If a candidate actually wants to become president, would he and his advisers plan a strategy that includes praising the mass-murdering communist dictator of North Korea? Which voters did Trump believe he would win with that one? If a candidate truly wants to become president, would he and his foreign policy advisors plan a strategy that repeatedly praises Vladimir Putin, the strongman dictator of Russia, and say he is not sure he would defend Europe nations from a Russian invasion? Does Trump believe there is a pro-Putin vote in America?

Or, as Trump often says, perhaps there is something happening here. Some people might say he does these things because he wants to lose the election and is throwing the game to Clinton.

I have been to many rodeos in national politics, and literally every single major player in politics that I know expected Trump to "pivot" after the conventions to appear to take more responsible positions and say fewer irresponsible and self-destructive things. Republicans believed Trump would pivot with hope; Democrats believed he would pivot with dread.

Nobody I know believed that Trump would pivot in the opposite direction, becoming even more irresponsible and self-destructive after the conventions.

Fiorina, who charged Obama as being a weak leader hated by generals. She would bring back the "warrior class."  And, of course, she and she only, apparently, saw that fetus video, heart beating and legs kicking.

Carson, who said Hillary is the devil, her hero, Saul Alinsky, was in with Lucifer.

Cruz, Huckabee, and Jindahl were welcomed at an Iowa religious freedom rally by Preacher Kevin Swanson who blared in his speech before hand, of the Biblical justification for executing gays. And, Cruz ready to carpet bomb and make the sands glow in the dark. Huckabee and Cruz vying for a place next to the lovely Kim Davis, of the Kentucky Clerk's Office.

Little Marco, His robotic, repetitious, "choke artist" let's dispel with the fiction that Obama does not know what he is doing..insinuating that the president of the US was purposefully destroying the country. Not inadvertent, as one of the more sane Republicans might suggest.

Walker, didn't know for certain if Obama was a Christian, a wink and nod to maybe being....a Muslim. And, couldn't say if Obama loved America.

The disgraced Roger Ailes has joined the Trump campaign as an advisor.

Well, this ought to help Trump attract more women into his campaign, LOL.

These people are seen as "hoodoos," as one of my friend calls them, that are just DCers who will do whatever they think they need to stay at the free buffet the country has provided them for years and years.

They are no more Republican than Hillary is.

The Republican party is dead.

If Trump loses a new party will be formed.

(I like Trevor Noah, but my one issue with him as host of "The Daily Show" is that he's a South African who came of age in post-Apartheid Johannesburg. Because he's not an American, he's not really in any position to speak with moral authority about the African American experience.)

I just hope that Wilmore's voice continues to be heard in other venues, so that white pundits and journalists are the nearly-sole arbiters of what does and does not constitute racism and xenophobia in this country.

I mean, I'm the white husband, father and in-law of Hispanic Americans who've experienced such odious bigotry as Donald Trump's first-hand, and I wouldn't presume to speak for them on this particular issue.

I can only speak as someone who's borne witness to such prejudice myself, relay second-hand what family members have described repeatedly as a humiliating and dehumanizing experience, and note my own fear for their safety.

But personally, I have no idea what it's like to be the deliberate target of someone's race-based wrath and subjected to personal threats, and / or have my citizenship and patriotism questioned by sole virtue of my complexion and skin color.

When white people like Trump, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are freely allowed to redefine racism over the nation's airwaves, it shouldn't surprise us that they do so in an manner which both suits themselves and furthers their own purposes, first and foremost.

That's why the perspectives offered by people such as Larry Wilmore, Maria Hinajosa and Jorge Ramos are so important. And when those voices are being marginalized, we need to speak up ourselves and demand that they be heard.

Nevertheless, Trump's team has fought to keep the video out of the public domain. Trump's lawyers filed a motion seeking to keep the video under seal, but D.C. Superior Court Judge Holeman denied that request.
"Counsel for Landlord has worked to avoid transforming a breach of contract lawsuit into a three-ring circus that is tried in the media and the 'court of public opinion,'" Woods wrote in a motion filed last week. She cited Curiel's decision not to release the Trump University videos. "Videotapes are subject to abuse," she warned.
However, Holeman--an appointee of President George W. Bush--seemed unimpressed by those arguments.
"Plaintiff filed suit against Defendants seeking ten million dollars ($10,000,000.00) in damages....Nevertheless, Plaintiff repeatedly seeks to prevent inquiry into or disclosure of available and relevant evidence, including the testimony of Mr. Trump, an active participant in the business transactions at issue," the judge wrote in an order Thursday. "The public's interest is heightened in an action involving a candidate seeking public office....Plaintiff is not entitled to the requested relief."
.....
Barring some charge of heart by Holeman or a move to appeal to a higher court, release of the videos seems likely. A court spokeswoman had no immediate comment Monday when asked about plans for release of the videos.

Glad Al could square that away for us. Now, I'm merely left to wonder whether it's possible that I'm having a prolonged acid flashback 30 years after I last dropped, or if these people are simply fckn insane.

Mark Halperin, a fairly reliable Trump apologist, said this mornng that he had been thinking they would give him until Labor Day before doing anything like this but "his sources" (and the man has pretty good republican sources) tell his it could happen any time.

Basically they are done.

You know there has to be a guy holding up signs.  "Applause", "cheer","boo" and importantly "STOP"

Now "TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP" now "STOP"

You should watch.  I'm hoping to see the sign guy.

Breitbart News chairman Steve Bannon and GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway have been named to replace him as the campaign's CEO and manager, respectively. We can likely look forward to the Trump campaign adopting an even nastier tone.