106 Comments

Left out giving fellatio to the microphone. As someone said, " practicing for prison"

Expand full comment

Did you check where he was doing fund raisers before assuming it’s some ego thing or an *own the libs* thing? Seems like he’s been going hat in hand to his billionaire buddies around the same time as he’s basking in the glow of his fans.

Also, minor correction, but, Donald WISHES he appeared at the Coachella music festival. First off, that happened in August and second, He was not even on the same grounds, just the same town. Lulz.

Expand full comment

The photos of Trump at his rallies are interesting to dissect. Trump is always pointing at random people in the crowd. He does that a lot. It is a bit of entertainer stage-craft to give people the impression that he "sees" them and they have a connection. The young guys in the photo....ten-fifteen years from now, will they still be proud of being groupies of a weird looking dude with bronzer slathered all over his face? Or will they say they were young and stupid and just along for the ride? The answer may depend upon whether they ever get a girlfriend.

Expand full comment

With all due respect, Marc - ego is likely not the reason he is campaigning in places he knows he won't win. He is making sure that he has stoked the fires of skepticism on election integrity and false claims of fraud. The reason for doing that in places that Dems will almost certainly win is exactly because he knows that election integrity protections are more lax where Dems are expected to win easily, but if he can fire up and fool the MAGA crowd in these places, and they protest and threaten violence and otherwise muck things up after the election - it will seem like there is a nationwide protest, not just in the super close races in the 4-7 swing states. And a nationwide "protest" of the election will generate a lot more power than if only isolated in the swing states.

Expand full comment

Thank you for saving me ten minutes of typing time. My thoughts exactly. Combine that with local election boards who will contest results even if Trump wins, just to muddy the water, and THIS is Trump's 50-state strategy.

Expand full comment

Every move he and his campaign have made is designed to create a subtext for contesting the outcome and/or claiming that everything he does, says, or plans to do are wildly popular, regardless of what the actual numbers tell us.

Expand full comment

I love how Haley chides people to “take the motion out of it” and vote Trump back in. Probably half of his voters are voting for him because of emotions. Trump is all about emotions. Without emotions, his campaign is political vaporware. If it wasn’t about feelings, they’d acknowledge that he’s dangerous and won’t fix anything. But they love how Trump makes them feel so they’re ignoring the rest.

Expand full comment

Trump's a danger and Harris is a good candidate, but his New Mexico and Virginia rallies seem like a weird thing to make an issue of, in the light of Harris's recent Texas rally. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and, in this case, pretty weak sauce. We really are at the end of the campaigns.

Expand full comment

Agree . The Texas rally was for Allred . Kamala knows the gentleman form Cancun , and possibly surrendered to the urge to make him sweat . Even if TFG didn't exist Cruz is a racist spineless sanctimonious creep . IF Allred wins , hallelujah Even if he doesn't win , if you listened to the debate (which only us weirdos do) that man at then very least will be in a Cabinet level position for Harris , or in the wilderness and then run again for statewide office and probably win , even in TX . Allred is the real deal

Expand full comment

I beg to differ. The difference with Texas was that it served two significant campaign purposes for Harris. She was able to center abortion as an issue and to push meaningfully for Allred at a moment it could matter and help hold the Senate.

Expand full comment

I believe she went to TX to lend her support to Colin Allred, who has an excellent chance of beating Ted Cruz. Even non-MAGA Texas Republicans hate Ted Cruz.

She’s also reaching out to TX women as part of her campaign to reinstate reproductive rights and healthcare for all women. I don’t think she has any fantasies of winning Texas.

Trump has never done anything for anybody anywhere. If he’s in NM it’s to satisfy some egomaniacal drive.

Expand full comment

There's a difference between Harris's Texas rally and the Trump rallies in New Mexico and Virginia though. Harris's Texas rally had star power (Beyonce), a clear theme (abortion) and excellent visuals (filling up a soccer stadium). As a result, it got a lot of national attention.

Meanwhile, Trump's Virginia and New Mexico rallies really have none of that - no one has any real reason to tune into these events. The MSG rally was the one blue state event that had attention-grabbing qualities, but it went off the rails due to how offensive and racist it was and did nothing but generate negative headlines for days.

Expand full comment

People keep forgetting the core raison d’etre of the entire Trump presidential campaign - the grift. It’s not purely ego that drives Trump to hold rallies in deep blue states. It’s fundraising/supporter milking. He’s mined the swing states for cash fairly extensively, so he gets richer pickings now in blue states. And with the election now here this could be his last chance to steal from these people. And of course the joy of ‘fundraising’ in blue states is that you don’t have to spend all your ill gotten gains on advertising or campaign infrastructure because there’s no point, you won’t win a blue state. So it’s all gravy all the way down.

Expand full comment

The raison d’etre is to stay out of prison AND then also to grift! One wonders what post election merchandise will find its way into the market AFTER the election whether he wins or loses.

Expand full comment

“We’re the Trump campaign: we’re gonna go where the fuck we wanna go, and too bad if you don’t get it,”

That is so - sad!

I mean, really - what kind of mindset thinks and talks like that? Bravely and determinedly walking head first into a black hole? Probably even KNOWING it's a black hole - but determined to do just what they like.

It is SO pathetic.

Expand full comment

They’re all paid; what do they care what hill he wants to die on?

Expand full comment

Do you have undecided or persuadable family or friends? I’ve put together an article featuring the reasons many high-profile conservative Republicans have given for why they cannot support Trump. I’ve gotten some great feedback from folks who’ve called it “stunning” and “compelling” and appreciated how easy it is to read and understand. My intent was for this to be a resource for all, so please share it far and wide. https://michaeltenbrink.substack.com/p/dont-take-my-word-for-ittake-theirs

Expand full comment

Incredible, Michael. Well done!

Expand full comment

That is VERY impressive! Until you see a comprehensive listing like that, you don't really appreciate the strength of the pushback against trump by so many senior Republicans. Thank you so much.

Expand full comment

Thank you!

Expand full comment

Thank you, Audrey! I really appreciate it.

Expand full comment

To Trump: YOU'RE FIRED!!!!

Expand full comment

Maybe mainstream media wont say it out loud but Christine Todd Whitman will.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/christine-todd-whitman-donald-trump_n_6723bcaee4b0871068fe88ad?ncid=APPLENEWS00001

Expand full comment

Amazing, that "I'm going to take care of women whether they want me to or not." When you think how he's "taken care" of women in the past.

Expand full comment

It was nice to read that and no surprise at all. She's been voicing her opinion for a longgg time now (sorry, but on mainstream media). She's a CNN regular. I rarely watch it but certain folks I watch and she and Charlie Dent are a couple (I'm in PA) and Dent endorsed Harris.

Expand full comment

In spite of "this is not a way to win women" - Nikki Haley is all in. Her standards are pretty damn low.

Expand full comment

I don't think I'd let myself beg for anything (other than a pet rat or a dog) but begging the traitors for a spot on a cult that wants to annihilate this country? I almost liked her years ago.

Expand full comment

Trump said he “almost won” New Mexico twice, and then claimed he did win both times.

In 2016, he lost NM by 8% (65,000 votes out of a total of ~800K cast).

In 2020 he lost by just shy of 100,000 votes out of ~ 925K cast (54.3% Biden / 43.5% Trump).

Expand full comment

I don't know why you guys don't tune out his hands and his mouth. I use closed captioning and when his image is gone, I wait a couple of seconds then unmute it. He lies and doesn't stop. I may have it easier than you, though.

Expand full comment

As always, very illuminating. As we say here Downunder, you're always delivering 'the good oil', Marc.

Expand full comment

“The presidential election is about who gets the biggest share of media attention every day.”

Well, trump talks about trump. Harris talks about trump.

If “The presidential election is about who gets the biggest share of media attention every day”, then trump is going to win.

Expand full comment