Sheldon Adelson embraces Donald Trump, seeks to fleece taxpayers
Good morning. On behalf of The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board, welcome to The Take, your opinion-politics newsletter. Please sign up for it here.
We endorse in the Ami Bera-Scott Jones congressional race, take a swing-state tour of editorial pages, and offer a terrific piece by Daniel Weintraub about the John Muir Trail. That plus Jack Ohman’s visit to the National Archives and my visit to Ellis Island. But first, what happened in Vegas.
The Adelson News’ take
Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam Adelson, are the biggest Republican donors to federal races so far in the 2015-16 election cycle — well more than $50 million, Federal Election Commission records show.
They have donated exclusively to Republicans, including Donald Trump, and chipped in a combined $10 million last month to Future45, a super PAC that is airing ads attacking Hillary Clinton as a latter-day Richard Nixon.
No shock then that the Adelson-owned Las Vegas Review-Journal would give Trump an in-kind contribution in the form of an endorsement. Chump change, really. The RJ joins the National Enquirer as favoring Trump over Clinton.
“Mr. Trump represents neither the danger his critics claim nor the magic elixir many of his supporters crave,” The RJ writes. “But he promises to be a source of disruption and discomfort to the privileged, back-scratching political elites for whom the nation’s strength and solvency have become subservient to power’s pursuit and preservation.”
Speaking of subservience, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval pushed legislation through Nevada’s Legislature earlier this month earmarking $750 million in state subsidies to assist Adelson’s pursuit of power and preservation by helping the billionaire pay for a football stadium in Las Vegas to house the Oakland Raiders.
Speaking of Future45, it’s controlled by Joe Ricketts’ family, which owns the Chicago Cubs. We’re not necessarily pulling for the Indians, but Cleveland hasn’t won a World Series since 1948.
Take a number: $1.376 million
Foon Rhee’s latest Numbers Crunch looks at the rise of the “gig” economy and the political battles to come. Employment growth in the ride-sharing industry for the Sacramento metro area increased 92 percent from 2012 to 2014, ranking ninth fastest in the nation. Jobs in the traditional ground transportation sector dropped by 22 percent. Uber’s spending on lobbying, nonexistent before 2013 in Sacramento, totals $1.376 million since 2013.
Our take
Endorsement: Given the national implications of the outcome in the 7th Congressional District and Ami Bera’s potential to engage in issues that are vital to California, we recommend that voters retain him for another two years.
Dan Morain: Do Donald Trump’s most anti-immigrant rantings reflect a part of who we Americans are, or are they the last gasps of a culture on its way out? My grandfather died before I could meet him, but I must have inherited a few traits. He thought better days were ahead. How else could he have boarded the Napolitan Prince?
Daniel Weintraub: When the sun finally rose, it was a glorious sight, the perfect way to end the adventure of a lifetime, paying homage to John Muir, an American hero who had the kind of foresight we should remember, and strive to emulate, today.
Jack Ohman: Fortunately, the U.S. Constitution is etched in the mind of the nation itself. Except for one mind. The mind of Donald Trump.
Andrew Malcolm: Presidential debates resemble reality TV, which should have given reality-celebrity Donald Trump a leg up. Trump was better in Las Vegas.
Steve Swatt: Dirty campaigns are nothing new in U.S. politics, or in California.
Jessica A. Levinson: Donald Trump is not Al Gore, and this isn’t 2000.
Catherine Brinkley: An incendiary idea for clean energy and rural job growth.
Their take
L.A. Times: Water that is allowed to move through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and into the Pacific is not wasted. It is the lifeblood of an ecosystem whose health is essential not just to a particular run of salmon but to agriculture, to the fishing industry, to the economy and to the special qualities that make California what it is.
San Diego Union-Tribune: Why California should end, not streamline, the death penalty. We concur in the conclusion.
Fresno Bee: Reelect Reps. Jim Costa and David Nunes, along with Kevin McCarthy and Devin Nunes. What about the other guy? “We wish there were a viable alternative to the ineffective Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove.”
Modesto Bee: Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 57 could be a danger to our communities. This Bee disagrees.
Takes from swing states
Orlando Sentinel, Florida-29 electoral votes: Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Cabinet members need to ease the state’s unduly burdensome process for former felons to regain their right to vote after completing their sentences.
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio-18: The idea that there is a conspiracy to cheat Trump supporters of victory is an idea that resides primarily in the mind, and guile, of Trump himself, as he apparently seeks to win at all costs — or to find a reason, other than his own flawed campaign, if he does not.
Arizona Republic, Arizona-11: Nothing more clearly illustrates Trump’s unfitness to be president than his attack on the integrity of this nation’s election process.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin-10: We urge Paul Ryan to finally reject Donald Trump, who has been running as much against his own party’s leaders and ideals as he has against Hillary Clinton.
Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota-10: A vote for Hillary Clinton is a historic choice for a woman who is fiercely committed to using government as a force for good, who is capable of working to strike a pragmatic balance among competing interests and who brings a lifetime of experience to one of the toughest jobs the world has to offer.
Las Vegas Sun, Nevada-6: Voters should reject Donald Trump. And then he can sulk all he wants – as he did when his TV show didn’t win an Emmy – and retreat to his gilded lifestyle. But if he refuses to respect the peaceful electoral ritual that distinguishes our nation, shame on him, and he will have revealed himself as fool’s gold, a phony who came to the end of his run.
Syndicates’ take
Trudy Rubin: Plan for after the fall of Mosul.
Paul Krugman: Why Hillary Clinton wins.
David Brooks: Repairing moral capital.
Kathleen Parker: Being Donald Trump means never playing by the rules.
Dana Milbank: Donald Trump can’t just be defeated; he must be humiliated.
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Donald Trump’s victim mentality.
Ruben Navarrette: In this election, the media have shown they have the power – to embarrass themselves.
And finally,
“Lastly, the plan would allow for selective lethal removal of overly aggressive birds, on a case-by-case basis. This would apply to one particular turkey that’s become notorious for terrorizing locals downtown near Third and F streets, where city staff has placed a sign to prepare residents for possible aggressive turkey encounters.” – Davis Enterprise, explaining the city of Davis’ four-pronged $20,400 plan to reduce Davis’ turkey population.
This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 5:31 AM with the headline "Sheldon Adelson embraces Donald Trump, seeks to fleece taxpayers."