Harris/Walz campaign in overdrive!
October 23, 2024
The Harris-Walz campaign is in overdrive. On Tuesday, Vice President Harris sat for interviews with NBC and Telemundo. Tim Walz condemned Trump's “open promise of corruption” by appointing Elon Musk to oversee federal regulations that apply to Musk’s companies. Former President Barack Obama and rap star Eminem rallied for Harris in Detroit, and Kamala Harris is headed to Texas to campaign for Colin Allred.
As shown in the clips below, the Walz, Obama, and Harris rallies are stepping up already high levels of enthusiasm as Trump drones on for hours in his stream of unconsciousness manner.
The NBC interview followed the typical “gotcha” style of questioning from Hallie Jackson, who asked about Joe Biden’s debate performance, polls showing voters’ concerns about the economy, and Harris’s decision not to highlight the historic nature of her campaign to be the first woman president. See The Independent, Four takeaways from Kamala Harris' NBC interview.
In the Telemundo interview, Kamala Harris focused on economic opportunity for Latino men:
I am a capitalist. I am a pragmatic capitalist. I believe that we need a new generation of leadership in America that actively works with the private sector to build up the new industries of America, to build up small business owners, to allow us to increase home ownership.
I am very aware how it would affect Latino men. I know that Latino men often have a more difficult time having access to the big loans from the big banks because of relationships, because of things that are not necessarily grounded in their qualifications. So I’m focused on what we can do to bring more capital to community banks that will understand the community and being able to give those kinds of loans.
See NBC News, Harris says she's 'a pragmatic capitalist' in pitch to Latino voters.
At campaign rallies on Tuesday, Tim Walz has stepped up the aggressiveness of his attacks on Trump and his running mate—“Elon Musk.” Per Walz, Musk’s “bouncing around the stage” makes him look like a “dipsh*t”—a description that echoes the widespread mocking of Musk’s stage performance on social media. Walz also noted the “open corruption” of Musk’s funding of Trump's campaign while Trump promised to put Musk in charge of a government commission reviewing federal regulations that apply to Musk’s companies.
Tim Walz’s entire speech is here, Walz delivers campaign remarks with Barack Obama in Madison, Wis. And in this clip, Walz addresses the corruption of Musk’s dual role as a campaign funder and potential government oversight maven: Tim Walz calls Elon Musk Trump's running mate and condemns "open corruption".
Apart from the substance of Walz’s speech, it is clear that he has been assigned the role of aggressively attacking Trump, Vance, and Musk. That is good because it relieves some of the pressure from Kamala Harris, and creates content for television and social media ads. And Tim Walz is very good on offense!
The joint appearance by Barack Obama and Eminem also deserves your attention. The Eminem walk-on is here: Eminem campaigns for Kamala Harris. But no one is as good as Barack Obama. His entire Detroit speech is here, Barack Obama in Detroit. Watch the first minute to see Obama rap the opening lines from Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”
Obama also directly attacked Trump while promoting Harris, saying:
The good news is Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a leader who has been fighting on behalf of people who need a voice. This is somebody who believes in the values of this country. [Trump claims he is tough.] That is not what real strength is — real strength is about working hard, showing up on the factory floor. . . . That is real strength and real strength is taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth even when it's inconvenient, and helping people when they need it.
As Walz, Obama, and Eminem were turning up the intensity and enthusiasm, Trump was trying to drum up support among Latino voters by putting them to sleep in a two-hour speech. Rather than junk up this newsletter with an example of Trump's incomprehensible speech, see this example, linked in separate document.
As noted in the Washington Post, Trump's verbal mistakes and confusion are “more frequent . . . as he increases the pace of campaigning.” “More frequent” is code for “incessant.”
Trump's outreach to Latino voters comes as Jeff Goldberg writes in The Atlantic that Trump complained about the cost of a funeral for a female soldier murdered on a military base. See The Atlantic, Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’
Per Goldberg in The Atlantic, Trump reacted to the cost of the funeral as follows:
Trump became angry. “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f*cking Mexican!” He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: “Don’t pay it!” Later that day, he was still agitated. “Can you believe it?” he said, according to a witness. “F*cking people, trying to rip me off.”
Trump's spokesperson denied the report, as did Kash Patel. But Goldberg cites two people in the room as his source for the statement by Trump.
Also on Monday, Trump's Chief of Staff, former General John Kelly, described Trump as a fascist and said that Trump wants to be a dictator. See CNN Politics, Trump’s former chief of staff says he fits ‘fascist’ definition and prefers ‘dictator approach’.
Of course, to state the obvious (again), any of the above revelations would spell the end of the candidacy of any other presidential contender. The fact that the Republican Party continues to ignore the blaring warning signals is a sign that it no longer exists as a political party with an ideology or purpose. It is an empty husk that has been occupied by a parasite using the host for grifting and corruption.
The mystery that will provide full employment for generations of historians is why so many Americans willingly embraced the con and spread the hate that fuels Trump's campaign. For now, we should take confidence from the fact that Kamala Harris is running to promote freedom and prevent tyranny—while news anchors ask “gotcha” questions that no one cares about. Ah, well! It is up to us! It always is!
Watch Jess Piper’s interview with Tom Vilsack.
Jess Piper interviews Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, about the Harris/Walz plan for rural America. See Jess Piper in The View from Rural Missouri, The Official Harris/Walz Plan for Rural America.
If you are working to motivate voters in rural America, this is a must-watch video that makes a compelling case for the Harris/Walz plan for rural America. I was shocked about the amount of information I did not know about how Harris/Walz would improve the lives of Americans in rural areas. Help spread the word to others while there is still time to move the needle.
The interview covers issues that affect rural America differently than urban areas, such as home ownership, land costs driving young adults away, school closures and mergers due to population declines, healthcare access, pheasant hunting and gun ownership, availability of childcare, volunteer fire departments, and access to groceries.
If you don’t subscribe to Jess Piper, I recommend that you check out her Substack, The View from Rural Missouri. Hers is in important voice both for rural America and for women. (See this moving essay, Red State Fear, about the special fear of being a woman in a red state.)
More good news in the election litigation front
The Georgia Supreme Court refused to grant expedited review of a lower court ruling blocking a rule that would have required a hand-count of all ballots. See Reuters, Georgia's top court will not fast-track appeal of US ballot hand-count rule.
Although the ruling does not dispose of the legal challenge to the hand-count rule, it effectively blocks implementation of the rule for the November election. While an appeal to the US Supreme Court is possible, it would be astonishing for the Court to intervene in a question of state law, especially two weeks before an election.
As Marc Elias of Democracy Docket has noted, we must distinguish between the ability of Republicans to file frivolous lawsuits and the likelihood of success of those lawsuits. The mere fact that MAGA extremists harbor “suspicions” about voter fraud is not sufficient to invalidate the outcome of elections in a county or state. The remedy for fraud relating to specific votes is invalidating those votes—and no others.
Sadly, news media report new lawsuits with ominous overtones suggesting chaos but rarely note the dismissal of those same lawsuits. The fact is that voter fraud is vanishingly rare in America—despite the proliferating number of lawsuits filed by Republicans. The fact that fraud is vanishingly rare means that virtually all of those lawsuits will be disposed of quickly.
Opportunities for Reader Engagement
From PostCardsToVoters
Postcards To Voters just launched postcards for Josh Riley for Congress! Help flip NY-19!! It’s a toss-up race and every postcard could be a vote! Go to the PTV Linktree to get started! Another PA toss-up campaign will be added in next day or so! Still working on Will Rollins (CA CD-41), Senator Sherrod Brown, and two Michigan Supreme Court candidates (which will also help Slotkin for Senate and Harris-Walz)! Join the giant PTV team effort! THANK YOU if you are writing!!!!!!
Indivisible Marin—the importance of voting early!
Indivisible Marin sent me this “reminder” that it recently shared with volunteers:
Tips to Maximize Impact in Final Days (in addition to doing voter outreach)
* Vote as early as you can in your state/county
* Encourage your friends and family to vote as early as possible
• Spread the word about BlueVoterGuide.org as a resource
* Avoid the news and social media and invest that energy into voter outreach
* Be a positive role model for other Dems to spread enthusiasm
• Avoid public hand-wringing and worrying
• Convey realistic optimism - "We CAN win IF we turn out our voters"
Good advice! And check out this webpage about the benefits of early voting—which includes a complete listing of early voting options by state: Vote Early — Indivisible Marin.
Concluding Thoughts
For my concluding thoughts tonight, I have attached two short excerpts from my conversation with Jay Kuo. (The entire conversation will be available soon; Substack is processing the video.)
In the first excerpt, I discuss why pollsters and the media have failed to understand the unique threats faced in this election. They keep trying to fit this election into prior models that do not exist:
In the second excerpt, I urge readers to address their understandable anxiety by recognizing that we will win over the long-term. We are on the right side of history, and we aren’t going back! Believe in that as we work to hasten the day of defeating MAGA extremism for good. Anxiety is understandable and human. Accept that fact and recommit yourself to the work at hand!
We truly have every reason to be hopeful— but no reason to be complacent!
Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
Below is the California Nebula. It’s beautiful. That’s all we need to know!
Glorious description from Robert: "The fact that the Republican Party continues to ignore the blaring warning signals <that Trump is a mentally declining fascist wannabe> is a sign that it no longer exists as a political party with an ideology or purpose. It is an empty husk that has been occupied by a parasite using the host for grifting and corruption."
I definitely agree with your comments about this being a unique election that cannot be compared with any prior election.
None the less, I have been tracking the daily eary vote totals here in Mecklenburg County, NC. If you watched the excellent interview of Drew Kromer (chair of MCDP) a few weeks ago by Robert and Jessica Craven, you may recall that Democratic turnout here is key for any hope of winning NC.
Early voting hit record highs in 2020 here with 65% of voters voting early in-person due to Covid. (Early voting is popular here with both parties). So it wasn't surprising that while early voting got off to a strong start last week, we didn't see record breaking numbers either Thursday or Friday.
But we also typically see a drop off of enthusiasm that only picks back up in the last few days of EV. That is not the case this year so far! The four weekday EV days have been remarkably consistent with less than an 800 vote difference between the highest and lowest. And adjusting for the number of hours the polls are open on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday were even busier.
As of Tuesday, we caught up with 2020 in-person EV. Of course this isn't just Democratic enthusiasm, but IMO the GOP doesn't have the ground game to take advantage of getting their voters out early.