WHAT? – AT 11:35 A.M. ET:  Is it possible there's good news out of, of all places, Turkey?  From Bloomberg:   

Turkey’s election this month could go down to the wire, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan facing a tougher battle to cement power or even an upset, according to a poll commissioned by Bloomberg.

Erdogan can win the presidential vote in the first round on June 24 with 50.8 percent support and get the backing of a majority in parliament, the survey by Foresight Danismanlik of 500 people on June 7-11 found. But a surprise victory for the opposition is also within the margin of error.

The key takeaway is that any array of options is possible and the only certainty is that it will be very close. Erdogan and his AK party can’t win alone, and in previous elections they got the support of religious conservatives, free-market liberals or Kurds to govern. Now success hinges on how voters identifying as nationalist cast their ballot, the poll found.

COMMENT:  I'd love to see that little worm knocked out of power.  You'll recall that Obama said that Erdogan was his closest friend in the Middle East.  The comment stunned observers because Erdogan was, and is, an anti-American Islamist fanatic.  Of course, for Obama that never posed a problem.

I doubt if Erdogan will go down.  But the election will be close, and maybe some sober-minded Turks, traditionally friends of the United States, will take heart and come back to fight another day.

June 13,  2018