Donald Trump is still running for the Republican nomination and is currently polling at 6.5 percent according to the Real Clear Politics average. Here are the latest developments in his circus of a campaign.
Corporations continue to cut ties with Trump
The PGA is the latest organization to dump Trump, canceling its plans to hold the 2015 Grand Slam of Golf tournament at a Trump golf course. This comes after ESPN decided to move its annual ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic from the same course. Earlier this week, NASCAR announced it planned to move a banquet from the Trump's resort.
The menswear company, Phillips-Van Heusen, told Forbes on Tuesday that it is “in the process of winding down” its licensing agreement to market the shirts and ties in the Donald J. Trump Signature Collection. Macy's, a large distributor of the shirts, previously ended its relationship with Trump.
The lose of these corporate relationships doesn't come without a cost. According to CNN, "Trump's assets tied to the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants that he partially owns and were dropped by Univision and NBC are estimated to be around $15 million."
But Trump remains defiant, denying any financial loss in a statement on Tuesday: "The disassociation of ESPN and NASCAR with the Trump Organization was covered by the press in headlines all over the world as though it was a major setback for me. Really? What were the losses?"
Clinton is "disappointed" by her old friend
After avoiding explicitly mentioning her old acquaintance while criticizing Republican immigration policy on the campaign trail, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton revealed she apparently used to think better of him during her first nationally televised interview of the cycle, saying she was "disappointed" by his outrageous claim that Mexican immigrants are "rapists" and criminals.
“I’m very disappointed in those comments and I feel very bad and very disappointed with him," Clinton told CNN. Trump has been spewing xenophobic rhetoric for quite some time now.
But Trump has fierce defenders
Conservative columnist Wayne Allyn Root wrote at the conservative website, The Blaze, that it’s no coincidence that everyone has gotten together to destroy the Donald" because as Root sees it, "Donald Trump is no joke and could actually win." Root runs to Trump's defense, arguing that the controversy surrounding Trump's presidential campaign isn't caused by Trump's offensive remarks or his general buffoonery but is actually ginned up by elites afraid of his chances at the White House. "Trump can ruin everything for the bribed politicians and their spoiled slavemasters":
Trump’s election would be a nightmare. Obama has committed many crimes. No one else but Donald would dare to prosecute. Donald Trump will not hesitate. Once Donald gets in and gets a look at “the cooked books” and Obama’s records, the game is over. The gig is up. The goose is cooked.
Root said "Eric Holder could wind up in prison. Valerie Jarrett could wind up in prison," while "Hillary Clinton could wind up in jail for deleting 32,000 emails." Presumably Root differentiates between prison and jail because he's surmised that Clinton's actions are a lesser offense than those of Holder's or Jarrett's. In any case, Root is certain that "Trump will investigate Obama’s widespread IRS conspiracy, not to mention Obama’s college records" and that "Trump will prosecute Hillary Clinton and Obama for fraud committed to cover-up Benghazi before the election." Lest we forget, "Trump will no doubt investigate if Obama’s Labor Department committed fraud by making up job report numbers to steal the 2012 election."
"That will all happen on Trump’s first day in the White House," Root confidently declared.
Not sure if Root believes the conspiracy to take down Trump is a bipartisan effort because as The Hill details, most GOP senators refuse to engage in any such thing. Sen. John McCain, Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. John Cornyn refused to publicly criticize Trump's vile remarks while a handful of other GOP senators condemned his remarks while avoiding directly criticizing Trump himself.
The toughest critique Maverick McCain could come muster was to say “My state has been enriched by the Hispanic influence. We’re a much better place. We have a close and warm relationship across our southern border with our Mexican friends, so, frankly, I just disagree.”
And about that one time Trump got creepy about his ties with Jeffery Epstein
Politico dug up a nugget from a 2002 Trump interview in which Trump discusses his long time association with Jeffery Epstein, a Wall Street financier convicted of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution in 2008:
"I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,'' Trump told New York Magazine back in 2002. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life."
A Trump associate said Tuesday that Trump wasn't aware of any wrongdoing and that he and Epstein were not particularly close. "He was a member of one of Trump's clubs where he would visit with women and business associates, but there was no formal relationship," the source close to Trump said.
Shares