More and more Democrats flocked to endorse Hillary Clinton and now we’re worried Bernie Sanders will don a floppy conductor’s hat and sadly play with model trains in a basement for the next six months. Donald Trump earned himself a standing ovation at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's annual convention, no doubt due in part to his comments about flat-chested women on Howard Stern's radio show. And Mitch McConnell said “it's pretty obvious” Trump doesn’t know much about the issues, so it’s a good thing that David French is going to be our next president. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, June 10th, 2016:
TRUMP PLAYS NICE FOR THE EVANGELICALS - "Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made a pointed but subdued appeal Friday to religious conservatives, a group he has struggled to win over in the past. Trump pledged during an address to the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference to 'restore faith to its proper mantle' in U.S. society. 'I’m with you 100 percent.' Trump told the crowd gathered at the Omni Shoreham hotel and convention center in Washington, D.C. 'We will respect and defend Christian Americans ' He added that he would work hard to advance 'our shared values.' Trump told the mostly evangelical attendees that he would pursue a conservative agenda if elected. The businessman expressed his opposition to abortion, support for Israel and his intention to nominate conservative judges to federal courts, as he generally stuck to themes familiar to the GOP’s religious base. 'Marriage and family as building block of happiness and success,' he said." [HuffPost]
Also, this: "Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) joked at a conservative Christian event on Friday that he prays President Barack Obama’s 'days will be short.' The first-term senator began his opening statement at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference by telling attendees to pray for Obama. With a smirk, Perdue said, 'We should pray like Psalms 109:8 says. It says: ‘Let his days be few and let another have his office.’' The large crowd laughed. Perdue did not continue reciting the words, but Psalm 109 is a death wish for one of David’s enemies." [HuffPost's Amber Ferguson]
CHECKING IN WITH THE POLLS - Natalie Jackson: "Trump’s decline could be due to struggling with his image — again — after disparaging a judge from Indiana for his Mexican heritage. His claim that the judge couldn’t be impartial in the Trump University case has been unpopular with Republican leaders and voters. If that’s the cause of his poll decline, expect a lot of volatility in the polls over the next few months — we all know Trump will continue to say dumb things. That also means we haven’t really seen the Democratic nomination bump yet. Polls in the coming days and weeks will likely show even larger Clinton leads now that President Barack Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have endorsed her. An endorsement or concession from her rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would also trigger higher numbers for the presumptive nominee." [HuffPost]
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CLINTON MEETS WITH WARREN - God, this will only end with 500,000 emails in our inbox from Warren titled, "Need you now more than ever." Reuters: "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton met on Friday with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive voice, to try to build party unity heading into her election campaign against Republican Donald Trump. The two held talks at Clinton’s Washington home a day after Warren endorsed Clinton’s White House bid, adding support from the Democrats’ liberal wing as Clinton seeks to move on from her protracted primary battle with Bernie Sanders. Former secretary of state Clinton earlier this week secured the delegates needed to win the party nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Party leaders are hoping Sanders will soon drop his presidential run. The Warren meeting on Friday fueled speculation that the senator from Massachusetts might be under consideration as Clinton’s running mate." [Reuters]
MCCONNELL: TRUMP DOESN'T REALLY KNOW MUCH - This begs the question: how many people walk into a voting booth, intend to vote the Democratic line but don't because Mitch McConnell distanced himself from Donald Trump? Betsy Fischer Martin, Tammy Haddad and Steven T. Dennis: " In an extraordinarily frank interview with Bloomberg Politics' Masters in Politics podcast, McConnell, who is on a book tour touting his autobiography The Long Game, also expressed broader concerns about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. 'He needs someone highly experienced and very knowledgeable because it's pretty obvious he doesn't know a lot about the issues,' McConnell said. 'You see that in the debates in which he's participated. It's why I have argued to him publicly and privately that he ought to use a script more often—there is nothing wrong with having prepared texts.'" [Bloomberg]
McConnell pointedly did not mention Trump during his address to the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference today, either. Ruh roh.
TED POE IS MORE THAN JUST A GUY IN CONGRESS WHO SQUINTS A LOT - He's also a perpetrator of unapologetic hypocrisy! Jen Bendery: "Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) complained this week that his district isn’t getting enough federal grant money to combat the Zika virus from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the same agency he’s repeatedly voted to underfund as it tries to prevent an outbreak. 'We are vulnerable to the threat of Zika virus for several reasons,' Poe said in a statement on Tuesday, referencing a letter he recently sent to the CDC. 'Both mosquito vectors that carry Zika virus are present in Harris County. Located on the Gulf Coast, we have experienced high flood waters in recent months. In addition, there are also areas of our community that are poverty stricken. Each of these factors create conditions that are ideal for mosquitoes to breed.' 'The CDC must work with our community both now and in the future to address this flawed grant system and help allocate federal dollars for Harris County’s public health response,' he added. But Poe was among those who voted last month to give the CDC just one-third of the $1.9 billion it requested to protect the public from a Zika outbreak. The bill he voted for, which came three months after the CDC asked for aid, also provided just one-fifth the amount the agency requested for its overall public health activities." [HuffPost]
And that's just the way it is.
GOP LAWMAKER TRIES TO GUT ETHICS OFFICE, BECAUSE OF COURSE - It's surprising we don't see more efforts to stack the Ethics Committee. Laura Barron-Lopez: "A vote to slash funding for the independent office that reviews and investigates allegations of misconduct by members of Congress and their staff failed in the House on Friday. Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) was originally pushing to completely defund the Office of Congressional Ethics, eliminating its roughly $1.4 million budget. He settled instead for a vote on an amendment to stop a $190,000 increase in OCE funding. That measure went down to defeat, 270 to 137. Last year, the ethics office looked into allegations of misconduct by one of Pearce’s staffers. That didn’t sit well with the congressman, despite the fact that the charges were ultimately dismissed. When the ethics office dismisses allegations, they remain confidential, so no one likely would have known had Pearce not made them public in his attempts to restrict the agency’s authority and cut its funding. Pearce said his amendment was meant to 'give notice to OCE that we are watching what you’re doing.'" [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a dog bonding with a capybara.
GAWKER FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY - Liberals will get a brief respite when George Soros sues WorldNetDaily into submission. Sam Levine: "Gawker Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The filing lists the company’s assets as between $50 and $100 million and says its liabilities are between $100 million and $500 million. Gawker is currently appealing a $140 million verdict in favor of former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, who sued the company for invasion of privacy. In 2012, Gawker published excerpts of a video showing Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, having sex with the wife of his then-best friend. Last month it was revealed that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel was personally financing Hogan’s lawsuit. In a statement Friday afternoon, Gawker said it had reached an asset purchase agreement with media company Ziff Davis, but other bidders can offer a higher price as the company goes through an auction supervised by a bankruptcy court. The Ziff Davis bid is reportedly between $90 to $100 million, according to The New York Times." [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- A deep analysis of "Face Off."
- High school dating contract is intense.
- Fire arrows were never really a thing.
TWITTERAMA
@7im: For the record:
Trump and his family members have had to step up to say he is:
Not a racist
Not a rapist
Not a groper
Not Hitler
@Emma_Dumain: Ppl staking out Elizabeth Warren meeting at HRC's house: If Warren doesn't talk to you on the Hill, why will she talk to you on the street?
@adamweinstein: Sanders: Your corporatism undermines our democracy
Clinton: Governance is a messy thing
Trump: POCAHONTAS PEE PEE POO POO FINE STEAKS
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