On Tuesday, New Hampshire state Rep. Al Baldasaro, a Republican who co-chairs Trump's national veterans' coalition, told local reporters — and not for the first time — he thought Hillary Clinton should be shot for treason. The remark was apparently a clarification.

AD

"The liberal media took what I said and went against the law and the Constitution and ran with it, and they said that I wanted her assassinated, which I never did," Baldasaro told The Republican/MassLive.com. "I said I spoke as a veteran, and she should be shot in a firing squad for treason."

AD

Baldasaro was referring to his original comment in July, when he said on conservative talk radio in Boston that: "Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason." He's since repeated that sentiment twice. (Though his reasons have shifted from the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, to her use of a private email server while secretary of state.)

In a normal campaign, a comment like this would have absolutely blown up the news cycle. The campaign team in question would have shuttered itself into crisis mode to deal with this.

AD

We're mixing our fruit a bit here, but in 2008, Republican nominee John McCain rejected or repudiated the support of figures like John Hagee and Rod Parsley after controversial comments came to light. Then-candidate Barack Obama gave an entire speech condemning some of what his former pastor had said about culture and religion.

AD

By contrast, Trump's spokeswoman issued a statement in July: "We're incredibly grateful for his support, but we don't agree with his comments." It mostly flew under the radar. So did the Secret Service's statement that it's investigating the remarks. Since then, Baldasaro has repeated some version of his comment two more times. The Trump campaign hasn't responded at all. And he's still on board.

And really, why should Trump's campaign have to answer for something controversial his adviser has said, since no one's really focusing on it. That's a product of Trump himself, who is more than capable of making his own controversial statements — some would say even similar statements — that suck up the media's attention. It's a habit of Trump's that drives establishment Republicans like Rep. Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) up a wall.

In fact, when you consider every controversy and headline Trump's campaign is playing Whac-a-Mole with this week alone, it's pretty easy to see how an obscure campaign adviser fades into the background — even if he has repeated that Clinton should be shot three times. Consider:

My point is, Trump's ability to drive the day by saying something no other politician would dare to utter is rewriting the rules about what we write about and, by consequence, what voters pay attention to.