Race for the White House- Volume 84

93 Days Until Election Day

This week, a published story came out that said advisors and prominent supporters of Donald Trump were planning an intervention. I do not think an intervention will work. They might want to consider an exorcism.

 I could type negative things about Trump this until I had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. His gaffes and craziness seemed to happen on an hourly basis earlier this week. It was, for all intents and purposes, at least under historic standards, the worst week a Presidential nominee has ever had. This has allowed Hillary Clinton, in addition to whatever bounce she might have gotten after the Democrat convention, to extend to an even greater lead. Numerous polls out this week, show her up by landslide proportions. Still, many will maintain that things cannot get much worse for Trump, and he will eventually look more competitive. With Trump, things can always get worse.

The main political story of the week, which I only alluded to last Saturday, was the pushback by Trump and many of his allies against the Khan family, after their powerful appearance at the Philadelphia convention. Attacking a Gold Star Family? Of course, it's Trump. His main, and perhaps only motivation in life is to discredit anyone who criticizes him in anyway.

There is no way I could possibly cover everything that happened this week. Trump kicked a crying baby out of a rally (possibly the most intelligent human at that rally), a story came out saying he wondered why the U.S. could not use nuclear weapons if it had them. He suggested that women who were sexually harassed at the workplace should just find a different company or a different career. His supporters booed a woman at a Mike Pence rally (who acted responsibly in his own right), when she said she had a son in the military and Trump was wrong to attack the Khans. The Trump campaign sent out anti-Khan talking points to Congressional Republicans, who ignored the pleas to attack them.

He claimed that he received a letter from the NFL complaining about the debate schedule, set months ago by the bipartisan commission. The NFL says no letter was sent. Trump is saying the Democrats are trying to rig the debates so nobody watches. Thinking back to every cycle I can remember, there is always some sort of conflict between a debate and an NFL game or an MLB playoff game. Trump is likely looking at ways to avoid the debates altogether or just show up at one. He is also saying that he fears the election will be "rigged." That sounds like somebody who knows he is going to lose and is going to question the very fairness of our democracy That could have very dangerous consequences. Some of Trump's supporters are unstable, to say the least.

This week, Barack Obama said flatly that Trump is unfit to be President and that Republicans should withdraw support of him. I do not think Obama is going to have a lot of influence with Republicans, but he happens to be right.

At an event this week, Donald Trump took someone's Purple Heart. What kind of man would do that? He said he always wanted a Purple Heart but it was "much easier" to get it the way he just did. I suppose the veteran had every right to try to give Trump the medal, but the candidate had every obligation to refuse it. That is what any parent should teach a child. Instead, he joked about it, put it in his pocket, and presumably took it back to Trump Tower.

No wonder so many Republicans are now openly renouncing Trump. Sadly, not enough for my liking. Richard Hanna, a retiring New York Congressman, who is fairly to the left in the party, said he is voting for Hillary. So is Meg Whitman, a major name in the GOP, who is saying she has no choice this cycle, because Trump is so dangerous. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Congressman, who is definitely a mainstream conservative, in addition to being a veteran of recent conflicts, said he cannot vote for Trump. He tried to see if he could go along with the party's choice, but he is an American first and a Republican second. I completely concur.

Headlines are appearing questioning Trump's mental health. There are questions about if he is trying to lose on purpose or if he wants to win, but just has no interest in actually governing. The stuff I have long-since said about him being a Clinton plant is re-surfacing. I think the questions about him being a Kremlin plant are also worthy of consideration. To be repetitive, as I am every week, what a complete mess.

Even the Vichy RNC got mad at Trump this week, and it was about his refusal to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan, who faces a primary challenge in Wisconsin next week. Mirroring Ryan's former language on Trump, the nominee said he is "not there yet" in offering support to Ryan. That really infuriated Chairman Reince Priebus, who probably exerted much pressure on his old friend, Speaker Ryan, to endorse Trump out of party unity, and then saw the way that Trump re-paid the favor. The candidate also refused to endorse John McCain and Kelly Ayotte in their Senate reelection bids, and went on in an interview to continue talking about how bad McCain has been "for the vets."

After this interview, the RNC must have allowed stories to leak that they were actively looking at what would happen if Trump dropped out of the race. That got people like me excited. Could it really happy?  I will continue to pray, but it probably will not. This was apparently though the biggest sing Trump committed this week in the eyes of the GOP establishment. Mike Pence broke a bit with Trump to endorse Ryan, but the person at the top of the ticket, said that he had to give Pence permission to do so. When reporters asked Pence if he supported McCain and Ayotte, as well, Pence avoided the question outright.

Something must have happened though on Friday, perhaps the "intervention", because Trump gave in somehow and at a rally in Wisconsin, in which Ryan's primary opponent, whom Trump had been praising for days, he endorsed Ryan. He did so though with his voice dripping in condescension, as if he was a child, being forced by his parents to apologize for stealing another kid's lunch. He also "endorsed" McCain and Ayotte. So, for now, "party unity", is present. Yeah, right.

There are some serious issues going on in the country that are not getting the attention they deserve in this campaign because of the Trump Clown Show. The economy grew at an anemic pace. In foreign policy, a story broke about the U.S. government paying cash to Iran to release hostages. The Obama Administration insists that  nothing was wrong with this, but it sure sounds like ransom money, and that the Justice Department objected to what the State Department wanted to do. Trump though, made up a story, as he is apt to do, about seeing a video of this cash exchange. Such a video never exists, as he was later forced to admit. All of this made what could be a damaging story for Democrats, into a cartoon.

Last Sunday, during a rare interview on Fox News, Hillary Clinton insisted that the FBI Director testified that she was completely honest with the public about the email issue. Anybody who has followed what Director Comey actually said last month knows that is far from the truth. The Democrat nominee continues to lie about this issue and the Washington Post gave her claim about telling the truth "Four Pinocchios" Late this Week, Clinton said, quite oddly, that she must have "short-circuited" in telling this to Chris Wallace on Fox News.

Hillary Clinton, a major party nominee for President, seems to be someone who cannot stop being dishonest about serious matters. However, she is facing an opponent, who only "trumps" her in that regard on a daily basis. So, isn't she lucky? The polls right now look very good, nationally, and in the battleground states. Her campaign is pulling resources from states that in past cycles, were considered "must-win" for Republicans, because Democrats believe they are already in the bag.

What a wasted election for the GOP. These polls that show Clinton leading Trump by anywhere from 10-15 points, would be looking very different against literally any other Republican. Against Ohio Governor John Kasich, she would probably be the one 10 points down in the polls right now.

Someone needs to have an "intervention" with Donald Trump again, explain that he cannot win, and his entire legacy, and that of his children, will forever be tarnished, unless he gets out of the race, for the sake of the party he pretends to want to lead and the country he has always placed below himself.