Happy Wednesday. Today is Manatee Appreciation Day, which may explain why all the manatees aren't at work today.

AS YOU MAY KNOW, COREY LEWANDOWSKI, Trump’s campaign manager, was charged with simple battery on Tuesday for a March 8th incident in which he grabbed reporter Michelle Fields’ arm to keep her from asking Trump a question.

NOW THE CAMPAIGN HAS RUSHED to Lewandowski’s defense, claiming he was protecting the billion-dollar baby from a madwoman who was armed with a... pen.

CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON Katrina Pierson said Lewandowski would not be fired, even if he’s convicted. Trump suggested that he wouldn’t want to “ruin” a guy’s life like that, especially when he’s busy deporting 11 million immigrants, bombing civilians and banning Muslims.

ACCORDING TO GALLUP, 53 percent of Americans approve of President Obama and the Real Clear Average of polls has him at 49 percent, which puts him above water for the first time since late Spring of 2013. Rotten Tomatoes even has him “Certified Fresh.”

THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE is at an eight-year low and job creation is near an eight-year high. Republicans will point out that the president actually has little to do with job creation – unless it’s bad, in which case it’s entirely his fault.

AT THIS TIME IN HIS PRESIDENCY, George W. Bush’s approval was 32 percent, according to Gallup, but that was only because he was unfairly blamed for losing two wars and letting a city drown along with other things he actually did.

YOU CAN BASICALLY TELL HOW SCARED a GOP Senator is of getting reelected, by his or her posture toward President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

ILLINOIS' MARK KIRK IS TERRIFIED, given that he’s likely to face veteran Tammy Duckworth in President Obama’s home state at a time when the president’s approval rating in Chicago will be nearing Michael Jordan’s.

SO KIRK HAS AGREED to at least meet with Garland. And now Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley says that despite unprecedented obstruction, Garland could end up getting a vote thanks to “a motion to discharge” – which is either an obscure Senate rule or common digestive ailment.

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• 4 New Reality Shows for Trump to Host After He Loses in November

NO, SYRIAN REFUGEES AREN’T PRIMARILY YOUNG, MALE AND ABLE-BODIED. That’s the guys who are chasing them away.

RETURN TO SENDER—Cupcake the cat survived eight days in a box after her owner shipped her 260 miles through the mail. Either this owner shouldn't have a cat, or she shouldn’t have postage.

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