Subject: Stitch — GOP MAINSTREAM BEGINS TO ACCEPT TRUMP, THE FIGHT OVER TRUMP'S 'WOMAN CARD' LINE OF ATTACK, WHCD JOKE-WRITERS' LIVE CHAT
From: Jonathan Allen <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 12:26:34 +0000
List-Id: dff5dea186e38c29c57ca6f8fmc list <dff5dea186e38c29c57ca6f8f.326717.list-id.mcsv.net>

** THE BIG QUESTION

What's the best strategy for each of the likely nominees of the parties to pursue in dealing with their gender difference?

RESIGNED OR EXCITED, REPUBLICANS START TO ACCEPT TRUMP
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SIOBHAN HUGHES & BETH REINHARD, along with Wall Street Journal colleague Kristina Peterson, report (http://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-lawmakers-warm-to-trump-1461884797?tesla=y)  that Republicans on Capitol Hill are starting to accept the idea that Donald Trump will be the party's nominee in November.
* House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster and Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller endorsed Trump yesterday.

RAUL LABRADOR, an Idaho Republican who backs Ted Cruz, explained the conundrum for GOP leaders who haven't been supportive of Trump yet.
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"That’s the issue, is that most of these people are our voters ... Trump seems to be a larger than life figure. He took it to the media. He took it to his detractors. He did it in a way that I don’t necessarily like, but he did it in a way that he showed some strength and some force, and that’s what they’re asking us to do.”

—Raul Labrador/WSJ (http://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-lawmakers-warm-to-trump-1461884797?tesla=y)

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PHIL RUCKER broadens the story in the Washington Post by talking to GOP leaders and consultants around the country, and they're perhaps quicker to get to their point than members of Congress: It's time to finish the fight.
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"The lion’s share of Republicans want the process settled ... There’s anxiety setting in about the process, and that’s what people are tired of. They just want it done, they want the fighting to stop, and they want a general-election campaign to begin in a meaningful way.”

—N.H. GOP strategist Mike Dennehy/WaPo (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-elites-are-now-resigned-to-donald-trump-as-their-nominee/2016/04/28/7ee8cf72-0cbc-11e6-a6b6-2e6de3695b0e_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trump-gop-615pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory)

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And there's a REED GALEN citing in Phil's story:
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"Is it a done deal? It's certainly looking that way."

—Reed Galen/WaPo (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-elites-are-now-resigned-to-donald-trump-as-their-nominee/2016/04/28/7ee8cf72-0cbc-11e6-a6b6-2e6de3695b0e_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trump-gop-615pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory)

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In the Stitch live chat yesterday morning, FORMER RNC CHAIRMAN MICHAEL STEELE talked about the challenge for Trump as he tries to get the party to fully embrace him.
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"The toughest stage in the Stages of Grief is acceptance. Trump is starting to what he can to help them through that. My bet is it may take a while. Those with hair on fire about Trump, well that's a fire that won't go out."

—Michael Steele/Sidewire (https://pass.sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/ad5b819ad67d7dc27fd7f94d550e3df5/commentary/fa59b726-8be2-4f26-9666-dac3191486cf)

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** CAN TRUMP ATTACKS ON CLINTON'S 'WOMAN CARD' WORK?
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TRUMP pivoted to the general election this week by saying that Hillary Clinton's only play is the "woman card" and that "If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she'd get 5 percent of the vote."

As AMY CHOZICK & ASHLEY PARKER report for the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-women.html?ref=politics&_r=0) , Democrats and some Republicans believe that Trump, who is deeply unpopular with women across the political spectrum, is digging himself a hole while some Republicans, including the head of a Ted Cruz superPAC think he has to counter one of her strengths to try to neutralize it.
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"By taking gender head-on, Trump refuses to cede women voters and so-called women’s issues to Hillary just because she is a woman ... He is ‘Swiftboating’ her by throwing shade on what should be a strength.”

—GOP strategist Kellyanne Conway/NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-women.html?ref=politics&_r=0)

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JESS McINTOSH of EMILY'S List argues in the story that Trump is making a big mistake.
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"It seems like a real strategic misstep for him, considering he has unprecedented problems with women in his own party.”

—Jess McIntosh/NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-women.html?ref=politics&_r=0)

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It makes sense to go after an opponent's strengths or perceived strengths,but a candidate risks his or her own credibility by going after a rival's strengths if voters decide the rival actually is strong in the area under attack. In that case, such attacks can backfire.

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**
TRIVIAL PURSUITS
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ABOUT TODAY
Prince William and Catherine Middleton celebrate their 5th anniversary today.

YESTERDAY'S TRIVIA
Sens. Mitch McConnell and Richard Shelby were both born in Sheffield, Ala.

TODAY'S TRIVIA
Courtesy of Sal Weir, who won earlier this week: name the Civil War Union general who has a historically black college named after him.

Send answers to [email-masked]. The first person to respond correctly wins shouts of joy and the right to ask tomorrow's trivia question.

PLEASE SEND TIPS, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections anditems you'd like signed by White House Correspondents Dinner attendees to [email-masked].

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**

THE 'SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP' PODCAST
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Mic's CELESTE KATZ is teaming up with the Economist's JOHN PRIDEAUXfor a regular podcast, called "Special Relationship." that looks at the 2016 U.S. presidential election as a "global event."
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"The first episode of 'Special Relationship' looks at how other countries have responded to terrorist attacks on their soil, and looks at how fears about terrorism have shaped the campaign so far. The idea is then to stand back a bit and ask whether what is happening in this race is really so different from the politics of other countries. Sometimes the answer to that seems surprising."

—Celeste Katz & John Prideaux/The Hill (http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/presidential-campaign/277928-a-global-perspective-to-the-2016-election)

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* Click here (https://mic.com/articles/142094/listen-to-episode-1-of-special-relationship-a-podcast-from-mic-and-the-economist#.ctkH6LhVg)  for the first installment.

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**
LIVE CHAT: FAVREAU, LOVETT AND VIETOR ON WHCD SPEECHES
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The annual White House Correspondents Association dinner is known as "nerd prom" in D.C.. That's because it's the one night of the year on whichreporters dress like adults, pretend to be socially acceptable and rub elbows with both the people they cover and some honest-to-goodness celebrities.

The best part is that the president turns into a comedian for a night and roasts the press, himself, his aides and occasionally a billionaire known as "The Donald."

ON SIDEWIRE YESTERDAY, three former Obama aides — speechwritersJon Favreau and Jon Lovett and spokesman Tommy Vietor — held a rapid-fire live chat previewing Saturday's dinner and how the president's jokes come together each year. Click here (https://pass.sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/cfc5ddf97d343d9ba690c30e82229957)  for the full chat and/or scroll down for some highlights.
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"We start by gathering jokes from some very funny people - in politics, in comedy, in show business, etc. We get a list of a few hundred, and then start winnowing them down to the best/most usable."

—Jon Favreau/Sidewire (https://pass.sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/cfc5ddf97d343d9ba690c30e82229957/commentary/5fdd1aef-6476-4f2d-969c-2a3b65b67b55)

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"At some point, we compile them into a speech that makes sense, and then send to the President, who crosses out a few, adds a few, and generally tells us to be funnier."

—Jon Favreau/Sidewire (https://pass.sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/cfc5ddf97d343d9ba690c30e82229957/commentary/ddbcb196-bb07-4456-8dfd-073314013138)

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"My favorite part of the joke process is going through the draft and removing jokes by other people and replacing them with my own, for my benefit and for the benefit of the COUNTRY."

—Jon Lovett/Sidewire (https://pass.sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/cfc5ddf97d343d9ba690c30e82229957/commentary/0705e5ff-0b93-4e18-b5f1-2ffca1281008)

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"Obama's usually willing to go along with any and all self-deprecation: his hair, his ears, his poll numbers, his aloof condescension, his foreign birthplace, etc."

—Jon Favreau/Sidewire (https://pass.sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/cfc5ddf97d343d9ba690c30e82229957/commentary/0fe5a54b-5690-4c40-b875-a5828d912144)

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"I also think Obama, unlike past Presidents, prefers jokes that are targeted at younger people. So he ends up delivering stuff that the general public actually laughs at and it ends up living on the internet for a while."

—Tommy Vietor/Sidewire (https://pass.sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/cfc5ddf97d343d9ba690c30e82229957/commentary/cea4fa73-8744-4780-8af6-9d72b3574db9)

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**
STITCH LIVE CHAT: MARY KATE CARY
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THE WHCD speech is one of the topics we'll cover in a Stitch live chat with former George H.W. Bush speechwriter MARY KATE CARY at 10 a.m. ET today in the Sidewire app.

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