TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2016
FBI Totally And Completely Vindicates Hillary
By George Stephanopoulos, ABC News For Clinton
The big news today is that the long-awaited F.B.I. report on the email controversy is out and it completely vindicates Hillary, saying there was no evidence that she intended to violate any laws. This is devastating for all the Trump fans and Hillary haters who were, without any evidence, hoping and praying for an indictment. All they have left now is to claim that the fix was in with the F.B.I. and that the F.B.I. Director, Republican James Comey, is a rat. With the last of the phony scandals in the rear-view mirror, Hillary should be ready to start picking out the new White House drapes.
Today, it’s all bad news for Trump (and there is always a lot of bad news): In the latest poll, the president’s popularity has reached a 56% approval, a height not seen since the killing of Osama Bin Laden. This is bad news because a Hillary presidency is seen by many as a continuation of Obama’s. Moreover, Hillary and Obama are going to start campaigning together soon, so Trump will essentially be going against Hillary and two popular presidents, Obama and the Big Dog.
Other bad news for Trump: Several articles have appeared in recent days about Trump’s fake charity and the fact that he refuses to release his income tax returns. Here is a link to the most recent one in the Washington Post.
More bad news for Trump: The uproar over the Trump campaign’s “Star of David” post showing Hillary with a big pile of money and a Star of David is still resonating. Efforts to dismiss this as a misinterpretation of the 6-pointed star in the poster were undone when reporters discovered that the entire poster was copied off a white-supremacist website, which frequently indulges in anti-Semitic propaganda.
Trump’s swing state troubles continue
Ohio – The mother of presidents (Republican Presidents only) is also the state that can break any Republican presidential candidate. Lose Ohio, you lose the election. This is not true for Democratic Candidates. For example, JFK lost Ohio. In Ohio, Trump faces the fact that the establishment Republicans from Governor Kasich on down, do not like him, It doesn’t help that the Convention is being held in Cleveland and Gov. Kasich, who is supposed to be hosting the convention, is withholding his support.
New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada – These states have lots of Mexican and other Hispanic residents. We don’t really have to say any more about this but we will anyway. Even those “illegal” Hispanics have relatives and friends who are citizens and will be highly motivated to vote. There are huge GOTV drives among Hispanics that will probably be successful. Also, the Hillary campaign is spending loads on TV ads in these states while the Trump campaign is nearly broke and has spent nothing so far.
Utah – Not normally a swing state, but usually a very reliable Republican state. Not this year. The last time Utah voted for a Democrat for president was in the 1964 landslide for LBJ. Utah is dominated by the Mormon church and Mormons’ core values are humility, modesty, chastity and civility. Trump goes 0-for-4 there. At the same time, the Mormons are an oft-persecuted religious minority, and so Trump’s efforts to scapegoat Muslims and immigrants do not play well. The Mormon Church has even gone so far as to issue a statement blasting The Donald’s plan to bar Muslim immigration to the U.S., a virtually unprecedented step in terms of its directness. It is also not helping that favored son Mitt Romney is one of the loudest Trump critics.
In other news, Trump has claimed that he has filled all of the Convention speaking spots. This would normally be no news at all except that there are very few big-name Republicans willing to speak on his behalf. So, Trump has elected to fill a good number of them with his wife (current wife) and at least 4 of his children from wives #1 and #2. This will be a good look for the so-called party of family values. Other spots will be filled with Sports and entertainment celebrities in order to increase the number of people willing to watch on TV.
