Trumped by Trump, Republicans stumped for words

WASHINGTON -- The awkward efforts of Republicans to embrace their party’s standard-bearer Donald Trump looked particularly painful in Congress this week as lawmakers ducked into elevators, dashed away from reporters, ignored questions or, worse, tried to answer them.

Only days after a furor over his criticism of a Mexican-American judge, the presumptive presidential nominee sent Republicans reeling again by renewing his call for a ban on Muslim immigration after a gunman who pledged allegiance to Islamic militants killed of 49 people at a Florida nightclub.

Then former reality TV star Trump waded into two sensitive topics for social conservatives by embracing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and suggesting the country may need certain new gun control measures.

For lawmakers accustomed to well-crafted talking points and predictable lines of questioning, the week marked a chaotic flurry of contorted responses or terse, tight-lipped replies.

Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming walked away when asked about Trump's embrace of the LGBT community, saying: "I don’t know what the latest is. I haven’t read anything. I haven’t been watching."

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a former Trump adversary in the presidential primaries, had to bat away two Trump questions before he could announce that he is considering running for re-election -- a decision that could determine whether Republicans retain control of the Senate in the November 8 election.

Senator Ted Cruz, another rival in the primaries, refused to respond directly to the speech in which Trump hardened his line on Muslims while Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr called it “an OK speech” before stepping into an elevator and refusing to respond to any more questions.

The Trump challenge is obvious even for seasoned Republicans. 

"I'm spending my days commenting on everything that Donald Trump says," lamented John McCain, chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee.

Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, ricocheted from rejection of Trump’s comments on Muslims to doubts about the legality of his proposed immigration ban to bafflement over the billionaire’s response to the Orlando shootings.

'You can't make this up'

Trump controversies have also overshadowed House Speaker Paul Ryan’s rollout of a policy agenda, a campaign document that was supposed to help bring Trump’s position more into line with mainline party doctrine.

Asked on Thursday whether he was bothered by having to contend with Trump's remarks, Ryan called Trump "a different kind of candidate ... (in) a different kind of year."

Asked how many more times he would be called on to do so, Ryan said: "I don't know the answer to that question either."

In an ironic message to his critics among the Republican leadership this week, Trump had this to say: "Be quiet, just please be quiet. Don't talk. Please be quiet. Just be quiet.”

Ryan's response? "... You can't make this up sometimes," he said.

A political neophyte who has never held elected office, Trump has also said he may not need much from his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill anyway.

"We have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself. I’ll do very well,” he said in a CNN interview. “A lot of people thought I should do that anyway, but I'll just do it very nicely by myself." 

source: interaksyon.com

Tinder's Swipe the Vote gives users political 'match' in US presidential campaign

WASHINGTON DC - Tinder made a name for itself by getting users to "swipe" right or left to find a date. Now it wants to use that idea in the US presidential campaign.

The mobile dating app on Wednesday launched a feature called "Swipe the Vote" that allows users to respond to questions and find a political "match."

Questions include "Keep same-sex marriage legal?" and "Drill for oil and gas in the US?" and users are asked to swipe right or left depending on their answer.

The feature, developed with the nonprofit group Rock the Vote, aims to boost political engagement among young Americans and help them learn more about key issues. Those who want more information can tap on a question and see the details.

"Once you've swiped through ten of the hottest issues, you'll be matched with the candidate who best matches your views," Tinder said on its blog.

"We'll also show you how you compare with other candidates, too! From there, you can share who you matched with on social and -- most importantly -- easily register to vote with Rock the Vote."

The launch comes as some grassroots political activists, notably young women, are reportedly using Tinder to send messages to their matches promoting candidates such as Democrat Bernie Sanders or Republican Marco Rubio, who has now suspended his campaign.

"We've been amazed by the amount of users expressing their political views with matches during this presidential campaign," Tinder said on its blog.

"That's why we decided to build Swipe the Vote."

source: interaksyon.com

Trump, Cruz in 2-way Republican race; Sanders still in race in Democratic contest

WASHINGTON DC - Donald Trump kept a firm grip on his lead in the Republican race for the White House on Sunday but Senator Ted Cruz emerged as his strongest challenger in weekend primaries with mixed outcomes.

Hillary Clinton extended her frontrunner status in the Democratic contests but Senator Bernie Sanders showed he is still in the race with a few victories.

Sanders won the Maine Democratic caucuses, according to US media projections.

Clinton and Sanders also faced off in a televised debate in Flint, Michigan, just two days before a crucial primary in that delegate-rich northern industrial state.

They tackled the scandal surrounding the lead-contaminated water in the city, with Sanders railing against the "disgrace beyond belief" and both calling for more accountability.

Republicans saw a stormy week in which panicked party leaders trained their biggest guns on Trump, the billionaire who has galvanized disaffected voters with an anti-immigrant, anti-free trade campaign filled with insults, attacks on minorities, and mockery of the political establishment.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio won by a whopping 71 percent the Republican primary election in Puerto Rico, a US commonwealth where residents do not vote in November's general election.

But the victory -- only the second, after Minnesota, for Rubio -- hands the youthful Cuban American contender the 23 party convention delegates at play.

Trump now has 384 delegates to 300 for Cruz and 151 for Rubio. Kasich has 37 delegates.

To win the Republican nomination outright, a candidate must win 1,237 delegates.

Failure to hit that number would result in a Republican nominating convention in July that could require multiple rounds of voting by delegates, something not seen in decades but which could conceivably throw the race to someone other than Trump.

Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential nominee who denounced Trump as a "phony" and a "fraud" this week, said he expected to endorse one of the three other candidates before the party convention.

Asked if he would reject the nomination if drafted, Romney said such a scenario would be "absurd" but left the door open to it, in an interview with CBS's Face the Nation.

Pressure on Rubio
On Saturday, only ultra-conservative Cruz scored victories against Trump -- in Kansas and Maine. Trump won in Louisiana and Kentucky, but Cruz picked up more delegates overall.

Rubio picked up only a few delegates, unable to capitalize on the establishment assault on Trump, who called on Rubio to step aside.

"I would love to be able to take on Ted one on one," Trump said in Florida, minutes after winning in Kentucky on Saturday. "That will be easy."

Cruz also urged Rubio and Ohio Governor John Kasich to drop out, arguing that the anti-Trump vote will be split as long as they remain in the race.

"If we're divided, Donald wins," he warned. "The field needs to continue to narrow."

But both Rubio and Kasich were expected to stay in at least until the primaries in their winner-take-all home states.

The next big day on the electoral calendar is Tuesday, when Michigan and Mississippi have Democratic and Republican primaries.

Republican-only nominating contests also are being held that day in Idaho and Hawaii. Puerto Rico also holds a Republican primary on Sunday.

Clinton nearly halfway there

After Saturday's contests, Clinton had 1,121 delegates, nearly half the 2,383 needed to win the Democratic nomination.

The former secretary of state won in Louisiana, the biggest prize of the night, but Sanders won in Kansas and Nebraska, pushing his total to seven victories in 18 contests.

Clinton was favored in Louisiana thanks to overwhelming support from African-American voters, while Sanders has tended to do best in states with largely white voters.

"What we are seeing in many cases is not just a racial divide but a generational divide. We are doing better and better with younger people whether they're black, Latino, or white," Sanders said on CNN's "State of the Union" show.

"If the turnout is high in Maine today, I think we have a good chance of winning there as well. So I think we're showing strength all across this country."

End

source: interaksyon.com