Week 41: "That Makes Me Smart" (October 2, 2016)

Dear Readers,

The great chaos that is the 2016 election season keeps hurtling at us, and I’ll help you make sense of it all. Remember, all newsletters (and more) are available at www.electreport.blogspot.com

Days until General Election: 37

Days until VP Debate: 2

Days until 2nd Presidential Debate: 7

First off, try out this

Recap of the Flaming Trapeze Duel of 2016

Our major story of the night is the debate. After many months of waiting for this day, 85 million people got to watch Hillary Clinton soundly defeat Donald Trump (or so says most of the electorate). Donald Trump provided great moments as saying “That’s called business” when being questioned on the housing collapse, and denying he said climate change was a hoax, when there are recording disputing that fact. Clinton didn’t let Trump interrupt and interject like some of the Republican Candidates did. Clinton has risen 1-2 points in the polls since then, so anybody claiming Trump actually won is wrong. Lester Holt has come under fire for being biased, and it’s partially justified, but it’s nothing compared to Matt Lauer.

How to Run a “Successful Business”

Step 1: Lose a billion dollars

Step 2: Don’t pay federal income taxes for 20 years

Step 3: Run for president

Step 4: We’ll find out in 37 days

The truth about Trump’s taxes has finally been revealed. In 1995, Trump lost $916 million, thanks to horrible mismanagement of multiple businesses, such as the collapse of three casinos and a failed airline, and as a result of that hasn’t paid income taxes since. So, when Trump said “that makes me smart” as to why he possibly hadn’t paid taxes, he was right. He’s made millions in non-taxable income thanks to an odd loophole and remarkable failings as a businessman. Does this mean he would make good deals for America? Of course not. The American budget is not a Ponzi scheme, the World Bank not a loophole. Trump may be smart at not paying, but if elected, he will make us all pay.

Trump Stays Up All Night to Tweet Nasty Things About Former Miss Universe Winner

Trump came under fire at the debate about his dealings with Alicia Machado, a Venezuelan actress who won the first Miss Universe pageant held by Trump. At the time, he called her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping.” So, instead of apologizing, he stayed up until 2:30 to tweet the following:

“Wow, Crooked Hillary was duped and used by my worst Miss U. Hillary floated her as an "angel" without checking her past, which is terrible!”

“Using Alicia M in the debate as a paragon of virtue just shows that Crooked Hillary suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! Hillary was set up by a con.”

“Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?”

As a response, Hillary Clinton tweeted at 3 AM the following morning about national service: “It's 3:20am. As good a time as any to tweet about national service.”

Flashback to February: Clinton Insults Sanders Supporters

Donald Trump is having a field day with this soundbite: "Some are new to politics completely. They're children of the Great Recession. And they are living in their parents' basement." Obviously referring to Sanders supporters, Clinton said these not-so-kind words at a fundraiser with very rich donors in mid-February. Sanders’ reaction to this has been mixed, both calling them “correct” and being mildly disturbed. Trump has “asked” Sanders to rescind his endorsement, but this is far from the biggest bombshell of the day.

Final Senate Preview

WASHINGTON:

Senator Patty Murray won the blanket primary (members of all parties listed on one ballot) with 54% of the vote, and her opposition, Chris Vance, has only served as a State Representative,

Rating: Safe D

WISCONSIN:

Ron Johnson, the incumbent, and former Senator Russ Feingold are locked in a rematch of 2010. Feingold has led, usually by a decent margin, in every poll taken so far, and Republicans have basically given up on this race.

Rating: Likely D

Seat Count

51-49 - DEMOCRATS RETAKE SENATE

This Week In World Elections

Colombia: A peace deal with the Farc, a very large communist rebel group, was rejected in a referendum by Colombian voters. The vote was decided by only 63,000 and was disappointing to some. The Colombian president will have to negotiate a new deal, even though he’s already spent 4 years negotiating this one.

Hungary: Hungarian voters have voted to reject the EU’s migrant quota level by a large margin. 98% of people voted against it. However, less than 50% turnout was achieved, so the vote is nullified. The president remarked that there would be “legal consequences”, even if the vote was declared invalid.

Georgia: The ruling Georgian Dream party is expected to win a plurality in the parliamentary elections next week, but how much they will win is unknown. The vote has expanded from 3 parties last election to 8 this time, leading to a lot of uncertainty.

Thanks for reading! As usual, comments are welcome!