I don't see Manafort lasting more than 2 weeks.

[cali]

And I don't see Trump lasting more than 6.

It's just toppling down. Raining shit.

It just seems impossible to sustain.

Sure people have been predicting that was imminent for over a year now and Trump and his miserable campaign somehow defied political gravity over and over, but between the republican convention and now it's been dizzyingly downhill.

I suppose some unforeseen mindblowing event could happen that would see his fortunes reversed, but doesn't it seem much more likely that he'll just keep plummeting through the political atmosphere?

[tonyt53]

1. Some people want to dismiss the Trump/Manafort/Putin connection, but apparently, there is one.

All three wear the stench of corruption.

[doc03]

2. I listened to Morning Joe for a little while this morning. I never heard

anything about the Manafort story only about 10 suggestions for Clinton scandals Trump should be talking about rather than bashing the media. I don't watch Fox but I am sure they are ten times worse.

[cali]

3. I've never watched it.

[doc03]

4. I didn't see it all maybe they talked about the Manfort story earlier but

they were like giving Trump talking points he should use on Hillary instead of attacking the NYT.
Apparently Trump doesn't understand constructive criticism anyway he just goes off half cocked.

[Gabi Hayes]

6. they opened with it at 5am central, and did refer to it several times. after the opening, though,

they spent at least as much time on Hillary AND Bill scandals/mindset. that was what put scarborough on the map, btw....he's obsessed with wjc, and will never accept the fact that what they did to him was a political inquisition of the lowest order, with that fuckhead comey as one of the chief Torquemadas. and now they're touting like crazy the looming release of her questioning by the fbi wrt the emails.

as we all know, that resulted in UNANIMOUS agreement by the, what, 20 FBI agents looking into it, that there was NO reason for indictment. msnbc and cnn are slobberingly awaiting the glorious day.

[auntpurl]

16. Nope, that's wrong.

They had ONE story about Hillary stuff and everything else this morning was about Trump and how bad he's doing. You can see all the video clips here:

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe

Headlines of the vid clips:

GOP Congressman doubts Trump will release tax returns

Monday roundup: Trump, Manafort, and the NYT

Writer cautions Trump about language of violence

'That's a guy who knows he's going to lose'

[doc03]

17. I can't tolerate Joe and Mika for more than a few minutes, I must have

missed all the bad stuff about Trump. They gave several examples of her e-mail related scandal
he should be talking about instead of the NYT while I was watching.

[SummerSnow]

33. Today, Joe called Trump a sociopath.lol

[skip fox]

5. My prediction has been 10-15 days prior to 1st debate.

He'll be slaughtered and he knows that. It is so obvious that the fact is able to penetrate his narcissism and self-deceit. But he can't quite immediately prior to 1st debate because that would be too obvious.

At the same time, he wants this run to last as long as possible.

[cali]

9. I believe his thinking may be so distorted that he imagines he can survive a first debate with her

I don't think he and I think he'll be devastated and drop out within a few days following that end of September first debate, but hey, I'm just playing with what I perceive to be are the odds, and the factors that comprise them.

[skip fox]

21. I'm guessing as well.

Actually we're pretty close to each other and you have an interesting take on the narrative of events and his thoughts.

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. Six-eight weeks would be dandy, cali

Enough for Trump to unreel a little more rope, and less than enough time for Republicans to fill the vacancy.

[cali]

10. There's already no time to replace him.

I don't think Trump gives a flying fuck about the republican party, in any case.

[TheCowsCameHome]

13. That makes three of us.

[OnDoutside]

8. Let's not go all Republican about this. If there is clear evidence - great, otherwise let's

not put two and two together and get 27.5

[cali]

12. Granted it's circumstantial, but there's quite a bit of evidence.

[mopinko]

11. does manafort work for trump? i thought

he worked for putin.
he's gonna have to take a trip to moscow if he wants to quit.

[cali]

14. From the WaPo:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/08/15/daily-202-can-trump-chairman-paul-manafort-survive-new-ukraine-revelations/57b0ec7ccd249a2fe363ba20/

[Gabi Hayes]

22. this is even better than the actual NYT story! those tweets pretty much say it all, don't they?

I just started a thread at Straight Dope about this, and am going to link it.

no love lost for him over there, and a very high caliber roster of posters, mostly, excepting the relatively few wingnuts, who are constrained to be polite, if only semi-logical (a natural state of being for them, yes?). very pleasant place, with LOTS Of interesting threads that have nothing to do with politics

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19555726&posted=1#post19555726

[lovemydog]

31. Thank you for the link

I've never read that site before, and I found myself reading a few things there and bookmarking it.

[Gabi Hayes]

37. cecil adams! the original snopes, really. if you want to find

out something, they will always, eventually, have an answer, one way or another

I first saw it like 40 years ago in the venerable Chicago Reader

[Sanity Claws]

15. I don't see how Manafort can last 2 days

Taking illicit money from a foreign power? He should be worried about criminal charges and may want to scram before subpoenas or arrest warrants can be issued.

[bullwinkle428]

18. I'm sorry - I see Trump as having way too much ego to ever consider

dropping out. He's already telegraphed the meme once his ass gets handed to him on Election Day - "Crooked Hillary rigged the vote!"

[cali]

19. I see him as having way too much and fragile an ego to survive having his ass handed to him in

the first debate.

[temporary311]

30. Even moreso since it would be a woman

handing it to him.

[RAFisher]

29. Agree 100%. What gives people the impression Trump will withdraw before the election?

The RNC can't force him out. Nothing Trump has done gives me any impression he'll dropout. It's not like he's actually campaigning. Just last week he said he didn't see the point in working to GOTV. He doesn't want to raise money from donors. He just goes around the country giving speeches at his Klan rallies. Why would he stop? All he really seems to care about is the size of his crowds and how much the media talks about him.

[Mc Mike]

20. dRumpf's campaign performance reminds me of the Bismarck.

Getting pounded on all sides, shells and torpedoes hitting it, burning and exploding all over, the klaxons alarms going off, sirens whoop whooping as it lists to the side, rudderless, capsizing. We've got to keep pounding it until it sinks.

I am sorry about what happened to the enemy sailors on the actual Bismarck. But they should have emigrated to dodge the draft, like l'il donnie dRumpf's grand dad did.

[Gabi Hayes]

24. ''hit those decks a runnin, boys, and spin those guns around. and when we find the

Trumpmarck, we gotta cut her down''

[Mc Mike]

25. Thanks, Gabi. The refrain from that song was exactly what I was thinking about. +1, nt.

[Gabi Hayes]

38. heh....we used to sing that song, along with battle of new orleans,

all the time back in the day. I had all the words right, from cobwebby memory, except for 'cut'.....thought maybe it was 'take'

I remember so well going to see that....AWESOME firepower, and it was supposedly pretty historicall accurate

haaaa...just remember, my brother had a kid in his class who claimed ''his dad shot the rudder off the Bismarck!''

[Mc Mike]

40. Fought the bloody british in the town of new orleans?

In the current campaign = Bismarck battle simile, I wonder if Manafort qualifies as rudder or anchor.

I have dRumpf pegged as the bilge pump, pretty sure. Or a loose cannon on the deck, muzzle pointed down toward the hull.

[Adrahil]

23. I think you may be right....

Word is that there is more shit coming down the pike for him....

[thucythucy]

26. May main fear right now

is that the Putin regime is trying to pull off some major terrorist attack inside the US as a hail Mary for the Trump campaign. Putin is certainly bold and cold blooded enough to contemplate this, and Trump and associates are such sociopaths they'd no doubt welcome such an attack. A cyber attack on a nuclear power plant, major power outages across the country--anything to spread panic and pump Trump's "law and order" meme.

My second fear is some massive, and in at least some instances altered or forged dump of e-mails to try to shake things up.

Trump's campaign has been an unmitigated disaster, and on the flip-side, Hillary's campaign has thus far been brilliant. This shouldn't be anywhere near close--a landslide of LBJ/Goldwater proportions.

[Gabi Hayes]

39. is this why trump isn't spending any money on ads? other plans for his cash?

lord knows what putin has over him

no breaking of legs, like the mob does.....worse stuff

going way out on a limb here, but that asshole pushed the fox meme about Hillary's health in that idiotic speech...what a DICK!

[sarcasmo]

41. KGB prefer to poison the targets food.

[bluesbassman]

27. This all been a marketing ploy by Trump.

He never believed he could get more than 10% of the vote, but with the M$M's non-stop free advertising for him, and their lack of any investigative journalism, he landed where he is now. His R opponents essentially laid off of him due to the unwritten rules Rs have adhered to in the past about not eating their own. That all changes now that he has an all-in opponent.

What his true game is only Trump knows, but at this point I believe he's polishing his bonafides as a master manipulator to be used in future business transactions. Imagine the bravado he will muster when he describes to his furure marks the hoodwinking he put over on millions of people to become the R presidential candidate.

[PJMcK]

32. Donald Trump has irreparably damaged his brand

Just look at the list of corporations and individuals that will not have any dealings with Mr. Trump. His bigotry has caused him losses in nearly all of his businesses including hotels (bookings are down over 20%), golf resorts (the PGA Tour moved a prime event from his Doral resort to, get this, a Mexican resort!) and in television, NBC has cut all ties with him.

These are just a few of the examples of how his behavior as a candidate has damaged the Trump brand name. In marketing, it's extremely difficult to recover a lost reputation or position of respect and the history of business shows many cases where a company throws up their hands and just changes their name. Donald Trump cannot do that because he is the company.

Whatever his original plan was, he's hurt his businesses tremendously and his children must be worried about the family fortune.

[bluesbassman]

36. I didn't say it was a smart move.

I'm positive his brand here in the US has and will continue to suffer. I'm thinking more on an international level, where he can point to the extraordinary way he has manipulated the American press and people, and use that as a bargaining chip in his negotiating. Maybe it only works with the most corrupt and morally bankrupt entities, who knows?

The only other explanation that is plausible to me is that he is delusional and his extreme narcissism kicked in and told him that beating a gagle of unelectable misfits in the primary made him a viable candidate.

[Jarqui]

28. From April 2016

Chris Cuomo Grills Trump's Paul Manafort on "Shady" Past, "Connection to Russian Bad Guys"

Breathtaking how this campaign is unraveling


WaPo: Can Trump chairman Paul Manafort survive new Ukraine revelations?

[roamer65]

34. The suspense is terrible...

https://m.

God I hope it lasts!

[napkinz]

35. perfect!