By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; mallen@politico.com) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; dlippman@politico.com)
Happy Saturday! SPRING AHEAD tonight, to get a jump on March Madness SELECTION SUNDAY.
BREAKING – “Rubio wavers on supporting Trump as GOP nominee,” by Eli Stokols in Largo, Fla.: “‘I don’t know,’ Rubio said [this morning], pausing in despair, after being asked directly if he stands by his pledge to support Trump if he’s the party’s nominee. ... ‘I still at this moment intend to support the Republican nominee, but … it’s getting harder every day.’ ... [Rubio] blamed Trump for language that he says is fostering a climate that has the country ‘careening toward chaos and anarchy.’ ‘We settle our differences in this country at the ballot box, not with guns or bayonets or violence.’” http://politi.co/22bdM21
COURT PICK COULD COME NEXT WEEK -- WashPost p. A7, “Obama is said to narrow court candidates to three,” by Sari Horwitz, Robert Barnes and Jerry Markon: “The three under consideration are Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Sri Srinivasan, a judge on the same court; and Paul Watford, a judge on the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.” http://wapo.st/1QOqrE5
**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/1M75UbX
HAPPENING TODAY! JAKE SHERMAN and ANNA PALMER go behind the scenes of the 2016 campaign. Newseum’s Knight TV Studio, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Free with Newseum admission. http://bit.ly/1V03cIW
BEING THERE – “Trump Chicago rally postponed amid scenes of chaos,” by Natasha Korecki, author of Politico’s Illinois Playbook: “More than 30 minutes after the event was supposed to start, a representative stepped to the lectern to announce that the event was being canceled for safety considerations. That set off an eruption of cheers and screams from hundreds of people who revealed themselves to be protesters ... The moment revealed that hundreds of people had slipped into the event portraying themselves as Trump supporters. They instead unveiled protest banners, and some hoisted campaign signs for Bernie Sanders.
“The crowd inside the University of Illinois at Chicago pavilion grew contentious long before ... The intensity of acrimony inside became clear early on as security hauled off one person after another, each time to the screams of the demonstrators. The anti-Trump contingent, some wearing ‘Black Lives Matter’ shirts, stood and chanted ‘Let him stay! Let him stay!’ as security removed an African American male from the building at another side of the arena. Across the aisles, Trump supporters chanted ‘USA! USA!’” http://politi.co/228vgj0 ... Subscribe to Illinois Playbook http://politi.co/1N7u5sb
--“Obama blames the GOP for Trump’s rise” – Politico: Speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Austin, ... Obama lit into Donald Trump, by turns mocking him for ‘selling steaks’ and ripping his rhetoric— while urging the GOP to take responsibility for creating him. ... ‘We’ve got a debate inside the other party that is fantasy and schoolyard taunts and selling stuff like it’s the Home Shopping Network ... How can you be shocked? ... This is the guy, remember, who was sure that I was born in Kenya.” http://politi.co/1Lin743
CLICKERS: “Chaos breaks out as Trump cancels rally”: 30 pics by Scott Mahaskey http://politi.co/22aVDRX ... Chicago Tribune banner, “Trump cancels UIC rally” – See the page. http://bit.ly/1Rd8RMd
--“Remembering Nancy Reagan: Family, dignitaries and celebrities pay their respects” -- 36 pics http://politi.co/1RFBs7b
--“The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker -- 13 keepers http://politi.co/1UY6M6o
TOP TWEET: Eric Wilson, Rubio digital director (@ericwilson): “It’s #VoteEarlyDay in Florida so we’ve created an interactive @Snapchat geofilter only available at early vote sites.” Click photo to see filter. http://bit.ly/1QTDJvI
TRUMP, from phoner with Greta Van Susteren on Fox’s “On the Record”: “I got to Chicago about two hours ago and we had 25,000 people trying to come in, and all supporters. And at the same time, there were protesters. And when I met with the various law enforcement agencies, Greta, I decided that it was looking a bit – ... I don’t want to see people get hurt or worse, and I decided very strongly to make a decision not to do it and to postpone the rally. It was a big rally, a tremendous rally with tremendous people ...
“You know, we have such a divided country now. It’s been so divided under this president and I have been saying it for a long time. ... I don’t use hate speech.”
--On whether he plays a role in dividing the U.S.: “I don’t think so. I represent a large group of people that have anger. And they are not angry people, but they have anger at the stupidity of what's happening in our country. Our jobs are being taken out of our country and being given to China and Mexico and every other country probably there is. ...
“Chicago is the home to some pretty rough rallies. If you look at the convention many years ago, the Democrat convention many years ago, that was a pretty bad thing. A lot of people hurt. A lot of people killed. I didn’t want to see anything like that happen.”
--On whether he worries about himself: “No, I don’t get scared. I really don’t get scared. I see it. It's part of life. It’s happened. I have seen it over the years many times. It’s tough stuff, but it could have been a lot tougher if we decide to do go through. I think we made a very wise decision. It’s all calmed down now ... We will do it another time.”
--NATIONAL REVIEW endorses CRUZ http://bit.ly/21nTFLN
--“How Marco Rubio’s Made-For-TV Campaign Fell Flat,” by BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins: “The ... long-term consequence of the Rubio campaign’s strategic reliance on national media may end up being how it de-prioritized building an effective ground game ... While Rubio prevailed over Ted Cruz in South Carolina and Nevada, the Texan’s campaign has since consistently out-hustled his rival ... especially in caucuses.” http://bzfd.it/1XjMyCJ
INSIDE THE CAMPAIGNS -- “Bernie throws Rahm Emanuel under the bus: In an effort to win Illinois, Sanders is zeroing in on Hillary Clinton’s ties to the embattled Chicago mayor,” by Gabe Debenedetti: “If Bernie Sanders gets his way, Tuesday’s Illinois primary will turn into a referendum on embattled Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.” http://politi.co/228j2H9
--DAVID AXELROD in CNN.com op-ed, “Reckless driving: The Hillary, Bernie blowup over autos”: “Presidents are often faced with galling, imperfect choices, particularly in these times of deep polarization and divided government. Hillary was on the right side of history with her vote, even if she crossed the line in her retelling of it. Bernie was wronged in the debate, but his vote raises questions about how a political ‘revolutionary’ would deal with the realities of governing.” http://cnn.it/1RWjkbO
PRESIDENT OBAMA on the iPhone encryption debate, at the South by Southwest tech festival in Austin, speaking onstage yesterday with Evan Smith, editor-in-chief, CEO and co-founder of the nonprofit Texas Tribune: “I’ve got a bunch of smart people sitting there, talking about it, thinking about it. We have engaged the tech community aggressively to help solve this problem. My conclusion so far is that you cannot take an absolutist view on this. So if your argument is strong encryption, no matter what, and we can and should, in fact, create black boxes, then that I think does not strike the kind of balance that we have lived with for 200, 300 years. And it’s fetishizing our phones above every other value. ...
“I suspect that the answer is going to come down to how do we create a system where the encryption is as strong as possible, the key is as secure as possible, it is accessible by the smallest number of people possible ... I caution: I am way on the civil liberties side of this thing. ... But the dangers are real. ... [W]e make compromises all the time. I haven’t flown commercial in a while -- (laughter) -- but my understanding is it’s not great fun ... going through security. ... We have stops for drunk drivers. It’s an intrusion, but we think it’s the right thing to do.” Video http://1.usa.gov/24WxUqQ
--N.Y. TIMES Quotation of the Day, -- PRESIDENT OBAMA, saying law enforcement must be able to collect information from electronic devices: “If, technologically, it is possible to make an impenetrable device or system, where the encryption is so strong that there is no key, there is no door at all, then how do we apprehend the child pornographer? How do we disrupt a terrorist plot?” Article on p. NYT A1, bottom of page, “Obama Calls for Law Enforcement Access in Encryption Fight,” by Mike Shear in Austin http://nyti.ms/1LYkqVg
THINGS TRUMP SAYS ... From his Friday Palm Beach press conference where Ben Carson endorsed him: “I don’t think there are two Donald Trumps. I think there’s one Donald Trump, but certainly you have, you know, look, all of this and you have somebody else that sits and reads and thinks. And I’m a thinker. And I have been a thinker. And perhaps people don’t think of me that way because you don’t see me in that forum. But I am a thinker. I thought it was very nice what Ben said, actually, because it is another side of me. ... I’m a very deep thinker.”
--@chrisdonovan: “The 2 Donald Trumps: Trump at 9:20am: ‘I think there are 2 Donald Trumps’ Trump at 9:32am: ‘I don’t think there are 2 Donald Trumps’”.
DAILY DONALD – N.Y. Times 1-col. lead, “TRUMP STUDENTS CITE PUSH TO GIVE POSITIVE REVIEWS: POTENT CAMPAIGN ISSUE -- Program’s Critics Dispel Notion of 98 Percent Satisfaction Rate,” by Michael Barbaro and Steve Eder: “[E]mployees of Trump University at times applied pressure on students to offer favorable reviews, instructed them to fill out the forms in order to obtain their graduation certificates, and ignored standard practices used to ensure that the surveys were filled out objectively. ...
“A website set up to defend Trump University, 98percentapproval.com, has published 10,000 student evaluations, but not all of them were from paying students. They include some from the more than 3,000 free guests ... [A] lawyer for Mr. Trump, Daniel M. Petrocelli, said the experience of students who felt manipulated ‘is not representative of what happened across the board.’” http://nyti.ms/1TVeOhA
PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION – WashPost p. A1, at fold, “Report deepens mystery of Russian’s death in D.C.,” by Peter Hermann, Michael Birnbaum and Clarence Williams: “Mikhail Lesin, a former Russian cabinet minister, ... was found dead ... Nov. 5 in his [Dupont Circle Hotel] room, lying on the floor. ... [O]n Thursday, the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office said Lesin died of blunt force trauma to the head and had bruises on other areas of his body. The examiner reached no conclusion about whether the man who was a trusted member of Putin’s inner circle and once ruled a media empire died because of a crime, an accident or some other means.
“The mysterious death of the Kremlin-connected businessman ... is fueling conspiracy theories around the globe. Speculation ranges from Lesin being targeted by a political or financial rival to being the victim of a mundane bar fight. ... [D]etectives are baffled. The FBI said it is not currently involved.” http://wapo.st/1RWkNPd
SPOTTED last night, huddled around one table at Blue Duck Tavern: Ambassador to Chile Mike Hammer, former Pentagon chief of staff Rexon Ryu, Brent Colburn, Ben Chang. A couple tables away, Ambassador to Denmark and former Obama 2012 finance director Rufus Gifford and husband Stephen DeVincent.
SEND YOUR SPOTTINGS to dlippman@politico.com
OUT AND ABOUT IN AUSTIN ... The New York Times Magazine hosted a party for South by Southwest attendees last night in Austin, celebrating the “Music Issue” in tomorrow’s paper. The food was Franklin BBQ. DJ Chris Rose spun his magic and band Hard Proof played. Pics from Jordan Cohen: http://bit.ly/1Rd8HnT ... http://bit.ly/1QM45C0 ... http://bit.ly/1V0Jq02
SPOTTED: Jake Silverstein, Keegan-Michael Key (Key and Peele), Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Brian Stelter, Frank Pallotta, Natalie Jarvey, Joe Pompeo, Peter Cherukuri, Fran Holuba, Roy Schwartz, Noah Kulwin, Meredith Kopit Levien, Andy Wright, Sam Dolnick, Maureen Dowd, Jim Rutenberg, Jenna Wortham, Jeremy Barr.
WHCA DEADLINE NOW MONDAY: “The White House Correspondents’ Association is extending the deadline for its awards submissions until Monday, March 14 at 5 p.m. Given the large number of reporters who have been on the road covering the 2016 campaign, we want to give everyone a little more time. This is a one-time courtesy to everyone who is juggling the demands of the campaign and White House coverage.” http://whca.net/
BILL CLINTON ALUMNI -- “How These 7 Political Gaffes Changed the Course of U.S. History,” by Shawn Tully in Fortune, reviewing Josh King’s “Off Script: An Advance Man’s Guide To White House Stagecraft, Campaign Spectacle, and Political Suicide:” (out April 26): “By unveiling the mechanics of what makes for great and terrible political iconography, King has written one of the best political books this writer has ever encountered. His skill at interspersing themes from the famous disasters and elaborating on them with his own adventures and insights into the evolution of advance work are worthy of John McPhee.” http://for.tn/1pkjXCS ... Pre-order -- $18.32 on Amazon http://amzn.to/1IRZJJm
GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:
--“When You Listen to Music, You’re Never Alone,” by Daniel A. Gross in Nautilus magazine: “Technology hasn’t diminished the social quality of listening to music.” http://bit.ly/1UY5Hvx (h/t ALDaily.com)
--“The Incredible Rise and Final Hours of Fracking King Aubrey McClendon,” by Bryan Gruley, Joe Carroll, and Asjylyn Loder on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek: “Chesapeake Energy’s co-founder and CEO was a visionary who had trouble following the rules. ... McClendon ... liked to sneak Champagne into movie theaters on date nights with his wife.” http://bit.ly/1U6zK4w ... The cover http://bit.ly/1UYmEpw
--“The Tinder Guys of CPAC, the Friskiest Republican Bash of the Year,” by Rebecca Nelson in GQ: “The Conservative Political Action Conference, held in March just outside of Washington, D.C., is considered for many warm-blooded Americans a Cancun for right-wingers. So what’s it like to fire up the world’s premier hookup app from inside the heart of it?” http://bit.ly/1RcC61E
--“A Marine’s Convictions,” by WashPost’s John Woodrow Cox: “After a flawed sexual assault investigation, a Naval Academy instructor fights to prove he has done nothing wrong. But did he?” http://wapo.st/228wUgY
--“The Matter of Black Lives,” by Jelani Cobb in The New Yorker: “A new kind of movement found its moment. What will its future be?” http://bit.ly/1U6z6UR (h/t Longreads.com)
--“How Has the MFA Changed the Contemporary Novel?” by Richard Jean and Andrew Piper: “We wrote a program to analyze hundreds of works by authors with and without creative-writing degrees. The results were disappointing.” http://theatln.tc/1pkjela
--“How should vegetarians actually live?” by Oxford student Thomas Sittler in Practical Ethics: “Nature is often romanticised as a well-balanced idyll, so this may seem counter-intuitive. But extreme forms of suffering like starvation, dehydration, or being eaten alive by a predator are much more common in wild animals than farm animals.” http://bit.ly/1P3IikQ
--“What Happens When the Surveillance State Becomes an Affordable Gadget?” by Robert Kolker in Bloomberg Businessweek: “Maybe it doesn’t faze you that your local police have a $400,000 device that listens in on cell phones. How will you feel when your neighbor has a $1,500 version?” http://bloom.bg/1RDUtqH
--“Everything Is Crumbling,” by Slate’s Daniel Engber: “An influential psychological theory ... ‘ego depletion’ [was said to reveal] a fundamental fact about the human mind: We all have a limited supply of willpower, and it decreases with overuse. ... And yet, it now appears that ego depletion could be completely bogus, that its foundation might be made of rotted-out materials.” http://slate.me/1SFv3h7
PROMOTIONS – Amb. Donald Gips makes partner at Albright Stonebridge – The firm’s chair Tony Harrington emailed the staff: “As Senior Counselor, Don has led the building of the firm’s exceptional Africa practice ... He draws on a distinguished career that includes public service as Ambassador to South Africa, Assistant to President Obama and head of Presidential Personnel, and Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore.”
ENGAGED -- Amelia Chasse, press secretary at America Rising, and Lenny Alcivar, client strategy director for GOP digital firm Targeted Victory. The couple quietly celebrated their engagement over champagne and dozens of their favorite New England oysters at their home in Old Town. Lenny tells Playbook: “We met in December 2011 at work, where, by all accounts, we did NOT get along! Years later, we got engaged last night at our favorite spot on the Old Town waterfront by our home. Asked her to marry me on the very bench where most nights I sat and talked to Amelia on the phone during her 16 month stint in Austin working for (now) Texas Governor Greg Abbott.” Pic http://bit.ly/1UmNmaS
THE PRESIDENT’S WEEK AHEAD: POTUS wakes up in Dallas this morning. This morning, “the President will deliver remarks at a DNC event. There will be pooled press coverage of this event at Gilley’s Club. Afterward, the President will deliver remarks and take questions at a DSCC event at a private residence. There will be print pool coverage of the President’s remarks. In the evening, the President will depart Dallas en route Washington ...
“On Monday, the President will visit the State Department to deliver remarks at the Chief of Missions Conference. Afterwards, the President will deliver brief opening remarks to the performance of musical selections from HAMILTON. This will be a culmination of a daylong event hosted by the First Lady for students with the Broadway cast of HAMILTON.
“On Tuesday, the President will hold a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Kenny of Ireland. Afterwards, the President and the Vice President will travel to the U.S. Capitol for the Friends of Ireland Luncheon. Later on, the President will deliver remarks at a reception for St. Patrick’s Day at the White House. On Wednesday, the President will deliver remarks a reception for Women’s History Month at the White House.”
BIRTHDAYS: Mitt Romney, celebrating with his favorite meal of all time: “Mitt’s meatloaf cakes” (h/t Ann, 23 grandkids and Ryan Williams) ... Chris LaPlaca (@espn_chris) ... CNN’s Jake Tapper is 47 ... Mitt Romney is 69 ... broadcast journalist Lloyd Dobyns is 80 (For those of us old enough to remember “NBC News Overnight”: “And so it goes!”) ... author Carl Hiaasen is 63 ... former Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is 68 ... Andrew Young -- politician, diplomat and civil rights activist -- is 84 ... Eric Burns, founder/partner at Bullfight Strategies and a Media Matters alum ... James Ball, special correspondent at BuzzFeed UK and a Guardian alum ... Rachel Greenberg, daughter of Tammy Haddad, is 17 ... Hugh Maska-Jackson ...
... Marcy Stech, comms director at EMILY’s List and a semi-pro accordion enthusiast, a Priorities USA alum, and the pride of Duluth, Minn. (h/t Feldman) ... Neil Fried, MPAA’s SVP of gov’t and regulatory affairs and a House Energy and Commerce alum ... Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), now running for the U.S. Senate ... Reuters’ Emily Stephenson (h/t Liana Baker) ... Slate’s Jim Newell (h/t Liz Gorman) ... Melissa Ryan, head of DC strategy team at Trilogy Interactive and a Feingold/Obama alum … Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) ... Kathleen Siedlecki, EVP of Weber Shandwick (h/t Jon Haber) ... Theresa Jansen …
... Jeff “The Conductor” Miller ... Brian Weiss, associate administrator for comms. at SBA, former TechNet, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and UPenn alum, and most importantly, the pride of Philly (h/t Sophia Kim) ... Frank McDougall, Dartmouth Health’s chief lobbyist is 66, “within 10 of shooting his age” (h/t Bethany Kent) ... David Sheon ... Noah Flessel, regional program director on the Libya Transition Initiative at international development firm Chemonics ...
... Steven Stenberg, partner of The Strategy Group (h/t Albert Pollard) ... Aaron Kraus, deputy director of policy and electricity markets of SolarCity ... Matt Bravo, floor director for Majority Whip Steve Scalise ... Sam Noel, son of Jonathan Noel and Kate Disston Noel ... Jeff Lande ... James Srodes ... Baker Ellett ... Yana Calou ... Talia Schmidt, editor at Families USA ... Nick Woodfield ... Rebecca Dishotsky … Jack Law-Warschaw … Stacey Grundman (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... singer Al Jarreau is 76 ... Liza Minnelli is 70 ... singer-songwriter James Taylor is 68 ... Bill Payne (Little Feat) is 67 ... Jon Provost (Timmy on “Lassie”) is 66 ... Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 59 ... former MLB All-Star Darryl Strawberry is 54 ... actress Julia Campbell is 53 ... actress Kendall Applegate is 17 (h/ts AP)
THE SHOWS, from @MattMackowiak, reporting from Austin:
--NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Donald Trump on camera, via remote; Ted Cruz; John Kasich; new NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Marist polling from Ohio, Florida and Illinois; roundtable: Alex Castellanos, Anne Gearan, Hugh Hewitt and Doris Kearns Goodwin
--ABC’s “This Week”: Ted Cruz; John Kasich; Bernie Sanders; roundtable: Donna Brazile, Matthew Dowd, Bill Kristol and Jorge Ramos
--CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Bernie Sanders; John Kasich; roundtable: Nancy Cordes, Michael Duffy, Jeffrey Goldberg and Peggy Noonan; new results from the CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker poll from Florida, Ohio and Illinois with CBS News’ Anthony Salvanto
--CNN’s “State of the Union” (9am ET / 12pm ET): Donald Trump; Bernie Sanders; John Kasich; roundtable: Ana Navarro, Bakari Sellers, Tom Marino and Nina Turner
--“Fox News Sunday”: Donald Trump; John Kasich; roundtable: Karl Rove, Julie Pace, Kimberley Strassel and Juan Williams; “Power Player of the Week” with Independent Journal Review CEO & founder Alex Skatell
--Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” (10am ET / 9am CT): Thom Tillis; Frank Luntz; Gen. Michael Hayden (Ret.); roundtable: Ed Rollins, Judith Miller and Julie Roginsky
--CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King (SUN 8am ET): Roundtable: Nia-Malika Henderson, Jonathan Martin, Molly Ball and Manu Raju
--CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: (SUN 10am ET / 1pm ET): Roundtable: The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik, Harvard University’s Yascha Mounk, Aspen Institute’s Valentina Pasquali and Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman; Columbia University’s Eric Foner and Cornell University’s Hunter Rawlings; the University of North Carolina’s Jonathan Weiler; Cornell University’s Barry Strauss
--CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: (SUN 11am ET): Carl Bernstein and Douglas Brinkley; Adam Smith and Henry Gomez; BBC’s Kim Ghattas, The Daily Telegram’s Ruth Sherlock and CanalPlus’ Ruth Haim; Steven Brill
--Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” (11am ET / 10am CT): Donald Trump; Heidi Przybyla; Kristen Soltis Anderson; Michael Tomasky; tech analyst Shana Glenzer
--Univision’s “Al Punto” (SUN 10am ET / 1pm PT) Highlights from this week’s Democratic debate with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders; DNC communications director Luis Miranda; Republican analyst Adolfo Franco; filmmaker Gabriel Osorio
--C-SPAN: “The Communicators” (SAT 6:30pm ET): Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project director John Simpson and privacy and cybersecurity lawyer Jim Halpert, questioned by Communications Daily’s Howard Buskirk ... “Newsmakers” (SUN 10am ET): Tony Perkins, questioned by WaPo’s Tom Hamburger and Washington Times’ David Sherfinski ... “Q&A” (SUN 8pm & 11pm ET): Politico editor Susan Glasser and NYT’s Peter Baker
--MSNBC’s “The Place for Politics”: (SUN 9-10am ET): McDonald’s employee Westley Williams; Main Street Communications president David Heller; Chipotle employee Laura Pierre (hosted by MSNBC’s Kate Snow live from Miami)
--MSNBC’s “The Place for Politics”: (SUN 11am-12pm ET): E.J. Dionne; WaPo’s Janell Ross; former Bush 41 spokesman Gian-Carlo Peressutti (hosted by MSNBC’s Joy Reid live from Miami)
--MSNBC’s “The Place for Politics”: (SUN 12-1pm ET): State Rep. Niraj Antani (R-OH); Ohio Democratic Party chairman David Pepper; Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges (hosted by MSNBC’s Tamron Hall live from Lakewood, OH)
--MSNBC’s “The Place for Politics”: (SUN 1-2pm ET): Bendixen & Amandi International executive vice president Fernand Amandi; Miami-Dade GOP vice chair Manny Roman; NYT’s Nicholas Confessore; The Victory Group principal Adam Goodman (hosted by MSNBC’s Kate Snow live from Miami)
--PBS’s “To the Contrary” with Bonnie Erbé: dividing the United Methodist Church
--SiriusXM’s “No Labels Radio” (SAT 10am ET & 6pm ET, SUN 1PM ET): Guest hosted by No Labels co-founder Amb. Stuart Holliday and No Labels executive director Margaret Kimbrell: Discussion of the prospects of a brokered RNC convention with former Bush and Romney campaign counsel Charlie Spies, the Lugar Center’s Bipartisan Index with Richard Lugar, and the 2016 presidential election with WaPo’s Katie Zezima.
--Sinclair’s “Full Measure” with Sharyl Attkisson (SUN 9:30am ET on WJLA and airing on Sinclair stations nationwide): Report on the showdown between Apple and the FBI that is heading towards the Supreme Court; report on gaming the system for emotional support animals.