Play offense, not defense!

September 16, 2024

Things are going so badly for Donald Trump's campaign that he has decided it is better to stoke outrage with racist lies and attacks on Taylor Swift than allow the media and public to focus on the ugly truth of his collapsing campaign.

So, let’s resist Trump’s disinformation gambit and focus first on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who are crisscrossing the country to carry their message to persuadable voters. Harris and Walz will visit Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina this week. According to the Harris-Walz campaign,

Harris will be doing a sit-down interview with the National Association of Black Journalists in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. She will then head to Michigan for a live stream event with Oprah on Thursday, [and then] she plans to be in Wisconsin on Friday.

On Tuesday, September 17, Governor Tim Walz will host a series of political events in Macon and Atlanta, Georgia and Asheville, North Carolina.

The race remains effectively tied, although Kamala Harris has maintained her initial momentum despite predictions that it would evaporate shortly after the convention. (Sorry to disappoint you, Nate Silver!). And every objective signal suggests Harris is driving new registrations and fueling unprecedented levels of grassroots activism and small donor contributions. In August, Kamala Harris’s fundraising total was triple that of Trump's—driven almost entirely by small donor donations.

I always urge readers to ignore the polls, but new voter registrations are verifiable and quantifiable. I will spare you the details, but new voter registrations are higher across the board compared to 2020—with Black women, voters “under 30,” and women showing significant increases over 2020. Those cohorts have strong Democratic correlation. (If you are interested in new voter registrations, Tom Bonier is keeping track on Twitter.)

 It is difficult to quantify the effect of raw enthusiasm, but every objective observer knows that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are leading on that metric as well—which is why cynics like Nate Silver continue to “discount” Harris’s lead in the polls to offset what they believe is an unsustainable level of support for Harris.

It is also worth noting that Kamala Harris has met and exceeded every expectation marker that doubters and critics set for her. Although many doubted her ability to secure the nomination, she did so in 48 hours. Her convention speech was a soaring success—described as “presidential” by even her toughest critics. Her first sit-down interview with major media (Dana Bash) was a solid success. And her performance in the first debate was historic. Indeed, Trump is still trying to recover from her resounding victory, which explains why he has doubled down on racism and hate as a diversionary tactic.

So, we should look ahead with confidence to her sprint to the finish. She is on message, energetic, and positive as she challenges the biggest threat to democracy in nearly a century. We can take nothing for granted, but we are well-positioned for the final 50 days of the campaign.

We should be inspired to work with even greater dedication and confidence—and to ignore the noise that is the sound of Trump's campaign desperately trying to distract attention from its failures while appealing to the ugliest instincts of his base. Read on!

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Trump and Vance turn up the volume on anti-immigrant attacks and hate

Trump and JD Vance doubled down on racism and hate over the weekend—apparently concluding that provoking criticism for those statements is better than allowing the press to dwell on Trump's disastrous debate performance and his continuing decline in the polls (all within the margin of error).

Trump started Sunday morning by posting “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” on Truth Social. It was a reprehensible post on many levels—but most fundamentally because “hate” has no place in political discourse. Such vitriol can only serve to motivate Trump's followers to threaten, harass, or harm Taylor Swift. Every responsible media outlet in America should condemn Trump's attack on Swift—but as of Sunday evening, most outlets are simply reporting the fact of the attack without commentary. Let’s hope that changes soon.

Just as reprehensible as Trump's attack on Taylor Swift was JD Vance’s appearance for an interview on Dana Bash’s show on CNN’s State of the Nation. Vance not only failed to acknowledge that his attacks on Haitians were baseless, but he also seemed to suggest (and then retract) that it was acceptable to fabricate false stories about immigrants if doing so caused the media to focus on the problem of immigration.

During a back-and-forth with Dana Bash about whether the reports of immigrants eating domestic pets were true, JD Vance said,

If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast.

JD Vance later seemed to retract the statement, saying that his comments were based on “first-hand reports from constituents.”

But Vance’s attempt to retract his statement is unavailing. He admitted that “creating stories” was acceptable to counter the media’s alleged (but non-existent) bias in favor of Kamala Harris. Whether he did so with respect to the cat-eating immigrants is beside the point. As one reader noted in an email Sunday evening, “This is simply unbelievable. Right out of the Nazi playbook of the early 30s.”

The reader forwarded an article from The Bulwark, Trump Team: ‘We’ll Take The Hit’ on Cat Eating to Keep Immigration in the News.

Per The Bulwark,

Bash suggested the rhetoric from Trump and Vance incited bomb threats and risked violence, but Vance called the insinuation “disgusting” and refused to tone down his approach, delighting conservatives on social media. [¶¶]

Privately, Trump aides think it’s a net plus. The longer the discussion is about migrants, the less it is about tougher topics for them.

“We talk about abortion, we lose. We talk about immigration, we win,” said one Trump adviser.

But what about spreading an incendiary story for which there is no evidence?

“We’ll take the hit to prove the bigger point,” the adviser said.

In the last two lines above, the Trump campaign adviser seems to confirm that JD Vance “spread incendiary stories for which there is no evidence.” As the reader noted, directing such slander to immigrants and foreigners is, indeed, “right out of the Nazi playbook.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded with a tweet:

Cats! Dogs! Geese! Laura Loomer! Look, now he’s attacking Taylor!

Like the last season before a show gets canceled for getting over-the-top and, at the same time, boring.

This election is about jobs, wages, climate, health care, abortion. Not his show. Your life.

Secretary Buttigieg is right: Trump understands that he is on the verge of being canceled and is going all out to retain viewership.

Trump may also be attempting to create distractions to divert the press from talking about rumors about his relationship with Laura Loomer, the right wing provocateur who had been traveling with Trump on his private jet. (Trump's campaign managers have apparently banned Loomer from further travel on the jet.}

Finally, Heather Cox Richardson noted that the anti-immigrant hate may be an attempt to gain control of the Senate by defeating Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. See September 13, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson. Per HCR,

The widespread ridicule of Trump’s statement has obscured that this attack on Ohio’s immigrants is part of an attempt to regain control of the Senate. Convincing Ohio voters that the immigrants in their midst are subhuman could help Republicans defeat popular Democratic incumbent senator Sherrod Brown, who has held his seat since 2007. Brown and Montana’s Jon Tester, both Democrats in states that supported Trump in 2020, are key to controlling the Senate. 

The key question, of course, is whether Trump's tactics will work. Most people in Springfield, Ohio know that Trump's lies are racial slurs with no basis in fact. Such lies will not expand Trump's base—and will likely offend persuadable independents and Democrats who might have otherwise stayed at home.

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A note on the second apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump

The Secret Service foiled a second potential assassination attempt on Trump's life. See Trump safe after potential assassination attempt at golf course. (This article is accessible to all.) As details are still developing, I will refrain from discussion, other than to say that in a nation with more than 300 million guns, many will find their way into the hands of people with mental health issues and tendencies toward violence.

The most reprehensible response to the attempted assassination on Trump was that posted by Elon Musk on Twitter. In response to a tweet that said, “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?”, Musk posted,

“And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”

The Secret Service and FBI should treat Musk’s post as an incitement to assassinate Biden and Harris until Musk explains otherwise. Taking the Tweet down would be a good first step in that direction. Musk’s companies are major US government contractors. All of his companies’ contracts with the US government should be put under review. It is unacceptable for the US government to be doing business with a person questioning why Biden and Harris have not been the subject of assassination attempts.

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Opportunity for Reader Engagement

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Big Tent USA

This Tuesday, September 17 at 12:00PM ET BigTent is thrilled to welcome New Politics Founder and Executive Director Emily Cherniak under the tent. Emily will discuss the state of politics often plagued by tribalism and opportunism and with incentives that repel the very individuals most equipped to use politics as a means of advancing the greater good: servant leaders. She is on a mission to train and recruit “servant leaders” that will adopt the “we mindset.” See her recent article here

New Politics revitalizes American democracy by recruiting, developing, and electing servant leaders who put community and country over self. We support outstanding military veterans and national service leaders, alumni of programs like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, to step up and serve our country again, this time through politics.

Please use this link to register! 

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Force Multiplier event with Senator Chuck Schumer and DSCC Chair Senator Gary Peters

Join Force Multiplier to Zoom with  Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and DSSC Chair Sen. Gary Peters to hold the Senate in 2024. On Wednesday September 18, 2024, 7-8:00 pm ET on Zoom.  ( A link will be sent on the day of the event.) Register and Donate HERE. The Senators will speak about the importance of holding the Senate and the state of the races.  There will be a Q&A session. 

This event will support Force Multiplier's slate of 7 Senate Candidates all of whom must win for the Democrats to remain in control of the Senate.  

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (WI); Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH); Sen. Bob Casey (PA); Sen. Jacky Rosen (NV); Sen. Jon Tester (MT); Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ); and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI).

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Concluding Thoughts

So, where do the events of the weekend leave us? They leave us in exactly the same position we were in before Trump began hating Taylor Swift and fabricating stories about Haitian immigrants. We are in a sprint to the finish and cannot afford the luxury of stewing about Trump's latest lies. We must register new voters and convince existing voters to go to the polls. Don’t be distracted. Ignore the noise. Play offense, not defense. We have the momentum. Let’s keep it that way!

Daily Dose of Perspective

Below is my second imaging effort with the Lagoon Nebula. I was able to capture more of the blue colors that other astrophotographers show in their photos. The Lagoon Nebula is 4,100 light-years from Earth and has a radius of 55 light-years. The Lagoon Nebula is a vast star-forming region.