Donald J. Trump Jokes about the Purple Heart
A veteran injured in Iraq released a video blasting Trump for his Purple Heart comments. This Marine had three brothers, two were also wounded and one died. All received purple hearts. All paid a high price so that Donald Trump could joke about being awarded the purple heart. Please view this short message from Marine Will Fisher. Click to View
Shame On Donald Trump
Reports: Anti-Donald Trump Republican official mounting independent presidential bidA former CIA official and anti-Donald Trump Republican was expected to announce an independent bid for the presidency on Monday, according to reports.
Evan McMullin, who currently serves as chief policy director for the House Republican Conference, will mount an independent presidential bid that will launch just three months from election day, according to BuzzFeed and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough.
McMullin has repeatedly denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, questioning the real-estate magnate's temperament and foreign policy credentials.
Like many other third-party candidates, McMullin's begins his bid with obvious shortcomings.
He has little name recognition, and will likely have difficulty getting his name on the ballot in many states. BuzzFeed reported, however, that some major Republican donors are planning on backing the former CIA official's bid.
Republicans want very much to see Donald trump defeated so they can save the party. A Trump win destroys the GOP.
Frank Levin, Vice President of News and Opinion at CNN Digital
Levin writes:
‘I will do something that I have not done in 40 years of voting: I will vote for the Democratic nominee for president. The depressing truth of the Republican nominee is that Donald Trump talks a great game, but he is the emperor who wears no clothes.’
Lavin didn’t bother holding back with his approximation of the Republican presidential nominee, saying:
‘Trump is a bigot, a bully, and devoid of grace or magnanimity. His thin-skinned belligerence toward every challenge, rebuke, or criticism would promise the nation a series of high-voltage quarrels. His casual dishonesty, his policy laziness, and his lack of self-awareness would mean four years of a careening pin-ball journey that would ricochet from missteps to crisis to misunderstandings to clarifications to retractions.’
Levin managed to summarize exactly what many pundits have already been thinking, especially with the almost daily dissent of Republicans who refuse to support Donald Trump, many of whom have even endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee for present.
Despite the fact the decision to vote Democratically wasn’t easy for him, Frank Levin says that he Trump can’t manage to focus on his goals, constantly distracted and picking fights that are unrelated to his goals.
Levin then notes:
‘The most pronounced example in this regard was his tasteless criticism of the family of deceased Army Capt. Humayun Khan. We owe that young man our gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice. And we owe his parents our respect for the dignity with which they reproached Mr. Trump for his grotesqueries.’
Frank Levin goes on to address the four bankruptcies that Trump has taken some heat for over the course of the election so far. Many Republicans claim that the reason they’re voting for Trump for president is the fact that he’s an excellent businessman. Donald Trump is not a great businessman — he’s a great salesman. There is a difference. Unfortunately, the voters eating up his words cannot see that they’re being conned.
Not only has Trump had four bankruptcies, he has also continued to live a ridiculously lavish lifestyle throughout the course of each. That’s disgusting. It’s bad business to let one business go bankrupt and leaving employees jobless and unsure, but four of them is a little extreme.
Lavin concluded his od-ed with:
‘There are many issues on which Hillary Clinton and I are not in agreement. However on the core foreign policy issues our country faces — alliance relationships — she comes closer to Republican views than does Trump. And Donald Trump makes me cringe. I am voting for Hillary. And I live in Ohio.’
As November draws closer, Republicans are leaning left this election season, and it could cost Donald Trump the presidency.
Run, don’t walk, from Trump, Republicans
By Eugene Robinson
Washington • To Republicans who hope to emerge from the Donald Trump fiasco with any shred of political viability or self-respect, I offer some unsolicited advice: Run, do not walk, to the nearest exit.
I'm speaking to you, House Speaker Paul Ryan. And you, Sen. John McCain. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — along with so many other elected Republicans and party stalwarts. You are not fools. You are well aware that the erstwhile Party of Lincoln has nominated for president a man wholly unfit to hold the office.
I realize that puts you in a tough spot politically. Breaking with the party's standard-bearer, chosen by voters in primaries and caucuses, would surely mean short-term pain. For some of you it could be politically fatal. But sticking with Trump, as far as I can see, will almost surely be worse — for you, for the party, and potentially, heaven forbid, for the country you have sworn to serve.
You're taking a position that is indefensible on both philosophical and real-world grounds: Begging Trump to pretend to be sane and competent until Election Day.
"Anyone who is horrified by Hillary [Clinton] should hope that Trump will take a deep breath and learn some new skills," Newt Gingrich told The Washington Post on Wednesday. "He cannot win the presidency operating the way he is now."
This week, Republicans, your calls for Trump to tone it down shifted into panic mode. Apparently you thought it was a bad idea for him to attack a Gold Star mother who lost her Army captain son in Iraq, then clumsily contrive to keep the story alive for nearly a week. You thought Trump's pointed refusal to endorse Ryan and McCain in their primaries, even though both are supporting him, might not be the best way to foster party unity. You thought perhaps that while there are many things a candidate might say at a rally to win friends and influence people, "Get the baby out of here" is not one.
Your response is to hope against hope that someone will convince Trump to feign rectitude for the next three months. But think of the implications of imploring him to look and sound "presidential." You know full well how out of control and unbalanced he is, and you just wish he'd do a better job of conning voters into thinking he can be trusted with the nuclear codes. Shame on you, Republicans, for encouraging such a dangerous ruse.
And in any event, it should be clear by now that Trump cannot or will not pretend to be a normal candidate. How many resets have there been already? Let me make a bold prediction: Within the next week or so, Trump will give a stilted, non-crazy, teleprompter-aided speech. Supporters will rejoice that the campaign has finally turned a corner. And then, a few days later, some perceived slight will have Trump once again tilting at windmills and baying at the moon.
Republican officials and party leaders, you got into politics because you believed in certain principles. I may disagree with many of your views on policy but I do not question your sincerity. I firmly doubt, however, that Trump knows what the word sincerity means.
You believe in conservative values; he manifestly does not share them. You believe in sound, prudent fiscal management; he runs his real estate empire like a pirate, trailing bankruptcies in his wake. You believe, generally, in a strong defense posture; he is open to handing Crimea and perhaps the Baltics to Vladimir Putin. You believe in limited government, answerable to the people; he describes a bleak, failed America in his acceptance speech and proclaims that "I alone can fix it!"
Republicans, you are aiding and abetting a latter-day Juan Peron in his quest for power. You know that he believes in no coherent policy agenda beyond his own self-proclaimed greatness. You see how unhinged he becomes when anyone challenges him. You know what a grave risk it would be to have a man like that in the Oval Office.
You may be making the calculation that tepidly supporting the party's nominee will leave you best situated to help revive and reform the GOP after Trump is soundly defeated by Clinton. Judging by this week's polls — Clinton has leapt into a solid lead — your bet on the election's outcome may be sound.
But even if he loses, Republicans, Trump will leave a lasting stain. If you tell us such a man should be president, why should the nation ever believe anything else you say?
A Letter From G.O.P. National Security Officials Opposing Donald Trump
Fifty former top Republican national security officials have signed an open letter in The New York Times opposing Donald Trump's candidacy, warning that he would be "the most reckless president in American history."
Many of the officials served in the administration of former President George W. Bush, but some served other Republican administrations.
"From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be president and commander-in-chief," the letter said. "Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous president and would put at risk our country's national security and well-being."
The letter called into question Trump's temperament as well as his knowledge of US foreign policy issues.
"Most fundamentally, Mr. Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be president," the letter said. "He weakens US moral authority as the leader of the free world. He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the US Constitution, US laws, and US institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary."
It continued: "In addition, Mr. Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding of America's vital national security interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances, and the democratic values on which US foreign policy must be based."
The letter was signed by, among others, Michael Hayden, a former director of the CIA and the NSA, John Negroponte, a former director of national intelligence and deputy secretary of state, and Michael Chertoff, a former secretary of homeland security.
This isn't the first open letter from former national security officials who publicly oppose Trump, the Republican nominee for president. More than 100 Republican national security experts signed a similar letter in March.
The Times points out that some of the signatories on this letter refused to sign the first letter, but changed their minds when they heard Trump jokingly invite Russian hackers to find Hillary Clinton's missing emails and suggested that he wouldn't help NATO allies in the event of a Russian attack if they didn't pay enough money for their own defense.
A significant number of national security officials have come out against Trump's candidacy for president, but he has built his campaign on an anti-establishment image, pushing the message that America's foreign policy is broken and the country needs to rely on fresh thinking from outsiders.
Virginia Rep. Has Spine and Courage
Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia became the second Republican member of Congress to break from party lines and endorse a candidate that is not his party's nominee.
Rigell told the New York Times on Saturday that he will be voting for for New Mexico Governor and Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson instead of Republican nominee Donald Trump.
"I've always said I will not vote for Donald Trump and I will not vote for Hillary Clinton," Rigell told The Times. "I'm going to vote for the Libertarian candidate."
According to The Times' report, this is the first member of Congress to endorse Johnson. Rigell has said he would not be supporting Trump since March, but had not endorsed another candidate until Saturday's report.
Rigell also told The Times that he expects more Republican politicians to follow his lead and endorse someone other than Trump as the election gets closer.
Rigell also said he would no longer consider himself a Republican if the party becomes identified with Trump and his policies.
The move comes after Republican Rep. Richard Hanna of New York endorsed Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Both Hanna and Rigell are retiring at the end of their terms.
Hillary Clinton and the Democrats Won the Conventions
Elections may not be won in the summer, but one candidate can gain a lead that makes a win much more likely. That's Hillary Clinton across the board.
On July 17, the day before the Republican National Convention began, Clinton led Republican Donald Trump by about 3 points in the Real Clear Politics General Election Polling Average — 43.8% to 40.6%. On Friday, August 5, her lead was almost 7 points in the average — 47.3% to 40.5%
There are other measures. On July 17, the 538 Election Forecast said there was a 65% chance Clinton would win in November and a 34.9% chance Trump would win. On August 5, the numbers were Clinton 81% and Trump 19%. PredictWise had the odds at 70% Clinton and 30%Trump on July 17 and at 77% Clinton and 23% Trump on August 5. The movement was uniform.
On top of that, days after the conventions, the Trump campaign fired a strategist who helped organize the Republican convention. Those numbers and actions show there was one big winner out of the conventions: the Democratic nominee.
College Educated White Voters Are a Big Problem for Trump
This week's NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that Hillary Clinton now has a 7-point edge over Donald Trump among college-educated white voters (47%-40%). The July NBC/WSJ poll showed that Clinton had only a 1-point edge over Trump with those voters (43%-42%).
And that growing edge is echoed in other polls. This week's CNN/ORC poll showed her edge was 10 points with college-educated whites. A poll just after the GOP convention showed her lead with those voters was only 4 points.
Considering Trump's very poor numbers with minority voters, his slide among college-educated whites suggests a road to a rough November.
The 2016 Urban/Rural Divide in the Electorate is Growing
While polls show a pretty uniform slide in the polls for Trump, there are some signs that he remains strong rural locales.
An analysis of the latest NBC/WSJ poll by the American Communities Project finds that while Clinton has grown her advantage over Trump in dense urban suburb counties mostly around big cities. She led him by 20 points in those places in the post-convention poll (53%-33%). Before the conventions her edge was 15 points (50%-35%). The suburbs are increasingly Hillary-land.
But in rural counties, Trump actually saw bigger margins of support in the last month. He leads Clinton by 28 points in those counties now (55%-27%). Before the conventions he led in those counties by 19 points (55%-36%). Clinton's numbers are down, but Trump is holding steady at 55%. Even after a hard few weeks, there is still a solid Trump country — it's in rural America.
Clinton's Growing Lead is More About Trump Falling
Hillary Clinton grew her edge over Donald Trump in the latest NBC/WSJ poll to 9-point lead from a 5-point lead. But Clinton's support actually only climbed 1 point to 47% from 46% before the convention.
Her real gain came from Trump's slide. He fell three points to 38% to 41%.
In other words, Trump may have a road back into the 2016 race. The numbers suggest he doesn't have to "flip" Clinton supporters, he just needs to find a way to get his own supporters back.
Be Sure to Vote, anything can happen.
The Map in November Could Look Different Than Usual
State polls from around the country show a set of surprising states in play. From Georgia, where a new poll Friday showed Clinton leading, to Arizona where Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Mike Pence campaigned this week, to Utah, where Trump is having a hard time gaining traction in a solid Republican state.
Even within states, county-level maps may look different in part because of the unique education-divide on Trump. A Detroit News/WDIV poll in Michigan this week found Clinton leading Trump in conservative western Michigan, home of some highly-educated suburban population centers.
A new poll in Pennsylvania found enormous edges for Clinton in the suburbs around Philadelphia in the southeastern part of the state — 60% to 20% for Trump. But up in the northeast corner of the state, a poll from a Republican firm of the "battleground" county of Luzerne, which President Barack Obama won in 2012, shows Trump with 23-point lead.
The point? 2016 really is shaping up to be different. Rearrange your old ideas of "key demographics" or "key counties" or even "key states," standard rules may not apply.
Be Sure to Vote, anything can happen.
Amherst Democratic News
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