After FBI director James Comey announced that the FBI would not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton for her private email use, the former Secretary of State took the stage in Charlotte, North Carolina with President Obama. Obama announced his endorsement of Secretary Clinton shortly before she secured the Democratic nomination. Tuesday’s appearance was the first time the two Democrats campaigned together, and President Obama has already managed to breathe some much  needed life back into Clinton’s campaign.

Hillary sells herself as a savvy politician with practical solutions for the country–which can often translate onstage as being a little too analytical. In other words, Hillary majorly lacks the fun factor. That’s where our beatboxing, b-balling, belting, boogie-busting Barack-in-Chief comes in.

Obama’s infectious energy and smoothness help round out Hillary’s campaign. It’s kinda like when your mom tricks you into eating your vegetables by disguising them as fun shapes–or when “Blackfish” got a little boring so they threw in some cool animations to explain just how depressed orcas are.

President Obama was able to provide the yin to Clinton’s yang. Clinton’s speech was full of tongue-in-cheek remarks about how the two politicians were fierce primary rivals eight years ago, including strange anecdotes about their diplomatic travels during Obama’s first term.

When Obama took the stage, the energy in the room built to a fever pitch. Obama chanted “Hill-a-ry! Hill-a-ry!” with the crowd. Like a deft stand up comedian, Obama cracked some jokes about North Carolina food, hospitality, and had a back-and-fourth with the audience comparing basketball teams.

Much like DJ Khaled at the beginning of a Beyoncé concert, Obama did some call-and-response chants to feed the energy of the crowd. “Hillary got me fired up,” he kept repeating. Then he laid out his case for Hillary. Even though almost every word that he said was about Secretary Clinton, from the moment he stepped into the convention center, it was the Obama show.

Watch President Obama and Secretary Clinton’s remarks below:

Sean Simon

Sean Simon is an Editorial News Senior Fellow at Law Street, and a senior at The George Washington University, studying Communications and Psychology. In his spare time, he loves exploring D.C. restaurants, solving crossword puzzles, and watching sad foreign films. Contact Sean at SSimon@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Obama the Hype Man: Bringing the “Fun Factor” to Clinton’s Campaign appeared first on Law Street.

An already divided Republican Party saw another big name choosing sides between the presumptive party flag bearer Donald Trump and his reluctant new adversary, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

Former Alaskan governor and GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin took to Facebook on Sunday to jab at Ryan, endorsing his opponent for the Wisconsin 1st Congressional District primary in August.

“Rep. Paul Ryan abandoned the district he was to represent as special interests dictated his legislative priorities. Without ever having a real job outside of politics, it seems he disconnected himself from the people, thus easily disrespected the will of the people. It’s time for a change,” she wrote, throwing her support behind businessman Paul Nehlen instead of House Speaker Ryan.

Palin told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday she thinks Ryan will be “Cantored”, in a reference to Eric Cantor, the former House Majority leader who was ousted from that position in a shocking upset in 2014.

In a surprising dissent from nearly a century of Speakers’ supporting presumptive presidential nominees, Ryan stopped short of backing Trump last week, which set off a bit of a feud between the two men. Inaction to unite the Republican party by Trump is what Ryan cited as the reason for his reluctance.

Palin endorsed Trump at a campaign rally in Iowa in January, which explains her taking umbrage at Ryan’s refusal to do the same.

For now, at least, Ryan remains at an impasse in supporting a man with whom he has significant ideological disagreements. As of Monday morning, however, tensions appeared to thaw a bit when Trump distanced himself from Palin’s decision to endorse Ryan’s primary challenger. For his part, Ryan deferred to Trump’s claim that he could unseat him as chairman of the Republican National Convention, telling a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist he would do what he was asked.

A closed door meeting between Trump, Ryan, and other GOP leaders is set for Thursday in Washington. Whether that leads to an endorsement from Ryan remains to be seen, though it would be a positive development for a party being split apart by internecine, seemingly daily conflicts.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The leading ladies of Shonda Rhimes’ three current hit shows–“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” and “How to Get Away with Murder” are starring in an ad for the Hillary Clinton campaign. The spot is called “Real Life,” and will air in the states that have March 15 primaries.

Check out the spot here:

It stars Shonda Rhimes herself, whose shows dominate ABC’s Thursday night lineup. Also in the spot are Ellen Pompeo, the star of “Grey’s Anatomy,” Kerry Washington, the star of “Scandal,” and Viola Davis, the star of “How to Get Away with Murder.” The ad was directed by Tony Goldwyn, who also stars on “Scandal” as President Fitzgerald Grant.

The ad makes a direct reference to the fact that strong, independent women are a strong theme throughout Rhimes’ shows–Pompeo, Washington, and Davis’s characters all certainly fit that bill. They refer to Hillary Clinton as a real life version of the “brilliant, complex, overqualified, get-it-done woman” they play on TV. In the ad, the three women state:

Our characters are on television. … But the real world has Hillary Clinton — a bonafide rolls-up-her-sleeves, fights-for-what’s-right, in-it-for-you, won’t-back-down, champion for us all

There are other parallels between Rhimes’ shows and Clinton’s campaign. For example (“Scandal” spoiler alert) the first lady on the show, Mellie Grant, goes on to become a Senator and run a presidential campaign.

It’s not really a surprise that the stars of Shondaland are supporting Clinton. Shonda Rhimes has been endorsing Clinton for a while–in fact, she joined with a number of other feminist female celebrities in a separate spot back in February. The video also included Jamie Lee Curtis, Lena Dunham, Amber Tamblyn, Rosie O’Donnell, Amy Poehler, Jemima Kirke, Katy Perry, Retta, Gina Rodriguez, Mary Steenburgen, Tracy Anderson, Constance Wu, Zoe Kazan, Shannon Woodward, Katie Lowes and Uzo Aduba. The women all explained “why I’m with her.”

The next big contest between Hillary Clinton and fellow Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders will be on March 15, when Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio all take to the polls to case their votes. We’ll see if the Shondaland endorsement has any affect on the turnout.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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I was so distracted during Trump’s speech that I almost missed it entirely. No, it wasn’t from looking at videos on my computer or even using my phone…it was because I was fixated on Chris Christie, nestled in the back left-hand corner of the TV screen, who looked far from okay.

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump addressed a crowd in Florida after garnering some lofty Super Tuesday wins. Former presidential hopeful and current governor of New Jersey Chris Christie introduced Trump, but it wasn’t the introduction that made observers concerned for Christie’s safety.

It was in the time after he spoke, while Trump gave his spiel, when it happened. Christie stood behind Trump, expressionless, gazing off into the distance as if to ponder why he had made the decision to speak at the rally.

.@ChrisChristie just gave what looked like a coerced confession.

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) March 2, 2016

Chris Christie trying to figure out how the hell this happened to him https://t.co/5buKrSM9pG

— Nick Robinson (@Babylonian) March 2, 2016

He looked like he was forced to be there, and his strange mannerisms quickly manifested themselves into a meme all over Twitter–trending with #FreeChrisChristie.

Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri put it best:

“Chris Christie spent the entire speech screaming wordlessly. I have never seen someone scream so loudly without using his mouth before. It would have been remarkable if it had not been so terrifying.”

— Matt Viser (@mviser) March 2, 2016

So lifeless, yet so full of regret.

Many have likened his appearance and strange facial expressions to that of a hostage video.

My gooodness Chris Christie looks like he’s appearing in a hostage video. #SuperTuesday

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) March 2, 2016

Gonna need Chris Christie to hold up a copy of today’s newspaper to prove this is not a prerecorded hologram hostage video

— Tim Mak (@timkmak) March 2, 2016

Christie endorsed “Mr. Trump” this past Friday, a move that shocked many after he had been so critical of the front-runner’s tactics and rhetoric.

As a man who had once said Trump was running not for commander-in-chief but instead for “entertainer-in-chief,” his comments Tuesday night were, to put it mildly, a complete 180.

There’s just one question on Chris Christie’s mind. #SuperTuesdaypic.twitter.com/sSDnCXgxBE

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 2, 2016

Maybe it’s because the New Hampshire Union Leader recently apologized for endorsing Christie, or because six New Jersey newspapers just asked for his resignation. Maybe we’ll never know. Regardless of what was really going through his head during the speech, we are worried about you Chris Christie.

SEE IT: The many faces of @GovChristiehttps://t.co/GzmrwggTfzpic.twitter.com/T4Vod1wjwk

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) March 2, 2016

Julia Bryant

Julia Bryant is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street from Howard County, Maryland. She is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Economics. You can contact Julia at JBryant@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Is Chris Christie Okay? appeared first on Law Street.

In case you missed it, Twitter was pretty pissed Monday when actor Anthony Mackie seemingly endorsed Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump Monday. If you’re wondering who exactly Mackie is, he’s the guy whose name you can never remember who appeared in hit movies like “We Are Marshall” and “Pain & Gain,” and kicked some serious ass as the Falcon in both the “Captain America” and “Avengers” franchises.

During an interview with BET to promote his role in the new political drama “Our Brand Is Crisis,” Mackie was asked if he would rather run Trump or Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Mackie answered, “Trump’s an easy sell.” He then added,

When you look at Trump, he’s an easy sell because you can sell him as the guy who worked his way up from nothing. And I think if you’re a ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ candidate, people would identify with that.

When the interviewer asked if that constituted an endorsement Mackie replied laughing, “I’m on the bandwagon. I’m drinking the Kool-Aid!”

Watch his BET interview below

That’s when Twitter began to freak out.

Anthony Mackie likes Donald trump pic.twitter.com/8lrWqCIQtx

— Agent Dorian (@AgentDorian) October 19, 2015

Anthony Mackie as a trump supporter is the most disappointing thing I’ve learned today — astha (@astharoze) October 19, 2015

Anthony Mackie could have at least given us a Spoiler Warning before announcing he’s been working for Hydra all along.

— Geoff LaTulippe (@DrGMLaTulippe) October 19, 2015

The black apocalypse will have Raven-Symone, Anthony Mackie, Stacy Dash and Don Lemon as the four horsemen. Can’t nobody tell me different. — Aiah Samba (@Dualityman81) October 19, 2015

Thankfully as soon as Mackie realized the internet was imploding over his comments, he quickly saved the day issuing this apology.

Sorry Donald, that wasn’t an endorsement. Just a bad attempt at a joke, I guess?

— Anthony Mackie (@AnthonyMackie) October 19, 2015

So everyone relax, our beloved Avenger didn’t really drink Trump’s crazy anti-immigrant wall building Kool-aid.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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