By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; mallen@politico.com) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; dlippman@politico.com)
SUNDAY BEST ... JON KARL to DONALD TRUMP, on a phoner on ABC’s “This Week”: “Would you be doing late-night Twitter wars with world leaders who insulted you?”
TRUMP: “It’s a new way of communicating. It’s very effective. I’ve been very effective with it. ... [B]etween that and Facebook, I have like 15 or 16 million followers. ... Now, other people don’t like it, because they have 15 followers. ... [B]etween that and Instagram, I have probably close to 16 million followers. And, frankly, it’s a great way of communicating, as far as I'm concerned. But I’m not going to be doing it very much as president.”
MORE TRUMP: “[O]ne of the big things on the Internet was that Trump was 100 percent right about Brussels. ... I haven’t even started on Hillary Clinton yet. I’m only focused on the two people I have left. ... I’m going to church in an hour from now and it’s going to be – it’s a beautiful church. I’m in Florida. And it’s just a very special time for me. And it really represents family and get-together ... [Y]ou know, if you’re a Christian, it’s just a very important day.”
**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/1M75UbX
Hippity hoppity, Happy Easter Day! Video on how Peeps are made (including “the sugar shower”) http://wapo.st/1UmvsX7 ... @tedcruz: “Coloring Easter eggs with Caroline and Catherine! #HappyEaster” http://bit.ly/1Rmns6f
--PEEPS SHOW: This year’s winner of the Post Magazine’s Peeps diorama contest is “A Peep Inside (Out) Donald J. Trump.” Hot ticket: “Peepilton the Musical!” http://wapo.st/1RmoKxY
SNEAK PEEK: “Tonight on Showtime, ‘The Circus’ contrasts the Trump-Clinton response to Brussels with exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews. From Mar-a-Lago, Trump says he consulted no one before appearing on a round of network television interviews the morning after the attacks. ‘I don’t have to consult. Look, I say it from my heart and my brain. It’s not just heart. It’s heart and brain. That’s what I do,’ Trump said. ‘I say what I think is appropriate.’
“Meanwhile, Clinton held an early morning call with her advisers back in Brooklyn before conducting a similar round of network interviews. Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told ‘Circus’ cameras on a tour of her campaign headquarters that Trump’s spontaneity is no asset when it comes to foreign affairs. ‘That may work at one of his rallies, but on a world stage where you need to communicate an even hand and a steady hand, we’re happy to have that contrast.’” 2-min. Trump video http://bit.ly/1RDlUR0 ... 3-min. Clinton video http://bit.ly/1q9beUf
BUZZ – “The Case for Vice President Al Franken,” Bill Scher, progressive pundit, for Politico Magazine: “Trump erases the old standards. Nothing that [Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), a ‘Saturday Night Live’ alumnus] said decades ago would be remotely as incendiary as the insults Trump spews ... And Trump’s presence demands new rhetorical weaponry. ... Clinton will want to stay above the fray, and Franken can provide the buffer. ... Democrats will want their vice presidential choice to ... 1. Prevent Bernie Sanders’ energized left-wing youth from snubbing Clinton and flocking to the Green Party; 2. Protect the Rust Belt from Donald Trump’s blustery charms; and 3. Navigate an unprecedented media circus dominated by Trump ...
“[W]ith the elimination of Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, ... the electoral incentive for a Latino vice presidential nominee is diminished. ... Speculation has centered on minor Cabinet officials Julián Castro of Housing and Urban Development and Tom Perez of Labor, both a stretch to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. ... [N]either [Sanders nor Warren] is likely to say yes, since both can wield more influence as outside agitators than as Clinton surrogates ...
“Any senator who voted to support ... Obama’s ‘fast track’ trade promotion authority, helping grease the passage of the hated Trans-Pacific Partnership, wouldn’t pass muster with anyone feeling the Bern. That strikes Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, long seen as in the running both as a swing stater and Spanish speaker ...
“Many eyes will turn to Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio ... Brown was populist before populism was cool ... and as an early endorser, he has Clinton’s trust. Most importantly, he hails from the most pivotal battleground state in the industrial Midwest. But Brown ... [i]n Ohio, the governor gets to fill a Senate vacancy. Were Brown to run and win election as vice president, his successor would be appointed by Republican Gov. John Kasich. ...
“In the 2014 midterms, ... Franken ... stood for refinancing student loan debt and closing the tax loophole that favors hedge fund managers. ... Minnesota’s governor is a Democrat who [would] presumably replace Franken ... with another Democrat.” http://politi.co/22R5OLN
SANDERS SWEEP! Romps in Washington, Alaska, Hawaii give Bern a “chance to gain ground against Hillary” -- Gabe Debenedetti: “While the underdog’s West Coast wins are not nearly enough to trip up ... Clinton's path to the nomination, his wide margin of victory provides ... a burst of momentum heading into a 10-day break before the next primary ... [His] big victories are also typically followed by a considerable fundraising bump.” http://politi.co/1Uv641O
--WashPost A1, above fold, “Sanders planning a fierce torrent,” by Phil Rucker: New York’s “April 19 primary looms as potentially determinative: A win by Clinton, who is favored, would further narrow Sanders’s path, while a loss in the state she represented as a senator would embarrass her and hand Sanders a rationale to continue campaigning until the final votes are cast in June. ... Sanders plans an aggressive push in New York, modeled after his come-from-behind victory ... in Michigan. ... His advisers ... have commissioned polls to show which contrasts with Clinton — from Wall Street to fracking — could do the most damage to her at home. ...
“The intensified and scrappy approach by Sanders comes as Clinton is eager to pivot to the general election. ... A potentially ugly primary in New York threatens to derail those efforts. Two popular Democrats currently on the sidelines — President Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) — could help bring the two sides together.
“David Axelrod ... pointed to a third unifying figure: Donald Trump. He noted that Warren last week fired off a flurry of tweets attacking Trump, which he read as an important signal. ‘She was sending a message to Democrats that there are bigger things at stake here.’” http://wapo.st/25qOnUw
--SANDERS WON by 64 points in Alaska, 42 points in Hawaii and 46 points in Washington.
--AP LATEST: Alaska: Sanders 81.6%, Clinton 18.4% ... Hawaii: Sanders 70.6%, Clinton 29.2% ... Washington: Sanders 72.7%, Clinton 27.1%
--DELEGATES: “After Sanders' three wins on Saturday, Clinton held a delegate lead of 1,243 to 975, ... an advantage that expands to 1,712 to 1,004 once the superdelegates are included.”
MEDIAWATCH -- “‘Massive Game of Telephone’ ... Preceded the Ted Cruz Tabloid Rumors,” by HuffPost’s Michael Calderone: #NeverTrump GOP media guy “Rick Wilson got a call earlier this month from a reporter asking about a potentially ... campaign-ending piece of opposition research: a Ted Cruz sex tape. ... Wilson ... recalled fielding calls from upwards of 20 journalists in one day, hailing from major newspapers and networks.” http://huff.to/1pR7eYR
ROGER STONE tweets: “In fact I never discussed the #cubaMistressCrisis w/ @realDonaldTrump or his campaign ... I merely commented #henchmanNot.”
SPOTTED: Betsy Fischer Martin on Friday night with her uncle and cousin in NYC, catching “Madama Butterfly” at The Metropolitan Opera, while JMart was at Sweet16 in Philly. (Also there cheering for Hoosiers: Josh and Blair Holmes.)
TOP TALKER – N.Y. Times A1, below fold, “A New Museum Strives to Tell The Full African-American Story,” by Graham Bowley (online: “The [Smithsonian’s] National Museum of African American History and Culture, opening [on the National Mall, on a five-acre tract adjacent to the Washington Monument, on Sept. 24], had some delicate decisions to make about slavery, Bill Cosby and President Obama”): “[T]he curatorial team (now ... 15) ... has spent more than a decade building the collection, conducting focus groups and consulting authorities like John Hope Franklin, Taylor Branch, Colin L. Powell and Oprah Winfrey. ...
“In striving for a fuller picture, the museum will include uplifting stories, like those about free black pioneers who farmed the Midwest in the 19th century. ... [W]hile shackles and a whip are shown, the exhibit on slave ships does not try to recreate the wretched conditions. ...
“The curators say that, even when depicting the worst oppression, they have tried to emphasize individual stories of the people who suffered. ... [M]useum exhibits will feature African-American achievements in fields like music and sports. ... Cosby’s inclusion is limited to a few artifacts but was never a matter of debate; he was too significant a figure in entertainment and television to leave out. So the museum will feature a single comedy record ‘I Started Out as a Child,’ from 1964, ... and brief video clips from ‘I Spy’ and ‘The Cosby Show.’ ...
“[T]he Obama story commands relatively little space — one display case and part of another focusing on 2000 to 2015. There will be, among other things, a clip of his 2008 speech on race in Philadelphia and the text of his 2013 speech at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. [Lonnie G. Bunch III, 63, the museum’s director] said he would leave it to the Obama presidential library ... to give the president greater focus.” http://nyti.ms/1RtUZYD
PRESIDENT TRUMP – N.Y. Times 1-col. lead, “FOREIGN POLICY, IN TRUMP’S VIEW, IS ABOUT DEALS: A 100-MINUTE INTERVIEW [spread over two phone calls on Friday] -- A Harder Line Toward Allies in Asia and Middle East,” by David Sanger and Maggie Haberman: “[T]he main mechanism by which he would re-establish [America’s] central role in the world is economic bargaining. He approached almost every current international conflict through the prism of a negotiation, even when he was imprecise about the strategic goals ... Trump ... called [NATO] ‘unfair, economically, to us,’ and said he was open to an alternative organization focused on counterterrorism.
“He argued that the best way to halt China’s placement of military airfields and antiaircraft batteries ... in the South China Sea was to threaten its access to American markets. ... He did not mention Beijing’s ability for economic retaliation. Mr. Trump’s views, as he explained them, fit nowhere into the recent history of the Republican Party: He is not in the internationalist camp of President George Bush, nor does he favor President George W. Bush’s call to make it the United States’ mission to spread democracy around the world.
“He agreed with a suggestion that his ideas might be summed up as ‘America First.’ ‘Not isolationist, but I am America First ... I like the expression. ... We will not be ripped off anymore.” http://nyti.ms/1VOJ2SS
--NYT Quotation of the Day: TRUMP, during a 100-minute interview laying out his worldview: “If Saudi Arabia was without the cloak of American protection, I don’t think it would be around.”
TRUMP LEADS IN CALIF. -- L.A. Times, top of Sunday A1, “USC DORNSIFE/TIMES POLL: A grim outlook for the state’s fractured GOP ... California Republican voters favor Trump, but he could threaten down-ballot candidates if nominated,” by Cathleen Decker (online: “Trump leads in California primary race but threatens a GOP fracture”): The “division sets up the potential of cascading losses down the ballot for Republicans already fighting the tide in one of the nation's most Democratic states, including in a number of contested congressional districts. ... The poll shows Trump leading in most areas of the state except the Central Valley, where conservative voters put Cruz ahead. In Los Angeles County, the two are nearly tied. ...
“The survey showed [Trump] leading among college graduates and those without college degrees, and among almost all ranges of income. There was no distinction between the level of support from men and women.” http://lat.ms/1RHAA7R
--Among registered Republicans in California: Trump 37%, Cruz 30%, Kasich 12%
--Likely June 7 primary voters: Trump 36%, Cruz 35%, Kasich 14%
BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- “Deal reached to boost California’s minimum wage to $15, avoiding ballot box battle,” by L.A. Times’ John Myers and Liam Dillon: “[T]he negotiated deal would boost California’s statewide minimum wage from $10 an hour to $10.50 on Jan. 1, 2017, with a 50-cent increase in 2018 and then $1-per-year increases through 2022. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees would have an extra year to comply, delaying their workers receiving a $15 hourly wage until 2023.” http://lat.ms/1RHCaqo
JUST PUBLISHED – “‘Inside Campaigns: Elections through the Eyes of Political Professionals,’ [is a] new college textbook by Will Feltus (National Media), Ken Goldstein (University of San Francisco) and Matt Dallek (GWU and son of historian Robert Dallek) published by SAGE/CQ Press and based on structured interviews with more than 120 campaign managers and political operatives. The textbook takes a campaign manager-centric perspective (rather than consultant-centric) and is intended to expose students to what really goes on inside campaigns as opposed to how campaigns are often portrayed in the popular news and entertainment media.” $49 http://bit.ly/21NfmF3
VIDEO DU JOUR, via C-SPAN: “Senator Byrd talked [in March 1997 on the Senate floor] about the meaning of Easter.” http://cs.pn/1Umpohv
LIFE ONLINE -- “‘Swipe the Vote’ Campaign Update: Sanders and Cruz Take the Lead with Millennials on Tinder” – Tinder/Rock The Vote release: “According to Tinder users ... Sanders was matched with 37.8% of swipers, narrowly defeating ... Clinton who, at 37.6% is behind by just 200 matches – reinforcing the fact that every vote counts. The Republican winner Ted Cruz garnered 14.3% of overall votes, handily beating Donald Trump who was matched with only 8.1% of users. ... The men of Tinder leaned far more to the right, matching nearly twice as often with the Republican candidates than female voters.” http://bit.ly/1ZDmhRO
BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:
--“The City of the Eternal Boom,” by Michael Hall in the March Texas Monthly: “And the eternal festival. And the eternal traffic jam. And the eternal tech start-up. And the eternal food truck. And the eternal buzz. So how did Austin go from being a sleepy haven for pot-smoking slackers to the most talked-about place in the country—if not the world?” http://bit.ly/1ScKbOs
--“In the Capital of Europe,” by Ian Buruma in the N.Y. Review of Books: “Brussels is indeed rather chaotic, a political mess of nineteen different municipal districts, each with its own public authorities competing for funds, with an uncoordinated police force prone to conspicuous failures, and different political parties, linked to different language groups, operating their own more or less corrupt systems of patronage.” http://bit.ly/1UrKkE4
--“Is Prostitution Just Another Job?” by Mac McClelland on the cover of New York magazine: “The stereotype of prostitutes as streetwalkers is indeed somewhat dated in the United States, where for decades an estimated 80 percent have done business indoors. More recently, the internet has fostered unprecedented acceptance of sex work among the public.” http://thecut.io/1UjttTt (h/t Longform.org) ... See the cover. http://bit.ly/21LUX3i
--“They Made Him a Moron: The strange career of Alec Ross,” by Evgeny Morozov in The Baffler, reviewing “The Industries of the Future”: “Technology talk furnishes the seemingly innocent vocabulary that allows the U.S. government to bypass any organized resistance to the sort of neoliberal measures—more privatization, more austerity, no controls on movements of capital—that used to constitute the agenda behind the so-called Washington Consensus.” http://bit.ly/1ocRdul (h/t TheBrowser.com) ... $18.11 on Amazon http://amzn.to/1SrnGuD
--“Monsters of Our Own Imaginings,” by Stephen M. Walt in Foreign Policy: “Responding to the attacks in Brussels by raising threat levels, issuing travel advisories, and airing melodramatic news coverage makes the Islamic State far more dangerous than it really is.” http://atfp.co/1VOJosB
--“Exporting Jihad,” by George Packer in The New Yorker: “The Arab Spring has given Tunisians the freedom to act on their unhappiness.” http://bit.ly/1LORtvb
--“How Maritime Insurance Built Ancient Rome” – Priceonomics: “Ancient Rome—a city and empire that we associate with gladiators and civil wars, whose founding myth involves twin princes raised by a she-wolf—would not have become a wonder of the ancient world if it weren’t for the existence of an insurance industry that made trade boring, profitable, and dependable.” http://bit.ly/22MYaSB
--“In Defense of Washington” – Washingtonian’s March cover: “Out on the presidential hustings, our city is regularly maligned as a swamp that needs draining—a place that’s out of touch, inefficient, and hopelessly polarized; a faux metropolis populated by civil-service dullards, left-wing ideologues, and right-wing business lackeys; a gaggle of status-seeking transients cynically enjoying a lavish lifestyle underwritten by the hard-working folks back in Real America.” http://bit.ly/1MrtZMI ... See the cover. http://bit.ly/1pR5PS4
--“Harry Mount on Learning Latin” – Five Books: “What books should you read if you want to learn Latin? Harry Mount (and Katie Walker) recommend the best books on Latin.” http://bit.ly/1LOMFpr
ENGAGED – Juana Summers to David Markland -- They met online 2.5 years ago when she was still a reporter at Politico. “He took me on an amazing first date to Brewers Art, one of our favorite breweries to this day, and I immediately knew he was something special. After a year and a half of single handedly keeping the weekend MARC train in business, I relocated to Baltimore in April 2015 to start our lives together. He proposed at home in Baltimore over coffee -- and I was completely surprised but very excited to say yes!” Markland is a Baltimore-based contractor and Summers is now the political editor at Mashable, and they’re planning a wedding with friends and family in Oct. 2017. Pic http://bit.ly/1VOQsFI ... The ring http://bit.ly/1PytB9C
MARCH MADNESS – “TIPPING OFF: Big 12 can’t match ACC,” by AP Basketball Writer Jim O’Connell: “The Big 12 lost its shot at landing two teams in the Final Four when Villanova beat overall No. 1 seed Kansas. Oklahoma did its part earlier Saturday, beating Oregon in the Elite Eight. The Atlantic Coast Conference ... has guaranteed itself two of the Final Four teams before the final legs of the Elite Eight even begin. Sunday's ACC mini-tournament will pit Virginia against Syracuse and North Carolina against Notre Dame.” http://apne.ws/1Rx2cJO
--Bruce Andrews (@DepSecAndrews): “Great @Cuse_MBB win against @ZagMBB [Friday] night. Looking forward to playing @UVAMensHoops [today]! Go Orange! #Elite8.”
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Caroline Darmody, LA for Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.), leaving for Harvard Law School next fall (h/t Clare Doody)
BIRTHDAYS: Susan Molinari, former congresswoman and head of Google’s D.C. office … Joel Johnson, a managing director at Glover Park Group and a Bill Clinton alum … Steve Atkiss, founding partner of Command Consulting Group (h/ts Deckard, Recher, Sforza, Watkins, Bartlett, Bobby DeServi) ... Rachel Semmel of Conservative Review, a David Schweikert alum, and lifelong Purdue fan ... Liz Johnson, Sen. Ayotte’s comms director and the pride of China, Maine (h/t Jeff Grappone) ... Albert Martinez, Sen. Rubio’s chief of staff … Katie Johnson, President Obama’s former personal secretary, now back at the White House as a hard-working lawyer at OMB ... Jonathan Beam, a Hillary ’08 and DSCC alum, currently associate director of development for the Mid-Atlantic region at the UConn Foundation, is 3-0 ...
... Billy Moore, Washington’s favorite Texan and partner at Vianovo ... MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff (h/t Olivia Petersen) ... Ilya Aspis … Caren Street, policy adviser and grants director for Leader Reid ... David Mitrani, associate at Sandler, Reiff, Young & Lamb … William Fine ... Mark Bergman, deputy chief of staff to Conn. Gov. Dan Malloy, is 34 ... Lauren Dikis, Cory Booker’s finance director and DSCC/DCCC alum (h/t Sabrina Siddiqui) ... Politico alum Elizabeth Kaplan ... Peter Wallace, senior managing director at Blackstone … Vlad Gutman, Washington director at Climate Solutions a Clinton ‘08 alum … Mac Schneider, Earl Pomeroy alum and current North Dakota state senator … Sally Kohn … Anne Marie Gunther ... Allison Bumgardner ...
... Meredith Artley, editor in chief at CNN Digital … John Pomfret, author of “Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China,” is 57 ... aunt Wilma Vilmain … Liz Martinez Baldick … Scott Giles … Sean Kelly ... Ann Mullholand (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Rachel Shapiro, politics reporter at the Staten Island Advance … Julie Hendricks-Atkins, account executive at Geto & de Milly … Sarah Fenn ... Butch Ekstrom ... Tam Jetter Sonnen ... Gina McClernon Twining ... Lane Bailey, CEO at Advocom Group ... Hall of Fame racer Cale Yarborough is 77 ... Andrew Farriss (INXS) is 57 ... Quentin Tarantino is 53 ... Mariah Carey is 46 ... classical crossover singer Amira Willighagen (“Holland’s Got Talent”) is 12 (h/ts AP)