 Donald Trump talks with reporters in South Carolina. (@JamesHohmann Instagram) THE BIG IDEA: GREENVILLE, S.C.—As Donald Trump studied the crosstabs of a recent poll, his favorite hobby since he started leading in all of them, he was pleased, he said, to see that GOP primary voters perceive him as better equipped than his rivals to handle the economy, national security and even social issues. But one nugget in the survey nagged at the New York billionaire. "The only thing I did badly on was: Is he a nice person? I was last in terms of niceness," he said. Campaigning deep in the Bible Belt yesterday, the businessman spun this as an asset, not a liability. Indeed, much of Trump’s strength derives from his refusal to play nice with the GOP establishment. Americans feel angry and betrayed by their elites, and he’s channeling it. Trump frames the GOP choice as niceness vs. competency. "We're tired of the nice," he said. "We don't need the nice. We need competent." (His opponents, of course, would quibble that he's also competent to govern.) Using some impressive verbal jujitsu, Trump also sought to recast another of his perceived liabilities – his lack of message discipline – as a reason to vote for him. "We need some unpredictability,” he said. "We're so predictable. We're like bad checkers players!" There’s a breathtakingly large opening for an outsider candidate like Trump in South Carolina, the first state to vote in the South. Newt Gingrich’s win here in 2012 was the first time the state hadn’t picked the eventual nominee in 28 years. What Newt tapped into, despite being a former House speaker, was frustration with the powers-that-be, from the party bosses to the elite media. Trump is tapping into the same feelings and winning over many of the same voters. The most striking thing about interviewing people at Trump’s events is how many supported Gingrich last time. This week's Palmetto State poll by Monmouth University asked primary voters whether it's more important to have a president "from outside of government who can bring a new approach to Washington" or "someone with government experience who knows how to get things done." They picked the former by two-to-one (61-28). Trump won the horse race with 30 percent, followed by Ben Carson with 15 percent. Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio tied for third at 6 percent. This means that three of the top four candidates in South Carolina, cumulatively pulling 51 percent, have never held elected office. "Political experience is not a particularly valuable commodity this primary season," said Monmouth's Patrick Murray. — Cruz's courtship of Trump is paying dividends. Trump revealed here that he will appear in the next two weeks at a protest against the Iran nuclear deal on the U.S. Capitol grounds with the Texas senator. Cruz has taken heat from the mainstream media for refusing to criticize Trump's comments about Mexican immigrants, John McCain, etc. Trump has returned the favor by embracing Cruz. On Thursday, while he devoted a major chunk of his 51-minute speech to furthering his decades-old feud with the Bush family, Trump described Cruz as "a friend of mine and a good guy." We cannot be sure what Trump's ceiling is, here or nationally. But I was interested to hear how heartily the crowd of 1,400 cheered when the businessman, their first choice, said nice things about Carson and Cruz. Cruz pulled just 5 percent in this week’s South Carolina poll — but who knows what a Trump bump could do down the road? WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: — The global markets lost some steam on Friday, as European stocks and U.S. futures slipped. China’s main stock index was up Friday — but it is suspected that’s because the government is buying stocks. The market was down 8 percent overall for the week. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department revised upward its estimate for 2nd quarter U.S. growth on Thursday from 3.7 from 2.3 percent. GET SMART FAST: - Police found hints that the shooter of two Virginia TV journalists considered remaining on the run before he took his own life: a briefcase with three license plates, a wig, a shawl, an umbrella and sunglasses.
- A day after his daughter Alison was murdered on TV during a live broadcast, Andy Parker called for gun control and said he will become a John Walsh-like crusader on the issue. “I’m going to do something, whatever it takes, to get gun legislation, to shame people, to shame legislators into doing something about closing loopholes and background checks, and making sure crazy people don't get guns," he said on CNN. "This is not the last you've heard of me.”
- Planned Parenthood said in a letter to Congress that an outside investigator studying undercover videos targeting them were heavily edited and should be considered unreliable. (Sandhya Somashekhar)
- After months of negotiations, the Clinton campaign reached an agreement with the Democratic National Committee on a joint fundraising agreement that will allow Hillary to raise funds for the national party for use in the general election, Dan Balz and Philip Rucker report. The DNC desperately needs the money, currently having just $7.6 million in available cash and $6.2 million in debts and loans. The DNC collected $36.5 million in the first six months of this year, compared to $63 million for its Republican counterpart. (AP's Julie Bykowicz)
- The FDA approved the second in a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs aimed at helping certain people lower their risk of strokes and heart attacks. The agency approved Repatha, an injectable drug manufactured by Amgen, for a limited set of patients unable to get their LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol levels under control with typical treatments. (Brady Dennis)
- A new rule issued by the Education Department requires all states to stop offering alternative standards and aligned standardized tests to nearly all students with disabilities after the 2015-16 school year. (Valerie Strauss)
- Another effect of global warming: Hordes of walruses are scrambling onto the Alaskan shoreline, because the Chukchi Sea ice floes where they would normally have rested have melted. (Chelsea Harvey)
- Facebook said more than a billion people logged onto Facebook on Monday alone, a new milestone for the social network.
- McDonald’s and Tyson's cut ties with a chicken supplier after an animal rights group published undercover video of operators at a Tennessee poultry farm apparently clubbing small and sickly birds to death.
- Median pay for outside corporate directors in the Fortune 500 reached $250,000 a year for the first time last year, driven by higher stock values in pay packages awarded to board members boosted corporate directors’ pay. (Jena McGregor)
- The Chicago Police Department has launched an internal investigation after a video appears to show a white officer saying Michael Brown “got what he had coming" in Ferguson, per the Chicago Tribune.
- Poland’s defense minister says the United States is on track to deploy heavy weapons into several Baltic and eastern European countries in "mid-2016" to counter Russian aggression. The Pentagon said earlier this summer that it will store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops. (AFP in Warsaw)
- Venezuela and Colombia each recalled their ambassadors to the other country, amid what Reuters describes as "a diplomatic crisis sparked when socialist-run Venezuela closed two border crossings and deported over a thousand Colombians."
POWER PLAYERS IN THE NEWS: - John Boehner called Cruz a "jackass" at a Colorado fundraiser for Rep. Scott Tipton, sources told the Daily Caller.
- Joe Biden lunched with AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka at the Naval Observatory. The labor federation has not endorsed yet.
- The VP will go to Florida next Wednesday and Thursday, including for a speech at Miami Dade College and an event with Jewish community leaders to sell the Iran deal. The two public events will be closely watched.
- The late Beau Biden’s friends and supporters in Delaware are actively encouraging his father to run, Paul Kane reports.
- Adam Szubin, the top Treasury Department official who helped negotiate the nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers, will spend the next three days in Israel trying to reassure leaders there. (NYT)
- Patrick McHenry, chief deputy whip for Republicans in the House, will chair Jeb's North Carolina campaign. (Charlotte Observer)
- Chris Lehane, the Clinton White House alum who has been advising Tom Steyer, will head global policy for AirBnB as the home-sharing app continues its steady march toward a global expansion marked by often difficult regulatory tussles. (Cecilia Kang)
— Two big foreign policy speeches are on tap here in South Carolina today: - Scott Walker, speaking at The Citadel in Charleston, will declare that "the retreat" from the world "is over." According to early excerpts, the Wisconsin governor also plans to take an apparent, but implicit, swipe at Trump: “There are some who would question whether our leaders are capable of rising to the challenges of our time and whether our country is capable of continued greatness. They suggest that our best days may have already come and gone. I do not share that view of America. You see the greatness of America is certainly not determined by the politicians in Washington who merely follow while others lead, or spend all of their days discussing a problem but never acting. The future leaders of this exceptional country are sitting in this room – and in similar places across America."
- Marco Rubio previews the foreign policy speech he will deliver in North Charleston with a Wall Street Journal op-ed: “The U.S. must continue to pursue cooperation with China when possible, but we can no longer succumb to the illusion that more rounds of cordial dialogue with its rulers will effect a change of heart. That is why President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington next week should not be canceled, but rather downgraded to a working visit from a state visit. This is an opportunity to speak bluntly to this authoritarian ruler and achieve meaningful progress, not to treat him to a state dinner.”
- Jeb Bush, in a web video being released today to seemingly coincide with the speeches, emphasizes the importance of spending more on the military. "We won't be able to project force in a way that will change behavior as it relates to China and Russia" without it, he says in the video, calling it "the first priority of government."
WAPO HIGHLIGHTS: — “How Huma Abedin Operated at the Center of the Clinton Universe,” by Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger: “New interviews and documents, including the e-mails about the Ireland dinner, provide additional details about some of Abedin's activities during those months and how her overlapping roles make it difficult to determine when she was working for the public and when her work was benefiting a private interest. Now, Abedin's work during that time is becoming a central element in several controversies dogging Clinton's presidential campaign. Republican lawmakers are demanding documents related to Abedin's special State Department status, questioning whether her outside work created potential conflicts of interest.” — “In landmark case, labor board will let more employers bargain with their employer’s employer,” by Lydia DePillis: “A federal labor board voted Thursday to redefine the employee-employer relationship, granting new bargaining powers to workers caught up in an economy increasingly reliant on subcontractors, franchisees and temporary staffing agencies…In a case that drew intense lobbying by both business and union groups, Democratic appointees on the panel split 3-2 with Republicans to adopt a more expansive definition of what it means to be a "joint employer,” making it more difficult for companies to avoid responsibility through various forms of outsourcing.” REMEMBERING HURRICANE KATRINA 10 YEARS LATER: There has been some terrific journalism pegged to this week’s aluminum anniversary. What follows is a compilation of some of the best pieces out there this morning.  Aerial view of houses swamped by floodwaters after Huricane Katrina. (Photo by Liz Roll/FEMA) — Katrina is both a metaphor and reality, by the Post's Janell Ross (on the front page of today’s paper): Katrina is a one-word metaphor for major failing and limited redress, for belated reaction and selective improvement … Katrina is perhaps the greatest modern example of a failure to comprehend the vulnerabilities created and deepened by poverty before a calamity. Rarely have Americans been so openly confronted with the still relentless correlation between race and resources. — How the storm destroyed the physical landscape of New Orleans and the lives of its families, from the Post's Deanne L. Brown.  A car is spray painted after it was searched for bodies in a totally destroyed neighborhood in Waveland, Miss. (Jonathan Newton/TWP) — Will New Orleans culture survive the post-Katrina boom? An analysis from the Times-Picayune. — An editorial on the reform of New Orleans jails, from the New York Times: There are no easy victories in New Orleans. But the dramatic reduction of the city's jail population, and the commitment of residents and city leaders to focus on getting it lower and focusing more on violent offenders, is an important step forward against great odds. — How the storm raised Bobby Jindal's political stock, from the Times-Picayune.  Louisiana National Guard Adjutant General and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin listened as Jindal announced that the National Guard will stay in the city of New Orleans. (Associated Press File) — A profile of Turkey Creek, the historically black district where no one died during the storm thanks to locals' efforts, from the Post's Deanne L. Brown. — Members of Houston's Katrina diaspora reflect on the last 10 years, from the Wall Street Journal: Katrina evacuees have made their mark on Houston. They include barbers, brass-band players and bankers. They have opened eateries with names like Big Easy Express and established congregations including the local branch of New Orleans's Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. Some stayed because they had little to return to. "I had to start all over again," said Ebony Handy, 41, whose home in New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward had to be demolished. — Katrina's key players, then and now, from National Public Radio. — Stop blaming me for Hurricane Katrina, Michael (“Heck of a job, Brownie”) Brown writes in Politico. — Check out a gallery of iconic images of the storm's aftermath, from the Post. — Watch a video of President Obama hailing the city of New Orleans for its progress.  Obama in New Orleans yes(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) — A look at Katrina through the political cartoons of Ann Telnaes. — On Twitter, locals have been reflecting on Katrina in 10 words: SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ: — ZIGNAL VISUAL: Hillary finally has the press talking about something besides her emails. The only problem is: it’s Biden. Clinton’s Cleveland event put her back in the media spotlight — and got the press talking about something other than her email server. In fact, this share of voice chart from our analytics partners at Zignal Labs shows that, at least on television, Hillary almost matched The Donald yesterday: 
But this word cloud of every Thursday mention of Hillary across traditional media shows that reporters have another horse race in mind: 
–Pictures of the day: A candy bar spotted at the Democratic National Committee meeting:  (philiprucker) “Hey @GQMagazine, I heard chucks with suits are back in style,” John Kasich tweeted:  (@JohnKasich) Talk about father-daughter bonding. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), running for governor, went for an early morning alligator hunt with his daughter before she left for college:  (@DavidVitter) –Tweets of the day: In Ohio, Hillary likened GOP candidates to terrorists during an Ohio campaign stop: “Now, extreme views about women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups. We expect that from people who don’t want to live in the modern world. But it’s a little hard to take coming from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States.” Elected Democrats turned up the heat with a fresh round of calls for gun control in the wake of the Virginia murders: George Zimmerman (the neighborhood watchman acquitted for the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2013) responded to the new push for guns laws by attacking Obama as a “racist” and “ignorant baboon.” With his Twitter avatar depicting a Confederate flag, he also tweeted a photo of himself. “This is what I look like,” he wrote, when “I’m hiding” and “waiting for ‘Karma.'” 
Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) endorsed Bush: Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) sided with Burger King in the McWhopper debate: Rick Perry and Taya Kyle at an Austin ceremony for her late husband, Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL who was awarded the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor:  (@GovernorPerry) Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) called a run in Nashua’s Mine Falls Park the “best way to start a busy day”:  (@KellyAyotte) –Instagrams of the day: Hillary shared a photo with a young Chelsea:  (hillaryclinton) Martin O’Malley celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary:  (martinomalley) GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE: — Wall Street Journal, “Hacker killed by U.S. Drone was ‘Secret Weapon,’” by Margaret Coker, Danny Yadron and Damian Paletta: “Junaid Hussain, a British citizen in his early 20s, had risen fast to become a chief in Islamic State's electronic army. One person familiar with the matter said he hacked dozens of U.S. military personnel and published personal and financial details online, including those of a general, for others to exploit…Mr. Hussain was killed by a U.S. drone strike on Tuesday while he was in a car in Raqqa, Syria, U.S. officials said. That he was targeted directly shows the extent to which digital warfare has upset the balance of power on the modern battlefield…U.S. officials said they believe Mr. Hussain played an important role in recruiting two American Muslims to open fire in Garland, Texas, this spring on a contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.” — New York Times, "Hillary Clinton's handling of email issue frustrates Democratic leaders," by Patrick Healy, Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman: "Interviews with more than 75 Democratic governors, lawmakers, candidates and party members have laid bare a widespread bewilderment that Mrs. Clinton has allowed a lingering cloud to settle over her candidacy — by using a private email server in the first place, since it was likely to raise questions about her judgment, and by not defusing those questions once and for all when the issue first emerged in March." - Ed Rendell, former Pennsylvania governor and Clinton supporter: "They've handled the email issue poorly, maybe atrociously, certainly horribly. The campaign has been incredibly tone-deaf, not seeing this as a more serious issue. … [A]t this point, there's nothing they can do to kill the issue — they're left just playing defense."
- John Morgan, a trial lawyer and Clinton donor: "They need to be much more forthright. I don't think it has been handled well. Where is Terry McAuliffe?" said John Morgan, a trial lawyer and Clinton donor, referring to the aggressive, plain-spoken chairman of Mrs. Clinton's 2008 campaign who is now the governor of Virginia. "I want to see Terry McAuliffe come out, take off the gloves and explain this to America."
— National Review, "Calculating Ted Cruz (Ideological Purist, Shrewd Strategist)," by Eliana Johnson: "The man who boasts of his ideological purity is perhaps the most obviously tactical candidate. Whether praising Trump, changing his position on trade-promotion authority at the last moment, or getting as close as possible to Rand Paul on national security when the Paulite tendency was at its strongest, Cruz is always maneuvering to stay at the front of the parade. … But at other times, it's Cruz who seems to be pandering. … When Paul was at his zenith, Cruz proved himself to be a deliberately slippery ally, making Paulite sounds but never fully embracing Paul's libertarianism on national security. … Cruz's path to the nomination clearly depends on uniting the right of the party, a rather Herculean task in such a crowded field. This is why, for all his stalwart rhetoric and talk of principle, Cruz sometimes seems unwilling to make a move that would alienate the populist Right." HOT ON THE LEFT Ky. clerk once again denies gay marriage license, despite federal order. From Talking Points Memo: "A Kentucky clerk’s office on Thursday again refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple, in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across the country two months ago. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has refused to issue any marriage licenses, citing her Christian faith … The action Thursday came just a day after a federal appeals court upheld a ruling ordering the clerk in rural Rowan County to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples." | | | HOT ON THE RIGHT DNC site mistakes foreign vets for former U.S. troops. From Military Times: "Democrats' election outreach efforts to veterans may need to start with a refresher course on what U.S. troops look like. For starters, they don't wear Polish military uniforms. Until Thursday, the Democratic National Committee's 'Veterans and Military Families' website had as its only picture a shot from White House photographers during President Obama's visit to Warsaw in 2011. The president had been cropped out, but faces of four elderly veterans wearing European-style military uniforms were visible above several paragraphs asserting the party's 'commitment to America's veterans.' The Polish military's White Eagle insignia was clear on the headgear of two of the veterans. … Within 90 minutes of being informed of the error by Military Times, Democratic officials swapped out the photo. The site now features a picture of veterans from the 2nd Ranger Infantry Company meeting with the president in the Oval Office in 2013." | | | DAYBOOK: –What’s happening today on the campaign trail: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb will address the DNC Summer Meeting in Minneapolis. O’Malley will also stop by the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul. Rand Paul will campaign in Wyoming. Rick Perry will speak at a luncheon in Aiken, S.C. Ben Carson will deliver a speech in Steamboat Springs, Colo. George Pataki will campaign in Jefferson, Lancaster and Colebrook, N.H. Carly Fiorina will campaign in Storm Lake, Carroll and Ames, Iowa. Ted Cruz will hold a town hall meeting in Greer, S.C. Jeb Bush will attend a veterans town hall in Norfolk, Va. Tomorrow, Donald Trump and Rick Santorum will speak at the National Federation of Republican Assemblies in Nashville. –On the Hill: Both chambers are in recess. –At the White House: President Obama will participate in a live webcast to deliver remarks and take questions from the North American Jewish community. Later, Obama will participate in a closed-press DNC roundtable.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I will take care of women's health and women's health issues better than anybody and far better than Hillary Clinton, who doesn't have a clue," Donald Trump said in South Carolina. | NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.: — Similar to recent weekends this month, The Heat isn't far away. “So please continue to enjoy the next day or two of the tolerable D.C. summertime weather. Today and tomorrow are, yes, still decent days to get outdoors and perform those chores (watering?). Sunday and into next week may not be quite as forgiving,” the Capital Weather Gang forecasts. — The Nationals beat the San Diego Padres, 4-2. — RGIII is expected to start Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens following clearance by doctors yesterday after a concussion. VIDEO OF THE DAY: Watch Mary Margaret Bannister, wife of the South Carolina House Majority Leader, came on stage in Greenville yesterday to check the authenticity of Trump’s hair: 
The National Zoo shared video of Mei Xiang caring for her living baby cub:  (Smithsonian’s National Zoo) Black Lives Matter protesters disrupted an anti-crime announcement from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Read the story here. And watch the video here. 
And, to the end the week on a lighter note, Taylor Swift played "Smelly Cat" with Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe from Friends) at the Staples Center on Wednesday night. Watch here. |
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