I'm trying an experiment: Binging on reading about the election for one hour every morning, then pretending it doesn't exist the rest of the day. So far, it's been a total failure but I live in a world where people don't let total failure stop them from trying the same thing again and again and again and again. Trickle-down Economics, denying Global Warming, Abstinence Education, "Pray the Gay Away," recent Adam Sandler movies…some people like to try things that don't work over and over, rather than to admit to some harsh unreality in their thinking. There are even people talking about Newt Gingrich as the guy to lead the G.O.P. out of its current hole. Like the Republicans don't have enough trouble.
My current goal is to get to Election Day without losing certain Trump-supporting friends as friends. Most of 'em seem to currently be falling back on the old "The press is biased against us" meme that we all embrace when the news is not to our liking. I think the press is biased…towards what sells papers and engenders clicks and tune-ins. At the moment, that's the narrative that Trump's campaign is an outta-control garage fire that threatens to consume the home to which it's attached. I have no doubt that if they could write that about Hillary's operation, they would…and maybe at some point, they will. Certainly, Trump will have better weeks than this one before this thing is over.
But you have the Fox News poll saying she's ten points ahead of him, which is hard to dismiss as the lies of the Liberal Media. Ten points is way more than we'll probably see either candidate ahead on November Eighth but it's a frightening number right now for Republicans. In 1980 when Reagan beat Carter by nine points, the Democrats lost 34 seats in the House and in 2008 when Obama beat McCain by seven, Republicans lost 21 seats in the House. To flip the House of Representatives from R to D would take 30.
Meanwhile, this article by Harry Enten shows that Trump is hurting Republicans in a lot of their Senate races. So are we going to see a lot of G.O.P. candidates distancing themselves from the presidential nominee or even disavowing him?
I don't begin to think Hillary has it won…not when every day brings some new issue outta nowhere. Today, people are suddenly writing about the possibility that Mrs. Trump entered the country illegally. I dunno if it's true but we're in for a lot of jokes about how Trump wants to build that wall, not to keep Mexicans out but to keep his wives in. Before long, Hillary will have just as bad a week and the folks on my side can all fall back on how the press has always had it in for her.