Tea Party candidate who never caught on blames Linda McMahon’s deep pockets

It is, however, McMahon’s past with WWE – particularly the trove of YouTube videos showing her kicking men in the groin and other exploits in the ring – that poses the greatest risk of being her undoing once the general election begins later this week.

In an interview with ABC’s “Nightline” that aired Monday evening, McMahon offered a wobbly defense of the content featured in WWE episodes.

“You have to think about this, WWE, as a soap opera,” McMahon said. “So there were segments, there were — the whole behind-the-scenes scenarios that would go to building into that. So it was acting, it was — as I said, it’s a soap opera. It went from week to week, episodically. … So sure, there are story lines that are better than others.”

As for Schiff, he remains pessimistic about the nation’s fiscal future.

“We are early in a complete economic collapse. I think we’re going to go through an economic hell in the next few years,” he said. “This is going to be a very period difficult time that Americans are going to live through. It’s going to be widespread unemployment, runaway inflation. …What it means to be an American is going to change dramatically.”

Alex Pappas contributed to this report.

*The article originally stated that Schiff had inaccurately predicted a recession for years, but was updated to reflect Schiff’s position on the accusation.

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