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Essential question

How do internal party politics influence what happens in elections?

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Several Republican leaders came out against their party’s leading presidential candidate Donald Trump following his successful Super Tuesday showing. Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in a speech in Salt Lake City, Utah Thursday that Trump that he would support whichever Republican candidate had the best chance of beating Trump, who he accused of lying and misleading voters throughout the campaign. “He’s not of the temperament of the kind of stable, thoughtful person we need as a leader. His imagination must not be married to real power,” Romney said. Trump wasted little time responding, calling Romney a “choke artist” who botched the campaign against President Barack Obama during the 2012 election, when he himself endorsed the former Massachusetts governor. Senior Republican Sen. John McCain, who ran against Obama the first time around in 2008, also issued a statement citing his concern with Trump’s “uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues.” Meanwhile, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton may have to fend off renewed scrutiny into her use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State. A former State Department staffer who set up the server has been granted immunity by the federal government in the ongoing FBI investigation.

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Key terms

establishment – a dominant group that holds power or authority in a nation or an institution primary – a preliminary election to appoint delegates to a party convention who will eventually  select candidates for the presidency immunity — protection or exemption from something, especially an obligation or penalty, granted in legal proceedings

Warm up questions ( before watching the video)

1. Who is Mitt Romney?


2. What makes Donald Trump a controversial figure?


3. Which states hold their primaries over the next few days?


4. Why do presidential primaries often become filled with incendiary language at this point in the primary season?

Critical thinking questions ( after watching the video)

1. Why do you think former Massachusetts Governor Romney decided to criticize Trump’s run for the presidency?


2. Do you think Trump’s extreme rhetoric works in his favor? Explain.


3. Will Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi email scandal that critics often point to hurt her chances of clinching the Democratic Party’s nomination? Or being president?


4. Do you think Sen. Bernie Sanders has a chance of beating Clinton in the Democratic primaries? Why or why not?