We'll cover the second assassination attempt against Trump, plus the aftermath of the debate, the latest polling numbers, and Trump's missteps (yes, I do think he's made some, and it's really getting much too late for that kind of thing).
We'll also have the latest installment of The Trumpian Virtues (available on Audible here: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Trumpian-Virtues-Audiobook/B0CZ4NBQVB)
Plus, some music and art, because life can't be all about this political nonsense.
With special guests:
- Mark Mitchell -- pollster, Rasmussen Reports, on the state of the race
- Peter Himmelman -- musician, author of "Suspended by No String": https://www.amazon.com/Suspended-String-Songwriters-Reflections-Aliveness/dp/B0D2W8NLFZ
Tune in: SiriusXM 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call in: 866-957-2874
My son’s Little League All-Star team won a tournament yesterday. He went 2-for-2 with a single (here) and a double, both solid hits.
On Sunday morning, former President Donald Trump posted an attack on pop star Taylor Swift, signaling that his campaign had begun to unravel.
It was not a surprise that Trump might resent Swift for her endorsement of his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, but there was absolutely nothing to be gained by saying so publicly.
In doing so, Trump was drawing attention to an endorsement that had made little impact, and possibly alienating some of his supporters.
He was also signaling that he had lost control of himself, and the campaign. This was the Trump of 2020, the undisciplined incumbent who, under attack from all sides, would lash out at rivals and the press, even when he was winning.
We had not seen this version of Trump in years. The "lawfare" against him seemed to have focused his mind even as it also consolidated his Republican support. The 2024 campaign was professional, disciplined, and efficient.
True, the campaign was slow to react to the replacement of President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket ...
I'm tired of being told Trump is winning easily who have no basis for saying so and who will claim that the election was stolen from him if and when they are wrong. I have told you before that I think he is winning -- I no longer think so, by the way, for the first time -- and I have told you my basis for believing so.
My basis for not believing so is Trump's own behavior. After showing up for the debate unprepared for the opportunity to speak directly to his own voters, he compounded the damage by attacking Taylor Swift in a pointless post on Truth Social. Coupled with reports that he was traveling with Laura Loomer -- an Internet provocatuese with her own agenda but nothing in particular to offer -- I have concluded that the Trump campaign has inexcusably lost its focus.
The election is still winnable, but he is not winning it, and he needs to change.
After making that argument, I found a lot of people agreed. But I also received a lot of pushback from some conservative influencers on social media. ...
This week's portion covers a long list of laws and ethical principles, many of them elucidated earlier in the Torah, but necessary for Moses to repeat on the eve of the people's final entry into the Land of Israel.
One of the more interesting commandments -- which hits a little different this year -- concerns a female captive in war, whom you desire. There is a whole process that a soldier must go through if he wants to marry her, designed to protect her dignity.
It's hard to read this at a time when there are female Jewish captives seized by Hamas, who are probably being enslaved and raped or "married" according to whatever the Islamic law about that is. It makes one innately recoil from the text of Deuteronomy here; how could such a practice have been conceived?
But then the thrust of the Jewish law is to protect the captive, not to satisfy the captor, and I suppose there is more that we can learn from that.
...
