Donald Trump Opposes North Carolina Hate Law

During a town hall appearance this morning on NBC’s Today Show, Donald Trump seemed to oppose anti-LGBT laws like North Carolina’s hateful HB2.

I say “seemed” because during his answer he kept saying “Leave it the way it is.” Leaving it the way it is would mean keeping HB2 in North Carolina., because that’s currently “how it is.”

But the gist of his answer would seem to be in opposition to the legislation that has garnered so much attention and caused so much economic hardship for the state.

Here’s Trump talking on the issue this morning:

“North Carolina did something that was very strong and they’re paying a big price. And there’s a lot of problems.” Trump said. “Leave it the way it is. North Carolina, what they’re going through, with all of the business and all of the strife — and that’s on both sides — you leave it the way it is. There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. There has been so little trouble. And the problem with what happened in North Carolina is the strife and the economic punishment they’re taking.”

UPDATE: Trump’s opponent in the Republican presidential primary blasted Trump for even suggesting opposition to the hate law.

New York Presidential Primary: Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump Win Big

According to the Associated Press, it is now mathematically impossible for Sen. Ted Cruz or Gov. John Kasich to get to 1,237 delegates before the Republican convention this summer. Their only path to the nomination is to block Donald Trump and force a contested convention.

Stay tuned.

Donald Trump Praises Heroes Of 7/11

Donald Trump, speaking in Buffalo last night in advance of the New York presidential primary, praised the heroes of 7/11.

I had no idea he was such a fan of the convenience store chain.

From the clip:

“I wrote this out, and it’s very close to my heart,because I was down there and I watched our police and our firemen down at 7/11, down at the World Trade Center right after it came down. And I saw the greatest people I’ve ever seen in action.”

Of course, we all believe he must have meant to say 9/11. It’s worth noting the Trumpster never corrected himself.

Donald Trump Lags Behind Previous GOP Presidential Candidates

Harry Enten at FiveThirthEight.com has compared past performances of non-incumbent Republican presidential nominees and found that current front-runner Donald Trump is way behind his predecessors at this point in the primary season.

Trump’s 37 percent of the cumulative primary vote and 46 percent of delegates won so far may sound impressive, but his percentages make him the weakest Republican front-runner, at this point in the process, in decades.

Past GOP nominees such as George H.W. Bush in 1988, George W. Bush in 2000, Bob Dole in 1996 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 had bigger shares of the vote at this point, even if they started out slowly. You’ll also note, however, that the two most recent Republican nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney, weren’t doing too much better than Trump is now.

McCain and Romney, though, were far ahead of Trump at this point in the delegate race. All the eventual nominees studied here won a majority of the delegates allotted1 by this date. Trump remains short of a majority.

Unless something radically changes, Trump will finish the primary season with the lowest percentage of the primary vote and the lowest share of delegates of any Republican presidential primary vote leader since caucuses and primaries became the main method for selecting nominees.

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Has Private Meeting With Donald Trump

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, after months of attacks by Donald Trump, privately met with the Trumpster at his Fifth Avenue Trump Towers yesterday in an attempt to “clear the air” between the two, and discus a possible interview on her evening broadcast.

Via Politico:

Kelly said the meeting was held at her request and was an effort to clear the air between herself and Trump. Trump has publicly attacked Kelly on a number of occasions, ever since she grilled him on his past comments about women at the first Republican primary debate last year.

“We met for about an hour, just the two of us, and had a chance to clear the air,” Kelly said. “Mr. Trump and I discussed the possibility of an interview. And I hope we will have news to announce on that soon.”

Kelly has largely tried to stay above the fray, though she acknowledged at Tina Brown’s Women in the World conference last week that Trump’s attacks on her have been “unprecedented for a presidential candidate.”

Donald Trump Says GOP Primary System Is “Unfair”

So, this is how a hypothetical Trump presidency would go? “That’s not fair” every time something doesn’t go his way?

Via The Hill:

Trump is furious with several aspects of the Republican nominating process, including how Colorado recently awarded all of its 34 delegates to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) without having a primary or a caucus. He doesn’t agree that some delegates aren’t bound to vote for their state or district winner at this summer’s GOP convention in Cleveland.

“It should go to a vote in Colorado like other places. … The best way to do it would be just a vote, should be a vote of the people. That’s the way it should be done. The delegate situation is a very unjust way of doing things.”

In an emailed statement, Sean Spicer, the RNC’s chief strategist and communications director, said, “Each state and territory submitted a plan on how to allocate and select their delegates last year. Those plans were made available to every campaign. Understanding the delegate selection and allocation is a basic part of the campaign.”

Donald Trump Compares Campaign Protesters To ISIS

More violence erupted at a campaign rally for Donald Trump last night as a supporter of Trump’s slapped a protester in the face.

Instead of attempting to stop the violence, Trump called the protester out, comparing him to ISIS.

From the New York Daily News:

The attacker, who was only identified as “Mike,” said he pounced on the protester because “he was yelling in my face.”

“I have my personal rights and my personal space,” he told the Albany Times-Union after the rally. “They’re going to start yelling about some bulls–t, I’ll snatch your ass up.”

Video of the mid-event attack showed Mike and the demonstrator facing each other — apparently arguing — as another audience member stood between the two. After a tense standoff, Mike lunged at the protester and smacked him in the face twice.

The protester was eventually removed from the rally at the Times Union Center.

Of the protester, Trump said,  “This is what’s happening on the border. This is what’s happening with ISIS. This is what’s happening to our country, and we can’t let it happen. We’ve got to take our country back, folks.”

That’s right folks – a man yelling “Boo!” is comparable to ISIS. Got it?

News Round-Up: April 11, 2016

Some news stories you may have missed:

• John Oliver on HBO’s Last Week Tonight took a look at how credit reports are ruining Americans lives.

• This porn website is blocking all IP addresses in North Carolina over the state’s new anti-LGBT ‘hate law.’ #NoPornForYouNorthCarolina

• Donald Trump’s kids aren’t even registered to vote.

• Activist and author John Corvino addressing the debunked “bathroom predator” myth as basis for anti-transgender laws:“The idea that this is about safety and security, it’s kind of like when somebody says that they ate all the ice cream in order to make room in the freezer.”

• The NAACP is planning a “sit-in” at the North Carolina legislature to protest the recent HB 2, which legalizes LGBT discrimination in the state.

• Vlogger Joe Santagato shares his 8th installment of “Idiots Of The Internet” rants. Love this guy.

Campaign Ad: Hillary Clinton “Stronger Together”

A new campaign ad from Hillary Clinton highlights GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s statements from the campaign trail, such as Mexicans are “rapists,” Muslims should be “banned” from America and women who have abortions should be “punished.”

Hillary continues her call to unite America, while Donald Trump makes everything about “us” versus “them.”