As of yesterday, Green Party candidate Jill Stein had spent more money on television advertising than Donald Trump. I guess Trump got tired of hearing that, which is the only way to explain this pitiful ad buy he just announced.

First ad buy from Trump is modest. $270k in FL, $72k in OH, $78k in PA. Pro-Clinton side already spent $23m in FL, $17m in OH, $6m in PA. — Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) August 18, 2016

“Modest” is an insanely generous way to describe this. Others that might be equally applicable would be “pitiful,” “low-energy,” “little,” “pointless,” and “embarrassing.” If you’re going to spend this little in markets this large, only to get totally swamped by Clinton, might as well put the money into a ground game, especially since there’s a decent probability that the RNC will yank the rug out from under you during the course of this campaign.

What a joke.