Who said it? 1. “Is it fair to say that you’re not going to answer this question about the 11 to 15 million? I say just you, but the campaign. You’re going to leave this as an open question throughout the rest of this campaign?” 2. “I think Donald Trump’s been completely consistent. And I […]
Debate questions for Hillary Clinton
On Friday, the Presidential Debate Commission named NBC’s Lester Holt, ABC’s Martha Raddatz, CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace as the moderators for the three debates. Cooper and Raddatz will work together on their presidential debate. As hot as debates about the media have gotten, there is broad agreement these are solid choices. […]
Distinguished pol of the week
Mention of Sen. John McCain’s name at a Donald Trump rally draws boos. The Arizona senator, former POW and American icon should wear that as a badge of honor. He’s a conservative Republican who championed the Gang of Eight bill and has not wavered in his support for comprehensive reform despite the torrent of anti-immigrant […]
Trump’s in trouble and needs a new script
According to news reports, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus really doesn’t believe things are going swimmingly with Donald Trump’s campaign. The New York Times reports on a meeting between RNC officials and Trump’s son Eric in which they laid out a “grim prognosis” and showed that the candidate was “drastically underperforming other Republicans.” Apparently professional […]
Poll: Hispanics really, really don’t like Donald Trump
In a survey sampling more than 3,700 registered Hispanic voters (with a margin of error that’s less than 2 percentage points, due to the huge sample), America’s Voice, a pro-immigration group, found essentially what media and other pollsters have uncovered: These voters really, really don’t like Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton gets 70 percent of the sampled Hispanic […]
Baghdad Bob of the week
It’s Friday, so it’s time for our weekly installment of the Baghdad Bob award, named in honor of Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf (fondly named “Baghdad Bob”), who gave fantastical and utterly made-up reports about the success of the Iraqi army in 2003. We single out the best/worst spinner for Donald Trump of the week. This week we adjust […]
More Iran surprises
A familiar pattern with regard to the Iran deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) has emerged over the past year. First, a new wrinkle is discovered, one that’s invariably favorable to Iran. Then, the administration denies that it is a wrinkle. The Republicans raise a fuss, and the media pesters the State Department. The […]
Morning Bits
If it is not one scam, it’s another. “Donald Trump’s campaign said it would have at least two dozen field offices in Florida by late August, but to date it only has one, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Trump only has a statewide headquarters, based in Sarasota, while Hillary Clinton has 51 field offices in the […]
About those polls: Remember the opportunity cost
As of this writing, Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump on average nationally by about 6 points. Some Republicans might conclude, Hey, that’s not bad, since Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lost by 7 points! Sorry, but that won’t wash. For starters, the purpose of an election is to win, not lose less badly. Moreover, McCain was running against […]
Clinton continues to eat Republicans’ lunch on foreign policy
While Donald Trump sends millions of Americans fleeing the GOP, Hillary Clinton scoops up more endorsements of the type Republican nominees usually enjoy. The Clinton camp announced endorsements from two retired four-star generals, Bob Sennewald (former commanding general, U.S. Army Forces Command) and David Maddox (former commander in chief of the U.S. Army in Europe). In […]
Six steps toward GOP recovery
Erick Erickson, a rock-ribbed conservative and #NeverTrump supporter, shares this unsparing insight about the death of the tea party: The angry and paranoid put forward Kelli Ward in Arizona, who believed in chem trails, and Carlos Beruff in Florida. Both reflected the bleak black hearts of the remains of a movement no longer driven by […]
Morning Bits
A moving tribute to the recently deceased chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Reagan, John William Vessey Jr.: “There aren’t any Ronald Reagans on the ballot this year — or even Jimmy Carters. There certainly aren’t any Jack Vesseys. We’re not likely ever to find the former again. But Gen. Vessey would tell you […]
So much for Trump’s outreach to African Americans
Donald Trump’s outreach to African Americans is as phony as anything he has said or done in this campaign (including the promise to make Mexico pay for the border wall). Until a couple of weeks ago, he showed little interest in African American voters, declining to give any speeches to predominantly black audiences. He comically […]
Trump’s anti-immigration rant delights an odd mix of people
With an extra dollop of venom and a reaffirmation of his harebrained schemes on immigration, Donald Trump’s speech pleased an odd collection of people. Those rooting for Trump to adhere to his unhinged anti-immigrant rhetoric let out a collective war whoop that resonated across social media. The anti-immigration right that opposes all sensible immigration reform […]
Donald Trump’s immigration speech: The same old tripe
In Arizona on Wednesday night, Donald Trump proclaimed to his hardcore base what he did not have the nerve to say to Mexico’s president. He reverted to red meat and angry rhetoric on immigration. In that regard, he is a typical bully — brave only from a distance. In Mexico earlier that afternoon Trump had said no discussion occurred […]
Ten takeaways from Trump’s Mexico trip
It’s not unusual for a presidential nominee to travel abroad. It is unusual to do so without planning and without letting the press attend. Here are some takeaways from Donald Trump’s remarks after his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto: 1. We can believe nothing he says about events we did not witness and where […]
Clinton gets to Trump’s right on national security
It has been evident for weeks now that Hillary Clinton is a responsible centrist in the tradition of bipartisan internationalism. Donald Trump is not responsible, not centrist, not within any bipartisan tradition of internationalism. Today at the American Legion in Ohio, Clinton gave a speech most Republicans could deliver. In front of many conservatives, she reassured […]
Big primary wins suggest endorsing the toxic Trump was a waste
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) crushed his primary opposition, winning 72 percent of the vote in Florida on Tuesday. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also won his primary, 52 percent to 39 percent. (In 2010, he beat J.D. Hayworth by a 56 percent to 32 percent margin.) McCain’s race, many in the press seemed to believe, was […]
Why the Libertarian and Green candidates aren’t getting liftoff
One would have thought that, with both major parties’ candidates at historic levels of unfavorability, third- and fourth-party candidates (the Libertarian and Green tickets) would be doing fairly well. Instead, in the RealClearPolitics average (which includes polls that will not be used for debate qualification), the two minor parties collectively have 11 percent. One explanation […]
Morning Bits
Time to turn it off. “Fox has constructed a big, beautiful, and lucrative gated community — a comfortable conservative cocoon. The result is clear: Conservatives gain fame, power, and influence mainly by talking to each other. They persuade each other of the rightness of their ideas and write Fox-fueled best-selling books making arguments that Fox […]
Trump’s phony immigration speech
Grown-ups whose power of discernment has not been systematically eroded by nonstop exposure to right-wing talk radio and Fox non-News can only laugh at the prospect of Donald Trump’s immigration speech today, in which he is supposed to tell us what he “really” thinks about mass deportation. First, don’t get your hopes up; he may […]
Where Cruz fits in the post-Trump world
Assuming Donald Trump loses, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) will need to make some decisions if, as most everyone assumes, he wants to run for president again. Right now his poll numbers look poor, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see him leave the Senate in 2018 to begin a presidential do-over campaign. If, however, his […]
Republicans misunderstand the electorate
One can only hope that the Republicans learn something from the debacle of 2016 — in addition to coming to the belated realization that the talk show crowd and Fox non-News evening hosts have been peddling junk for years and have no interest in the well-being of conservatives beyond their niche audience. (In the not-too-distant […]
Pennsylvania: The GOP’s Senate challenge in a nutshell
The latest Monmouth poll reports: Among Keystone State voters likely to cast ballots in November’s presidential election, 48% currently support Clinton and 40% back Trump. Another 6% intend to vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson, 1% back Jill Stein of the Green Party, and 4% are undecided. . . . Clinton leads by a massive 85 points […]
How Clinton can rattle Trump in the debates
The New York Times reports on Hillary Clinton’s debate preparation. She has set out to analyze Donald Trump’s weaknesses (is there time to get through a fraction of them?) and get under his skin at the debates. (The hidden lead, by the way, is from Trump’s “Art of the Deal” co-writer, Tony Schwartz: “Trump has severe […]
It’s not just Arab governments that want to get along with Israel
We have remarked upon the newfound comity and cooperation between Israel and its Sunni neighbors. A common foe in Iran and common disappointment in a feckless American president has forged new bonds and, with Turkey, repaired old ones. David Pollock writes: Is this revived movement toward some kind of dialogue leading toward peace with Israel just a […]
Morning Bits
This is long overdue. “The United States and its coalition partners should declare their intention to deliver relief to Syria’s beleaguered and besieged residents through humanitarian organizations under the protection of a no-fly zone or safe zone over Aleppo and other areas where civilians are starving, deprived of food, medical assistance and safe shelter. We […]
How would an ordinary GOP candidate have run?
The belief is widespread on the right — and maybe on the left as well — that a run-of-the-mill Republican candidate would be even with or ahead of Hillary Clinton at this stage in the race. Take a plain-wrap Republican, give him a professional campaign with adequate fundraising from both small and big donors (whom […]
Trump’s racist appeals manage to turn off just about everyone
The Post reports: From the very start of his presidential campaign, Trump has shaped his message around who is to blame for America’s problems — often pointing the finger at illegal immigrants, Black Lives Matter activists and other minorities in a pitch that was aimed primarily at white Republicans. But now, as Trump seeks to […]
How dumb policies help the Islamic State
Lest any American think Trumpism is a unique right-wing nationalist reaction to economic dislocation and the threat of terrorism, we got a reminder last week that Europe is regrettably much farther down the path than the U.S. On Friday, France’s highest administrative court struck down several French cities’ edicts against wearing so-called “burkinis” on the […]
The seven telltale signs of Trump
Shortly after Hillary Clinton’s senior adviser Huma Abedin announced her separation from former New York congressman Anthony Weiner, Donald Trump released this statement: Huma is making a very wise decision. I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him. I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was […]
Permission granted: Abandon Trump
Among Hillary Clinton’s most interesting ads aimed at Republicans is this one: The ad acknowledges that Republicans of good conscience may at one time or another have supported Donald Trump. That’s a technique to show respect for such voters (who are portrayed as civil and thoughtful) but also effectively to give them permission to abandon […]
Does it matter if Trump really is crazy?
For months now, ordinary people, politicians and pundits have speculated in public and private: Is there, you know, something wrong with Donald Trump? Laymen would say he is “nuts” or “crazy,” while a mental health professional might say “suffering from a personality disorder.” It’s not one trait or attribute, but the whole complex of behaviors: […]
Morning Bits
The latest gobbledygook: “Mike Pence defended Republican running mate Donald Trump’s immigration position as consistent but responsive to practical considerations, a stance campaign manager Kellyanne Conway described as a softening in ‘approach’ as opposed to policy, in separate television appearances Sunday.” Trump’s claptrap reveals his deep narcissism. “Trump on Saturday faced backlash over his tweet about Nykea Aldridge, who was caught in […]
Ups and downs
UP: Jeb Bush on immigration DOWN: Mass deportation UP: Hillary Clinton’s speech tying Donald Trump to the alt-right DOWN: Stephen K. Bannon UP: Clinton’s lead DOWN: Clinton’s willingness to have news conferences UP: Clinton’s support among African Americans DOWN: “Your lives are a disaster!” UP: Sen. Rob Portman’s chances of holding his seat in Ohio DOWN: […]
Trump team dodges and ducks
Donald Trump’s campaign chief Kellyanne Conway and VP pick Indiana Gov. Mike Pence divided up the Sunday talk shows, neither able to answer whether Trump still favors mass deportation of non-criminal illegal immigrants. Conway hemmed and hawed on CBS and Fox, but was never pressed to answer the question. On CNN, Jake Tapper showed […]
Sunday wrap
Who said it? 1. “The softening is more approach than policy.” 2. “I go with the flow.” 3. “If you are a Republican operative, you’ve got to want to put your head through a wall right now.” 4. “Donald Trump is still running the same race he was a year ago. He just has on […]
Ryan and Clinton: A wonkish match?
If the presidential campaign continues along the same trajectory it’s been on since the conventions, Hillary Clinton should win the White House with room to spare, the Senate majority will probably shift to the Democrats (but just barely) and the House should remain under GOP control. It doesn’t have to be all gridlock and fighting. […]
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