June should have been Donald Trump’s month. Although Bernie Sanders has backed off his attacks on Hillary Clinton, she’s technically still fighting a two-front war. A well-prepared presumptive Republican nominee would have used this opportunity to pivot, build up campaign infrastructure, and establish the dominant narrative for general election. Instead, Trump’s campaign has been disaster ever since his racist comments about the judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University. It’s only gotten worse this week. He’s getting crushed in the most recent national polls, and some Republicans have revived talk of a convention coup.

What’s Trump doing to change the narrative—that is, besides firing embattled campaign manager Corey Lewandowski? Not much, other than tweeting. Trump hasn’t run an ad since early-May and he has only 30 paid staffers to Clinton’s 800. Now we know why, after yet more bad news surfaced this week: Trump has less than $2 million in the bank, according to FEC filings—that’s less than Ben Carson, whose campaign ended in March. Clinton, meanwhile, has more than $40 million, and she’s spending it: Her campaign recently dropped $20 million on ads designed to bury Trump where he stands. Unable to make a similar buy without an infusion of cash from Trump Inc., his people made their first attempt at rapid response on Tuesday, firing off no fewer than nine emails. It only enhanced the sense that everything was falling apart.



The press has reported these developments with borderline glee, much as it did a year ago when Trump descended that escalator in Trump Tower to declare his candidacy. In the interim, there have been ceaseless accusations that the press “created” Trump and enabled his rise by gifting him priceless “free media” that nonetheless has been estimated in the billions. Whether or not that’s accurate, one vital thing has changed recently: The consumers of that free media. With the general election matchup decided, the audience has gotten a lot bigger—and suddenly he’s finding that his hateful, ignorant rhetoric isn’t as popular as it once seemed.

The media may be partly to “blame” for Trump’s rise, but his reliance on relentless press coverage is coming back to haunt him. The press’ glee during the primary season lulled him into a false sense of security, and now it may doom his campaign.

A month ago, Jon Stewart appeared on David Axelrod’s podcast The Axe Files and made a rare return to political discourse (judging by headlines I’ve seen over recent months, he appears to be spending his retirement tending to livestock and growing a Letterman beard). Since Stewart left The Daily Show, many have pined for his voice—particularly his take on the man he once labeled “Fuckface Von Clownstick”—and his conversation with Axelrod was a window into how he would have covered Trump if his show were still on Comedy Central four nights a week.

