It's sad, but undeniable: These are the dog days of the summer of Trump.
Ever since the business mogul and reality TV loudmouth entered the Republican race for president, not one media outlet (including this one) has been able to ignore him. While other candidates give carefully written, on-message speeches, Trump breaks all the rules: He flip-flops, insults minority groups, veterans, and journalists, flies around in his helicopter, and sees his poll numbers continue to skyrocket.
And yet, it's still our belief that summer will end. Trump's campaign will implode or fade away, or he'll finally say something so insane that everyone will wise up. When that happens, we'll all realize that there are more than a dozen other candidates fighting the campaign battle — and feeling a little neglected.
In an effort to keep tabs, here are all the important things that happened this week on the 2016 campaign trail that have absolutely nothing to do with anyone named Donald.
Joe Biden really might run!
The vice president has been making moves, and he admitted to Democratic Party members on Wednesday that he is thinking about entering the fray. He also scheduled a meeting with the head of one of the country's biggest unions, with which an alliance is essential for any Democrat who wants to win.
Rick Perry is really struggling.
We may have to say goodbye to Rick Perry before we get to see if he's really improved as a candidate since his famous “Oops” moment of 2012. Perry is reshuffling his campaign in Iowa, and some staffers there and in South Carolina went for weeks without pay (he's now cutting checks again). It really says a lot if your campaign goes out before Rick Santorum’s does.
Carly Fiorina demands a seat at the grown-up table.
The next Republican debate is on September 16, and CNN is planning to follow Fox’s lead, capping the number of candidates allowed into the main event. This doesn’t sit well with Carly Fiorina, who appeared more poised and intelligent than some of the 10 candidates in the top tier, and has enjoyed the resulting recent spike in attention. But thanks to CNN’s criteria for making the cut, Fiorina won’t get to sit at the big kids' table this time, either, and now she’s crying foul. Fiorina wants CNN to change the way it averages polls to pick its top 10 candidates, but the Republican National Committee isn’t budging.
Hillary Clinton is not apologizing for anything (but she did admit she was wrong).
Hillary Clinton isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to her opinions on GOP policies that affect women. At a campaign event in Cleveland on Thursday, Clinton said that Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have “extreme views on women.” How extreme? “We expect that from some of the terrorist groups, we expect that from people who don’t want to live in the modern world, but it’s a little hard to take coming from Republicans,” she said. Republicans want her to apologize. Clinton also admitted this week that her private email server turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. “Here’s what I want the American people to know: My use of personal email was allowed by the State Department. It clearly wasn’t the best choice. I should’ve used two emails: one personal, one for work.”
Martin O'Malley is also very concerned about Clinton's emails.
Clinton's challenger Martin O’Malley also spoke critically about the former secretary of state's email situation. O'Malley is struggling to excite voters who already have strong opinions on Clinton and Bernie Sanders. If the email scandal continues to affect Clinton’s approval ratings, expect to hear more from the Maryland Democrat about the investigation.
Some Republicans are still saying bizarre things about women's anatomy.
What would a political race be without a few outrageous jabs at women? Ben Carson has some...confusing...ideas about the "War on Women" and whether it's real or a figment of hysterical, liberal female imaginations. On Thursday in Little Rock, AR, Carson said, "They tell you that there’s a war on women... There is no war on women. There may be a war on what’s inside of women, but there is no war on women in this country." What did he mean by that? He didn't actually continue the thought, so he could have meant fetuses, or uteri, or even female livers, which have definitely taken some hits during the past few years of debate over women's health care.
Joe Biden really might run!
The vice president has been making moves, and he admitted to Democratic Party members on Wednesday that he is thinking about entering the fray. He also scheduled a meeting with the head of one of the country's biggest unions, with which an alliance is essential for any Democrat who wants to win.
Rick Perry is really struggling.
We may have to say goodbye to Rick Perry before we get to see if he's really improved as a candidate since his famous “Oops” moment of 2012. Perry is reshuffling his campaign in Iowa, and some staffers there and in South Carolina went for weeks without pay (he's now cutting checks again). It really says a lot if your campaign goes out before Rick Santorum’s does.
Carly Fiorina demands a seat at the grown-up table.
The next Republican debate is on September 16, and CNN is planning to follow Fox’s lead, capping the number of candidates allowed into the main event. This doesn’t sit well with Carly Fiorina, who appeared more poised and intelligent than some of the 10 candidates in the top tier, and has enjoyed the resulting recent spike in attention. But thanks to CNN’s criteria for making the cut, Fiorina won’t get to sit at the big kids' table this time, either, and now she’s crying foul. Fiorina wants CNN to change the way it averages polls to pick its top 10 candidates, but the Republican National Committee isn’t budging.
Hillary Clinton is not apologizing for anything (but she did admit she was wrong).
Hillary Clinton isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to her opinions on GOP policies that affect women. At a campaign event in Cleveland on Thursday, Clinton said that Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have “extreme views on women.” How extreme? “We expect that from some of the terrorist groups, we expect that from people who don’t want to live in the modern world, but it’s a little hard to take coming from Republicans,” she said. Republicans want her to apologize. Clinton also admitted this week that her private email server turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. “Here’s what I want the American people to know: My use of personal email was allowed by the State Department. It clearly wasn’t the best choice. I should’ve used two emails: one personal, one for work.”
Martin O'Malley is also very concerned about Clinton's emails.
Clinton's challenger Martin O’Malley also spoke critically about the former secretary of state's email situation. O'Malley is struggling to excite voters who already have strong opinions on Clinton and Bernie Sanders. If the email scandal continues to affect Clinton’s approval ratings, expect to hear more from the Maryland Democrat about the investigation.
Some Republicans are still saying bizarre things about women's anatomy.
What would a political race be without a few outrageous jabs at women? Ben Carson has some...confusing...ideas about the "War on Women" and whether it's real or a figment of hysterical, liberal female imaginations. On Thursday in Little Rock, AR, Carson said, "They tell you that there’s a war on women... There is no war on women. There may be a war on what’s inside of women, but there is no war on women in this country." What did he mean by that? He didn't actually continue the thought, so he could have meant fetuses, or uteri, or even female livers, which have definitely taken some hits during the past few years of debate over women's health care.
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