[guest post by Dana]

Standard operating procedure:

On Tuesday, Trump pointed out ABC News reporter Tom Llamas and called him “a sleaze.” Llamas’ crime? Asking the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to explain why he had misled people about how much money he’d raised for veterans.

During his tirade about the press, he interrupted CNN’s Jim Acosta who was asking Trump about his ability to deal with scrutiny, to say sarcastically, “Excuse me, excuse me. I’ve watched you on TV. You’re a real beauty.”

The attack, which came amid one of Trump’s familiar diatribes about the “dishonest” media, was the latest in a string of personal insults Trump has made against reporters covering his campaign.

So, to remind Trump that The Media is not to be trifled with, a bold reporter lobbed a heat-seeking missile of inquiry straight at the GOP presumptive nominee:

–Dana

John Sexton catches the Hillmeister in a giant lie today. Compare and contrast this, from John Podesta:

Secretary Clinton believed her emails to and from officials on their state.gov accounts were automatically captured and preserved in the State Department’s electronic system.

It was not until the Department contacted her in 2014 that she learned this was not the case.

With this, from Hillary’s press conference in . . . March 2015:

Second, the vast majority of my work emails went to government employees at their government addresses, which meant they were captured and preserved immediately on the system at the State Department.

Last time I checked, March 2015 came after 2014. Meaning that, after she had been told in 2014 that her emails had not been captured and preserved, she told the world in March 2015 that they had been. Nice catch by Sexton.

We can’t elect someone this dishonest.

Meanwhile, Kevin Drum (yes, Kevin Drum — facts pointed out by leftists are still facts) does an amazing job pointing out the differences between what Whiny McWhinyface said this morning about veterans’ funding, and what Trump said at the time. The contrasts are . . . stark. Go to his post for all of it, presented in a clean, easy-to-follow table. Here is a teaser:

What Trump says now: On why it took so long to disburse the money: “When you send checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars to people and to companies and to groups that you’ve never heard of, charitable organizations, you have to vet it. You send people out. You do a lot of work.”

What Trump said then: The organizations had been chosen before the event even took place: “The night benefited twenty-two different organizations, a number of which are Iowa based Veterans groups.”

Good work by Drum.

We can’t elect someone this dishonest.

This pretty much says it all:

Even so, McConnell matter-of-factly endorsed Trump when it was clear the real-estate mogul would win the nomination, a stark contrast to the continuing deliberations by House Speaker Paul Ryan. McConnell sees no political percentage in Republicans trying to disassociate themselves from the presumptive nominee by saying they won’t vote for him.

“I think that would be a mistake,” McConnell says, “because, obviously, you would like the people who are voting for your candidate for president to vote for you.”

With this guy, it’s all about getting people to vote for you. What you have to do in order to get that vote is almost completely irrelevant. (Perhaps the word “almost” doesn’t even belong in the previous sentence.)

Donald Trump is the culmination of this philosophy: a man who stands for absolutely nothing (except, in Trump’s case, selling the perception that he is a Tough Guy).

He and McConnell are made for each other.

Ben White at Politico (cached link; no links for bullies):

Donald Trump claims a net worth of more than $10 billion and an income of $557 million. But he appears to get there only by overvaluing properties and ignoring his expenses.

POLITICO spoke with more than a dozen financial experts and Trump’s fellow multimillionaires about the presumptive Republican nominee’s financial statement. Their conclusion: The real estate magnate’s bottom line — what he actually puts in his own pocket — could be much lower than he suggests. Some financial analysts said this, and a very low tax rate, is why Trump won’t release his tax returns.

. . . .

The case against Trump’s accounting of his wealth: His businesses apparently generate a lot of revenue but may not put much cash in his pocket; he assigns himself a net worth that is impossible to verify and may be based in part on fantasy; and he is selling assets and increasing debt in ways that suggest a man scrambling for ready cash.

This, of course, will change no minds, nor is my posting of it an attempt to try. His supporters will ignore it, while we skeptics already assume that any word out of the man’s mouth is a self-serving lie. Anyway, we’re not his audience. It’s the boobs who are “persuaded” by interminable repetition of lies who are his target audience. Turns out there are a lot of them. Are there enough? Time will tell.

Let me give you a lesson in how Donald Trump is the Master Persuader. Kudos to Scott Adams of the Dilbert blog for pointing out Trump’s genius as a communicator.

“Do you think — honestly, honestly, honestly — do you think Hillary looks presidential?” The crowd answered in unison as Trump smirked: “Noooo!”

“I don’t think so,” Trump continued, shaking his head. “And I’m not going to say it because I’m not allowed to say it because I want to be politically correct, so I refuse to say that I cannot stand her screaming into the microphone all of the time.”

You see Trump’s genius at work here. See, if someone is upset by this Linguistic Kill Shot, and accuses him of being politically incorrect, he can deny having said it, pointing to his explicit denial: “I refuse to say it.” Trump wins! But if someone enjoys listening to Trump making fun of Hillary, then they will recognize what Trump is really saying, and applaud. Trump wins!

I admire his good, solid sense. It’s precisely what they lack on Capitol Hill.

Well, there goes that opportunity for a protest vote.

[guest post by JVW]

In a year which has seen a great deal of sniping back-and-forth, both inter-party and intra-party, this is a day to pause and remember those who have nobly sacrificed on behalf of us all. The observance of the holiday dates back to the end of our Civil War, when freshly-bloomed spring flowers would be placed upon the graves of fallen soldiers. May 30 was chosen as the first officially recognized “Decoration Day” by a Union Army Veteran’s group, largely because May 30 was not the anniversary date of any particularly memorable battle and was thus neutral, though many Southern states continued to observe different dates for honoring their war dead.

After the First World War most states adopted May 30 as the official date and the Decoration Day holiday gradually became known as Memorial Day. In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which permanently placed Memorial Day on the final Monday in May. Though it has also come to signify the beginning of summer and the end of the school year (when I was growing up, the high schools in my town held graduation on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend), and though it has been crassly co-opted by Memorial Day sales, running races, golf tournaments, swimming pool openings, and merchandising opportunities for Major League Baseball, it is nevertheless an appropriate moment to pause and reflect on those who have made the supreme sacrifice in service of our country.

If you would like to remember a fallen family member or friend, please feel free to do so in the comments.

– JVW

[guest post by Dana]

Because what this election season needs is even more crazy.

Editor of The Weekly Standard, Bill #NeverTrump Kristol, who has been attempting to convince select individuals to run as third-party spoilers, announced this afternoon that we’re in for a shakeup:

Not clear, however, is a chance at what??

Trump responded in pure Trumpian-fashion to Kristol’s tease threat announcement:

–Dana

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: It seems Trump will get a convenient scapegoat. This frees Ted Cruz to refuse to endorse Trump without being Goat Number One. We’ll see what the name is.

UPDATE #2: Here’s Bill Kristol’s latest:

He’s not, actually. But why worry about facts? WSJ:

“What happens is the judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great. I think that’s fine,” Mr. Trump said.

Judge Curiel was born in Indiana.

Why bring it up at all?

You know why.

He said he would — if they put up enough charity money. Then the networks pledged a million and he said it’s gotta be ten million. Then a savvy company got its name in the news by pledging ten million. D’oh! Never saw that coming, did you, moron? Now Lewandowski and the giant pile of hair on his head say Trump won’t waste his time. The joke is, yet again, on anyone who believes anything Donald Trump ever says. Chump suckers.