For the future of the country, I am committing my energies to the election of Secretary Clinton as the next President.

I commend Senator #Sanders for waging an exciting campaign focused on important progressive issues about which so many of us care so deeply.

We must come together to confront the fascist threat to our democracy presented by Donald Trump. #Election2016

The stakes are far too high for the untested hands of @realDonaldTrump. America needs a tried and true leader. Hillary is that leader. #2016

I want to thank everyone who contributed to my campaign for their generosity and tremendous support -- with a special thanks to my good friends in the House of Labor and the Maryland Congressional Delegation. Thanks to your involvement, we were able to run our campaign and quickly retire our small debt.

I also want to thank our amazing volunteers who gave so much of their time and energy to our cause. I'm looking forward to working with all of you to ensure that the Democrats keep the White House out of the hands of Donald Trump and that we take control of Congress and State Houses across the country.

None of this would have been possible without your generosity and friendship; I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Our country and our children's future are at stake and we need to hold strong to our progressive values and never stop fighting for what we believe in.

Look forward to seeing you soon,

Martin

Though there are important differences, the parallels between Reagan's political life and Trump's are downright chilling, from their media careers to the way that the press and their own party establishment viewed them.

Both positioned themselves as outsiders (Reagan, absurdly, ran successfully as a political outsider while he was the sitting president of the USA, and painted his opponent as the Beltway insider). Both offered economic platforms that didn't hold up to even the most cursory scrutiny. Both lied like crazy, about everything, and refused to answer any press questions that called them on this. Both are masters of deflection overall, brilliant at moving the focus away from their radioactively obvious shortcomings to the places where they shone.

Of course, both also had careers in forgettable, modestly successful media properties. Both had checkered pasts in which they dabbled in Democratic politics and painted that opportunism as a reason for Conservatives to vote for them. Both managed to court evangelicals despite their divorces.

Reagan's slogan? "Let's make America great again."

Donald Trump’s highly personal, racially tinged attacks on a federal judge overseeing a pair of lawsuits against him have set off a wave of alarm among legal experts, who worry that the ­Republican presidential candidate’s vendetta signals a remarkable disregard for judicial independence. That attitude, many argue, could carry constitutional implications if Trump becomes president.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is handling two class-action lawsuits against Trump University in San Diego, has emerged as a central target for Trump and his supporters in recent weeks. The enmity only escalated after Curiel ordered the release of embarrassing internal documents detailing predatory marketing practices at the for-profit educational venture; that case is set to go to trial after the November election.

“I have a judge who is a hater of Donald Trump, a hater. He’s a hater,” Trump said at a campaign rally in San Diego, adding that he believed the Indiana-born judge was “Mexican.”

He also suggested taking action against the judge after the election: “They ought to look into Judge Curiel, because what Judge Curiel is doing is a total disgrace. Okay? But we will come back in November. Wouldn’t that be wild if I am president and come back and do a civil case? Where everybody likes it. Okay. This is called life, folks.”