I've had people say it's a hardening, actually ~ US presidential election 2016 part 9/11 never forget

granted, that's just from a portion of the republican primary, but he has said insane things on a weekly basis all summer and never really paid the expected price. it turns out that there are even more terrible xenophobic racists in this country than most people thought. clinton was right when she said half of his supporters were deplorable. ALL OF THEM ARE. you can't be non-deplorable and support trump. that wasn't a gaffe it was just an accidental blurting out of the truth

So, what does this years chart look like?

Herpes

xpost it's by no means comprehensive, and sorry for messiness and prominent controversies i forgot as well as longstanding positions (like how he hates muslims, immigrants, women, and anyone who isn't white) that don't have a particular gaffe date or that first became well-known before this year, but here it is

http://i.imgur.com/eO1AAaC.jpg

basically he can say whatever he wants, and the worst thing that can happen is that he loses 4% of his followers for a couple weeks

He's never losing his hardcore followers. The only thing we can hope for is that he sheds low-info republican voters who decide to watch five minutes of news and realize what a leaking anus of a human being he is.

As if this were a surprise:

Former President George H.W. Bush is bucking his party's presidential nominee and plans to vote for Hillary Clinton in November, according to a member of another famous political family, the Kennedys.

Bush, 92, had intended to stay silent on the White House race between Clinton and Donald Trump, a sign in and of itself of his distaste for the GOP nominee. But his preference for the wife of his own successor, President Bill Clinton, nonetheless became known to a wider audience thanks to Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend, the former Maryland lieutenant governor and daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy.

On Monday, Townsend posted a picture on her Facebook page shaking hands next to the former president and this caption: "The President told me he’s voting for Hillary!!”

In a telephone interview, Townsend said she met with the former president in Maine earlier today, where she said he made his preference known that he was voting for a Democrat. “That’s what he said,” she told POLITICO.

My guess: Trump's reply will be "he doesn't look like he'll make it to election day!"

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 34m34 minutes ago

George H.W. Bush supporting Crooked Hillary. A one term loser supporting a crook. What a surprise!

One term more than you're gonna get, loser.

I really really really reeeeeally hope as many news outlets as possible go with some variation of the TRUMP IS A LOSER headline after the election.

xpost Is that real? (A question that needs to be asked daily this election cycle.)

lol no

NBC poll has Hil back up 5. And USC/LA Times tracking poll has gone 2% back to Hil

There is nothing so outrageous that I can't imagine Trump uttering/tweeting it.

OL, I'm guessing 'beyond the pale' would be something even more inappropriate about Ivanka.

May I humbly suggest YOU'RE FIRED! for any post-election Trump headlines?

you sure that tweet is fake?

What is even reality anymore? What's truth? This election is an ontological nightmare.

I'm kinda only being half facetious. Trump is wreaking some serious havoc beyond the obvious. I think the entire population of the country is gonna need an intensive civics class after the election just to ground ourselves going forward.

What kind of civics lessons are you expecting the Trump administration to endorse?

how to make taco bowls

That's an odd name for "concentration camp"

man Colbert was on fire about the birther thing last night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byP7XvzFqRc

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Do people notice Hillary is copying my airplane rallies - she puts the plane behind her like I have been doing from the beginning.</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/778237485402980352";>September 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

this is incredible

dangit: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/778237485402980352

Sean Morrow ‏@snmrrw 5m5 minutes ago
@realDonaldTrump you copied your campaign from hitler

honestly i'm feeling morbz on the "crazy clinton supporters" thing. possibly i am over-extrapolating from personal experience, since i'm seriously mentally ill right now to the point of having difficulty with adls.

the thing of it is, anybody who was going to decide based on any remotely reasonable criteria made their decision two months back at the latest. we can talk all we want about how the debate is going to change things, but does anybody even watch the debates anymore? or do they just watch re-processed, re-gurgitated highlights? the chances of somebody reserving judgment for this long and then magically acquiring the information they need in order to exercise sound judgment seems lower than a coin toss.

this election makes clear what has been true about elections from the time i was born: elections are decided by lunatics based on unreason and ignorance.

Yeah, there were some great ones on there.

Matt Besser ‏@MattBesser 4m4 minutes ago
@realDonaldTrump My three year old is also concerned about "copying". If someone is copying you, that means they want to play.

Sean Morrow ‏@snmrrw 5m5 minutes ago
@realDonaldTrump you copied your campaign from hitler

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

historically informed hitler references are wasted on the internet. :(

anybody who was going to decide based on any remotely reasonable criteria made their decision two months back at the latest

yeah, but the other 75% of voters are very important

In 2012, about 70 million people watched the first debate, the most since Carter/Reagan:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/obama-mitt-romney-presidential-debate-ratings-record-376575

FWIW, the other two debates does about 60 million on average. None of those viewing numbers included people viewing online or outside the home or country.

Perhaps Clinton should make an attempt at a little originality, put the plane in front.

If Trump really wants attention, he and his plane should disappear over the Pacific.

more fun reporting about the Trump foundation:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-used-258000-from-his-charity-to-settle-legal-problems/2016/09/20/adc88f9c-7d11-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html

Lol Trump "standing by Christie" as he goes down in flames, smooth operator there. Thats bound to bump up his poll numbers!

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yikes

sometimes i feel like i am too familiar w/ josh marshall, like i know him personally or something

Isn't he interested in real estate opportunities? Maybe he can run for the President of Mars instead. He can open up the first hotel and casino for white people there. It will be just amazing.

In 2013, for instance, the foundation gave $25,000 to a political group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R). That gift was made around the same time that Bondi’s office was considering whether to investigate fraud allegations against Trump University. It didn’t.

Tax laws say nonprofits such as the Trump Foundation may not make political gifts. Trump staffers blamed the gift on a clerical error. After The Post reported on the gift to Bondi’s group this spring, Trump paid a $2,500 penalty tax and reimbursed the Trump Foundation for the $25,000 donation.

Jesus

Money is such an awesome cheat code.

up up down down check for $25k select start

> I guess that Washington Hatcats football rule failed last year for the first time since 1932

Let's just hope we don't eventually have to reinvoke the curse of Tenskwatawa.

One was of Marilyn Monroe. The other was a four foot-tall portrait of Trump: a younger-looking, mid-’90s Trump, painted in acrylic on top of an old architectural drawing.

Trump bought it for $10,000.

Afterward, Schanz recalled in an email, “he asked me about the painting. I said, ‘I paint souls, and when I had to paint you, I asked your soul to allow me.’ He was touched and smiled.”

I wonder if in the end Trump's biggest strategic mistake will be picking a fight with the WaPo, since their guy seems to be the only one actively and enthusiastically (and entertainingly) investigating all his shady charities. Well, him and Rob Tannenbaum.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-used-258000-from-his-charity-to-settle-legal-problems/2016/09/20/adc88f9c-7d11-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html

Oh, there it is , upthread, sorry.

yeah Fahrenthold has been incredible these last couple of weeks. a true American hero. even better since everything he's using is publicly available information. nice to see someone actually doing their jobs for a change.

not that it fucking matters though

I know it's old news, but this Florida AG thing is incredible.

Giving back the contribution also was never seriously considered, she said.

"If I had returned it, you would have reported, 'Bondi accepted bribe, got caught, and returned it,'" she said. "There was nothing improper about it, so there was no reason to return it."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/pam-bondi-breaks-silence-says-she-has-no-regrets-about-taking-donald/2294336

Even supposing that it wasn't a bribe, it was an illegal donation, so there was something improper about it. Basically she's saying that she for the sake of her own image she didn't care about correcting a misappropriation of charitable funds.

I think Trump is ultimately going to find that running for president was his biggest strategic mistake. He could have continued being a venal choad relatively under the radar for the rest of his life, but now he has all eyes on him and people publicly picking apart his entire life, business and otherwise. Sure, he now has a slew of similar human shitbags hanging on his every word, but what does that ultimately gain him when he loses the presidency? A lot of them are going to lose interest once he's been undeniably branded a loser. The Trump brand is garbage with a sizable percentage of people now. As seems to be perpetually the case, he's his own worst enemy, and I hope he reaps every last bit of the shit he's been sowing.