The Conversation -- August 4, 2024

Marianne Levine of the Washington Post: "... in the two weeks since [President] Biden dropped out and [Vice President] Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, Democrats' poll numbers -- and their chances of holding the White House -- have rebounded. The path to victory for Harris once again runs through seven key swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.... [Harris] plans to visit all seven battleground states this week to introduce her vice-presidential pick to the country.... As of Sunday, Trump still led in five of the seven battlegrounds, according to The Post's polling average." ~~~

~~~ Eric Bradner, et al., of CNN: "A 17-day stretch with few parallels in American history has upended what looked to Donald Trump's campaign like a clear path to victory when the former president stepped on the Republican convention stage in Milwaukee."

Still Weird. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Trump is still obsessed with crowd size at his rallies and was especially upset Saturday that Harris' crowd four days earlier at the same Georgia State Convocation Center in Atlanta was as large as hers. "Ms. Harris's rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, when she is expected to unveil her running mate, is likely to be a blowout. After that, she's going on tour, holding rallies in western Wisconsin; Detroit; Raleigh, N.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Phoenix; and Las Vegas. It's all starting to screw with Mr. Trump's psyche." He claimed Harris only drew a large crowd in Atlanta because she brought entertainment stars to her rally. He also claimed, falsely, that his Atlanta crowd was larger and that the "liberals" at Georgia State limited the number of Trump fans who could enter the area because "they don't want to show that we're successful." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll tell you who isn't supporting Trump: former presidents. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and our current president, Joe Biden, are all supporting Kamala Harris. George W. Bush, the only other living former GOP president, didn't support Trump in 2020 (NYT link), so it's almost certain he won't support him now. Even Trump's own Vice President Mike Pence won't vote for him (just possibly because Trump was fine with having his supporters murder Pence), and as we learned yesterday, neither will about half of Trump's own Cabinet.

Presidential Race

Kamala Gets Another Presidential Endorsement. Joe Sutton & Kaanita Iyer of CNN: "Former President Jimmy Carter, the oldest living president, is hoping to vote for Kamala Harris during the November elections, his grandson said. 'I'm only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,' the 99-year-old former president said, according to his grandson, Jason Carter, who relayed a conversation Carter had with his son Chip earlier this week to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.... Carter, who is set to turn 100 on October 1, entered hospice care in February 2023 after a series of hospital stays. Jason Carter said in May the 39th president is 'coming to an end' when providing an update on his health."

Ken Bensinger & Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, said on Saturday that he had an extramarital affair during his first marriage, years before he met Ms. Harris. The acknowledgment, which was released in a statement, came hours after a British tabloid reported that Mr. Emhoff had a previously undisclosed relationship with a teacher who worked at the elementary school his children attended in Culver City, Calif., approximately 15 years ago. At the time, Mr. Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer, was married to Kerstin Emhoff, a film producer, with whom he had two children. The couple filed for divorce in 2009. Mr. Emhoff met Ms. Harris in 2013, and they married the following year.... The Biden campaign was aware of the affair before it decided to tap Ms. Harris as vice president in 2020, according to a person familiar with the vetting process.... In addition, this person said that Ms. Harris knew of the affair before she married Mr. Emhoff in 2014." CNN's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Harumph! Who could vote for a woman whose husband had an extramarital affair years before he met her? This is a stupid story, and I'm only linking it because it's all over the media so you might as well be aware of it.

Two Variations on the Same Story. In the first, Trump is merely a Cowardly Lion. In the second he's a Cowardly Liar. I'd say the second sounds more realistic: ~~~

     ~~~ (1) Simon Levien & Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump declared late on Friday that he was dropping out of an ABC News debate scheduled for Sept. 10 and presented a counterproposal to Vice President Kamala Harris, his presumptive opponent, to face off on Fox News six days earlier. The change, which Mr. Trump announced on his social media site, Truth Social, raised objections from the Harris campaign and appeared to throw a potential showdown between the rivals into question.... The Harris campaign on Saturday declined to commit to the Fox News debate and said it was still planning on a Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC.... 'Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out....,' Michael Tyler, the Harris campaign's communications director said in a statement. He added: 'We're happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to. Mr. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace should have no problem with that unless he's too scared to show up on the 10th.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ (2) Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump claimed late Friday night to have struck a deal for a new debate with Vice President Harris....But the Harris campaign said Saturday that she never agreed to a new debate deal. Harris is urging Trump to keep the debate date he agreed on with President Biden before Biden withdrew from the race last month. In a social media post late Friday, Trump claimed he and Harris had agreed to debate on Sept. 4 on Fox News. Trump said his previous commitment to a debate on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC News was 'terminated' because Biden dropped out as the Democratic candidate. Harris's team was baffled by Trump's claims. The Harris campaign said Saturday that there is no agreement for a new Fox News debate on Sept. 4. A person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning, said the campaign held no negotiations with Trump or Fox about a new debate.... In Friday's post, Trump also raised objections to ABC serving as moderator, even though he previously accepted the network's role. Trump referenced a lawsuit against ABC accusing host George Stephanopoulos of defaming him.... Trump agreed to the ABC debate in May two months after filing his lawsuit against the network." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Politico's report. (Also linked yesterday.) And here's a copy of the Trump's post, topped by commentary from Harris. Trump's post is ambiguous, IMO:

Marie: Since the Billionaire Genius took over Twitter, the platform has become what I would call "unstable," & tweets often degrade over time. For instance, on Saturday, you could read Trump's statement, which Sahil Kapur reproduced in full, but X now cuts off the last bit. You can read Trump's whole screed here (at least for now!).

It’s interesting how “any time, any place” becomes “one specific time, one specific safe space.”

I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there. https://t.co/zqng89X8QD

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 3, 2024

Everybody's Picking on Donald. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump suggested without evidence on Saturday that Georgia's Republican governor was hampering his efforts to win the battleground state in November, a claim that carried echoes of Mr. Trump's attempt to overturn his defeat to President Biden there in 2020. 'In my opinion, they want us to lose,' Mr. Trump said, accusing the state's governor, Brian Kemp, and its secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who is also a Republican, of being disloyal and trying to make life difficult for him. At a rally at the Georgia State University Convocation Center in Atlanta, in a speech that lasted more than 90 minutes and that was peppered with grievances about his loss four years ago, Mr. Trump falsely claimed, 'I won this state twice,' referring to the 2016 and 2020 elections....

"Mr. Trump held his rally in Atlanta in the same arena where his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, held a rally earlier in the week. Both candidates filled the complex, which holds 8,000 people, though Mr. Trump ... questioned whether Ms. Harris's supporters had in fact come to hear the hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion, who performed at that event.... [Mr. Trump] mocked the pronunciation of [Ms. Harris's] first name, insulted her intelligence and communication skills, and called her a 'radical left freak.'"

     ~~~ Adam Wren & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "The attack -- on social media and in person at the Georgia State University Convocation Center -- marked an escalation of Trump's longstanding criticism of Kemp. And it instantly unsettled Georgia Republicans, who warned Trump's comments threaten his already shaky prospects in the state.... Many Republicans inside and outside of Georgia still nurse raw feelings about how Trump's fixation on the 2020 election in the state contributed to a major setback for the party in the 2021 Senate runoffs. Democrats won two Senate seats in Georgia that January, when Trump's false claims about a stolen election were widely credited with dampening Republican turnout." See Nisky Guy's comment below.~~~

~~~ Comrade Trump Congratulates Putin. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin over a prisoner swap that took place this week, saying the Russian strongman had outsmarted U.S. officials as part of the largest such deal since the end of the Cold War. At a rally [in Atlanta] on Saturday, Trump did not mention any of the American prisoners who were released in the deal.... In his previous comments on the deal, he did not mention any of the prisoners by name either, only criticizing the U.S. government. 'I'd like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal.... We have 59 hostages, I never paid anything.... Boy, we make some horrible, horrible deals. It's nice to say we got 'em back, but does that set a bad precedent,' Trump said.... In fact, Trump authorized an agreement to pay $2 million to North Korea for medical bills in the release of Otto Warmbier, the comatose University of Virginia student sent home from Pyongyang in 2017, The Washington Post reported. Trump claimed the bill was never paid.... National security adviser Jake Sullivan said this week that no money changed hands in the latest prisoner swap.... The former president has repeatedly bragged about his close relationship with Putin.... On several public occasions in recent months, Trump has said he would get [Wall Street Journal reporter Evan] Gershkovich released as soon as he was elected in November, and Putin would do it 'for me, but not anyone else.'"

Desperately Assaulting Kamala. Adam Wren, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump broadsided Kamala Harris in a string of derisive social media posts on Saturday, focusing his attacks on the vice president's intellect after a week that saw her both out-fundraise him and surpass him in some battleground state polls. In a succession of Truth Social posts after calling off his planned ABC debate with Harris, Trump called Harris 'low IQ,' 'dumb,' and said she lacked the 'mental capacity' to debate him.... Harris has overtaken Trump in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, even if only by a few percentage points of support, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday. And a survey by Susquehanna Polling found that she held a 4 percentage-point lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, earning the support of 47 percent of voters to Trump's 43 percent." ~~~

~~~ Really, Donald? You think pulling insults out of your stale bag of tricks is an effective way to attack your opponent? Here's a better methodology: other people -- not your opponent or even her campaign -- describe you in negative terms, then back up their assertions with video clips of you screwing up. Thanks to RAS for the lead: ~~~

Voters Notice Donald Trump Is an Obnoxious, Insulting Jerk: ~~~

     ~~~ (1) Robert Klemko, et al., of the Washington Post: Donald "Trump's racist broadside Wednesday during a Black journalists conference in Chicago conjured painful memories for America's fastest-growing racial group -- those who identify as belonging to more than one race.... More than 33 million Americans -- about 1 in 10 -- identify as two or more races, according to the 2020 Census.... To hear Trump question the Democratic presidential candidate's right to belong to more than one group left many feeling newly wounded.... Many of those who wrote to The Post accused Trump of deliberately misunderstanding a person's freedom to identify as two races at once for his own political gain. Some believed the former president to be genuinely uneducated. Universally, they condemned the remarks, describing Trump's words as 'racist,' 'ignorant,' 'abhorrent' and 'unsurprising.'"

     ~~~ (2) Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: "In interviews with more than two dozen voters [in the collar counties around Philadelphia, Pa.,], it was clear that [JD] Vance's views have renewed unease about [Donald] Trump's judgment, his past statements about women and his record on abortion. Almost universally, voters also said they were bracing for Trump to unleash personal attacks on [Vice President] Harris.... In a strange stroke of political timing, America's reintroduction to Harris, now at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, has coincided with the vetting of Vance. That has meant voters are revisiting the possibility of the first female president at the same time that Vance is drawing scrutiny of his views on traditional marriage, the role of women in the home and his opposition to abortion, including in the case of rape and incest....

"By including Harris -- who has two stepchildren -- in his 2021 description of ascendant Democrats as 'a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable,' Vance seems to have triggered anger not only among voters who support her, but also among swing voters, who suddenly feel inspired to defend her."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "U.S. prosecutors and lawyers for Donald Trump will return to federal court on Aug. 16 to decide how the former president's 2020 election obstruction case can proceed after the Supreme Court ruled last month that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan set the hearing in Washington after the Supreme Court returned the case to her control on Friday." This is an update of a story linked earlier Saturday.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "President Biden's son Hunter will be sentenced in mid-November -- a week after Election Day -- after being convicted of gun charges, a federal judge said Friday. Hunter Biden was convicted in June by a Wilmington, Del., jury of felony charges that he lied about his drug use in 2018 on paperwork to buy a gun, and that he illegally possessed that gun. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who oversaw the trial, filed an order Friday saying he will be sentenced Nov. 13." MB: Huh. Hunter's troubles no longer seem to be all that helpful to Felonious Don. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel, et al. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is pushing back against President Biden over American concerns about the assassination of the political leader of Hamas and Israel's approach to cease-fire talks in the latest rift between the two allies since the war in Gaza began 10 months ago. In what a U.S. official described as a heated conversation on Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu denied that Israel was an obstacle to a cease-fire agreement and rejected Mr. Biden's contention that the killing of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil could sabotage efforts to reach a deal halting hostilities and freeing hostages.... According to both governments, the Israelis did not inform the Americans of the plan to kill Haniyeh even though Mr. Biden had hosted Mr. Netanyahu at the White House just days before....

"Mr. Biden alluded to his worries about the combustible situation in the Middle East during a brief late-night conversation with reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Thursday after welcoming home three Americans released by Russia in a prisoner swap. 'I'm very concerned about it,' the president said. 'I had a very direct meeting with the prime minister today -- very direct. We have the basis for a cease-fire. He should move on it and they should move on it now.' Asked if the Haniyeh killing made it harder to reach a deal, Mr. Biden said, 'It's not helped. That's all I'm going to say right now.'"

News Lede

Washington Post: "Odds are increasing that a hurricane will strike Florida Monday and that this same storm could also cause substantial problems from south Georgia to the eastern Carolinas next week. Late Saturday, thunderstorms organizing over the southern Gulf of Mexico morphed into Tropical Storm Debby. The incipient storm is expected to make a run at the Florida Gulf Coast on Monday, probably as a hurricane, before deluging the Southeast with excessive rainfall and flooding."

The Conversation -- August 3, 2024

Marie: There has been a recent spate of contributors posting links to articles I had not only linked much earlier but also had highlighted with two asterisks (**). So in hopes of cutting down a bit on the duplication and extra effort for contributors, I'll try using emoji gold stars to more prominently highlight stories I think are especially important or interesting. And, BTW, I do deeply appreciate those of you who contribute links to stories & other content I've missed.

Two Variations on the Same Story. In the first, Trump is merely a Cowardly Lion. In the second he's a Cowardly Liar. I'd say the second sounds more realistic: ~~~

     ~~~ (1) Simon Levien & Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump declared late on Friday that he was dropping out of an ABC News debate scheduled for Sept. 10 and presented a counterproposal to Vice President Kamala Harris, his presumptive opponent, to face off on Fox News six days earlier. The change, which Mr. Trump announced on his social media site, Truth Social, raised objections from the Harris campaign and appeared to throw a potential showdown between the rivals into question.... The Harris campaign on Saturday declined to commit to the Fox News debate and said it was still planning on a Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC.... 'Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out....,' Michael Tyler, the Harris campaign's communications director said in a statement. He added: 'We're happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to. Mr. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace should have no problem with that unless he's too scared to show up on the 10th.'" ~~~

     ~~~ (2) Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump claimed late Friday night to have struck a deal for a new debate with Vice President Harris....But the Harris campaign said Saturday that she never agreed to a new debate deal. Harris is urging Trump to keep the debate date he agreed on with President Biden before Biden withdrew from the race last month. In a social media post late Friday, Trump claimed he and Harris had agreed to debate on Sept. 4 on Fox News. Trump said his previous commitment to a debate on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC News was 'terminated' because Biden dropped out as the Democratic candidate. Harris's team was baffled by Trump's claims. The Harris campaign said Saturday that there is no agreement for a new Fox News debate on Sept. 4. A person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning, said the campaign held no negotiations with Trump or Fox about a new debate.... In Friday's post, Trump also raised objections to ABC serving as moderator, even though he previously accepted the network's role. Trump referenced a lawsuit against ABC accusing host George Stephanopoulos of defaming him.... Trump agreed to the ABC debate in May two months after filing his lawsuit against the network." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Politico's report. And here's a copy of the Trump's post, topped by commentary from Harris. Trump's post is ambiguous, IMO:

It’s interesting how “any time, any place” becomes “one specific time, one specific safe space.”

I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there. https://t.co/zqng89X8QD

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 3, 2024

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "U.S. prosecutors and lawyers for Donald Trump will return to federal court on Aug. 16 to decide how the former president's 2020 election obstruction case can proceed after the Supreme Court ruled last month that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan set the hearing in Washington after the Supreme Court returned the case to her control on Friday." This is an update of a story linked earlier Saturday.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "President Biden's son Hunter will be sentenced in mid-November -- a week after Election Day -- after being convicted of gun charges, a federal judge said Friday. Hunter Biden was convicted in June by a Wilmington, Del., jury of felony charges that he lied about his drug use in 2018 on paperwork to buy a gun, and that he illegally possessed that gun. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who oversaw the trial, filed an order Friday saying he will be sentenced Nov. 13." MB: Huh. Hunter's troubles no longer seem to be all that helpful to Felonious Don.

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race

⭐ Democrats Choose Harris. Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "Vice President Kamala Harris has won enough delegate votes to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison announced Friday, though the results are not yet official. The DNC will not make an official announcement of results until Monday evening, when the virtual voting process closes for delegates to next month's Democratic National Convention." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Shane Goldmacher & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris, who formally won enough delegates to secure the Democratic Party nomination on Friday, is remaking a campaign hierarchy originally built to re-elect President Biden by adding several new advisers to the top ranks of her staff, including David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama's first presidential run. The changes, which come with fewer than 100 days until Election Day, provide an injection of talent and experience to a Wilmington, Del., operation that is flush with cash after her campaign announced raising a record-setting $310 million in July -- more than double the sum raised by ... Donald J. Trump." Politico's story is here.

Veepstakes Lightning Round. Tyler Pager & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Vice President Harris has narrowed her search for a running mate to six finalists and is planning to interview them this weekend.... The vetting of Harris's potential running mates -- an arduous process that typically takes several months and a painstaking analysis of each prospect's strengths and weaknesses -- has been condensed to two weeks.... The speedy process raises the risk of a misstep, but it also could lend an air of excitement as Harris barnstorms through swing states with her running mate next week.... Harris's finalists are Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Tim Walz of Minnesota, as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, the people said. Representatives for Beshear, Buttigieg and Shapiro confirmed that those officials had canceled previously scheduled plans for this weekend. The finalists are all White men, reflecting an assumption that voters would prefer gender and racial balance.... The vetting process, overseen by former attorney general Eric Holder and a team of lawyers at Covington & Burling, was largely wrapped up on Thursday.... The prospects met first with senior Harris advisers -- including Jen O'Malley Dillon, the campaign chair, and Sheila Nix, Harris's campaign chief of staff -- before the weekend's scheduled meetings with the vice president...." The AP's story is here.

MJ Lee & Samantha Waldenberg of CNN: "President Joe Biden acknowledged to reporters Friday morning that he and Vice President Kamala Harris have spoken about her upcoming decision on a vice presidential running mate. But he wouldn't say much else: 'I'll let her work that out,' Biden said, when pressed on what top qualities the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee should consider. Still, inside the White House, the president's close advisers have a good sense of how Biden feels about several of the men currently believed to be Harris' top contenders heading into a critical weekend of final interviews with a decision to come by Tuesday. One well-known Biden favorite? Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro."

Kam Can Cook. Emily Heil of the Washington Post: "'I'm just a home cook,' ... Kamala Harris says in one of the videos posted on her YouTube page in which she prepares food with famous chefs and regular folks alike. That line, from a 2020 video, came in response to chef and humanitarian José Andrés telling her she has a 'big reputation as a chef,' a designation she first earned for a viral pandemic-era video in which she schooled Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) on the finer points of tuna-sandwich making (after her colleague's chaotic and sloppy sandwich horrified the internet)." Here's the video:

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, how I would enjoy seeing a cook-off between Harris & Trump. I don't know if Trump has ever been in the kitchens of his fancy homes, but if he has been, it was probably to make sure the fixtures were shiny & gold-looking. I can just see Trump's losing it while trying to master a simple dish, maybe demanding a Mulligan for dropping a carton of eggs & threatening to kill the cameraman with a cast-iron frying pan for recording Trump's screw-ups. That reminds me that Harris makes her tuna sandwiches exactly as I make mine, right down to the dollop of Dijon (and I kinda doubt either of us started with, you know, recipes). Also, I was watching a British mystery show earlier this week in which the murderer killed her victim with the exact model Le Creuset saucepan I have right handy in my kitchen. I think my pan is at least 50 years old (I inherited it), and it's still perfectly good for whipping up a quick Bearnaise or -- by the looks of it -- whacking an intruder.

Azi Paybarah, et al., of the Washington Post: "Of the 42 people who worked in ... Donald Trump's Cabinet, just over half support his bid for another term. It is rare for Cabinet members to not support the president they served. They are normally some of a president's most loyal supporters. But in the case of Trump's Cabinet, these uniquely qualified insiders ... are deeply divided about whether he should return to power.... The Post reached out to all 42 members of Trump's Cabinet, asking each of them whether they supported his presidential bid. Twenty responded. Twenty-two didn't, but we were able to determine through public statements that nine of them backed Trump's candidacy and two didn't." Even a number of them who have been highly critical of Trump, like Bill Barr & Nikki Haley, said they would vote for him. "Barr said Trump 'shouldn't be anywhere near the Oval Office,' last year, but ultimately said in April he would vote for him. Haley said Trump was 'unhinged,' in February, before backing him at the Republican National Convention in July."

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "She is not one of us. When ... Donald J. Trump challenged Vice President Kamala Harris's racial identity at a public forum on Wednesday -- and again on social media the next day -- that was the message at the core of his remarks. It is a tactic that has long been part of the underside of American politics: presenting an opponent as somehow 'other' or 'not one of us' -- someone who cannot be trusted or truly known. But while this has been a recurrent theme in American campaigns for at least a century, Mr. Trump has taken it to a new level, historians and analysts said. What has often been a subtext or a whisper campaign driven by surrogates is, in Mr. Trump's hands, a central message of his campaign -- projected on screens at a rally, promoted on social media and reinforced by his running mate.... No presidential nominee in the nation's history has embraced this tactic so frontally and exuberantly as Mr. Trump has."

     ~~~ Marie: Nagourney cites the 2012 Obama campaign for otherizing Mitt Romney as a "mysterious millionaire." But, oddly, he doesn't mention that Harris and her campaign are actively, joyfully otherizing Trump & JayDee as "weird." "Weird," of course, is the essence of "other": unusual, unnatural, strange. Not like "normal people"; not like us. The difference, as I see it, is in how the two camps are otherizing their opponents. Trump is finding fault with Harris for a natural characteristic, one she did not create, that she cannot change, and that at worst could make her a more empathetic, responsive public servant. Harris, on the other hand, is otherizing Trump & the Boy Wonder for their cruel, out-of-step behavior and opinions, ones that don't jibe with what we generally accept as "American ideals" and "moral behavior." IMO, it's okay to dislike you because you get off on fart jokes but not because your mother wears army boots.

How can Trump go racist? Let me count the ways. Here's another one, a version of the infamous Willie Horton ad: ~~~

     ~~~ Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: The Trump campaign has posted on X 'a string of ... messages that misleadingly accused [Vice President] Harris of helping to free people the Trump campaign described as dangerous criminals. What ties Harris to their cases is a tweet she sent in June 2020, when she was a senator, before becoming Joe Bidens running mate, that encouraged people to donate to a bail fund benefiting participants in the George Floyd protests. Some of the cases the Trump campaign highlighted resulted in convictions and guilty pleas, including a charge of unintentional murder, and others in dismissals. In response to one innocent defendant's complaint about the posts, the Trump campaign reposted several of the messages, but not his and a spokesperson said, "Harris is a pro-criminal extremist." "The posts were part of a broader strategy widely viewed by scholars and other experts as playing on old racist tropes and exploiting stereotypes about crime and people of color. The posts from the Trump campaign mainly featured Black people alongside photos of Harris, laughing." The posts also overstate Harris' connection to the fund.

Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "The combination of owning a social media company that gives him an enormous platform to push his political views, and creating a PAC with effectively unlimited resources, has made [Elon] Musk, for the first time, a major force in an American presidential election. [Musk's] America PAC has spent more than $800,000 since early July on digital ads that target voters in the key battleground states of Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to AdImpact. The ads appeared on Facebook, Instagram and Google through YouTube, and many encouraged people to register to vote at America PAC's website. The PAC's effort to collect information from people using the [pretense] of 'voter registration' is a critical piece to its plan to make personal contact with these voters.... 'What makes America PAC more unique: it is a billionaire-backed super PAC focused on door-to-door canvassing, which it can conduct in coordination with a presidential campaign,' [Brendan] Fischer [of the campaign finance watchdog Documented] said." Schwartz describes how the PAC's ad trick naifs into giving up personal information without revealing to them that it is a pro-Trump organization. Schwartz also lays out how voters in battleground states are targeted.

Perry Stein & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Secret Service did not see warnings from local police about the gunman at former president Donald Trump's campaign rally last month in part because they were stationed in separate command centers that hurt communication, the agency's acting director said Friday. Ronald Rowe Jr. said the agency takes full responsibility for the security failure at the rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, and he pledged to make changes that could require new investments in personnel and equipment. He vowed to hold officers accountable if an internal investigation concludes that they violated agency policies. The Secret Service's probe is separate from the criminal investigation being led by the FBI. 'This was a mission failure.... I am working to make sure this failure never happens again,' Rowe said at a news conference Friday afternoon at the agency's Washington headquarters."

⭐ Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Friday overruled the overseer of the war court at Guantánamo Bay and revoked a plea agreement reached earlier this week with the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and two alleged accomplices. The Pentagon announced the decision with a memorandum relieving the senior Defense Department official responsible for military commissions of her oversight of the capital case against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his alleged accomplices for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field. The overseer, retired Brig. Gen. Susan K. Escallier, signed a pretrial agreement on Wednesday with Mr. Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi that exchanged guilty pleas for sentences of at most life in prison. In taking away the authority, Mr. Austin assumed direct oversight of the case and canceled the agreement, effectively reinstating it as a death-penalty case. He left Ms. Escallier in the role of oversight of Guantánamo's other cases.... Mr. Austin's decision brought relief to family members of victims who had expressed anger over the deal, but it also left uncertain the next steps of the prosecution over America's deadliest terrorist attack." The AP story is here.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Washington regained control over ... Donald Trump's 2020 election obstruction case Friday under a deadline set by the Supreme Court when it ruled that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. The justices on July 1 ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that Trump and other presidents are absolutely immune from prosecution when carrying out their core constitutional powers, but can face trial for private conduct or for official acts under narrow exceptions to be hammered out by lower courts. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan now must decide which if any of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election while president may be prosecutable. However, a trial will not be possible before his November election matchup against Vice President Harris, now the Democratic nominee, because whatever the judge decides is expected to wind up back before the Supreme Court next year." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "There appears to be no real prospect of a trial in the case before the November election, but some Trump critics have been eagerly awaiting the Supreme Court's ministerial action of returning the case to the trial court, hoping that it results in a series of swift decisions from [Judge] Chutkan that could again put Trump on the defensive.... Some Trump critics have urged Chutkan to hold a hearing to assess the effect of the immunity ruling on the evidence [special prosecutor Jack] Smith intends to present. That proceeding could feature witness testimony from key figures in the case. Trump opponents hope this 'mini-trial' would showcase Trump's ties to the violence that unfolded on Jan. 6, 2021, and remind voters of the most chaotic day of Trump's presidency, even if it doesn't carry the same stakes as a jury trial."

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday approved a deal that would dismiss Rudy Giuliani's attempt to secure bankruptcy protections, putting two former election workers he repeatedly defamed ... closer to collecting on their $146 million verdict against him."

Snapping Turtle. If you try to mitigate Mitch McConnell's dirty work, he pops his head out of his hard shell & snaps:

     ~~~ Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) compared President Joe Biden's suggested Supreme Court reforms to the Jan 6 Capitol riot in a new interview. 'That's what some people were trying to do Jan. 6 -- to break the system of handing an administration from one to the next,' McConnell told Punchbowl News in an interview conducted this week and published on Friday. 'We can have our arguments, but we ought to not try to break the rules.'" Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. MB: I'll let his commentary at the top of today's thread speak for me, too.

Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "The convicted assassin who was the linchpin of the biggest prisoner swap in decades is a member of the most powerful security agency in Russia, the Kremlin acknowledged on Friday, and had served in a special unit with some agents who now guard President Vladimir V. Putin. The ties help explain Mr. Putin's determination to free the assassin, Vadim Krasikov, from the German prison where he was serving time for murder.... This was the first time that Moscow had admitted that Mr. Krasikov had been working for the Russian state in the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., an agency that is a successor to the Soviet K.G.B.... The F.S.B. was also the agency that was at the center of the negotiations with the C.I.A. about the swap, Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said."

Mary Ilyushina & Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "... Sofia, 11, and Daniel, 8, had no idea their parents were deep undercover Russian spies pretending to be Argentine expats in Slovenia, according to the Kremlin, much like the characters on the television show 'The Americans' that was based on similar Russian spies known as 'illegals.' Life as Sofia and Daniel knew it ended Thursday when they stepped on a plane destined, they would later discover, for Moscow, as part of a landmark prisoner swap. When President Vladimir Putin greeted them at Vnukovo Airport a few hours later, he did so in Spanish: 'Buenas noches.' The daughter and son of Anna and Artem Dultsev have always believed they are Argentines, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday. [The children do not speak Russian and didn't know who Putin was.] Their mother shed tears as Putin handed her and Sofia large bouquets of flowers.... The couple is believed to have been working for Russia's foreign intelligence service, or SVR[, in Slovenia]."

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North Carolina Gubernatorial Race. Fine for Me but Not for Thee. Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: "The Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina is out with a new TV ad where he and his wife reveal that she had an abortion 30 years ago. In the ad, Lt. Gov.Mark Robinson and his wife talk directly to the camera, revealing few details about the procedure beyond his telling viewers, 'Thirty years ago, my wife and I made a very difficult decision. We had an abortion.' Later in the ad, Robinson says he agrees with the current abortion restrictions in North Carolina, which limit the procedure after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother, and says 'that's why I stand by our current law.'... The ad comes as news organizations and Democratic groups in the state have for months unearthed controversial comments Robinson has made about abortion, including in a Facebook Live stream in 2019, where he said, 'Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers ... It is about killing the child because you weren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down.'... Robinson also referred to abortion as 'murder' and 'genocide' on his personal Facebook page in 2018." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you're not sure Robinson is a horrible person, there's this. And this. And this.

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Iceland. Sarah Hurtes of the New York Times: Halla "Tómasdóttir, a feminist finance expert for whom the singer Björk campaigned, clinched the presidency [of Iceland] and officially took the reins on Thursday from Guðni Jóhannesson, who stepped down after two four-year terms. Iceland, a Nordic island nation with a population of about 380,000, operates as a constitutional republic with a parliamentary twist. The president, who is not required to be affiliated with any political party, serves as the head of state but wields mostly ceremonial clout. The real executive muscle lies with the prime minister, typically the leader who can command Parliament's majority. Still, Ms. Tómasdóttir intends to make a difference. 'My goal is not to be a president with all the answers,' she said. 'I want to be a president that asks the right questions.'"

Iran, et al. Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "Iran has arrested more than two dozen people, including senior intelligence officers, military officials and staff workers at a military-run guesthouse in Tehran, in response to a huge and humiliating security breach that enabled the assassination of a top leader of Hamas, according to two Iranians familiar with the investigation. The high-level arrests came after the killing in an explosion early Wednesday of Ismail Haniyeh, who had led Hamas's political office in Qatar and was visiting Tehran for the inauguration of Iran's new president and staying at the guesthouse in northern Tehran, Iran's capital. The fervor of the response to the killing of Mr. Haniyeh underscores what a devastating security failure this was for Iran's leadership, with the assassination occurring at a heavily guarded compound in the country's capital within hours of the swearing-in ceremony of the country's new president." ~~~

~~~ Israel, et al.

⭐ Israel, Rogue Nation. Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "As the Biden administration and its allies try to secure an elusive cease-fire in Gaza, Israel appears to have gone rogue. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, came to Washington last week to give a defiant speech. Despite international condemnation, he vowed to continue the war against Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, where Israel is killing and imprisoning scores of Palestinians each week, without any clear idea of its endgame. The assassinations of senior Hezbollah and Hamas figures abroad have now sharply raised the risks of a larger regional war as Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah prepare retaliation, analysts say.... The deaths of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas..., are more likely to intensify the conflict than diminish it, making progress on a Gaza cease-fire even more difficult."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The U.S. military is repositioning assets and moving additional forces into the Middle East and Europe to defend against a potential attack on Israel by Iran, U.S. officials said. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the deployment of additional Navy destroyers and cruisers, both with offensive and defensive ballistic missile capabilities, as the Pentagon also takes steps to beef up land-based missile defense, Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement Friday evening. An additional squadron of fighter jets also will be deployed to the Middle East to reinforce defensive air support, she said."

The Conversation -- August 2, 2024

** Democrats Choose Harris. Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "Vice President Kamala Harris has won enough delegate votes to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison announced Friday, though the results are not yet official. The DNC will not make an official announcement of results until Monday evening, when the virtual voting process closes for delegates to next month's Democratic National Convention."

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Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Thursday's massive multi-country prisoner swap with Russia -- touted by the US as the largest since the end of the Cold War -- marked a major diplomatic achievement and legacy-defining moment for President Joe Biden less than six months before he leaves office. The prisoner exchange, which included Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, was Biden's first major foreign policy action since announcing last month he was ending his reelection bid and endorsing his Vice President Kamala Harris. The agreement involved months of complex negotiations with allies and adversaries alike, involving seven countries and 24 prisoners. Biden and Harris greeted Whelan, Gershkovich and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland late Thursday night after the freed Americans had touched down on US soil. Their families were also waiting on the tarmac to receive them. 'I was absolutely convinced we could get it done,' Biden told reporters after watching the emotional family reunions. 'I meant it when I said, "Alliances make a difference." They stepped up and took a chance for us, and it mattered a lot.'"

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "The enthusiastic greetings that played out over about half an hour in the dark of a steamy Maryland night offered a moment of unbridled joy in a world of foreign affairs that has more often thrown fire and chaos at the president. And for [President] Biden, they provided a seeming vindication of the type of patient, multilateral diplomacy that he proudly practices but that has so far proved unable to halt wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden's national security adviser, had held back tears as he told reporters earlier in the day that a multicountry agreement, which released 24 prisoners from the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia, had been a 'vintage Joe Biden' act of statecraft. As he took question after question from waiting reporters, Mr. Biden seemed intent on reminding everyone what exactly that meant."

** Jennifer Hansler, et al., of CNN: "A large-scale prisoner swap between the US and Russia is under way, according to a source familiar, and it is expected to include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and a number of Americans. The parties have agreed to a prisoner transfer and the prisoners are expected to be in the care of US officials, according to a senior administration official. The deal would end a nightmare that lasted more than five years for Whelan and more than a year for Gershkovich. Both men were designated by the US State Department as wrongfully detained." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ A CNN liveblog is here. The New York Times' liveblog of developments Thursday in the prisoner swap is here. Yesterday's Conversation republishes some of the reporters' entries. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Here is the transcript of President Biden's remarks, as delivered, via the White House.

Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "On Thursday, seven different planes touched down in Ankara, Turkey, and exchanged passengers, bringing to a successful close an intensive diplomatic effort that took place almost entirely out of public view.... The deal between longtime adversaries [was] negotiated mostly by spies and sometimes through secret messages hand-delivered by couriers.... And it reached its conclusion even as President Biden, who got personally involved in the negotiations at key points, was slowly losing hope of continuing his re-election bid following a disastrous televised debate that took place two days after the C.I.A. gave the Russians what proved to be [a] decisive new offer."

One Day in the Life of an American Hero. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Even in the world of presidential multitasking, July 21 turns out to have been an extraordinary, whipsaw Sunday for President Biden. At 12:09 p.m., he picked up the phone at his vacation house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., to talk with the prime minister of Slovenia as part of a high-stakes diplomatic gamble to seal a complicated, multinational prisoner swap. Just 97 minutes later, he posted a world-stunning letter online abandoning his bid for re-election..., climaxing the biggest crisis of his political career and signaling the end of his presidency after a half-century in public life. By any measure, it was one of the darkest moments of his time in elective office.... And yet it would lead to one of the most joyous days of his presidency barely a week and a half later as he orchestrated the release of imprisoned Americans from the dungeons of Russia. For Mr. Biden and his team, the successful negotiation to free 16 people held by Russia on Thursday, including three American citizens and a U.S. permanent resident, offered sweet validation even as the clock is now ticking toward his final curtain call in office." A related Politico story is here. ~~~

Now, That's a Reporter. Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "Included in an extensive [Wall Street Journal] report on Evan Gershkovich's arrest in Russia and the developments that led to his release, announced Thursday, is the detail that the 32-year-old reporter actually asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for an interview before leaving prison.... As reported in the Journal's coverage, Russia arresting Americans and leveraging them for prisoner swaps has been common under Putin. The paper had actually been reporting on 'Russia's hostage-taking spree' at the time Gershkovich was detained." Worth reading for the details of how Gershkovich's ask came about.

Maria Sacchetti & Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "The Department of Homeland Security's chief watchdog Thursday issued its long-awaited findings on the Secret Service's handling of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying the protective agency had looked into the possibility of protests but 'did not anticipate' the level of violence that occurred that day, according to a copy of the report sent to Congress.... The report said the Secret Service did not sweep the bushes at the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in Washington, where a pipe bomb had been placed the night before. The explosive did not detonate, but Kamala Harris, then the vice president-elect, had walked within 20 feet of the device, the report said. The report praised agents for safeguarding top officials that day but also said it could improve communication with law enforcement and other procedures.... The report from the office of Inspector General Joseph Cuffari is based on interviews with more than 100 Secret Service personnel and over 183,000 emails and attachments as well as video footage from the agency."

Senate Republicans Ax Expansion of Child Tax Credit; Vance AWOL. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Senate Republicans blocked legislation Thursday to cut taxes for working families and extend some corporate tax breaks, dooming a bipartisan compromise that the House had overwhelmingly approved and raising the stakes on taxes for this fall]s elections. The $79 billion legislation would have expanded eligibility for the child tax credit, or CTC, among the lowest-income families and adjusted payments for inflation for the 2024 and 2025 filing years. It also would have bolstered certain business tax credits -- including deductions for research and development, interest expenses and investments in equipment -- that were limited in an effort to cap the total costs of ... Donald Trump's 2017 tax cut law.... [J.D. Vance, who pretends to support measures to encourage parents to bear more children,] missed Thursday's vote for a campaign event in Arizona and earlier in the week falsely accused Vice President Harris of opposing the child tax credit. The vice president supports the legislation, and the Biden administration issued a statement Thursday urging passage." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ BTW, see Patrick's commentary at the end of yesterday's thread re: the flawed NYT report on the Senate vote. The Times report is here; I don't recommend it, as the Times has not improved it since Patrick criticized it. Headlines and ledes matter. A lot. A busy reader should not have to search down the page to get an accurate picture of what happened, particularly when what happened was quite straightforward.

Presidential Race

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: Democratic delegates began online voting Thursday in a process that almost certainly will result in [Vice President] Harris formally becoming the party's nominee, since she is the only candidate who qualified and most of the delegates have already endorsed her. Yet her official selection will mark a significant milestone, making her the nation's first Black woman to become a major-party presidential nominee and capping one of the most tumultuous months in recent American political history. Parties typically nominate their ticket at their in-person convention, but Democratic leaders were concerned that early ballot deadlines in several states could make it risky for them to wait until the Democratic National Convention, which is to be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago. They set up a virtual nomination process that started Thursday morning and could last until Monday, though Harris could clinch the nomination sooner."

Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign survived a brutal few weeks of fund-raising in July to bounce back so dramatically before the end of the month that she more than doubled the amount of money raised by ... Donald J. Trump, her campaign announced on Friday. The Harris campaign, which for the first 20 days of July was the Biden campaign, said it had raised $310 million during the month, including $200 million in just seven days after President Biden dropped out of the race. The Trump campaign and its own allies said on Thursday that they had collected $139 million in July, an enormous sum but well short of what the Harris campaign said it had brought in amid a huge burst of enthusiasm about her candidacy. The Harris campaign raised almost as much in July as the Biden campaign had raised in March, April, May and June combined."

Toluse Olorunnipa & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: Donald "Trump took to his social media site to suggest that U.S. negotiators had gotten the short end of the bargain, without expressing any gladness that the captives returned home safely. 'How many people do we get versus them? Are we also paying them cash? Are they giving us cash (Please withdraw that question, because I'm sure the answer is NO)?' Trump wrote on Truth Social about the deal with Russia. 'Are we releasing murderers, killers, or thugs?' Trump falsely claimed he freed Americans held abroad with 'never any cash.' In 2017, Trump authorized a $2 million payment to North Korea to bring home American college student Otto Warmbier.... It's unclear whether the money was ever paid.... Speaking to reporters at the White House, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that no money was exchanged in Thursday's deal.... Trump has argued that only he would be able to free U.S. citizens imprisoned abroad.: ~~~

~~~ Okay, that's what a bitter, quarrelsome old nitwit says, but let's hear from a bright young Yale man: ~~~

     ~~~ Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) suggested Thursday that fear of a second Trump administration motivated Russia to agree to the historic prisoner swap with the U.S.... '... we have to ask ourselves: Why are they coming home? And I think it's because bad guys all over the world recognize Donald Trump's about to be back in office, so they're cleaning house,' he said. 'That's a good thing, and I think it's a testament to Donald Trump's strength.'... President Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan was asked about Vance's remarks during a White House briefing Thursday. 'I don't follow,' he said, before moving to the next question." ~~~

     ~~~ An Older Man with Similarly Lame Thoughts. Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) said he thinks that Russia agreed to the prisoner swap ... because they think former President Trump is 'going to win' the upcoming election.... 'The reason why Russia wanted to do the deal now is that they think that President Trump's gonna win and they don't want to deal with him,' Burgum said [on Fox]." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Jadie's & Dougie's arguments might be a tad more convincing (and I mean "a tad") but for this, reported by Olorunnipa & Arnsdorf (linked above): "For the first year of Gershkovich's detention, Trump remained conspicuously silent on it, part of a long-standing pattern of avoiding criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin."

Poor Donald is such a bully-boyish bumpkin that he still thinks "I know you are but what am I?" is an effective response to being called weird. Irie Sentner of Politico reports. Sad. It is quite difficult to spend most of your adult life as a rich person living in Manhattan without developing any sophistication whatsoever, but Trump has managed to remain more of a rube than Neil Simon's hilarious "Out of Towners." It's uncanny.

Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump continued on Thursday to pretend not to know that Vice President Kamala Harris is biracial.... Harris was born in Oakland, California to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. The former president shared a post from conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer on his Truth Social platform in which she falsely claimed Harris 'is NOT black and never has been.' She posted a copy of Harris's purported birth certificate, which lists her father's 'color or race' as Jamaican. Her mother is listed as Caucasian."

Here's a New York Times link to commentary by columnist Jamelle Bouie re: Donald Trump's appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention. (You have to turn on the audio.) (Also linked yesterday.)

In yesterday's Comments, Patrick reminded us that it wasn't only Kamala Harris who turned Black:

     ~~~ Marie: What with Beyonce's song "Freedom" serving as a sort of soundtrack for Harris' presidential campaign, it's fair to say that the very good brain of Trump has discovered a conspiracy all us White people should greet with fear & awe. (It is possible that Trump got the idea that Harris "turned Black" from this SNL sketch and that he has Harris mixed up with Beyonce. Should we be surprised he can't tell the difference?)

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Asked on Wednesday what he would do on 'Day 1' of a new presidency during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, Mr. Trump said..., 'I bring energy way down, I bring, interest rates are down, I bring inflation way down.'... The president exerts no direct control over interest rates. The Federal Reserve sets a key policy rate, which then trickles out to influence borrowing costs across the economy, and the Fed is independent from the White House." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "'Weird' deprives the MAGA cult of the claim to speak for 'the people.'... Ultimately, it signifies normal Americans are laughing at them, something felon and ... Donald Trump loathes (as do all narcissists). If nothing else, it undermines his attempt to project power, invincibility and domination.... But reliance on 'weird' comes with serious potential downsides.... There is a long, sad history of writing off fascists as buffoons.... [Those who call Trump 'weird'] certainly must not downplay the threat to the most vulnerable Americans and the life-or-death implications of Trump's views.... Trump's misplaced vanity, narcissism and ignorance are laughable. But we should never forget that those very qualities make him impervious to shame and contemptuous of social norms and legal restraints.... Mockery is fine and serves a useful political and marketing purpose, but Vice President Harris and her team must be careful not to downplay the existential danger to the democratic experiment." (Also linked yesterday.)

Vance Supports Neo-Nazi Content. Hunter Walker of TPM: J.D. "Vance has had a six-figure stake in Rumble, an online video platform. The company has played host to Russian propaganda and to far-right personalities.... It has also featured even more extreme content, including explicitly neo-Nazi images and themes like this song touting the 'Reich' and calling for Jews to be placed in ovens from a 'dissident rapper' with a dedicated page on the site. The site features a plethora of channels and videos dedicated to the concept of 'white genocide,' which is a core belief for white supremacists. It also hosts channels for explicitly white supremacist organizations including VDare and Patriot Front.... Donald Trump Jr.... signed a seven-figure podcast deal with the company last year."

Eric Lipton & David Fahrenthold of the New York Times: "... technologies that might have protected Mr. Trump from getting shot on July 13 did not -- either because they malfunctioned, were improperly deployed or the Secret Service decided not to use them in the first place. The Secret Service, for instance, turned down offers to use a surveillance drone at the Butler Farm Show rally site. The agency also did not bring a system to boost the agent' device signals in an area with poor cellular service. And some of the equipment the agency did bring, including a system to detect drone use by others, did not work when it was most needed. The result was that a 20-year-old gunman had a technological advantage over a $3 billion federal agency. The acting Secret Service director, Ronald Rowe Jr., told Senate lawmakers in a hearing this week that the agency had the tools that could have spotted [the gunman] and allowed agents to interrogate him before the shooting, but failed to properly use them."

** Criminal to the Core: 200 Pounds of $100 Bills. Aaron Davis & Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "Five days before Donald Trump became president in January 2017, a manager at a bank branch in Cairo received an unusual letter from an organization linked to the Egyptian intelligence service. It asked the bank to 'kindly withdraw' nearly $10 million from the organization's account -- all in cash. Inside the state-run National Bank of Egypt, employees were soon busy placing bundles of $100 bills into two large bags.... Four men arrived and carried away the bags, which U.S. officials later described in sealed court filings as weighing a combined 200 pounds and containing what was then a sizable share of Egypt's reserve of U.S. currency. Federal investigators learned of the withdrawal ... early in 2019. The discovery intensified a secret criminal investigation that had begun two years earlier with classified U.S. intelligence indicating that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi sought to give Trump $10 million to boost his 2016 presidential campaign....

"Within months of learning of the withdrawal, prosecutors and FBI agents were blocked by top Justice Department officials from obtaining bank records they believed might hold critical evidence.... The case ground to a halt by the fall of 2019 as Trump's then-attorney general, William P. Barr, raised doubts about whether there was sufficient evidence to continue the probe of Trump.... In June of 2020, the prosecutor Barr appointed to take over the office leading the case closed the probe, citing 'a lack of sufficient evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.'... Over the course of his presidency, Trump shifted U.S. policy in ways that benefited the Egyptian leader, a man he once called 'my favorite dictator.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Stuffing 200 pounds of $100 bills into bags for delivery to Trump is so mobsterish it's a bad cliche, although I suppose these bags o'cash were carried around by diplomatic couriers rather than your typical goombah bagman.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Jeffrey Clark, the former Justice Department attorney who became a central figure in Donald Trump's bid to seize a second term he didn't win, should be suspended from practicing law for two years, a Washington, D.C., disciplinary panel ruled Thursday. The oversight panel, authorized by the D.C. bar, rebuked Clark for aiding Trump's effort to use the Justice Department's might to undermine the results of the 2020 election. As part of that effort, Clark proposed a plan to persuade Republican-led legislatures to appoint pro-Trump presidential electors in states Joe Biden won. Clark's role in the scheme violated his code of professional ethics as an attorney and even threatened to destabilize the country, the panel found.... [The panel's] recommendation will now come before the D.C. Bar's Board of Professional Responsibility, which will make its own recommendation to the D.C. Court of Appeals. The full process could take another year to reach its conclusion."

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Arizona. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "Abraham Hamadeh, an election denier who ran for attorney general in Arizona in 2022, won the Republican primary for the state's Eighth Congressional District on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Hamadeh, a former prosecutor in Maricopa County, defeated Blake Masters, another Republican who has supported ... Donald J. Trump's lies about the 2020 election. The victory by Mr. Hamadeh in the district, which encompasses suburbs north and west of Phoenix, came after an unusual last-minute turn in the race: Mr. Trump endorsed both candidates the weekend before the primary, effectively declaring that he had no preference for who won. Mr. Hamadeh emerges from a bitter primary fight, in which he and Mr. Masters lobbed harsh personal insults at each other as they tried to distance themselves from a field that also included Ben Toma, Arizona's speaker of the House, and Trent Franks, a former U.S. representative.... Mr. Hamadeh will most likely be favored this fall in his race against his Democratic opponent, Gregory Whitten, who did not face a primary challenger in the reliably Republican district." (Also linked yesterday.)

Tennessee Senate Race. Kimberlee Kruesi & Jonathan Mattise of the AP: "U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a top Republican ally of ... Donald Trump, will square off this fall in Tennessee against Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson, whose progressive profile rose nationally when her GOP colleagues tried to boot her from office over a gun control protest on the chamber floor. Both women fended off primary challenges Thursday...."

Virginia Congressional Race. Asshole Loses Recount. Ally Mutnick & Olivia Beavers of Politico: "In just two terms [in office, Rep. Bob] Good [R-Va.] built enemies in every wing of the Republican Party -- and that opposition came out in force to align itself with state Sen. John McGuire, who defeated Good to clinch the GOP nomination for a red-leaning seat in south-central Virginia after an official recount of the June 18 primary concluded Thursday.... 'Bob Good is universally recognized to be an asshole,' said Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), who endorsed McGuire."

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Middle East crisis is here.

Ronen Bergman, et al., of the New York Times: "Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of Hamas, was assassinated on Wednesday by an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying, according to seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American.... The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, according to five of the Middle Eastern officials. The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large compound, known as Neshat, in an upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran. Mr. Haniyeh was in Iran's capital for the presidential inauguration. The bomb was detonated remotely, the five officials said, once it was confirmed that he was inside his room at the guesthouse. The blast also killed a bodyguard." (Also linked yesterday.)

Venezuela. Julie Turkewitz of the New York Times: "The United States on Thursday night recognized Venezuela's opposition presidential candidate, Edmundo González, as the winner of the country's disputed election. The announcement, by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, comes despite a claim by the country's authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, and by the government-controlled electoral body, that Mr. Maduro had won the Sunday election. Mr. Maduro has yet to produce clear evidence of a victory, and election officials have failed to provide a vote count. Mr. González's campaign says it has receipts from more than 80 percent of voting machines that indicate he won by an insurmountable margin." ~~~

     ~~~ Samantha Schmidt & Matthew Brown of the Washington Post: "The United States on Thursday said opposition candidate Edmundo González defeated President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela's presidential election and called for negotiations to ensure a peaceful transition of power.... 'Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law and the wishes of the Venezuelan people,' [U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said]."

News Lede

CNBC: "Job growth in the U.S. slowed much more than expected during July and the unemployment rate ticked higher, fueling fears of a broader economic slowdown, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls grew by just 114,000 for the month, down from the downwardly revised 179,000 in June and below the Dow Jones estimate for 185,000. The unemployment rate edged higher to 4.3%, its highest since October 2021."