Donald Trump | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 104
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Donald Trump Tag

Earlier this morning, Mark blogged about rumors of yet another Republican-backed Trump challenger. Multiple outlets are reporting an obscure former CIA officer will launch an independent run against Republican nominee, Donald Trump.

On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough said that "I had multiple sources last night telling me that an independent with the backing of a lot of Republican money is going to launch today." None of the other panelists, including the well-connected Mark Halperin, had heard that. Scarborough continued: "several good sources told me that people, Republicans from, let's just say #NeverTrump land found somebody and they're going to put good money behind him." Scarborough said it would be someone "French-like," i.e., like National Review author David French whose name was floated not long ago before withdrawing.

What a long, strange trip this year's presidential election has become. The media (mainstream, liberal and conservative #NeverTrump) have swarmed all over Trump in the past two weeks. Some Republicans who did not previously oppose Trump also are breaking ranks and coming out against him. The media, by and large, has moved on from scrutiny of Hillary. For Trump supporters, it's confirmation of bias against him and the need to tear down the establishment in its broadest sense. For Trump opponents, it's confirmation of the reasons for their opposition. Certainly, "anything can happen." But as of now, the polls mostly look beyond horrible for Trump and have taken a nose dive. In a normal election year, it would not be worth the pixels to run a general election poll, because close to 100% of the readers would be voting for the Republican. But this is not a normal year. So, this will be our first 2016 General Election Reader Poll.

Both Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Governor Mike Pence and Trump advisor Newt Gingrich broke ranks with Trump and announced they'd be endorsing Senator John McCain and Senator Kelly Ayotte in their re-election bids. Earlier reports suggested Pence was mirroring Trump's decision to withhold endorsing the Republican Senators, but his aids later clarified:

Will Islamic terrorists launch a major pre-election attack to help elect Donald Trump? That's the scenario Donny Deutsch floated on today's Morning Joe. Deutsch is an ad man/Hamptons playboy. His pronouncements on national security and terrorism might thus be taken with a major grain of salt. But Deutsch was responding to a statement by Wapo's David Ignatius, a serious student of foreign affairs, who said a major attack could be a "game changer" that would aid Trump. Deutsch said if "the terrorists and the radical Islamists want Trump in there. And if the way Trump gets in there is a terrorist attack thus, I get scared." The always-emotive Mika Brzezinski could be heard emitting a major sigh.

The liberal establishment has yet to recover from the shock to its delicate sensibilities caused when Donald Trump spoke of Megyn Kelly having blood coming from her "wherever." But will anyone blink a whatever now that MSM member Mika Brzezinski has told Republicans that they need to "get their heads out of . . . something?" The ever-diplomatic Willie Geist suggested Mika had "sand" in mind, but it seemed clear she was referring to something else.

On today's Morning Joe, Mika repeatedly made the case that the Republican establishment should dump Trump. Analogizing the Trump candidacy to a car that has burst into flames, Mika called Republicans "wussies" for refusing to get out of it.

On Hardball, Chuck Todd called it a "fantasy," but . . . he reported that some Republicans think that maybe they can talk Donald Trump into quitting, and that an ideal replacement ticket would be Mike Pence and Nikki Haley. Chris Matthews was very skeptical, saying that there'd never be a week when Pence could beat Hillary, because he lacks the "pizazz." Todd replied that some Republicans believe that a generic Republicans could beat Clinton. Todd quoted one Republican as saying "take any two people in the White Pages. Make them the ticket. Put R's next to their name, and put them on a desert island and not say anything, and they think that candidate gets 47%." Then again, how tuned in can someone be who still thinks in terms of the "White Pages?"

You see, this is the problem with having a campaign predicated on the fact that you're leading in all the polls -- when polling data turns unfavorable, your alleged mandate dissipates. A new poll released by Fox News shows Hillary with a double-digit lead over The Donald. Hillary might me the least trusted presidential candidate in history, but she's still crushing Trump (if data is accurate, of course).

As a Tea Party Democrat, I have routinely covered that party's events as a Legal Insurrection author. I have been closely following the #DemExit movement that is afoot, as evidenced by DNC convention-week demonstrations in which delegates and other progressives decried the #DNCLeak and Hillary Clinton’s rigged nomination and blatant displays of party unhappiness during her acceptance speech that the party's officials tried to hide. Following the convention, it has become transparently clear that the Democratic Party's sole mission is to destroy Donald Trump completely.

We reported yesterday on Joe Scarborough's statement that Republicans, conservatives and so-called right-wing bloggers had been contacting him to ask about Donald Trump's "mental health." Scarborough himself called Trump "unhinged." Joe took things a significant step farther on today's Morning Joe, saying that Republicans have been contacting him, asking themselves "is Donald Trump a sociopath?" Scarborough was careful to state "I didn't say this, but this is what everybody is saying." Scarborough dropped the s-word in the context of hammering Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President George W., over his lesser-of-two-evils support of Trump.

After a rocky first day, the Democratic Convention showed signs of the benefits of Hollywood backing. Hillary's acceptance night was slickly produced, and obviously geared towards "humanizing" Hillary. If humanizing Hillary was the goal, her acceptance speech was just the opposite. We saw fighting, angry Hillary tonight. That has to have been a strategic decision, with Katy Perry's Fight Song played repeatedly as Hillary took the stage. Nothing is left to chance or done off the cuff by the Clinton campaign. Surely, a focus group somewhere predicted that was the way to go.

A little levity to kick off your evening -- yesterday, the good folks of Bad Lip Reading released an abbreviated and hilarious rendition of Senator Cruz's controversial RNC speech. If you're not familiar with Bad Lip Reading, they dub over clips of all kinds (not just political) with nonsensical garble.

Believe me, I'm sympathetic to Russian conspiracy claims. I grew up reading John le Carre novels. No joke, I first read The Spy Who Came in From The Cold while riding the Moscow Metro back and forth from my dormitory on the outskirts to the classrooms in the center. When studying in the Soviet Union I learned that everyone was paranoid -- and justifiably so! The fire detectors on the ceilings of our dorm were really listening devices, a Hungarian student who hated the Soviets whispered to me. I couldn't prove it or disprove it. But based on circumstantial evidence of Soviet spying elsewhere, it certainly could have made sense. I had random, but minor, brushes with obvious KGB types.

The Wikileaks release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails threatens to set the Democratic National Convention on fire this week. Whether the leaks prove the election was fixed is one thing; that it is perceived that way is beyond doubt. Already Debbie Wasserman Schultz has resigned as DNC Chair. Not enough. Bernie supporters are furious, and are demanding he withdraw his endorsement of Hillary. That's highly unlikely to happen, which will shut close a possible relief valve. The left wing of the left wing of the Democratic Party is ready to bust a gasket, and go full #NeverHillary and mean it. It will only take a few percent of Democrats to stay home or run to Green Party candidate Jill Stein for Hillary to be damaged in the general election. The media cannot let that happen. So expect several narratives to permeate the convention coverage.

On the off chance that far-left Dem congressman Keith Ellison is on your holiday shopping list, we have the perfect gift suggestion: a good biography of George Wallace.  On today's This Week, Ellison claimed that Donald Trump was "the worst Republican nominee since George Wallace." Just one small problem, of course. As Republican Rep. Tom Cole pointed out, Wallace was a Democrat who sought the Dem presidential nomination [multiple times] and even addressed the Democratic National Convention [in 1972.] Ruh-roh!

A gaunt and scruffy Jon Stewart took over Colbert's Late Show Desk Thursday night. The retired Daily Show host compared Fox News host criticism of President Obama to some of those by Donald Trump. Those not thrilled with Trump leading the GOP ticket have complained he's far too much like the current president for their liking aaaaannnnd Stewart's mashup makes that argument hard to refute.

Donald Trump's acceptance speech last night was a hit with viewers, as Yahoo News reported:
The majority of viewers who watched Donald Trump's speech to the Republican National Convention on Thursday night said it made them more likely to vote for him in November, according to a CNN/ORC instant poll. The poll found that 56% of speech viewers were more likely to vote for the New York businessman after seeing him formally accept the Republican nomination. 32% of viewers said his speech had little effect on them, and 10% said it made them less likely to cast their vote for Trump in November. Overall, 57% of viewers said they had a "very positive" reaction to Trump's speech. Meanwhile, 18% said they were "somewhat positive" and 24% said it had a "negative effect."