Senate GOPers Weather Donald's Drag, Surrogates Dismiss Trump Tax Bombshell, And Advice From Ruth Bader Ginsburg

October 3rd, 2016 Top Stories --------------------------------------------------------------- [Did We Overestimate Donald's Drag On Republicans In The Senate?] The Gist: Just a little more than a month before the general election, GOP incumbents appear to be in a better place than many predicted. [Sanders Defends Clinton Over Leaked Fundraiser Audio: ‘I Agree With Her’ (VIDEO)] The Gist: Sanders and his staffers have dismissed the uproar over audio leaked from a February Hillary Clinton fundraiser in which she describes his supporters as frustrated and struggling to find work. [Trump Surrogates Dismiss NYT Report On Tax Returns: He's A 'Genius!'] The Gist: Trump's surrogates insist the bombshell New York Times report on the GOP nominee's taxes only proves how smart he is. From The Reporter's Notebook --------------------------------------------------------------- Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) told reporters Thursday that he won't vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, and that it would send quite a statement if no one else did either, TPM’s Kristin Salaky wrote. "Well, if everybody didn't vote, that would be a pretty powerful political statement, [wouldn't it]?" Bush said, according to CNN. Agree or Disagree? --------------------------------------------------------------- Josh Marshall: "In itself the revelation is somewhere between very damaging and catastrophic. But that is almost a secondary question. The real issue is this: at the moment Donald Trump is clearly behind and there are little more than 30 days before the election. He needs a decisive shift in the race and he has very little time to accomplish that. Regardless of its specific impact, the tax story [will probably take at least a week for the campaigns and the press to litigate]. And that's a week Trump simply doesn't have to spare. In football terms it's like being down two touchdowns with only two or three minutes to go and you turn the ball over to the other team. If they score, it's fatal. But even if they don't it's almost as bad because they'll run down time you don't have." Say What?! --------------------------------------------------------------- "This is the new Benghazi lie." - Newt Gingrich [slammed] Clinton's resurfacing of Trump's comments about Alicia Machado as "an ambush that was as false as Benghazi." BUZZING: Today in the Hive --------------------------------------------------------------- From a TPM Prime member: "I think taxes are almost the whole story of Trump's business practices. It is accepted that his first major effort was granted a very large tax abatement by NYC. Real estate is notorious for its tax advantages. This is "rigging" (bias) in the system---particularly galling that the ultimate insider/elitist/corrupt player is the guy "trumpeting" how unfair the system is for ordinary people. His tactic to bridge that divide is to say he is smart for using those advantages. Unsaid is that he has no record of any desire to eliminate those advantages." Related: Following the New York Times report revealing that Trump [may have dodged paying taxes for almost 20 years], his surrogates insisted is just proof of his "genius." Have something to add? Become a [Prime] member and join the discussion [here]. What We're Reading --------------------------------------------------------------- Who should go to Mars? ([The Verge]) Life advice from Ruth Bader Ginsburg. ([The New York Times]) [unsubscribe from this list] | [update subscription preferences] | [view email in browser]