THE CEILING SHATTERED … BLOW TO CONCEALED CARRY … RARE MOVE ON PUERTO RICO … SPENDING BILLS … SUPREMES THIS MONTH (Backstory on the term ‘affirmative action’) … ‘I’M WITH HER’ … TWEET WITH 389K RETWEETS … ‘THE 11 MINUTE TRUMP RANT … A RACIST THEY CAN WORK WITH … … and other news of the week.
Loyal Readers … just want to let you know that there will be no Washington Report next week, back on the 24th!
Best,
Joyce Rubenstein and the Capstone Team (John Rogers, Alan MacLeod, Will Stone, Diane Rogers, Erik Oksala and Kayla Baca)
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151 days to Election Day
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THE SHATTERED CEILING Baltimore Sun “The glass ceiling metaphor [has] been invoked a lot this week and rightly so. With her double-digit victory in California and her overwhelming lead in both the popular vote and the delegate tally, Hillary Rodham Clinton has broken a 240-year-old barrier to become the first woman to hold the title of presumptive nominee of a major U.S. political party. No matter what one may think of the former first lady … this was a major barrier to be shattered. She acknowledged as much in her … speech Tuesday night in Brooklyn that invoked the women’s rights movement from the Seneca Falls Convention to present. As of today, the whole parent-daughter chat about “YOU CAN GROW UP TO BE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO BE INCLUDING PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES sounds a bit more credible than it did the day before.”
HOW SHE GOT HERE IN PICTURES Hillary Clinton’s long road to the nomination starting in 1974 – in 43 pix
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BLOW TO CONCEALED CARRY The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided … that California counties may restrict permits for carrying concealed firearms in public. … ‘It should not be minimized how big a victory this was for gun control advocates,’ said UCLA law professor Adam Winkler. ‘Not only does it affirm the constitutionality of restrictive conceal-carry laws in California’s major cities, it also makes it less likely the Supreme Court will step in.'” (LATimes)
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RARE BIPARTISANSHIP The Hill “The House on Thursday passed legislation to tackle Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, as Congress took a large step towards addressing the economic and humanitarian crisis enveloping the island.The carefully crafted compromise passed 297-127, earning majorities in both parties … is a significant win for Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who was an early and active supporter of the legislation, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the White House, which also pushed the package. In a rare move, both Ryan and Pelosi took to the House floor to urge support for the legislation, shooting for broad bipartisan support to encourage speedy action through the Senate.
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SENATE IS WORKING TODAY The Hill “Senators are moving forward with a wide-ranging policy bill, despite a push by a top Democrat to slow down the process. Senators voted 68-23 to end debate on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) during a rare Friday vote. Sixty votes were needed to overcome the hurdle. But the move split Democrats with 17 voting for and 20 — including Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) — voting against. Three Republican senators voted against ending debate. MorningD “Why the Friday action? The Senate hasn’t been able to agree on much on the slew of pending amendments, so it’s moving to cut off debate on the bill before an eventual final vote. That doesn’t mean the Senate can’t still adopt some amendments after today’s procedural roll call, which should easily get the required 60 votes. But most of the 500-plus pending amendments are clearly going to fall by the wayside.
SENATE DEFEATS TWO PROPOSALS TO BOOST SPENDING: The Senate on Thursday defeated two amendments that would have authorized boosting defense spending by $18 billion and provided an equal increase to domestic spending – but the votes themselves turned out to be more interesting than advertised. After the Senate rejected the Democratic measure, 43-55, McCain’s amendment was blocked, 56-42. Sixty votes were needed for each to proceed. But 11 Republican senators, including Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Budget Chairman Mike Enzi of Wyoming, broke with McCain and opposed his amendment, while 13 Democrats voted for it. The Democratic proposal, meanwhile, got the support of two Republican senators locked in tough reelection battles: Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Rob Portman of Ohio.”
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RYAN FILLS IN THE GAPS The House Speaker released his national security blueprint, part of his “Better Way” agenda intended to provide a policy platform for Republicans to rally behind in November. Ryan appears to address some of Donald Trump’s ideas in the blueprint, saying that “we need more than fencing” to prevent people from entering the country illegally, and stressing the importance of “modernizing and solidifying” NATO. (Washington Post)
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SPENDING BILLS COULD BE ON TAP NEXT WEEK: MorningD “The House Rules Committee will meet next week to sort through amendments to the defense appropriations bill ahead of possible floor consideration. Next week’s meeting indicates that floor action on the defense bill is also possible then. A spokesman for the House majority leader, however, characterized the timing of the bill as still to be determined. The Senate could also take up its defense spending bill next week. BUT THE RULES ARE A-CHANGIN’ FOR THE DEFENSE BILL “House Speaker Paul Ryan is looking to tighten leadership’s grip on the appropriations process by blocking amendments that could sink spending bills. The proposal, which Ryan (R-Wis.) made in a closed-door party meeting Wednesday morning, is being billed as a slight walk back from his promise of opening the House floor to a raft of amendments. But Ryan and the GOP leadership expect most amendments will still be permitted and only so-called poison pill proposals will be blocked.”
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SUPREMES Politico: “Supreme Court decisions will be issued this month, and one of the most closely watched cases is Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. An affirmative action plan at the University of Texas seemed to be in trouble at the Supreme Court [in December 2015]. By the end of an unusually long and tense argument, a majority of the justices appeared unpersuaded that the plan was constitutional. YOU MAY REMEMBER THE LATE JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA drew muted gasps in the courtroom when he said, “that minority students with inferior academic credentials may be better off at “a less advanced school, a slower-track school where they do well. I don’t think it stands to reason that it’s a good thing for the University of Texas to admit as many blacks as possible,” he added. A ruling against the university could imperil affirmative action at colleges and universities around the nation. BACK STORY AFFIRMATIVE ACTION A 1961 order from President John F. Kennedy introduced the term “affirmative action” into our lexicon. It required companies doing business with the federal government to improve their search for qualified minority applicants, aiming to increase their hiring and promotion. It received little attention then, and few Americans have ever heard of Executive Order 10925. At the time, blacks in many places couldn’t enter theaters, restaurants, hotels or parts of public libraries, courtrooms and legislatures. Over time, affirmative action was applied to other programs, private and public, voluntary and legally required. In higher education, it became a factor in admissions. Kennedy, who was known for his soaring language, didn’t come up with the phrase. That distinction belongs to a black lawyer from Detroit. “I was searching for something that would give a sense of positiveness to performance under that executive order,” the lawyer, Hobart Taylor Jr., later told historians, “and I was torn between the words ‘positive action’ and the words ‘affirmative action.’ ” He went with the alliterative choice.”
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THE PRESIDENT “I’M WITH HER” The Fix President Obama’s surprise endorsement of Hillary Clinton on Thursday — surprise only in the sense that it was sort of sprung on everyone — made very clear what role Clinton hopes he’ll play in the race over the short term. Obama’s job is to get Democrats in line behind her candidacy. And, more specifically, it’s to get young Democrats on board. Young Democrats backed Bernie Sanders by even wider margins than they backed Obama eight years ago. Averaging exit poll results for states where they’re available, Sanders beat Clinton by 43 points among those under the age of 30. But young Americans have also been the group that’s most supportive of Obama’s presidency — and have become much more supportive over the last year. According to Gallup, 65% of those under the age of 30 viewed Obama’s job performance favorably in their most recent weekly average. That’s 14 points higher than Americans on the whole, and 25 points higher than those 65 and older. Three years ago, the difference between young voters and Americans on the whole was half as large.”
ELIZABETH WARREN … Sen. Warren … will meet with Hillary today. The meeting comes one day after Warren formally endorsed Clinton,saying she’ll “Get Into This Fight” slamming Trump as a ‘thin-skinned, racist bigot.’ POW! @amandacarpenter: “Wow. Elizabeth Warren is going to make it her day job to flip the Senate. And make McConnell own Trump’s judge comments. Smart.”
VP BIDEN, TOO,… on Thursday night [endorsed Hillary] for president, hours after President Obama threw his support behind her candidacy.
TWEETS
@HillaryClinton’s 3-word tweet to Trump yesterday — “Delete your account” — is now Hillary’s most retweeted tweet ever, at over 389K RTs and 470K likes. She was responding to @realDonaldTrump: “Obama just endorsed Crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama-but nobody else does!”
@ABCPolitics: “Clinton leads Trump by 24 points among college-educated white women-a group Pres. Obama lost by 6 points in 2012”
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CALIFORNIA POSTGAME: N.Y. Daily News … San Francisco Chronicle lead story, “While hordes of Californians were eager to ‘feel the Bern’ at more than 30 high-energy … events across the state over the past couple weeks, … Clinton steamrolled Sanders in a surprisingly easy double-digit victory.”
FINAL EMBERS … Revolution Messaging, the firm running Sanders’ digital operations, rolled out a new site designed to connect out-of-work progressives with new jobs. Several of the campaign’s top tech staffers … acknowledged that they’re looking past the convention, including at opportunities to help Clinton.”
…Bernie Sanders said Thursday he would work to defeat presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in November, following a meeting with President Obama at the White House. Sanders said he would speak with his rival, Hillary Clinton, about how to fight against Trump, but declined to endorse her or drop out of the presidential race.
JUST INTERESTING “Clinton and Sanders aired 201,617 ads between them this year – and not a single one was deemed ‘negative’ by media-tracking analysts.” (Business Week)
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THE 11 MINUTE DONALD TRUMP RANT IS A REPUBLICAN NIGHTMARE Click for Video The 11-minute video is, literally, astounding. It’s Trump at a campaign rally in late May in San Diego … spending 11 minutes going into the nitty-gritty details of the legal case against Trump University. The speech … has become famous because it served as the genesis of the real estate mogul’s attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage. …. If you are a Republican with worries about Trump’s ability to pivot to a more considered, serious candidate, this video should send a chill down your spine. DID DONALD TRUMP FINALLY GO TOO FAR? The Fix “Donald Trump has said he prefers war heroes who weren’t captured. He said Mexico was sending “rapists” and “criminals” to the United States. He proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. He falsely claimed that “thousands” of Muslims were celebrating in northern New Jersey on Sept. 11, 2001. He said Fox News’s Megyn Kelly was mean to him in a debate because she had blood pouring out of her “wherever.” He said he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and his supporters would continue to back him. He suggested that Ted Cruz’s father was part of a plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy. He created a fake spokesman to tout himself. Any of these things would have ended — or at the very least, badly hamstrung — a normal campaign. None of them had that effect on Trump. Quite the opposite. His proposal to build a wall with Mexico sent him surging in the polls in the early days of the race. His reaction to the Paris and San Bernardino attacks — the Muslim ban — wound up being the key to a second Trump surge that effectively won him the nomination. THE UP-IS-DOWN-ISM of Trump’s primary campaign led — and leads — many people to conclude that nothing he says or does will have any negative impact on his chances of winning the White House. … I’m less certain of that — even while acknowledging that Trump’s campaign to date has succeeded by doing the exact opposite of what conventional political wisdom would suggest. Witness the reaction to Trump’s comments over the past few days regarding Gonzalo Curiel … Unlike even a few months ago when Trump was making offensive comments, the condemnation from across the spectrum of the Republican party has been both swift and biting. SO WHAT YOU SAY? Lots of Republicans have called out Trump before for things he said — and it helped him! … I think the number of Republicans condemning Trump and the language they are using to do it is qualitatively different than in the past. CONSIDER THIS Trump is likely to win the Republican primary race with somewhere in the neighborhood of 12.5 million votes. Mitt Romney got 60 million votes in 2012 while losing convincingly to President Obama. Trump needs to massively scale upward in terms of his voter pool to have a serious chance against Clinton. And the sort of voters he needs to appeal to are not the hardcore Republicans who are already for him. They are establishment GOP types, moderates and even some Reagan Democrats. They are, by and large, also not the sort of people who will respond well to Trump’s Curiel comments.
REPUBLICANS SEE TRUMP AS A RACIST THEY CAN WORK WITH Bloomberg “Donald Trump is a deplorable racist. I’m supporting him.This is not hyperbole. After all the hemming, the hawing, and the tugging of double chins, it’s the consensus of the elders of the Republican Party, despite Trump’s inability to tamp down his prejudices and his propensity to sound like a drug lord threatening a judge about to break up a murderous cartel. Full Article.
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NEW MEDIA CREATES A ‘NEVER TRUMP’ ZONE This week, BuzzFeed shocked the media world by announcing it would reject advertising from the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign, backing out of a previous agreement reportedly worth about $1.3 million. “We don’t run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health, and we won’t accept Trump ads for the exact same reason.”
SHOT Politico “Trump’s fundraisers see no chance of hitting $1 billion: Dramatic shortfall expected as donor dismay about their candidate takes a toll” “Over a dozen major Republican Party donors and fundraisers who’ve signed on to help Trump raise money said they expected Trump to net only a fraction of his original $1 billion goal, perhaps netting less than a third of that … Another problem: Trump has so far resisted the donor stroking and courtship that presidential candidates traditionally engage in.”
CHASER Bloomberg “Trump Says ‘No Reason’ to Raise $1 Billion for Campaign’ “Trump distanced himself from his own fundraising estimate of $1 billion, refusing to commit to collecting even half that amount, and saying his campaign didn’t need much money to win the White House.”
DUMP TRUMP? CHATTER IS RISING Playbook stipulates this is highly unlikely to happen. But it’s no longer unthinkable that establishment Republicans turn on Trump pre-convention, and seriously ponder a movement to deny him the nomination. Listen to Scott Walker in Wisconsin or Mitch McConnell in the Senate or friends of peeved Speaker Ryan in private, and it’s clear Trump could be one intolerant or toxic statement away from a true revolt.
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“AN INSULT ALL WOMEN” WashPost “The six-month sentence handed down to a former Stanford University student in a high-profile sexual assault case has been met with outrage — much of it aimed at the judge. Prosecutors argued that Brock Turner’s three felony convictions should have landed him in state prison for six years. Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sent Turner instead to county jail, three years probation and a life as a registered sex offender. …The Turner case was already a flashpoint in the national debate about campus sexual assault, but reaction to it intensified after an eloquent and painful 12-page letter from the victim became public. … More than a million people signed online petitions demanding that Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky be removed from the bench, and a formal recall effort was launched. Persky got death threats.”
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MUHAMMAD ALI who riveted the world as “the Greatest” dies. RIP
