Day: October 8, 2016

Trump self-destructs: Daily Bullshit, October 7-8, 2016 (updated again and again)

benfell

Updated and updated again and again and the post title changed for Donald Trump’s possible self-destruction.[1]

Hurricane Matthew

Matthew came ashore in South Carolina and its remains now besiege the Tidewater region.

Columbia

For those of us—yeah, this includes me—who haven’t been paying especially close attention, Omar Encarnación’s article will help to fill in a few gaps.

Omar G. Encarnación, “Colombia’s Failed Peace: Why It Failed, and What Comes Next,” Foreign Affairs, October 5, 2016, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/colombia/2016-10-05/colombias-failed-peace

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Nobel Peace Prize for Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos,” October 7, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-37585188

Donald Trump

It has become clear to party leaders and strategists over the past 24 hours that [Donald] Trump’s chances of winning the presidency are less than 20 percent, if not less than 10 percent. Now their main concern is saving the Senate Republican majority.[2]

Right now, Republican National Committee members are denying it,[3] but in fact the party is studying the possibility of replacing Donald Trump at the head of the ticket.[4] Apparently, this is possible if Trump steps aside,[5] which he has denied he will do,[6] but which I suspect is more a question of what inducements Republican Party leaders manage to offer. The first part of the headline on Andrew Prokop’s story, “Leading Republicans are furiously denouncing Trump,”[7] is really what you need to know—and that’s just what they’re saying in public.[8] Imagine what they’re saying in private. Even without that imagination, there is a lengthening list of Republicans, admittedly mostly (but not entirely[9]) vulnerable Republicans, who are calling for Trump to step down.[10]

The possibility of Trump’s demise as a candidate raises a new wrinkle in what was beginning to look like a walkaway win for Hillary Clinton: What if she has to run against somebody else? She’s been running mostly as the anti-Trump, so in this case, she loses her thesis and my earlier forecast comes back into full force. I do not believe she can win.[11]

Mike DeBonis and Abby Phillip, “Ryan calls off plans to campaign with Trump; GOP-ers rush to distance themselves,” Washington Post, October 7, 2016, Ryan calls off plans to campaign with Trump; GOP-ers rush to distance themselves

David A. Fahrenthold, “Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005,” Washington Post, October 7, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html

Politico, “Sen. Mark Kirk calls for Trump’s ’emergency replacement’ on GOP ticket,” October 7, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/mark-kirk-donald-trump-comments-women-229328

Andrew Prokop, “Leading Republicans are furiously denouncing Trump for his leaked comments about women,” Vox, October 7, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/10/7/13207610/trump-leak-women-romney-bush

Meg Anderson and Amita Kelly, “Here Are The 30+ Republicans Calling For Trump To Step Aside,” National Public Radio, October 8, 2016, http://www.npr.org/2016/10/08/497225589/here-are-the-30-republicans-calling-for-trump-to-step-aside

Alexander Bolton, “Senate Republicans wrestle with dumping Trump,” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/300036-senate-republicans-wrestle-over-dumping-trump

Bridget Bowman, “Which Republican Lawmakers Have Dumped Trump So Far?” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, October 8, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/which-republican-lawmakers-have-dumped-trump-so-far-video-women-comments

Kyle Cheney, “Why Trump won’t get dumped from the GOP ticket,” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-gop-ticket-229339

Lauren Fox, “GOP Sen. Mike Lee Urges Trump To Step Aside As Republican Nominee,” Talking Points Memo, October 8, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-senator-mike-lee-urges

Janet Hook, Beth Reinhard, and Reid J. Epstein, “GOP Scrambles to Salvage Election After Donald Trump’s Latest Imbroglio,” Wall Street Journal, October 8, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-scrambles-to-salvage-election-after-donald-trumps-latest-imbroglio-1475969203

Alex Isenstadt, “GOP panics as outrage with Trump boils over,” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-comments-women-gop-republican-reaction-229329

Harper Neidig, “Pence: ‘Cannot defend’ Trump lewd remarks,” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/299999-pence-cannot-defend-trump-lewd-remarks

Harper Neidig and Jonathan Easley, “Chaos in GOP: Calls grow for Trump to drop out of race,” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/300005-chaos-in-gop-calls-grow-for-trump-to-drop-out-of-race

Louis Nelson, “Condoleezza Rice on Donald Trump: Enough!” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/condi-rice-donald-trump-229385

Alex Roarty, “Joe Heck Says He Won’t Vote for Trump,” Roll Call, October 8, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/nevada-joe-heck-wont-support-donald-trump-president-senate

Ben Schreckinger, “RNC lawyers look at options for replacing Trump,” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/republicans-replace-trump-229352

Elliot Smilowitz, “GOP senator unendorses Trump, urges him to leave ticket,” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/299984-gop-senator-unendorses-trump-urges-him-to-leave-ticket

Elliot Smilowitz, “Trump: ‘Zero chance I’ll quit,'” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/299988-trump-zero-chance-ill-quit

Jeff Stein, “Here’s what happens if Trump drops out,” Vox, October 8, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/10/8/13211050/what-happens-trump-dropout

Glenn Thrush and Katie Glueck, “Is Trump’s campaign over?” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/is-trumps-campaign-over-229341

Melanie Zanona, “No. 3 GOP Senate leader says Trump should withdraw,” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/300000-no-3-gop-senate-leader-says-trump-should-withdraw

Melanie Zanona, “Pence drops out of Ryan campaign event,” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/299992-pence-drops-out-of-ryan-campaign-event

  1. [1]David A. Fahrenthold, “Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005,” Washington Post, October 7, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html; Alex Isenstadt, “GOP panics as outrage with Trump boils over,” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-comments-women-gop-republican-reaction-229329; Glenn Thrush and Katie Glueck, “Is Trump’s campaign over?” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/is-trumps-campaign-over-229341; Andrew Prokop, “Leading Republicans are furiously denouncing Trump for his leaked comments about women,” Vox, October 7, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/10/7/13207610/trump-leak-women-romney-bush↩
  2. [2]Alexander Bolton, “Senate Republicans wrestle with dumping Trump,” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/300036-senate-republicans-wrestle-over-dumping-trump↩
  3. [3]Kyle Cheney, “Why Trump won’t get dumped from the GOP ticket,” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-gop-ticket-229339↩
  4. [4]Ben Schreckinger, “RNC lawyers look at options for replacing Trump,” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/republicans-replace-trump-229352↩
  5. [5]Jeff Stein, “Here’s what happens if Trump drops out,” Vox, October 8, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/10/8/13211050/what-happens-trump-dropout↩
  6. [6]Elliot Smilowitz, “Trump: ‘Zero chance I’ll quit,'” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/299988-trump-zero-chance-ill-quit↩
  7. [7]Andrew Prokop, “Leading Republicans are furiously denouncing Trump for his leaked comments about women,” Vox, October 7, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/10/7/13207610/trump-leak-women-romney-bush↩
  8. [8]Alex Isenstadt, “GOP panics as outrage with Trump boils over,” Politico, October 8, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-comments-women-gop-republican-reaction-229329↩
  9. [9]Melanie Zanona, “No. 3 GOP Senate leader says Trump should withdraw,” Hill, October 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/300000-no-3-gop-senate-leader-says-trump-should-withdraw↩
  10. [10]Meg Anderson and Amita Kelly, “Here Are The 30+ Republicans Calling For Trump To Step Aside,” National Public Radio, October 8, 2016, http://www.npr.org/2016/10/08/497225589/here-are-the-30-republicans-calling-for-trump-to-step-aside; Bridget Bowman, “Which Republican Lawmakers Have Dumped Trump So Far?” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, October 8, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/which-republican-lawmakers-have-dumped-trump-so-far-video-women-comments↩
  11. [11]David Benfell, “Updated (again and again and again): Damnation by faint praise: Sanders claims to be more electable than Clinton,” Not Housebroken, March 6, 2016, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=8529↩