Welcome to your daily roundup of Donald Trump campaign news, our own effort to whittle down the leaky rowboat that passes for a Republican presidential ticket into a daily pill small enough to be swallowed with a minimum of resulting pain and splinters.
Today's big news, of course, is the revelation that Donald Trump appears to be a genuine crook. Or, more specifically, that Trump appropriated over $250,000 worth of donor contributions to his ostensible charity organization, the Trump Foundation, to settle lawsuits against his for-profit businesses. This would be, if true, Rather Freaking Illegal.
This led our political press to do what it does best: Ask whether the candidate's apparent violation of U.S. tax law would "resonate" with voters.
“The question is, who would these revelations matter to?” [Republican strategist Doug Heye] said. [...]
[Monmouth University poll director Patrick Murphy] didn’t rule out, however, the possibility that these foundation allegations could eventually “move the needle” against Trump, especially if the negative stories keep accumulating.
On the legal question, experts agreed that use of the $258,000 in charity funds by Trump appears improper.
Well there you go. Experts are pretty sure dipping into your charity foundation's donation bucket to pay off lawsuits against your various business enterprises is, you know, improper, from an Actual Federal Laws standpoint—but does it really matter? Maybe the voters like that sort of thing now. We wouldn't want to pass judgment.
In other news, Al Capone was a very nice man who went out of his way to share his bullets with everyone. On to the rest of the day's news.
• A Huffington Post review of campaign finance records discovered that Donald Trump in 2002 gave "at least $45,000" to the campaign of Alan Hevesi, the then-New York state comptroller who was later sent to prison for accepting bribes. The donation coincided with a lawsuit Trump filed against the city seeking reduced property taxes; when the city agreed to settle the case it gained Trump nearly $100 million in tax reductions.
• Over the weekend Trump casually suggested that his opponent's security detail be disarmed. "Take their guns away. Let's see what happens to her."
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd told CNN the next day that she had told Trump “it was wrong that there was violence being incited at his rallies.”
Trump, in Dowd’s telling, “disagreed and said he thought the violence added a frisson of excitement.”
• In North Carolina today, Trump declared that "our African American communities are in the worse shape they've ever been... Ever. Ever. Ever."
• One day after a tweet comparing Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a link to a Breitbart.com anti-Muslim screed titled "Europe's Rape Epidemic: Western Women Will Be Sacrificed At The Altar Of Mass Migration."
• Vice presidential campaign appendage Mike Pence waved off criticism of Donald Trump Jr. for his "Skittles" tweet, instead calling it "remarkable to me to see the level of outrage about a metaphor used by Don Jr. when Hillary Clinton is calling for a 550 percent increase in the Syrian refugee program."
• Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi now says that she didn't return Donald Trump's $25,000 donation to her reelection campaign while Bondi was reviewing whether or not to move forward with fraud charges against Trump University because returning the check would have looked like a bribe, while keeping the money did not. A nationwide search is currently underway for anyone who understands Bondi's argument and can repeat it on television without breaking into laughter.
• A new Trump promotional video features National Rifle Association board member and fellow "birtherism" promoter Ted Nugent. Nugent has made multiple statements suggesting violence against public figures, including promoting a "satirical" video depicting Hillary Clinton being murdered.
• Fox News says the network had "no knowledge" network host Sean Hannity had appeared in that same pro-Trump promotion, flatly stating "he will not be doing anything along those lines for the remainder of the election." Apparently Sean will have to limit his fawning pro-Trump advocacy to his nightly Fox "News" show.
• Despite in past decades describing himself as "pro-choice", now-candidate Trump is working to persuade anti-abortion forces that he is committed to outlawing the practice. After appointing several radical anti-abortion leaders to policy posts in his campaign, he appears to be making headway.
• Billionaire Republican donor Mike Fernandez says he will be donating at least $2 million to the Hillary Clinton campaign, saying he cannot "support a party I no longer recognize."
• Trump is refusing to distance himself from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was accused by prosecutors this week of being fully aware that his office was engaged in a politically motivated effort to tie up traffic on the George Washington Bridge. "I have known and liked Chris for 15 years."
• New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte continues to produce a stream of embarrassingly equivocating statements as to whether she supports her party's presidential nominee. Asked whether she trusts Trump's readiness to be president, she would not say so specifically, only allowing “Well I think that whoever’s elected president, we’re going to trust them with all the responsibilities of commander in chief, absolutely.”
• Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid unloaded on Trump this morning, calling him "a silver-spoon doting fraud." Also unloading: Late Night host Seth Meyers, who called Trump "a racist and a liar."
• Watchers of the dark internet report that Islamic radicals are eager for a Trump victory, predicting it would be "a disaster to America" and good recruitment fodder in their own ranks.
• New York Times executive editor Dean Banquet says the paper has "decided to be more direct in calling things out when a candidate actually lies."