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‘16 from 30,000

Less than 48 hours after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, Donald Trump appeared to suggest that President Barack Obama was willfully ignoring or perhaps even sympathetic to terrorists. “We're led by a man who is either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind,” he said this morning. “And the something else in mind, you know, people can't believe it. People cannot — they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the ways he acts and can't even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. There's something going on.” And then this afternoon, he doubled down on his plan to “temporarily” ban immigration from Muslim nations, a plan from which even some of his closest political allies have distanced themselves.

Setting aside the impact that repeating his theories could have on his own electoral chances, Trump’s statements when it comes to national security could be the most consequential parts of his rhetoric when it comes to downballot races. For weeks or even months to come, Republican lawmakers will be asked by journalists and by their political opponents if they believe that Obama is somehow complicit in terror attacks. They’ll be peppered with questions about Trump’s suggestion that Obama should resign in the wake of the attack. They’ll face another round of inquiries about his proposed ban on Muslim immigration. In press conferences, debates, and opposition research, Trump’s positions will be omnipresent for Republicans running for office at any level. If you’re a Republican in a contested race, it’s just about the last thing you probably want to spend the next 147 days doing.

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POPPING ON NBC POLITICS

FOR THE RECORD…

“Governor Chris Christie, of New Jersey, another of Trump’s opponents early in the campaign, has transformed himself into a sort of manservant, who is constantly with Trump at events. (One Republican told me that a friend of his on the Trump campaign used Snapchat to send him a video of Christie fetching Trump’s McDonald’s order.)”

A New Yorker profile of the GOP establishment reacting to Trump

TOMORROW’S SKED

Hillary Clinton delivers a speech in Pittsburgh.

Bernie Sanders will meet with Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump holds a rally in North Carolina.

And it’s (finally!) over! DC votes in the Democratic presidential primary, the Dems final nominating contest.