Friday News: Trump “feeds anger and debases democracy;” “An Even Stranger Donald Trump”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, August 12.

• Trump tries to wreck the political system (“With his bizarre utterances, he feeds anger and debases democracy.”)
• Editorial: An Even Stranger Donald Trump (“Right now Mr. Trump is losing, and this very likely terrifies him. Maybe he doesn’t know how to control himself, or comprehend why he should. Or he is simply satisfying his boundless need for attention. But his behavior this week raises a more disturbing scenario. Perhaps he has given up on winning through civil means and does not care about the consequences of his campaign of incitement.”)
• Trump’s applause-line economic plan was a disaster (“Donald Trump must be looking for new ways to fail.”)
• It’s not just Trump: The GOP is not serious on the economy
• Coalition forces kill top ISIS leader in oil fight (The U.S. is helping to decimate ISIS, apparently because Obama founded it. LOL)
• Paul Krugman: Pieces of Silver (“By now, it’s obvious to everyone with open eyes that Donald Trump is an ignorant, wildly dishonest, erratic, immature, bullying egomaniac. On the other hand, he’s a terrible person. But despite some high-profile defections, most senior figures in the Republican Party — very much including Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader — are still supporting him, threats of violence and all. Why? One answer is that these were never men and women of principle.”)
• Like an ineffective parent, Paul Ryan is just enabling Trump
• Americans vacationing overseas find themselves on a Donald Trump apology tour (He is definitely a national embarrassment, disgrace, etc.)
• The $400 million payment to Iran was American diplomacy at its finest (“The money — hardly ‘ransom’ — was part of a settlement reached after Iran’s 1979 revolution.”)
• Trump escalates claim that Obama founded ISIL (Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy!)
• Don’t buy the hype: The U.S. is not experiencing a terrible new crime wave (“Political rhetoric to the contrary, our nation remains relatively safe. Keeping it that way means relying on facts, not fear.”)
• Dozens of Republicans to urge RNC to cut off funds for Trump
• Trump team, RNC to meet at pivotal moment
• The Real Reason Trump Makes Outlandish Claims Like Obama Is “the Founder of ISIS” (“More than anything, Trump has built his campaign on (white) America’s fears of the other, and what better way for him to harness those than by othering the sitting president of the United States, be it by questioning his citizenship, his faith, or his loyalty.”)
• Hillary’s economic pitch: She’s recommitting to progressive policies and dismantling Trumpism
• Hillary Clinton’s Plan for a Fair Economy
• Trump’s birtherism is now Republican gospel: 72 percent of GOP voters still doubt President Obama’s citizenship (Yep, a large segment of the US population is consumed with hatred of the nation’s first African-American president.)
• Lawsuit: Trump campaign failed to act after NC director pulled a gun on staffer
• Trump’s “Obama founded ISIS” comments are outrageous. They’re also deeply ignorant.
• Presidential candidates leading polls at this point in the campaign have almost always won
• Kaine blasts NRA as ‘shill for the gun manufacturers’
• Tim Kaine in New Orleans, says injustice must be fought
• Tim Kaine: GOP Took ‘U-Turn’ After Obama’s Election (“…especially since the election of President Obama, one party has decided to do a U-turn on its history and be against voting and against participation and put hurdles and barriers up in everybody’s way.”)
• Republicans question Kaine’s judgment in failed transfer of convicted killer (“The GOP is just making political hay out of something that requires a thoughtful understanding that is absent in their analysis.” The GOP don’t need no “thoughtful understanding” or “analysis.”)
• EDITORIAL: GOP tries to nail Tim Kaine on Soering, and fails
• Rally in Richmond to call for raising minimum wage
• High school classmates say Trump Tower climber has passionate political views, supports Trump
• Sources: HUD’s inspector general is looking into Portsmouth Housing Authority
• Richmond mayoral candidates talk schools, buses and housing at forum
• Counties ask FERC to delay draft environmental impact statement for pipeline
• Virginian-Pilot editorial: Open a window at Portsmouth housing agency
• The heat-humidity combo borders on dangerous at times through the weekend