The Note: Clinton, Trump Tangle Over Racism
— -- NOTABLES
--KELLYANNE CONWAY ON ‘GMA’ SAYS TRUMP 'DESERVES CREDIT' FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN OUTREACH. Donald Trump's campaign manager today defended her candidate’s outreach to African-American voters, saying he "deserves credit" for doing so, ABC’s MICHAEL HAYDEN notes. "This conversation has to be had,” Kellyanne Conway said on “Good Morning America,” referring to Trump's recent remarks that included his suggestion that black Americans are "living in poverty." “Usually, Republican nominees are not bold enough to go into communities of color and compete for all ears and all votes. Mr. Trump deserves credit,” she added. She also criticized Hillary Clinton's relationship with the black community, suggesting that her policies would not help them. "Her policies have left many people behind," she told co-host GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS. http://abcn.ws/2boEjU1
--CONWAY ADDRESSED TRUMP'S CHARACTERIZATION OF CLINTON AS A ‘BIGOT’: "Have you seen what this man has been called on a regular basis?" Conway said, discussing the widespread criticism of Trump’s remarks earlier this week in Jackson, Mississippi where he said: "Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future.” http://abcn.ws/2boEjU1
--CLINTON WEIGHS IN: Today in an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Hillary Clinton was asked by host Joe Scarborough: “Do you think Donald Trump is a personally a bigot or a racist?” Clinton said: “All I can do is point to the evidence of what he has said and what he has done. From the start, he has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. It is deeply disturbing that he is taking hate groups that lived in the dark regions of the internet making them mainstream, helping a radical fringe take over the Republican Party. He questioned the citizenship of president Obama. He has a disturbing pattern of courting white supremacists. He has been sued for housing discrimination against communities of color. He attacked a judge for his Mexican heritage. He promised a mass deportation force. What I want to make clear is this, a man with a long history of racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and these kind of white supremacist, white nationalist, anti-Semitic groups should never run our government and command our military.”
--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: It’s called a “touchback” policy in immigration parlance, and it serves – for the brief moment, at least – as the operative campaign position of Donald Trump. Deliberately or not, Trump has managed to muddle his messaging on immigration for a full week now, capped by a CNN interview where he said he might actually be “hardening” his stance on immigration, two days after he allowed that it was “softening.” “There is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back,” Trump told Anderson Cooper. Leaving aside the open question of whether this will still be considered amnesty by the Steve King/Ann Coulter/Sarah Palin crowd, this adds a new wrinkle to the crumbled paper that serves as Trump’s current policy. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that there is no Trump immigration policy – not until he outlines it in a coherent fashion, either on paper or in a speech. Maybe, or even probably, none of that matters to Trump’s core supporters. But this was supposed to be (the latest) week that Trump got back on track. He’s dialed back his attacks – but continues to do himself damage simply by talking about his own policies. For those hoping for a new, disciplined Trump, let that sink in.
THIS WEEK ON ‘THIS WEEK’: Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile weighs in on the state of the 2016 race, Sunday on “This Week.” And the Powerhouse Roundtable debates the week in politics, with Purple Strategies chair and Rebuilding America Now PAC strategist Alex Castellanos, President Obama’s 2012 deputy campaign manager and Precision Strategies founding partner Stephanie Cutter, ABC News contributor and Republican strategist Ana Navarro, and former Bernie Sanders campaign national press secretary Symone Sanders.
WHAT WE’RE READING -- TRUMP CAMPAIGN APP'S DATA GRAB COULD EXPOSE EVERYONE IN YOUR CONTACT LIST, EXPERTS SAY. Donald Trump’s campaign app may be putting “America First,” but experts say it's not necessarily prioritizing users’ privacy, ABC’s PAUL BLAKE reports. The Trump campaign’s smartphone offering seeks to collect and store the contents of users’ address books –– potentially vacuuming up large quantities of personal data about individuals who have never used the application and who may be unaware that it’s in the hands of the campaign. The app, titled "America First," was quietly launched on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store as a free download last week. In a series of interviews with ABC News, several electronic privacy experts expressed concerns about the scope of the Trump campaign app’s data collection techniques, even though all of the methods appeared legal. The experts warned that users may be unwittingly handing over personal data about themselves and their contacts –– potentially exposing all involved to undesired campaign communications, or, at worst, a host of abuses in the event of a malicious data breach. http://abcn.ws/2bCAD4G
YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
CLINTON: TRUMP HAS USED 'PREJUDICE AND PARANOIA' IN CAMPAIGN. Hillary Clinton hit back at Donald Trump and his campaign tactics relating to race the day after he called her "a bigot," saying his real message is, "Make America hate again." "From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia," she said at an event in Reno, Nevada, report ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY and JOSH HASKELL. "Everywhere I go, people tell me how concerned they are by the divisive rhetoric coming from my opponent in this election. I understand that concern because it’s like nothing we’ve heard before," she said in a speech at Truckee Community College. http://abcn.ws/2bKc451
TRUMP: 'WE'RE NOT' RACISTS. Ahead of a Clinton’s speech, the Republican nominee countered the suggestion that his supporters are bigoted. "The news reports are that Hillary Clinton is going to try and accuse this campaign, and all of you... of being racists," Trump said at a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, "which we’re not." ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and ADAM KELSEY have more: http://abcn.ws/2bjL5gV
TRUMP MAKES APPEAL TO BLACK VOTERS IN SPEECHES -- BUT RELIES ON RNC FOR OUTREACH. It was still a fresh pitch for Donald Trump. He was addressing a crowd in Dimondale, Michigan, seemingly making an overt appeal to African-American voters. “You're living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed,” he said. “What the hell do you have to lose?” There was only one catch: Dimondale, according to the latest available census data, is a town of 1,234 people. Of those, just nine people are black. In that respect, that rally was like so many others: Almost all are largely filled with white voters. But Trump appears to be trying to change that. ABC’s CANDACE SMITH has more: http://abcn.ws/2blx6ZO
WHAT IS THE 'ALT-RIGHT' MOVEMENT? One of the groups that has been emerging as a force during the 2016 presidential election is one that developed largely in the corners of the conservative web. The "alt-right," which is shorthand for the "alternative right," is composed of many far-right ideologies. The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors hate groups, defines the alt-right as "a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that 'white identity' is under attack by multicultural forces using 'political correctness,'" writes ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY. http://abcn.ws/2cbLu86
TOP HOUSE REPUBLICAN PRESSES DONALD TRUMP TO RELEASE TAX RETURNS. Donald Trump should release his tax returns and medical records, the GOP chairman of the House Oversight Committee says, making him the latest Republican to publicly pressure the presidential nominee to disclose more information to the public, reports ABC’s BENJAMIN SIEGEL. "If you're going to run and try to become the president of the United States, you're going to have to open up your kimono and show everything," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told CNN Wednesday afternoon. http://abcn.ws/2biPKgs
BY THE NUMBERS -- CLINTON LEADS TRUMP BY 10 POINTS IN NEW POLL OF LIKELY VOTERS. Hillary Clinton garnered a majority of the support in a new poll released Thursday, passing 50 percent in a head-to-head matchup with Donald Trump and solidifying a lead built up after the party conventions a month ago. The poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University, shows Clinton receiving 51 percent support from likely voters, giving her a 10 point margin over Donald Trump. The GOP nominee was backed by 41 percent of those surveyed, note ABC’s ADAM KELSEY and LISSETTE RODRIGUEZ. http://abcn.ws/2blwZxv
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT -- 'ACTIONS OF AN IDIOT': TIM KAINE FIRES BACK AT DONALD TRUMP IN 'LATE SHOW' DEBUT. In an interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine joked about being "America’s stepdad” but also got serious discussing Donald Trump’s immigration stance and the GOP nominee calling Hillary Clinton a “bigot.” Kaine’s appearance on "The Late Show" airs tonight on CBS. It is his first appearance on a late-night talk show as a vice presidential candidate. He previously appeared on "The Daily Show" in 2010. When asked by Colbert about Trump’s immigration pivot, Kaine offered up some harsh words for the GOP nominee in Spanish, ABC’s JESSICA HOPPER notes. "I don't buy it," he said, switching to Spanish and adding, "He’s always fighting against the Latin community with words of ill will and the actions of an idiot." http://abcn.ws/2bspsK7
WHO’S TWEETING?
@amyewalter: From #Annenberg focus group in Milwaukee, when asked to describe this election as a scent; "garbage', 'manure," skunk"
@learyreports: .@marcorubio about to flip on #TPP? http://bit.ly/2blyVXY
@samsteinhp: .@seanspicer confirms that Trump would deport all 11 million but would allow some back after they leave
@ZekeJMiller: New Clinton ad seeks to answer Trump’s ‘what do you have to lose’ question https://youtu.be/4q2oLn8Bmfo
@reidepstein: Top Trump IA donor: "If people think hes going soft on immigration, it will hurt him and he will lose the election.” http://on.wsj.com/2bEaJea
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