Comment on Morning Must Reads: August 21

I'm not sure why anyone would need a robotic dog equipped with a flamethrower but whatever floats your boat. The Ohio company that makes these things assures us that they're perfectly legal in 48 states (though not Maryland and one other one). And they are just expensive toys, a Unitree Go2 robot quadruped souped up with some fancy electronics and a bit of lethality in the flamethrower.

Oh noes. a bunch of legal analysts and never-Trumpers who appear regularly on some other networks are having weekly Zoom meetings! It's a "legal conspiracy." I find it pretty rich that the network that's been coordinating its talking points with Republicans since its inception is angry that anyone who doesn't like Trump, and appears on television somewhere else, is speaking with each other when they're not on the air. Here's Fox & Friends First hosts Carley Shimkus and Todd Piro talking to guest Joe Concha about a recent article in Politico's article on the meetings, which have been going on for years and are nothing new, on this Wednesday morning's show.

President Biden gave a speech to the North America's Building Trade Union in which he targeted Trump's claims of shooting bleach into your veins to fight Covid-19. NABTU just endorsed President Biden and described Trump as a "dangerous threat to the nation." By the way, remember when he was trying to deal with COVID, he said, just inject a little bleach in your veins. He missed, it all went to his hair. I shouldn't have said that. You guys are a bad influence on me. Okay. read more

Twice impeached and four times indicted, former President Donald Trump issued a desperate plea for help to his Republican allies on Truth Social amid his hush-money case. Trump wrote at 2:00 AM, so he isn't getting much sleep. It shouldn't be called a hush-money case, though, since it's about Donald interfering in the 2016 election.

Republican Voters Against Trump made a powerful ad. Donald Trump was charged with 88 felonies and was found liable for sexual assault. He could not get a job in a retail store for minimum wage. If the former president is too big a liability to get a job at a local mall, he is too big a liability to lead the United States. Trump is making history this week, as the first ex-president to have a criminal trial.

Two new high-quality polls suggest an electoral dagger could be coming for Donald Trump—if their findings persist. Both polls, from Marist College and NBC News, show third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. siphoning more support away from Trump than President Joe Biden. The potential emerging trend was first spotted by The Washington Post's Aaron Blake. In the NBC poll, Biden trailed Trump by 2 points in the head-to-head matchup, 44% to 46%.