News Reporter: The Daily 202: Trump triples down on a losing immigration position in Phoenix

Trump triples down on a losing immigration position in Phoenix

Donald Trump speaks on immigration last night in Phoenix. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

THE BIG IDEA: Immigration is a losing issue for Donald Trump, and he's just spent two weeks talking about it almost every day. After telegraphing repeatedly that he would embrace a more politically palatable position, the Republican nominee used a much-ballyhooed speech in Phoenix last night to make clear that there will be no softening whatsoever. In some key ways, he even hardened his position.

Republicans facing four more years in the wilderness will long recall the raucous rally in Phoenix as a low point of the Trump campaign, perhaps even as the moment that he definitively extinguished his hopes of becoming president.

That feeling will be particularly pronounced because it came at the end of a whirlwind day that might otherwise have been remembered as a triumph.

Many political professionals from both parties privately believed Trump's trip to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto was a master stroke, an audacious move that made Trump look serious and presidential on a global stage. Rightly or wrongly, even some critics believed that the billionaire projected pragmatism and showed that he could be effective at cutting deals.

But then came Phoenix. In case you missed it, here's a recap of what Trump said:

He declared that he will build a "Great Wall." ("On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall.")
He insisted "Mexico will pay" for it: "One-hundred percent. They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for the wall."
He suggested that he'd like to deport his opponent. "Maybe they'll be able to deport her."
He said Dwight Eisenhower's "Operation Wetback" did not go far enough. (He name-checked Ike but did not say what the strategy was called.)
He reiterated that he will indeed create "a deportation task force" and promised to deport two million "criminal aliens" starting on "day one."
He said undocumented immigrants seeking legal status would first have to leave the country and try to return lawfully. "There will be no amnesty," he said. "You cannot obtain legal status or become a citizen of the United States by illegally entering our country. Can't do it. ... Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation." He did not use the term "self-deportation," but that's exactly what he called for: "You can call it 'deport' if you want. The press doesn't like that term. You can call it whatever the hell you want."
He claimed "countless Americans" are "victims of violence" by illegal immigrants who are "dangerous, dangerous, dangerous criminals": "We will issue detainers for illegal immigrants arrested for any crime whatsoever."
He said government has "no idea" how many undocumented immigrants are on U.S. soil: "It could be 30 million."
"We're like the big bully that keeps getting beat up," Trump explained. "We also have to be honest about the fact that not everyone who seeks to join our country will be able to successfully assimilate. Sometimes it's just not going to work out. It's our right, as a sovereign nation to choose immigrants that we think are the likeliest to thrive and flourish and love us."

Read the full transcript here, and watch the whole thing for yourself here:

Watch Donald Trump's full speech on immigration

-- Bottom line: The deportation priorities Trump laid out in Phoenix could target more than SIX MILLION individuals for IMMEDIATE REMOVAL, according to a thorough analysis by Jose DelReal. "He not only called for removing all undocumented immigrants who had committed crimes, but also said he would prioritize those who have overstayed their visas for deportation. … An estimated 690,000 undocumented immigrants have committed significant crimes that would make them security priorities — felonies or serious misdemeanors — according to a study by the Migration Policy Institute. That number is closer to 2 million according to some, the Center for Immigration Studies, whom the Trump campaign has consulted on the issue. If visa overstays are also included in the immediate priorities, as Trump said … the number would grow by about 4.5 million individuals … In all, the number of individuals prioritized for removal by ICE agents would range between about 5.0 and 6.5 million."

-- Trump's speech will make it even harder for him to make inroads with voters he needs in November. Most Americans disagree with his approach. A fresh Fox News poll—which shows Clinton up just 2 points (41-39)—finds that voters, when presented with a choice, back setting up a system for illegal immigrants currently working in the United States to become legal residents over deporting them by a 77-19 margin. Those supporting legalization back Clinton over Trump by 18 points.

-- Several of Trump's most prominent Latino surrogates say they are reconsidering their support following the speech, according to Politico's Katie Glueck. "Jacob Monty, a member of Trump's National Hispanic Advisory Council, has resigned, and Alfonso Aguilar, the president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, said in an interview that he is 'inclined' to pull his support. 'I was a strong supporter of Donald Trump when I believed he was going to address the immigration problem realistically and compassionately,' said Monty, a Houston attorney who has aggressively made the Latino case for Trump. 'What I heard today was not realistic and not compassionate.' He withdrew from the board following Trump's speech."

An angry attendee at Trump's speech gets in the face of a journalist after the event. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

-- It is probably not a good sign for Trump that former KKK leader David Duke and other fans of his in the alt-right liked it so much:

-- Many accomplished Republican operatives expressed grave concern that the Phoenix speech will offset whatever bounce Trump might have gotten from Mexico City:

Mitch McConnell's former chief of staff:

Jeb Bush campaign's communications director:

The former RNC Hispanic outreach director:

The chief strategist on Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign:

A Republican operative in Texas:

-- This is bigger than one election: Trump is causing massive LONG-TERM damage to the Republican brand. We're not focusing on it right now because we're 68 days out from an election, but it is hard to overstate what an unmitigated disaster this is for the party in the Sunbelt, the intermountain West and beyond. As I've explained before, Trump in 2016 is to the national GOP what Proposition 187 was to the California GOP in 1994.

John McCain and Jeff Flake wisely stayed away from Trump's event last. Arizona's senior senator, now that he's won his primary, must focus on a general election that is only competitive because of Trump. The junior senator is stressing out about 2018 because he knows the demographics.

-- Clinton has been emboldened to redouble her efforts to put Arizona in play. The campaign will spend six figures in the state to air its ad that calls Trump a bad role model.

Role Models | Hillary Clinton

Clinton's spokesman elaborated:

-- Why was Trump's tone so much different in Mexico City than Phoenix? Here are the three likeliest explanations:

1. The candidate struggles to weigh conflicting advice. Kellyanne Conway, his new manager, wants him to be softer and gentler so he can improve his standing with women. Steve Bannon, the head of Breitbart who is now his campaign CEO, and Stephen Miller, a former aide to Jeff Sessions, crafted last night's speech.

2. Like many politicians, he is intentionally trying to be all things to all people. A chameleon in plaid, you might say.

3. Trump is so desperate that he's willing to try everything. Dana Milbank writes that the trip to Mexico was a "HAIL MARIA," and only someone who was losing would try it.

Maggie Haberman and Alex Burns write on the front page of today's New York Times that close associates have been telling Trump he's in real danger of losing. "Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who lobbied in favor of the trip to Mexico, has told Mr. Trump that he must make immediate changes to regain his footing … And on Monday, Mr. Trump's son Eric met with senior officials at the Republican National Committee in Washington and heard a grim prognosis of his father's campaign … Without a major shake-up of the electoral map, strategists indicated to the younger Mr. Trump, his father's already narrow path to the 270 electoral votes he needs to win could vanish. Going through the swing states one by one, party officials showed Eric Trump that his father was drastically underperforming other Republicans in the polls."

Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto get in position for a joint press conference in Mexico City. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images)

-- There are conflicting accounts of Trump's private meeting with Mexico's president: Trump said at a joint news conference that he and Peña Nieto didn't discuss who would pay for the wall. Peña Nieto replied later on Twitter: "At the beginning of the conversation … I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall." Trump spokesman Jason Miller responded with an opaque statement that said "it is unsurprising that they hold two different views on this issue, and we look forward to continuing the conversation." Peña Nieto spokesman Eduardo Sanchez, asked for clarification, said the president told Trump, "Mexico won't pay for the wall," but that Trump did not respond.

-- And there were several inaccurate claims in Trump's Phoenix speech, via fact checkers Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Glenn Kessler:

Trump's claim that "illegal immigration costs our country more than $113 billion a year" comes from a dubious report by FAIR, an interest group that wants to dramatically curtail legal immigration.
Trump falsely says Clinton's plan will provide Social Security to illegal immigrants.
He repeated the falsehood that Clinton plans to bring in 620,000 new refugees from Syria.
Trump lauded two Department of Homeland Security programs that have been widely scrutinized, and it's questionable how effective they are.
The vast majority of unauthorized immigrants do not fit Trump's description of aggravated felons, whose crimes include murder. U.S. Sentencing Commission data show homicides are a small percentage of the crimes committed by noncitizens, whether they are in the U.S. illegally or not.
Illegal immigration flows across the Southern border in fiscal 2015 were at the lowest levels since 1972, except for in 2011.

Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning newsletter.
With contributions from Rachel Van Dongen, Breanne Deppisch (@b_deppy) and Elise Viebeck (@eliseviebeck)

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

SCOTUS (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

-- The Supreme Court ruled that North Carolina cannot use a strict voter law in the upcoming election because it was specifically designed to decrease the clout of African Americans. The conservative justices were unable to stay a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that found the law unconstitutional, Robert Barnes reports. "Four justices — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. — would have granted most of North Carolina's request .... However, the court's conservative members were unable to draw a fifth vote from the court's liberals. The evenly divided ruling was the latest split decision for a court that has been without a ninth member since Justice Antonin Scalia's death in February. A unanimous panel of the 4th Circuit on July 29 agreed with allegations from the Justice Department and civil rights groups that North Carolina's bill selectively chose voter-ID requirements, reduced the number of early-voting days and changed registration procedures in ways meant to harm blacks."

Democrats celebrated the news, which increases the likelihood Clinton will carry the Tar Heel State and thus win the presidency:

The Republican governor who signed the bill -- trailing badly in his bid for a second term -- immediately tried to cash in:

Paul LePage won't back down. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

GET SMART FAST:

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) now says he's not going to quit after suggesting he might earlier this week. "I will not resign," he said. "I'm not an alcoholic, and I'm not a drug addict, and I don't have mental issues. What I have is a backbone." But the governor said he was seeking "spiritual guidance" after leaving a crass voicemail for a Democratic legislator and making racialized generalizations about crime and race. "I will no longer speak to the press ever again after today," he vowed. (New York Times)
A former Islamic extremist who supported al-Qaeda and exhorted others to follow Osama bin Laden has joined George Washington University as a research fellow. Jesse Morton, who was born in Pennsylvania and said he became a Muslim when he was 20 after reading "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" while in prison for a drug offense argues that he can offer an insider's perspective on Islamic radicalization — and how to counter that threat. (Susan Svrluga)
The U.S. and its partners secretly negotiated some loopholes for Iran in the nuclear deal in order to allow Iran to get relief as fast as possible from punishing economic sanctions. That's the conclusion of a report being released today by the Institute for Science and International Security, which also spotlights two exemptions that allow Iran to exceed the deal's limits on how much low-enriched uranium it can warehouse. (Reuters)
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was officially removed from office. She was technically impeached for violating budget laws, but most believe her ouster has more to do with her unpopularity and the fact that the economy in Latin America's largest country is in deep trouble. (Marina Lopes and Dom Phillips)
North Korea's Kim Jong-un executed his deputy premier of education and sent other top aides to re-education camps. Jong-un apparently blamed the education premier for a "disrespectful posture" toward him at a June meeting. (Anna Fifield)
Scientists believe they have discovered the oldest fossils ever ... on a formerly snow-cropped mountain in Greenland. The 3.7 billion year old fossils, if confirmed, would push the Earth's fossil record back 200 million years. It supports the view that life existed close to the Earth's birth and could be more common throughout the universe. (Joel Achenbach)
New York City child welfare officials are investigating Anthony Weiner over the lewd selfie he sent to a woman while in bed with his 4-year-old son. The Administration for Children's Services showed up Tuesday at the home Weiner and his estranged wife, Huma Abedin. ( New York Post)
Kentucky GOP Rep. Ed Whitfield will resign next week from the House, a year after he announced his retirement under the cloud of a House ethics investigation. The committee concluded that Whitfield violated House rules by allowing his lobbyist wife to contact his staff. This triggers a costly special election... ( Associated Press)
Virginia Republicans intend to take Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to court over his latest play to reinstate voting rights for felons. GOP leaders filed a "contempt of court" motion to stop the Clinton ally from extending voting rights to over 200,000 felons. He has already done so for 13,000. (Laura Vozzella)
Federal employees are one step closer to a 1.6 percent federal pay raise. President Obama sent a letter to Congress yesterday that established that amount if no other action is taken. (Eric Yoder)
The FDA, alarmed that increasing numbers of Americans are combining opioid painkillers and benzodiazepines, announced that it will require tough new warnings on product labels that spell out the serious dangers of mixing the drugs. The new "boxed warnings" — its strongest category — will go on 389 separate products. The agency will also mandate that the warning go on opioid-containing cough medications. (Laurie McGinley)
"Congress is showing how not to fight the Zika virus," the heads of the CDC and NIH write in an op-ed for today's Post.
South Carolina officials accidentally killed millions of honey bees as part of a spraying program to kill Zika-infected mosquitoes. (Ben Guarino)
The California legislature is near final approval of a bill that would make it a crime, punishable by a jail sentence, to carry out and distribute undercover video or audio stings against Planned Parenthood and other health-care groups. The measure was inspired by two California antiabortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood. (Fred Barbash)
California is also poised to close a loophole governing sexual assault cases. The bill would extend protections to those who were unconscious or severely intoxicated when the assault occurred. It cleared the legislature and is now before Gov. Jerry Brown (D). Ex-Stanford swimmer Brock Turner is being released on Friday after just three months in jail. (New York Times)
Texas and 12 other states asked a federal judge to put the DOJ's lawsuit against North Carolina's "bathroom bill" on hold. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants other bathroom bill-related suits to proceed first. (Buzzfeed)
The White House named seven members of the oversight board that Congress established to help Puerto Rico control its spending and restructure its massive debt load. Four of them have Puerto Rican backgrounds and most have worked in Puerto Rico before, a factor the White House hopes will soothe anxiety on the island, where some critics have alleged that the board would be a colonial-style overseer with more power than the territory's elected officials. (Steven Mufson)
Body camera footage released by police in Oklahoma shows an officer pepper-spraying an 84-year-old woman after authorities entered her home to search for her son. (Peter Holley)

Rob Portman (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

THE BATTLEGROUNDS:

-- Outside groups have now spent nearly $100 million on the top Senate races, including $40 million in Ohio and $30 million in Pennsylvania. About $15 million has been spent in Nevada, $6.8 million in New Hampshire and $4.3 million in Wisconsin. (Kelsey Snell and Anu Narayanswamy)

-- "At the beginning of this week, the Trump campaign announced - to great fanfare - that it was launching a $10 million ad buy from Aug. 30 through Sept. 6. … Two days later, half of that ad buy still hasn't been purchased," NBC's Mark Murray reports. "Trump has purchased more than $5 million in ads in five states - Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and, yes, Michigan. But the orders still haven't come in for the other states that the Trump campaign said it would be advertising in - Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia."

-- Trump's ground-game problem, by the numbers: PBS NewsHour tabulates that Clinton has 291 offices in 15 battlegrounds, and Trump has only 88. (This includes joint presidential and party offices.) "Pennsylvania has two Trump offices right now. North Carolina, one. Florida, the biggest swing state prize, also has just one – Trump's Sarasota headquarters. Those four Trump offices cover 165,000 square miles of critical election territory. Clinton has 100 offices in the same space. … The Trump campaign says it is reinventing the ground game. Its critics say the campaign simply doesn't have one."

-- That Fox News poll I mentioned in the big idea shows the contest between Trump and Clinton narrowing, with Clinton leading by just 2 points nationally (41 to 39 percent). Libertarian Gary Johnson draws a not insignificant 9 percent while Green Party candidate Jill Stein nabs 4 percent. The poll concludes the third party candidates are drawing more from Clinton than Trump as a head-to-head between them shows Hillary leading by 6 points (48-42). Her lead in the same poll a month ago was 10 points.

-- A Marquette law school poll of Wisconsin voters also shows Clinton's edge narrowing to pre-convention levels. She leads Donald among registered voters by 5 points, 42 to 37 percent, with 19 percent not expressing a preference. That's down from a 10-point lead in early August. A Monmouth University poll in Wisconsin confirmed those results, showing Clinton with a 5-point lead over Trump. Democrat Russ Feingold leads Sen. Ron Johnson (R) by 13 points (54-41).

-- McCain's win Tuesday means that, for the second cycle in a row, no GOP Senate incumbent will go down in a primary. It's a validation of McConnell's strategy to muscularly protect his members. "The dominance by Senate Republicans could provide the roadmap for GOP strategists in other races, particularly future presidential campaigns," Paul Kane explains. "They could also mean the overall weakening of the conservative movement's ability to raise money and pressure senators to vote their way for fear they will draw a strong primary threat ... 'The culture of primaries within the Senate GOP campaign apparatus is where the entire party needs to go,' said Josh Holmes, McConnell's 2014 campaign manager whose firm, Cavalry, worked for McCain and several Republican incumbents. 'If your job is to win elections you don't just throw up your hands and say, gosh, I sure hope voters don't pick the guy who can't possibly win.'"

-- Republicans have had much less success at getting the candidates they want on the House side. The latest example is in an Arizona House district, where a right-wing sheriff tarnished by scandal won the primary in what would otherwise have been a pick-up. Paul Babeu is so controversial that two of his sisters have warned against supporting him. His troubles include working at a Massachusetts boarding school known for inhumane disciplinary practices; being outed as gay by a Mexican immigrant despite his hard-line stands on immigration; and listing the wrong congressional district on his official forms. (Amber Phillips)

THE DAILY HILLARY:

-- Two retired four-star generals will announce they are backing Clinton today. Bob Sennewald (former Commanding General, U.S. Army Forces Command) and David Maddox (formerly Commander in Chief, U.S. Army-Europe) write in a joint statement that will go out from the campaign later: "Having each served over 34 years and retired as an Army 4-star general, we each have worked closely with America's strongest allies, both in NATO and throughout Asia. Our votes have always been private, and neither of us has ever previously lent his name or voice to a presidential candidate. Having studied what is at stake for this country and the alternatives we have now, we see only one viable leader, and will be voting this November for Secretary Hillary Clinton."

-- When Congress returns from recess next week, Republicans will be ready with several fresh attacks on the Democratic nominee. Previewing the push, a group of Republicans yesterday asked the Justice Department to create a special counsel and "investigate the Clinton Foundation and alleged 'pay to play' tactics where donors to the Clinton Foundation were able to obtain inappropriate access to and influence over then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton." (David Wegiel)

WAPO HIGHLIGHT:

-- Russian hackers could actually tip the U.S. election, by Craig Timberg and Andrea Peterson: "The alleged Russian hacks to voter registration systems in Arizona and Illinois exposed one of the major weak spots in election systems. Deleting or altering data on voter rolls could cause mayhem on Election Day, disenfranchising some voters. Many voting machines themselves also are vulnerable, especially touch-screen systems that do not create a paper record as a guard against fraud or manipulation ... Several swing states, including Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia, have insecure touch-screen systems in some jurisdictions. Other states, such as Georgia and New Jersey, still use them at every polling station."

Julian Assange plays with a kitten at the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London. (WikiLeaks handout via Reuters)

-- Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who released the hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, makes no apologies for helping the Russians undermine American sovereignty. During an interview with the New York Times in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, he declined to criticize Vladimir Putin or his government. "Whether by conviction, convenience or coincidence, WikiLeaks' document releases, along with many of Mr. Assange's statements, have often benefited Russia, at the expense of the West," the Times notes. "Among United States officials, the emerging consensus is that Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks probably have no direct ties to Russian intelligence services. But they say that, at least in the case of the Democrats' emails, Moscow knew it had a sympathetic outlet in WikiLeaks, where intermediaries could drop pilfered documents in the group's anonymized digital inbox."

The hacker, actively avoiding prosecution related to sex crimes, claims dubiously that WikiLeaks "neither targets nor spares" any specific nation. "But given WikiLeaks' limited resources and the hurdles of translation, Mr. Assange said, why focus on Russia, which he described as a 'bit player on the world stage,' compared with countries like China and the United States? In any event, he said, Kremlin corruption is an old story. 'Every man and his dog is criticizing Russia," he said. "It's a bit boring, isn't it?'"

Assange accuses the American media of promoting Clinton, who he calls "a demon that is going to put nooses around everyone's necks as soon as she wins the election." He said that yesterday in a Facebook live interview.

-- Shot: The Clinton campaign hosted a conference call for Eastern European community leaders to highlight Trump's coziness with Putin. "Vladimir Putin could not dream up a better presidential candidate than Donald Trump to help him move his grand vision forward," Madeline Albright said. (Business Insider)

-- Chaser: Trump will receive his second classified intelligence briefing on Friday at the FBI's office in New York City. (ABC News)

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

— ZIGNAL VISUAL: Trump completely drowned out all other political news yesterday. Among the beat reporters covering both Trump and Clinton, almost all the conversation was about the Mexico visit and the Phoenix speech. A word cloud from our analytics partners:

You can't make this stuff up:

Trump's audience in Phoenix last night was especially riled up:

Ann Coulter loved the speech:

So did Newt:

Democrats had some especially harsh responses. From a Rhode Island congressman:

From a Texas congressman:

From the former Maryland governor:

This does not seem very presidential:

Then again, neither was Trump's declaration that "maybe" Clinton could be deported too:

The Huffington Post's associate politics editor:

Slate's chief political correspondent:

Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, no fan of Trump's, believes the establishment media's distaste for the GOP nominee makes it harder for reporters to effectively analyze what he's doing:

Given his low approval ratings, many political analysts -- and prominent Mexicans -- were puzzled that Pena Nieto invited Trump:

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox went after Trump again:

And in Spanish: "There's no going backwards, your offenses toward the Mexicans, Muslims and others have put you in the hole where you are today. Adios, Trump!"

Prominent Mexican publisher Enrique Krauze said Trump won and Pena Nieto lost: "It was a 2-act play: Trump won his part: Friend of Mexico. Pena Nieto lost his: he didn't demand apologies or publicly condemn the wall."

Al Franken and Tom Perez went to the new Vikings stadium and tossed a football around:

Is Ted Cruz getting worried about 2018?

Rick Perry, who could have challenged him, is going to appear on "Dancing with the Stars" instead. The former governor went to see "Hamilton" on Broadway:

District denizens will appreciate:

A MESSAGE FROM ALLSTATE
Millennials are taking advantage of new opportunities to share political and social views.

GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

-- CNN, "John Hinckley revealed: Stray cats, limos and a love triangle," by Mary Kay Mallonee: "At the modest white-brick church on the edge of Colonial Williamsburg -- where a Black Lives Matter sign and a gay pride flag welcome parishioners and visitors -- the congregation of 250 has opened its arms to a pariah [Hinckley] whose shocking crime nearly changed the course of American history. Church leaders at Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists voted to stand alone in the community and give the middle-aged man a part-time job doing yard work on the church grounds ... Attempts to get a job in the law library at the College of William and Mary, a grocery store and with Colonial Williamsburg failed; none wanted him, according to court records. The pastor of a Methodist church turned down Hinckley's request to volunteer; so, too, did the managers of a local food pantry for the hungry, a program for poor elderly people and a local animal shelter ... A study of hundreds of court documents pertaining to Hinckley's treatment shows he spends time driving about town in his mother's Toyota, shopping for cat food at PetSmart, dropping by Sweet Frog for frozen yogurt or attending a lecture or art exhibit at the prestigious College of William and Mary."

-- Iowa Starting Line, "Awkward: All GOP State Senate Candidates Have Same Kids In Ads," by Pat Reynard: "It seems the Republicans' Senate Majority Fund brought in all their targeted candidates and senators to one city to do a big joint TV shoot with their consultant ... So how many voters in Northeast Iowa will notice that all these Republican candidates are talking to the exact same group of people? If Republicans run these specific ads on TV – not just online like now – it's possible voters will see five ads for five separate candidates, all with the exact same scenes – and possibly all one after the other on their nightly news."

DAYBOOK:

President Obama is in Hawaii.

Trump speaks at the American Legion convention in Ohio.

Vice President Biden campaigns for Clinton in Youngstown, Ohio. He'll speak at a UAW union hall and tour the Southside neighborhood. Then he goes to Cleveland to speak at another UAW hall. He ends the day in Wilmington, Delaware.

Tim Kaine and his wife Anne Holton are doing four joint events in New Hampshire: Dover, Laconia, Manchester and Nashau. Their theme is education.

Redskins running back Mack Brown runs 60-yards for a touchdown in Tampa. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

-- A cold front triggers some showers today and then pushes beautiful fall-like conditions into the area Friday. "But Tropical Storm Hermine could still wreak havoc this weekend," the Capital Weather Gang warns. "Heavy rains and gusty winds are looking more likely for Saturday on the East Coast beaches and depending on the track could still extend the edge of this system into our area. Hopefully we dodge the worst of it but keep in touch of upcoming refinements."

-- The Redskins closed the preseason with a 20-13 victory in Tampa.

-- The Nationals beat the Phillies 2-1, sweeping the series.

-- Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has ordered public schools in the state to extend summer recess until after Labor Day beginning in 2017, setting off an immediate battle with school officials and Democratic legislative leaders. "Hogan (R), a moderate who has made boosting Maryland's economy the centerpiece of his administration, said delaying the start of the school year would be good for businesses, families and the environment — because schools would not need to use air-conditioning for as many days in August," Josh Hicks reports.

-- A 21-year-old woman, five months pregnant with twins, was shot in the stomach outside a carryout joint in Northeast (Rhode Island Ave and 14th Street). Police say she was an innocent bystander, just going to get a cheesesteak. The woman's mother said the bullet barely missed the uterus and that the unborn girls are expected to survive. Thank God! But the cops haven't gotten the perp yet.

-- Another alleged victim has come forward, accusing a Manassas church youth pastor of making inappropriate statements and exposing himself to her. Jordan D. Baird, 25, of Warrenton, is already charged with two counts of indecent liberties by a custodian and now faces an additional charge on the same thing, according to Prince William County Police. The incidents allegedly happened inside the Life Church on Balls Ford Road. (Dana Hedgpeth)

-- WMATA isn't working, cont.: Metro rail officials bypassed trains through the Rhode Island Avenue station on the Red Line during rush hour last night after metal and concrete debris fell from the ceiling.

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

John Lewis went on Stephen Colbert and allowed himself to be lifted up by the crowd:

The Clinton campaign released a 2-minute web video about 103-year-old Ruline Steininger of Pleasant Hill, Iowa. She was born before women had the right to vote, and she could not be more excited to vote for Hillary. "When I was in high school, a girl could be two things: you could be a school teacher or you could be a nurse," she says to camera. "The sky is the limit now; you can be president."

Ruline | Hillary Clinton

At the American Legion convention, Clinton laid out why she believes that America is an exceptional nation and cast doubt on whether Trump shares that belief. Here's a four-minute clip:

Clinton claims Trump doubts American exceptionalism

The DNC brackets Trump's speech to the Legion convention today by highlighting some of his past criticisms of the military:

Donald Trump: Unfit to lead our military

During a speech on climate change in Honolulu overnight, President Obama took a stab at pronouncing Papahanaumokuakea ("Papa-ha-now-moh-koo-ah-kay-ah"), the newly-expanded national marine monument in Hawaii. He couldn't quite get it right: