The Conversation -- August 7, 2024

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump said Wednesday he'll debate Vice President Harris in the near future, suggesting the two sides could reach an agreement after Trump backed out of a planned ABC News debate. 'I hear she's sort of a nasty person, but not a good debater,' Trump said on Fox News's 'Fox and Friends.' 'But we'll see because we'll be debating her I guess in the pretty near future.... It's going to be announced fairly soon. But we'll be debating her. I would like to see it on Fox, by the way,' the former president added. Trump indicated that other networks, such as NBC and CBS, have also been lobbying to host the event. 'I want to debate her. I think it's important for the country that we debate,' the GOP nominee said. 'Now where it is, I'm all for Fox. I think Fox would do a really good job. But two people have to agree.'"~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's super. The other day Trump said that he had "agreed" to a debate. Well, he hadn't agreed with Harris, because she said no. And he hadn't agreed with Fox, as Akhilleus pointed out, because the debate wasn't supposed to be between the Republican nominee/felon and the network that sponsors him. Besides, it wasn't clear that even Fox had "agreed" to host the debate Trump said he had agreed to. So now someone seems to have successfully explained to the fake author of "The Art of the Deal" (at least till he forgets) that "two people have to agree" to effect an agreement/deal/contract.

Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "An Arizona grand jury that indicted 18 Donald Trump allies this spring for their role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election had expressed interest in possible charges against the former president, according to a legal motion filed this week by state prosecutors.... The interest prompted the Arizona case's lead prosecutor to give a PowerPoint presentation and request that jurors not indict Trump, according to the motion. Nicholas Klingerman, assistant attorney general for the Arizona attorney general's criminal division, cited a rule about prosecuting someone for the same crime twice as well as a lack of evidence.... Trump was not indicted but was described as an unindicted co-conspirator." ~~~

~~~ Fake Elector Cops a Plea. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "An Arizona Republican who falsely claimed to be a legitimate presidential elector for ... Donald Trump ... has pleaded guilty for her role in the scheme. Lorraine Pellegrino, one of 11 Arizona Republicans who falsely posed as Trump's electors that year, accepted a guilty plea to a single charge for filing a 'false instrument' -- the fraudulent Electoral College certificate. The state charge was one of several she faced for allegedly joining in a conspiracy to corrupt Arizona's election results.... Pellegrino's plea deal is the second victory in the Arizona case in as many days for [Arizona Attorney General Kris] Mayes, a Democrat. Another one of the 18 defendants, former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, began cooperating with prosecutors this week in exchange for a deal to dismiss the charges she faced. Ellis ... cooperated with prosecutors last year in the Georgia case."

Billionaire Know-It-All Pisses off British PM. Eshe Nelson of the New York Times: "As he tries to quell violent outbreaks across Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also embroiled in a war of words with Elon Musk.... Over the past few days, Mr. Musk has posted incendiary comments and shared memes and videos about the riots in Britain to his more than 193 million followers on X. Violence has flared in towns across the country over the past week amid widespread misinformation after a deadly stabbing attack in Southport, England, last week, in which three girls died at a dance class. 'Civil war is inevitable,' Mr. Musk posted on X on Sunday in response to a video that showed small fires in the streets, fireworks being set off and rioters confronting the police.A spokesperson for Mr. Starmer said there was 'no justification' for Mr. Musk's comments. Since then, Mr. Musk has continued to post comments directed at the prime minister.... The comments fit a wider effort by Mr. Musk to influence politics in several countries, including the United States, Italy and Venezuela, and at times sow discontent."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race

Well, yesterday was lots of fun. Here's some of what happened.

Donald Trump sees the world a little differently than us. First of all, he doesn't know the first thing about service. He doesn't have time for it because he's too busy serving himself. Violent crime was up under Donald Trump. That's not even counting the crimes he committed.-- Gov. Tim Walz, Tuesday, in Philadelphia ~~~

⭐~~~ Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "America's introduction to Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota began with a half-hour of cheering for Vice President Kamala Harris and ended with some of the sharpest attacks Democrats have leveled against ... Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. Before a raucous crowd in Philadelphia, Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz presented the Minnesotan as a folksy former schoolteacher and football coach who had inspired his students, served in the military and improved his constituents' lives. But it was his ability to deliver searing yet accessible attacks against their Republican opponents that won Mr. Walz a place on the national ticket, and during his first rally, he did not miss his marks.... The rally also had to deal with the thorny issue of Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who was the runner-up to join Ms. Harris on the ticket and gave a fiery speech to help kick off the rally.... 'I'm going to be working my tail off to make sure we make Kamala Harris and Tim Walz the next leaders of the United States of America,' Mr. Shapiro added. Mr. Walz, in turn, said Mr. Shapiro could 'bring the fire' and called him a 'visionary leader.'... He also praised Mr. Shapiro's ability to complete an interstate highway reconstruction last year. 'Everybody in America knows, when you need a bridge fixed, call that guy,' Mr. Walz said."

The New York Times ran a liveblog Tuesday of developments in the veepstakes and the rollout of Tim Walz's introduction. I republished many of the reporters' comments, or parts of them comments in yesterday's Conversation. [In general, the Times' liveblogs are worth the price of admission, because the reporters are permitted to be sharper, more honest and slightly more colloquial in their commentary than they are in their straight reports.] Even though it gets a mention in the general report above, this bit was so much fun, I'll just repeat it here in case you don't feel like scrolling through all the other stuff.

⭐ Reid Epstein (while Walz was speaking in Philadelphia): "Walz is now stepping into the role of a running mate: Attack dog.... Walz threw down a debate challenge for JD Vance. 'I gotta tell you, I cant wait to debate the guy,' he said. 'That is, if he's willing to get off the couch and show up.'" ~~~

~~~ Lisa Lerer: "'These guys are creepy, and yes, just weird as hell,' Walz says of Trump and Vance." ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Nehamas: "Walz's debate challenge was a not-very-sly allusion to a fabricated Internet joke about JD Vance and his relationship with couches." ~~~

~~~ Michael Barbaro: "Harris can barely suppress a laugh at Walz's couch joke. And I mean, barely." [MB: The crowd, which seems to be heavy on Temple U. students, gets the joke. This is the most enthusiastic political rally crowd I've seen, maybe ever. (Herein is an explanation of the couch joke. If you missed the story, it's my fault because I thought it was too stupid to report. I was wrong.)] ~~~

~~~ Oh, and there's this, also from the liveblog:

Epstein: "Mr. Walz was born and raised in rural Nebraska, and as a young man moved to Mankato, Minn., where he taught high school social studies and coached the school's football team to a state championship.... Mr. Walz's political origin story appears ripped from a Hollywood movie script. In August 2004, he chaperoned some of his students to a campaign rally in Mankato for President George W. Bush. According to Mr. Walz, the group was turned away because one of the students had a sticker on his wallet for Mr. Bush's opponent, John F. Kerry, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts. Mr. Walz was furious, and went the next day to volunteer for the Kerry campaign. By the end of the year, Mr. Kerry had lost but Mr. Walz was determined to run for office himself. In 2006, with a campaign staffed largely by his former students, Mr. Walz won an upset victory in a rural congressional seat that had been held by Republicans for 12 years."

Rogers: "If anyone was wondering how the Trump campaign would react today, here is a low-key email sent to Trump's supporters a few minutes ago: 'Tim Walz will unleash hell on Earth!'"

[Marie: If you want to be the running mate for a major-party female presidential candidate, you must be named Tim. Also, if you want to be veep, you should have a short last name. Six letters is the dangerous max: Biden, Palin, Ryan, Kaine, Pence, Walz, Vance.]

~~~ Here's the AP's liveblog.

And there just happened to be cameras rolling at both ends. What a lucky break! ~~~

First Draft of History. Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: "When Vice President Kamala Harris gathered some of her closest advisers in the dining room of the Naval Observatory on Saturday..., her team had just wrapped up the fastest, most intensive vetting of potential running mates in modern history, a blitz of paperwork and virtual interviews that had concluded only on Friday.... One by one, the circle of her most trusted confidants ran through the pros and cons of each possible No. 2.... The team eventually focused on the three men she would meet the next day for what would prove to be pivotal in-person interviews: Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Polls had been conducted. Focus groups had been commissioned. Records reviewed. And the upshot, Ms. Harris was told, was this: She could win the White House with any of the three finalists by her side.... She could pick whomever she wanted.... The story of how Ms. Harris came to pick Mr. Walz was told through conversations with about a dozen people involved in the selection process...." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the Washington Post's version. And here's Politico's story by Eugene Daniels & others. ~~~

     ~~~ Elena Schneider, et al., of Politico: "'I'm at the end of my career. This is not about me. This is about America's working families,' Walz told Harris and the vetting team [Sunday].... 'And if I have to run through a brick wall, if I have to do the hard things,' Walz added, 'I'm willing to do it because I'm not angling for anything else.'... Above all, Walz's deference to Harris played a central role in winning over the vice president and her team."

Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz resigned from his post as chair of the Democratic Governors Association on Tuesday after Vice President Kamala Harris selected him to be her running mate. Once Walz became a candidate for federal office, he was no longer allowed to chair the organization, according to its bylaws. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, the vice chair, will replace Walz in the top slot of the group that seeks to elect more Democratic governors nationally."

Sarah Smarsh, in a New York Times op-ed: "What a relief ... to see emerge on the national stage the Minnesota governor and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, who embodies the earnest, humane, rural people who shaped me and the prairie populism that shaped the progressive foundations of the Great Plains.... Among [the rural white working class] remains a large and consequential minority of sensible people who even in their vulnerable economic state remain unmoved by charlatans blaming immigrants while amassing corporate wealth. In recent decades, the Democratic Party has made little direct appeal to them.... By selecting as her running mate Mr. Walz -- who as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives rightly criticized the party for its coastal bias in naming the caucus's leadership -- Vice President Kamala Harris has changed the course of her party and perhaps our country."

Texas Trey has been weighing his options on whom to vote for in the presidential election, and he decided to share his thoughts with us. Thanks to RAS for the link:

This is the best “why I’m voting for Kamala Harris” pitch, ever.

pic.twitter.com/dZTIBLwh3v

— Rachel Bitecofer 🗽🦆🌴🥥🇺🇸 (@RachelBitecofer) August 4, 2024

Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign trolled ... Donald Trump on his own social media platform, Truth Social, Tuesday. The campaign's official Kamala HQ page posted a comparison between two rallies -- Trump and Harris -- at the same arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At Trump's rally, empty seats could be seen in the top layer of the arena. At Harris' rally, the seats appeared to be fully occupied.... The post ... received more than 800 likes.... Other social media users also posted comparisons between the two rallies and their crowd sizes."

Awk-ward! Felonious Don. Maggie Astor & Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "... one of the Trump campaign's attack lines [against Tim Walz] landed awkwardly. Mr. Walz's 'policies to allow convicted felons to vote' in Minnesota are evidence that he 'is obsessed with spreading California's dangerously liberal agenda far and wide,' said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign. But ... if not for such policies, Mr. Trump himself would be barred from voting.... Mr. Trump is registered to vote in Florida, which, when it comes to whether felons can vote, defers to the laws of the state where a conviction took place. New York allows people with felony convictions to vote unless they are in prison, so Mr. Trump can cast a ballot unless he is incarcerated on Election Day.... If [Florida] applied its own standards instead of New York's standards to Mr. Trump, a sentence of parole or probation would disenfranchise him this November." FYI, "Felons still lose their voting rights in Minnesota while they are incarcerated."

What are the chances that Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the history of the U.S., whose Presidency was Unconstitutionally STOLEN from him by Kamabla, Barrack HUSSEIN Obama, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Shifty Adam Schiff, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, and others on the Lunatic Left, CRASHES the Democrat National Convention and tries to take back the Nomination, beginning with challenging me to another DEBATE. He feels that he made a historically tragic mistake by handing over the U.S. Presidency, a COUP, to the people in the World he most hates, and he wants it back, NOW!!! -- Donald Trump, in a social media post.

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link to digby's post that republishes Don's Mad Rant. See also Akhilleus' commentary at the end of yesterday's thread. Marie: Now, digby, with whom I usually tend to agree, writes, "Someone needs to take away his phone." As for me, I say let Trump keep his personal twitter tweeter. Let us read what he has to say every day. We have a right to know, and the media have a responsibility to publish, all the crazy thoughts Trump shares. If people still want to vote for a delusional lunatic -- and many do -- god help the USA. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: On that note, I have a new conspiracy theory of my own. The conspiracy may or may not be quite hatched yet, but I feel pretty sure many of the potential co-conspirators have been thinking up versions of it. Some of these people are not stupid, and they too know that Trump is nuts. They also know that Trump, even when he was perhaps a little less nuts, is impossible for his handlers to fully control. He will fire you when you're in a flying machine on the toilet with the runs. He will encourage a mob to hang you from a rickety gallows on the Capitol grounds. So if Trump is re-elected, there will be a coup. Trump's chubby little veep JayDee and his clubby little Cabinet officers will give him a Twenty-fifth Amendment heave-ho. Trump's biggest delusion is in thinking that if he installs himself as dictator, he will finally get his "Article II wish": that he can do whatever he wants. But the people who brought him to the dance are not going to put up with a wild man for long.

Roadkill, Ctd. Jesse McKinley, et al., of the New York Times: "The story of [Bobby Kennedy, Jr.'s] roadkill and the confessional video was so bizarrely fascinating that it overshadowed a decidedly more serious challenge for Mr. Kennedy: a court case in Albany brought by a group of voters trying to have him removed from the ballot, arguing Mr. Kennedy used a false address on tens of thousands of nominating petitions. The case, which began on Monday, is being backed by Clear Choice, a Democrat-aligned political action committee that is trying to keep Mr. Kennedy off the ballot. Mr. Kennedy is likely to testify on Tuesday.... Mr. Kennedy has a home in Los Angeles he shares with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines.... But Mr. Kennedy's New York petitions listed an address in Katonah, N.Y. Lawyers for the voters trying to bounce him from the ballot say that address is not his home but that of a friend, arguing that Mr. Kennedy 'does not, and has never, resided' there." (Also linked yesterday.)

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Tuesday that it had charged a Pakistani man who had recently visited Iran with trying to hire a hit man to assassinate political figures in the U.S. Investigators believe that potential targets likely included ... Donald J. Trump, according to a senior law enforcement official. The man, Asif Raza Merchant, 46, was arrested in New York on July 12, one day before a 20-year-old man, Matthew Crooks, shot at and slightly wounded Mr. Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania, according to a complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Officials said they had no evidence indicating the plot was connected to the shooting in Butler, Pa. But they said the arrest of Mr. Merchant -- who had recently spent two weeks in Iran -- had disrupted what they characterized as a far-ranging plot that also included seeking to steal computer files from U.S. officials. U.S. intelligence agencies were tracking a potential Iranian assassination plot against Mr. Trump in the weeks before the assassination attempt that prompted the Secret Service to enhance security for the former president before his outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It is not clear if the scheme made public on Tuesday precipitated those moves."

Daniel Wu of the Washington Post: "A Virginia man was arrested Monday and charged with making threats against Vice President Harris, the Justice Department announced in a news release. Frank Carillo, 66, of Winchester, Va., wrote thousands of posts and replies over the past year on the conservative social media platform Gettr, targeting several public officials such as Harris, President Biden and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Carillo allegedly made numerous violent comments and graphic death threats directed at Harris on Gettr after she had started running for president.... Carillo also made numerous posts about firearms and shooting people, including immigrants and Muslims, the complaint alleged, and wrote that he had an 'AR-15 locked and loaded.'... FBI agents searched Carillo's residence last week and seized a handgun and an assault-style rifle, according to the complaint."

~~~~~~~~~~

Georgia Election Board Guarantees Election Interference. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "The Republican-controlled Georgia State Election Board approved on Tuesday a measure that could empower local officials to refuse or delay certification of a county's election results, creating the potential for another disputed and contentious post-election period in November. The new rule states that before certifying results, local officials may conduct 'reasonable inquiry' that 'the results are a true and accurate accounting of all votes cast in that election.' Though seemingly innocuous, the language implies that local election officials are awarded a level of discretion in the certification process, a suggestion that runs counter to decades of settled Georgia law delineating how results are officially certified. State law dictates that officials 'shall' certify an election, making the process effectively ministerial; disputes over alleged fraud or major errors are typically left to recounts and courts. The decision by the board worried Democrats and voting-rights advocates that the process could be weaponized if ... Donald J. Trump lost in November.... At a campaign rally on Saturday, Mr. Trump ... characteriz[ed] the Republican members [of the board] as ... 'three pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.'"

Maryland. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected an effort by gun control opponents to throw out Maryland's ban on semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15, setting up a potential challenge that could further define the limits of the Supreme Court's sweeping expansion of gun rights in 2022. By a margin of 10 to 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., ruled that the ban did not violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms, or run afoul of requirements that any restriction on firearms ownership be rooted in historical tradition as required by the 2022 ruling, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Maryland's decade-old assault weapons ban falls outside Second Amendment protections because rapid-firing long guns 'are military-style weapons designed for sustained combat operations that are ill-suited and disproportionate to the need for self-defense,' wrote Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan."

Missouri Congressional Races. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, and former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, will square off for an open Senate seat in Michigan in what is likely to be one of the tightest and most closely watched Senate campaigns in the country. As expected, Ms. Slotkin and Mr. Rogers easily prevailed in their Senate primaries on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, setting up a remarkably even contest for the fall." ~~~

~~~ Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, one of the most outspoken progressives in the House, lost her primary on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, falling to a campaign by powerful pro-Israel political groups intent on ousting a fierce critic of the nation's war in Gaza. Her opponent, Wesley Bell, a county prosecutor, ran as a progressive and a pragmatist. But he was boosted by more than $8 million in spending from a super PAC affiliated with the country's largest pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and other similar entities. That outside money transformed the race into one of the most expensive House primaries in history.... The district is solidly Democratic, and Mr. Bell is expected to easily win the general election." An NBC News story is here.

Missouri Gubernatorial Race. Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: "Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe of Missouri won the Republican primary for governor on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, giving him the upper hand in a contest in November to succeed Mike Parson.... Mr. Parson, 68, who has served as governor since June 2018 and remains broadly popular, is barred by term limits from running this year. He endorsed Mr. Kehoe last month. In the Democratic primary, State Representative Crystal Quade, the House minority leader, defeated Mike Hamra, a businessman.... The winner of the Republican primary is widely expected to become the next governor.... One factor that could upend conventional wisdom ... is a ballot measure that voters are likely to consider in November, which could enshrine a right to abortion in Missouri's Constitution. Similar initiatives have helped boost Democrats in other red-leaning states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022."

Washington State Congressional Race. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "Two years ago, Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez won a seat in Congress in Washington State, beating her Republican rival, Joe Kent, by less [fewer!] than 3,000 votes. The two politicians are now set for a rematch in November, according to The Associated Press.... Washington State's vote-by-mail system means that many ballots are still to be counted. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez, a former auto-repair shop owner, has established herself in Congress as an independent voice, splitting with her party on key issues. Last month, she joined Republicans in voting to condemn Vice President Kamala Harris's handling of the southern border. She has so far declined to endorse Ms. Harris for the presidency. Mr. Kent, a retired Green Beret, has the support of ... Donald J. Trump and has joined Mr. Trump in falsely claiming that the 2020 election was rigged."

Washington State Gubernatorial Race & Other Congressional Races. Hallie Golden of the AP: "Washington state's longtime attorney general [Bob Ferguson (D)] and a former sheriff known for his work hunting down the Green River Killer [former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R)] advanced Tuesday to November's general election in the battle to become the next governor in a Democratic stronghold that hasn’t had an open race for the state's top job in more than a decade.... In the 8th District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier will go head-to-head against Republican Carmen Goers, a commercial banker. A congressional race in the 4th District between U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the last remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, and two conservative rivals endorsed by the GOP presidential nominee was too early to call. Under the state's primary system, the top two vote-getters in each of the contests advance to the November election, regardless of party."

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Bangladesh. Saif Hasnat, et al., of the New York Times: "The president of Bangladesh on Tuesday appointed Muhammad Yunus, a pioneer in microfinance and a Nobel laureate, to oversee an interim government, accommodating demands by protesters and offering a reprieve for a country scarred by violence. The plans for a new government were announced a day after Bangladesh's authoritarian leader, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and fled the country amid a popular uprising."

Israel/Palestine, et al. Adam Rasgon, et al., of the New York Times: "Hamas has chosen Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, to lead the militant group's political wing, it announced on Tuesday, consolidating his power over Hamas as it continues to fight Israel in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza since 2017, has long been considered a planner of Hamas's military strategy there. Now, he will also replace Ismail Haniyeh, the group's previous political leader and a key liaison in the indirect cease-fire talks with Israel. Mr. Haniyeh, who had been living in Qatar, was killed in an explosion in Iran last week that has been widely attributed to Israel. A hard-line figure born in Gaza, Mr. Sinwar, 61, is a prime target for Israeli forces and is widely believed to be hiding out in tunnels underneath the enclave to avoid Israeli attack. Despite that, he is thought to have been dictating the group's position in the cease-fire talks." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Obviously, reversals of fortunes and the deaths of tens of thousands of their own people have not driven Hamas' leaders to pursue pragmatic solutions.

News Lede

New York Times: "Tropical Storm Debby was churning off the coast of South Carolina on Wednesday morning and was expected to continue moving north over the Atlantic Ocean before heading back inland later in the week. While Georgia and Florida are expected to get a break from the torrential rains, other southern states, including South Carolina and North Carolina, may see heavy rainfall over the next couple of days as the storm moves north. Flash flooding will also be possible hundreds of miles north from Baltimore northeast up the I-95 corridor to the Boston metro area." This is the pinned item in a liveblog.

The Conversation -- August 6, 2024

⭐Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris ... has chosen Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate, according to multiple people briefed on the matter, elevating a former football coach whose rural roots, liberal policies and buzzy takedowns of ... Donald J. Trump have recently put him on the map. Mr. Walz, 60, emerged from a field of candidates who had better name recognition and more politically advantageous states. But he jumped to the top of Ms. Harris' list, boosted by cable news appearances in which he declared that Republicans were 'weird.'" This is the pinned item in a liveblog.

Epstein: "Mr. Walz is in his second term as governor and spent 12 years in Congress, where he was the rare Midwestern Democrat representing a largely rural district. He served for 24 years in the Army National Guard and taught high school social studies in Mankato, Minn., before entering politics. While his background was tailor-made for moderate voters, his policies as governor have been firmly liberal, reflecting what his allies call 'prairie populism.' He signed into law a Democratic wish list of bills on marijuana, paid family leave, abortion rights and gun control. Republicans call him a left-winger in homespun clothing.... Every one of Ms. Harris's finalists for the job, including Mr. Walz, was a white man who had some record of winning in Republican areas....

"Mr. Walz was born and raised in rural Nebraska, and as a young man moved to Mankato, Minn., where he taught high school social studies and coached the school's football team to a state championship. He retired from the Army National Guard in 2005 when he began his first run for public office.

"Mr. Walz's political origin story appears ripped from a Hollywood movie script. In August 2004, he chaperoned some of his students to a campaign rally in Mankato for President George W. Bush. According to Mr. Walz, the group was turned away because one of the students had a sticker on his wallet for Mr. Bush's opponent, John F. Kerry, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts. Mr. Walz was furious, and went the next day to volunteer for the Kerry campaign. By the end of the year, Mr. Kerry had lost but Mr. Walz was determined to run for office himself. In 2006, with a campaign staffed largely by his former students, Mr. Walz won an upset victory in a rural congressional seat that had been held by Republicans for 12 years."

Nicholas Nehamas: "Progressive groups are celebrating Harris's choice of Walz. A relative unknown from a reliably Democratic state, he was the clear choice of many on the left, who opposed another favorite, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, for his reaction to college protests about the war in Gaza and his support for school vouchers."

Epstein: "Tim Walz was largely regarded as a moderate Democrat during his six terms in the House and in his first term as governor, when he presided over a divided state legislature. But in 2022, Democrats took full control of the Minnesota state government for the first time in a decade, and Mr. Walz signed a torrent of progressive legislation, which turned him into a hero of the left wing of the Democratic Party."

[Marie: If you want to be the running mate for a major-party female presidential candidate, you must be named Tim. Also, if you want to be veep, you should have a short last name. Six letters is the dangerous max: Biden, Palin, Ryan, Kaine, Pence, Walz, Vance.]

Ken Bensinger: "Reactions from Republicans to the choice of Walz have quickly centered on him being too progressive, and on attacking him for the unrest in Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd in 2020. 'Harris-Walz: most left-wing ticket in American history,' Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida said on X this morning. 'Walz sat by and let Minneapolis burn.'"

Epstein: "In December, Walz was elected chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, which gave him a platform to travel the country and be introduced to the party's major donors."

Katie Rogers: "A little more on why Walz made it to the front, according to three people familiar with Harris's thinking: He is seen as an everyman sort of figure whose Midwestern-dad vibe balances out her Bay Area background. With his straight-talking style, Walz is thought to be someone who could match up well against JD Vance..., another Midwesterner -- in a debate. And, in the end, Harris simply connected best with Walz. Over and over again during the selection process,loyalty was emphasized as one of the most important criteria for Harris. This suggests Walz convinced her he'd support her not only in winning but in helping her govern."

Erica Green: "Notably, Walz was among the governors who rallied behind President Biden amid mounting calls for him to drop out of the race, and he was among the handful who spoke out in support of him publicly. Loyalty is extremely important to Harris, who was also Biden's defender-in-chief after his disastrous debate performance."

Rogers: "If anyone was wondering how the Trump campaign would react today, here is a low-key email sent to Trump's supporters a few minutes ago: 'Tim Walz will unleash hell on Earth!'"

Jim Rutenberg: "Not an hour after news of the Walz pick broke, the on-screen chyron on Fox News toggled between 'DeSantis: Most Left-Wing Ticket in U.S. History' and 'Cotton: Walz Let Rioters and Arsonists Rampage MN.'"

Rogers: "Tim Walz has been notified that he is the pick and has accepted Kamala Harris's offer to be her running mate, two people directly familiar with the decision tell me."

Nehamas: "Vice President Kamala Harris just formally announced her selection of Tim Walz in a post on Instagram.... In her Instagram post, Kamala Harris ran through highlights of Tim Walz's biography, including his time as a National Guardsman and as a high school teacher, football coach and adviser of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance. She also pointed to his efforts as governor to work with Republicans on bipartisan measures while also signing progressive bills into law, including those providing constitutional protections for abortions and 'requiring universal background checks for gun purchases.'"

Rogers: "And the campaign is already selling Harris-Walz merch, from yard signs to T-shirts. That was fast."

Tim Balk: "Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who was a contender to be Harris's running mate, said on social media that Walz had been 'an exceptionally effective governor -- and also great to work with.'"

Jonathan Weisman: "Former Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican who is waging an uphill campaign for the Senate, again broke with his party on Tim Walz, praising the pick.... 'We had the chance to work together as fellow governors, and while we come from different parties, I have always appreciated his dedication to public service,' Hogan said in a statement. 'I believe we need more governors at the national level because governors have to actually get stuff done.'"

Balk: "Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, who was seen as a top contender to be Kamala Harris's running mate, said on social media that Harris and Walz would 'move us forward' and build a campaign to 'unite our country.' The senator added that he and his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, would 'do everything we can to help them win.'"

Ernesto Londoño: "If Kamala Harris is elected president alongside Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota..., under the succession plan laid out in Minnesota's Constitution, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, 44, would become the state's first female governor, as well as the first Native American person to assume the role."

Katie Glueck: "Josh Shapiro, a top contender for Harris's running mate, confirms in a social media post that he will be at the Philadelphia rally tonight. He promised to work 'to unite Pennsylvanians behind my friends Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and defeat Donald Trump.'"

Balk: "Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, who was on a short list of options for Kamala Harris's running mate, said in a statement that he was honored to have been considered but that Walz was a 'great friend and a great choice.'"

Rogers: "Former President Barack Obama has weighed in: 'Like Vice President Harris, Governor Tim Walz believes that government works to serve us. Not just some of us, but all of us. That's what makes him an outstanding governor, and that's what will make him an even better vice president,' he wrote in a statement on X."

Balk: "Senator Joe Manchin III, a Democrat-turned-independent from West Virginia who has sought to push the Democratic Party to the center, expressed support for Kamala Harris's selection. 'My friend Governor Tim Walz will bring normality back,' he said in a statement."

Robert Jimison: "Congressional Democrats from Tim Walz’s home state of Minnesota have quickly lined up in support of the pick. Representative Ilhan Omar praises his policy achievements as a governor and adds that he will bring 'Minnesota nice to the ticket.' Representative Angie Craig borrows from Walz's recent viral political attacks aimed at Donald Trump and JD Vance, saying the governor is 'not weird.'... And Representative Dean Phillips, the Minnesota Democrat who waged a futile challenge against President Biden earlier in the Democratic primaries, praised the selection of his state's governor to the ticket. 'Tim Walz can fix a lawnmower, fire a cannon, and fiercely protect women's freedoms. All in one day,' he said."

Green: "Vice President Harris spoke with President Biden this morning ahead of her announcement of Walz as her vice-presidential pick, according to a statement from Emilie Simons, a White House senior deputy press secretary. Biden also spoke with the Minnesota governor to congratulate him on his selection."

Simon Levien: "Gwen Walz, the wife of Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, has forged a career as an educator and school administrator, a background she has leveraged in her work as the state's first lady. Ms. Walz has taught at public and alternative schools, and she spent a large part of her career as an administrator in the public school district at Mankato, Minn. On her website, she says she has focused on equity in education. She and Mr. Walz met while the two were teaching at the same high school in Alliance, Neb.... When Ms. Walz established a physical office in the Minnesota State Capitol just steps away from her husband's office -- which previous first ladies had not done -- she made a splash on the political stage with an agenda focused on criminal justice reform and education policy."

Neil Vigdor: "Tim Walz, trying to make a first impression on Americans who might not be familiar with him, put out a 90-second campaign video on social media to introduce himself."

Growing up, I learned to be generous toward my neighbors, compromise without compromising my values, and to work for the common good.@KamalaHarris and I both believe in that common good – in that fundamental promise of America. We’re ready to fight for it. And like she says:… pic.twitter.com/5SfrDRqx7C

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 6, 2024

Bensinger: "Tim Walz's decades-old drunken driving arrest is drawing new attention." The post details the circumstances of the arrest & misdemeanor conviction in 1995, & the subsequent stories about them.

Jon Hurdle: "As speeches are underway in Philadelphia, hundreds of people remain in line in the streets near the venue." [MB: Take that, Trumplethinskin!]

Rebecca O'Brien: "A huge standing ovation and roars of enthusiasm erupted here in Philadelphia as Gov. Josh Shapiro took the stage. He clasped his hands to his heart and took several bows."

Epstein: "Shapiro just delivered a full-throated endorsement of Tim Walz as the Democrats' vice-presidential nominee. 'Tim Walz is a great man,' Shapiro said. 'Tim Walz is an outstanding governor. Tim Walz is a teacher. Tim Walz is a Guardsman. Tim Walz is a great patriot. And I tell you what else, Tim Walz is a dear friend.'"

Green: "Harris, in introducing Walz, seeks to introduce him as a well-rounded candidate who can relate to a large swath of Americans, ticking off a list of the titles he's held: father, coach, congressman and sergeant major."

Rogers: "Walz is really soaking up this moment and, dare I say, bringing maximum Midwestern-dad energy to this appearance. He keeps putting his hand on his heart and bowing forward. He especially seemed to enjoy Harris's reference to his past as 'Coach Walz.'... 'He was known as one of Capitol Hill's best marksmen,' Harris said, adding that Walz has won several bipartisan shooting competitions. That's a biographical data point I had not heard before. The campaign will certainly lean into Walz's identity as a hunter who has fought for gun safety measures.... Walz takes the largest stage of his life and introduces himself this way: 'Wow.'"

⭐Epstein: "Walz is now stepping into the role of a running mate: Attack dog. 'Violent crime was up under Donald Trump,' Walz said. He paused. 'That's not even counting the crimes he committed.'... Walz threw down a debate challenge for JD Vance. 'I gotta tell you, I cant wait to debate the guy,' he said. 'That is, if he's willing to get off the couch and show up.'" ~~~

~~~ Nehamas: "Walz's debate challenge was a not-very-sly allusion to a fabricated Internet joke about JD Vance and his relationship with couches. He is certainly leaning into the attack-dog role expected of a vice presidential candidate. ~~~

~~~ Michael Barbaro: "Harris can barely suppress a laugh at Walz's couch joke. And I mean, barely." [MB: The crowd, which is probably heavy on Temple U. students, gets the joke. This is the most enthusiastic crowd I've seen, maybe ever. (Herein is an explanation of the couch joke. If you missed the story, it's my fault because I thought it was too stupid to report. I was wrong.)] ~~~

~~~ Lisa Lerer: "'These guys are creepy, and yes, just weird as hell,' Walz says of Trump and Vance."

~~~ Here's the AP's liveblog.

Hakyung Kim & Samantha Subin of CNBC: "Stocks jumped Tuesday, recovering some some losses from the previous trading session. The S&P 500 traded 1.6% higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 468 points, or 1.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.6%. Several big technology stocks rebounded after a sharp pullback on Monday. Nvidia rose 3.6%, while Meta Platforms advanced 2.5%. Meanwhile, Apple continued its decline and fell nearly 2%. Helping sentiment was a rebound in Japanese stocks. The Nikkei 225 posted its best day since October 2008, soaring 10.2%. That surge comes a day after the benchmark suffered its worst day since 1987, losing 12.4%."

Jesse McKinley, et al., of the New York Times: "The story of [Bobby Kennedy, Jr.'s] roadkill and the confessional video was so bizarrely fascinating that it overshadowed a decidedly more serious challenge for Mr. Kennedy: a court case in Albany brought by a group of voters trying to have him removed from the ballot, arguing Mr. Kennedy used a false address on tens of thousands of nominating petitions. The case, which began on Monday, is being backed by Clear Choice, a Democrat-aligned political action committee that is trying to keep Mr. Kennedy off the ballot. Mr. Kennedy is likely to testify on Tuesday.... Mr. Kennedy has a home in Los Angeles he shares with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines.... But Mr. Kennedy's New York petitions listed an address in Katonah, N.Y. Lawyers for the voters trying to bounce him from the ballot say that address is not his home but that of a friend, arguing that Mr. Kennedy 'does not, and has never, resided' there."

~~~~~~~~~~

Abha Bhattarai, et al., of the Washington Post: "A sudden global panic is upending financial markets and cratering the value of stocks, currencies, even bitcoin -- but economists say it's not a surefire sign that the country is headed for a downturn. The current sell-off, they say, is the result of investors having to untangle complicated, heavily leveraged trades that have artificially boosted stock values. A weak snapshot of the U.S. job market Friday added fuel to the fire, raising questions about whether the American economy is on rockier footing than previously thought and prompting bets that the Federal Reserve might have to cut interest rates sooner and more aggressively.... All three major stock indexes fell, the Nasdaq Composite by more than 3 percent, the S&P 500 by nearly that much and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by more than 2.5 percent. While they recovered slightly from even sharper morning declines, the day still marked one of the worst in nearly two years, as investors moved money out of equities and into bonds." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "It didn't take long for ... Donald J. Trump to make a political weapon out of Monday's market sell-off. 'Stock markets are crashing, jobs numbers are terrible, we are heading to World War III, and we have two of the most incompetent "leaders" in history,' Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 'This is not good.' The post underscored Mr. Trump's longstanding fixation on stock indexes as a barometer of economic health.... Mr. Trump wants voters to believe the economy is on the brink of catastrophe, and that [Vice President] Harris and President Biden are to blame.... (Mr. Trump's presidency included a rapid descent into a pandemic recession in 2020, including a steep drop in the stock market that was followed by a rebound that summer.)... Ms. Harris has stressed economic optimism in speeches. 'We believe in a future that keeps America's economy the strongest in the world,' she said in Houston this month. 'Where every person has the opportunity to build a business, to own a home, to build intergenerational wealth.'... But many Democrats worry that the Fed, by holding rates steady last month, may have hurt Ms. Harris -- by opening the door for the market sell-off...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Let's Ask Krugman! Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "The United States probably (probably) hasn't entered a recession yet. But the economy is definitely looking pre-recessionary. And policymakers -- which right now basically means the Federal Reserve -- need to move quickly to head off the risks of serious economic deterioration. It's already clear that the Fed made a mistake by not cutting rates last week; indeed, it probably should have begun cutting months ago." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: Also, too, let me remind you, as economics columnist Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post did on CNN Monday night, the U.S. still has the best economy in the world. Moreover, let us go back to answering Trump's question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" New York Times (August 6, 2020): "In These Neighborhoods, the Jobless Rate May Top 30 Percent." According to the report, "In corners of the Bronx, South Los Angeles or the South Side of Chicago, unemployment is concentrated to a breathtaking degree. And that means that other problems still to come -- a wave of evictions, deepening poverty, more childhood hunger -- will be geographically concentrated, too. Data estimating neighborhood-level unemployment rates suggests that as many as one in three workers in these areas are jobless, deeply widening economic disparities within cities."

Presidential Race

Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the Democratic nomination for president, becoming the first woman of color to win a major party's nomination and officially setting up her matchup against ... Donald J. Trump. Ms. Harris, 59, earned the support of 99 percent of the 4,567 delegates who cast ballots, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement late Monday. In an unusual move meant to avoid potential legal headaches, the roll call was held virtually over five days, instead of in-person at the Democratic National Convention, which begins on Aug. 19 in Chicago.... By Friday afternoon, Ms. Harris -- the only candidate on the ballot -- had clinched a majority of the delegates she needed for the nomination. Voting concluded on Monday at 6 p.m. The party announced the results just before midnight. The AP's story is here.

Eugene Daniels of Politico: "Vice President Kamala Harris is bringing her crash search for a running mate to a close, with a final decision expected over the next 24 hours with a video announcement likely to follow sometime Tuesday, according to people familiar with the selection process." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ CNN is claiming on-air Tuesday morning that Harris had narrowed her choices down to Gov. Tim Walz (Minn.) and Gov. Josh Shapiro (Penn.) but that as of last night she had not yet decided between the two. In any event, CNN reporters are staking out both governors' homes. Really makes you wish you too could be a famous public figure, dunnit?

Adam Wren, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump spent Monday morning labeling the turmoil in the global financial markets the 'Kamala Crash,' giving Republicans hope that he might turn his focus to an economic message. It didn't last. By midday, the former president was already back to re-litigating his controversial appearance in Chicago last week, where he questioned Kamala Harris' Black identity and suggested a major network journalist should be fired -- 'I didn't know who she was, she was nasty,'he told a livestreamer.... Republicans on Monday reeled from Trump's undisciplined approach to the opening stages of his new general election matchup with Harris -- following a weekend that saw him praise Russian leader Vladimir Putin while smearing Harris as 'low IQ,' and 'dumb' and attacking a popular swing-state GOP governor whose turnout operation he may need in November. 'This is what you would call a public nervous breakdown,' said Matthew Bartlett, a GOP strategist and former Trump administration appointee." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And let me add that a U.S. vice president's control over the global economy is somewhere right between zero and nil. ~~~

~~~ Yeah But. Amanda Marcotte of Salon: Trump & Vance seem to think that attacking Harris' racial identity and calling her husband "a crappy Jew" is excellent campaign strategy. They're keeping at it."Vance even made excuses for Trump's sneering at biracial people, even though Vance's wife is Indian-American and his kids, like Harris, have a biracial heritage. This hypocrisy is something he shares with Trump. Trump repeatedly mocks others for what he perceives as physical flaws, as if that will distract people from the fact that he's a lumbering 78-year-old man with a comical combover." ~~~

~~~ Trump Seems to Praise Dictator Maduro for Keeping Caracas Safe. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump spoke with controversial stream[er] Adin Ross on Monday and ... weigh[ed] in on the ongoing turmoil in Venezuela following an election that many observers, including the U.S., say was stolen.... '... Venezuela is right now being run by a dictator. We were enemies with Venezuela,' Trump replied, adding: 'Venezuela was going to collapse, and people could have gone back to Venezuela. They're in our country now. They've released tremendous numbers of criminals into our country. If you look at Caracas, it was known for being a very dangerous city, and now it's very safe. In fact, the next interview we'll do we'll do it in Caracas, Venezuela, because it's safer than many of our cities.' Notably, Venezuela has the highest crime rate in the world, according to the Global Organized Crime Index."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Beginning in 2016, when Donald Trump attacked Ted Cruz's wife and his father, Republican office-holders keep putting up with Trump's insulting their spouses, then coming around to endorsing Trump anyway. MB: How is it "family values" to fail to defend your own spouse and not to at least demand an apology from A-Hole No. 1 before endorsing him? I can see in some cases, where the spouses are active participants in a campaign, that some gentle criticism might be warranted, but especially in cases where the spouses only stand up at rallies and wave -- if that -- they should be completely off-limits.

Marie: I have never heard of Justin Glawe, cited below, but I do know he's onto something here: ~~~

~~~ Justin Glawe of American Doom: At a Saturday night rally in Atlanta, Georgia, "Trump's comments about the Georgia State Election Board were a blaring tornado siren. 'I don't know if you've heard but the Georgia State Election Board is in a very positive way... They're on fire, they;re doing a great job,' Trump said, before naming three Republican members of the SEB -- Rick Jeffares, Dr. Janice Johnston and Janelle King. 'Three pitbulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory,' Trump called them. Fighting for victory. That's not the job of the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) -- to fight for victory on behalf of a political candidate.... As an advocate put it to me the other day: 'They have become a MAGA government body.'... The importance of [Trump's] even being aware of ... such election minutiae ... is a shocking alarm bell that he and his campaign are highly aware of the mechanisms they need to employ in order to get their way in Georgia in November." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Maddow & elections attorney Marc Elias discussed this Monday night, adding that all over the country Republicans have seated election deniers and others who have the power to refuse to certify local election results, essentially nullifying everyone's vote in that voting community. Some of these boards have already gummed up local elections during the past few years. So when Trump tells his followers they "don't need to vote," it's not crazy talk: he has other means in place to "win" this year's presidential election, and these local boards are a big part of the scheme. ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... far-right provocateur Jack Posobiec, who is probably best known for promoting the conspiracy theory that Democrats ran a satanic child abuse ring beneath a popular Washington pizzeria..., co-wrote [a book titled 'Unhumans'] with the professional ghostwriter Joshua Lisec. [It] comes with endorsements from some of the most influential people in Republican politics, including, most significantly, vice-presidential candidate JD Vance.... Other endorsements come from Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr., a key figure in his father's presidential campaign. The foreword is by Stephen Bannon.... The book argues that leftists don't deserve the status of human beings ... and that they are waging a shadow war against all that is good and decent, which will end in apocalyptic slaughter if they are not stopped. [The authors approvingly cite one of the book's heroes, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco,] 'We do not believe in government through the voting booth.'

"You can and should laugh at Vance's melodramatic self-importance and creepy subcultural fixations. (On 'Jack Murphy Live,' Vance respectfully references Curtis Yarvin, a right-wing blogger popular in reactionary Silicon Valley circles who calls for replacing democracy with a sort of techno-monarchy.)" ~~~

~~~ digby links to a New Republic article featuring a Silicon Valley guy named Curtis Garvin who has some extraordinarily creepy ideas about how to manage "unproductive" people and how to govern the unwashed masses. Curtis there would just be a random disturbed person but for the fact that Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance & Elon Musk think his ideas are top-notch. digby republishes chunks of the article. Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: Most of "us" (myself included) don't appreciate how dangerously insane "they" are. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This extensive anti-democracy movement is not simply about sparing you the time-consuming inconveniences of keeping abreast of politics, registering to vote and showing up at the polls. The rights it would take from you extend far beyond your right to participate in directing and controlling the government. At it's most insane, this brave new world would "'virtualize unproductive people'... Imprison them in 'permanent solitary confinement' where, to avoid making them insane, they would be connected to an 'immersive virtual-reality interface' so they could 'experience a rich, fulfilling life in a completely imaginary world.'" As digby observes, "It's like something out of science fiction. But it's real." I doubt Trump fully understands all this, but he gets the part where he gets to do whatever he wants (or so he thinks). (Not mentioned in any of these alarming reports are the confederate Supremes, or that immunity ruling is proof they're in on the plot.)

John Fritze of CNN: "The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an effort by Missouri's Republican attorney general to lift a gag order and delay the sentencing of ... Donald Trump following hisconviction in the New York hush money case. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey attempted to file the longshot suit against New York in early July, claiming in part that the gag order violated the First Amendment rights of voters in his state to hear Trump speak. But the case was widely viewed as unlikely to gain traction at the Supreme Court in part because of the sweeping implications of allowing a state to intervene in a pending criminal case unfolding in a different state.... The Supreme Court rejected the suit without comment. But conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito ... said they would have allowed the lawsuit itself to continue." MB: But of course they did.

Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) reached a cooperation agreement Monday with Jenna Ellis, who was a legal adviser to Donald Trump's 2020 campaign and was one of 18 defendants indicted in April on felony charges related to alleged efforts to try to subvert President Biden's victory in the state four years ago, according to prosecutors. The attorney general has agreed to drop nine felony charges against Ellis in exchange for her full cooperation with the investigation into the GOP plan to try to deliver Arizona's 11 electoral votes to Trump instead of the rightful winner, Biden. The deal allows Ellis to avoid potential jail time in exchange for providing prosecutors with evidence that could implicate other defendants." The Hill's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

All the Federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him slip away
Out of kindness, I suppose. ~~~

~~~ How Bill Barr covered up what may have been the biggest financial scandal in presidential* history ~~~

     ~~~ Lawrence O'Donnell also covered this potential scandal. Unless statute-of-limitations restrictions can be overcome, guest expert Barbara McQuade suggested the best way to make public Barr's and FBI Director Chris Wray's involvement in the cover-up and Merrick Garland's failure to follow up is for Congress to investigate. McQuade pointed out that once a DOJ investigation has been closed, Congress can conduct oversight. In August 2's Comments, contributor Patrick made a reasoned argument as to why the DOJ would close down an investigation when the only connection between Trump & Sisi was the $10MM figure. (That's very much an oversimplification of Patrick's analysis.) One of the reporters on the WashPo story, Carol Leonnig, appearing on Maddow's show last night, vouched for her sources' reliability & certainty that there was reasonable cause to further investigate.

Kenneth Vogel of the New York Times: "With ... Donald J. Trump and his allies signaling that he will scale back assistance to Ukraine if he retakes the White House, a onetime close adviser has accepted a $50,000-a-month contract to lobby for Ukrainian interests. Kellyanne Conway, who served as a top aide to Mr. Trump's 2016 campaign and his presidency, registered on Friday to represent Victor Pinchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch who has positioned himself as a leading supporter of his country's defense against Russian aggression." The Hill's story is here. MB: Ken W. was wondering yesterday how this could possibly be. He seemed to suspect it was all about the money. Very cynical, Ken. Very cynical.

Book Report. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: A "book, titled 'The Art of Power,' is [former Speaker Nancy] Pelosi's retelling of major moments of critical decision-making during the Iraq War, a catastrophic financial meltdown, the passage of the Affordable Care Act and multiple clashes with ... Donald J. Trump, among other events. But it may be her most recent deft exercise of political finesse and muscle -- one that took place well after the book was written -- that will stand as a final testament to Ms. Pelosi's stature as the Democratic Party's premiere powerhouse of recent decades. In a formidable display of her enduring clout, she helped persuade the incumbent president to abandon his re-election bid to give her party a better chance of holding the White House in November.... If Democrats triumph this fall after staring down the prospect of a resounding defeat, the maneuvering by Ms. Pelosi ... may turn out to be among her most significant acts. The words Pelosi and power have been inextricably linked in Washington for more than 20 years, and her book sets out to document how she did it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here's a Washington Post review. (Also linked yesterday.)

Clarence Sees the World, Vol. 5. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "Justice Clarence Thomas failed to publicly disclose additional private travel provided by the wealthy conservative donor Harlan Crow, a top Democratic senator said in a letter on Monday. Customs and Border Protection records revealed that the justice and his wife, Virginia Thomas, took a round trip between Hawaii and New Zealand in November 2010 on Mr. Crow's private jet, according to the letter. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, writing to Mr. Crow's lawyer, demanded that he supply more information about the financial relationship between the two men.... By law, justices are required to fill out a financial disclosure form each year, including, among other things, outside sources of income and gifts. But Justice Thomas's form for 2010 does not list any flights on Mr. Crow's jet. Mr. Wyden singled out the discrepancy in his letter, noting that the justice had revised past records to reveal [other] travel provided by Mr. Crow.... Mr. Wyden also cited reports that the justice had accompanied Mr. Crow to Greece, Russia and the Baltics. None of these trips are noted on the justice's financial disclosure forms." CNN's story is here.

David McCabe of the New York Times: "Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, a federal judge ruled on Monday, a landmark decision that strikes at the power of tech giants in the modern internet era and that may fundamentally alter the way they do business. Judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in a 277-page ruling that Google had abused a monopoly over the search business. The Justice Department and states had sued Google, accusing it of illegally cementing its dominance, in part, by paying other companies, like Apple and Samsung, billions of dollars a year to have Google automatically handle search queries on their smartphones and web browsers. 'Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,' Judge Mehta said in his ruling.... Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, said the company would appeal the ruling." (Also linked yesterday.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "Bloomberg News has apologized for publishing a story early Thursday morning that it now says could have imperiled the negotiated prisoner swap that freed several prisoners from Russian custody, and has also disciplined several individuals involved in the matter. The White House had confirmed to several news organizations, including Bloomberg, advance details of a swap between the United States, Russia and other countries, which it put under an embargo -- or an agreement to withhold publishing the news until officials confirmed that the Americans were safely in U.S. custody.... But early Thursday morning, Bloomberg News published its story that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan had been released from Russia as part of a major prisoner swap -- well before it had been completed, infuriating both those in the White House and in the Wall Street Journal newsroom.... At least one individual -- senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs, who was the lead author on the story -- is no longer with the company...." ~~~

     ~~~ Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Bloomberg News's editor in chief said on Monday that the publication had disciplined multiple journalists involved in breaking an embargo last week tied to the major prisoner swap, in what he said was 'a clear violation of the editorial standards.'... An editor involved in the story was demoted...."

~~~~~~~~~~

California. Meh. Trisha Thadani of the Washington Post: "After 18 years, Elon Musk will move X ... out of San Francisco, according to Mayor London Breed's office. The social media company has a long history with the city, but the billionaire entrepreneur, who acquired the platform in 2022, has often used it to bash the city's progressive politics and homelessness crisis. The social network's departure will mark the end of an era for San Francisco's downtown Mid-Market neighborhood, where city officials once courted tech companies with incentives dubbed the 'Twitter tax break.' Musk made deep cuts to Twitter's workforce when he acquired the company in October 2022, and X only has about 120 employees left in San Francisco, said a person familiar with the company's plans.... The employees will be moved to office space in San Jose and Palo Alto.... Ted Egan, San Francisco's chief economist, said that while Twitter and its workforce were once an important driver of foot traffic in the Mid-Market neighborhood, X never served the same role. He attributes that to the work-from-home policies of the pandemic and Musk's mass layoffs."

~~~~~~~~~~

Iraq. Lolita Baldor of the AP: "Several U.S. personnel were injured in a suspected rocket attack at a military base in Iraq, U.S. defense officials said Monday, in what has been a recent uptick in strikes on American forces by Iranian-backed militias. The attack comes as tensions across the Middle East are spiking following the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas' top political leader in Iran, in suspected Israeli strikes. Both groups are backed by Iran. The U.S. defense officials said troops at al-Asad air base were still assessing the injuries and damage, and it appeared that as many as seven military troops and civilians were injured. Earlier Monday, Iraqi security officials confirmed the attack, but no group has claimed responsibility."

News Lede

The New York Times is live-updating developments in Tropical Storm Debby: "Tropical Storm Debby continued its slow march into Georgia on Monday night, with forecasters warning residents across the southeastern United States that the threat of major flooding from the storm could last for the next several days. The storm has already dumped heavy rain across northern Florida, where it was blamed for four deaths, led to dangerous river flooding and triggered hundreds of water rescues. In southern Georgia, the storm was linked to the death of a 19-year-old man killed by a falling tree." At 5:30 am ET, this is the pinned item.

The Conversation -- August 5, 2024

Abha Bhattarai, et al., of the Washington Post: "A sudden global panic is upending financial markets and cratering the value of stocks, currencies, even bitcoin -- but economists say it's not a surefire sign that the country is headed for a downturn. The current sell-off, they say, is the result of investors having to untangle complicated, heavily leveraged trades that have artificially boosted stock values. A weak snapshot of the U.S. job market Friday added fuel to the fire, raising questions about whether the American economy is on rockier footing than previously thought and prompting bets that the Federal Reserve might have to cut interest rates sooner and more aggressively.... All three major stock indexes fell, the Nasdaq Composite by more than 3 percent, the S&P 500 by nearly that much and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by more than 2.5 percent. While they recovered slightly from even sharper morning declines, the day still marked one of the worst in nearly two years, as investors moved money out of equities and into bonds." An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "It didn't take long for ... Donald J. Trump to make a political weapon out of Monday's market sell-off. 'Stock markets are crashing, jobs numbers are terrible, we are heading to World War III, and we have two of the most incompetent "leaders" in history,' Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 'This is not good.' The post underscored Mr. Trump's longstanding fixation on stock indexes as a barometer of economic health.... Mr. Trump wants voters to believe the economy is on the brink of catastrophe, and that [Vice President] Harris and President Biden are to blame.... (Mr. Trump's presidency included a rapid descent into a pandemic recession in 2020, including a steep drop in the stock market that was followed by a rebound that summer.)... Ms. Harris has stressed economic optimism in speeches. 'We believe in a future that keeps America's economy the strongest in the world,' she said in Houston this month. 'Where every person has the opportunity to build a business, to own a home, to build intergenerational wealth.'... But many Democrats worry that the Fed, by holding rates steady last month, may have hurt Ms. Harris -- by opening the door for the market sell-off...." ~~~

~~~ Let's Ask Krugman! Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "The United States probably (probably) hasn't entered a recession yet. But the economy is definitely looking pre-recessionary. And policymakers -- which right now basically means the Federal Reserve -- need to move quickly to head off the risks of serious economic deterioration. It's already clear that the Fed made a mistake by not cutting rates last week; indeed, it probably should have begun cutting months ago."

Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) reached a cooperation agreement Monday with Jenna Ellis, who was a legal adviser to Donald Trump's 2020 campaign and was one of 18 defendants indicted in April on felony charges related to alleged efforts to try to subvert President Biden's victory in the state four years ago, according to prosecutors. The attorney general has agreed to drop nine felony charges against Ellis in exchange for her full cooperation with the investigation into the GOP plan to try to deliver Arizona's 11 electoral votes to Trump instead of the rightful winner, Biden. The deal allows Ellis to avoid potential jail time in exchange for providing prosecutors with evidence that could implicate other defendants." The Hill's story is here.

David McCabe of the New York Times: "Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, a federal judge ruled on Monday, a landmark decision that strikes at the power of tech giants in the modern internet era and that may fundamentally alter the way they do business. Judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in a 277-page ruling that Google had abused a monopoly over the search business. The Justice Department and states had sued Google, accusing it of illegally cementing its dominance, in part, by paying other companies, like Apple and Samsung, billions of dollars a year to have Google automatically handle search queries on their smartphones and web browsers. 'Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,' Judge Mehta said in his ruling.... Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, said the company would appeal the ruling."

Eugene Daniels of Politico: "Vice President Kamala Harris is bringing her crash search for a running mate to a close, with a final decision expected over the next 24 hours with a video announcement likely to follow sometime Tuesday, according to people familiar with the selection process."

Book Report. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: A "book, titled 'The Art of Power,' is [former Speaker Nancy] Pelosi's retelling of major moments of critical decision-making during the Iraq War, a catastrophic financial meltdown, the passage of the Affordable Care Act and multiple clashes with ... Donald J. Trump, among other events. But it may be her most recent deft exercise of political finesse and muscle -- one that took place well after the book was written -- that will stand as a final testament to Ms. Pelosi's stature as the Democratic Party's premiere powerhouse of recent decades. In a formidable display of her enduring clout, she helped persuade the incumbent president to abandon his re-election bid to give her party a better chance of holding the White House in November.... If Democrats triumph this fall after staring down the prospect of a resounding defeat, the maneuvering by Ms. Pelosi ... may turn out to be among her most significant acts. The words Pelosi and power have been inextricably linked in Washington for more than 20 years, and her book sets out to document how she did it." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's a Washington Post review.

Say, here's Bobby Junior pretending the (dead) bear is biting the hand that picked him up off the pavement. Very presidential:

digby links to a New Republic article featuring a Silicon Valley guy named Curtis Garvin who has some extraordinarily creepy ideas about how to manage "unproductive" people and how to govern the unwashed masses. Curtis there would just be a random disturbed person but for the fact that Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance & Elon Musk think his ideas are top-notch. digby republishes chunks of the article. Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: Most of "us" (myself included) don't appreciate how insane "they" are.

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Presidential Race

Sadly, it has been more than two long weeks since we've had a "Democrats in disarray" story. So thank goodness for the New York Times and this top-o'the-front-page entry! ~~~

~~~ Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "The competitive, divisive primary that many Democrats long wanted to avoid has arrived anyway -- playing out largely behind closed doors in a fight over the bottom of the ticket. The final stage of the campaign to be Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate reached something of an ugly phase in recent days as donors, interest groups and political rivals from the party's moderate and progressive wings lobbied for their preferred candidates and passed around memos debating the contenders' political weaknesses with key demographics. They turned most sharply on one of the favorites to join the ticket, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who has drawn opposition from progressives and even a senator in his home state." Read on for details, if you must.

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." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ 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." (Also linked yesterday.)

Rebecca Picciotto of CNBC: "Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign on Sunday flaunted over two dozen presidential endorsements from Republican party members, including some who served in ... Donald Trump's administration. Nearly 30 GOP members were cited as part of the new 'Republicans for Harris' initiative launched Sunday. These include Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary under Trump, and national security official Olivia Troye -- who worked as Vice President Mike Pence's national security advisor. Chuck Hagel and Ray LaHood, Republican cabinet members under President Barack Obama, were also listed."

Sarah Ellison & Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "Five secretaries of state plan to send an open letter to billionaire Elon Musk on Monday, urging him to 'immediately implement changes' to X's AI chatbot Grok, after it shared with millions of users false information suggesting that Kamala Harris was not eligible to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot. Within hours of President Biden's announcement that he was suspending his presidential campaign on July 21..., Grok that circulated ... [a message that] 'The ballot deadline has passed for several states for the 2024 election,' ... naming nine states: Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.... The secretaries of state, who are the chief elections officers in their states, are objecting ... to Grok's ... factual inaccuracies and the sluggishness of the company's move to correct bad information."

Explaining Black to White People. Nikole Hannah-Jones of the New York Times: "By suggesting that there was something nefarious or politically contrived about a mixed-race person claiming Blackness as her identity, [Donald Trump] was acting as if that choice hadn't been made for [Kamala] Harris when she was born to a Black father. We saw this same orchestrated amnesia when Barack Obama set out to become the first Black president. It seems that when a mixed-race Black American appears to be ascending to the pinnacles of American power, some white Americans suddenly forget the race rules that white society created.... The reality is, the belief that Blackness is an immutable, genetic racial category that transcends all other identities is in fact the American way -- an idea that has been forced upon and enforced upon people with African ancestry by those who have racialized themselves as white since the 1600s.... European colonists were inventing race rules that were about more than ancestry. They were a means of divvying up power, resources and social status.... When Harris's parents immigrated here in the early 1960s, they entered a pre-existing racial caste system and the classifications that undergirded it.... In her 2019 autobiography, Harris wrote: 'My mother [who was of Indian heritage] understood very well that she was raising two black daughters. She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.'"

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." (Also linked yesterday.)

BUT, to those of you who figured RFK Jr. would be responsible for the weirdest presidential election story, crazy Bobby put you at an unfair advantage. Nevertheless, you win! ~~~

~~~ About That Time He Dropped a Dead Bear in Central Park. Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ... confessed on Sunday that he had left a dead bear cub in Central Park in Manhattan in 2014 because he thought it would be 'amusing.' Mr. Kennedy posted a video detailing the bizarre story on social media apparently ahead of an article in The New Yorker.... In the video, Mr. Kennedy appears to be seated in a kitchen as he casually tells the actress Roseanne Barr about the ordeal. He says that he was driving through the Hudson Valley when he saw a woman in a van hit and kill a young bear. 'I pulled over and I picked up the bear and put him in the back of my van because I was going to skin the bear,' he says. 'It was very good condition and I was going to put the meat in my refrigerator.' Mr. Kennedy then details how he had to attend a dinner at Peter Luger Steak House in New York City and then head to the airport, which meant he had to get rid of the bear. He decided to leave the bear in Central Park with an old bicycle to make it look like it had been hit by the bike....

"Indeed, the bear cub caused quite a stir when it was found in the park in 2014, as reported in The New York Times in an article coincidentally written by Tatiana Schlossberg, a reporter for The Times at that time, and the daughter of Mr. Kennedy’s first cousin Caroline Kennedy." The ABC News story is here. ~~~

Looking forward to seeing how you spin this one, @NewYorker… pic.twitter.com/G13taEGzba

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 4, 2024

Carol Rosenberg & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "In the space of three days last week, the Sept. 11 case was rocked by two decisions that stunned victims' families and jolted a political debate. First, a Pentagon official authorized a plea agreement meant to resolve the case with lifetime sentences. Then, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III abruptly canceled the deal, reviving the possibility that the man accused of planning the attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and two accused accomplices could someday face a death penalty trial.... This account of those fateful three days is based on interviews and conversations with Pentagon officials, Sept. 11 family members and parties to the case." Read on for an explanation of how events unfolded.

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Bangladesh. The New York Times is live-updating developments Monday in the country's crisis. Pinned item: "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh has resigned, and the army will oversee the formation of an interim government, the country's army chief said in a statement to the nation. Ms. Hasina had ruled Bangladesh, a country of around 170 million people, since 2009, but she was forced out by weeks of violent protests. The army chief, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, said he had consulted with representatives of the country's political parties and civil society before making his announcement."

Venezuela. Samantha Schmidt, et al., of the Washington Post: "Venezuela's opposition candidate likely received more than twice as many votes as President Nicolás Maduro in the country's election last week, according to a Washington Post review of more than 23,000 precinct-level tally sheets collected by the opposition, a sample that represents nearly 80 percent of voting machines nationwide. That conclusion, which echoes the results of independent exit polling and similar independent analyses, offers further evidence against the authoritarian socialist's claim that he defeated challenger Edmundo González in the July 28 vote.... 'Given the overwhelming evidence,' Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Thursday, 'it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes' in the election."

News Lede

New York Times: "Debby rapidly strengthened into a hurricane on Sunday night, hours before it was expected to make landfall over Florida's Big Bend coast early Monday. It will bring potentially 'catastrophic flooding' and heavy rainfall to the Southeast region this week, forecasters said. Officials in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina activated emergency resources, opened temporary shelters and urged residents of low-lying coastal areas in the storm's path to evacuate, as Debby was expected to bring a life-threatening storm surge." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments here.