For the Record: Trump fine, OK with the events unfolding currently
What happened to those balloons that rained down on Donald Trump in Cleveland? Thousands upon thousands floated gently down after the GOP nominee’s convention speech. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” blasted from loudspeakers. It was a magical moment.
Two weeks later, as those balloons lie popped in some Ohio landfill, that Rolling Stone song feels almost prophetic: Trump’s week of “very self-destructive” missteps (Newt Gingrich’s words, not ours) was capped off by a series of polls that showed him trailing Hillary Clinton.
As Trump’s campaign burned around him, his chairman came on “Good Morning America” to say the candidate was fine and that “campaigns don’t even start until September.” So, in other words, this is fine.
It’s For the Record, the politics newsletter from Paste BN, and things are going to be OK.
KHAN-TROVERSY AND THE POLLS
Trump’s continued attacks this week on Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a fallen Muslim-American soldier, likely contributed to Clinton’s widening lead in state and national polls this week. They also could reflect a post-convention bump for Clinton following last week’s DNC. Then again, convention bounces ain’t what they used to be–though we’re not sure why.
Clinton saw a 15-point lead over Trump in the McClatchy-Marist poll out Thursday, making gains among Trump’s bread-and-butter demos of whites and men. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Clinton leading Trump by nine percentage points. Swing states looked similar: Polls in Michigan, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania showed leads from nine to 15 points. A new Florida poll put Clinton’s lead at six points there.
(Not all of Trump’s numbers are bad: He’s got 2 million more followers than Clinton on Twitter, and twice the Facebook likes.)
Republicans: We’re OK with the events that are currently unfolding
As a Republican congressman released an ad declaring he doesn’t “care for (Trump) much,” John McCain received calls Thursday from a liberal veterans group to withdraw his endorsement of the Donald. McCain this week refused to answer questions about Trump, who declined to endorse McCain this week and previously criticized him for being a prisoner of war.
Paul Ryan sought to turn attention from his tense relationship with the GOP nominee in a Thursday radio interview. Ryan described Trump’s time since the convention as a “pretty strange run” but maintained his support for the candidate. Trump, of course, this week declined to endorse Ryan in his primary and praised his opponent in The Washington Post.
Out of the mouths of babes
When Trump is mired in controversy, Mike Pence’s low-key style seems smart. He’s the yin to Donald Trump’s yang, the splash of room-temperature water to Trump’s luxurious scotch. Their rallies reflect that, as David Jackson reported from Virginia. A Mike Pence rally is orderly, smaller and even-keeled. Pence doesn’t encourage “lock her up" chants or rip Obama like Trump might.
Whereas Trump calls Barack Obama “perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States,” Pence merely says he’d “stipulate that Barack Obama knows something about being woefully unprepared.”
It’s a stark enough difference that even kids notice. At Thursday’s North Carolina rally, an 11-year-old boy accused Pence of “softening up on Mr. Trump’s policies and words,” and asked if he’d do the same as Trump’s VP. Pence answered gracefully: “Differences in style, Matthew, should never be confused with differences in conviction.”
Trump’s style? He banned a baby from one of his rallies this week.
More from the campaign trail
Ben Carson: Donald Trump is against ‘self-praising’ (Paste BN)
Melania Trump says she never broke immigration laws (Paste BN)
Clint Eastwood: If I have to pick, ‘I’d have to go for Trump’ (Paste BN)
Clinton campaign defends position on ethanol mandate (Paste BN)
Who said it: Trump or the narcissist from ‘30 Rock’?
A new blog, “Donald Maroney,” puts quotes from the ‘30 Rock’ character Jenna Maroney over photos of Donald Trump. The results are eerie.