Nomination

According to 'PredictIt' - the new InTrade - Jeb Bush remains the bookies favorite to get the Republican presidential nomination. The Donald is ranked 3rd in the betting (after Rubio) where a 23c bet will win $1 if Trump gets the nod. Trump is not a total "loser" though as he is odds-on favorite to get the most speaking time in the forthcoming CNN debates. Surveys and Polls are fickle, so follow the money... Clinton is the clear "money" favorite for The White House...

If anyone wants to beat Trump in his own game, they will have to show and prove to the voters of America, that the existing system not only still works, but is worth saving in its current broken form. This is the biggest challenge to everyone - on the right, on the left and in the middle - even if nobody wants to admit it.

Chelsea Clinton is shocked that her mother's poll numbers are falling because after all, Hillary "is always game for singing 'The Wheels on the Bus' to baby Charlotte"...

The massively-funded Hillary Clinton campaign to run for President goes from worse to worserer. As The Hill reports, Clinton's support has fallen 21 points since July, from 63 to 42%, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Monday, dropping below 50% for the first time.

With Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sending a letter to Congress this evening demanding they raise the debt limit as soon as possible, warning that cash balances have dropped below the "minimum target," it is perhaps less than surprising that Goldman Sachs is warning that a government shutdown at the end of the month has become much more likely over the last several weeks. While out-months in VIX (beyond the prospective shutdown) remain elevated, Goldman finds a silver-lining claiming that the effect of a potential shutdown on financial markets and the real economy would probably be modest if it did occur. We shall see...

Despite the liberal media spinning Hillary's non-apology as bringing her closer to the American public, it appears her presidential campaign took another shot to the chest this weekend. Not only does Bernie Sanders keep rising in the polls, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton head-to-head, garnering 45% support versus 40% of his Democratic rival, according to a new national poll.

In yet another somewhat surreal twist in The Donald's path to The White House, Fox Business reports the long, sometimes contentious relationship between Donald Trump and Steve Wynn has taken another turn, with the Las Vegas casino magnate serving as an unofficial adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign. Having known each other for 30 years, Fox's Gasparino notes that they have clashed in the past (Wynn on Turmp in 1998 "He's a fool," and Trump on Wynn "he's a very strange guy.") but in recent years both have been critical of the leftward tilt of the Democratic Party and president Obama.

Many Republicans simply delude themselves that Trump is not a serious candidate who cannot, for some reason, get the nomination. We say, don’t underestimate his ego, which we know is and always has been enormous.

At a certain point, we suppose Joe Biden took a look at the state of the 2016 race for The White House and thought: "why not me?"

In the end, Trump is what America had earned. Trump is what America deserved. Trump was our reckoning. And while his rise to power was born of our failings, it also forced us to find our strength. It’s amazing how adaptable we are as human beings, isn’t it? Trump saved us.

It is not enough to issue proclamations such as “it is time to get tough” or “It is time to make America great again”. These are the buzz words of a man that is reaching out to tap the rich vein of popular appeal. Perhaps that is what all politicians strive to do, especially when the field of candidates is rather crowded. However, what is clear is that a well-crafted economic strategy is not present, nor are staffers that would have the temerity to disagree with Mr T.

For reasons that will forever remain a mystery to us, mercantilism and protectionism actually hold enormous popular appeal. The best explanation we can come up with for this phenomenon is that the support for such policies is based on a mixture of economic ignorance and relentless propaganda by vested interests over the past, say, four centuries. Still, it is almost comical that people are so vociferously clamoring for policies that can actually cost them a fortune and will definitely lower their standard of living.

For a few days, Fox News didn't know how to handle Donald Trump's "blood" comments about one of the network's favorite anchors. Then someone woke up and realized that if you're Fox, being boycotted by the GOP frontrunner simply isn't tenable.

It’s very important to call out people like Trump for the man he is, so we don’t simply fawn and fall for a narcissist, strongman-type as a way to deal with our societal pain and frustration... "I was there at the first Tea Party in 2007 and I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand passively by and watch the movement destroyed by a fake conservative."