Our Brand is Spite and Apathy

By Akhilleus

Over 600 bridges have collapsed or failed since St. Ronald left office. Citizens in Flint are dealing with life threatening lead poisoning. The American Society of Civil Engineers reports that 42% of our highways are so congested they cost the US over $100 billion annually in lost time and wasted fuel. While other countries are building bullet trains that speed commuters across the landscape at over 300 mph, our trains fall off the track taking a turn at 50 mph killing and injuring passengers at an alarming rate. Airports, waterways, drinking water systems, dams, waste water plants, railway stations, subway systems, are all falling apart and endangering American lives and livelihoods. The Republican response to this ongoing disaster? "Don't bother us. We're busy helping the rich. And by the way, if you haven't voted for us, fuck off. We wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire."

As routinely as mass shootings, Republicans reject infrastructure bills. In 2011, Republicans killed a $60 billion jobs and infrastructure bill put forward by the Obama administration. Fox rubbed its dirty hands with glee and smirked that this was another ass kicking of the black guy by its heroes in congress. Mitch McConnell sniffed that fixing bridges and roads was nothing but a cynical ploy to steal votes from Republicans.Just last year the same charlatans blocked a nearly $500 billion infrastructure bill.

Their plan?

Let those bridges collapse. More tax breaks for the wealthy.

Part of the problem is paying for these things. Republicans (and many Democrats) refuse to raise gasoline taxes, and a plan to add a tiny surtax on wealthy Americans earning over a million a year was flatly refused by Republicans. "How dare they!" came the horror filled refrain. "Indeed, a recent Citizens for Tax Justice analysis found that the 0.7 percent surtax paying for this plan to upgrade our infrastructure ...would impact 1/500 of American taxpayers and would on average set them back an additional 1/217th of their overall income. Just to be clear on what we’re talking about here."

This means that Americans making over a million bucks a year would be paying about $4,600. But this is an outrage to Republicans, so let the country disintegrate. Fuck it. Let it all rust out. Believe it or not, according to Jonathan Waldman, author of a book on rusting America, rust costs the country around $400 billion a year. The Pentagon (the fucking Pentagon, fer crissakes) has an office devoted to rusting materiel! Confederates (like David Brooks) are always running on about how dirty hippies and rock and roll ruined America but it's people like Neil Young (Rust Never Sleeps) who remind us of the continuing corrosive effects of time, not Mitch McConnell. The rusting pipes in Flint are a perfect example of Republican indifference. And here's an interesting tidbit:

"...cleaning up municipal water supplies was the greatest public-health triumph of the 20th century. The economists David Cutler and Grant Miller have estimated that approximately half of the dramatic decline in mortality between 1900 and 1936—a period in which life expectancy increased from less than 50 years to more than 60—was due just to improved municipal water systems. The infant mortality rate fell by more than 80 percent. These public health measures helped lay the cornerstone of a capable system of government that could boost America’s rising economy by tackling problems that markets alone would not."

Republican love of returning us all to the past is more than just keeping the darkies in their place and shutting up feminists. It's a return to a time when science was still questioned, when disease was rampant, when ignorance flourished. And people died, needlessly. But hey, the rich never had to worry.

They still don't. Republicans have their backs.

Other than their hatred of Obama, whence such appallingly anti-American apathy?

First, Republican political power still resides mostly in the south. There is far more crumbling infrastructure that needs fixing in the north where fewer citizens vote Confederate, so to hell with those people. Even though taxpayers fund southern states at a rate of 2 to 1 versus northern states, Confederate pols from those states are happy to take the money and run, but when it comes to allocating funds for restoring infrastructure that might save the life of a single Democrat (or undeserving blah), that's where they draw the line. This is some evil shit.

Other reasons? Privatization. Republicans can't wait to hand over public works, highways, bridges, and waterways--systems created by taxpayers--to private corporations who will then charge those taxpayers for their use. It's another way of returning to the past when private companies owned many road systems and canals.

But the most insidious aspect of this plan is something called "qualified private activity bonds". Bear with me. This means that private corporations are handed the opportunity to develop projects which are paid for by the government with tax free loans. Which means "... Local governments are financing the efforts to privatize their own public assets and the private equity investors earn tax free profits on their investment. Privatization is not just a golden opportunity, but a tax-payer subsidized, tax-free opportunity."

And one other benefit of foot dragging on any infrastructure spending are the long desired goals of killing unions and sidestepping environmental concerns. No jobs means a weaker union. So what if people are killed along with the jobs? Spite and apathy. Remember the levee failures in New Orleans during Katrina? The Decider saw it from the air, shrugged his shoulders and went home. It's mostly blahs that are dying. Time for a nap. Chris Christie rejected federal funds for much needed infrastructure improvements in New Jersey in order to improve the chances of his recent dismal presidential bid--which ended ignominiously--immediately after which he got on his knees to the guy he previously said was unfit for office and begged him to allow Christie to lick his balls.

It's not about what's good for the public. It's what's good for me. The Republican Way, kids!

Infrastructure spending is not sexy. It's not a quickie sort of thing you can take back to your constituents (it's not for nothing that the single biggest legislative accomplishment in Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's long career as a moocher is getting a post office in his hometown renamed. I am not even kidding. You could look it up, as James Thurber might say.

But here's the problem. Republicans have so demonized spending on anything (taxpayers don't see enormous tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy as "spending" but it's no different than a $400 billion jobs bill, except a jobs bill would benefit millions of Americans while the Republican tax breaks benefit the one percent) that it's a bear to get any spending bills through. And they don't mind not spending on America's future because they all take The Decider's position that they'll all be dead by then. Thus, it's easy for Republicans to whack any contender for Confederate seats who wishes to promote investing in America by repairing infrastructure as a no good tax and spend socialist. Fox is always thrilled to help spread that propaganda.

You've probably gotten tired of hearing me say it, but these people have a LOT to answer for. Spitefulness, apathy, greed, hatred, racism, ignorance. These are the hallmarks of the right. These are the qualities that inform their approach to politics and the reason they don't care about governing. It's all about protecting the rich and keeping their own seats of power. Government is there for them and their rich friends. The rest of us are, at best, a minor nuisance.

The Commentariat -- March 8, 2016

Afternoon Update:

AP: Re: Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Rebecca Bradley (see related stories linked in Beyond the Beltway): Gov. Scott "Walker on Tuesday said it's irrelevant whether he would have appointed Bradley as a judge if he had known of her college writings."

Looks like Bibi Netanyahu is up to his usual tricks.

"I Disavow." Courting the Racist Vote. Max Ehrenfreund of the Washington Post: "In the past week, Donald Trump has been asked repeatedly about the Ku Klux Klan and its notorious former grand wizard, David Duke. Trump still hasn't given voters the right answer.... He could easily make his stance on racism clear, but to this point, he has not done so."

*****

Amy Goldstein, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House is considering nearly a half-dozen relatively new federal judges for President Obama's nomination to the Supreme Court, focusing on jurists with scant discernible ideology and limited judicial records as part of a strategy to surmount fierce Republican opposition.... The president is leaning toward a sitting federal judge to fill the vacancy -- and probably one the Senate confirmed with bipartisan support during his tenure." ...

... CW: On the upside, if Senate Republicans prevail, as they most likely will, & refuse to confirm (or even hear) President Obama's nominee, popular disgust with the Senate increases the chances that Hillary Clinton will become president, the Senate will return to a Democratic majority, & the new president can pick the nominee & new majority can confirm her.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "In a pair of unsigned opinions, the Supreme Court on Monday restored the rights of an adoptive mother who had split with her lesbian partner and reversed a murder conviction tainted by prosecutorial misconduct." Justices Alito & Thomas whined about the Court's handling of the murder case and "filed unusual concurrences in a series of orders concerning juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole." ...

     ... CW: Odd Men Out? Maybe we're going to be seeing a number of 6-2 decisions this term.

Matt Krantz of USA Today: "There are 27 companies in the Standard & Poor's 500, including telecom firm Level 3 Communications (LVLT), airline United Continental (UAL) and automaker General Motors (GM), that reported paying no income tax expense in 2015 despite reporting pre-tax profits, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence."

Presidential Race

Today is primary day in Michigan & Mississippi. Hawaii & Idaho are holding Republican caucuses.

As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz. That is not a risk I can take in good conscience. -- Michael Bloomberg, today ...

... Maggie Haberman & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg, who for months quietly laid the groundwork to run for president as an independent, will not enter the 2016 campaign, he said Monday, citing his fear that a three-way race could lead to the election of a candidate he thinks would endanger the country: Donald J. Trump. In a forceful condemnation of his fellow New Yorker, Mr. Bloomberg said Mr. Trump has run 'the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people's prejudices and fears.' He said he was alarmed by Mr. Trump's threats to bar Muslim immigrants from entering the country and to initiate trade wars against China and Japan, and he was disturbed by Mr. Trump's 'feigning ignorance of David Duke,' the white supremacist leader whose support Mr. Trump initially refused to disavow." ...

... Here is Bloomberg's statement, which appeared as an editorial in his online Bloomberg publication. His remarks about Cruz: "Senator Cruz's pandering on immigration may lack Trump's rhetorical excess, but it is no less extreme. His refusal to oppose banning foreigners based on their religion may be less bombastic than Trump's position, but it is no less divisive." ...

... A rough cut of the ad Bloomberg would have run in support of the candidacy that wasn't. Via the New York Times:

** May the Worst Charlatan Win. Josh Barro, a conservative, explains how the Republican establishment "made Donald Trump's nomination possible. And no, it's not about racism; it's about something even more fundamental: Republicans' disdain of government & other "validating institutions."

Der Fuhrer Emerges from His Mussolini Pod. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Donald Trump's rally [in Concord, North Carolina,] began with the candidate asking all attendees to raise their hands and take an oath to vote for him, while extended barriers cordoned off the press and plainclothes private intelligence officers scoured the crowd for protestors. These new tactics, which the Trump campaign has introduced over the past week, represent refinements by Trump and his staff in their quest to control the atmosphere and message of his often unruly rallies. They come ... at a time when the emboldened candidate has escalated confrontations with protesters, leaving his podium to stare them down at his two most recent rallies and repeatedly lamenting that his supporters cannot retaliate against them." CW: No, this is not entertainment. ...

(... Nonetheless, contributor Patrick is right about this:

     ... Shmucks!) ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general is investigating an incident last week in which a Secret Service agent apparently body-slammed a Time magazine photographer during a Donald Trump campaign rally in southwest Virginia, a spokesman for the DHS watchdog said Monday.... The results would likely be summarized in a management advisory, rather than a full-scale investigative report." ...

     ... CW: In the wake of an different altercation in Valdosta, Georgia, the Secret Service said it only acts to protect the candidate & does not participate in removing peaceful protesters from political rallies. So how does a credentialed photographer threaten the candidate by taking pictures of Trump goons removing protesters from his rallies? The photographer wasn't anywhere near the candidate & was not at all focused, so to speak, on the candidate. ...

... Dana Milbank: After urging fans to pledge allegiance to him at his rally in Orlando, Florida, Saturday, Donald Trump "watched a supporter grab and attempt to tackle protesters, at least one of them black, near the stage. 'You know, we have a divided country, folks,' Trump said. 'We have a terrible president who happens to be African American.' Loaded imagery, violence against dissenters and a racial attack on the president: It's all in a day's work for Trump.... Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt: 'Some people didn't approve of Hitler's anti-Semitism, but they went along with it because he was going to make Germany great again.'"

... It's 1980 All Over Again. Jonathan Soble & Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump chastised Japan last week in a Republican candidates' debate, naming it along with China and Mexico as countries where 'we are getting absolutely crushed on trade.' He has previously accused Japan of manipulating its currency to achieve an unfair economic advantage, and of exploiting its military alliance with the United States to protect itself at little risk and cost. His complaints are reminiscent of another era.... Mr. Trump's ascendance has begun to cause serious unease in Japan. Even if his run ends short of the White House, the worry is that an election dominated by such talk could leave the United States more closed to trade and less willing to defend its allies." P.S. Clinton has echoed Trump's rhetoric. ...

... Paul Krugman: "Romney declares with horror that Trump would start a trade war. His economics is all wrong, which is the main thing; but it's also worth noting that thee and a half years ago Romney himself argued for exactly the same policies Trump advocates now, blithely dismissing the dangers.... Four Pinnochios on each side. Romney talks nonsense economics, and condemns as terrible the very policies he himself called for not long ago. But Trump is stuck in a time warp, making arguments that had some force when China was booming but none in the current situation."

Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News: "The daughter of a reputed New Jersey mob figure says her late father had a longtime relationship with Donald Trump that included gambling millions of dollars at one of his casinos, flying on his helicopter and partying aboard his private yacht.... When asked about [Robert] LiButti by a reporter, the casino mogul suggested he barely knew the foul-mouthed gambler. 'I have heard he is a high roller, but if he was standing here in front of me, I wouldn't know what he looked like,' Trump told the Philadelphia Inquirer in February 1991. But Edith Creamer, LiButti's daughter, told Yahoo News in two recent telephone interviews that ... Trump and her father knew each other quite well.... 'Of course he knew him. I flew in the [Trump] helicopter with [Trump's then wife] Ivana and the kids. My dad flew it up and down [to Atlantic City]. My 35th birthday party was at the Plaza and Donald was there. After the party, we went on his boat, his big yacht.'" ...

     ... Steve M.: "All this might seem appalling to general election voters. But it won't upset Trump's base at all." ...

... Kevin Drum: "Megan McArdle says Donald Trump will never run as a third-party candidate for president because he's not rich enough. It costs upwards of a billion dollars to run for president these days, and Trump doesn't have that kind of scratch. So what's he going to do? Raise it from billionaires after spending the entire primary claiming that anyone who raises money from billionaires is corrupt and crooked? Well, this is Donald Trump we're talking about, so sure.... The whole self-funding schtick won't work in a general election.... It won't work if he runs as the Republican nominee, either. He's going to have to raise money from rich people. So why haven't any of the other candidates asked about this?" ... ...

... I have the best words. -- Donald Trump. CW: If, like me, you were not "highly-educated" at an "Ivy League university" you may not know what Trump means by "the best words." Poor little dummkopf that I am, I'll guess he means either that he has command of a yuuuge vocabulary (even though for some reason he speaks in public at a third- to fifth-grade level) or that he assembles those excellent words in an eloquent manner:

Ryan Grim, et al., of the Huffington Post: "Billionaires, tech CEOs and top members of the Republican establishment flew to a private island resort off the coast of Georgia this weekend for the American Enterprise Institute's annual World Forum.... The main topic at the closed-to-the-press confab? How to stop Republican front-runner Donald Trump.... Sources familiar with the meeting ... said that much of the conversation around Trump centered on 'how this happened, rather than how are we going to stop him,' as one person put it." ...

... CW: Instead of playing golf & wringing their hands, those tech geniuses could put up some trumpforpresident.com sites featuring renderings of Trump disrobed, a la Dan Savage's santorum.com page. To save the nation. ...

... Julia Preston of the New York Times: Many Latinos who are legal residents of the U.S. are applying for citizenship in the hopes of becoming naturalized in time to vote against Donald Trump. "While naturalizations generally rise during presidential election years, Mr. Trump provided an extra boost this year.... This year immigrants seeking to become citizens can find extra help from nonprofit groups and even from the White House. Last September, President Obama launched a national campaign to galvanize legal residents to take the step.... The majority of Latinos are Democrats, and some Republicans accuse the White House of leading a thinly veiled effort to expand the ranks of the president's party. But administration officials argue the campaign is nonpartisan...." ...

... CW: Excuse me? Republicans have a candidate who asks voters to raise their arms & swear to vote for him specifically, & Republicans are complaining that the White House is helping people become citizens? IOKIYAR really has gone too far too often. ...

... Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A Holocaust survivor and longtime watchdog of right-wing extremist groups said Donald Trump is playing a dangerous game by leading followers in a Nazi-style pledge. Abraham Foxman, the former director of the Anti-Defamation League, harshly criticized the Republican presidential candidate for asking supporters to raise their right hands in salute and promise to vote for him in the Florida primary election.... 'We've seen this sort of thing at rallies of neo-Nazis. We've seen it at rallies of white supremacists. But to see it at a rally for a legitimate candidate for the presidency of the United States is outrageous,' Foxman said." ...

... Trump runs a slightly negative ad in Florida against Rubio. He shoulda gone for the demon sheep:

... Charles Pierce (March 6): "Trump is an opportunist who saw a chance and half-ran, half-stumbled toward it. Cruz is someone who's had his eyes on the prize since before Princeton and Harvard Law loosed him upon the world. Trump is a man of grandiose, hopelessly vague promises. Cruz is dead-serious about hauling the country into retrograde theocracy and Gilded Age economics. Trump places his faith in Two Corinthians, which I believe is a pizza and sandwich joint on Staten Island. Cruz considers himself to be both a vehicle for political extremism and the instrument of the living God. You decide which frightens you more."

CW: One big reason Trump is trumping Rubio & Cruz: In the eyes of GOP voters, Trump is a real American, while Rubio & Cruz are "ethnic foreigners" or something. As Brian Beutler points out, Trump voters scoffed at Rubio's win in Puerto Rico, declaring that Rubio won the territory "because he promised them amnesty & citizenship." If he had made such a promise, of course, Rubio would have no trouble keeping it: Puerto Ricans are already U.S. citizens so they don't need "amnesty." White nativism doesn't just run deep in the Republican party; it is the Republican party. Nearly every one of policy prescriptions is a reflection of that "white American exceptionalism," from their "small government" mantra (no aid to no-account blacks & Latinos) to military adventurism: annihilate all the "others."

Mitt Tips His Hand. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Offering Senator Marco Rubio of Florida a much-needed boost, if not an outright endorsement, Mitt Romney has recorded get-out-the-vote calls for Mr. Rubio's presidential campaign that are being sent to voters in the four states voting on Tuesday. Mr. Romney indicates, at the beginning and end of the message, that he is calling on behalf of Mr. Rubio but only urges voters to cast ballots for 'a candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton and who can make us proud.'... 'If we Republicans were to choose Donald Trump as our nominee, I believe that the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished -- and I'm convinced Donald Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton,' Mr. Romney says in the call."

Understanding Republicans. Contributor Janice linked to this perfect coda to a brief discussion we had in today's Comments thread:

Gail Collins & Arthur Brooks discuss the state of the presidential race. Collins: "The idea that a blast from Mitt Romney is going to mute the Trump boom at this point in the game is pretty hilarious. I am tempted to say that Romney's only chance of having an impact would be to tie Donald to the roof of his car."

Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "On Monday, [Fox 'News'] hosted a forum at which the host, Bret Baier, grilled both [Bernie Sanders & Hillary Clinton] on topics that seldom come up at Democratic events, including abortion rights, the national debt and the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East.... Pressed on his budget-busting plans for universal health care, Mr. Sanders reiterated his belief that health care is a right for all people. 'Excuse me, where does that right come from, in your mind?' Mr. Baier asked. 'Being a human being,' Mr. Sanders replied, 'being a human being.'... Mr. Baier aggressively questioned Mrs. Clinton on her handling of the 2011 intervention in Libya that is widely credited with the current instability in the region." ...

... ** Jamelle Bouie: "... the Flint debate ... illustrates an important difference between Clinton and Sanders that's often overlooked.... Hillary Clinton is running to lead Democrats, and Bernie Sanders is running to lead liberals.... Hillary Clinton, a prominent leader from the ideological center of the Democratic Party, is running to lead the Democratic coalition as it exists.... Bernie Sanders, by contrast, comes from the left wing of American politics with a nominal attachment to the Democratic Party -- until his run for the presidency, he didn't identify as a Democrat. He's not as concerned with the usual party building and coalition maintenance. He wants to change the ... Democratic Party and put ideological liberals at the fulcrum of Democratic politics...." ...

... A Lead-Pipe Clutch. Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post: "Flint resident Lee-Anne Walters didn't like Bernie Sanders' response to her question about lead pipes during Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate in Flint. But she really didn't like Hillary Clinton's response.... 'It actually made me vomit in my mouth.'" ...

... Janell Ross of the Washington Post: "Why, at this late date and this many debates into the 2016 presidential election cycle, has Sanders made demonstrably little to no effort to alter the way he interacts with the woman he at least strongly suspected he would be running against him from the day he declared his campaign?... Does Sanders have the capacity to recognize the way these moments look or think deeply about the degree to which sexism propels his debate-stage performances? Whether that chauvinism is real or imagined or even toyed with by his opponent for political gain, why can't Sanders find a better way to manage these moments?" Here's the moment:

     ... CW: Except for the difference in accents, Bernie sounds just like my late husband telling me to zip my lips so he could continue lecturing or scolding me. That's where I would get right up & leave the room (which is not an option Hillary had). I'll bet a lot of wives & other female partners have been there.

Beyond the Beltway

One Wisconsin Now: "Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote a series of hateful and venomous attacks on gay people and people living with HIV, according to articles obtained by One Wisconsin Now. The hate speech in the articles disqualifies Bradley from continuing to hold office and should result in her immediate resignation from the state Supreme Court, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross...." ...

... Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Newly appointed state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in a student newspaper 24 years ago that she had no sympathy for AIDS patients because they had effectively chosen to kill themselves, called gays 'queers' and said Americans were 'either totally stupid or entirely evil' for electing President Bill Clinton.... Bradley declined an interview request, but in a written statement said she was embarrassed about the pieces she wrote "as a very young student.'... One Wisconsin Now ... distributed them Monday..., four weeks before voters decide whether to give Bradley a full 10-year term on the court in the April 5 election.... GOP Gov. Scott Walker acknowledged Monday he was not aware of her Marquette University writings before he appointed her three times to judicial positions."

The Commentariat -- March 7, 2016

Lou Cannon of the New York Times: "Nancy Reagan, the influential and stylish wife of the 40th president of the United States who unabashedly put Ronald Reagan at the center of her life but became a political figure in her own right, died on Sunday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 94." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ... ...

... Nancy Reagan's Los Angeles Times obituary, by Elaine Woo, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race

Rebecca Traister of New York looks forward to a Clinton-Trump general election: "It's hard to imagine there are many voters who are really undecided between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The Clinton supporters want a president to be competent, capable, to understand how to work the levers of political power. The Trump supporters want a president to give jeering voice to their fury, a character through whom they might vent their frustration.... The contest will really come down to who can persuade more of their deeply divided constituencies to come to the polls. And this is the dynamic that should give Democrats chills; because the carnival barker's job is knowing how to draw a crowd." ...

... CW: Still, unless all the rational voters sit this one out, it's hard for me to believe that "undecideds" will decide they want a vulgar, name-calling, bigoted, unstable bully ostensibly running the country.

Todd Spangler & Kathleen Gray of the Detroit Free Press: "With Michigan issues consuming much of the back and forth in a spirited debate Sunday night between the Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton surprised rival Bernie Sanders by accusing him of failing to support the 2009 auto rescue and joined him in calling for Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to resign or be recalled as a result of the Flint water crisis." ...

... Anne Gearan & Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "The session included the sharpest exchange yet between the Democratic presidential candidates over their economic plans and records. It included a heated argument over the auto industry bailout...." ...

     ... CW: Clinton clearly got the better of Sanders in the exchange; besides Bernie's rudeness, his argument on the substance was wrong. Although the government did lose money on the auto bailout ($9.3BB) part of TARP, that bailout arguably saved millions of auto industry jobs, thus "making" more than $100BB in industry-related worker-paid taxes. So a big net gain. I'm looking for Krugman to have more to say on this. Clinton cast the right vote on TARP; Sanders did not. That's a problem.

Hillary Clinton & Bernie Sanders debate at 8:00 pm ET Sunday night in Flint, Michigan. Noah Weiland of Politico: "CNN hosts and plans to distribute half a million water bottles to four locations around town before the debate." ...

... New York Times reporters are liveblogging the debate.

Maine Democratic Caucuses

The Washington Post has projected Bernie Sanders to be the winner of the state's caucuses, with 74 percent of precincts reporting. Sanders currently has about 64 percent of the vote; Clinton has 36 percent. ...

... Manuel Tobias of Politico: "Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic caucuses in Maine, according to the Associated Press. The Vermont senator's victory is his third of the weekend, along with wins in Kansas and Nebraska on Saturday, and his eighth state overall." ...

... Kevin Miller of the Portland Press Herald: "U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders won Maine's Democratic presidential caucuses Sunday, defeating Hillary Clinton by a large margin on a day that saw unprecedented turnout statewide. But waits as long as four hours in Portland prompted one Democratic leader to suggest it's time for Maine to replace caucuses with primaries.... Democratic officials estimated that 46,800 people participated in Sunday's caucuses held at more than 400 locations around the state, beating the previous record of roughly 44,000 participants in 2008. The Democratic turnout also dwarfed the 18,650 Republicans who participated in that party's Maine caucuses one day earlier." ...

... Jonathan Swan of the Hill: "Bernie Sanders wheeled out an endorsement of his presidential bid from one of Flint's celebrated political sons just before Sunday night's Democratic debate in that Michigan city plagued by a toxic water crisis. Don W. Riegle Jr., who served in the House and Senate over his career, endorsed Sanders in a press conference held about an hour before the CNN debate between Sanders and presidential rival Hillary Clinton in Flint, Mich. "[Sanders] stands head and shoulders above all the other candidates in either party," Riegle said.... Riegle, who grew up in Flint, used the press conference to attack Bill and Hillary Clinton, saying their policies were bad for his hometown. Former President Clinton's policies 'destroyed the Flint I loved,' Riegle reportedly said."

The Angst of the Elite. Jonathan Chait: "The secret fear lying beneath Rubio's accurate depiction of Trump as a 'con artist' is that Republican voters are easy marks. The Republican Party is constructed as a machine: Into one end are fed the atavistic fears of the white working class as grist, and out the other end pops The Wall Street Journal editorial-page agenda as the finished product. Trump has shown movement conservatives how terrifyingly rickety that machine is and how easily it can be seized from them by a demagogue and repurposed toward some other goal."

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Senator Marco Rubio of Florida won the Puerto Rico primary on Sunday, The Associated Press reported, giving him a much-needed victory after a string of losses that threatened to push the Republican presidential nomination further out of his reach." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Maybe that's because Marco is such a good friend to Puerto Rico. Also from Parker's report: "Puerto Rico is embroiled in a debt crisis, with the territory facing a deficit of more than $70 billion. Mr. Rubio took a tough line on the matter in Congress, urging Puerto Rico to focus on improving its economy and fixing its troubled fiscal situation rather than seeking bankruptcy protection."

... Ed O'Keefe, et al., of the Washington Post: "Party leaders, donors and other supporters of Rubio portray a political operation that continues to come up short in its message, in its attention to the fundamentals of campaigning and in its use of a promising politician. The failures have all but doomed Rubio's chances of securing the GOP nomination, leaving him far behind Trump and Cruz in both delegates and states won." CW: Also, could have something to do with the fact that Marco is an obnoxious, preening pipsqueak. But I'd still vote for him for class president if Trump, Fiorina & Cruz were his opponents. ...

... The Smug Factor. James Poulos of the Week says it better: "... Rubio proved that there's something much worse in this populist season than being born on third and thinking you just hit a triple. However subliminal, his sense of upwardly mobile entitlement was weirdly off-putting and perversely reminiscent of the entitled yes-kid who thinks he should get what he wants because he knows exactly how to give his teachers and school administrators exactly what they want. Rather than embodying the 20th-century Republican story of increase earned through luck and pluck, he became an avatar of the 21st-century striver whose stock in trade is his special snowflakehood."

Matt Flegenheimer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Republicans hoping to halt Donald J. Trump's march to their party's presidential nomination emerged from the weekend's voting contests newly emboldened by Mr. Trump's uneven electoral performance and by some nascent signs that he may be peaking with voters. Outside groups are moving to deploy more than $10 million in new attack ads across Florida and millions more in Illinois, casting Mr. Trump as a liberal, a huckster and a draft dodger. Mr. Trump's reed-thin organization appears to be catching up with him, suggesting he could be at a disadvantage if he is forced into a protracted slog for delegates."

Forgot to post this yesterday morning. SNL does a pretty good job in capturing the essence of last week's presidential primary races:

** "American Demagogue." David Remnick of the New Yorker: "As early as 1988, Trump hinted at a run for the White House, though this was understood to be part of his carny shtick, another form of self-branding in the celebrity-mad culture. And now here we are.... Pull the camera back, and Trump can be viewed as part of a deadly serious wave of authoritarians and xenophobes who have come to power in Russia, Poland, and Hungary.... The Republican Party, having spent years courting the basest impulses in American political culture, now sees the writing on the wall. It reads 'Donald Trump,' in very big letters."

... This SNL-produced ad features Donald Trump voters at their best. Hey, it's who they are:

Ted Cruz? An inspiration to every kid in America who worries that he'll never be able to run for president because nobody likes him. He's running. -- Joe Biden, at the Gridiron dinner Saturday

(... Here are a few more jokes made at the Gridiron dinner. The link above includes many of Vice President Biden's remarks.)

Isaac Chotiner of Slate: "Ted Cruz's twin victories on Saturday night in Maine and Kansas -- coupled with his strong second-place finishes in Louisiana and Kentucky -- likely mean he will emerge as the long-discussed, as-yet-unglimpsed 'non-Trump' Republican contender.... But Cruz's excellent night is also good news for Donald Trump. Cruz will not only have more trouble solidifying an anti-Trump coalition than Rubio -- or at least a better version of Rubio -- would have. Cruz's success may also mean that the GOP establishment, which despises the Texas senator, will not go all out to stop Trump.... Rubio's campaign ... is almost dead...." ...

... It's a Media Conspiracy! Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) said on Sunday that the media is sitting on explosive negative information about front-runner Donald Trump with plans to run it later in the year to tear the candidate apart.... Cruz called out the media, saying one of the reasons they want Trump to be the eventual nominee is because they know he can't beat Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. 'Hillary would wallop him,' Cruz said." CW: The idea here is that the media are holding back reports on Trump, which they'll wait to dump until after he's the nominee, to make sure Clinton's general election opponent is the weakest GOP candidate. I guess the media cabal is run by some real dopes; they should have been boosting Bobby Jindal or Jim Gilmore. Those guys are really duds.

Rebecca Savransky: "Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Sunday via Snapchat and at a rally."

Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: Mitt Romney is "leaving the door open -- just a crack -- to the possibility of being drafted by his party at a contested convention in July. 'I don't think anyone in our party should say, "Oh no, even if the people in the party wanted me to be the president, I would say no to it,'" Romney said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'No one's going to say that.'" ...

... Paul Krugman: "The good news is that there was a real [economic] policy debate going on within the G.O.P. last week [between Romney & Trump]. The bad news is that it was junk economics on both sides."

CW: If the Republican party wants to save itself from massive embarrassment, it should nominate Jim Webb for president. He's a DINO who used to be a RINO. Sure, he'll say stupid Republican things, but he's a Democrat now, giving the GOP plausible deniability on all fronts. No coattails, of course, but Republicans can sit on the sidelines & laugh their way to oblivion as two Democrats tangle. And who knows? Republicans might rise from the ashes of the flameout.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "The United States launched a series of airstrikes on an al-Shabab training camp in Somalia Saturday, killing 150 militants and averting what a Pentagon official described as an 'imminent threat' posed by the group to both U.S. and African Union troops stationed in the war-torn country."

AP: "Jimmy Carter announced Sunday that he no longer needs treatment for cancer, less than seven months after revealing he had been diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his brain. Carter, 91, shared the news at one of his regular Sunday School classes at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia."