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

April 2016
The Hillary Victory Fund isn't helping anyone but Hillary. Rouhani's reformist and moderate allies defeat the conservative MPs majority with a landslide win in the Iranian parliamentary election. Not even Trump's foreign policy is consistent. Hispanic voter registration spikes. Trump begins his rally in California by demonising immigrants as murderers. A massive protest in Orange County ensues. Internally Facebook employees are entertaining the idea of stopping a Trump presidency by manipulating the site's feed algorithm. Facebook's official position however is that it would never ever try to influence the voting habits of its userbase despite the fact that the company already has a history of furtively using its users as lab rats in social experiments. The Democrats are moving to unite the Sanders and Clinton camps before the general election. Former Speaker of the House John Boehner opines on the current election by calling Cruz a "miserable son of a bitch", Sanders a "nice guy" and the most honest candidate in the race while hinting at the possibility of Clinton being swapped for Joe Biden if her email scandal should grow out of hand. The Donald Rodrigo Duterte, the Filipino presidential frontrunner, has promised to pardon himself of mass murder and murder his child if they ever did drugs. [http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/26/democratic-primary-results-latest-news.html Clinton wins Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware. Sanders wins Rhode Island, further limiting his nomination chance.] There is some shake up in the Democratic Congressional primary, though. After Donald Trump sweeps five states and improves his chances of winning the primary outright, Ted Cruz drops out announces his running mate, Carly Fiorina. Hillary supporters accused of taking down Bernie FB pages in porn attack. Clinton says half of her Cabinet will be women. Bobby Knight will campaign with Trump. Clinton: "We can’t ignore the Second Amendment". Kasich has suspended his campaign in Indiana while Cruz has suspended his campaign in Oregon and New Mexico; they both hope to prevent Trump from winning in these states by avoiding candidate spoiling. Austria votes like it's 1938 as a far-right candidate comes first in the presidential election. (And that he looks like Assad without a mustache is not ominous at all.) Darfur votes to remain in a multi-state system. Bernie Sanders campaign: Sanders has been endorsed by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America; says he hasn't read the classified 28 pages, but supports its declassification and families ability to sue Saudi Arabia; he has condemned Philadelphia's proposed tax on soda as a regressive tax. Charles Koch: 'It's possible' Clinton is preferable to a Republican for president. Large numbers of Americans agree with Bernie Sanders' views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Philidelphia Tribune, the oldest African American newspaper, endorses Bernie Sanders. A Hillary PAC is spending $1 million to "correct" commenters on Reddit and Facebook. Bill Clinton blames millenials for what is wrong with the American economy. Up to 500k voters may be blocked from voting in California (autoplay video) while Rhode Island will be closing 66% of its polling places ahead of its primary.

One of Hillary's delegates will oversee a NY primary voter audit. Another stopped clock moment from Kasich: "My Republican Party doesn't like ideas. They want to be negative against things." In case you haven't heard: Trump and Clinton win the New York primary by substantial margins. New York City officials call for an investigation after more than 120,000 voters were purged from the voter rolls in Brooklyn. Progressive groups are advocating for the Congressional Black Congress to overhaul its PAC. A Jew and a Catholic meet at the Vatican... In San Francisco, several hundred tech workers protest against Clinton at her high price fundraising event with George Clooney. [http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/04/13/if-elected-clinton-would-create-special-office-on-immigration/ Hillary Clinton promises to create the Office of Immigrant Affairs, a cabinet-level position. It will help coordinate federal, state, and local immigration policies.] New York's primary voting restrictions are so strict that a whopping 3 million eligible voters, 27% of the electorate, will be unable to vote. This has, ironically, turned Ivanka Trump into a voting rights advocate. Ted Cruz sweeps the Wyoming Republican contest. In a total coincidence, Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in the Long Island town where a Hispanic man was murdered in a hate crime. Sanders's campaign has unfortunately suspended its Jewish outreach coordinator, Simone Zimmerman, for harshly criticizing Netanyahu's administration. Bernie Sanders has released his 2014 tax forms which show that he lives off of a six-figure, government salary and donates 4% of his salary to charity. Senator Rand Paul, in a strange turn of events, has endorsed Donald Trump, saying the party establishment is against him, and this is a reason to support him. It looks like both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have taken off their gloves in the most recent debate prior to their battle for New York. The DNC along with the Clinton and Sanders campaigns are suing Arizona over allegations of voter suppression. President Park's party loses its majority and the party leader, Kim Moo-sung, has offered his resignation. Canada's New Democratic Party has ousted Thomas Mulcair as its leader. Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Super PAC supporting her have received more than $4.5 million from the fossil fuel industry. Verizon paid Hillary $225,000 for speech and poured money into Clinton Foundation. [http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/14/politics/bernie-sanders-paul-song-democratic-whore/index.html Sanders apologizes after a surrogate calls Clinton a "corporate Democratic whore". The surrogate, Paul Y. Song, has also apologized.] Clinton's approval rating is at a record low. Some superdelegates have claimed that Sanders supporters are harassing them with the help of a "Superdelegate Hit List". Bernie Sanders has supported the Verizon workers strike. The NY Daily News has endorsed Hillary Clinton and to the surprise of no one their owner supports her campaign. Shaun King, a Sanders supporter, disagrees with this endorsement. Senator Jeff Merkley has endorsed Bernie Sanders, making the first Senator to endorse him. New York's transit union, the Transit Workers Union Local 100, has also endorsed him as well. Donald Trump lost in Colorado (mainly because his campaign barely turned up) - his supporters have responded with three thousand threats against GOP officials. It's a similar story in Indiana... which hasn't even voted yet. Colorado Democrats admit to misreporting the votes at the caucas which cost Bernie Sanders one delegate. They told Clinton's campaign, but kept it as a secret from the Sanders's campaign and the general public. Trump says that his attempt to build a golf course in Scotland has prepared him for the presidency. The guys at Morning Joe call the Democratic primary "rigged" on account of the twelve point win by Sanders in Wyoming resulting in a 11-7 delegate win for Hillary Clinton once you count superdelegates Sanders will be visiting the Vatican on April 15th, but he wasn't invited by the Pope. Hillary Clinton's campaign is accused of using a static noise machine to prevent the public and the press from hearing her speech at a private fundraiser. William K. Black, the banking expert who exposed the savings & loans corruption, has joined Bernie Sanders campaign. Bernie Sanders wins the Wyoming caucus. Pledged delegates are split 7-7 Bill Clinton accuses a BLM protester of defending gang leaders and drug dealers during a verbal scuffle. The NYT clarifies Sanders's plan to break up the banks. Donald Trump wants to cut the "Department of Environmental" (sic) or DEP, a nonexistent federal agency, because it is destroying America. Clinton has now dismissed Sanders as not being a true Democrat. The NY Daily interviews Bernie Sanders on his policy positions. Bernie Sanders was against the free trade agreement with Panama because he knew it would increase tax evasion. How Hillary Clinton bought the loyalty of 33 state Democratic parties. Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz take Wisconsin. [https://theintercept.com/2016/04/01/bernie-sanders-took-money-from-the-fossil-fuel-lobby-too-just-not-much/ Yes, Bernie Sanders did take money from the fossil fuel industry. He took a whopping $24.] A memo was leaked from Donald Drumpf's campaign titled "Digging through the Bullshit" that characterized all of the criticism, including Corey Lewandowski's assault charge, as smear attempts by "The Establishment". Then declares victory because their moving average poll increased 5 points while Drumpf is predicted to lose Wisconsin. [http://heavy.com/news/2016/04/bernie-sanders-wins-nevada-flips-clark-county-convention-las-vegas-delegates-arrested-clinton-videos/ Sanders has won Nevada through the state's recount. The process itself was FUBAR.]