This past weekend was the last before this Tuesday’s all-important, winner-take-all Republican primaries in Florida and Ohio—as well as similarly delegate-heavy contests in Illinois, Missouri, and North Carolina—and, not incidentally, the action on the GOP campaign trail took on a distinct end-of-days feel to it.
The chaotic weekend began on Friday when a Donald Trump rally in Chicago was canceled over security concerns and ended Sunday with the GOP front-runner (once again) denying all responsibility for the violence that has become terrifyingly common at his events. In between, his Republican rivals and the GOP establishment pressed on with a last-ditch #NeverTrump strategy designed to keep the Donald from locking up their party’s nomination.
Here’s a quick recap of what you may have missed.
The Friday Rally That Wasn’t
Via the New York Times:
Minutes after Mr. Trump was to have taken to a podium on the campus of a large, diverse public university just west of downtown [Chicago], an announcer suddenly pronounced the event over before it had begun. Hundreds of protesters, who had promised to be a visible presence here and filled several sections of the arena, let out an elated, unstopping cheer. Mr. Trump’s supporters, many of whom had waited hours to see the Republican front-runner, seemed stunned and slowly filed out in anger. … The canceled rally came on a day that Mr. Trump sought to move past the primary fight, saying that the party needed to come together behind him.
The Very Next Day
Via the Associated Press:
The next morning, Trump was mid-speech when a man, later identified by authorities as Thomas Dimassimo of Fairborn, Ohio, jumped a barricade and rushed at Trump. He was able to touch the stage before he was tackled by security officials. Trump initially laughed it off, but later in the day, said Dimassimo had ties to the Islamic State. Experts who watched a video Trump tweeted as evidence called the allegation “utterly farcical.”
“Trump’s accusations about it being linked to ISIS serve only to underline the totality of his ignorance on this issue,” said Charles Lister, a fellow at the Middle East Institute.
Rivals Condemn Trump’s Tone …
Via the Washington Post:
In statements from [Friday] night and Saturday morning, Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich all condemned the front-runner for creating a “toxic” political environment, for stoking “anarchy” that was now unfolding on TV screens. While anti-Trump super PACs were attacking the candidate’s business record, the candidates themselves were saying explicitly that Trump needed to change the way he was running for president before it did permanent damage to the country.
(Reminder: All three have promised to support Trump if he wins the nomination.)
… While Also Comparing Him to President Obama
Rubio on Saturday: “Look, Barack Obama has used divisive language as well. I will admit, he hasn’t called on people in the crowd to beat people up. But he has divided Americans up with class warfare and things of that nature.”
Cruz on Sunday: “It is not beneficial when you have a presidential candidate like Donald Trump telling his supporters, ‘Punch that guy in the face.’ We ought to have a president who brings us together, who doesn’t seek to divide us. We’ve seen a president dividing us for seven years. We don’t want to see that going forward.” When pressed by Meet the Press host Chuck Todd whether just maybe there was a difference between Obama and Trump, Cruz responded: “To be honest, I think it’s very much the same. They’re both engaging in demagoguery.”
Mitt Romney to Stump for Kasich
Via ABC News:
Mitt Romney will campaign with Ohio Gov. John Kasich in Ohio Monday, Kasich’s campaign announced Sunday night. Romney, who has not formally endorsed any candidate in this year’s race for the Republican presidential nomination, has recorded robocalls for Kasich and one of the governor’s opponents, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., but has yet to make an appearance on the campaign trail on behalf of any candidate. He does not plan to endorse Kasich on Monday, Chris Schrimpf, a Kasich spokesman, and a person close to Romney told ABC News.
I bet Marco Rubio’s feeling mighty lonely right about now.
John Boehner Endorses Kasich
Via the Cincinnati Enquirer:
One day before Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to speak in West Chester [Ohio], Boehner endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president. In fact, the former speaker told a crowded ballroom in the same township he already voted for Kasich. “He’s my friend,” said Boehner. It was Boehner’s first public appearance in the area since he retired last year.
Still, it doesn’t sound like Boehner will take to the stump to help his friend. According to the New York Times’ account, Boehner avoided any mention of Trump and generally kept things low key. “I’m not really interested in getting in the middle of all this,” he said.
What Boehner Was Doing the Day Before
Where Things Stand Ahead of Tuesday
Via Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Kasich narrowly leads the Republican field in his home state of Ohio ahead of a winner-take-all primary on Tuesday, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll shows. The governor is the preferred pick of 39% of likely primary voters, followed by businessman Donald Trump at 33% and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 19%. The prospects aren’t quite so rosy for Mr. Rubio in Florida, the state he has represented in the Senate for five years. He trails Mr. Trump by 21 percentage points. Mr. Trump has 43% support in Florida, well ahead of Mr. Rubio, who draws 22%. Mr. Cruz, with 21%, is essentially tied with Mr. Rubio.
Trump Feeling the Pressure in the Prairie State
Those same WSJ/NBC pollsters also found Trump leading the field in Illinois by 9 points over Cruz and 13 points over Kasich. Still, he apparently is none too happy with how things look on the ground. Via Politico:
Donald Trump’s Illinois campaign director has been sidelined after the national campaign grew furious over what sources described as a lack of organization in the state in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary. Instead, two others have assumed duties that were held by Springfield-area attorney Kent Gray, who is also running for state representative, a person intimately involved with Trump’s political operation confirmed.
Who Trump Doesn’t Blame for the Violence: Himself
“I don’t accept responsibility,” he said on Meet the Press on Sunday. “I do not condone violence in any shape.”
Who Trump Does Blame for What Happened: Bernie and Hillary
Your Weekly Reminder: Trump’s a Lying Liar
Politico subjected a week’s worth of his words to our magazine’s fact-checking process. We chronicled 4.6 hours of stump speeches and press conferences, from a rally in Concord, N.C., on Monday to a rally on Friday in St. Louis. The result: more than five dozen statements deemed mischaracterizations, exaggerations, or simply false – the kind of stuff that would have been stripped from one of our stories, or made the whole thing worthy of the spike. It equates to roughly one misstatement every five minutes on average.
Elsewhere in Slate:
