The Hill Newspaper

GOP front-runner Donald Trump is showing more confidence about his chances of winning the party’s nomination and the presidency in 2016.

In an exclusive interview with The Hill last month, Trump refused to predict that he’d be the Republican nominee, calling such talk “presumptuous.”

“I’m surprised that I’m this high,” he told The Hill about his poll numbers. A day after interview, Trump even shared concerns that “maybe people will get tired of me.”

Since then, Trump’s been talking up his chances, buoyed by his high standing in the polls. Even the controversy over his feud with Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly failed to drag him down.

Trump is now saying that not only will he win the nomination, but that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is poised to collapse.

“I think [Clinton] may not be able to run, to be honest, because this whole email thing is a horrible thing,” Trump said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

And when grilled by Chuck Todd on his policy positions, Trump responded, “In four years you’re going to be interviewing me and you’re going to say, ‘What a great job you’ve done, President Trump.'”

Here’s a look at how Donald Trump has grown more bullish on the campaign trail:

April 18: “I think I can beat her and not a lot of other people could,” Trump said of Hillary Clinton, two months before entering the race. “If I get into a primary, I am going to fight like you wouldn’t believe,” he added.

June 17: “I would say anywhere from 10 to 20 percent. Ten to 20,” Trump said when asked about his chances of winning the race. “One thing I can tell you, I will be trying.”

June 28: Trump insisted he was serious about his race, telling CNN’s “State of the Union,” “I’m in it to win it.”

July 15: Trump called the upcoming race a “challenge.” “I look forward to the challenge of winning the presidency and doing a fantastic job for our country,” Trump said after filing his financial paperwork.

July 22: In an interview with The Hill, Trump declined to follow former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who predicted victory in the 2012 race by saying, “I’m going to be the nominee.” Trump said he wouldn’t be “presumptuous.”

“I’m surprised that I’m this high,” he said of his poll numbers.

July 23: “I wanna run as a Republican. I think I’ll get the nomination,” Trump said during his trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. “She’s [Clinton] going to be beat, and I’m the one who’s going to beat her.”

July 24: On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Trump faced questions about whether the interest in his candidacy would last. “I’m just chugging along,” Trump said. “You know, maybe people will get tired of me. Who knows? I mean, this press is crazy. … I don’t know, maybe people get burned out.”

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GOP front-runner Donald Trump is dominating his rivals on social media, with the most followers on two of the top three platforms.

The controversial businessman, who’s vaulted to the top of the GOP polls, has more than 3 million likes on Facebook — nearly 1 million over the nearest Republican, Dr. Ben Carson, on the most popular social network.

That’s also well ahead of the nearest Democrats. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has just over 1 million likes, and Hillary Clinton has more than 1.1 million.

The Hill tallied the followers for each presidential campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see who has the edge on social media as of Aug. 11. Where candidates had more than one account, we relied on the primary campaign social media accounts.

On Twitter, Clinton and Trump rank far ahead of the pack. Clinton tops the field with 4.02 million followers, with Trump in second at 3.67 million. But Trump is a much more avid Twitter user, with 27,400 tweets compared to Clinton’s 1,304.

Their totals are well above those of Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), with 811,000, and Rand Paul (Ky.), with 667,000 followers. Sanders stands with 316,000 followers.

But that second GOP tier is more active on Twitter than Clinton, with Rubio tweeting 3,048 times, Paul 5,564 times and Sanders 2,823 times.

On photo-sharing network Instagram as well, Trump’s 293,000 followers and Clinton’s 217,000 lead the pack. Republican Govs. Scott Walker (Wis.) at 431 photos and Chris Christie (N.J.) at 393 are the most active, though.

Social media is playing a prominent role in the 2016 campaign, with candidates using it to directly reach out to voters and share their message. Trump has used Twitter to hammer away at his critics and Clinton has used it to weigh in on top issues.

And social media provides a snapshot of the race, with other candidates surging following last week’s first GOP debate.

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, sparked interest with his jokes about not getting enough attention on the debate stage.

According to the Facebook-tracker Crowdtangle, Carson has a total of 3,270,574 social media interactions, topping Trump and Sanders for the week at 2,023,562 and 1,889,876, respectively.

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Most recent vice presidents have run for president. Will Joe Biden be the exception?

Since 1960, only three individuals who served as vice president did not eventually seek the presidency.

Former Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned while in office. Former President Ford’s vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, was replaced on the 1976 ticket by Bob Dole and did not seek the highest office. And more recently, Dick Cheney did not run for the White House after serving two terms for former President George W. Bush.

Biden is reportedly taking a new look at running for the Democratic nomination in 2016.

A New York Times report earlier this month said that his advisers are speaking with party leaders to gauge interest in a bid. And Times columnist Maureen Dowd said Biden’s son Beau urged his father to run shortly before passing away in May.

But the former Delaware senator would face an uphill climb if he were to enter the race, with Hillary Clinton the clear Democratic front-runner.

Clinton has locked up many top donors and has already built a formidable campaign machine. In addition, a Gallup poll on Aug. 11 showed Democrats split over a Biden bid, with 45 percent wanting him to run and 47 percent not in favor.

And history might not be on Biden’s side. While it’s common for vice presidents to run for president, only one sitting VP in recent decades has won: George H.W. Bush over Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis in 1988.

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Chef Todd Gray, owner of Equinox restaurant in Washington, teamed up with vegetarian and vegan lawmakers on Wednesday for the first ever Congressional Veggie Burger Smackdown.

Gray created four special veggie burger sauces to represent each lawmakers’ home state and draw attention to non-meat diets.

Attendees chowed down on Gray’s “FLOTUS sliders,” each drenched with a different special sauce. The first 100 at the event had the chance to vote on which of the four sauces was best.

The event at the Rayburn building drew a large crowd with Reps. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), and Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) in attendance. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) was represented by a New Jersey-themed sauce but was not in attendance.

“It was great. We picked corn for Arizona. We thought of citrus and carrot for Florida. We thought, of course, Jersey tomato. And Hawaii, I’m thinking what else, Hawaii pineapple, ” said Gray.

In the end, Booker’s tomato sauce won over the attendees, with 36 percent of the vote.

“It’s great to have an event like this to help raise awareness and share information with folks about the personal health benefits of a vegetarian or plant-based diet, but also the environmental benefits and impacts on our community, our country, and really our planet,” said Gabbard.

“There are so many misperceptions about a vegetarian diet,” she said. “Things like, you know, you can’t get enough protein, you’re not getting enough iron, it’s not healthy, you’re sickly. And I’ve never had that experience anywhere in my life.”

The nonprofit Physicians Committee and the bipartisan Vegetarian Caucus hosted the event to show people that plant-based foods are tasty and to promote healthy eating.

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Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) already has his congressional football dream team picked out.

“Oh man, Cedric Richmond of course. I would definitely want him on the team. That would be my first round draft pick,” said Veasey of the Democratic Louisiana lawmaker.

“Seth Moulton [D-Mass.] is a pretty athletic guy, is my understanding. Eric Swalwell [D-Calif.] is also really athletic,” he added.

Veasey and other lawmakers joined a host of gridiron stars at an educational clinic hosted by the NFL and USA Football on Wednesday evening to promote safety in tackle football.

Youngsters ran around the Rayburn cafeteria, getting autographs from former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher and legendary Chicago Bears linebacker Mike Singletary, among others.

The NFL has been under pressure to do more to reduce concussions amid worries about player safety. And while proper tackling techniques may help decrease the risk of concussions and other injuries, some say children should not play football at a young age.

President Obama also drew attention to the issue when he said that if he had a son, he wouldn’t let him play pro football.

Asked if he would let his son, who is in the fourth grade, play football knowing the risks, Veasey told The Hill, “Not now, I wouldn’t let my son play now.”

“I know other people who have started their kids in tackle football for like four- and five-year-olds. So I think it’s up to each individual’s parents, but for me personally, no I wouldn’t. But would I be OK with him playing in seventh or eighth grade? Yes,” he added.

The event also comes as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met with lawmakers this week to discuss player safety.

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A top administration official is defending new standards for hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, on land owned by the federal government and Indian tribes.

Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze told lawmakers on Wednesday that new rules are necessary to “address modern practices” such as fracking and to account for the increase in drilling on federal lands.

“During this administration, oil production from those lands has increased 81 percent,” Kornze told the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. “The hydraulic fracturing rule is critical to meeting that responsibility.”

“It is necessitated the BLM revisits their rules,” he added, noting the rules were last updated 30 years ago.

Green groups have raised the alarm about fracking, arguing that it poses a risk of polluting water sources. Republicans, though, credit the process with the boom in energy production and say environmental fears are overblown.

The new federal regulation has been held up by a federal court as states push to overturn it.

Lawmakers grilled Kornze, arguing that the federal move duplicated state regulatory efforts and placed new burdens on tribal authorities.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) questioned if hydraulic fracturing was as damaging as green groups claim.

“Did you not care that the EPA found there was no groundwater problems with fracking?” asked Gohmert. “Then you come in, in search of a problem with your solution, and it is outrageous.”

Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) questioned duplication efforts, saying that “states were proactive in regulating the process of hydraulic fracturing, and they were successful in doing so.”

Other GOP lawmakers questioned if the bureau had the authority to implement the new fracking rules.

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said the bureau had ignored his requests for more information, saying it seemed like the agency was saying “screw you.”

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The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had known since 2012 about security flaws in its online submission system, roughly three years before the agency finally shut down the system to repair it.

“OPM has known about vulnerabilities in the system for years, but has not corrected them,” Michael Esser, the assistant inspector general for audits at the OPM, told a House subcommittee on Wednesday.

In late June, the OPM said it was suspending the Web-based platform, known as e-QIP, after a security review conducted in the wake of massive hacks at the agency uncovered significant defects.

The OPM data breach has likely exposed upwards of 18 million people’s sensitive information and is raising pointed questions about why the agency hasn’t moved more expediently over the years to correct glaring problems with its networks.

The agency’s inspector general has said OPM officials repeatedly failed to heed its warnings, even refusing to shut down several of its weakest computer systems as recommended.

On Wednesday, Esser accused the agency of also not responding to alerts about the e-QIP system, which is used to file the background checks for security clearances.

The agency’s oversight arm detailed 18 security vulnerabilities starting in 2012, he said.

“I do not know if those vulnerabilities were related to the reason the system was shut down last week,” Esser added.

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