The Note: The Trump Campaign Turns One
— -- NOTABLES
--A YEAR OF LIVING TRUMP: Donald Trump may have turned 70 earlier this week, but today his campaign turns one. When he descended down that escalator with wife Melania, the expectations for his primary campaign against 16 other Republicans, including sitting governors and senators, could not have been lower, ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE points out. But he beat all expectations and never dulled the explosive language he put on display that very day. His positions may have changed over the year, but his rhetoric, style, and self-promotion skills have remained 100 percent Trump.
--HAPPENING TONIGHT: Bernie Sanders, still officially in the race, will address supporters tonight via a livestream video message at 8:30 PM ET. Will he end his campaign or tell them the revolution continues? Or does he do both, but shift his focus to helping Clinton defeat Trump?
--CLINTON LAUNCHES MASSIVE GENERAL ELECTION BLITZ: The Clinton campaign is flexing its muscles on the airwaves. Starting today, the presumptive Democratic nominee will being running three general election television ads in eight states across the country: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. The ads are part of a massive, eight-figure, six-week television buy, according to a campaign official. Included in the three new spots that will begin airing today, is the campaign’s recently-released "Who We Are" ad, which uses video of Donald Trump mocking a disabled reporter to frame the election as "a choice about who we are as a nation." The campaign will also air two autobiographical-style ads, neither of which mention the presumptive Republican nominee, ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ notes. http://abcn.ws/28H4HC4
--HAPPENING TODAY -- OBAMA SET TO VISIT ORLANDO: Following the worst mass shooting in American history and the deadliest attack in the United States since 9/11, President Obama and Vice President Biden will travel to Orlando today to meet with the families of victims and first responders in the Orlando community, ABC’s ROBIN GRADISON reports. http://abcn.ws/1YtKg7b
--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: The latest Trump endorsee forced to wonder what Trump is thinking is the NRA, which didn’t anticipate a certain Tweeting presidential candidate in writing its post-Orlando script. It’s not clear what specific policy Donald Trump is pushing in his not-yet-scheduled meeting with the NRA. It’s not clear if the NRA knows what he’s up to in pushing for suspected terrorists to be denied access to guns. It’s also not clear that the Senate’s decision to hold votes on gun control Thursday is directly connected to the pressure applied by Trump. But what is clear is that Trump – despite his half-threat to “do this alone” on the campaign trail – will have outsized influence on national debates over the next five months, at the very least. His unpredictability, along with the more predictable populist streak he flashes so often, won’t exist by itself, no matter who endorses his candidacy.
YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and PAOLA CHAVEZ
TRUMP TO GOP: ‘BE QUIET’ OR ELSE. Donald Trump issued a harsh directive for fellow members of his party: Be quiet or I’ll be forced to lead alone. Speaking in the historic Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, Trump appeared to be fed up with leadership of the party he will likely lead into the November election. "You know, the Republicans, honestly folks, our leaders, our leaders have to get tougher. This is too tough to do it alone. But you know what, I think I’m going to be forced to. I think I am going to be forced to, our leaders have to get a lot tougher,” he began. He added, icily, "And be quiet. Just please be quiet. Don't talk, please be quiet.” Trump has had a very tenuous relationship with many other Republicans. ABC’s CANDACE SMITH has more. http://abcn.ws/25Ynf21
TRUMP PUSHES CONSPIRACY THEORY THAT OBAMA SUPPORT ISIS. Donald Trump said Wednesday he was right to imply that President Obama is an ISIS sympathizer. In an attempt to defend his controversial claims that the president supports the terrorist group, the presumptive Republican nominee tweeted a story from anti-Obama website Breitbart.com that cites a newly discovered “secret” memo the website says proves Obama is an ISIS supporter. ABC’s JUSTIN FISHEL reports, the memo, as it turns out, is neither secret nor does it demonstrate the administration’s support for ISIS or any other policy. Indeed, it’s a recently declassified and heavily redacted intelligence field report from August 2012 about the worsening security situation in Iraq, obtained by the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information lawsuit. http://abcn.ws/1XpJuZl
TRUMP TO MEET WITH NRA TO DISCUSS TERROR WATCH LIST GUN ACCESS. In the wake of this weekend's mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Donald Trump says he will meet with the National Rifle Association to discuss how individuals on the nation's terrorist watch list get access to guns. The NRA later responded on Twitter, saying it would "be happy to meet" with Trump and that its position is "no guns for terrorists - period.” ABC’s JOHN SANTUCCI and CANDACE SMITH write Trump first mentioned the meeting Monday during a speech in New Hampshire. http://abcn.ws/1Ud8C58
5 LESSONS WE LEARNED FROM THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY SEASON. Since gliding down an elevator in Trump Tower and announcing his run for president, Donald Trump has proceeded to triumph over 16 Republican candidates in the past year and, eventually, snagged the nomination weeks ago. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, obtained enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination just last week. As both presumptive nominees gear up for the next phase of the presidential election, here are the five lessons we learned from the primaries, ABC’s RICK KLEIN and SHUSHANNAH WALSHE report. http://abcn.ws/1UvntWY
WHO’S TWEETING?
@abcstacia: Congrats to #RTCA winners Dennis, Peter & @jonkarl #abc news
@CassieSpodak: This anxiety and fear... We can banish it, but we need to all work together - @JohnKasich closes talked to #RTCA
@NoahGrayCNN: .@JohnKasich to #RTCA "Don't do tabloids...don't do eyeballs and profit because no one will remember you if you do that"
@nycjim: Strong: Trump campaign "is teetering amid dismal poll numbers, racially tinged controversies” and GOP criticism. http://bit.ly/1Q7IUgJ
@meganliberman: Listening to replay of Trump speech from yesterday. Did he actually say we were great "before the phone"?