Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) offered some blunt advice in the New York Times to Republicans: “Distance yourself from Donald Trump.”
He added: “That’s difficult but I think we’ve got to do it if we’re concerned not just about this election but elections to come.”
Otherwise, Flake said, “this will last decades.”
“The only way you can be comfortable about Trump’s foreign policy, is to think he doesn’t really mean anything he says. That’s a pretty uncomfortable place to be in.”
— Former Bush adviser Paul Wolfowitz, in an interview with Der Spiegel, while suggesting he might vote for Hillary Clinton.
Michael Gerson: “Consider this list of Trump’s chosen: Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski had a brutal and demeaning style that resulted in a staff revolt, and his manhandling of a female reporter overshadowed the Trump campaign for weeks. Former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was paid lucrative consulting fees by foreign interests and resigned after reports that Ukraine anti-corruption investigators were scrutinizing millions in alleged payments there.”
“Longtime adviser Roger Stone is a crackpot conspiracy theorist who asserts that Bill and Hillary Clinton are “plausibly responsible” for the deaths of roughly 40 people and that Hillary Clinton should be “executed for murder.” Confidant Roger Ailes recently stepped down from his job at Fox News under a cloud of sexual harassment claims. And Steve Bannon, Trump’s new campaign chief executive, is known for his bullying tactics and for running a website (Breitbart News) that flirts with white nationalism.”
“There are a few exceptions to this pattern — Kellyanne Conway and Mike Pence come to mind — but Trump has hired and elevated some of the very worst people in American politics, known for their cruelty, radicalism, prejudice and corruption.”
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CNN obtained a 400-page opposition research file on journalist Gabriel Sherman, which was compiled for Roger Ailes as Sherman wrote a book about the ex-Fox News chief.
“It has all the markings of ‘opposition research’ about a political enemy — which is precisely how Ailes viewed Sherman. The memo, obtained by CNNMoney from two anonymous sources, is a stunning display of Ailes’ campaign-like strategies. It includes, among other things, property records, voter registration information, and a note that the researchers could find no criminal record for Sherman.”
“Republicans in Western states fear that Donald Trump could imperil their party for years to come in the country’s fastest-growing region as he repels a generation of Hispanics, Asians and younger voters who have been altering the electoral map,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump, with his insult-laden, culturally insensitive style of campaigning, is providing fuel for the demographic trends that are already reshaping the political composition of this once-heavily Republican territory. And now many Republicans are contemplating the possibility that states like Colorado or Nevada could soon become the next California: once competitive but now unwinnable in presidential contests.”
And this from Arizona: “Recent polls show Hillary Clinton is close to tying Mr. Trump here. And her campaign has responded by teaming up with local Democrats on a statewide get-out-the-vote operation, which has grown to 160 staff members across 20 offices.”
The Fix: Leading Republicans aren’t rushing to defend Trump on race.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) “used the familiar metaphor of war Friday to describe Maine’s efforts to curb drug addiction, but he once again framed the battle in racial terms and effectively endorsed racial profiling of suspected drug dealers,” the Portland Press Herald reports.
Said LePage: “Look, the bad guy is the bad guy, I don’t care what color he is. When you go to war, if you know the enemy and the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, then you shoot at red.”
He added: “You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy and the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in, are people of color or people of Hispanic origin.”
“Donald Trump’s campaign CEO Stephen Bannon was branded an anti-Semite by the same ex-wife who claimed he choked her, court documents reveal,” the New York Daily News reports.
“Mary Louise Piccard said in a 2007 court declaration that Bannon didn’t want their twin daughters attending the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles because many Jewish students were enrolled at the elite institution.”
Said Piccard in a court statement at the time: “The biggest problem he had with Archer is the number of Jews that attend. He said that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiny brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews.”
“Donald Trump’s Arizona director said Friday afternoon the candidate had canceled a Wednesday event in downtown Phoenix,” the Arizona Republic reports.
“But less than two hours later, Trump himself tweeted that the event was on — and would be bigger than initially planned.”
“Donald Trump’s campaign has hired Bill Stepien, a former top aide to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, whose role in the Bridgegate scandal led to his firing and denied him the central role he was expected to play in the governor’s presidential run,” the New York Times reports.
“Stepien is expected to step in to help guide the campaign’s political operations.”
Hillary Clinton hits Donald Trump hard using only his own words.
GOP strategist Stuart Stevens joins us on Political Wire Conversations for a great discussion about what Donald Trump has done to the Republican party.
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“I try and tell myself it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. If you tell yourself it doesn’t matter, like you do shows, you do this, you do that and then you have earthquakes in India where 400,000 people get killed. Honestly, it doesn’t matter. That’s how I handle stress.”
— Donald Trump, when asked how he manages stress on Larry King Live in 2004.
“Donald Trump’s personal physician said he wrote a letter declaring Trump would be the healthiest president in history in just five minutes while a limo sent by the candidate waited outside his Manhattan office,” NBC News reports.
“The letter was written and released in December but has drawn fresh scrutiny in recent days as Trump’s allies have questioned Hillary Clinton’s health, despite a letter from her doctor that said she has no serious issues.”
“Hillary Clinton has managed to win support from Republicans without conceding any part of the progressive economic agenda she outlined during the Democratic primary,” Politico reports.
“But with fall approaching and momentum on Clinton’s side, Democrats and Republicans alike are looking over the horizon to a thornier reality: if elected, Clinton would likely become the first Democrat since Grover Cleveland to enter office without control of both houses of Congress.”
“If she wins the presidency, Clinton would likely enjoy the shortest honeymoon period of any incoming commander-in-chief in recent history, according to Washington strategists, confronting major roadblocks to enacting her ambitious agenda, as well as Republican attacks that have been muted courtesy of the GOP nominee.”
Jonathan Chait: “Clinton’s “mandate” is irrelevant. All that matters is the levers of power she commands.”
From Politico:
Mika Brzezinski: “Are you certain that there are no emails or foundation ties to foreign entities that will be revealed that could perhaps permanently impact your presidential prospects?”
Hillary Clinton: “Mika, I am sure, and I am sure because I have a very strong foundation of understanding about the foundation—not to have a play on words—that the kind of work the foundation has done which attracted donors from around the world is work that went right into providing services to people.”
Rick Klein: “It’s called a ‘touchback’ policy in immigration parlance, and it serves – for the brief moment, at least – as the operative campaign position of Donald Trump. Deliberately or not, Trump has managed to muddle his messaging on immigration for a full week now, capped by a CNN interview where he said he might actually be ‘hardening’ his stance on immigration, two days after he allowed that it was ‘softening.’ ‘There is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back,’ Trump told Anderson Cooper. Leaving aside the open question of whether this will still be considered amnesty by the Steve King/Ann Coulter/Sarah Palin crowd, this adds a new wrinkle to the crumbled paper that serves as Trump’s current policy. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that there is no Trump immigration policy – not until he outlines it in a coherent fashion, either on paper or in a speech.”
“Maybe, or even probably, none of that matters to Trump’s core supporters. But this was supposed to be (the latest) week that Trump got back on track. He’s dialed back his attacks – but continues to do himself damage simply by talking about his own policies. For those hoping for a new, disciplined Trump, let that sink in.”
“I don’t know. I think Congress is in recess.”
— RNC spokesman Sean Spicer, quoted by NBC News, on the lack of Republicans defending Donald Trump after Hillary Clinton’s attacks yesterday.
270 to Win: “As of now, Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson is on the ballot in 43 states + DC, with efforts underway to get access in the remaining seven states. Green Party nominee Jill Stein is on the ballot in 35 states + DC.
“Johnson’s ballot access represents 487 of 538 electoral votes, while Stein is at 425.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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