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2020 U.S. Presidential Campaign

For the Record: Fight, fight for old Trump U

Brett McGinness
USA TODAY

Rah rah, Trump University alums! The night before the big game, we're gonna leave our dream houses, hop in our dream cars, sneak over to the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" campus and kidnap their mascot! Who's with us?

Just because the university hasn't existed for several years, and technically wasn't a university at all, doesn't mean we can't show a little school spirit. After all, the school charged thousands upon thousands of dollars for classes, put its students in debt, used untenured professors to teach and employed high-pressure tactics to get students to adopt its way of thinking. If that doesn't make it a real university, what does?

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Fight, fight for old Trump U

"I hand-picked the name; isn't that enough?"

Trump University documents, including recruiter playbooks, were released yesterday per a court order as part of an ongoing California class-action lawsuit against the education company. Among the revelations: Students were ranked by their assets and credit availability rather than ... um ... whatever other criteria you'd use to rank attendees at a get-rich seminar. (SAT scores? Employment history? Date of last shower?)

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Once students were placed in a price category, Trump U staffers delivered scripted speeches to attendees who balked at charging up to $35,000 to their credit cards for class fees: "[D]o you like living paycheck to paycheck? Do you enjoy seeing everyone else but yourself in their dream houses and driving their dream cars with huge checking accounts? Those people saw an opportunity, and didn't make excuses, like what you're doing now." (Forty-two words of taunting, none of which are "loser" ... clearly, Donald himself had nothing to do with writing these materials.)

Still, the big attention-getting revelations are more awkward than criminal. It's not illegal to talk someone into spending more money than they should on something; otherwise the hot tub industry would have collapsed by now. The lawsuits hinge on complaints from former students that the instructors weren't hand-picked by Trump, as marketing materials claimed; and that the business wasn't an accredited university, despite the fact that "university" is among the top two most commonly used words in the name "Trump University." Trump U defenders point to the program's 98 percent approval rating, although it seems like the ratings tactics were remarkably similar to the enrollment tactics.

Enough about Accounts Receivable — let's talk about Accounts Payable

"Show of hands: Which of you members of the press donated $1 million to veterans' groups? Ha ha J/K you guys don't have $1 million combined."

Millions of dollars in donations are rolling in to various veterans' charities, including several in Iowa, following a Trump fundraising rally in January. Trump called a press conference yesterday to criticize the media for questioning when — or if — the donations would ever be made. "I have to tell you, the press is so dishonest and so unfair," he said a week after the Washington Post questioned whether any of the proceeds from the event had reached their recipients. The AP reached out to the 41 charities Trump identified as beneficiaries; of the 20-plus that responded, about half said the checks were dated May 24 — the same day as the Post's story. Trump also displayed a $1 million check of his own to add to the donation, but Hillary Clinton told CNN following the press conference that Trump shouldn't get much credit at all after the four month delay. Because of course she said that.

Hillary's tightrope act

Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and four other guys you don't recognize.

Last summer when the presidential campaign was just getting underway, Clinton needed two things: No serious challenge from the left, and a predictably party-line Establishment Republican to compete with in the general election. (And no FBI indictments. So, three things.) It's now June 2016, she's still fending off a challenge from the left — and if she wins that fight, she's going up against a Republican nominee who thrives on asymmetric warfare. If and when she secures the nomination, she still needs to figure out which part of the electorate she needs to win over to Team Clinton — the right-of-Hillary moderate conservatives still wary of Trump, or the left-of-Hillary progressives still holding out for Bernie. She's going to have to shore up her support in one of these groups of voters with her VP pick, and hope that the jilted group sides with her anyway.

Our panel of pundits has narrowed it down to the six most likely options, with the top choice leaning more to the center than Hillary: moderate Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (a Democrat who supports some restrictions on abortion and who sided with John McCain on the need for President Obama to secure Congress' military authorization). Further down the rankings are several unabashed lefties, including Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Whichever way she goes, she leaves a good chunk of the electorate feeling like their votes are being taken for granted. Um, good luck with that.

More from the campaign trail

  • McConnell to Republicans: Don't worry about Trump at the top of the ticket; voters hate EVERYBODY this year (Louisville Courier-Journal)
  • Libertarians happy that Gary Johnson is on the Tennessee ballot, but they'd be happier if he were labeled a Libertarian (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
  • How Paul Ryan or Donald Trump's running mate or literally any American over the age of 35 could wind up being president this November (USA TODAY)
  • Bernie Sanders wants to emulate the Golden State Warriors. You know, they didn't wait until late March to start winning (USA TODAY OnPolitics)

What are the odds?

"Twenty to one on Sanders? Intriguing."

Checking back in with the (mostly British Isles-based) betting markets ... the consensus betting line on Hillary puts her in the White House about 60 to 70 percent of the time on average; Trump's odds range between 27 and 40 percent ... and then there's Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, the "in case of indictment" options. Place your bets, ladies and gents.

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