This brutal new ad shows the shredding machine that awaits Trump  —  THE MORNING PLUM:  —  Predictably enough, the hand-wringing has already begun among some Democrats over the prospect of Donald Trump waging “unpredictable” attacks on Hillary Clinton and the possibility that the Clinton camp will be …

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill.  I love Hispanics!

AN OPEN LETTER TO MAJORITY AMERICA  —  TO: Those who think both leading presidential candidates are dishonest and have little chance of leading America forward:  —  (...or, stated more simply)  —  TO: The majority of America:  —  Note: If you are one of those rare souls …

New Trump Finance Chair Has Given Twice As Much To Democrats As To The GOP  —  Donald Trump has hired a Wall Street tycoon who has donated more than twice as much to Democrats as to Republicans to be his campaign's finance chair, according to a review of Federal Election Commission filings.

FDA takes significant steps to protect Americans from dangers of tobacco through new regulation  —  Rule extending oversight to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, allows agency to address public health concerns such as youth access to tobacco products … For Immediate Release

Tow truck owner said he refused service to woman because she supports Bernie Sanders  —  A local tow truck driver said he refused to tow a woman's car after he saw Bernie Sanders stickers on the vehicle.  —  Kenneth Shupe said he was called to pick up a woman stranded on I-26 in Asheville on Monday.

A Nation of Second Chances  —  Earlier this spring, I met with a group of individuals whose sentences were commuted either by President Bush, President Clinton, or myself.  They were all at different stages of a new chapter in their lives, but each of their stories was extraordinary.

New Electoral Scorecard Ratings in 13 States  —  This has been an exceedingly unpredictable year.  Although we remain convinced that Hillary Clinton is very vulnerable and would probably lose to most other Republicans, Donald Trump's historic unpopularity with wide swaths of the electorate …

The Best of New York Times Columnist Ross Douthat's Incorrect Predictions That Trump Would Lose the GOP Nomination  —  The demises of Ted Cruz and John Kasich's primary campaigns almost certainly assure, in the absence of some intervening event or act of God, that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for President.

McCain on tape: Trump damages my reelection hopes  —  Publicly, John McCain insists Donald Trump will have a negligible effect on his campaign for reelection.  But behind closed doors at a fundraiser in Arizona last month, the Republican senator and two-time presidential hopeful offered a far more dire assessment to his supporters.

The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama's Foreign-Policy Guru  —  How Ben Rhodes rewrote the rules of diplomacy for the digital age.  —  Picture him as a young man, standing on the waterfront in North Williamsburg, at a polling site, on Sept. 11, 2001, which was Election Day in New York City.

NC won't meet Obama administration's Monday deadline on House Bill 2, House speaker says  —  Department of Justice says HB2 violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act and Title IX  —  Tim Moore: ‘We will take no action by Monday’  —  House Speaker Tim Moore said Thursday that legislators won't meet …