This election isn’t just Democrat vs. Republican — it’s normal vs. abnormal. Is Donald Trump OK? Erratic behaviour raises mental health questions. The danger of a nuclear war is a good deal greater with Trump as president than with Clinton as president; this consideration alone outweighs lexicographically all other considerations — we must do whatever we can to elect Clinton. In the surreal new world we now inhabit, an answer that would have once triggered a crisis in Trump’s campaign is merely routine — and the notion that Russia hawks concerned about Russian influence should support the candidate Russia is trying to get elected, and oppose the candidate Russia is using every tool at its disposal to defeat, is beyond bizarre. Thomas M. Wells: “Donald Trump hired me as an attorney. Please don’t support him for president”.
Understanding the Trump-Khan War: “A dumb terrible person is almost always dangerous. Trump’s mix of rage and insecurity are so unbridled that it is not simply that he is unable to protect others from their impact. He cannot even protect himself from the damage they create”. The Khan fight highlights a huge GOP problem: No one knows how low Trump can go. Donald Trump is bringing anti-Muslim prejudice into the mainstream. Donald Trump gave Republicans the choice of racism or defeat — they chose racism. Paul Ryan condemns Trump all the time — but there’s one thing he won’t say. Whatever one may say about ordinary voters, the real sinners here are Republican leaders — people like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell — who are actively supporting a candidate they know poses a danger to the nation.
Brian Beutler on the Republican Milgram experiment: GOP leaders are administering dangerous shocks to the heart of U.S. democracy, and they can’t stop themselves. Don’t you dare call it “Trump-ism”: It isn’t Trumpism, it’s the Republican Party — and it has been for far longer than Donald Trump has been running for President. Joe McCarthy was brought down by attacks on his decency — Trump will lose the same way.
