Donald Trump, now an insider, pitches self as outsider for 2020 bid
Four years after launching one of the most improbably successful runs for president in history, President Donald Trump officially kicks off its sequel on Tuesday, again offering himself as a political outsider — but this time from the Oval Office. Trump, who launched his last campaign from Trump Tower, headed for a mega-rally in Orlando, hoping to replicate the dynamics that allowed him to capture the Republican Party and then the presidency in 2016 as an insurgent intent on disrupting the status quo. It’s a more awkward pitch to make now that he’s in the White House. The president’s advisers said he aims to connect the dots between the promise of his disruptive first-time candidacy and his goals for another term in the White House. His promise to rock the ship of state is now more than an abstract pledge, though, complicated by his tumultuous 29 months at its helm. Any president is inherently an insider. Trump has worked in the White House for two years, travels the skies in Air Force One and changes the course of history with the stroke of a pen or the post of a tweet. “We’re taking on the failed political establishment and restoring government of, by and for the people,” Trump said in a video released by his campaign Monday. That populist clarion was a central theme of his maiden political adventure, as the businessman-turned-candidate successfully appealed to disaffected voters who felt left behind by economic dislocation and demographic shifts. And he has no intention of abandoning it, even if he is the face of the institutions he looks to disrupt. He underscored that on the eve of the rally in the must-win swing state of Florida, returning to the hard-line immigration themes of his first campaign by tweeting that, next week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement “will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States.” That promise, which came with no details and sparked Democratic condemnation, seemed to offer a peek into a campaign that will largely be fought along the same lines as his first bid, with very few new policy proposals for a second term. Early Democratic front-runner Joe Biden said Tuesday that Trump’s politics are “all about dividing us” in ways that are “dangerous — truly, truly dangerous.” But those involved in the president’s reelection effort believe that his brash version of populism, combined with his mantra to “Drain the Swamp,” still resonates, despite his administration’s cozy ties with lobbyists and corporations and the Trump family’s apparent efforts to profit off the presidency. Advisers believe that, in an age of extreme polarization, many Trump backers view their support for the president as part of their identity, one not easily shaken. They point to his seemingly unmovable support with his base supporters as evidence that, despite more than two years in office, he is still viewed the same way he was as a candidate: the bomb-throwing political rebel. On Monday, a boisterous crowd of thousands of Trump supporters, many of them in red hats, began gathering outside the Amway Center arena in Orlando, where the campaign had organized a festival with live music and food trucks. They spent Tuesday braving downpours and listening to a cover band playing Southern rock standards such as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” as they waited for Trump’s arrival. Vendors sold water, as well as pins, hats and T-shirts with slogans including “Trump 2020” and “ICE ICE Baby,” a reference to the law enforcement agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws. In the high-80s heat, some women wore “Make American Great Again” bathing suits. “Trump has been the best president we’ve ever had,” said Ron Freitas, a retired Merchant Marine and registered Democrat from the Orlando area who sat in a lawn chair. Freitas said he was sure Trump would prevail over whomever his Democratic opponent was. Alex Fuentes, a municipal diesel mechanic, wore a shirt that said “Make Democrats cry again.” He said he was an Iraq veteran who twice voted for Barack Obama but parted company with Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, mostly over foreign policy. “There’s a lot of minorities that are hidden Trump supporters,” Fuentes said. Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters clapped and took photos when a 20-foot (6-meter) blimp of a snarling Trump baby in a diaper was inflated. The blimp looks like the one that flew in London during Trump’s recent state visit but is not the same one. “The goal is to get under his skin,” said Mark Offerman, the blimp’s handler. Protester Shaun Noble wore a rainbow-colored sign that said “Super, Callous, Fragile, Racist, Sexist, Nazi, POTUS.” Noble’s mother was at the Trump rally while he was at the anti-Trump protest. “It’s really caused a divide in our relationship,” Noble said. “But it’s my right to believe what I want to believe in, and it’s her right to believe what she wants to believe.” Some members of the far-right hate group Proud Boys were spotted marching in Orlando and at least twice tried to enter the street where the anti-Trump protest was being held. They were stopped by groups of police officers and deputies. As they walked away, a man from the Proud Boys group said, “We’re just Americans. This is a sad day.” By Jill Colvin, Jonathan Lemire and Michael Schneider Associated Press. Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut, Josh Replogle and Zeke Miller contributed to this report. Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire and Miller at http://twitter.com/@zekejmiller Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
White House distances Donald Trump from Paul Manafort after AP report
The White House is distancing itself from former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, saying his secret work for a Russian billionaire detailed in an Associated Press report happened during “the last decade.” White House press secretary Sean Spicer says nothing in Wednesday’s AP report references any action by the president, the White House or any Trump administration official. Spicer says Trump was not aware of Manafort’s clients from the past decade and there are “no suggestions” Manafort did anything improper. Spicer also says former presidential rival Hillary Clinton had her own Russia ties. He says Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta sat on the board of a Russian-based energy company and Hillary Clinton was “the face of a failed Russia reset policy.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Selma is cracking down on diaperless horses
SELMA, Ala. (AP) — The west Alabama city of Selma is planning a crackdown on what one councilman says is a big problem: Horse droppings. The City Council passed a law three years ago requiring that horses wear diapers when on city streets, but Councilman Michael Johnson says riders aren’t following the law. Johnson says he doesn’t mind people riding horses in the city of 20,000. But he’s bothered by the smell and other sanitary problems created by horses on city streets. The Selma-Times Journal quotes Police Chief John Brock as saying officers will be stricter enforcing the diaper law. He says the department will issue warnings for a first offense and citations for repeat offenders. There could be plenty of tickets: Johnson says he’s seen just one diaper-wearing horse in town. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Viewer’s Guide: GOP debate about Donald Trump vs. everyone else
And then there were four. Ben Carson‘s departure from the GOP presidential race means the quartet of remaining Republicans on the debate stage Thursday night get more time for attacks as Donald Trump treads a path to the GOP nomination and his three rivals try to trip him up. Cheered on by many Republican leaders, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich are racing the primary clock to March 15, likely their last chance to stop Trump in a series of winner-take-all contests. Some things to watch Thursday night as the candidates meet at 9 p.m. EST for the Fox News Channel debate in Detroit: HE WHO WAS NOT NAMED Love him or loathe him, Trump has taught the poohbahs of the Republican Party what a power grab really is — and he’s done it by winning over large swaths of the GOP’s own core supporters far from Washington. His wobbling over whether to disavow the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke finally gave the Republican leaders of Congress a way to go after the billionaire publicly — without uttering Trump’s name. Trump responded by saying House Speaker Paul Ryan would have to get along with a President Trump or pay some sort of “big price.” On the eve of the debate, Ryan’s office confirmed that Trump’s campaign had contacted the speaker’s staff in a first sign of outreach. Notably, Trump has started talking about unifying the GOP. Look for Trump to be asked about the existential rift in the party and how he expects to govern. ___ RUBIO, RUDE? TRUMP, TOO? The Florida senator who once insisted on staying above the scuffling has leapt right into it, emulating Trump’s schoolyard-taunting style. At campaign events in the past week, Rubio made sometimes crude jokes about everything from Trump’s tan to the size of his hands — he even suggested that the billionaire wet his pants at the last debate. Look for whether a newly confident Rubio, emboldened by his first primary win in Minnesota Tuesday, keeps it up or takes a more statesmanlike approach. And what to expect from Trump? “I can’t act overly presidential because I’m going to have people attacking from every side. A very good man, Ben Carson’s not there anymore, so now we’re going to have more time for the fighting,” he said. “When people are hitting you from different angles, from all different angles, unfortunately you have to hit back. I would have a very, very presidential demeanor when I win, but until such time, you have to hit back,” he told NBC on Thursday. ___ CRUZ’S STAND Thanks to Rubio’s win Tuesday, Cruz can no longer say he’s the only Republican who has shown he can beat Trump. But he won three states on Super Tuesday — Alaska, Oklahoma and his home state of Texas. And the delegate math shows that Cruz is emerging as the candidate who might stop Trump. Look for some confidence from Cruz, because on Super Tuesday alone he came close to Trump. For the night, Trump won at least 237 delegates and Cruz won at least 209. Rubio was a distant third with at least 94. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, who a week earlier joked at a dinner about killing Cruz, acknowledged on CBS that the Texas senator might be the party’s best hope to beat Trump. ___ KASICH, STILL The debate setting is likely most helpful to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is looking for a strong showing in Michigan in the state’s March 8 contest, to survive. __ FOX AND TRUMP, FRENEMIES Trump has uttered barely a peep about the fact that Fox News Channel is hosting the debate, and that his sometime-nemesis Megyn Kelly, is one of the moderators. This is a marked change from the upheaval that led to Trump boycotting Fox’s debate just before the leadoff Iowa caucuses. Trump had demanded that Kelly be removed; Fox refused and Trump headed a few miles away to host his own event. He later said that could have been one of the reasons he lost Iowa to Cruz. Trump has not tweeted about Kelly in weeks. In an interview with the Associated Press this week, Kelly said she thinks Trump has more confidence now. “He knows he can handle me. He can handle any interviewer,” she said. ___ TRUMP UNIVERSITY How good is a degree from Trump University? “Worthless” — as are his promises — according to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Romney will brand the billionaire businessman as “a phony, a fraud” in a Salt Lake City speech on Thursday, as party of a push by GOP establishment figures to paint the billionaire as unfit to represent the party. Trump should have a few things to say about it. He already started slugging on Thursday morning, saying that Romney “begged” him for his endorsement four years ago, and called him a “failed candidate.” ___ REMEMBER BEN CARSON? Kelly said he wouldn’t have gotten much attention even if he had stuck around for the debate. Fox will concentrate its questions on Trump, Cruz and Marco Rubio — making for potentially awkward moments for Kasich. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton wins Va. & Ga.; Bernie Sanders wins Vermont
Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic presidential primaries in Virginia and Georgia, while Bernie Sanders wins in his home state of Vermont. According to early results of the exit poll conducted by Edison Research for the Associated Press and Television Networks, Clinton led in both Virginia and Georgia among both men and women. Sanders led among voters under 30 and Clinton held a commanding lead among those 45 and over. In Vermont, Bernie Sanders was supported by overwhelming majorities of both men and women, and huge majorities of voters across all age groups. Half of Vermont Democrats said they want the next president’s policies to be more liberal than those of President Barack Obama. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
AP-GfK Poll: Republicans prefer an outsider candidate
A huge majority of Republican voters prefer an outsider candidate to one with experience in Washington, and most see political rookies Donald Trump and Ben Carson as possible general election winners, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. Carson tops the field as the most positively viewed candidate among Republicans, the poll shows. Some things to know about opinions on the Republican field from the AP-GfK survey. ___ GOP HIGH ON CARSON Carson is the candidate viewed most positively by Republican registered voters in the poll, with 65 percent giving him a favorable rating. Just 13 percent say they have an unfavorable opinion of the retired neurosurgeon. Nearly 6 in 10 Republican voters — 58 percent — have a favorable opinion of Trump. But the billionaire real estate mogul has relatively high unfavorable ratings within his own party, too, at 36 percent. Jeb Bush is another candidate struggling to tamp down negative opinions within his own party: 48 percent of Republican voters say they have a positive opinion and 37 percent have a negative opinion of the former Florida governor. Aside from Carson, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former technology executive Carly Fiorina are the candidates with the widest gap between their favorable and unfavorable ratings, 51 percent to 20 percent for Rubio and 47 percent to 19 percent for Fiorina. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is next, viewed favorably by 48 percent and unfavorably by 26 percent. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is the least well-liked of the candidates among Republican voters, with 4 in 10 rating him positively and 4 in 10 rating him negatively. ___ MOST WANT AN OUTSIDER By an overwhelming 77 percent to 22 percent margin, Republican registered voters say they prefer an outsider candidate who will change how things are done, rather than someone with experience in Washington who can get things done. Similarly, they prefer someone with private-sector leadership experience over experience holding elected office, 76 percent to 22 percent. By contrast, two-thirds of Democratic voters prefer experience in Washington over outsider status. ___ REPUBLICANS SEE TRUMP AS BEST SHOT Seven in 10 Republicans and Republican-leaning registered voters say they think Trump could win in November 2016 if he were nominated; that’s the most of any Republican candidate. Slightly fewer — about 6 in 10 — say they think either Carson or Bush could win a general election. Rubio is the only other candidate viewed as electable by a majority of Republican voters, at 54 percent, while 47 percent think of Fiorina as a possible November winner. The poll found that many GOP candidates, including Christie, Huckabee, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are viewed as electable by well under half of Republicans. Close to 7 in 10 Republican voters say they think Hillary Rodham Clinton could win if she were nominated by the Democratic party. ___ AMERICANS NOT SEEING GOP VICTORY Among all people in the U.S., less than half view any of the Republican candidates as people who could win a general election. Bush and Trump are both seen as possible winners by 48 percent of Americans. That’s more than say so for any other Republican candidate, but far less than the 75 percent who say that Clinton could win the election if she is nominated on the Democratic side. Among Democratic registered voters, only one-third think Trump could win and one-quarter think Carson could. Nearly half see Bush as a general election opponent who could emerge victorious. ___ NOT HIGH ON EITHER PARTY’S CANDIDATES Among those questioned, every Republican candidate except Carson is viewed in a more negative than positive light. Just 31 percent of respondents have a favorable view of Trump, while 57 percent have an unfavorable view. More have an unfavorable than a favorable view of Bush, 48 percent to 26 percent. Opinions on Carson are about evenly split: 32 percent favorable, 31 percent unfavorable, 33 percent have no opinion. Rubio is also still largely an unknown name to people, with negative opinions outnumbering positive ones, 33 percent to 23 percent, but 4 in 10 still saying they don’t know enough to have an opinion. The poll shows that Clinton is also viewed more unfavorably than favorably, 48 percent to 41 percent. Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, like Carson, splits the public evenly, 32 percent favorable to 30 percent unfavorable, while 35 percent have no opinion. ___ The AP-GfK Poll of 1,027 adults was conducted online Oct. 15 to Oct. 19, using a sample drawn from GfK’s probability-based KnowledgePanel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. Respondents were first selected randomly using telephone or mail survey methods, and later interviewed online. People selected for KnowledgePanel who didn’t otherwise have access to the Internet were provided access at no cost to them. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
