The Edge: Remembering Nancy Reagan

Today in One Paragraph

Ben Carson endorsed Donald Trump for president. The Breitbart reporter who accused Donald Trump’s campaign manager of assaulting her filed a police report against him. An Ohio judge granted a request to let 17-year-olds vote in the state’s presidential primary. Marco Rubio’s communications director proposed that the senator’s supporters in Ohio vote for John Kasich in the state’s primary next week. And the funeral for former first lady Nancy Reagan was held in Simi Valley, California.

Top News

Carson and Trump ‘Buried the Hatchet.’ The retired neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate endorsed Donald Trump during a news conference at the businessman’s private club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. Carson said he had “completely forgiven” Trump for personal attacks during the race, and vouched for his character, calling Trump a "cerebral" man who "sits there and considers things very carefully." (MJ Lee and Eugene Scott, CNN)

Will Trump’s Campaign Manager Face Criminal Charges? The Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields filed a police report with the police department in Jupiter, Florida where the alleged incident occurred. Fields said Corey Lewandowski “yanked” her arm as she tried asking Donald Trump a question. The Trump campaign has denied the claim. Breitbart’s spokesman Kurt Bardella has since resigned, citing a need to “move on.” (David Graham, The Atlantic; Hadas Gold, Politico)

Judge: 17-Year-Olds Can Vote in Ohio Primary. Days before the state’s presidential primary, an Ohio judge granted a request to let 17-year-olds vote—a matter that’s been under dispute for some time. (Ann Sanner, Associated Press)

Team Rubio’s Proposal for March 15. In an interview on CNN, Marco Rubio’s communications director said voting for John Kasich in Ohio’s upcoming primary was their “best bet” to prevent Donald Trump from being the nominee. But Kasich’s team wasn’t on board: "We were going to win in Ohio without his help, just as he's going to lose in Florida without ours,” said Kasich campaign spokesman Rob Nichols in a tweet. (Nora Kelly, The Atlantic)

Funeral for the Former First Lady. A private service for the late Nancy Reagan was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Guests included representatives from several White House families, including Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush. Reagan died Sunday at age 94. (Meghan Keneally, ABC News)

The Weekend in One Paragraph. Nineteen delegates are up for grabs in Saturday’s Washington, D.C. Republican convention. Ted Cruz will be in North Carolina, Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio will be in Florida, and Donald Trump and John Kasich are rallying voters in Ohio ahead of Tuesday’s round of nominating contests.

Follow stories throughout the day with our new Politics & Policy page. And keep on top of the campaign with our 2016 Distilled election dashboard.

Top Lines

A ‘Meaningful Divide’ on Abortion. A recent Democratic presidential town hall hosted by Fox News served to highlight a small but important difference between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton when it comes to restrictions on late-term abortions. (Pema Levy, Mother Jones)

Spring Ahead No More? A dozen states are considering putting an end to Daylight Savings Time. Here’s how it could work. (Michelle Hackman, Vox)

Trump’s Demographic Challenge. The real-estate mogul has a path to the Republican nomination if he can win Rust Belt states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, The National Review’s Tim Alberta argues, but in order to do that, he has to win with women and get a significant portion of the white vote.

Top Views

1400 Minutes of Debate. The Washington Post’s Philip Bump breaks down how much time each Republican presidential candidate has spoken during all of the past 12 GOP debates—and how many hours viewers have spent listening to them. (Philip Bump, The Washington Post)

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About the Author

Elaine Godfrey is an editorial fellow at The Atlantic.

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Some firm handshakes, forced smiles, and awkward sword dances. In short, nothing.

Let’s hear it for the Rainbow Tour
It’s been an incredible success
We weren’t quite sure, we had a few doubts

Will Evita win through?
But the answer is yes

There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now?

—Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, Evita

Like Donald Trump, Juan and Eva Perón were populists. They seem to have shared Trump’s understanding of the purposes of philanthropy (for more, read up about the Eva Perón Foundation) and the importance of fiscal probity. And like Eva in 1947, Donald Trump has just completed a glitzy overseas trip.

It had ample farcical episodes: the Saudi king, the dictator of Egypt, and the president of the United States placing their hands on a glowing orb that evoked for some a lampoon of Lord of the Rings. The secretary of state assuring us that no one overseas was paying attention to Trump’s domestic troubles (palpably, indeed laughably, untrue) even as his spokesman excluded the American press from a briefing attended by the considerably more docile reporters of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The national-security adviser insisting, “The entire trip is about human rights, about all civilized people coming together to fight the hatred”—an odd remark to make in a country that lops the hands off thieves and the heads off apostates. The commerce secretary, in one of his more witlessly thuggish remarks, observing complacently about urban Riyadh: “There was not a single hint of a protester anywhere there during the whole time we were there.” And then there were the video clips: Melania flicking away her husband’s groping hand and the Leader of the Free World giving the prime minister of little Montenegro a good hard shove.