Trump Support Shows Serious Decline As 50% Of His Polled Supporters Say Voting Is Rigged

Trump Support Slides, But Vote 'Rigging' Rhetoric Takes Hold Morning Consult

 "A POLITICO/Morning Consult poll taken October 13-15 found Trump had 36% support, while Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton holds steady at 42% in a four-way race including Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Trump had risen to 39% immediately after the vice presidential debate, but has now given up those gains since the Oct. 7 sexual assault tape was leaked by the Washington Post.

80% of Americans say they are confident their vote will be accurately counted in the election, with independent voters being less certain their votes will count. Only 68% say they are confident their vote will be correctly registered on election day, compared to Democrats, who are 91% confident and Republicans being 80%  confident.

Just 50% of Trump voters are confident that votes will be registered as placed by voters, compared to 85% of Clinton supporters."

22 toxic days for Hillary Clinton Politico

“This is making me tear up, it’s so infuriating and disgusting,” a Clinton aide wrote in an email halfway through the St. Louis debate, arguably the low-water point of a general election that has had few high-tide moments. “This is not our country.”
In Trump's Mourning-in-America march to the abyss, he has rejected political norms, and his campaign has largely devolved into trashing Clinton, the women accusing him of sexual harassment, the legitimacy of U.S. elections, the media, President Barack Obama, the GOP and the time-honored idea of a presidential campaign as a sunny, aspirational enterprise.

Hillary Clinton Has a Power That No Man Can Take Away by Katherine Bell Slate

"In the fall of 1992, when I was a freshman at Yale and Bill Clinton was running for office, the best thing that happened to me was meeting Hillary Clinton. The worst was being raped by a fellow student who said he was going to run for president one day.
I tell the story of meeting Hillary all the time. I almost never tell the other one.
Threats of sexual violence—including comments like the ones Donald Trump and Billy Bush made on the Access Hollywood bus, and the ones recounted by Trump’s seemingly endless wave of accusers—aren't just a consequence of the system that has kept men in possession of nearly every form of public power for hundreds of years. They are integral to that system.
So it makes sense that we are talking about rape and sexual harassment this much. It makes sense that this showdown is so sickening and painful. Of course Hillary has to remain composed and gracious in the face of Donald Trump’s misogyny and Bill Clinton’s sordid past, and patiently remind us of everything she’s achieved. All professional women have to do this at times, to some extent. But Hillary Clinton is a master of the form. She’s had more practice at it than any of us."

What Are the New Battleground States New York Times

It seems safe to say that the majority of Americans are emotion ally and psychologically crushed by the 2016 election, whichever candidate they are supporting. This chart from the NYT gives us a snapshot of America in 15 states that will make a difference. Besides the dominating gender gap that is facing Donald Trump over his attitudes about women, the fact that college-educated whites are breaking for Hillary and not the Republican candidate is another major influence in these election results on November 8. 

Ken Bone and the 4 Stages of Viral Fame New York Magazine

We hope that Ken Bone's marriage is intact after his week of fame, one that he never asked for. After the red sweater-wearing citizen asked a key question in last Sunday's week, the Internet went wild. Makers of red sweaters had web ads ready to roll Monday morning, inviting men to wear the authentic Ken Bone real man red sweater.

Within 24 hours, Bone was on MSNBC and CNN, although he wasn't arrogant about his new fame. But within 72 hr. he was promoting Uber. But then -- oh dear -- people began doing their due diligence on Bone, where they discovered that — as a partial list — the red-sweater Bone frequently commented on erotic photos, and had once written he believed that Trayvon Martin’s killing was justified. Yikes! Bone infatuation over. And just like that, America exited the Bone zone. . leaving the potential wreckage of his marriage behind him. Surely there is a chill in the air out there in Missouri. 

Related: Guy Angrily Staring at Trump During the Debates Was Thinking Exactly What You Thought He Was New York Magazine

Even if Trump Loses Big, the Anger Will Remain. Here's How the Left Can Address It by EJ Dionne Jr. The Washington Post

 "When I watch GOP leaders bemoaning their party’s fate under Trump (or belatedly jumping off his ship), I am reminded of John F. Kennedy’s warning that “those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”
But progressives should resist complacency bred by the idea that the anger on display in this election will soon subside as older voters uneasy with change decline in numbers. Throughout the West, social-democratic and left-liberal parties are facing defections, divisions and decline. Their economic model — combining a market orientation with welfare states, strong unions and regulations — is no longer delivering the broadly shared prosperity that was once its hallmark. Yes, part of the problem, particularly in the United States, comes from a weakening of social protections thanks to conservative policy victories and the resistance of congressional Republicans to social reform. Nonetheless, even if Trump loses big, the left and center-left have a lot of work and rethinking to do.

Hillary Clinton Headlines October 17, 2016

Clinton leads Trump by 12 in new national poll Politico

Why Trump 'rigged' vote claim could leave lasting impact PBS

How do we respond to threats after our endorsement? This is how AZ Central

Watch 'SNL' Debate Sketch That Donald Trump Called a 'Hit Job' Rolling Stone

Hillary Clinton Is the Best Choice for Voters Against Abortion ChristianPost.com

Clinton Maintains Lead in Two New Polls, but Trump Tape Impact Is Mixed New York Magazine

Trump's Rigged Game The Atlantic

Why Did NBC News Sit on the Trump Tape for So Long? Politico

Hacked Transcripts Reveal a Genial Hillary Clinton at Goldman Sachs Events New York Times

Women Who Hate Trump, but Aren't With Her The Atlantic

 

Does Hillary Clinton Represent the Ultimate Emasculation of American Males?

Is Hillary Clinton Right About Trump Supporters? This Is What The Polling Data Says ThinkProgress

Hillary Clinton created major controversy speaking at a fundraiser in New York on Friday night. In a statement that she has since walked back, Hillary described half of her Republican opponent Donald Trump's supporters as a "basket of deplorables".

Arguing that large numbers of Trump's supporters are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic -- you name it -- Clinton said that the Trump campaign has given voice to the websites and Twitter account. Clinton then described other Trump supporters as "people who feel the government has let them down, the economy let them down, nobody cares about them." Hillary stressed that "those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."

The polling data supports Hillary's argument. ThinkProgress digs into the views of Trump supporters specifically, compared not only to Democrats but to Republicans who supported other candidates.

The Male Perspective

Fear of a Female President by Peter Beinart The Atlantic

According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 52 percent of white men hold a “very unfavorable” view of Clinton. That’s a whopping 20 points higher than the percentage who viewed Barack Obama very unfavorably in 2012, 32 points higher than the percentage who viewed Obama very unfavorably in 2008, and 28 points higher than the percentage who viewed John Kerry very unfavorably in 2004.

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Over the past few years, political scientists have suggested that, counterintuitively, Barack Obama’s election may have led to greater acceptance by whites of racist rhetoric. Something similar is now happening with gender. Hillary Clinton’s candidacy is sparking the kind of sexist backlash that decades of research would predict. If she becomes president, that backlash could convulse American politics for years to come.

To understand this reaction, start with what social psychologists call “precarious manhood” theory. The theory posits that while womanhood is typically viewed as natural and permanent, manhood must be “earned and maintained.” Because it is won, it can also be lost. Scholars at the University of South Florida and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reported that when asked how someone might lose his manhood, college students rattled off social failures like “losing a job.” When asked how someone might lose her womanhood, by contrast, they mostly came up with physical examples like “a sex-change operation” or “having a hysterectomy.”

The Subtle Misogyny in Matt Lauer's Interview With Hillary Clinton Was Appalling Slate

 I am interested in the far more subtle variation of the misogyny illness, the one that lurks behind phrases such as “even-handed” and “fair-minded,” that low-grade fever that caused Matt Lauer to continually interrupt Hillary Clinton’s sharp, specific answers to his questions in the Commander in Chief Forum on NBC (thank god Clinton stood up and ignored him), and which also prompted him to allow Donald Trump to ramble on in incoherent sentence fragments about secret plans for defeating ISIS in thirty days, as if such nonsense were serious political discourse. Would our “fair-minded” journalist have treated a male candidate the way he treated Hillary Clinton? I ask you to search your souls, men and women alike. My answer is no.

Related: How Many Times Will Hillary Clinton Be Interrupted? Vogue.com

How Sexism Like Matt Laurer's Could Imperil the Nation The American Prospect

Trump, the Big Liar

Donald Trump's 'Big Liar' Technique by Paul Krugman The New York Times

Annoyed with a Trump-supporter comment on the HillaryWomen News FB page -- one calling Hillary a liar -- I have the Politifact info on who is more truthful, referenced by Krugman, right here.

One point that Krugman makes is that -- in the same way the media won't report that the AP took down their tweets on the Clinton foundation yesterday -- what Hillary Clinton said about Colin Powell advising her is true. The Powell email -- written three days after Hillary took office as Secy of State -- absolutely backed her up. So the media scoffed at her claim and reported it widely, but don't hold your breath that they will clean up their snorts. Journalists tend not to take that action. 

Related: The Hillary Clinton email story is out of control The Washington Post

Hillary Clinton Headlines September 9, 2016

Trump closes in on Clinton's projected electoral lead: Reuters/Ipsos Poll Reuters

National Democrats to Start Opening Offices in Texas Texas Tribune

A Third GOP Cabinet Secretary Endorses Hillary Clinton Huffington Post

Democrats wonder and worry: Why isn't Clinton far ahead of Trump? The Washington Post

Blue Cities, Red States The American Prospect