;)
The Conversation -- July 31, 2024
Taylor Giorno of the Hill: "The United Auto Workers (UAW) endorsed Vice President Harris on Wednesday in the upcoming presidential election. UAW President Shawn Fain praised Harris ahead of her planned appearance at a rally with union members o Aug. 7 and took aim at former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.... Fain and Trump have sparred publicly for months. Trump called for Fain to be fired during his speech at the Republican National Convention, and the UAW hit back on the social platform X, calling the former president 'a scab and a billionaire.' Last week, Fain praised Harris for walking the picket line with UAW workers in 2019, saying Trump, who was in office at the time, 'sure as hell wasn't on the picket line.' The UAW endorsement ended weeks of speculation as to whether the union would back Harris after President Biden, endorsed by the UAW in January, exited the race on July 21."
Old Fogies for Harris. Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "Hundreds of golf carts ... supporting Vice President Harris's presidential bid [formed] a parade in The Villages, a Florida retirement community that has been a stronghold for ... Donald Trump's ... movement for nearly a decade.... The Villages Democratic Club ... expected to see around 250 people, but the attendance was at least double that. The unexpected show of support drew millions of views online.... On Sunday, the Villages MAGA Club ... announced it would host a golf cart caravan to support the Trump-Vance ticket."
Of Course He Can't Handle the Truth. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump on Wednesday clashed with an ABC News correspondent at a convention of Black journalists, slamming her 'disgraceful' questioning after she asked why Black voters should trust him with another term. ABC News's Rachel Scott opened a question-and-answer session with Trump by citing his past comments spreading the birther conspiracy about former President Obama, his call for certain Democratic lawmakers to 'go back' to countries they came from and his meeting with a white supremacist at Mar-a-Lago. 'Why should Black voters trust you?' Scott asked. 'I don't think I've ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner. A first question. You don't even say hello, how are you,' Trump said. 'Are you with ABC, because I think they're a fake news network, a terrible network. I think it's disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country, I've done so much for the Black population of this country.'"
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump mocked Vice President Harris's heritage during a live interview Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention.... 'She was always of Indian heritage. And she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black. And now she wants to be known as Black,' Trump said. 'So I don't know, is she Indian, or is she Black,' he continued. 'She has always identified as a Black woman," [ABC newswoman Rachel] Scott interjected. '... I think somebody should look into [Harris' supposed change of race],' Trump said, criticizing Scott's 'hostile' and 'nasty' tone."
Al Weaver of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) denounced recent remarks by former President Trump about Jewish Americans who vote Democratic as 'reprehensible and dangerous' Tuesday, arguing they are a clear example of 'unadulterated antisemitism.' Trump said in an interview that aired Monday that Democrats 'hate Israel' and that Jewish voters who support Democrats hate their religion." ~~~
~~~ David Moye of the Huffington Post: "Donald Trump came under fire on Tuesday after the former president agreed with an interviewer who said that Vice President Kamala Harris' husband is 'a crappy Jew, he's a horrible Jew.'... Host Sid Rosenberg said 'they tell me that this Harris husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish,' describing the second gentleman as 'Jewish like Bernie Sanders is Jewish' and adding, 'He's a crappy Jew, he's a horrible Jew.' As Rosenberg attacked Emhoff's faith, the non-Jewish and not particularly religious Trump repeatedly said 'yes' to the attacks." MB: If anyone had the ability to assess the quality of faith of a person he does not even know, it sure as hell would not be Donald Trump.
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "A Justice Department watchdog criticized Attorney General William P. Barr for a 'chaotic and disorganized' response to the demonstrations spurred by George Floyd's murder in 2020 -- but found that he did not order the forced removal of protesters from a park near the White House. The four-year investigation covers one of the most polarizing moments of Donald J. Trump's presidency: his decision on June 1, 2020, to walk from the Rose Garden through Lafayette Park, which federal law enforcement officers had violently cleared of protesters, for a Bible-brandishing photo opportunity at a nearby church.... The clearing of the park by baton-wielding officers, some on horseback -- with a handful of Justice Department employees providing support -- was directed by the Park Police and the Secret Service, not the Justice Department, the report [said].... Still, the inspector general found that the attorney general, at Mr. Trump's urging, seemed eager to deploy the department's uniformed work force to prove he was willing to stand up to left-wing protesters...."
~~~~~~~~~~
Despite attempts led by Republican elected officials to block our efforts, we won't stop fighting to provide relief to student loan borrowers, fix the broken student loan system, and help borrowers get out from under the burden of student debt. -- President Biden, in a statement Wednesday ~~~
~~~ Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "The Education Department on Wednesday will begin emailing millions of student loan borrowers to let them opt out of President Biden's new policy to reduce or eliminate their balances, advancing an alternative plan to the program struck down by the Supreme Court last year.... Those who are interested in receiving relief need not take any action. Those who opt-out will not be able to opt back in, according to the Education Department."
Senate Passes Child Protection Bills; House Remains Dysfunctional. Cristiano Lima-Strong of the Washington Post: "The Senate overwhelmingly passed a pair of bills to expand online privacy and safety protections for children on Tuesday, delivering a major win for parent and youth activists who have clamored for action against tech companies they say are endangering the well-being of kids. The legislation, approved 91-3, would force digital platforms to take 'reasonable' steps to prevent harms to children such as bullying, drug addiction and sexual exploitation, and it would broaden existing federal privacy protections to include kids and teens 16 years old and younger. The bills -- the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, referred to as COPPA 2.0. -- represent the most significant restrictions on tech platforms to clear a chamber of Congress in decades.
"Proponents of the measures hope Senate passage will amplify calls for the package to be taken up in the House, where the bills have garnered bipartisan support but negotiations publicly unraveled last month amid infighting between House Republican leaders.... Odds for passage in the House this year appear dim.... The House broke early for its annual August recess last week without rescheduling a markup for the bills." (Also linked yesterday.)
National Elections
Matt Viser & Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "Vice President Harris ... held a raucous rally [in Atlanta, Ga.,] Tuesday night and challenged Republican Donald Trump to debate her, as both the Harris and Trump campaigns are refocusing attention on this pivotal Southern state amid a political map that could be reshaped by newfound Democratic energy. Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), will appear at a rally in the same venue Saturday, the Trump campaign said, marking two dueling rallies in a state increasingly at play. President Biden, who narrowly captured Georgia in 2020, had been considered by many Democrats a long shot to win it again, but that calculus could change if Harris can energize the state's voters. 'I am very clear: The path to the White House runs right through this state,' Harris said. 'You all helped us win in 2020, and we're going to do it again in 2024.'... Ahead of Harris's rally, crowds snaked around the Georgia State Convocation Center for hours, with sweaty attendees moving at a snail's pace in the 90-degree heat -- a scene that until recently was more familiar at Trump's rallies." A CBS News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Dance Party! Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... around 10,000 people packed the [Georgia State Convocation Center] stadium [in Atlanta] for [Vice President] Harris.... [The] rally ... often felt like a dance party, and not just when the Grammy-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion was performing. All the Democrats' fervent yearning for a fighter to take on Trump, their desperate hope for hope, has converged on a woman who until just weeks ago was regularly overlooked and underestimated." ~~~
Jarrett Renshaw & Nandita Bose of Reuters: "Vice President Kamala Harris will tour battleground states next week with her vice presidential candidate, two sources familiar with the planning said on Tuesday, a sign the selection process for her running mate is coming to a close.... The short list of candidates under consideration include Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. On Monday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer both indicated they were both out of the VP sweepstakes." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris will hold her first rally with her running mate next Tuesday in Philadelphia, the first stop in a four-day tour of the battleground states next week, her campaign said on Tuesday night. Ms. Harris's campaign insisted that the travel schedule did not mean anything about whom she might select as her vice-presidential nominee, though one top contender, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, was raised in the Philadelphia suburbs.... After the Tuesday rally in Philadelphia, Ms. Harris and her running mate will on Wednesday begin a circuit with stops in western Wisconsin; Detroit; Raleigh, N.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Phoenix; and Las Vegas, the campaign said." Politico's story is here.
~~~ Aaron Navarro of CBS News: "As soon as this Thursday, delegates in the Democratic Party will hold a virtual vote to select their new nominee. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to run unopposed. Here's more on what it means and how the vote will work[.]... The vice presidential candidate does not have to be nominated at the same time as the presidential nominee. Harris must pick a running mate by Aug. 7 to comply with Ohio's current ballot deadline, which remains in effect. Harris' team is planning to finish the vetting of the VP field and expects her to pick her running mate by that date, according to a source familiar with the plans." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Vice President Harris is the only candidate who has qualified for the virtual roll call vote to officially select the Democratic presidential nominee. Electronic voting for the nearly 4,000 Democratic delegates will begin Thursday at 9 a.m. and end Monday at 6 p.m. Harris needs 1,976 votes to secure the nomination and is expected to far surpass that number." The NBC News report is here.
Reid Epstein & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "The race to define Vice President Kamala Harris began in earnest on Tuesday, with both her campaign and .. Donald J. Trump's team unveiling television advertisements that aim to explain her biography to voters in battleground states. Ms. Harris's new ad, her first since becoming the party's de facto nominee, labels her as 'fearless' while leaning into her time as a local and state prosecutor.... Mr. Trump's new ad, meanwhile, attacks her as being weak on the border. It suggests that she is responsible for millions of border crossings and a quarter-million deaths from fentanyl, which the ad says occurred 'on Harris's watch.' It closes with a new Trump tagline for Ms. Harris: 'Failed. Weak. Dangerously Liberal.'... Ms. Harris was not responsible for overseeing border security. Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said in a statement that Mr. Trump had been responsible for Republicans in Congress walking away from a bipartisan immigration agreement.... The new ads will cost tens of millions of dollars and run in [battleground] states." See yesterday's Conversation for video of Harris's ad. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "Vice President Harris's campaign on Tuesday unveiled a new campaign video that attacks former President Trump over the U.S. southern border in response to a Trump ad targeting Harris on the issue. The new 50-second video argues that Harris wants to increase border patrol agents, invest in technology to block fentanyl from entering U.S., and spend money to stop human traffickers while Trump worked to block bipartisan legislation that would do so." ~~~
Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "The political arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun regulation group founded by former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, plans to spend $45 million over the coming months to elect favored candidates in eight of the states that could determine control of the White House, House, Senate and local offices. The effort will include a new student organizing drive, with plans to hire 30 new organizers for volunteer recruitment drives at 32 college and university campuses in Arizona, California, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The group's leaders said the effort will focus on younger voters, voters of color and suburban women, with new field offices in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan."
Washington Post reporters have a follow-up report on a story linked in yesterday's Conversation about X's suspending the "White Dudes for Harris" account while the site was in the midst of raising funds for Kamala Harris Monday night. The organizer of the event Ross "Morales Rocketto said he and his team did not receive any communication from X or Musk about the suspension, but he felt the move was 'suspicious.'... This isn't the first time an account affiliated with the Harris campaign has run into trouble with its X account. On July 21, the day [President] Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed Harris, numerous X users reported that they were unable to follow an official Harris campaign account, @KamalaHQ.... [X owner Elon] Musk endorsed former president Donald Trump on the platform this month and has been using it to stump for the GOP candidate."
Wherein a Hideous Old Lump of Pitted Orange Blubber Criticizes Attractive Younger Woman's Appearance. Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump suggested that Vice President Harris wouldn't be able to stand up to world leaders because of her appearance.... 'She'll be like a play toy,' Trump -- who has a history of using sexist attacks and stereotypes in campaigns against women -- said in a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham, a portion of which aired on Tuesday night. 'They look at her and they say, ";We can't believe we got so lucky." They're going to walk all over her.' Trump then turned to look directly at the camera and added: 'And I don't want to say as to why. But a lot of people understand it.' Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said he was not referring to race or gender.... Trump has habitually criticized the appearance and intelligence of female political opponents, from Carly Fiorina to Hillary Clinton and Nikki Haley." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It seems to me Trump is implying that male leaders would dismiss Harris because she looks like a tart. I suspect this is because Trump believes any good-looking woman -- and especially one of color -- exists only for the carnal pleasure of powerful men. ("If you're a star, they let you do it.") But your guess is as good as -- or better than -- mine. Trump nauseates me.
Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump, in an interview broadcast Monday night, repeated his recent assertion that Christians will never have to vote again if they vote for him this November, and brushed aside multiple requests to walk back or clarify the statement.... His interviewer on Monday, Fox News's Laura Ingraham, noted that Democrats have highlighted that quote as evidence that Mr. Trump would end elections, and urged Mr. Trump to rebut what she called a 'ridiculous' criticism. But Mr. Trump declined to do so, repeating a pattern he frequently employs in which he makes a provocative statement that can be interpreted in varying ways, and makes no attempt to quiet the uproar. This comment was especially striking, given his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his shattering of other Democratic norms.... [In a final exchange on the topic, Ingraham] asked him, with a laugh, 'But you will leave office after four years?' 'Of course. By the way, and I did last time,' Mr. Trump said." MB: Right.
Colby Hall of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump responded to Democratic attacks that he and his MAGA supporters are 'weird' by insulting President Joe Biden's golf game. 'I'm a very good golfer. He's a terrible golfer. This guy can't hit a ball 30 yards,' Trump replied to Fox News host Laura Ingraham.... Perhaps Trump was unaware that an unprompted insult on Biden's golf game is, in and of itself, a weird reply, but he eventually got to the point. 'The whole thing is a con job,' Trump eventually said before resorting to the time-honored 'I know you are, but what am I?' retort, made famous by nearly every fourth grader across the land. 'Just plain weird. You know who's plain weird? She's plain weird. She's a weird person,' Trump said." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It's quite clear that Trump can't keep up with the program. Joe Biden isn't running for president. Joe Biden didn't call Trump weird. The quality of Joe Biden's golf game could not be more irrelevant. (And his game apparently not all that bad, especially for someone who didn't take up the sport till late in life and doesn't play often. Joe's got aptitude!)
Neil Vigdor of the New York Times elaborates on a story linked yesterday re: DNC nepo DNC cochair Lara Trump likened Kamala Harris to a pricey designer "trash bag." "The metaphor used by Ms. Trump was another personal attack against Ms. Harris from Republicans, who have repeatedly used her race and gender in their criticism.... At a gathering of religious conservatives on Friday, [Donald] Trump called Ms. Harris a 'bum.'"
Sad News. Meredith McGraw & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Paul Dans, who directed The Heritage Foundation's controversial 2025 Presidential Transition Project, or Project 2025, is stepping down from his role in August, according to an internal email to staff and one person familiar with the matter. Dans' departure does not mean the project, which has been repeatedly criticized by Democrats as well as Donald Trump, is shutting down. The work of Project 2025 -- which includes policy and personnel prescriptions for a Republican administration -- will continue...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Never before has a figure with Roberts's depth and stature within the American Right tried to articulate a genuinely new future for conservatism. We are now all realizing that it's time to circle the wagons and load the muskets. In the fights that lay ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon. -- J.D. Vance, foreword to soon-to-be-published book by Project 2025 leader Kevin Roberts ~~~
~~~ According to MSNBC, the Daily Beast is reporting that Trump forced Dans' resignation. And the Trump campaign issued a statement Tuesday "welcoming the demise" of the project. As we know, Trump continues to have a hard time pretending he knows nothing about Project 2025 considering that Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation, who says he headed up Project 2025 has written a new book with a foreword by J.D. Vance. The Guardian has more on Vance's laudatory forward to Roberts' book, including a link to the full forward, republished in the New Republic (firewalled).
"Tech Bro Elegy." Paul Krugman of the New York Times: J.D. "Vance's ascent has, to a significant degree, been powered by a small group of technology billionaires with Peter Thiel, who poured millions into Vance's 2022 Senate race, at the center.... [Vance] pitches himself as a champion of working-class America. But behind his cynical culture-warring -- behind his professed allegiance to Everyman totems like Mountain Dew -- he's closely tied to a tech-sector ethos that's anything but populist.... So, what do [the immensely wealthy tech bros who support Trump-Vance] have in common? To start, right-wing political leanings.... Some right-wing techies have also descended into conspiracism. Leading the pack, Elon Musk.... Paranoid politics comes surprisingly naturally to the ultrawealthy.... Tech-bro support for Trump and Vance also seems to have a lot to do with one specific issue: cryptocurrency.... The truth is that Bitcoin, which was introduced 15 years ago, an eon in tech time, remains economically useless: A 2022 survey found that transactions involving crypto assets 'are seldom used for payments outside the crypto ecosystem.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Rachel Maddow posited last night that Trump "policy" is whatever his latest billionaire "friend" is for. So that's how he ended up with a sudden admiration for J.D. Vance & Bitcoin.
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "A surprise announcement that Donald Trump would appear for a question-and-answer panel during the National Association of Black Journalists' annual convention in Chicago has prompted blowback from several prominent Black journalists and association members. The former president ../ will be interviewed Wednesday by three journalists -- ABC senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, Semafor politics reporter Kadia Goba and Fox News host Harris Faulkner -- 'on the most pressing issues facing the Black community,' NABJ said in a news release late Monday. The organization said it also invited Vice President Harris, but 'her confirmation is pending.' Karen Attiah, the 2019 NABJ journalist of the year, announced Tuesday that she would step down as convention co-chair.... Other journalists raised objections as well. TheGrio's April Ryan, who clashed repeatedly with the then-president during her time as a White House correspondent, wrote that the invitation was 'a slap in the face to the Black women journalists' who were verbally attacked by Trump."
Eileen Sullivan & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The acting Secret Service director told senators on Tuesday that the agency failed on July 13 by not having a countersniper focused on the roof where a would-be assassin fired eight shots at ... Donald J. Trump, injuring him and others and killing a rally attendee. While Ronald L. Rowe Jr., the acting director, provided a more complete account of what happened that day than his predecessor did a week ago, he failed to answer a critical question about that day: Who was supposed to be watching that roof?... Mr. Rowe said he went to the site of the shooting in Butler, Pa., and ... climbed onto the building and laid on the roof so he could see the direct line that the shooter ... had to Mr. Trump. 'What I saw made me ashamed,' Mr. Rowe told a joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Judiciary committees. 'As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Dana Hedgpeth & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "More than 900 Native American children died while being forced to attend Indian boarding schools, according to a new federal report that urges the U.S. government to formally apologize for the enduring trauma inflicted by its systematic effort to assimilate the children and destroy their culture. Many of the children were buried in at least 74 marked and unmarked burial sites at 65 former schools across the country, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior report released Tuesday. The actual number of children who died and the number of potential burial sites are probably greater, the report said."
~~~~~~~~~~
Arizona. U.S. Senate Race. Kellen Browning of the New York Times: "Kari Lake won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Arizona on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, setting up a high-stakes contest in the fall for the seat of Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who is retiring. Her victory over Mark Lamb, the Pinal County sheriff, extends her three-year transformation into a fierce pro-Trump firebrand. A former news anchor, she will now face Representative Ruben Gallego, a Phoenix-area former Marine who had no opposition in the Democratic primary." An NBC News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Here are more results from the Arizona primary, via the New York Times.
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel wars are here. "Ismail Haniyeh, one of the most senior Hamas leaders, was assassinated in Iran, the country's Revolutionary Guards Corps and Hamas said on Wednesday, a severe blow to the Palestinian group that threatens to engulf the region in further conflict. Hamas accused Israel of killing Mr. Haniyeh, who led the group's political operations from exile in Qatar. He was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of the newly elected president of Iran, Hamas's main backer." This is the pinned item at 4:00 am ET.
Ronen Bergman, et al., of the New York Times: "Israel launched a deadly strike in a densely populated Beirut suburb on Tuesday in retaliation for a rocket attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that it blamed Hezbollah for and that killed 12 children and teenagers on a soccer field. The target of the Israeli strike in a southern suburb of Lebanon's capital was Fuad Shukr, a senior official who serves as a close adviser to Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, according to three Israeli security officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. The Israel Defense Forces later said in a statement that its fighter jets had 'eliminated' Mr. Shukr, but there was no confirmation from Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed group, and the claim could not be independently verified." Reuters' report, published in the Jerusalem Post, is here.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel wars are here. "Israel carried out a strike in Beirut on Tuesday night, retaliating for an assault that killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights over the weekend. The Israeli military said it had targeted a commander whom it blamed for the attack, fueling Western concerns that Israel's long-running conflict with the powerful Lebanese militia Hezbollah could escalate further." This was the pinned item late yesterday afternoon ET. (Also linked yesterday.)
Venezuela. Samantha Schmidt & Ana Herrero of the Washington Post: "At least 16 people have been killed in clashes across the country since the vote Sunday, according to the rights group Foro Penal and a survey of hospitals. The dead include one soldier, the defense ministry said.... The attacks and threats are an escalation for [President Nicolás] Maduro, who claims to have won reelection Sunday despite exit polls and, the opposition says, the government's own records that show [opposition presidential candidate Edmundo] González won twice as many votes."
News Lede
Washington Post: "Boar's Head recalled seven million additional pounds of deli meat on Tuesday, expanding a recall of more than 200,000 pounds after its product was linked on Monday to a listeria outbreak that has left two people dead and sickened nearly three dozen. The expanded recall includes all meats and poultry processed at a Boar's Head facility in Jarratt, Va. The decision to broaden the recall came after the company learned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that a sample of its liverwurst from a Maryland store that had tested positive for listeria bacteria had matched the strain in the nationwide outbreak."
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Reader Comments (19)
Brought forward from yesterday's Conversation:
Wouldn’t you expect the idiot who claims to have the best words to know something about words in general?
Fatty went on Fox in an interview with Laura Ingraham and said “I don’t want pronouns!”
“I” is a pronoun. Funny, in’it?
Moron.
Tom Cotton explains Trump’s most significant promise yet that he believes PoT vote stealing and voter suppression schemes have already guaranteed his victory in the upcoming election when he tells supporters not to worry about voting, that he’s got all the votes he needs already, and that after this year, no will need to vote anymore:
Haha…just kidding!
Right. Because Tom Cotton, A. Is such an astute judge of humor, and B. Would never tell a lie to try to hide a PoT attempt at subverting democracy.
I saw a clip from Rachel's Monday show this morning on the topic of PoT already having enough votes, with more than 50 election deniers in charge of swing state voting districts.
These election deniers can look at the recent past. What has happened to people who disobeyed their oath of office and denied or tried to warp reality by not certifying or by posing as fake electors? Not much.
Timid enforcement of clear violations in the 2020 election has emboldened the Rs to lay the groundwork for stealing the election. The fact that PoT talks about it tells me that people around him are saying these things, he just can't hold it in.
The Justice Department has to make it clear there will be swift and significant consequences for undermining the election results. And that includes the election deniers who have been seeded within the department itself.
https://youtu.be/of9OP_a6MNg?si=8vYBO5RwhYXOojAM
I erred. Rachel said that Rolling Stone identified at least _70_ election deniers in swing state districts, 22 who have already denied election results.
Test
Can’t post anything more than a few words.
Brought forward from yesterday's Conversation:
Outright lies.
As the Senate, controlled by an actual, functioning, serious party (ie Democrats) pass child protection bills, Shady Vance indulges in the usual Party of Traitors pastime, blatant lying, this time about Kamala Harris’s supposed hatred of families and children.
“In a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, Vance said, ‘I think a lot of parents and a lot of non-parents look at our public policy over the last four years and ask, ‘How did we get to this place? How did we get to a place where Kamala Harris is calling for an end to the child tax credit?’”
In fact, the exact opposite is true. Harris and the Democrats…and ONLY Democrats, pushed for an expansion of the child tax credit. Shady Vance’s party tried to kill it.
“Facts First: Vance’s claim that Harris is calling to end the child tax credit is false. In fact, it is the opposite of reality: Harris has called for years to increase the child tax credit. As vice president, she has advocated for the permanent adoption of the enhanced child tax credit that was temporarily in effect in 2021 under a pandemic relief law – a law that was signed by President Joe Biden after it was passed by Congress with only Democratic support.”
Of course, he lied about this on Fox where PoT liars are never challenged or fact checked.
Expect a lot more of this crap.
Fatty has other “tools” at his disposal to help guarantee he can steal the election.
In addition to election denialists in official positions, the Party of Traitors will be deploying an army of chaos agents and thugs to polls in an effort to scare away voters and challenge others who refuse to be frightened off.
“Donald Trump has made his self-serving ‘rigged election’ lies something like scripture for Republicans—an organizing principle for the party, an oath prospective Republican National Committee staffers apparently must swear before they’re hired, glue that binds the MAGA faithful. Now, the Trump campaign and the party apparatus—which have essentially become one and the same—may be planning to use the doubts he sowed about the democratic process in 2020 to undermine it again in 2024.
…Trump and the RNC [have schemed up] a ‘historic’ program to ensure “election integrity” in November: It will deploy “100,000 dedicated volunteers and attorneys,” they said, to serve as poll watchers in battleground states to monitor the process and report ‘any irregularity.’”
Irregularities being voters who don’t look MAGAfied.
Democrats need to draft their own poll watchers to make sure Trump’s brownshirts don’t succeed at their task of stealing the election.
I remember when Mitt Romney had 'binders full of women.'
Seems like J.D. Vance (or whatever his name is) has binders full
of insults, snide remarks, lies, put-downs, etc. etc. etc.
A perfect match for the orange fat one. A lying match.
And if the Donald declares himself ruler for life, what happens when
that life ends in a couple of years? In a lot of dictatorships, the wife
or number one sone would take over. Can Melanie fill that role?
She wasn't born in the U.S,A.
That would leave Junior as our God given ruler.
Enquiring minds want to know (or not).
Trumpy see, Trumpy do.
Realizing that millions of voters are responding to Democrats referring to him and his horrible choice for Vice prick as “weird”, Fatty has decided on his usual highly sophisticated comeback “I know you are, but what am I?” In one clip I’ve heard, he tries to suggest that he’s the one who started calling Harris weird “a long time ago” and that she stole the idea from him.
In other ratholes…He-Man Woman Hater Jesse Watter asks “What kind of man would support Harris? “Men who support Harris turn into women.” he avers, a claim which should surely interest scientists. Real scientists though, not MAGA scientists (if there is such a thing). MAGA scientists would be afraid of getting girl cooties.
The absolute penis shrinking terror these guys have of considering women as anything other than adjuncts to their manliness, or baby factories, housekeepers, cooks, and pipe and slipper fetchers would be hysterical if it wasn’t both sad and dangerous.
The best they can do is reach back for seventh grade insults and steal ideas they think will make them look tough and smart.
Instead of weak and stoopid. Their natural state.
Rebecca Patterson describes how "Policy proposals from Donald Trump and his circle threaten the huge advantages the United States enjoys from (the U.S. Treasury bond market)...
These (proposals) include unfunded tax cuts, an even broader trade war, a weakening of the dollar and a reduction in the independence of the Federal Reserve."
New York Times gift link
How the Very Stable Genius Could Seriously Mess With Your Financial Life
Hanibal Lector replies to Donald Trump.
https://www.kyoutube.com/watch?v=UwVvmKA6GNE
By the way, since the Orange Monster demands that all his sycophants, flunkies, lackeys, layabouts, thugs, and enablers call him Mr. President, and not only he but likely all his supporters believe he actually is the president, having won in 2020, doesn’t that mean he is ineligible to run again? He’s had his two terms.
digby
"Journalist Gil Duran has been following this new movement of tech billionaires who are heavily influencing right wing politics in America
I’ve spent this year writing for the @newrepublic about how a group of Silicon Valley billionaires has gone WEIRD. Now their weirdness is mating up with Trump’s MAGA weirdness in the 2024 election.
The tech billionaires behind Trump already have money. Now they want power — to create their own countries, to change what it means to human, to control the fate of the world. Their interest is mainly *ideological,* not economic. Anyone saying otherwise has not done the reading."
@Forrest Morris: I got a virus warning when I plugged in the link you provided. It should be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwVvmKA6GNE
@Marie: I'm wondering how that k got in there before youtube.
Quite sure I double checked before posting.
We're being watched. I'm not paranoid, but we're being watched.
I sound like Donald Trump.
I heard about that golf cart parade the other day. When you get a bunch of retiree golfers in Florida going for the liberal black chick over the old, wrinkly-ass white guy fascist, that’s some kind of paradigm shift.
Speaking of golf (and dementia, in the same breath), I heard a clip of the Fat Fascist yelping “The other day, I hit a six iron! Joe Biden couldn’t do that!!”
Um…what?
So first, let’s compare Trump and Biden as presidents.
Trump: worst ever, by orders of magnitude.
Biden: one of the best ever, especially considering that he had a House of Representatives run by a bunch of drooling Trumpy thugs.
So….the six iron thing? Fatty thinks this gives him a leg up?
No. This is like a three-legged turtle saying to the jaguar “I ate two earthworms and a grasshopper today. That makes me waaaay faster than you!”
Yeah. Right.
Six iron. Wow. But world leaders will think Harris is an idiot. Sure. Okay.
Massa Trump visits his slaves.
The Fat Bigot waddled on stage in Chicago at a convention of Black journalists, calling them all disgracefully disrespectful for not bowing down to the massa. He’s used to wild applause from racists and wingnut fascist droolers the second his fat ass flabs onto a stage. He got no response here which pissed him off.
He proceeded to rip Kamala Harris for “pretending” to be black. He claimed that no one knew she was black until she became the democratic candidate, stating that she only presented herself as Indian, despite going to a black college, joining the black caucus when she came to Washington, and standing up for black causes her whole career. When called on this lie, he attacked the panelists. He also reaffirmed that he would pardon his J6 thugs and violent brownshirts.
He was clearly outraged at not being greeted with laurel wreaths and hosannas for “doing more than any other President in history for ‘The Blacks’” as if he were referencing some kind of odd, somewhat unsavory species.
When I heard he was invited to this thing, I wondered wtf they could be thinking. Were they going to find out something they didn’t know about this racist piece of shit?
But all in all, he looked like the arrogant, ignorant, hateful white supremacist he’s always been.
Good job, Massa Fatty. Nathan Bedford Forest is looking down on you, ready to adorn you with the Golden Lynching Noose, presented to only the most racist scumbags.
While we’re on the topic of PoT efforts to steal the next election for the Fat Fascist, it would be useful to realize that fully a third of the members of Congress—right now—are election deniers. That’s 170 members from 36 states.
Back on Jan. 6, 2021, 120 members of Congress voted for the traitor and criminal Donald Trump and against the will of the people.
And here’s the thing. Should the election be pretty much tied, the decision goes to the House. That’s right, the Trump controlled House. And it makes no difference that Democrats represent TENS OF MILLIONS more than the PoT, the Party of Traitors controls more states. Each state gets one vote. So if that happens, all votes are tossed out. You and me and tens of millions will be disenfranchised. California, with 40 million gets the same consideration as North Dakota, with 780,000. Each state gets a single vote. And Fatty will be named dictator.
But just as important are the number of election denying traitors running for statewide office. There’s a great website, electiondeniers.org, that tracks all the traitors, just in case you forgot.
Plenty of these traitors are ready and willing to deny a Harris victory, to throw it to the House where fellow traitors will hand the presidency to the loser, Fat Donald.
Take a peek at this site. It’s an eye opener.