Much like retail stores that get a jump on things by edging out seasonal Halloween merchandise for Christmas baubles in mid-October so will it be with the media concerning national politics. The permanent campaign is now a fixture in a country obsessed with sports contests and reality television and it has become a cottage industry all it’s own. So the self-proclaimed most trusted name in news – CNN – is already eyeing the 2020 election six month before the 2016 edition has been completed. You just can’t make crap like this up.

According to a story on the network’s website “Yes, it’s to think about the 2020 presidential race”:

It’s never too early to think about the next election.

The outrageous, precedent-defying 2016 presidential race still has six months to go, and multiple wild twists and turns to negotiate, before it produces the 45th president.

But for the likes of House Speaker Paul Ryan, former candidates like Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and members of the yet-to-emerge next generation of Democratic Party leaders, it’s time to look forward to a post-Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton world. The political calculations they make now could help or haunt them in years to come.

Ryan, Cruz and Rubio all plunged back into the limelight this week: Ryan had a high-stakes summit with Trump, Rubio sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper for his first national television interview since dropping out, and Cruz returned to the Hill, gaggled with reporters and exchanged semi-jocular insults with Sen. John McCain.

Presidential politics has always been a long game — sometimes rewarding those like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, who rebounded from unsuccessful presidential campaigns to win the White House.

That the piece focuses on Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan and Ted Cruz shows that the presstitutes are encased snugly in their cocoons of denial that Donald Trump will be rejected by voters come November. However, it may be disappointing for those counting on the Clinton machine with the full backing of the establishment finally being able to pound a stake through Trump’s heart and protect their racket. They are one and the same “experts” that have predicted his demise since the day he descended the escalator to formally declare his candidacy.

Trump can once again spoil things with a big win come November and bump CNN”s silly-ass predictions to 2024.