Oct. 5, 2024 ALL-POLITICS, covering the November 2024 Election. It starts with coverage of Allred vs. Cruz and other Texas elections, plus Election Basics on registration, sample ballot, etc. Then-the VP Debate (my take, candidate quotes, the best reactions from all over, and links for more), current polling, endorsements (including the fake ones), the best campaign ads, policy comparison (Harris vs. Trump on their plans for THE ECONOMY), and all the campaign news (real, created, hilarious, incendiary, and “time to move abroad”).

WELCOME to my ALL-POLITICS blog covering the November 2024 Election. (If you missed earlier editions, check below.) Don’t worry, the regular non-politics blog will post next weekend, with the 2 blogs alternating until November. Luckily, I have no life….

Election Basics

REGISTRATION

Are you registered to vote in Travis County? Things can change, so go here to BE SURE you are eligible to vote: https://elections.traviscountytx.gov/voter-lookup/#VoterEligibilitySearch

BALLOT BY MAIL

Application deadline is Oct. 25 (but sooner is better, considering mailing time): https://elections.traviscountytx.gov/voter-information/ballot-by-mail/#AbsenteeBallotSearch

VOTING (in person)

Early Voting is Oct. 21-Nov. 1. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.

SAMPLE BALLOT

There is MUCH more being decided than the Presidential race. Be sure to vote in ALL races, top to bottom of the ballot (preferably for DEMOCRATS.) Go here and enter your address to see the elections and candidates: https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_Sample_Ballot

HELPFUL ARTICLES

This has everything you need to know about voting in Texas: Here’s how to vote in the Texas 2024 election 8/21/24 https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/21/texas-voter-guide-2024-election/

Texas Tribune also lets you pull your sample ballot, with details on all the races you will vote on: Here’s your ballot for the Nov. 5 Texas elections 8/30/24 https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2024/texas-ballot-2024-presidential-election-nov-5/

Things YOU Can Do

Volunteer for the Harris/Walz campaign. https://go.kamalaharris.com/?utm_source=hfp_w_kh_menu

Volunteer here in the Lakeway area. LT Dems are working with Western Travis County Democrats (a group of local Dem Precinct Chairs) to organize activities including mailings, block walks/lit drops, phone banks, campaign signs, and more for this fall. Go here (at the link, scroll down to GOTV and click on More Info) to sign up and help GET OUT THE VOTE this fall: https://www.laketravisdemocrats.com/copy-of-club-activities

Donate here in the Lakeway area for local impact. The activities listed above that local Dem groups are spearheading take MONEY. Printing, postage, signs—it adds up. Donations are needed. ACT BLUE makes donating easy and secure. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/western-travis-democrats-1

Donate to Travis County Democratic Party. TCDP is working hard to reach Democrats across Travis County and make sure they know when, how, and where to vote. To get Harris/Walz and Colin Allred elected we need to turn out every Democrat in Travis County —and postcards are key in making that happen. $20 = 30 postcards. $50 = 76 postcards. Pitch in to mobilize Democrats across Travis County. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fund-our-postcards?fbclid=IwY2xjawEh8LpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHby1WqRlAg3PPiBFqmxnSOXA8pyevSZAiZMFqqM0nRquYthuhh3oAyyB9A_aem_IIfdpz23omO4H9aIbCDxoA

Connect with a National Postcarding Group: Markers for Democracy. This is something you can do YEAR-ROUND. https://markersfordemocracy.org/postcarding

TEXAS Elections

US Senate

VOTE FOR Democrat Colin Allred, to get rid of Cancun Cruz and make the world a better place. (Image credits: USA Today, Forward Blue.) https://colinallred.com/

Allred has some sharp ads:

Cruz is “all hat, no cattle.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0wOzvVwimo
Cruz wants to increase the Social Security age, privatize Medicare, and raise the cost of drugs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQUbWf0fpIc
Our Stories/Abortion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKvR8wL-X2w
Teammates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLtsPrEnTdg
Lowering prices in Texas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv3HC8w_qhE –Cruz only fights for himself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9jLn3ECxqI
Cruz only fights for himself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9jLn3ECxqI

Ted Cruz isn’t taking care of Texans—not even when they are held hostage in Russia.

Yikes. That’s harsh. Even for Cancun Cruz. I asked Ted Cruz to help free my son Trevor Reed. He did nothing 9/26/24 https://couriertexas.com/dfw/opinion/trevor-reed-ted-cruz-texas-senate/

Cruz is still LOSING to Allred in polling.

Current polling is consistent with Morning Consult’s survey, done Sept. 9-18, showing Allred one point ahead of Cruz, 45% to 44% among 2,716 likely voters. All year, Cancun Cruz has enjoyed a consistent but narrowing lead; the previous poll conducted by Morning Consult showed Cruz ahead by 5 points. Per Allred: “For the first time in this race, a new poll has us leading Cruz by 1 point. I don’t know about y’all but I’m fired up and ready to WIN! We’ve got 47 days, let’s do this Texas.” Ted Cruz Losing to Colin Allred for First Time: Texas Poll 9/20/24 https://www.newsweek.com/ted-cruz-losing-colin-allred-first-time-texas-poll-us-senate-election-1956711

DEBATE SCHEDULED—Cruz agrees to debate Allred.

Cruz is running scared, finally agreeing to a debate. On Sept. 20, Cruz confirmed he would face Allred in a debate— the first time the nominees will face off before the election. The debate is set for Oct. 15, hosted by WFAA, the Dallas ABC affiliate. Ted Cruz, Colin Allred agree to debate in U.S. Senate race 9/20/24 https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/20/ted-cruz-colin-allred-texas-senate-debate/

NYTimes’ Opinion columnists Gail Collins (a Democrat) and Bret Stephens (a Republican) BOTH hope Texas does the right thing and dumps Cruz.

Gail: Texas, I know you’re a very right-leaning state. But everybody knows Ted Cruz is awful in every possible way. Including sneaking off on vacation to Mexico while his fellow Texans were suffering from a crippling utility outage. Really, this is the easiest possible moment to do what’s right.

Bret: My all-time favorite comment about Cruz comes from the (sadly former) Senator Al Franken: “I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz.” I’m also hoping for an upset in the Senate race in Texas. I’d love to see the Democratic candidate, Colin Allred, in the Senate, but what I’d love so much more is to see Ted Cruz not. The Conversation 9/30/24 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/opinion/eric-adams-kamala-harris.html

Cook Political Report downgrades Cruz’ chance of winning.

”The contest is closer than once thought, which the spending bears out, and Allred is raising plenty of money to keep the race competitive. As such, it moves to Lean Republican.” Ted Cruz Campaign Update as Forecaster Shifts Race Toward Democrats 10/1/24 https://www.newsweek.com/ted-cruz-campaign-update-forecaster-shifts-race-toward-democrats-1962343

DEMS invest in Allred.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee made a multimillion-dollar investment in TV advertising to oust Ted Cruz, who is vulnerable to a challenge from current House Democrat Colin Allred. Polling shows Cruz and Allred in a tight race. “Cruz has been identified as a susceptible target to keep his Senate seat. He has been constantly on the defensive in his campaign on abortion and his trip to Cancun during a winter storm in 2021. … Cruz is seen by many as yesterday’s man. He’s polling well below Trump across the state and his opponent, former NFL football star-turned-civil rights lawyer Colin Allred is the kind of young, telegenic politician likely to appeal to independents and the paler red among Republicans and is thus worth significant DSCC investment.” Democrats’ Expensive Texas Gamble 10/3/24 https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-expensive-texas-gamble-1962383

Texas House District 19

If you live in the part of Lakeway that is in Texas House District 19, your Texas House delegate is now Republican Ellen Troxclair, thanks to a ridiculous gerrymander in 2021 that pulled a small chunk of Travis County away from Austin and dumped us in with 4 rural western counties. Democrat Dwain Handley is challenging Troxclair. Check out Handley’s website: https://handley4texas.com/

VOTE for Handley in Texas House District 19, AND VOTE DEM ALL THE WAY DOWN THE BALLOT.

Texas Senate District 25

The Texas Senate seat for the Lakeway area is District 25, and since 2013 it has been held by Republican Donna Campbell. Now, Democrat Merrie Fox is challenging Campbell. Check out her website: https://drmerriefox.org/

VOTE for Fox in Texas Senate District 25, AND VOTE DEM ALL THE WAY DOWN THE BALLOT.

US House District 10

Lakeway is the western afterthought added to the immense blob situated well east of Austin, next to Houston, that is the Texas 10th Congressional District. (See map image above and look for the orange outline.) The House seat in DC has been held since 2005 by far-right Republican Michael McCaul. Now, Democrat Theresa Boisseau is challenging McCaul. Check out her website: https://www.theresa4texas.com/

VOTE for Boisseau in US House District 10, AND VOTE DEM ALL THE WAY DOWN THE BALLOT.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE

UPCOMING DEBATES

NONE, it seems. On Sept. 21, the Harris campaign accepted CNN’s invitation for a second debate, to be held Oct. 23. But, Trump is too scared to face her again. Harris accepts CNN debate invitation for October 23, again challenging Trump to another showdown 9/21/24 https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/21/politics/presidential-debate-harris-trump-cnn/index.html

Vice Presidential Debate

The VP nominees debated on Oct. 1, on CBS News in NYC, with Moderators Margaret Brennan (Face the Nation) and Norah O’Donnell (CBS Evening News). (Image credits: AP, CBS, NYTimes.)

MY TAKE

During the first half of the 90-minute debate, Vance dominated, talking smoothly and a lot. Vance pitched GOP policy in saner terms than Trump is capable of doing, glossing over the ugliness with slick rhetoric. Listening carefully, viewers would notice he didn’t really say much, but he said it well, though rarely answering the actual questions asked. Vance came off as highly polished. Walz is many things, but polished isn’t one of them; he spoke from the heart, and it wasn’t always effective in the debate context. Walz also seemed to lack the killer instinct, failing to pounce on every chance to denigrate his opponent; viewers differed as to whether that was a plus or minus. Both men were amiable, even complimenting each other and noting areas of agreement; some commentators were disappointed there were few fireworks.

My pet peeve–over and over, Vance condemned aspects of governance during the last 4 years, calling it “The Kamala Harris administration.” That is patently absurd; vice presidents assist, offer advice, report back from the dullest meetings and trips, and take on project bits and pieces when told to do so, but the President calls the shots and owns the good and the bad of a presidential administration, period. I guarantee that Trump’s 4 year term in office was NEVER called “The Mike Pence administration.”

One early segment was notable. When Vance yet again lied about “illegal aliens” in Springfield, the Moderator calmly noted that the claim has been proven false. Vance retorted: “The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact check!” (Which begs the question—was Vance planning all along to spout lies? He certainly did a lot of that during the debate.) In fact, CBS News indicated ahead of the event that Moderators could “clarify a fuzzy point if they determined it had been left unclear.” Vance refused to move to the next topic and instead mansplained in typical GOP fashion the origin of the asylum process; notably, as he talked over the Moderator, Vance repeated addressed her by first name in a dismissive fashion. Moderator Margaret Brennan cut him off elegantly: “Thank you, Senator, for describing the legal process.” And then, his mic was muted, as the rules provided.

Early in the second half of the debate, the questions turned to the most serious matters, and Walz rose to the occasion again and again. Abortion. Gun violence. Health care. Democracy. Walz OWNED the second half of the debate. More than once, Vance winced, swallowed nervously and otherwise showed that he knew he was now out of his depth and into territory where faking it wasn’t going to work. In his first major gaffe of the evening, Vance blatantly lied about abortion, saying he never supported a national abortion ban. In fact, he campaigned on exactly that when running for the Senate in 2022; since then, he has said many times that he favors a national abortion ban. Walz related stories (factual stories with names of real women, not stuff made up for effect) of women living with the consequences of Trump’s abortion ban—or having died because of it. On guns, Walz blew Vance out of the water with his personal experience dealing wiht the issue, while Vance lamely insisted that stronger windows and doors would keep our schools safe from gun violence. Then, on health care, Walz schooled Vance on Trump’s long-time mission to end Obamacare, as opposed to “saving it” as Vance falsely stated; Walz’ many years governing a major state exposed Vance as shallow and inexperienced.

The highlight of the entire debate was in the democracy discussion, when Walz refused to accept Vance’s slick remarks minimizing Jan. 6 as a Trump-directed peaceful protest and insisting that Trump peacefully transferred power to Biden. Walz asked Vance straight out: “Did Trump lose the 2020 election?” Vance could not answer that, of course, and went with: “Tim, I’m focused on the future.” Walz read America’s mind when he called that “a damning non-answer.” It was a shocking revelation; Vance showed he cannot be trusted to tell the truth (as if the stories he admits creating about Haitian immigrants didn’t do that already). Everything Vance said earlier in the debate was immediately invalidated. Any progress he had made away from “weird” collapsed. That simple, short exchange blew up the night, exposing Vance as a Trump toady selected for his lack of moral center to replace Trump’s original Vice President, who failed to place his running mate above democracy. (Skip to the end of this blog for more on Vance’s real political stance and the danger he poses long-term.)

The Harris/Walz campaign immediately created an ad showcasing the democracy exchange: JD Vance’s Damning Non-Answer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax0KIhHFnaE

Polling declared Walz the winner. CNN Instant Poll: Debate watchers say, 48% to 35%, that Walz is more in touch with the needs and problems of people like them than Vance is. Following Tuesday night’s debate, viewers say, 48% to 39%, that Walz, rather than Vance, more closely shares their vision for America. Debate watchers see Walz as more in touch with their needs and vision for America 10/1/24 https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/02/politics/election-poll-walz-vance-debate/index.html

WALZ QUOTES (Image credit: Getty.)

“Climate change is real; reducing our impact is absolutely critical.”
“If you’re listening tonight and you want billionaires to get tax cuts, Trump is your candidate.”
“Donald Trump was the guy who created the largest trade deficit in American history with China” [Fact-Checked as TRUE, $378 billion in 2018.]
“The fact of the matter is, how can we as a nation say that your life and your rights, as basic as the right to control your own body, is determined on geography?”
“Just mind your own business on this. Things worked best when Roe versus Wade was in place.“
“In Minnesota, what we did was restore Roe v. Wade. We made sure that we put women in charge of their health care. This is basic human right. We have seen maternal mortality skyrocket in Texas, outpacing many other countries in the world. This is about health care. In Minnesota, we are ranked first in health care for a reason. We trust women. We trust doctors.”
“Did Trump lose the 2020 election?”
“January 6 was not Facebook ads.”
“What I’m concerned about is, where is the firewall with Donald Trump? Where is the firewall if he knows he could do anything, including taking an election, and his vice president is not going to stand up against it?”
“America, I think you’ve got a really clear choice in this election of who’s going to honor democracy and who’s going to honor Donald Trump.”

VANCE QUOTES (Image credit: NYTimes.)

“The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check!”
“I’ve been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump.” [Vance called Trump “America’s Hitler” and “cultural heroin” as recently as 2022.]
“It’s really rich for Democratic leaders to say that Donald Trump is a unique threat to democracy when he peacefully gave over power on January the 20th.”
“I am focused on the future.” [This was his answer about whether Trump lost the 2020 election.]
“I want [the Republican Party] to support fertility treatments.” [Yet, Senate Republicans over the summer TWICE voted down a bill that would have protected IVF nationwide; Vance himself voted against the bill in June and failed to show up to vote on it in September.]
“The American people, frankly, just don’t trust us [Republicans, on abortion].” [Wonder why….]
Vance refused to answer numerous questions, including foreign policy specifics. He would not say if he agrees with Trump that climate change is a hoax. He had nothing to say about the new health care plan that Trump supposedly has. He could not state any specific economic policies Trump would enact. He also refused to answer whether, as VP, he would call for alternate electors; he has previously stated that in Pence’s position he would have allowed Congress to consider alternative slates of electors from key swing states, a power that the vice president does not possess under the Constitution.

REACTIONS—from late night hosts, talking heads, columnists and historians.

Stephen Colbert of The Late Show: “These two men were both a heartbeat away from being interesting this evening.”
Michael Kosta of The Daily Show: “The only other V.P. debate anyone remembers is the time that fly got stuck on Mike Pence’s head. The bar is low.”
Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show: “Many people felt that JD Vance had a solid debate. Republicans saw that and were, like, ‘Hey, could we pull a Biden and just go with this guy?’
Bethany Mandel of Newsweek: “Vance showed exactly why he was chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate. He is the wonky and shrewd version of the former president.”
Jeffrey Blehar of National Review: “Vance and Walz’s collegiality was so remarkable in this era. It redounds to their credit and helps their candidates, too.”
Farah Stockman of NYTimes Editorial: “Vance did an excellent job of impersonating a decent man.”
Robert Reich, professor and commentator: “JD Vance, the Republican candidate for vice president, will almost certainly be the Republican presidential candidate in 2028, regardless of whether Trump wins in November.”
Heather Cox Richardson, historian: “Vance lied throughout the debate and has lied throughout this campaign, and in that, he is following the MAGA Republicans and Trump, who has become entirely untethered from reality.”
Rachel Maddow of MSNBC: “One of the candidates is much slicker, but the other candidate won.”
Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC: “JD Vance is the first vice-presidential candidate, ever, to NOT KNOW who won the last election.”
Joy Reid of MSNBC: “Walz took a while to get warmed up, but he won the debate because he actually had substance. His job was to sell Kamala Harris as president. He did that very well.”
Jamelle Bouie, NYTimes columnist: “If Vance had to sell the benefits of asbestos to win office, he would do it well and do it with a smile.”
Frank Bruni, NYTimes columnist: “Vance laundered and sanctioned Trump’s depravity, telling us not merely that he stands with Trump but that he sinks every bit as low as Trump.”
Zack Beauchamp of Vox: “[The democracy exchange] was the only moment from the VP debate that mattered. Ultimately, every issue discussed earlier that night comes in second to the fundamental question of whether America’s democratic institutions deserve to endure. On that question, Vance truly is radical, and his exposure as such was the only truly important moment of the night.”
Will Saletan of The Bulwark: “On the debate stage, facing two audiences—the people of the United States on one hand, and Trump on the other—Vance refused to acknowledge that Trump lost. That moment tells you the most important thing about Vance: When democracy is in peril, he will bow to Trump, not to the people or the Constitution. He must never be given that chance.”
Tressie McMillan Cottom, NYTimes Columnist: “Vance proved that there will be another Donald Trump, one who is just as sinister but far better produced for middle-of-the road voters. It does not matter if Vance was only pretending to align with Trump’s combative politics and disastrous policy proposals. What matters is that Vance has proved that he will change all of his fundamental beliefs in order to win.”
Former Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri: “Walz is running against two people, one of whom has bragged about creating stories to get attention, and the other one who lies like other people brush their teeth — I am not worried about Tim Walz’s misstatements. Has he said everything perfectly? No. He’s not perfect. He’s relatable.”
Harris Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon: “Governor Walz showed exactly why Vice President Harris picked him. He is a leader who cares about the issues that matter most to the American people.”
Matt Flegenheimer, NYTimes Correspondent: “At his most effective, Walz is a kind of Labrador retriever of a communicator: affable, game, just happy to be there — but liable to tilt his head in performative confusion when something sounds off to him.”

SHINY NEW POLLS

Early voting is underway in several states. Per The Guardian, 1.4 million Americans had already voted by Oct. 4. Polling shows Harris leading by over 3 points. Harris and Trump neck-and-neck in polls with early voting under way 10/5/24 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/05/kamala-harris-donald-trump-polls

National polling averaging shows Harris ahead of Trump by 2-3 points as of Oct. 4.

Battleground polling averaging shows Harris leading in PA, NV, MI and WI, with Trump narrowly ahead in NC, GA and AZ as of Oct. 4. (Source: Averages by The New York Times; polls collected by FiveThirtyEight and NYTimes.) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/elections/polls-president.html

NY Times/Siena polling in important northern states Sept. 21-26 showed Harris leading Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan. Plus, Harris is well ahead of Trump in Nebraska’s 2^nd District, securely controlling the “blue dot.” Trump was ahead of Harris in Ohio. Harris and Trump Are Neck and Neck in Michigan and Wisconsin, Polls Find 9/28/24 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/28/us/politics/harris-trump-poll-michigan-wisconsin.html

COMPARE POLICY: ECONOMIC PLANS—Harris vs. Trump.

Harris released an official economic plan on Sept. 25, a bound volume running 82 pages. To cut rent and mortgage costs, she offers a $25K tax credit for new home buyers and commits tens of billions of dollars to rapidly increasing the nation’s housing supply. To cut food costs, she would enact a federal ban on “price gouging” by grocery stores. Harris uses tariffs sparingly and instead pledges tax breaks including $50,000 for new small businesses; more incentives would work to encourage domestic manufacturing of low-carbon energy technology, biotechnology and other advanced industries. In addition, Harris would expand tax breaks for parents (including $6,000 for newborns) to help them afford the costs of raising children. Harris will fund these programs with tax increases on big business and individuals earning $500,000 and up, making sure everyone pays their fair share. (Image credit: NYTimes.) Harris Now Has an Economic Plan. Can It Best Trump’s Promises? 9/26/24 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/us/politics/harris-trump-economy.html

WATCH Harris’ 45-minute economic speech here: Vice President Kamala Harris on the Economy – Live from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 9/26/24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XokApnr_Cak

Experts say Trump’s vague plans for tariffs, deportations and the Federal Reserve would be disastrous, with higher inflation, less economic growth, and lower employment, through 2040. The best-case scenario predicts that inflation would climb to 6% by 2026; by 2028, consumer prices are 20% higher. US gross domestic product would be 2.8% lower by the end of Trump’s four-year term. A loss of Fed Reserve independence would cause permanently higher inflation and ever-increasing prices across the US economy. By 2040, prices would be about 41% higher than otherwise. The most damaging element of Trump’s proposals would be his immigration crackdown, with 15-20 million people deported. Mass deportations would cause a shock to the supply of workers, particularly since an estimated 16% of workers in agriculture are undocumented; losing them would spike food costs. (Image credit: NYTimes.) Trump’s promises would spike inflation and wipe out jobs, study finds 9/26/24 https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/26/business/trump-inflation-jobs-tariffs-economy/index.html

HARRIS/WALZ Campaign

NEW Endorsements

Magic Johnson has known Kamala Harris over 20 years, and he endorsed her for President on Sept. 29. Johnson: “Nobody’s going to outwork her. She’s committed to you as the people United States, the people of Michigan. She’s going to be a president for everybody. And one thing she’s going to do is finally unite us, bring us together; that other party is trying to tear us down.” Since then, he has joined her campaign rallies in Michigan (Go GREEN!) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_W_XUC5SJGc

Bruce Springsteen endorsed Harris/Walz on Oct.3, saying: “Freedom, social justice, equal opportunity, the right to be and love who you want. These are the things that make America great. Donald Trump is the most dangerous candidate for President in my lifetime. His disdain for the sanctity of our constitution, the sanctity of democracy, the sanctity of the rule of law, and the sanctity of the peaceful transfer of power should disqualify him from the office of President ever again.” Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSI_XbF-Yvs&list=RDNSDSI_XbF-Yvs&start_radio=1

Caroline Rose Giuliani, daughter of Trump’s disgraced and disbarred lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, endorsed Harris/Walz on Sept. 30, saying this: “Take it from me, Trump destroys everything he touches. I saw it happen to my family. Don’t let it happen to yours, or to our country.” She favors Harris to safeguard reproductive rights and fight climate change. Rudy Giuliani’s Daughter Caroline Endorses Kamala Harris 9/30/24 https://www.newsweek.com/rudy-giuliani-daughter-endorses-kamala-harris-1961568

NYTimes: “It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities — wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline — that he most lacks. … Many Americans remain deeply concerned about their prospects and their children’s in an unstable and unforgiving world. For them, Ms. Harris is clearly the better choice. She has committed to using the power of her office to help Americans better afford the things they need, to make it easier to own a home, to support small businesses and to help workers. Mr. Trump’s economic priorities are more tax cuts, which would benefit mostly the wealthy, and more tariffs, which will make prices even more unmanageable for the poor and middle class. … Harris is more than a necessary alternative. There is also an optimistic case for elevating her, one that is rooted in her policies and borne out by her experience as vice president, a senator and a state attorney general. … The Republicans who support Ms. Harris recognize that this election is about something more fundamental than narrow partisan interest. It is about principles that go beyond party.” The Only Patriotic Choice for President 9/30/24 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/opinion/editorials/kamala-harris-2024.html

New Yorker Magazine: “Kamala Harris has displayed the basic values and political skills that would enable her to build on the successes of the Biden Administration and to help end, once and for all, a poisonous era defined by Trump. … The United States simply cannot endure another four years of Donald Trump. He is an agent of chaos, an enemy of liberal democracy, and a threat to America’s moral standing in the world. Kamala Harris—who has shown herself to be sensible, humane, and liberal-minded—is our choice for the Presidency.” Kamala Harris for President 9/29/24 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/07/kamala-harris-for-president-endorsement

Campaign Ads

Harris/Walz campaign

Say it to my face, Donald: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEOVT4DhZC0
Both Wrong (Trump and Mark Robinson): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFKkKJi7698
JD Vance’s Damning Non-Answer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax0KIhHFnaE
A Heartbeat Away: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVpNYeR2W4 Unstable Threat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiIN7vPvbdQ
Unstable Threat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiIN7vPvbdQ

Lincoln Project

Choose Change is narrated by Sam Elliott. He does NOT pull any punches, and he ends with this really great line—“It’s time to be a man and vote for a woman.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COTJMJRFX2w
Trump’s Performance Issues : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wOWW2wuOOo
Trump and Mark Robinson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OGI4kyZUZo
One Choice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyQo-wf1tLY
Dangerous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7XETqS9iBM

Harris’ MSNBC interview 9-26-24

Stephanie Ruhle interviewed Kamala Harris on Sept. 25. (Image credits: Getty, AP, NYTimes.) Key points:

On Trump using tariffs for everything: “You don’t just throw around the idea of tariffs across the board. … [Trump is] just not very serious about how he thinks about some of these issues. … One must be serious and have a plan. And a real plan that’s not just about some talking point ending in an exclamation in a political rally, but actually putting the thought into what will be the return on the investment and the economic impact on everyday people.”
On the broken immigration system: “We do have a broken immigration system. It needs to be fixed. … [Re: the bipartisan bill Trump killed] Donald Trump got word of the bill, realized it was going to fix a problem that he wanted to run on, and told them to kill the bill. He killed a bill that would have actually been a solution because he wants to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. My pledge is that, when elected president if the American people will have me, I will bring that bill back and I will sign it into law. We need a comprehensive plan that includes what we need to do to fortify not only our border but deal with the fact that we also need to create pathways to citizenship.”
On women’s rights and Trump’s “protector of women” remark: “Donald Trump is also the person who said women should be punished for exercising a decision that they rightly should be able to make about their own body and their future. He then chose three members of the United States Supreme Court who did as he intended, undid the protections of Roe v. Wade, and now in state after state you see laws being passed that do punish women. I don’t think the women of America need him to say that he’s going to protect them; the women of America need him to trust them.”3 Key Takeaways From Kamala Harris’ MSNBC Interview 9/25/24 https://www.newsweek.com/3-key-takeaways-kamala-harris-msnbc-interview-1959525

Walz never supported ‘execution after birth’ despite Trump’s FALSE claim.

During the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Trump said the Dem. V-P candidate, Gov. Tim Walz, supports ‘execution after birth.’ The Moderator noted that killing an infant after birth is illegal in all 50 states, but far-right commentators repeated Trump’s claim afterward. PolitFact investigated and ruled it FALSE: Every person who is born has protections under federal and state laws. It’s illegal in every state to kill a baby after it’s born. In Minnesota, Gov. Walz approved a state law that updated language related to infants “born alive.” This change did not remove the protections every person who is born has under Minnesota and federal laws. (Image credit: funding email.) https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/sep/18/tony-perkins/no-legal-protections-for-born-alive-babies-in-some/

Texas Burgers and Big Bucks

Beto O’Rourke and First Gentleman Doug Emhoff hit the campaign trail last week in several Texas cities, urging Texans to register and VOTE BLUE. After raising over $1MIL at an Austin fundraiser, they stopped at Whataburger for lunch. (Image credit: Texas Tribune.) O’Rourke and Emhoff raise another million for Harris campaign, tout voter registration momentum 9/24/24 https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/24/doug-emhoff-beto-orourke-whataburger-texas-austin/

TRUMP/VANCE Campaign

The perfect shot of these clowns…. (Image credit: NY Times.)

Old 45

Still VERY old and increasingly addled. Still lying. Still a racist and a misogynist. (Image credits: AP and Trump campaign email.)

Still weird

Having strange and unpleasant ideas is one thing; imposing them on everyone else is another. Robert Reich’s 3-minute video hits the highlights. (Image credits: Getty.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0ED8Fg9yxE

Time is free, but Trump is selling $100,000 “Victory” watches.

Trump’s newest grift is a line of watches, starting at $500 and going up to $100,000. Oddly, the watches are NOT made in America. But, the high-end model does have “a replica of his famous signature!” Trump promotes watches branded with his name 9/26/24 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-promotes-watches-branded-name-rcna172963

“I am your protector.”

Donald Trump has a new spiel at his rallies, aiming to appeal to women: “I am your protector. I want to be your protector. As president, I have to be your protector. … I will end your national nightmare. … making women happy, healthy, confident, and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion.” That really is the WORST pick up line ever. I liked it better when Trump said he was our retribution. (Image credit: AP.) Trump Tells Women ‘I Am Your Protector,’ Talks Abortion at Pennsylvania Rally 9/24/24 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-pennsylvania-rally-abortion-women-2024-election-1958675

Trump is stalking women voters.

The above post is Trump’s idea of courting the female vote. In fact, American women need to get a national protective order against Trump and the MAGA GOP. The way to do that is: VOTE for Harris/Walz. Trump to women: You’ll soon ‘no longer be thinking about abortion’ 9/23/24 https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-women-ll-soon-no-longer-thinking-abortion-rcna172219

Donald Trump assaulted women, and now he is killing them.

Simon Rosenberg sees Trump’s abortion policy this way:

I have been in politics a long time and am not often surprised. What has surprised me this year, caught me off guard, is just how much the Republican Party and its leaders hate women. The raw, unfiltered misogyny has surprised and shocked me. Wanting to end no-fault divorces so women will be forced to stay in marriages where they are beaten. Ending Roe and the ongoing assault on reproductive freedom including IVF. Restrictions on women’s ability to travel out of state. Jail time for women having miscarriages.

Trump didn’t return abortion to the states. He took it away from women and their doctors and gave it to Republican politicians. It may be the single most bat shit crazy thing he says. Hopium Chronicles 9/24/24 https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/harris-hovering-around-biden-2020

Trump backs out of 60 Minutes interview.

Despite agreeing to participate in the news show’s Election Hour on Oct. 7, Trump abruptly cancelled on 60 Minutes. (Image credit: NYTimes.) He and Harris were to receive equal time; Harris will appear as planned. Trump says he cancelled due to a grudge with Lesley Stalh dating back to 2020. Really, he is afraid they will fact-check him. Jimmy Fallon summed it up this way: “Former President Trump broke a 50-year tradition for presidential candidates after he backed out of his scheduled interview with ‘60 Minutes’ because he was worried they’d fact-check him. So if you’re keeping track, Trump said that he’ll stand up to the president of China, but Lesley Stahl is a little too scary.” Trump backs out of “60 Minutes” election special; Kamala Harris to be interviewed 10/1/24 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-election-special-harris-trump-oct-7/

Trump demanded Congress shut down the government instead of passing a routine spending bill.

Congress had to pass a routine continuing resolution to finance the federal government for another 6 months. Trump made House Speaker Johnson add a rider (called the SAVE Act) to the spending bill that required showing proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Trump then demanded that Republican lawmakers shut down the government, unless Democrats agreed to the new voting process. It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote, and states enforce this. There is no indication non-citizens are registering or voting; even the far-right Heritage Foundation has found only 12 cases of such illegal voting in the past 40 years. But, Trump and his sycophants continue to conjure up masses of immigrants voting for Democrats. Proving citizenship would require that all voters obtain a passport; that is expensive and time-consuming, adding yet another barrier to the election process. On Sept. 18, the bill failed, thanks to Trump. Oct. 1 was the deadline, or the government would SHUT DOWN. Desperate, Speaker Johnson removed the SAVE rider and limited the bill to spending through Dec. 20 only. It passed easily on Sept. 25. Panicking Trump Makes Shocking Demand as His Campaign Struggles 9/10/24 https://newrepublic.com/post/185796/donald-trump-demand-government-shutdown-campaign

Trump blames Jews for his upcoming loss at the polls.

At an antisemitic event held by the Israeli American Council, Trump attacked Jews, saying Jews are tanking his re-election and would be very sorry for doing that. (Maybe someone should have explained to Trump that the event was AGAINST antisemitic comments and actions, not FOR them.) Trump: [If I don’t win] “in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with the loss. If I’m at 40 percent. Think of it. That means 60 percent are voting for Kamala who in particular is a bad Democrat. The Democrats are bad to Israel, very bad. … Any Jewish person who votes for [Harris] should have their head examined.” (Image credit: AP.) Trump’s Blame Game Takes a Dark Turn Against Jewish People 9/20/24 https://newrepublic.com/post/186188/donald-trump-blame-jewish-people-election

Trump suggests law enforcement copy The Purge.

At a Sept. 29 rally in Pennsylvania, Trump ranted about urban crime and shared his brilliant idea for stopping it. Trouble is—it was basically the plotline of The Purge, a dystopian horror flick in which murder is legal, as an official plan to end unemployment and crime. Trump claimed out-of-control crime sprees could be ended by police via mass murder, saying this: “If you had one day, like one real rough, nasty day….” (Image credit: REUTERS.) Trump condemned for suggesting ‘one really violent day’ to combat crime 9/30/24 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/30/trump-crime-the-purge-speech

Trump is just making up endorsements.

On Oct. 4, Trump posted on his low-rent version of X that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon had endorsed him. Dimon instantly refuted this, saying he has not endorsed or contributed to anyone in the race. First Taylor Swift, then Jamie Dimon—who’s next? Trump falsely touts endorsement from JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon 10/4/24 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/04/trump-jamie-dimon-false-endorsement

“So what?”

3 days BEFORE the 2020 election, a close Trump advisor told supporters that Trump would declare victory no matter what: “He’s going to declare victory. That doesn’t mean he’s the winner. He’s just going to say he’s the winner.” Trump himself told family members: “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.” And, when Trump was told on Jan. 6 that his supporters rioting at the Capitol were threatening to kill VP Mike Pence, Trump’s response was: ”So what?” All that and MUCH MORE was revealed by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith in recent court filings in Trump’s criminal case relating to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Smith’s goal was to prove that Trump’s motive was personal and that of a candidate, nothing to do with official presidential duties that SCOTUS suddenly says are immune from prosecution. (I LOVE Seth Meyers’ response: “A federal judge yesterday unsealed a 165-page motion detailing evidence against former President Trump in his election interference case. OK, well, there’s only one way he’s reading 165 pages, and it’s at the Cheesecake Factory.”) Special counsel Jack Smith provides fullest picture yet of his 2020 election case against Trump in new filing 10/2/24 https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/02/politics/jack-smith-donald-trump-filing/index.html

Trump ALREADY claims the 2024 election is rigged.

CNN fact-checked Trump’s fraud claims on an election that hasn’t even happened yet. Here are his 12 BIG LIES for Election 2024 (so far):

False claim: Harris can only win through cheating
False claim: It was ‘unconstitutional’ for the Democrats to replace Biden with Harris
False claim: Voting by non-citizens is a widespread problem in US elections
False claim: The US Postal Service admitted it is ‘a poorly run mess’
False claim: There is no identity verification for overseas and military voters
False claim: Harris spied on Trump’s campaign
False claim: California’s vote counts are dishonest
False claim: Election officials use early voting to commit fraud
False claim: Trump won Minnesota in 2020
False claim: A large percentage of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania are fraudulent
False claim: Harris fabricated an image to inflate her crowd size
False claim: Biden or Harris orchestrated Trump’s legal cases

Fact check: 12 election lies Trump is using to set the stage to dispute a potential 2024 defeat 9/30/24 https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/30/politics/fact-check-trump-election-lies-2024/index.html

Trump attacks Ukraine and President Zelenskyy.

Trump is desperate to please Putin, so he went after Ukraine and its heroic president. Trump said Ukraine is obliterated, with millions dead, and now using children and the elderly as soldiers—all FALSE. He also complained that Zelenskyy refuses to make a deal with Putin. (By “deal,” Trump means “surrender.”) Of course, Trump claims that only HE can end the war that Russia started. Trump lashes out at Zelenskyy after Ukraine’s leader questioned his claim he could end war 9/25/24 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-lashes-zelenskyy-after-ukraines-leader-questioned-claim/story?id=114115473

Trump Endorsed Mark Robinson and STILL supports him.

Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s Republican candidate for governor, has always been deranged, so of course Trump endorsed him ages ago and regularly appears with him all over the state, calling Robinson “better than Martin Luther King.” Robinson is the guy who said “Some folks need killing.” (And, he was standing at a church pulpit at the time.) Robinson has long been a Holocaust denier, and he calls anything related to gays “filth.” Bad enough, but it suddenly got worse when on Sept. 19 Robinson’s past online posts were published by CNN. He proudly called himself a “Black Nazi” and denigrated MLK, as well as fondly recalling peeping at women in the bathroom. On slavery, Robinson said this: “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it back. I would certainly buy a few.” Robinson remains defiant and in the race, and Trump has not withdrawn his endorsement. To date, Trump’s only comment is: “Uh, I don’t know the situation.” Mark Robinson’s History of Controversial Claims 9/21/24 https://www.newsweek.com/mark-robinson-history-controversial-claims-1957096

Trump vows to honor Confederate slave owners.

North Carolina’s Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty in 2022. The old moniker honored Gen. Braxton Bragg, who enslaved people in addition to being a Confederate general with a reputation for battlefield failure. At a rally in North Carolina, Trump said: “I think I just learned the secret to winning absolutely and by massive margins. I’m going to promise to you … that we’re going to change the name back to Fort Bragg. We have a great military, and we have a military that’s not woke. You may have a few people at the top who are woke, and we’re going to get rid of them so damn fast your head is gonna spin.” Trump pledges to rename Army base after Confederate general 10/4/24 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/04/trump-rename-army-confederate-general-00182606

Trump attacks Aurora, Colorado.

When Trump isn’t attacking Springfield, Ohio, he goes after Aurora, Colorado, blurting out scary and outlandish stories with no verification. Trump: “Under border czar Harris, Venezuelan gangs have taken over entire apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado. The governor is petrified in Colorado. He’s a liberal governor. He doesn’t know what to do. The guy is so scared of these guys and maybe you can’t blame him.” Dem Governor Jared Polis responded on Face the Nation Sept. 22: “I went shopping in Aurora yesterday. What a lot of Americans need to know is Aurora [has] over 400,000 people, it’s Colorado’s third largest city, violent crime is down two years in a row, car thefts are down two years in a row. It’s a wonderful city. I’m there all the time. … This is the difference between electing a president that skirts the law versus one who has made a career enforcing the law. Kamala Harris is somebody who stared criminal enterprises in the face, put criminals behind bars as district attorney and she’s going to take that same attitude to the White House to make America safer.” (Image credit: NYTimes.) Colorado governor defends Aurora against Trump’s claims about migrants 9/22/24 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/22/colorado-governor-trump-migrants-00180392

Trump vows to deport legal immigrants from Springfield, Ohio.

On Oct. 2, Trump escalated his tirade against the Haitian immigrants legally living and working in Springfield, Ohio, vowing to revoke their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and deport them. Haitians have been included in the TPS program since 2010, when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed 220,000 people. In his first administration, Trump paused TPS for 400,000 migrants from Haiti, Nepal, Sudan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, but a federal judge reversed Trump’s action and reinstated TPS by law. Trump floats deporting legal Haitian migrants living in Ohio 10/3/24 https://www.axios.com/2024/10/03/trump-springfield-haitian-migrants-tps

Trump uses disaster for political gain, with escalating lies about Hurricane Helene aid.

On Sept. 29, just 1 day after Hurricane Helene ripped through Georgia, Trump said: “[Gov. Kemp] has been calling the president, but has not been able to get him. I guess the federal government is not being responsive.” However, Gov. Kemp, a Republican, stated he had missed Biden’s first call but called him right back and was connected easily. Here is Kemp’s version: “[Biden] said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, you know, we got what we need. We will work through the federal process. … [He said] if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly — which, I appreciate that.” Trump falsely says Georgia’s governor was unable to talk to Biden about storm damage 9/30/24 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-georgia-governor-brian-kemp-unable-talk-biden-hurricane-helene-rcna173236

Trump then expanded his lies about the Biden/Harris hurricane response, saying: “They are universally being given POOR GRADES for the way that they are handling the Hurricane, especially in North Carolina.” Per CNN: “Facts First: Trump is wrong. The Biden administration’s response to the hurricane has received bipartisan praise from political leaders in affected states.” Republican governors in the states hit by Hurricane Helene praised the Biden administration’s response, sometimes naming Biden in particular. For instance, Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called the federal assistance “superb,” noting that Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had both called and told him to let them know whatever the state needed. “So we’re getting assistance, and we’re asking for everything we need.” Fact check: Amid bipartisan praise for Biden hurricane response, Trump falsely claims reviews are ‘universally’ negative 9/3/24 https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/03/politics/fact-check-trump-biden-hurricane-response/index.html

On Oct. 2, Trump and company ramped things up, accusing Harris of putting a $750 price tag on hurricane victims. Here is one version of the false tirade: “$750 for Americans in desperate need many of whom lost everything including family. $250 BILLION spent in Ukraine so they get $6500 per person in F$&?ing UKRAINE!!! For what? Enough of this madness!” Setting aside Trump’s sick grudge against Ukraine, let’s start with the $750. On Oct. 3 while in Georgia meeting those distributing aid and cleaning up after the storm, Harris mentioned cash disbursements as part of the larger relief effort: “And the federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs met, such as food, baby formula, and the like. And you can apply now.” Harris ALSO discussed other aspects of the recovery plan, including longer-term emergency funding. (“FEMA is also providing tens of thousands more dollars for folks to help them be able to deal with home repair, to be able to cover a deductible when and if they have insurance, and also hotel costs.”). Plus, the Biden administration had already disbursed over $10 million in “flexible and upfront” assistance to the states affected. And, FEMA had already shipped over 8.8 million meals, more than 7.4 million liters of water, 150 generators, and more than 225,000 tarps to the storm zone. In addition, crews were helping to restore power and set up satellite internet links for those without service. Over 1,600 interactions with people and animals, including rescues and evacuations, had also taken place with federal assistance. In fact, the federal government had 1,000 first responders in place BEFORE the storm hit; in addition, Biden had the Defense Department provide 1,000 soldiers to reinforce North Carolina’s National Guard to speed up the delivery of supplies to isolated communities. Biden approved emergency declarations for all affected states as soon as he received the requests from the governors. The Biden/Harris administration will cover 100% of the recovery costs for the first 180 days in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. SO–$750 AND A WHOLE LOT MORE–that is what Biden/Harris are doing for hurricane victims, exactly as they should. Fact Check: Did Kamala Harris Offer Hurricane Helene Victims $750? 10/3/24 https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-750-fema-hurricane-helene-relief-reimbursement-1963602

Then, there were rampant accusations from the right that FEMA was broke and not able to help hurricane victims because its money was given to illegal immigrants. TRUMP: “They spent it all on illegal migrants.… They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them. A billion dollars was stolen from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants, many of whom are criminals, to come into our country.” NOPE, All FALSE. FEMA Responds to Accusations Money Spent on Migrants 10/4/24 https://www.newsweek.com/fema-response-accusations-money-spent-migrants-1963702

Finally, Trump and his shameless MAGA ilk have so flooded the internet with ugly and frightening accusations that FEMA was forced to create a page debunking the lies, in order to reassure victims applying for aid: https://www.fema.gov/disaster/current/hurricane-helene/rumor-response

“He’s not planning a presidency. He’s hawking merch.”

Frank Bruni is scathingly brilliant as well as accurate in a Sept. 26 NYT Opinion piece, on Trump’s obvious pathologies and how they are accelerating this election season: “I know it’s painful, but have you listened to him (or, even worse, skimmed his social media posts) over recent months? Hannibal Lecter, Pomeranian au poivre, pouting about how much prettier than Harris he is, perseverating on the size of her crowds, obsessing over her race, fixating on her sexual history — he’s going downhill fast, and he started out below sea level. If he descends any more, MAGA will meet magma.” Bruni also nails Trump as a shameless salesman in overdrive: “Maybe his strategy is to put enough money in Americans’ pockets that everyone can buy two copies of the Trump-branded Bible ($59.99) and three of “Save America,” his alternative history of the Trump administration ($91.47 — and that’s on Amazon), with enough left over for a $49 special-edition pair of gold Never Surrender sneakers. (Image credit: NYT.) The proper cable-television point of reference for Trump isn’t Fox News. It’s QVC. He’s not planning a presidency. He’s hawking merch.” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/opinion/kamala-harris-context-trump.html

Trump and Vance lied about Haitian immigrants in Springfield. Good Republicans there are besieged with death threats.

Jamie McGregor is a 5^th generation Springfield resident who own McGregor Metal. He started hiring legal Haitian immigrants in 2020 and now they make up 10% of his 300 employees. Springfield recently exploded into the national consciousness when Trump and Vance repeatedly and falsely claimed that Haitians were in Springfield illegally and were destroying the town by eating pets, among other atrocities. Again—everything Trump and Vance have said on the matter has been proven false; Vance even admits he “created stories” in order to generate media coverage for their campaign. The result has been tumult in Springfield, including violence against Haitians and nearly 400 bomb threats that have forced closure of schools, hospitals and government offices. Another result of what Trump and Vance did is a deluge of death threats to Jamie McGregor and his entire family. Why? He spoke up, trying to counter the rising tide of hatred in Springfield, saying this about his Haitian employees: “They come to work every day. They don’t cause drama. They’re on time.” As a result, MAGA supporters put up posters around town with his face printed alongside the word, “traitor.” He got messages, including these: “The owner of McGregor Metal can take a bullet to the skull and that would be 100 percent justified.” AND “Why are you importing Third World savages who eat animals and giving them jobs over United States citizens?” When the FBI found the threats against him to be credible, McGregor was forced to increase security at his business and buy a gun to protect his family. Springfield businessman dubbed a “traitor” and threatened for defending Haitian employees 9/30/24 https://www.salon.com/2024/09/30/springfield-businessman-dubbed-a-traitor-and-threatened-for-defending-haitian-employees/

Trump says soldiers’ traumatic brain injuries were just headaches.

At an Oct. 2 campaign event in Milwaukee, Trump again downplayed the traumatic brain injuries suffered by U.S troops in an Iranian missile strike on an airbase in Iraq in 2020. He was asked if he should have been tougher on Tehran after more than 100 soldiers were injured in a missile attack on the Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq in January 2020, when he was president. Trump: “So first of all, injured. What does injured mean? Injured means, you mean because they had a headache? Because the bombs never hit the fort. So, just so you understand, there was nobody ever tougher on Iraq.” Not for the first time, Trump confused Iraq and Iran. It also was not the first time he threw injured soldiers under the bus in order to protect his own record. In 2020 he said this: “I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, not very serious.” Dan Barkhuff, the president and founder of Veterans for Responsible Leadership, was outraged. “These are incredibly debilitating injuries, and it’s really insulting that Donald Trump would comment in this way about folks who were injured in combat.” (Image credit: AP.) Donald Trump’s Comment on Injured Soldiers Sparks Veteran Anger—’Insulting’ 10/2/24 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-comment-injured-soldiers-sparks-veteran-anger-iran-1962645

Trump calls Harris “mentally disabled” and “mentally impaired.”

That’s the best Trump can do against a confident, competent, and articulate woman. Trump’s frantic frustration at losing his favorite punching bag, Joe Biden, is palpable. Trump still takes shots at Biden: “Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired — sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way.” (Image credit: NYTimes.) Trump, using extreme rhetoric, calls Harris ‘mentally impaired’ and says she should be ‘prosecuted 9/29/24 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-says-kamala-harris-prosecuted-border-actions-rcna173194

Creepy JD … really NOT growing on people, not even MAGA people. (Image credit: Getty.)

Vance is now “creating stories” (AKA lying) about Medicare insulin pricing.

Vance claims that Trump capped insulin at $35/month. He doubles down and says Harris is lying when she credits the Biden administration for that. FACT CHECK: Trump signed an executive order in 2020 establishing a temporary, voluntary program that let some Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cap monthly insulin copayments at $35. Then, Biden did it for real. His Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in August 2022, required all Part D plans to charge no more than $35 a month for all covered insulin products. All Democrats in the House and the Senate voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, and all Republicans—including J.D. Vance—voted against it. (Image credit: Detroit Free Press.) Heather Cox Richardson 9/29/24 https://substack.com/@heathercoxrichardson/p-149596205

Vance’s true agenda is really out there, with his “late Republican period” jargon.

Rachel Maddow’s lead segment on her Sept. 30 show detailed the influences behind Vance’s goal to gut the US government so it can be run by a dictator with the country modeled as a tech start-up. Just to be clear, the “late Republican period” Vance talks about all the time means democracy is ENDING, SOON. It will be replaced with techno-authoritarianism, so the country is run like a corporation, headed by a CEO; there is no difference between a CEO and a dictator, which Vance sees as a plus. This is a story only Maddow could tell—or so I thought until I read Robert Reichs 10/3 Substack on the same theme. (See item below.) Maddow’s 11-minute segment is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeVhHNSe9Ks

Want to know more about far-right blogger Curtis Yarvin, Vance’s oddball mentor in this insanity? A recent article by The New Republic starts with this: “Yarvin’s disturbing manifestos have earned him influential followers, chief among them: tech billionaire Peter Thiel and his onetime Silicon Valley protégé Senator J.D. Vance, whom the Republican Party just nominated to be Donald Trump’s vice president. If Trump wins the election, there is little doubt that Vance will bring Yarvin’s twisted techno-authoritarianism to the White House, and one can imagine—with horror—what a receptive would-be autocrat like Trump might do with those ideas.” ALSO: “Vance predicted Trump would run again and win, then offered some advice: “I think that what Trump should do, if I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.” He added that Trump should defy any court orders that tried to halt this partisan purge of the civil service. Yarvin calls this plan RAGE: Retire All Government Employees. It’s captured perfectly in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump administration, which calls for firing an estimated 500,000 federal employees and dismantling entire agencies. If Trump wins, Vance may well be in charge of executing the plan.” Lots more scary stuff in the linked article, which really does assist in understanding JD Vance, heaven help us all…. (Image credit: AP.) Where J.D. Vance Gets His Weird, Terrifying Techno-Authoritarian Ideas 7/22/24 https://newrepublic.com/article/183971/jd-vance-weird-terrifying-techno-authoritarian-ideas

Vance plans to be America’s anti-democracy president.

Below is Robert Reich’s Oct. 3 Substack article explaining JD Vance as Trump’s running mate and the GOP’s 2028 Presidential candidate. If Vance wins, America’s stops being a democracy and becomes a monarchical regime based on the tech start-up model, as favored by many billionaire political donors. This item was edited for length; click the link below to read Reich’s entire article.

Trump picked Vance for his vice president because Vance publicly stated he’d do what Mike Pence refused to do: overturn democracy and place America under MAGA control. In response to a question ABC’s George Stephanopoulos put to Vance last February — “Had you been vice president on January 6th, would you have certified the election results?” — Vance said: “If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and so many others that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there.”

In 2020, Vance alleged that the 2020 election was stolen and that Biden’s immigration policy meant “more Democrat voters pouring into this country.” In 2022, he suggested that Democrats were attempting to “transform the electorate” amid an immigrant “invasion.” Echoing the so-called “great replacement theory,” Vance told voters, “You’re talking about a shift in the democratic makeup of this country that would mean we never win, meaning Republicans would never win a national election in this country ever again.”

In contrast to Trump, who has no ideology except accumulating power and wealth for himself and taking revenge on those who would deny them to him, Vance does have an ideology. He’s the emerging leader of the anti-democracy movement in America. Vance would never have become a senator from Ohio in 2022 were it not for billionaire tech financier Peter Thiel, who staked $15 million on Vance’s election — a major portion of all the funds that went into Vance’s race.

Thiel and Vance — along with Elon Musk, Steve Bannon, Blake Masters, tech entrepreneur David Sacks, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Palantir adviser Jacob Helberg, Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone, blogger Curtis Yarvin, and others in the anti-democracy movement — believe that the only way true libertarians can win in America is for a Caesar-like figure to wrest power from the American establishment and install a monarchical regime, run like a startup.

In Yarvin’s view, democratic governments are inefficient and wasteful; they should be replaced with sovereign joint-stock corporations whose major “shareholders” select an executive with total power, who serves at their pleasure.Yarvin refers to the city-state of Singapore as an example of a successful authoritarian regime.

How to achieve Yarvin’s vision? The first step, as Vance offered in a 2021 podcast, is to replace “every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state … with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country, and say—” as did Andrew Jackson — that “the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.”

Vance has been anointed by Thiel and the rest of the anti-democracy movement as the post-Trump president, tasked with replacing the American establishment with an authoritarian regime.Make no mistake: The foundation for America’s first true anti-democracy president is being laid right now. (Image credit: Getty.) Vance and the future of the anti-democracy movement 10/3/24 https://substack.com/home/post/p-149678486