The Conversation -- July 17, 2024

Aamer Madhani of the AP: “President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling Wednesday in Las Vegas and is experiencing 'mild symptoms' including 'general malaise' from the infection, the White House said. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will fly to his home in Delaware, where he will 'self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.' The news had first been shared by Unidos US President and CEO Janet Murguía, who told guests at the group's convention in Las Vegas that president had sent his regrets and could not appear [as planned] because he tested positive for the virus."

Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Special Counsel Jack Smith formally filed notice on Wednesday that he will appeal a Florida judge's decision to dismiss the 40-count mishandling of classified documents and obstruction case against ... Donald Trump. The appeal, laying out Smith's argument for why the case should not be dismissed, is expected to land in coming weeks in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals -- an appeals court in Atlanta whose jurisdiction covers Florida." CNN's report is here.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden said in an interview released on Wednesday that he would re-evaluate whether to stay in the presidential race if a doctor told him directly that he had a medical condition that made that necessary. Mr. Biden has said repeatedly that none of his doctors have told him he has a serious medical condition. Dr. Kevin O'Connor, the White House physician, wrote after the president's physical in February that Mr. Biden is 'a healthy, active, robust, 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.'... Mr. Biden also said for the first time that he had expected to 'move on' from the presidency and 'pass it on to somebody else' but decided to run again because he believed his 'wisdom' and experience would help heal the country's worsening divisions."

Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "The Democratic National Committee is pushing back by a week its plans to nominate President Biden for re-election in a virtual roll call as the party's voters and many of its top officials continue to express discontent about heading into the general election with him atop their ticket. Top party officials announced on Wednesday that the virtual roll call for Mr. Biden would take place during the first week of August, an accommodation to Democrats who had protested about plans that would have started the voting as soon as next week."

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Representative Adam Schiff of California said on Wednesday that President Biden should end his campaign, restarting a drip of opposition within the Democratic Party that had paused after the attempted assassination of ... Donald J. Trump over the weekend. Mr. Biden 'has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation's history, and his lifetime of service as a senator, a vice president and now as president has made our country better,' Mr. Schiff, who is running for Senate, said in a statement to The Los Angeles Times. But, he said, 'A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November.'" CNN's report is here.

Darlene Superville, et al., of the AP: "Nearly two-thirds of Democrats say President Joe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to a new poll, sharply undercutting his post-debate claim that 'average Democrats' are still with him even if some 'big names' are turning on him. The new survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted as Biden works to salvage his candidacy two weeks after his debate flop, also found that only about 3 in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident that he has the mental capability to serve effectively as president, down slightly from 40% in an AP-NORC poll in February."

Here's the New York Times liveblog of developments Wednesday in the assassination attempt on Donald Trump: ~~~

Eduardo Medina & Jeanna Smialek: "New details emerged Wednesday about the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump, as a county official ... Richard Goldinger, the district attorney of Butler County ... revealed that at least one local police officer had fired on the would-be assassin as shots erupted at a campaign rally. But it was uncertain if the local officer had hit the gunman, who was killed by Secret Service snipers, the agency has said." This is the pinned item.

Campbell Robertson: "Edward Natali, a Butler Township supervisor, said in a social media post that officers from the township's police department, originally assigned to traffic patrol, responded to reports of a suspicious person outside the Trump rally on Saturday. After a search, they heard reports that he was on the roof of a warehouse building. One of the officers hoisted another up to check, and the gunman turned his weapon on the officer, 'who was not in position to wield his weapon to defend himself,' Natali wrote. 'He fell to safety and was injured in the process.' The gunman fired at the former president immediately after this encounter."

Mark Walker: "The F.A.A. grants special permission to conduct drone operations in restricted airspace for improved emergency response and aerial intelligence. The area was restricted because Trump was appearing publicly.... The Secret Service did not seek to use drones to provide agents with aerial views of the rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, a spokesperson for the F.A.A. confirmed to The New York Times."

Glenn Thrush: "F.B.I. officials, speaking on a conference call with members of Congress, said that that the gunman's search history on his electronic devices included images of public figures -- including Trump and Biden -- along with dates of Trump appearances and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, according to a person who was on the call."

Isaac Stanley-Becker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Local police alerted the Secret Service before ... Donald Trump's rally Saturday that they lacked the resources to station a patrol car outside a key building where a gunman later positioned himself and shot at Trump, according to local and federal law enforcement. Richard Goldinger, the district attorney in Butler County, Pa., where the Trump rally took place, said the Secret Service 'was informed that the local police department did not have manpower to assist with securing that building.' Goldinger's account was confirmed by a Secret Service official briefed on the incident...."

Dan Lamothe & Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon on Wednesday declared an end to its sea-based humanitarian mission off Gaza, an effort that enabled delivery of millions of pounds of food and other supplies to the war-ravaged territory even as it faced near-constant setbacks and ultimately fell short of expectations.... Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the No. 2 officer at U.S. Central Command..., told reporters during a news briefing ... [that t]he operation will shift to the Israeli port in Ashdod, where personnel will continue to facilitate aid deliveries...."

Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "Former Donald Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro was released from a Miami federal prison Wednesday after completing his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the January 6 congressional committee. Navarro is expected to quickly travel to Milwaukee so he can appear at the Republican National Convention, where his former boss has been formally nominated as the GOP's 2024 presidential nominee."

Vice President Harris introduces us to J.D. Vance:

Hillbilly Elegy for Pregnant Women. Jessica Valenti in a Substack essay: "... JD Vance ... isn't just your run-of-the-mill anti-abortion Republican: he's a full-on trad husband, obsessed with forcing women in the home and calling anyone who disagrees 'childless cat ladies.'... This is a guy who opined for 1950s marriages and encouraged women to stay in abusive marriages.... Like so many men obsessed with the "trad" movement, however, Vance shrouds his old-school misogyny as concern for women's happiness -- or even a way to buck against capitalism[.]... The new VP candidate not only supports a federal abortion ban, but opposes rape and incest exceptions. When he was asked about abortion access for sexual violence in a 2021 interview, Vance replied that 'two wrong don't make a right.'... Over the last few weeks, Vance has been feigning moderation in interviews in a shameless attempt to show Trump he can toe the line." Read on down to the part about how the New York Times is helping Vance out by clipping a remark to make him sound as if he's against a national ban when he says the opposite.

Noah Berlatsky in Public Notice: "Trump chose JD Vance as his running mate this week, and a certain segment of the news media immediately rushed to declare the start of a new kind of working-class Republicanism.... [But] Vance's populism is a shallow, cynical branding exercise. Like his Republican brethren, and like Trump, his populism is paper thin; he views the working class with contempt and embraces policies that would entrench poverty and gut social mobility. Vance has benefited throughout his career from the gullibility of the mainstream media, which never tires in its search for a white working-class whisperer.... When he wasn't memoir-ing, Vance was a finance guy, establishing venture capital funds backed by right-wing billionaire oligarchs like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen.... When your populism appeals to Peter Thiel, it's not really populism.... Vance has joined a Trump ticket dedicated to funneling money to oligarchs and crushing workers; his populist policies are a thinly veiled excuse to attack his political enemies; his memoir is an extended rant about his contempt for poor people." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Fake populism is a GOP substitute for or addition to fake patriotism & fake Christianism. At least since the heyday of Barry Goldwater & Richard Nixon, everything about the GOP "code" has been phony. The main event is always a fervent belief in oligarchy/kleptocracy. If the sideshows get a few updates and tweaks, so what? They work. They pull in the suckers.    

I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other. -- J.D. Vance to Steve Bannon, 2022 ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Martin in Politico Magazine: "... Donald Trump didn't just select a running mate here -- he doused political kerosene on the raging Republican fire over foreign policy. By tapping the 39-year-old Sen. J.D. Vance, one of the party's leading national security doves, Trump strengthened the hand of the isolationist forces eager to undo the hawkish GOP consensus that has endured since the Reagan era."

Brad Reed of Raw Story: "... some of ... Donald Trump's white nationalist supporters are unhappy with the choice [of J.D. Vance]. At issue is the fact that Vance's wife, Usha Vance, is the daughter of Indian immigrants, which [according to Newsweek] is leading some far-right influencers to be suspicious that he won't really be as tough on immigration as they hope. 'Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?' asked neo-Nazi podcaster and one-time Trump dinner guest Nick Fuentes recently."

~~~~~~~~~~

Tyler Pager & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans. He is also weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad immunity for presidents and other constitutional officeholders, the people said.... The announcement would mark a major shift for Biden, a former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has long resisted calls to reform the high court. The potential changes come in response to growing outrage among his supporters about recent ethics scandals surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas and decisions by the new court majority that have changed legal precedent on issues including abortion and federal regulatory powers." (Also linked yesterday.) An AP News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course none of this can happen without Congressional approval, so nothing will happen unless the angels step in and re-elect Biden, and give Democrats solid majorities in the House & Senate for the next term.

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border have declined more than 50 percent in the six weeks since President Biden used emergency measures to curb asylum access, the White House said Tuesday, highlighting the drop ahead of a Republican National Convention evening program whose planned focus was crime and security. The current volume of illegal entries is the lowest since Biden took office, with about 1,900 per day at the border during the past week, according to a White House fact sheet citing the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. Those numbers are comparable to the final weeks of Donald Trump's term as president, CBP data show."

Presidential Race

Nandita Bose & Jarrett Renshaw of Reuters: "President Joe Biden promised Black voters on Tuesday that he was 'all in' to seek reelection on Nov. 5 and assailed Donald Trump's record as president, in his first political speech since his Republican rival's attempted assassination. Biden was greeted by chants of 'four more years' as he spoke to the NAACP's annual convention in Las Vegas, a major gathering of Black voters.... He scolded Trump for initially contending that former President Barack Obama was not an American citizen and for his reference to 'Black jobs' [which Trump claimed immigrants were taking] at the Trump-Biden debate on June 27." MB: Biden said he knew what "Black jobs" were: POTUS (Obama), VPOTUS (Harris) and Supreme Court Justice (Jackson). (Also linked yesterday.) Here's the Washington Post's report.

Biden Closes Ranks. Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "In the past few days, [President] Biden has started to privately convey a new message to Democrats: The conversation about my future is over, and I'm getting irritated that you're not realizing that. Biden has called several prominent allies individually to tell them to spread the word.... Biden is intent on shutting down dissent among Democrats in order to move forward and focus on defeating Donald Trump. And after hearing out his critics, he's tightening his circle to those he's relied on the longest -- and who support his path ahead."

Lisa Lerer, et al., of the New York Times: "Leaders of the Democratic National Committee are moving swiftly to confirm President Biden as his party's presidential nominee by the end of July, according to four people.... The move would formalize Mr. Biden as the nominee at a moment when Democrats are torn over whether he should run again after his poor debate performance.... The process will effectively begin when the rules committee of the Democratic National Convention meets on a video call at 11 a.m. on Friday, followed by another party group on Sunday. All of the more than 4,000 delegates are expected to begin casting their ballots as soon as Monday, a process that is likely to take about a week. After that, the committee is expected to quickly hold the roll call, a tradition that typically occurs on the convention floor but is being held virtually this year.... Under the party's rules, [Mr. Biden] can be replaced as the nominee only if he agrees to step aside and release his delegates." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "Dozens of House Democrats are organizing a plan to speak out against their own party's effort to seal President Joe Biden's nomination sooner than originally planned, which they argue stifles the intense ongoing debate about his candidacy, according to a lawmaker involved in the effort. A drafted letter, circulated by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.)..., offers the first public signal from Democrats since the weekend's attempted assassination on ... Donald Trump that scores of their own members remain deeply unsettled about the future of Biden's candidacy." (Also linked yesterday.)

Wipeout. Michael Schmidt & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who is running for Senate, warned during a private meeting with donors on Saturday that his party was likely to suffer overwhelming losses in November if President Biden remained at the top of the ticket, according to two people with direct knowledge of Mr. Schiff's remarks.... If Mr. Biden remained, not only would he lose to former President Donald J. Trump, he could be enough of a drag on other Democratic candidates that the party would most likely lose the Senate and miss an opportunity to win control of the House, Mr. Schiff said at a fund-raiser in New York." (Also linked yesterday.)

Sarah Ferris of Politico: A House Democrat "who represents a swing seat and was granted anonymity to describe private conversations, said [Speaker Emerita Nancy] Pelosi asked detailed questions about congressional district-level polling and was 'very receptive' to concerns that [President] Biden couldn't win in November. The member ended the phone call with the distinct impression that Pelosi believed Biden should exit the presidential race.... The conversation described by this lawmaker is the latest example of Pelosi's behind-the-scenes role in guiding her party as it struggles to find its way through Biden's political crisis.... Many of her colleagues ... [believe] that Pelosi, having stepped down from leadership herself to make way for generational change, may be the best possible messenger to break through with Biden."

Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: "The last three weeks since President Biden wilted during the first presidential debate have uncorked a nervous energy that has stirred almost every major Democratic donor and their advisers, turning billionaires ensconced on summer vacations into crafty political animals. They're calling every major politician they know, encouraging them to call for Mr. Biden's removal. They're dangling money to members of Congress who say the right things, and withholding money from those who do not. And even the most reclusive donors are talking to reporters, sometimes on the record, about the turmoil within the party establishment.... Some of the wealthiest people in the world have been locked in a perpetual, almost academic examination of how much leverage they truly have to change Mr. Biden's mind."

New York Times reporters yesterday liveblogged Day 2 of the Republican National Convention. Here are a few items:

Nicholas Nehamas: "Vice President Kamala Harris called Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio to congratulate him on being selected as Donald J. Trump's running mate and to express her hope that he would participate in a CBS News debate against her, according to two Biden campaign aides...."

Jazmine Ulloa: "Nikki Haley wasn't invited to the Republican National Convention. But after Donald J. Trump ... was injured in an assassination attempt over the weekend, Mr. Trump's campaign called and asked her to come. Ms. Haley obliged...."

Simon Levien: "Democrats are rolling out 16 billboards and a mobile billboard around Milwaukee on Tuesday attacking the newly minted Trump-Vance ticket, the party's first paid ad campaign against the now-official Republican nominees."

Erin Griffith & Theodore Schleifer: "Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the influential founders of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, plan to support ... Donald J. Trump in November's election, they announced in a podcast on Tuesday. Mr. Andreessen and Mr. Horowitz plan to donate millions of dollars to political groups supporting Mr. Trump's campaign in their personal capacity...."

Adam Nagourney: "The men and women who were once the face of the Republican establishment -- among them a former president, two vice presidents and the most recent presidential nominee not named Trump -- are skipping the [convention], an acknowledgment of the extent to which the party has moved on from the days when it was known as the party of Ronald Reagan."

Chris Cameron: "Matt Brooks, the head of the Republican Jewish Coalition, excoriated President Biden for withholding arms shipments from Israel that included hundreds of high-yield bombs in an effort to curtail civilian deaths in the war in Gaza.... Now speaking is James Crawford, the leader of the Potawatomi tribe in Wisconsin, which runs a highly lucrative casino in Milwaukee. Crawford appears to be taking a largely nonpartisan stance in his speech."

Kellen Browning: "Kari Lake, the close Trump ally who is running for Senate in Arizona, opened her speech by going after her favorite two targets: the news media and her Democratic opponent, Representative Ruben Gallego, whom she often ties closely to President Biden, calling him Biden's 'Mini-Me.'... Lake also echoed a conspiracy theory that has been pervasive among R.N.C. attendees: that migrants are entering the country to steal elections."

Browning: "Eric Hovde, the Republican Senate candidate in Wisconsin, assailed the Democratic incumbent he is running against, Tammy Baldwin, saying that she had called the Biden administration 'one of the most successful in generations.' Each of these convention speeches from the Republican Senate hopefuls is seeming to double as a brief campaign pitch."

Michael Gold: "Dave McCormick, the Republican Senate candidate in [Pennsylvania], might be the first person to speak at the convention who was actually there. He applauded Trump's 'remarkable strength and resolve,' calling the assassination attempt 'a terrifying and unpredictable moment' and expressing thoughts for the families of the victims."

Ulloa: "Representative Jim Banks, who is running for a safe Senate seat in Indiana, spoke of being born in a trailer park and invoked his background as an Afghanistan war veteran to denounce the chaotic withdrawal from that country under President Biden."

Browning: "Tim Sheehy, a Navy veteran running in deep-red Montana against a resilient Democrat, Senator Jon Tester, is highlighting his personal ties to the state -- which have been heavily scrutinized."

Annie Karni: "Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the House whip, is speaking right now. His bid for the speakership was tanked by Trump.... Emmer later endorsed him for president, an example of how congressional Republicans most often end up bending the knee to Trump. Now he is on stage at the R.N.C.... Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 House Republican, is outlining a hard-line immigration agenda that Republicans want to enact if they win back control of Congress as well as the White House.... Speaker Mike Johnson ... said in his speech tonight that 'our rights do not come from government, they come from God.'"

Ulloa: "On the floor, Republicans are dancing and clapping along as [J.D.] Vance enters the room."

Gold: "Donald Trump has just arrived, looking a bit more celebratory and uplifted than he did yesterday...."

Cameron: "Eight years ago, almost to the day, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas snubbed Donald Trump at the 2016 Republican convention after a heated primary battle.... Today, Cruz opened his speech with 'God bless Donald J. Trump.' Trump mouths from his seat 'thank you!'"

Gold: "The idea of national unity seems to be dissipating as Senator Ted Cruz of Texas insists that Democrats ignored the border in order to bring undocumented immigrants into the country to vote for them illegally -- a baseless theory that has no clear evidence.... Trump claps politely as Nikki Haley takes the stage to a mix of cheers and boos. He's not smiling and looks almost bored...." ~~~

~~~ Here's Sleepy Don Monday night, unable to stay awake at his own convention, even while acolytes praise him. Thanks to RAS for the link:

The Nodfather, Part II:

The Return of Don Snoreleone

pic.twitter.com/TNBJ6KsrqC

— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) July 16, 2024

Cameron: "[The] kind of praise of Trump we just heard from Haley was surprising to watch."

Nehamas: "Since bombing out of the presidential campaign and returning to Tallahassee, [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis has leaned back into his role as a conservative culture warrior. His speech tonight is a recitation of his greatest hits, with attacks on vaccine mandates, 'gender ideology' and diversity, equity and inclusion programs."

Cameron: "Trump really sought to humiliate his two main primary opponents this year, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, and here they were effusively praising Trump and giving strong endorsements of his campaign. Primary rivals usually come around to unite behind the winning candidate, but this was a particularly acrimonious and toxic campaign...."

[MB: Some "everyday Americans"] spoke about how hard President Biden has made their lives. Then along came Sarah Huckabee Sanders & Ben Carson, a couple of Trump admin. officials who can still stand Trump.]

Karni: "Senator Marco Rubio of Florida burst onto the national political scene over a decade ago with an expansive vision for his party in which the son of Cuban immigrants, a bartender and a maid, could reach the pinnacle of power in the United States. Now, he is standing onstage as the keynote speaker of the night after being passed over for vice president for a candidate who has made demonizing immigrants a defining feature of his message."

[MB: Lara Trump said some things. Man, am I glad I didn't watch so much as a second of this crap. BTW, there are fact checks interspersed among the other commentary.] ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post offers his assessment of the proceedings. "... Dark Rhetoric reigned. For the second night running, the GOP's purported effort to turn down the volume ran into the reality that is: Red meat sells.... If there's one speech that is likely to live beyond Tuesday night, it might be anti-crime activist Madeline Brame's. Brame, the mother of a veteran who was killed in New York City in 2018, used her time late in Tuesday's program to go after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg .. not coincidentally, the same prosecutor who brought the charges against Trump that resulted in him being found guilty on 34 felony counts. She accused Bragg of being too lenient on the men responsible for her son's death." ~~~

~~~ Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "On the second day of their 2024 convention, Republicans put a spotlight on immigration and crime, often relying on dubious or misleading statistics. Here are 12 claims that caught our attention."

Batty Boyz. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr apologised to Donald Trump on Tuesday, after Kennedy's son posted video and audio of a call between the two men in which Trump made bizarre remarks about vaccines and babies, as well as appearing to offer Kennedy some sort of political deal.... The call was apparently made before Trump and Kennedy's later meeting on Monday at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, reportedly to discuss the possibility of Kennedy endorsing Trump." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. As Ken suggests, it's impossible to say whose views about vaccinations are nuttier: Trump's or Kennedy's. (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Carol Leonnig & others of the Washington Post report more details on the security efforts at Saturday's Trump rally in rural Pennsylvania. Here's one bit: "The Secret Service counter-sniper who killed the gunman ... had him in his sights and was trying to assess whether he had a weapon and was a threat, the official said. Secret Service radio traffic had relayed that local police either spotted or were trying to find a suspicious man around that building. The counter-sniper was a veteran marksman who is considered a legend in the Secret Service because of his high ratings for accuracy at long distances. The counter-sniper who killed Crooks fired as soon as he saw Crooks lift a weapon, the official said. That counter-sniper killed Crooks in one shot, but seconds after he had fired at Trump, the official said." (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times liveblog of developments Tuesday in the investigation of the shooting of Donald Trump is here. See yesterday's Conversation for some excerpts. ~~~

Julia Ainsley, et al., of NBC News: "Before a would-be assassin took aim at Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, local police officers notified the former president's Secret Service detail that they were looking for a suspicious person in the area, a U.S. official told NBC News. The suspicious person, later identified as Thomas Crooks, 20, was first flagged to local police officers by rallygoers on their way into the event. The attendees reported they saw Crooks pacing and behaving strangely near the magnetometers, four officials told NBC News.... It is not clear what time the Secret Service was notified and whether it was before Trump took the stage.... The timing raises questions about whether other measures could have been taken to stop Crooks." (Also linked yesterday.)

Chris Christie in a New York Times op-ed: "Mr. Trump has the opportunity to rein in some of the worst rhetorical impulses of the Republican Party at its convention this week. He can point the party and its leadership in a new direction in the wake of the assassination attempt against him. Early indications are less than promising. Mr. Trump ... [selected] Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate.... Mr. Vance's first reaction to the assassination attempt against Mr. Trump was to turn directly to the current, flawed playbook: demonize the other side and lay the blame at the feet of the Democrats, as if they had pulled the trigger themselves.... Mr. Trump has become a victim of a culture that he manifestly contributed to making worse with his inflammatory and irresponsible language and actions."

Chris Buckley of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump ... said that Taiwan should pay the United States for defending it from China, a remark highlighting the uncertainties -- and high stakes -- of how he might handle the smoldering Taiwan Strait dispute if he should win a second term. Taiwan depends on political and military support from the United States to help resist pressure from Beijing, which claims the island as Chinese territory. Mr. Trump warned that Taiwan is perilously exposed to any attack from China and far away from U.S. protection, and signaled that he would take a more bluntly conditional approach to Taiwan."

** Ishan Tharoor of the Washington Post on how much J.D. Vance loves Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban. As you read J.D.'s remarks, you quickly realize this is treasonous stuff (where it's not merely goofy), and Republicans everywhere are cheering it.

Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "A Georgia appellate court on Tuesday scheduled oral arguments on Donald Trump's appeal of a state court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) to continue prosecuting the election interference case against the former president and several of his allies for Dec. 5 -- one month after the election. The date, announced in a brief written order, comes two months after the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to hear the appeal from Trump and eight co-defendants who have sought to disqualify Willis and her office amid claims that she had an improper relationship with Nathan Wade, an outside lawyer she appointed to lead the case."

The Lawless States of America, Ctd. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors have begun moving to drop charges accusing Jan. 6 defendants of obstructing Congress's confirmation of the 2020 presidential election results, offering new plea deals after the Supreme Court last month restricted the government's use of that count, according to court filings. Some beneficiaries include members of the extremist Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who are not accused of other felony offenses, but whose leaders were convicted of conspiring to use force to oppose the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Those whose charges may be dropped are among a small core group of Capitol riot defendants who prosecutors alleged understood why Congress was meeting and who came not to protest but to block lawmakers from acting."

** Salvador Rizzo & Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bob Menendez was convicted Tuesday of taking bribes from three businessmen who showered him and his wife with cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz, an extravagant bounty for his help securing deals with foreign officials and trying to derail several criminal investigations in New Jersey. The jury in Manhattan federal court found the once-powerful New Jersey lawmaker guilty on all 16 felony counts. They include bribery, extortion, wire fraud, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt from 2018 to 2022, when Menendez was at the height of his influence in Washington, serving as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or as the panel's top Democrat.... The two co-defendants in the trial, real estate developer Fred Daibes and businessman Wael 'Will' Hana, were also convicted.... [Menendez's] team is expected to appeal, and legal experts say he could be helped by the Supreme Court's rulings in recent years narrowing the scope of federal bribery laws." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times liveblogged developments. See yesterday's Conversation for excerpts.~~~

~~~ Sahil Kapur, et al., of NBC News: "Democrats are turning up the heat on Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., as more senators call on him to resign, with some threatening to expel him after he was found guilty Tuesday on 16 federal counts.... 'I strongly reiterate my call for him to step down.... Now if only my Republican colleagues would apply the same standards to the convicted felon who is running for President of the United States as their nominee,' [Sen. Patty] Murray [D-Wash.] said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Deinst, et al., of NBC News: "The judge presiding over the bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez indefinitely delayed the trial of the New Jersey Democrat's wife, Nadine Menendez, a co-defendant in the case who's undergoing cancer treatments, the court docket showed Tuesday. 'The trial of this matter is adjourned sine die,' U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein wrote in a brief ruling he signed Monday, using a Latin and legal term for without a date." (Also linked yesterday.)

Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "An exiled Chinese businessman who once had close ties to former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon was convicted of defrauding his online followers of more than $1 billion, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Guo, was charged last year with wire fraud and money laundering after using money from thousands of followers to support an 'extravagant lifestyle,' prosecutors said in their indictment.... In the March 2023 indictment filed in the Southern District of New York, prosecutors said Guo had 'led a complex conspiracy' to solicit funds that he used to pay for a yacht, luxury car and 50,000-square-foot mansion. He was convicted on nine of 12 counts after a trial that lasted about two months."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Peter Buxtun, a whistleblower who exposed and helped end the Tuskegee syphilis study, a four-decade experiment in which the U.S. Public Health Service used hundreds of Black men as human guinea pigs, died May 18 at a memory-care center in Rocklin, Calif. He was 86.... A former venereal disease investigator with the Public Health Service, Mr. Buxtun spent seven years trying to draw attention to the Tuskegee study, meeting with journalists, doctors, public health officials and anyone who would listen. His efforts, and the reporting that he inspired, brought widespread attention to one of the country's most notorious medical scandals, revealing how 399 Black men in the segregated South were exploited for a study in which their syphilis would be monitored but not treated."

Washington Post: "Claes Dohlman, an ophthalmologist whose research into diseased and damaged eyes led to the development of an artificial cornea that restored vision to thousands of patients considered unsuitable for transplant surgery, died July 14 at his home in Weston, Mass. He was 101."

The Conversation -- July 16, 2024

Tyler Pager & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans. He is also weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad immunity for presidents and other constitutional officeholders, the people said.... The announcement would mark a major shift for Biden, a former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has long resisted calls to reform the high court. The potential changes come in response to growing outrage among his supporters about recent ethics scandals surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas and decisions by the new court majority that have changed legal precedent on issues including abortion and federal regulatory powers." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course none of this can happen without Congressional approval, so nothing will happen unless the angels step in and re-elect Biden, and give Democrats solid majorities in the House & Senate for the next term.

Nandita Bose & Jarrett Renshaw of Reuters: "President Joe Biden promised Black voters on Tuesday that he was 'all in' to seek reelection on Nov. 5 and assailed Donald Trump's record as president, in his first political speech since his Republican rival's attempted assassination. Biden was greeted by chants of 'four more years' as he spoke to the NAACP's annual convention in Las Vegas, a major gathering of Black voters.... He scolded Trump for initially contending that former President Barack Obama was not an American citizen and for his reference to 'Black jobs' [which Trump claimed immigrants were taking] at the Trump-Biden debate on June 27." MB: Biden said he knew what "Black jobs" were: POTUS (Obama), VPOTUS (Harris) and Supreme Court Justice (Jackson).

** Salvador Rizzo & Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bob Menendez was convicted Tuesday of taking bribes from three businessmen who showered him and his wife with cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz, an extravagant bounty for his help securing deals with foreign officials and trying to derail several criminal investigations in New Jersey. The jury in Manhattan federal court found the once-powerful New Jersey lawmaker guilty on all 16 felony counts. They include bribery, extortion, wire fraud, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt from 2018 to 2022, when Menendez was at the height of his influence in Washington, serving as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or as the panel's top Democrat while his party was in the minority. The two co-defendants in the trial, real estate developer Fred Daibes and businessman Wael 'Will' Hana, were also convicted.... [Menendez's] team is expected to appeal, and legal experts say he could be helped by the Supreme Court's rulings in recent years narrowing the scope of federal bribery laws.z' ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments. ~~~

Nicholas Fandos: "Senator Robert Menendez is the first senator ever charged with acting as an agent of a foreign power, and the first in the Senate's 235-year history to face accusations of bribery on two separate occasions. (His first bribery trial ended with a hung jury in 2017.)... This resounding verdict is likely to ratchet up pressure on Menendez to resign before his term ends. But there is nothing in the Constitution and Senate rules that requires him to give up a seat post-conviction. If he refuses, senators' only option is to hold a rare expulsion vote."

Ben Weiser: "The judge set sentencing for Oct 29."

Fandos: "Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, promptly called on Menendez to step down.... The question now is whether Menendez will listen or whether Schumer will have to force his hand with the threat of an expulsion vote."

Tracey Tully: "Governor [Phil] Murphy [D] called on Menendez to resign immediately. 'In the event of a vacancy,' Murphy said in a statement, 'I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve.'"

Maria Cramer: "Menendez told reporters outside the courthouse that he plans to appeal. 'I'm deeply disappointed by the jury's decision,' he said. 'I have never violated my public oath. I've never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country.'... Menendez said the jury's verdict would put 'at risk every member of the United States Senate in terms of what they think a foreign agent should be.'"

Fandos: "The leaders of the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee issued a statement saying they would take up an investigation into Senator Menendez. 'The committee will consider the full range of disciplinary actions,' they wrote."~~~

~~~ Sahil Kapur, et al., of NBC News: "Democrats are turning up the heat on Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., as more senators call on him to resign, with some threatening to expel him after he was found guilty Tuesday on 16 federal counts.... 'I strongly reiterate my call for him to step down.... Now if only my Republican colleagues would apply the same standards to the convicted felon who is running for President of the United States as their nominee,' [Sen. Patty] Murray [D-Wash.] said in a statement."

~~~ Jonathan Deinst, et al., of NBC News: "The judge presiding over the bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez indefinitely delayed the trial of the New Jersey Democrat's wife, Nadine Menendez, a co-defendant in the case who's undergoing cancer treatments, the court docket showed Tuesday. 'The trial of this matter is adjourned sine die,' U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein wrote in a brief ruling he signed Monday, using a Latin and legal term for without a date."

Lisa Lerer, et al., of the New York Times: "Leaders of the Democratic National Committee are moving swiftly to confirm President Biden as his party's presidential nominee by the end of July, according to four people.... The move would formalize Mr. Biden as the nominee at a moment when Democrats are torn over whether he should run again after his poor debate performance.... The process will effectively begin when the rules committee of the Democratic National Convention meets on a video call at 11 a.m. on Friday, followed by another party group on Sunday. All of the more than 4,000 delegates are expected to begin casting their ballots as soon as Monday, a process that is likely to take about a week. After that, the committee is expected to quickly hold the roll call, a tradition that typically occurs on the convention floor but is being held virtually this year.... Under the party's rules, [Mr. Biden] can be replaced as the nominee only if he agrees to step aside and release his delegates." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "Dozens of House Democrats are organizing a plan to speak out against their own party's effort to seal President Joe Biden's nomination sooner than originally planned, which they argue stifles the intense ongoing debate about his candidacy, according to a lawmaker involved in the effort. A drafted letter, circulated by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.)..., offers the first public signal from Democrats since the weekend's attempted assassination on ... Donald Trump that scores of their own members remain deeply unsettled about the future of Biden's candidacy."

Wipeout. Michael Schmidt & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who is running for Senate, warned during a private meeting with donors on Saturday that his party was likely to suffer overwhelming losses in November if President Biden remained at the top of the ticket, according to two people with direct knowledge of Mr. Schiff's remarks at the meeting. If Mr. Biden remained, not only would he lose to former President Donald J. Trump, he could be enough of a drag on other Democratic candidates that the party would most likely lose the Senate and miss an opportunity to win control of the House, Mr. Schiff said at a fund-raiser in New York."

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr apologised to Donald Trump on Tuesday, after Kennedy's son posted video and audio of a call between the two men in which Trump made bizarre remarks about vaccines and babies, as well as appearing to offer Kennedy some sort of political deal.... The call was apparently made before Trump and Kennedy's later meeting on Monday at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, reportedly to discuss the possibility of Kennedy endorsing Trump." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. As Ken suggests, it's impossible to say whose views about vaccinations are nuttier: Trump's or Kennedy's.

Carol Leonnig & others of the Washington Post report more details on the security efforts at Saturday's Trump rally in rural Pennsylvania. Here's one bit: "The Secret Service counter-sniper who killed the gunman ... had him in his sights and was trying to assess whether he had a weapon and was a threat, the official said. Secret Service radio traffic had relayed that local police either spotted or were trying to find a suspicious man around that building. The counter-sniper was a veteran marksman who is considered a legend in the Secret Service because of his high ratings for accuracy at long distances. The counter-sniper who killed Crooks fired as soon as he saw Crooks lift a weapon, the official said. That counter-sniper killed Crooks in one shot, but seconds after he had fired at Trump...."

Here is the New York Times liveblog of developments Tuesday in the investigation of the shooting of Donald Trump. ~~~

"The Secret Service faced growing scrutiny on Tuesday over its failure to stop the assassination attempt of ... Donald J. Trump, including questions about how it handled warnings from crowd members of a suspicious person outside Mr. Trump's rally this weekend in Butler, Pa." This is the pinned item at 12 noon.

Glenn Thrush: "The AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting was purchased in 2013 by the gunman's father -- who owns more than a dozen firearms of different types.... The gunman bought about 50 rounds of ammunition just prior to the shooting.... First responders found no identification on his body, so they sent the serial number on his rifle to the A.T.F., which traced the weapon to his father in about 20 minutes, according to law enforcement officials and an A.T.F. timeline of events. After retrieving the names of immediate family members, agents found a photograph online that matched the face of the dead gunman. It all took about 30 minutes, according to the officials and the A.T.F. timeline."

Julia Ainsley, et al., of NBC News: "Before a would-be assassin took aim at Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, local police officers notified the former president's Secret Service detail that they were looking for a suspicious person in the area, a U.S. official told NBC News. The suspicious person, later identified as Thomas Crooks, 20, was first flagged to local police officers by rallygoers on their way into the event. The attendees reported they saw Crooks pacing and behaving strangely near the magnetometers, four officials told NBC News.... It is not clear what time the Secret Service was notified and whether it was before Trump took the stage.... The timing raises questions about whether other measures could have been taken to stop Crooks."

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: Yesterday, we briefly discussed the difference between left-wing & right-wing conspiracy theories. I argued that left-wing theories were more likely to be based in facts, so, you know, more apt to be true. As if to prove my point, Forrest M. wrote of Trump's injury in this weekend's assassination attempt, "I heard that the bullet actually went in one ear and out the other, with nothing in between to stop it."

Presidential Race

Ashley Parker & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "A somber Donald Trump -- his right ear covered by a small white bandage -- strode into the Republican National Convention on Monday evening, lightly pumping his right fist and gently waving the same hand.... Trump ... was uncharacteristically subdued and visibly emotional, acknowledging the crowd with waves and fist pumps and occasional thumbs up as he repeatedly mouthed 'Thank you' and slowly climbed the stairs to the suite where his family and several friends stood waiting." The article goes on to describe the good fortune Trump has enjoyed recently, some of it self-made, some which Biden's stumbles provided. ~~~

     ~~~ Well, Some of His Family. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "But in what could be characterized as the most triumphant moment so far for Trump's 2024 campaign, there was a glaring absence among the VIPs -- his wife and the former first lady, Melania Trump.... Melania Trump is not on the list of announced convention headliners and keynote speakers. Her absence from the list of speakers is a notable break away from a decades-long tradition, in which the wives of Republican presidential nominees deliver remarks at the convention." Also MIA: Ivanka & Jared. And Barron.

Marie: Hands on hearts, please: "Ohohoh, say can you see ... Donald's former veepee?"

Marie: I don't quite remember how I've covered previous Republican conventions, because I've never been interested in them. I guess this year I'll just direct you to the New York Times' liveblog, as I did yesterday. Here are some updates from last night's liveblog:

Michael Gold: "Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio just walked into the arena at the Republican National Convention with his wife, Usha Vance, to a chorus of cheers.... Ohio's lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, formally nominated J.D. Vance as the Republicans' vice presidential nominee. In his speech at the convention, he described Vance as someone who shared Donald Trump's values and had an 'America-first attitude in his heart.'... And after a voice vote, it's official: J.D. Vance is the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee."

Nicholas Nehamas: "The Biden campaign said on a call with reporters that Vice President Kamala Harris had accepted a proposal from CBS News to debate J.D. Vance.... he debate being would take place in Washington on Aug. 13, according to a Biden campaign official. That official and another campaign official said that Vice President Harris called Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio this afternoon to congratulate him on his selection as Donald Trump's running mate...."

Michael Bender: "Donald J. Trump's decision to name Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate on Monday capped a monthslong selection process that stretched until the virtual last minute -- he didn't settle on his pick until the final 24 hours before announcing it, according to three people.... Even as the former president and his team flew Sunday on his private plane from Bedminster, N.J., to Milwaukee, Mr. Trump peppered aides and family members about the pros and cons of his selection, these people said."

Charles Homans: "Donald J. Trump supporters, including his son Donald Trump Jr., have blamed Democrats and media figures' comparisons of Trump to Hitler for Saturday's assassination attempt.... J.D. Vance mad the comparison himself in a 2016 text message that was later made public."

Shawn McCreesh: "... Monday night ... was the first time [Donald Trump] appeared in public since being rushed off a stage in Western Pennsylvania by Secret Service agents 48 hours earlier, bleeding from the ear after being shot at by a would-be assassin. A gauzy bandage covered his ear, and his slow and purposeful walk across the convention hall was filmed in the style of a boxer entering an arena."

Maya King: "An all-male lineup of Black elected officials addressed the Republican National Convention during its prime-time session on Monday night.... Five Black conservatives, including Mark Robinson, the North Carolina lieutenant governor and candidate for governor; Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina; and Representatives Byron Donalds of Florida, Wesley Hunt of Texas and John James of Michigan took the convention stage with speeches that focused largely on their personal stories, President Biden's perceived policy failures in Black communities and their unwavering support for ... Donald Trump."

Gold: "Donald Trump got another round of cheers as he left the arena, waving to the crowd as he descended the stairs from his box."

Jonathan Weisman: "Sean O'Brien, the Teamsters president, said he was the first leader of his union to address a Republican convention. While he praised Trump as 'one tough S.O.B.,' he laced his address with castigations of corporate America -- not the usual rhetoric of a Republican gathering."

Marie: I'll bet if your spouse was winged by an assassin's bullet, you would rush to his side if it was at all possible to do so. If you were a political wife and your husband was running for POTUS*, you'd put on a big show, even if you couldn't stand him. Not Melanie. She did have a publicist put out a lengthy statement, which recognizes Donald Trump as a human being. So that's good.

Ian Ward in Politico Magazine reports "55 things to know about J.D. Vance." ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "I'll repeat what I said when it first became apparent that Vance was a serious candidate to be the vice presidential nominee: 'Should [he] be named to the ticket I'm sure some pundits will once again try to assure themselves that the "real" Vance is the one who acted like an anti-Trump moderate when he was trying to shill his awful book and get mainstream media gigs. As always, 1)never assume that the persona a liar and grifter has when he's pandering to you is the "real" one, and 2)he has been full MAGA in the Senate and would be in any other office, so what he "really" thinks is also beside the point.'" ~~~

~~~ Hitler's Running Mate. Gram Slattery & Helen Coster of Reuters look at J.D.'s amazing transformation from Trump critic to Trump lackey. ~~~

~~~ The Careless Punk. Suzanne Lynch of Politico: "'This is a disaster for Ukraine.' Those are the words of one senior EU official today as Europe reacted to Donald Trump's choice of Ohio senator J.D. Vance as his running mate. While Europe was already panicked about a second Trump presidency and its implications for U.S. foreign policy, the addition of Vance to the GOP ticket has raised further questions about a potential new administration's commitment to Ukraine and the transatlantic alliance. Vance has made his views on Ukraine clear. In 2022, he told Steve Bannon in an interview 'I got to be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.' In February 2024, when Vance made his first appearance at the Munich Security Conference, he told Politico that the U.S. needed to reassess its support for Ukraine and skipped a meeting with the Ukraine delegation and other senators. His rhetoric has toughened since...."

Rachel Bade & Ryan Lizza of Politico: "... Donald Trump met [Monday] morning in Milwaukee with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to discuss the possibility of the independent candidate endorsing the Republican nominee, according to multiple people familiar with the huddle. Asked about the meeting and a potential endorsement, Kennedy denied that he plans to drop out of the race."

One Reason No One Should Have So Much Money. Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Tech billionaire Elon Musk said he will commit $45 million per month to a new political action committee backing former President Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.... Potentially crossing into hundreds of millions of dollars, Musk's promised spending would be unprecedented."

David Fahrenthold, et al., of the New York Times: "The building from which a gunman fired at former President Trump on Saturday was -- at least in hindsight -- an obvious security risk. Its rooftop offered an ideal sniper's perch, with a close, elevated and unobstructed view of Mr. Trump. But when the Secret Service drew up plans for Saturday's rally, it left that building outside its security perimeter. Instead, local law enforcement officials in Butler, Pa., were given responsibility for that building, and no police officers were stationed on the roof itself. The building, used as a warehouse by equipment manufacturer AGR International, has become a focal point of myriad investigations into the shooting.... The first question is why the building, about 450 feet from the stage, was left out of the perimeter. A Secret Service advance team visited the site and made the determination, and a supervisor would have had to approve it.... The Secret Service has not said whether local law enforcement officers made service agents aware of a suspect or whether those officers were up to the task of dealing with the situation....

"Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said on Sunday that local law enforcement had been notified of a suspicious person by rally visitors before the event started. In an interview on Monday, he said that local police officers were in contact through radio with the agency before the shooting, including about the concerned warnings from the passers-by.... On Monday, the leaders of the Senate's Homeland Security Committee announced their own investigation into Saturday night's shooting. Senators Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan, and Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, told the Secret Service in a letter that they wanted to know 'how the suspect was able to get this close to a Secret Service protectee.'"

David Botti, et al., of the New York Times: "Video taken by a bystander shows people pointing to the man suspected of shooting at ... Donald J. Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania and frantically warning law enforcement, just two minutes before the first burst of gunfire rang out, according to an analysis of the footage by The New York Times. 'Someone's on top of the roof,' one person is heard saying. 'There he is, right there.' 'He's on the roof!' says another, calling to an officer. 'Right here, right on the roof.' The footage shows the suspected gunman lying prone on the roof of a white structure, which The Times previously identified as the location from which shots were fired."

Nick Miroff & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, facing deepening scrutiny over an assassination attempt against ... Donald Trump, took responsibility Monday for her agency's failure to prevent the attack but said she would not resign. 'It was unacceptable,' Cheatle told ABC News in an interview, her first public remarks since Saturday's bloodshed.... 'The buck stops with me.' Cheatle's statements were published hours after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the shooting a security 'failure' but stopped short of assigning blame -- telling reporters at the White House that he had '100 percent confidence' in the U.S. Secret Service and its director.... The agency's failure to secure the rooftop used by the gunman -- one of the most basic preparations for public speaking events -- has raised questions about staffing, strategy and leadership.... The House Oversight Committee will receive a briefing on the assassination attempt Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the planning....

"In her interview with ABC News, Cheatle appeared to shift some of the blame to local authorities, who coordinated with the Secret Service on Saturday. She said agents moved quickly to stop the shooter after rallygoers spotted him atop a building just outside the security perimeter, but that police officers were inside that structure while the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was on the roof.... 'There was local police in that building -- there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building,' she told ABC News." ~~~

~~~ CNN reported on-air that a local sniper unit was stationed inside the building.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The motives of the young man [Thomas Crooks] who tried to assassinate ... Donald J. Trump remain a mystery, even after the F.B.I. gained access to his cellphone on Monday and began analyzing its contents for clues, law enforcement officials said.... Technicians are in the middle of analyzing all of the gunman's electronic devices, not just his phone, for his communications, browser history and social media activity, officials [said].... Along with his phone, investigators sent the AR-15-type rifle found near the gunman's body -- the weapon had been purchased by his father -- to the bureau's lab [in Quantico, Va.], as well as several explosive devices discovered in his car and home.... F.B.I. officials said Mr. Crooks did not have a history of mental illness or criminal activity. He does not appear to have left behind any written statement that could easily explain his motivations or provide clues to any external connections or influences, according to a senior law enforcement official.... F.B.I. officials said Mr. Crooks did not have a history of mental illness or criminal activity."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Monday it was 'a mistake' to say that he wanted to put ... Donald J. Trump in 'a bull's-eye' but defended his descriptions of his rival in the 2024 election as a threat to the foundations of the nation's democracy. 'How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?' Mr. Biden asked NBC's Lester Holt in a 20-minute interview broadcast in prime time.... Mr. Biden told Mr. Holt that 'it was a mistake to use the word.' He added: 'I didn't, I didn't say cross hairs. I meant bull's-eye. I meant focus on it. Focus on what he's doing.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As is common, the interview was pretty much a disaster. This from Shear's report: "Mr. Biden also said he was not surprised that the federal judge overseeing Mr. Trump's classified documents case threw out all of the charges against him on Monday, but he struggled to make his point clearly. 'I had an independent prosecutor to look at me,' Mr. Biden said. 'They spent months on mine, going through -- and I was totally cooperative -- in and out of my house. And I'll never, I don't know.' At the end of his answer, Mr. Biden noted that the prosecutor cleared him of any wrongdoing, and then added: 'But my generic point is that it's um, well.' He was quiet for several moments before explaining that he disagreed with a Supreme Court opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas related to the issue." ~~~

     ~~~ Watch the interview on YouTube here, and draw your own conclusions. Here's the transcript, via NBC News.

Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "Democratic lawmakers and strategists inside the effort to reelect President Biden have grown concerned in recent days that he is listening to a small number of aides who are limiting the data he receives.... The calls for broader advice come as Democratic lawmakers are raising new doubts about what Biden has been told about his support, after a Zoom call Saturday when Biden argued without evidence that he was leading in national polls outside the typical margin of error.... 'The polling data we're seeing nationally and on the swing states has been essentially where it was before,' Biden said. 'You noticed the last three polls, nationally, they had me up four points....' The list of head-to-head national polls maintained by the 538 website shows no polls since June with Biden up by four percentage points. A Washington Post average of public polls since the debate shows Biden trailing Donald Trump nationally by more than two points, a loss of almost two points from his pre-debate standing in the same polls."

Welcome to the Lawless States of America (unless it looks as if you did something wrong): ~~~

** Devlin Barrett & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "The federal judge overseeing the classified documents charges against ... Donald Trump has dismissed the indictment, on the grounds that special counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed, according to a new court filing Monday. U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon's ruling is a remarkable win for Trump, whose lawyers have thrown longshot argument after longshot argument to dismiss the case. Other courts have rejected similar arguments to the one that he made in Florida about the legality of Smith's appointment. Even if Cannon is later overruled by a higher court, the decision to dismiss Trump's indictment adds to a string of legal victories for him in recent weeks, including a sweeping Supreme Court ruling that gives former presidents broad immunity for their official acts while in office. Trump's legal team has long considered the classified document case to be the strongest of the four criminal cases against him.... The legal theory that Smith was illegally appointed and funded has generally been considered far-fetched.... But the legal argument gained more steam earlier this month after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the presidential immunity case that the special counsel's office needs to be established by Congress and that Smith needed to be confirmed by the Senate." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ From an update to the story: "Smith's office vowed to appeal the ruling, saying the judge's legal reasoning was at odds with past decisions on the issue." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's report is here. Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times has a liveblog here. (Also linked yesterday. See also yesterday's Conversation for a few of the reporters' entries.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Judge Aileen M. Cannon cut against decades of decisions by higher courts in declaring on Monday that the appointment of Jack Smith as a special counsel was illegitimate, throwing out the indictment against ... Donald J. Trump in the classified documents case. A Trump appointee at the U.S. District Court in South Florida, Judge Cannon had previously shocked legal experts by intervening in his favor during the investigation -- only to be reversed in two scathing rulings by a conservative appeals court. The question now is whether the appeals court will rule that she got the law wrong -- again erring in Mr. Trump's favor -- and whether Mr. Smith, when he appeals the decision, will also gamble on asking for the case to be reassigned to another judge.... Judge Cannon said ... laws did not authorize the appointment of a special prosecutor who came from outside the government. Others, she noted, have been sitting U.S. attorneys who were [already] Senate-confirmed presidential appointees when they were selected to oversee particularly sensitive cases. Her decision contradicted what the Supreme Court said in a landmark ruling in 1974 in upholding a subpoena by [Leon] Jaworski seeking President Richard M. Nixon's Oval Office tapes during the Watergate scandal. While a former Justice Department official, Mr. Jaworski was in private practice when the acting attorney general, Robert H. Bork, appointed him to take over the case. In a unanimous ruling, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, a Nixon appointee, cited those statutes in broaching Mr. Jaworski's appointment."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "What is most revealing about the Cannon decision ... is not that Trump will not face trial before the election. She had already seen to that. What it reinforces, instead, is the way that the system of accountability that the judiciary is supposed to represent can instead serve as insulation. It was made possible by Trump's first term in office -- the Supreme Court majority, Cannon's initial appointment -- and is a preview of what another four years would look like. Imagine a judiciary more fully stocked with people loyal to Trump's politics, working alongside a government bureaucracy rebuilt to accommodate more political functionaries. Imagine more people, in more places of power, who see their jobs as protecting one political party or one political leader.... At some point, such porousness becomes unfixable."

~~~~~~~~~~

Russia. Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "A Moscow court on Monday sentenced in absentia Masha Gessen, the Russian-born American journalist, author and New York Times staff member, to eight years in prison over comments they made about atrocities that the Russian military has been accused of committing in Ukraine. Russian law enforcement officials charged Mx. Gessen, who lives in the United States and uses the pronoun they, in August over a 2022 interview they gave to Yuri Dud, a popular online Russian journalist. They were put on a wanted list in December. In the interview -- which was broadcast on YouTube and has been viewed more than 6.6 million times -- they discussed the apparent massacre by Russian forces of hundreds of people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bucha and others." MB: This kind of "justice" is what the MAGAts say they want for the U.S. And they may get their wish.

The Conversation -- July 15, 2024

See the updates, further down the page, of the NYT liveblog. Trump has chosen Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio) as his running mate.

Welcome to the Lawless States of America (unless it looks as if you did something wrong): ~~~

** Devlin Barrett & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "The federal judge overseeing the classified documents charges against ... Donald Trump has dismissed the indictment, on the grounds that special counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed, according to a new court filing Monday. U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon's ruling is a remarkable win for Trump, whose lawyers have thrown longshot argument after longshot argument to dismiss the case. Other courts have rejected similar arguments to the one that he made in Florida about the legality of Smith's appointment. Even if Cannon is later overruled by a higher court, the decision to dismiss Trump's indictment adds to a string of legal victories for him in recent weeks, including a sweeping Supreme Court ruling that gives former presidents broad immunity for their official acts while in office. Trump's legal team has long considered the classified document case to be the strongest of the four criminal cases against him.... The legal theory that Smith was illegally appointed and funded has generally been considered far-fetched.... But the legal argument gained more steam earlier this month after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the presidential immunity case that the special counsel's office needs to be established by Congress and that Smith needed to be confirmed by the Senate." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's report is here. Politico's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times has a liveblog here.

Alan Feuer: "The ruling is an attempt to roll back nearly 30 years of how special counsels, like Jack Smith, have gotten their jobs.... There was a consensus opinion [during the Clinton administration] ... that special prosecutors needed to be independent enough to handle sensitive political investigations without undue influence from powerful politicians, but not so independent that they would encourage prosecutors to run amok and abuse their power."

Charlie Savage: "Judge Cannon's ruling will create a pathway for an appeal to the Supreme Court before the case can move forward -- and, for that matter, for the special counsel, Jack Smith, to ask an appeals court to remove her. But it all may be moot since Judge Cannon's previous delays have already all but ensured there could be no trial until after the 2024 election. If Trump wins, as polls currently indicate is likely, he could use his power over the Justice Department to have it scuttle the case anyway."

Feuer: "Judge Cannon's ruling came exactly two weeks after Justice Clarence Thomas deeply questioned the constitutionality of Smith's appointment in an odd concurrence in the Supreme Court's landmark ruling granting Trump broad immunity against criminal prosecution.... Thomas included his expressions of doubt in his concurrence even though the question of Smith's appointment was not under consideration by the court at all and had never been raised in the first place in the underlying immunity case.... For those wondering how Judge Cannon's decision will affect Trump's other federal case -- the one in which he stands accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election -- the short answer is: Let's wait and see."

Richard Fausset: "The ruling should have 'zero effect' on the indictment of Trump in Georgia, said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University."

Feuer: "Prosecutors in Smith's office have for months been amassing a dossier of what they believe are bad decisions by Judge Cannon."

Eileen Sullivan: "Michael Waldman, a constitutional lawyer and president of the Brennan Center for Justice, said Judge Cannon 'handled this case like an eager member of Donald Trump's defense team.' He cited her slow pace in making routine pretrial decisions and her patience for hearing 'somewhat outlandish legal arguments' without ever resolving some of them. Monday's decision, however, he said, 'goes beyond what she's done before.'"

Sullivan: "A spokesman for the Office of the Special Counsel, Peter Carr, issued a statement on Judge Cannon's decision and the special counsel plans to appeal it: 'The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel. The Justice Department has authorized the Special Counsel to appeal the court's order.'"

~~~ Marie: One thing Andrew Weissmann & Barbara McQuade said on MSNBC this morning: Smith could forget about the case, and the federal prosecutor (in Miami or even in D.C.) could quickly call a grand jury & reindict, likely drawing a different presiding judge. The two former prosecutors also emphasized that Loose Cannon's ruling may be a blessing in disguise: her other odd pro-Trump rulings tended to be within the wheelhouse of a district judge to decide, as were her delays. But this ruling gives Smith something to appeal.

Elizabeth Spears of the New York Times: "A whole generation of political professionals is so enamored of 'The West Wing,' [Aaron] Sorkin's show about the travails of White House occupants, that they now suffer from what I think of as Terminal West Wing Brain. The show, which ran from 1999 to 2006, portrays politics and policy not as ruthless powermongering pursued by nihilists (that's 'House of Cards') but as a higher calling that flawed but idealistic people engage in from a place of civic pride.... Working across the aisle isn't easy when your colleagues are telling their constituents that you're demonic, and pushing conspiracy theories about child sex trafficking in pizza parlors. Bipartisan cooperation requires a shared idea of reality that exists in 'The West Wing' but not in the real world.... Instead of watching 'The West Wing,' Democrats should have been taking to heart the lessons of 'Veep,' Armando Iannucci's very different White House series in which everything dumb and disastrous that can happen does happen. A dark and devastating comedy, it depicts Washington as staffed by petty, venal people who are too busy tripping over themselves to successfully advance their own interests." Read on; it's fun and instructive, especially the whole invasion-by-Canada part.

Weird News. John Byrne of the Raw Story: "The 20-year-old gunman who shot and injured ... Donald Trump, Thomas Matthew Crooks, appeared in an advertisement for BlackRock Inc., the company disclosed Sunday. 'Crooks was one of several students who appeared in the background of the 2022 ad and was unpaid, BlackRock, the world's largest money manager,' said in a statement to Bloomberg. 'The ad was filmed at Bethel Park High School, where Crooks graduated in 2022, and featured a teacher, the company said.' The firm didn't discuss the content of the ad but said footage would be made available to law enforcement and it 'will be removed from circulation.'"

Here are the New York Times' live election updates. ~~~

Maggie Astor: "The homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, said on ABC News this morning that it shouldn't have been possible for the gunman to target Trump as he did. 'A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not occur,' he said. 'That is precisely why President Biden directed that an independent review of the incident occur.'... Mayorkas said it was 'unequivocally false' for Representative Mark Green of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, to suggest that the Secret Service had rebuffed requests from Trump's security detail for greater resources before the shooting. 'We had enhanced security for the former president beginning at least in June,' he said. 'We have not received any requests for additional security measures that were rebuffed.'"

Eric Schmitt: "Some 1,700 National Guard members from Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota, and a small number of active-duty troops, will support the Secret Service and F.B.I. in providing security and logistics at the convention, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Monday. Those are the same numbers as were planned before the assassination attempt against Trump on Saturday, she added."

Matthew Goldstein: "Shares of ... Donald J. Trump's social media company surged on the first trading day after his attempted assassination."

Chris Cameron: "Donald Trump, in a post on his social media site, said the decision by a federal judge to dismiss the classified documents indictment against him was the 'first step' in 'uniting our nation,' before repeating the unsubstantiated claim that his legal troubles are being coordinated by the Biden administration. He added that the other criminal and civil cases facing him should also be dismissed."

Neil Vigdor: "... Donald J. Trump revealed on Monday that he would name his running mate later in the day, ending months of intrigue about a critical political decision as the curtain rises on the Republican National Convention...."

Glenn Thrush: "Prosectors and Justice Department officials -- who had spent the weekend working on the assassination investigation -- scrapped their morning schedules to assess the impact of Cannon's ruling on a range of cases, including Hunter Biden's looming trial in tax charges in California. Smith's spokesman said they were not prepared to comment immediately."

** Michael Bender, et al.: "Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota and Senator Marco Rubio have been told that neither one will be Donald J. Trump's running mate, according to four people briefed on the matter. Both men were among the top three contenders to join the former president's ticket, raising the prospect that the third person, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, may be announced this afternoon as the Republican vice-presidential nominee." [MB: There is so little reward for all that ass-kissing.]

Michael Gold: "Delegates at the Republican National Convention just approved the party's new platform, which reflects ... Donald J. Trump's wholesale takeover of the party. It jettisoned long-held positions on abortion rights and same-sex marriage, while removing many party specifics and reflecting Mr. Trump's priorities on immigration and trade."

Gold: "... Donald J. Trump has chosen Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio to be his running mate, wagering that the young senator will bring fresh energy to the Republican ticket and ensure that the movement Mr. Trump began nearly a decade ago can live on after him. Mr. Vance, 39, is a political newcomer who entered the Senate only last year, but he has spent that time methodically ascending the conservative firmament. Once an acerbic Trump critic -- attacking Mr. Trump as 'reprehensible' and calling him 'cultural heroin' -- he won Mr. Trump's backing in his 2022 Senate race by wholly embracing his politics and his lies about a stolen election.... J.D. Vance is young, and his political career is tied entirely to Donald Trump. The choice as running mate makes him a very likely successor of the populist, right-wing movement that Trump started."

Cameron: "The Biden campaign is previewing their attack lines against Donald Trump's new running mate. Among the material: J.D. Vance's own statements about Trump. A Biden campaign spokesman just shared previous statements from Vance saying Trump 'might be America's Hitler.'..."

Jonathan Swan: "The behind the scenes campaign to talk Trump out of choosing Vance was intense. Rupert Murdoch, major donors, lawmakers all argued strenuously against Vance. In the end Vance was helped by a crew of his own influential allies including the former president's eldest son Donald Trump Jr., and Tucker Carlson.... More than any of the other people on the VP shortlist, Vance could be seen as a successor to Trump and the America First movement. He is ideologically more aligned with Trump -- especially on foreign policy -- than any other contender."

Gold: "Donald Trump was just formally awarded the number of delegates necessary to secure the Republican presidential nomination, after his current home state of Florida announced its votes. Mr. Trump's son Eric made the announcement."

Nicholas Nehamas: "President Biden posted a fundraising appeal on social media about the Vance selection, saying that the Ohio Senator 'talks a big game about working people' but wants to raise taxes on the middle class while cutting them for the rich. 'Protect democracy. Defeat Trump-Vance,' the fundraising site says."

Simon Levien: "The Trump campaign updated its website, now fundraising as 'Trump-Vance 2024.' The announcement on the website, from Trump himself, indicates that the former president thinks Vance is fit enough to take his place, if necessary: 'When I made this decision, I knew it had to be someone who could step in and serve as your Commander-in-Chief,' he said. 'I'm calling on EVERY Pro-Trump Patriot to chip in and say, I STAND WITH President Trump & Vance!'"

Rebecca O'Brien: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will get Secret Service protection, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a White House briefing. 'In light of this weekend's events, the president has directed me to work with the Secret Service to provide protection to Robert Kennedy Jr.,' he said. Mayorkas said the Secret Service had also enhanced its protection of ... Donald J. Trump."

Marie: CNN played video of several rally attendees yelling at police that there was a man with a rifle on the roof. Trump can be heard speaking over loudspeakers. The sequence, according to CNN, takes place about a minute before the gunman shot Trump.

Will Weissert & Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Sunday urged Americans to reject political violence and recommit themselves to resolving their differences peacefully, saying the upcoming presidential election will be a 'time of testing' in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of ... Donald Trump. In a prime-time national address from the Oval Office, Biden said political passions can run high but 'we must never descend into violence.' The president said his party and the Republicans can compete forcefully over different policy visions -- but must do it in a civil fashion."

     ~~~ Marie: Unless some other sudden event changes everything, this stupid kid from Pennsylvania has ensured that Donald Trump will be the next president*. He couldn't have done anything more helpful to Trump than to wing him, giving him the bloodied appearance of a martyr with no more injury than an ear piercing. And, according to several teevee pundits, the near-miss shut down all efforts to replace President Biden on the Democratic ticket. He can no longer get through a full sentence without garbling words, sometimes to the point of changing the entire meaning of the sentence, such as when he twice referred to the "battle box" when clearly he meant "ballot box." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the text of the speech, via the White House, apparently as written. Certainly not as delivered. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Andrew Solender of Axios: "Congressional Democrats' all-consuming angst over President Biden's candidacy has taken an abrupt backseat in lawmakers' minds in the wake of an assassination attempt against former President Trump.... Democratic lawmakers say their immediate focus is on their personal security and that of their staffs, not on their party's political woes, helping to allow a crucial cooldown period for the embattled president.... A senior House Democrat suggested the post shooting atmosphere in the party is too 'chaotic' for internal battles over leadership." AND~~~

     ~~~ "Beyond Fucked." Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: "At a time when President Joe Biden has been struggling to shore up support with fellow Democrats following a miserable June debate performance and shaky cleanup effort, some professional Democratic political operatives said Saturday's shooting will end up sealing the incumbent's electoral fate. 'We're so beyond f---ed,' one longtime Democratic insider said, noting that the image of Trump thrusting his fist in the air, with blood dramatically smeared across his face, will be indelible." ~~~

     ~~~ Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Some Republicans celebrated the fist-raised photographs as raw symbols of [Donald Trump's] strength and instinct. "Trump's chances of losing just went to zero," Representative Dan Crenshaw, Republican of Texas, wrote on X. Mr. Trump and other allies rushed to suggest divine intervention.... His daughter-in-law Lara Trump, whom he appointed co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, posted a rendering of what appears to be Jesus holding Mr. Trump's shoulders on Instagram with the caption, 'Fear not for I am with you.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, I heard all that fist-raising was Trump being pissed off at the Secret Service agents because they wouldn't let him go back and pick up his shoes, which apparently slipped off his feet during the protective scrimmage. Okay, I'm not serious, but this transcript shows that Trump yelled four times to let him get his shoes before he showed any interest in revving up the crowd.

Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The attempted assassination of Donald Trump represents a glaring failure by the Secret Service, which left the former president exposed to gunfire in a breach of security that will likely haunt a long-idealized agency that has been repeatedly tarnished by scandal in recent years. Important questions about the shooting remain unresolved, but the fact that the 20-year-old gunman managed to scale a roof about 200 yards from where Trump was speaking has already prompted calls for a searching investigation of the Secret Service."

Emily Davies, et al., of the Washington Post: "The FBI said Sunday that investigators have not yet identified any ideology fueling the gunman [Thomas Crooks] who fired at ...Donald Trump at a packed campaign rally, and they believe he carried out the horrifying assassination attempt on his own.... Seconds after he opened fire from a rooftop outside the rally's security perimeter Saturday evening, using an AR-style rifle that was legally purchased by his father, he was fatally shot by the Secret Service, authorities said.... Officials said they had not reached any final conclusions and are still scrutinizing Crooks' associates to see if anyone aided his violent plan." ~~~

~~~ Pierre Thomas and others of ABC News report on what little can be gleaned about the shooter.

Elizabeth Dwoskin & Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: "A chorus of right-leaning tech and business leaders, led by X owner Elon Musk, used their online megaphones in the wake of Saturday's attack to criticize the Secret Service's diversity initiatives ... and make unsubstantiated allegations about the shooting. The claims by powerful business leaders with large online followings helped influence the direction of platform itself, as well as the storylines viewed by millions of people. Musk's post endorsing Trump after the shooting received the most engagement of any post on X related to the attempted assassination.... Musk, turning to a familiar refrain of his, appeared to point the finger for the security breach at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts -- amplifying a post that ridiculed the U.S. Secret Service's director for what it called 'diversity hires.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's right. Despite years of Secret Service scandals, it is women and minorities who have ruined it. After all, Clint Eastwood played a fictional heroic Secret Service agent in a movie, so agents must be supermen.

"BlueAnon." Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post: "The shooting threw into overdrive a phenomenon dubbed 'BlueAnon' ... that refers to liberal conspiracy theories online. As more Americans lose trust in mainstream institutions and turn to partisan commentators and influencers for information, experts say they are seeing a big uptick in the manufacture and spread of BlueAnon conspiracy theories, a sign that the communal warping of reality is spreading well beyond the right.... Minutes after Saturday's shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., liberals began flooding social media platforms with conspiracy theories. They claimed the blood on ... Donald Trump's ear was from a theatrical gel pack; that the shooting was a 'false flag,' perhaps coordinated by the Secret Service in collaboration with the Trump campaign; that the scene of a bloodied Trump raising his fist under an American flag was '#staged.'" MB: Despite the both-siderism embossed on this article, Lorenz admits "... BlueAnon claims bear no resemblance to the most lurid elements of QAnon -- which involve false allegations of Satan worship and pedophilia among liberal elites...."

Trump the Uniter. Ha! David McAfee of the Raw Story: "'... Donald Trump has completely rewritten his convention speech in light of the assassination attempt against him on Saturday and will call on Thursday for a new effort at national unity,' [a Washington Examiner reporter] states. 'In an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner a day after being hit by a sniper's bullet, Trump said he wanted to take advantage of a historic moment and draw the country together.'... Trump said, 'The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger ... Had this not happened, this would've been one of the most incredible speeches' that he said would have targeted President Joe Biden."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yep. I'm sure Trump's brush with death has made him a new man and the nasty disposition of a lifetime has melted away.