PREPARING TO LOSE, TRUMP PRE-BLAMES THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT

There's been speculation that Donald Trump might refuse to accept the result of the election if it doesn't go his way. But even though he's previously suggested that a loss would prove the system is rigged, he now seems resigned to the defeat -- and eager to have his old life back:

Donald Trump told CNBC on Thursday he will either win with his frank and uncensored style of campaigning or enjoy a "very, very nice long vacation."

Republicans have long hoped Trump will pivot on his behavior, but in the "Squawk Box" interview, he said:

"I'm a truth teller. All I do is tell the truth. And if at the end of 90 days, I've fallen short because I'm somewhat politically correct 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. I go back to a very good way of life."

... "I think we're going to have victory, but we'll see," Trump said. "At the end it's either going to work or I'm going to have a very, very nice long vacation."

Wait -- is he admitting that he's not really a great man running a first-rate campaign? Not really. Read this, from a Time interview published today:

TIME: Going back to the polls, some showed you down six, seven, eight points nationally and in swing states by a similar margin. You won the primary, but the general election is obviously a very different electorate. What do you have to do differently?

Trump: Well, I’m running it differently than I did the primaries. I am listening to so-called experts to ease up the rhetoric, and so far, I’m liking the way I ran in the primaries better. I got more votes than anybody in the history of the primaries, I got 14 million votes and won most of the states. But I’m now listening to people that are telling me to be easier, to be nicer, be softer. That’s OK, and I’m doing that. Personally, I don’t know if that’s what the country wants. When we’re having heads chopped off in the Middle East, when things are happening that have never happened before in terms of the atrocities, in terms of giving $400 million in cash and all other things, I think maybe they want tougher rhetoric. They would like me to be a little bit different than I was in the primaries. And in the primaries, I broke the all-time record for votes.

TIME: So do you intend to revert?

Trump: I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with anybody. I think I may do better the other way. They would like to see it be a little bit different, a little more modified. I don’t like to modify. But that’s what I’ve done. We’ll see where it takes me.

So Trump's view is that he did everything right in the primaries, and now any problems he's having are the likely result of having GOP Establishment handwringers breathing down his neck and forcing him "to be nicer, be softer." The difference isn't that he's now appealing to a different electorate, one not primarily made up of older white rage addicts -- in his view, the general electorate wants the same rage, but Reince Priebus and his crew of pantywaists (or maybe Paul Manafort and Ivanka) just won't let Trump be Trump. Hey, apart from repeatedly attacking Judge Curiel, incessantly slandering the Khan family, calling for Hillary Clinton's assassination, and bringing back the claim that President Obama is a pro-terrorist secret Muslim, Trump has been on such a short leash! So no wonder there are bad polls!

Trump will spread the blame far and wide in the event of a loss. Will he look in the mirror? Nahh, that'll never happen.