A new CNN/ORC poll finds that 51% of Republican voters want Donald Trump nominated at the GOP convention next month while 48% want someone else.
‘He Loves to Keep a Fat Guy Around’
Slate talks to several people who worked on Donald Trump’s reality television show, The Apprentice:
“There was a fat contestant who was a buffoon and a fuckup,” recalls the midlevel producer. “And he would fuck up week after week, and the producers would figure that he’d screwed up so badly that Trump would have to fire him. But Trump kept deciding to fire someone else. The producers had to scramble because of course Trump can never be seen to make a bad call on the show, so we had to re-engineer the footage to make a different contestant look bad. Later, I heard a producer talk to him, and Trump said, ‘Everybody loves a fat guy. People will watch if you have a funny fat guy around. Trust me, it’s good for ratings.’ I look at Chris Christie now and I swear that’s what’s happening.”
Trump May Have Committed Fraud
“If Donald Trump’s claims that certain of his commercial ventures benefit charity are untrue, he could be held liable under Section 349 of New York’s General Business Law, which forbids deceptive business acts and practices, as well as under charitable solicitation laws, according to legal experts,” Politico reports.
“In promoting products as varied as Trump University, Trump Vodka, a Trump board game and his latest book, Crippled America, the businessman has declared that the proceeds would go to charity. None of Trump’s proceeds from Trump University have gone to charity, and only a few hundred dollars of charitable giving related to Trump Vodka has been accounted for.”
How to Bypass Campaign Finance Rules
The Intercept publishes a 2015 memo evidently written by Marc Elias, now general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, which explains how staffers can solicit money for a super PAC without breaking campaign finance rules.
“The memo, found among the trove of documents from the Democratic National Committee apparently stolen by the hacker who goes by the name Guccifer 2.0, includes rules and sample statements that will keep you on the right side of America’s barely existing campaign finance laws.”
Quote of the Day
“I understand money far better than anybody.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by NBC News.
Dennis Hastert to Report to Prison
Associated Press: “When he enters the prison gates, which he must do by Wednesday afternoon, the nation’s longest-serving GOP speaker who for eight years was second in the line of succession to the presidency will be known to prison guards as Inmate No. 47991-424.”
Where Does Trump Start to Fix His Campaign?
Rick Klein: “Where does Donald Trump go to get his base confident about his campaign? Not in internal management, with his campaign manager now out, the victim of an internal turf war that involved Trump’s three oldest children. Not in his fundraising report, a measly document that would have set a new low this century for a major-party candidate at this stage in the cycle if not for another personal contribution he made. And not in campaign messaging that hasn’t evolved since the distant primary phase, when insults and racially tinged remarks drew bold headlines.”
“All three elements will prove difficult to fix. But none might be as devastating as anemic fundraising, so long as big donors either sit on the sidelines or mull their options in congressional races. Those desperate to block Trump’s nomination before the convention have the fodder they need, just not a winning strategy or mechanism – at least not yet.”
Republicans Don’t Like Talking About Trump
Mark Leibovich in the New York Times Magazine:
To a comical extent, top Republicans willed themselves invisible when I reached out to them for this article, fearing, not incorrectly, that the conversation would turn to Trump. This included some of the most typically quotable Republicans, including former Trump challengers like Graham (“He’s sorta had his fill talking about Trump,” a spokesman emailed), Perry (“Thanks for thinking of him”) and Ted Cruz (“Not great timing on our end”); the previous nominee Mitt Romney (“You are kind to think of me,” he wrote); Trump stalwarts like Chris Christie (“We are going to take a pass this time”); Trump-averse Republican governors like Charlie Baker of Massachusetts (“The governor won’t be available”); and senators like Mike Lee, of Utah (“Senator Lee would love to talk to you about the state of the G.O.P. and conservatism in general. We are free anytime after Nov 8.”).
Hundreds of Delegates Now Support Ousting Trump
“A campaign to stop Donald Trump from becoming the Republican presidential nominee has the support of nearly 400 delegates to the GOP’s convention next month, according to organizers, quickly transforming what began as an idea tossed around on social media into a force that could derail a national campaign,” the Washington Post reports.
“While organizers concede their plan could worsen internal party strife, they believe they are responding to deep-rooted concerns among conservatives about Trump, who is suffering from declining poll numbers after weeks of missteps and embarrassing headlines.”
David Drucker: “It’s an uphill battle and unlikely to succeed. There is both a lack of leadership at the top necessary to direct a convention revolt, and insufficient dissatisfaction among Republican voters at the bottom to fuel it. Also lacking: an alternative candidate.”
Trump Begins Fall Campaign In a Big Hole
Donald Trump “enters the general election campaign laboring under the worst financial and organizational disadvantage of any major party nominee in recent history, placing both his candidacy and his party in political peril,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump began June with just $1.3 million in cash on hand, a figure more typical for a campaign for the House of Representatives than the White House. He trailed Hillary Clinton, who raised more than $28 million in May, by more than $41 million, according to reports filed late Monday night with the Federal Election Commission.”
“He has a staff of around 70 people — compared with nearly 700 for Mrs. Clinton — suggesting only the barest effort toward preparing to contest swing states this fall.”
Politico: Trump getting crushed by Clinton money machine
Clinton Holds Wide Lead In Florida
Quinnipiac released polls in three important swing states:
- Florida: Clinton 47, Trump 39
- Ohio: Clinton 40, Trump 40
- Pennsylvania: Clinton 42, Trump 41
Key finding: “By wide margins, voters in each state say Clinton is better prepared than Trump to be president; that she is more intelligent than Trump and that she has higher moral standards.”
Clinton Keeps National Lead
A new CNN/ORC poll shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump in the presidential race by five points, 47% to 42%.
A new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll shows Clinton leading by six points.
Trump’s Fundraising Is Stunningly Bad
“Donald Trump’s campaign raised $3.1 million in May and ended last month with $1.3 million in the bank, a remarkably poor showing that will only heighten Republican concerns about his ability to run a serious general election campaign against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump’s paltry fundraising last month is totally inexplicable given that he effectively secured the Republican presidential nomination on May 3 when he crushed Texas. Sen. Ted Cruz in the Indiana primary.”
The Huffington Post reports Trump’s presidential campaign paid more than $1 million last month to companies controlled by the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Democrats Chase Talent for Convention Line Up
“Democratic operatives planning next month’s national convention in Philadelphia have reached out to Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony Award-winning writer and star of the hit Broadway musical ‘Hamilton,’ about performing at the Wells Fargo Center,” Politico reports.
“It’s part of an ambitious plan to generate excitement and boost television viewership for the party convention after what Democrats expect to be a four-day reality show at the Republican convention in Cleveland.”
How Trump Fired His Campaign Manager
Gabriel Sherman: “At around 9:30 Monday morning, Donald Trump and his adult children gathered for a regular strategy meeting at Trump Tower. Also present were senior staff, including Corey Lewandowski, the campaign’s embattled manager… According to two sources briefed on the events, the meeting was a setup. Shortly after it began, the children peppered Lewandowski with questions, asking him to explain the campaign’s lack of infrastructure.”
“Their father grew visibly upset as he heard the list of failures. Finally, he turned to Lewandowski and said, “What’s your plan here?”
“Lewandowski responded that he wanted to leak Trump’s vice-president pick. And with that, Lewandowski was out. Trump has long viewed announcing his running mate at the GOP convention next month as a valuable card to play. He was shocked that Lewandowski didn’t have any other ideas.”
“Shortly after the meeting, Lewandowski was escorted out of the building by Trump security.”
The Lid: “Even if Lewandowski’s ouster makes nervous Republicans feel a smidge better, the way it was handled probably gave them heartburn anyway.”
‘Republicans Have Decided to Sell Weapons to ISIS’
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told the Washington Post be that Republicans are partially culpable for attacks like the Orlando nightclub shooting because they refuse to restrict gun sales to those on the terror watch list.
Said Murphy: “We’ve got to make this clear, constant case that Republicans have decided to sell weapons to ISIS.”
He added: “ISIS has decided that the assault weapon is the new airplane, and Republicans, in refusing to close the terror gap, refusing to pass bans on assault weapons, are allowing these weapons to get in the hands of potential lone-wolf attackers. We’ve got to make this connection and make it in very stark terms.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“We may all need to run.”
— Sen. Ted Cruz, quoted by CNN, joking after an audience member yelled, “Run, Ted!”
Lewandowski Not Sure Why He Was Fired
In his first comments since being fired from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, Corey Lewandowski said he did not know why he was fired as Trump’s campaign manager, McClatchy reports.
But he also said he would still “do everything I can” to make sure Trump is elected president in November.
Lewandowski said he heard the news in “a nice conversation with Mr. Trump” and that a friend from the office led him out of the building.