the families of 'frontline manufacturing production workers' are enrolled in a government safety-net program. The families' benefits cost state and local governments about $10 billion a year on average from 2009 to 2013, the analysis found. Those production workers, roughly 6 million, represent about half of all manufacturing workers.... The findings show ... that 'with manufacturing jobs, production jobs, that's really no longer true. The new production jobs are less likely to be union and more likely to be low wages.'... Eight of the 10 states that top the list of percentage of production workers whose families draw assistance live in the South...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it will not seek the death penalty against Ahmed Abu Khattala, 54, a U.S.-designated terrorist whom prosecutors accuse of leading the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. The announcement, contained in a notice to the federal trial court in Washington, clears the way for a major terrorism trial in the nation's capital, the first in the United States since 2015, barring a plea agreement by Abu Khattala. The decision ended a lengthy review after President Obama aired concerns in October that while he supported capital punishment in theory, he found it 'deeply troubling' in practice." -- CW

He's Baaack!! Burgess Everett of Politico: "Ted Cruz can't even get a protest vote in the Senate anymore. On Monday night, Cruz's colleagues ignored his attempt to disrupt Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's efforts to fund the government without attacking Planned Parenthood. In an unusual rebuke, even fellow Republicans denied him a 'sufficient second' that would have allowed him a roll call vote. Then, his Republican colleagues loudly bellowed 'no' when Cruz sought a voice vote, a second repudiation that showed how little support Cruz has: Just one other GOP senator -- Utah's Mike Lee -- joined with Cruz as he was overruled by McConnell and his deputies." -- CW

     ... OR, as Paul Waldman summarizes it, "Ted Cruz returned to the Senate and was all like, 'Hey, how about if I do some pointless grandstanding?' and his Republican colleagues were all like, 'Put a sock in it, jerk.'" ...

... Because GOP Senators Would Never Waste Time on Frivolous Matters. Michael Nunez of Gizmodo: "The US Senate Commerce Committee ... has sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg requesting answers to questions it has on its trending topics section. The letter comes after Gizmodo on Monday reported on allegations by one former news curator, who worked for Facebook as a contractor, that the curation team routinely suppressed or blacklisted topics of interest to conservatives. That report also included allegations from several former curators that they used a 'injection tool' to add or bump stories onto the trending module." -- CW ...

... What Is Facebook Anyway? Brian Feldman of New York on Sen. John Thune's (R-S.D.) letter to Zuckerberg: "... the letter ... gets to the heart of Facebook's dilemma here: Is it an (implicitly neutral) platform for the exchange of all ideas? Or a publisher with editorial imperatives and ideas? Taken as the latter, the letter is ridiculous.... Taken as the former, though..., if Facebook is a truly neutral platform (whatever that would mean), at several hundred million American users it's more akin to a utility, or a common carrier, than a private company.... Facebook, of course, would like to have it both ways, and maintain the reach, power, and broad public appeal of a utility, and at the same time the independence of a media company." -- CW

Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "It is truly amazing to watch this Party that constantly extols the virtue of 'freedom' and their love of the Constitution (First Amendment anyone?) feign outrage that social media isn't under their control." -- CW

... MarKos Moulitsas: "Coming from the folks that eliminated the Equal Time Doctrine, this is hilarious." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Bridgegate Co-Conspirators to Be Revealed. Ted Sherman of NJ.com: "A federal judge has ordered the release of the names of individuals who allegedly had knowledge of the scheme to shut down lanes at the George Washington Bridge before the Bridgegate scandal broke. In a ruling sought by a consortium of news organizations, including NJ Advance Media, U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton said the public had a right to know who else may have been involved in the high profile case or subsequent coverup...." -- CW

Letter from a Nevada Jail. Sam Levin of the Guardian: "Jailed Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy filed a lawsuit against Barack Obama, challenging his placement in solitary confinement and seeking to dismiss the federal government's felony charges that could condemn him to die behind bars. The suit from the rancher, who led a high-profile standoff against the government in 2014, also names US judge Gloria Navarro and Nevada senator Harry Reid.... The complaint, filed Tuesday..., slams Obama for 'despicable disrespectful mocking' of Bundy at the 2014 White House Correspondents' Dinner." The amusing complaint is here. -- CW

American "Justice," Ctd. Claudia Lauer of the AP: "An Arkansas judge resigned Monday after new allegations surfaced that he used his authority for the last 30 years to sexually prey on young men charged with crimes who needed financial help or who were afraid of losing their children or jobs. Part-time Cross County District Judge Joe Boeckmann resigned after a state judicial commission presented him with new allegations, including one case when a man said he was taken to a courtroom, told to strip naked and photographed in handcuffs. Allegations were made public last year that Boeckmann had engaged in inappropriate sexual relationships including photographing and paddling defendants in exchange for lighter sentences." -- CW

Alex Zielinski of Think Progress: "A new Utah law that goes into effect on Tuesday will force doctors to shirk their promise to 'do no harm' by dangerously over-anesthetizing women who seek a later abortion. Informed by anti-abortion state lawmakers rather than by medical experts, the 'Protecting Unborn Children Amendment' requires physicians to administer an anesthetic to any women seeking an abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy or later, to 'eliminate or alleviate organic pain to the unborn child.' Like many anti-abortion laws on the state level, Utah's law rests on the unscientific belief that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks of gestation." -- CW

Way Beyond

We Were Not Amused. Tom Phillips of the Guardian: "The 'golden era' of UK-China relations appears to have lost some of its glitter after the Queen [Elizabeth of Britain] accused Chinese officials of being 'very rude' to the British ambassador during president Xi Jinping's first state visit to Britain last year." -- CW ...

Simon Romero of the New York Times: " In a stunning twist in the effort to impeach President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, the new speaker of the lower house of Congress has changed his mind -- less than 24 hours after announcing that he would try to annul his chamber's decision to impeach her.... Waldir Maranhão ... said on Monday that he would to try to annul the April 17 impeachment vote against the president, citing concerns about procedural irregularities. But in a decision made around midnight here, and widely circulated in the early morning on Tuesday, Mr. Maranhão told Renan Calheiros, the head of the Senate, that he was revoking his earlier decision." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Simon Denyer & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the Washington Post: "A U.S. warship sailed within 12 miles of one China's largest artificial islands Tuesday, part of a continuing effort by the Pentagon to demonstrate that the United States remains undeterred by the rapid Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea. The presence of the USS William P. Lawrence, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, prompted the Chinese military to scramble three fighter jets that monitored the destroyer, along with three Chinese ships, until the American vessel left the area." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way, Way Beyond

Amina Khan of the Los Angeles Times: "Sifting through data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, scientists said Tuesday they've confirmed the existence of 1,284 planets orbiting other stars. The announcement more than doubles the number of validated planets discovered by the planet-hunting spacecraft, bringing the total number to about 2,325.... Perhaps most striking, the new census includes nine worlds that could be rocky and Earth-like and orbit their host stars in the so-called habitable zone, where temperatures would allow water to be stable in liquid form." -- CW

News Lede

New York Times: "In a burst of attacks recalling Iraq's sectarian civil war, three bombings in three different neighborhoods of Baghdad killed more than 90 people on Wednesday and wounded scores more, the Iraqi authorities said. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the biggest attack, in a crowded food market in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in northern Baghdad. Explosives hidden in a parked pickup truck loaded with fruit and vegetables detonated around 10 a.m., killing at least 66 people and wounding 87 others." -- CW

The Commentariat -- May 10, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Julie Davis & Jonathan Soble of the New York Times: "President Obama will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, the White House announced on Tuesday, making a fraught stop this month at the site where the United States dropped an atomic bomb at the end of World War II." -- CW 

Jim Tankersley of the Washington Post: "In a new report out Tuesday..., [U.C.-Berkeley researchers] find that one-third of the families of 'frontline manufacturing production workers' are enrolled in a government safety-net program. The families' benefits cost state and local governments about $10 billion a year on average from 2009 to 2013, the analysis found. Those production workers, roughly 6 million, represent about half of all manufacturing workers.... The findings show ... that 'with manufacturing jobs, production jobs, that’s really no longer true. The new production jobs are less likely to be union and more likely to be low wages.'... Eight of the 10 states that top the list of percentage of production workers whose families draw assistance live in the South....” -- CW 

Simon Romero of the New York Times: " In a stunning twist in the effort to impeach President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, the new speaker of the lower house of Congress has changed his mind — less than 24 hours after announcing that he would try to annul his chamber’s decision to impeach her.... Waldir Maranhão ... said on Monday that he would to try to annul the April 17 impeachment vote against the president, citing concerns about procedural irregularities. But in a decision made around midnight here, and widely circulated in the early morning on Tuesday, Mr. Maranhão told Renan Calheiros, the head of the Senate, that he was revoking his earlier decision." -- CW 

Simon Denyer & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the Washington Post: "A U.S. warship sailed within 12 miles of one China’s largest artificial islands Tuesday, part of a continuing effort by the Pentagon to demonstrate that the United States remains undeterred by the rapid Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea. The presence of the USS William P. Lawrence, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, prompted the Chinese military to scramble three fighter jets that monitored the destroyer, along with three Chinese ships, until the American vessel left the area." -- CW 

*****

Presidential Race

Nebraska Republicans hold a presidential primary today. Democrats & Republicans hold primaries in West Virginia today.

Jonathan Chait of New York: "About a decade ago, it became clear to some of us that the Republican and Democratic parties were not at all alike. The two were different, not just in their beliefs but in their methods and political style...Trump’s capture of the Republican nomination is the most emphatic, but only the most recent, indication that the Republican Party’s internal culture is a total failure." --safari

Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "At a campaign stop Monday in Northern Virginia, Hillary Clinton reiterated her support for a government-run health plan in the insurance market, possibly by letting let Americans buy into Medicare, to stem the rise of health-care costs.... While Clinton long has supported including a public option in the insurance market, her campaign said she was floating the idea of letting Americans not yet of retirement age buy into the Medicare system as one way of accomplishing that. She's also open to creating a separate government-run option on the Obamacare exchanges." -- CW

Brian Beutler of the New Republic: Bernie Sanders has the capacity to turn the Democratic party back into a progressive outfit. CW: First move: he should demand the ouster of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, head of the DNC.

Julian Hattem of the Hill: "The State Department has lost all archived copies of the emails sent to and from the man believed to have set up and maintained Hillary Clinton’s private email server during the four years she served as secretary, it said on Monday. However, the department has recovered some of IT specialist Bryan Pagliano’s messages, according to spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau, in apparent contradiction of a Republican National Committee (RNC) court filing earlier in the day." ...

... CW: Here's something I don't get: I don't go out of my way to save my old e-mails (but if they're personal correspondence, I don't trash them), much less "archive" them, but if the FBI wanted to find out what I wrote to somebody in 2014 or even 2010, they could find the correspondence. Needless to say, there aren't any laws -- as there are for communications among federal employees -- requiring me to keep this stuff. So how come my non-archives are accessible & the State Department's are not?

Victoria McGrane of the Boston Globe: "'They’re looking at a Trump-Clinton election as probably not the best choice for anybody,' said former House majority leader Eric Cantor, a Republican who is now vice chairman at investment bank Moelis & Co. 'He’s a businessman ... [but] he’s been on so many sides of every issue that you never know.'... Cantor said he will back Trump, despite disagreeing with much of what the candidate says, but other industry officials predict Trump will have a hard time attracting support from the financial sector — and he even risks losing support to Hillary Clinton." --safari

Nick Gass of Politico: "Donald Trump is opening his general election campaign the same way he started his primary bid and continued for the majority of the past year: by putting his haters — especially in the media — on blast.... On Monday, everyone from fellow Republican politicians to conservative activists to once-friendly cable TV hosts felt his wrath." --safari

Maggie Haberman & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Facing a steep challenge as he prepares to meet with Republican leaders about uniting their splintering party, Donald J. Trump on Monday struck a more conciliatory tone about House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, disavowing an ally’s call for a primary challenge against Mr. Ryan. Mr. Ryan responded by saying he would step down from his position as chairman of the Republican National Convention in July if that is what the party’s presumptive nominee requests." -- CW 

Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News "Donald Trump is looking beyond the convention, the fall campaign and election itself to begin to plan for a massive takeover affecting four million employees: the governing stage. In a new role, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will serve as chairman to assemble a transition team of experts on domestic and foreign policy to begin the organizational architecture for a future Trump administration." CW: Um, apparently Christie really doesn't think "governor" is a full-time job.

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump has no fund-raising apparatus to resort to, no network of prolific bundlers to call upon, and little known experience with the type of marathon, one-on-one serial salesmanship and solicitousness that raising so much money is likely to require — even if individuals can contribute up to the current limit of $334,000 at a time to the party.... While Mr. Trump’s continued feud with the Republican establishment was likely to cheer his supporters, his intense need for money to run his general election campaign suggests the degree to which he will rely heavily on the party’s existing infrastructure." -- CW ...

... Making America Bankrupt Again -- Trump Picks a Campaign Finance Director. David Dayen in the New Republic: "... in selecting [Steven] Mnuchin, not only has Trump submitted to the realities of presidential campaign finance; he’s chosen one of the most notorious bankers in America to carry it out." -- CW  ...

... Russ Choma of Mother Jones (May 5): "Donald Trump has slammed Washington insiders, lobbyists, and Wall Street as he has tapped populist anger to snag the Republican presidential nomination. Yet when it came time to pick the top money man for his campaign, he turned to a hedge-funder best known for running a bank that made billions off taxpayer bailouts and, by one account, cost the federal government $13 billion. On Thursday, Trump named Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs partner and a hedge-fund boss from Los Angeles, as his national campaign finance chairman." -- CW 

... CW: One of the best parts of being a Trump supporter is that you can back him for one thing -- his adorable racism -- and never have to face the realities (or indeed know anything about them) of what kind of scumbag he is. ...

... Why "Trump Can't Pivot." Jamelle Bouie: "The real test of Trump’s ability to shift to a general election is whether he can make his core principles palatable to a broad audience, or at least obscure them enough to escape scrutiny. And yes, Trump has core principles. If there’s one constant in Trump’s rhetoric, from his role in the 'birther' movement five years ago to his present campaign, it’s his nativism, his anti-Muslim attitudes, his assorted flavors of bigotry.... He boosts racists on social media, is friendly (or at least not-hostile) to real-life white supremacists, and has refused to disavow anti-Semitic attacks from his online supporters. Even now, after winning the GOP nomination, he indulges misogyny and misogynistic attacks." -- CW ..

... Amanda Marcotte in Salon: "There were various points during the Republican primary where [Trump] was clearly trying to make an effort to act more professional, and it inevitably turned sideways as his overwhelming desire, nay need, to push people’s buttons and express his deepest self (who is an asshole) came roaring out. This will continue to happen, I am sure of it. Doubly so because his opponent is a woman, and he won’t be able to resist the urge to try to put her in her place, which will invariably backfire.... His one tool for getting [media] coverage — being the worst — is what will bring him down." -- CW 

I'm not a constitutional scholar, so I can't necessarily say, but are you eligible to run if you are a man-baby or a baby-man? I don't know. But he is a man-baby. He has the physical countenance of a man and a baby's temperament and hands. -- Jon Stewart, at a University of Chicago event ...

Begins about 2:45 min. in:

Jonathan Martin of the NYT: "Senator Ted Cruz’s supporters are mounting an effort to seize control of the Republican platform and the rules governing the party’s July convention, the first indication that Mr. Cruz will not simply hand his delegates over to Donald J. Trump...Mr. Cruz’s supporters and other conservative activists are also deeply concerned about Mr. Trump’s general election agenda, and want to ensure that he does not alter the party’s platform. " --safari

Calling all Clowns. William Petroski of The Des Moines Register: "Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday that U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst would be great choice for vice president as Donald Trump's running mate, and he hopes to personally tell the business magnate of his enthusiasm about having her serve on the Republican Party's national ticket." --safari ...

... CW: Turns out John McCain likes Joni Ernst for veep, too. As we know, McCain is a very excellent veep-picker. As Charles Pierce notes, "Joni Ernst ... is Sarah Palin, if you substitute pig testicles for moose jerky." -- CW 

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Virgil Texas in the Washington Post: Fictional pundit Carl "The Dig" Diggler predicted primary & caucus results with more accuracy than Nate Silver. You can keep up with the Dig here. -- CW 

Other News & Views

Michael Hudson, et al., of the Washington Post: "A review of the law firm [Mossack Fonseca’s] internal files by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and other media partners has identified offshore companies created by Mossack Fonseca that were tied to at least 36 Americans accused of fraud or other serious financial misconduct.... Some of the Americans have been convicted of fraud or other crimes.... Others have been sued in civil cases launched by securities regulators or private plaintiffs." -- CW ...

... Ana Swanson of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post is joining a group of global media organizations in publishing a searchable database of more than 300,000 opaque offshore entities." The dateabase is here. CW: If you've got nothing better to do for the next few years, search away.

CBS News: White House foreign policy advisor Ben "Rhodes is facing an onslaught of criticism for his comments in a New York Times Magazine article published Sunday. In the piece, Rhodes said he used advocacy groups to create an echo chamber of supporters. He dismissed Washington's foreign policy establishment. And he described reporters as uninformed about world affairs." CW: I have not followed this story, but this CBS report seems to be a pretty good summary. The original NYT Magazine story by David Samuels, which I haven't read, is here. And here's an exemplary critique, by Thomas Hicks of Foreign Policy, who labels Rhodes an "asshole" and "an overweening little schmuck." For starters.

Mark Berman, et al., of the Washington Post: "North Carolina and the Justice Department announced dueling lawsuits on Monday, a sharp escalation in a confrontation over the state’s so-called 'bathroom bill' that has become the epicenter of a larger fight over transgender rights." -- CW 

Isaac Chotiner of Slate: "According to a new study from the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, anti-Muslim hate crimes increased in 2015, coinciding with attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, and the rise of Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president who has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States...It was during December that the study saw a huge spike, recording 53 separate attacks on Muslims during this month, nearly one-third of the total in the entire year."--safari 

Beyond the Beltway

Tresa Baldas of the Detroit Free Press: "The Flint water crisis has triggered yet another lawsuit, this one filed by the city's former administrator, who claims she was wrongfully fired for blowing the whistle on the mayor of Flint for allegedly trying to steer money from a charity for local families into a campaign fund." -- CW 

Taking one for the team. Jonathan Shorman of The Topeka Capital-Journal: "The financial earthquake shaking Kansas can be felt throughout the country...Kansas is altering the course of other states, influencing tax policy in ways both big and small. Other states are seeking to avoid Kansas’ rolling fiscal crisis, even as they work toward tax cuts of their own." -- safari  

Way Beyond

Jonathan Watts of the Guardian: "Brazil’s political tumult has deteriorated into a full-blown constitutional crisis after a little-known and newly appointed lower house speaker proclaimed the annulment of last month’s impeachment vote against president Dilma Rousseff. The surprise move – which was immediately challenged by senior figures in the senate – provides a new twist in the country’s ongoing political drama that would stretch the credibility of a House of Cards plot." --safari

The Commentariat -- May 9, 2016

This is starting out to be a Slow Gnus day:

Presidential Race

George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times: "Bernie Sanders wants everyone to be offered a tuition-free college education and he's called crazy. America can't afford it, naysayers scoff.... But too many of us in California forget: This state did provide tuition-free college for generations. That helped California achieve greatness by broadening the middle class and providing opportunities for upward mobility not available in other states.... Now [California tuition is] ridiculous: roughly $14,500 at UC and $6,800 at the state universities.... To paraphrase Robert F. Kennedy, Sanders dreams of things the way they were -- at least in California -- and asks why not again? Actually, there's no good reason." -- CW

Ed Rendell Wishes to Remind You that Philadelphia Is a Stone's Throw from New Jersey & He Can Be Just as Rude as Chris Christie. Harper Neidig of the Hill: Ed Rendell, "the chairman of the Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee for this summer's Democratic National Convention said supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders have to 'behave themselves' [and 'not cause trouble'] when the Vermont senator loses the nomination." -- CW

Desperately Seeking a "47-Percent" Moment. Jonathan Swan of the Hill: "Republican operatives are scouring the country for transcripts, notes or secret recordings of Hillary Clinton's paid speeches to Goldman Sachs in hopes of finding damaging material for the general election. Clinton has rebuffed calls from Bernie Sanders to release the transcripts of her three speeches to the Wall Street giant, which she delivered in 2013 to the tune of $225,000 per appearance. She has repeatedly said she will release the transcripts of her paid speeches when all the presidential candidates agree to do so." -- CW

CW: I suppose it bears repeating, since we are unlikely to hear much about this in the general election: both Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump use "tax havens" to protect themselves from paying taxes at the rate many of us do. Clinton has often suggested closing various tax loopholes, but she has never made any effort to do so; Trump is, of course, all over the place on this subject, but it is hard to believe he would ever move to normalize taxes for rich individuals & corporations. Nomi Prins, of TomDispatch, republished in Salon, reports.

Enough About You, Let's Talk About Donald! John Dickerson on CBS' Face the Nation had a sit down with Hillary Clinton that aired on Sunday: Joe Concha of Mediaite, this interview "...was not only profoundly disappointing, but even disgraceful.... particularly for someone as seasoned as the 47-year-old CBS political director and host. Never have there been so many questions to a presumptive presidential nominee that were so unfocused, so tilted, so teed-up, so non-probing than whatever that was Dickerson served up.... Eight of the first nine questions weren't about her. They targeted her competition instead. Not one policy question or clarification was asked." -- Akhilleus

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The headline on the front page of today's WashPo is "Clinton's Wonky Plan for U.S. Contrasts with Rivals' Grand Ideas." On the story page itself "Grand" becomes "Grandiose," which is a slightly more fair characterization of Trump's "ideas," if not Sanders'. The story itself, by David Fahrenthold, comes off as critical of Clinton, IMO, for having actual plans as opposed to Trump's ever-altering "ideas." -- CW

Daffy or Demented? Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has called for the elimination of the federal minimum wage, as he retreated from primary promises and once again refused to release his tax returns because of 'a link' to an audit.... [Trump] repeatedly said he would support a higher minimum wage, a reversal from his position when he had conservative opponents. But he insisted on Sunday that states should decide such wages.... He said he hoped to release the returns before the general election, but would not pledge to do so." -- CW

Liar or Demented? Evelyn Rupert of the Hill: "Donald Trump threw a new claim Hillary Clinton's way at a Saturday rally, telling the crowd that the Democratic front-runner wants to do away with the Second Amendment."CW: Trump is probably unaware that a president can't just "abolish" a Constitutional Amendment. In fact, I have little doubt that President Trump would "abolish" -- and ignore -- every part of the Constitution that didn't suit him. That's what dictators do.

Demented! Glenn Thrush of Politico: "Mark Salter, the most prominent and most defiant Republican to announce his support of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, thinks the 2016 campaign could literally -- no joke -- drive the billionaire developer insane.... 'He's going to lose, and I think he's got kind of an unstable personality to begin with,' Salter told me last week.... 'I think he could come apart, you know, in some kind of visible way,' ... Salter said. 'I think that's quite possible.... I'm not a psychiatrist, but there is something wrong with [the] guy.'" -- CW

Paul Krugman: "Truly, Donald Trump knows nothing. He is more ignorant about policy than you can possibly imagine, even when you take into account the fact that he is more ignorant than you can possibly imagine. But his ignorance isn't as unique as it may seem: In many ways, he's just doing a clumsy job of channeling nonsense widely popular in his party, and to some extent in the chattering classes more generally."

Greg Sargent: "There's a lot of chatter out there to the effect that Donald Trump is shifting his stances on taxing the rich and on the minimum wage. He's moderating his positions for the general election! He's going to get to Hillary Clinton's left on economic issues! The only problem with this reading -- which is based largely on what Trump said on the Sunday shows yesterday -- is that it didn't actually happen.... Given that his plan cuts [upper-income] taxes dramatically, this supposed 'openness' to a shift is meaningless.... Trump is not proposing to raise taxes on the rich." -- CW

Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "More than 50 veterans released a statement Sunday calling on presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump to show respect for the country's veterans and donate the millions of dollars he allegedly raised during a fundraiser several months ago.... Earlier this year, Trump skipped the seventh Republican presidential debate over disagreements with the host network, Fox News. Instead, he held a fundraiser for raise money for military veterans. A report in March said Trump had donated less than half of the $6 million he raised for military veterans during the late January fundraiser. About $3 million was given to 24 charities the presumptive nominee chose, according to the report." -- CW

Jake Tapper of CNN: "Top officials of the Cruz campaign are convinced there is one specific step that could have stopped Trump -- [a Cruz-Rubio ticket --] and they blame Sen. Marco Rubio for not taking that step." CW: So this is the Cruz team saying, "Carly Fiorina, you're no Marco Rubio."

Sycophancy Works! Russell Berman of The Atlantic: Donald Trump on Monday made perhaps the most important hire of his presidential campaign to date, choosing Chris Christie to lead his transition team if he wins the White House in November. -- Akhilleus ...

... Akhilleus: Berman goes on to assert that Christie appears to be operating "...pretty independently from the campaign." But then reports that "A Trump spokeswoman directed questions about his role to Christie's gubernatorial office, which promptly referred those queries back to Trump's campaign." Errr....doesn't sound all that independent. It's also worth noting that the last Confederate to run a White House transition team was Dick Cheney.

Other News & Views

Beyond the Beltway

Jenn Abelson, et al., of the Boston Globe: "... a growing number of former students at New England private schools ... are breaking their silence about sexual abuse by staffers. They are emboldened by a cascade of recent revelations about cases -- many of them decades old -- that were often ignored or covered up when first reported, and that school administrators still struggle to handle appropriately today." This is a long, investigative piece. -- CW

Science or Sciencey? John Oliver, reviewed in Salon, expounds on the danger of sciencey sounding studies that purport to offer serious information to the public. "'Not all scientific studies are equal..Some may appear in less-than-legitimate scientific journals. And others may be subtly biased because of scientists feeling pressure to come up with eye-catching positive results.'" As a case in point, the Salon article highlights advice provided by NBC Today Show personality, Al Roker. "I think the way to live your life is you find the study that sounds best to you and you go with that." -- Akhilleus

Akhilleus: Of course I get all my health advice from Al Roker. Just another example of the astonishingly irresponsible bullshit passed on by TV personalities. "Find the study that sounds best and go with it". What if the study suggested that hunkering over a highway overpass with a rifle and shooting at passing cars was a good way to relieve tension? Morons.

Way Beyond

Alison Smale of the New York Times: "Austria's chancellor [Werner Faymann] resigned abruptly on Monday after nearly eight years in office, throwing his country into deeper political uncertainty after a first round of presidential elections last month in which the two governing establishment parties failed to muster even a quarter of the popular vote. The resignation occurred amid a rightward shift in Austrian politics, fueled by anxieties over the migration crisis." CW: Not a good sign, is it?

** Roger Cohen of the New York Times: "In his victory, a triumph over the slurs that tried to tie him to Islamist extremism, [London Mayor-Elect Sadiq] Khan stood up for openness against isolationism, integration against confrontation, opportunity for all against racism and misogyny. He was the anti-Trump.... Sadiq Khan's victory is reassuring because he represents currents in the world -- toward global identity and integration -- that will prove stronger over time than the tribalism and nativism of Trump." -- CW ...

... Juan Cole: "The press is declaring Sadiq Khan, victor in the electoral contest for mayor of London, the 'first Muslim mayor of a major European city.' They mean of course, something like 'the first Muslim mayor of a really big Western European city in the modern period (say the past two centuries).'... Islam is a major European religion and is a nearly 1300 year old tradition there." -- CW

Jonathan Kaiman & Sunshine de Leon of the Los Angeles Times: "Filipinos flocked to polling stations Monday to elect their 16th president in one of the most closely watched and emotionally charged elections in recent memory.... The presidential race has a clear front-runner: Rodrigo Duterte, 71, a tough-talking city mayor from the country's south.... Critics have raised concerns about his many profane comments and his alleged human rights violations. Duterte has joked about rape and infidelity, and promised to clean up crime by killing thousands of criminals and dumping their bodies in Manila Bay." CW: Sound familiar?