A Bad Day

If you thought Mike Pence’s debate performance on Tuesday was enough to stop the bleeding – you were wrong. At first it seemed that way. Media pundits, snap polls and the general public responded overwhelmingly to Pence. The media hailed his calm demeanor and unflappability.

Things were  looking up for Team Trump. Thinking about this last night, I had to give Pence props for style; his performance would give Trump a boost, effectively evening the playing field before Sunday’s debate.

Not so fast.

On Tuesday, Pence’s main job was to “present a guide for GOP-ers reluctant to defend Trump.” (Amanda Carpenter, CNN) He must have failed because today 30 former Republican lawmakers released a “blistering” letter excoriating Trump’s candidacy. It iterated many of the candidate’s tasteless, damaging acts and advised in strong terms:  

“[W]e urge our fellow Republicans not to vote for this man whose disgraceful candidacy is indefensible. This is no longer about our party; it’s now about America.”

Meanwhile, current Republican candidates are failing to muster enthusiasm for such a polarizing figure. This video of Ted Cruz making phone calls is miserable. The Daily Wire says he looks like “a small child realizing his parents will one day die.”

House Republicans are facing some pretty tough poll results, notes the New York Times. Polling in 30 battleground districts last week “concluded that Mr. Trump remained toxic for Republican congressional candidates.” This theme is also emerging in campaign advertising. Republican Congressman Robert Dold’s ad shows him turning off the television, calling Clinton and Trump “what’s wrong with politics.”

Polling results are also moving in the wrong direction. Real Clear Politics has Trump ahead in just one of the nine most recent polls, while Clinton leads with 3 – 6 points. FiveThirtyEight’s polls-only forecast has Clinton leading Trump by 4.5 points and the now-cast has an even wider margin.

Then there’s Barack Obama. A CNN/ORC poll out today gives him a 55% approval rating, the highest he’s had since his first year in office. This is bad news for Donald’s vision of an America that needs to be made “great again”: “Millions of people have accepted [the] portrait Trump has painted. But Obama’s healthy approval ratings show that they’re a minority, and it appears that most Americans accept the basic story Democrats are telling.” 

Finally, this: depositions from the Trump Plaza bankruptcy case show that his attorneys found working with their unreliable client a particular challenge. “Donald says certain things and then has a lack of memory,” says his attorney. "It's always been our practice to make sure that two people are present, and we don't have a problem of people lying." Wow. Just wow.

Donald Trump's bad week is practically a meme this campaign season. Just when you think things might be calming down something happens...and away we go. Like chickens, the media sense weakness and are all too happy to draw blood.