memeorandum: Why Trump Is Panicking Robert Kagan (Jacob Heilbrunn/The National Interest)

8:10 PM ET, February 27, 2016

Top Items:

Inside the Republican Party's Desperate Mission to Stop Donald Trump — The scenario Karl Rove outlined was bleak. — Addressing a luncheon of Republican governors and donors in Washington on Feb. 19, he warned that Donald J. Trump's increasingly likely nomination would be catastrophic, dooming the party in November.

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Inside the GOP Implosion and the War to Stop Trump — Here is a New York Times article you may have seen. It describes the GOP's panicked, hyperbolic and yet utterly ineffectual rush to stop the Donald Trump juggernaut. As I've said before, the GOP's Trump problem reminds of the regional and global powers efforts to destroy ISIS.

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Will Conservatives Abandon Donald Trump in the General Election? — The New York Times has a big story this morning about the trials and tribulations of the Republican Party establishment in their efforts to stop Donald Trump. I would like to draw your attention to two things. First this:

Discussion: Raw Story, The Huffington Post, New York Times, Hot Air and No More Mister Nice Blog

Jacob Heilbrunn / The National Interest:
Why Trump Is Panicking Robert Kagan

Discussion: Mondoweiss

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:
Chris Christie Delivers Major Blow to Party Elites Resisting Trump

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Red Alert Politics and WMTW-TV

New York Daily News:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump for president

Discussion: Joe.My.God., The Week, CNN and Mediaite

ABC News:

Black Voters Boost Clinton in South Carolina

Discussion: ThinkProgressPage Array, Los Angeles Times, Fusion, Associated Press, Yahoo Politics, Politicus USA, The Week and Washington Post

New York Times:

Hillary Clinton Wins South Carolina Primary — COLUMBIA, S.C. — Drawing overwhelming support from the African-American voters who deserted her here eight years ago, Hillary Clinton won her first resounding victory of the 2016 campaign in South Carolina on Saturday, delivering a blow …

Discussion: Pitchfork, Raw Story, Towleroad, The Week, The Last Tradition, Common Dreams and Politico

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

South Carolina Democratic primary results 2016: An overwhelming win for Clinton — Hillary Clinton decisively won today's South Carolina Democratic primary, according to multiple sources, by what election projections are calling an “overwhelming” margin. Final results are not yet …

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, Washington Post, CNBC, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and Washington Blade

Natalie Andrews / Wall Street Journal:
South Carolina Democratic Primary — Latest Updates

Discussion: The Week

Molly Ball / The Atlantic:
Barack Obama's Heir

Discussion: New York Times and The Week

Associated Press:
Clinton cruises to big win over Sanders in South Carolina

Discussion: NBC News, FiveThirtyEight, New York Magazine and Hot Topics

Hunter Walker / Yahoo Politics: How Hillary Clinton won the battle for the black vote in South Carolina

Abby Phillip / Washington Post:
South Carolina primary: Hillary Clinton projected to win

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air, New Jersey News …, Outside the Beltway, The Week and Common Dreams

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Sanders puts South Carolina in rear-view mirror

Discussion: Washington Post

Ari Berman / The Nation:
63,756 Reasons Racism Is Still Alive in South Carolina

Discussion: The Right Scoop, ThinkProgressPage Array, New York Times and Daily Kos

James Queally / Los Angeles Times:

Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupts in violence; three stabbed — A protester was stabbed at the site of a Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim on Saturday. — Three people were stabbed and several arrested when a Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupted in violence Saturday, police said.

Discussion: Boing Boing, KTLA, SOOPERMEXICAN, fox13now.com, SEC Primary, Independent Journal Review, Fusion and Clayton Cramer

David Weigel / Washington Post:

Rubio's verbal assault on Trump continues, joined by seven-figure ad buys — OKLAHOMA CITY — It was the biggest crowd Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) had gotten in this state, perhaps a thousand voters filling the floor of a downtown event center to hear him. And for 10 minutes …

Discussion: National Review, Princeton Election Consortium, Mother Jones, Politico and Wall Street Journal

Dan McLaughlin / RedState:

Marco Rubio Gives Democratic Strategists The Vapors — As the old saying goes, if you're taking flak, you're over the target. The one big knock on Marco Rubio, despite his obvious strengths as a campaigner, has been about his toughness: that he was more Barry Sanders than Emmitt Smith …

Discussion: JustOneMinute and MSNBC

Harper Neidig / The Hill: Kasich: I'll drop out if I lose Ohio

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

‘You Inspire Us All’ — 'You inspire us all. " With that fulsome greeting, Pat Robertson welcomed Donald Trump this week to the stage of Regent University. According to the school's catalogue, the university's name invokes the fact that “a regent is one who represents Christ, our Sovereign …

Kristen East / Politico:

Jan Brewer endorses Donald Trump — Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Saturday endorsed Donald Trump for president. — Trump has made immigration a central issue in his campaign for president, vowing to build a wall along the southern border of the United States and promising to have Mexico pay for it.

Discussion: RedState, Outside the Beltway and CNN

Kerry Picket / The Daily Caller:

Bill Clinton Loses It Over Benghazi Hecklers At Campaign Rally [VIDEO] — Former president Bill Clinton became angry when he was heckled by protesters during a campaign event in Bluffton, South Carolina on Friday. — The protesters demanded to know if his wife Hillary Clinton lied …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Last Tradition

Olaf Ekberg / The American Mirror:
VIDEO: Bill Clinton snaps at veteran during speech: ‘Shut up and listen to my answer’

Discussion: RedState

Patrick Brennan / Marco Rubio:

Here Are Marco's Tax Returns. Where Are Trump's? — The Rubio campaign released Marco and Jeanette Rubio's joint federal tax returns from 2010 to 2014. The Rubios' income has included earnings from employment with the U.S. Senate and Florida International University, Marco's legal work, Marco's books, and Jeanette's business.

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, Independent Journal Review and NPR

Orlando Sentinel:

Seventh graders arrested, accused of putting pepper flakes in teacher's soda … Three seventh-graders at Deltona Middle School are facing criminal charges after allegedly putting crushed red pepper flakes in their teacher's can of Mountain Dew, a Volusia County sheriff's spokesman said.

Discussion: Raw Story, New York's PIX11 and NBC News

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:

Trump: I'm Going to “Open Up the Libel Law” So That We Can Sue the Media For Something — As Allah explains, as regards public figures, the media already can be found libel for a statement which was both false and made with “reckless disregard” for its truth or falsity.