FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2016
Today’s Good News And Bad News
From Our Local Political Junkie We’ll Call “Cincy Dave”

GOOD NEWS FOR TRUMP
The Democrat Party leads in registered voters in several key swing states but Republicans are catching up, according to an NYT article.  However they have a long way to go and some of the gains may be temporary because the Blue Team doesn’t usually start their registration drives until after Labor Day.

TRUMP MAKES MINN. BALLOT
Normally, this would not be news at all but the Trump Campaign had to scramble at the last minute to get on the Minnesota ballot because whoever was supposed to take care of the filing didn’t submit the necessary paperwork.  It is just another example of an amateurish campaign in chaos.  There have been too many changes in personnel and too many people who never managed a campaign before.   Not that Trump has any chance of winning Minnesota anyway.  It is one of the true Blue states, only going Republican once since Eisenhower.

HILLARY IS A BIGOT
On Wednesday, in Jackson, Mississippi, Trump told his all-white audience that Hillary is a bigot.  They all seem to agree, as did his campaign manager from the white supremacist and anti-semitic newsletter, Breitbart. 

This a trick right out of W. Bush campaign manager, Karl Rove’s playbook.   Faced with an opponent who is strong on an issue when your guy is weak, you attack the opponent’s strength.   In Rove’s case, he had a guy, G. W. Bush, that had avoided serving in Vietnam by pulling strings, while his opponent, John Kerry, was a highly decorated combat veteran.  Rove created the so-called “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” to claim that Kerry made up everything and never was in any battles, even though he still had shrapnel in his legs to prove it.  They received a lot of free media exposure and a lot of people believed them.  The result was that Kerry’s strength ended up being a liability.  Although he had volunteered for combat duty, Kerry was branded a coward, and the guy that stayed home was the hero.    So now we have a person that has worked and advocated for civil rights all her life being called a bigot, while the guy who lost a lawsuit for discrimination, and called Mexicans criminals and rapists is not. Hillary fired back accusing Trump of “taking hate groups mainstream,” possibly referring to his hiring of the Breitbart guy.  (Remember, he hires only the best)  We will see if The Donald’s new line of attack gets any traction in the media, but our guess is that it is too big a stretch to be credible with anyone but Hillary haters. 

TED CRUZ ON TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION FLIP FLOP
If there’s anyone who should know all about immigration, it is Ted Cruz, A.K.A  Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, or Brutus for short.  Being born in Canada, with a father from Cuba and a mother who lived in England and was married to an Englishman, he ought to be an expert on the subject.  Whether he himself should even be eligible to run for president is questionable, but running he is, although now for 2020.  After backstabbing Trump at the convention, he recently threw out his latest cut.  It was about Trump’s immigration plan, assuming that Trump ever tells anyone what the final version will be.   Word is that Trump isn’t even sure himself, as he reportedly offered 3 different positions on immigration, and that was just on Tuesday.  However, hard right-wingers such as Cruz are sure that it will offer some form of amnesty to people such as him, and he can’t have that.  He is telling everyone, “Told You So”   It will be very interesting to see how long The Donald flip-flops back and forth on this one.  He is really between a rock and a hard place on immigration.  On the one hand, the two cornerstones of his candidacy were deporting every last immigrant who came here illegally or overstayed their visa, and building a 35, 40 or 55-foot high wall to keep them from coming back or any more from coming in.  But on the other hand, it is also one of the biggest reasons that he is behind in the polls.  If Trump does a flip-flop on deportations, he will lose votes from a lot of his supporters and if he doesn’t flip-flop, he will probably continue his downward spiral.  Besides that, non-supporters will view any flip-flop at this late date with extreme skepticism.   It looks to us like he has dug himself a hole halfway to China, so to get out, it just as far either way.  As for Cruz, he is maintaining his reputation as the most-hated Senator currently in office.

RIGHT WING REACTION TO THE FLIP-FLOP
Right wing talking heads are going bananas over the Trump flip-flop on immigration. They ain’t happy, although  Limbaugh did laugh about it.   In a curious situation, immigration opponent Ann Coulter blasted Trump while at the same time making the rounds touting her latest book praising him – “In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!”      

MCMULLIN GAINING BALLOT ACCESS
Independent conservative presidential candidate Evan McMullin will be on the ballot in at least 6 or 7 states. We really don’t understand what he is wasting his time on, because he is very unlikely to win even a single electoral vote.  It is possible that he is betting on Trump dropping out, or a tie in the Electoral College where the House of Representatives could select anyone they want.  The House is controlled by Republicans, and the majority of States are Republican controlled.   In the event of a tie, each state gets one vote.  Even then, it is a stretch to think that they would just dump Trump and select McMullin.  Best guess is that he is trying to set himself up to be the “conservative” candidate for 2020.

TODAY’S MEANINGLESS POLL
No surprise here – Michigan has gone to the Democratic Candidate in the last 6 presidential elections.