To cleanse the palate, via RCP, a video valentine from a guy who spent the month of April as the new hero of tea partiers. It’s not that he wants to do nothing about Medicare, mind you; he wants to “fix it, make it better.” (Isn’t that also what Paul Ryan wants?) How? Why, by eliminating … waste, fraud, and abuse, a.k.a. the Scott Brown non-solution solution. He also thinks it’s crazy for the GOP to have made the opening move on entitlement reform instead of letting The One go first. How long would we have waited, do you suppose, for Barack Obama to take the initiative on a politically radioactive matter involving massive cuts to the welfare state?

More from NBC:

Donald Trump is offering his explanation for why he ducked the 2012 Republican presidential primary race: Republicans are “stupid” and – really – who gives up that much cash?

“I said ‘you know what? It’s time to take the money,'” said Trump in a new 4-minute YouTube video posted Thursday. “I really hated what I was seeing from the Republicans.”…

“By the way, even when you’re rich, it’s a lot of money,” he said. “Who gives up a hit show? Nobody.”

Who indeed. Watch to the end, though, and you’ll find him saying he might give up the show to run as an independent if the GOP nominates a loser. By which he means, I guess, Paul Ryan. Exit question: Tea partiers wouldn’t bolt and back Trump if Romney’s the nominee — would they?