Vanity Fair political correspondent Gabriel Sherman’s latest Trump World/GOP insider quote-fest is up and more suicidal than ever. Here are the best parts:
- “Torn between the imperative to win suburban voters and his instincts to play to his base, Trump has complained to people that he’s in a political box with no obvious way out. According to [a GOP source], Trump called Tucker Carlson late last week and said, ‘what do I do? What do I do?'”
- “[The Trump] campaign is now preparing to cancel the [Jacksonville RNC acceptance speech] so that Trump doesn’t suffer another Tulsa–like humiliation. ‘They probably won’t have it,’ the source said. ‘It’s not going to be the soft landing Trump wanted.'”
- “Mark [Meadows] whined to Mick [Mulvaney], ‘why didn’t you warn me before I accepted the job? There’s nothing for me to do.'”
- “Nervous Republicans worried about losing the Senate are now debating when to break from Trump. Trump campaign internal polls show Trump’s level of ‘strong support’ dropping from 21 to 17 points since last week, a person briefed on the numbers said. A source close to Iowa Republican Joni Ernst’s campaign said Ernst advisers are upset that a solid seat is now in play.”
- “A Republican strategist close to Mitch McConnell told me that Republicans have Labor Day penciled in as the deadline for Trump to have turned things around. After that, he’s on his own.”