MORNING MESSAGE
...this
speech needed to be long. Trump needed to present a number of false and
contradictory identities to the electorate, and that takes time. He was both a
firebrand populist and a rock-ribbed Republican. He was an enemy of big
business, and he swore to deregulate industry. He was compassionate toward all
people – but he’ll build a wall to keep millions of people out. Trump also
needed time to present an America that’s a study in contrasts ... a desperate
and dangerous dystopia that will become an Eden as soon as he is sworn into
office. That’s Demagoguery 101: Terrify, then reassure. ... And Trump’s eerily
good at it.
Trump GOES FULL NIXON
Trump
delivers “grim” capstone address. W. Post: “…Trump offered a powerful echo
of Richard Nixon almost 50 years ago … a law-and-order message in the hope of
summoning an army of disaffected and forgotten voters large enough to topple the
political status quo in November.”
Trump
fact-challenged as usual. NYT: “Many of Mr. Trump’s facts appear to be true,
though the Republican presidential nominee sometimes failed to offer the entire
story, or provide all of the context that might help to explain his numbers. And
in some cases, the facts seemed inflated or misleading…”
Barely
mentioned the economy. W. Post: “[He] only briefly nod[ded] to the pillars
of the Reagan formula for opportunity and prosperity. He [spent] five sentences
on a tax-cut package that is presently being revised.”
Trump
“dissolving” the GOP, says NYT’s David Brooks: “There’s no actual agenda
being put in its place, just nostalgic spasms that, as David Frum has put it,
are part George Wallace and part Henry Wallace. Trump’s policy agenda, such as
it is, is mostly a series of vague and defensive recoils: build a wall, ban
Muslims, withdraw from the world … Law and order is a strange theme for a
candidate who radiates conflict and disorder. Some rich children are careless
that way; they break things and other people have to clean up the mess.”
Trump’s
speech was a “Terrifying Display of Nightmarish Authoritarianism” says Reason’s
Peter Suderman: “It was a relentlessly grim and gloomy picture of America,
built on thinly disguised racial distrust and paranoia. It was a portrait that
was also essentially false. Violent crime has been steadily falling for more
than two decades. Immigrants are less prone to criminality than native-born
Americans … Trump is the threat, but the Republican party as an institution
deserves nearly as much scorn as Trump for making this happen.”
Bernie
Sanders live tweets Trump speech. The Hill quotes: ““Those who voted for me
will not support Trump who has made bigotry and divisiveness the cornerstone of
his campaign … What a hypocrite! If Trump wants to ‘fix’ trade he can start by
making his products in the US, not low-wage countries abroad.”
SIGNS POINT TO KAINE
Sen.
Tim Kaine tops the VP list, reports AP: “Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine has emerged
as the leading contender to join the Democratic ticket as Hillary Clinton’s
running mate, according to two Democrats, who both cautioned that Clinton has
not made a final decision and could yet change directions. The announcement of
Clinton’s pick could come as early as Friday afternoon in Florida…”
NBC’s
Chuck Todd tweets: “HRC has a campaign event in Miami Sat morning and Tim
Kaine’s bilingual. If you want that as an asset, then you’d showcase it on day
1.”
“Liberals
Balk” headlines NYT: “Liberals say they are concerned about Mr. Kaine’s
positions on global trade deals and Wall Street regulation. He has been an
outspoken advocate of free trade and has defended the North American Free Trade
Agreement, which many voters in Rust Belt states blame for the loss of
manufacturing jobs to Mexico. He voted in support of ‘fast track’ authority for
the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade pact that President Obama has
championed.”
“Liberals
lash out at Tim Kaine over banking letter” reports Politico: “The liberal
groups are furious that Kaine, along with several other Democratic senators,
signed a letter urging regulators to rethink how banking rules cover regional
banks. ‘Let’s be really clear: It should be disqualifying for any potential
Democratic vice presidential candidate to be part of a lobbyist-driven effort to
help banks dodge consumer protection standards…,’ Democracy for America
executive director Charles Chamberlain said in a statement Thursday.”
Unions
aim to help Clinton in Rust Belt. Bloomberg: “Working America is an AFL-CIO
affiliate group for workers who have no union. Today it claims 3 million members
… ‘We’ve been talking to the targets of the Trump phenomenon for 13 years,’ says
Working America’s executive director, Karen Nussbaum. ‘We know these folks. We
understand their pain.’ The group aims to have 500 canvassers in the field by
Election Day and to hold 2 million face-to-face conversations this year.”
AILES OUT
Roger
Ailes out as Fox News CEO. Politico: “It was a stunning fall for one of the
most powerful people in the media industry, who built Fox News into a ratings
juggernaut and a hugely influential platform for Republican politics.”
Fox
News could become less political. NPR: “James Murdoch in particular is known
to favor a model more like the Murdochs’ Sky News in Britain, which is lively
but less openly political. And the Murdoch sons would like the company to
reflect what they believe are more 21st century values.”
Progressive
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