Who’s weaker?
As Republicans worry about Donald Trump as a candidate, even Hillary Clinton’s allies concede that she has plenty of weaknesses of her own. Her best bet may be that Trump has more. Via The Washington Post.
Trump fever
Trump fever in Appalachia helps explain why Clinton is worried about Pennsylvania and Ohio. Via The Guardian.
Character problem
And then there’s the “John Miller” tape in which Trump has apparently pretended to be his own publicist to reporters. Which candidate do you think might have the real character problem? Via The New Yorker.
Reproaching Republicans
Meanwhile, the conservative punditry is really not happy with what looks like a GOP-Trump rapprochement. We’ll begin with Ross Douthat, who admits he got it all wrong. He thought the GOP leaders would find a way to stop Trump. Instead, they surrendered. On the other hand, he writes, it’s “possible that a dishonorable, cowardly, unprincipled course” will work. Via The New York Times.
Blame themselves
The National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru says that if conservatives are still wondering whom to blame for Donald Trump, they don’t have to look far.
Other side
Bill Kristol tweets this after the Ryan-Trump meeting:
This is “unification” on East German terms. Ich bin ein Berliner.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 12, 2016
Independent thinking
The Washington Post offers an inside look at the those conservatives, including Mitt Romney, looking for an independent candidate to ensure that Trump loses.
Bad job
Jeff Greenfield wonders why anyone would want to be either Donald Trump’s or Hillary Clinton’s vice president. For different reasons, they both look like really bad jobs. Via Politico.
Stump speech
Bernie Sanders is probably not going to be Clinton’s vice-presidential choice, but Gail Collins writes that if you want to bring the Sanders-Clinton people together, Democrats should just make Bernie’s stump speech into the party platform. Via The New York Times.
Photo credit: DonkeyHotey, Creative Commons, Flickr.
