Now that John Kasich and Ted Cruz have dropped out, it’s pretty much official: Donald Trump is the 2016 Republican nominee for president.

The pundits never saw this coming, but they should have. The Republican Party has been running a scam on its base for decades now, and voters were bound to discover this scam sooner or later.

Ever since Nixon initiated the Southern Strategy, Republicans have tricked millions of mostly white Americans into voting for them by giving lip-service to old-timey racism and anti-immigrant xenophobia.

The purpose of this all this pandering, of course, was to rally the masses around the real goal of the Republican elites, which is to push through economic policies that help out the billionaires and corporations that fund the Republican Party.

This strategy worked best when it conflated economics with race.

Reagan advisor Lee Atwater described this process in pretty blunt language back in the 1980s.

That kind talk, talk that essentially converts the language of racism into the language of economics, is powerful, and it’s been important - perhaps the most important piece - of the scam Republicans have been running on their base for decades.

But it was always a risky way of rallying people around the GOP brand because it depended on the Republican base continuing to believe their economic interests are aligned with those of the Republican donor class.

But, at some point, the Republican base was going to realize that the Republican elites didn’t actually give a damn about them.

At some time the scared and bigoted white people who vote Republican were going to realize that the people they were voting into office only cared about the billionaires and big corporations who wrote their campaign checks.

At some point the mask was going to fall off and the base was going to revolt against the elites.

Well, “some point” is now, and with Donald Trump’s clinching of the nomination, the base has finally had its revenge on the Republican elite.

The irony, of course is that the racism and xenophobia that’s motivated the Republican base for the past few decades hasn’t gone away.

If anything, Trump has made it more explicit.

But one thing that Donald Trump hasn’t done is bow down before the altar of small government.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... The GOP's Trump Dilemma... (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Community Square

"Video: Eviction: Poverty and Profit in the American City, 1 hr"

Wednesday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Trump Victory... Did GOP Voters Just Reject the Republican Party?
- Jamie Weinstein, The Daily Caller

Article: "Donald Trump All but Clinches G.O.P. Race With Indiana Win; Ted Cruz Quits" by Jonathan Martin and Patrick Healy.

Article: "Hillary Is Preferable To Trump Just Like Malaria Is Preferable To Ebola" by Jamie Weinstein.

Article: "John Kasich to Suspend Campaign, Leaving Donald Trump as GOP Nominee" by Reid J. Epstein.

Article: "US election 2016: Trump nomination divides Republicans" by BBC.

Article: "RedState: ‘Confirm Merrick Garland Before It Is Too Late’" by Ian Millhiser.

Article: "Poll Of Likely 2016 Voters" by GBA Strategies on behalf of the Progressive Change Institute.

Article: "William F. Buckley, Jr." by Wikipedia.

Article: "Montana Supreme Court Delays Enforcement of Dispensary Ruling" by AP.

Article: "Bernie Sanders Voted Against the FIRST GULF WAR. His Words That Day Were Prescient!" by sabrina 1.

Article: "46 years later: Remembering the Kent State shootings" by WKYC.

Article: "Republican Party Platform of 1956", August 20, 1956.

Article: "Once upon a time in 1956, there were Republicans who supported unions and Social Security" by Laura Clawson.

Article: "Secretariat (horse)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Donald Trump is now the leader of the Republican Party. It's real." by Elizabeth Warren.

Tweet: "Shouldn't #TedCruz have been forced to carry his unviable campaign to term?" by Samantha Bee.

Article: "Senate Officially Mourns Return of Ted Cruz" by Andy Borowitz.

Tweet: "Based on 12 week treatment source google - the pill that cures Hepatitis C" by Black-eyed Suzie.

Book: Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror by Paul Vallely, Thomas McInerney.

Article: "CIA-armed militias are shooting at Pentagon-armed ones in Syria" by Nabih Bulos, W.J. Hennigan, Brian Bennett.

Article: "How the Chained CPI Affects Social Security Payments" by Emily Brandon.

Talk Media News Segment:
- Bob Ney

Article: "Cruz ends presidential campaign" by Nick Salazar.

Article: "Sanders scores upset win over Clinton in Indiana" by Nick Salazar.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman

Book: "Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill" by Robert Ney.

Article: "Quick Morning News - Trump crushes Cruz – Buh Bye - May 4, 2016" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "Quick Morning News - Cruz confronts Trump voter – Epic - May 3, 2016" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: What's Really Going On Behind The Scenes With CO Single Payer Battle? Plus, Paul Ryan Sure Sounds Like a Candidate...
- Lee Fang, The Intercept

Tweet: "Paul Ryan not really legislating at this point just using office to make memes that look like campaign ads wink wink" by Lee Fang.

Article: "Prominent Democratic Consultants Sign Up to Defeat Single Payer in Colorado" by Lee Fang.

Article: "Donald Trump: I'd be interested in vetting John Kasich for VP" by Maxwell Tani.

What You Need To Know About Living Greener
- Dr. Corinna Basler, Green Festivals (Check Out the DC Green Festival May 6-8, DC Convention Center)

Event: DC, May 6-8: "DC Green Festival".

Article: "Exit polls: Half of Clinton's supporters won't back Obama" by Alexander Mooney, May 6th, 2008.

Documentary: Where to Invade Next - Michael Moore.

Article: "Hillary Clinton Was the 11th Most Liberal Member of the Senate" by phenry.

Do you have all the info you need to vote for @BernieSanders? Find it here.

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

We'll have the latest news and information...everything you need to know to win the water cooler wars...

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

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Will the GOP finally unite around Donald Trump?

Vote here!

Panel: Should All States be Open Primaries?

The Good, the Bad & the Very, Very Interlacustrinely Ugly!

More Co-ops Means Less Inequality

How Donald Trump Could Beat Hillary Clinton…

Panel: Climate Change is Suffocating the Ocean

Full Show 5/3/16: How Trade Could Take Down Hillary (If She Wins the Nomination)

Tonight’s Politics Panel discusses the Indiana primary results, how the DNC chair doesn’t want independents to vote in Democratic primaries, and how the world’s oceans are rapidly losing oxygen. Thom discusses the history and effectiveness of co-ops with economist and author Richard Wolff and in tonight’s Daily Take Thom details how Hillary’s record on trade makes her vulnerable in a general election against Trump.

How's that Dump Trump Thing Working Out?

Eisenhower Republican: I Would Support Bernie

Donald Trump: Rafael Cruz Hung Out With Lee Harvey Oswold

The N-Word is NOT a Term of Endearment!

How Do We End the So-Called 'Free' Trade Deals?

Will the Republican Party choose Jobs over God?

Republican Voter ID Laws Equal Voter Suppression!