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Trump On Pat Buchanan In 1999: He's "Beyond Far Right" Only Gets "Wacko Vote"

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“I think he’s beyond far right, and, then, on other issues he’s just all over the place,” Trump told Larry King of Buchanan.

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Donald Trump, in an appearance on Larry King Live in 1999 when he was exploring a presidential run on the Reform Party ticket, criticized his potential opponent Pat Buchanan for being "beyond far right" and only appealing to the "wacko vote."

Earlier this year, Buchanan praised Trump on CNN, saying, "Trump has raised the very issues I raised in the early nineties."

Buchanan's 2000 platform was identical to Trump's in a number of ways. Buchanan was a protectionist on trade, used harsh rhetoric on immigration, wanted to limit donor influence in politics, and spoke loudly against Washington corruption.

KING: Would you debate him?

TRUMP: Yes, I would debate him, I would debate him, if it was appropriate.

KING: What would be a major issue? Hitler is going to be an issue.

TRUMP: I think it is personality. I think he's a very -- you know, it's almost gotten to a point where I'm not even so sure he's far right, I think he's beyond far right, and, then, on other issues he's just all over the place. I don't think he'll get any votes.

Look, Pat Buchanan will get a certain number of votes, just to sort of correct, but that's it. He's not going to win anything.

Now, if the Reform Party wants to nominate somebody that's going to get five or six percent of the wacko vote, they can do that, and they'll get five or six percent, but they're not going to win the election. Pat Buchanan is not winning the election.

I'll tell you what Buchanan will do, Bush will lose the election if Pat Buchanan becomes the Reform Party candidate. Bradley or Gore, in my opinion, will become the next president because almost all of those votes are going to come from the Republican Party.

Now, the people that would vote for Buchanan, probably their second choice would be Bush. So all they're doing is losing a vote for Bush, and he'll probably lose the election.

But I think that the Republicans have seen in their own polls, that if Buchanan gets the Reform Party nomination, not that Buchanan does anything great, but he takes all of the votes away from the Republicans.


Cruz NJ Chairman: "We're Not Going To Nominate Hillary Clinton With A Penis"

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“Why do you always throw around the crazy on my show?” CNN anchor Kate Bolduan asked.

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The New Jersey State Chairman for Ted Cruz said Tuesday he did not expect conservative voters to nominate Donald Trump, whom he described as "Hillary Clinton with a penis."

Former Bogata, New Jersey Mayor Steve Lonegan, who was appointed to Cruz's New Jersey leadership team in December, made the remark during an interview Tuesday on CNN.

When asked by anchor Kate Bolduan how he expected his candidate to perform in Tuesday's Republican primary in Indiana, Lonegan said, "If Donald Trump does win tonight and pull out half the delegates, you will see a very different Donald Trump tomorrow. Donald Trump will look a lot more like Hillary Clinton than Ronald Reagan."

Bolduan: You didn't even tell me. Give me a guesstimation on delegates.

Lonegan: Ted Cruz is going to do very well. He will outperform expectations like he always does. I don't think the conservative base of this party is ready to throw everything over to Donald Trump. In essence, we're not going to nominate Hillary Clinton with a penis.

Bolduan: Steve.

Lonegan: I said it.

After his comments, Bolduan said she was placing Lonegan "in time-out."

Last month at a rally in Indiana, Cruz mocked Donald Trump for his support for transgender people using the bathroom of their choice.

"So let me make things real simple: Even if Donald Trump dresses up as Hillary Clinton, he shouldn't be using the girls' restroom," the Texas senator said.

LINK: Ted Cruz Compared Transgender People To Donald Trump Dressing Like Hillary Clinton

Ted Cruz Is "Staring At The Abyss" In Indiana

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INDIANAPOLIS — Ted Cruz has almost reached the bottom of his bag of tricks.

Casting the primary as literally a battle between good and evil, Cruz has pulled out all the stops ahead of Indiana, naming Carly Fiorina as his running mate, making a non-aggression pact with John Kasich, and aggressively barnstorming the state in the final hours, much as he did in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses.

Cruz has hung on in the Republican primary longer than anyone predicted, emerging as the last viable alternative to Donald Trump and the unlikely figurehead of a movement of anti-Trump Republicans hoping to stop the billionaire’s rise. But for those anti-Trump Republicans, tonight will be a reckoning — and after this, there may not be any options. Should Trump win on Tuesday night, as he is expected to do, it’s very likely he will be able to clinch the nomination outright in California next month.

"I believe in the people of the Hoosier state,” Cruz told an audience in La Porte on Sunday night. Cruz has repeatedly said that the primary is a pivotal moment on which the entire campaign rests, raising the stakes for himself. “I believe that the men and women gathered here and the goodness of the American people, that we will not give into evil but we will remember who we are and we will stand for our values.”

Unlike Trump, who has relied on constant media attention and large stadium rallies, Cruz’s team focuses on the more nuts-and-bolts building blocks of a successful presidential campaign — delegate hunting, data, get-out-the-vote organizing. Outside of Indiana, his campaign has focused — often successfully — on picking off delegates wherever they can in an effort to hold Donald Trump below the magic number of 1237. They’re resourceful, even cutting a deal with Kasich to cede Oregon and New Mexico to him in exchange for Indiana after facing the reality that a contested convention was their only hope for the nomination.

But in recent days, many of Cruz’s hallmarks — his carefully calibrated message against Trump, his willingness to talk about the process of winning, and his ability to pull out an incredibly effective surrogate when needed — have faded.

Cruz has elevated his rhetoric against Trump, turning toward the moral case against the frontrunner, particularly after Trump suggested that Cruz’s father may have had something to do with the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

“I’m gonna tell you what I really think of Donald Trump,” Cruz told reporters in extended comments on Tuesday. “This man is a pathological liar.”

Cruz went on to call Trump “amoral,” saying “morality does not exist for him,” and said of Trump that "we are staring at the abyss." The language is jarring compared to Cruz’s refusal to criticize Trump earlier on in the primary process, when his only response to Trump’s questioning his eligibility for the presidency was a tweeted Happy Days video.

Crowd sizes aren’t a reliable indicator of how well a campaign is doing. But it hasn’t escaped notice that Cruz’s rallies these past couple days in Indiana have been, well, not very full. In a civic auditorium in La Porte on Sunday night, the floor was nearly two-thirds empty, though the risers surrounding it were full. And in Cruz’s election eve rally in Indianapolis, the large state fairgrounds exposition space was only half full — a stark contrast with the rallies Cruz held ahead of his win in Iowa.

Though Cruz has come this far because of his campaign’s mastery of process, and is normally happy to talk process with reporters — and even in front of crowds on the stump — on Monday, he was unusually reluctant.

“I think at this point most people are tired of endless process stores,” Cruz told reporters in response to a question about his delegate strategy, at a gaggle in Fort Wayne alongside Indiana governor Mike Pence, who declared his support for Cruz last week. “I recognize that’s what the media wants to cover.”

And Cruz was defensive about Pence’s sort-of endorsement.

“Gov. Pence offered his support and yet some folks in the media confused being midwest nice with being less than enthusiastic,” Cruz told reporters. He also pushed back hard in an interview alongside Pence with NBC’s Hallie Jackson, who asked Pence about his praise for Trump and if it was really an endorsement of Cruz.

Yet, Pence has not been using the word “endorsement” to describe his support for Cruz, and his offer of support, delivered in a radio interview last week, was widely viewed as tepid and equivocal.

Despite painting the primary as a must-win, on Monday, Cruz insisted to reporters outside a campaign stop in Osceola on Monday that he still has a path to victory even if he loses here.

“Absolutely,” Cruz said. “But we intend to do everything possible to win tomorrow. It’s gonna be up to the people of Indiana, the polls have been all over the place — there’s literally been a 30-point swing depending on what poll you’re looking at.” An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll on Sunday showed Trump 15 points ahead.

Trump himself is already gloating, telling supporters in South Bend on Monday night that the time had come to “put [Cruz] away.”

Anti-Trump forces have poured millions into Indiana, with Cruz spending far more on negative ads against Trump than he did in Wisconsin, where he won handily. But some anti-Trump Republicans are privately acknowledging that their luck may have run out in Indiana, and are thinking about next steps.

Cruz often says that only he and Donald Trump have viable paths to the nomination, but for the first time this cycle, Cruz has the aura of the next should-he-drop-out candidate — especially as his favorability ratings have plunged in recent weeks.

“Until he mathematically loses, there’s no reason for him to drop out,” said Rick Tyler, a former Cruz spokesman, a sentiment the campaign has echoed. “I’m guessing since Trump cannot get enough delegates before June 7, Ted Cruz will stay in.”

Unlike past candidates like Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, who stayed in long past their point of relevance in past elections, Cruz’s staying in to oppose Trump despite the long odds could be viewed in the long term as a principled attempt to defend his party against the hostile takeover of a non-conservative — something that could prove to be a boon in 2020.

“I don’t know that opposing Trump hurts him long term,” Tyler said. “If Trump’s the nominee he’ll be such a failure as a presidential frontrunner that people will be wishing they had never aligned with him.”

Voters at Cruz events have picked up on Cruz’s increasingly vivid anti-Trump rhetoric, and loudly booed Trump multiple times at events over the last two days. Several voters at Cruz events over the past few days told BuzzFeed News they would not vote for Trump if he was the nominee. Some are holding out hope that Cruz will eke out a win here.

“This is a Christian state, always has been. And Cruz fits right in,” said Gus Prathaftakis, who waited outside Bravo Café to see Cruz in Osceola on Monday.

Asked if she was concerned about Cruz’s potential loss here, supporter Laurie Fox, at Cruz’s rally in Indianapolis on Monday night, said “I put all my faith in God.”

Clinton Campaign To Name Top CBC Operative As North Carolina State Director

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WASHINGTON — Troy G. Clair, the chief of staff to the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, has gone to work for Hillary Clinton's campaign in North Carolina, three sources tell BuzzFeed News.

Clair left to become the state director for North Carolina, according to two of the sources, who were not authorized to speak on the issue because the campaign has not publicly announced the hire.

Clinton coasted to victory in North Carolina in the Democratic primary with 54.6% of the vote, though the general will be a much different electorate. In 2008, Barack Obama won North Carolina — a traditionally conservative Republican state that has seen a massive influx of suburbanites in recent years. This year, it is again a key state that some Democrats believe Clinton could win against Donald Trump, and potentially carry to victory down-ballot Democratic Senate and gubernatorial challengers to the Republican incumbents.

Clair became Butterfield's chief of staff in 2012, and plans to return to Butterfield's office at the close of the campaign. A Brooklyn native, Clair came to Butterfield's office from the Treasury Department and was instrumental in helping Butterfield as the face of the CBC. Colleagues describe him as a consummate professional who is detail-oriented and easy to work with.

Clair has ties to North Carolina; he went to Duke University. An email to Clair's House email returned, "I am currently on leave from Congressman Butterfield's office and will not be monitoring this email account."

Clinton named another highly regarded black operative, the DSCC's Simone Ward to be her state director in Florida. Saul Hernandez, who had formerly been Butterfield's legislative director had been acting as Butterfield's chief of staff, sources say.

The Media Keeps Letting Trump Get Away With His Iraq Lie

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One of the great stories of 2016 is how Donald Trump hacked the media: how he learned from the New York tabloids and The Apprentice; how he dictated terms to the weakened television networks; how he used Twitter and won Facebook.

Those are complex questions that we will argue about for decades.

Here is a simpler one: Could reporters stop letting him lie to their faces about the most important policy call of the last 20 years?

Donald Trump did not oppose the invasion of Iraq. Further, there’s no evidence that he’s ever been a “dove” — and a great deal that he’s been an impulsive supporter of military intervention around the world.

We know this because BuzzFeed News’ intrepid Andrew Kaczynski unearthed an audio recording of him saying he supported it. You can listen to it above. The audio quality is clear.

In the recording, made on Sept. 11, 2002, when it mattered, Howard Stern asked Trump whether he supported the invasion. His answer: “Yeah, I guess so.” On the war’s first day, he called it a “tremendous success from a military standpoint.”

It was the most recent in a series of belligerent statements about Iraq. In 2000, he opined at length in his book how U.S. airstrikes did nothing to stop Iraq’s WMD programs and said it "is madness not to carry the mission to its conclusion” in the context of a new war. He said many times in the late 1990s and early 2000s that George H.W. Bush should have toppled Saddam during the Gulf War.

Trump’s opinions during that period have all the force and thoughtfulness of a man who isn’t paying much attention and whose opinion doesn’t matter. His support for the war is also totally unambiguous.

And yet, since Kaczynski found the audio recordings, most of the leading American media organizations have either repeated Trump’s lie or allowed him to deliver it unchallenged. That includes CNN, Fox, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, Bloomberg, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

This fake fact is the basis for a fake narrative, crystallized in a Maureen Dowd column over the weekend christening “Donald the Dove.”

Trump lies all the time, of course. He lies about big things, like the patriotism of American Muslims. He lies about medium-size things, like his knowledge of the Mike Tyson rape case. And he lies about tiny, absurd stuff, as when he pretends to date famous women.

The media, when not just airing his speeches unfiltered, has done a decent job of calling out these individual lies. That’s why it’s all the more perplexing how great American news organizations have allowed a flat lie about the most important American policy decision in decades ooze its way into fact.

This has happened in plain view, as when Anderson Cooper let this slip by unremarked during the March 29 debate: “I was against the war in Iraq. OK?”

It happens when Trump talks to interviewers who know a thing or two about the subject, as when the Washington Post editorial board let his claim pass unremarked, and changed the subject to the size of his hands.

And it happens in passing, as in a recent Times piece that has Trump “reminding his audience that he had opposed the Iraq War.”

Hillary Clinton lost to Barack Obama in 2008 because she voted to authorize the invasion of Iraq. If only she’d known that she could get out of that trap simply by saying, “No, I voted against it,” and brazening it out.

The Iraq lie is now a pillar of the “Donald the Dove” thesis about Trump’s “foreign policy,” a fake data point in a set of cooked data suggesting that he would be less likely to use American force abroad than his predecessors. Trump, indeed, decided recently to grasp at this thesis, saying in his muddle of a foreign policy speech, “Unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct.”

But believing this narrative requires a flat refusal to believe a simpler answer, one borne out by several very good biographies of the man: that he doesn’t think before he speaks, lies without compunction, and will say literally anything. (Today, he accused Ted Cruz’s father of complicity in the Kennedy assassination.)

And with the central pillar of the “dove” thesis gone, look a little harder at the others. In particular, theories (including Trump’s) of Trump’s foreign policy instincts rest on his supposed opposition to the U.S. role in ousting dictators in Libya and Egypt. In fact, as Kaczynski reported, Trump publicly supported the Obama administration in both Libya and Egypt.

I have two modest suggestions: First, let’s stop trying to construct theories about Trump’s instincts based on his lies about his own past beliefs.

And even simpler, let us dispel once and for all this fiction that Trump opposed the Iraq war.

GOP Opposition Research Firm Launches Candidate Tracking App

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The app provides users with suggested questions to ask Democratic candidates.

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Republican opposition research firm America Rising released an app on Monday that arms users attending political events with adversarial questions to ask Democratic candidates.

The app also allows users to record video within the app and directly upload it to a channel shared by American Rising employees, who are then able to evaluate and potentially promote the footage.

Candidate's events are highlighted for the user based on their geographical proximity to the event.

"Never before have attendees of political events had at their fingertips a set of pointed, incisive questions guaranteed to make news," America Rising PAC communications director Jeff Bechdel told BuzzFeed News.

One of the suggested questions for Hillary Clinton reads: "Will you drop out of the presidential race if you are indicted over the use of your private email server?"

The app is modeled off of a political technique called "tracking," which is employed by both Democrats and Republicans. Tracking involves political operatives attending political events of rival campaigns in order to capture everything a candidate says on film, in hope of catching the candidate make a gaffe or contradicting a previous statement.

Megan Apper


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Donors Say Third Party Anti-Trump Effort Unlikely To Happen

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WASHINGTON — Donald Trump's win in Indiana Tuesday night made him the presumptive GOP nominee, revving up talk of a third-party candidacy as the only shot the anti-Trump wing of the Republican Party would have at the White House.

But a third-party candidate would have to amass hundreds of millions in a matter of days to compete even in a few swing states, and the party's biggest donors and fundraisers aren't willing to pony up for what they see view as a lost cause.

"It's too late," said Stan Hubbard, a major GOP donor and Minnesota-based media mogul. "You don't just file last minute."

Each state has its own complex rules and deadlines for third-party candidates to qualify for the general election ballot -- an extremely complicated process that requires thousands of signatures, time, organization and money.

Hubbard, who has given to several candidates this cycle and an anti-Trump super PAC, is still holding out hope that Trump won't be able to clinch the nomination, but is ready to back him if he gets the nomination. "Until he gets that number, he doesn't have that number."

Our Principles PAC, a super PAC backed by wealthy GOP donors, also said in a statement it would continue its efforts to stop Trump. But when asked if those efforts would include backing a third-party candidate, spokesman Tim Miller said that was not the group's mission.

A third-party candidate would continue to divide the party and have a long-term negative impact by infuriating Trump supporters and alienating them from the party, said Fred Malek, a veteran GOP fundraiser.

"There is absolutely no talk or consideration of a third party candidate from any serious Republican," he said. "Although a lot of us prefer a candidate other than Trump, the strong sense is that we must have a unified party post convention to have any chance of reversing the leftward lurch of the last seven years."

The influential political network affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers has elected to sit out the Republican primary and a last-minute entry by a third-party candidate is unlikely to change that based on the criteria the group has laid out.

"If during the general election cycle, a candidate were able to garner support from the public with a positive message in support of the issues we care about, and did not engage in personal attacks and mudslinging, we would consider potentially getting involved," said Mark Holden, chairman of Freedom Partners, the umbrella group for the network.

"That hasn't happened yet and there is no indication that this will happen given the current tone and tenor of the various campaigns.”

David Herro, a Chicago-based donor and former Marco Rubio supporter, said in an email he would "Absolutely!!!!!!!!!.." support a third-party candidate. But Herro had a caveat similar to other donors: "As long as they can get on 50 ballots. Is this possible?"

Another Republican strategist involved in big-money circles said although donors have been discussing the idea since Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out in March, at this point it's largely being dismissed as nothing more than "consultants pitching money-making schemes."

"Unless someone like Michael Bloomberg wanted to do it and put $1 billion into it, it's enormously difficult to do."

People Skewered The RNC Chairman For This Typo After Trump Won

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Whoops.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

On Tuesday night, after Donald Trump's victory in Indiana led rival Ted Cruz to drop out of the presidential race, the Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus declared him the "presumtive" party nominee.

On Tuesday night, after Donald Trump's victory in Indiana led rival Ted Cruz to drop out of the presidential race, the Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus declared him the "presumtive" party nominee.


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Democratic Party Chair: Trump Could Put Georgia And Arizona In Play

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The chair of the Democratic Party told BuzzFeed News on Tuesday that a Trump win in the state could herald a world in which Democrats are competing for Georgia and Arizona in the 2016 general election.

Utah isn't outside the realm of possibility, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said.

In an interview for No One Knows Anything, BuzzFeed's politics podcast, Wasserman Schultz speculated on a world where Trump had finally won the Republican nomination.

On Tuesday night, Trump won the Indiana primary handily, dealing a severe blow to the so-called #NeverTrump movement of Republicans amassed to stop him. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's main opposition, dropped out of the race.

The prospect of a Trump nomination, according to Wasserman Schultz, means Democrats enter a brave new world. The familiar red-blue split of the electoral map could change significantly, she suggested.

"If you look at Georgia, for example, Obama got 45% of the vote," she said. "The demographics have changed in Georgia, and minority populations — both African-American and Hispanic — are growing there."

Trump could galvanize the electorate in ways Democrats never really thought possible just a few cycles ago, Wasserman Schultz said, and the Democratic Party has the resources and the message to battle Trump across the country.

Trump's supporters have said his coalition includes disaffected Democrats who could put Rust Belt states and reliable blue states like Michigan in play for the GOP. Many Republican elites fear a Trump nomination all but seals the election for the Democrats, however.

Wasserman Schultz is firmly in that way of thinking.

"With a nominee as extreme and bigoted and as misogynist as Donald Trump is, you know you not only have the opportunity for us to turn out voters that maybe would have been sitting on the sidelines in those minority communities the he’s alienating, but also who we have the potential to win over from the Republican side," she said. "Or, who will stay home because they can’t bring themselves to vote for a nominee like him. So with those dynamics, in a state like Georgia, in a state like Arizona, for example, [Democrats could do well]."

Wasserman Schultz joked that the 2016 map could be one beyond Democrats' wildest dreams.

"Donald Trump is not very popular in Utah," she quipped. "I mean I’m not going to predict that we’ll win Utah, but…”

Listen to the full interview on Thursday's episode of No One Knows Anything: The BuzzFeed Politics Podcast.


Here Are The Prominent Republicans Who Aren't Feeling #NeverTrump

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Who can resist?

Donald Trump is now effectively the Republican nominee. Some conservatives are vowing that they'll never vote for him — or even that they'll vote for Hillary Clinton instead.

Donald Trump is now effectively the Republican nominee. Some conservatives are vowing that they'll never vote for him — or even that they'll vote for Hillary Clinton instead.

Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images

Others, however, are feeling that Trump vibe.

Others, however, are feeling that Trump vibe.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images


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U.S. Front Pages Day After Trump Becomes Presumptive GOP Nominee

Republicans Grapple With The Reality Of Trump, Presumptive Nominee

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INDIANAPOLIS — Donald Trump’s status as the presumptive Republican nominee presents a quandary for Republicans who oppose him.

Is it time to finally admit defeat and roll over? Make a last-ditch effort to recruit a third-party candidate? Focus on preventing down-ballot bloodletting? Or even support Hillary Clinton over Trump? The reckoning has arrived. For those who view Trump as an existential threat to the Republican Party, there are no easy answers — but the reality of the situation has set in as Ted Cruz, the last viable alternative to trump, dropped out on Tuesday after losing Indiana. And different plans are already in the works.

Publicly, anti-Trump groups say they’ll fight on.

"We will continue to educate voters about Trump until he, or another candidate, wins the support of a majority of delegates to the Convention,” Katie Packer, chair of the anti-Trump Our Principles PAC, said in a statement sent out before Ted Cruz officially dropped out of the race on Tuesday night.

“We will continue to seek opportunities to oppose his nomination and to draw a clear line between him and the values of the conservative cause,” Rory Cooper of the Never Trump PAC said in a statement.

But already, some are acknowledging that the fight is all but lost and the priority has shifted to protecting the larger party.

“We’re gonna look at the down-ballot races, we’re gonna look at what states might need a strong never Trump movement in order to protect congressional races,” said one anti-Trump Republican strategist.

The strategist said anti-Trump Republicans are exploring ways to protect the party at the convention, looking at ways they can exploit the Rules Committee and the platform.

“We’re gonna see if there are things we could support at the convention that would protect the party from Donald Trump causing so much damage,” the strategist said. “We have to make sure that Donald Trump, in his fleeting six months left as a Republican, that he can’t permanently damage the party’s credibility.”

Cruz’s exiting the race on Tuesday spelled the end of the stop-Trump movement’s electoral hopes. Cruz was never the perfect messenger for the movement; even until the end when he was unloading on Trump, he refused to say whether or not he will support Trump as the nominee, even though his recent harsh rhetoric on the frontrunner makes it difficult to imagine how he’ll reconcile supporting him.

Now, Republicans who don’t want Trump face a stark choice as there are no remaining viable candidates left in the Republican primary who pose a threat to Trump. The choice: Trump or Clinton? The third-party option is very unlikely, and on Tuesday, donors were already saying as much. For a brief moment, Gen. James Mattis was floated — only to bow out of the speculation before it could really get going. No one else has come forward, and donors say this isn’t going to happen. “Third-party conservative candidate is the killer app right now,” said Republican strategist Rick Wilson. But “it’s unlikely” to happen. And as it seems increasingly clear that Trump will clinch the nomination before the convention, the idea of nominating a Republican who hasn’t already been running on the floor in Cleveland is moot.

Thus, the stark choice. And some Republicans are exploring voting outside their party altogether — and even voting for Clinton.

Ben Howe, a conservative writer, tweeted “#ImWithHer” on Tuesday, a pro-Hillary Clinton slogan.

Reached for comment, Howe said, “I would never imagine that Hillary Clinton would nominate a pro-choice SCOTUS justice, pass tax increases, and institute a carbon tax while simultaneously claiming to represent the views of conservatives.” But “Donald Trump, in my opinion, would do exactly that. Which means not only would he help destroy what the party stands for, he would irreparably damage the cause of conservatism itself.”

“If I must survive a liberal in office, let it be the one that admits they are a liberal,” Howe said, though he said he wasn’t sure if “I can actually pull the lever for her.”

Former John McCain aide Mark Salter also tweeted that he’ll be supporting Clinton, writing “the GOP is going to nominate for president a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it's on the level. I'm with her.”

Conservative writer and radio host Erick Erickson tweeted on Tuesday asking for information about the Libertarian Party’s candidate and wrote, “I oppose Hillary Clinton and her donor Donald Trump.” Other Republicans are publicly breaking up with the party, burning their voter cards.

But the naked truth is that many Republicans are getting on board. Ari Fleischer, the former Bush White House press secretary, tweeted that despite Trump’s flaws he will support him over Hillary. A cascade of establishment Republicans have warmed to Trump over the past few months, including Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie.

The coming days will begin to show who in the conservative movement gets on board with Trump and who doesn’t. But the fight has shifted away from blocking Trump’s path to the nomination.

Instead, the anti-Trump strategist said, Republicans are trying to “see what can be salvaged.”

Susan Collins: I'll Be Able To Back Trump If He Stops “Gratuitous Personal Insults”

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“I have always supported the Republican nominee for president and I suspect I would do so this year, but I do want see what Donald Trump does from here on out.”

Brian Snyder / Reuters

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Republican Sen. Susan Collins from Maine said in a radio interview on Wednesday that she will be able to back Donald Trump if he starts acting more presidential and stops with the "gratuitous personal insults."

Collins, speaking with Newsradio WGANAM560, said Trump needs to "mend a lot of fences" and stop with his "bizarre" behavior like linking Ted Cruz's father to the Kennedy assassination, but added that she needed to wait until the convention before making a final decision.

"Donald Trump has the opportunity to unite the party, but if he's going to build that wall that he keeps talking about, he's going to have to mend a lot of fences," said Collins. "He's going to have stop with gratuitous personal insults."

"You mean, like saying Ted Cruz's father killed JFK," the host interjected.

"Yes, that was the most bizarre yet, I think," responded Collins, adding Trump needed to now articulate what his presidency would look like through policy, plans, and programs beyond his slogan.

"I think he's perfectly capable of doing that," Collins said. "It will be interesting to see whether he changes his style, he starts acting more presidential, and whether he brings people together."

"I have always supported the Republican nominee for president, and I suspect I would do so this year, but I do want see what Donald Trump does from here on out. I hope he will take the kind of steps that I said, I hope that he will knock off the—"

The host asked what Collins would do if Trump couldn't stop his antics. Collins responded she didn't think that would happen.

"I don't think that's gonna happen, so I won't go there. I think Donald has shown over and over again that he is smart enough to tailor his approach," she said, noting Trump now has advisers to tell him to behavior better.

"I think we're gonna see a new stage of this campaign as it goes into the general election," added Collins. "So, I'm gonna wait and see. I'm certainly gonna wait until Cleveland. It will be interesting to see who he chooses as his vice presidential candidate."

Heritage Foundation President: Trump Has Shown "An Openness To Work With Us"

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“Well, we’re hoping that we can push him to carry some conservative ideas into the election and win it.”

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Alex Wong / Getty Images

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Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint says Donald Trump's campaign has shown a willingness to work with them on promoting conservative policy.

"Well, we're hoping that we can push him to carry some conservative ideas into the election and win it," DeMint said on WPAB News Talk 820AM. "That's what we do at Heritage. We don't endorse candidates but we endorse ideas and promote them. And so, you know, his campaign has shown an openness to work with us, and so hopefully we can fill his campaign with the right ideas."

Asked about who he will support personally, DeMint declined to answer.

"Well, you know I find that, my role at Heritage, I can't get involved with out my general counsel saying, threatening my C3 status. But we'll be for the most conservative in this race."

Steve King: Trump Needs To Reach Out, Convince Conservatives To Back Him

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Mark Kauzlarich / Reuters


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Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa, a supporter of Ted Cruz’s now suspended presidential campaign, said in an interview on Wednesday that Donald Trump must reach out to conservatives after running an insult-heavy campaign.

In a radio interview with Jeff Angelo, King also said that he’d have to talk to Trump before coming out with a strong endorsement for him.

“I’ve never seen a nominee pour out so many insults on other people as Donald Trump has,” King said. “This isn't the day to highlight all those and grind through all that, but I’ll say this: Donald Trump will have to reach out to conservatives and do some convincing.”

“You’re the candidate, you’re gonna have to convince people to come behind ya. There were five to six million conservatives who didn’t come out and support Mitt Romney, and he might have been the nominee today had he been able to get conservatives to come out and vote for him. So I wanna hear some things from Donald Trump on how things will be and how he will do.”

King clarified though that he was not a part of the “Never Trump” movement and was open to being persuaded by Trump and potentially working with him to craft a policy that could lead to a Republican victory. He said he would want an opportunity to speak with Trump before an endorsement.

“I don’t expect him to apologize for all the insults he’s thrown out, there’s no pattern of that taking place,” King said, “so let's figure out how this is gonna happen going forward. There’s some things I’m uneasy about, but I don't think this is a good day for me to go down that list. Donald Trump is a phenomenon that we’ve never seen in politics before.”


Donald Trump Jr. On "Never Trump": "They're Gonna Go Away," Have "Failed"

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“We should value their opinions very little.”

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Donald Trump Jr. said on Tuesday that the "Never Trump" movement – Republicans who have vowed not to support Trump under any circumstances — will go away with his father as the party's nominee.

"They're gonna go away," Trump Jr. told radio host Mike Gallagher before his father won in Indiana. "Listen, it's gonna be politics. Just like there's people on the conservative side who feel the same way about Hillary Clinton. There's gonna be some of that, but they're gonna get it, because unless they're only looking for taking care of themselves and the establishment and those insiders — because they realize that Trump will be a disrupter in there — they're gonna get."

"They should be welcoming new people, people should have a voice for a change," he continued. "Not just the voice if they agree with you. So some of these guys, what I want to do, what I would say to someone like that is, 'these are same people who say Trump had zero chance to do anything at all whatsoever last June.' So, their opinions are meaningless to me, because, they're just talking heads. They've been doing this for so long. They have no idea what's really going on. We should value their opinions very little."

Trump Jr. added that such pundits knew less than his child who predicted Trump would win.

"They speak in soundbites and they're trying to make a point in 140 characters or less, and you know what, they've generally failed," he said.

Woman Who Built Trump Tower Says She's Backing Clinton Over Trump

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“What won’t go away is that the people that don’t like Trump really don’t like him.”

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The woman who headed up the construction of Trump Tower in New York says she's supporting Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.

Barbara Res, who worked for Trump from 1978 to 1996 and was put in charge of construction at Trump Tower in the early 1980s, said on the Irish program RT1 on Tuesday that she's all in for Clinton.

"Oh absolutely not, I'm a Hillary gal," Res said when asked if she is supporting Trump.

Trump has referenced putting Res in charge of Trump Tower's construction to counter claims of sexism, but he has not mentioned her by name. Res was one of the first women to rise to prominence in the construction industry, which she details in her autobiography, All Alone on the 68th Floor.

"It might very be," Trump against Clinton added Res. "I think it's Clinton. There's a lot of things that people have been saying about Clinton, including Bernie Sanders, which are not absolutely right and I think in time those things will go away."

Res said in the interview that Trump was a good boss to her in the 1980s but changed dramatically as he rose in fame. The builder thought he couldn't win because of his unpopularity.

"What won't go away is that the people that don't like Trump really don't like him," she said. "He's got a lot of supporters but he's got more, more, more detractors and I don't think — he's never been in politics before. He has no executive experience. I mean, his candidacy is unheard of. It's testimony to his being able to promote himself that he's gotten as far as he has."

"So I think it's a Clinton victory," Res said.

New Trump Finance Chair Has Given Twice As Much To Democrats As To The GOP

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Donald Trump has hired a Wall Street tycoon who has donated more than twice as much to Democrats as to Republicans to be his campaign's finance chairman, according to a review Federal Election Commission filings.

Trump's campaign announced Thursday that Steve Mnuchin, co-founder of Dune Capital Management and OneWest Bank Group LLC, would serve as the presumptive Republican nominee's national finance chair.

Although Mnuchin has given to Republicans, his financial ties to the Democratic Party and liberal causes appear to be significantly deeper. Overall, Mnuchin has given more than $125,000 since 1998 to candidates and committees that disclose their donors — more than half of which went to Democrats, according to FEC records.

He contributed to Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Chris Dodd in the 2008 presidential election cycle. He also gave to Obama and Clinton's Senate campaigns, and supported Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Overall, Mnuchin has given more than $125,000 since 1998 to candidates and committees that disclose their donors, according to a review of Federal Election Commission reports.

Beyond his contributions, Mnuchin's past employers don't fall in line with Trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail. Mnuchin is a former Goldman Sachs partner and worked for liberal mega-donor George Soros's hedge fund.

He also contributed to a group called America Coming Together, which was largely funded by Soros and unions.

Mnuchin's hiring is likely to further aggravate conservative critics of Trump, who have accused him of adopting the veneer of Republican values to hide a largely Democratic policy philosophy.


The Democratic Party Chair Wants To Get Rid Of Caucuses

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Jared Harrell / BuzzFeed News

Add Democratic Party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to the growing list of people frustrated by the convoluted and often poorly-run caucus process.

“I prefer primaries just because they’re simpler,” Wasserman Schultz said. “And because they are more democratic.”

“I can say that because I’m not going to be chair the next time, so now I am free to say what my own preference is,” she noted.

Wasserman Schultz sat for an interview with No One Knows Anything, the BuzzFeed News political podcast, Tuesday afternoon — hours before results came in that would reverberate through presidential politics. Donald Trump sewed up the Republican nomination for all intents and purposes, leaving Wasserman Schultz to speculate that Democrats could dramatically expand their map to compete in states like Georgia and Arizona in November.

On the Democratic side in Indiana, Bernie Sanders eked out a win over Hillary Clinton. Despite math showing winning the nomination outright to be all but impossible, Sanders vowed to stay in the race until the Democratic convention, meaning Wasserman Schultz is still presiding over a contested primary that has seen her trashed by Sanders supporters who see her DNC as an arm of the Clinton campaign.

That’s a charge Wasserman Schultz has vehemently denied. She’s run the party through a surprisingly contentious primary that has built a lot of bitterness among diehards on both sides. (But Sanders supporters have said for months a Trump nomination on the Republican side will keep them as activist Democrats — and as that reality sets in, a lot of people think even the Bern-feeling-est of the Bernie contingent will find themselves pulling the lever for Hillary in November.)

Fueling some of the acrimony is the Democratic nominating process itself. The unexpectedly long primary showcased a system ill-equipped to handle the increased turnout brought by Sanders’ challenge to Clinton. Lines, delays, and errors were common at caucuses. Differing primary rules state by state meant sometimes people who chose not to register as a member of the Democratic Party could vote in the Democratic primary. Sometimes they couldn’t.

Reflecting on a primary process near its end, Wasserman Schultz stressed that the Democratic National Committee has review processes in place that could result in changes to the way the nominating contest works in future elections. But she has her own opinion on how things should change — though they're not "crusades" that she's on, just opinions.

First, do away with caucuses, which she said can lead to “intimidation” due to rules that make a caucus-goer’s selection public. “You sort of obliterate the idea of a secret ballot in the caucus, because there are people gathering in a room, and they are pooling themselves around the room for who they are for,” Wasserman Schultz said, “and you know, maybe some people don’t want that to be public.”

Wasserman Schultz favors primaries. But she doesn’t favor the kind of open primaries Sanders supporters want.

“I think the Democratic Party and the Republican Party’s nominees should be chosen by members of our party,” she said. “It’s our job, once we have a nominee, to sell [independents] on our party’s candidate, but if you have chosen not to be a member of our party, then to me, you are not entitled and should not be entitled to help decide who our party’s nominee is.”

“That means you haven’t worked to build the party,” Wasserman Schultz said. (She added that this was also her opinion, and not something she was making a “crusade.”)

Finally, the superdelegates — the party officials and electeds who are given an automatic nominating vote by virtue of their position — should stay, Wasserman Schultz said.

She noted the system has been in place since 1984 and has never been used to actually decide the nomination. “You have party leaders and elected officials who have earned the right, because they helped build our party, because they represent our party, they’re the leaders and the voice, they deserve a role in the convention, too.”

Wasserman Schultz said she was able to speak more freely about her critiques of the process because she’ll be leaving the DNC chairwomanship soon. But the expectations that these things are going to change should be low.

“I’m not going to try to change [open primaries] — you couldn’t anyway,” she said. “Those are also decided at the state level.”

Listen to this episode of No One Knows Anything and subscribe on iTunes.


Democratic Senator: Trump Should Not Be Receiving Classified Information Briefings

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Drew Angerer / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy Thursday said he is seriously concerned with the prospect of Donald Trump having access to classified intelligence information now that he is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, warning Trump could use it for political gain.

Presidential candidates traditionally receive routine classified briefings from intelligence officials during the campaign. Normally that practice raises few eyebrows.

But the prospect of Trump and his team having access to sensitive intelligence information is a cause for concern to Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump “has no moral or ethical grounding,” Murphy said, bluntly warning that, “he wouldn’t think twice of taking classified information and putting it out in the public realm if he thought it served his political purposes.”

Murphy said he also has particular concerns when it comes to Russia, arguing Trump is “living in a fantasy world” when it comes to his ability to work with Putin. Noting Trump’s often positive comments about the Russian strongman, Murphy quipped, “Megalomaniacs find each other, I guess. I suspect Trump looks at Putin and sees a lot of himself.”

But Murphy warned that despite Trump’s flippant insistence that he will can cut “great deals” with Putin, the Russian leader already seems to have the upper hand in dealing with Trump.

“You can just feel Putin reeling Trump in right now,” Murphy said, adding that, “Putin needs America as an enemy, but he’d like a much more pliant leader” like Trump.

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