All politics today! Sorry—or, you’re welcome.
Josh Voorhees has done us all a tremendous service by writing the “What is a ‘Contested Convention’?” explainer we sorely needed. With the news today that Marco Rubio is urging his supporters to vote Kasich in Ohio, as part of a strategy meant to force this outcome, contestation in Cleveland is in the air—so it’s good to know what that might be like.
The Trump campaign’s poor handling of the recent grabbing incident reported by Breitbart’s Michelle Fields is just the latest in a series of conflicts between the campaign and conservative female journalists, writes Michelle Goldberg. “What’s happening to Fields is part of a pattern,” Goldberg reports. “Conservative women step out of line, and the Trump organization mobilizes to try and destroy them, painting them as irrational, slutty, and hysterical.”
Trump is right: We’ve had enough debates, writes Jim Newell (who is not just tired of covering them, he swears). “The Republican presidential primary has been fully litigated,” Newell argues. “A recognition that everything that’s going to be tried has been tried was implicit in each candidate’s self-presentation Thursday night.”
Looking forward to a hypothetical Hillary vs. Trump general election, Jacob Weisberg wonders who wins in a race where both candidates have remarkable likability gaps to overcome. And William Saletan describes a debate strategy Clinton could use to best Trump: Stay calm. Make him look defensive and belligerent. Show that you’re the adult in the room.
For fun: Donald Trump has a lot of friends.
No, really, I knew Michael Jackson well,
Rebecca
