Supposedly it is, but I feel we've heard this song before. Over, and over, and over. Honestly I'm not the least bit surprised. All the shock and outrage by the right wing is pretty amusing though.
Here's the thing: It's October 8th. This isn't even CLOSE to the worst thing they have on Trump. Here's the other thing: The same is true of the Clintons. Pass the arsenic-flavored popcorn ...
You think there's something on the Clinton's that's not already old news? All I hear is a constant refrain of emailsmonicabenghaziemailsmonicabenghaziEMAILSMONICABENGHAZI!!
<All the shock and outrage by the right wing is pretty amusing though.> It really is, isn't it? "We had no idea he was like this!" We'll, sure you did. You just decided it didn't matter because (R). Hell, there was just a story out Monday about similar statements and a history of harassment on The Apprentice. A dozen or more people of both sexes all saying the same things. But no video/audio, so just pretend it never happened. He was already going to lose. She was up about 5 points with about a month left, the same deficit as Obama/Romney, with most people with their minds made up and recent undecideds breaking for Clinton anyway. Now he's either going to be as contrite as he can be (i.e. Not much) and lose by single digits or go nuclear and lose by double digits. And maybe drag other Republicans down with him. A guy can dream, right? Unless he does a spectacular job tomorrow night, look for more rats jumping off the USS Trump on Monday.
Most of the un-endorsements and step-down demands I've been seeing have been endorsing Pence for POTUS. I don't think Hillary can beat Pence. I think our best hope at this point is for Trump to be Trump and refuse to step aside. It doesn't appear that the GOP has the legal ability to force him off the ticket.
He has said unequivocally that he will not step down. Of course, who knows? (That's actually my biggest worry right now, so I hope he doesn't!) I doubt he will, because among other things, I think he probably doesn't even really believe he did anything wrong. If he did step aside, or the GOP tried to force him aside, what a can of worms that would be. Some people have already voted absentee or early. Would the votes for Trump that have already been cast automatically go to Pence? You think the Clinton camp would just accept that without the mother of all lawsuits? And every day that goes by, the number of people early voting only grows. I'm not sure the ballots could be changed at this point either, at least not in all states. Another can of worms. Then there are the Trump true-believers. They would be mightily ticked off at the GOP if Trump was forced out, and the GOP knows this. I can't imagine they wouldn't decide it was better for their broader interests to just accept a Trump loss (which was going to happen anyway) rather than risk have the Trumpistas boycott 2016 (and lose all those down-ballot races) and perhaps desert the party in the future as well. The only way it could possibly work out with even a ghost of a chance is if Trump withdrew on his own and endorsed Pence. You'd still have the early voting and ballot problems (and a massive effort to tell people to vote for Trump if he's on the ballot, and that really means Pence... bringing the inevitable lawsuit...) but maybe against all odds Republican voters would do that, they'd win a lawsuit, and we get President Pence (please, God, no). But Trump doesn't give a rat's patootie for the GOP, and probably not for Mike Pence either. It's hard to imagine him withdrawing. By the way, here's a piece that talked about the how difficult a Trump withdrawal would be TWO MONTHS AGO. Sorry, Republicans. You’re stuck with your nominee. "There is a rule, Rule 9, which spells out how a nominee can be replaced. But: “The rule is pretty clear about the conditions for filling a vacancy,” Putnam writes. “The list is short: death, declination or otherwise. And let’s be clear here: The rule is intended to fill vacancies, not to lay the groundwork for a replacement. “Some have speculated that ‘otherwise’ is ambiguous. Taken out of context it is,” he continued. “However, under the provisions for filling vacancies, it clearly fills in any gap between death and declination (i.e.: an incapacitating illness, but one that leaves the nominee neither dead nor able to decline to run further). And that was the intention.” In other words, the only way Trump won't be the nominee is if he drops dead, falls into a coma or simply decides not to run. It’s not clear which of those is least likely. Probably the coma, just given the odds. There’s absolutely no indication that Trump plans to drop out, and the nature of his candidacy and the moment is such that he’s unlikely to see any massive drop in his core base of support. He’s raising money and having fun being the center of attention. Oh, and he also hasn’t shown any concern about the long-term success of the Republican Party, as he demonstrated on Tuesday when he declined to endorse the reelection of House Speaker Paul Ryan."
Why am I thinking whatever speech gives on November 8 he's simply going to end it with the Aristocrats.
I am (almost) speechless. All the terrible things proven against him and his downfall is 10 yo *locker-room talk"! Pullleeeaaassse!!!!!! Just keep those conservatives out of the highest court in the land and I will be able to sleep nights.
That Access Hollywood outtake has been known to exist for years. It showed up yesterday. Way after the GOP primaries ended, and just a little too late to change the top of the ticket. And the Russians apparently have every email related to Hillary Clinton that's ever been sent. This ain't over. Welcome to American politics.
Well, there is that rule in the party's by-laws. But that has little to do with the laws of the 50 states, which are all different and are what govern who actually appears on the ballot. We're now at T-30 days and counting until the election. In almost every case, it's too late for the GOP nominee to be changed on a state ballot, even if the GOP nominee itself were to change per Rule 9. The only options left for a GOP candidate other than Trump to be elected would seem to be: a) write-in campaign for another candidate. Considering how fractious the GOP is these days, I don't see any way how they could orchestrate any single person's name being written in more frequently than people will check/pull/punch for Hillary on the ballot. b) a convoluted plan where by Trump says he's effectively dropping out of the race, but to vote for him anyway and if he wins, he promises to resign immediately after being sworn in, thus making a vote for Trump really a vote for Pence. But, with things as a close as they are, I just can't see the GOP i) able to communicate this convoluted plan so that just about everyone prone to vote GOP would understand it, and ii) how could anyone believe a Trump "promise" to resign after being sworn in? Even if Trump was genuine with such a promise, the seductive power of the office might just be too much for someone like him to keep his word once he got to that point. I guess if Trump wanted to withdraw from the race, and *really* wanted Pence to win and people to believe his promise to resign, he could also renounce his US citizenship, making him ineligible to hold the office. Obviously, all of the above is crazy talk. The fact that those are the most likely scenarios I can come up with that would see a GOP nominee other than Trump being elected next month just goes to show you how unlikely such a thing is.
