Ben White, writing for CNBC, is detecting a defeatist attitude in Trump all of a sudden. He believes that Trump is now finally facing reality about the presidential race:

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Here is the entire interview on CNBC (Trump call-in):

x YouTube Video

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Reality star Trump seems to be facing reality

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Barring something crazy happening, Donald Trump is going to lose in November — probably quite badly — and it appears Trump may be starting to realize this. He still offers up the usual argument that all polls showing him getting crushed nationally and in swing states are bogus and don't count the secret people who will emerge from the shadows and vote for him overHillary Clinton. But a bit of fatalism has also crept into his usual bluster. On CNBC on Thursday, Trump twice mused on what his future might hold. Both times he seemed totally fine with the idea of losing. "If at the end of 90 days I fall in short," Trump said, "it's OK. I go back to a very good way of life. It's not what I'm looking to do. I think we're going to have a victory, but we'll see." Later, asked what he might do to turn around his crashing poll numbers, Trump basically said he wouldn't change a thing. "Just keep doing the same thing I'm doing right now. At the end it's either going to, you know, work or I'm going to have a very, very nice long vacation."

Yes, indeed, you’ll fall short, Donald. And after this election is over your brand is going to be badly damaged, so it remains to be seen how swell of a “vacation” this whole election thingie turns out to have been.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Trump sounded like a man with absolutely no interest in stopping his freefall. Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who so badly wants to convince himself that Trump is acceptable, offered the GOP nominee an easy way to fix up his ridiculous claim that President Barack Obama "founded" ISIS. "You mean that he created the vacuum, he lost the peace," Hewitt kindly offered. Trump was not interested. "No, I meant he's the founder of ISIS, I do. He was the most valuable player."

Crazy. No sane person agrees that Obama and Hillary are “founders of ISIS”, and all day long he was given the opportunity, by conservatives, to walk that ridiculous, asinine assertion back, and he keeps insisting that “Founders of ISIS” is the correct description to use for both Obama and Hillary. Ben White correctly identifies that bizarre behavior as a kind of death wish. Sort of like “Hey, we are losing big, might as well double down on the crazy and have some fun with this thing.”

And if Trump's goal is to lose — which plenty of people believe it is – he is doing an excellent job of it. He's down by an average of nearly 8 points nationally, according to Real Clear Politics. States that should be absolutely safe for him, including South Carolina, Georgia and even Utah, could well be in play. And he's doing a rally on Saturday in Connecticut, a state he has virtually no chance of winning. Trump's numbers are cratering in Pennsylvania, which now seems like a lock for Clinton. Virginia and Colorado are also moving out of Trump's reach. He trails in both Ohio and Florida.

Why a rally in Connecticut, of all places? Makes no sense at all.

This was to be the week that Trump focused like a laser on the economy and began a serious buttoned down campaign. It didn't happen. Because it was never going to happen. Because Trump is incapable of making it happen. And it will never happen and Trump seems increasingly fine with that. After all, being president is a really hard job and you have to travel a lot and not sleep in your own bed. And that just isn't Donald Trump's thing.

Dylan Stableford, senior editor of Yahoo News, is also detecting this sudden “Aw shucks, losing the election isn’t so bad, I’m still rich, so there” attitude:

Donald Trump: If I lose, ‘it’s OK ... I go back to a very good way of life’

But Trump said Thursday that he wasn’t going to back off his brash claims, even if it could cause him to lose. “Whatever happens, happens,” he said. “I’m giving it straight. I don’t know that it will work because I’m a nonpolitical person and I’m proud of that. But I’m giving it straight.”

Donald Trump: If I lose, ‘it’s OK ... I go back to a very good way of life’

Donald Trump is planning “a very, very nice long vacation” if he doesn’t win

Donald Trump says if he loses the presidential election to Hillary Clinton, he’d be fine with it because he’s got a lot of money and he’s the one telling the truth. “I’m a truth teller,” the Republican nominee told CNBC on Thursday. “All I do is tell the truth. And if at the end of 90 days I fall short because I’m somewhat politically [incorrect] even though I’m supposed to be the smart one and even though I’m supposed to have a lot of good ideas, it’s OK. You know, I go back to a very good way of life.”

Donald, you’re supposed to be “the smart one”? “Lot of good ideas”? Virtually NOBODY thinks that. Outside of Giuliani, that is.

Earlier this month, Trump said he’s “afraid the election is going to be rigged” against him. But asked about his flailing poll numbers Thursday, he shifted from fear to acceptance. “At the end, it’s either going to work or I’m going to have a very, very nice long vacation,” he said.

x Trump loves seeing himself on the cover of @Time magazine. He won't this week. pic.twitter.com/o4vEIsFbMf — Dylan Stableford (@stableford) August 11, 2016

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Looks like Trump is realizing that he is highly unlikely to win this election. Trump looks to have arrived at the “Acceptance” stage in the “5 stages of grief” model, having gone through “Denial”, “Anger” (during that phase we had the “rigged” and “It will be a bloodbath” comments), “Bargaining” and “Depression.” Then again, Trump might be skipping some steps here, because he REALLY does no want to be President in a truly “fire in the belly” kind of way anyway.