The Trump Apocalypse Watch is a subjective daily estimate, using a scale of one to four horsemen, of how likely it is that Donald Trump will be elected president, thus triggering an apocalypse in which we all die.
Today in the Land of Trump:
1. Donald delivered a much-hyped economic speech in Detroit, where he stuck to his prepared script despite being interrupted more than a dozen different times by protesters. All in all, his remarks were light on details and heavy on promises to cut taxes and end government regulation. Trump isn’t going to win in November by being a wonk, but his vague proposals were close enough to GOP orthodoxy that—at least for the party’s skeptical donor class—they will probably reinforce Paul Ryan’s argument that small-government conservatives would get more of what they want with Trump in the White House than with Hillary Clinton there.
2. Fifty top Republican national security officials released a rather blistering open letter warning that, if elected, Trump would be the “most reckless” president in U.S. history. “Mr. Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be President,” wrote the group, which includes former CIA director and retired four-star general Michael Hayden. “He weakens U.S. moral authority as the leader of the free world. He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws, and U.S. institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary.” Tough, but fair.
3. The Never Trump movement finally found someone to sacrifice on the altar of our two-party system: Evan McMullin, a former CIA counterterrorism operative and House GOP staffer who has never held public office, announced that he will launch an independent bid for president. McMullin’s biggest challenge will be getting his name on the ballot this fall, which is neither cheap nor easy for candidates without the backing of a major party. He’s already missed the filing deadline for roughly 20 states and will miss several more if he’s unable to garner thousands of signatures in the coming days.
What to make of all that? No. 1 will help Trump a little for a news cycle or two before he grows bored with acting like a normal nominee. No. 2 will hurt Trump a little, though not nearly as much as it should given the severity of the warning. And no. 3 will go only marginally better than Team #NeverTrump’s previous attempts, which failed before they actually began. I’m keeping our danger level right where it was:
