Scroll down the page with the trackbar on the far right to read highlights of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent campaign stops. 

Listen to our very first podcast, Pod on the Hustings on Substack.

Democratic campaign schedule:

Thursday, October 17: Kamala Harris appears in Milwaukee, LaCrosse and Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Also on Thursday, Tim Walz appears with former President Bill Clinton in Durham, then continues on to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for a solo appearance.

Be sure to visit our Substack page at https://thehustings.substack.com

Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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THURSDAY 10/17/24

They Report -- Fox News' Bret Baier interviewed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris Wednesday evening in the vice president's first live appearance on the conservative news network. Scroll down center column trackbar for details.

Hamas Leader Killed -- Israeli authorities have positively identified the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed in an Israeli Defense Force attack on Gaza Wednesday, The New York Times reports. Sinwar, said to be in his 60s, was considered the lead architect of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Big question now is what effect Sinwar's death might have on cease fire talks led by the US.

•••

...You Decide – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ first-ever interview on Fox News Wednesday certainly did nothing to snag the votes of Republicans or conservatives who have not already committed to voting for her instead of former President Trump. But did her 30-minute appearance, on Special Report with Bret Baier, help her with center-right independents and/or myriad other undecideds? Harris interrupted Baier’s interruptions several times in order to finish questions, which may have helped her with moderate female voters, NPR’s Morning Edition posits. 

The interview did give the vice president a chance to retry a question she skirted past the much-friendlier The View on ABC-TV and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS; how would her presidency differ from Joe Biden’s? 

“My presidency will not be a continuation of the Biden presidency,” Harris responded. “I represent a new generation of leadership.”

But Baier raised the question of who has been running the White House given President Biden’s cognitive issues. 

“You told many interviewers that Joe Biden was on his game, then ran around circles on his staff. When did you first notice that President Biden’s mental faculties appeared diminished?” Baier asked.

“Joe Biden, I have watched from the Oval Office to the Situation Room,” Harris replied. “And he has the judgment and the experience to do exactly what he has done in making very important decisions on behalf of the American people.”

Harris was given the chance to attack Trump’s building threats to American democracy when Fox News ran a clip of Trump trying to turn the tables on the Democrats by claiming “they’re the ones doing the threats,” and comparing his suffering investigations with what happened to Alphonse Capone.

Harris countered that the clip did not properly characterize what Trump has been saying about “the enemy within.”

“You and I both know that he has talked about turning the American military on the American people, he talked about locking people up because they disagree with him,” Harris told Baier. “This is a democracy, and in our democracy, the president of the United States, in the United States of America, should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he would lock up people.”

•••

Meanwhile, on Univision – At a Town Hall broadcast by Univision Wednesday, Ramiro González, a New Jersey-born construction worker from Tampa, Florida, with Cuban heritage asked Donald J. Trump this: “I want to give you the opportunity to try and win back my vote. Your action and maybe inaction, during your presidency and maybe the last few years, sort of, was a little disturbing to me. What happened during January 6, and the fact that, you know, you waited so long to take action while your supporters were attacking the Capitol?”

Trump responded: “You had hundreds of thousands of people coming to Washington. They didn’t come because of me – they came because of the election – they thought the election was a rigged election and that’s why they came.”

González could be seen furrowing his brow and moving his head side-to-side, Newsweek reports, when Trump added this about January 6; “A day of love from the standpoint of millions – it’s like hundreds of thousands – it could have been  -- the largest group I’ve ever spoken to before.” 

That’s the hundreds of thousands who came to Washington because of they thought the election was rigged, not because of Trump. 

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY 10/17/24

Scroll down the page with the trackbar on the far right to read highlights of Republican presidential nominee ex-President Donald J. Trump’s recent campaign stops.

Are there still ‘shy’ voters who support former President Trump in 2024? Contributing Editor Chuck Dervarics and Founding Editor Todd Lassa discuss in Pod on the Hustings.

Republican campaign schedule:

Thursday, October 17: No public appearances for Donald J. Trump, but he addresses the Alfred E. Smith Dinner in New York City 7 pm. 

Also on Thursday: JD Vance has a 12:30 pm appearance in Pittsburgh.

Friday, October 18: Trump holds a rally at Huntington Place in Detroit, beginning 7 pm (yes, all but the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is in the Eastern time zone).

Saturday, October 19: Trump holds a rally at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, beginning 6 pm.

Be sure to visit our Substack page at https://thehustings.substack.com.

Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

_____
THURSDAY 10/17/24

Excerpts from Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ speech to East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, Sunday afternoon …

“I have spoken to state and local officials, both Republicans and Democrats to let them know we will be with you every step of the way as you recover (from Hurricane Helene). Because at times like these we stand together as one nation. That is who we are. …

“I’m going to tell ya, it’s going to be a tight race, ‘till the very end. And we are running as the underdog, so we have some hard work ahead of us, but we like hard work. Hard work is good work, and with your help, in 23 days, we will win.”

[CROWD CHANTS: “We will win! We will win!”]

“This election really is about two very different visions for our nation. One, his, focused on the past, the other, mine, focused on the future. … 

“And here’s the thing, North Carolina, he’s not being transparent with voters. He’s not being transparent. So, check this out. He refuses to release his medical records. I’ve done it. Every other presidential candidate in the modern era has done it. …

“He’s unwilling to do a 60 Minutes interview. Like every other major party candidate has done for half a century. He is unwilling to meet for a second debate. And here’s the thing; it makes you wonder. It makes you wonder. Why does his staff want him to hide away? Are they afraid that people see that he is too weak and unstable to lead  America?”

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MONDAY 10/14/24
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

WEDNESDAY 10/16/24

US Warns Israel – No more US military aid to Israel within 30 days unless it lets in humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in a letter Sunday to Israel’s defense minister and its minister of strategic affairs. The amount of aid entering Gaza is at its lowest since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, said State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller, who on Tuesday confirmed the letter, (per The New York Times). 

“In fact, it has fallen 50% from where it was at its peak,” Miller said. 

 Timing … The 30-day cutoff would come after the November 5 presidential election, which gives the Biden administration cover for the inevitable outcry from supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and/or pro-Palestinians in the US.

•••

Big Early GA Vote – More than 300,000 Georgians cast ballots around the state in its first day of early in-person voting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. That’s more than twice the first-day turnout in November 2020. Thousands more cast their early ballots by mail, the newspaper reports.

•••

Tariff-ick Obsession – GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump’s interview at the Economic Club of Chicago defending his tariff plan is reverberating through the business world and probably among remaining traditional Republicans who have not withdrawn their support of him – yet. When Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait tried to explain how inflationary Trump’s tariff plan would be, Trump called “tariff” the “most beautiful word in the dictionary.

“All you have to do is build your plant in the United States and you’ll have no tariffs,” he said. 

Trump said he wouldn’t allow Nippon Steel to purchase US Steel (a position roughly akin to President Biden’s) and stopped short of promising to break up Google, though he said; “Google is rigged just like our government is rigged.” 

As for TikTok, which he has flip-flopped on, most recently opposing kicking it out of the US, Trump said, “I think everything is a threat. Some time you have to fight through the threat.”

Trump declined to confirm The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward writing in his latest book, War, that Trump after leaving office phoned Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. But he asserted; “I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing.”

And Trump said he has the right to jawbone the Federal Reserve about its monetary policy, though he did not say whether he would force its chairman, Jerome Powell, to step down.

“I think it’s the greatest job in government,” Trump said, mockingly. “You show up to the office once a month and you say, ‘let’s say flip a coin’ and everybody talks about you like you’re a god.”

Is this some sort of self-inflicted October surprise? As pundits continue to discuss Trump’s strange MAGA Soul Train performance Monday night, the pertinent question seems to be; has the former president lost it, or is he simply letting loose with policy positions that are anything but traditionally conservative and Republican? 

Trump also told Mickelthwait that concerning deficits, interest rates and the dollar, “You’ve been wrong all your life about this stuff.”

Are we simply misreading his “beautiful mind”?

--TL

_______________________________________________

TUESDAY 10/15/24

Harris’ Highlight Clip – Vice President Kamala Harris began hitting back at Donald J. Trump at her campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Monday with a 30-second video clip of the ex-president repeatedly kvetching about “the enemy within” (see “Trump on Fox Business,” this column below). 

“Please roll the clip,” Harris began (per NPR’s Morning Edition). 

As with Maria Bartiromo, Trump in his highlight reel suggests political opponents should be jailed or dealt with by police or military force violently.

“He is out for unchecked power,” Harris tells her crowd. “That’s what he’s looking for.”

From Pennsylvania -- identified by pundits in recent days as the swing state to end all swing states -- Harris’ appeal appears both desperate (how is this election so close?) and confident, as in; this should turn independent voters who likewise fear authoritarianism toward her.

Up next … Harris is scheduled to take questions from Charlamagne Tha God, host of The Breakfast Club at 5 pm Eastern/2 pm Pacific Tuesday, and make her first-ever appearance on Fox News at 6 pm Eastern/3 Pacific Wednesday on Special Report with Brett Baier. 

Let’s dance … Appearing with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in suburban Philadelphia Monday, Trump interrupted his rally when two people in the crowd needed medical attention. The ex-president turned the rally into a dance party, with Trump getting down and getting funky to his adopted theme song, The Village People’s YMCA. Upon hearing about the MAGA Soul Train, Harris said, “I hope he’s okay,” Newsweek reports. 

To the Garden … Donald J. Trump is so looking forward to his October 27 rally, nine days before the presidential election, scheduled for New York City’s Madison Square Garden. 

“I’m gonna fill the garden,” Trump has boasted to a confidant who passed the comment on anonymously to the anti-MAGA conservative outlet, The Bulwark. Home of the New York Knicks, Madison Square Garden seats nearly 20,000.

--TL

_______________________________________________

MONDAY 10/14/24

Trump on Fox Business – Why, Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo wanted to know, is there not more talk about two recent assassination attempts on Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump? Bartiromo obviously was prompting the former president to comment on “liberal” media and how outlets like Fox News were making a big thing of it (much as conservative media makes a big thing about illegal southern border crossings).

“I don’t want to say ‘conspiracy theorists’ and all that, but you could ask that question.” Trump asserted that investigators – presumably the FBI, though he did not specify – has confiscated six phones in one of the two cases and have not unlocked any of them to investigate content.

“Maybe they don’t want to do it,” Trump said, live from the Fox Business studio Sunday. 

He also suggested that President Biden ought to act against Iran over its apparently ongoing attempt to assassinate Trump, saying that the current president should threaten that unless Trump is left alone, “We’re going to blow your whole damn country up – and they’ll stop it.”

Trump told Bartiromo the border issue is “bigger than inflation” (perhaps because the Consumer Price Index came down to 2.4% in September) and criticized the White House hurricane response, particularly in North Carolina and “parts of Georgia.” (He also praised Republican governors’ leadership in the response in those swing states.)

Chaos agents Does Trump expect chaos on election day? Bartiromo asked.

“No, not from the side that votes for Trump. … The bigger problem is from people within.”

As is his modus operandi, Trump turned the tables on Democrats and never-MAGA Republicans who express worry over Trump’s anti-democratic tendencies. The ex-president did this table-turning by suggesting more authoritarian action.

“We have some very bad people. We have some sick people. Radical-left lunatics,” Trump said. “And it should be really very easily handled, if necessary by National Guard and if really necessary by military. Because they can’t let that happen.”

Trump does not have to buy their support, but … The National Border Patrol Council, self-described as “the guardians of non-supervisory border patrol agents and support personnel assigned to the US Border Patrol” has endorsed Trump for president, the Arizona Republic reports, as the former president has “pledged to hire thousands of new agents” with a $10,000 signing bonus.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
MONDAY 10/14/24
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Excerpts from Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump’s rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, Saturday…

“Early voting by mail. We’re finally there. Take back our country. Early voting by mail and in-person opened in Arizona this week. So, if you have a ballot, return it immediately and if not go vote – get your you-know-what up and vote. …

“And with your help we are going to win Arizona and we’re going to defeat Ka-ma-la. Ka-ma-la. She shouldn’t be running …

“She didn’t get any votes. Say what you want about Biden, I’m not a fan of Biden, but you know what? He got 14 million votes. She got none. I’m the one that has to beat two people, not one. You know, everyone else. Historically, in history you had to beat one. I got to beat two. They never made it easy for us, but she’s going to be easy – I have a feeling that he would have been tougher than her.

“But we’re going to usher in a new golden age of American success, for the citizens of every race, religion, color and creed. …

“What Kamala and her radical left cronies have done to the state of Arizona is a crime that can never be forgiven. What they’ve done to us and what they’ve done to the border can never be forgiven.”

_____
MONDAY 10/14/24
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

President Biden gave a strong rebuke to the lies, distortions and conspiracy theories made by the Trump/Vance campaign in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton Wednesday, as reported in the center column. 

In the right column, Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay examines Trump’s tariff policy and how the ex-president sent coveted coronavirus test kits to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, as reported by The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward in his latest book, War

Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung called Woodward’s book the “work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. None of these made-up stories … are true.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed delivery of the test kits from Trump to Putin but denied that Trump as ex-president made secret calls to Putin, as described in War.

As we quickly approach the November 5 presidential election, we welcome your civilly stated comments on these and other pertinent issues, whether you approach this news from the left or right, never-Trump or pro-MAGA.

Go to the COMMENTS section of the left or right columns, or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

Read our newsletter and subscribe for free at thehustings.substack.com.

_____
THURSDAY 10/10/24

Inflation continues to ease, as the Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in September for an annual rate of +2.4%, compared with +2.5% in August and +2.9% in July. Real average hourly earnings for all employees also rose 0.2% in September, the Labor Department reports Thursday. The CPI index for all items less food and energy was +0.3% last month, and up 3.3% annually. [CHART: US Bureau of Labor Statistics] 

FRIDAY 10/11/24

Where Are the Candidates? – Perennially nervous Democrats are “second-guessing” the Harris/Walz campaign strategy, according to FiveThirtyEight, which quotes the website VoteHub’s tracker of campaign events. Turns out that neither Democratic candidate Kamala Harris nor GOP candidate Donald J. Trump are exactly tearing up the campaign trail, though when they do so, it’s very much in the swing-states. From August 23 to October 9, Trump has held 39 public events to Harris’ 28, says VoteHub.

•••

Trump v. Detroit – In what Politico describes as “a rambling, two-hour speech” to the Detroit Economic Club – which means it’s modeled after one of his outdoor campaign rallies -- Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump drew applause for promising to “revolutionize” and revitalize the auto industry. That means in part scrubbing the Biden administration’s unspent billions to promote electric vehicles and raising tariffs on Mexican-built Chinese cars to as much as 1,000%. 

Trump also proposes another devastatingly expensive tax gimme; to make new vehicle loans “fully deductible.” Trump’s myriad proposed tariff hikes presumably would help pay for this (Politico quotes Federal Reserve data that show $1.6 trillion in securitized auto loans for the first half of the year), which means higher auto prices for everyone.

Most striking, though, is that Trump insulted the steadily revitalizing city of Detroit in order to attack opponent Kamala Harris.

“The whole country will be like – you want to know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president,” Trump said. 

Harris might want to return to the Motor City for a campaign appearance toot suite. While Metro Detroit maintains the usual urban v. suburban divide economically and politically, its downtown area, at least, in the last decade has become a model for other big cities in need of revitalization.

Mayor Mike Duggan, who took office in 2014 to help foster the city past its 2013 bankruptcy responded to Trump’s remarks on social media, pointing to Detroit’s drop in crime (it is on-track for its lowest homicide rate since 1966) and its growing population.

•••

Obama for Harris – Can ex-President Barack Obama sway Black men whom in myriad polls show are either leaning toward Donald J. Trump for president or are going to sit November 5 out? His campaigning for Hilary Clinton in 2016 did not push her over the top, Electoral College-wise, but the former president is taking to the stump to make his case for Kamala Harris, beginning in Pittsburgh Thursday (per The Washington Post).

“On the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences. … But in Trump, “you have someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the community, but for you as a person … and you’re thinking about sitting out?”

Later at a campaign office in Pittsburgh, Obama addressed young Black men who are reluctant to vote for a woman as president: “Get over it.”

--TL

_______________________________________________

THURSDAY 10/10/24

Biden Has Had Enough – The first confirmed deaths from Hurricane Milton, which hit the west coast of Florida at Level 3 strength Wednesday night, was a result of tornadoes, NPR reports Thursday. President Biden addressed those in the path of Milton and evacuees of Hurricane Helene Wednesday evening from Ray City, Georgia, describing the efforts of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the face of criticism, lies, distortions and conspiracy theories by MAGA Republicans and the Trump/Vance campaign.

“We have made available an unprecedented number of assets to deal with this crisis, and we’re going to continue to do so until the job is done,” Biden said.

“But now I want to be clear about something.  Over the last few weeks, there has been a reckless, irresponsible, and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people.  It’s undermining confidence in the incredible rescue and recovery work that has already been taken and will continue to be taken, and it’s harmful to those who need help the most.

“There is simply no place for this to happen.

“Former President Trump has led this onslaught of lies.  Assertions have been made that property is being confiscated.  That’s simply not true.

“They’re saying people impacted by these storms will receive $750 in cash and no more.  That’s simply not true. 

“They’re saying in — the money is needed to — for the — in the — for this crisis is being diverted to migrants.  What a ridiculous thing to say.  It’s not true.

Now the claims are getting even more bizarre.

“Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather — we’re controlling the weather.  It’s beyond ridiculous.  It’s got to stop.

“In moments like this, there are no red or blue states.  There’s one United States of America, where neighbors are helping neighbors; volunteers and first responders are risking everything, including their own lives, to help their fellow Americans; state, local, and federal officials are standing side by side.”

•••

No More Debates – Former President Donald J. Trump has put a definitive end to talk of one more debate with Vice President Kamala Harris before the November 5 election, Politico reports, with this post on his Truth Social network Wednesday: “THERE WILL BE NO REMATCH!” Both Fox News and CNN had offered to conduct another presidential debate.

Harris Endorsement – The Atlantic has given Democrat Kamala Harris only its fifth presidential candidate endorsement since the magazine’s founding in 1857. First was Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1860, then Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964. Calling Republican candidate Donald J. Trump “one of the most personally malignant and politically dangerous candidates in American history,” the magazine has endorsed his Democratic opponents twice before; Hilary Rodham Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY 10/10/24
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

By Stephen Macaulay

One of the things that is underappreciated about Donald Trump is that he is a presidential historian.

How else to explain his pronouncements about William McKinley, 25th president of the United States?

Trump is bullish about McKinley because what is known as the “McKinley Tariff of 1890.” McKinley wasn’t president at the time of the act’s passage. He was a member of the House of Representatives. But when he was elected, McKinley pursued protectionist policies. So the Idol of Ohio is, well, an idol for at least one person. (You’d think JD Vance, fellow Ohioan, would talk up McKinley, but evidently economics isn’t his thing, fabulation is.)

Trump, of course, wants to apply tariffs to a greater extent than he did in his time in office. (To be fair, Biden has maintained many of them.)

But while Trump describes the dream of across-the-board tariffs of something of a panacea for all the economic woes of all Americans, according to the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan research organization that is thought to be business-friendly:

“The Trump administration imposed nearly $80 billion worth of new taxes on Americans by levying tariffs on thousands of products valued at approximately $380 billion in 2018 and 2019, amounting to one of the largest tax increases in decades.”

Tax increase?

According to the headline of a “fact sheet” produced by the White House on February 5, 2018, “President Donald J. Trump Achieved the Biggest Tax Cuts and Reforms in American History.”

Turns out, however, that wasn’t the case, as the Economic Recovery Act of 1981 signed by Ronald Reagan was. In fact, The Revenue Act of 1964 (Johnson),  1945 (Truman), 1948 (Truman), and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (Obama) were all bigger.

And then there’s that assessment of the Tax Foundation.

Well, no one said he is an economic historian.

But on the subject of American history, let’s go back to January 30, 1799, when the Logan Act was signed into law.

As the act opens:

“Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”

Vladimir Putin leads Russia. Russia is an enemy of the United States.

Yet Donald Trump is evidently his pal.

According to Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book War, after Trump left office he communicated with Putin an alleged seven times.

While we don’t know that to be the case, let’s consider this from the debate with Kamala Harris, when Trump was asked about the Russian attack on Ukraine:

“I want to get the war settled. I know Zelenskyy very well and I know Putin very well. I have a good relationship. And they respect your president. Okay? They respect me. They don't respect Biden. How would you respect him? Why? For what reason? He hasn't even made a phone call in two years to Putin. Hasn't spoken to anybody. They don't even try and get it. That is a war that's dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president. If I win, when I'm President-elect, and what I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other, I'll get them together. That war would have never happened. And in fact when I saw Putin after I left, unfortunately left because our country has gone to hell, but after I left when I saw him building up soldiers, he did it after I left, I said oh, he must be negotiating. It must be a good strong point of negotiation.”

He also said:

“And I'll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I'm President-elect, I'll get it done before even becoming president.”

Sounds like he and Putin have kept a line open. And the Logan Act is still in effect.

But there is something that is claimed in Woodward’s book — and let’s face it, outside, primarily, members of Team Trump who cast aspersions in abundance with no factual basis for them, Woodward’s reporting has proven to be solid over the years — that should be more disturbing than Trump and Putin having a jaw-boning session about who knows what:

Trump, in 2020, reportedly sent Putin COVID testing equipment.

Equipment that was in short supply in the U.S. in 2020. The year that, according to the Centers for Disease Control, 350,831 American citizens died from COVID.

Presumably some of those people would have been saved had there been more available testing.

America first? Really.

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THURSDAY 10/10/24

How to define a liberal? How to define a conservative?

The answers to those questions have been elusive since long before The Hustings began publishing in the autumn of 2020. But the ascendence of Donald J. Trump’s political career as he descended his Golden Elevator in 2015 has made the issue of how to define “left” and “right” even more acute. 

Is former US Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) a RINO for endorsing Kamala Harris for president? How liberal is Harris herself after reversing her stand on fracking?

We are always up for debating such arguments at The Hustings, but if Cheney wants to write a column for us (email us, Ms. Cheney, at editors@thehustings.news) we certainly will post it in the right column, not the left because she may or may not be, officially, a Republican, but she certainly remains a conservative.

In today’s right column, Rich Corbett, a regular reader and occasional contributing pundit for the conservative side calls out The Hustings for posting criticism of Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, in that right column.

And that is what the right – and left – columns are for: civil commentary from pundits and readers from various points on the political spectrum and to foster political discussion with respect for the facts and for readers and writers who may not agree with your point of view. 

The Hustings invites you to join the discussion. Go to the Comments section in any of these columns or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your leanings – from moderate liberal to hard-left/progressive or moderate conservative to hard-right/populist in the subject line. 

Don’t forget our regular newsletter/blogs at thehustings.substack.com.

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WEDNESDAY 10/9/24
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

SCOTUS will hear arguments Wednesday on whether Oklahoma must execute Richard Glossip, who seeks a new trial in a murder case for which he has been on Death Row for 27 years. Meanwhile, SCOTUSblog's analysis of justices' questions in Tuesday's oral arguments over ghost guns indicates it is likely the court will uphold the Biden administration's 2022 ban on the weapons. Scroll down for details.

WEDNESDAY 10/9/24

Polling is Tight – Kamala Harris leads Donald J. Trump 48.5% to 45.9% in FiveThirtyEight’s latest average of national polls, “accounting for each poll’s recency, sample size, methodology and house effects,” while battleground-state polls are even less conclusive. Among those states, Vice President Harris leads in Nevada, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan. Ex-President Trump leads in North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Florida and Montana. Most leads on either side are within the margin of error, however.

Pennsylvania, the Big Kahuna of swing states, is even.

Meanwhile … Democrats are nervous, according to The Hill, which notes that in part that’s a natural state for the party. But the concerns include “grumbling” over Harris’ interview on CBS News 60 Minutes, concerns about static poll numbers (see above), her message – GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance has attacked Harris’ response on ABC-TV’s The View that she wouldn’t do anything differently in the last four years than President Biden – and her “standing” among not only white, but also Black and Hispanic men.

•••

Ghost of a Chance – The 2024-25 Supreme Court session is just underway, and it appears that in its first big case, a majority of justices appear ready to uphold a 2022 rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banning “ghost guns,” Amy Howe writes in Howe on the Court. The Supremes heard oral arguments Tuesday over ghost guns, which are defined as “unserialized, untraceable firearms.”

Howe’s blog was reposted by SCOTUSblog.

Attorney Peter Patterson, representing challengers of the ATF rule argued the bureau “exceeded its authority by operating outside the bounds set by Congress” in the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Arguing for the rule, US Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar said the “whole reason” for obtaining a ghost gun is if you are banned by law from owning a gun, or “you want to use that gun in a crime.”

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, at least one of whom would be necessary to overturn the ban, “appeared skeptical” of the arguments of the challengers’ attorney, Patterson, Howe writes.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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WEDNESDAY 10/9/24
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Editors:

My assumption is either only leftists are reading (the audience) or are writing (the opinion columnists) for The Hustings. Lately, the “Right” column does far more to criticize the Republican candidate running for president than to present an opposing point of view to the Democrats. Either leave it blank or fill it with an opposing POV to the radicals on the left — there’s not much balance if that’s what is supposed to be represented by the columns.

--Rich Corbett

(The author is an occasional guest pundit for The Hustings)

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Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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WEDNESDAY 10/9/24
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What are your thoughts and hopes about the escalating war between Israel and Hamas, and now with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon? 

What are the realistic prospects for a ceasefire in Gaza before the end of the year?

Is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enabling a Trump/Vance win in the November 5 US presidential election? Would a Trump administration use Netanyahu’s proposal for Israeli judicial “reform” as a model?

As always, we seek your civil comments on these and other current issues. You can use the Comment section in this column or in the column on the right, if you lean toward political conservatism. 

Or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line. 

Sign up for our free Substack newsletter here.

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Don't miss these commentaries in the right column ...

"The Art of the Lie," "Laws, Schmaws" and "Advantage: Intellectual Arteriosclerosis?" by never-Trumper Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay.

"Vance Was Rock-Solid" by pro-MAGA contributor Rich Corbett.

And in the left column ...

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay (again, this time as counterpoint on the vice presidential debate), "About Second Place."

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MONDAY 10/7/24

Harris on 60 Minutes – Scroll down to read about Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ interview with Bill Whitaker. Use the trackbar on the near right to scroll down this center column.

TUESDAY 10/8/24

October Surprise Book Club – In 2020, President Trump “secretly sent coveted” coronavirus tests to Russian dictator/President Vladmir Putin for his personal use, The Washington Post reports in a preview of Bob Woodward’s new book, War due in bookstores October 15. Counter to many Trump supporters’ reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, Putin was “petrified of the virus” Woodward writes, and cautioned Trump not to reveal he had sent the medical equipment to Moscow. 

Woodward also writes that early this year Trump ordered an aide away from his Mar-a-Lago office so he could take a call with Putin. The book offers no account of the Trump-Putin conversation.

A reminder … Meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy a week ago Friday following the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said of the Ukrainian president; “We have a very good relationship. I also have a very good relationship with President Putin, and you know I think we’re going to get (the war) resolved very quickly.”

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The Harris Interview – Would a Harris administration take a harder line on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he continues to resist any serious move to a ceasefire in Gaza? 

Well, maybe. In her 60 Minutes interview with Bill Whitaker Monday night, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said this; “With all due respect the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And that answer is ‘yes.’”

Assuming that means a President Kamala Harris would rely on the political will of a more moderate Israeli electorate, it does not bode well for a shift in US policy to potentially withhold arms to press for a ceasefire. 

When Whitaker pressed Vice President Harris on how her administration would pay for expansion of the child tax credit and tax breaks for first-time home buyers, key points in an economic plan that the nonpartisan Committee for Responsible Budget says will add $3 trillion to the federal debt, Harris reiterated the Biden administration argument that the richest, “who can afford it,” should pay their fair share and that good old fashioned bipartisan compromise would get Congress to pass such a plan.

“There are plenty of leaders of Congress who understand and know that the Trump tax cuts blew up the federal deficit,” she said.

About the border … Whitaker also pressed Harris on the “historic flood” of illegal immigrants crossing the border in the first three years of the Biden administration, four times the number who crossed in Donald J. Trump’s final year in office (the COVID-19 pandemic year). Harris argued that illegal immigration has been a long-time problem and that under the Biden administration the “flow” of illegal immigration and flow of fentanyl both have been cut in half.

Where’s Donald?  Whitaker explained that CBS News had an agreement with the Trump campaign to interview the Republican nominee for president – as 60 Minutes has managed since the 1968 presidential election, when the show interviewed both Richard M. Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Ultimately, Donald J. Trump declined to appear and was interviewed on Fox News Monday night, instead.

--TL

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One Year of War in Gaza

MONDAY 10/7/24

No End in Sight – On Monday, one year after Hamas’ cross-border terrorist attack on Israel, Hamas is claiming responsibility for rocket fire from Gaza to the Tel Aviv area, wounding two, according to Haaretz, which reports about 35 rockets have been fired into Israel in recent days. The Israeli Defense Force has directed northern Gaza residents to evacuate southward, while Iran has warned the IDF against retaliation for the missile attacks. 

Hamas still holds 101 hostages taken during the attacks a year ago, according to the BBC.

The region is as far away from forming a Palestinian state as it has been since the state of Israel was formed in 1948. 

Meanwhile … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu appears to be gaining support from his constituency after facing severe criticism over being surprised by the attack one year ago. 

In President Biden’s first briefing room appearance, last Friday, he was asked whether he thought Netanyahu was trying to influence the US election. [It’s a question we asked in a Substack post last April.] Biden responded that no presidential administration has been a stronger ally of Israel than his own. But that says nothing of Biden’s relationship with Netanyahu, with whom he has been working to reach a ceasefire in Gaza for much of the last year.

“And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know,” Biden said, according to The Hill, “but I’m not counting on that.”

Clearly, he has not had any reason to count on Netanyahu, who is pressing forward in his efforts for judicial reform, even during the war. 

The Bibi Files … “Bibi” Netanyahu has been pushing these judicial reforms while under yearslong investigation, along with his wife and son, for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. His own immunity against these charges appear to rely on remaining in office.

Netanyahu is scheduled to testify in December, according to WNYC radio’s On the Media, which last weekend reported on a documentary by Alexii Bloom, The Bibi Files, which relies on leaked footage of police interrogations with the Israeli PM. 

“We all started with the fact that the prime minister does not respect the law,” says Israeli journalist Raviv Drucker in the doc. “Anyone that has dared to touch Mr. Netanyahu is doomed.”

What about Harris?  Would a Harris administration handle negotiations with Netanyahu over a cease fire agreement with Hamas any differently? It’s a crucial question, and one that may be answered too late to help Kamala Harris win the crucial swing state of Michigan, which has a large Palestinian and Middle-Eastern diaspora.

Would a President Harris take a harder line than Biden on shipping arms to Israel if Netanyahu continues to resist ceasefire in Gaza?

Do we have a “real close ally” in Netanyahu? CBS News reporter Bill Whitaker asks Harris in an interview that airs on 60 MinutesMonday night.

“I think with all due respect the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people. And the answer is ‘yes.’”

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The Last US Election? – World’s richest man/Bond villain/Tesla and SpaceX CEO/X-Twitter owner and “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk made his first appearance at a Trump rally last Saturday, and it probably is not his last. It was Trump’s return to Butler, Pennsylvania, site of an assassination attempt July 13, where Musk wore a black MAGA hat and a black “Occupy Mars” t-shirt, Fox News reports.

“Just to be a pest to everyone. You know, people on the street, everywhere: Vote, vote, vote!. Fight, fight, fight. Vote, vote, vote,” Musk said, and then he began jumping up and down, according to the foxnews.com account. 

What Fox News did not report (perhaps you have to watch its video) is that Musk asserted, according to The New York Times; “President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America. If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction.”

Maybe we won’t have to vote again whether Donald J. Trump or Kamala Harris wins the November 5 election? 

Remember that at The Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida later in July, hosted by Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action, Trump “called on Christians to flood the polls in November,” according to The Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact, and promised if they vote for Trump, they “won’t have to vote again” in four years.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

By Stephen Macaulay

In my neighborhood in a suburb of Detroit, the number of Trump lawn signs vastly outnumber those for Harris. The signs are graphically consistent, with the dominating factor being the names Trump and Vance. 

The differences are found just below the top of the signs.

Sometimes it says “Promises Kept.” This is a curious statement. Near as I can tell, the only promise Trump kept was to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade. What is somewhat ironic about that situation is the pertinent justices, when questioned in the Senate about their positions regarding Roe v. Wade, cited stare decisis, saying that this is settled law. Then they, in effect, broke their implicit promises and treated it as though it wasn’t.

One of the things often noted today is that there were no wars during Trump’s term in office thanks to his mastery of international affairs, which included siding with Vladmir Putin and sending and receiving love letters to and from Kim Jong Un. Presumably that lack of a war is meant to underscore that he would “keep us safe.”

But a promise to keep us safe seems to have been shattered given that in 2020 350,821 Americans died from COVID — something that he repeatedly assured the public would “just go away.”

To be sure Trump didn’t cause COVID. But his administration’s efforts to mitigate the effects of the virus was something short of robust.

And to put that number of COVID deaths into context, 58,220 Americans died in the war in Vietnam, or 17% of the number of Americans who died from COVID during Trump’s last year in office.

Which lead to another of the slogans on the signs, the now-familiar “Make America Great Again.”

Presumably this now implies that things were “Great” during his administration. As the deaths from COVID indicate, perhaps not so much.

When Barrack Obama took office in January 2009 the U.S. unemployment rate was 7.8%. As you may recall, the economy in 2008-2009 was in horrible shape.

When Obama left office in 2017 the unemployment rate dropped to 4.7%.

So when Trump came into office he started with a 4.7% unemployment rate.

He left with a 6.4% unemployment rate.

What’s “Great” about that? Well, I guess you could say the 14.8% unemployment rate that occurred in April 2020, while he was still in office, makes that 6.4% really, really good.

And speaking of Obama, about whom Trump has nothing good to say, the average GDP growth rate during his time in office was 2.3%. He inherited the economic conditions from the Great Recession, so that’s at least positive.

One would imagine that under Trump the Gross Domestic Product soared.

Nope. 2.3%.

So how “Great” did Trump make America?

And finally, there’s this slogan on a Trump sign:

“No More Bullshit!”

This, I must confess, is a mystery to me. The Biden-Harris Administration has done plenty of things that can be vigorously criticized, but one thing that seems evident about the both of them is that they are anything but bullshit artists.

So while on that subject I submit this from a speech Trump gave on September 27 at Macomb County Community College in Warren, Michigan.

He opened by talking about voting. “I will, once and for all secure our elections.” There is little evidence that 2020 was unsecure, so arguably he secured that election, although he has spent the past many years arguing against that.

The next sentence, “We’re going to go to paper ballots.” Odd that there are supporters like Peter Thiel, who has made a fortune on digital technologies.

Then Trump said, “We’re going to have same-day voting, voting ID.”

But within a matter of seconds he told the crowd, “Whether you vote earlier, absentee, by mail, or in person, we are going to protect the vote.”

Didn’t he just say “We’re going to have same-day voting”? And didn’t he vote early this past August in Florida?

But people vote about the economy more than election methodologies.

Trump said:

“We had the greatest economy in the history of our country and we were just getting started actually. But we had the greatest economy, the greatest employment for everybody, men, women, African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, everybody, young people with a diploma, without a diploma.”

Well, as we have seen, to call the economy or the employment rate “the greatest” is quite a stretch. What’s more, the current unemployment rate is 4.1%, which is better than the 6.4% he left with.

Now, Trump claimed that illegal immigrants are taking the jobs of Americans. So, of course, when the issue is immigration, he has to talk about the Wall.

Trump:

“We built more wall than I said I was going to build. And then we had 200 miles of wall ready to go. It was all fabricated, all made to the highest specifications of Border Patrol and ICE, and it was all set. And then we got more votes than any sitting president has ever gotten by far. And they say we lost the election, so let’s leave it at this. You know what? We have one coming up in 39 days, so that’ll be a wonderful replacement. 

Wonderful replacement.”

This one is really chock full of, well, bullshit.

During the 2016 campaign Trump said he’d build 1,000 miles of wall. Then he ratcheted that back to 450 miles of wall. Then when he left office U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed there were 80 miles of new wall built. There were 452 miles in total, so that means 372 miles of replacement, reconstruction and secondary wall.

Mexico paid for none of it.

And amusingly enough, during the Obama administration there were 299 miles of vehicle barriers and 350 miles of pedestrian fencing built.

Then there was the clever use of a modifier in his statement regarding the number of votes he received as a sitting president.

Obama was the last sitting president who ran for reelection prior to Trump. 

In terms of votes, Obama received 65,915,795 votes in 2012 compared with Trump’s 74,223,234 in 2020.

However, Obama’s number is 51.06% of the total votes cast in ’12 while Trump’s number is 46.8% of the total popular votes cast in ‘20.

So while, yes, Trump got more popular votes than Obama did, he got fewer votes on a percentage basis.

And then there’s the fact that Joe Biden received 81,282,632 votes, or 51.3% of the popular vote, which is even better than Obama’s 51.06% and significantly better than Trump’s 46.8%.

Final example: China. While Trump has called Xi Jinping a “brilliant man,” China is as much of a boogie man as illegal aliens.

Trump told the assembled in Warren:

“I charged hundreds of billions of dollars to China in tariffs and taxes. No other president has ever charged China 10 cents, and we’ve taken hundreds of billions of dollars.”

As the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) wrote in July 2022, “Two years ago, President Donald Trump signed what he called a ‘historic trade deal’ with China that committed China to purchase $200 billion of additional US exports before December 31, 2021. Today the only undisputed ‘historical’ aspect of that agreement is its failure.”

Huh? Isn’t he the consummate dealmaker?

PIIE continues, “In the end, China bought only 58% of the US exports it had committed to purchase under the agreement, not even enough to reach its import levels from before the trade war. Put differently, China bought none of the additional $200 billion of exports Trump’s deal promised.”

Where do those “hundreds of billions of dollars” come from? Well, a non-trivial amount is from the pockets of people like those in Warren, every time they shop for goods at the local Walmart that are made in China. They are paying the price of tariffs.

The truth is hard. Bullshit is easy.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, writing primarily for the right column.

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MONDAY 10/7/24