Subject: Stitch — Threat Level Rising for Ryan and Trump, Ben Rhodes Defends Himself, Sidewire Chats Feature Rodell Mollineau, Ron Christie & Bob Shrum
From: Jonathan Allen <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 May 2016 12:57:00 +0000
List-Id: dff5dea186e38c29c57ca6f8fmc list <dff5dea186e38c29c57ca6f8f.326717.list-id.mcsv.net>

** WHAT'S THE STITCH?
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Stitch is a morning news speed-read highlighting the work and insights of Newsmakers that is followed by a daily chat on hot political topics.

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** TODAY'S SIDEWIRE CHATS
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* At 10 a.m. Eastern, Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau joins Stitch to talk about the presidential campaign and the battle for control of the Senate.
* At 12 p.m. Eastern, Republican strategist RON CHRISTIE hosts Democratic strategist BOB SHRUM to talk about politics.

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**

POLITICAL THREATS AGAINST RYAN ARE MOUNTING ...
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In separate interviews on Sunday political talk shows, Donald Trumprefused to rule out removing House Speaker Paul Ryan as chairman of the Republican convention and Trump ally Sarah Palin said she would do everything she could to help the Wisconsin congressman's primary opponent.
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"If he can't endorse you, do you think he should be chair of the convention?"

—Chuck Todd/"Meet the Press," NBC

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"I don't want to mention now. I'll see after. I will give you a very solid answer, if that happens, about one minute after that happens. Okay? But there's no reason to give it right now."

—Donald Trump/"Meet the Press"/NBC

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Palin went even further in an interview with Jake Tapper for CNN's "State of the Union," issuing a fusillade of threats and taunts about what political fate might befall Ryan if he doesn't get on board the Trump train. They included a reference to the primary defeat suffered by then-Majority Leader ERIC CANTOR at the hands of previously unheard of Tea Party challenger Dave Brat in 2014.
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"His political career is over but for a miracle. ... I think Paul Ryan is soon to be ‘Cantored,’ as in Eric Cantor."

—Sarah Palin/CNN's "State of the Union"

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** ... BUT THE POLITICAL THREATS AGAINST TRUMP ARE MOUNTING FASTER ...
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Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, an ally of onetime Trump rival Ted Cruz, is quickly emerging as one of the leading voices warning Trump that he's too far from party orthodoxy to expect the backing of the party.

Perkins is all over the news this morning, appearing in a story by JEREMY PETERS for the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/us/politics/donald-trumps-warning-to-paul-ryan-signals-further-gop-discord.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news)  and another by ALAN FRAM of the Associated Press (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5de8bda358244fcba07870f03a3452eb/stunned-trump-foes-face-diminished-options-gop-convention)  (who was assisted by JULIE PACE & THOMAS BEAUMONT).
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"The margins he has to work with in terms of electoral success are very small. ... Now, not only do you have indifference, you have outright resistance to his candidacy."

—Tony Perkins/NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/us/politics/donald-trumps-warning-to-paul-ryan-signals-further-gop-discord.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news)

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"If the party walks away from any of its clearly cut social, family values issues, it will be an issue. ... We're not just going to fall in line because he's the nominee."

—Perkins/AP (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5de8bda358244fcba07870f03a3452eb/stunned-trump-foes-face-diminished-options-gop-convention)

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IT'S A PROBLEM THAT RUNS MUCH DEEPER than Perkins among evangelical Christians, as KATIE ZEZIMA reports in a Washington Post story about religious leaders who find Trump anathema to their values. It's hard for some of them to take a lesser-of-the-evils approach to voting, GARY FULLER, the pastor at Gentle Shepherd Baptist Church in Lincoln, Neb., told Katie.
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"I got the idea of ‘Who would Jesus have voted for, Herod or Pilate?’ and probably neither one, and that’s where I feel we’re at here."

—Gary Fuller/Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/theres-nobody-left-evangelicals-feel-abandoned-by-gop-after-trumps-ascent/2016/05/08/a133991e-130f-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_gopevangelicals810p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory)

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THE MONEY WING OF THE GOP faces a similar dilemma, according to The Boston Globe's VICTORIA McGRANE. Vicki reports that Wall Street is torn over whether to back Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton in November, in large part because Trump is perceived to be courting potentially catastrophic policies. In particular, his suggestion last week that the U.S. could cut its debt by forcing creditors to renegotiate terms raised eyebrows in the financial sector.

The aforementioned ERIC CANTOR, now vice chairman of investment bank Moelis & Co., is backing Trump — but he doesn't sound terribly enthusiastic about it in Vicki's story.
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"They’re looking at a Trump-Clinton election as probably not the best choice for anybody. ... He’s a businessman . . . [but] he’s been on so many sides of every issue that you never know."

—Eric Cantor/Boston Globe (https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/05/08/wall-street-befuddled-alarmed-donald-trump-and-may-turn-democratic-ticket/T1o4HZYA8pryPuMmxz71xJ/story.html)

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FORMER TREASURY OFFICIAL Tony Fratto, a founding partner of the Washington consulting firm Hamilton Place Strategies, explained why some Republicans in finance are reluctant to back Trump.
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"Even if you suspect Trump might win, if you contribute to his campaign, you’re buying a ticket on the crazy train. ... You own everything that he does."

—Tony Fratto/Boston Globe (https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/05/08/wall-street-befuddled-alarmed-donald-trump-and-may-turn-democratic-ticket/T1o4HZYA8pryPuMmxz71xJ/story.html)

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** ... AND THAT EXPLAINS A SECONDARY PROBLEM FOR TRUMP: HIRING
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DARREN SAMUELSOHN & BEN WHITE write in Politico that Trump would have trouble filling an administration because many of the veteran policy hands a Republican president would normally hire won't work for him.
LANHEE CHEN of the Hoover Institution, who advised Mitt Romney on policy in 2012, declined to tell Politico whether he would work for Trump or not, but he explained the thinking of some of the party's policy community.
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"My view is it would be very challenging for a lot of mainstream policy folks to envision working in an administration for somebody who has said some of the things Trump has said during the campaign."

—Lanhee Chen/Politico (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-administration-transition-222944#ixzz489OKOaeg)

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**
TRIVIAL PURSUITS
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ABOUT TODAY
Author J.M. Barrie, who gave us Peter Pan, was born on this day in 1860.

ONE THING TO KNOW ABOUT SPORTS TODAY
LeBron James hit a key shot (http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400875768)  with 39 seconds left to go as the Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to the NBA's Eastern Conference semi-finals by defeating the Atlanta Hawks 100-99 Sunday, capping a 4-0 series victory.

ONE THING TO KNOW ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT TODAY
"Captain America: Civil War" had the fifth-biggest opening ever (http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/05/08/box-office-captain-america-civil-war/83968522/) , racking up $181.8 million at the box office this weekend.

YESTERDAY'S TRIVIA
The three Republicans who supported Theodore Roosevelt on the Bull Moose ticket in 1912 but subsequently won the Republican nomination for president or vice president were: Herbert Hoover '28 and '32, Alf Landon '36, and Frank Knox (VP) '36.

TODAY'S TRIVIA
Name the former deputy national security advisers to the president who later became secretary of State or secretary of Defense.

Send answers to [email-masked]. The first person to respond correctly wins an emoji-free version of Stitch on Tuesday and the right to pose a trivia question.
PLEASE SEND TIPS, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to [email-masked].

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**

BEN RHODES DEFENDS HIMSELF IN MEDIUM POST
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The juiciest insider drama in Washington right now just got a little more interesting, as Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, defended himself and the Iran nuclear deal in a Medium Post last night (https://medium.com/@rhodes44/how-we-advocated-for-the-iran-deal-55e927fa9de5#.twooywf4z) .

Rhodes is smart enough to know that writing about the controversy he's embroiled in will give it even more currency. Rhodes' decision to ignore the risk of adding fuel to the fire suggests he knows his reputation — and that of the Obama foreign policy legacy he's tried to build — are on the line.

His defense of himself is encased in a defense of the Iran deal, which could have the effect of rallying the agreement's supporters to his side.

HERE IS HOW IT'S ALL PLAYED OUT

ACT I — A New York Times magazine profile (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/c15781693dcd6b903ed25dd050e1c21a)  by David Samuels cast Rhodes as a master manipulator of the public and the press on an Iran nuclear deal that was, in addition to its own merits, a trojan horse for a plan to disentangle the U.S. from the Middle East.

It created quite a stir in foreign policy circles — in part because of the way Rhodes and his team ridiculed anyone outside their tight-knit circle of self-styled disestablishmentarians, including some of the journalists and think-tankers who supported their view.

ACT II — Bloomberg's ELI LAKE wrote a response contending that Rhodes and Obama are, in fact, exactly the kind of establishment thinkers (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/2807b1f365e908e2f2e6a5bcdba6ab99)  they abhor.

ACT III — ELI and TOMMY VIETOR, who shared an office with Rhodes in the White House, debated the profile of Rhodes and Eli's column in a Sidewire Chat yesterday afternoon.
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"All White Houses spin. But what comes across is that Ben and Obama hold their critics in contempt. And this was the main argument over the summer. If you don't want the deal, you want war. That short circuits the debate."

—Eli Lake/Sidewire (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/2807b1f365e908e2f2e6a5bcdba6ab99/commentary/a4d71a95-efe8-4bae-bbc9-da60f53d6b0c)

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"Ben was bragging about this. He was bragging how he drove the critics nuts and how he he gave all these experts their talking points."

—Eli Lake/Sidewire (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/2807b1f365e908e2f2e6a5bcdba6ab99/commentary/33c66e3a-f9dc-428e-b9ff-4abd0dc2376f)

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"The White House had a strong point of view and they argued it. The other side had a strong point of view, and they argued it in much more apocalyptic terms, in my opinion. Words like 'contempt' were used by Samuels, not Ben."

—Tommy Vietor/Sidewire (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/2807b1f365e908e2f2e6a5bcdba6ab99/commentary/69f68ecc-524a-4859-b44f-8eae7ed94bb2)

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"He was explaining the process of how they communicated the deal. It is what it is. The experts he was referring to often agree with them on this policy. The WH simply briefed them on what was going on in the talks."

—Tommy Vietor/Sidewire (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/2807b1f365e908e2f2e6a5bcdba6ab99/commentary/140570c7-9102-4f80-b38d-236db646e29c)

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Click here (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/2807b1f365e908e2f2e6a5bcdba6ab99)  for the full Sidewire Chat between Eli and Tommy (and featuring a cameo from Bloomberg's Josh Rogin).

ACT IV — Rhodes writes a Medium post Sunday asserting that 1) "We never made any secret of our interest in pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran" 2) "we did aggressively make the case for the Iran deal during the congressional review mandated by statute last summer, as it was imperative that the facts of the deal be understood for it to be implemented" and 3) "there was no shortage of good reporting and analysis — positive, negative, and mixed — about the Iran deal."

None of those major points has been in dispute.

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THE BIG QUESTION

Would Trump really have trouble filling an administration if he wins the presidency or would the best and brightest be drawn to trying to ensure the country is run well?

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