The conventions are now behind us. And we’re off to the fall campaign proper. Our sign up drive continues. So if you’re enjoying our coverage, if you feel like you can’t do without us then – really – we can’t do without you. If you’re a regular reader but not yet a member, join us and your fellow readers and sign up right now. Just click right here. You’ll be glad you did.
Donald Trump gave his first hint last night that he might try to get out of the Fall presidential debates. I have thought for months that he’d likely try to get out of them. I think he will be at a steep strategic and tactical disadvantage in any debate with Hillary Clinton – a point I’ll expand on later. But from thinking he’d try to get out of the debates, I wasn’t clear how he’d do it without facing crushingly bad publicity and exposure as a coward. The latter is something that cuts apart everything his campaign is based on. A few weeks ago, I figured out what that strategy will be.
As usual, Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games. Same as last time w/ Bernie. Unacceptable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016
Good lord! It’s still happening.
Trump campaign still hitting up numerous foreign pols for cash, in this case the former Prime Minister of Finland …
For crying out loud! The kinds of e-mails I get from @realDonaldTrump-team. Please, just a little bit of dignity. pic.twitter.com/CJOlCkDTnz
— Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) July 29, 2016
Appeals court rules North Carolina’s new voting restrictions intentionally discriminated against African American voters. Full decision here.
This article has some fascinating, disturbing details about the authoritarian leanings of the admittedly very small subset of people who’ve moved from Obama to Trump.
In spite of himself he can’t help but taunt. Trump refuses to release his tax returns and says he’s gotten “very, very little pressure” to do so. In other words, the press and voters are subject to the same ‘dominance politics’ theater as rivals.
He says there’s been very, very little pressure.
I am not a big admirer of Hillary Clinton as a pure politician, but I thought she did very, very well last night. Her speech was brilliantly crafted — a credit to her speechwriters — but after some fits and starts, she delivered it superbly. No wooden laughs or phony heartiness. Yes, it was the usual list of “to-do’s”, but it fit how she had been presented to the convention: as someone who would know what to do, and would get it done. I have four observations, only one of which is critical:
I thought this was a very good speech, well-crafted, well delivered. Clinton seemed a touch off balance at the beginning. I wasn’t sure if she was unsettled by scattered heckling or simply needed to get her footing. In any case, she managed to get that footing in fairly short order. My first takeaway is what she didn’t do. She didn’t ‘relax’ or ‘stop shouting’ or ‘show a softer side.’ She gave a politician’s speech with a politician’s demeanor, which was entirely fitting. That is who she is. That’s what she’s doing. It worked.
11:21 PM: “She said that what worried president Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started, not by big men with self control and restraint but by little men, the ones moved by fear and pride.”
11:24 PM: “There is no other Donald Trump. This is It.” (This is the thing virtually everyone talking about a pivot never got.)
11:27 PM: “Yes the world is watching.”
11:35 PM: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
The US Navy plans to name a ship after Navy veteran and gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk.