Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Campaign highlights and lowlights

Frank Luntz helpfully explains that Trump voters hate everything you stand for:

I spent three hours in a deep dialogue focus group with 29 Trump supporters. The phenomenon of “The Donald” is rooted in a psyche far deeper and more consequential than next November’s presidential election. His support denotes an abiding distrust in — and disrespect for — the governing elite. These individuals do not like being told by Washington or Wall Street what is best for them, do not like the direction America is headed in, and disdain President Barack Obama and his (perceived) circle of self-righteous, tone-deaf governing partisans.

Trump voters are not just angry — they want revenge.

Mr Trump has adroitly filled the vacuum of vitriol, establishing himself as the bold, brash, take-no-prisoners megaphone for the frustrated masses. They see him as the antidote to all that Mr Obama has made wrong with America. So to understand why millions love Mr Trump so much, you have to take a step back and listen to why they hate Mr Obama so much.

Here, my Trump voter focus group was particularly illuminating. Some still believe the president is not Christian. Many believe he does not love America. And just about all of them think he does not reflect the values the country was built upon. Indeed, within this growing faction, Mr Trump has licence to say just about anything. As we have seen repeatedly, the more outrageous the accusation, the more receptive the ear.

Maggie Haberman/NYT in a story about Jeff Weaver: 

And more recently, an unidentified Sanders campaign adviser told Yahoo News that the Sanders campaign’s fired data director had actually been recommended by the party committee, suggesting that raised more questions about what had gone wrong and how it was that Mrs. Clinton’s data was visible by the Sanders team.

Some of Mr. Sanders’ campaign aides were troubled by the claim, and felt it reflected a misstep by the top advisers. Mr. Sanders at times has urged a few top aides to tone down their language, but he also believes that the campaign is being treated unfairly by the media.

The sparring between the campaigns reflects other underlying tensions between the Clinton and Sanders camps.

Yep, it was. Part of being in the reality-based community is recognizing when you screw up. BTW, I agree Bernie is being treated unfairly, both by media and by DNC, though ‘fair’ is tough to define. He and his campaign do not get equal time. That’s partly unfairness (but unfairness is a losing campaign theme, and voters simply do not care), and partly poll position (see betting markets, where few give Bernie a chance to win.) In any case, please note we would have moved on from the data breach already, but for the unnamed ‘aide’ [*cough* Jeff Weaver *cough*] who went to the press with this.