-A slew of new polling in the last 48 hours have made it clear that Kamala Harris has established a national lead close to being outside the margin of error against Old Weird Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist). Leads in various polls place the lead around 4%, with subsequent battleground state polls showing leads and/or toss-ups throughout the country. Harris has maintained the momentum from the summer roll-out and debate, abetted by Trump's deteriorating performances when he manages to get in front of ever-dwindling audiences.
-To wit, last night on an appearance before Fox News' GUTFELD! (that's how they spell it, people), host Greg Gutfeld asked "TRUMP!" (Gutfeld created a graphic that said it, people) about that debate performance, which Trump has taken to try to claim was "WON!" (I spelled it that way to mock him, people) the debate (Harris won the debate without exclamation points needed). As part of the interview, Trump gushed that the debate went so well for him that "the crowd went crazy!" screaming and cheering for him last week.
-There is one minor problem with Trump's claim: THERE WAS NO LIVE AUDIENCE AT LAST WEEK'S DEBATE. Gutfeld did not correct him, of course, but once again we have a prime example of cognitive issues with Trump that are going unreported by much of the mainstream media.
-Now, that lack of discussion, at least this afternoon, does have justification ... BREAKING NEWS: CNN and a local Charlotte, NC newspaper report that ten years ago, North Carolina MAGAGOP Gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson - an African-American man Trump has called "Martin Luther King on steroids!" and gave Robinson "my full and unconditional endorsement!" - posted in on a discussion board housed in a pornographic web site that Robinson ... an African-American man ... was pro-slavery to the point of being supportive of bringing slavery back to the United States. For good measure, Robinson also called himself "a black NAZI!" (that's an actual quote, people!), and is a fan of transgender pornography. These revelations come after previous revelations that Robinson has paid for at least two abortions while now advocating a total ban on abortion and openly attacking MLK. AND - THIS JUST IN: Robinson also had an active account on Ashley Madison, a web site for people looking to have extramarital affairs.
-Trump's campaign is reportedly trying to get Robinson to drop out of the NC Governors' race, as Trump now desperately needs to win NC to get to 270 votes and fears Robinson at the top of the ticket would end any such chances. The problem is that while Robinson can drop out of the race if he does so tonight, his name will still appear on all NC ballots from this point through the rest of the campaign. The respected Cook National Report has now moved the Governors' race from "lean Democratic" to "likely Democratic" as it does not appear Robinson will be dropping out of the race - and even if he did, there he is. So ... advantage, Kamala in the Tarheel State?
-The news for Trump does not get better in other areas. Trump's Vice President JD Vance continues to defend what even he admits is a complete lie of a story: that Haitian immigrants have been capturing and cooking pets in the Ohio town of Springfield. Despite a week's worth of threats to the town that have led to cancellation of schools and a festival, the reiteration from Springfield's Mayor and Police Chief that the story is not true, the woman whose lost cat prompted the original rumor admitting that her cat had simply been hiding in the basement, and Vance himself saying it was wrong, Vance nonetheless refuses to apologize or to call for calm in the town, which has been overrun with Trump supporters including some aforementioned Nazis, arguing that even if the story is false, "his constituents" believe it and therefore must continue to be flogged.
-Amid that story and the continued apparent rumors about Trump and ultra-MAGA looneybird Laura Loomer may be having a physical relationship with each other (EWWWWW), yesterday Trump's current wife, Melania, asked on social media without any prompting whatsoever what might be wrong with nude photos of ... someone ... being in those photos or not. Now, Melania does have a book coming out, BECOMING MICHELLE OBAMA.
-Apologies, but the book is going to be called MELANIA. Go figure.
-Still more breaking bad Trump news: the U.S. stock markets have closed at new record highs today after the Federal Bank cut its prime lending rate by 0.5% - a response to the continued success of the Biden Administration (of which Harris is the Vice President!) in controlling inflation (food and gas prices are lower and going lower in the last several weeks) and completely contradicting the doom-and-gloom Trump line that the Socialist Communist Marxist "Comrade Kah-MAH-luh" will destroy the economy like "the WOOORST President inthehistoryofthecountryzzzzzz" Biden.
-That skyrocketing stock, sadly for Trump, does NOT include his money pit, Truth Social, which continues to drop like Trump's polling - important because tomorrow is the first day Trump would be allowed by law to try to sell the stock. Stock watchers are keeping an eye on what Trump does, as there are suspicions that the entire Truth Social enterprise was a "pump-and-dump" scheme designed to allow Trump to make a profit by selling out even though many, MANY of his supporters jumped at the chance to buy Truth Social when it was first made public at the price of around $60 per share. With the stock closing at $14.70 per share, the chances of this stock performing as well as his casinos and steak and vodka and "university," thoughts and prayers should be passed to any stock holder not named Trump.
-Even Trump's one bit of good news from the last 24 hours may not be as good as he had hoped. That news is that the Teamsters and their 1.3 million members had declined for the first time since 1996 to endorse a Presidential candidate. The ostensible reason given by Teamsters President Sean O'Brien was that a survey that 40,000 members responded in a poll and that 56% of them wanted to endorse the virulently anti-union Trump over Harris, who with Joe Biden has been one of the most supportive administrations to unions in American history. But that 'good' news for Trump is that, despite (or because of?) O'Brien speaking to the Republican Convention, several state Teamsters locals - including CA, MA, MI, and PA - have broken off from their national leader and endorsed Harris anyway.
-Yes, keep working ... yes, don't get complacent ... yes, there are downballot elections that need tending (the MT Senate race is currently lean Republican, and that could be enough to allow the MAGAGOP to cling to power there) ... but also remember that (STANDS ON SOAP BOX) often Presidential campaigns break late away from the perceived loser, so branding Trump as the losing loser who loses that he always has been and pinning to this campaign could provide the impetus for a good night on November 5. After all, Trump is working so hard to get re-elected he decided to go golfing on the spur of the moment last Sunday - and while he potentially exposed himself to a would-be assassin, WHY WASN'T HE CAMPAIGNING? (STEPS OFF SOAP BOX)
-Look, there really are other stories out there, including Harris preparing to be on a Zoom supporter call hosted by Oprah Winfrey, Israel bombing in Lebanon in an apparent opening of a new war front against Hezbollah, Ukraine continuing to gain support to allow it to attack Russian positions deeper within Russia than previously allowed (SLAVA UKRAINI!), but DAMN there's SO MUCH going on right now I need to stop to keep an eye on things, particularly in NC. Also, I need to rest my exclamation point key, so let's get to the historicals and then refresh my social medias for the evening (I'm that guy!) ...
-On this date in 1893, New Zealand became the first country on Earth to allow women to vote. On this date in 1941, Leningrad was bombed by Germany. On this date in 1952, Charlie Chaplain was banned from returning to the United States because of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's investigations into "Communism." On this date in 1955, Juan Peron was overthrown as President of Argentina. On this date in 1981, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle reunited for a concert in New York's Central Park. On this date in 1986, the first HIV/AIDS medical treatment (AZT) was made available to patients. On this date in 1995, "The Unabomber," Ted Kacynski, saw his "manifesto" published - an act that led to his capture. And on this date in 2011, Mariano Rivera set the Major League Baseball record for saves.
-Debuts on this date: the first balloon flight (1783), SEARCH FOR TOMORROW (1951), underground testing of a nuclear bomb (1957), THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW (1970), the Glastonbury music festival (1970), the "No Nukes" concerts (1979), the smiley emoticon (1982), RHYTHM NATION 1814 (1989), ER (1994), auto tune (1997).
-Happy Birthday to Leon Jaworski, Lewis Powell, Ferry Porsche, William Golding, Frances Farmer, Tin-Tan, Roger Angell, Emil Zatopek, Jack McCloskey, Duke Snider, James Lipton, Lurleen Wallace, Rosemary Harris, William Hickey, Adam West, Muhal Richard Abrams, Brook Benton, Mike Royko, David McCallum, Brian Epstein, Al Oerter, Abner Haynes, Mosche Weinberg, Bill Medley, Paul Williams, Cass Elliot, Freda Payne, Joe Morgan, Ray Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Barry Scheck, Twiggy, Joan Lunden, Daniel Lanois, Nile Rodgers, Kevin Hooks, Lita Ford, Marshall Jefferson, Cheri Oteri, Ken Rosenthal, Randy Myers, Jarvis Cocker, Patrick Marber, Trisha Yearwood, Soledad O'Brien, Jim Abbott, Jimmy Fallon, and Trae Young.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to James Garfield, Conde Nast, Gram Parsons, Orville Redenbacher, Gloria Talbott, Eddie Adams, Ellis Marsalis Sr., Sketter Davis, Earl Parker, Jackie Collins, Bernie Casey, Jake LaMotta, and Maury Wills.
-Feed the Worms: MAGA Sen. Tim Scott entered Earth on this date. Banker Mayer Rothschild bought it on this date.