memeorandum: Trumpism goes local: Montana Republicans are helping this white nationalist get into office (Travis Gettys/Raw Story)

2:50 PM ET, May 14, 2016

Top Items:

Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private — Interviews reveal unwelcome advances, a shrewd reliance on ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct by Mr. Trump over decades. — Donald J. Trump had barely met Rowanne Brewer Lane when he asked her to change out of her clothes.

Discussion: Gothamist, Slate, Balloon Juice, Althouse, Refinery29, Business Insider, The Week, Politicus USA, Politico and Washington Post

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Inside the GOP effort to draft an independent candidate to derail Trump — A band of exasperated Republicans — including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a handful of veteran consultants and members of the conservative intelligentsia — is actively plotting to draft …

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, Political Wire, Hot Air and The Daily Caller

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Ben Sasse under fire — Sen. Ben Sasse's outspoken rejection of Donald Trump is roiling Nebraska Republican politics, and the discord is threatening to boil over at the state's GOP convention Saturday. — A prominent Nebraska political operative — who is the nephew of senior GOP Sen. Deb Fischer …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, RedState and The Daily Beast

David Niose / Salon:

This is one weak nominee: Hillary Clinton's problem isn't Bernie Sanders. It's Hillary Clinton — Clinton's camp thinks her résumé will be enough to carry her to the White House. No one should be that sure — No matter what you think about Hillary Clinton …

Greg Bluestein / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Poll: Clinton vs. Trump a tossup in Georgia

Discussion: Politicus USA and Political Insider blog

Los Angeles Times:
Endorsement For all her faults, Hillary Clinton is vastly better prepared than Bernie Sanders for the presidency

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and Guardian

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:
Nader: Clinton winning by ‘dictatorship’

Discussion: Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Infowars, Daily Kos, US News and Washington Free Beacon

New York Times:

Donald Trump's Evasions on Taxes — American politics has some silly and outdated traditions, but the disclosure of income tax returns by contenders for the presidency isn't one of them. Beginning in 1952, candidates have been releasing their returns to assure voters that they have no conflicts …

Discussion: Vox, Independent Journal … and Politico

David Caplan / ABC News:
Clinton Campaign Releases Video Slamming Trump's Refusal to Release Tax Returns

Discussion: Daily Mail

Alex Pfeiffer / The Daily Caller:
SHOCK POLL: Trump Leads Hillary Among Hispanic Voters [VIDEO]

Discussion: The Hill and RedState

New York Times:
Donald Trump on His Tax Rate: 'It's None of Your Business'

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:

Reporter denies leaking ‘John Miller’ tapes, suggests Trump behind leaks — The reporter who spoke with Donald Trump — spokesman “John Miller” in the 1990s is suggesting Trump leaked the controversial audio tapes that may show him masqueraded as his own spokesman.

Discussion: Political Wire and Washington Post

Michael A. Cohen / BostonGlobe.com: Trump offers a preview of his authoritarian presidency

Daily Mail:

The woman killed by doctors because she was obsessed with cleaning: Just one of growing numbers of Dutch people given the right to euthanasia because of mental, not terminal, illness — She is a conventional mother who enjoys life with her two children and husband in a farming town 100 miles away …

Discussion: Althouse

Niraj Chokshi / Washington Post:

‘Take it off! This is America!’: Man who yanked hijab pleads guilty to religious obstruction — Near the end of his Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Albuquerque in December, Gill Parker Payne decided he had to take action. — Seated a few rows in front of him was a woman he had never met before.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, U.S. Department of Justice, LawNewz and Eschaton

Eric M. Johnson / Raw Story: DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — A North Carolina …

Bryce Covert / ThinkProgress:

Senior Trump Adviser Says Idea That Words Matter Is ‘Ridiculous’ — Donald Trump spent his first two weeks as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee changing his stances on a number of policy issues, sometimes multiple times. That got an interesting defense from one of his senior advisers on Friday.

Discussion: National Review

Eddie Scarry / Washington Examiner:

Media lay the groundwork for Hillary, the victim — While the 2016 campaign has been hard to predict, the media know how they want to play it: Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, will be the dignified victim of relentless “attacks” from her wild and hostile Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

Discussion: RedState

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Sheldon Adelson Is Poised to Give Donald Trump a Donation Boost — The casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson told Donald J. Trump in a private meeting last week that he was willing to contribute more to help elect him than he has to any previous campaign, a sum that could exceed $100 million …

Discussion: Fox News, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit and Slantpoint

David Ferguson / Raw Story:

Kentucky woman says man beat her for looking too masculine — as people stood by and watched — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — A Paintsville, Kentucky woman said that she was attacked and brutally beaten on Thursday for looking too masculine.

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Scarborough: ‘Entire Democratic Party’ is against Sanders … MSNBC host Joe Scarborough says the entire Democratic establishment is against presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — “Bernie Sanders continues to outperform Hillary Clinton — in just about every poll in match-ups with Donald Trump

David Glasner / Uneasy Money:

Saving a Very Old Paper from Oblivion — I have just posted a paper ("How ‘Natural’ Is the Government Monopoly over Money") on SSRN. It's a paper I wrote about 28 years ago, shortly after arriving in Washington to start working at the FTC, for a Cato Monetary Conference on Alternatives to Fiat Money.

Discussion: bradford-delong.com

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

“Corrupt, Liar, Deceiver, Opportunist” - Focus Group OF WOMEN Rips Hillary Clinton (VIDEO) — A focus group of women voters ripped Hillary Clinton for pandering to female voters. — The women, both Democrats and Republicans, had one thing in common - they dislike Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: The American Mirror

Sky News:

An elderly Buddhist monk has been hacked to death in a temple in Bangladesh, the latest in a spate of murders of religious minorities. — Police say there have been seven such murders in Bangladesh since the start of last month alone. — No group has yet said it carried out the murder …

Discussion: Jihad Watch