Today in Campaign 2016
- Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway outlined her vision of how the Republican nominee could win in November despite consistently trailing in polls, during an interview with Channel 4 in the United Kingdom for the documentary President Trump: Can He Really Win? Conway insisted that Trump’s support was not reflected in polls because of the perceived social stigma of supporting the Republican nominee. “Donald Trump performs better consistently better in online polling where a human being is not talking to another human being about what he or she may do in the elections … it’s become socially desirable, especially if you’re a college educated person in the US, to say that you’re against Donald Trump,” said Conway.
- More than half of the meetings Hillary Clinton took with non-governmental interests during her tenure as secretary of state were with people who had donated money to the Clinton Foundation, the Associated Press reported this afternoon, an astonishing percentage that underscores previous critiques of Clinton’s connection with the organization during her time at the state department.
- Of the 154 people from private interests who met with or had scheduled telephone conversations with Clinton while she served as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013 had donated money to the Clinton Foundation or had pledged to do so, giving as much as a combined $156 million to the non-profit. Of those, 20 gave more than $1 million to Clinton’s family foundation, which was founded during Bill Clinton’s second presidential term with the stated mission of “strengthen[ing] the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.”
- Hillary Clinton will denounce Donald Trump and his team of political advisers for their embrace of the “alt-right”, an online movement where white supremacy, nationalism, nativism and racism flourish. In a speech in Reno, Nevada, on Thursday, Clinton will argue that Trump’s “alt-right” brand is wrongfully pushing a dystopian view of America and sowing division in an effort to mobilize anxious Americans. According to a campaign aide, Clinton will contrast Trump’s “divisive views and dangerous temperament” with a vision of an America that is “stronger together”.
- Andrea Tantaros, the former co-host of the Fox News program The Five, has filed a complaint in New York state supreme court that accuses former Fox chief Roger Ailes of being a “sexual predator” and names former senator Scott Brown and Fox host Bill O’Reilly. “Fox News masquerades as defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny,” the complaint says. Ailes took a $40m severance package last month after former host Gretchen Carlson, current host Megan Kelly and others accused him of sexual harassment.
- Roger Stone, a longtime informal advisor to Donald Trump and even longer-time conspiracy theorist, conferred with fellow Trump supporter and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the latter’s radio program today about whether Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who was born in Michigan and raised in Saudi Arabia, has undergone female genital mutilation:
Donald Trump holds campaign rally in Austin
Watch it live here:
When Donald Trump visited the Indian city of Pune, his private jet was so large that he was forced to wait on board for nearly an hour while airport staff cobbled together a makeshift landing ramp for him to come down to earth.
According to his business partner Atul Chordia, Trump remained jovial despite the glitch during his grand entrance in August 2014. “He was joking around with the staff – he could have made a scene about it, but he didn’t,” said Chordia in a telephone interview. “He was nice, friendly. He was good with everyone.”
A slump in the US market had brought the real estate tycoon east in search of new opportunities; that search brought him to Pune, a sleepy city in western India.
To welcome Trump, 500 of Pune’s richest and most powerful people attended a banquet hosted by Chordia’s Panchshil Realty, the firm that was bringing the Trump franchise to India for the first time.
The Bollywood actress and beauty queen Lara Dutta interviewed Trump while a phalanx of cameramen from local television stations jostled for room in the press stand. Movie stars such as Rishi and Ranbir Kapoor and wealthy Indian business families had already bought apartments at Trump Towers Pune, reporters were told.
Each 6,000-sq-ft, five-bedroom apartment cost a whopping 150m rupees ($2.2m) – around 25% more than similar properties in the surrounding Kalyani Nagar neighbourhood, just because of Trump’s name. On subsequent trips to India, Trump told reporters that Trump Towers would be “good for India”.
Construction work at Trump Towers Pune is well under way, but two years on from that glitzy launch, the project is the subject of two investigations by the Pune state government and local police, after discrepancies were found in documents related to the land on which the luxury apartment block is being built.
Saurabh Rao, the district collector (or top administrative officer) for Pune state, told the Guardian: “We are currently in the investigation process. We have been conducting an inquiry for the last five or six months.” The results of the investigation are due to be published imminently, Rao said.
Donald Trump does not need to apologize for his incendiary remarks about Mexicans and an American-born federal judge’s heritage, said Helen Aguirre Ferré, the Republican National Committee’s director of Hispanic communications.
Asked whether the Republican presidential nominee owed the Hispanic community an apology, Aguirre Ferré was frank. “Don’t wait for an apology – ask for solutions to the problems,” she said on the Guardian’s Politics for Humans podcast.
“He needs to explain his tone and why he used the words he used and what he means by that – what are his policies and those of Hillary Clinton and how his are the ones that are really the answer to greater shared prosperity in our great country,” said Aguirre Ferré, a veteran journalist and adviser to the presidential campaign of former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
Trump launched his campaign more than a year ago by referring to Mexicans as rapists and criminals. He has promised to build a “big, beautiful” wall along the US-Mexico border paid for by Mexico. He tweeted a photo of himself eating a taco bowl on Cinco de Mayo with the caption “I love Hispanics!” And he questioned the judicial fitness of Indiana-born federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, who presiding over the Trump University lawsuit, on the basis that he is of “Mexican heritage”.
Five states and a group of Catholic healthcare providers launched a federal lawsuit on Tuesday challenging an Obama administration rule banning discrimination against transgender individuals in a healthcare setting.
The lawsuit is the latest major addition to a series of challenges conservative states are mounting against the administration as the president attempts to expand transgender rights through executive action.
On Monday, a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction against the administration’s requirement for all public schools to give transgender students access to the bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Barack Obama announced that policy in May and warned that schools failing to comply would risk the loss of millions in federal funds. More than 20 states have since joined a legal campaign to block the requirement.
The rule, which became final on 18 May, prohibits insurance companies and individual healthcare providers from refusing to provide or cover a health service they typically offer on the basis that a patient is trans. It does not require doctors to perform or insurance companies to cover transition-related healthcare services if the service or procedure is not normally offered.
Leading Tuesday’s lawsuit are Texas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas and Kentucky. In their challenge, they argue that the administration’s rule “forces doctors to perform gender transition procedures on children”.
“On pain of significant financial liability, the regulation forces doctors to perform controversial and sometimes harmful medical procedures ostensibly designed to permanently change an individual’s sex – including the sex of children,” the lawsuit claims.
Proponents of the rule called these claims “ridiculous” and “full of inaccuracies”.
Donald Trump: Room in immigration platform for 'softening'
In an interview airing later tonight on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appeared to walk back his signature campaign issue - immigration - by telling the conservative pundit that there’s room for “softening” his stance on deporting undocumented immigrants, so long as they have contributed to American society.
“There certainly can be a softening because we’re not looking to hurt people,” Trump said, in response to a question posed by the host in which he was asked whether he might be able to accommodate “those people that contribute to society.”
But, Trump cautioned, “we are going to follow the laws of this country.”
The stance is a massive reversal of Trump’s previous stance on the issue, in which he declared that “deportation squads” would forcefully remove more than 11 million undocumented immigrants currently estimated to live in the US.
I have never liked the media term 'mass deportation' -- but we must enforce the laws of the land!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2016
The FBI is investigating cyber intrusions targeting reporters of the New York Times and is looking into whether Russian intelligence agencies are responsible for the acts, a US official told the Associated Press.
The cyberattacks are believed to have targeted individual reporters, but investigators don’t believe the newspaper’s entire network was compromised, according to the official, who was briefed on the investigation but was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
CNN first reported the FBI’s investigation.
It was not immediately clear how many reporters may have been affected, or how many email accounts were targeted.
The news comes as federal authorities continue to investigate a breach of the Democratic National Committee that outside cybersecurity experts have attributed to Russian intelligence agencies and that led to the posting of embarrassing internal emails.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other Democratic entities have also been affected. Earlier this month, the House minority leader advised fellow Democrats not to allow family members to answer their phones or read incoming texts after a mix of personal and official information of Democratic members and hundreds of congressional staff – purportedly from a hack of the DCCC – was posted online.
Donald Trump is fundraising off of his pledge to “shut down” the Clinton Foundation if he is elected president, emailing supporters that the non-profit is “the most corrupt enterprise in political history” and vowing its destruction, as well as an investigation into Hillary Clinton.
“It is now clear that the Clinton Foundation is the most corrupt enterprise in political history,” Trump’s campaign wrote in the email. “We’ve now learned that a majority of the non-government people she met with as secretary of state gave money to the corrupt Clinton Foundation. Friend, it was wrong then, and it is wrong now - and the foundation must be shut down immediately.”
What follows is a call-to-action pushing for his supporters to donate to his campaign in order to achieve this end.
“Crooked Hillary Clinton is the defender of the corrupt and rigged status quo - the Clintons have spent decades as insiders lining their own pockets and taking care of donors instead of the American people. Hillary and Bill’s pay-to-play racket has already gone on far too long - and with unknown cost to the security and safety of our people.”
We missed out on Cher’s introduction of Hillary Clinton at a fundraiser in Provincetown, Massachusetts, by a single day - we’re still reeling - but the diva’s comments are still drawing controversy days later after she compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler and called him a “fucking idiot.”
The remarks, spoken in the Cape Cod vacation destination popular with LGBT East Coasters, were well-received by the crowd of mostly gay men in attendance, were preceded by a blaring of Cher’s single Woman’s World.
The mother of a British man accused of trying to grab a police officer’s gun to shoot Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a campaign event in Las Vegas won approval from a judge on Tuesday to visit her son in federal custody in Nevada.
Lynne Sandford of Dorking, England, wasn’t in court for a hearing at which Michael Steven Sandford’s defense attorney, Brenda Weksler, said he was in a “delicate mental state”.
In court filings, Weksler has said her client has been on suicide watch. He’s being held at a US government detention center west of Las Vegas.
Sandford, who was 20 when he was arrested 18 June, didn’t speak in court. His trial is scheduled 3 October.
US magistrate judge Cam Ferenbach characterized the case as unique because of Sandford’s age, the nature of the charges and the “context” of the alleged offense.
Authorities say Sandford grabbed for a Las Vegas police officer’s gun and later told federal agents that he drove from California to Las Vegas with a plan to kill Trump.
Prosecutors say he also said he practiced shooting at a gun range the day before Trump’s appearance.
It wasn’t clear if Trump, on stage at the Treasure Island hotel-casino, recognized a threat before officers escorted Sandford out of the 1,500-seat theater.
Hillary Clinton rubbed elbows and collected checks from some of Hollywood’s biggest stars at the Los Angeles home of Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. Leonardo DiCaprio was in fact due to host the fundraising event but a scheduling conflict kept the actor in New York longer than expected, according to a report in People Magazine.
Look WHO DID come over for lunch... Wow. #ImWithHer pic.twitter.com/1pX4V4mUxq
— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) August 23, 2016
DiCaprio didn’t want to “leave Hillary hanging”, a source told People, so he called his friends Timberlake and Biel and asked if they could host in a pinch. The new parents agreed and moved the Tuesday fundraiser to their home.
The glitzy late morning fundraiser drew around 100 guests, including Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx and Tobey Maguire. Based on figures provided by the campaign, she raised at approximately $3.34m at her the Timberlake-Biel fundraiser.
After leaving Los Angeles, Clinton will continue her fundraising pilgrimage, heading south for two fundraisers in Laguna Beach before returning upstate to attend a final fundraiser in Oakland.
On Monday night, Clinton stopped the by the Los Angeles home of former basketball player Magic Johnson and his wife after taping an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Around 500 people attended the event at the Johnson home and guests donated $2,700.
Updated
Donald Trump’s shifting political and business loyalties are laid bare in a new book that challenges his credentials as a conviction politician in often lurid detail.
Despite a recent campaign focus on letting “Trump be Trump”, the 431-page biography instead charts the career of many Trumps: the showman, the womaniser, and a business partner who quickly ditches failing schemes.
The book, the first of several expected on Trump, was compiled by a team of two dozen Washington Post journalists, led by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher, during a three-month period earlier this year, in which they had some 20 hours of interviews with him.
Challenged with evidence that he had changed party affiliation seven times between 1999 and 2012, the Republican candidate defended his political flip-flopping as a necessary expediency. “I think it had to do more with practicality, because if you’re going to run for office, you would have had to make friends,” he told the authors.
He declined to say whether he had voted for Hillary Clinton, for whom he once hosted a packed penthouse fundraiser and donated campaign contributions six times over a decade. “I felt it was an obligation to get along, including with the Clintons,” he once said, according to the book titled Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money and Power.
But the team of reporters also reveal new accounts of business reversals, including interviews with some of the victims of a collapsed Florida property scheme who sued after discovering that he had little responsibility for it other than receiving income for the use of his name.
Instead, reports the Washington Post book, one of the project’s actual developers had pleaded guilty in a separate Wall Street fraud case involving mafia crime families. Trump insists he “barely knew” the man.
Trump advisor Roger Stone muses whether Huma Abedin underwent female genital mutilation
Roger Stone, a longtime informal advisor to Donald Trump and even longer-time conspiracy theorist, conferred with fellow Trump supporter and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the latter’s radio program today about whether Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who was born in Michigan and raised in Saudi Arabia, has undergone female genital mutilation:
“I think she’s a Saudi asset,” Stone said of the longtime aide, who began as an intern for Clinton more than two decades ago. “The media keeps saying her mother’s a prominent feminist. No. Her mother’s a prominent advocate for genital mutilation. She has written extensively about genital mutilation.”
“Did Huma have her genitals cut off?” Jones asked offhandedly.
“That I cannot tell you,” Stone responded. “But what I can tell you is-”
“I mean, it’s fair, I don’t mean that to be crass!” Jones offered.
Abedin has been the target of conspiracy theories regarding her racial background since Clinton became secretary of state, including that she is a hidden fifth columnist for the Muslim Brotherhood. None of these rumors have ever been substantiated.
Indiana governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence got a haircut, and CNN was ON IT:
The highlight of the livestream: At the haircut’s conclusion (around the 19:40 mark) the barber asks Mike Pence his name, and Pence responds that he is running with Donald Trump.
The barber’s facial expression upon hearing that news is, perhaps, not what Pence was hoping for.
Updated
AP: Majority of Clinton's outside meetings were with Clinton Foundation donors
More than half of the meetings Hillary Clinton took with non-governmental interests during her tenure as secretary of state were with people who had donated money to the Clinton Foundation, the Associated Press reported this afternoon, an astonishing percentage that underscores previous critiques of Clinton’s connection with the organization during her time at the state department.
Of the 154 people from private interests who met with or had scheduled telephone conversations with Clinton while she served as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013 had donated money to the Clinton Foundation or had pledged to do so, giving as much as a combined $156 million to the non-profit. Of those, 20 gave more than $1 million to Clinton’s family foundation, which was founded during Bill Clinton’s second presidential term with the stated mission of “strengthen[ing] the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.”
The meetings, which do not appear to violate the law, nonetheless paint a picture of Foggy Bottom as a “pay-to-play” arena for the global elite:
Donors who were granted time with Clinton included an internationally known economist who asked for her help as the Bangladesh government pressured him to resign from a nonprofit bank he ran; a Wall Street executive who sought Clinton’s help with a visa problem and Estee Lauder executives who were listed as meeting with Clinton while her department worked with the firm’s corporate charity to counter gender-based violence in South Africa.
The figures do not include Clinton’s meeting with the representatives of at least 16 foreign governments who had donated as much as $170 million to the Clinton Foundation.
Obama to meet with families of Alton Sterling and Baton Rouge officers
According to a White House report, prior to his departure from Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport today, the President will meet with the family of Alton Sterling as well as the families of deceased and injured officers of the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office.
Read our coverage of the shootings last month:
Duly noted.
Jennifer Aniston was spotted walking up to @jtimberlake and @JessicaBiel's house for the Hillary Clinton fundraiser they're hosting
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) August 23, 2016
RNC chairman Reince Priebus tells reporters that Donald Trump will pass Hillary Clinton by Labor Day, which is the Monday after next, 13 days away.
Via ABC News:
.@Reince to reporters on call predicts that if Trump continues the way he has been, he's going to be "tied or ahead" after Labor Day.
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) August 23, 2016
Thirteen days feels like a small window of time for Trump to catch Clinton in national polling averages, seeing as he hasn’t done that since... ever:
Pollster estimate for 2016 President: Trump vs. Clinton vs. Johnson: Clinton 43%, Trump 37% https://t.co/bNGvrNMpyu
— Tom McCarthy (@TeeMcSee) August 23, 2016
Updated
The president chats with some residents of the block he filmed on. One couple asks him to film video birthday wishes for their daughter which he does. He thanks a few people in national guard uniforms and first responder uniforms. Lots of shaking hands.
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) August 23, 2016
Updated
Obama takes a question about the political optics of the trip.
One of the good things about being five months from leaving office, he says, is “I don’t worry too much about politics. ... Historically, when disasters strike, that’s probably one of the few times where Washington doesn’t get political.”
He repeats his praise for FEMA. He says a lot of significant national disasters have occurred during his presidency but local officials across the country recognize Fugate and company as professional.
Obama: 'this is not a one-off. This is not a photo op'
Obama says last week he directed the government to help. Fugate arrived “a week ago.” DHS secretary Jeh Johnson visited last week. More than 100,000 have applied for federal support. They’ve set aside $127m in federal assistance so far.
Any Louisiana family that needs help should visit fema.gov, he says.
Obama asks “every American” to help – go to volunteerlouisiana.gov.
“Volunteer help actually helps the state because it can offset some of its costs. Obviously private donations are going to help as well.”
Then Obama takes a dig at Trump (not by name):
“This is not a one-off. This is not a photo op issue. This is about how do you make sure that a month from now, six months from now... people are still getting the help they need.”
Updated
Obama: 'you're not alone on this'
Obama:
I come here first and foremost to say that the prayers of the entire nation are with those who lost loved ones.”
The search effort for some missing people continues, he says. “Local businesses have suffered terrible damage. Families have in some cases lost homes... priceless keepsakes.”
He says kids starting the school year will need help and support.
“You’re not alone on this. Even after the TV cameras leave, the whole country is going to continue to support you and help you until we get folks back in their homes and lives are rebuilt.”
He compares the situation to Katrina and its tenth anniversary.
“I know how resilient the people of Louisiana are and I know that you will rebuild again.”
Updated
Obama thanks “the outstanding officials behind me” who have been working nonstop.
He singles out the Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, and wife Donna.
“The governor’s mansion was flooded as well,” Obama says. He gives a shout out to US senators Bill Cassidy and David Vitter.
He calls FEMA administrator Craig Fugate one of his best hires as president. He says there’s been a change of culture at FEMA, meaning it actually works now.
Here’s a live video stream of Barack Obama touring a flood zone in Louisiana. The president is expected to make a statement shortly:
Former Ted Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler equates Donald Trump’s latest take on immigration – “the existing laws are very strong” – with AMNESTY!
.@realDonaldTrump's new tone on immigration is AMNESTY! Compares his plan to Obama's! Same as Rubio! https://t.co/YZHvvplCI6 via @DCExaminer
— Rick Tyler (@rickwtyler) August 23, 2016
It’s anybody’s call at this point where Trump’s immigration policy ends up. In the debates, will he stand by his calls to build a wall and deport millions of undocumented migrants? Are there points for consistency, in politics? The first debate is only a month away, and some voters who have not been paying attention to this point may encounter Trump’s immigration views there for the first time and like what they hear – whatever it is he ends up saying.
Updated
Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Two new state polls just out. In the first one, Clinton is brutalizing Trump in Virginia, where averages have her up by nine points:
New Virginia poll out today from Roanoke College:
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) August 23, 2016
Clinton 48
Trump 32
Johnson 8
Stein 3
Compare to May:
Clinton 38
Trump 38
Other 11
In the second, the two are neck-and-neck in Missouri, which voted for Clinton but since has gone Republican and has grown increasingly Republican, Democrat Claire McCaskill’s victory over Todd Akin in the 2012 US senate race notwithstanding:
BREAKING: Missouri
— MonmouthPoll (@MonmouthPoll) August 23, 2016
Prez: DJT 44, HRC 43, GJ 8
Sen: Blunt 48, Kander 43
Gov: Koster 51, Greitens 40https://t.co/9lMLqqdBZq
Averages have Trump up five on Clinton in Missouri but there’s not been much polling there.
Missouri (Monmouth)
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) August 23, 2016
Trump 44%
Clinton 43%
Johnson 8%
'12: Romney +10
08: McCain +0.2
04: W +7
00: W +3.5
96: Clinton +6.5
92: Clinton +10
Updated
Another Fox News host sues, calling network a 'sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult'
Andrea Tantaros, the former co-host of the Fox News program The Five, has filed a complaint in New York state supreme court that accuses former Fox chief Roger Ailes of being a “sexual predator” and names former senator Scott Brown and Fox host Bill O’Reilly.
“Fox News masquerades as defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny,” the complaint says.
Ailes took a $40m severance package last month after former host Gretchen Carlson, current host Megan Kelly and others accused him of sexual harassment.
Tantaros’ complaint says that Ailes’ lieutenants were his accomplices who “engaged in a concerted effort to silence Tantaros by threat, humiliation and retaliation.”
Ailes has not commented on the suit.
The complaint accuses former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown of making “a number of sexually inappropriate comments to Tantaros on set” and of sneaking “up behind Tantaros while she was purchasing lunch and put[ting] his hands on her lower waist.”
Brown has denied the allegations, saying he had never behaved inappropriately toward Tantaros.
Tantaros’ complaint says that “commencing in February 2016, Bill O’Reilly, whom Tantaros had considered to be a good friend and a person from whom she sought career guidance, started sexually harassing her by, inter alia, (a) asking her to come to stay with him on Long Island where it would be “very private,” and (b) telling her on more than one occasion that he could “see [her] as a wild girl,” and that he believed that she had a “wild side.”
Trump hits Obama for Louisiana trip
“Too little, too late!”
President Obama should have gone to Louisiana days ago, instead of golfing. Too little, too late!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2016
The president is in the air en route to Louisiana. He is scheduled to deliver a statement at about 2pmET, which we’ll carry live.
Poll gives lie to Clinton's Utah hopes
Will deep-seated Mormon objections to the walking profanity that is Donald Trump, and the explicit anti-Mormonism of Trump’s campaign “CEO”’s web site, combine to perform the once-in-a-lifetime feat of turning Utah bl – oh wait:
Our new Utah poll- Donald Trump 39, Hillary Clinton 24, Gary Johnson 12, Evan McMullin 9, D. Castle 2, J. Stein 1: https://t.co/LVqpjGeQnK
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) August 23, 2016
Politico reported that the Clinton campaign is opening “their first general election office in Salt Lake City, bolstering a recent effort by the Democratic nominee to build support among Utah’s religious community.”
Much has been made of Trump's unpopularity with Mormons and it's true- 33/56 fav in UT. But Clinton at 12/84 w/them: https://t.co/LVqpjGeQnK
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) August 23, 2016
BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins’ Twitter timeline is a good source for keeping up with the Trump campaign’s war on Mormonism and responses in kind:
...and Team Trump's hellbent mission to turn Utah blue continues apace.
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) August 23, 2016
It's not impossible for a Democrat to win Utah, but Hillary Clinton ain't it.
— Nathan Wurtzel (@NathanWurtzel) August 23, 2016
Look Democrats. If you're disappointed that Hillary is *only* doing 33 points better than Barack in Utah, you're having a pretty good year
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) August 23, 2016
Sausage McMuffins, the delicious McDonalds breakfast item made with a freshly cracked egg and served on a toasty English muffin, score higher favorability than either candidate in the poll (Trump scored 31/61 favorability and Clinton came in at 23/72):
Sausage McMuffin fav/unfav is a nice touch. https://t.co/kNNwH48YEg pic.twitter.com/mMXZXaZwod
— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) August 23, 2016
Updated
Aussie drag queen Courtney Act, who starred in RuPaul’s Drag Race, headed along to a Donald Trump rally to interview supporters while dressed as a woman, writes the Guardian’s Amber Jamieson:
Act notes in Junkee that she spent longer than normal on her hair and makeup, because she wanted to be as passable as possible out of fear of possible violence:
Although Donald said Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom she wanted in Trump Tower I was not sure his supporters would be as welcoming if they realized the blond Aussie feminine object of their affection had Mummy’s features and Daddy’s fixtures. Although I felt unsure about going as Courtney, I actually felt safer than going as Shane. I hoped at the very least they wouldn’t hit a girl,” wrote Act.
But rather than violence, Act instead said she found something even more surprising:
I found them all to be likeable. I didn’t feel scared. These people weren’t filled with hate. There weren’t innately bad or wanting to cause harm. It made me feel inspired that we are not fighting an enemy that hates us; they’re just misinformed. They’re not thinking about the world beyond their own immediate needs. They haven’t researched, read several independent news sources and created informed opinions that happen to be diametrically opposed to those on the left. This isn’t about facts, it about fear. Yes, that may make them a bigger threat to the future of the free world, but my perspective was totally shifted.”
Clinton to denounce Trump for 'alt-right' ties
Hillary Clinton will denounce Donald Trump and his team of political advisers for their embrace of the “alt-right”, an online movement where white supremacy, nationalism, nativism and racism flourish, writes the Guardian’s Lauren Gambino:
In a speech in Reno, Nevada, on Thursday, Clinton will argue that Trump’s “alt-right” brand is wrongfully pushing a dystopian view of America and sowing division in an effort to mobilize anxious Americans.
According to a campaign aide, Clinton will contrast Trump’s “divisive views and dangerous temperament” with a vision of an America that is “stronger together”.
Trump recently hired Stephen Bannon, erstwhile chairman of the controversial web site Breitbart, as CEO of his campaign. The site has recently accused Obama of “importing more hating Muslims”, complained that women who speak out against online harassment are “screwing up the Internet for men” and compared Planned Parenthood employees to Nazis.
Lowlights in Trump’s steady alienation of nonwhite and minority voters include his slowness to disavow a former Grand Wizard of the KKK, his questioning the fitness of a federal judge because of his Mexican heritage and his proposing a temporary ban on Muslims seeking to enter the United States.
Trump campaign releases packed schedule
On Monday, local news outlets “in Colorado, Nevada and Oregon reported that Trump events set to go on in their states were canceled, though in Nevada and Colorado, Trump is still slated to attend fundraisers,” USA Today reported.
What’s going on? Nothing to see here, according to a new statement from Trump spokesman Jason Miller, who runs through the candidate’s packed diary for the week. Here is the statement in full:
Today Mr. Trump is in Texas for two large fundraisers and then he will be taping an important town hall on border security and crimes committed by illegal aliens that will air nationally over two nights on Fox News’ Hannity.
Following the second fundraiser, Mr. Trump will be speaking at a rally in Austin to draw additional national attention to his call for border security as well as the need for a Special Prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton’s bought and paid for State Department.
Tomorrow Mr. Trump returns to the battleground state of Florida where he will have two Tampa-area events, and he will spend all of Friday campaigning hard in another battleground state, Nevada.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump will be in Des Moines, Iowa, for the second annual Roast & Ride fundraiser with Senator Joni Ernst.”
Not mentioned here but still happening: a rally tomorrow night in Jackson, MS. Up on campaign's website. https://t.co/7bMXVnitST
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) August 23, 2016
Updated
Trump relying on 'undercover voters' – but do they exist?
The Donald Trump campaign is counting on “undercover voters” to win in November, write the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs and Oscar Rickett:
Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway outlined her vision of how the Republican nominee could win in November despite consistently trailing in polls, during an interview with Channel 4 in the United Kingdom for the documentary President Trump: Can He Really Win?
Conway insisted that Trump’s support was not reflected in polls because of the perceived social stigma of supporting the Republican nominee.
“Donald Trump performs better consistently better in online polling where a human being is not talking to another human being about what he or she may do in the elections … it’s become socially desirable, especially if you’re a college educated person in the US, to say that you’re against Donald Trump,” said Conway.
“People who are supporting Donald Trump, who have not voted Republican in the past, who have not voted in quite a while, are so tired of arguing with family and friends and colleagues about their support of Donald Trump that they just decided not to discuss it.”
But a Wall Street Journal story out this morning, “Voter Influx Appears Missing for Trump,” points out that there is no evidence that the secret Santa voters Conway is talking about actually exist:
This year’s presidential primaries produced a slight increase in new voters compared with 2012, but not in numbers that suggest a major influx that might benefit Republican candidate Donald Trump, a new analysis of voter registration data finds.
The study by the Democratic firm Catalist, which analyzed records from 10 battleground states this year through June, suggest that the record-breaking turnout seen in the Republican primaries was the result of general election voters becoming motivated to show up for the party’s turbulent primary season, rather than a big inflow of new supporters into the Republican Party.
Read the full piece here (paywall).
Obama heads for Louisiana
Barack Obama is preparing to depart from Andrews Air Force Base to visit the flood zone in Louisiana.
As the southern reaches of the state shed the last of the week’s historic floodwaters, in which 40,000 homes were affected and at least 13 people killed, the region faces significant challenges: how to handle resulting disease, how to pay for the damage and how to prevent it all from happening again (read further).
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump visited the area last Friday. Hillary Clinton said in a statement Monday, “I am committed to visiting communities affected by these floods, at a time when the presence of a political campaign will not disrupt the response.”
Trump claims victimization at hands of press
Do you agree with Donald Trump that the media is treating him unfairly?
It is being reported by virtually everyone, and is a fact, that the media pile on against me is the worst in American political history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2016
Could the media be responsible for Trump’s number’s in Virginia?
Hillary leads in five Virginia polls this August:
— Adrian Gray (@adrian_gray) August 23, 2016
YouGov +12
Marist +13
WaPo +14
Q'Pac +12
Roanoke +16
(Bush +8, McCain -6, Romney -5)
More interestingly, perhaps, do you agree that disproportionate media coverage was responsible for Trump’s rise?
Hello and welcome to our live wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. Here are five developments on the Donald Trump campaign from overnight you may want to know about:
1. Trump rolls out new immigration look, praises Obama
Speaking on Bill O’Reilly’s program on Fox News, Donald Trump rolled out a new version of his now-obscure position on immigration, telling the host that “I just want to follow the law”...
“I just want to follow the law,” Trump said. “What I’m doing is following the law ... Now the existing laws are very strong. The existing laws, the first thing we are going to do if and when I win, is we are going to get rid of all of the bad ones. ... As far as everybody else, we are going to go through the process. What people don’t know is Obama got tremendous numbers of people out of the country.”
Trump actually said this: "What people don't know is that Obama got tremendous numbers of people out of the country."
— Rick Klein (@rickklein) August 23, 2016
2. Trump: ‘war zones’ safer than inner cities
Donald Trump veered off the teleprompter on Monday night to claim that “inner cities run by the Democrats” were more dangerous than countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.[...]
“You can go to war zones in countries that we are fighting and it is safer than living in some of our inner cities that are run by the Democrats,” Trump said. The Republican nominee also promised if elected, “we’ll get rid of the crime. You’ll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. Now, you walk down the street, you get shot.”
3. Trump jacked rent at Trump Tower once donor money flowed
The Trump campaign rents office space in Trump Tower. When Donald Trump was mostly self-financing his campaign, the office space cost one thing. When Trump began accepting more donations from the public, the price quintupled, the Huffington Post reports:
Trump nearly quintupled the monthly rent his presidential campaign pays for its headquarters at Trump Tower to $169,758 in July, when he was raising funds from donors, compared with March, when he was self-funding his campaign, according to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings. The rent jumped even though he was paying fewer staff in July than he did in March.
The Trump campaign paid Trump Tower Commercial LLC $35,458 in March ― the same amount it had been paying since last summer ― and had 197 paid employees and consultants. In July, it paid 172 employees and consultants.
Like Trump U, Trump campaign is a scam. Fleecing the gullible. In this case donors. https://t.co/ZsjhP9Cn9s
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) August 23, 2016
4. Melania Trump lawyer warns Politico
Back in February, Donald Trump pledged if elected president to “open up our libel laws so when [newspapers] write purposely negative stories … we can sue them and make lots of money.”
Now Lawyers for Melania Trump are pursuing legal action against the Daily Mail for reporting “100% false” rumors that she worked as an escort in the 1990s as well as raising questions about her immigration status at the time.
A spokesperson for the Daily Mail did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s lawyer, the gun-for-hire paid by billionaire Peter Thiel to destroy Gawker in the Hulk Hogan porn case, has since confirmed to the Guardian that Melania Trump is also considering filing lawsuits against other publications including Politico and the Week. Harder said that those publications are all “on notice” and no suit has been filed yet.
Imagine the journalistic opportunity a Melania Trump deposition would offer.
— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) August 23, 2016
5. Trump cancels multiple events
Trump has cancelled his Colorado, Nevada and now Oregon events https://t.co/MRbY7hvNYO
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) August 22, 2016
what’s going on?
And in non-Trump-circus-related-news:
Clinton opens jar of pickles on TV
New NBC/Survey Monkey national poll
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 23, 2016
Hillary Clinton: 50%
Donald Trump: 42%
Thanks for reading and please join us in the comments.
