James Stewart: “Mitt Romney was excoriated during the 2012 presidential campaign for paying $4.9 million in federal income tax, or an average of just 14 percent of his adjusted gross income, in the two years for which he released returns.”

Here are the latest state polls of the presidential race:

New Hampshire: Clinton 41%, Trump 31% (Vox Populi)

Georgia: Trump 43%, Clinton 39% (Gravis)

Maine: Clinton 43%, Trump 33% (Gravis)

South Carolina: Trump 41%, Clinton 39% (Public Policy Polling)

Iowa: Trump 37%, Clinton 36% (Suffolk)

Florida: Clinton 46%, Trump 43% (Public Policy Polling)

New Hampshire: Clinton 50%, Trump 37% (Public Policy Polling)

Florida: Clinton 45%, Trump 44% (Opinion Savvy)

Joe Klein: “It will probably take a miracle for Trump to rebound sufficiently to win the presidency. But a loss in November is not the end of this story. In the midst of the Trump crumple, the New York Times put up a video of the idiot fringe of his supporters, filmed over the past year by Times reporters. These true believers seemed half crazed, disgraceful, barbaric. It was shocking to watch, and terrifying. Trump the candidate is a farce, but these people aren’t. They have always been with us, the racists and hatemongers; they have always, thankfully, been a minority. But they seem more threatening now. They are part of an international movement. They have their own self-reinforcing media, feeding them a diet of paranoid distortions. They are being prepared by the likes of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh–and, of course, by Trump himself–for a ‘rigged’ election that they will lose. And then what?”

“Trump may go away as a serious political force; he will find new business franchises to foist on the unwitting. But his followers will remain–and they will remain our fellow citizens, a slowly dwindling demographic force, more desperate in their diminution. We badly need to find a way to talk to them when this cataclysm of a campaign is over.”

“More than 70 Republicans have signed an open letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus urging him to stop spending any money to help Donald Trump win in November and shift those contributions to Senate and House races,” Politico reports.

Donald Trump said that he meant exactly what he said when he called President Obama the “founder of ISIS” and objected when a conservative radio show host tried to clarify the GOP nominee’s position, CNN reports.

Said Trump: “No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS. I do. He was the most valuable player. I give him the most valuable player award. I give her, too, by the way, Hillary Clinton.”

He added: “He was the founder. His, the way he got out of Iraq was that that was the founding of ISIS, okay?”

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “This week we’re moving four House race ratings toward the Democrats (descriptions of those changes are below). That brings the overall House tally to 226 Safe/Likely/Leaning Republican seats, 193 Safe/Likely/Leaning Democratic seats, and 16 Toss-ups (14 of which are held by Republicans). The House is currently 247-188 Republican, so if one splits the Toss-ups eight apiece, the House would be 234-201 Republican, giving Democrats a net gain of 13 seats (and matching the makeup of the House following the 2012 election).”

“That squares with our current projection: a 10-15 seat Democratic gain, which even at the high end would still be just half of the 30 seats the Democrats need to win the House.”

Cincinnati Enquirer: “With the presidential election 90 days away, the Donald Trump campaign is scrambling to set up the basics of a campaign in Hamilton County, a key county in a swing state crucial to a Republican victory, a recent internal email obtained by The Enquirer shows. The campaign has yet to find or appoint key local leaders or open a campaign office in the county and isn’t yet sure which Hamilton County Republican party’s central committee members are allied with the Republican presidential nominee.”

A new Monmouth poll specifically asked whether voters feel that their own personal way of life is under threat from six different sources.

Among these sources, majorities of the electorate say they personally feel threatened by Islamic terrorists (61%) and by the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency (54%).  About 4-in-10 feel their way of life is threatened by the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency (42%), by the policies of the Republican Party (43%), or by the policies of the Democratic Party (39%).  Just 28% say their personal way of life is under threat from illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Rick Klein: “Trump says he is just now engaging with the commission to negotiate. But the commission says it does not negotiate things like dates and moderators with the campaigns. In any event, one campaign has agreed to the dates, football conflicts or not. Thinking back to the primaries, he may think he has leverage he does not. Plus, there’s a downside, if it means having to swim into Hillary Clinton’s policy depths. (He wasn’t quite as good a debater as he seems to remember himself being.) The only reason the debates would happen is if Trump decides he absolutely needs them. And that will almost certainly mean following the commission schedule through the fall.”

In case you missed it, Jim Lehrer joined us on Political Wire Conversations to discuss the upcoming debates.

“It’s either going to work or I’m going to have a very very nice long vacation.”

— Donald Trump, in a CNBC interview.