Electoral Vote has a bunch of must-read posts today.
The first one offers a likely explanation of why Trump suddenly rearranged his campaign and put Stephen Bannon in charge — someone who has no experience running a political campaign. It is because Trump needs money (perhaps not for the campaign, but for himself) and his largest (perhaps only major) donors are Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer. But their money came with strings attached; one of those strings was Bannon (and likely also Kellyanne Conway, the other big change to the campaign). Bottom line? “The Mercers basically own this campaign.”
Next up, The Hill sent reporters to find out what Republican politicians think of Trump’s appointment of Stephen Bannon as his campaign’s CEO. They are “close to apopletic” and “scared to death”. Bannon not only lies as much as Trump, but he is just as likely to attack Republicans as Democrats. For example, Bannon ran headlines claiming that Paul Ryan was losing in the primary, when in reality he won easily. The Republicans hate Bannon, and his appointment makes it even more likely that the GOP will abandon Trump.
Indeed, the next post is a list of articles and theories that Trump is actually not interested in becoming the next president. It was all fun when it was enhancing his brand during the primary, but now it is becoming clear that “the thrill is gone”. Trump is allergic to looking like a loser, so what can he do? In the end, Bannon will allow Trump to have some fun being Trump, and go down in glorious flames spending the rest of the campaign hurling insults and anyone and everyone. And after that, Trump can whine that he was the victim of the mean old GOP.
There are more posts, and they are all worth a read. The headlines alone are worth it: “Trump’s Casinos Owed $30 Million in Taxes, but Christie Forgave Most of It”, “Would Cutting Trump Loose Help Republicans Downballot?” and “Could the House Be in Play?”.
UPDATE: I take most of what Michael Moore says with a huge grain of salt, but you might want to read his theory that Trump is sabotaging his own campaign.
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Perhaps that once upon a time, in a land far away, Democrat Donald Trump, really still is a Dem. Perhaps that once talked about friendship with the Clinton duo, is still in play. Perhaps all Trump wanted was time in the spotlight and his name in the history books. Wouldn’t it be absolutely amazing, if Clinton wins, that Trump admits to the whole thing and shows up at the inauguration in a place of honor. Talk about history, talk about fun, talk about big dreams. I can only hope. I will stock up on popcorn for the coming months just in case dreams do come true and my fairy tale has a happy ending.
Personally, I think that would be giving Trump too much credit. He doesn’t appear to believe in anything other than himself, and I’m sure that he only cares about politics in terms of how it might affect him. I added a link to the original post for Michael Moore’s article, which has the same basic story and is worth a read.
Wildwood, I believe that would backfire incredibly badly. If people found out that Donald Trump was a Clinton ploy to win them the White House then she would lose a ton of public support immediately, resistance in Congress to everything would be even worse than it is now, and Democrats throughout the country would be tainted by the scandal (fair or not). Donald Trump attending a Clinton inauguration and revealing a conspiracy to get Hillary elected might just be the best way to save the Republican party.
I very much hope she wins, and beats Trump very very badly. But I really think that if a Trump-Clinton conspiracy was revealed it would not in any way lead to a happy ending.
You are right TJ, but mine is a fairy tale and in my fairy tale none of that would happen.
IK I’m sure you are right. The man is an immoral slug. But as slugs go, he is the very best slug out there. The very best.
Ah, and so begins the Trump Apology Tour, I see. Guess this is Bannon’s first move. Wonder how long he can keep it up, not to mention sticking to the teleprompter (remember when he mocked others for using em?). I give it a week, if that. The man is un-selfcontollable, to paraphrase Nader. To think anyone with half a brain stem would buy his pretentious act of contrition is absurd on its face, if not self-delusional.
The last time Trump regretted saying anything, it was agreeing to his prenups.
If Trump is destined to lose, why are the Mercer’s giving money? They must have some ambition, which may play on his losing. But what?
Mercer hates Clinton, from what I’ve read. He is a donor to the tea party candidates and thinks Clinton will be a terrible president. He backed Cruz to start with and then switched to Trump.
Plus Mercer is a billionaire hedge fund manager. Those who think Clinton is in the pocket of Wall Street should note how much he hates Clinton. In fact, Clinton should probably remind them.
Mercer even said that he doesn’t want any more regulations of what he does, so he’s willing to fund anyone who won’t put those burdensome regulations on poor, misunderstood hedge fund managers.