Welcome back to your now-daily summary of the Donald Trump presidential campaign, also known as ... you know what, it's becoming increasingly difficult to come up with any more insulting description than "the Donald Trump presidential campaign." Let's skip it today.
Today's events can be summarized thusly.
Now that we've gotten the news that didn't happen out of the way, let's move on to the news that did.
• Another day means another re-re-re-branding of Trump's sketchy immigration policy. Today saw Trump edge back towards his previous hardline stances in the midst of continued anger from his base at the thought he might do anything to the contrary. Even Sarah Palin had teed off on Trump, warning him not to "go down a path of wishy-washy positions."
• The newest Trump campaign hire: ex-Christie aide Bill Stepien, who was fired by Christie for his prominent role in the "Bridgegate" scandal. Because when you're too crooked for even Chris Christie to defend you, you'll still find work in the campaign that hosts Breitbart Guy, Todd Akin's Wordsmith, and Guy Who Continually Insists Hillary Clinton Should Be Shot For Treason.
• Publicity for his next-most-recent hire continues to be sketchy, as reporters discovered Steve Bannon was charged in 1996 for battery and domestic violence. Oh, and that the Florida address he's currently registered to vote at is an abandoned house soon do be demolished, and has never lived there, and by the way that would count as actual voter fraud. Oh, and then there's the time he was sued for, and we're not kidding on this one, his behavior while managing the struggling "Biosphere 2".
• Trump's penchant for surrounding himself with only the best people continues. Or, putting it another way, "Russian mob-linked former Trump employee visits Trump Tower and isn't saying why." That'd be Felix Sater, who boasts of having a close relationship to the Trump family and having been a "senior adviser" to Trump while Trump himself claims he wouldn't even recognize Sater if he saw him. Oh—we should note that while Bannon was being charged for domestic violence and getting sued over safety conditions in Biosphere 2, Sater was getting convicted for stock fraud and stabbing a man in a bar fight. The 90's were a hell of a time for people in Trump's orbit.
• Trump met yesterday with what several media outlets described as "black and Latino activists", but as outreach effort it didn't reach too far out. They were members of the Republican Leadership Institute. That was nothing compared to the spin the campaign's newly hired spinner Kellyanne Conway would place on the meeting, though:
"I sat at a round table with him just yesterday where we had African American leaders from many — many different countries of origin…"
• A new Clinton ad will highlight just what black Americans "have to lose", in Trump's words, by a Trump presidency. The ad will air in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
• Outsiders are still perplexed by Trump's campaign moves. After canceling a planned appearance in safely Democratic Oregon, which Republicans had hoped was an indication that the campaign was finally focusing the candidate's limited resources on must-win regions instead of the previous haphazard approach, he's added an appearance in the similarly safe-blue state of Washington. Nor is Trump scheduling rallies in places where other struggling Republicans could use his help; if there's a plan being followed here, nobody outside the campaign can discern what it is.
• In the meantime, the Trump campaign has cancelled a planned Wednesday rally in Phoenix, Arizona without explanation. Theory: The Trump campaign books events based on the results of throwing darts at a map of the United States. If a dart falls out, however, the event gets cancelled again. Oh, and the map is kept on his plane so canceling multiple events at once means they hit a spot of turbulence.
• Yet another sodding Trump adviser: This one, Sid Miller, argues the Civil War wasn't about slavery, but about protecting the Constitution 'n stuff. Actually, he doesn't even mention slavery; he sort of yada yada's through that part. Can you yada yada slavery?
• Eric Trump says his father is running for president because of his outrage over a litany of internet conspiracy theories.
• How Donald Trump broke the conservative media.
• Andy Parker, whose daughter Allison was shot and killed by a co-worker wile she and her cameraman were filming live a news report in 2015, has harsh words for Trump supporters.
“Politicians like Paul Ryan, Mike McCaul and Bob Goodlatte know better,” Parker wrote in an op-ed for the New York Daily News, referring to the House Speaker, the GOP chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
“They’re not knuckle-draggers waving Confederate flags at Trump rallies, but they still fall in lockstep behind their orange-faced Fuhrer who promotes this 'assault on the Second Amendment' nonsense,” Parker continued.
• Another one jumps ship: Bush Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, instrumental in the push for the Iraq War, agrees that Trump is a "security risk" and says he may end up voting for Clinton. (This should not be construed as good news; we may need some sort of device for keeping the rats on the ship, at this point.)
• Trump on Larry King in 2004:
Caller: I'd like to know how you handle your stress.
Trump: I try to tell myself it doesn't matter. Nothing matters. If you tell yourself it doesn't matter, like you do shows, you do this, you do that and then you have earthquakes in India where 400,000 people get killed. Honestly, it doesn't matter.
• A minor mystery solved: Trump’s doctor ”wrote a letter declaring Trump would be the healthiest president in history in just five minutes while a limo sent by the candidate waited outside his Manhattan office.”
• The Trump campaign debuts "America First", the app. It's a bit like Pokémon Go, if Pokémon Go was all about spamming your friends with Trump campaign mail. Private Jetachu, I choose you!