Progressive Breakfast: Fact-Check This: Arrogance Of Elites Helps Drive The Trump Phenomenon

MORNING MESSAGE

Among the “establishment” – the people “in charge” of our “system,” including the news and opinion elites who serve as gatekeepers of information – there is willful blindness to how things have been getting worse for millions of Americans and their communities. They tell the voters they are wrong, that our trade policies are actually good for them ... Elites: You’re not going to stop Trump by telling his voters how wrong they are about the economy and the effects of our country’s trade policies. They’re not wrong. You are.

ARIZONA, UTAH and IDAHO VOTE TOMORROW

Dems joust in AZ. USA Today: “[Bill Clinton] appeared at an afternoon rally at Central High School in Phoenix after he was scheduled to appear at a Tucson event with former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords … [Sanders] invested heavily in TV advertising and personal campaign time in Arizona…”
Trump divides Arizona GOP over immigration. Bloomberg: “For many in Arizona’s Republican business community, the rhetoric is an unwelcome return to the state’s own 2010 feud over a law requiring police to check the citizenship of those they suspected of being in the country illegally. “
Bernie rallies 30K in three Washington State rallies. W. Post: “The crowd at Key Arena in Seattle was so large that it became impossible for the Secret Service to provide security checks in time for the venue to fill … He has stops planned Monday in Idaho, Utah and Arizona.”
Bernie fundraising champ of February. W. Post: “Sanders outraised Clinton for the second month in a row, pulling in $43.5 million to her $30.1 million … Sanders has raised just under $140 million, powered by nearly 2 million donors … Clinton, who this month secured her 1 millionth donor, has brought in nearly $161 million overall for her bid.”

COULD TRUMP FLIP HOUSE?

Dems could retake House if Trump an anchor. Politico: “Democrats already had reasonable odds of flipping a dozen or so House seats. But DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján recently started highlighting ‘reach’ districts, like those of Rep. John Mica in Florida and Rep. Steve Knight in California, that broaden Democrats’ target list enough to take back the chamber…”
Republican convention won’t have superdelegates, but will have “unbound” delegates. The Hill: “…many delegates — potentially close to 200 — are not bound by those rules. A handful of states and territories — Colorado and North Dakota among them — chose not to hold a [presidential] vote at all … And in some states, the delegates who were bound to candidates no longer in the race … are unbound as well [meaning] Ted Cruz and John Kasich could win enough delegates to block Trump from a first-ballot victory.”
Clinton campaign and allies plot Trump strategy. W. Post: “Implicit in the effort is real worry [that] Trump could compete for some of the blue-collar voters who have flocked to Sanders … Yet, they also believe that, although Trump has … limited ability to expand [his] support once the Republican field clears. Because of the litany of controversial pronouncements he has made, they expect a Trump nomination to make it easier to rally women, Latino and African American voters to turn out for Clinton.”
2000 China trade vote led to Trump, suggests W. Post: “The 2000 [permanent normal trade relations] vote effectively unleashed a flood of outsourcing to China … Over the next 10 years, economists have concluded, the expanded trade with China cost the United States at least 2 million jobs. It was the strongest force in an overall manufacturing decline that cost 5 million jobs … Economic evidence suggests the North American Free Trade Agreement, which passed on a bipartisan vote in 1993, did not cause anywhere near the same level of factory layoffs or wage losses.”

CLINTON-TRUMP FACEOFF AT AIPAC

Trump to give formal address to AIPAC conference. Politico: “… Donald Trump has yet to step to a podium and read from a script. That changes Monday … He’s also looking to surprise the crowd with something else: substance … There will be a walkout by rabbis who plan to study passages of the Torah focused on tolerance while Trump is speaking.”
Clinton seeks to score points with AIPAC crowd. Bloomberg: “In a direct rebuke to comments Trump made last month suggesting he was ‘neutral’ in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Clinton will say that the United States can never be neutral about defending Israel or consider the U.S.-Israeli relationship to be negotiable … she will also say that the United States can never be neutral in the face of bigotry.”

OBAMA IN CUBA

Obama meets with Cuban President Raul Castro today. AP: “…President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro will sit down Monday at Havana’s Palace of the Revolution for a historic meeting, offering critical clues about whether Obama’s sharp U-turn in policy will be fully reciprocated … His visit was to continue Tuesday with a major speech that Cuban officials said would be carried on TV. Before departing for Argentina, Obama planned to meet with political dissidents…”
Cubans welcome Obama. Politico: “[Rain] didn’t stop the Cubans from turning out to see him, standing by the side of the road as the motorcade passed or cheering as they lined the square outside the cathedral, where the president briefly put down his umbrella to shake some hands in the crowd.”
Obama’s Cuba trip a signal that the embargo will eventually end. Politico: “…to the already publicly supportive members of Congress who joined this trip, but more importantly to those back home who’ve privately indicated support and those who say they’ll never stop fighting the embargo, Obama’s point is clear: The question is only when, not if.”
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