The WaPo's Daily 202 is jam packed with great analysis and new information today

[cali]

THE BIG IDEA: Shaking up his campaign once again, Donald Trump has decided to let Trump be Trump.

The Republican nominee knows he’s losing. Congenitally unable to take personal responsibility, he blames his slide in the polls on the people who have prodded him to act “presidential” and wage a more traditional campaign.

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This is another proof point that Trump is not trying to run the kind of serious campaign that can actually win the presidency. That’s why it will frighten the GOP establishment, scare off some mainstream donors who have been playing footsie with the billionaire and push congressional leaders like Mitch McConnell a little closer to cutting Trump loose – maybe even before Labor Day. (Bannon’s site single-mindedly went after Paul Ryan in the run-up to his primary.)

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Trump is cozying up to Ailes and Bannon after months of being unable to hire A-level talent. The smartest and most ambitious operatives know that having his name on their resume will probably become a scarlet letter that may doom their future prospects. Politico’s Katie Glueck writes that top Republicans in several critical battleground states say, at best, they've never heard of Trump's state directors or have only limited familiarity with them — and at worst, they know them, and question their ability to do the job. Three telling examples from Katie’s piece—

Nevada state director Charles Munoz, a graduate of the University of Las Vegas-Nevada, is in his mid-twenties and has no meaningful experience. (Clinton’s is Jorge Neri, who was Obama’s 2012 Nevada field director and then held a White House job focused on Latino outreach.)

•New Hampshire state director Matt Ciepielowski previously worked as a field director at Americans for Prosperity and a Youth for Ron Paul regional coordinator in Louisiana. “Matt who?” asked New Hampshire state Sen. Andy Sanborn. (Clinton’s point guy, Mike Vlacich, managed Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s reelection campaign in 2014.)

•Virginia state director Thomas Midanek was until July managing the congressional campaign of Carl Domino in Florida, who in 2014 lost the Republican-leaning district by 20 points. (Clinton’s is Brian Zuzenak, who previously ran Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s political operation.)

Much more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/08/17/daily-202-what-trump-s-latest-shakeup-says-about-his-flailing-campaign/57b3ba48cd249a2fe363ba23/

[tblue37]

1. "Trump plans to re-double his focus on holding big rallies

and doing lots of TV hits."

He is addicted to the feeling of being the center of attention. The adoration of his rally mobs is his crack, and he transfers the high he gets from them to his other publicity vehicles--TV appearances and tweeting. Since his rally mobs so obviously worship him, he believes all those millions who read or hear about his tweets and who see him on TV must similarly love him. When he gets any whiff of criticism from print or broadcast media, he is enraged because he feels betrayed, not merely criticized.

Since the main motivator of his continued run for the presidency is his continual jonesing for more and more attention and adoration, he can't conceive of *any* value in "pivoting" to deliver dull, awkward teleprompter speeches that don't provoke adoring cheers and chants from his rally mobs.

He really *does* believe that the large, cheering crowds at his rallies are proof that he is soooo popular that the polls must be rigged if they don't show him wiping the floor with Hillary, and that the election must be rigged if he doesn't win in a landslide.

I hope he stays in just long enough to prevent the GOP from replacing him with a more viable candidate, and to ensure that revulsion against him contaminates all the GOP down ticket candidates.