RationalWiki:What is going on with the elections?/June 2016

June 2016
Trump has accused Obama of "abusing" Israel. Thomas Piketty has resigned from his position in the Labour party. His resignation is unrelated to Brexit. British PM race is shaken up: Michael Gove does an about-face and enters the race, prompting Boris Johnson to withdraw. The favorite now appears to be Theresa May, who opposed Brexit. Trump campaign hits up foreign politicians for donations. One little problem: it's illegal for U.S. political campaigns to accept donations from outside the U.S. This is probably ineptitude, as the contractor doing the fundraising has made other screwups. Priorities USA, Clinton's main Super PAC, has taken $200K in banned donations. Trump renews calls for the US to use torture after the Istanbul airport bombing. 60 Black Democrats, led by Bakari Sellers, wrote a letter opposing Cornel West's, James Zogby's, and Bernie Sanders's amendment to the DNC's platform that calls for then end of Israel's occupation of Palestine. Hillary Clinton's answer to the problem of college debt? Deferrals for startup founders. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that a huge chunk of Trump supporters have a negative opinion of black people. Now who would've thought that! Zephyr Teachout has won her primary in New York. A Bernie Sanders staffer pitched using double-sided coins for breaking ties in Democratic presidential caucuses in Nevada. Trump has given less than $10,000 in 7 years. Icelandic history professor, Guðni Jóhannesson, has been elected president. Jeremy Corbyn has lost the no-confidence vote among Labour MPs. (Not that he ever at any time had their confidence, having been foisted upon them by those hundreds of thousands of plebs in the rank and file.) A new WaPo poll shows Clinton with a 12 point lead over Trump. Most voters view Trump as biased against minorities but would be willing to vote for him anyway because most of them want to change the status quo in Washington. The Popular party wins the Spanish election but still doesn't have a voting majority. The Socialists (PSOE) remain the official opposition at 85 seats after they refused to create a coalition government. Podemos Unidos (leftist) has gained 71 seats and Ciudadanos (centrist) has gained 32 seats. With 137 out of 350 seats PP would need a coalition partner to form a majority as would Podemos and PSOE who even together have no majority. Ciudadanos and PP would not have a majority either, but a three party coalition of any of those mentioned would Bernie Sanders writing for the Washington Post: Here's what we want. But that this is not comprehensive, as he left out some major items. A Short Summary of the Lesser-Known Australian Political Parties (so not Labor, Liberal/Nationals, or Greens). (Any RW editors in Australia want to write up a science and skepticism-focused one?) Jeremy Corbyn will reshape his shadow cabinet and fight to stay as Labour's leader despite a coup attempt. The DNC has rejected Sanders's platform proposal calling for the end of Israeli occupation and illegal settlement building in Palestine. Update: The DNC has adopted proposals to support a $15 minimum wage, abolish the death penalty, support a two-state solution to the I-P conflict, expanding Social Security, and to reinstate a modernized version of Glass-Steagall. However, the DNC has rejected proposals on creating a carbon tax, rejecting the TPP, banning fracking, tying the minimum wage to inflation, and instituting single-payer health care. Sam Seder debates failed Libertarian candidate, Darryl Perry. New York Democrats have made Andrew Cuomo delegation chair. During this event, a man, who is a Clinton delegate, assaulted a woman, who is a Bernie delegate. The Don endorses The Donald Sanders: "It doesn’t appear that I'm going to be the nominee" Democrats clash over the issue of Palestine. Some conservatives aren't even trying to pretend anymore. Whelp, Trump's now accused of violently raping a 13 year old. Somehow I think we'll keep seeing "Clinton's a criminal" though. Trump sucks up to the Religious Right: "Hey guys, the First Amendment is lame. Vote for me and I'll get rid of it!" One person not buying it is (founder of Patrick Henry College), who called out evangelical leaders for being essentially an arm of the Republican Party (Christian Post op-ed). Trump begins to try to pick up the evangelical vote. His "Evangelical Executive Advisory Board" includes Michelle Bachmann and Jerry Falwell Jr. Sanders's pick to replace DWS, Tim Canova, goes full conspiracy in his Reddit AMA. Trump campaign has paid $35,000 to "Draper Sterling" ad agency Wall Street donors seek to block Warren VP pick, which is silly as Warren can be more powerful as a senator than a Vice President. Bernie Sanders has garnered more votes from young people than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump combined. A few weeks ago, The Bern Report and other Sanders supporters started circulating a "Stanford study" claiming electoral fraud in the Democratic primary. Turns out, A) it wasn't a study, but a non-peer-reviewed paper, B) it was done by two graduate students in psychology, not political science, statistics, or other relevant fields, and C) the paper's methodology is flawed, and the effects disappear with better controls(Alternative analysis ending with same point). Donald Trump to campaign manager Corey Lewandowski: You're fired!  Fearing the dilution of minority voting strength, the Congressional Low-Information Black Caucus voted unanimously to oppose any suggestion or idea to eliminate Superdelegates and the creation of uniform open primaries in all states. Low-Info Rep. Emanuel Cleaver: "You're going to see the same thing with the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. Mr. Sanders, if he had met with either or what's called the tri-caucus, he would have found out there is no flexibility." One group of BernieBros are practicing "hassle lines" to harass Clinton delegates at the DNC Convention while other BernieBros are simulating getting arrested by cops. I'm not saying Donald Trump has tiny hands. But important questions have been raised, and they can't be ignored. The American people deserve to know his hand measurements. As the number of Republicans saying they won't support Trump continues to grow, and Paul Ryan essentially gives Republicans the green light to disavow him, a group of Republican delegates are attempting a last-ditch scheme to deny Trump the nomination. Who knows if it will go anywhere, but the fact that it's even happening is something. New poll puts Trump's unfavorable rating at 70 percent. With Hispanics it's 89 percent. Republican leaders will be breaking out in cold sweats about now. In the same poll, Hillary's unfavorable rating is at 55 percent. Anti-abortionist and Bernie Sanders Superdelegate Marcy Kaptur peddles the "Trump is a Clinton plant" conspiracy theory. Matt Taibbi worries that democrats will learn all the wrong lessons from their brush with Bernie. Croatia government falls as its PM loses a no-confidence vote. Sanders loses convention leverage. "...it's the one thing he’s been bleeding every day ever since he dropped California’s primary by a much wider-than-expected margin last week." Julian Assange said WikiLeaks is preparing to publish more of Clinton's emails. Update: [http://www.inquisitr.com/3209612/guccifer-2-0-documents-allegedly-reveal-dnc-collusion-with-clinton-mainstream-media/ A hacker cracker who calls himself Guccifer 2.0. got into the DNC's servers and stole thousands of documents, which he has sent to WikiLeaks]. (The unverfied documents in question.) How to cover Donald Trump fairly: A style guide by WaPo. #7: "Two words: LARGE HANDS" The pros and cons of Clinton's possible VP picks Bernie announces he's ready to work with Hillary. His more rabid supporters react in a calm and polite way call him a sell-out. Donald Trump takes a nosedive in the polls (a source that's not a youtube video) Brexit campaign turns the Britishness up to eleven with a naval battle on the Thames. Gaze into the abyss Russian hackers have stolen files from the DNC's servers. Both presidential frontrunners agree, bombing the Middle East more and increasing mass surveillance are "solutions" to terrorism. WSJ notes Clinton has 17 point lead when asked who would better handle a crisis. In all probability, Google has been manipulating search results in favor of Hillary Clinton. Or, maybe it hasn't done anything of the sort. Here is the video in question. Most Democrats do not want Bernie Sanders to simply return to obscurity. Utah poll shows Hillary and Trump tied at 35. That's the second poll in a week that has Hillary within the margin of error in Utah. Donald Trump plans Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Dana White to speak on his behalf at GOP Convention Mitt Romney is considering voting Libertarian. Trump's only supporter among former GOP presidents and candidates is Bob Dole. Hillary Clinton Is 2016’s Real Conservative—Not Donald Trump,by neocon Jamie Kirchick: "Clinton is the candidate of the status quo" Sanders campaign accused Hillary Clinton of “looting” her joint fundraising committee to fund her presidential campaign; she did have similar “slush fund” in 2008-09 Top Sanders' surrogate Nina Turner is now attacking Warren Elizabeth Warren endorses Hillary Clinton for president. She's also a superdelegate. Here is Bernie Sanders's statement after meeting with Barack Obama. President Barack Obama endorses Hillary Clinton for president. He's also another superdelegate. Hillary Clinton may well be the first female nominee from a major American political party, but by no means the first. Jeff Weaver: "No one is the nominee" Republican Walter Jones, the noted Iraq war critic, has won a NC house primary. The AP's decision to call the Democratic primary early may have lowered the turnout. A Minnesota Republican has attacked her Democratic opponent for being a lesbian and half-black. Obama: Sanders made Clinton a better candidate. Two women of color, who happen to be Democrats, will face off to replace Barbara Boxer. In an e-mail sent to his supporters, Bernie Sanders reiterated his refusal to back down. Internal e-mails obtained by POLITICO reveal a peek at the recent state of mind inside the Bernie Sanders campaign. It's not a pretty picture. Bernie was perfectly fine with counting superdelegates before they voted when he called on Hillary to drop out back in 2008 The AP survey was the perfect end to the Democratic primary. Renee Ellmers loses the North Carolina GOP primary. The Trumpster fire keeps burning as Senator Mark Kirk withdraws his endorsement of Trump. Lindsey Graham calls Trump's comments "un-American" and says other Republicans should withdraw their endorsements. So, over/under on the RNC just canceling the convention and putting Paul Ryan on the ballot instead? Dick Morris is in talks to join the Trump campaign. Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh pleaaassseee. Hillary Clinton has clinched Democratic nomination, AP survey reports The Trump campaign continues to be a disaster, with a yuuuge lack of manpower and top staff sabotaging each other. In standard narcissist fashion, Trump responds by bragging about his money-saving campaign. The national media is still counting the superdelegates' endorsements as votes even though the DNC has instructed them not to. Hats off to them for refusing to bow to political pressure from the DNC. Utah General Election: Trump (R) 29% (+3) Clinton (D) 26% Johnson (L) 16% (Romney won UT by 48%)...but there's still five months to go and we haven't had the conventions yet, ... but then again this is the Donald, he's still got time to make it even worse for him. Trump has been involved in 3,500 lawsuits. The dangers of a Trump presidency for international relations via Politico. Bernie Sanders tried to take the stage at a Spanish-language festival at Plaza Mexico. He was denied after a staffer told him that: "This is OUR event". Democratic Party of Puerto Rico tells that the Sanders campaign is the one that requested a cut in the number of polling stations, due to not having enough volunteers to monitor count. The Sanders campaign responds with a "No u!", even though his campaign was already criticized back in May over a lack of resources for staff and volunteers. Hillary Clinton steals the Puerto Rico primary. Wait a second... if she's so good at this, maybe we should let her steal the election from Trump too.

Prominent Republicans make the Sunday talk show rounds to tell Trump to knock it off with the Mexican judges stuff. Trump promptly flips them the bird and says hey, you know, Muslim judges, not so great either! How many weeks left before the party officially splits? Cenk Uygur whines that Bernie would have had a better chance were the media kept the opinion of Superdelegates a secret, blows up when the CNN host says it's historic for a woman to become President of the US. The secret of Donald Trump's success: he's the Food Babe of politics. Nate Silver comments on the upcoming primary in California:"...while the polls could be off by enough for Sanders to win California they could also be off in the other direction, meaning that Clinton could win by 15 to 20 percentage points. In 2008, Clinton significantly outperformed her polls in California, in part by winning the Hispanic vote 2-to-1 over Barack Obama." Puerto Rico Dems slam the Sanders campaign for crying 'fraud'. The Sanders campaign has been accused of stealing ballot boxes with votes casted by prisoners. Low-info voters in the Virgin Islands overwhelmingly vote to join the Confederacy It is possible that the Achen and Bartels study in the New York Times about Bernie supporters' motives may not have the best methodology. Hillary Clinton's lead over Bernie Sanders in the polls in California has vanished while some superdelegates who have voiced their support for Clintonare seriously thinking about switching to Sanders. Update: A few superdelegates have come out to support Sanders. Do Sanders Supporters Favor His Policies? Commentators who have been ready and willing to attribute Donald Trump’s success to anger, authoritarianism, or racism rather than policy issues have taken little note of the extent to which Mr. Sanders’s support is concentrated not among liberal ideologues but among disaffected white men. Hillary Clinton has now a double-digit lead over Donald Trump. Things are only going to get ugly for Trump once Bernie drops out. Puerto Rico slashes polling places for the Democratic primary. Another reason why not to trust infographics. Trump tweeted out an infographic with nine charts claiming Obama's presidency was a failure. They were fact-checked. (Spoiler: the charts are misleading and/or wrong.) The General Election begins as Hillary Clinton eviscerates Donald Trump in her best speech yet With the Democratic candidates separated by 270 pledged delegates, and 714 unpledged delegates (of which Clinton must win some 65% to avoid a contested Convention - which she will probably refer to as a security review) up for grabs on June 7th in six state contests, only one of which is in the Eastern Time Zone, media plans to announce Clinton's nomination as NJ polls close with three hours yet to go in CA. Let's hope this doesn't cause problems turning out Clinton's voter-base. Bernie Sanders' factually incorrect delegate math earns him three Pinocchios from The Washington Post's Fact Checker Federal Court judge rejects bid by Bernie Sanders supporters for injunction in California primary. Good job, BernieBros, for wasting time and money on yet another frivolous lawsuit.

[http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/sanders-ratchets-up-attacks-on-democrats-697117763528 Chris Matthews asked Jeff Weaver why he thinks Trump wont release his tax returns. It was an obvious setup but Jeff still responded saying there is obviously something Trump is trying to hide and that he needs to release them. Chris then hit him with the "so what is Bernie hiding?"] Bill Clinton gave a six-figure speech to a controversial vulture fund as his wife ran for President. Sanders has accused the DNC of keeping labor union representation off the platform committee. His accusation turns out to be another lie, as he doesn't count Paul Booth for being nominated by Hillary. Also, he tries to push in a sixth nominee of his choosing despite being given only five slots As his staunch supporters dig in, Bernie Sanders announces that his campaign is sufficiently well-funded to continue after the California primary. Meanwhile, Clinton's News Network CNN (first link) keeps forgetting the superdelegates have not yet voted and may well switch sides as they did for Barack Obama back in 2008.