Donald Trump's 2016 General Election Campaign

Looks like he picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines.

If he’s releasing unauthorized autobiographies he’s worse than I thought.

Well I figured Steve Bannon and the rest of Trump’s army would start this propaganda war sooner, but it has started at long last. Apparently, Trump somehow ‘won’ the debate that most pundits and viewers felt he absolutely lost. Even so, I suspect it could blunt at least some of the damage if this sort of misinformation campaign is sustained and loud enough. Fortunately, other outlets have already exposed these polls as shams, but you know that they’re getting liked and shared. I still expect a poll drop for the Donald. How much is unclear, though. Could be a 5-6 point drop a la Obama in 2012, but I concede that I might be disappointed to find a mere 1-3 point deficit.

Today’s NYT cover, courtesy of Krugman:

He’s a different kind of candidate altogether.

He’s a different kind of candidate.

He’s a different kind of candidate.

He’s a different kind of candidate.

That wasn’t together. Keep practicing.

But it was!, we were all in the same room!.

Sock alert!

Well raise my rent. The Arizona Republic endorses Clinton.

Pigs will fly tomorrow! Buy your umbrella now before the price goes waaaay up!

Trump still has the endorsement of the National Enquirer. And the New York Post, I think.

Both of them the very pinnacle of journalistic integrity and ethical behavior.

Meanwhile, Clinton only has the endorsement of some 80+ newspapers. Including the above mentioned paper that has endorsed a Democrat for the first time since 1890.

Cincinnati Enquirer, Dallas Morning News and Manchester Union-Leader are all endorsing Clinton, and for all of them it’s either the first or second Democrat they’ve ever endorsed.

Which sounds impressive, but I’m skeptical as to how much weight a newspaper endorsement carries these days, and how many undecided voters there still are who would be swayed.

This time with 4-part harmony and feeling…

I’d guess that it would sway some undecided voters, but it’ll also sway die-hard Republicans who really don’t like Trump. They really liked another candidate, and they really don’t like Trump, but they’ve voted Republican their whole life and feel like it’s their duty. Things like this can either convince them not to vote for Trump or gives them permission not to vote for him. They’ll be able to feel like they can vote for Clinton, or just leave the presidential vote blank, and still have a clear conscience, and then vote for the Republican candidate in 2020.

I wonder what would happen if Trump lost this year and then ran against Hillary again in 2020. He could turn into a modern-day Clarence Darrow.

Speaking of which, during the debate, Mr. Trump claimed he had, or was about to have, the endorsements of over 200 “admirals and generals”:

[Quote=Donald J. Trump, mansion/yacht owner]
I do want to say that I was just endorsed – and more are coming next week – it will be over 200 admirals, many of them here – admirals and generals endorsed me to lead this country. That just happened, and many more are coming. And I’m very proud of it.
[/Quote]

Presumably he’s talking about retired flag officers, since (I think) active-duty military aren’t allowed to make endorsements. All I could find in a quick search on this were some articles dating from earlier in September (like this one) mentioning endorsements from 88 retired officers.

Guess we’ll have to see if the other 120 or so promised endorsements actually turn up. Anyone know the real story?

I think, if he loses, all his cachet for the alt-right creeps will disappear.