Here’s what I’ve found interesting as I prepared for the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump:
- New Harris campaign video highlights former Trump officials who have not endorsed the former president;
- The media should wonder why so many voters perceive Trump as a centrist;
- We should take Trump seriously after he proposed over the weekend the two largest federal arrests of people in our history;
- A chronology of 12 times Trump tried to use the Department of Justice to retaliate against his enemies;
- Why people should stop claiming that Harris’ 2020 campaign was a failure;
- What Harris actually did on immigration and border issues;
- Don’t fall for Trump’s attempts to distance himself from abortion ban proposals;
- Why it is still important to fact-check the lies Trump has repeated for years; and
- Remembering what happened at the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
Here we go. I’m glad you’re here.
#1
Harris trolls Trump on debate day with criticism from inside his administration (Meridith McGraw, Politico, Link to Article)
Kamala Harris is trying to get into Donald Trump’s head before Tuesday’s debate, rolling out a new ad featuring scathing assessments of the former president from some former top officials in his administration.
The ad, titled “The Best People,” and shared first with POLITICO, features clips of media interviews with officials from the Trump administration — including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, national security adviser John Bolton, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley — talking about their decision not to endorse their former boss or warning about the dangers he would pose in a second term.
The ad will run nationally on Fox News and in West Palm Beach — home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort — and Philadelphia media markets on Tuesday, the day he will debate Harris for the first time. It will continue to play throughout the week, according to the Harris campaign.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
I have been frustrated by the lack of coverage about the Republicans who are not supporting Trump in this election. It’s quite a list. But even former Vice President Dick Cheney’s decision to vote for Kamala Harris did not merit a place in the New York Times print edition.
How. Is. That. Not. News?!?
So, I am glad the Harris campaign will inject these facts into the conversation on the day of the debate. It is wise to ensure it airs in areas where the former president is most likely to see it.
Some headlines people may call it trolling. I think it is brilliant politics—and I wouldn’t mind if this ad causes the former president to lash out on the debate stage.
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#2
A new poll finding voters think Donald Trump is a centrist should be a wake-up call for the news media (Jamison Foser, Finding Gravity, Link to Article)
There’s a new New York Times/Siena College poll out and I’m not going to write about it because I generally don’t write about polls because the thing 99.999 percent of Americans should be thinking about is not “who is winning” but rather “who should win.” But I do want to briefly address one of the Trump advantages in the poll highlighted by Times chief political analyst Nate Cohn:“He occupies the center. A near majority of voters say Mr. Trump is “not too far” to the left or right on the issues, while only around one-third say he’s “too far to the right.” Nearly half of voters, in contrast, say Ms. Harris is too far to the left; only 41 percent say she’s “not too far either way.””
Of course, Donald Trump does not actually “occupy the center” — what Cohn meant is that Trump is perceived as occupying the center. (At least according to this measure.) This is not an insignificant difference!
So where does that perception come from? It comes, in part, from news companies like the New York Times.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Wait. What?
One of the media’s jobs is to inform the American public about what is happening in our country. The results of this poll show how dramatically the media is failing in this critical role.
How is a candidate who wants to enact a national abortion ban, violently deport 15-20 million people, eliminate most of the nonpartisan civil service, befriend dictators, cut taxes on the rich and corporations, raise tariffs, and become a dictator on day one end up being perceived by voters as holding the political center?
Foser provides several examples that can explain these dynamics. From sanewashing Trump’s rants to focusing only on Trump’s cross-party endorsements, media outlets are leaving a false impression with voters.
It would be great if editors and reporters were to review the results of that poll and reflect on why they are failing to inform the public. I’m not optimistic.
#3
Take him seriously (Mike Allen, Axios AM, Link to Newsletter)
President Trump is now proposing two of the largest-ever federal arrests of people living in America, including U.S. citizens, if he’s re-elected:Trump, on his Truth Social platform last night, threatened to jail adversaries, including Democratic donors. “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED” in elections of 2020 or 2024, he wrote, “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences … Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials.”Trump, asked by TIME magazine in April about his plans for the largest deportation of undocumented immigrants in American history, said he has “no choice”: “I don’t believe this is sustainable for a country, what’s happening to us, with probably 15 million and maybe as many as 20 million by the time Biden’s out. Twenty million people, many of them from jails, many of them from prisons, many of them from mental institutions.”
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
It seems like “proposing two of the largest-ever federal arrests of people” should be a big deal. This plan doesn’t seem like a centrist one to this political observer.
On top of that, Trump went even further about his deportation plans on Saturday, telling a Wisconsin rally that “Getting them out will be a bloody story.”
Not subtle. Also, we must not assume it’s hyperbole.
Trump has been consistent about his retribution agenda. His advisors have discussed how to use the Insurrection Act as part of the deportation plan and to confront the inevitable protests against it.
The debate seems like a great time to talk about these ideas.
#4
Chronology of a Dozen Times Trump Pushed to Prosecute His Perceived Enemies (Adam Klasfeld and Ryan Goodman, Just Security, Link to Article)
The cascade of election coverage, commentary and speculation about how Donald Trump might use the power of the presidency to retaliate against his perceived political enemies has overlooked important context: Trump has done just that, while he was president, at least a dozen times.
What follows is a chronological list of specific instances in which the former president in fact used the Department of Justice and other levers of government power — including by directly, publicly or privately, pressuring officials — to target his chosen political adversaries. The record includes several cases in which he apparently succeeded more than might be imagined or remembered.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
While some reporters obsess about interviews and a lack of certainty about policy details, I have been frustrated because people forget that we can look at what Trump and Harris have done in elected office to see how they might govern.
Klasfeld and Goodman put together a timeline of a dozen times when Trump sought to use the government to retaliate. The list includes:
- Trump asks then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to “unrecuse” himself to investigate and prosecute Hillary Clinton. (Date: Sometime after May 17, 2017 and before July 19, 2017)
- Trump publicly scolds Justice Department for not investigating Clinton (Date: November 2017)
- Sessions directs US Attorney for Utah John W. Huber to investigate Hillary Clinton and Uranium One conspiracy (Date: November 2017 to January 2020)
- Criminal investigation of the Clinton Foundation (Date: On or before January 2018 to January 2021)
- Criminal investigation and near-prosecution of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe (Date: March 16, 2018-February 14, 2020)
- Trump demands investigation into his debunked “Spygate” conspiracy theory (Date: May 20, 2018)
- Trump privately told White House Counsel he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute James Comey and Hillary Clinton (Date: Spring 2018)
- Trump publicly urges Sessions to investigate a long list of perceived political enemies (Date: Aug. 23, 2018)
- The Durham investigation: Directed at law enforcement and intelligence officials, as well as Hillary Clinton (Date: April 18, 2019 to May 2023)
- Trump urges Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to open a criminal investigation of Joe Biden (Date: July 25, 2019)
- Criminal investigations of Comey (First Date: uncertain — August 2019. Second Date: From at least January 2020 – December 2020/January 2021)
- Trump threatens to prosecute Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger if he doesn’t overturn his election defeat in Georgia (Date: Jan. 2, 2021)
The article includes more detail about each of these 12 situations. These are real attempts to weaponize the Department of Justice.
It is worth taking the time to review the list. For Trump, retribution is not a hypothetical. And Trump has made clear he will appoint people to carry out his orders. There won’t be so-called “adults in the room” to prevent abuses next time.
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#5
Harris’ 2020 Campaign Was Not a Failure (Noah Berlatsky, Everything Is Horrible, Link to Article)
It’s conventional wisdom among the jaded political press that Kamala Harris’ 2020 primary bid was an embarrassing disaster. Mark Leibovich at the Atlantic provides a recent example of this supposedly self-evident narrative—in an analysis of Harris’ CNN interview Leibovich refers to Harris’ “short-lived and ill-fated presidential campaign of 2019.”
There are a couple of problems with this formulation. First, it’s false. And second, it’s false in a way that glibly advances racist and sexist talking points which paint Harris as incompetent and unworthy.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Too many Democrats are willing to concede that Vice President Harris’ 2020 campaign for president was a failure.
Berlatsky is correct in urging us to stop doing that. As he argues, “The goal of a presidential nomination contest is not to stay in as long as possible. The goal is to advance your career. That can mean that you come out of the nomination as president, ideally. But that’s not the only way to win.”
Harris didn’t win in 2020. However, I agree with Berlatsky that she demonstrated great political savvy by dropping out after she determined there was no viable path to victory. By not attacking Biden for several more months on debate stages, she placed herself in the best position to become his Vice President.
She took a chance. It worked. And now she’s the Democratic nominee for president.
Why are people so quick to assume that’s a failure?
#6
What Kamala Harris did – and didn’t do – on immigration and the border (Toluse Olorunnipa and Maria Sacchetti, The Washington Post, Link to Article)
Two months into his presidency, Joe Biden confronted a political crisis: The number of migrants illegally crossing the southern border into the United States was soaring. So he asked Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the administration’s diplomatic efforts to reduce problems at the border.
That assignment included working with three Central American countries — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — to improve living conditions and lower the odds that migrants would leave those countries for reasons including poverty, gang violence and corruption.
But Republicans quickly seized on the apparent diplomatic opportunity for Harris, referring to her as the country’s “border czar” responsible for all issues related to the U.S.-Mexico line. Now, more than three years later, her role is a potential political liability as she runs for president as the Democratic nominee and polls show voters broadly disapprove of the Biden administration’s handling of the border.
Harris, in fact, has never been in charge of the border. The Department of Homeland Security manages migration. Her immigration role for the Biden administration has included boosting U.S. aid to Central America, traveling to the region and discouraging potential migrants from making the dangerous journey to the United States.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
“Harris, in fact, has never been in charge of the border.”
Yeah, I’d like that to be in bold headlines. This fact does not matter how many times Republicans claim otherwise.
It is obvious that Harris is going to need an answer to the GOP’s lies about her border responsibilities. But let’s be clear: Republicans do not get to decide whether she was a border czar.
Moreover, Harris achieved considerable success with the job Biden asked her to do. That’s why we should be aware of what actually happened.
#7
Don’t Fall for the GOP’s Platform Lie (Jessica Valenti, Abortion, Every Day, Link to Article)
A leaked draft of the new Republican party platform says that fetuses have a constitutional right to personhood, a radical stance in a moment when Americans overwhelmingly oppose bans and want abortion to be legal. And despite headlines to the contrary, the GOP’s abortion plank still supports a national ban.
But because political reporters and mainstream news outlets have fallen for a Republican disinformation campaign, the platform’s new language is being covered as a ‘softening’ on abortion rights.
The stakes are high so I’m not going to mince words: This is about as big of a fuck up as it gets. So let’s get into it.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Given how critical reproductive rights are in this campaign, it is maddening to see reporters and editors fall for the Republican attempts to cover up their extreme views.
Valenti details how the Republican platform’s use of the 14th Amendment is radical. She explains how Trump’s regular stories about late-term and post-birth abortions are lies.
Donald Trump nominated the Supreme Court Justices that were decisive in overturning Roe v. Wade. He took three different positions in 24 hours last week about the abortion rights measure on the Florida ballot. Ultimately, Trump decided after facing a backlash that he would vote to keep Florida’s current six-week ban in place.
That’s not moderate!
There are no post-birth abortions. That would be infanticide. It’s already illegal. When Trump claims it, he’s lying.
As Jason Sattler, known online as LOLGOP, explains, voting for Trump would lead to abortion becoming illegal in all 50 states.
I expect Vice President Harris to clarify these facts during the debate to lay the foundation for the run-in to election day.
#8
Analysis: Trump is still telling lies he told eight years ago (Daniel Dale, CNN, Link to Article)
Trump’s lying is most exceptional in its relentlessness, a never-ending avalanche of wrongness that can bury even the most devoted fact-checkers. But it’s also notable for its repetitiveness. He has found his hits, and he’ll keep playing them no matter how many times they are debunked.
As Trump enters the post-Labor Day sprint of his 2024 campaign for the presidency, his commentary is filled with many of the same false claims he made as president from 2017 to 2021. He’s even repeating some of the false claims he used during his 2016 presidential campaign.
…
Still, I try to match Trump’s tirelessness in lying with my own tirelessness in challenging the lies. The separation of fact from fiction is central to journalists’ role in the democratic process, and there are always citizens out there who are hearing even the stalest of deceptions for the first time.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Daniel Dale has been doing amazing work fact-checking Donald Trump for years. Dale does not hold Trump to a different and easier standard, unlike other fact-checkers.
Trump gish galloped a torrent of lies in his debate with President Biden. I suspect he will try the same with Vice President Harris.
That’s why I found it worthwhile before the debate to review Dale’s list of the lies Trump continues to repeat. I anticipate we will hear some of Trump’s greatest hits. We should be ready to refute them. If Dale isn’t surprised, we shouldn’t be either.
I hope CNN gets Dale in their post-debate coverage much faster than they did in the previous debate. People need to be aware of the lies as soon as possible. After all, reporters keep saying policy details matter—and they should while pundits pass judgment on tonight’s performances.
#9
We Must Remember What Really Happened During the January 6, 2021, Insurrection (January 6 Committee Video Exhibit, Via NBC News)
Post-Game Comments
Today’s Thought from my Readwise collection:
“Fascists have always been well acquainted with this recipe for using democracy’s liberties against itself; Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels once declared, “This will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy, that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed.” (Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works)
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