Trump's Chance of Getting to 270 Is Shrinking

Friday morning brings another spate of Donald Trump stories. Some of the big ones generating headlines:

• Trump's path to victory is in trouble based on the latest polls in North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, while the campaign seems to have given up entirely on Virginia. "It's hard to see any path that gets him to 270 short of some seismic event," says one Republican strategist. The Wall Street Journal assesses the new electoral math here.
• The morning's lead story in the New York Times reports that some of the GOP's biggest donors are demanding that the Republican National Committee split with Trump immediately. Read it here.
• But several party leaders and activists in swing states are "closing ranks" in support of Trump, suspicious about this wave of allegations. See Politico.
• In a Thursday night speech in Ohio, President Obama ridiculed the GOP for nominating Trump after years of pushing "family values." Coverage at Talking Points Memo.

• Trump is alleging that a "global power structure" involving the media, corporate interests, and Hillary Clinton is out to defeat him, and the Washington Post sees it as being in line with previous Trump "conspiracy theories."
• Trump canceled an appearance on Fox's Sean Hannity show Thursday night, though the show featured Bill Clinton's accusers, who continued their criticism of both Clintons, reports USA Today.
• Trump repeatedly called deaf actress Marlee Matlin "retarded" and mimicked her when she appeared on Celebrity Apprentice, reports the Daily Beast.
• The Los Angeles Times digs up another old joke by Trump, this one about how he'd be dating 14-year-old girls in a decade.

The lawyer for the New York Times says he welcomes a court fight. (More Donald Trump 2016 stories.)