HUFFPOST HILL - Trump Enriching Himself With Campaign (Well, More Than Before) - Huffington Post

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Donald Trump earned the endorsement of the Bay of Pigs Veteran Association, a group that also knows what it’s like to be at the center of a poorly planned endeavor with little backing from the United States. Brian Williams will interview Mike Pence on MSNBC tonight, and we’re eager to see who is less able to recall things. And three senators want the 2017 Women’s U.S. Open moved from a Trump resort, however they forget that the only professional sport left in Donald Trump’s America will be an XFL-branded BattleBots league. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, October 25th, 2016:

TRUMP OFFICIALLY COMMENCES BRIDGE BURNING - Matea Gold: “Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has effectively shut down his high-dollar fundraising operation for the rest of the campaign, a highly unusual move that deals another serious blow to the GOP’s effort to finance its get-out-the-vote operation before Election Day. Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s national finance chairman, said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday that Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee between the party and the campaign, held its last formal fundraiser on Oct. 19. The luncheon was in Las Vegas on the day of the final presidential debate...Trump’s decision effectively turns off one of the main spigots to the Republican National Committee, which collected $40 million through Trump Victory as of Sept. 30. The party has devoted a large share of the funds to pay for its national voter mobilization program to benefit the entire Republican ticket.” [WaPo]

TRUMP PULLS A ‘THESE ARE THE STAKES’ - Steve Hollard: “U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Democrat Hillary Clinton’s plan for Syria would ‘lead to World War Three,’ because of the potential for conflict with military forces from nuclear-armed Russia. In an interview focused largely on foreign policy, Trump said defeating Islamic State is a higher priority than persuading Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, playing down a long-held goal of U.S. policy. Trump questioned how Clinton would negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin after demonizing him; blamed President Barack Obama for a downturn in U.S. relations with the Philippines under its new president, Rodrigo Duterte; bemoaned a lack of Republican unity behind his candidacy and said he would easily win the election if the party leaders would support him.” [Reuters]

Earlier: “Donald Trump claimed Monday that the U.S. armed forces had ‘conceptually’ endorsed his run for the White House and that he had secured the backing of most police departments.” [HuffPost’s Igor Bobic]

AND VOTERS SAY THEY CARE ABOUT POLICY - Donald Trump, whom Republican voters selected as their choice for president, can’t even get the basics right. Jeffrey Young: “You would think that Obamacare had enough real problems that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would be able to stick to discussing them when taking a swing at the health care law. But you’d be wrong. … But naturally, instead of just using this information to criticize the law and propose something better (or ‘something terrific,’ as he’s fond of saying), Trump opted to go a little nuts.” [HuffPost]

AMERICAN’S TIRED OF THIS CRAP, TOO - Ariel Edwards-Levy: “No matter whom they support at the polls, Americans can mostly agree on one thing about this presidential campaign ― they’re really, really ready to be finished with it. An 81 percent majority of Americans say they wish this election were over, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, with just 12 percent saying they’re enjoying watching things play out. More than three-quarters of people in both parties say they’re ready to move on. An identical 59 percent of Democrats, Republicans and independents say they’ve heard too much discussion of the presidential election. Just 7 percent of all Americans say they wish they’d heard more.” [HuffPost]

If any campaigns want to purchase $300,000 worth of The Beltway Bible, we won’t stop you: “Donald Trump used small donors’ money to buy nearly $300,000 worth of books from the publisher of his Art of the Deal last month, continuing a pattern of plowing campaign money back into his own businesses. The Oct. 15 Federal Election Commission filing for Trump Make America Great Again Committee does not specify which books in particular were purchased, but the committee’s own website suggests it was Trump’s 1987 business bestseller.” [HuffPost’s S.V. Date]

OBAMA SETS LAST FOREIGN TRIP AS PRESIDENT - Not counting his exile during the Trump administration. AP:  “President Barack Obama will travel to Europe and Latin America the week after the presidential election. It’s expected to be his last major foreign trip before he leaves office in January. The White House says Obama will arrive in Greece on Nov. 15 to meet with President Procopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Obama plans to discuss Greece’s economic situation and the refugee crisis in Europe. Obama heads to Germany on November 17 to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel on trade, Ukraine, Syria and the Islamic State group. It’s Obama’s sixth visit to Germany as president. While in Germany, Obama and Merkel will also meet with the French, British and Italian leaders.” [AP]

@igorbobic: “Everyone tells me I killed her in that debate, which I think I did,” Trump says of Hillary

TRUMP TV MAKES ITS DEBUT - Somewhere, Mike Pence is muttering to himself that PenceTV would’ve been better. Michael Calderone: “Donald Trump adviser Cliff Sims launched the inaugural episode of a nightly Facebook Live broadcast by promising to give viewers ‘the message straight from the campaign.’ ‘You don’t have to take it through the media filter and all the spin that they put on it,’ Sims said. Instead, the Trump campaign provided its own spin, unchallenged, during a half-hour broadcast that included the familiar trappings of a news program but without journalists who actually report the news. The nightly broadcast should appeal to Trump fans who proudly distrust the ‘mainstream media’ while reflexively believing a historically dishonest candidate and his paid political operatives.” [HuffPost]

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CLINTON TEAM WORRIED ABOUT OBAMA RESPONSE TO EMAILS - Arthur Delaney: “Newly released emails show Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign reacted swiftly when President Barack Obama said he learned about her private server use for official business. Clinton aide Cheryl Mills sent a note to campaign chairman John Podesta after Obama said in March 2015 that he learned about the controversial email practices ‘the same time everybody else learned it,’ from news reports. ‘We need to clean this up ― he has emails from her ― they do not say state.gov,’ Mills said in a March 7 missive. The whistleblower group WIkiLeaks released the email Tuesday as part of its ongoing publication of the contents of Podesta’s hacked email account. At a briefing two days later, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that Obama had, in fact, received emails from Clinton’s private account ― though he didn’t realize it was hosted on a private server.” [HuffPost]

HOT DAMN, ELECTIONS ARE EXPENSIVE - $6.6 billion, which we’re pretty sure is also what Trump has billed his campaign for. CRP: “The Center for Responsive Politics projects that candidates, parties and outside groups could spend nearly $6.6 billion by the time it’s all over, $86.5 million more than the last presidential cycle when adjusted for inflation. The cost could be much higher — this is a conservative estimate. Where are the biggest spikes in spending compared to four years ago? Outside money groups that purportedly work independently from candidates overwhelmingly poured larger sums into the races for Congress and the executive office. The groups have spent $93.7 million more than at this point in 2012. House races accounted for the biggest jump in outside spending, percentage-wise; outlays went from $67 million at this point in 2012 to $120 million this year.” [OpenSecrets]

WPGA SUFFERING SOME BAD OPTICS - Travis Waldron: “Three Senate Democrats want the 2017 Women’s U.S. Open moved from a Donald Trump-owned golf course in New Jersey, they said in a letter to the United States Golf Association on Tuesday. ‘Given the historic role that the [Ladies Professional Golf Association] has played in advancing the rights of women, and the severity of Mr. Trump’s words and actions over many years, we would encourage you to move the 2017 tournament to a course that isn’t associated with Mr. Trump,’ Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote in the letter. ‘We would also strongly recommend that the USGA seriously consider suspending further events at Trump properties.’” [HuffPost]

NOW THINK TANKS ARE IN ON IT - *Man in Wrangler jeans walks up to polling place, spits, hikes up pants* “Weeeeelllp, I was gonna vote for that yer Donald feller, but Jared Bernstein says in this here paper that Donald’s cost outlays are downright fooey!” Jim Tankersley: “Two of Donald Trump’s senior policy advisers argue that powerful interests have aligned to rig a long-standing institution of American presidential elections against their candidate — a conspiracy that has nothing to do with campaigning or casting votes, and everything to do with economics. Economist Peter Navarro of the University of California at Irvine and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross say Washington think tanks — the time-honored forecasters of how candidates’ economic plans might change the country — have conspired to underrate the job-creation potential of the Republican nominee’s proposals and overstate how much they would add to the federal debt. The duo say those think tanks are acting to boost Democrat Hillary Clinton and to advance the interests of large corporations that fund their research, and that news reporters are playing along. The think tanks reject the claims, saying the Trump campaign is simply practicing bad economics.” [WaPo]

BILL WELD: DON’T VOTE FOR THE GUY I’M RUNNING AGAINST - Odd statement from the Libertarian VP candidate, in which he implied that he’s kind of, sort of, OK with you voting for Hillary Clinton: “After careful observation and reflection, I have come to believe that Donald Trump, if elected President of the United States, would not be able to stand up to this pressure and this criticism without becoming unhinged and unable to perform competently the duties of his office.... In the final days of this very close race, every citizen must be aware of the power and responsibility of each individual vote. This is not the time to cast a jocular or feel-good vote for a man whom you may have briefly found entertaining. Donald Trump should not, cannot, and must not be elected President of the United States.”

National dialogue update: “A conservative super PAC is out with a new ad against Democratic Wisconsin Senate candidate Russ Feingold, implying that his support for President Barack Obama’s diplomatic deal with Iran threatens to throw the world into a nuclear holocaust.” [HuffPost’s Amanda Terkel]

PIPING HOT EVAN MCMULLIN STRATEGY UPDATE - Andrew Cain: “Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin has canceled his scheduled town hall Thursday at the University of Richmond in order to focus on Western states, according to his campaign. The ‘Community Conversation With Evan McMullin’ was to have taken place at noon in the school’s Moot Courtroom. ‘The campaign has reached a decision to cancel the University of Richmond event as Evan McMullin surges in the Mountain West states,’ said Eli Williams of McMullin’s campaign.” [Richmond Times-Dispatch]

BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR - Here’s a cat ruining it.

JUSTICE FOR JUSTIN - WMC: “Shelby County District Attorney’s Office is investigating whether Justin Timberlake violated Tennessee election laws when he took a voting selfie Monday. The international superstar flew back to his hometown of Memphis to vote in the 2016 election. He took several pictures with people outside the polling place, which is perfectly legal. However, he also snapped a selfie while voting, and that is the picture that is being scrutinized. Under Tennessee state law, voters cannot take pictures or record conversations in polling places.” [WMC]

COMFORT FOOD

- A map of Africa from early civilization to today.

- Web app that plays any combination of ambient noise.

- Obama’s Mean Tweets segment on last night’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

TWITTERAMA

@bendreyfuss: It would be so hilarious if McMullin won Idaho and no one saw it coming bc no one polls Idaho

@delrayser: already dreading all the Donald S Trumpkins costumes we’ll see next week

@mollyesque: Before telling a journalist “get out of your bubble, everyone I know is voting for X,” consider the possibility you are the one in a bubble.

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