• As Trump re-imagines his immigration stances, an adviser is reassuring fellow Republicans that Trump will also reimagine his promises not to cut Social Security if he's elected. "He's not making the case [for "reform"] because it's a political suicide to make this case. [...] So no smart politician is going to step into this milieu." Apparently there isn't a single thing Trump says that his advisers believe he'll still think once the election is over; say what you want, it would certainly make for an interesting first 100 days.

• Another notable pivot: Trump has gone from promising he'd release his taxes after an IRS audit is completed to an assertion that he probably won't because, like the details of his other promises, "people don't care." Only "some members of the press" care whether a prospective President of the United States is a crook or a tax cheat; the rest of America cares about ... well, if not a candidate's specific policies, and not a candidate's own past records, what's left?

• Oh, right. Whether or not someone looks presidential. How could we presume that the proud purveyor of a famous beauty pageant would not eventually boil the leadership of the free world down to a lookin’ contest.

• The connection between several state attorneys general declining to investigate Donald Trump's dodgy but pricey Trump University and Donald Trump's gifts to those attorneys general continues to be not news despite "optics" that look shady indeed. While cynics may attribute this apparent double standard of pundit attention as evidence that pundits are lazy dullards not so much interested in exploring unseemly "optics" as they are getting pre-packaged "optics" from a small set of the usual suspects, a more charitable interpretation is that everybody already knows Donald Trump is crooked so there's no "optics" left to dwell on.

• That said, it seems to go a bit beyond "optics": Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi "personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump" during the period in which her office was investigating Trump University practices. Trump, however, says they never spoke.

• The former deputy chief of consumer protection for the state of Texas says he was prepared to sue Trump over the University "scam", but was told to stand down. "It had to be political in my mind because Donald Trump was treated differently than any other similarly situated scam artist in the 16 years I was at the consumer protection office."

• The refs appear to be working themselves: As the presidential debates approach, CNN correspondent Dana Bash says “the stakes are much higher” for Hillary Clinton “because she is a seasoned politician, she is a seasoned debater” while Trump “is a first time politician. So for lots of reasons, maybe it’s not fair but it’s the way it is, the onus is on her.” Debate moderator and Fox News host Chris Wallace, meanwhile, says he won’t intervene if a candidate makes an assertion he knows to be untrue. “I do not believe it is my job to be a truth squad.”

• Though the Trump campaign has sorely taxed the reflexive Republicanism of some top military brass, the campaign has been able to secure the backing of 88 retired military figures. They include some curious people indeed.

• A new pro-Clinton ad re-airs a few of Donald Trump's foreign policy greatest hits, from "I'm really good at war, I love war" to "nuclear, just the power, the devastation, is very important to me."

• We didn’t mean that kind of “free”: The 'USA Freedom Girls', a patriotism-flogging pre-teen all-girl singing troupe most famously known for their appearance at a Donald Trump event to sing a song praising freedom 'n stuff, is now suing Trump campaign for not only not paying them, but for stiffing them in every other way it's possible to stiff someone. (Seriously, read that. It features everything short of Trump's people fitting the girls for their own pairs of cement shoes.)

• Trump's March 15th victory party at his own Palm Beach country club cost Republican donors $1 million. Over $600,000 of that total was funneled to Trump's own businesses.

• Former CNN host Soledad O'Brien took to her old network to blast CNN for "normalizing" white supremacy in their coverage of the Trump presidential campaign.

The former CNN host argued that the question that journalists should be asking is if Trump is “softening the ground for people — who are white supremacists, who are white nationalists, who would self-identify that way — to feel comfortable with their views being brought into the national discourse to the point where they can do a five minute interview happily on national television?” “And the answer is yes, clearly,” she said. “And there is lots of evidence of that.”

• While the campaign at first denied the involvement of now-fired Fox News head Roger Ailes, now Trump insiders are saying Ailes' campaign role could "extend beyond the debates."

• Trump has taken to calling Hillary Clinton “the Merkel of the United States.” It’s a talking point that has white supremacist roots.

• Donald Trump surrounds himself with only the best people.

• Ivanka Trump: My dad can’t be sexist because he hired me.

• If it seems that Donald Trump's supporters see reality so differently that they cannot even agree on the weather, there might be something to that.

x Loud boos right now for Syrian refugees at Trump town hall in Virginia Beach — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) September 6, 2016

x Flynn asks Trump about Libya. Trump: We should have kept the oil. #facepalm — Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) September 6, 2016

x Trump Zen for the day: Ã¢ÂÂCyber is becoming so big todayÃ¢ÂÂ¦ a short number of years ago it wasnÃ¢ÂÂt even a word.Ã¢ÂÂ Ã¢ÂÂ Trump town hall, 9/6/16 — John Aravosis (@aravosis) September 6, 2016

x For those keeping track, Trump and Clinton are holding "dueling" events and all three cable news channels are airing Trump, not Clinton. — Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) September 6, 2016

x Mainstream media never covered HillaryÃ¢ÂÂs massive Ã¢ÂÂhackingÃ¢ÂÂ

or coughing attack, yet it is #1 trending. WhatÃ¢ÂÂs up? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2016

x Aaaaaaand Donald Trump botches Phyllis Schlafly's name. https://t.co/rN3nBTICBn pic.twitter.com/SRr3M3oNhj — Brian Tashman (@briantashman) September 6, 2016