Hillary Clinton to panicked Republicans — you’re on your own: Clinton was once willing to draw a distinction between “normal” Republicans and Donald Trump; not anymore. The math says Democrats have little shot at the House — Donald Trump suggests otherwise. Senate update: Clinton is surging, but down-ballot Democrats are losing ground. Hillary Clinton needs to start campaigning aggressively for a Democratic Congress. In Greensboro, Obama links Trump’s misogyny to Trump’s racism — as only Obama can. White House sets trap, warns Trump against attacking Michelle Obama. Trump’s new strategy is to make liberals too depressed to leave their homes. How Donald Trump decided to make Bill Clinton’s accusers a campaign issue. Trump’s rejection of opposition research comes back to haunt him (and more).
Trump’s macho populism: Federico Finchelstein and Pablo Piccato on how Donald Trump’s treatment of women is a matter of politics, not just style — rooted in populist and fascist ideas that exalt male power and promote misogyny. The sexual predator who would be king: Trump seeks to impose on America a strongman politics that even Republicans note — and fear. Donald Trump’s locker room is the entire world. Claire Cain Miller on what politicians’ reactions to the Trump video reveal about sexism.
Trump’s campaign embraces rape culture: He and his surrogates are gaslighting an entire nation. Surrogates explaining away Trump’s sexual behavior only seem to make things worse. Wacky far-right theory for Trump tape leak gets mainstream play. If Donald Trump sues the New York Times, he will lose. The reality show locked in NBC vaults: The public right to know about a possible future president’s record of misogynistic and racist abuse is now deemed to abridge the sacrosanct “trust” in the reality-television programming community.
Trump responds to groping allegations by blaming global conspiracy by Clinton, media, and international banks (and more and more). Donald Trump’s campaign is an echo of Reconstruction-era racism. Emma Grey Ellis on how the alt-Right grew from an obscure racist cabal: The National Policy Institute spread the term “alt-Right” — it’s a white nationalist think tank (and an academic version of 4chan). Jane Coaston: “How Trumpian conservatism took over the world — and lost me”. Trump supporters say there’s nothing he could do or say to change their minds. Henry Farrell on how The Twilight of the Elites by Chris Hayes explains Trump’s appeal. Donald Trump is a talented politician: He might be “sad” and “lonely”, but he’s attuned to the concerns of millions of Republican voters.
Delusion, projection, revenge: Donald Trump and the GOP are indistinguishable. Reminder: The vast majority of Republican politicians are still on the Trump train. Saving conservatism from Trump’s GOP: Avik Roy — a former adviser to Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney — wants to rescue conservatism from Trump’s divisive tribalism. Whose Grand Ol’ Party is it to destroy, Ryan’s or Trump’s? Paul Ryan was the “enemy” of the alt-Right long before he crossed Donald Trump. From Vox, Matthew Yglesias on the real reason Donald Trump is lashing out at Paul Ryan; and on how Donald Trump’s wild new rhetoric isn’t about winning — it’s about what comes next. For or against Trump, GOP fears intensifying civil war if he loses. Worst-case Trump: What if losing the election only makes him stronger?
“Like family members living in the home of an abuser our sense of what is normal starts to get blunted and deformed under the weight of abuse. The whole country is damaged in a way that won’t soon lift under the best of circumstances”. Self-care in the time of Trump: Survivors and activists alike don’t owe anybody anything except the care of themselves. You’re not alone — election anxiety is real: A majority of Americans report “significant stress” in 2016. Putin ally Vladimir Zhirinovsky tells Americans: Vote Trump or face nuclear war.
