Blog: Latest Reports from The Washington Posts ‘Plum Line’

Happy Hour Roundup
* After an extended period of contemplation and research, Donald Trump is ready to talk about the Supreme Court: Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, released Wednesday a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia if he’s elected to the […]

Will Bernie Sanders burn it all down?

A fundamental question about the endgame of the Democratic primaries is this: If and when Hillary Clinton finishes with more pledged delegates and popular votes, and wins the nomination with super-delegate support, will Bernie Sanders do what is necessary to persuade his supporters that the outcome was legitimate? The answer could help determine whether Sanders’s […]

Why the Sanders movement is just about dead

This is the moment of truth for Bernie Sanders and his supporters. It’s the moment that determines whether everything they’ve accomplished to this point is translated into real power and real change, or fizzles into nothing, leaving behind only bitterness and resentment. And right now, the latter course is looking much more likely. What happened […]

Donald Trump is pulling a scam on wages. Here’s a way to call his bluff.

THE MORNING PLUM: Donald Trump has fooled a lot of people into believing he might be more ideologically flexible than many Republicans are when it comes to government action to boost wages. This is based on interviews in which he seemed, kinda sorta, to be open to a minimum wage hike. In reality, all he […]

Happy Hour Roundup

* Robert Costa and Philip Rucker report that Donald Trump’s new strategy is to address all the controversies he has created head-on, in order to show voters he’s a good guy: Trump put his tact to a test during an interview with The Washington Post here Monday afternoon. Unprompted, he delivered a five-minute soliloquy attempting […]

Obamacare has brought the uninsured rate down into single digits. Trump would repeal it.

We keep hearing that Donald Trump is vastly different ideologically from Congressional Republicans, but the reality is considerably less dramatic. Whatever Trump actually believes in his, er, heart, he is running on a range of conventional GOP positions: Tax cuts for the rich; hostility to Democratic efforts to solve the immigration problem; and, of course, […]

Should we worry about Bill Clinton’s role in a Hillary Clinton administration?
We’ve never had a First Gentleman in America before, but more to the point, we’ve never had a presidential spouse like Bill Clinton. So it’s natural to wonder what he’ll be doing should Hillary Clinton become our next president, and the Clinton campaign has an answer, one that’s politically beneficial to them, but probably wrong […]

Sorry, Donald Trump: Sanders supporters won’t embrace your ‘populism’

THE MORNING PLUM: Donald Trump’s campaign, in what looks like a ham-handed effort at psychological warfare, has taken to suggesting that he will win over Bernie Sanders supporters by taking a page from the Vermont Senator’s populist playbook. In order for this to be true, however, Sanders supporters would have to completely ignore most of […]

Happy Hour Roundup

* Matea Gold keeps up the excellent reporting on the chaos that Donald Trump’s looming nomination has unleashed in the world of big GOP money-men: Leading Republicans are increasingly anxious that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is lagging far behind Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton when it comes to having an organized network of big-money […]

How the Clinton team will go after Donald Trump

Can Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in part by laying out a programmatic economic agenda that is designed to make a concrete difference in Americans’ lives? Or does that risk being too conventional an approach that fails to reckon with the unpredictable nature of Trump’s appeal? In an interview with me, Clinton’s chief strategist, Joel […]

The never-ending saga of the Obamacare contraception mandate
The long saga of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate — which requires that contraception be covered as part of private health plans — took another turn at the Supreme Court today. And the Court — which, don’t forget, is still divided 4-4 between liberals and conservatives — sent it back down to the appeals […]

Trump’s new strategy against Clinton: Kinder, gentler humiliation

THE MORNING PLUM: Over the weekend, we learned something about Donald Trump’s private treatment of women: He has a long history of “unwelcome romantic advances,” “unending commentary on the female form,” and “unsettling workplace conduct.” Given that Trump already enjoys stratospheric unfavorability ratings among women, it is probably cause for concern among Republicans that much […]

Sunday Open Thread
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Open Thread
All yours.

Happy Hour Roundup
* Jonathan Drew and Paul J. Weber preview the conflict between the federal government and conservative state and local officials over the new guidance on transgendered people and school restrooms: The guidance issued on Friday is not legally binding, since the question of whether federal civil rights law protects transgender people has not been definitively […]

Are Democrats leaning into the transgender debate?

Today the Obama administration issued a new directive to public schools across the country that is likely to thrust another volatile culture-war issue into the 2016 campaign: The Obama administration on Friday directed schools across the nation to provide transgender students with access to suitable facilities — including bathrooms and locker rooms — that match […]

Sorry, liberals. Elizabeth Warren isn’t going to be Hillary Clinton’s running mate.

As speculation on whom the presidential nominees will select as their running mates gets louder, almost inevitably eyes are turning to Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren. Joe Biden apparently wanted her to be his vice presidential candidate if he ran for president this year. She’s gleefully turning herself into a thorn in Donald Trump’s side. And […]

Trump just boasted that he pays as little in taxes as possible. Here’s why.

THE MORNING PLUM: With the battle continuing to rage over Donald Trump’s ongoing suggestion that he may not release his tax returns before the November election, this exchange with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulous, which took place a few moments ago, provides a glimpse into what Trump really thinks about all this: TRUMP: I fight very […]

Happy Hour Roundup

* Ylan Q. Mui reports that even with the general election looming, Hillary Clinton isn’t stopping with the liberal stuff: Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said she would support changes to the top ranks of the Federal Reserve, an issue recently championed by progressive groups amid debate over how long the central bank should keep […]

Obama to Bernie supporters: Don’t let disillusionment set in

Any day now, some very prominent Democrats will get down to the business of helping to unite the party behind likely nominee Hillary Clinton. One of them will be President Barack Obama, who is popular among young Democrats and thus well positioned to argue to Bernie Sanders supporters that it in their interests — and […]

Trump is waging an assault on the entire structure of our democracy. Now what?

Donald Trump and Paul Ryan had their much-anticipated meeting on this morning, and while Ryan did not endorse Trump (yet), they issued a joint statement talking about their “many areas of common ground.” Speaking afterward to reporters, Ryan said, “It was important that we discussed our differences that we have, but it was also important […]

Here’s an easy way for Donald Trump and Paul Ryan to make peace

THE MORNING PLUM: Today Donald Trump is in Washington, sitting down with Paul Ryan in an effort to unify the GOP. Their meeting is being widely portrayed as a momentous showdown between two titans of ideological opposition who are unlikely to budge from their deeply held philosophical principles and governing goals. As today’s New York Times […]

Happy Hour Roundup
* Ed O’Keefe reports that Latinos have noticed the words and promises of the presumptive Republican nominee for president: Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is spurring a record number of citizenship applications and increases in voter registration among Latinos upset by the candidate’s rhetoric and fearful of his plans to crack down on immigration. Activists, lawmakers […]

Why won’t Trump release his tax returns? Here are a few possible reasons.

Donald Trump does not expect to release his tax returns before the November election, the Associate Press informs us today. He told the AP that he doesn’t believe voters are interested, adding: “There’s nothing to learn from them.” Define “nothing.” In an interview with me, Joseph Thorndike, the director of the Tax History Project, identified […]

Clinton is still being pulled to the left by Sanders. But for how long?

Even as she turns her attention to the general election, Hillary Clinton is plainly still feeling pressure from the left, as she showed earlier this week with some remarks on health care. The question for Bernie Sanders and his supporters is, how long can they keep that pressure up, and what effect will it have? […]

Yes, Clinton and Trump are both viewed negatively. But that’s a lot worse for Trump.

THE MORNING PLUM: The pundit hand-wringing has begun: The general election is going to be a bloodbath in which Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton try to tear each other apart, instead of engaging in a civil discussion about issues (which of course is usually what American politics is about — not). Central to this worry […]

Happy Hour Roundup

* Julie Pace and Jill Colvin report on the latest musings from the mind of Trump: Donald Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive presidential nominee, says he’s narrowed his list of potential running mates to “five or six people,” all with deep political resumes. He says he has not ruled out New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a […]

Democratic focus groups reveal warning signs about Donald Trump

Focus groups of swing voters have picked up some warning signs for Democrats about Donald Trump’s general election candidacy: While those swing voters are willing to see Trump as a risky, divisive figure, they are not yet prepared to believe the Dem argument that Trump’s policy proposals would benefit the rich, a senior Democratic strategist […]

Why Republicans aren’t more outraged over Obama’s trip to Hiroshima

Get ready to crank up the conservative faux-outrage machine: President Obama will make a historic trip to Hiroshima, Japan, on May 27, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site of the world’s first atomic bombing. The White House formally announced the visit Tuesday after weeks of speculation that Obama would stop in […]

Can Trump really win with blue collar whites? Keep an eye on women.

THE MORNING PLUM: A new batch of Quinnipiac polls shows very tight races between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida — which will probably activate a fresh round of punditry insisting that Trump can ride a wave of Rust Belt white anger into the White House. Here’s one reason to remain […]

Happy Hour Roundup

* Looks like someone’s finally getting his reward for all that bootlicking: Donald Trump is looking beyond the convention, the fall campaign and election itself to begin to plan for a massive takeover affecting four million employees: the governing stage. In a new role, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will serve as chairman to assemble […]

Hillary Clinton just issued a challenge to progressives. They should take her up on it.

On Face the Nation, Hillary Clinton was asked if she’s trying to nudge Bernie Sanders out of the race, and offered a reply that, at first hearing, sounded like a standard-issue denial. But buried in her answer was an interesting challenge to progressives — one that suggests a way for the Sanders movement to reconstitute […]

Republicans are losing the argument over Merrick Garland. And it’s only going to get worse.

The nomination of Merrick Garland to fill Antonin Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court may have slipped from the front page amid all the attention to Donald Trump’s ascension, but the parties are still arguing about it, and something interesting is going on. As Burgess Everett reports, conservative groups are significantly outspending liberal groups in […]

Sorry, suckers: Trump didn’t actually shift on taxing rich and minimum wage

THE MORNING PLUM: There’s a lot of chatter out there to the effect that Donald Trump is shifting his stances on taxing the rich and on the minimum wage. He’s moderating his positions for the general election! He’s going to get to Hillary Clinton’s left on economic issues! The only problem with this reading — […]

Sunday Open Thread
Enjoy.

Open Thread
All yours.

Happy Hour Roundup
* President Obama speaks out on the presumptive Republican nominee: President Obama on Friday urged the news media to closely scrutinize Donald Trump’s record and past comments, and avoid coverage that highlights “the spectacle and the circus” of the campaign trail. Obama previewed his role as an anti-Trump spokesman and pressed the media to follow […]

Trump doesn’t appear too interested in Paul Ryan’s ‘conservative principles’

Paul Ryan says he’s not yet “ready” to support Donald Trump, and wants him to show some support for “conservative principles” first. Given the House Speaker’s role in crafting the GOP’s chief fiscal and economic blueprint — the Ryan budget, which continues to function as the party’s ideological lodestar — you’d think he’d want to […]

Hillary Clinton is going to be exonerated on the email controversy. It won’t matter.

The latest news on the Hillary Clinton email controversy reinforces everything we’ve heard so far on this subject: Prosecutors and FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server have so far found scant evidence that the leading Democratic presidential candidate intended to break classification rules, though they are still probing the case […]

Sorry, Republicans. There’s no escaping Donald Trump.

THE MORNING PLUM: This morning on Fox, Donald Trump professed himself “surprised” that House Speaker Paul Ryan has now said he is not yet ready to endorse the Donald. But this isn’t really surprising at all. As a new Politico piece explaining Ryan’s thinking puts it, Ryan was simply trying to bolster his House majority. […]

Happy Hour Roundup
* Oh, the anguish of the principled conservative: House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday declined to support presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, saying that he would be willing to do so if the real estate mogul could unify a bitterly divided Republican party. “I’m not there right now,” Ryan said on CNN’s […]

Republicans hope for a Trump ‘pivot.’ Good luck with that.

This morning, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus gave an interview to Kilmeade and Friends, in which he expressed great hope that Republican lawmakers would get behind Donald Trump after some “time” has passed. In the process, Priebus actually ended up revealing just how awful a bind a Trump nomination will create for many GOP […]

Beware of this new #NeverTrump scam

There’s a story you’re going to hear in the coming days: that the Republican Party is made up of a majority of people who are grudgingly going along with Donald Trump, mostly out of cowardice, and a few brave souls with the integrity to stand up to Trump and serve the American people’s real interests, […]

This brutal new ad shows the shredding machine that awaits Trump

THE MORNING PLUM: Predictably enough, the hand-wringing has already begun among some Democrats over the prospect of Donald Trump waging “unpredictable” attacks on Hillary Clinton and the possibility that the Clinton camp will be “complacent” about the battle to come. Of course, among Democrats, there will always be those who only require the slightest provocation […]

Happy Hour Roundup

* Lauren Fox reports that Mitch McConnell is not changing his tune on the Supreme Court now that Marla Maples’ ex-husband is going to be the nominee of his party: Mitch McConnell is going to keep blocking President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland even if that means Donald Trump ultimately gets to fill the […]

Will Donald Trump destroy the Republican brand?

John Kasich has decided to end his bid for the presidency, ending the GOP primary campaign and leaving Donald J. Trump as the uncontested leader of the Republican Party. Needless to say, this was not part of the plan when the party decided after 2012 that it needed to make some changes in order to […]