Today in Campaign 2016
- Hillary Clinton unveiled a new campaign plane over the weekend, emblazoned with her “Stronger Together” slogan, which she will now travel on along with members of the press - and her press pool could not have been more thrilled:
And we're off. Press and HRC aboard maiden voyage of the (yet to be nicknamed) Clinton plane. pic.twitter.com/ot8cJOX1Fx
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) September 5, 2016
- A group of 88 retired military leaders endorsed Donald Trump, releasing a letter through the Trump campaign in which they appeared to point out Hillary Clinton’s experience as Secretary of State as reason for not backing her.
- Fox News reached a settlement with former news anchor Gretchen Carlson for a reported $20m over claims she was fired from the network after she refused sexual advances from chairman Roger Ailes. In a statement released on Tuesday, Fox News’s parent company expressed “sincere regret” over the incident.
- For the first time since 1964, the Dallas Morning News won’t endorse the Republican nominee for president, declaring that Trump “does not deserve your vote” and is not a true conservative nor Republican. Its editorial today reads:
It’s not easy to offer a shorthand list of such tenets, since Trump flips from one side to the other, issue after issue, sometimes within a single news cycle. Regardless, his ideas are so far from Republicanism that they have spawned a new description: Trumpism.
- Clinton renewed her calls for Trump to release his tax returns, saying he “clearly has something to hide”:
- Trump’s eldest son told a radio show this morning that the health of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton - long a favorite subject for unproven conspiracy theories - is “fair game” in the 2016 campaign. “Of course it’s fair game,” Donald Trump Jr. told radio host Mike Gallagher on The Mike Gallagher Show, a nationally syndicated radio program. “Of course it is: this is a person that, you know, again, has a track record of not taking that phone call at three o’clock in the morning.”
- Cut to former House speaker Newt Gingrich having a coughing fit while criticizing Clinton for having a coughing fit:
Gingrich starts coughing while critiquing Clinton's coughing https://t.co/Q3t5zWIrOx pic.twitter.com/Ng0HVt5hDf
— The Hill (@thehill) September 6, 2016
Donald Trump on debate temperament: 'I can't tell you, because I’m not sure that I know'
Speaking with ABC’s David Muir, Donald Trump told the anchor that his first debate against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton may feature him being “very nice” and “very respectful” - or it may not.
“I can’t tell you, because I’m not sure that I know. It will depend,” Trump said of his temperament during the debate. “You are going to have to adjust, you’re going to have to see. You need flexibility. In life, David, you need flexibility. It may be very nice and it may be very respectful, and it may not, depends on how she treats me.”
The first debate between Trump and Clinton will be on 26 September.
This campaign...
Gingrich starts coughing while critiquing Clinton's coughing https://t.co/Q3t5zWIrOx pic.twitter.com/Ng0HVt5hDf
— The Hill (@thehill) September 6, 2016
President Obama nominates first-ever Muslim American to serve as a US federal judge
President Barack Obama today nominated Abid Riaz Qureshi to serve on the US District Court for the District of Columbia, often seen as a major feeder court for the US Circuit Court of Appeals.
“I am pleased to nominate Mr. Qureshi to serve on the United States District Court bench,” Obama said in a statement. “I am confident he will serve the American people with integrity and a steadfast commitment to justice.”
With the current freeze on confirmation for Obama’s judicial nominees - particularly would-be supreme court justice Merrick Garland, whose nomination to replace the late Antonin Scalia has been stymied by Republican lawmakers since March - it is unlikely that Qureshi will be confirmed before the end of Obama’s presidential term, but the nomination is still historic. Of the more than 3,000 federal judges currently serving in the US judiciary, not a single one is an observant Muslim.
“I commend President Obama for taking this important step in continuing to pick the best and brightest from every community to serve as part of our nation’s judiciary,” Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, a legal advocacy organization, declared in a statement.
“A judiciary that reflects the rich diversity of our nation helps ensure the fair and just administration of the law, and it is vital for American Muslims to be included,” Khera continued. “Mr. Qureshi’s profound commitment to the rule of law and justice for people of all backgrounds makes him an exceptional nominee.”
Obama’s would-be successor, Donald Trump, has declared that it’s “absolutely” possible that he would be treated unfairly by a Muslim judge, echoing his declaration that a federal judge of Mexican descent could not fairly oversee a fraud suit against one of his companies because of his ethnicity.
Qureshi is a partner at the law firm of Latham & Watkins, where he specializes in cases involving the health care fraud and securities violations. Qureshi is also the recipient of the “Champions of Justice” Award in 2012 by the National Law Journal’s Legal Times.
Updated
From India?
An attendee at the Trump rally is shouting at media that part of North Carolina is turning into "Little India" & cites "underground tunnel"
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) September 6, 2016
Donald Trump has held innumerable rallies and events over the past fifteen months, but his quotation of a line from the Bible at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, tonight may be the first time we can recall that he has included a passage from scripture at one of his rallies.
“Let me quote the same passage from the Bible I read on Saturday, from 1 John 4,” Trump said, referring to an event held at a largely African American church in Detroit. “‘No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.’ Imagine what we, our country, could accomplish if we started working together as one people, under one God, saluting one flag.”
With that, Trump vows to the audience that he will make America great again, and departs.
Donald Trump, about minority voters:
What do you have to lose? Nothing.
Donald Trump implied that the person in charge of setting up Hillary Clinton’s private email servers is missing or dead at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina.
“Where is he? Where is he? Is he living? Where is he? He pleaded the fifth, and we never heard about him again,” Trump said. “This is like Watergate, only it’s worse.”
Donald Trump told an audience in Greenville, North Carolina, that his greatest asset is his temperament, which has only been criticized by rival Hillary Clinton because she hired “Madison Avenue” advertising experts to foment “hit jobs” on him.
“You ever notice? She never talks about policy, she never talks about illegal immigration, she never talks about anything. All she does is a hit job on Donald Trump,” he said about Clinton.
“I think my single greatest asset of any assets I have, is my temperament, and I know how to win,” Trump said. “It’s my single greatest asset, and every time you hear it, this is a phony group of lying people.”
“Tell her we wanna hear about your policy on jobs, on illegal immigration, I wanna hear what she’s gonna do about stopping jobs from leaving North Carolina and going to Mexico and other place,” telling the audience that Clinton “doesn’t have a clue”.
Continuing his remarks in Greenville, North Carolina, Donald Trump lambasted neoconservatism and military adventurism, calling Hillary Clinton an advocate of “military adventurism”.
“I believe in a foreign policy based on our national interest, that focuses on American security and regional stability, instead of using our military to create democracies in countries with no democratic history and couldn’t care less about democracy,” Trump said. “And they don’t even want it!”
His foreign policy strategy, Trump said, would be “based on a longterm strategy of defeating radical Islamic terrorism,” with the first step being the undoing of “the damage inflicted by Hillary Clinton and President Obama, who “has made Americans far less safe, probably than ever before.”
“These people,” he added dismissively.
Donald Trump previewed August fundraising numbers tonight in Greenville, North Carolina, telling the audience that while “unfortunately,” much of the money raised came from his own pockets, plenty came from small donors.
“A lot of it, unfortunately, came from me, but a lot of it came from small donors,” Trump said, telling the audience that he would be reporting a “tremendous” fundraising number tomorrow.
“We’re gonna be reporting a very big number tomorrow,” Trump continued, noting that the average donation was roughly $61 per person.
Five days ago, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign announced that the campaign and allied action funds begin September with a more than $152 million war chest, built from $143m in donations from more than 2.3m people.
The average donation in August was $50, according to the campaign.
Donald Trump, on trade:
By the way - I don’t anything can be as bad as Nafta, but I think TPP is gonna be pretty close.
Speaking in Greenville, North Carolina, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promised supporters that he would prevent immigration from Arab nations with ongoing problems relating to terrorism.
“It’s going to be a very busy first day. I’m going to instruct the Department of State to immediately suspend the Syrian refugee resettlement program, and develop plans for the construction of a safe zone in the region - and the safe zone will not be paid for by us. It will be paid for by Gulf states that have plenty of money,” Trump vowed.
“Many of those countries wouldn’t be there for a long period of time - believe me - if we didn’t protect them,” Trump said, telling the audience that Hillary Clinton will be “America’s Angela Merkel, and you see what happened to Angela Merkel of Germany! They had a massive defeat recently in the elections! Because Germany has had problems recently that they’ve rarely seen before.”
“France isn’t France,” Trump said, quoting friends, apparently referring to immigration tensions in Western Europe.
Donald Trump campaigns in Greenville, North Carolina
Watch it live here:
Hillary Clinton has said her husband, former president Bill Clinton, should not have to resign his role as head of their family’s charitable foundation until the presidential election is decided in November.
The Democratic nominee said she did not see any ethical problems with her husband’s continued involvement with the Clinton Foundation, which raises money from wealthy donors around the world while she runs for president despite mounting criticism.
“I don’t think there are conflicts of interest,” Clinton told ABC’s David Muir in a joint interview today with her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, scheduled to air on Tuesday night.
Bill Clinton told supporters in August that he would resign from the foundation’s board and stop raising money if his wife were elected. The foundation last month confirmed that Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton, would remain on the board even if her mother won in November.
Clinton also dismissed accusations that allies and donors of the Clinton Foundation received special treatment while she served as secretary of state.
“I know that that’s what has been alleged and never proven. But nevertheless, I take it seriously,” Clinton said in the interview, which was taped on Monday between Labor Day campaign stops.
Trump and his campaign have seized on the issue, alleging that the Clinton Foundation is a “pay-for-play” operation. At campaign events, he has pointed to a recent analysis by the Associated Press that showed more than half the people Clinton met outside the government as secretary of state were donors to the Clinton family’s foundation.
Ben Carson: Donald Trump should apologize for birtherism
Retired pediatric neurosurgeon, onetime presidential candidate and current campaign advisor Ben Carson told CNN this afternoon that he thinks it would be a “good idea” for Donald Trump to apologize to African-American voters for questioning President Barack Obama’s birthplace, a topic that Trump has declared off-limits since he launched his presidential campaign 15 months ago.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper told Carson that among the minority voters he has spoken to, many “are resistant to Donald Trump because he led the charge to say that the nation’s first African American president was born in Africa and not born in the United States,” before asking Carson: “Do you think it’s time for Donald Trump to acknowledge that all that birther nonsense was a mistake and to apologize?”
Carson, for his part, did.
“I think that would be a good idea - absolutely,” Carson said. “I suggest that on all sides. Let’s get all of the hate and rancor out of the way so that we can actually discuss the issues.”
Trump made his first forays into the political realm in 2011 as the most public face of the so-called “birther” movement, which questions Obama’s right to hold office as a natural-born American citizen due to discredited conspiracy theories declaring that he was born in Kenya.
A political action committee formed in response to a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 49 people dead has endorsed Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, announcing that the former secretary of state has agreed to meet with its leadership about gun-control measures.
“We are endorsing Hillary Clinton for the presidency because her record on gun policy and LGBT rights reflect the will of the American people, not the gun lobby,” said Jason Lindsay, executive director of the Pride Fund to End Gun Violence. “Hillary Clinton has committed to achieving clear policy reforms, like putting comprehensive background checks in place and closing loopholes that put guns in the hands of violent criminals and terrorists.”
Among the group’s policy goals include expanded background checks, closure of the so-called “terror watch-list loophole,” prevention of individuals convicted of hate crimes from buying firearms, federal funding for research into gun violence, limiting access to semiautomatic weapons and the implementation of magazine limits.
Video: Earlier today, Hillary Clinton renewed her calls for Donald Trump to release his tax returns, saying he “clearly has something to hide”.
Speaking to reporters en route to a campaign rally in Florida, Clinton said that the voting public deserved to know the details of the Republican nominee’s finances.
What do people outside the US wonder about presidential race?
The Guardian reaches millions of engaged readers around the world, and some of our most exciting work comes when they talk to each other.
As we looked through our coverage of this US election cycle, we realized that this was already happening: people wanted to know what the situation looked like from outside and inside the US, and they had some real questions about what exactly is going on.
And hey, we did too: we asked readers who live outside the US to ask some questions of our American audience. We also asked our American readers to come up with a list for readers abroad. Hundreds of people submitted. We read all of the responses, then edited them into the list below.
The next step is getting some answers. This too will come back to our readers: AKA, you.
If you’re a US citizen, answer as many of the questions posed by our international readers as you’d like. If you’re not a US citizen, answer as many of the questions posed by our US citizens as you’d like – just scroll down to find them. As the responses come in, we’ll read through and again select the most interesting and emblematic to publish late next week.
Everybody coughs, people.
Update: Gingrich himself just starting coughing! Hannity offers water. Says doesn't compare to Clinton cough fit. https://t.co/i4dE5t1HcI
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) September 6, 2016
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has clarified remarks by the Republican nominee that falsely suggested that he had never spoken to Florida attorney general Pamela Bondi, after renewed criticism regarding his personal foundation’s donation of $25,000 to Bondi’s reelection committee.
When asked about the donation - and Bondi’s subsequent suspension of an investigation into the now-defunct Trump University over alleged consumer fraud - Trump told reporters on his campaign plane that he “never spoke to her”.
Calling Bondi a “fine person beyond reproach,” Trump told reporters that he “never even spoke to her about it at all ... Never spoken to her about it. Never.”
The statement appeared to contradict remarks by a Bondi advisor made to the Associated Press in June, in which Bondi spokesperson Marc Reichelderfer declared that Bondi had personally solicited the donation “several weeks” before Bondi’s office announced that it would not join a multi-state fraud suit against Trump’s now-defunct real-estate investing seminar.
Asked for clarification regarding the apparent discrepancy, Trump’s campaign told Politico that Trump was only referring to the “pay-for-play” allegations leveled against him.
“His comments were in reference to any discussion about Trump University - not the donation,” Trump campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks said.
Bondi has endorsed Trump’s candidacy and functioned as a surrogate for his campaign at events in Florida.
Arizona senator Jeff Flake has fired back at Donald Trump after the presidential nominee called his fellow Republican “a very weak and ineffective Senator” over the holiday weekend.
The Great State of Arizona, where I just had a massive rally (amazing people), has a very weak and ineffective Senator, Jeff Flake. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2016
“What Trump has been willing to do is say terrible things about women, mock the disabled, disparage minorities, impugn the character of POWs, and go after the Gold Star parents of a fallen US soldier,” Flake said, in a statement to The Hill.
“I’m not OK with that,” Flake continued, “and I’m going to keep speaking out until he changes the tone of his campaign.”
Flake has pointedly refused to endorse Trump’s candidacy, becoming one of the Republican party’s most vocal critics of its nominee.
Donald Trump, Jr.: Hillary Clinton health conspiracies 'fair game'
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s eldest son told a radio show this morning that the health of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton - long a favorite subject for unproven conspiracy theories - is “fair game” in the 2016 campaign.
“Of course it’s fair game,” Donald Trump Jr. told radio host Mike Gallagher on The Mike Gallagher Show, a nationally syndicated radio program. “Of course it is: this is a person that, you know, again, has a track record of not taking that phone call at three o’clock in the morning.”
The younger Trump continued, telling Gallagher’s listeners that “you need someone that’s going to be able to do this - this is the person who’s got to lead the free world”.
Trump’s presidential campaign and its surrogates have continually raised direct questions about Clinton’s health, including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s insistence that curious voters Google her health record and the candidate’s insistence this morning that mainstream press organizations have ignored a recent “coughing attack” by the former secretary of state:
Mainstream media never covered Hillary’s massive “hacking”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2016
or coughing attack, yet it is #1 trending. What’s up?
Clinton’s personal physician released a letter last July, detailing a medical history that includes an underactive thyroid and a concussion in 2012.
An armchair town hall with Donald Trump.
Trump townhall today: zero audience questions, 45+ minutes in a chair
— Michael C. Bender (@MichaelCBender) September 6, 2016
Updated
McCain says he can work with Trump on immigration
John McCain, the Arizona senator who said he’s “in the race of his life”, said he could work best with Donald Trump on immigration. In an interview published on the website Prescott eNews on Sunday, McCain said it was his job to work with the president but said on the issue of immigration he could best work with a Trump administration.
“Who do you think you can work with the best on the topic of immigration?” the interviewer asks McCain.
“Donald Trump,” he replies without hesitation. “I’m sure that I can work with Donald Trump. I can work with any president because that’s my job. I can work with any president.”
Trump, who has promised to build a border fence paid for by Mexico and deport immigrants living in the country, suffered heavy criticism for a hardline immigration speech delivered in Phoenix last week outlining a 10-point national security plan.
Prior to the speech, Trump had signaled a softening on his immigration stance. He was criticized by Arizona senator Jeff Flake, who called his speech “confusing” and said it was unrealistic to remove the estimated 11 million people living in the US without documents.
In the interview, McCain appeared to disagree with that assessment.
“What’s’ not doable is rounding up 11 million people and putting them across the southern border,” McCain said. “That’s not doable and, of course, not to mention what it would do in many other aspects. I’m hoping that after the dust settles this election that we can go back and address the issue which obviously has a first and leading component of border security but you’re also then left with 11 million people who are in this country illegally.”
Clinton: “His whole campaign has been one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform to protect our most cherished American values. ... and when it comes to fighting Isis, he has been all over the map. You would literally have to map it out.”
Trump: “we’re like a third-world country. We’re like a third-world country. Never seen anything like it. But on November 8th we’re gonna cure this problem.”
Trump says that if he did not get a tarmac staircase to get out of his plane, as Barack Obama did not have upon arrival in China at the weekend, he would just turn around and fly home.
No-brainer: @realDonaldTrump seizes on weekend POTUS drama in #China on tarmac
— Travis J. Tritten (@Travis_Tritten) September 6, 2016
Trump on North Korea: "China, this is your baby, this is your problem. You solve the problem"
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) September 6, 2016
Flynn complains about "Kim Il Jong." I think he meant Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011.
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) September 6, 2016
Updated
Trump says his friend has stopped summering in Paris because it’s not Paris anymore. “I don’t go there anymore.”
This is true: TV is taking Trump instead of Clinton. “I have a plan to install half a billion solar panels by the end of my first term, and enough clean energy to power every home in America by the end of my second term,” she says.
Trump is talking about Libya: “It’s more of the same, It’s just another place they’ve taken over. And this was a Hillary Clinton deal... she was unyielding. And frankly, it’s a total disaster, Libya right now.”
For those keeping track, Trump and Clinton are holding "dueling" events and all three cable news channels are airing Trump, not Clinton.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) September 6, 2016
Donald Trump, in Virginia, recounts the Iran-Iraq War: pic.twitter.com/xux2AOHAXp
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 6, 2016
Updated
Trump says that Russian president Vladimir Putin would like to see Hillary Clinton win:
Putin's favored candidate is...Hillary, per Trump: "Putin looks at her & he laughs...Boy, would he like to see her. That would be easy."
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) September 6, 2016
Clinton threatens to bury Trump with D-words:
“He’s so dire, so dark, so divisive, so dangerous.”
Clinton’s on now in Tampa. She shouts out the big football win – the Florida Gators won on Saturday.
Loud boos right now for Syrian refugees at Trump town hall in Virginia Beach
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) September 6, 2016
Trump warns of dangers of refugees: “You see the damage that one person can do.”
— Steve Peoples (@sppeoples) September 6, 2016
Trump comes on before Clinton, it turns out. Sad! Here’s the live video stream from Virginia Beach, Virginia:
Clinton is scheduled to appear soon at a rally in Tampa, Florida. Here’s a live video stream:
Trump is due before long in Virginia Beach, Virginia – we’ll have live video of that as well.
Even better, the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs is in the crowd:
Cheers in Virginia Beach as Rudy Giuliani walks into the audience for a Trump event
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) September 6, 2016
Updated
Chris Christie, still charming:
In which Chris Christie basically suggests he said a thing he didn't mean because politics https://t.co/RHOTVofGtU pic.twitter.com/HCi1iBkdur
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) September 6, 2016
Trump foundation gave to Florida prosecutor mulling case against Trump University
Florida’s attorney general personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump around the same time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates, the AP reports:
The new disclosure from Attorney General Pam Bondi’s spokesman to The Associated Press on Monday provides additional details around the unusual circumstances of Trump’s $25,000 donation to Bondi.
The money came from a Trump family foundation in apparent violation of rules surrounding political activities by charities. A political group backing Bondi’s re-election, called And Justice for All, reported receiving the check Sept. 17, 2013 — four days after Bondi’s office publicly announced she was considering joining a New York state probe of Trump University’s activities, according to a 2013 report in the Orlando Sentinel.
After the check came in, Bondi’s office nixed suing Trump, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.
Hillary Clinton's coughing has received more stories than Trump's illegal donation to Pam Bondi.
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) September 6, 2016
Sigh.
Bondi declined repeated requests for an interview on Monday, referring all questions to Marc Reichelderfer, a political consultant who worked for her re-election effort.
Reichelderfer told AP that Bondi spoke with Trump “several weeks” before her office publicly announced it was deliberating whether to join a lawsuit proposed by New York’s Democratic attorney general. Reichelfelder said that Bondi was unaware of the many consumer complaints received by her office about Trump’s real-estate seminars at the time she requested the donation.
“The process took at least several weeks, from the time they spoke to the time they received the contribution,” Reichelderfer told AP.
The timing of the donation by Trump is notable because the now presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said he expects and receives favors from politicians to whom he gives money.
“When I want something I get it,” Trump said at an Iowa rally in January. “When I call, they kiss my ass. It’s true.”
Mainstream media never covered Hillary’s massive “hacking”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2016
or coughing attack, yet it is #1 trending. What’s up?
Stein: it is undemocratic to exclude me from debates
Green party candidate Jill Stein has written an opinion piece for the Guardian in which she argues for her inclusion in the presidential debates.
“Consider that 76% of Americans want the presidential debates to include Gary Johnson and me. Yet the phony Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is trying to rob voters of the open debates they want,” Stein writes:
The CPD is actually a private corporation that refuses to disclose its current funders or sponsors. The Democratic and Republican National Committees both select its leaders. The CPD literally excludes the 50% of voters who reject their parties.
This two-party cartel posing as a public service “commission” admitted in a 1987 press conference that independent candidates and alternative political parties should be excluded from the debates, and they create artificial barriers to exclude them.
For example, the CPD demands that candidates poll at 15% or higher to be included in the debates. This arbitrary number was put in place the year after third-party candidate Jesse Ventura won the governorship of Minnesota. Ventura was included in debates when he was at 10% in the polls, and his performance carried him to victory. To prevent a similar upset at the national level, the CPD quickly raised the bar to the arbitrary 15% requirement.
Read the full piece here:
Retired military leaders come out in support of Trump
A group of 88 retired military leaders endorsed Donald Trump on Tuesday, releasing a letter through the Trump campaign in which they appeared to point out Hillary Clinton’s experience as Secretary of State as reason for not backing her:
As retired senior leaders of America’s military, we believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world. For this reason, we support Donald Trump’s candidacy to be our next Commander-in-Chief.
For the past eight years, America’s armed forces have been subjected to a series of ill-considered and debilitating budget cuts, policy choices and combat operations that have left the superb men and women in uniform less capable of performing their vital missions in the future than we require them to be.
Simultaneously, enemies of this country have been emboldened, sensing weakness and irresolution in Washington and opportunities for aggression at our expense and that of other freedom-loving nations. In our professional judgment, the combined effect is potentially extremely perilous. That is especially the case if our government persists in the practices that have brought us to this present pass.
Those on the list include General Burwell B. Bell III, General Alfred G. Hansen, Admiral Jerry Johnson, General Crosbie “Butch” Saint, Lieutenant General William G. Boykin, Lieutenant General Marvin Covault and Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney.
Boykin is one of the most controversial former leaders in recent military history. A born-again Christian, he got himself into big trouble during the Bush administration, when as a senior Pentagon official speaking about a Somali Muslim, he said: “I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.”
In August 2003, McInerney penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed proposing military action in North Korea during a time of nuclear tension, saying: “North Korea could be defeated decisively in thirty to sixty days.”
RADM William Schachte was one of the military surrogates the Bush campaign used in 2004 to suggest John Kerry had lied about being wounded in Vietnam.
Many have been retired for decades, but it also includes Mimi Drew, the Navy Reserve’s first woman Rear admiral is also on the list.
Spencer Ackerman contributed reporting
A Hillary Clinton-backed super PAC, Priorities USA, released an ad slicing Donald Trump’s statements about war, nuclear weapons and ISIS with footage from war zones.
A very important poll, after the Latinos for Trump cofounder Marco Gutierrez warned last week of a “taco truck on every corner,” due to a rise in undocumented immigration, if Hillary Clinton is elected.
58% of Americans would be happy having #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner !!!! pic.twitter.com/CEs8FAInxb
— YouGovUS (@YouGovUS) September 6, 2016
Dallas Morning News editorial: Trump "does not deserve your vote"
For the first time since 1964, The Dallas Morning News won’t endorse the Republican nominee for president, declaring that Donald Trump “does not deserve your vote” and is not a true conservative nor Republican.
It’s not easy to offer a shorthand list of such tenets, since Trump flips from one side to the other, issue after issue, sometimes within a single news cycle. Regardless, his ideas are so far from Republicanism that they have spawned a new description: Trumpism.
We have no interest in a Republican nominee for whom all principles are negotiable, nor in a Republican Party that is willing to trade away principle for pursuit of electoral victory.
Trump doesn’t reflect Republican ideals of the past; we are certain he shouldn’t reflect the GOP of the future.
Donald Trump is not qualified to serve as president and does not deserve your vote.
The paper had endorsed John Kasich in the primary.
Clinton unveils campaign plane to much press pool excitement
Hillary Clinton unveiled a new campaign plane over the weekend, emblazoned with her “Stronger Together” slogan, which she will now travel on along with members of the press - and her press pool could not have been more thrilled.
And we're off. Press and HRC aboard maiden voyage of the (yet to be nicknamed) Clinton plane. pic.twitter.com/ot8cJOX1Fx
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) September 5, 2016
Here at the unveiling of the new Clinton camp plane. First flight takes off this morning from Westchester. pic.twitter.com/EkTAq1dP93
— Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) September 5, 2016
.@HillaryClinton arrives pic.twitter.com/96hhheT3E2
— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) September 5, 2016
Clinton looks pretty happy to see her new plane. "Looks good, doesn't it?" she said. pic.twitter.com/mZBqwJb0Iu
— Laura Meckler (@laurameckler) September 5, 2016
After refusing to do press conferences for months, Clinton came and answered reporters questions at the back of the plane for around 25 minutes.
Hillary Clinton greets reporters on inaugural flight of her new plane... pic.twitter.com/ghKMWNK5Cj
— Amy Chozick (@amychozick) September 5, 2016
Choznick covered the new plane on Snapchat for the Times.
New plane, new napkins. pic.twitter.com/t3tNkQ7AaB
— Francesca Chambers (@fran_chambers) September 6, 2016
In response to the Clinton coverage, Trump quickly allowed reporters on his plane in Ohio as well, at least for one leg of the journey. His VP Mike Pence tweeting a picture of reporters gathered around (yes the bearded fellow on the left is the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs) as they flew from Brook Park to Youngstown in Ohio.
Note: Trump’s private plane has far more plush leather and gold embossed wood than the Clinton jet.
Heading to Youngstown with @realDonaldTrump after a great morning in Brook Park #MAGA #LaborDay pic.twitter.com/2N3Zi0yTkU
— Mike Pence (@mike_pence) September 5, 2016
The allowance of reporters on Trump’s plane was a one-off but apparently he’s open to it.
“He has said he is fine with press traveling with him on his plane on regular basis,” reported Jacobs in his pool report.
Updated
Michelle Obama joins the Clinton campaign trail
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is rolling out the Democratic Dream Team in battleground states across the country to help energize the final post-Labor Day sprint to election day.
The Democratic show of force on the campaign trail – from the Obamas to her former competitor Bernie Sanders; progressive senator Elizabeth Warren and her daughter Chelsea – is meant to draw a clear contrast with Donald Trump, who has struggled to draw support from members of his own party.
President Obama will return to the trail to campaign for his former Secretary of State next week followed by First Lady Michelle Obama three days later. President Obama, who views Clinton’s success as key to his legacy, will head to the all-important battleground Pennsylvania where Donald Trump has vowed to wrest the state from Democrats.
Michelle Obama, who received widespread praise for a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention, will campaign in northern Virginia, according to a campaign official.
Warren, a progressive who has so far played the role of party unifier, will return to the trail this week to campaign in Philadelphia on Friday, the campaign official said. This appearance follows Bernie Sanders, who proved a tough adversary during the Democratic primary but stumped for Clinton in New Hampshire on Labor Day.
The Mothers of the Movement, a group of African American women whose children have died at the hands of law enforcement or as the result of gun violence, will also return to the trail for Clinton at the end of the month. Earlier this week, Trump attended mass in Detroit as a gesture to the African American community that has so far roundly rejected his candidacy.
Other key players expected to hit the trail this week include Planned Parenthood president Cecil Richards, Texas Democrat Wendy Davis, union leaders Richard Trumka and Mary Key Henry, as well as Scandal star Tony Goldwyn.
“Many of these people know what it takes to do this job and see Hillary Clinton as the only candidate with the experience, qualifications and temperament needed,” said campaign spokesman Jesse Ferguson.
“Not only does Donald Trump not have the support of any living former President of the United States or even the most recent GOP nominee for President, but many other prominent Republicans are conveniently absent from campaigning for him because they share the growing doubts about his candidacy,” said Ferguson.
Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. Depending on how much coffee you’ve had, today marks the start of the fiery-haired post-Labor Day death sprint to the election, or today is Tuesday.
Congress is back in session today after the summer break. Here’s hoping all Paul Ryan’s interns a had great summer experience and wishing them the best for the fall semester.
Polls
In the presidential race, there are a bunch of interesting new poll numbers out this morning, containing plenty for people to gleefully argue over. Notably, a new CNN/Orc poll has Donald Trump a sliver ahead of Hillary Clinton, 45-43, in a four-way race, while NBC News/Survey Monkey’s tracking poll shows the race unchanged, with Clinton ahead of Trump 48-42 in a two-way race and 41-37 in a four-way.
What’s the real state of the race? RealClearPolitics’ polling average has Clinton up 3.3 points in a two-way race and 2.4 points in a four-way race. Huffpost Pollster’s average has her up five points in both scenarios. A Franklin Pierce/Boston Herald poll out this morning finds the race unchanged from two months ago, with a three-point advantage for Clinton in a four-way race.
But wait, there’s more. A special-occasion Washington Post poll of all 50 states out this morning – this graphic is great – finds Donald Trump sucking wind among educated white voters, especially women, and reveals an unexpectedly tight race in states such as Texas, Arizona and Georgia. But the poll also has Trump within striking distance in the habitually Democratic precincts (since 1992) of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Not so sure about the 50-state Washington Post poll: Shows Clinton winning in Texas, losing Ohiohttps://t.co/WFxoG98YcN
— Taegan Goddard (@politicalwire) September 6, 2016
Sixty-three days remain until the election. Early voting ramps up in multiple states later this month. The candidates are busy and preparing to get busier. Trump has rallies scheduled for Virginia and North Carolina today. Clinton has a rally in Florida.
Clinton’s campaign is getting ready to deploy an army of surrogates to campaign for her in battleground states, including both Obamas, senator Elizabeth Warren, her daughter and husband and others. The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino will have more on that for us this morning.
Schlafly dies
Phyllis Schlafly, who helped lead efforts in the 1970s to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, the proposed constitutional amendment that would have outlawed gender discrimination, has died. She was 92.
The truly great Phyllis Schlafly, who honored me with her strong endorsement for president, has passed away at 92. She was very special!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2016
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