Trump is Delusional and Other Addenda

Friday Aug. 5: This is an addendum to the previous post, to add to the record--I really do want to get away from the campaign for awhile.  I would normally just add some links to that post but I had problems with it last time so I'm reluctant to open it again.

Anyway, WPost adds documentation to my assertion that Trump was not only wrong about the video he said he saw but he was delusional about it.  The story shows that he made up (by the Post's count) nine separate things in a 300 word account: "He has played loose with the facts many times before, yes. But if you break down his comments in this case, it's pretty remarkable the number of things he simply invents as he goes along. He basically made up nine details about the video over the course of just 300 spoken words."

Russian connection fallout: An ex-CIA chief who served under Obama and Bush II not only strongly endorsed Clinton as a chief executive and commander-in-chief, and dissed Trump, but suggested Trump would be a national security risk--probably not a novel thought among security and military leaders, but he's saying it out loud. He also makes a direct connection between that risk and Trump's embrace of Putin: "In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation," Morell said.

The WPost added some information, notably about another Trump advisor with ties to Russia, on the whole Russian Trump thing.

The CIA guy endorsement is seen as part of a concerted Clinton campaign effort to get national security folks behind her--and it seems to be working, according to the Guardian: "Hillary Clinton has the endorsements of nearly two dozen retired generals and admirals, as her campaign indicates an eagerness to seize the national security agenda from Donald Trump and the Republican party."

On Trump and the Bomb: Ed Kilgore has a nice summary, which I of course consider an addendum to my own earlier post.  But he does include videos of a new Priorities USA ad (superpack supporting Hillary) on this topic, plus a rerun of the original 3 a.m. Clinton ad from 2008 and the now iconic nuke ad from 1964 (which according to legend aired only once.)

Lots of stories predicting Trump will endorse Ryan today, as I surmised he would.  Update: He did. Nevertheless, the NY Times reports that GOPer strategists for various congressional and senatorial campaigns are preparing to distance themselves from Trump, and engage the kind of campaign Ryan's fundraising letter suggested, i.e. vote for GOPers to counterbalance President Clinton.

And while we're still obsessing on the campaign, poll news:  Another state poll shows Clinton ahead---in Georgia. More parsing of the national poll numbers show--at least right now--Trump is losing support in his supposed base, the white working class.  They also show increasing support for Clinton among white men in general.  Everybody--including the Clinton campaign--cautions that the polls are likely to tighten, but if Clinton's leads hold for another couple of weeks, they could mean something.  Analysts will be especially watching those white male and white working class numbers.

But Richard Wolffe concludes that this past week was "decisive":  Trump is toast.