Jonathan Martin: “The best possible outcome in November for the future of the Republican Party is for former President Donald Trump to lose and lose soundly. GOP leaders won’t tell you that on the record. I just did.”

“Trump will never concede defeat, no matter how thorough his loss. Yet the more decisively Vice President Kamala Harris wins the popular vote and electoral college the less political oxygen he’ll have to reprise his 2020 antics; and, importantly, the faster Republicans can begin building a post-Trump party.”

“Harris is less a doctrinaire progressive than she is up for grabs on policy, but any liberal course she takes would be constrained by a GOP-held Senate. No, that’s not a sure thing, but it’s the safest electoral bet in this turbulent election.”

Playbook: “The size of a loss matters. There’s concern that Trump if he loses in November, he will stoke election lies that cast doubt on his defeat. That’s why in these Republicans’ minds, the best-case scenario is Harris winning big.”

New CNN polls find Kamala Harris holds an advantage over Donald Trump among likely voters in Wisconsin and Michigan, while Trump has the edge in Arizona.

The two split likely voters almost evenly in Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

• Wisconsin: Harris 50%, Trump 44%
• Michigan: Harris 48%, Trump 43%
• Arizona: Trump 49%, Harris 44%
• Georgia: Harris 48%, Trump 47%
• Nevada: Harris 49%, Trump 47%
• Pennsylvania: Harris 47%, Trump 47%

Key takeaway: “Across each of them, an average of 15% of likely voters say they have not yet firmly decided their choice, suggesting a sizable share of voters could shift their views on the race as attention to the campaign rises and campaign activity, especially in these states, hits a fever pitch in the final nine weeks before Election Day.”

“A fundraising event for defendants of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol scheduled to take place at former President Trump’s golf club in New Jersey this week has been postponed indefinitely,” The Hill reports.

“President Joe Biden may try to forgive student debt again as early as next month, in a sweeping redo effort that could impact tens of millions of Americans,” CNBC reports.

“The Biden administration’s attempt to deliver the aid could come roughly 14 months after the Supreme Court blocked it from carrying out its first student loan forgiveness plan. Just hours after the justices announced their ruling in June 2023, Biden vowed to find a new way to reduce or eliminate people’s education debt.”

“Despite the Republican-led legal challenges that have so far stymied the president from implementing wide-scale student loan relief, his administration has still managed to cancel more of the debt than any other before it.”

A new WDIV/Detroit News survey in Michigan found the presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is very close, a statistical toss-up.

Trump leads Harris, 45% to 44%, among likely voters, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. trailing at 5% and 5% still undecided.

“Elon Musk’s disdain for the Democratic Party was never subtle, but in recent weeks his commentary on the upcoming US presidential election and his attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris have intensified, aided by a crude use of burgeoning artificial intelligence technology,” CNN reports.

“On Monday, Musk posted an AI-generated image on his social media platform that depicted Harris as a communist, wearing a red uniform complete with hammer and sickle emblazoned hat.”

“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will remain on Michigan’s Nov. 5 ballot after a judge sided with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who said it’s too late under state election law to have Kennedy’s name removed from the presidential ballot,” the Detroit Free Press reports.

Elaine Godfrey: “During a conversation onstage at a Moms for Liberty event last week, Donald Trump said something that made even me—a seasoned visitor to Trump’s theme park of hyperbole—look around in confusion at the people around me in the audience.”

Said Trump: “The transgender thing is incredible. Think of it; your kid goes to school, and he comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what’s going to happen with your child.”

“Headlines after the event declared that Trump was questioning the acceptance of transgender children. Fact-check: True. But his full comments are worth spending a little more time with. As is typical with the former president’s rhetoric, Trump took the tiniest smidgen of information, inflated it with 10,000 cubic feet of hot air, and sent it flying off into the country to rile up his supporters. Justice, of course, did not attempt to correct him or offer any context.”