Is he finally nearing the point of No Return? It sure sounds like it...

This week's roundup contends that Trump's recent appearances reveal flailing punches that could only come from a man who knows he's on the ropes

As the election continues hurtling at breakneck speed toward November, with 57 days remaining and all eyes trained on Tuesday’s debate, it’s easy to lose sight of how much else is going on across the political spectrum. But there’s no shortage of activity, as we see in this week’s roundup. And none of that activity bodes well for our twice-impeached, four-times-indicted felon of a former president.

On my podcast, I discuss Trump’s transparent betrayal of just how badly his campaign is doing. I also interview Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the Democratic nominee for the US Senate in Florida about Rick Scott’s abortion lies and the latest polling revealing that even Florida may be within reach for Democrats. Legal analyst Kim Wehle joins to discuss Trump’s delayed sentencing and the issue of pardons as they relate to the January 6 insurrectionists.     

At this stage of an election, both candidates should be receiving equal coverage. And given the remarkable innovations and refreshing positivity emerging from her campaign, Kamala Harris should be receiving far more attention than Trump, given that she is actually campaigning. She is meeting with small business owners, revealing her humanity, and showing America who she is. Her running mate, Tim Walz, is giving the keynote address at the annual Human Rights Campaign National Dinner.

On the flip side, I’m also aware that we’ve been talking about Donald Trump for so long that nothing phases or outrages us anymore… but something’s been happening over the last few weeks that suggests we have actually crossed the rubicon here:

For those among you who literally cannot bear to hear whatever’s coming out of that toilet-flap of a mouth, let me briefly sum it up for you. Rather than speaking to the urgent actual danger facing America’s youth in school—which is fellow students carrying weapons of war into their classrooms—Trump opted to perseverate on a completely baseless, batshit, evidence-free theory that kids are going to school as one gender, then popping over to the gym’s O.R. to transition during…I don’t know…recess?

This rough operator also put an end to the nation’s collective head-scratch over his obsession with the extremely fictional villain from Silence of the Lambs, by explaining that Dr. Hannibal Lecter is representative of immigrants coming into the country. Wow. Tremendous work blowing our minds with that new metaphor. Now it makes…less sense. Not entirely sure how to square the new spin with the reverence with which Trump has evoked the “late, great American” who “will have you for dinner.” Are the immigrants that he represents no longer with us? Are they also great? And were they also cannibals? Let’s think through that spooky warning for another beat please, sir, before you assume that you’re scaring anybody.

Here’s the thing. Any Americans (and there are too many) who are still hypnotized enough to keep cheering and chanting as Trump makes ludicrous claims about our schools, and who indulge his fear-mongering attempts via a made-up human from a movie from 1991…are not going to change their minds. Millions of Americans are prepared to accept absolutely any garbage that comes spewing out of his face, and he has so little respect for those die-hard supporters that he will continue lying to them every time he’s allowed in front of a microphone.

Not a single undecided voter will suddenly be swayed by Trump proposing that the immigrants (whom he hasn’t married) are here to feast on other humans. This is not a man attempting to campaign. He’s not presenting himself as a man who once held the highest office in the land. He’s not attempting to discuss policy. But let’s pause for a moment, because that’s really a gift to all of us. On Thursday he did attempt to field a legit question about policy (regarding child care) at The Economic Club of New York, and here’s how that worked out:   

The only thing possible to glean from that cryptic dumpster fire of words is that “child care is child care” (#NEWS) and that he was planning to eliminate the deficit and then pay for child care using tariffs. His response was so overwhelmingly stupid that even a co-host on Fox news ripped into his mind-numbingly incoherent response.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell’s fittingly scathing response to the entire event shoves aside Trump’s ignorant blather (par for the course) and instead criticizes the audience: “New York’s stupidest rich people,” for enthusiastically “clapping for the man who they watched try to overthrow the results of a presidential election.” They may not be wearing MAGA hats at The Economic Club, but the applause Trump receives makes it evident that he is in a safe space, which to him means a space where his dumbass comments will receive an unconditional, hearty ovation.

This, and any of his public appearances of late have made it cringingly clear that his only intention is to double down on such supporters. He’s not persuading any voters who haven’t either sold their souls in exchange for a fat tax cut, or who are so deep into his scam of a candidacy that they’re buying up Trump digital trading cards. He’s not addressing crowds who care if he knows the difference between people who are seeking asylum and a fictional friend who has been committed to one. His frothing claims are only topics of distraction that enable him to avoid taking a stance on the devastating fate of guns in our schools or anything else that falls into the “reality” bucket. I don’t know who’s the genius behind his whole campaign strategy, but I salute him or her for doing everything possible to avoid all attempts to expand their coalition.

Trump’s outlandish rallies collectively betray the fact that he is so desperate, and feels so backed into a corner, that he’s ramping up his rhetoric to their most extreme volume. We don’t just have a problem at the border; we have an influx of people seeking to eat babies. There’s not just openly trans people; schools are now fully equipped with the hormones and surgeons required for an individual to transition during P.E. He doesn’t just want to be a dictator on day one, he is inventing full-throated endorsements from global tyrants. He didn’t send one polished, snappy retort to debunk Harris’s speech at the DNC; he posted over forty times while she was speaking. None of this makes him appear cogent, trustworthy, or presidential—it reveals him as coming apart at the seams. He sounds insane. But logic tends to go out the window when your campaign is in freefall and you’re running on pure desperation.

Amidst all of his deranged appearances, he may have appeared to have scored a major win at the end of the week when Judge Juan Merchan issued his decision to delay Trump’s September 18 sentencing to after the election. However, though the left’s instinct may be to decry Trump’s ability to continue getting a pass, there’s a different way of looking at it, and it doesn’t work in the former president’s favor. I discuss that lining with Glenn Kirshner on this week’s Legal Breakdown:

Though Trump’s whole routine is tired, pathetic, and weak, he, or his rabid supporters, still pose a dangerous threat to our country. Because of that danger, established by his inciting a violent insurrection and refusing to accept the peaceful transfer of power, reinforced by behavior like his flagrant disrespect exhibited at Arlington National Cemetery, topped off by the fact that he is a convicted felon—some of the most unlikely Republicans in government and/or their children have openly announced their refusal to support Donald Trump. Those GOP members include his own former Vice President, Mike Pence; Mitt Romney; Jim McCain (son of John); Liz Cheney and—most recently, and most shockingly—former Vice President Dick Cheney. You read that correctly.

Dick Cheney will be voting for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Please take as long as you need to really soak in our new reality.

Our coalition, which welcomes everybody who cares about democracy, is growing in some pretty unexpected ways.

You’ll be hearing from me shortly after Tuesday’s much-anticipated debate. Stay engaged!