The Conversation -- August 4, 2024
Marianne Levine of the Washington Post: "... in the two weeks since [President] Biden dropped out and [Vice President] Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, Democrats' poll numbers -- and their chances of holding the White House -- have rebounded. The path to victory for Harris once again runs through seven key swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.... [Harris] plans to visit all seven battleground states this week to introduce her vice-presidential pick to the country.... As of Sunday, Trump still led in five of the seven battlegrounds, according to The Post's polling average." ~~~
~~~ Eric Bradner, et al., of CNN: "A 17-day stretch with few parallels in American history has upended what looked to Donald Trump's campaign like a clear path to victory when the former president stepped on the Republican convention stage in Milwaukee."
Still Weird. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Trump is still obsessed with crowd size at his rallies and was especially upset Saturday that Harris' crowd four days earlier at the same Georgia State Convocation Center in Atlanta was as large as hers. "Ms. Harris's rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, when she is expected to unveil her running mate, is likely to be a blowout. After that, she's going on tour, holding rallies in western Wisconsin; Detroit; Raleigh, N.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Phoenix; and Las Vegas. It's all starting to screw with Mr. Trump's psyche." He claimed Harris only drew a large crowd in Atlanta because she brought entertainment stars to her rally. He also claimed, falsely, that his Atlanta crowd was larger and that the "liberals" at Georgia State limited the number of Trump fans who could enter the area because "they don't want to show that we're successful." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll tell you who isn't supporting Trump: former presidents. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and our current president, Joe Biden, are all supporting Kamala Harris. George W. Bush, the only other living former GOP president, didn't support Trump in 2020 (NYT link), so it's almost certain he won't support him now. Even Trump's own Vice President Mike Pence won't vote for him (just possibly because Trump was fine with having his supporters murder Pence), and as we learned yesterday, neither will about half of Trump's own Cabinet.
Presidential Race
Kamala Gets Another Presidential Endorsement. Joe Sutton & Kaanita Iyer of CNN: "Former President Jimmy Carter, the oldest living president, is hoping to vote for Kamala Harris during the November elections, his grandson said. 'I'm only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,' the 99-year-old former president said, according to his grandson, Jason Carter, who relayed a conversation Carter had with his son Chip earlier this week to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.... Carter, who is set to turn 100 on October 1, entered hospice care in February 2023 after a series of hospital stays. Jason Carter said in May the 39th president is 'coming to an end' when providing an update on his health."
Ken Bensinger & Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, said on Saturday that he had an extramarital affair during his first marriage, years before he met Ms. Harris. The acknowledgment, which was released in a statement, came hours after a British tabloid reported that Mr. Emhoff had a previously undisclosed relationship with a teacher who worked at the elementary school his children attended in Culver City, Calif., approximately 15 years ago. At the time, Mr. Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer, was married to Kerstin Emhoff, a film producer, with whom he had two children. The couple filed for divorce in 2009. Mr. Emhoff met Ms. Harris in 2013, and they married the following year.... The Biden campaign was aware of the affair before it decided to tap Ms. Harris as vice president in 2020, according to a person familiar with the vetting process.... In addition, this person said that Ms. Harris knew of the affair before she married Mr. Emhoff in 2014." CNN's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Harumph! Who could vote for a woman whose husband had an extramarital affair years before he met her? This is a stupid story, and I'm only linking it because it's all over the media so you might as well be aware of it.
Two Variations on the Same Story. In the first, Trump is merely a Cowardly Lion. In the second he's a Cowardly Liar. I'd say the second sounds more realistic: ~~~
~~~ (1) Simon Levien & Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump declared late on Friday that he was dropping out of an ABC News debate scheduled for Sept. 10 and presented a counterproposal to Vice President Kamala Harris, his presumptive opponent, to face off on Fox News six days earlier. The change, which Mr. Trump announced on his social media site, Truth Social, raised objections from the Harris campaign and appeared to throw a potential showdown between the rivals into question.... The Harris campaign on Saturday declined to commit to the Fox News debate and said it was still planning on a Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC.... 'Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out....,' Michael Tyler, the Harris campaign's communications director said in a statement. He added: 'We're happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to. Mr. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace should have no problem with that unless he's too scared to show up on the 10th.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ (2) Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump claimed late Friday night to have struck a deal for a new debate with Vice President Harris....But the Harris campaign said Saturday that she never agreed to a new debate deal. Harris is urging Trump to keep the debate date he agreed on with President Biden before Biden withdrew from the race last month. In a social media post late Friday, Trump claimed he and Harris had agreed to debate on Sept. 4 on Fox News. Trump said his previous commitment to a debate on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC News was 'terminated' because Biden dropped out as the Democratic candidate. Harris's team was baffled by Trump's claims. The Harris campaign said Saturday that there is no agreement for a new Fox News debate on Sept. 4. A person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning, said the campaign held no negotiations with Trump or Fox about a new debate.... In Friday's post, Trump also raised objections to ABC serving as moderator, even though he previously accepted the network's role. Trump referenced a lawsuit against ABC accusing host George Stephanopoulos of defaming him.... Trump agreed to the ABC debate in May two months after filing his lawsuit against the network." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's Politico's report. (Also linked yesterday.) And here's a copy of the Trump's post, topped by commentary from Harris. Trump's post is ambiguous, IMO:
Marie: Since the Billionaire Genius took over Twitter, the platform has become what I would call "unstable," & tweets often degrade over time. For instance, on Saturday, you could read Trump's statement, which Sahil Kapur reproduced in full, but X now cuts off the last bit. You can read Trump's whole screed here (at least for now!).
It’s interesting how “any time, any place” becomes “one specific time, one specific safe space.”
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 3, 2024
I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there. https://t.co/zqng89X8QD
Everybody's Picking on Donald. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump suggested without evidence on Saturday that Georgia's Republican governor was hampering his efforts to win the battleground state in November, a claim that carried echoes of Mr. Trump's attempt to overturn his defeat to President Biden there in 2020. 'In my opinion, they want us to lose,' Mr. Trump said, accusing the state's governor, Brian Kemp, and its secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who is also a Republican, of being disloyal and trying to make life difficult for him. At a rally at the Georgia State University Convocation Center in Atlanta, in a speech that lasted more than 90 minutes and that was peppered with grievances about his loss four years ago, Mr. Trump falsely claimed, 'I won this state twice,' referring to the 2016 and 2020 elections....
"Mr. Trump held his rally in Atlanta in the same arena where his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, held a rally earlier in the week. Both candidates filled the complex, which holds 8,000 people, though Mr. Trump ... questioned whether Ms. Harris's supporters had in fact come to hear the hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion, who performed at that event.... [Mr. Trump] mocked the pronunciation of [Ms. Harris's] first name, insulted her intelligence and communication skills, and called her a 'radical left freak.'"
~~~ Adam Wren & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "The attack -- on social media and in person at the Georgia State University Convocation Center -- marked an escalation of Trump's longstanding criticism of Kemp. And it instantly unsettled Georgia Republicans, who warned Trump's comments threaten his already shaky prospects in the state.... Many Republicans inside and outside of Georgia still nurse raw feelings about how Trump's fixation on the 2020 election in the state contributed to a major setback for the party in the 2021 Senate runoffs. Democrats won two Senate seats in Georgia that January, when Trump's false claims about a stolen election were widely credited with dampening Republican turnout." See Nisky Guy's comment below.~~~
~~~ Comrade Trump Congratulates Putin. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin over a prisoner swap that took place this week, saying the Russian strongman had outsmarted U.S. officials as part of the largest such deal since the end of the Cold War. At a rally [in Atlanta] on Saturday, Trump did not mention any of the American prisoners who were released in the deal.... In his previous comments on the deal, he did not mention any of the prisoners by name either, only criticizing the U.S. government. 'I'd like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal.... We have 59 hostages, I never paid anything.... Boy, we make some horrible, horrible deals. It's nice to say we got 'em back, but does that set a bad precedent,' Trump said.... In fact, Trump authorized an agreement to pay $2 million to North Korea for medical bills in the release of Otto Warmbier, the comatose University of Virginia student sent home from Pyongyang in 2017, The Washington Post reported. Trump claimed the bill was never paid.... National security adviser Jake Sullivan said this week that no money changed hands in the latest prisoner swap.... The former president has repeatedly bragged about his close relationship with Putin.... On several public occasions in recent months, Trump has said he would get [Wall Street Journal reporter Evan] Gershkovich released as soon as he was elected in November, and Putin would do it 'for me, but not anyone else.'"
Desperately Assaulting Kamala. Adam Wren, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump broadsided Kamala Harris in a string of derisive social media posts on Saturday, focusing his attacks on the vice president's intellect after a week that saw her both out-fundraise him and surpass him in some battleground state polls. In a succession of Truth Social posts after calling off his planned ABC debate with Harris, Trump called Harris 'low IQ,' 'dumb,' and said she lacked the 'mental capacity' to debate him.... Harris has overtaken Trump in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, even if only by a few percentage points of support, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday. And a survey by Susquehanna Polling found that she held a 4 percentage-point lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, earning the support of 47 percent of voters to Trump's 43 percent." ~~~
~~~ Really, Donald? You think pulling insults out of your stale bag of tricks is an effective way to attack your opponent? Here's a better methodology: other people -- not your opponent or even her campaign -- describe you in negative terms, then back up their assertions with video clips of you screwing up. Thanks to RAS for the lead: ~~~
Voters Notice Donald Trump Is an Obnoxious, Insulting Jerk: ~~~
~~~ (1) Robert Klemko, et al., of the Washington Post: Donald "Trump's racist broadside Wednesday during a Black journalists conference in Chicago conjured painful memories for America's fastest-growing racial group -- those who identify as belonging to more than one race.... More than 33 million Americans -- about 1 in 10 -- identify as two or more races, according to the 2020 Census.... To hear Trump question the Democratic presidential candidate's right to belong to more than one group left many feeling newly wounded.... Many of those who wrote to The Post accused Trump of deliberately misunderstanding a person's freedom to identify as two races at once for his own political gain. Some believed the former president to be genuinely uneducated. Universally, they condemned the remarks, describing Trump's words as 'racist,' 'ignorant,' 'abhorrent' and 'unsurprising.'"
~~~ (2) Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: "In interviews with more than two dozen voters [in the collar counties around Philadelphia, Pa.,], it was clear that [JD] Vance's views have renewed unease about [Donald] Trump's judgment, his past statements about women and his record on abortion. Almost universally, voters also said they were bracing for Trump to unleash personal attacks on [Vice President] Harris.... In a strange stroke of political timing, America's reintroduction to Harris, now at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, has coincided with the vetting of Vance. That has meant voters are revisiting the possibility of the first female president at the same time that Vance is drawing scrutiny of his views on traditional marriage, the role of women in the home and his opposition to abortion, including in the case of rape and incest....
"By including Harris -- who has two stepchildren -- in his 2021 description of ascendant Democrats as 'a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable,' Vance seems to have triggered anger not only among voters who support her, but also among swing voters, who suddenly feel inspired to defend her."
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "U.S. prosecutors and lawyers for Donald Trump will return to federal court on Aug. 16 to decide how the former president's 2020 election obstruction case can proceed after the Supreme Court ruled last month that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan set the hearing in Washington after the Supreme Court returned the case to her control on Friday." This is an update of a story linked earlier Saturday.
Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "President Biden's son Hunter will be sentenced in mid-November -- a week after Election Day -- after being convicted of gun charges, a federal judge said Friday. Hunter Biden was convicted in June by a Wilmington, Del., jury of felony charges that he lied about his drug use in 2018 on paperwork to buy a gun, and that he illegally possessed that gun. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who oversaw the trial, filed an order Friday saying he will be sentenced Nov. 13." MB: Huh. Hunter's troubles no longer seem to be all that helpful to Felonious Don. (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel, et al. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is pushing back against President Biden over American concerns about the assassination of the political leader of Hamas and Israel's approach to cease-fire talks in the latest rift between the two allies since the war in Gaza began 10 months ago. In what a U.S. official described as a heated conversation on Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu denied that Israel was an obstacle to a cease-fire agreement and rejected Mr. Biden's contention that the killing of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil could sabotage efforts to reach a deal halting hostilities and freeing hostages.... According to both governments, the Israelis did not inform the Americans of the plan to kill Haniyeh even though Mr. Biden had hosted Mr. Netanyahu at the White House just days before....
"Mr. Biden alluded to his worries about the combustible situation in the Middle East during a brief late-night conversation with reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Thursday after welcoming home three Americans released by Russia in a prisoner swap. 'I'm very concerned about it,' the president said. 'I had a very direct meeting with the prime minister today -- very direct. We have the basis for a cease-fire. He should move on it and they should move on it now.' Asked if the Haniyeh killing made it harder to reach a deal, Mr. Biden said, 'It's not helped. That's all I'm going to say right now.'"
News Lede
Washington Post: "Odds are increasing that a hurricane will strike Florida Monday and that this same storm could also cause substantial problems from south Georgia to the eastern Carolinas next week. Late Saturday, thunderstorms organizing over the southern Gulf of Mexico morphed into Tropical Storm Debby. The incipient storm is expected to make a run at the Florida Gulf Coast on Monday, probably as a hurricane, before deluging the Southeast with excessive rainfall and flooding."
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Reader Comments (11)
Hang on…the Fat Fascist “agrees” to a debate on Fox?
This is the headline across multiple corporate media sites: “Trump agrees…” blah, blah, blah.
Agrees with whom? Fox? He’s not debating Fox.
There IS no agreement. You can’t agree with yourself, or with some other party who is, by definition, not part of the agreement. This is bullshit. Another in the endless ways the corporate media assists this cowardly liar. If Harris isn’t on board there is no agreement. As far as I know, neither Trump nor Fox have even spoken to Harris about this “agreement”.
This is Fatty making a pronouncement from on high and expecting everyone to bow to his wishes. And so they do. Like always.
The headline should read “Trump backs out of agreed upon debate and tries a new scam to keep from debating Harris.”
But you know, you KNOW that unless Harris goes along with this scam, she will be the one painted as cowardly and as the one “breaking” this “agreement”.
So sick of this shit.
@Akhilleus: Trump must have surmised that Harris wouldn't go for his generous "proposal." Otherwise, he would have insisted that the only way a "debate" could be fair would be to hold it on a pay-per-view Truth Social channel with TuKKKer Carlson & Kari Lake as "moderators." First question for both candidates: "Tell us at least 10 things that are great about Donald Trump."
Kemp and Raffensperger have done plenty of harm to democracy with voter roll purges, warping the rules, and distributing staff in such a way that polling stations in Democratic strongholds have long lines while R areas have walk-in service. And they get bile from t***p. Watch and learn, MAGAts.
Ten things that grate about Trump? Only ten? Can we make that a hundred?
Seriously, we’re better off without a “debate” (these things are debates like Alito and Thomas are honest judges). Plus, it doesn’t matter what the rules are, no one can invent a rule that Fatty won’t ignore. And no rules can prevent him from unleashing the usual torrent of disinformation, insults, and out abs out lies, his usual Gish Gallop.
When one side shows up to speak honestly and thoughtfully about issues of great import to the nation and the other side is talking ragtime and slinging the shit like a maniac trying to dig his way out of an open cesspool, there’s nothing to be gained by anyone hoping for a genuine and reliable exchange of serious positions. For Trump, it’s always a chance to perform, to attack, to dissemble, and to gaslight.
Will we learn anything from it?
Sure. The lesson will be “Don’t waste your time”.
So Captain Chickenman drops the ABC debate and scurries home to the Safety of Fox News.
We raised chickens for many years and it was not until Donald Trump hit the political scene that I ever saw screaming to a Fox for protection.
Bobby Lee,
Likely yours had chicken integrity. This one has only chicken shit.
This outing of Doug Emhoff’s long ago dalliance is just the beginning of the press assault on the Harris campaign. The tiniest infractions, an unpaid parking ticket, overdue library books, will be turned into sure signs of liberal dissolution and proof of their hatred of America.
While Trump’s Domesday Book of crimes and treasonous acts will be shrugged off as “Oh, that’s just Donald…”
Raffensperger as of right now is still a potential witness against Trump in the Georgia case.
Now that Jimmy Carter has come out for Harris, the rat fink PoT election deniers in Georgia will pass a law saying he has to show up in person to vote. Not only that, he won’t be able to use a walker, wheelchair, or cane, and will have to do a triple back flip that would give Simone Biles a headache before being allowed into the voting booth.
Now had he said he was voting for Trump, a special car would show up at his door carrying in not one, but 21 ballots, cuz why not? He’s gonna vote once, might as well make it a few more. He can fill them in while sitting in bed eating a peanut butter sandwich, and a MAGA choir will sing hymns of praise outside his window.
Brooke Harrington, "a sociologist who studies the ultrarich", may have coined a new word "broligarchs" to describe the billionaires that believe "their ideas should prevail regardless of the preferences of their fellow citizens.
...for all their rejection of taxation, regulation, and press scrutiny, the broligarchs are not anarchists. They’re in full support of laws protecting their property rights and enforcing their contracts.
.... They’re just not keen on being subject to the law, doing their part to keep government up and running, or acknowledging their dependence on a free, functional democracy for their prosperity."
The Atlantic gift link:
The antidemocratic politics of having it all
Okay, I’m making a serious recommendation for anyone who’s interested to check out about 15 minutes of this particular podcast. Ed Zitron, writer and reporter on the business side of high tech, visits the New Abnormal podcast and offers some excellent and timely observations about Tech Bro Trump love.
I was planning on providing some highlights to whet your interest, but there are too many great ones. Fast forward to about 15:30 into the show. Zitron distills the faux libertarian strains of these billionaire bros to get to what really matters to them and why they love Trump. And it ain’t an interest in making the world a better place.
I listened to it twice, it was so good.
Leave us say that hearing about major figures in Silicon Valley who feel compelled to read multiple in depth biographies of Hitler (“This guy really knew what he was doing!”) will give you A. A good reason why they love Trump, and B. An even more horrible feeling for what these fucking people who control so much of modern life are up to.