The NY Times scores a telephone interview with Donald Trump and delivers a second paragraph that is utterly cryptic but has some real newsiness to it. Here we go fro the top:
Donald J. Trump unleashed a slashing new attack on Hillary Clinton over Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions on Friday as he sought to put the Clintons’ relationship at the center of his political argument against her before their next debate.
Mr. Trump, aiming to unnerve Mrs. Clinton, even indicated that he was rethinking his statement at their last debate that he would “absolutely” support her if she won in November, saying: “We’re going to have to see. We’re going to see what happens. We’re going to have to see.”
So what does it mean that he was "rethinking his statement at their last debate that he would “absolutely” support her if she won in November"? Let's start by going back to the debate transcript, where the question was about supporting the outcome of the electoral process, not the other candidate:
HOLT: One of you will not win this election. So my final question to you tonight, are you willing to accept the outcome as the will of the voters? Secretary Clinton?
CLINTON: Well, I support our democracy. And sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But I certainly will support the outcome of this election.
And I know Donald’s trying very hard to plant doubts about it, but I hope the people out there understand: This election’s really up to you. It’s not about us so much as it is about you and your families and the kind of country and future you want. So I sure hope you will get out and vote as though your future depended on it, because I think it does.
HOLT: Mr. Trump, very quickly, same question. Will you accept the outcome as the will of the voters?
TRUMP: I want to make America great again. We are a nation that is seriously troubled. We’re losing our jobs. People are pouring into our country.
The other day, we were deporting 800 people. And perhaps they passed the wrong button, they pressed the wrong button, or perhaps worse than that, it was corruption, but these people that we were going to deport for good reason ended up becoming citizens. Ended up becoming citizens. And it was 800. And now it turns out it might be 1,800, and they don’t even know.
HOLT: Will you accept the outcome of the election?
TRUMP: Look, here’s the story. I want to make America great again. I’m going to be able to do it. I don’t believe Hillary will. The answer is, if she wins, I will absolutely support her.
Obviously, Trump gave a bit of a bum answer. Although we retain the concept of a Loyal Opposition, no one expects Hillary to support the policies and legislative proposals of President Trump, nor did she promise to do so - she appropriately indicated, talk being cheap, that she would accept the outcome of the election with grace.
Trump obviously should have stuck with something similar. His phrasing, "if she wins, I will absolutely support her", is ludicrous on the face of it. We certainly hope he will support the outcome of the process but we also hope and expect him to fight Hillary's likely policies and judicial nominees with at least the vim and vigor she and other Democrats would oppose him.
So now he is re-thinking a poorly phrased response. Meaning what? Lacking an interview transcript I have no idea whether he hinted that he is planning to fight an election result he already thinks is rigged, or simply made the obvious point that he will applaud politely during her inauguration but almost surely oppose most of her policies, although he is "going to have to see".
The Times seemed pretty excited in the second paragraph but not excited enough to come back to this. That makes me guess they want their readership to guess the worst but don't have the scary quotes to back that up.
Whatever - there is no chance of honest reporting from the Times over the next seven weeks.
MM, (I know this is unlikely to ever occur, but, in theory,) ask your daughter if, to make plans for her best future, she depends on what she hears others say.
Then ask her what happens to her best future when others lie to her.
If others don’t respect you enough to be straight with you, you owe them nothing.
Posted by: sbw | October 03, 2016 at 05:06 PM
Cashill:
http://www.wnd.com/2016/09/lester-holt-doesnt-know-jack-about-obama/
Posted by: Threadkiller | October 03, 2016 at 05:08 PM
sbw,
How many Trump signs in your neck of the NY woods?
I know there is a underground movement but the the media and their letters to the editors campaign make it depressing.
Going down to our place in Florida Thursday for the first time since mid June 2015. Get to see where all the money has gone.
Posted by: Jim Eagle | October 03, 2016 at 05:10 PM
OL,
MY email gets maybe 3 spams a day; HERS gets ten times that many...
So why do I get about 500 spam per day? Yes, I do my own spam filtering, but that still is a lot!
Posted by: DrJ | October 03, 2016 at 05:14 PM
DrJ... 500/d? that would be unbearable!
Posted by: Old Lurker | October 03, 2016 at 05:15 PM
"New York Times forfeits ethics
in publishing Trump taxes
The Hill, by Joe Concha"
Seriously? Do you not first have to possess a thing before you can forfeit it?
Posted by: Old Lurker | October 03, 2016 at 05:19 PM
Uncle!! :)
Posted by: Beasts of England | October 03, 2016 at 05:19 PM
:-) Beasts
Posted by: Old Lurker | October 03, 2016 at 05:19 PM
OL, yes, 500 spam email messages per day. My spam filter (now trained pretty well) gets about 95% of them.
Posted by: DrJ | October 03, 2016 at 05:21 PM
DrJ, does your ISP screen any before you get them?
Posted by: Old Lurker | October 03, 2016 at 05:23 PM
Quinny to the contrary notwithstanding:http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/10/02/exclusive-tens-thousands-projected-see-donald-trump-colorado/
Posted by: clarice b. for Brainiac | October 03, 2016 at 05:24 PM
My Ceaser Chicken Salad is going to be great. Actually yuge.
4 Chicken thighs roasting in the oven with torn thumb sized ciabbata bread, chopped rosemary, salt and pepper all smothered in Olive oil. Then we tear it all apart and make our dressing with creme fraiche and romaine, plus some smothered anchodies. Yummy
Posted by: Jim Eagle | October 03, 2016 at 05:30 PM
OL, no, the ISP was screening out too many important email messages. So we get them all (we is MrsJ and I -- we have different addresses and domains).
Posted by: DrJ | October 03, 2016 at 05:33 PM
http://www.wnd.com/2016/09/lester-holt-doesnt-know-jack-about-obama/
TK--You'll love this.
Posted by: clarice b. for Brainiac | October 03, 2016 at 05:44 PM
Why is Drudge running with this love child crap? It strikes me as very misguided...
Judges?
Posted by: Beasts of England | October 03, 2016 at 05:49 PM
Sadly, looking at the weather channel, it appears Haiti is in line for flooding and destruction again!
Will the MSM make any comments or investigate the Clintons' role in the last Haiti disaster?
Oh, I'm sure they'll get right on it!
Posted by: Deplorable Momto2 | October 03, 2016 at 05:51 PM
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/by-the-numbers-the-clinton-speech-scam
Detailed critique by the Trump campaign of the Clintons collecting all that money.
Bonus: All citations are to CNN. Bwahahahaha!
Posted by: Miss Marple the Deplorable | October 03, 2016 at 05:52 PM
PD,
First of all Comcast is not your responsibility. Let them sue her estate. (I'm sure it is not that much money, and certainly not enough for a law suit.)
If you decide to pursue it, go up the ladder. No one in management would ever agree to that BS. Whoever is chasing you is clueless. Make sure you tell management that your entire extended family is ready to cancel Comcast forever, if they pursued this debt. A smart person will send the word down.
Posted by: Mandy Stirling | October 03, 2016 at 06:01 PM
--Why is Drudge running with this love child crap? It strikes me as very misguided...--
Just a guess, but maybe because he's half black and he's claiming Hillary "banished" him. Makes her look not only mean but racist.
Posted by: derwill | October 03, 2016 at 06:04 PM
PD - If Comcast refuses to back down, threaten to report them to Clark Howard.
"When you think of companies that have been in The Hall of Shame year after year for abysmal customer no service, Comcast is near or at the top of the list! Clark Howard
Posted by: Deplorable Momto2 | October 03, 2016 at 06:04 PM
:-) clarice
Posted by: Threadkiller | October 03, 2016 at 06:05 PM
Oh BOE - when I read this I could hear my dad's voice in my head saying, "That is exactly why they have a second home on Nantucket.
I can hear my dad saying the same thing!
We have the smartest dads, don't we folks?
Posted by: Porchlight | October 03, 2016 at 06:08 PM
Hi Mandy
Glad to see you posting!
OL:
A penny saved is a penny earned.
So glad you have a place in Nantucket to relax and enjoy life!
Posted by: maryrose | October 03, 2016 at 06:09 PM
Porch:
My dad said the same thing. Now even my sister admits that dad was right about everything.
Posted by: maryrose | October 03, 2016 at 06:10 PM
My dad also joked " You may sink into his arms but in the future your arms will be in the sink doing dishes."
Posted by: maryrose | October 03, 2016 at 06:11 PM
Porchlight,
HA! Here, have a coat.
Posted by: Miss Marple the Deplorable | October 03, 2016 at 06:15 PM
MY dad said, "What in the hell are you doing wearing eye make-up! Only floozies wear that."
(1965)
It was HELL being the oldest daughter! You have to fight all the battles and then everyone else gets, "OK. Mini-skirts, whatever."
Posted by: Miss Marple the Deplorable | October 03, 2016 at 06:17 PM
Fair points, derwill - she is reported to be a bit racist, but who knows.
Posted by: Beasts of England | October 03, 2016 at 06:18 PM
A penny saved is an opportunity cost. :)
Posted by: Beasts of England | October 03, 2016 at 06:19 PM
Well, this seems rather important and disturbing:
http://www.infowars.com/exclusive-hillary-killed-libya-peace-deal-over-personal-vendetta-claims-whistleblower/
I no longer discount stuff from Infowars. They have been right enough that I pay attention to what they say.
Posted by: Miss Marple the Deplorable | October 03, 2016 at 06:22 PM
MM & JIB - re: Your reporting on Trump's speech today? Here is the MSM's take on one part of it- warning you won't be happy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/03/donald-trumps-gaffe-on-veterans-and-ptsd-shows-just-what-an-amateur-he-still-is/
Posted by: Texas Liberty Gal | October 03, 2016 at 06:28 PM
don't pay chris cilizza or his kramerica intern much mind,
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2016/09/30/poll-7-percent-of-voters-have-lost-friends-over-2016-presidential-race/
Posted by: buccaneer morgan | October 03, 2016 at 06:31 PM
TLG @ 6:28.
Total BS. Read his words carefully. He's right.
MAGA.
Posted by: Jim Eagle | October 03, 2016 at 06:41 PM
so it looks like the storms westward track comes in
on thursday,
Posted by: buccaneer morgan | October 03, 2016 at 06:43 PM
It's news that Trump isn't exactly the most articulate guy in the room?
WaPo must have been jealous of the NYT's non-story on the no taxes.
TLG, that story is exactly what people are looking for--a guy who clearly was trying to express his sympathy, not some lying politician who's rehearsed the empty platitudes enough to send out a perfect sound bite for the evening news.
The loser in this election--MSM. They've been exposed for the lazy ass partisans they are.
Posted by: anonamom; formerly adorable, now deplorable | October 03, 2016 at 06:45 PM
I fail to see how the Libya story can't be covered. There are documents and 2 witnesses, and that is before whatever Wikileaks has.
Bernie voters should realize she will kill anyone who didn't support her. That's what happened to Ghadafffi.
Posted by: Miss Marple the Deplorable | October 03, 2016 at 06:59 PM
Buc,
We are back this thursday. Come over to Hammock Dunes for drinks and dinner. Friday is best. You can dine with the croquet crowd. Bunch of rowdy Tumpers. The Prez is a former Test pilot for the Navy. too many heroes playing croquet instead of golf. Why is that? Loss of limbs or movement?
Posted by: Jim Eagle | October 03, 2016 at 07:02 PM
Happy Rosh Hassanah to all our Jewish friends on JOM.
"They tried to kill us. We won. Lets eat"
Posted by: Jim Eagle | October 03, 2016 at 07:14 PM
Yes, Porch, it's so funny how those comments stick like glue in your memory. The minute I read that Comcast comment I could hear his exact voice saying that because I've heard it so often.
Other favorites: "If Susie jumps off a cliff, are you going to jump, too?" And, "You don't have to brush all of your teeth, just the ones you want to keep!" If I ever said, "but everybody's doing xyz" I was told, "We're not Everybody!"
Posted by: Deplorable Momto2 | October 03, 2016 at 07:16 PM
JIB & anonamom - You're both exaxtly right. I've already fired off a letter to the weasel Aaron Blake who's peddling it.
Posted by: Texas Liberty Gal | October 03, 2016 at 07:39 PM
Off to bed. Long day. Slaap lekker. tots morgen..
Posted by: Jim Eagle | October 03, 2016 at 07:47 PM
Live stream, Trump rally, Loveland, colorado:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrwPYqDrKPI
Posted by: Miss Marple the Deplorable | October 03, 2016 at 07:55 PM
Beneral Flynn up now.
Posted by: Miss Marple the Deplorable | October 03, 2016 at 07:58 PM
General Flynn.
Posted by: Miss Marple the Deplorable | October 03, 2016 at 07:58 PM
JiB, in our territory we see few signs but most of those visible are Trump!. Of the others, more Bernie than Hillary and on old eco-cars.
Mislabeled PACs trying to look conservative but really liberal are running TV ads trying to defeat the candidate who won the Republican nomination on Hanna’s retirement. She is ahead in the polls.
And I don’t know why Schumer is running "I love me" TV ads.
Posted by: sbw | October 03, 2016 at 08:08 PM