Mostly Monday Reads: High Anxiety
Posted: November 4, 2024 Filed under: 2024 DNC, Afternoon Reads, just because | Tags: 2024, Election Day November 5, VOTE 8 Comments
“I seen it on Fox News so it must be true.” John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
It’s finally here, and I’m so ready, but I would feel safer if I knew the outcome. I’m pretty sure the women of America have got this. I also know anyone who values their freedom, and the girls and women in their lives are doing their best, too. This headline caught my attention. It’s from The Daily Beast. “Teary-Eyed John Oliver Begs Reluctant Voters to Back Kamala Harris. The late-night host sent an emotional message to viewers in a passionate monologue days before the election.” My Discord Kamala volunteer channel has been beeping constantly with requests to call just a few more folks in the Swing States. I think everyone is trying to help in their own way because we all remember how awful DonOld and his cult can be. Sean L. McCarthy writes about John Oliver’s teary plea. I think it’s likely he’s higher up on the Project 2025/DonOld’s revenge list than I am.
Fighting back tears, John Oliver choked up Sunday night while urging undecided and reluctant voters to turn out Tuesday to elect Kamala Harris as president.
“What am I going to be feeling on Wednesday? And is there anything I’m going to wish I’d said right now?” Oliver said at the start of his impassioned 10-minute closing monologue on Last Week Tonight.
Oliver said he supports Harris’ proposals to expand Medicare for long-term elder care, as well as expanding reproductive freedoms and boosting incomes for poor Americans. He also acknowledged that several episodes in this 11th season of his late night HBO show already have warned of the danger of a second Trump term and the policies spelled out in Project 2025. “All of that is why a bunch of our stories this year have ended with me telling you to vote against Donald Trump,” Oliver said. “But to be clear, I am voting for Kamala Harris. And I think you should, too.”
Oliver directed his Sunday night plea to those voters “rightly furious” about the Biden administration’s “indefensible” policy toward the war in Gaza. “Look, I get why this is so difficult, and I know there are some who won’t vote for Harris under any circumstances because of this issue,” he said, adding: “I wish Harris had done more to reach out to you, beyond sending Bill Clinton to basically scold you this week. That didn’t seem remotely helpful to me, and honestly, felt a bit like bullying.”
But he also pointed to Muslim and Arab voices “who have also wrestled hard with this question and arrived at the conclusion that despite their pain, to vote for Harris.” Such as Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman, one of the Palestinians who had hoped to speak at this summer’s DNC but was rebuked. Oliver played a TikTok from Romman where she explained her reasons for sticking with Harris and the Democrats. “It’s honestly worth watching the whole thing,” Oliver said.
I know what it feels like to think you should’ve done something more when you had a chance. I don’t like being in that place.
Some signs show things moving in the right direction, even though the big pollsters call this race a toss-up. It’s why we can’t afford to sit this one out. This NPR report has me breathing easier. “Meet the conservative women who are keeping their votes for Kamala Harris a secret. It played on Morning Edition today with Sarah MacCammon. It’s a 4 minute listen if you go to the link.
In political ads and campaign speeches, supporters of Vice President Harris have a message for Republican women: Your vote is private, and no one will know if you secretly vote for Harris.
“No one gets to know how you’re going to vote,” Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin said last week during a campaign stop in Michigan. “No one gets to check it. It’s not available online. Right? Your vote is your choice. You don’t have to tell anyone.” Slotkin, who’s running for Senate, was campaigning with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who’s also crossed the aisle to endorse Harris.
Their message is aimed at conservative-leaning women like T, whom we’re calling by her first initial. T, who is in her 60s and lives in Wisconsin, asked for anonymity to discuss how living in a politically divided household is affecting her marriage of more than 40 years.
“He’s frustrated with me that I won’t listen to him plead his case. I can’t and I won’t,” she explained.
T says she mailed her absentee ballot from another family member’s home to avoid a confrontation with her husband over her support for Harris.
“It’s not that he would ever stop me or anything, it’s just I just can’t deal with that animosity,” she said with an audible sigh.
There was some sad news today. Quincy Jones has gone home to the elders at the age of 91. His influence on my life as a musician cannot be overstated. He was the “it” man. An interview with the great man in 2018 on DonOld and his family is something I pass along because you’ll see how strongly he was disgusted by the man. This is from Newsweek. “What Quincy Jones Said About Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump.”
In the interview, Jones mentioned knowing Ivanka’s father and didn’t hold back his opinions about him, expressing a strong distaste for Trump and referring to him in disparaging terms. Jones described him as “crazy” and criticized him as being “limited mentally,” calling him “narcissistic.”
“I used to hang out with him. He’s a crazy motherf***er. Limited mentally – a megalomaniac, narcissistic. I can’t stand him,” Jones said.
During the no-holds-barred interview, Jones expressed frustration about Trump’s political career and business practices, implying that he lacked leadership skills and didn’t know how to bring people together.
“A symphony conductor knows more about how to lead than most businesspeople – more than Trump does. He doesn’t know s***. Someone who knows about real leadership wouldn’t have as many people against him as he does. He’s a f***ing idiot,” Jones said.
Referring to Trump’s supporters, again Jones didn’t hold back, saying: “It’s Trump and uneducated rednecks. Trump is just telling them what they want to hear.”
Trump didn’t respond publicly to the claims. The following year, in March 2019, Jones donated $2,800 to Kamala Harris‘ primary campaign.
Jones had six daughters and publicly stated he was proud of every one of them. I’ve always voted in honor of my grandmothers, who could not vote until they were well into middle age. Tomorrow, I will vote for my daughters and granddaughters and every woman in the country who needs autonomy to make decisions about her life. I will vote for me, my sister, and all the other adult women who deserve their own moral authority. None of us are chattel, nor should we be under the law or the decision of a bunch of weird old men on the Supreme Court. And with that, I will shame Nikki Haley, who wrote this in the WSJ. “Trump Isn’t Perfect, but He’s the Better Choice. If you like his policies but are put off by his tone or his excesses, consider the cost of the past four years.” That is all you will see here. You have to deliberately confuscate the US economy, jobs, and business growth of the last few years for that conclusion.
After SNL on NBC gave Harris some fun time on the show Saturday night, the Orange Dotard demanded equal time. Fortunately, I didn’t see it because there would be no way I would be watching either of these shows. This is from, of all places, The Hollywood Reporter. “NBC Gives Donald Trump Campaign Time During NASCAR Race, ‘Sunday Night Football’ in Response to Kamala Harris’ ‘SNL’ Appearance. Trump appeared in spots that aired during Sunday’s coverage of both sporting events on NBC, speaking directly to the camera.”
On Sunday, NBC broadcast a NASCAR playoff race, but some viewers noticed toward the end of the broadcast (technically right after the race ended but while coverage was still ongoing) that Trump appeared in an unusual ad, speaking directly to camera while wearing a Red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, and claiming that electing Harris would cause a “depression” and that viewers should “go and vote.”
A source familiar with the matter says that the spot during the NASCAR race was connected to NBC giving the Trump campaign equal time.
During NBC’s Sunday Night Football coverage, Trump was given 60 additional seconds of campaign time. While the game was already over, the spot — which was the same one that aired during the NASCAR coverage — aired during the post-game coverage (and shortly after a paid campaign ad).
It is not clear whether it was the Trump camp or NBC that suggested the NASCAR and SNF placements.
It is also not clear if any other campaigns have requested equal time. If they do, however, NBC will likely need to find time for them, given the FCC rules. SNL creator Lorne Michaels previously cited the rules in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter as a reason why the show hadn’t had Trump or Harris on during this cycle.
Harris appeared on SNL in a “cold open” sketch alongside Maya Rudolph, who portrays the vice president for the late night comedy show. The sketch saw Rudolph’s Harris seeking a pep talk from the real Harris, with the pair ending the bit by saying “Keep Kamala and carry on-ala.”
However the sketch drew a rebuke from FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, who is seen as a potential FCC chair if President Trump is re-elected. Carr wrote that the sketch was “a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” because it came just two days before election day, within the seven-day window the FCC gives campaigns to request equal time.
I suppose none of these folks know that economists worldwide have indicated that it’s Trump’s stated economic policies that would immediately throw the US and the world into a recession. This is an Op-Ed in the Business Standard from a few weeks ago. “US elections: 23 Nobel laureates can’t be wrong about Donald Trump. Economists, from Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Daron Acemoglu, released a letter endorsing Kamala Harris for US president.”4
Economists mostly shun politics in favour of policy. We prefer to be aloof soothsayers giving voice to data and research rather than our own beliefs. A luminary in the profession once told me that “the only political party economists support is whichever is willing to be smart,” before adding, “and a smart economist would never join a political party.” And yet, in a stunning turn — at least for us in the profession — 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists, from Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Daron Acemoglu, released a letter endorsing Kamala Harris for US president.
“Simply put, Harris’s policies will result in a stronger economic performance, with economic growth that is more robust, more sustainable, and more equitable,” the Nobel laureates wrote in the letter. Donald Trump’s policies, they added, would “lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality.” As for Ms Harris, they wrote that she “has emphasised policies that strengthen the middle class, enhance competition, and promote entrepreneurship.Individuals can struggle to sort out the nuance of their own economic experience over the past eight years in weighing Ms Harris versus Mr Trump, but professional economists of all stripes have little to be torn about.It’s not a toss-up:Mr Trump’s policy agenda gives much for economists to condemn. Any one of these policies on their own would be enough to disqualify a candidate, but that Mr Trump has proposed them all is a clear enough indicator of just how much the economy would be at risk if he were reelected.
The latest Biden/Harris economy accolades have come from the U.K.’s The Economist.
The American economy
The envy of the world
Special reports –
The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust. Expect that to continue, argue Simon Rabinovitch and Henry Curr
Special report: The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust
Economic output: American productivity still leads the world
For richer and poorer: Is higher inequality the price America pays for faster growth?
Energy: The shale revolution helped make America’s economy great
The dollar: China’s yuan is nowhere close to displacing the greenback
Now, compare that to what Trump said yesterday. “It’s gonna be so much fun. It’ll be nasty… at the beginning in particular… You’re gonna see things that you’re not gonna believe.” Does that sound like Happy Days are here again? This is from Maddow Blog at MSNBC. “Trump warns voters that his second term would get ‘nasty’ at times. According to Donald Trump and his allies, his second term would be “nasty,” “bloody,” and filled with “hardships” for much of the population.” Steven Benen reports on this gloom and doom rally.
When Donald Trump uses the word “nasty,” he tends to target those who have the audacity to criticize him or stand in his way. In 2016, for example, the Republican referred to Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman.” Eight years later, the former president whined about Michelle Obama’s campaign appearances, complaining that the former first lady became “nasty.”
Last year, during a town hall event on CNN, Trump described moderator Kaitlan Collins as a “nasty person.” About a year later, he accused New York Attorney General Letitia James of having a “nasty” mouth. (If you’re noticing the gender similarity here, it’s not your imagination.)
But once in a while, the GOP candidate uses the word in a very different kind of context. NBC News reported:
After a meandering and at times hostile speech [Sunday] morning in Pennsylvania, Trump delivered a more subdued and on-prompter speech to a Georgia crowd at his third and final rally today. As he depicted a second-term Trump administration, he said: “We stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history. … It’ll be nasty a little bit at times, and maybe at the beginning in particular.”
The report added, “He didn’t elaborate on what would be ‘nasty.’”
At face value, this isn’t the kind of rhetoric American voters generally hear from presidential candidates. On the contrary, White House hopefuls tend to tell the public that if they’re elected, the country will be vastly safer, stronger, more prosperous, and more secure.
But Trump wants voters to prepare for something qualitatively different: a country where conditions will get “nasty.”
This comes roughly two months after the Republican nominee also told an audience that he and his team intend to pursue a mass deportation policy, and the process of removing immigrants already in the United States “will be a bloody story.”
It also comes a week after conspiratorial billionaire Elon Musk, a prominent Trump surrogate and megadonor, said during a virtual town hall event that Americans will need to endure “temporary hardship” if Trump wins a second term. As the world’s wealthiest man explained, much of the public will feel a real pinch as GOP officials work on “tackling the nation’s debt,” but those who suffer should take comfort in the hopes that the country will eventually enjoy “long-term prosperity.”
How is any person voting for this? WTF is wrong with these people. That’s a Drink the Koolaide message if I ever saw one!
You might know that I spent most of my young years in Iowa. It was not the same then as it later turned into when Pat Robertson rolled through an Iowa Primary and awakened the Beasts within. The Des Moines Register has always been an award-winning paper. It was the paper of choice back then. The October Surprise might have come from the paper’s well-respected pollster who gets the pulse of the Iowa electorate fight with admirable accuracy. Her name is Ann Selzer. This one must’ve hit a nerve because now the Orange Koolaide Vendor is attacking her. Her poll results caught a surprise shift! This is from The Daily Beast. “Pollster Behind Shock Iowa Poll Hits Back at Trump’s Attacks. The former president called J. Ann Selzer one of his “enemies” after results showed him falling behind Harris in the state.” Dan Ladden-Hall has the analysis.
Revered Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer on Monday responded to the attacks Donald Trump made against her after her bombshell poll showed him trailing in the state.
The Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll conducted by Selzer and published Saturday showed Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points—47 percent to 44 percent—in Iowa, a state he won comfortably in 2016 and 2020. Although the result differed from that of other Iowa polls, the figures were potentially concerning for Trump given Selzer’s track record of accurately forecasting results in the Hawkeye State.
Trump was sufficiently concerned by the poll to post about it on Truth Social, claiming that all polls “except for one heavily skewed toward the Democrats by a Trump hater” showed him in the lead. “I’m 10 points up in Iowa,” he said during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania on Sunday. “One of my enemies just puts out a poll—I’m three down.”
“They just announced a fake poll,” he went on. “Hey, think of it—right before the election—that I’m three points down. I’m not down in Iowa.” Trump’s campaign separately released a memo calling Selzer’s poll “a clear outlier” and pointed to Emerson College polling released the same day that gave Trump a 10-point lead over Harris.
During an appearance Monday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Selzer acknowledged that the result of her poll was a “shock.”
“I’ve been shocked since Tuesday morning last week,” Selzer said. “So I’ve had the time for this to sink in because no one, including me, would’ve thought that Iowa could go for Kamala Harris.”
Co-host Willie Geist specifically asked Selzer about Trump’s criticisms, inviting her to respond to the claim that her poll is just an outlier.
“I give credit to my method for my track record,” Selzer said. “I call my method ‘polling forward.’ So I want to be in a place where my data can show me what’s likely to happen with the future electorate. So I just try to get out of the way of my data saying this is what’s going to happen.”
“A lot of other polls, and I’ll count Emerson among them, are including in the way that they manipulate the data after it comes in, things that have happened in the past,” she continued. “So they’re taking into account exit polls, they’re taking into account what turnout was in past elections. I don’t make any assumptions like that. So it’s in my way of thinking, it’s a cleaner way to forecast a future electorate, which nobody knows what that’s going to be. But we do know that our electorates change in terms of how many people are showing up and what the composition is.”
Notice the role women are playing in this election season? The Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last recognizes it. “The Valkyries of Democracy. In praise of three extraordinary women. Trigger warning: Emo JVL is here. I’ve got a lot of feelings and I’m going to share all of them with you. Sorry. But that’s where I’m at.” There certainly are a lot of men who are getting all wet-eyed and emotional during this election.
By the time you read this Sarah will have concluded moderating a conversation between Kamala Harris and Liz Cheney. If you missed it, you can watch it here. And in a few minutes, I’m going to sit down with Sarah and have her unload on what this moment was like. It’ll be on the site the minute she’s able to get on camera.
Before that, though, I want to say a personal word about these three extraordinary women.
On Liz Cheney: I was wrong. I can’t say this often enough. When Cheney broke with Donald Trump after January 6, I was dismissive. I didn’t understand why it took her so long, or how she could have stayed on-side during COVID and the 2020 campaign.
But as she methodically blew up her own career in order to defend our democracy, I realized I’d underestimated her. This was a woman of real conviction, who was willing to put it all on the line.
Liz Cheney has been a workhorse. She’s been willing to do as much as anyone, and more than most, in the service of elevating country over party.
On Kamala Harris: I am not in the Yass Queen camp. My view is that Kamala is a standard-issue, ambitious politician and that she might be a good president, or a bad president, or a middling president. There’s no real way to know ahead of time. I do not have any illusions about her being a savior.
But I also do not believe that any sane person would want to be the Democratic presidential nominee in the Year of Our Lord 2024.
The stakes are too high; the pressure too great.
I believe that for all her political ambition, Kamala Harris is carrying this burden for us. She’s not Barack Obama, basking in the warmth of a cultural moment en route to becoming a cultural icon. She’s more like Frodo Baggins, walking toward Mordor while carrying a millstone around her neck, in an attempt to save all of Middle Earth from a dark fate.
Here are two things I truly believe: (1) Kamala Harris has wanted to be president for a long time; and (2) Kamala Harris never wanted to run for president with the fate of democracy on the line.
When Howard Stern interviewed Harris, he asked her about the pressure and she answered that she literally loses sleep over it. That she goes to bed every night wondering, “Is there anything else I could have done?”
I cannot imagine that burden. And I am grateful—in my heart—to her for bearing it.
Finally, there’s Sarah Longwell.
I cannot properly convey the depth of my affection and admiration for her. I would run through walls for Sarah. I’d take a bullet for her.
When the Harris campaign called and asked Sarah to come to Pennsylvania today and sit down with Harris and Cheney, I kvelled.
Knowing that other people see the same things in Sarah that we see? Absolutely bursting with pride.
But it’s not just pride.
It’s relief. Look: None of us wants to be living in this moment.
But history chose us. It is our burden and the burden is, itself, a form of privilege.
And there is no group of people I would rather fight through this moment with than those three women: Liz, Kamala, and Sarah.
As Coach D’Amato once said, the inches we need are all around us. And when I look at these women, I see people who will go that inch with us. Who have been willing to sacrifice for that inch. Who are going to fight for every inch.
And I’m ride or die with them. I hope you will be, too.r
So, my birthday is today. I just turned 69, and there’s a party at the bar on the corner, so we can have some fun, make silly references to my age, and ignore things for a bit. Tomorrow, I will walk down the street to the Rec Center and greet my Poll Workers! I will vote. I’m counting on women and a few good men to do the right thing.
This may not be over quickly, but we must keep Calmala and Carry-on-ala. This is from The Hill‘s Alexander Bolten. “GOP primed to back Trump if he contests election.” All the court cases to date have been big losers. You can always follow them on Democracy Docket. This fight described below in Bolten’s piece may finally end the Republican Party once and for all.
The Republican Party is now more primed to back former President Trump if he contests the results of the 2024 election than it was four years ago, when his efforts to overturn President Biden’s victory fell flat in courts and Congress.
Trump’s unwavering claims about the nation’s election system being “rigged” have steadily gained more acceptance among rank-and-file Republican
svoters over the past four years, and his biggest Republican critics in Congress have either retired, will retire soon or have lost sway.Additionally, Trump allies around the country have worked to gain more influence over state and local election boards, which will be in charge of tallying votes and certifying the results.
Republicans are feeling increasingly optimistic Trump will win the election, but they are girding for an intense battle if Vice President Harris is declared the winner.
“The strength of the cult of Trump amongst voters is strong so members are reflecting what their constituents want them to do,” said a Republican strategist and former Senate leadership aide.
“The other angle is there are a lot of concerns about how elections are being conducted and the power of social media and our partisan news,” the strategist said. “Republicans watch a lot of Twitter and Fox News, and they see voting irregularities,” they continued, pointing out a recent Detroit News report that a Chinese citizen attending the University of Michigan voted illegally by absentee ballot, and election officials weren’t able to retrieve it.
Four years ago, Trump’s claims that Biden and his allies “stole” the election struck many Republicans in Washington as outlandish, though most of them extended the 45th president the courtesy of letting him pursue his claims in court, where they failed.
So we are all in this together. Just keep telling people to go vote and make sure you vote. You can always ask for a provisional ballot as is your right if anything goes wrong. It’s important we do this!
Finally Friday Reads: The Gender Chasm
Posted: October 11, 2024 Filed under: 2024 DNC, 2024 Elections, 2024 presidential Campaign | Tags: #DonOld, @repeat1968. John Buss, Barack Obama, DonOld and Dude Bros, Doug Emhoff, Father Figures, J Dank, Modern Masculinity, Stephan Miller, The Gender Chasm, The Gender Gap 2024, Tim Walz, Toxic Masculinity 10 Comments
“Kamala is correct. Trump rallies are really a sight to behold. Everyone should watch at least one. Pro-tip, they’re getting more and more entertaining.” John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
When you watch and read as much news as I do, you can’t help but notice that every political act committed by DonOld these days is focused on young men. I believe that watching and listening to even a minimal amount of this has given me my first bout with acid reflux. I watched this segment on Alex Wagner last night. I had to endure a quick clip of Stephen Miller, who is an unpleasant, unattractive misogynist, racist, and xenophobe, which is this year’s Trump campaign outreach. “‘Infantile, petulant masculinity’: Trump aims low in appeal for American male ‘bro’ voters.” Are there really that many of them out there?
With a yawning gender gap in his base of support as a consequence of driving women away with his own words and behavior, Donald Trump appears to have made a strategy of wringing as much support as he can from American men, which has meant plumbing the depths of bro culture and encouraging a less-than-flattering version of masculinity. Michelle Goldberg, columnist for the New York Times discusses with Alex Wagner.
The funniest thing is watching Miller telling every male the best way to demonstrate you’re an Alpha is to wear your Trump goodies. Then, he goes on to mispronounce Beta. I can’t help but remember my first reading of Brave New World, as assigned in my 9th grade English class taught by a woman who also taught me swimming when I was a kid. Alphas are the intellectuals, while Betas are designed for physically demanding but not mentally challenging labor. I suppose Miller is referring to the hierarchy of the Apes, but wow, he sure comes off as a Gamma to me.
I enjoyed watching former President Barack Obama roast Donald Trump and contrast his inept and selfish behavior with that of the brilliant and caring Kamala. So, there are a lot of strange reads today about the strong comeback of the Gender Gap, which appears to be more like a Chasm. Let’s chuckle through them. Frankly, I prefer men with a less brutish approach to manhood, and I know you’re out there. We see you. Obama’s funniest line of the night is when he discusses the cost of diapers and doing the duty, then asks the audience if they thought Donald had ever changed a diaper. My Dad bombed NAZIs from a B-25 Bomber, and he changed diapers in the 1950s. Just consider Elon Musk going all on the Trump Campaign and that his businesses are generally as bankrupt-prone and in trouble with labor laws and anti-discrimination laws as the DonOld’s. DonOld can have Tech and Dude Bros because most women don’t want them. The ones with money attract gold diggers. The ones without are known as incels. It’s going to be a brutal 24 days.
This article and link to Longwell’s podcast is from Politico. Although, I think they’re turning to voting scams for victory. They’re just warming up the next group of J6ers .”‘They’ve given up on the idea that they can get women.’ How Trump is turning to the other gender gap for victory. A profound gender gap is shaping the 2024 election. And after listening to voters in hundreds of focus groups, Sarah Longwell thinks she knows why.”
The 2024 election — it’s a contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. But increasingly, it also looks like it’s girls versus boys.
Poll after poll is telling the same story: a Times/Siena survey this month showing Harris up 16 with women and Trump up 11 with men; a set of Quinnipiac polls in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin showing Harris winning women by about 20 points in each. Meanwhile, according to a running average by the election quants at Split Ticket, Trump is on pace to win men by an even bigger margin than he did in 2020 — by about 9 points nationally.
But those numbers only tell part of the story.
The other half is from the mouths of the voters themselves. Which is where this episode of the Playbook Deep Dive podcast begins.
Sarah Longwell is the publisher of The Bulwark and is well known for her work as a Never Trumper.
But what she does with the rest of her time is talk to voters. Lots of them. Longwell has conducted hundreds of focus groups — you may have heard some of them on her podcast, The Focus Group.
While many of Washington’s top operatives have been digesting the election through polling datasets, she’s been taking a different approach: just asking people straight up what they think about Trump and Harris and what could change their minds.
Playbook’s Rachael Bade caught up with Sarah in her downtown Washington offices on Thursday and asked her to connect the dots from all of these hundreds of focus groups. In so doing, she laid out the stakes for what is arguably the biggest question of the 2024 election:
Why are men and women veering so far apart politically?
The answers to that may surprise you.
The Independent‘s Kelly Rissman has this analysis. “Inside the Trump campaign’s ‘edgy’ and crass approach to appeal to young men and ride them to victory.’ The Trump campaign’s crass language, wavering abortion stance, and sexist remarks about Harris have been a focus for Democrats.”
Donald Trump has proclaimed himself the “protector” of women but the tone of his messaging has become geared toward young men with crass language and put-downs in hopes the bloc will back him in November – despite the former president potentially isolating women voters.
“Alphas for Trump,” Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesperson recently tweeted, “vs Simps for Kamala.”
This seven-word tweet perhaps encompasses Trump’s years-long immersion into a stereotypical “tough” alpha male figure — a brand that some have described as “toxic masculinity.” In 2019, the then-president even tweeted a photoshopped image of himself as Rocky Balboa. Since then, he seemingly has tried to ingratiate himself into the real version of the fictional sports legend.
He has steeped himself in cryptocurrency, surrounding himself with tech bros and UFC fighters, using sexist terms to describe his Democratic rival, enters the rally stage to the Village People song “Macho Man,” all while his running mate disparages “childless cat ladies.” It could be costing him half of the electorate.
“It’s obvious Republicans have a woman problem, but it’s not just about policy differences like abortion. The GOP gender gap is just as much about how you talk about those differences,” Nachama Soloveichik, a GOP strategist and former adviser to Haley’s presidential campaign, told the Washington Post.
Soloveichik continued: “Regardless of gender, any political staffer with a pea-sized brain should know chasing away half the electorate is a bad idea. Talk to women with respect and understanding even when you disagree.”
Not only has the Republican nominee has appeared alongside “bro-y” celebrities, such as retired wrestler Hulk Hogan, wrestler-turned-YouTuber Logan Paul, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) chief executive Dana White, and podcaster Theo Von, but his campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung was also formerly a spokesperson for the UFC.
There’s never anyone on the Trump list of celebrities that I label anything other than grrrRoss. I can even remember how I used to say it with my 6th-grade
voice while wrinkling my nose. This is also from Politico. “Inside Trump’s push to win over the ‘bro’ vote. But can he get young men to vote?”
Donald Trump is betting that support from young men will help propel him to the White House. And he’s getting an assist from a crew of pro-Trump millennial pranksters who are capitalizing on college football tailgates, Tinder and even the “Hawk Tuah Girl” podcast.
The Nelk Boys, digital content creators and hosts of the popular “Full Send” podcast, are mounting a multi-million-dollar voter registration push aimed at turning out young men. They plan to sign up voters at a “Send the Vote” music festival later this month that will feature a performance by pro-Trump rapper Waka Flocka Flame, and at a pair of Penn State football games.
They will also promote the registration drive on dating apps and advertise on highly-listened to, male-friendly podcasts like “Kill Tony,” “MrBallen,” and “BS w/ Jake Paul.”
It’s the latest effort in an all-out campaign by the former president to turn out young men, a demographic his campaign views as critical to his election given the overwhelming support Kamala Harris is expected to receive from young women. The question the Trump operation faces, however, is whether it can turn out a subset of voters his allies concede are uncertain to cast ballots.
“The question is, will that podcast fan, that College GameDay fan, that USC fan, will they actually get up on November 5th and go and vote?” said John Shahidi, the president of Full Send and the co-founder of Send the Vote. “That’s the big question right now that we want to start emphasizing on and putting pressure on.”
One voter registration promo is expected to run on a podcast hosted by Haliey Welch, who rose to viral internet stardom with a sexually explicit riff. And, in the heart of football season, the Nelk Boys are exploring the possibility of advertising on sports gambling sites.
By reaching out to young men, some of whom came of age during the former president’s administration, Trump, who long before running for office had cultivated an alpha-male like image with his involvement in sports and entertainment, is capitalizing on goodwill from a demographic he hopes will support him. And there are indications Trump is making inroads with the group, which like other youth subsets traditionally tilts liberal. According to a recent Harvard Youth Poll, 35 percent of men between 18 and 24 years old said they supported Trump — an improvement of 5 percent from Trump’s performance in the same survey in the 2020 election.
I have no idea what any of this is, but I am obviously not in that demographic. My youngest son-in-law has a birthday tomorrow, but I have a good idea that he doesn’t know about either. He’s a biological engineer and has a life. I’m sure the older one, who is a Radiologist and does ultrasounds a lot, wouldn’t know or care. However, former President Obama spoke out to black men in his speech last night in Pittsburgh. This is from the Washington Post. “Obama admonishes Black men for hesitancy in supporting Harris. Former president suggests some in the Black community are uncomfortable voting for a woman and are coming up with excuses.” I think the headline is harsh compared to what I heard, but legacy media always looks for clicks.
Former president Barack Obama on Thursday made a direct, impassioned plea to Black men to support Vice President Kamala Harris — a key demographic she is struggling to mobilize — admonishing them for thinking about sitting out the presidential contest as well as suggesting sexism might be at play.
During an unannounced stop at a Harris campaign field office in Pittsburgh, just hours before he was set to appear at his first campaign rally for the Democratic nominee, Obama said he wanted to “speak some truths” and address Black men specifically, making his most direct remarks about their hesitancy in supporting Harris to date.
“My understanding, based on reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities, is that we have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama said, adding that it “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”
Obama questioned how voters, and Black voters specifically, could be on the fence about whether to support Harris or former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
“On the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences,” Obama said, ticking off a list of Harris’s policy proposals. In Trump, he added, “you have someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person … And you are thinking about sitting out?”
The former president then spoke about what he thought might be contributing to Black men’s soft support of Harris: the discomfort of some with the idea of electing the first female president.
“And you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” he said. “Because part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
Meanwhile, we see Harris’ husband and her running mate, Tim Walz, emulate a more compassionate version of manliness. Perhaps this kind of role-modeling from powerful men will take hold. This is from Time Magazine, as analyzed by Belinda Luscombe. “The Doug Emhoff Model of Masculinity.”
Society has names for men they feel are overshadowed by their wives or partners, and they’re not terms of endearment; cuck, p-whipped, and simp are among the nicer ones. As women’s economic and social power has risen, some men have felt that theirs has receded, and have responded by doubling down on machismo. Masculinity has become contested ground. So when Doug Emhoff took to the stage to talk about his wife Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention, he had to walk a fine line: gushy without being slavish, supportive but not submissive, a true partner but completely self-sufficient.
Fewer than half the countries in the world have ever had female heads of state, and many of those women were unmarried, so there are not a lot of models for how to be the husband of the lady who might become the leader of the free world. Emhoff’s speech was a benchmark. How does a man handle this? How does a man talk about a strong ambitious woman gunning for arguably the most powerful job in the world, without making her look a nightmare or a nonentity? And without himself appearing to be a buffoon or puppet master?
Emhoff—and his speechwriters and his son Cole—pretty much nailed it. When he stepped down from the stage, he had given a little master class in how to be a guy’s guy as wellas a wife guy. First, he telegraphed that he was dependent on no one. He’d done name-tag jobs at McDonald’s and the valet stand when he needed to. He had partly put himself through college but wasn’t too proud to admit he had help. He had a successful career with skills that involved de-escalating rather than dominating situations.
He demonstrated a winning self-confidence by making fun of the goofy nervous first-date voicemail he left on Harris’ phone, and joking about his mother being the only person in the world who thinks Harris married up. Unlike many a divorced dad, he showed no bitterness to his ex-wife, even thanking her from the stage. While Harris’s opponents have tried to make her laugh seem bizarre or sinister, he named it as one of the things he loves most—because normal men aren’t freaked out by women who laugh.
Emhoff’s presentation also subtly played up his more traditional masculine traits. A photo from Cole’s video introduction showed how protective he was when someone threatened Harris. Emhoff let it be known that he belongs to a fantasy football league with buddies from back in the day, and that in his youth he was a fan of both The Clash and Nirvana, both classic angry-young-man bands. He slid in mentions of his ability to pivot and to sacrifice, by leaving a law practice when Harris became vice president and taking a job at Georgetown University.
In fact, many of the masculine attributes that Emhoff leaned into during his speech are similar to those also valued by conservatives: strength, pride, courage, industriousness, protecting families. In some ways, President Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance has many of the same qualities. He too came from humble beginnings, put himself through school, thrived, and married a woman who was more his equal than his helpmeet. But Emhoff—and Tim Walz, Harris’ partner in this campaign—are projecting those qualities while playing second fiddle to a woman. They’re not allowed to outshine the nominee, but they also can’t make her look like a harridan.
Emhoff’s exuberant support of his wife’s strengths (“Empathy is her superpower,” he noted) has definitely touched a nerve with some women. “THIS is a supportive husband! He gets it. Doug do you have a brother? Cousin? BFF?” asked one woman on Instagram. “If anyone would like to set me up on a blind date with the 33-45 year old NYC-based equivalent of Doug Emhoff, my DMs are open,” tweeted another. It wasn’t just among women either; there was a spate of “Teach me how to Dougie” tweets from guys as well.
I will not venture into the J Dank Vance model of weird masculinity, but I will mention Tim Walz’s impact by showing a fuller version of what it means to be a man, husband, and father. I really like this coverage by the Chicago Sun-Times, which was published around the convention. “Tim Walz is a man’s man, unlike MAGA’s man-children. A good male role model from the Democrats is an excellent foil for the cartoon version of masculinity on offer from the Republican Party.” This Op-Ed is written by Mona Charen. (Yes, THAT Mona Charen.) I’ve put in the complete piece because she handles J Dank better than I ever could.
If Kamala Harris becomes the first woman president, her first accomplishment could well have already happened — elevating and honoring the positive side of masculinity.
Tim Walz, whose politics are to the left of most Americans and certainly most swing voters, has been welcomed not as a box-checking, progressive pick, but as a Midwestern dad who poses with his hunting dog, served for 24 years in the military and coached the high school football team to a state championship. He’s a man’s man without being a strutting jackass. A good male role model is an excellent foil for the swaggering, snarling, cartoonish version of masculinity on offer from the Republican Party right now.
Men are struggling. Boys are falling behind girls in grades and graduation rates. Men are falling behind women in college attendance, participation in the labor force, and connection to family and friends. Men are more likely than women to be lonely and to succumb to deaths of despair. It’s not a man’s world anymore, even if some have been slow to notice.
Boys and men are picking up the signals that there is something inherently wrong with them. The word “masculinity” is hardly uttered in some precincts without the modifier “toxic.” Our culture has stressed girl power and female “firsts” long past the time when boys are the ones who are struggling. As Richard Reeves has noted, in 1972, the year Congress enacted Title IX to promote gender equity in higher education, the gender gap in college enrollment was 13 points in men’s favor. In 2019, the gender gap in bachelor’s degrees was 15 points the other way.
Men are feeling it. A Brookings Institution survey found that fewer Generation Z men call themselves feminists (43%) than do millennials (52%), and the gap between men and women on this self-ID is much larger for Gen Z than for older cohorts. Another sign of discontent is that nearly half of men aged 18 to 29 report that they face discrimination as men.
The right has a response that is reactionary, misogynistic and smutty. The party that once prided itself on traditional values now features at its convention, as David French put it, “an OnlyFans star, a man who publicly slapped his wife, a man who pleaded no contest to an assault charge, and another man who had sex with his friend’s wife while the friend watched — and that’s not even including any reference to Trump himself.”
Not content with being an adjudicated sexual abuser, Donald Trump continues to fill out his dance card with the vilest male “influencers” online, most recently sitting down for an interview with Adin Ross, most known for associating with accused rapist/human trafficker Andrew Tate and neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes. Trump knows there’s a longing for male affirmation out there and is choosing the very worst ways to satisfy it. His masculinity bears none of the hallmarks of manly virtue — restraint, honor, service to others, responsibility or self-sacrifice. Instead, he offers braggadocio, put-downs, disrespect for women and vulgarity.
Trump’s running mate has been fishing in these waters for several years and now trails a train of cringe-worthy quotations he must own. JD Vance chose to unburden himself to Tucker Carlson. “We’re effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made. And so they wanna make the rest of the country miserable, too.” He then name-checked Harris, Pete Buttigieg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
What’s offensive is not just that Vance is wrong about Harris or Buttigieg but that he would use such a personal matter as an opportunity for abuse. As Jennifer Aniston, who underwent years of fruitless fertility treatments, put it: “Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day.”
I’m about as pro-natalist as you can get. I believe the government should be generous to parents through the tax code because children are an investment in the country’s future.
But leave it to MAGA to mar a completely benign idea like pro-natalism with contempt for others. Vance recycled his insights in a fundraising appeal: “We’ve allowed ourselves to be dominated by childless sociopaths — they’re invested in NOTHING because they’re not invested in this country’s children.” Really? George Washington and James Madison might like a word.
In the face of this brutalist version of masculinity, the Democratic Party is now honoring a different kind of man in Walz. The hunter/fisherman/veteran/football coach is no pajama boy.
Walz is a regular guy at a time when the country needs reminding that being a regular guy is actually pretty great. As The Atlantic put it, “Dad is on the Ballot.”
Harris’s selection of Walz gave rise to a whole genre of warm dad memes: “Tim Walz just slipped me a 20 on my way out the door because ‘you never know if some place doesn’t take credit cards.” Another posted that Walz would “(take) care of the wasps’ nest for you.”
What unites these posts is the sense of security and comfort they exude — the very things a good dad conveys.
Tim Walz may be the father figure the Democratic Party — and the country — needs.
This is a long set of reads but I think you’ll enjoy the contrast. I really hope we can leave the minds of J Dank and Donald in the footnotes of history. Let’s give our kids the future they deserve!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
Finally Friday Reads: Heavy Rains and Readings
Posted: September 27, 2024 Filed under: 2024 DNC, 2024 Elections, 2024 presidential Campaign | Tags: "some weird shit", @repeat1968. John Buss, Dame Maggie Smith, Hurricane Helene, Weirdos 12 Comments
“Yes, it’s quite insane. I think it hurts my brain.” John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
I stayed up too late last night watching Hurricane Helene come on shore. It’s difficult to explain that dual feeling of relief that it went east of you while realizing the number of people whose lives have been turned upside down. I get a flashback full of feelings about my hurricane and tornado experience. I’ve been fortunate to date even though Hurricane Katrina upended my life; it was nothing compared to many, many others’ lives.
I remember sitting on the dorm hall floor at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln during the massive 1975 Omaha Hurricane. I was one of the few with a TV and a phone in my room. Those of us who had such luxuries were surrounded by others who took turns trying to call home and watching to see if there was news available on the limited number of channels then on my tiny black and white portable. The only way we really got to know was to pack up and go back home. Almost everyone I knew living along the 72nd Street corridor had severe damage. Fortunately, living in Hurricane Alley meant you had basements. Friends of mine in apartments did less well. I’ve also driven alongside, almost into, and surrounded by tornadoes. I became interested in severe weather early in my teens when I watched an oversized double garage door spin over my house in Omaha from the basement window while strumming and singing, “The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.” This was 1968. Irony and sarcasm have always been my friend and best defense when in the middle of these terrifying events.
I am still waiting to hear from family and friends. Even though Helene was still a Cat 2 Hurricane in Georgia, JJ and her family are okay. We’ll be hearing more from many folks north of Florida who also took a hit of intense rain and wind. Thank goodness the guy with the Sharpie isn’t in charge of the Federal response to all of this in all those states. And yes, De Santis has those white boots on again.
The severe damage and the death toll in Florida today should humble us all. We can build all kinds of places, but the sciences of climatology and meteorology show that we can only do so much with these massive storms. “Hurricane Helene ravages the Southeast, killing at least 22 and leaving millions without power. The storm made landfall overnight as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing devastating flooding and high-speed winds.” This is from NBC News.
Hurricane Helene killed at least 22 people and left millions without power across the Southeast before weakening on its way north Friday morning, officials said.
Widespread damage was expected in Florida’s Big Bend region, where Helene made landfall as a Category 4 shortly after 11 p.m. ET on Thursday. It was the strongest storm to ever strike the area, which connects Florida’s panhandle and peninsula.
Water levels in some parts of the region reached more than 15 ft. above ground level, the National Hurricane Center said, citing preliminary storm surge models.
In Perry, Florida, where officials urged residents who refused to evacuate to write their information on their bodies for identification, police chief Jamie Cruse braced himself for the storm’s aftermath as first responders began rescue operations.
“We’re starting to get the first glimpse of what we actually have laying on the ground and what we’re going to be dealing with,” he told NBC News. “The only regret I have at this moment is we weren’t aggressive enough in the notification to tell people to evacuate the areas that were prone to flooding.”
“I just hope that when we finally discover what we’re dealing with that we don’t have a big loss of life,” he added.
Officials in Clearwater, further south along Florida’s Gulf Coast, also feared the worst after seeing overnight footage of first responders rescuing elderly locals in knee-deep flood water.
“We had some homes burn to the ground out on the island. There were some folks that we just couldn’t get to because of high waters to rescue,” Clearwater mayor Bruce Rector told NBC’s “TODAY” show.
By Friday morning, Floridians woke up to extensive damage from the devastating flooding, high-speed winds, and heavy rain.
Helene’s name will be retired and she will be one for the records. “Helene is now a tropical depression, catastrophic flooding still likely.” This is also from NBC News. More deaths are being reported in Georgia. Atlanta and Valdosta, Georgia, have a lot of flooding and are powerless.
Helene, now a tropical depression, is located 125 miles southeast of Louisville, Kentucky, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, moving northwest at 28 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 2 p.m. ET advisory.
All tropical storm warnings have been discontinued and there are now no coastal watches or warnings in effect.
It’s forecast to slowdown and will stall over the Tennessee Valley through the weekend.
Helene will still produce more rainfall for the Central and Southern Appalachians, resulting in “catastrophic and potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding.” Tornadoes are possible today across eastern South Carolina, central and eastern North Carolina and southern Virginia.
Many blessings to you, my American Family, on your recovery journey.
One journalist has published the Iran-hacked JD Vance dossier. X and Thread censored it after Klippenstein announced that he had published it on social media. “Read the JD Vance Dossier. We’re publishing the supposed Iran-hacked document. Here’s why.” This is from Ken Klippenstein.
Behold the dossier.
It reportedly comes from an alleged Iranian government hack of the Trump campaign, and since June, the news media has been sitting on it (and other documents), declining to publish in fear of finding itself at odds with the government’s campaign against “foreign malign influence.”
I disagree. The dossier has been offered to me and I’ve decided to publish it because it’s of keen public interest in an election season. It’s a 271-page research paper the Trump campaign prepared to vet now vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t been altered, but even if it was, its contents are publicly verifiable. I’ll let it speak for itself.
“The terror regime in Iran loves the weakness and stupidity of Kamala Harris, and is terrified of the strength and resolve of President Donald J. Trump,” Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, responded when I asked him about the hack.
If the document had been hacked by some “anonymous” like hacker group, the news media would be all over it. I’m just not a believer of the news media as an arm of the government, doing its work combatting foreign influence. Nor should it be a gatekeeper of what the public should know.
On August 19, the U.S. intelligence community issued a statement on Iranian election interference, including cyber operations attempting to gain sensitive information. “This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign, which the IC [intelligence community] attributes to Iran.”
On September 18, the intelligence community issued another statement going into further detail about Iran’s efforts. “Iranian malicious cyber actors” were still undertaking efforts since June, the press release says, “to send stolen, non-public material associated with former President Donald Trump’s campaign to U.S. media organizations.”
The intelligence community would not confirm to me whether the stolen campaign materials included the Vance Dossier. “We don’t have anything beyond what’s noted in the September 18 joint statement,” Lauren Frost, a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told me this week.
You may download and read the document at Klippenstein’s Substack at the above link.
Today, Newsweek stood up. “JD Vance Dossier—What We Know.”
The alleged vetting documents of Ohio Senator JD Vance before he was chosen as the Republican vice presidential candidate have been made public after they were allegedly obtained via an Iranian hack on Donald Trump‘s campaign.
Journalist Ken Klippenstein published the 271-page report into Vance which was carried out by the Trump team on his Substack on Thursday.
The Vance dossier is said to have been part of a trove of sensitive materials which Iranian hackers stole from Trump’s campaign team. At least three news organizations—Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post—were said to have received the documents, but refused to report on them.
Klippenstein said he disagreed with the suggestion that publishing the materials allegedly obtained by Iranian hackers amounted to helping a foreign country influence the outcome of the 2024 election. The FBI previously confirmed that Iran had attempted to disrupt both the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns.
…
The report is a detailed examination of Vance’s background based on hundreds of his public statements, media interviews and available official records.
The document highlights the potential vulnerabilities Vance could face if selected as Trump’s running mate, including his previous stances and political views.
The dossier delves deep into times Vance has publicly criticized Trump over the years. Included in the document, for instance, is the transcript of an October 2016 appearance on Charlie Rose, where Vance said he was a “Never Trump guy.”
The document also cites social media posts apparently to highlight issues surrounding Vance being added to the 2024 GOP presidential ticket.
The dossier includes a reference to a tweet Vance reportedly sent in 2016 asking “what percentage of the American population has @RealDonaldTrump sexually assaulted?” The post said to be from Vance has since been deleted. Trump has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault. He has denied all the allegations against him.
The document also notes Vance’s positions on numerous issues including potentially contentious views, or what the dossier cites as “controversial” such as supporting higher taxes for people without children.
Vance’s phone number, home address, photos of his properties and email address are in the document, but have been redacted.
Klippenstein’s account on X, formerly Twitter, was suspended soon after he published the Vance dossier on his Substack.
In a statement, X said: “Ken Klippenstein was temporarily suspended for violating our rules on posting unredacted private personal information, specifically Sen. Vance’s physical addresses and the majority of his Social Security number.”
Newsweek has contacted X for further comment via email.
Users on X are prevented from sharing a link to Klippenstein’s Substack page where he posted the dossier.
Time magazine has this interesting breaking news of proposed legislation by Rep. Adam Schiff.”Exclusive: New Bill Would Prevent Trump From Quashing His Criminal Cases.”
A prominent House Democrat is introducing legislation Friday that would prevent former President Donald Trump from dismissing his ongoing criminal prosecutions if he were to win the presidency again.
The new bill, shared exclusively with TIME ahead of its release, is being led by Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic nominee for California’s Senate seat who has been a leading Trump antagonist. He says his bill, which would prevent a sitting President from quashing a criminal prosecution against him or herself, aims to ensure that no President can use their position to evade accountability.
“This is about protecting our democracy and ensuring a President can’t place themselves above the law,” Schiff tells TIME in a statement. “There is every indication that Donald Trump will use the Justice Department to do away with any effort to hold him accountable.”
There’s a reason Schiff feels urgency to introduce the bill now. Trump is currently facing multiple criminal prosecutions, including charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. “The need for swift passage of this bill could become even more pressing,” Schiff says, “depending on the outcome of the election.”
Some more shocking news on Vance with the vice-presidential debate on the horizon. This is from The Daily Beast. “Vance’s Pre-Debate Prep Includes Christian Nationalist Who Called Harris a Witch. The veep hopeful will hold a town hall with a notorious televangelist who said last year that opponents of Donald Trump would soon suffer “sudden deaths” at the hands of God.” You never know if you should laugh, cry, or throw a rotten tomato at these guys. This is written by Josh Fiallo.
JD Vance’s embrace of far-right Christian nationalists will reach a whole new level this weekend.
Donald Trump’s running mate is set to spend one of his final afternoons before Tuesday’s vice presidential debate by hosting a town hall with Lance Wallnau, a notorious conspiracist who recently praised the 2021 Capitol riot as “an election fraud intervention.”
Vance is set to appear alongside Wallnau at 1 p.m. Saturday, platforming the self-described “prophet” who said in earnest this month that Kamala Harris is a “Jezebel spirit” who uses “witchcraft” to emasculate Trump.
“She can look presidential and that’s—and we’ll get to this later—that’s the seduction of what I would say is witchcraft,” Wallnau said of Harris after her Sept. 10 debate. “That spirit, that occult spirit, is operating on her and through her.”
This is from Right Wing Watch. “Lance Wallnau Blames the Seduction of Witchcraft for Kamala Harris’ Success written by Kyle Mantyla.” This guy makes me want Insane Asylums back.
Shortly after President Joe Biden announced in July that he would not be running for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and unabashed Trump cultist Lance Wallnau immediately began posting videos in which he warned that Harris represents “the spirit of Jezebel” and declared that she is “the devil’s choice.”
When Harris bested former President Donald Trump in a debate earlier this week, Wallnau was quick to blame it on “witchcraft,” and then doubled down on that attack Wednesday when he appeared on the “FirePower” show, hosted by fellow Trump cultists Mario Murillo and Todd Coconato.
“What you’re seeing now is a real Jezebel,” Wallnau declared. “When you’ve got somebody operating in manipulation, intimidation and domination—especially when it’s in a female role trying to emasculate a man who is standing up for truth—you’re dealing with the Jezebel spirit. … So, with Kamala, you have a Jezebel spirit, a characteristic in the Bible that is the personification of intimidation, seduction, domination and manipulation.”
“She can look presidential,” he continued. “That’s the seduction of what I would say is witchcraft. That’s the manipulation of imagery that creates an impression contrary to the truth, but it seduces you into seeing it. So that spirit, that occult spirit, I believe is operating on her and through her.”
While Harris is supposedly operating under an occult Jezebel spirit, Wallnau claimed that Trump has “an Elijah mantle on him, probably from the intercession of a million Christians.”
“So, we have to double down in intercessory prayer in the warfare mode of Pentecostals,” Wallnau proclaimed. “We need to close ranks and actually begin to get in a superlative agreement over what we believe we’re hearing God say he wants to manifest, because this election is coming five days after Halloween—another high holy day for all the Satanist crazy people.”
“We’ve got to lean into this thing because the Elijah mantle can break the spell of witchcraft off America,” he concluded. “God can tear the veil and unless that veil is torn, we have a lot working against us.”
Yes, this guy is real. I put the CBS interview up to demonstrate he’s not a movie character. I’m not sure what’s wrong with these people, but I want them nowhere around any human being. They are insane. They run wicked cults that target the vulnerable, and it’s sickening.
This is the sheet music, and yes, I own one. It’s from 1969.
The formidable dowager Violet Crawley, Maggie Smith’s scene-stealing character in Downton Abbey, made Smith a bona fide celebrity.
“It’s ridiculous. I led a perfectly normal life until Downton Abbey,” said Smith, who has died at 89. “I’m not kidding. I’d go to theaters. I’d go to galleries. Things like that, on my own, and now I can’t. And that’s—you know—awful. It’s all… It’s truly television. I mean, I’ve been working around for a very long time before Downton Abbey. And life was fine. Nobody knew who the hell I was. Now, it’s all—it has changed.”
…
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith CH DBE was born Dec. 28, 1934 in Ilford, Essex. Her own version of her life thereafter was terse but to the point: “One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act, and one’s still acting,” she said. “I love it. I’m privileged to do it, and I don’t know where I’d be without it.”
She was first nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Desdemona in the 1965 film version of Othello (in an Academy first, all four principal actors in the movie were Oscar nominees). She had originated the role in the National Theatre Company’s production in London in 1964.
Four years later she won the best actress Oscar for the title role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and ten years later won a best supporting actress Oscar for California Suite, for which she also won a Golden Globe.
So, the closer we come to November 5th, the more insane it will get with the Party of Weirdos doing what they do. My birthday is the day before, and the only thing I want as a gift is for everyone and their cousins to go and vote for the Democratic Party up and down the ballot. It’s as essential as bombing NAZIs, taking the beaches, and writing The Constitution at this point. We lose all of that if they don’t win. And you don’t have to take it from me.
To say all this is unusual is an understatement.
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
Finally Friday Reads: Say Hello to the Blue Wave!
Posted: August 23, 2024 Filed under: 2024 DNC, 2024 Elections | Tags: 2024 DNC, Freedom, Harris and Walz 2024 9 Comments
“The Democratic National Convention ran late last night, so you might have missed President Biden’s Hulk Hogan moment.” John Buss, @Repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
The sound you heard this morning was the majority of the country waking up with a sigh of sweet relief. The minority was left to grumble and mumble. Lady Peggy Noonington was among the many Republicans claiming they’d been taken down by a strong dose of righteousness but insisted it was theft! Donald Trump, well, there must be a shortage of Ketchup in Florida.
Historian Michael Beschloss reported that the Former Guy’s social media was quite weird today. The ex-President has just pledged on social media, “I WILL KEEP WOMEN SAFE!” The only way to do that is to send him off-planet. Remember, when you’re a star, women let you grab them by the pussy.
I don’t read the WSJ Op-Eds because the writers there live in the world of rich white people who see nothing else. But my neighbor posted AlterNet’s takedown of the Pegster, who still pines for the Reagan years when black women were put in the category of ‘welfare queens’ and housekeepers most likely to take your sterling silver. “The DNC was a celebration of American values. Peggy Noonan is accusing Democrats of theft.” These folks will never change. The pearl-clutching never ends for her.
The four-night Democratic National Convention concluded Thursday with Kamala Harris’s speech accepting her party’s nomination for President and a massive balloon drop, as the polls show the Vice President continuing to beat and increase her lead against her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
After Monday night’s four-minute standing ovation of President Joe Biden, with Chicago’s United Center arena filled with thousands of cheering supporters shouting “We love Joe,” Los Angeles Times‘ columnist LZ Granderson wrote those “deafening chants” really meant, “We love American values.”
Vice presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz “sought to turn Republican arguments on their head while making an appeal for common sense rooted in his Midwestern values,” the Associated Press wrote after the third night. “’When they were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,’ he jabbed.”
“The differences between Harris’ speech in Chicago and the one Trump delivered last month at the Republican convention in Milwaukee could not have been more stark — and set the stage for the sprint to the November 5 election, with head-to-head confrontations in debates yet to come,” CNN reported Friday. “Vice President Kamala Harris capped one of the most extraordinary months in modern political history Thursday night with a speech that rallied Democrats around themes of patriotism — and cast Donald Trump as the enemy of classic American principles.”
But over at The Wall Street Journal, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Peggy Noonan, the former President Ronald Reagan speechwriter, had a different take.
“Kamala Harris’s speech was fine, and delivered with assurance. I prefer ‘Ask not what your country can do for you’ to ‘Never do anything half-assed,’ but tastes vary,” was Noonan’s opening salvo, criticizing the Vice President for sharing a direct quote from her late beloved mother, whom she and her sister had paid homage to on stage during the convention.
To her credit, Noonan’s piece is titled, “Kamala Harris Gets Off to a Strong Start,” and she offered up this comparison of Democrats vs. Republicans, or at least their parties:
“The Democratic Party has more substantial characters of recent American history to parade around on stage. The Clintons, the Obamas, Jesse Jackson, who, whatever your view of him, was there, on the balcony at the Lorraine Motel, when Martin Luther King was shot. This conveyed a party with a storied past, and if you join it you’re joining something real. The Republican Party, in its great toppling, has rejected its past. You lose something when you cast your history aside, and all you’ve got for prime time is Trump sons.”
But Noonan is being resoundingly chastised for this allegation: Democrats “stole traditional Republican themes (faith, patriotism) and claimed them as their own.”
The Washington Post‘s Mariana Alfaro on Tuesday had reported: “The Democratic Party is presenting a message that there is ‘nothing more American than freedom,’ Democratic National Committee spokesman Abhi Rahman said.”
“’There’s no reason for us to be afraid of using those symbols, because those symbols are our symbols and there’s nobody that’s more proud to be American than we are,’ Rahman said.”
Mother Jones’ D.C. bureau chief David Corn responded to Noonan:”Stole? No one has an exclusive claim to patriotism.”
Former political science professor and attorney Carol Schultz Vento wrote: “My WW paratrooper dad was a patriot and person of faith and a Democrat before Peggy Noonan was born. The Republicans can no longer hijack those values from the rest of us.”
Sour grapes is the new Republican Election Theme, and it’s not even Labor Day yet.
Yesterday, JJ shared the Republican response to Tim Walz’s Neurodivergent son, who got all kinds of adults picking on him for having the audacity to love his dad, be proud of him, and show it. Bullying is a Republic Value. Here’s yesterday’s headline from USA Today. Gus Walz broke the internet with his tearful love for his dad. Then the bullying began.” This was definitely reminiscent of DonOld mocked a reporter with a disability.
A tearful, unscripted moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has unleashed a flood of praise and admiration – but also prompted ugly online bullying.
Gus Walz, who has a nonverbal learning disorder as well as anxiety and ADHD, watched excitedly from the front row of Chicago’s United Center and sobbed openly Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic nominee for vice president, delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Minnesota governor was recounting the difficult fertility treatment he and his wife, Gwen, went through to conceive their daughter, Hope.
Walz followed up by expressing his love for his family from the stage, saying, “Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world. And I love you.”
Gus Walz jumped up from his seat, tears on his face, pointed his index finger and said, “I love you, Dad,” followed soon after with, “That’s my dad!”
Toxic Masculinity is a Republican Value, and it comes coupled with White Christian Nationalism. It’s a toxic cocktail, and the majority of us wish it would go out of style. But there was none of this at the DNC this week. I was a great big patchwork quilt of American people and values. We’re a tribe of many colors and traditions, and it was on display for 4 days. We shouted we’re not going back for four solid days. It’s now a chant to remind us of the goodness we can do as a country when we put ourselves to the task.
Some headlines today via Memeorandum.
- William Kristol / The Bulwark: Is That—Is That—Optimism We Feel?
- Dan Balz / Washington Post: Kamala Harris has put Trump in a box, and he’s struggling to break out
- Michael Starr Hopkins / The Hill: Trump’s spectacle is no match for Harris’s substance.
- Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice: Why “we’re not going back” is the perfect theme for 2024
One of my favorites this morning is in The Daily Beast, written by William Vaillancourt. “Fox Cuts Off Ranting Trump Then Mocks: ‘He’s Still Talking!’”
Fox News unceremoniously dumped out of an interview with Donald Trump while the former president was mid-rant Thursday following the Democratic National Convention.
He immediately called into the network after his rival Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech, and after about 10 minutes of studiously listening to his complaints and exclamations, the hosts wrapped things up rather abruptly with the former president in order to transition to live reaction elsewhere.
Trump, after raising his voice while speaking about an “invasion” not only at the U.S.-Mexico border, but the border with Canada as well, neared the end of his phone-in by praising Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and—in an about-face—Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Republican governor.
Kennedy “was treated very unfairly by the Democrats,” said Trump, who is reportedly set to receive Kennedy’s endorsement Friday in Arizona.
Trump’s discussion of the Democratic primary was punctuated frequently by anchor Bret Baier chiming in with words of affirmation—a common signal given by interviewers that time is running low.
Trump just cannot take not being the center of attention. This headline in the Washington Post says a lot about that. “Trump deflects, misleads in real-time reaction to Harris speech. Trump posted a series of comments as the Democratic nominee spoke, creating the unusual spectacle of simultaneous commentary by a nominee’s rival.” I happily knew nothing about this as I ate, drank, and enjoyed the entire DNC. This analysis is written by Marianne LeVine and Isaac Arnsdorf.
Former president Donald Trump did not hold back as Democratic nominee Kamala Harris delivered her acceptance speech Thursday night, firing off a series of scathing, insulting and sometimes unrelated comments while Harris was speaking.
Trump took to his Truth Social account to make a variety of comments, from accusing Harris of falsehoods to defending his record to making extraneous remarks, such as demanding “WHERE’S HUNTER?” in reference to President Joe Biden’s son.
At the outset of Harris’s speech, Trump took exception to how she thanked the crowd for cheering her onstage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Trump also complained that Democrats referred to Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as “coach,” pointing out that he was an assistant coach of a high school football team.
While Harris recounted her upbringing, Trump urged her to address his three main issues: “Border, Inflation, and Crime!”
Trump tanked the bipartisan Border Bill. Inflation is back to its pre-COVID levels and well under control, although we do have to deal with price-gouging, which Harris has done before as California’s AG and Crime, well, Crime is down. He’s just not relevant anymore except to those beholden to white patriarchy. They all live in the past and in their warped minds.
Jonathan Chait describes her speech this way: “Kamala Harris Gave the Best Acceptance Speech I’ve Ever Seen. A perfectly targeted message.” The headline is from New York Magazine.
Kamala Harris rose to the occasion with a perfect nominating acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. I’ve never seen a nominee target their political objectives so precisely. The text was ideally suited to the electoral challenge she faces, and her delivery exuded strength and inspiration.
I have not hesitated to criticize either the substantive merits or the political shrewdness of Harris’s choices. I could find nothing to criticize in this speech.
Harris entered the convention tied, or perhaps ever-so-slightly ahead. But she faces serious challenges. Many undecided voters know little about her, or worry she is too liberal. Every word of the speech was aimed directly at resolving those concerns.
Harris told a story of herself in her biography as the striving child of strict immigrant parents growing up in a working-class neighborhood. She explained her inspiration to become a prosecutor as a desire to protect, growing from seeing a friend confide to her that she was being sexually abused at home.
Then she recounted her history as a prosecutor, where she fought big banks and the “cartels who traffic in drugs and guns and human beings, who threaten the security of our border and the safety of our communities.”
Harris explicitly promised to represent Republicans as well as Democrats. “I know there are people of various political views watching tonight,” she said, “And I want you to know: I promise to be a President for all Americans.” That may seem like easy rhetoric, but it stands in contrast to Trump’s naked partisanship as president, routinely and openly favoring politicians and areas that supported him.
More significantly, Harris relentlessly depicted herself as the sane, moderate candidate in the race. She labeled herself a candidate “who is realistic, practical, and has common sense.”
Her issue focus reflected that idea. Harris emphasized popular elements of her program: protecting abortion rights and promising to sign into law the border bill negotiated with “conservative Republicans.”
Harris labeled her economic goal “an opportunity economy where everyone has a chance to compete and a chance to succeed.” The notion of opportunity, with its implication that people should control their own economic destiny, has long been a conservative one. Harris stole it.
In addition to the obvious call to defend Medicare and Social Security, Harris promised, “I will bring together labor and workers, small-business owners and entrepreneurs, and American companies.” That, again, is a pointed identifier of herself with moderation.
Gee, Jonathan, did you let the black lady get too close to your silver chest? Beware of black women bearing pies! Controlling your own destiny is a universal American ideal. Conservatives have never owned it.
Our idea of opportunity does not lie with generational wealth, biology, and skin color. This means we recognize that not everyone starts life with bootstraps. Public education provides bootstraps. Public health provides bootstraps. Ridding our policies from the past that served racists, sexists, and xenophobes provides a source of bootstraps. Providing start-up loans to small businesses started by women, people of color, and immigrants is also a way to provide bootstraps, and it has positive spillover benefits: more jobs, more taxpayers, and more goods and services available, which lowers prices. This is what Harris means when she says we want an opportunity economy. The military has always given folks bootstraps. So do unions, but how better would it be to let folks be students or business owners to get their bootstraps?
Our week ends on a high note. I feel better and more hopeful than I have in a long time. Even though a lot of things have improved, we still need some changes, and I think this team is the one that can do it. We also have to remember the local races because ignoring them just lets more MAGA detritus into our system. U.S. News and World Report covers an AP story we must read. ‘The Fever Is Breaking’: DeSantis-Backed School Board Candidates Fall Short in Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign to expand his conservative education agenda in Florida schools hit a stumbling block on Tuesday.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign to expand his conservative education agenda in Florida schools didn’t quite go the way he wanted on Tuesday.
Of the 23 school board candidates that DeSantis endorsed this cycle, preliminary results show more of them appeared to lose their election races than win them.
Unofficial vote tallies show 11 candidates backed by the governor lost on Tuesday, including some incumbents in conservative-leaning counties. Meanwhile, six of DeSantis’ preferred candidates won their races and six were poised to advance to a November runoff after no one in their contests cleared 50% of the vote. Those runoffs could still go in DeSantis’ favor.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, DeSantis acknowledged that efforts to make school boards more conservative were more successful two years ago, but said progress is still being made.
“Some of them that came up short, that’s going to be something they can build on for future election cycles,” DeSantis said. “If you look at where we were four or five years ago versus where we are now, there’s much more interest on these school boards in protecting the rights of parents.”
But critics of the Republican governor argued the results are a rebuke of his education agenda.
Every race matters. This is exactly how White Christian Nationalists got in and took over the Republican party. Research and vote on the entire ticket. Remember, the crazy son of Robert F Kennedy is endorsing Trump. Do not assume anything. Get your local League of Women Voters November 2024 election issue. Call a friend who knows what’s going on in the party,
I get back to phone banking this week. But still, if you can’t do that, you can write postcards or do tweets to swing states. Just make sure your circle of friends and family know the plan and make sure they vote. Everything helps!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
Wednesday Reads
Posted: August 21, 2024 Filed under: 2024 DNC, 2024 presidential Campaign, Kamala Harris 2024 | Tags: Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Doug Emhoff, fund-raising, michelle obama, Milwaukee, Stephanie Grisham, Tim Walz, TV ratings 9 CommentsGood Morning!!
I’m on the third day of a some kind of stomach thing, so this post may be brief. I’ve been sleeping a lot, and last night I dozed off and slept through most of Doug Emhoff’s speech and all of Michelle and Barack Obama’s speeches. I’ll have to try and watch them later on. I did watch the ceremonial roll call of the states, and it was a lot of fun. The DNC played “walk up” songs and the state-by-state speeches were upbeat and enthusiastic.
NBC5 Chicago: DNC roll call playlist: Full list of each state’s ‘walk-up’ songs from night 2 of DNC.
Sure, there were big speeches from The Obamas, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention last night. But Tuesday at the DNC in Chicago felt more like a dance party than a buttoned-up political event.
DJ Cassidy strode on stage in a bright blue double-breasted suit and spun tunes for every state during the event’s ceremonial roll call, as they nominated Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the Democratic presidential ticket. Minnesota got “1999” by native son Prince, Kansas got “Carry on Wayward Son” by, well, Kansas. “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen played as New Jersey weighed in.
See the whole list at the link. Unlike the Trump campaign, the Democrats got permission from all of the featured artists. In contrast, the Trump campaign yesterday posted a video with Trump walking from his plane to “Freedom,” by Beyonce, who gave Kamala Harris exclusive permission to use that song.
CNN with takeaways from last night’s speakers:
Barack and Michelle Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, delivering back-to-back speeches that eviscerated Donald Trump and urged Americans to reject the Republican nominee once and for all.
The former first lady, in one of the most memorable speeches in convention history, called on Democrats to drop the “Goldilocks complex” and work hard to elect Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala, instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected,” she said.
Then, the former president — in a speech that evoked memories of his emergence into the American political consciousness and his own winning campaigns — said that the “vast majority of us do not want to live in a country that’s bitter and divided.”
“We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse,” Obama said.
Their speeches closed a night during which Democrats had sought to introduce Harris in more personal terms to Americans who are only now learning about the vice president, just a month after she ascended to the top of the party’s 2024 ticket.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff told the story of their relationship and why his children call the vice president “Momala.” Maryland Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks explained how Harris came to be someone she considered a friend and mentor.
CNN also summarized speeches by Republicans who now support Harris/Walz:
Throughout the night, the DNC featured former Republicans making the case for independents and Trump critics to vote for Harris.
One of the prime-time speaking slots went to Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona, a self-declared lifelong Republican who said the Biden-Harris administration had delivered results for his conservative community.
“I have an urgent message for the majority of Americans who, like me, are in the political middle: John McCain’s Republican Party is gone, and we don’t owe a damn thing to what’s been left behind,” Giles said. “So let’s turn the page. Let’s put country first.”
Giles’ speech capped off a series of appearances Tuesday by Republicans, or people who’d left the party, rallying support for Harris….
Stephanie Grisham, a former Trump White House press secretary and chief of staff to former First Lady Melania Trump, described herself as a “true believer” who spent her holidays at Mar-a-Lago. But she resigned on January 6, 2021, after Trump failed to immediately move to stop his supporters from attacking the US Capitol.
Grisham used her remarks to condemn Trump’s behind closed doors, telling that audience that he mocks his supporters in private and has called them “basement dwellers.”
“He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth,” she said.
The one sour note was Bernie Sanders, who apparently has no sense of humor and rarely if ever smiles. According to the BBC, he didn’t “feel the Bern” from the audience.
BBC: Obamas, dancing delegates and other takeaways from DNC day two.
During back-to-back speeches, Barack and Michelle Obama mixed gags with serious exhortations to Democrats to get out and vote in November – pointing out that Ms Harris was in a close race with Donald Trump.
Mr Obama characterised the Republican presidential candidate as being selfish and dangerous, quipping that he was obsessed with crowd sizes.
And Mrs Obama mocked Trump for his use of the term “black jobs” on the campaign trail. She suggested that Trump might himself be seeking one of those jobs – in a reference to her husband’s previous tenure of the White House.
By contrast, Ms Harris represented “hope”, Ms Obama said, echoing her husband’s campaign messaging from 2008.
On Bernie Sanders:
Bernie Sanders gave his own speech on Tuesday night – but the energy in the arena was described as “minimal” by the BBC’s North America correspondent, Anthony Zurcher. A murmur of people talking could be heard at the same time.
That is in contrast to the hero’s welcome that the veteran senator received in 2016, the year he challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Then, his supporters streamed into the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Eight years later, Mr Sanders could still be witnessed railing against oligarchs and corporate interests, but the atmosphere was very different.
One explanation was that the building was filled with delegates who originally supported Joe Biden – rather than the Sanders faithful. But it could also signal that the senator has no clear successor to lead the Democratic progressive left.
The TV ratings for the first night of the DNC beat out the RNC. Deadline: Democratic National Convention Draws 20 Million On First Night, Surpassing RNC Viewership.
The first night of the Democratic National Convention averaged 20 million viewers across 13 networks, surpassing the audience for the initial day of the Republican National Convention, according to Nielsen.
The numbers are for the 10 p.m. ET to 12:30 a.m ET time frame, as the proceedings went way overtime, finishing with the address by President Joe Biden.
The DNC audience was greater than the first night of the party’s convention in 2020, when it drew 19.75 million viewers. But it was down significantly from 2016, when the DNC drew 25.95 million.
The first night of the DNC on Monday drew 15.32 million 55 and over, 3.51 million in the 35-54 demo and 851,000 aged 18-34, per Nielsen.
MSNBC topped the networks, drawing 4.6 million viewers, compared to 3.2 million for CNN, 2.8 million for ABC News, 2.4 million for Fox News, 2 million for CBS News and 1.8 million for NBC News. The figures are also Nielsen via MSNBC.
Harris and Waltz in Milwaukee last night
While the convention was taking place in Chicago, Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz appeared in Milwaukee a the same venue where the RNC was held–and it was packed to the rafters with an estimated 15,000 people. Harris gave her acceptance speech to both audiences simultaneously through a TV hookup.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kamala Harris, Tim Walz hold rousing rally at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Republican VP nominee JD Vance in Kenosha: Recap.
Vice President Kamala Harris held a rousing rally before thousands of supporters Tuesday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while the second day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago was taking place.
Harris accepted the party’s nomination for president in Milwaukee after the roll call vote of delegates in Wisconsin’s neighboring state of Illinois at the DNC. It was the Democratic presidential nominee’s third visit to the state since she took over the top of the ticket in late July.
Meanwhile, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance traveled to Kenosha for a press conference focused on crime and public safety.
Their appearances continue to show Wisconsin’s importance in the November presidential election.
The Journal Sentinel had live coverage from both the Harris/Walz and Vance events on Tuesday. Below are all the highlights from the political events in Wisconsin today.
Since the screen just outside Fiserv Forum that was supposed to show a stream of the DNC was malfunctioning, rally goers migrated to screens in the nearby Drink Wisconsinbly bar and the screen outside the Mecca Sports Bar and Grill to watch second gentleman Doug Emhoff speak out of Chicago.
They cheered as Emhoff left the stage and former first lady Michelle Obama was announced as the next speaker.
Gloria Boileau of Milwaukee said Harris brought “electric” energy inside Fiserv Forum. She spoke excitedly about the Harris-Walz ticket.“Knowing that they are the common people that we are and they will be in the White House representing us, that was electric,” Boileau said.
Read more from Milwaukee at the link.
The AP on tonight’s speakers: Tim Walz and Bill Clinton will speak at the Democratic National Convention’s third day.
Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz and former President Bill Clinton will headline the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, the third day of the party’s choreographed rollout of a new candidate, Kamala Harris, and her pitch to voters.
In a delicate balancing act, Harris and the parade of Democrats speaking on her behalf all week are looking to harness the exuberance that has swept over their party since President Joe Biden stepped aside while making clear to their supporters that the election will be a fierce fight and frustratingly close.
“So much is on the line in this election,” Harris said Tuesday in Milwaukee, where she spoke at a professional basketball arena in battleground Wisconsin as the convention continued 90 miles away in Chicago. “And understand, this not 2016 or 2020. The stakes are higher.”
And in Chicago hours later, former President Barack Obama offered his own caution: “Make no mistake, it will be a fight,” Obama said. For all the energy and memes and rallies that have defined the campaign since Harris became the nominee, Obama said, “this will still be a tight race in a closely divided country.” [….]
And while the theme of Tuesday was “a bold vision for America’s future,” the disparate factions of Harris’ evolving coalition demonstrated, above all, that they are connected by a deep desire to prevent a second Trump presidency.
Harris continues to raise lots of campaign cash.
Reuters: Exclusive: Harris’ election effort raises around $500 million in a month, sources say.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ election effort has raised around $500 million since she became the Democratic presidential candidate, sources told Reuters, an unprecedented money haul that reflects donor enthusiasm going into the Nov. 5 election.
Four sources familiar with the fundraising effort told Reuters that figure had been banked for Harris in the four weeks since she jumped into the race on July 21.
Campaign cash is critical for advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts that help bring people to the polls and persuade undecided voters to swing a candidate’s way.
Harris entered the fray after President Joe Biden stepped aside from the top of the Democratic ticket, unleashing floods of funding that had dried up in the weeks after Biden’s disastrous debate against Republican Donald Trump.
Harris raised $200 million in the first week of her campaign while she quickly wrapped up support to become the party’s nominee.
Harris’ team raised $310 million in July, bringing the total amount of money raised by her and Biden before he dropped out to more than $1 billion, the most rapid crossing of that fundraising threshold in history, according to the campaign.
Trump’s campaign said it raised $138.7 million in July and had cash on hand of $327 million. The former president’s campaign outraised Biden in the second quarter.
Harris is also working to mobilize supporters to volunteer for the campaign. ABC News: Harris-Walz team has largest mobilization week of campaign cycle.
The Harris-Walz campaign effort to calcify the renewed enthusiasm from their party at the top of the ticket is seeing their biggest week of mobilization of the entire election cycle as the party’s national convention charges on in Chicago.
Ahead of the convention, the campaign launched what they characterize as a “weekend of action,” where over 10,000 volunteers barnstormed battlegrounds, making near 900,000 calls and knocking on more than 100,000 doors, contacting in sum over a million voters, per details first shared with ABC News. The campaign says that they were able to recruit over 24,000 volunteers.
Yet the most ambitious investments in organization will come at the latter half of the week — with the campaign hosting its largest telephone banking night of the cycle Wednesday, planning to launch 4,000 volunteers to work the lines.
On Thursday, the campaign will host 500 watch parties across the country in every state as Harris delivers her formal acceptance speech as the party’s newly minted nominee, a process that has come together in the short span of a month.
The campaign also held volunteer trainings and launched organizing resources on Monday and Tuesday….
These efforts are part of the campaign’s new efforts to mine the honeymoon buzz around Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, moving on turning any energy into action; mission critical with what continues to be a dead-heat race between Harris and former President Donald Trump several major battleground polls. This also comes as several grassroots voter groups host large-scale virtual telethons of sorts drawing big celebrity names to recruit volunteers and entice hefty donations, often netting millions of dollars each call.
More reads to check out, links only:
NOTUS on whining journalists: Accessibility and Access: Reporters Have Complaints About the DNC.
Meredith Shiner at The New Republic: Beware the Pundit-Brained Version of the Democratic Convention.
The Independent: How Kamala Harris became Donald Trump’s supertroll and found his weak spot.
The New Republic: Trump’s Latest Scheme to Beat Harris May Have Crossed Legal Lines.
Stephen Robinson at Public Notice: Trump sets the stage for another coup attempt.
The Hill: Republicans worry Trump blowing their chances for Senate majority.
Center for Politics: North Carolina Moves to Toss-up, Setting Up November Battle for Magnificent Seven Swing States.
The Daily Beast: Trump Surprised by Who Hurt His Feelings the Most at the DNC.
AP: Voters in Arizona and Montana can decide on constitutional right to abortion.
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