POLITICO Playbook: MARCH MADNESS! ‘BOTTOMLESS SPIRAL' -- RUBIO ‘VERY CONCERNED’ someone could get killed
DONALD TRUMP to JOHN DICKERSON on "Face the Nation": "[T]hat is politics. I mean, I say bad things about people and they say bad things about me." Transcript https://bit.ly/1pET5xj
CHUCK TODD to TRUMP on "Meet the Press": "Do you accept any responsibility for creating this atmosphere?"
TRUMP: "I don't accept responsibility, I do not condone violence in any shape. ... ... We were told just as I was going up on the stage, I was told by the Secret Service, 'Sir, there's a person or two people in the audience that have tomatoes. They are going to throw them at you, we think. If they do throw them, you have to be prepared.' ... People are there doing harm, you have to go and you have to use equal force." ...
TODD: "I'm just curious: Do you plan on paying for the legal fees of this older gentleman in North Carolina who sucker-punched the protester?"
TRUMP: "I do want to see what that young man was doing. ... [F]rom what I understand, he was sticking a certain finger up in the air. And that is a terrible thing to do in front of somebody that frankly wants to see America made great again. And so we'll see. I'm going to take a look at it."
By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; [email protected]) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; [email protected])
**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: https://politi.co/1M75UbX
Good Sunday morning. The official start of spring is a week away, but our smartphones got a jump on it by SPRINGING AHEAD today - the quicker to get to Selection Sunday and tipoff of basketball March Madness. Political March Madness has been raging all weekend ...
BEING THERE - "Inside the Protest That Stopped the Trump Rally: The plan worked better than they'd ever imagined. Then the trouble began," by Keith O'Brien, an author on assignment in Chicago for Politico Magazine: "It had been a week in the making, and now everyone was in place: with roughly 2,500 on the street outside and hundreds more inside, including dozens working directly with Lewis. As they waited, the crowd growing loud around them, a few were starting to feel doubts about what they were hoping to do. ...
"I was just there to watch, but I could feel it myself. The protesters, mostly black and Latino and young, were standing shoulder to shoulder with the people that their protest would upset most. The crowd was white-all of them-sporting 'Hillary for Prison' and 'Bomb the Hell out of ISIS' pins, wearing camouflage ball caps, hunter orange, and N.R.A. gear, and shouting for their candidate, who was late ... 'U-S-A!' they chanted. And: 'Build that Wall' And: 'We want Trump!'" https://politi.co/1QVL9Pb
BREAKING - "Trump outside Chicago arrives to calmer crowd" - AP: "Trump is returning to Illinois after canceling a Friday night appearance in Chicago amid clashes between protesters and his supporters. The mood was far more muted Sunday outside the Bloomington airport in central Illinois, where about 100 protesters gathered along an access road on an a foggy, overcast morning near the airplane hangar where Trump was scheduled to speak."
ANTI-TRUMP FORCES SOUND ALARM in new memo! "To: Our Principles PAC From: Ed Goeas Re: Does Donald Trump have a path to victory in November?": "[A]ny Republican Presidential candidate will face a significant electoral challenge this fall. But this candidate, who is currently turning off more voters than he is turning on with the tone and tenor of his campaign and divisive persona, clearly appears to be winning his battles for the Republican nominating but losing the war for the White House in November.
"Based on all of the data I have seen, the answer to the question 'Does Donald Trump have a path to victory in November?' is clearly 'No.' The question is, how many down ballot Republicans will he take with him?" See the 8-page memo. https://bit.ly/1TFHlqZ
--BRIAN BAKER, strategist behind the Our Principles PAC anti-Trump effort: "If Trump has a bad night on Tuesday, the math shows that he has a very difficult path to Cleveland. But if he makes it to the general election, voters are making a Shermanesque judgment on Trump: If nominated, he will not win."
JAKE TAPPER to MARCO RUBIO on CNN's "State of the Union": "Would I be overstating matters if I said you sound like you're actually concerned somebody, before this is all over, somebody might lose their life?"
RUBIO: "I'm very concerned about that. ... We don't know what's going to happen next here. I know that we've reached the point now where people in American politics have decided that if they don't agree with you, that they can get angry at you, that you're a bad and evil person, that they can say anything they want about you. ... [A]ll the gates of civility have been blown apart and we've now reached a point where, on both sides, everyone is just saying or doing whatever they want. ...
"This is not about political correctness. This is about rules of civility and a way of society talking to each other. And let me ask everybody this: Do we really want to live in a country where everybody hates each other?Where everybody is at each other's throat? Where, because we disagree on the role of government or the tax rate or Obamacare or foreign policy, we now in this nation cannot have a discourse or agree on any other issue and end up hating each other?
"Because that's what it feels like. It feels like we're reaching a point now, where in America, everyone hates each other. I'm so tired of arguing and fighting with other Americans. ... I mean, all the gates -- all the rules that once governed our discourse have been blown away and we're headed in a very dangerous direction."
HOT VIDEO - RUBIO's 13 minute presser yesterday where he strongly criticized Trump's rhetoric https://bit.ly/1WiNszk
** A message from the Coalition to Save Medicare Advantage Retiree Coverage: Proposed new cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) Retiree Coverage will hurt 3.3 million seniors - costing each retiree up to $264 a year in higher costs and reduced benefits. Fight the cuts at: https://bit.ly/1QP1GmR **
SCOOP DU JOUR - "New York Times in talks with Atlantic's James Bennet to return in senior newsroom role," by Politico's Joe Pompeo, with Hadas Gold: "The New York Times has recently been trying to bring James Bennet, a former Times reporter and current editor of The Atlantic, back to the paper ... [S]ources familiar with the matter said Bennet is believed to be under consideration for a big newsroom role, and the possibility has created buzz in the newsroom in recent days. Bennet has been editor in chief of The Atlantic for the past 10 years. His previous Times tour lasted from 1991 to 2006 and spanned positions from White House correspondent to Jerusalem bureau chief.
"Over the past couple of years, the Times has been reconfiguring its leadership ranks both on the business side and in the newsroom as the company has been transforming itself to respond to the rapidly changing media environment. Sources speculated that Bennet could potentially assume an important digital role, since The Atlantic has seen digital success under his leadership. If Bennet were to return to the Times in a high-ranking position, ... it could even put him in line to succeed executive editor Dean Baquet, for whom there is no single clear heir apparent among the newsroom's senior leaders. ...
"When Baquet's predecessor, Jill Abramson, was executive editor several years ago, she tried to hire Bennet for a digitally focused masthead position, and new CEO Mark Thompson even tried to convince Bennet to take the gig ... But Bennet was hesitant because it wasn't clear to him that the somewhat nebulous position he was being offered would come with significant stature or impact." https://politi.co/1LkpXp4
SUNDAY BEST ... JAKE TAPPER, in Ohio for town hall tonight, to Trump, in Chicago, on CNN's "State of the Union": "[P]eople are getting hurt, and people are actually concerned that somebody might get seriously, seriously injured before this is all over, and that you are not taking down the temperature. You are, in the views of many of your fellow Republicans, making things worse -- inciting, encouraging violence. And you're a leader, sir."
TRUMP: "My fellow Republicans - "
TAPPER: "You're the frontrunner of the Republican Party."
TRUMP: "Excuse me. Excuse me. My fellow Republicans are running against me. They are losing big league. In Florida, we have a man, Marco Rubio, who doesn't even show up to vote in the U.S. Senate. He's a disgrace. He's weak, very weak on illegal immigration -- wants to give amnesty to everybody. He's a person that I don't think he could be elected dogcatcher in Florida, frankly. But I'm running against - "
TAPPER: "All right. But with all due respect, sir - "
TRUMP: "In -- if you look at -- excuse me. Excuse me. If you look at Ohio, we have a man that voted for NAFTA. NAFTA has destroyed Ohio, and now he's voting for TPP -- I mean, in Kasich. And give me a break - they're running against me. So, obviously, if I were in their position, I would be saying the same thing."
"BOTTOMLESS SPIRAL" -- WashPost 2-col. lead, "Vitriol follows Trump on campaign trail: AT OHIO RALLY, MAN CHARGES THE STAGE - Front-runner is stoking confrontations, some say," by Karen Tumulty, Jenna Johnson and Jose DelReal (online: "Trump has lit a fire. Can it be contained?"): "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. It has also brought a reckoning from his three remaining rivals for the Republican nomination, who are shedding their fear of provoking Trump and of alienating the raging slice of their party's base that has claimed him as its leader. ...
"This year's presidential campaign, however, seems to have fallen into a bottomless spiral. ... Trump has delighted in mocking hecklers - and condoning attacks on them by his supporters ... Trump's continued domination of the GOP race suggests that there are no guardrails left in politics." https://wapo.st/1M0jT50
--L.A. Times 5-col. lead, "Unbowed, once again: As rivals take aim, Trump deflects blame for near-riot." See the page. https://lat.ms/39ZQ8K
N.Y. POST cover: "ALL THE RAGE: Mad libs target Trump rallies" https://nyp.st/1Rf59lk ... N.Y. DAILY NEWS cover: "'RACIST': Blaz, Legend [NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, John Legend] call Trump a bigot - Donald ducks protester at rally." https://nydn.us/vp5qdB
VIDEO DU JOUR - "Secret Service Agents Surround Trump at Rally" - 2-min. AP video https://bit.ly/1pEZ2KJ ... Video of the protestor trying to reach Trump https://abcn.ws/22bjLHp
FLASHBACK -- NYT A1, "Donald Trump's Presidential Run Began in an Effort to Gain Stature," by Maggie Haberman and Alex Burns: "On the day he was to deliver the endorsement in Las Vegas [in 2012] ... Mr. Trump met with Romney aides and said he hoped to hold a joint news conference with Mr. Romney ... [a] terrifying possibility [for] Mr. Romney ... In an appeal to Mr. Trump's vanity, the Romney campaign stressed that his endorsement was so vital ... that it would be a mistake to dilute the impact with a question-and-answer session. 'The self-professed genius was just stupid enough to buy our ruse,' said [former Romney spokesman] Ryan Williams ... While they agreed to hold the event in a Trump hotel, the campaign put up blue curtains around the ballroom when the endorsement took place, so that Mr. Romney did not appear to be standing 'in a burlesque house or one of Saddam's palaces.'" https://nyti.ms/1QOWWAK
FUN READ - "Donald Trump, Meet Your Customers," by WSJ editorial board member Joe Rago: "Trump say he's the tribune of the common man. I read 26,000 online reviews to find out what the common man thinks of his products." https://on.wsj.com/1RgaWAT
GINSBERGWATCH - BEN GINSBERG in Politico, "The Path to Convention Chaos: If Trump loses Florida or Ohio, the GOP's set for a quagmire in Cleveland. Here's how it happens": "The craziness will unfold in stages, with more delegates increasingly freeing up to vote for whomever they like as the process advances. All that puts a huge premium on an obscure and intricate competition happening right now in each state-the selection of the actual delegates. Any campaign not waging a major, if under-the-national-radar, effort to get its supporters elected as delegates will come up short in Cleveland." https://politi.co/1M0nBvA
45TH PRESIDENT - "Intelligence advice for next president: Rocky road ahead," by AP's Deb Riechmann: "The National Intelligence Council, part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, [compiles a] global trends report ... every four years so it can be handed to an incoming president or the incumbent. A summary of a draft of its latest findings was to be released [tomorrow at South by Southwest] in Austin ... These trends follow 20 years of unprecedented reductions in poverty and increased access to education and information, which have empowered citizens around the world. ...
"The report suggests that [the] type of populism being seen in industrial nations will percolate in the developing world as those affected by a slow-to-zero rise in wages and a hollowing out of the middle class start questioning the effectiveness of traditional policies. ...
"The report predicts increased competition and a 'desire for status' by emerging and fading powers. This will play out as transnational terrorism, conducted by groups such as the Islamic State, al-Qaida and Boko Haram, and sectarian violence continue to threaten stability in the Middle East, Asia and parts of Africa." https://apne.ws/21px5SV
"Intelligence -- Global Trends: Glance ... 4 not-so-rosy scenarios for the world: "[1] Competition among major international powers sharpens as skittish governments, seeking to maintain relevance at home and protect interests abroad, push to widen their spheres of influence. ... [2] Ominous climate forecasts, severe weather and outbreaks of disease sharply divide countries and groups over how to respond. ...
"[3] Governments have so much trouble coping with economic and political instability that criminal syndicates, extremists, business elites and religious groups - all exploiting evolving technology - assert control over core government functions. ... [4] Slow-to-no economic growth heightens political volatility across the world, causing some countries to turn inward, take on a defensive posture and shore up borders." Full report:https://nicglobaltrends.tumblr.com/
SPOTTED: AshLee Strong yesterday at the very end of the long voting line for DC Republicans.
BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:
--"The List," by The New Yorker's Sarah Stillman: "When juveniles are found guilty of sexual misconduct, the sex-offender registry can be a life sentence." https://bit.ly/1RDGVeL
--"Blood Ties: Conjuring up my own personal conquistador," by Alex Mar in the
Spring 2016 issue of the Oxford American: "[S]elf-mythologizing takes place when we assimilate the stories of our ancestors into our own-it's automatic. We tell ourselves that their triumphs have somehow entered our bloodstream. We're not descendants, we think; we're heirs-heirs to intangible qualities (ambition, brilliance, endurance) through the fact of a thoroughly diluted blood tie." https://bit.ly/21mjmMz (h/t TheBrowser.com)
--"The Incredible Rise and Final Hours of Fracking King Aubrey McClendon," by Bryan Gruley, Joe Carroll, and Asjylyn Loder on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek (with the right link this time):https://bloom.bg/1LiYSTd
--"George Martin: the man who changed pop forever (with a little help from his friends)," by Alexis Petridis in The Guardian: "The music came from the Beatles - but it was George Martin's willingness to step outside the boundaries of what was acceptable that helped make them special." https://bit.ly/1TW2GwG
--"The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice," by Jeff Maysh in Smithsonian: "'Count' Victor Lustig was America's greatest con man. ... He used 47 aliases and carried dozens of fake passports. He created a web of lies so thick that even today his true identity remains shrouded in mystery." https://bit.ly/1U6zK4w
--"Satchel Paige and the Championship for the Reelection of the General," by Jonathan Blitzer in The Atavist: "How the best pitcher in the American Negro leagues played for the cruelest dictator in the Caribbean." https://bit.ly/1YFOR4m
--"The Jody Grind," by Jody Rosen in Slate: "The secret history of my name." https://slate.me/1TRTwBg (h/t Longform.org)
--"Marcia Clark Is Redeemed," by Rebecca Traister in New York Magazine: "With a push from the O.J. mini-series, the '90s bogeywoman is set to become a feminist icon." https://thecut.io/228v1AZ
--"I've Had a Cyberstalker Since I Was 12," by Roni Jacobson in Medium's Backchannel: "After 14 years I finally reported him. In the eyes of the law, my biggest mistake was not fearing him more." https://bit.ly/1pcKPEb
ENGAGED - Megan Whittemore and Gary Nuzzi - Gary, VP of Adfero popped the question to Megan, comms. director for Sen. David Perdue, on a stroll past the Kennedy Center on the way to Fiola Mare, and she said yes. The high school sweethearts celebrated with drinks at the Four Seasons. Pic https://bit.ly/1TXUE6w
WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- "Samantha K. Sault ... married Matthew J. Lauer ... in a private ceremony on [Friday] at the office de l'etat civil (city hall) in Geneva, Switzerland. ... Ms. Sault, 30, is [VP] of communications for the United States Fashion Industry Association in Washington, D.C. ... Mr. Lauer, 41 ... [is EVP] of Qorvis-MSLGROUP ... Mr. Lauer served as executive director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State from 2001 to 2004 under U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. He graduated from North Carolina State University. ... They first met in September 2007 at a party with guest of honor Vice President Dick Cheney celebrating the 12th anniversary of The Weekly Standard, where Ms. Sault then worked as an editorial assistant." https://bit.ly/1nGN6Xk ... Pic https://bit.ly/1RXVEDT
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Remi Yamamoto, celebrating in NYC (h/t Jeff Solnet)
BIRTHDAYS: Kiki McLean! ... Shawn Turner, managing director at Mercury Public Relations and former White House deputy press secretary ... Amb. Nancy Soderberg (h/ts Ben Chang) ... AP's Steven Hurst, a foreign policy guru and former Baghdad bureau chief ... Erin Billings, principal at Podesta Group and Roll Call alum (h/t Anna Palmer and Ben) ... Sirius-XM host Ari Rabin-Havt and a Harry Reid, Al Gore and Media Matters alum, is 37 ... mediabistro.com founder Laurel Touby, now of Flatiron Investors ... Sarah Mulcahy, senior comms. associate at Precision Strategies (h/t colleague Jeff Solnet) ... Ashley Hoy, a UNC hoops fan extraordinaire and Roy Blunt alum now at Monument Policy Group (h/t Stewart Verdery) ... James Wesolek of Heritage Action (h/t son Tim) ... Eddie Wytkind, LA for Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.) (h/t Alex Slater) ... John Kelly, press secretary for NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo (h/t Eric Phillips) ...
... Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) is 59 ... Rep. Alan Grayson, now running in the Democratic primary for Marco Rubio's Florida Senate seat ... WSJ's Ryan Tracy ... Doug Sachtleben, comms. director at Club for Growth ... DeJuana L. Thompson, senior advisor at SBA, and Cory Booker, OFA, and Berea College alum (h/t Sophie Kim) ... Hannah Chatalas, a senior comms. consultant for Jennifer Siebel Newsom and the Representation Project and an Obama alum ... mediabistro.com founder Laurel Touby ... James Russell, associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, is 58 ... Kalen Pruss, most recently policy director for the O'Malley campaign, a Labor Dept. and CAP alum, and diehard Ohio State fan ... Lauren Smith ... Lauren Inouye, associate director of gov't affairs of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing ... Christina Roberts, Georgetown's assistant VP for operations and a Malaria No More alum ...
... Brian Gaston ... Katelyn Polantz, reporter for National Law Journal and a PBS Newshour alum ... Theresa Zagnoli ... Doug Kelly (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... David Pryor Jr. ... Jonathan Bing, a Rick Lazio alum ... Tony Newman, comms. director at Drug Policy Alliance ... Chris Gaspar of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office and a Jim Moran alum ... Joshua Phoebus ... Rich Ransom ... Mark Kitchens ... Sabrina Fendrick ... David Matthews ... Erik Greathouse is 44 ... singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 77 ... actor Emile Hirsch is 31 (h/ts AP)
** A message from the Coalition to Save Medicare Advantage Retiree Coverage: Bringing together seniors, employers and labor organizations, the Coalition is fighting to protect the high-quality, affordable Medicare Advantage (MA) Retiree Coverage that 3.3 million seniors rely on for their health and financial security. New cuts to MA Retiree Coverage proposed by CMS will cost each enrolled senior up to $264 a year in higher costs and reduced benefits. CMS should listen to the bipartisan, bicameral supermajority of 369 members of Congress that urged the agency to protect the MA program from further cuts. Fight the cuts and protect retirees at: https://bit.ly/1QP1GmR **
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