In a sharp turnaround, 57 percent of Republicans now view Donald Trump favorably as his campaign gains steam and keeps rolling towards Cleveland, the site of the first GOP primary debates hosted by Fox News. Here are the latest development in The Trump Show:
#1 Republican presidential candidate in yet another poll
Trump is at the top of two national polls in as many weeks. A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll found Trump leading every other Republican candidate nationally with 17 percent support. Jeb Bush is the only other GOP contender in double digits, with 14 percent of the vote.
A YouGov survey last week also showed Trump atop the field.
Kate Steinle's brother slams Trump for "sensationalizing" her death
After a week of avoiding the national uproar over her death, the family of Kate Steinle is speaking out and at least one member accuses Trump of using her death for political gain.
Brad Steinle, the brother of the young woman gunned down by in San Francisco this month, igniting a debate on sanctuary cities and seized upon by Trump as evidence for his claim that Mexican immigrants are criminals, blasted Trump's rhetoric.
"Donald Trump talks about Kate Steinle like he knows her," Steinle told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday.
"I've never heard a word from his campaign manager, I've never heard a word from him. It's disconcerting. I don't want to be affiliated with someone who doesn't have the common courtesy to reach out and ask about Kate, and our political views and what we want."
"If you're going to use somebody's name and you're going to sensationalize the death of a beautiful young lady," he continued. "Maybe you should call and talk to the family first and see what their views are ... Sensationalizing it is not the route we would like to go."
Steinle told Cooper that he also disagreed with Trump's immigration policies, describing ideas like building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and forcing Mexico to pay for it as "not rational" and "not common sense."
"We're an apolitical family," Kate's father, James Steinle, said during and interview with Bill O'Reilly on Monday. O'Reilly is spearheading a petition for the so-called "Kate's Law," aimed at making it harder for deported immigrants to re-enter the country. The man accused of killing Kate Steinle, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, had been deported from the United States to Mexico five times before he was allowed to remain in San Francisco.
Trump to meet with Ted Cruz today
"Ted Cruz called me and I don't know why I am meeting him, to be honest, but I do respect him," Trump told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" today. Trump confirmed reports that the two Republican presidential candidates are scheduled to meet today at Trump Towers in New York City. Trump told Mark Halperin that although he doesn't know what the meeting is about, he did like the freshman Republican senator because "he came out very strongly and he came out early" in support of Trump's claims about the criminality of undocumented Mexican immigrants.
Here come the financial disclosures
Today is the day -- or maybe tomorrow. Trump is expected to file his personal disclosure forms today with the Federal Elections Commission. Trump confirmed on "Morning Joe" that he will be releasing his financial disclosure forms "today or tomorrow," noting that he was not filing for an extension like his fellow candidates Jeb Bush and Rick Perry. Trump boasted about his wealth, saying that "the numbers will be far in excess of what anybody thought." When he announced, Trump placed his assets at around $9 billion. That figure would make Trump the wealthiest person to ever run for president.
GOP give up hope of pushing Trump out of race
The Daily Beast outlines how Republicans have given up any hope of mobilizing a concerted effort to force Trump out of the race ahead of the first Republican debates, resigning themselves to the reality that Trump is the current leader of the GOP pack:
John Jordan, the multi-millionaire winery owner and the third largest donor to super PACs in the country in 2013, had originally contemplated gathering signatures to keep Trump off the debate stage.
“Someone in the party ought to start some sort of petition saying, ‘If Trump’s going to be on the stage, I’m not going to be on there with him,’” Jordan told theAssociated Press last week. “I’m toying with the idea of it.”
But several days later, Jordan was thinking differently. He told The Daily Beast that he would not be putting together a petition effort.
“I’m content right to let the process play out, that is for the party and the candidates to figure out,” Jordan said. “I have one concern, and one concern only, and that is next November. I want to make sure that the nominee has the possible chance to win.”
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