Matt Reacts to a New Poll

A stunning new CNN poll came out this week, showing Donald Trump in the lead against Hillary Clinton, 45-43 percent. Naturally, the release of this new survey coincided with my own Rolling Stone feature describing Trump in a "freefall," having "lost his mojo."

What can I say? Sometimes in journalism, you can't help looking like a buffoon.

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Unlike George W. Bush, a pliable ignoramus surrounded by cunning government lifers who were the real candidates for the job, Trump is surrounded by determined conspiracy theorists incapable of speaking English or completing a coherent thought.

His spokesperson Katrina Pierson said Barack Obama's policies "probably" caused the death of a soldier killed in Iraq – in 2004! When confronted about her mistake, she said, "That's why I used, 'probably.'"

These are the sort of people whose first move upon entering the Oval Office would probably be to order the file on Area 51, or to check the back of the Declaration of Independence for treasure maps. And yet, somewhere north of 55 million voters, and huge majorities of white people, seem prepared to cast votes for this crew.

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I bet on Trump to win the Republican nomination last summer, but it didn't seem like easy money then.

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Whether the CNN poll  [...]  that shows him in the lead is accurate or not, is irrelevant. The fact that it's even close is an awesome indictment of us all.

  Matt Taibbi @ Rolling Stone>

“No one in this world, so far as I know ... has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)