You’ve probably heard about how yesterday Donald Trump harangued the fire marshal at an event in Colorado Springs, first saying the marshal’s refusal to let more people into the venue was an example of why America isn’t great anymore and then accusing the marshal of being a Clinton supporter. Now we learn that just a short time earlier a rescue crew from the Colorado Springs Fire Department had to rescue Trump and members of his entourage from an elevator stuck between the 1st and 2nd floors of The Mining Exchange Hotel. Trump and his entourage were reportedly stuck in the elevator for roughly thirty minutes before the rescue crew was able to lower a ladder down into the car.
Over the course of the day, Donald Trump responded with a mix of disdain and churlishness to the parents of fallen Muslim soldier Humayun Khan. Trump suggested that as an observant Muslim Khan’s mother, Ghazala, may not have been allowed to speak and insisted that he too had made sacrifices for the country. ABCNews contacted the Khans again for an interview in which Khan’s father, livid, responded to Trump. Khizr Khan asked Trump’s children to “tell him to learn to behave, learn to be decent.”
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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.