Subject: Positive/Negative Clips 5.10.2016
From: "Price, Jenna" <[email-masked]>
To: "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>
Cc: "Palermo, Rachel" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 04:56:40 -0700

POSITIVE- DEMOCRATS

Loretta Lynch's Enlightened Defense of Transgender People<http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/loretta-lynchs-enlightened-defense-of-transgender-people/?_r=0>

NEW YORK TIMES // ERNESTO LONDONO

In announcing that the Justice Department has sued North Carolina over its discriminatory transgender restroom law, Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday delved into far more than the legal issues at hand. She put the current battle over laws that seek to regulate which restrooms transgender people may use in historical context and assured transgender people that history is on their side. Ms. Lynch noted that major civil rights victories have triggered backlashes. She mentioned the Jim Crow laws that came after the Emancipation Proclamation; the widespread resistance to implement the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that found segregated schools unconstitutional; and the state laws that prevented same-sex couples from marrying in much of the country until last year.

NEGATIVE-REPUBLICANS

The many ways Republicans are distancing themselves from Trump<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-many-ways-republicans-are-distancing-themselves-from-trump/2016/05/09/3e780d42-1629-11e6-9e16-2e5a123aac62_story.html>
WASHINGTON POST // DANA MILBANK
There must be 50 ways to leave your leader. Some slip out the back. "In this election, I do not support either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.). Some are making new plans. "I cannot support Donald Trump," said Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), calling for a third-party choice. A few are being coy. "Conventions have never been very appealing to me," said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), explaining why he would miss this summer's. Others on this bus won't discuss much. "I'm not going to take any more stupid questions about Donald Trump," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R ) said, explaining that he was not endorsing any candidate. The rest drop off the key - "I don't think he has the temperament or judgment to be commander in chief," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) - and get themselves free. There is a mass displeasure with Trump among elected Republican officials. But each seems to have a different way of expressing the disdain.

Poll: Trump nomination sparks more fear than hope<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/poll-trump-nomination-fear-223000>
POLITICO // NOLAN D. MCCASKILL
The fact that Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party scares voters more than it surprises them, according to an NBC Neww/SurveyMonkey poll released Tuesday. Forty-seven percent of respondents said their reaction to Trump becoming the presumptive nominee was fear. Just 26 percent said they were hopeful, while another 21 percent said they were angry and 16 percent were surprised. Thirty-five percent of respondents would be scared to see Hillary Clinton win the Democratic presidential nomination, while 29 percent would be hopeful, 22 percent would be angry and just 7 percent would be surprised. The former secretary of state tops Bernie Sanders in the national poll by 12 percentage points among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, 53 percent to 41 percent with 5 percent undecided. Sanders has closed the gap by 2 points in the past week. Despite that, however, voters overwhelmingly believe Clinton will ultimately clinch the nomination. Eighty-four percent said they think Clinton will win the nomination, while just 15 percent believe Sanders can still win.

The Making of an Ignoramus<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/opinion/the-making-of-an-ignoramus.html?ref=opinion>
NEW YORK TIMES // PAUL KRUGMAN
Truly, Donald Trump knows nothing. He is more ignorant about policy than you can possibly imagine, even when you take into account the fact that he is more ignorant than you can possibly imagine. But his ignorance isn't as unique as it may seem: In many ways, he's just doing a clumsy job of channeling nonsense widely popular in his party, and to some extent in the chattering classes more generally. Last week the presumptive Republican presidential nominee - hard to believe, but there it is - finally revealed his plan to make America great again. Basically, it involves running the country like a failing casino: he could, he asserted, "make a deal" with creditors that would reduce the debt burden if his outlandish promises of economic growth don't work out. The reaction from everyone who knows anything about finance or economics was a mix of amazed horror and horrified amazement. One does not casually suggest throwing away America's carefully cultivated reputation as the world's most scrupulous debtor - a reputation that dates all the way back to Alexander Hamilton.

Republicans Return to Congress Facing Unavoidable Issue: Donald Trump<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/us/politics/republicans-return-to-congress-facing-unavoidable-issue-donald-trump.html>

NEW YORK TIMES // JENNIFER STEINHAUER

As the House and Senate return in full from a recess on Tuesday, Republican lawmakers may try to run - and some will - but they cannot hide from the question that is likely to dog them until Election Day: How do they solve a problem like Donald J. Trump? Republican members of Congress, guided by a complicated soup of regional interests, constituent pressure and inner moral voices, will be hard pressed to avoid taking a position on Mr. Trump now that he is their presumptive presidential nominee. While lawmakers were on recess last week, Mr. Trump seized control of the Republican Party after winning the Indiana primary and pushing his last rivals out of the race. But the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, has said he was "not ready" to endorse him, expressing concerns about his tone and values.