Vee

Oh, Politico is just following Chris Cilizza's lead. Notice they have yet to acknowledge the "deplorables" comment has ended up working well for Hillary. I think there'll be another day or two of breathless talk, but I suspect Hillary comes out ahead on this just as she did the deplorables. This gives the right-wing nonsense about her health a clear, concise answer - pneumonia because she's working so hard on the trail - and one most of the public will relate to. It will be pushed as a tribute to her dedication.

And so will this, IMO, provided she handles it right. Telling people is a good start and creates a new frame. Meanwhile, this is going viral.

I'm sure Mark Halperin will be very concerned, yes. The average voter is not going to give a fück about that. They're going to care she was out there plugging away.

More like 2/3rds. What mellow Trump? He still says and does insane, offensive [!@#$%^&*] everyday. Anyway, yes, there will be a field day with this for a day or two but it's ultimately only going to stick so much. The systemic issue which led to the 'basket of deplorables' is not going away and neither will that conversation. Her doctor reports she has been fighting pneumonia. That works for her, IMO: Iron Woman Clinton fighting pneumonia while still tirelessly campaigning and paying tribute to 9/11 victims. That changes the frame, or should.

Hillary apparently felt 'overheated' at the 9/11 memorial this morning (it's crazy humid in NYC) and headed to Chelsea's apartment to recover, is fine now. The Breitbart crew is of course jubilant that their "Hillary's Health" memes finally has some new traction, but while they will report it and air Trump's crazy surrogates talking about it I don't really think the mainstream media is going to go with them on this one beyond a day or so, it's too unseemly.

Trent Garrett (Asher, AMC) of all people is taking over Scott Speedman's(?!) role in the terrible Underworld movies.

I think it was actually a masterstroke, because not only does it overshadow Trump and change the conversation - with the press already actively tilting away from emails (beginning with the Washington Post editorial board) after Lauer's performance shamed them all - but it also makes everyone discuss and re-discuss Trump's base, the racism, etc. There's a lot of clucking but very little disagreement, except from the Breitbart/Fox News crowd. It's an issue no one can avoid anymore, and IMO she was smart not to apologize or back away from that. It puts the onus on Trump and his people. She's owned the news cycle and the press is taking her frame of the story. This is not going to turn on her; if it was going to it would've done so in the first 24 hours. Notice, most of the big editorials, thinkpieces, etc. are all about 'she's right'.

I love her response. Glad she didn't really walk it back.

She called half of Trump's supporters "a basket of deplorables." I don't think it will gain the kind of traction the alt-right wants, but it will be covered a la Romney's "47%" remarks though it's not the same. I don't think it will have legs, and while I wish she wouldn't apologize for it - I think the remarks are great as is - I suspect she will come out and 'clarify'.

The alt right is going ape over it and trying to push the hashtag on Twitter, but no, it's not going to have legs in the way they hope. And yes, she was right to say it. She's talking about a good portion of Trump's base and she's not wrong. What Romney said was significantly different.

Mark Halperin is very upset with the intense criticism of Trump this morning, and insists that only "the elites" care about Trump's ties to Putin and interview with RT. Sadly for him, it is now a front page story in most publications. Meanwhile, the Post is running this and it's gone everywhere. As I said, the worm has officially turned. Politico says Trump is flaming out in the swing states - even more than before, that is.

They already did the comeback narrative. Now we're back to Trump on fire.

The issue with that if it wasn't going to be close for him, that doesn't explain why Hillary is still consistently ahead now. Intelligence officials from in and out of Trump's recent briefing are not happy with his comments last night.

Most of the media is not in Trump's corner, they just don't like Hillary and are amoral/incompetent. She's leading in every poll and every sane projection has her winning handily or in a landslide. I don't believe even you believe the latter paragraph. Chris Matthews puts on his good guy hat and rips Giuliani apart.

They're already filming S2.

Carel Struycken (The Giant) discusses his return to TP. A David Lynch fan since Blue Velvet, Carel Struycken confirms that the director’s M.O. hasn’t changed since the last time they worked together; he’s a master at creating a special atmosphere on set and always open to adding new elements on the spot. Even Lynch himself doesn’t always know where things are headed. But Carel believes that at the end of the ride, the puzzle pieces will all fit together.

NBC execs call Lauer's performance 'a disaster.'

I'm not worried. He's behind and he's staying behind. Classic Trump: His DC policy team quit because they weren't paid.

I would not be surprised if Trump completely backs out with Johnson's collapse. I still don't believe he was committed to them to begin with. Hillary is doing quite well in this live presser for someone who allegedly hates dealing with the press. She's calm and easy and conversational, and friendly. Ha! She got an Aleppo question. And notice: Not a single question about emails. Like I said, the narrative has shifted. It's not a coincidence Morning Joe was telling his crew the emails are a dead issue, much to the heartbreak of Mark Halperin. More to Jane's and my point: "#LaueringTheBar" is now trending.

I agree with Jane, it's not the same as Bush/Gore. They liked Bush and anti-intellectualism and were tired and resentful of the Clintons and liberals. A lot of that buzz has faded, though the Beltway still hates the Clintons, but they're far more scared of Trump - they still want a horse race til Election Day and to make sure Clinton knows they hate her, but most of them do not want Trump to win. They're just amoral, lazy and cynical in how they handle election coverage. Further, as I said last night, the coverage of the forum since has been two things: Trump's failures and Lauer's incompetence. There is also a sustained pressure narrative on the press about giving Trump too much leeway and giving the emails too much play. That narrative is going to follow the press into the debates, and they are going to have to compensate for it. They're already beginning to, and that means (IMO) the debates - if they happen - will be better. Hillary is holding a live press conference now.

Nobody's really buying that, though. I'm not even sure that piece is. Adieu, Gary Johnson. And yes, "What is Aleppo" is trending. Amusingly, Mark Halperin followed Johnson out into the hallway to try and salvage something, possibly hoping Friend Gary could still cut into Hilldog's lead!

I think Chait is mostly venting about Lauer and the media. I think most even-handed people in the media - including him when he's not so upset - know Trump can't win. And even as Lauer took it mostly easy on him (but for a few moments where he did engage, and Trump became very upset), the news takeaway has been that Trump was making no sense and said several shocking and stupid things. I also think they will be all under much more pressure after tonight (and the last few weeks) to take it to Trump in a fair way during the debates. After Trump's seemingly endless post-RNC flameout they've spent weeks trying to rig the scale to make the race even, hammering away at every bit of Clinton minutiae in the hopes of making the polls equalize while letting Trump skate and allowing him to try to recover. But he hasn't, and the polls aren't equal and won't be. What the weeks of Emailgate and now Lauer's bumbling have done is put the onus on the media to stop coddling Trump and banging on Hillary and start getting serious. I believe that is the narrative that's been forming for a week or so and I believe that is the narrative we will see going into the debates. Whether the networks bow enough to it is another story, but if there's one thing they believe in it is narrative.

They always do that. But it's not the impression left by tonight.

I think this may be the tipping point on the emails, actually. Week after week they have breathlessly covered it trying to shore up the race, and week after week there is nothing there. Matt Lauer wasting over half the American public's time in a foreign policy debate with more of the emails and then letting Trump babble has hit him hard tonight, and according to one reporter at the forum the live crowd was very pissed he opened on them as well. Lauer's incompetence and Trump's nonsense have become the story of the forum, while Hillary walked away mostly undamaged. But what I think this may accomplish for her is finally putting the emails in the ground because this episode was a flashpoint of how tired everyone is of it other than the Beltway elite.

Vox, HuffPo, NY Magazine and Politico smell blood.