Tuesday Open Thread, June 14, 2016

It is not enough to simply beat Trump. He must be destroyed thoroughly. His kind must not rise again.

— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) June 13, 2016

And every single Republican who has supported or endorsed Trump in any fashion must also be destroyed.

The Lid: “Setting aside the impact that repeating his theories could have on his own electoral chances, Trump’s statements when it comes to national security could be the most consequential parts of his rhetoric when it comes to downballot races. For weeks or even months to come, Republican lawmakers will be asked by journalists and by their political opponents if they believe that Obama is somehow complicit in terror attacks. They’ll be peppered with questions about Trump’s suggestion that Obama should resign in the wake of the attack. They’ll face another round of inquiries about his proposed ban on Muslim immigration.”

“In press conferences, debates, and opposition research, Trump’s positions will be omnipresent for Republicans running for office at any level. If you’re a Republican in a contested race, it’s just about the last thing you probably want to spend the next 147 days doing.”

Good. If any single Republican supports any part of Trump or his platform, they will have to be destroyed as well.

MJ panel reacts to Trump's tweet on Orlando shooting https://t.co/PzUlGNBq2o

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) June 13, 2016

JP Green: “Lots of hype in headlines about Sen. Sanders not yet conceding or endorsing Clinton, even in some of the better newspapers. But when you read the stories below the headlines, what makes more sense is that Sanders is just waiting for the optimum moment to endorse Clinton, when his supporters will be ready for it and when it can do the most good.”

Where Trump was born (red) versus where the Orlando shooter was born (blue). pic.twitter.com/a564arL0PX

— Philip Bump (@pbump) June 13, 2016

E. J. Dionne, Jr. explains why “The strategic playing field is tilting toward Clinton”: “Hillary Clinton faces a strategic choice…she needs a decent share of the blue-collar vote to hold key Midwestern states — and she will have to rally what have been core Democratic constituencies: younger voters, who eluded her during the primaries, African Americans and Latinos. But the direction of her campaign and her selection of a running mate will depend in significant part on the class tilt of her strategy…Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg says Republican candidates for the House and Senate would risk large defections from their base if they are seen as sabotaging Trump…Greenberg argues that Clinton knows she has to offer a strong economic message with a populist feel to win over the millennial voters who flocked to Sanders. Appeals aimed their way will simultaneously help earn Sanders’s blessing and pick up the white working-class votes she’ll need.”

All of @HillaryClinton's Tweets about #Orlando focus on "we." All of @realDonaldTrump's focus on "I."

— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) June 13, 2016

Ron Brownstein says Trump was surprised by reaction to his racist comments: “Trump has reason to be surprised because until now, Republican leaders have mustered no more resistance to his provocations than momentary grumbling, followed by capitulation. Trump personally demeaned Marco Rubio during the campaign as contemptuously as one presidential candidate has ever belittled another; yet Rubio compliantly endorsed him. Ryan criticized Trump over his Duke remarks and his proposal to temporarily ban Muslim immigrants. But then, after briefly withholding his endorsement, he too fell into line (if perhaps only temporarily).”

“Throughout, even the Republican leaders most uneasy with Trump have recoiled from confronting him partly because he has demonstrated how much of the GOP coalition responds to a racially barbed message of defensive nationalism.”

Anderson Cooper opened up his show by naming the victims of Sunday’s massacre at the Pulse nightclub.

Just watch. It’s powerful.

Matthew Sheffield: “The time to stop Trump was in the 1990s, when the movement’s intellectuals were busy prostrating themselves before Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as they sought to remake the GOP into a party for white Christians. The time to stop Trump was during the George W. Bush administration, when Republicans swallowed the nonsense that deposing secular dictators was a great way to promote moderate Islam. The time to stop Trump was in 2009, when Sarah Palin was dumbing down conservatism into an alternative lifestyle that glorified anti-intellectualism. The time to stop Donald Trump was in 2013, when Ted Cruz was opportunistically telling Republican voters that obstreperousness was the equivalent of conservative philosophy.

2016 was far too late to stop the Trump Train.”

The House floor dissolved into chaos on Monday night after a moment of silence for the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, with Democrats shouting in frustration as House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) tried to keep order. A moment of silence is traditionally held to commemorate shooting victims, but after 49 people were slaughtered during a mass shooting at a gay nightclub on Sunday morning, some Democrats said that wasn’t enough. “Where’s the bill?” Democratic reps shouted. “Show some respect!”

Ryan banged his gavel in vain, calling for order. Some representatives walked out of the room in protest, including Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT).

Day after shooting, House Democrats erupt in protest; some walk out during moment of silence https://t.co/l5g73n1fS6https://t.co/PrsT9B8V9y

— ABC News (@ABC) June 14, 2016

This should happen from now until all Republicans are removed by force from the Chamber by the voters.

Rick Klein says Team Clinton is formidable: “This started as the year of the deepest Republican bench in history. But the Democratic lineup that’s just starting to warm up could be the story of summer and fall. Consider the advocates Hillary Clinton will have at her disposal: President Obama, former President Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren – all before Sen. Bernie Sanders even gets to the point where he can work to defeat Donald Trump.”

“And Trump will have… Chris Christie? Jeff Sessions? Trump is busy warring with Warren on Twitter, and seems to relish the ‘Pocahontas’ jokes. But Warren is already demonstrating how strong she can be in terms of advocacy when her heart is in the fight. Her role is only getting larger: Her answer, when Rachel Maddow asked her if she thinks she could step into the presidency at a moment’s notice, was one for the veepstakes ages: ‘Yes, I do.’”

“Donald Trump’s combative anti-terrorism speech Monday flouted the typical post-tragedy script and left Republican insiders fretting that the business mogul is unprepared to play a crucial presidential role: national healer,” Politico reports.

“It was the latest display of the party’s conundrum of how to deal with their unpredictable standard-bearer whose views they often don’t share. Many Republicans appeared downright fatigued by the almost daily exercise of Trump saying something provocative or worse, and them having to answer questions about it.”

TPM: “Trump’s incendiary and divisive message increased pressure on Republican leaders on Capitol Hill who were in an already untenable position: answering for a nominee who they did not agree with on tone or even in substance.”

Matt Bai: “The critical window between Trump’s effective nomination five weeks ago and next month’s convention is closing fast, and far from projecting more gravitas, Trump seems bent on making a fool of every credible Republican who has stepped up to tepidly endorse him… Here’s the thing Ryan and I both should have understood about Trump, and that now seems to me the central fact of his existence: He is a man tragically enslaved to his own neediness.”

“For Trump, insecurity is not a manageable motivator. It is the black hole that consumes him…He has an almost pathological obsession with ratings, polls, flattering profiles…Every criticism, every judgment, every potential obstacle seems to evoke in him a latent rage, a sense that the world – as embodied in Manhattan’s unbreachable elite – is condescending to him again… The black hole, left unchecked, could swallow the party’s electoral hopes and leave no trace.”

A new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll finds Hillary Clinton now leading Donald Trump nationally by seven points, 49% to 41%.

“Clinton narrowed Trump’s lead among men and white voters to single digits over the past week and now leads Trump by 25 points — 58% to 33% — among voters describing themselves as moderate.”

Jonathan Chait on why the Trump campaign is a total disaster: “If Donald Trump were an otherwise normal candidate — with a reasonable knowledge of public policy and no pronounced affection for authoritarian rulers or habit of blurting out overtly misogynistic and racist comments — the Republican Party Establishment would still be in complete meltdown right now over his campaign’s political incompetence.”

“Recent reports have uncovered a slew of hair-raising details about the campaign’s amateur/quasi-nonexistent status. Trump is raising nowhere close to the level of money required to run a modern presidential campaign. His campaign staff is skeletal and lacks the ability to coordinate a message, leading to chaotic setpieces where the entire Democratic Party message apparatus is being countered only by Trump’s personal Twitter account. (Sad!) Trump is wedded to bizarre strategic notions like competing in heavily blue states. He is devoting what few resources he does have to hopeless projects like hiring a pollster to help him win New York, where Republican presidential candidates have failed to reach even 40 percent of the vote in decades.”

Donald Trump is rescinding the Washington Post’s credentials to cover his campaign events, Politico reports.

Said Trump: “Based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign, we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post.”

What a scared little coward Donald Trump is.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “has considered the idea of serving as Hillary Clinton’s running mate but sees obstacles to that choice as she prepares to endorse the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee,” Reuters reports.

“While her thinking could evolve, Warren has concerns about joining a Clinton ticket, including the question of whether running two women would give the Democrats the best shot at defeating Republican Donald Trump… Advisers to Warren, a fiery critic of Wall Street and a popular figure among progressive Democrats, have been in close contact with Clinton’s campaign team and the conversations have increased in frequency in recent weeks… Warren has signaled to people close to her that she is intrigued by the possibility of being Clinton’s No. 2 but has not discussed the role with Clinton, 68, or anyone else from her campaign.”