Donald Trump told a roundtable of supporters in Florida Monday, "I actually think we're winning." To borrow a phrase: No, Donald, you're not.
Trump has recently taken to blathering on incessantly about "dark polls" and the "phony media," always topping off his special brand of paranoia with this clarion call to his aggrieved supporters: "The system is rigged!"
In some ways, it's a positive step. Reality is creeping in—Trump knows he's losing. In essence, he's finally cluing in to a basic tenet of American democracy: You can't ridicule, demean, belittle, abuse, and dismiss wide swaths of the electorate and emerge victorious on Election Day. Clearly, he misunderstood—or perhaps misunderestimated—this concept from the outset of his presidential bid. But it's pretty hard to ignore now.
It turns out every woman Trump offended when he mocked his sexual assault accusers for being just too hideous to grope has a vote. Who could have known?
In three crucial battlegrounds — North Carolina, Florida and Georgia — women are casting early ballots in disproportionate numbers.
And not casting them for Trump. Also, after running a campaign rife with racist lies about Mexicans and Latino immigrants, they're pretty eager to vote too, in historic numbers, actually, in pretty significant states like, oh, say Florida:
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(Clinton’s) campaign is reporting that an "unprecedented" 133,000 Latinos have cast early ballots ahead of the November 8 election — a 99% increase in Latino voters compared to the same point in 2012.
So yeah, when you are a traitor to your country and invite Russia to hack our democracy, when you promise to be a despot who would demolish the First Amendment and jail your opponent, when the national newspaper of record decides it's newsworthy to compile an exhaustive list of 282 people, places, and things you have gleefully insulted since the start of your campaign, you might lose.
This is, in fact, "the system." You appeal to voters (or in Trump's case, you don't) and then you hope that appeal will earn their vote. Trump's strategy of insulting his way to Oval Office is shockingly turning out to be a loser—just like low energy Jeb said it would. Take notes, kids.
The system is working just fine.