OH YEAH, DONALD, THAT'LL WORK

This is a legitimate press release. It is not a joke.

The National ENQUIRER today announced that renowned Author and Political Commentator Dick Morris would be joining the magazine in the role of Chief Political Commentator & Correspondent. The appointment of Morris to the editorial team further establishes The ENQUIRER as one of the leading voices of this political season....

In addition to providing exclusive news and analysis for the weekly print edition of The National ENQUIRER, Morris will also provide regular columns and video commentary for NationalEnquirer.com.

Now, we know that Dick Morris hates Hillary Clinton the way Wile E. Coyote htes the Road Runner. We also know that Donald Trump has a very close relationship with the Enquirer:

Trump has written several articles for the Enquirer during the campaign....

Trump and Enquirer chief executive David Pecker are reportedly palsy -- "very close," according to the New York Daily News, and "friends for years," according to New York magazine. Conservative radio host Michael Savage, a Trump backer, told listeners last week that "David Pecker flies to Florida from New York on Trump's private jet." In 2013, Trump even suggested Pecker ought to take over Time magazine.

David Pecker would be a brilliant choice as CEO of TIME Magazine -- nobody could bring it back like David! http://t.co/lLMjQh2iz9

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2013

The Enquirer, of course, published a sleazy story alleging that Ted Cruz has had multiple affairs, at a time when Trump was trying to fend off Cruz in the Republican primaries. Did that story really hurt Cruz? There's no evidence that it did -- Cruz seemed to have hit his natural ceiling around the time, or maybe he just stopped appealing to GOP voters when he accepted the mantle of the hated party establishment and took on Trump -- but if Trump and Pecker think it was a big factor in Cruz's loss, I guess they're entitled to that opinion.

And now, apparently, they think they're going to beat Hillary Clinton using the Enquirer's mighty agenda-setting power in the political world (I'm being sarcastic, folks). They think the Enquirer is going to gain instant credibility from this guy:

In December 2012, several Hill staffers told Media Matters that the columnist lacked credibility in light of his faulty predictions, with one saying: "I think everyone at The Hill views him the way that people outside The Hill do. He is a laughingstock, especially the way he acted in this last election." ...

(The Hill has decided to terminate Morris's column now that he's taken the Enquirer gig.)

His political predictions include claiming Mitt Romney would win the 2012 election in a “landslide”; it’s “very possible” President Obama would drop out of the 2012 race; the 2008 election would feature Condi Rice vs. Hillary Clinton; Clinton would drop out of her 2006 U.S. Senate bid because she’s afraid of challenger Jeanine Pirro (Pirro dropped out amid a poll showing her losing by over 30 points); and Rick Lazio would defeat Clinton in the 2000 Senate race (he lost by double digits).

Morris’ contract was not renewed by Fox News in early 2013. New York writer Gabriel Sherman reported that "Morris's Romney boosterism and reality-denying predictions became a punch line" inside the network.

Indeed, many of Morris’ former Fox News colleagues mocked him as "often wrong," a self-promoter, and "creepy." He was rebuked by a Fox executive after he attempted to auction off a Fox News studio tour to benefit a local Republican Party group.

Oh, and Morris is making a brilliant start at the Enquirer:

Morris’ first column unsurprisingly appears to be bogus. The New York Post reported that it will run next week and “claims that Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server was actually hacked twice while she was secretary of state. ‘It was revealed in a footnote in the inspector general’s report,’ he told Media Ink.” Morris previously claimed Clinton’s server was hacked twice in a column on his website. In reality, as Vox notes, the inspector general’s report “doesn't turn up any evidence that Clinton's emails were successfully hacked or compromised” -- just that there were attempts.

This is a key component of the Trump victory plan? If so, I don't think Trump is very bright.