TRUMP HITS HARD: Time to play hard ball. We knew it was coming, we just didn’t know when. Donald Trump doesn’t care about the issue or the context - he’s going ugly, early. Although the presidential primaries are cooling, they’re still not over as neither candidate is their party’s official nominee yet and they’re already crossing the line – to the extent that one even existed this cycle. Trump seems to keep the surprises coming and one of his allies summed it up perfectly: “What Trump is going to do only Trump knows. Trump is not scripted, he’s not programmed and he’s not handled, but he can read, and he does know the Clintons.” A storm is brewing.
ET TU SUSANA? Hillary Clinton isn’t the only one he’s going after. Trump attacked fellow Republican and NM Gov Susana Martinez and her record in the state claiming he’d do a better job as Governor after she snubbed his rally in Albuquerque last night. We’ll scratch her from the Veep shortlist.
CLINTON HITS THE CASINOS: “How does anybody lose money running a casino?” Well, people do lose money at casinos, but that’s not what she was referring to as Hillary Clinton follows suit by going after Trump’s past and this time, we’re talking business. Clinton poked fun at the presumptive Republican nominee for his four businesses’ bankruptcies, including his famously failed Atlantic City casinos. Additionally, Clinton shined a light on Trump Mortgages, their role in the housing recession, and Trump’s nerve in rooting for the economy to fail.
DEMOCRAT WOES IN VA: VA Democratic Gov Terry McAuliffe was named the subject of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and prosecutors from DoJ’s public integrity unit. McAuliffe, a longtime friend and confidant of the Clintons, is likely to cause problems for both the Democratic Party and their frontrunner as well - you can bet Trump will go after him as the investigation involves a Chinese billionaire, who has not only donated to McAuliffe’s campaign, but to the Clinton Foundation as well. VA is a toss-up state and, with an eventful summer ahead for McAuliffe, it doesn’t look as if he’ll be much help for the cause down the road.
CALI KNOWS HOW TO PARTY: Californians are registering to vote faster than ever before. More than twice as many voters have registered this year than in the same four-month period in 2012. The growing voter groups identify themselves as Hispanics and Millennials. Both are left-of-center groups, with one favoring Sanders and the other favoring Clinton. CA is too blue for Republicans to be competitive in the fall, but look for a more engaged electorate to impact the Democratic race there in less than two weeks.
LET’S PLAY FAIR: Bernie Sanders will get more slots on the platform-writing committee for the upcoming Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. Under a new agreement, Sanders will now occupy a third of the fifteen seats on the committee, while Clinton will name six, and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will name four. Sanders and his staff have complained for months that the Democratic Party was tilted in Clinton’s favor and Democratic officials have responded saying that they will give the senator an “unprecedented” say over the official policies of the Democratic Party. Sanders was quick to act, appointing two controversial figures: James Zogby, a pro-Palestinian activist who serves as president of the Arab-American Institute; and Cornel West, liberal author and racial justice activist who is one of President Obama’s highest-profile African American critics.
