memeorandum: On the Campaign Trail: G.O.P. Race Grows Cruder and More Aggressive (New York Times)

12:10 PM ET, February 29, 2016

Top Items:

Ben Sasse / Facebook:

AN OPEN LETTER TO TRUMP SUPPORTERS — To my friends supporting Donald Trump: — The Trump coalition is broad and complicated, but I believe many Trump fans are well-meaning. I have spoken at length with many of you, both inside and outside Nebraska. You are rightly worried about our national direction.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, Guardian, Washington Post, Hot Air, Washington Times, Independent Journal Review, CNN, RedState, The Right Scoop and The Resurgent

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

The Republican Party's implosion over Donald Trump's candidacy has arrived — MADISON, Ala. — The implosion over Donald Trump's candidacy that Republicans had hoped to avoid arrived so virulently this weekend that many party leaders vowed never to back the billionaire and openly questioned whether …

Discussion: CNN, ABC News, Politico, NBC News, Balloon Juice, Yahoo Politics and Associated Press

Joe Scarborough / Washington Post:

Trump's feigned ignorance about the KKK raises disturbing questions — They weren't hard questions to answer. — “Do you condemn David Duke? And the Ku Klux Klan?” — A simple “yes” would have worked. But on Sunday, Donald Trump swatted away the easy answers and instead feigned ignorance …

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Slate, Breitbart, Politico, The Hill, New York Times, National Review, Mother Jones and The Daily Caller

Nick Gass / Politico:

Trump blames ‘lousy earpiece’ for KKK flap — Donald Trump blamed CNN for providing a “lousy earpiece” in explaining his non-answer to the network on Sunday when asked to disavow the Ku Klux Klan and David Duke. — “I'm sitting in a house in Florida with a very bad earpiece that they gave me …

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Spray tans, pants-wetting and little hands: The GOP race goes in the gutter — There's talk of bad spray tans, sweat and urination. Accusations that a rival has ties to the mob. They've called one another “little” or “a con artist.” And they all agree that the other guys are liars.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, ABC News and Prairie Weather

Nick Gass / Politico:

Joe Scarborough: Trump's KKK ignorance ‘disqualifying’ — Donald Trump's failure to explicitly disavow the Ku Klux Klan and former Grand Wizard David Duke is “disqualifying,” Joe Scarborough declared on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” on Monday. — “It's breathtaking. That is disqualifying right there.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:

How Donald Trump is already impacting Republican candidates, in one ad — It's fair to say the above video is an ad that Democrats have dreamed of producing. But until recently, they probably didn't think they would get to. — In it, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) repeatedly ties Sen. John McCain …

Eun Kyung Kim / TODAY.com:
Donald Trump on KKK non-answer: A ‘very bad earpiece’ made it tough to hear

Discussion: Washington Post, Yahoo Politics, NPR, Business Insider, Raw Story and NBC News

New York Times:
On the Campaign Trail: G.O.P. Race Grows Cruder and More Aggressive

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Atlantic, Daily Kos and The Week

Nick Gass / Politico:
Huckabee: ‘Does anybody think Donald Trump is a racist?’

Discussion: Washington Post and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Trump blames ‘lousy earpiece’ for David Duke uproar

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mediaite, The Week, RedState and Jezebel

CNN:

Trump, Clinton dominant as Super Tuesday looms — Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are poised to lead the nation's two major parties in this fall's presidential election — (CNN)Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are poised to lead the nation's two major parties in this fall's presidential election …

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Political Insider blog, CBS News, BostonGlobe.com, Washington Times, The Week and New York Times

Joshua Green / Bloomberg Business:

Why Ted Cruz Probably Won't Drop Out, No Matter What — The Texas senator may be playing a long game. — JoshuaGreen — Ted Cruz has had a disappointing few weeks since winning the Iowa GOP caucuses. He was outshone by John Kasich in New Hampshire. Then he lost South Carolina to Donald Trump …

Discussion: Political Wire

Matthew Mosk / ABC News: Ted Cruz Questions Donald Trump's Ties to Mafia-Linked Twice-Convicted Felon

Ryan Struyk / ABC News:
Donald Trump Hits 49 Percent Support in New National Poll

Discussion: Associated Press

David Edwards / Raw Story:
‘Oh, come on’: Fox host utterly destroys Ted Cruz for throwing tantrum about tough interview

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and addictinginfo.org

CBS News:
Poll: Donald Trump leads in Virginia, Georgia; Ted Cruz hanging on in Texas

Discussion: Townhall.com, Washington Post, TownhallReview.com, NBC News, The Last Refuge, ABC News, YouGov US Opinion Center News, RedState, Slantpoint and Outside the Beltway

Jose A. DelReal / Washington Post:
In major blow to Ted Cruz, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama endorses Donald Trump for GOP nomination

Discussion: Hot Air, Fox News, Washington Times, Outside the Beltway, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Politico

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:
Trump: Debates are a ‘waste of time’

Discussion: The Daily Caller and RedState

Stacey Dash:

Who is Stacey Dash and why did she just walk across the #Oscar stage? — You might be watching the Oscars and wondering why someone named Stacey Dash just walked across the stage. (Why was that funny anyway?) — Well, I'm Stacey - with an “e” - and it's nice to meet you.

Discussion: Mashable, WBAY-TV, addictinginfo.org, New York's PIX11, Independent Journal Review, Refinery29, Towleroad, The Verge, USA Today and theGrio

John Wagner / Washington Post:

With hours to go, Bernie Sanders aiming for $40 million fundraising month in Febraury — FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said Monday that it had already raised $36 million this month and was aiming to top the $40 million mark by the end of February's final day.

Discussion: The Week and Political Wire

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Bernie braces for decision day

Discussion: Yahoo and Yahoo News Photo

Joel Kotkin / Orange County Register:
The effect race could have on the race

Discussion: Instapundit

Daily Mail:

Horror in Moscow as burka-clad babysitter ‘decapitates four-year-old girl in her care’ - then walks through streets carrying her severed head and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ — A burka-clad babysitter decapitated the little girl in her care before walking through Moscow carrying the child's severed head, police say.

Discussion: Walid Shoebat and Vox Popoli

Guardian:

Airbnb guests shocked by decomposing corpse in garden — The group had hoped to host a party at the house south of Paris but their plans were derailed by the macabre discovery — A group of friends who rented a house on Airbnb for a party weekend in a French town got a nasty surprise …

Discussion: Jezebel and Althouse

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Even as He Rises, Donald Trump Entertains Conspiracy Theories — It was a question that most major presidential candidates would have quickly dismissed as absurd, even offensive: What do you make of these theories that Justice Antonin Scalia was murdered? — For Donald J. Trump …

Discussion: Political Wire

Hugh Hewitt / Washington Examiner:

Six reasons Trump is still better than Clinton — I spent Friday's radio show explaining to incredulous guests that of course I'd support Donald Trump if he is the GOP nominee. — “But after he just insulted you and your radio show in front of 15 million people?” came the question.