Bill Clinton must feel pretty brilliant for having encouraged Trump-- lured him?-- into running for the Republican nomination this year. Could Hillary have possibly beaten the more legitimate, less insane candidates? These Trumpisms from yesterday are in chronological order:• I have one of the great temperaments. I have a winning temperament. She has a bad temperament. She's weak. We need a strong temperament.• I think I have a great temperament.• I have a temperament where I know how to win. She doesn't know how to win. Honestly, she lies a lot. And she really-- she should tell-- the truth.• I have no relationship with Putin. I don't think I've ever met him. I never met him. I don't think I've ever met him.• He's not gonna go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down... Crimea has been taken. Don't blame Donald Trump for that.• Michael Bloomberg wouldn't-- couldn't get elected dogcatcher in New York... He spent a fortune to get elected. He shouldn't have gone to third term. The snow removal was a disaster.• you know, you're not reinventing the wheel here with these questions.• I got a letter from the NFL saying, "This is ridiculous. Why are the debates against--" 'cause the NFL doesn't wanna go against the debates.• I think I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs-- built great structures. I've done-- I've had-- I've had tremendous success. I think I've done a lot...• [I]t was one of the biggest bounces in 20 years. It's been a long time since somebody had a bounce like that.Is it possible to imagine the Trumpanzee lying? His bounce was as small as his... gloves-- 1 point-- and short-lived (4 days). Two credible polls came out yesterday, one from PPP and one from Morning Consult, both showing the post-convention bounces indicate Hillary is pulling further way and leaving Trump behind, digging himself into a deep hole as he turned his guns on the grieving gold star parents of an American captain killed protecting his troops in Iraq, accused a fire marshall who had rescued him from an elevator of not allowing more people into an auditorium because of orders from Hillary, lied about imaginary interactions with the NFL and the Koch brothers (whom have both repudiated his delusions) and viciously attacked a 4 star general.PPP reported national post-convention results that indicate Democrats are, whether enthusiastically or reluctantly, now in Clinton's corner, while Trump continues to turn off voters. PPP pointed out that "most of the remaining undecided pool is very Democratic leaning. They give Barack Obama a 55/33 approval rating, and they'd rather have him as President than Trump by a 59/10 spread. If they ended up voting for Clinton and Trump by those proportions, it would push Clinton's lead up from 5 points to 8. But they don't like Clinton (a 4/83 favorability) or Trump (a 2/89 favorability). A lot of these folks are disaffected Bernie Sanders voters, and even after the successful convention this week they're still not sold on Clinton yet. She and her surrogates will have to keep working to try to win those folks over and if they can the election enters landslide territory." And the news gets even worse for the Trumpanzee as you read more deeply into the polling.
Democrats are coming out of their convention with the public having a much better view of their party (45/48 favorability) than the Republicans (38/55 favorability). By a 50/40 margin voters say they see the Democratic convention as having been more of a success than a failure, and the major speakers from the convention generally have a positive image with voters. Michelle Obama is the most popular with a 56/39 favorability rating, followed by Joe Biden at 50/39, Bill Clinton at 48/45, and Chelsea Clinton at 45/31. Barack Obama has a 50/47 approval rating, and voters say by a 53/44 spread that they'd rather have him as President than Trump- that metric suggests the possibility for Clinton to grow her lead further if she's able to win over some of those folks who prefer Obama.The Vladimir Putin/Russia issue has the potential to cause Donald Trump a lot of problems in the weeks ahead. Only 7% of Americans view Putin favorably to 69% with a negative opinion and only 14% see Russia as a whole favorably to 52% with a negative view. By a 47 point margin-- 5% more likely, 52% less likely-- voters say they're less likely to vote for a candidate if it's perceived Russia is interfering in the election to try to help them. And by a 26 point margin-- 9% more likely, 35% less likely-- they're less likely to vote for a candidate seen as being friendly toward Russia. If Democrats can effectively leverage this issue in the weeks ahead it has the potential to help turn this into a more lopsided race.Also problematic for Trump is that the issue of him releasing his tax returns isn't going anywhere. 62% of voters think he needs to release them to only 23% who think it's not necessary. That includes Democrats (85/8) and independents (60/22) overwhelmingly thinking Trump needs to release them and independents (37/43) being pretty evenly split on the issue.
Morning Consult pointed out that "part of Clinton’s gains can be attributed to her increased support from independent voters and men. In the new poll, Clinton leads Trump by one point, 43 percent to 42 percent, among men. Last week, Trump beat Clinton by 8 points among men. She also picked up four points from independent voters compared with last week’s poll, but almost one-third (30 percent) of respondents are still undecided in the race. The youngest voters back Clinton overwhelmingly, with 53 percent of millennials backing her over just one-fourth who support Trump. Voters 65 or older back Trump by a similar margin: 52 percent to 34 percent.UPDATE: McCain On The Khan ControversyMcCain has a tight reelection race in Arizona and he's trying to stay clear of his party's narcissistic presidential nominee who he clearly detests. But... as he said just now, he felt "morally bound to speak only to the things that command my allegiance" and that he will not hesitate from jeopardizing his own reelection by alienating the Trumpist morons in Arizona "simply because it may benefit others with whom I disagree" (Clinton).
In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States-- to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates....While our Party has bestowed upon [Trump] the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us.Lastly, I'd like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America. We're a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation-- and he will never be forgotten.
Meanwhile, the Trump camp is now digging itself deeper into a hole of horror in the eyes of most Americans-- pushing a line that Khan is-- get ready-- a terrorist. A tweet last night from one of the only advisors Trump pays any attention to, deranged and hate-filled sociopath Roger Stone:
