Donald Trump's Palin moment

THE CLOCK: 435 days until Election Day 2016 …

THE DEBATE CLOCK: 13 days until the next Republican debate … 39 days until the first Democratic debate.

DONALD TRUMP’S PALIN MOMENT? POLITICO’s Ben Schreckinger reports: DONALD TRUMP’s enemies have been waiting for his Sarah Palin moment. On Thursday night, they got it.


Trump whiffed on a foreign policy query about the leaders of major terrorist organizations and of Iran’s Quds Force. His ignorance of General Qasem Soleimani and his inability to distinguish between the “Quds Force” and the Kurdish people immediately became the focus of the national conversation.

But then the event took a distinctly Trumpian turn: The candidate not only didn’t apologize or express any regret, he launched an attack on his questioner, conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, as a "third-rate radio announcer.”

Trump’s stumbles with Hewitt are reminiscent of George W. Bush’s November 1999 interview with a local reporter in Boston in which the Texas governor was asked to name the leaders of four strategically vital nations, could only sort-of name one of them and lashed out at his interviewer. ''Wait, wait, is this 50 questions?' Bush protested. The interview contributed to the perception that Bush lacked policy depth even though that perception did not prevent him from winning the presidency twice.

The tough questions will keep coming, said, Robert O’Brien, a foreign policy adviser to SCOTT WALKER. “That interview should be a wakeup call for anybody who’s preparing for the [upcoming] debate in Simi Valley at the Reagan Library.” Read more at POLITICO

Happy getaway Friday, and welcome to today’s 2016 Blast. Henry C. Jackson (@henrycjjackson) is here to guide you through today’s campaign news. Send your tips, complaints, and hottest hot takes to: [email protected] Programming note: No 2016 Blast on Monday. We’ll be back, tanned and ready, after Labor Day.

TRAIL MIX: Here’s what’s popping on the campaign trail

In today’s campaign news, HILLARY CLINTON and MARCO RUBIO head to Puerto Rico, where Rubio takes issue with DONALD TRUMP’s foreign policy credentials. Clinton disagrees with the choice she made, but isn’t apologizing, for her server woes.

THE DAILY CLINTON

EMAIL GUARDIAN: POLITICO’s Rachael Bade reports: “HILLARY CLINTON chose a former campaign staffer who followed her to the State Department to make the initial determination about which of her emails should be preserved as federal records … Heather Samuelson, a lawyer and 2008 Clinton campaign staffer, worked under Mills and Clinton’s attorney David Kendall to sift through her ex-boss’ messages. She helped separate those that were purely personal, which were not turned over to the State Department, from those that were work-related.” http://politi.co/1M0tS9D

NO APOLOGIES: POLITICO’s Gabriel Debenedetti and Nick Gass: “HILLARY CLINTON sat down Friday for a rare national television interview” and “mostly made news for refusing to directly apologize for her exclusive use of a private email account and server while she was serving as secretary of state. “It wasn’t the best choice,” Clinton conceded to Mitchell, who asked multiple times whether she was sorry. Clinton repeated that her “personal email use was fully above board."

SHE’S SORRY PEOPLE ARE CONFUSED: “I disagree with the choice that I made. At the end of the day, I am sorry that this has been confusing to people."

ONE OF US!: “The one thing she can't live without? ’Sleep. Never get enough of it, always want more of it.’” http://politi.co/1JUbiJB

AIR HILLARY: CNN: “HILLARY CLINTON’s presidential campaign plans to spend more than $4 million reserving ad time in Iowa and New Hampshire throughout September and October ... Facing stepped up questions about her ongoing email controversy and the prospect of Vice President JOE BIDEN getting in the race, the campaign will spend $1.5 million reserving ad time in Iowa … and an additional $2.6 million in New Hampshire.” http://cnn.it/1L9loHo

PUERTO RICO EXPLAINED: POLITICO’s Gabriel Debenedetti reports HILLARY CLINTON’s trip is not really about the island’s delegates but “central Florida and its rapidly expanding Puerto Rican population, a group Democrats think could prove decisive to winning one of the most critical swing states of 2016 … Clinton’s trip is designed to project the sense to this politically potent group that Clinton takes the territory’s troubles seriously.” http://politi.co/1hHsY4H

SERVER UPDATE: POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein reports: “The Justice Department's move to put more than 30 lawsuits relating to the emails of HILLARY CLINTON and four of her top aides in front of a single judge appears unlikely to be resolved before mid-September at the earliest. U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle” is “giving plaintiffs in the various Freedom of Information Act cases until Sept. 14 to respond to the government's request to name a coordinating judge.” http://politi.co/1EFZaAm

THE PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE

PROTRACTED JOMENTUM: Bloomberg: “Some longtime friends of JOE BIDEN and other Democratic donors … are preparing for the possibility the vice president may delay announcing whether he’ll run for president past an end-of-September timeline he and his advisers were targeting. Biden and his advisers initially signaled that he'd make a decision by the end of this month … His travels this week, his first overtly political trip since late-summer rumors began heating up about a possible Biden entry into the race, sent mixed signals.” http://bloom.bg/1UxztUd

PUERTO RICO BRACKETING: MARTIN O’MALLEY’s campaign rolls out the endorsements of a handful of Puerto Rican public officials as HILLARY CLINTON heads there, including Sen. Jorge Suárez and Reps. César Hernández, Sonia Pacheco, Ramón Luis Cruz, Carlos Bianchi and Nelson Torres Yordán.

IOWA STRONG: The Guardian: “In theory, [BERNIE] SANDERS’ campaign for the presidential nomination in 2016 breaks all the rules of modern politics … This unabashed “democratic socialist” from Brooklyn via Vermont, which he represents as an independent US senator, talks about class, corruption and the pathological greed of the rich. Yet the middle-aged, midwestern audience greeting him here ... cannot get enough of it. 'Welcome to the political revolution,' Sanders says to another loud cheer.” http://bit.ly/1KvKUMC

TRUMP ON THE STUMP

NEWEST BRAWL: POLITICO’S Nick Gass reports: “DONALD TRUMP tore into radio host Hugh Hewitt as a ‘third-rate radio announcer’ on Friday after the Republican presidential candidate struggled to answer a question about the leaders of major terrorist groups the previous day. The move followed a familiar script .... When backed into a corner, go on the attack and change the headlines.” http://politi.co/1hHtgby

NOTED: Trump’s 11 worst foreign policy gaffes: http://politi.co/1fZEO93

‘GROWTH’ FIGHT: Washington Examiner: “Conservative enforcers who labor to keep congressional Republicans in line are casting a wary eye at DONALD TRUMP, an ideological apostate who has nonetheless rocketed to an early lead in the GOP presidential primary. Club for Growth … President David McIntosh said his organization was developing contingency plans to take on Trump and was prepared to spend money educating Republican primary voters, if he's not overtaken in the months ahead.” http://washex.am/1EFZHCn

TRUMP AS RORSCHACH: Slate: “This is not just a frivolous slap fight. If a Republican who is not Trump becomes president, how he or she dealt with the Teflon Don will be the first major test he or she faced. Campaigns are an imperfect measure of the attributes presidents need in office.” http://slate.me/1EG42Fy

WALKER’s WORLD

BIGGEST LOSER: POLITICO’s Katie Glueck reports: “Nearly half of GOP insiders (in Iowa and New Hampshire) said” SCOTT WALKER “had the worst summer on their side of the aisle. In Iowa, where he was until recently considered the front-runner but now lags in polls, insiders were particularly down on him: 56 percent said he had lost the summer.” http://politi.co/1hHtL5E

NOT A HAIR UNTURNED: BBC goes in depth on … SCOTT WALKER’s bald spot and quotes an expert “Spencer Kobren, founder of American Hair Loss Association and host of US radio The Bald Truth, says it's very rare for a permanent bald spot to be caused by a head trauma, but it can happen. "It would have to be a pretty significant trauma - a severe blow to the head," he says. http://bbc.in/1i2pL0i

MAKE OF IT WHAT YOU WILL: “Walker's ‘shiny bald spot’ also boasts its own Facebook page, with more than 2,700 likes.”

JEB’S JOURNEY

FIRED UP: MSNBC: JEB BUSH “is betting on his anti-Trump offensive to move past a summer beset by weak polling, reports of fundraising hiccups, and rhetorical bumps on issues like birthright citizenship and the Iraq War. ... Nonetheless, several Republican voters and donors sympathetic to Bush volunteered … that they were concerned about a lack of excitement around his campaign.” http://on.msnbc.com/1N8a7M3

ENERGY POLICY: Vox explains DONALD TRUMP’s most persistent taunt at JEB BUSH, that he’s a “low energy guy”: “It's the campaign diss of 2015 — short on explicit content, yet rich with undertones of meaning … The question of Bush's energy has become a shouting match between a cartoon character turned unexpected poll leader and a stumbling ostensible frontrunner.” http://bit.ly/1NfXGPW

RUBIO’S RUN

TRUMP SHOT: CNN: MARCO RUBIO “said Friday all presidential candidates should have a strong command of foreign policy challenges before taking office, suggesting that voters should be troubled by DONALD TRUMP's apparent lack of knowledge about Hezbollah, Hamas and other terror groups. "If you don't know the answer to these questions, then you are not going to be able to serve as commander and chief … "This should be part of the reason why you are running because you understand the threats that the world is facing, you have deep understanding and you understand what to do about it," Rubio added. "And if someone doesn't, I think it is very concerning." http://cnn.it/1UsbBqo

NO BAILOUT: POLITICO’s Hadas Gold reports: “MARCO RUBIO opposes giving Puerto Rico the same type of bankruptcy protection available to U.S. towns and cities mired in fiscal crisis, the Florida senator will say Friday as he visits the American territory for the first time as a 2016 contender. In an op-ed to be published in both Spanish and English, Rubio blames the "liberal ideology" of Puerto Rico's politicians, creating a "toxic brew of economic stagnation, higher taxes and bloated government." http://politi.co/1JTE3KX

IN HIS OWN WORDS: On Medium, Rubio explains his position on Puerto Rico: http://bit.ly/1PPXCUt

KASICH’S CASE

POLITICIAN STRATEGY: Washington Post: “DONALD TRUMP derides the ‘losers’ who have captured America’s government. One-time front-runner JEB BUSH attacks the reality show star as insufficiently conservative.” JOHN KASICH “is trying something else, telling voters that, yes, he’s a politician, and a good one. Four years in the Ohio senate, 18 years in Congress, five years as governor, most of them good.” http://wapo.st/1JHUo3T

TRUMPESQUE?: Bloomberg: He jumped into the presidential race late, says what’s on his mind and tramples party articles of faith. No, not DONALD TRUMP. JOHN KASICH. With Trump acceding Thursday to the Republican National Committee’s demand for a pledge not to run as an independent, Ohio’s governor has positioned himself as another unconventional candidate, albeit one without bluster and anger. … Kasich has avoided criticizing opponents. http://bloom.bg/1NfWbRV

SUBIDEAL HEADLINE: From the Concord Monitor editorial page: “Kasich betrays Reagan, Jefferson.” http://bit.ly/1hIdtt2

SURVEYING THE 2016 LANDSCAPE

TWEETSTORMING TRUMP: POLITICO’s Nick Gass reports: BOBBY JINDAL “tore into DONALD TRUMP’s position with a series of tweets on Friday on whether a Kentucky clerk should be jailed for refusing to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The Louisiana governor … who has advocated for religious liberty protections for conscientious objectors, including clerk Kim Davis, called out Trump by saying that "you can't make America great again by throwing the Christians in jail." http://politi.co/1JUdQrl

KENTUCKY TRIP: CNN: MIKE HUCKABEE is “planning to visit the Kentucky clerk taken into custody for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples next week. Huckabee will visit Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk, in jail Tuesday before he is set to rally supporters outside the detention center where she is being held.” http://cnn.it/1XpHgHS

‘PARENTHOOD’ PUSH: Washington Post: TED CRUZ “who is taking a lead role in a campaign to end taxpayer support for Planned Parenthood, will send Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a letter next week urging him not to schedule a vote on or help push legislation that gives federal money to the organization.” http://wapo.st/1KvLpX0

NEXT NEWS CYCLE

HILLARY CLINTON hits New Hampshire tomorrow and Iowa on Sunday and Monday.

BERNIE SANDERS is in Iowa on Saturday, and New Hampshire on Monday.

MARTIN O’MALLEY is in Iowa the whole holiday weekend.

SCOTT WALKER is on a motorcycle tour of New Hampshire.

JOHN KASICH heads back to New Hampshire.

THE DAILY NUMBER

$500,000. That’s how much JEB BUSH will spend on his initial ad buy in New Hampshire, as his campaign seeks to regain momentum in the state. http://politi.co/1OisvjZ

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