The race is tightening for a painfully simple reason  —  Hillary Clinton's ongoing campaign to paint Donald Trump as unacceptable in the eyes of most Americans is working.  It's just not good enough.  That's the message of the spate of recent polls showing a dramatically tightened race that Trump may even be narrowly winning.

Aide Shuts Down Local TV Interview With Trump Jr. When Charity Issue Is Raised  —  An interview with Donald Trump Jr. conducted by a local Pennsylvania television station was abruptly cut off by an aide when the topic turned to a Washington Post story about Donald Trump spending his foundation's money …

Donald Trump Wants Peter Thiel On The Supreme Court, Sources Say  —  The eccentric billionaire endorsed Trump in a speech at the Republican National Convention this summer.  —  Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post  —  Donald Trump has made it clear he will nominate Peter Thiel …

Trump would roll back food safety regulations  —  intends to roll back food safety regulations if he wins the White House in November.  —  In a fact sheet Thursday, the campaign highlighted a number of “specific regulations to be eliminated” under the GOP nominee's economic plan, including what they called the “FDA Food Police.”

Trump Criticizes Flint Pastor — But Misstates Key Facts About Their Encounter  —  Donald Trump is lashing out against an African-American pastor who interrupted him Wednesday to chide him for campaigning in her Flint, Mich., church.  —  “Something was up,” Trump told Fox and Friends on Thurday morning.

How Trump Could Win The White House While Losing The Popular Vote  —  OK, before I say anything, a quick disclaimer: This piece is not a prediction.  In fact, I'm a religious (maybe fanatical) adherent of FiveThirtyEight's 2016 election forecast model, which I find to be both methodologically rigorous and intellectually honest.

The Librarian's Bequest  —  Alumnus and longtime library employee left largely unrestricted bequest to U of New Hampshire.  It is spending $100,000 on the library and $1 million on a video scoreboard for the football stadium.  —  By  —  It sounds too good to be true …

Trump releases letter from his doctor, saying he takes cholesterol-lowering drug, is overweight  —  Donald Trump has provided to The Washington Post a letter that summarizes his latest physical exam and discussed the results on a television show scheduled to air Thursday afternoon …

A new force in electoral politics.  —  At 4 p.m., Milo Yiannopoulos puts on a pair of glasses for the first time today.  He examines himself in a mirror to see if he wants to add a gray suit to his purchases, which will push his bill to almost $12,000 at Savile Row's Gieves & Hawkes.

How Obamacare Clears the Field for a GOP Senate Win  —  Democrats have licked their chops in anticipation of the 2016 election when it comes to control of the US Senate.  Under normal circumstances, a 24-10 advantage in a presidential cycle would all but guarantee Democrats victory in the Senate race.

The New Politics of Late Night  —  In a wild election with a ripe orange target, comics are ditching balance and taking sides  —  No late-night-TV comedian attacks the job with more righteous intensity than Samantha Bee.  Once a week on her TBS show Full Frontal, she stands before a wall of video monitors …

Germany torn apart: Mob of 100 neo-Nazis in vicious brawl with 20 asylum seekers who goaded them into violence in latest example of how Merkel's open-door policy is dividing the country  —  Refugees and neo-Nazis battled it out on the streets of an east German town on Wednesday night …

When a Crackpot Runs for President  —  One of the mental traps that we all fall into, journalists included, is to perceive politics through narratives.  —  President Gerald Ford had been a star football player, yet somehow we in the media developed a narrative of him as a klutz …