Trump lives in a world where he can’t understand anything other than total and absolute adoration — and the top priority of the Trump kids is that their father is not associated with defeat. Plus, how Ivanka and Donald really act off camera. Alex Holder, director of the documentary, “Unprecedented,” joins guest host Tim Miller today.

https://www.thebulwark.com/podcast-episode/alex-holder-a-weird-simple-man-3/

Measured by the intensity of the media glare, Tuesday night unquestionably belonged to Liz Cheney’s bid for political survival, as the conservative Republican with the dynastic name fell in a race defined by her vote to impeach Donald Trump and her role in the investigations into the Jan. 6 insurrection. But Trump’s allies clinched another milestone on election night.

Chuck Gray, a Wyoming lawmaker, became the first election denier running in 2022 to effectively secure promotion to secretary of state, the chief office that oversees elections in the state.

Boosted by Trump’s endorsement, Gray prevailed in a competitive GOP primary to replace retiring incumbent Ed Buchanan; he beat fellow lawmaker Tara Nethercott 50 to 41 percent. His path forward is unobstructed since he is running unopposed in the general election. There will be no Democrat on the November ballot; an independent candidate has until Aug. 29 to jump in. (Update Aug. 30: The election division told Bolts that no independent filed by the deadline.) Someone could also mount an uphill write-in bid.

Gray’s win in the smallest state in the union comes as politicians similarly aligned with Trump’s lies about the 2020 presidential race are advancing toward these critical election offices all around the country, including in critical swing states like Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

The end of the summer has been kind to Democrats. President Joe Biden’s approval rating, though still clearly weak, is improving, and House generic ballot polling shows a political environment that, at least at the moment, is roughly neutral. A few recent House special elections, specifically last week in upstate New York, give some credence to the reality of that polling. Gas prices, perhaps the easiest-to-notice indicator of the broader inflation problem, have fallen sharply from their spike earlier this summer, though one cannot predict with any level of certainty where gas prices will be on Election Day.

Democrats, hoping to make this election more of a choice than a referendum, are benefiting from some damaged Republican candidates in several key races as well as the emergence of abortion as a key issue in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision — and perhaps also from a continued focus on a particularly visible former president, Donald Trump. We have detailed many of these factors in our recent updates on the overall House, Senate, and gubernatorial picture.

Monday is Labor Day, a traditional campaign kickoff date that now is more of a signal that the never-ending campaign season is nearing conclusion. So we think it’s time to make a couple of key rating changes in the Senate. These changes reflect improving odds of Democrats holding their tiny majority, but still suggest an overall battle for the majority that is effectively a Toss-up.

We are moving 2 of our 4 Toss-ups, Arizona and Pennsylvania, from Toss-up to Leans Democratic, signifying a small Democratic edge in these 2 closely-watched contests. Our new Senate ratings are shown in Map 1. They reflect 49 seats at least leaning Democratic (including those not on the ballot this year), and 49 seats at least leaning Republican, with just 2 Toss-ups: Georgia and Nevada.

WASHINGTON — President Biden gave a forceful defense of the F.B.I. during a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and called out allies of former President Donald J. Trump for failing to condemn those who attacked law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

During a visit to a key swing state, Mr. Biden took a set of political vulnerabilities for the White House — policing and rising crime — and made the issues central to his message ahead of the congressional elections in November.

“It’s sickening to see the new attacks on the F.B.I.,” Mr. Biden said, referring to some congressional Republicans, including members of leadership, who called to “defund” or even “destroy” the F.B.I. over its search of Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Aug. 8.

“I’m opposed to defunding the police,” the president said. “I’m also opposed to defunding the F.B.I.”

WASHINGTON — For months, President Biden has tried to blunt attacks that he is soft on crime by distancing himself from progressive calls to defund police departments. In a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Mr. Biden is expected to take a page from his opponents’ playbook and accuse Republicans of no longer being the party of law and order.

During a visit to Wilkes-Barre, Mr. Biden will say he has made available billions of dollars to invest in law enforcement agencies, according to a White House official. He will highlight a bipartisan gun bill intended to prevent dangerous people from accessing firearms, a nod to one of his recent legislative accomplishments ahead of the congressional elections in November.

Mr. Biden is also likely to go on the offensive in a state holding pivotal elections for the House and Senate as well as governor. His remarks come soon after some Republicans reacted with fury to the F.B.I.’s search for classified documents in former President Donald J. Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 8.

Some congressional Republicans, including members of leadership, called to “defund” or even “destroy” the federal law enforcement agency over the search, prompting others, including former Vice President Mike Pence, to warn the party against assailing law enforcement.