The Donald Trump Show (Boffo)

Again we hear the refrain wondering whether presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has finally gone too far. The answer, of course, is invested in who marks the threshold, and in the end voters have the final word, or so to speak. GOP consultant and fierce Trump critic Rick Wilson appears quite correct when he says a leaked conference call tells us the Trump Univesity lawsuit “really bothers” his party’s apparent nominee. And while Wilson’s critique that “there is no campaign” actually sounds about right under the circumstances―hint: more than the conference call, perhaps the msnbc article with the straightforward title, “Donald Trump does not have a campaign”, explains the problem better― NYT deputy Washington editor Jon Weisman is even more blunt: “The leaks in this boffo @bpolitics piece,” he tweets, “show @RealDonaldTrump doesn’t understand he’s playing in the majors now.”

And boffo fits well enough; the Bloomberg Politics piece describes a Monday conference call between Mr. Trump and prominent supporters:

An embattled Donald Trump urgently rallied his most visible supporters to defend his attacks on a federal judge’s Mexican ancestry during a conference call on Monday in which he ordered them to question the judge’s credibility and impugn reporters as racists.

Which sounds about right, all things considered, except that’s when things start to go off the rails:

When former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer interrupted the discussion to inform Trump that his own campaign had asked surrogates to stop talking about the lawsuit in an e-mail on Sunday, Trump repeatedly demanded to know who sent the memo, and immediately overruled his staff.

“Take that order and throw it the hell out,” Trump said.

Told the memo was sent by Erica Freeman, a staffer who circulates information to surrogates, Trump said he didn’t know her. He openly questioned how the campaign could defend itself if supporters weren’t allowed to talk.

“Are there any other stupid letters that were sent to you folks?” Trump said. “That’s one of the reasons I want to have this call, because you guys are getting sometimes stupid information from people that aren’t so smart.”

Your Morning Music (Together)

Sometimes, you know, you think you need a reason for doing something. If we had better discipline around here, maybe a regular music feature would be actually useful in some way, because, you know, a stoner song in April or Satanic metal on Hallowe’en is one thing, but then sometimes we remember we don’t actually need a reason. But, yeah, you know, it’s a good wake and bake, too. Like, if you really, you know, need a reason. You know?

Rush down, down to the first floor; there never seems to be enough time. Push hard, and push a little bit more. A cup of coffee and I’m going to be fine, fine as I could be, now. Me and you, we do what we got to do; we only want to have a good life. It’s tough, we don’t see each other enough, and sometime the going gets rough. Still we keep pushing on through. We could use another summer of love. It’s cloudy here, but there’s a blue sky up above. If we could only fly away from here, we could say goodbye to all the tears, and maybe we could spend the rest of our years together. Sometimes I watch the TV news; I want to say what’s the use in trying, ’cause come on, what kind of difference can one man make? Yeah, but how much more can I take? I think back when I was a little kid, I did what little kids did: played war ’til I didn’t want to play no more, hey and that’s when love stepped in, changed everything again. It’s never too late for a summer of love. Yeah, it’s cloudy here, but there’s a blue sky up above. If we could only fly away from here, we could say goodbye to all the tears, and maybe we could spend the rest of our years together. We could be together. These are crazy times, it’s a different world. Well, that’s okay, let it be that way. We could lose our minds, or we could find our way; we can change our world, no matter what they say. If we could only fly away from here, we could turn around and say good-bye to all the tears, and maybe we could spend the rest of our years together. We could be together. Now, we can let the sunshine in, together; and we can overcome and win, together; we’ll have ourselves a summer of love again, together. We’ll be, we’ll be together. We’ll be together.

―Styx, “Together” (2003)