First was the birther meme. No, that kind of slander is no big deal, its as old as the hills. But when it was embraced by the entire Conservative Establishment, either by direct implication or wink-wink, nudge-nudge, clear-your-throat-and-look-the-other-way, it became pretty clear that this was assassination politics. The fact no guns or bombs were involved was simply because the Secret Service made it too risky.

Those who failed to immediately denounce the birther nonsense weren’t just fanatics and wackos, they included long-established elected politicians and Party officials who didn’t for a moment believe a word of it, but were counting on it having a strong effect on their partisan followers. There were even contributors to this forum who followed that policy.

Second, and perhaps more chilling, is the deliberate obstruction and sabotage of government policy, not because you disagree with it and fear it might fail or backfire, but because you fear it might succeed and make your opponent look good. The Right has repeatedly
tried to frustrate Presidential actions it actually supported, or had even championed, in the past, simply to make Obama look bad and weak. The Right has actually sought outcomes that they knew would cause immense damage to this country simply so they could use that damage as a tool against their ideological opponents.

And why, because they thought their taxes were too high? Because they thought regulation of business was too intrusive?
Because they actually believed a conspiracy of Communist climatologists was determined to steal their freedom? Because they didn’t like the idea of an articulate, educated, poised, intelligent Liberal President who also happened to be black? Lets not blame it all on Trump.

“Treason doth never prosper, what’s the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

Sir John Harrington (1561-1612):

Journalists, even show biz groupies, don’t like to get a reputation for back-stabbing their informants and betraying their confidential “off the record” and “deep background” sources. It leads to nobody wanting to trust you any more. It is certainly possible the damning tapes were deliberately leaked by someone with an axe to grind, or by some mercenary staffer, but I don’t think it can be ruled out that the orders came all the way from the top, for the “best” of reasons. It sure smells like an inside job to me.

You’re right, this does have all the earmarks of a classic Clinton covert op, and that may indeed be the case. But it is fun to speculate, isn’t it?

In this case, it was reported that Excess Hollywood said it had searched its archive of 100 interviews with Trump because of all the current interest in the subject.

Which is to say, it’s October before an election, and Trump has finally found the bandwagon that will become a juggernaut.

But I’ve been thinking about something that may be happening at a deeper level: Societal antibodies kicking in.

Something the formal surveys can’t capture well is the way that the zeitgeist has turned against Trump. Mainstream culture is starting to spontaneously vomit out the Trump poison.

There was last night’s classic SNL. And in the world of late night comedy, up until recently, Jimmy Fallon seemed like the only late-night host going easy on Trump, but I guess he got the message, and now he’s made the late-night denunciation of Trump unanimous. It matters; it’s as if, four decades ago, Johnny Carson had denounced Richard Nixon. Or like that time Walter Cronkite declared the Vietnam War unwinnable and made Johnson decide not to run for reelection. Those dozen or so late-night shows now have tremendous influence through Internet clips that lots of people can view conveniently the next day. I’ve become a Seth Myers and Steven Colbert follower during daylight hours.

Then there’s the unprecedented letter signed by 100 Star Trek actors begging Trek fans to save America from Trump. Star Trek? The Federation has declared Trump persona non grata?

It’s not like Hollywood has anything like the power that wingnuts superstitiously ascribe to it. But something like Star Trek’s united front has a real impact.

And then there’s Robert de Niro:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55fJ0FgPSQk

What can I add after that?

In about six hours, we can expect the serious antiperistalsis to kick in.

More likely it is secret oppo research from the pro Clinton forces. Newt Gingrich once called Bill Clinton the best political counter puncher he had ever seen. They are very very good at this stuff.

Then again, it could also be simply a stroke of fantastic luck for the Dems. Someone at Access Hollywood found the tape and sent it to the Wapo guy who is doing such great work. Not everything is planned.