Michael Gersen on Trump embracing the fringe: “As a leader, Trump has succeeded by appealing to stereotypes and ugly hatreds that most American leaders have struggled to repress and contain, His political universe consists of deceptive experts, of scheming, of criminal Mexicans, of lying politicians and bureaucrats and of disloyal Muslims. Asked to repudiate David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, Trump hesitated, later claiming a ‘bad earpiece.’ Asked to repudiate the vicious anti-Semitism of some of his followers, Trump responded, ‘I don’t have a message to the fans.’”
“This is not flirting with the fringes; it is French-kissing them. Every Republican official endorsing Trump should know: This is the company he keeps. This is the company you now keep.”
Erick Erickson: “If the Republican Party wants to go in his direction, I guess I’m not a Republican anymore.”
First Read says Obama’s high approval will help Hillary as the nominee: “There are plenty of storylines and new numbers from our latest national NBC/WSJ poll, but here’s maybe the most important number of all: 51% — as in President Obama’s approval rating, which is his highest mark in the poll since his second inauguration. Why is it important? Because it means that Obama will be an asset to Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail unlike he was in the 2014 midterms, when his approval rating was in the low 40s.”
“Of course, an incumbent president with a 50%-plus job-approval rating isn’t a guarantee for a party keeping the White House — see 2000. But it’s certainly better than what Republicans experienced in 2008, when George W. Bush’s rating was 27% in our April 2008 NBC/WSJ poll. Our current poll found only 39% saying they would consider voting for Obama if he could run for a third term, but it’s higher than the 34% who said this about Bill Clinton in Sept. 2000. And 78% of African Americans, 72% of Democrats, 62% of Latinos, and 50% of those ages 18-34 said they would consider voting for Obama again if they could.”
A new Morning Consult survey finds that 67% of registered voters believe presidential candidates should be required to release their federal tax returns, including 60% of Republicans.
Sen. Bernie Sanders told the Associated Press that the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia could be “messy” as he pushed the party to adopt his progressive agenda. So if he doesn’t get his way, he is going to throw a fit? That’s unfortunate. This news, even though it seems that the Sanders campaign has reached an agreement with the DNC about representation on the platform committee. Greg Sargent has a rundown, including this statement from the Clinton campaign.
We’re pleased that the upcoming Democratic Convention will ensure supporters of Senator Sanders are well represented in the drafting of the party’s platform. The Democratic Party has been a big tent, representing a diverse coalition, and Hillary Clinton is committed to continue welcoming different perspectives and ideas.
Here is the statement from the Sanders campaign:
We believe that we will have the representation on the platform drafting committee to create a Democratic platform that reflects the views of millions of our supporters who want the party to address the needs of working families in this country and not just Wall Street, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry and other powerful special interests.
A new SurveyUSA poll in California finds Hillary Clinton way ahead of Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, 57% to 39%. The results of the poll showed that Sanders continues to lead among the youngest voters, while Clinton leads by 12 points among voters age 35 to 49.
David Brooks: “I understand why Donald Trump is so unpopular. He earned it the old-fashioned way, by being obnoxious, insulting and offensive. But why is Hillary Clinton so unpopular?”
“I would begin my explanation with this question: Can you tell me what Hillary Clinton does for fun? We know what Obama does for fun — golf, basketball, etc. We know, unfortunately, what Trump does for fun.”
“But when people talk about Clinton, they tend to talk of her exclusively in professional terms. For example, on Nov. 16, 2015, Peter D. Hart conducted a focus group on Clinton. Nearly every assessment had to do with on-the-job performance. She was ‘multitask-oriented’ or ‘organized’ or ‘deceptive.’… People who work closely with her adore her and say she is warm and caring. But it’s hard from the outside to think of any non-career or pre-career aspect to her life. Except for a few grandma references, she presents herself as a résumé and policy brief.”
Dana Milbank analyzes Donald Trump, the “welfare king”:
Trump has been refusing to release his tax returns, and now we have a pretty good idea why: He has been feeding at the public trough.
The Post’s Drew Harwell reported over the weekend that, for at least two years in the late 1970s (the last time Trump’s tax information was made public), Trump paid no federal income taxes. […] There is no shame in being on public assistance. The earned-income tax credit, which subsidizes low-income workers and has helped millions out of poverty, is the main reason for the 47 percent (though they still have state, payroll and other taxes). But the corporate welfare Trump receives is nothing to be proud of — not least because Trump has claimed to represent the American worker and has condemned corporate executives who “make a fortune” but “pay no tax.”
Jesse Berney at Rolling Stone looks at Trump’s donations to veterans groups:
He claimed to have raised $6 million for the various charities — $5 million from others, $1 million from himself. That’s real money when it comes to nonprofit budgets.
Only… he didn’t.
Trump being Trump, we’ll probably never know how much money he raised that night. But his campaign manager has admitted it wasn’t the $6 million Trump claimed.
Trump, who went to a rich kids’ military boarding school, got multiple deferments to get out of Vietnam, and has said he likes troops who “didn’t get captured,” loves to fashion himself a champion of veterans. That’s what his counter-event that debate night was all about: selling himself as a generous friend of the men and women who serve our country in the military.