How Trump lies so successfully

Donald Trump can truthfully call Ted Cruz a liar but there is no question that he is a much bigger liar. The difference is that he gets away with it because he has figured out that when you say something on TV, huge numbers of people hear it and assume it to be true. When fact-checkers later look into your claims and publish the truth, many fewer people (usually just those following politics closely) hear the refutations. So he wins.
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The Dump Trump movement tries again for possibly the last time

The Republican and Washington and media establishments have failed to stop the rise of Donald Trump and their critics have accused them of not taking him seriously until it was too late.

One evening last June, some of the Republican Party’s wealthiest donors gathered for a cocktail party at an exclusive resort in Deer Valley, Utah, during a three-day retreat hosted by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

They had just heard from six presidential hopefuls. Tom Duncan, the CEO of tool-maker Positec Tool Corp, chatted with a few attendees about a fantasy ticket to secure the White House in November 2016: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, with Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as his running mate.
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Giving Trump his due

Whatever else one might say about Donald Trump (and there is always plenty to say), there is no question that he has exposed the seedy underbelly of the lies that the Republican party has been feeding its supporters over the years, that the policies that the party advocates will benefit them when in reality it benefits just the one-percenters. Trump’s success shows that the voters are catching on that they’ve been had on that issue, though they may have just replaced an old con with a new one, that Trump will solve their problems.
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Resurgent Sanders, Triumphant Trump

Last night’s primary results produced a shock win for Bernie Sanders in Michigan where polls had had him trailing Hillary Clinton by about 20 points almost right up to the election. On the morning of the election yesterday, the poll guru Nate Silver had predicted a greater than 99% probability of a Clinton victory. Harry Enten says that “Sanders’s win in Michigan was one of the greatest upsets in modern political history.”
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The week in review by comedians

Last Thursday’s over-the-top (or should I say below-the-waist) Republican debate happened too late in the week for many comedians to take shots at it but now they have weighed in.

On the latest episode of her show Full Frontal, Samantha Bee looks at what happened over the last week and how the last Republican debate went down. She gives a eulogy for the party and wonders if we can really trust the nation’s future in the hands of men who seem to be far too emotional.
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Gaming the Republican primaries

The Republican primaries would seem to be a fertile ground for game theorists. For example, you have the current situation where Donald Trump is leading in the polls and in winning states and delegates. He does not have an overall majority in each category but is heading for a plurality. Ignoring John Kasich for the moment, the question is what is the best strategy for the two challengers Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to adopt in order to try and win.
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