SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

YIKES! – From The Hill:  Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump leads Democrat Hillary Clinton head-to-head, according to a new poll released Friday.  The poll by SurveyUSA finds that matched up directly, Trump garners 45 percent to Clinton’s 40 percent.  In other head-to-head matchups, Trump beats out Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by 44 percent to 40 percent; Vice President Joe Biden by 44 percent to 42 percent; and former Vice President Al Gore by 44 percent to 41 percent.  The poll also found that 30 percent of respondents believe Trump will eventually be the Republican nominee, leading the field.  Look, it's early.  But Hillary Clinton has been a national figure for 25 years, and all she gets is 40%...against Trump.  Unless she is completely cleared in the federal investigations confronting her, it's hard to see her rising again. 

GIVING UP THOSE FREE CHOCOLATES – From the New York Post:  Donald Trump has been a polarizing figure in liberal Hollywood during his presidential run — and sources headed to the Toronto International Film Festival tell Page Six that some stars may boycott his branded Trump Toronto Hotel, which was buzzing with starry activity just a year ago.  “No one’s staying at the Trump” this year, sniffed one showbiz vet. “People are not going back. Talent does not want to stay there. It’s like the Beverly Hills Hotel.”  Last year, Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Denzel Washington, Tobey Maguire and many more were at endless junkets at the then-2-year-old Trump hot spot. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Wrap hosted events. The Weinstein Co. and Universal’s Focus Features had p.r. offices there, but neither is returning.  I don't get the feeling that Donald is sweating the loss of business.  But it's very important for the Hollywood crowd to make its political statement.

HILLARY HEARTS HUMA – From London's Daily Mail: Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton used a national TV interview Friday to accuse her Republican counterpart Donald Trump of 'innuendo, conspiracy theories and defaming people' starting with her closest aide Huma Abedin.
In the exclusive interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, Clinton said she can take Trump's attacks, but 'I do regret that he’s going after so many people.'  That was a reference to Trump's swipe at Abedin, a decades-long Clinton aide and the wife of former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner.  Hillary Clinton being interviewed by Andrea Mitchell is like Hillary being interviewed by Chelsea.  Mitchell is a reliable liberal reporter, married to former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.  If I were Hillary I wouldn't focus too much public attention on Huma Abedin, who has some reputed family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.  The Muslim Brotherhood is not seen by the American people as the equivalent of the Boy Scouts.

September 4, 2015