“Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Robert Reich: The American Fascist
I’ve been reluctant to use the “f” word to describe Donald Trump because it’s especially harsh, and it’s too often used carelessly.
But Trump has finally reached a point where parallels between his presidential campaign and the fascists of the first half of the 20th century – lurid figures such as Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Oswald Mosley, and Francisco Franco – are too evident to overlook.
It’s not just that Trump recently quoted Mussolini (he now calls that tweet inadvertent) or that he’s begun inviting followers at his rallies to raise their right hands in a manner chillingly similar to the Nazi “Heil” solute (he dismisses such comparison as “ridiculous.”)
The parallels go deeper.
New York Times Editorial Board: A Lesson in Hillary Clinton’s Loss in Michigan
The split decisions in Tuesday’s primaries make it clear that the nominating contests in both parties could last for months.
The outcome brought Donald Trump a significant step closer to the Republican nomination. Should that happen, the general election between him and the Democratic nominee could present Americans with the starkest difference in campaigning in modern presidential history. Mr. Trump took up ever more alarming tactics this week. With more protesters turning up at his rallies, he has been asking attendees to raise their right hands and swear allegiance to him. He’s begun seeding crowds with plainclothes officers to sniff out dissenters, tightened efforts to corral reporters, and dances dangerously close to inciting violence against protesters.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton’s surprising loss in Michigan is still being analyzed, but it holds some lessons about how to approach future contests.
Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy speaks eloquently of embracing the people, values and thinking that make this nation a leader in the world. But her campaign tactics, particularly in Michigan, did not live up to this vision.
Heather Digby Parton: John Kasich’s (not so) secret extremism: How the “moderate” alternative to Trump led a Planned Parenthood witchhunt in Ohio
As all eyes turn to the big states up for grabs in next Tuesday’s primaries, it’s probably a good time to take another look at the alleged “grown-up” in the GOP primary, Ohio Governor John Kasich. Against all odds, he’s the last man standing against the Trump-Cruz juggernaut and his only hope at this point is to gather all of Ohio’s delegates for Romney’s pipe-dream of a negotiation at the GOP convention, conveniently being held in Cleveland this summer. [..]
All the press descending on Ohio over the course of the next week will probably focus on the state’s economy. That’s the issue that seems to be animating the campaign at this stage and Ohio’s history as an important swing state brings all that into focus. Kasich will tout his record there (in fact, touting his record is all he ever does), while Trump will dismiss his successes as being nothing more than good luck due to the fracking industry creating economic wealth in the state. It’s unlikely that either will convince many Ohioans of anything. After all, Kasich is the governor, so it’s not as if he can tell them something they don’t already know, and Trump pretty much lives on cable news.
But it will be interesting to see if any of the national media there will take a look at this story:
Staff of a Columbus, Ohio Planned Parenthood clinic were greeted Monday morning with a freshly painted message in red scrawled on the outside of their clinic: “SATAN DEN OF BABYKILLERS GOD SEE ALLLL Mark 9:14.”
It’s just the latest in a string of vandalism acts against Planned Parenthood since the bogus “Center for Medical Progress” released its fraudulent videos. But Ohio is actually one of the ground zero states for anti-abortion activism and the genial 1950s dad, John Kasich, is their most powerful and ruthless leader. For all of his alleged caring and sharing for the poor and weeping in public, he’s the women of Ohio’s most merciless adversary when it comes to their reproductive freedom.
Amanda Marcotte: Of course, Donald Trump’s a racist, but Clinton and Sanders are wise enough to know slinging that mud will only make themselves dirty
Wednesday night, CNN hosted a debate for Univision and the Washington Post to question the candidates for the Democratic primary. The debate was a miserable one, with the moderators asking avoiding substantive questions in favor of ones that seemed tough but were actually facile. (Though Jorge Ramos extracting promises not to deport children from both candidates makes up for a lot.)
The tone of the night was set early with what might be the worst way to approach the Donald Trump question possible: Quibbling over how to label his noxious bigotry. [..]
Unfortunately for those of us out there who all think we’re better at politics than the professionals, I have to say Sanders and Clinton are right about this and the sneering masses are wrong. Is Donald Trump a racist? Well, duh. And you and I and every social media geek and pundit should feel free to say it, if they want to. Do you thing, follow your star, have at it.
But it’s wise for the politicians to avoid labeling Trump that way and instead do what Clinton and Sanders do here, which is to frame the debate in terms of words and deeds instead of labels.
That’s because the second one of them labels Trump a “racist,” the debate immediately shifts away from the repugnant things he says and does and towards a completely fruitless debate centered around two unknowable things: What’s in his heart and what number of bigoted things you have to say before you are officially deemed a “racist.”
Martha Burk: What the GOP’s Supreme Obstruction Means for Women
Senators, constitutional scholars may tell you, must “advise and consent” on the president’s Supreme Court nominees. But apparently the official GOP policy is to “refuse and obstruct.” They’ve vowed not even to give President Obama’s nominees a vote.
These Republicans claim that leaving the Supreme Court understaffed is no big deal. Well, it’s certainly a big deal for women. Pending cases on abortion, birth control, education, and public employee unions are all sitting before a divided court.
It’s a challenge to a Texas law that would close all but about 10 abortion clinics in the state—down from more than 40—by requiring them to essentially become mini-hospitals. They’d have to employ only doctors with admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, a regulation almost unheard of for safe and common procedures like abortion.
Since an appeals court upheld the requirements, a 4-4 deadlock on the Supreme Court would give Texas the green light to enforce them. And it would almost certainly encourage other states to enact similar laws.
On the birth control front, the court will consider Zubik v. Burwell. A successor to the Hobby Lobby case, it’s an argument over whether religiously affiliated institutions have to observe the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer-provided health plans cover birth control.
These groups are allowed to avoid the requirement by filling out a form, in which case the government will arrange with their insurer to cover their employees. A few of these groups are claiming that still makes them complicit in sinful conduct.
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