“I’m sure as hell, when he attacks me personally or disparages my family, damn right I’m going to fight back.”
— Jeb Bush, quoted by MSNBC, on fighting back against Donald Trump’s insults.
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Trump Quote of the Day
“I will make that agreement so tough. And if they break it, they will have hell to pay… Politically, and certainly for the nomination, I would love to tell you that I’m gonna rip up this contract, I’m going to be the toughest guy in the world. But you know what? Life doesn’t work that way.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the Washington Post, breaking with most Republicans on the Iran deal saying you can’t just break a contract with someone.
Most States Already Locked Up for 2016
Smart Politics “examined the 2,000 statewide elections for president conducted since 1828 and found that 36 states are currently in the midst of their longest ever Democratic or Republican winning streaks with the GOP enjoying its best run ever in 20 states and Democrats at peak levels in 16 others.”
“If history holds in 2016, these 36 states will take 375 electoral votes off the table: 166 for the 20 record-setting Republican states plus 209 for record-setting Democratic states (212 if one counts the District of Columbia which has never voted for a Republican nominee).”
What Trump Got By Giving Up Nothing
Rick Klein: “It’s not quite fully honest to suggest, as Donald Trump did, that he got nothing in return for his decision to take a pledge to support the Republican nominee, no matter what… For starters, it’s important to realize what Trump was giving up: nothing. He needed to take similar pledges to appear on some state ballots as a Republican, including in South Carolina. He’d begun none of the difficult work of ballot access he would have to be working on to make a third-party run plausible. So in exchange for nothing, he got something of great value: another nationally televised campaign moment.”
“Once again, it was all about the Donald. Once again, he did not disappoint, with a dramatic prop and a whirlwind press conference that included the requisite number of just-weird touches. (What were those Indonesian men in suits doing there at the front of the room?) Trump hates losers, of course. He managed to emerge a winner for the moment – and for longer, potentially, now that his 16 GOP rivals are on record saying they’d support him if he becomes the nominee.”
Gabriel Sherman: “By signing the loyalty pledge, Trump is giving up very little while exacting a crucial guarantee from the GOP that the party won’t sabotage his candidacy. The truth is that Trump’s vow to bolt for a third-party amounted to an elaborate ruse.”
National Journal: “But make no mistake: Trump’s signature will do nothing to prevent a third-party campaign if the real estate mogul decides to change his mind. Legally speaking, the Republican Party’s loyalty oath isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.”
Unemployment Rate Drops to 7-Year Low
ABC News: “The U.S. unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low in August as employers added a modest 173,000 jobs, a key piece of evidence for the Federal Reserve in deciding whether to raise interest rates from record lows later this month. The Labor Department says the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent, the lowest since April 2008.”
Trump Grows Testy After Questions on Foreign Leaders
Donald Trump “revealed gaps in his mastery of international affairs during a radio interview on Thursday… growing testy over questions about foreign leaders,” the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “You’re asking me names that — I think it’s somewhat ridiculous. As far as the individual players, of course I don’t know them. I’ve never met them. I haven’t been, you know, in a position to meet them.”
He added: “I’ll tell you honestly, I think by the time we get to office, they’ll all be changed. They’ll be all gone.”
Biden Still Not Sure of Run
Vice President Joe Biden opened up for the first time publicly about his painful deliberations over whether to run for president so soon after his son Beau’s death to brain cancer, saying the key question is “whether my family and I have the emotional energy to run,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Biden: “Can I do it? Can my family undertake what is an arduous commitment that we’d be proud to undertake in ordinary circumstances? The honest-to-God answer is I just don’t know.”
Trump Warns Carson Not to Attack
Donald Trump “isn’t going on the attack against Ben Carson — not yet, at least,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “Well, I’m much better as a counterpuncher, so I’d rather have, and I’m hoping for Ben to really hit me at some point, because I love to counterpunch.”
He added: “But I think I’m probably going to wait. I do have certain things to say, but I’m not going to be saying them for a little while. Let’s see what happens.”
Clinton Is Almost Inevitable
“Unless she’s indicted, Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination,” Charles Krauthammer writes.
“That kind of sentence is rarely written about a major presidential candidate. But I don’t see a realistic third alternative… Clinton is now hostage to the various investigations — the FBI, Congress, the courts — of her e-mails. The issue has already damaged her seriously by highlighting once again her congenital inability to speak truthfully. When the scandal broke in March, she said unequivocally that she ‘did not e-mail any classified material to anyone.’ That’s now been shown to be unequivocally false. After all, the inspector general of the intelligence community referred her e-mails to the Justice Department precisely because they contain classified material.”
“The fallback — every Clinton defense has a fallback — is that she did not mishandle any material ‘marked’ classified. But that’s absurd. Who could even have been in a position to mark classified something she composed and sent on her own private e-mail system?”
Trump’s Image Up Sharply Among Republicans
Gallup: “Donald Trump’s net favorable rating among Republicans increased significantly over the past two weeks, putting him among the top six Republicans overall on this measure. Ted Cruz’s image also improved, while Carly Fiorina’s and Ben Carson’s images remain significantly better than they were before the Aug. 6 debate. John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker are among those whose images worsened.”
How Netanyahu Lost the Iran Deal
Washington Post: “Many say AIPAC’s efforts were doomed to fail in the aftermath of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s combative speech to Congress in March — an appearance brokered by Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. along with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) without White House consultation.”
“Several Democratic lawmakers pointed to Netanyahu’s speech to Congress as poisoning the political environment surrounding the Iran deal debate even before an agreement was reached. Netanyahu spoke to AIPAC’s annual conference the night before his congressional address, arguing vehemently against the Iran negotiations. Several Democratic members boycotted the speech, arguing Netanyahu’s appearance was inappropriate as Israel was preparing for national elections.”
Trump Quote of the Day
“I will be so good at the military, your head will spin.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the New York Times.
Was Trump Dumb to Sign the Pledge?
Joshua Green: “The GOP has finally muscled its maverick front-runner, Donald Trump, into submission. A Trump adviser said on Thursday the billionaire has agreed to sign the Republican “loyalty pledge” he famously refused at the first debate in Cleveland last month, apparently ruling out a scenario that utterly terrified the GOP establishment: that Trump would launch a third-party bid and almost certainly deny Republicans the White House. With the stroke of a pen, Trump will put these fears to rest—and immeasurably weaken his own standing. He’s probably signing his political death warrant.”
“First, it shatters the independent image that is the key to Trump’s appeal, the idea that he isn’t beholden to anyone or anything, and will make a ‘great’ president precisely because of this… Second, rather than quiet the attacks against him, this gives the GOP license to amplify them tremendously without fear of repercussion down the road… Third, by signing the Republican pledge, Trump invites everyone to judge him by that standard. But it’s not a standard that favors him.”
Greg Sargent thinks Trump snookered the GOP establishment once again.
Perry Denies Trump Claim That He’s Dropping Out
Rick Perry flatly denied Donald Trump’s assertion that he was bowing out of the Republican race, oddly remarking that “a broken clock is right once a day,” Politico reports.
Said Perry: “The bottom line is I’m still here, I’m still working, and we need to be talking about solutions and not just rhetoric out there.”
Why Trump Is Dangerous
The Economist: “First, as a billionaire, he will not run out of money to finance his campaign. Second, he faces so many Republican opponents that he could grab the nomination with only a modest plurality of the vote. The smart money still says that Republicans will eventually unite behind a mainstream candidate, as they always have in the past. But the world cannot take this for granted. Demagogues in other countries sometimes win elections, and there is no compelling reason why America should always be immune.”
Judge Orders Kentucky Clerk Jailed
A federal judge “ordered a Kentucky clerk jailed for contempt of court because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples,” the New York Times reports.
Said Judge David Bunning: “The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order. If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems.”
New York Times: “Five of the six deputy county clerks for Rowan County agreed Thursday that they would issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples hours after a federal judge ordered their defiant boss to jail because of her refusal to do so.”
Trump Picks Unorthodox Campaign Manager
New York Times: “Perhaps not surprisingly, the campaign manager for Donald J. Trump’s unorthodox bid for president, Corey Lewandowski, a 40-year-old New Hampshire resident, does not have a conventional résumé.”
“In searching for someone to steer his effort, Mr. Trump went not to someone with a depth of experience in national elections, but to someone he appears to see as a kindred spirit: a deeply ambitious, sometimes-mercurial master of self-reinvention (he has also been a New Hampshire state public safety officer and a real estate agent). And, like Mr. Trump, exactly what his political leanings are beyond a belief in small government is uncertain.”
Trump Has Increased His Lead Since Last Debate
A new Monmouth University poll shows Donald Trump has increased his national GOP vote share since last month’s debate.
Trump now leads the pack at 30%, followed by Ben Carson at 18%, Jeb Bush at 8%, Ted Cruz at 8%, Marco Rubio at 5%, Carly Fiorina at 4%, Mike Huckabee at 4% and Scott Walker at 3%.
Said pollster Patrick Murray: “None of the establishment candidates is having any success in getting an anti-Trump vote to coalesce around them. In fact, any attempt to take on Trump directly only seems to make him stronger… The fact that the only one who can challenge Trump is the only other candidate who has never held or run for elected office speaks volumes to the low regard GOP voters have for the establishment.”
