Author: launchkits

Harris/Walz Campaign Stops

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:

•Friday, October 18: Kamala Harris appears in Lansing, Grand Rapids and Waterford, Michigan.

•Saturday, October 19: Tim Walz rallies in Omaha and Chicago.

•Tuesday, October 22: Tim Walz rallies in Madison, Wisconsin.

It's all in the past...

•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

About Second Place

By Stephen Macaulay

As of August/early September JD Vance had a favorability rating of 36% among Americans and Tim Walz edged him out by 5%, at 41%, according to Gallup.

This means that Walz was tied with Mike Pence in 2020 and Vance was tied with Mike Pence in 2016.

Mike Pence is likely not voting for either of the two men.

But what Gallup also found was that 19% of U.S. adults don’t know who Walz is and 17% don’t know who Vance is.

Which puts the two men squabbling on TV with each other in perspective.

What’s more, the citizens of Houston, Detroit, Baltimore, Kansas City, Atlanta, and San Diego all had something else to view last night that was a solid concern of more than a slice of their populations: Major League Baseball playoff games.

The last time the Tigers were in the playoffs, for example, Obama was president.

While John Nance Garner is the name of an individual that only Ken Jennings might get (“Who was the 32nd vice president?”), his comparison of the office to a bucket of warm spit is equaled by Will Rogers’ lesser-known “The man with the best job in the country is the vice-president. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, ‘How is the president?’”

Vance and Walz could have wrestled in a bucket of warm spit for nine minutes rather than the 90 spent talking and the effect might have been better.

It is commonly said that the purpose of a vice-presidential candidate is to serve as an attack dog for whoever is running for the top job. It is a shame that Don Rickles died in 2017 because he would have been superlative in that role.

But last night the two men were not attack dogs so much as somewhat-civil surrogates for their partners in politics.

Walz looked uncomfortable at the start, as though he wished he was wearing a Cabella’s cap and fishing at Lake Winnibigoshish.

Vance was his usual basilisk-like self.

The outlets that did fact-checking of what the candidates said pretty much indicated that Vance held forth with a litany of lies, although there was the tendency to be more euphemistic about what Vance said (“Misleading”? Really?). All I can say is that Vance must spend a whole lot of time in the confession booth.

While Walz wasn’t exactly a choir boy in some of his answers, The Washington Post’s fact checker seemed to go out of his way to throw shade at Walz, as though they were afraid the multiple “This is false” declarations appended to Vance’s lies would be a bit much for the readers.

Walz claimed:

“Donald Trump had four years. He had four years to do this. And he promised you, America, how easy it would be. ‘I’ll build you a big, beautiful wall, and Mexico will pay for it.’ Less than 2% of that wall got built, and Mexico didn’t pay a dime.”

And the Post assessed:

“The percentage is exaggerated. About 458 miles of a border barrier was built during Trump’s presidency, but most of it (373 miles) was replacement for existing primary or secondary barriers that were dilapidated or outdated, according to a January 22, 2021, report by Customs and Border Protection. About 52 miles was new primary wall, and 33 miles was new secondary wall. Trump had promised to build 1,000 miles of barrier, so even taking the lower numbers gets Trump 8.5 percent.”

Well, that’s one way of slicing the numbers. Another way is this:

The length of the border between the U.S. and Mexico is 1,954 miles. When Trump talked about his Wall, he didn’t mean fixed up portions or secondary structures. It was going to be a sight to behold, one that would strike fear into the hearts of anyone who dared gaze at it with a notion of trying to surmount it. (Fear, incidentally, is what the Trump-Vance team is big on when it comes to other countries.)

So Trump built 52 miles of wall. Which is 2.66% of 1,954.

Still, the overall assessment is that it was a tie.

In other words, fairly irrelevant.

Although there are those who claim there are those who are undecided or independent who’d be swayed one way or another — get serious:

  1. People vote for the person running for president, not the vice president.
  2. There was a lot of good baseball on last night.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings. A never-Trump conservative, his commentaries most often appear in our right column.

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WEDNESDAY 10/2/24

Ohio Normal Meets Minnesota Nice

By Todd Lassa

How to summarize Tuesday’s debate on CBS News Tuesday night between Republican veep nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic veep nominee Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota? 

It was nothing like Veep the TV show, except for the almost self-referential -self-stereotyping of Minnesota nice by Walz, who started out shaky and nervous on the way to finding a bit of sympatico with Vance on a couple of issues. He even apologized a couple of times for interrupting Vance and CBS News moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan.

Walz’s presence strengthened while discussing the abortion issue as Vance tried to advance Trump’s argument that it is all about states’ rights and falsely claimed the first Trump administration strengthened universal health care rather than repeatedly attempt to appeal Obamacare.

Walz and Vance agreed on the need to build affordable housing, 3 million units according to Walz, while Vance insisted it’s an immigration problem and consistently blamed Vice President Harris for letting in millions of illegals in the past three-and-a-half years. 

They agreed housing should not be commodities for financial institutions to manipulate and that local and state regulations that stifle construction of such housing should be eased, though neither knew how. Nor did either candidate mention how NIMBY is the key issue in stifling affordable housing construction.

Vance did raise the problem of the Harris/Walz home-building program triggering real estate inflation with up-front downpayment aid for, the Republican senator suggested, illegal aliens, which would pile on to the inflation for which he said Kamala Harris also is responsible. 

Vance noted the Trump-Vance solution is to seize federal lands and build the needed housing on it. Vance also repeated Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” mantra, prompting Walz to ask; “Are we going to drill and build houses on the same federal land?”

Vance and Walz agreed on the need for federal money to pay for paid medical leave “to make families stronger,” according to Vance. 

“I think there is a bipartisan solution here,” Walz responded. Trump/Vance seeks a $5,000 child-care tax credit while Harris/Walz have called for $6,000 for newborns followed up with $3,000 for children more than six-months old. Vance added a “school choice” style element in the way early child care is provided, saying churches and small-town communities should be eligible to receive such federal monies.

Though vice presidential debates are considered inconsequential auditions for a job not worth a bucket of warm spit, both Vance and Walz offered more substance and detail on policy proposals than Trump and Harris did in their single meeting. 

Whereas Vance repeatedly criticized Harris for failing to do anything about illegal immigration and inflation while she has been President Biden’s veep, Walz called out the Trump administration’s tax cuts mostly for the rich and its resulting $8 trillion increase in the federal debt. The Democrat cited warnings from economists -- including economists from the Wharton School (Trump’s alma mater) – that the Trump/Vance proposed tariffs would spur much higher inflation than we’ve had since the pandemic.

Without using the word “tariff,” Vance said the heart of Trump’s plan is to cut taxes, “but penalize companies that are shipping jobs overseas.”

Vance and Walz argued, civilly, it must be said, over the January 6th Capitol insurrection and freedom of speech. 

Vance cited Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as Trump supporters. Walz said the Harris campaign’s support ranges from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to former veep Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift. (Expect an all-caps Trump response to the latter on Truth Social.)

Finally, Walz pressed Vance on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and noted that Mike Pence was not on the stage with him as a result of those efforts.

“Did he lose the 2020 election?” Walz asked Vance.

“Tim, I’m focused on the future. ...” 

Who won?: Did JD Vance win this one, or at least soften his image enough to improve his low favorability ratings, or was Tim Walz the winner? Email your thoughts about the vice-presidential debate to editors@thehustings.news and please, indicate your political leanings (those on the left are allowed to admit Vance won, and those on the right can give the win to Walz) in the subject line. Or simply enter your comments in the left or right column.

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WEDNESDAY 10/2/24

Vance Was Rock-Solid

By Rich Corbett

As a conservative voter, my reaction to the vice-presidential debate is that Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) was rock-solid. He reinforced Republican strength when it comes to the economy, border and foreign policy stability. 

Vance was likable, polite, connectable, professional and convincingly competent. By Vance answering the moderators with … “you asked the question, so I’ll answer the question” … it reminded voters just how few answers we have received from Kamala Harris on her flip-flopped positions. As a running mate, he definitely is an asset to former President Donald Trump. 

As for Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), he did no harm to Kamala Harris. He was good enough on the Democrat positions in talking about health care and abortion, but less convincing that Trump is a “threat to democracy” or that Americans would see much change from the last three-and-a-half years. His defense over his past embellishments such as a visit to Hong Kong and Tiananmen Square in his non-answer, “I’m a knucklehead at times,” was memorable, but a reminder that politicians mislead — lie — if they think it will benefit their political future. 

If voters came to the debate not knowing JD Vance or with a negative impression, he likely improved his stature and may have advanced the Trump/Vance ticket. For Tim Walz and his “neighborly guy” image, it disappeared to what seemed artificial anger over January 6th. He appeared far more nervousness than Vance and had difficulty in defending himself and Harris, but quickly deflect into to blaming Trump. It was a hard sell after three-and-a-half years of Biden/Harris. 

Corbett is a longtime reader and a contributor to The Hustings’ right column.

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WEDNESDAY 10/2/24

Left and Right

As the United Nations wraps up its annual General Assembly in Manhattan Friday, we seek your comments – whether you lean to the left or to the right – on the serious issues that have come up this week, including …

•Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s argument for continuing and expanding Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon, as war in Gaza continues to grind on (see center column).

•President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace plan for Ukraine and its defense against Russia (see center column, again).

•President Biden’s final UN General Assembly address (scroll down this page using the scrollbar, to Thursday’s center column, then scroll down with the center scrollbar to Wednesday’s page). 

There’s also thorough coverage of the Federal Open Market Committee’s interest rate cuts in the center column.

Further down the LEFT COLUMN this page, don’t miss …

•“No Debate Inflation” by Kate McLeod.

•“MVP Performance from Harris and Team” by contributing pundit Ken Zino.

Pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay has been burning up the RIGHT COLUMN this page, with …

•“Where Have You Gone, Edward Gibbon?”

•“The Art of the Fraud”

•“First Impressions” and

•“There’s Reality, Then There’s Trump”

As always, we welcome and encourage your civil comments on our content from the center, left and right columns. Email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

You can sign up for our free Substack newsletter here.

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FRIDAY Sep. 27, 2024

Netanyahu Speaks

MONDAY 9/30/24

It’s All About Iran, Again – When he speaks before the United Nations General Assembly Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will emphasize more than ever that Iran is the international community’s primary antagonist, Haaretzpredicts, even as Israel proceeds toward all-out war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Netanyahu’s speech comes after he dismissed the international community’s insistent – futile – proposal of a three-week ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

•••

On Zelenskyy, Harris and Trump – The White House’s short readout of Vice President Harris’ meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday indicates no movement on Zelenskyy’s request to be able to launch US missiles into Russia. Instead, it reiterates “the importance of continued, strong US support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression, President Zelenskyy’s plans for victory, and efforts to secure a just and lasting peace based on the will of the people of Ukraine and the UN Charter.”

Biden’s announcement … Harris’ meeting with Zelenskyy followed President Biden announcing additional aid of nearly $8 billion to Ukraine for long-range strike weapons, air defense and additional F-16 pilot training, according to TheWarZone, which adds that $5.5 billion will come from Presidential Drawdown Authority and $2.4 billion from the Ukrainian Security Assistance Initiative.

Meanwhile … At gilded, American flag-bedecked Trump Tower, Donald J. Trump announced he would meet with Zelenskyy in New York Friday morning. 

“America is paying only a small fraction of the money the United States of America is paying,” Trump told reporters, “and we have an ocean between Russia and ourselves. They don’t.”

The Republican presidential nominee reiterated his administration’s success in forcing European members of NATO to “pay up” on their dues, and repeated that he knows Vladimir Putin “very well” and will make a peace deal with Russia and Ukraine “very quickly.”

Poland’s view … NPR’s Steve Inskeep interviewed Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in New York for Morning EditionFriday.

“We will continue to support Ukraine irrespective to anything anybody does. Europe has contributed to Ukraine even more than the US,” Sikorski asserted. “Your assistance is crucial because it’s weighted towards military assistance, which is what Ukraine needs most.”

The European Union “transfers roughly 1.5 billion euros per month” to Ukraine to pay officials wages and pensions, he said. “On this one, we’re really not a free ride. We’ve really rallied around.”

Sikorski said Poland believes continued support for Ukraine eventually will result in victory against Russia, as Putin does not have infinite resources, including troops. 

“This is a colonial war. Hopefully Europe’s last. It’s been going on for too long, two-and-a-half years, but most colonial wars take about a decade. Anything shorter than that will be a bonus. Personally, I think that Russia will start running out of resources in about 18 months to two years,” he said.

Sikorski further asserted that like Poland and the rest of Europe, Ukraine’s defense has widespread, bipartisan grassroots support in the US. 

“When people hear about Putin’s war crimes, stealing children to be Russified? I mean, how sicko do you have to be to do that?”

Presumably, Trump, who knows Putin “very well,” understands.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

FRIDAY Sep. 27, 2024

Comment: Zelenskyy Campaigns for Dems

Editors:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is getting $8 billion more US tax dollars from Biden? No wonder Zelenskyy is campaigning for the Democrats. 

Today’s US political left seems to prefer sending billions more to support the war, rather than working toward peace as they did decades ago. We’re at the point the funding serves little purpose but to continue the killing on both sides (I’m having Vietnam déjà vu). The country has truly gone dystopian, now that the liberal Democrats are the war hawks and Republicans are the ones talking about finding peace.

--Rich Corbett

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

FRIDAY Sep. 27, 2024

MVP Performance from Harris and Team

By Ken Zino

While I’m not a big fan of covering politics as if it were a sport, Vice President Harris and team had an all-star performance last night against Team Trump on my scorecard. They are clearly the favorites to win the World Series of American politics this November. 

Well prepared from scrutinizing Trump game film, the Democratic game plan shut down all the usual Trump plays of bluster, lies and apoplectic rage. Harris was ready to be thrown at, which Trump did multiple times, but he wildly missed her because he couldn’t hit the strike zone with his increasingly wilder pitches. 

Moreover, the loser Trump couldn’t make adjustments during the game and was so flustered that he committed babbling and ranting error after error allowing multiple runs for Harris. From the first inning fastball of the aggressive Harris handshake, Trump demonstrated he couldn’t recognize, let alone hit a curve, so to speak, or any other Democratic pitches as he was shut out enduring a humiliating no-hitter. What could you expect from a loser who boasted about his coaches – autocrats Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban. Harris crushed the ball, noting both wanted him in power because they know “they can flatter you and manipulate you.”

Yes previous game film shows Trump said he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to our NATO allies. And he calls soldiers who gave their lives in defense of American democracy “suckers” and “losers.” Top American military generals and national security officials – including those who worked for Trump – have warned that he is “dangerous” and “unfit” to lead, and now he is surrounded by ultra-loyalists who enable his worst impulses.

When Trump lied about “migrant crime” in cities: “Well, I think this is so rich,” Harris said. “Coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference, has been found liable for sexual assault and his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing.”

Harris meanwhile kept adding to her score in what was a rout of Trump. She spit on his wild pitches while laughing. She was a joyful player with positive moves – in the tradition of “let’s play two,” which will be the second debate. Here, I wouldn’t “Bank” on it because Harris has sunshine, fresh air and the team behind us, as the great Hall of Famer Ernie Banks observed. 

Trump’s rally crowd was leaving the stadium because he wasn’t talking about doing anything for their problems. “You will see during the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter, he will talk about windmills cause cancer,” she said. “What you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you, the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams, and your desires.”

The result was a convincing win for the Democratic candidate in the first game of a double header who used her experience from years in minor league politics to show that Team Harris is ready for, and can win and stay in The Show. 

“Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people,” Harris said. “Clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that.” Trump will be sent down to the minors. 

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Budget Crunch

CPI is 2.5% -- The Consumer Price Index fell to 2.5% in August, from a 2.9% rate in July, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The Fed’s Open Market Committee is expected to react to cooling inflation with a quarter- to half-point interest rate cut at its next meeting next Tuesday-Wednesday. [Chart: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

THURSDAY 9/12/24

Use the trackball on the far right to scroll down to Wednesday's coverage of Tuesday night's ABC presidential debate, including commentary in the left and right columns.

Between the House and a Hard Place – House Republicans consider Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) six-month stopgap spending bill too spendy and House Democrats will not vote for it with the SAVE Act as a rider. The SAVE Act, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and separately passed in the House, would require voters to present proof of citizenship in federal elections, just in time for November 5 and Johnson, a close Donald J. Trump ally calls it a “righteous” pursuit of election integrity. But his DOA bill will likely give way to a “clean” stopgap that would extend the budget deadline beyond September 30 into December, Punchbowl News reports. 

Johnson’s debate reaction … Asked about Trump’s Tuesday debate performance in a press scrum Wednesday, Speaker Johnson turned and walked away, into the House chamber. 

•••

Another Conspiracy – You might still be pondering Donald J. Trump’s repeat in Tuesday’s debate of a raging conspiracy theory, apparently begun by a white supremacist, that Haitian immigrants are eating neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio. Trump misstated the animals involved in the conspiracy theory, claiming Haitian immigrants are eating dogs and cats rather than cats and ducks.

Meanwhile … The Trump camp has begun promoting a conspiracy theory that began among MAGA followers following the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, The Washington Post reports. After his right ear was grazed, Trump thanked local law enforcement for protecting him, offered condolences to the family of an audience member killed in the attempt and called for unity.

Now, he has begun promoting conspiracy theories calling the assassination attempt, by a registered Republican who has left no signs of a political motive, an “inside job” by government agencies or in fabricating Democratic ties to attorneys representing the shooter’s parents, according to the report. 

“I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they say about me,” Trump said during the debate Tuesday.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

There’s Reality. Then There’s Trump

By Stephen Macaulay

There is one simple reason why Donald Trump should not be elected. Arguably, he ought not be the Republican nominee because of this.

He still thinks he won the 2020 election. He has no evidence for it. He make claims that he has it, but if he did, if he had the honest-to-god-fact-checked proof, then wouldn’t he have blasted it out, oh, say, January 6, 2021?

The man does not have a grasp of what is generally considered to be accepted reality.

You know, that stuff that’s based on facts, not grievance.

“Everyone” this, “everyone” that.

Yet no substance. Nothing tangible.

And this is the guy who should be running the country?

He claims that he did everything great during his term. He claims that the country is in the shitter since.

When it is pointed out that there have been improvements in things like employment, he says that’s because of what he did.

So could we take it a step further and say everything good that happened on his watch was a consequence of what Obama put in motion?

He can repeat and amplify stories about illegal aliens eating pets. He can claim — with no backup information — that crime rates in other countries are down because all of the bad, very bad, very, very bad . . . insane criminals who have been sent to the U.S.

But if he still thinks that he won the last election, then there is a serious problem — not just for him, but for us if he gets reelected.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Undecideds Were Waiting for This Debate?

By Hugh Hansen

It could have been much, much worse. It could have been a little bit better. 

I continue to have a hard time wrapping any part of myself around the idea there are 1.) genuinely undecided voters who 2.) sought to make their decision based on watching the debate (I felt that way about the conventions too).

So, what was there for them to see and hear? Trump told many more lies than Harris did, though the moderators only spoke to a few of them. Both candidates sidestepped questions, though in my biased opinion Trump did more of it, and sidestepped into wackier territories. 

Harris missed a rhetorical opportunity when asked whether they should have acted earlier or differently on the border; that was the moment to tie it to Trump's torpedoing the Congressional border deal, e.g. "We thought we'd dealt with it more comprehensively and six months earlier, until he meddled." 

I was glad she got it in a minute later. Trump gave the Blue side a gift with the criminal immigrants eating pets thing, and with "performing transgender operations on illegal immigrants in prison," things that only the most MAGAfied didn't laugh at. Those will translate better into social media clips, too.

Eight weeks.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Gloves Came Off in a Combative Debate

By Charles Dervarics

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump squared off in a heated debate last night that saw the presidential candidates cover familiar ground — from abortion to the border — but with a bevy of personal attacks that surprisingly had the former president on the defensive.

While Trump predictably leveled some of these attacks, Vice President Harris repeatedly took the offensive to criticize Trump and get him off his game. This strategy was most evident during a tense back-and-forth exchange about the border, when Harris invited voters to attend a Trump rally.

“You’ll hear about Hannibal Lecter, how windmills cause cancer, and what you’ll also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.”

Rather than go back to criticizing Harris over immigration, the former president instead defended his rallies and crowd sizes. He also opted for unconfirmed claims about migrants in Ohio eating their neighbors’ pets.

While Trump labeled Harris a “Marxist” for her past progressive views, the vice president used several issues to dig at the former president. She noted his many indictments and felony convictions and claimed that military and world see him as a “disgrace.” 

She told viewers the former president cares most about himself. “Donald Trump actually has no plan for you, because he is more interested in defending himself than he is in looking out for you.”

For his part, Trump seemed to score some points by citing prices that have climbed “60-, 70-, 80% higher than they were a few years ago” and pledging to cut taxes and “create a great economy” similar, he said, to his own presidential record prior to the pandemic. 

He also criticized the Biden-Harris administration for only taking action on immigration a few months before the election and criticized Harris for her past views including a ban on fracking — a major issue in one of the key battlegrounds, Pennsylvania.

Both candidates skirted interviewer questions to tout some favorite talking points. Harris sidestepped a question about whether voters are better off than they were four years ago, instead citing her plans to support affordable housing and expand the child tax credit. Trump turned aside a question about his past statements on abortion to criticize Democrats for supporting late-term procedures.

The debate in Philadelphia was billed as perhaps the only meeting between Harris and Trump prior to the election. After last night’s event, the Harris campaign called for another debate, and Fox News also has invited the nominees to meet again before the Nov. 5 election.

All that was topped, for Vice President Harris, last night with a post-debate endorsement from Taylor Swift.

_____________________________________________

…meanwhile…

CPI Gets Closer – Closer to the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target, and anyway, an interest rate cut of a quarter- to a half-point is expected to come out from next week’s meeting. For August, the Consumer Price Index dropped to 2.5% according to the Labor Department, down from a 2.9% annual rate in July. The month-over-month increase was 0.2%, same as July, with an 0.5% increase in shelter accounting for most the increase in prices. Food was up 0.2%, consisting of food away from home up 0.3% and food at home unchanged from July. Energy was off 0.8%. 

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 9/11/24

Preparation Matters

By Rich Corbett

Like it or not, last night’s debate on ABC demonstrated why politicians are often trained attorneys. I’m reminded of a high-profile lawyer, turned law professor, telling me that a prosecutor can convince nearly any jury to convict, if the court has favorable judge, or two. 

Last night Kamala Harris, the prosecutor, came well-rehearsed and had two favorable moderators; they all spent 90 minutes focused on prosecuting Donald Trump. If voting was scored like boxing, very few punches wielded by Trump connected with Vice President Harris. Trump was not successful in this round in exposing Harris’ failed record and far-left radical “values.” She sustained only a few body blows, so this round goes to Harris.

The problem for Kamala Harris is that the fight isn’t just one round. Trump has time to recover while the Harris campaign, and their propaganda arm -- mainstream media, has been clearly exposed. They can’t hide their candidate, her record and flip-flop positions for another two months … or can they? 

Americans know what to expect from a Trump administration. The first Trump administration’s “no wars” kind of strong foreign policy leadership, closed southern border, tough on crime pro-law enforcement positions and lowered taxes to promote a pro-domestic manufacturing economy was impressive. All Americans were doing better prior to the Biden/Harris inflation and world on fire. 

A thoughtful voter should be able to see the difference between one artful debate performance by Harris and a lifetime executive manager such as Trump when it comes to being POTUS.  It is one thing selling platitudes such as "opportunity economy," but eventually her lifetime of progressive and radical California values will be clear for all to see. Will the real Kamala Harris be exposed? 

Hats off to a debate prepared Kamala Harris last night … let’s see if the repackaging and marketing can continue. 

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

From the Left

Editors:

As a girl from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, I am deeply sad about this. Tragedy just keeps on giving with this family.

--Kate McLeod

From Substack, re: https://thehustings.substack.com/p/of-fluoride-precious-bodily-fluids

Be sure to sign up for our free newsletter at https://thehustings.substack.com.

Countdown to Debate -- One week from now, Tuesday, September 10, Vice President Kamala Harris debates ex-President Donald J. Trump for 90 minutes beginning 9 pm Eastern/6 pm Pacific time, on ABC TV. There will be no studio audience and microphones will be shut off when it is the other candidate's turn to speak. Look for center-column analysis here on Wednesday, September 11 and send us your comments on the debate.

To submit your comments, use the Comment section in this column or the column on the right, or email editors@thehustings.newsand please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

_____

…meanwhile…

Federal Reserve interest rate cut, here we come. The US economy added just 142,000 jobs in August according to the Labor Department, with the biggest gains in construction and health care, as the unemployment rate inched down by 0.1 points to 4.2%. The Fed, whose chairman Jerome Powell, recently said “we do not seek or welcome further cooling” of the economy, is expected to lower interest rates later this month. [Chart: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

FRIDAY 9/6/24

Trump Sentencing After Election -- New York Judge Juan Merchan has delayed sentencing of Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump for his conviction of falsified business records -- the "hush money case" -- to November 12, one week after the presidential election (per NPR's All Things Considered). The sentencing hearing was to be held September 18, eight days after the Harris-Trump debate on ABC TV.

This represents a double-edged sword for Trump, whose attorneys asked for the delay and yet could have grown his popularity over having to campaign from jail or while under probation. It's was a damned if you do/don't proposition for Merchan, who would have been accused of election interference with a jail sentence or probation ahead of the election, and is still accused of such with a sentencing date (hopefully) after we know who has won and before Trump or Vice President Harris will take the White House.

•••

Arlington Altercation Update – NPR’s Morning Edition has identified Trump campaign officials accused by an Arlington National Cemetery employee of shoving or pushing her aside when she tried to prevent the campaign from filming the ex-president’s appearance there with Gold Star families. The two involved in the altercation are Justin Caporale, deputy campaign manager, and Michael Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team, a source has told NPR.

Trump this week insisted on his Truth Social website the incident did not happen even after the campaign posted video of the event with families of soldiers killed at the Abby Gate of Kabul International Airport during the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

The Army in a rare rebuke issued a statement that the Trump campaign violated cemetery rules and federal law by taking photos and video at Section 60, where soldiers who served in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried. The cemetery employee who says she was shoved in the incident reportedly does not want to press charges for fear of retaliation by Trump supporters.

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Is it the Stupid Economy? – Donald J. Trump did not fare much better at the Economic Club of New York, where he was to reveal his “big policy agenda” for the nation’s finances, according to New York.

The magazine’s Intelligencer called the speech before the Trump-friendly group “a bomb of a speech a day after Kamala Harris unveiled a major tax-policy proposal and a pledge to support 25 million new small businesses.” 

“We delivered an economic miracle that Kamala and Joe turned into an economic disaster,” Trump said.

The single bit of news, according to Intelligencer is that Tesla/X/SpaceX chief Elon Musk has agreed to lead a commission on government fraud and abuse for a second Trump administration. The Government Accountability Office estimates such fraud and abuse totals more than half a trillion dollars a year, the magazine notes, and the plan to put Musk in the driver’s seat would save “trillions” of dollars over an unspecified period, Trump told the Economic Club. 

Note…Trump’s plan is “similar to the GAO’s Biden-era approach for rooting it out,” Intelligencer reports. Also notable is that Musk, who has said he’d take the role for zero compensation, has over the years fought federal probes ranging from his comments about Tesla stock to the automaker’s self-driving technology. 

At the Democratic National Convention, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain announced his union had filed a National Labor Relations board complaint against Musk and Trump over their comments regarding Musk’s alleged worker intimidation at Tesla.

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President’s Son Pleads Guilty – Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea in Los Angeles Thursday over federal tax charges, to avoid a trial that was expected to reveal details about past business deals. Prosecutors were expected to argue “he spent freely” on illicit drugs and escorts while neglecting tax obligations, says The Wall Street Journal. Speaking with reporters on Air Force One Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated President Biden’s pledge he would not use his clemency powers to pardon his son, or commute potential sentences. 
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THURSDAY 9/5/24

Trump’s Town Hall with Hannity – It was no debate, as originally proposed for Fox News September 17 to have been moderated by Martha McCollum and Brett Baier. Instead, the hour-long “town hall-style” interview (conversation?) with Sean Hannity was a taped and edited interview with ex-President Trump, held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The editing left in Trump’s argument that a Harris presidency would lead to another Great Depression and illegal immigrants would be eating up Social Security and Medicaid. 

There was no mention of Hannibal Lecter or electric boats v. sharks, though there were high school-style nicknames like “Comrade Kamala” (with accent on the second syllable of Harris’ name) and projection of Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz’s high school criticism of the Trump/Vance ticket.

“There’s something weird about that guy,” Trump said of Walz. “I’m solid as a rock.”

Oh, the Orbánity… Trump began the interview quoting Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, “Bring Trump back and we won’t have these problems.”

We do it all for you… Apparently an issue on Fox News and perhaps other conservative news outlets is they can find no evidence Vice President Kamala Harris ever worked at a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant, an issue Hannity raised Wednesday night.

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Cheney to Vote for Harris – Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who lost her seat after voting to impeach then-President Trump over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol said at an event at Duke University Wednesday she will vote for the Democratic presidential ticket. 

“Because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris,” she said (per The New York Times). She went on; “I don’t believe we have the luxury of writing in candidates’ names, particularly in swing states.”

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Economy v. Economy – Goldman Sachs, the second-largest investment bank in the world according to Wikipedia, says US economic growth would get a bigger boost from a Harris presidency than with a Trump presidency. 

Why? Mostly the return of Trump tariffs and more strict immigration policies, the bank said in a release late Tuesday (per Reuters).

Job growth also would be greater under a Democratic sweep – meaning, House and Senate (unlikely) as well as White House. New spending and expanded middle-income tax credits would “slightly more than offset” the lower investment that higher corporate taxes would cause. 

“We estimate that if Trump wins in a sweep or with divided government, the hit to growth from tariffs and tighter immigration policy would outweigh the positive fiscal impulse,” Goldman Sachs said, which would result in an 0.5% decline in GDP in the second half of 2025 that would abate in 2026.

•••

Headline Redux – Wednesday’s tragic school shooting in Winder, Georgia, where two students and two teachers were killed has activated The Onion’s boilerplate headline, “No Way to Prevent This’ Says Only Nation Where this Regularly Happens.”

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Campaign Season Notes – Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump tapes a “town-hall-style” event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with Sean Hannity of Fox News set for broadcast at 9 pm Wednesday night. …

Meanwhile, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is in North Hampton, New Hampshire to tout her small business plan, which includes a tenfold tax credit for new businesses, from $5,000 currently to $50,000 (NPR). She hopes to cull a record 25 million new small business applications over four years of a presidential term. …

The youngest son of the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, Army 1st Lt. Jimmy McCain has changed his registration from independent to Democratic and says he will vote for Harris/Walz in November. He made the announcement in a press release and on social media Tuesday. McCain also expressed “outrage” over the Trump video altercation at Arlington National Cemetary, calling it a “violation” and a “painful experience.” …

George Conway, the conservative attorney, Trump critic and ex-husband of Kellyanne Conway last July launched the Anti-Psychotic PAC with plans to spend more than $100,000 on anti-Trump ads. Conway has launched the PAC’s first 60-second ad featuring clips of Republicans bashing Trump.

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Russia Strikes Central Ukraine – At least 41 were killed and more than 180 injured by two Russian ballistic missiles in a strike on Poltava Tuesday, an otherwise quiet city in central Ukraine, according to NPR. The strike prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to call for more Western air defenses and to allow his country to strike deeper into Russian territory with long-range missiles, The Guardian reports.

“We keep telling everyone in the world who has the power to stop this terror: Air defense systems and missiles are needed for Ukraine, not in a warehouse somewhere,” Zelenskyy said.

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Netanyahu Remains Defiant After Protests – In retrospect, it was inevitable that the latest round of ceasefire talks with Israel over its war on Gaza and Hamas would stall. This time, it was over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intransigence in giving up Israeli control of Philadelphi, a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt that Netanyahu’s government says Hamas uses to smuggle weapons into Gaza and which Egypt and Hamas deny.

Even after Israeli protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv by the “hundreds of thousands” last weekend according to The Associated Press, to protest the killing of six Israeli hostages, demanding a ceasefire deal and immediate release of hostages, Netanyahu pushed back, saying “No one will preach to me.”

The UK Tuesday, led by its first liberal leader in 14 years Tuesday morning said it is suspending certain arm sales to Israel, NPR’s Morning Edition reports, though it will have little effect on Israel’s military capability, as the US and Germany are its two biggest arm suppliers. 

•••

U.S. Steel should remain domestically owned, Vice President Kamala Harris said in Pittsburgh in her first joint campaign rally with President Biden, the AP reports. Harris and Biden opposition to the $14 billion sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan is echoed by Harris’ opponent in the presidential race, former President Donald J. Trump.

“U.S. Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated, and I will always have the backs of America’s steelworkers,” Harris said at a Labor Day rally before cheering union members.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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