POLITICO Playbook: PROGRESSIVES LOSING PATIENCE with Bernie -- ET TU, LINDSEY? Graham caves, backs Trump
Good Monday morning. BREAKING -- "Letter from Hanoi," by Isaac Dovere: "Obama, silent on human rights, lifts arms embargo on Vietnam ... [S]aid nothing about democratic reform": "With the embalmed body of Communist national forefather Ho Chi Minh laying under lights just a block away at his gray mausoleum, President Obama [today] signed the dissolution of the nearly 50-year embargo on selling arms to Vietnam, ending one of the last vestiges of the Vietnam War." https://politi.co/1OIF5sn
"HERE'S YOUR HAT. What's your hurry?" ... "Bernie Loses His Halo: Even progressives are criticizing him now after he's shown a harder edge," by Bill Scher of Campaign for America's Future, for Politico Magazine: "[I]t's no longer taboo in liberal circles to attack Sanders as he drags out the nomination process at a time when many are itching to turn their fire on Donald Trump. And if his reputation in the party is being damaged outside his base, that will make it harder for him to extract concessions from Clinton regarding the platform and party nomination rules at the convention." https://politi.co/1NGGvZy
By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; [email protected]) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; [email protected])
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IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED the "Saturday Night Live" cold open with Hillary (Kate McKinnon) and Bernie (Larry David) in a bar in L.A. at closing time (Sanders won't leave), treat yourself. "Hillary": "You should be proud. You ran a damn good campaign." "Bernie": "I'm RUNNING a good campaign." ... "Hillary": "I do NOT like humor, but THAT was funny!" https://bit.ly/1swEWn9
TRUMPMENTUM - "Trump passes Clinton in polling average," by Nick Gass: "On the strength of two polls released Sunday, [Trump] advantage of 43.4 percent to 43.2 percent in the Real Clear Politics Average." https://politi.co/1s4rB5C ... RCP https://bit.ly/1WchjNm
N.Y. POST cover, "POLL VAULT: Trump flies, Hill cries in 4th straight prez survey" https://nyp.st/20pcJtw
PAGING GAIL COLLINS - "Trump acknowledges climate change - at his golf course: The billionaire, who called global warming a hoax, warns of its dire effects in his company's application to build a sea wall," by Ben Schreckinger: Trump is "applying for permission to erect a coastal protection works to prevent erosion at his seaside golf resort, Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Ireland, in County Clare. A permit application ... cites global warming and its consequences - increased erosion due to rising sea levels and extreme weather this century -- as a chief justification for building the structure." https://politi.co/20q0GvL
ADIOS, #NEVERTRUMP -- "Graham privately urges Republicans to support Trump," by CNN's Jeremy Diamond: "Sen. Lindsey Graham ... urged GOP donors at a private fundraiser Saturday in Florida to unite behind Trump's campaign and stressed the importance of keeping likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton from the White House." https://cnn.it/1TtSK8R
FIRST GENTLEMAN - WashPost A1, bottom left corner, "Bill Clinton finds his stride on campaign trail: The former president keeps a low profile as he woos voters and pols," by Karen Tumuly in Cayey, Puerto Rico (online: "Under the radar, Bill Clinton finds his voice as a supporting actor"): "Bill Clinton's schedule many days is more packed than Hillary's, though by design it rarely registers on the national radar. This is the invisi-Bill campaign. The former president ... remains a big draw on the off-Broadway circuit." https://wapo.st/1U6X7Gh
HILLARY STRATEGERY - "Clinton shrugs, sees benefits in Trump's personal attacks," by AP's Lisa Lerer and Catherine Lucey: "Clinton has stopped explicitly mentioning her role in history and joking about being the 'youngest woman president.' That's by design: Those kinds of direct appeals weren't working with voters. 'De-emphasize the "first" talk,' advised a research report done by Emily's List. 'They already know she'd be the first woman president,' the report said of donors, 'but we don't get anything by reminding them.'" https://bit.ly/1U8DCzU
BERNIE STRATEGERY - "Latino vote in California targeted by Clinton, Sanders," by AP's Mike Blood in L.A.: June 7 "amounts to the finale of the 2016 primary season. A come-from-behind win for Sanders in California - a Clinton stronghold and home to 1 in 8 people in the United States - would end the former first lady's campaign with a thud, allowing Sanders to refresh his argument that he's the party's best chance to defeat Trump." https://bit.ly/1XrdeUv
SPINNING THE CLASSICS ... WashPost homepage: "Readers constantly ask for a fact check of Clinton's false Bosnia claim, so here's our original 2008 report," by "Fact Checker" Glenn Kessler. SPOILER ALERT:"Clinton's tale of landing at Tuzla airport 'under sniper fire' and then running for cover is simply not credible. Photographs and video of the arrival ceremony ... tell a very different story. Four Pinocchios."https://wapo.st/20py7if
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JAKE TAPPER NEWS - From today through Saturday, Jake is the guest artist for Scott Adams' "Dilbert" comic strip which appears in more than 2,000 newspapers. Scott and Jake are auctioning off the originals signed by both of them and framed with the strip as it appeared in the newspaper with all proceeds going to Homes For Our Troops. Today's comic https://ebay.to/20qhD9m
ENGAGED! Jonathan Capehart of the WashPost and "Morning Joe" and Nick Schmit, Assistant Chief of Protocol at the State Department, were introduced more than five years ago by Jed Hastings and Joe Solmonese. After four months of planning the surprise proposal, Jonathan popped the question to an unsuspecting Nick just before sunrise yesterday. Jonathan said that because he didn't trust himself to get the proposal out without crying, the handwritten note and red box with an engagement ring were presented to Nick on the roof terrace of their room with a sweeping view of the Amalfi Coast in Positano, Italy. Pic https://bit.ly/1VflPcL
WHITE HOUSE GRADUATION -- Antoinette Rangel, Special Assistant and Advisor to the Press Secretary, graduated from Georgetown Law yesterday; she was surrounded by her family, friends and White House colleagues including Communications Director Jen Psaki and her daughter Vivi. Pic https://bit.ly/1XMDDN8
SPOTTED: Other White House colleagues including Crystal Carson, Michael Bosworth, Addie Whisenant, Katie Hill and Courtney Rowe were also cheering on Antoinette who delivered the student speech for the evening section. Everyone celebrated afterwards with a champagne toast.
DAVID GERGEN, at Elon College commencement in North Carolina, told a crowd of about 12,000 that "forces of political extremism" have asserted themselves in the Tar Hell State: "Enough is enough. ... For those of us who have stayed on the sidelines, it is time to stand up and be counted. It is time to raise our voices against this darkness. ...
"Growing up, I remember how often I was told by white elders that black folks liked to live on the other side of town, going to rundown schools and living through indignities. The civil rights movement helped me to see that was a pack of lies." 15-min. video https://bit.ly/1NGnDtR
CORRECTIONS: Our subject line was wrong yesterday: Trump led Clinton by 2 in ABC/WP. In SPOTTED, General Mark Milley graduated undergrad from Princeton, not West Point.
CLICKERS: "These Wealthy [Republican Donors] Refuse to Give Donald Trump Money," by NYT's Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin - With comments from each: Stanley Druckenmiller ... Mike Fernandez ... Sherry Herschend ... David Humphreys ... Virginia James ... Seth Klarman ... Bruce Kovner ... William Oberndorf ... Joe and Marlene Ricketts ... Paul Singer ... Jackson T. Stephens Jr. ... Michael Vlock ... Jeffrey Yass. https://nyti.ms/1XrstN9
--"The Slideshow That Saved the World: An Oral History of 'An Inconvenient Truth'" - Grist: "Al Gore got stuck on a scissor lift. Studio execs fell asleep at a screening. And everybody hated the title ... [B]ehind-the-scenes interviews with Gore, director Davis Guggenheim, producers Jeff Skoll and Laurie David, science adviser Lonnie Thompson, songwriter Melissa Etheridge" and more. https://bit.ly/1TnW8lB ... Hollywood Reporter's oral history https://bit.ly/1Tj0Mqb ... The trailer https://bit.ly/1sHCc75
FIRST LOOK from MIKE McCURRY: "Wesley Theological Seminary today [will announce] the appointment of Rev. Dr. Carolyn J. Davis as the Deputy Director of its newly created Center for Public Theology in Washington, DC. Dr. Davis is a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, ... providing expertise in religious liberty and reproductive justice for its faith and progressive policy initiative. She will join the administration at Wesley Theological Seminary on June 6, working with the Director of Wesley's Center for Public Theology, Mike McCurry, a professor of public theology at the Seminary and former White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton." See the release. https://politi.co/1XMJXnD
THE FUTURE OF THE N.Y. TIMES - Executive Editor Dean Baquet emails the staff on Friday: "[T]he newsroom will have to change significantly-swiftly and fearlessly. The task laid out in the company's Path Forward vision for the future is huge - we aim to double our digital revenue and more than double our number of committed digital readers by 2020. ... The digital news marketplace nudges us away from covering incremental developments ... Instead, it favors hard-hitting 'only-in-The New York Times' coverage: authoritative journalism and information readers can use to navigate their lives. ...
"While no layoffs are planned in the newsroom for this calendar year, the company is planning other measures to cut costs, including in the newsroom. I've made clear that the changing economics of journalism make it unlikely we can sustain a newsroom of this size, which is larger than it has ever been. ... We have already announced major commitments to international reporting and visual journalism, including video. And I am determined to diversify the newsroom so that it looks more like the world we aspire to reflect and cover. ...
"I also want to underscore how enormous ... an undertaking it is to create a print hub, a desk designed to build the best print paper each night. ... This structure will make it far easier to imagine smaller, more focused coverage clusters that operate apart from big desks. In the past, an editor who ran education coverage across The Times had to convince the metropolitan and national editors to run stories that fit their sections. Now, to be provocative, it could be that some important subjects -- climate change, education, health care, to name a few -- should function on their own." Full text https://bit.ly/1sxqDyB
MEDIAWATCH - "Michelle Fields to resume covering Donald Trump -- for Huffington Post," by CNNMoney's Tom Kludt: "Fields [age 28], ... who had Donald Trump's campaign manager charged with battery ... served as a reporter for The Daily Caller, PJ Media and, most recently, Breitbart News." https://cnnmon.ie/27Q7VTt
--THE NEW JEN JACOBS ... "The Des Moines Register today named Jason Noble, an Iowa government and politics reporter since 2011, to the position of chief political reporter. Noble replaces Jennifer Jacobs, who left the Register in late March to join Bloomberg Politics. ... Noble, 32, is a lifelong Midwesterner, born in Ohio and raised in Kansas. He graduated from Iowa State University in 2006 with a degree in journalism and earned a master's of public affairs from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2012." https://dmreg.co/1U6Wuwf
MARGARET SULLIVAN, formerly N.Y. Times Public Editor, debuts as WashPost media columnist with lead spot of Style section, "A great era to be a young reporter" (online: "Now, there's one more reason to be a journalist - you can help save journalism"): "Just look at the political sphere, where the candidates ... may regard facts as fungible, and the electorate doesn't seem to care. ... Around the country, journalism programs are shrinking, and applications are down. But then again, many of the best journalists have never set foot in a journalism class." https://wapo.st/1XMbbLg
VALLEY TALK -- This week on "The Gaggle with David Helfenbein" -- Herbie Ziskend, Director of Public Policy & Rise of the Rest Investments at Revolution LLC, discusses his work on the Obama campaign and in the Obama administration, the creation of the Obama family Passover Seder (which became a yearly White House tradition), working for Steve Case, Arianna Huffington and Ron Klain and trends in technology. www.thegagglepodcast.comor https://apple.co/1V55rvc
SPOTTED : Newt and Callista Gingrich, in their Sunday best, walking in the rain yesterday afternoon in Shirlington Village outside Best Buns Bread Company.
HOT VIDEOS: Ezra Klein posts on his Facebook page, "Take a few minutes to understand the political science that explains Donald J. Trump's rise." 6-min. video https://bit.ly/1sxoEdA
- "John Oliver Shows Why U.S. Primaries And Caucuses Are 'An Erratic Cluster**** Every 4 Years'" https://huff.to/1XrphRz
SNEAK PEEK - PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE in The New Yorker, "The Bank Robber: The computer technician who exposed a Swiss bank's darkest secrets": "[Herve] Falciani had obtained sixty thousand files relating to tens of thousands of H.S.B.C. clients from nearly every country. An H.S.B.C. lawyer later described Falciani's crime as 'the largest robbery of a bank ever committed in the world.' ... Years before the leak, this April, of the Panama Papers ... there was ample evidence that the global plutocracy has many outlets for dissimulation in the realm of personal finance." https://bit.ly/1YQNHTC
DEEP DIVES - N.Y. Times 2-col. lead of the paper, "Unending but Unheard, The Echo of Gun Violence -- Numbing Frequency: 358 Shootings With 4 or More Casualties Recorded in '15," by Sharon LaFraniere, Daniela Porat and Agustin Armendariz, with Cincinnati dateline. Begins a series, "THE DAILY TOLL: Articles in this series examine shootings with at least four casualties that took place in the United States last year, an average of nearly one a day." First installment: "The Invisible Victims." https://nyti.ms/22lsljl
--N.Y. TIMES Quotation of the Day -- JACI WASHINGTON, whose brother, Barry Washington, was killed last August as a bystander during a shooting at an Elks lodge in Cincinnati: "The reality is, this happens quite frequently. And it's kind of, 'Oh, well, this guy was killed today. Somebody else will be killed tomorrow.'"
QUOTE DU JOUR -- "Mission not quite accomplished: Obama's antiterrorism legacy," by Yahoo's Daniel Klaidman and Olivier Knox: "'It struck me that I did not see anything that indicated that there was concern about ISIS developing,' Panetta, who served Obama as defense secretary until February 2013, told Yahoo News. 'At least from my perspective, it sounds like that somehow the ball was dropped.'" https://yhoo.it/1WMQKPk
TRANSITIONS -- "Rational 360 Welcomes Collin Berglund as Digital Director": "Collin was formerly at Burson-Marsteller, where he developed and implemented digital strategies for major recalls and crises, government agencies, infrastructure projects, sports organizations and Fortune 500 companies. Prior to Burson, Collin was Digital Director and Press Secretary on Gov. Gina Raimondo's winning 2014 Rhode Island gubernatorial campaign.'" https://bit.ly/1sMJJ4s
--"Michael Yudin Joins The Raben Group as Principal": Previously "Michael worked on behalf of the Obama Administration at the U.S. Department of Education for six years, serving the Secretary in a number of capacities, including Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and Acting Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education." https://politi.co/1Vfpp6E
WELCOME TO THE WORLD - Keach Hagey, WSJ media reporter and Politico alum, and Wesley Harris , a software testing expert, post on Facebook: "Julia Diane Harris was born at 6:04 [Sunday] morning, 7 lbs 2 oz, 18 inches long. She's named after her great grandmothers. We are taking a couple letters from each and calling her June. Belle is already a smitten big sister." Pic https://bit.ly/1qEvooK
WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- "Sarah Halzack, Neil Irwin" - N.Y. Times: "Halzack, 31 ... is the national retail reporter for The Washington Post. She is also a dancer with the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company in Washington and ... graduated summa cum laude from George Washington. ... Irwin, 37, works in Washington as a senior economics correspondent for The New York Times and is the author of 'The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire.' He graduated cum laude from St. Mary's College of Maryland and received an M.B.A. from Columbia." With pic https://nyti.ms/1TpVVUh
--POOL REPORT : "Guests enjoyed themed cocktails, The Cranky Journalist, (Bulleit Bourbon, Pear Liqueur, Simple Syrup, Lemon Juice) and The Modern Dancer (Ketel One Vodka, Gruet Sparking Wine, Mandarin Juice, Lemon Juice) while honoring Neil and Sarah, who ... met working at the Washington Post [in 2007]. The festivities spilled over to the Sofitel bar until the wee hours of the morning." Pic by Ellen McCarthy https://bit.ly/1RjvCr8
--SPOTTED: Binyamin Appelbaum, Amy Argetsinger, Katherine Birrow, Nate Cohn, Jon Finer, Justin Gillis, Zach Goldfarb, Garrett Graff (who used to hang out at the Mayflower Bar in his 20s with Neil and a lot of the wedding gang), Jay Hulings, Young Nick Johnston, Ezra Klein, David Leonhardt, Jack Massey, Ellen McCarthy, Billy McQuillen, Ylan Mui, Mary Munson-Ott, Margot Sanger-Katz, Jim Tankersley, Matt Vogel, Megan Whittemore.
NATALIE DRAISIN wed Harrison Godfrey at southern Virginia's Winterham Plantation. Harry, a former White House legislative affairs staffer and current manager at Invenergy, crooned to Nat King Cole between dances. The bride, a manager at the FIA Foundation and former Presidential Management Fellow, brought together friends and relatives from all over the world, including her family from France, whom she welcomed in fluent French. The globetrotting couple wrote their own vows, which included assurances to stay together even if they lose their Starwood Platinum status. Pic from dance floor https://bit.ly/1NGo7QA
PATRICE LEE , national spokeswoman for Generation Opportunity and senior fellow with the Independent Women's Forum, married sales manager Victor Onwuka on Saturday at the French Quarter Hotel in New Orleans. They met at a young adult social at Cornerstone Church in Bowie, Md. Pic https://bit.ly/244a1KR
SARAH KEEP, project manager at 270 Strategies and former digital director to Rep. Tammy Duckworth married Brian Cottrell, National Director, Agency & Media for Mintel Canada, on Saturday in Detroit, with the reception at the Detroit Institute of Arts. They met at a Super Bowl party in Chicago back in 2011. The duo dated long distance when Sarah worked in Washington D.C. and now they both currently live in Chicago. Pics https://bit.ly/1TyqFzw ... https://bit.ly/27Q9vEK ... https://bit.ly/1NGzhF4
SPOTTED : Emily Berret, Chris Lisi, Michael Schultz, Liz Kenigsberg, Tania Zaparanuik, Jane Hughes, Colin Seeberger.
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) ... Ted Dick ... (was Saturday): AEI President Arthur Brooks
BIRTHDAYS: Melanie Fonder Kaye ... WashPost's Dana Priest, the pride of Canoga Park, Calif. ... MSNBC managing editor Ilyas Kirmani ... ABC News' Mary Bruce (we jumped the gun yesterday) ... CNN senior producer Danielle Dellorto ... Matthew Nussbaum, Politico budget reporter (h/t colleague Ben Weyl) ... Tom Heinemann, VP of federal gov't affairs at the Manufactured Housing Institute, and bro-in-law of Carrie Budoff Brown ... Redeemer Arlington (h/ts Eric, Jordan, Phil, Josh, Jon) ... Blake Rollins, legislative assistant for Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), is 3-0 (h/t Kristina Baum) ... Shekar Narasimhan, chairman and founder of the new hybrid SuperPAC AAPI Victory Fund; he's also a DNC Finance Council member as well as a commissioner on the White House Commission on AAPI's (h/t Varun Nikore) ... Poynter alum Mallary Tenore Tarpley (h/t Julie Moos) ... Anna Gohmann of Comcast/NBC Universal ... Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) ... Adrienne Cisneros-Selekman ... Rachel MacKnight, senior director of comms. and deputy COS for Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) ... Jorge Martinez ... Casey Greenfield ...
... Nick Culp, gov't affairs manager at Entergy and an Upton alum ... Rob Keast, co-founder of Republic 3.0 and a Third Way alum ... USA Today sports blogger Cameron Smith, a WashPost alumnus ... Brian Bakst of Minnesota Public Radio News and an AP alum ...Alan Auglis ... John Gonzalez ... Lucy Cook, a Memphis Belle! (h/t Charlie Cook) ... Mark Sullivan (h/t Teresa Vilmain) ... Vivian Graubard, founding member of the U.S. Digital Service ... Georgiana Bloom ... Reuters' Katherina Lemus ... Connie Sammarco ... bluegrass singer Mac Wiseman is 91 ... Joan Collins is 83 ... chess grandmaster Anatoly Karpov is 65 ... Boxing Hall of Famer Marvelous Marvin Hagler is 62 ... Drew Carey is 58 ... "Jeopardy!" champ Ken Jennings is 42 ... actor-comedian Tim Robinson is 35 ... folk/pop singer/songwriter Sarah Jarosz (juh-ROHZ') is 25 (h/ts AP)
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