“I think that I would be a great uniter. I think that I would have great diplomatic skills. I think that I would be able to get along with people very well. I’ve had a great success in my life. I think the world would unite if I were the leader of the United States.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by The Hill.
“When 17 presidential contenders converge on Cleveland to debate on Thursday, not a few party leaders will be shuddering at the prospect of a scene out of The Hunger Games. Or perhaps a duel of insults dominated by Donald J. Trump,” the New York Times reports.
“But Republican leaders are delighted by one aspect of the debate: the attention it will shower on Ohio, a state they hope to bring back into the Republican fold in the 2016 election. The ultimate bellwether state in presidential politics, Ohio is the site of next Thursday’s debate because, just under a year from now, it will host the 2016 convention in the same Cleveland sports arena.”
New York Times: “After two elections in which Democrats and liberals sought to cast them as the secretive, benighted face of the Republican Party, the Kochs are seeking to remake public perceptions of their family, their business and their politics, unsettling a corporate culture deeply allergic to the spotlight.”
“Even as their donor network prepares to spend extravagantly to defeat Democrats during the 2016 campaign, the Kochs have made cause with prominent liberals to change federal sentencing rules, which disproportionately affect African-Americans, while a Koch-backed nonprofit, the Libre Initiative, offers driving lessons and tax preparation services to Latinos.”
Charlie Cook: “For Bush and Rubio (and Kasich if he makes the cut), the best advice would probably be to stay out of Trump’s way. Focus on making a positive impression on—and hopefully connecting with—Republican primary voters and caucus attendees. Each of them should have a game plan for achieving those goals and stick to it, almost no matter what Trump does.”
“But for Sen. Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Rand Paul, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and, if he makes the cut, former Sen. Rick Santorum—all of whom are running from a distinctly more ideological wing of the party—a wise strategy would be not only to follow the aforementioned advice but also to demonstrate enough anger that they plausibly stand to inherit Trump’s supporters if he does start to drop in the polls.”
Politico: “Several insiders advised that the longer the focus is on Trump’s battles with the others, the better it is for Bush to quietly consolidate support while others struggle to break through.”
“The Army is nearly 14% short of the recruits it will need to fill its ranks, marking the first time in six years — and only the third in the last 20 — that it may fall short of its recruiting goal for the year,” USA Today reports.
“The State Department is set Friday to post online its next batch of e-mails that Hillary Clinton sent and received on a personal account while she was secretary of state,” Bloomberg reports.
“None is anticipated to contain material directly tied to the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Instead, these e-mails are anticipated to date from an earlier period in Clinton’s tenure as secretary—late 2009 to early 2010. Even so, they will likely draw intense scrutiny from the media, Republicans and others seeking any new political ammunition or gossipy tidbits about the 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner.”
Stuart Stevens: “To what do we owe this bumper crop of candidates? There are three main reasons. 1. This year there is no obvious front-runner; it’s no one’s turn (in stark contrast with the Democratic primary). 2. The outside groups known as ‘super PACs’ make it easier to fund campaigns — and while they guarantee that more money is spent, they also make it easier to raise that money. 3. Republicans believe the next president may very well be a Republican and the nomination is worth winning. While being near the back of the pack in a large field might seem hopeless, strange things happen in politics, and the odds of being the next president are definitely worse if you don’t run.”
A new SurveyUSA poll in Kentucky finds Jack Conway (D) with a small lead over Matt Bevin (R) in the race for governor, 45% to 42%, with 13% of voters still undecided.
Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said they have specific policy positions ready for release at a time and method of the campaign’s choosing, BuzzFeed reports.
Said Lewandowski: “Candidly? They’re all done. They’re done and we’re waiting for our schedule and we won’t be dictated to by the mainstream media to tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing and how these positions should be put out front.”
The political betting markets give Donald Trump 8-1 odds of winning the Republican presidential nomination, behind only Jeb Bush (8-5), Marco Rubio (7-2) and Scott Walker (4-1).
Donald Trump appears to be making a serious play for Sarah Palin’s supporters, the New York Times reports.
Earlier this week Trump flattered Palin “proclaiming that he would love to have her in his cabinet if he won the White House. On Thursday, Mr. Trump showed another sign of respect for Ms. Palin, hiring Michael Glassner to be his campaign’s national political director. Mr. Glassner was chief of staff for Ms. Palin’s political action committee and worked closely with her when she ran for vice president alongside Senator John McCain in 2008.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is attributing GOP presidential rival Donald Trump’s rise in the polls to a momentary “loss of sanity,” The Hill reports.
Said Paul: “I think this is a temporary sort of loss of sanity, but we’re going to come back to our senses and look for someone serious to lead the country at some point.”
“It’s not even disputed that programs that I’ve initiated have helped at least 25 million people. We’re going to keep trying to help people between now and when my innocence is proven.”
— Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer, on his corruption indictment.
“I think I’d get along very well with Vladimir Putin. I just think so. People say, ‘What do you mean?’ I think I would get along well with him.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by TPM.
Wall Street Journal: “According to Facebook, Mr. Trump is easily the most-talked candidate of the 2016 election — and it’s been that way ever since he announced he was running for the White House on June 16. In the past 30 days, Mr. Trump has dominated the conversation so heavily on the social network, that no other candidate has come close to reaching him, even for a day.”