An ‘Easy Call’ in November

Guest Commentary by Rich Corbett

The Trump/Vance ticket will still be painted poorly by most in the mainstream media (journalism is skewed more than ever to the left). But The Biden/Harris failure in nearly everything they touched will have far more Americans feeling bamboozled by “moderate” Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

From the Biden administration’s failed and costly foreign policy, giving us world instability everywhere, to their excessive spending and attempts to buy votes (student loan forgiveness, green energy, etc.) to their war on domestic energy, which helped to give us the highest inflation in recent memory.

The ridiculous open border policy imported criminals and fentanyl that destroy communities across America. People are no longer safe, living in or visiting progressively run Democratic cities, with their soft-on-crime district attorneys and openly anti-law enforcement rhetoric. Progressive leadership from the top has ruined our public schools and has churned out students who have been taught more hatred for America.

And yet, even using the heavy handed lawfare of the type we see in third-world banana republics and communist countries, partisans were unable to stop Biden’s opponent, Donald Trump.

Let’s not even broach the questionable Secret Service protection failure in Pennsylvania.

So much for the “unity” that was promised when Biden/Harris attracted voters in 2020. Let’s hope voters are not fooled by Democrats and their left-wing propagandists again. It’s an easy call in November 2024 for those who want to save the USA.

Corbett is editor of My Desultory Blog

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What Will Democrats Do?

Out-in-the-open infighting between Democratic lawmakers on the question of whether President Biden be pressured to drop from the presidential race undoubtedly are triggering ulcers among those who fear a second Trump administration. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is the latest to call on Biden to step down from the race, saying he has "serious concerns" the president can't win re-election, the Los Angeles Times reports.

On the other hand, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last weekend wrote an op-ed for The New York Times saying he supports Biden staying in the race. He told The New Yorker he does not think Biden would serve a full four years if re-elected, however. Sanders called on the media to stop focusing on Biden's age and cognitive abilities.

"What the media should be doing, in my view, is focussing on the contrast between Joe Biden, what his record is and what his vision is for the future, not just what happened in a debate," Sanders told the magazine.

It should be kept in mind that Democratic lawmakers' calls for Biden to step down will seem amplified during a week in which the cheers for Donald J. Trump are loudest.

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Talk of “unity” coming from both parties after Donald J. Trump survived an assassination attempt was almost jarring, Sunday. As Trump said he would rewrite his Republican National Convention speech, President Biden took to the Resolute Desk for a six-minute Oval Office speech in which he made an argument to “lower the temperature.”

“There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence, ever. Period. No exceptions,” Biden said. “We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”

What do you think? Is this possible in the three-and-a-half months before the presidential election?

Enter your thoughts into the Comments section in this column if you lean left, or in the right column if you lean conservative. Or email editors@thehustings.news and please tell us whether you lean blue or red in the subject line.

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RNC Week Day 4

Veep candidate Sen. J.D. Vance introduced himself to an adoring RNC crowd Wednesday. Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump closes the convention in Milwaukee with his speech Thursday night. The New York Times has a transcript of Vance's speech here (subscription required).

THURSDAY 7/18/24

Vance Advances – From vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s point of view, traditional conservatives from the Bush/Romney wing of the GOP are RINOs. In his speech before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee Wednesday night where he formally accepted his veep nomination, Vance expressed his empathy for blue-collar workers, both non-union and union members, while showing disdain for Wall Street, for trade deals with Mexico and China, and for the US invasion of Iraq after 9/11. Vance also mentioned Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the key swing states in this year’s elections, as often as he could.

When Vance was in the fourth grade, Biden backed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) “that sent countless good jobs to Mexico,” he reminded the cheering RNC crowd. As a sophomore, he said, Biden backed a “sweetheart deal” with China, and while a high school senior, the current president supported the invasion of Iraq. You might have noticed these initiatives came largely from now-RINO’d Republicans.

“And somehow a real estate developer from New York City named Donald Trump was right in all these issues, and Joe Biden was wrong,” Vance said.

He decried “cheap Chinese goods” and low wages, and warned of China’s flow of fentanyl into the US (drug addiction was the villain of Vance’s 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy).

Vance, who left Appalachia to serve four years in the US Marines before attending The Ohio State University, then got a law degree at Yale University before becoming a tech venture capitalist, blamed Wall Street for “crashing” the economy, which led to American builders going out of business.

He didn’t point out that the resulting Great Recession stifled new construction for much of the ‘10s, but instead said Biden’s “inflation crisis is really an affordability crisis” for the costs of housing, groceries and gasoline.

“President Trump’s vision is so simple and yet so powerful,” Vance continued. “We’re done, ladies and gentlemen, catering to Wall Street. We’ll commit to the working man.”

The “we” in “we’re done” was meant to refer to American politicians, though it also refers to the traditional Republicans the MAGA GOP has effectively evicted from the party.

Of Ukraine … Vance is famous for being among the group of populist congressional Republicans who vehemently oppose continued military aid to Ukraine (and thus support for Vladimir Putin’s invasion), but he didn’t mention the country by name Wednesday night. He did say this: “Together, we will make sure our allies share in the burden of securing world peace. No more free rides for nations that betray the generosity of the American taxpayer.”

Of Taiwan … Meanwhile on Wall Street, tech stocks took a dive Wednesday when Bloomberg Business Week released an earlier interview with Trump in which the presidential candidate said Taiwan “should pay” for US protection against Chinese military aggression.

“Taiwan is 9,500 miles away,” Trump said. “It’s 68 miles away from China. … I don’t think we’re any different from an insurance policy.”

No doubt the former president also jolted Taiwan’s newly elected President Lai Ching-te, who is dealing with a divided government.

Factoid… Punchbowl News notes that Trump is the first politician since Richard Nixon (1960, ’68 and ’72) to be nominated by his party three times and would be the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve non-consecutive terms.

•••

Biden Falls Ill – Joe Biden told Ed Gordon of BET News in an interview released Wednesday that “if a medical condition emerged” he would drop out of the presidential race. That evening, Biden returned to his Delaware beach house from a campaign stop in Las Vegas with a mild case of COVID, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. While “mild covid” would have to make a big leap to become a “medical condition” the virus whose treatment by then-President Trump helped lead to Biden’s 2020 election victory gives a bit more hope to Democrats already calling on him to step down.

Whether or not Biden and his close circle can use COVID as an excuse to hand over his campaign to Vice President Harris or another, younger, more vigorous candidate, it’s difficult to see any other path to victory by a severely divided Democratic Party.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Make America Strong -- …once again. That’s the Republican National Convention’s Wednesday theme, which might seem to play in Donald J. Trump’s post-assassination attempt fist-bump accompanying exhortation to his supporters to “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT.” But in Wednesday’s case “make America strong” means ending aid to Ukraine in its defense against Russia, withdrawing from NATO and isolating the US in general.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), passed over as Trump’s 2024 running mate in favor of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), previewed Wednesday in his Tuesday evening speech before the RNC, saying “There is nothing dangerous nor divisive when putting America first.”

ICYMI, Tuesday’s theme was “Make America Safe Once Again,” in which several speeches included variations of an erroneous assertion that crime and violent crime is booming under President Biden. The opposite is quite true, with crime statistics falling quickly since the pandemic.

Former Trump challenger Nikki Haley was the keynote Tuesday, after having first been passed over for an invitation to the RNC.

“President Trump asked me to speak in the name of unity,” Haley told the crowd. Like Trump running mate J.D. Vance, though much more recently, she has done a 180 on her previous warnings about the ex-president’s fitness for the job. “Donald Trump has my strong endorsement. Period.”

A vote for Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris, Haley said, asserting Biden would not complete a full second term if re-elected.

“For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump,” Haley continued. She noted that like her, there are Americans who “don’t agree with Donald Trump 100% of the time.”

Though a staunch pro-Ukrainian candidate earlier this year, Haley said the wars in Ukraine and Gaza belong to Biden, not Trump.

“A strong president doesn’t start wars. A strong president prevents wars.

•••

Meanwhile, on the Left – A group of Democratic lawmakers are calling on the Democratic National Committee to halt plans to hold a virtual roll call nomination vote for President Biden ahead of next month’s convention, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. The letter, which NPR obtained from two different sources, calls the virtual nomination a “terrible idea” that would sap party morale.

While the letter has been signed by Democrats who want Biden to remain their candidate, as well as Democrats who want him to step down and others who have not announced a position, all clearly want more time for the question to play out of whether Biden can indeed beat Donald J. Trump in November.

•••

Menendez Guilty – A federal jury found Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) guilty on all 16 counts in his corruption trial Tuesday (per Politico). Federal prosecutors had charged the senator with bribery, acting as a foreign agent for Egypt, obstruction of justice, extortion and conspiring to commit these crimes.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has called on Menendez to step down, though the New Jersey senator has been defiant all through the investigation and two-month trial.

“I am deeply disappointed by the jury’s decision,” Menendez said Tuesday. “I have every faith that the law and the facts did not sustain that decision and that we will be successful upon appeal.”

US District Judge Sidney Stein will sentence Menendez, 70, October 29. He faces decades in prison.

If Menendez does step down for the few remaining months of his term, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) will appoint a successor, likely to be Rep. Andy Kim, who is the Democratic nominee for the seat’s full term beginning next year.

--TL

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TUESDAY 7/16/24

Strike of the Tech Bros – (And a coal barron…) Elon Musk has formed a new Super PAC supporting Donald J. Trump’s candidacy with a commitment of about $45 million per month up to November 5, The Wall Street Journal reports, not coincidentally in tune with the ex-president’s pick of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate.

Also joining in on America PAC are Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir Tech, the Winklevos Twins (once in dispute with Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of Facebook) and Joe Craft, CEO of coal producer Alliance Resource Partners whose wife, Kelly Craft, was ambassador to Canada.

This news, and not Trump’s announcement that Vance is his running mate, nor Trump showing up with a bandage around his right ear, was top news at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee Monday night.

About Winklevos v. Zuckerberg… Coincidentally (?) Trump last week Tuesday posted on his Truth Social he vowed to imprison “election fraudsters” including Zuckerberg, according to Business Insider. Or as capitalization enthusiast Trump wrote it; “All I can say is that if I’m elected President, we will pursue Election Fraudsters at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time!”

The take on Vance… Trump’s veep pick suggests a “break with the Republican orthodoxy of the last several decades on a range of policy issues, including unions, antitrust, trade and taxes,” according to The Washington Post. But Vance’s connection with X-Twitter owner and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk – somewhere at or near the top of the list of world’s richest men, depending on the day – suggests the Hillbilly Elegy author might be leaning libertarian-ward, with a reverence for such tech innovators/American oligarchs.

Probably a good time to list the other job on Vance’s CV: venture capitalist.

The union factor… Teamsters President Sean O’Brien became the first-ever union leader to address the Republican National Convention Monday, telling a cheering audience that Trump “has the backbone to open the doors to the Republican convention that’s unprecedented,” per The Washington Post. “You can have whatever opinion you want but one thing is clear: President Trump is a candidate who’s unafraid to hear from new, loud, and often critical voices.”

Oh, and ... Republicans also outlined their 2024 platform at the convention. Read details here.

-- TL

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MONDAY 7/15/24

Vance is Running Mate -- It's official, having appeared on Truth Social: J.D. Vance, 39, is Donald J. Trump's running mate for the November election (per The Washington Post). Vance, of Ohio, was elected to the Senate two years ago in the mid-terms. He is otherwise known for writing Hillbilly Elegy, published in 2016.

•••

Cannon Dismisses -- U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has dismissed the classified documents case against Donald J. Trump on grounds that special counsel Jack Smith was not constitutionally appointed and funded by US Congress, The Washington Post reports Monday. Other federal courts have rejected similar arguments. It is uncertain whether Smith will appeal to a higher court in the case.

•••

From Assassination Attempt to Unity? – Donald J. Trump has torn up his Republican National Convention speech to “preach unity,” the Washington Examiner reports Sunday in its exclusive first interview with the ex-president a day after Thomas Matthew Crooks’ attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania. After raising his fist in defiance when the Secret Service gathered him up, the “retribution” candidate now signals he is about to go soft this week at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger. Had this not happened, this would have been one of the most incredible speeches” reportedly aimed at criticizing President Biden’s policies. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who appears to be a shaved beard away from becoming Trump’s running mate, will be in Milwaukee, too. But Vance apparently hopes to become a bulldog to Trump’s kinder, gentler populism, as the senator blames President Biden and his campaign for the assassination attempt. Never mind that Vance might not be a contender for running mate this year had Trump’s supporters not threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence on January 6^,2021.

“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that Donald Trump is an American fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” Vance wrote on X-Twitter, per Politico.

Rep. Eric Swalwell responded on X, (also per Politico): “You called Trump ‘American Hitler’”, referring to Vance’s much earlier take on the once and current presidential candidate; “Now show yourself back to the kid’s table. … Violence will NEVER be the answer.”

Biden spent much of Sunday trying to be as cordial toward Trump as Trump has promised to be at the RNC. First, the president cancelled a Monday visit to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, then gave both a short press conference (taking no reporter questions), and later Sunday evening speaking against political violence from the Oval Office.

“We cannot, we will not go down this road in America.” Biden said.

Former First Lady Melania Trump similarly called on America “to ascend above the hate in these times.”

Meanwhile…Biden has called for a review of the Secret Service’s actions surrounding the assassination attempt, in which one audience member was killed and two others were critically injured. But House Oversight Committee Republicans have been investigating the Secret Service for months, according to Real Clear Politics. A Secret Service agent fatally shot Crooks, 20, after the gunman fired eight rounds.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Trump & Biden Post-Assassination Attempt

[Read Macaulay's column on liberal attorneys "going high" in The Gray Area; "Liberal Lameness"]

By Stephen Macaulay

First, let’s get this out of the way:

Donald Trump should not have been the victim of a shooter and while it is bad that he was wounded at all, it is a good thing that things weren’t worse.

Violence has no place in politics.

After Ronald Reagan was shot in March 1981 he reportedly said to his wife when she arrived at the hospital, “Honey, I forgot to duck.”

Reagan was rolled into the operating room and joked to the surgeons, “Please tell me you’re Republicans.”

When Donald Trump rose bleeding from behind the lectern, he shook his fist and shouted “Fight, fight, fight!”

Violence has no place in politics.

Who was he exhorting the crowd to fight?

The alleged shooter is identified as Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old born and bred in Pennsylvania. He was a high school graduate and he also obtained an associate degree in engineering science from the Community College of Allegheny County. He had a job in a nursing home as a dietary aide.

At this point there is no indication of a political or ideological leaning that might have led him to this heinous act.

Which is to say that he doesn’t check any of the boxes of people whom Trump might want his supporters to fight.

That said, it bears repeating:

It is good that Donald Trump was not injured more grievously and he shouldn’t have been injured at all.

Violence has no place in politics.

•

Which brings us to Joe Biden.

Yes, it is a good thing that he is calling for the nation to cool down. For unity.

Not to fight.

But this doesn’t take away from the fact that he is a huge liability for Democrats in the 2024 election.

Donald Trump gets shot and then stands up and shakes his fist.

One imagines that Joe Biden would trip on a rug and then say in a trembling voice, “I’ve fallen and can’t get up.”

The reporting is that the move to remove Biden has been quelled since the sad event of Saturday night.

Why?

Do the Democrat members of Congress somehow think that Biden’s debate performance will be forgotten? Did the press conference sufficiently quell their concerns?

Do they think that (a) he can beat a now-even-more-popular Donald Trump and (b) that were he to win he would be capable of performing the job, which arguably requires work after 8 p.m. and on weekends and holidays?

The excuses about him winning the primaries or being the only one who has proven to beat Donald Trump are just that — things that are said to avoid the issue at hand, which is that the support of Biden’s policies is not something that exists in sufficient numbers among the American polity.

In May, Biden’s job approval rating was, overall, at 39%, according to Gallup.

And to break those numbers down:

Democrats, 82%
Independents, 34%
Republicans, 2%

Given that there are members of his own party who have asked him to leave the race, that 82% is probably a lower number today.

And that 34% of Independents is not good since they will be important to any chances of his reelection, and that number has also undoubtedly decreased.

Here’s something to think about: according to the Pew Research Center:

“Overall, 68% of those who voted in the 2020 presidential election turned out to vote in the 2022 midterms. Former President Donald Trump’s voters turned out at a higher rate in 2022 (71%) than did President Joe Biden’s voters (67%).”

Does anyone imagine fewer Trump 2020 voters will turn out in 2024?

At this point, the likelihood of Donald Trump being reelected is greater than it was, say, Friday, and even then it was likely.

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Blackburn Leads Off Monday in RNC

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn is scheduled to kick off the prime time highlights of the Republican National Convention, Monday. A spokesman for the senator confirms that plans haven’t changed in light of the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump, Axios reports.

Other featured speakers this week according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel include Sen. Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, and senate candidate Eric Hovde, former Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson, country music star Lee Greenwood, Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and key members of Trump’s family.

The RNC event chair is former Trump administration official and former GOP chairman Reince Priebus.

Your thoughts on the convention proceedings, the assassination attempt on Trump and other recent issues are always welcome.

Enter your thoughts into the Comments section in this column if you lean right, or in the right column if you lean liberal. Or email editors@thehustings.news and please tell us whether you lean red or blue in the subject line.

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Harris for President?

Will President Biden step down from his re-election bid and let Vice President Kamala Harris take over? Should he?

Send your predictions (no prizes to be awarded to best guesses, except the satisfaction of showing off skills as an astute citizen pundit) and/or comments to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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Poll Boosts Biden

FRIDAY 7/12/24

One Point Gain -- President Biden has gained a point over Donald J. Trump, though still in a statistical tie, according to the latest NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist poll taken after last month's debate debacle, Morning Edition reported Friday morning. Biden leads Trump 50% to 48% in a one-on-one race, with a margin of error of +/-3.1 points. When a third-party candidate is mixed in Trump leads Biden 43% to 42% with the same margin of error. Other polls show Trump leading in important swing states, however, so it appears he has an advantage in the Electoral College count.

This latest poll also finds that at this point, none of the Democrats mentioned as an alternative to Biden fare any better than the president, against Trump. However, the poll also finds that 68% to 32% find it more concerning to have a president who does not tell the truth than one who might be too old to serve.

Meanwhile... FiveThirtyEight's Thursday average of polls show Trump with a 2.1-point lead over Biden in a three-way race. Trump averages a 42.4% lead over Biden's 40.2% and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 9.2%.

Biden's Thursday Presser --It seems like President Biden cracked the door open, if just by a sliver, when he said at the end of his 50-minute press conference Thursday night that he is not the only Democrat who can beat Donald J. Trump November 5. Earlier, Biden conceded that Democratic delegates can vote for someone else at the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago, but “it’s not gonna happen.”

If the president was any less intransigent, it was only in comparison to his interview last Friday with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News This Week. Television punditocracy generally were down on the chances Biden will withdraw from his campaign.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) became the 16^th congressional Democrat to call for Biden to step down, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, “Why would you gamble away your legacy?”

When a reporter asked about his 2020 campaign statement that he sought out to be a “bridge” from the Trump administration to a younger generation, Biden said he needed to finish the job he started. He remains unconcerned that he might not win re-election.

“We just completed NATO’s summit, and it was a big success,” Biden began in his prepared remarks ahead of the press Q&A, which led into reminding his audience that he had accurately predicted and prepared for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He spoke in detail about deteriorating US relations with China and how he negotiated to add Finland and Sweden to the alliance (but he also misspoke in calling Trump his veep).

“My predecessor has made it clear he has no commitment to NATO,” Biden said.

“I made it clear I would not back down to Putin.” The election is about more than an election, Biden said; “It’s about the world we live in for years to come.”

Biden touted falling inflation levels (the Labor Department reported Thursday morning the Consumer Price Index fell to 3.0% in June), his latest border policy and a Gaza ceasefire proposal that Israel and Hamas are trying to work out. Biden also touted his anti-Reaganomics economic policy, saying he “was determined to stop trickle-down economic policy.”

Biden campaign staff rumored to be surreptitiously polling Vice President Harris’ numbers against Trump must be asking someone – themselves? – the question of whether the veep would carry on with Biden’s policies the next four years.

Meanwhile, at Mar-a-Lago… Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán left the NATO summit Thursday for Florida, where he met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. This all came a week after Orbán met with Putin in Moscow.

He also visited with China’s Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the past few weeks. But as NATO Sec. Gen. Jens Stoltenberg noted on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Orbán “made it clear when he came to Moscow that he didn’t go there on behalf of NATO.”

--TL

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

When You Lose Clooney. . .

By Stephen Macaulay

Some of us (present company in particular) probably spend way too much time way too early looking at what’s going on in the political arena.

But the Biden Imbroglio is something that even those who are not generally aware of things political know at least something about.

As in Joe Biden coming off as an old, confused individual.

That he is old cannot be questioned.

That he appeared confused during the debate against Donald Trump cannot be denied.

In the days since, that there are members of his own party calling for him to remove himself from contention is probably something that not a whole lot of people are aware of.

That George Clooney has called for Biden to step away is something that is more widely known by people who are far more interested in entertainers than politicians, and I’m guessing that there are more of the former than the latter.

And Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart haven’t helped by coming out against the man.

Somehow I think that even those living in the districts of House members Eric Sorensen (D-IL) and Hillary Scholten (D-MI) are more aware of what Clooney, Colbert and Stewart have said regarding Biden’s bid.

Last night Biden held a press conference and managed to pull it off reasonably well.

Were there sighs of relief among Team Biden? Is it thought that answering some questions from reporters showed that their man is solid?

And had the press conference been held after 8 pm, how would he have done?

Here’s the problem that Team Biden has, a problem that is intractable: his age.

He won’t be getting any younger.

In February — FEBRUARY! — an ABC News/Ipsos poll had it that 86% of Americans think Biden is too old to run for another term.

And there have been other polls since, that while not quite as striking, indicate the same.

Even if the margin of error is immense, there is still a non-trivial number of people, including Democrats, who think he is too old.

So let’s say that his heels are inextricably dug in, that he won’t absent himself from the ticket. What then?

Does it become a case of metaphorically holding one’s nose and voting for Biden because the other guy is simply not good? And won’t there be a non-trivial number of Democrat voters who figure that it is simply not a good thing to vote in someone they have little confidence in when it comes to his mental or physical stamina (I find it surprising that more hasn’t been made about Biden’s reported comments to Democratic governors about telling his staff not to book things after 8 p.m. and to give him plenty of time to rest. Some people used to make fun of Trump’s lightly scheduled days: how is this any different?)

So while the Democrat voters are tentative at most, Trump supporters are pumped up.

Who is going to get more people to the polls?

If Joe Biden truly believes that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, then he ought to do his utmost — limited though that apparently may be — to make sure that Trump doesn’t win the election.

And that means he should end his run sooner rather than later.

Read Stephen Macaulay's column on George Stephanopoulos' interview with President Biden, "Lord, Help Us," in The Gray Area.

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Who Will Be Trump's Running Mate?

Who will Donald J. Trump nominate at the Republican National Convention next week to be his running mate? Remaining candidates are said to be Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Send your predictions (no prizes to be awarded to best guesses, except the satisfaction of showing off skills as an astute citizen pundit) and/or comments on President Biden’s press conference to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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Readers’ Comments on Biden

Editors:

I can understand that Biden’s performance in the debate is a real concern, but I don’t blame him. He is an old man, too, and has made significant contributions to America. So I still choose to support Biden no matter what happens in the end. If we let Biden out of the race now and put someone else in his place, there would be some time crunch, and even if the best candidate is selected, who’s to say that the candidate is capable of standing up to Trump?

--Maria Thomas

via Substack

•••

Also in this column …

•More readers’ comments on the Trump v. Biden June 30 debate.

•Contributing pundit Ken Zino’s column on the presidential debate; “Substance Abuse – Two Unliked Candidates Confirm Our Problem.”

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…meanwhile…

Good news too late for Biden? – June’s Consumer Price Index fell to 3.0%, from a 3.4% rate the month before. Month-over-month prices actually fell by 0.1% on the heels of Chairman Jerome Powell’s hints the Federal Reserve may soon ease interest rates. Overall CPI less food and energy was up 3.3%, lowest since April 2021. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

Biden His Time – President Biden holds a news conference in Washington Thursday afternoon to wrap up the NATO summit, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Meanwhile, the future of his re-election bid appear to be at the tipping point, as Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to call for him to withdraw.

Biden has held the fewest press conferences of any president since Ronald Reagan, according to NPR.

Did I say that out loud?... Actor George Clooney’s warning in his New York Times op-ed that Biden’s cognitive issues also will hand the House and Senate over to Republican control reportedly is shaking up Democratic congressmembers themselves, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “hasn’t tried to hide her disdain for the situation the party now finds itself in,” one anonymous lawmaker told Politico Playbook.

Meanwhile… Adding to pressure from the Democratic side, the Trump campaign is now looking at a landslide and hope Biden will not drop out, according to Tim Alberta in The Atlantic magazine’s The Decision newsletter. “Donald Trump was well on his way to a 320-electoral vote win before the debate,” campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita told Alberta.

Politico Playbook quotes “about a half-dozen” Democratic lawmakers who say Pelosi told them Biden will not win in November, and aside from her much-parsed statement on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Biden should make the decision himself, has advised some Democrats in swing districts that they should “secure their own re-elections” even if it means they ask Biden to step aside.

About time… However, Pelosi’s advice above comes with the warning that they hold off from asking Biden to withdraw from the race until after this week’s NATO summit is finished.

It’s going to be a long weekend.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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AOC: Impeach Thomas, Alito/WEDNESDAY 7/10/24

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY, above) has filed articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito alleging a "pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements" (The Hill).

"Justices Thomas and Alito's repeated failure over decades to disclose that they received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court is explicitly against the law. And their refusal to recuse from the specific matters and cases before the court in which their benefactors and spouses are implicated represents nothing less than a constitutional crisis. These failures alone would amount to a deep transgression worthy of standard removal in any lower court, and would disqualify any nominee to the highest court from confirmation in the first place," she said in a press release.

BIDEN AND NATO'S 75TH

Zelenskyy Addresses NATO – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the meeting of NATO members gathered in Washington for the alliance’s 75^th anniversary that American missiles and permission to fire them across the border into Russia helped his military hold off an attack on the city of Kharkiv, and for thus stopping a Russian offensive this spring, The New York Times reports. But he requested the lifting of other restrictions to allow Ukraine to fire at military bases hundreds of miles inside Russia to destroy aircraft and weapons being dropped on his country’s civilians and children.

‘Trump-proof’… At Washington’s convention center, policymakers moved control of major elements of aid to Ukraine to NATO’s “umbrella” from the US in order to “Trump-proof” the military alliance (The Washington Post). Whether Joe Biden or Donald J. Trump wins the November election, “Putin will hate him,” Zelenskyy said at the conference (NYT).

Meanwhile, on MSNBC… Appearing on Morning Joe with Belarusian political activist Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, with whom she penned a Washington Post op-ed, House Speaker emeritus Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was asked to comment on whether Biden should remain in the presidential race. Pelosi gave the non-answer answer; “It’s up to the president to decide if he’s going to run.” Of course, Biden has decided, and the primary delegates he won are his to give up.

Pelosi’s WaPo op-ed with Tikhanovskaya is titled, “NATO is a bulwark against tyranny,” subtitle, “Facing down dictators such as Vladimir Putin and (Belarus’) Alexander Lukashenko is what the alliance was built for.”

•••

Hollywood Dissent -- Actor George Clooney, who hosted a star-studded Los Angeles fundraiser for President Biden in June is now asking him to step down from the campaign in a New York Times op-ed.

"I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as a president," Clooney writes. "I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he's won many of the battles he's faced.

"But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. ... It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe "big F-ing deal" Biden of 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."

--TL

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TUESDAY 7/9/24

Biden Bites Back – President Biden has support of his continued re-election campaign by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), The Washington Post reports Tuesday morning. Democratic senators were to discuss Biden’s debate debacle and what to do about his defiance in remaining in the presidential race at their weekly luncheon Tuesday.

Meanwhile, NATO… Tuesday evening in Washington, Biden is to give a commemorative speech at the 75^th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with leaders from its member countries (WaPo).

Meanwhile, Ukraine… “Poorly trained” Russian forces are unlikely to make “significant” territorial gains in a Ukraine that finally has been reinforced with fresh Western munitions, The New York Times reports ahead of NATO’s 75^th celebration, citing US officials.

•••

Neurologist’s Visits – White House visitor logs show Dr. Kevin Cannard, expert on Parkinson’s disease from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, visited the White House eight times in eight months up to this spring, The New York Timesreports. At least one of the meetings was with President Biden’s physician.

After Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “dodged” and refused to reply to questions about the president’s health, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor released a statement at 9:40 p.m. Monday that Biden had not seen a neurologist “outside his annual physical” and suggested most of those eight visits were to others working in the White House.

•••

MAGA in Milwaukee – The Republican National Committee released the 2024 Republican Party Platform Monday from Milwaukee, where the national convention that will formally nominate Donald J. Trump as its presidential candidate begins next week. The document reflecting “20 GOP Principles, Roadmap to Make America Great Again” calls for, number one, to “seal the border, and stop the migrant invasion,” and two, to “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”

Number three; “End inflation, and make America affordable again.”

Number four is to “make America the dominant energy producer in the world, by far!”, answering the Democratic argument that the US already is the world’s largest oil exporter … but with OPEC still hanging on, not yet “by far.”

Five, “Stop outsourcing, and turn the United States into a manufacturing superpower.”

Six, “Large tax cuts for workers, no tax on tips!”

Seven, “Defend our Constitution, our bill of rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms.”

Eight, “Prevent World War Three, restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East, and build a great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country – all made in America.”

Number nine, almost the halfway point, is to “end the weaponization of government against the American people.”

Read all 20 planks of the platform here.

The platform’s press release concludes with “When America is united, confident, and committed to our principles, it will never fail,” and “Today and together, with Love for our Country, Faith in People, and Trust in God’s Good Grace, we will Make America Great Again!”

•••

Defund Justice? – The fiscal year 2025 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill is up for markup Tuesday in the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where Republicans hope to “handcuff” the Department of Justice with riders preventing it from suing states over laws that limit abortion, curtail court challenges to state redistricting plans and block it from bringing lawsuits against local or state governments that limit “transgender medical procedures,” CQ Roll Call reports.

None of this will get far in the Democratic-controlled Senate or the Biden White House, of course, though it would give voters a clear roadmap of what a 2025 Trump White House and GOP-controlled Senate would look like.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What’s Right

What is right is that whether you are liberal or conservative, you are invited to submit your civil comments on the center column's latest political news/aggregate, as well as on comments by our contributing pundits writing writing for this or the left column.

Go to the COMMENTS line in this or the left column as appropriate for your political leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you consider yourself conservative or liberal in the subject line.

•••

Also in this column …

•Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s post-debate column, “There’s No ‘Take Two’”.

•Reader comment on the Trump v. Biden June 30 debate.

•Macaulay’s July 4 chronological list of US presidents’ retirement ages.

•Macaulay’s column on the debate, “Take Away the Keys.”

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The Debate Debate

[Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is the UK’s new prime minister.]

We have been holding a little conversation – let’s call it a debate – this week about last week’s debate between Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden.

Is Biden tempting fate by handing an easy victory to a decidedly more authoritarian Trump in refusing to drop out of the presidential race ahead of the Democratic Party’s national convention in August? Will the DNC’s convention in Chicago be a repeat of its disastrous 1968 convention there?

Scroll down with the scrollbar on the right-edge of this page to read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s “From Behind to Way Behind” plus a rundown of all 45 US presidents’ ages at retirement the author provided for Independence Day.

In the left column of that page, you’ll see readers’ responses to Biden’s poor debate performance.

Scroll down further to read analysis of the June 27^th debate, with contributing pundit Ken Zino’s commentary, “Substance Abuse – Two Unliked Candidates Confirm Our Problem” in the left column and Macaulay’s commentary, “Take Away the Keys” in the right column.

As always, you are encouraged to join in on the conversation/debate with your civil comments. Please use the COMMENTS section in the column appropriate to your political leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your leanings in the subject line.

_____

…meanwhile…

The U.S. added 206,000 new jobs in June, with leading gains in government, health care, social assistance and construction, the Labor Department reports. Unemployment crept above the 4% mark -- to 4.1% -- for the first time in 29 months. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

FRIDAY 7/5/24

Landslide for Labour – King Charles formally appointed Keir Starmer (left column, above) as the UK’s prime minister after his Labour party overwhelmed the ruling Conservatives in Sunday’s general elections by more than three to one.

Appearing on the street in front of his new residence at 10 Downing Street in London Monday, Starmer – who once called for the end of Britain’s monarchy – said; “If I asked you now whether you believe that Britain will be better for your children, I know too many of you would say no. And so my government will fight every day until you believe again.” (Per The Guardian.)

Starmer became only the fourth Labour party leader to win a general election since World War II. While Tories could end up with the lowest number of seats in Conservative Party history, Labour is forecast to fall short of the 419 seats Tony Blair won in 1997, according to the BBC. The Conservative party has led the UK since 2010.

Labour won 410 parliamentary seats, with 326 needed for a majority, 1440 reports, while the Tories snagged just 131 seats and the Liberal Democrats, 61.

Yesterday’s PM, Rishi Sunak, was re-elected for his Parliament seat for Richmond and Northallerton but said he would resign as the Tories’ leader.

“I have heard your anger, disappointment and I take responsibility for this loss,” Sunak said.

Yes, that’s what a peaceful change in power sounds like.

Meanwhile, in France … Second round in France’s elections happen Sunday. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party holds a huge lead after last Sunday’s elections.

•••

Biden, Take Two – In what could only be described as a desperate effort to reverse the effects of last week’s CNN presidential debate with Donald J. Trump, President Biden sits for an interview Friday with ABC News’ George Stephanopolous in Madison, Wisconsin, after a campaign rally in the state (per Good Morning America). First excerpts of the debate will be broadcast on World News Tonight with the full interview at 8 p.m.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Comments from the Right on the Debate

Editors:

It almost feels wrong to be critical of President Biden in his current rapidly deteriorating condition. I’m not sure he will make a second debate no matter how accommodating it is for him in going toe-to-toe with former President Donald Trump. Someone in the president’s close circle needs to counsel him that four more years is not realistic and dangerous for the country internally, and most definitely on the international stage.

The last time our country faced this was when President Reagan (my guy) was finishing his second term. No American wants to see the leader of the free world in a weak, lost and mentally struggling state. I’m sure I’m not alone in observing that President Biden is not capable of competently finishing his first term, let alone serving as POTUS for a full second four-year term. Those in the increasingly far-left party of progressives who now seem to run the Democratic Party should do some soul searching and perhaps beg President Biden to bow out gracefully.

--Rich Corbett

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Get Ready for Presidential Debates

CNN has released details of the first presidential debates of the season, between former President Donald J. Trump and current President Joe Biden. It starts 9 pm on Thursday, June 27. Moderators are CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

A vice-presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Trump's yet-to-be-picked running mate will be in July, presumably after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee that month.

A second Trump v. Biden presidential debate is scheduled for September 10 on ABC News. More details to come.

The live June 27 debate will be 90 minutes, with two commercial breaks, and the microphone of one candidate will be turned off when the other is speaking in response to his question. Both candidates have agreed to appear at a uniform podium design and their podium positions will be determined by a coin flip.

Follow the latest on these debates and other political news here at The Hustings.

We want to hear from you. After the June 27 debate, email editors@thehustings.news and tell us which candidate won, which candidate lost, and whether you might change your mind about which candidate to support in the November 5 election.

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…meanwhile…

FRIDAY 6/21/24

To Be Fired by a Cannon? -- Mar-a-Lagogate, the case by special prosecutor Jack Smith against Donald J. Trump for keeping classified documents from his expired administration in his Florida compound, was once considered the strongest criminal case against the former president. After all, evidence has appeared media-wide in which Trump is showing off the documents to people who definitely do not have clearance or executive privilege.

Now, as Judge Aileen Cannon (above) continues to slow-walk the trial, Trump's attorneys have Smith & Co. in her Ft. Pierce, Florida federal court to argue whether Smith was unconstitutionally appointed or is otherwise prosecuting the case without legal authority. Politico calls it a "far-fetched bid by Trump to scuttle the case altogether." Legal and political pundits are watching closely to see how far-fetched the argument under the Trump-appointee is.

_____________________________________

THURSDAY 6/20/24

Block Comstock? – Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) plans to introduce legislation to repeal the Comstock Act Thursday, the 1873 law that Democrats worry Republicans will use in a second Trump administration to bar abortion-related materials from being sent through the mail, The Washington Post reports. As The New York Times reported in a front-page story Sunday, Democrats at various government levels have begun a concerted pre-emptive effort to try and block the most controversial of Trump’s agenda should he win the presidential election this November.

“There is a very clear, well-organized plan afoot by the MAGA Republicans to use Comstock as a tool to ban medicated abortion, and potentially all abortions,” Smith said.

Donald J. Trump, whose appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices in his administration overturned Roe v. Wade has provided confusing messages on his anti-abortion agenda and has suggested it is a states’ issue.

•••

Target the Money – Efforts to cut the supply of street fentanyl shipped from China to Mexico are failing despite a crackdown Presidents Biden and Xi Jinping agreed to last November, so the Treasury Department will take up the cause by following the money. Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen Thursday is to announce in Atlanta Thursday measures to go after the cash international drug networks generate in selling street fentanyl in the US, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

--TL

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JUNETEENTH 2024

Russia, North Korea v. NATO – Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un signed a partnership deal Wednesday to counter what they see as a threat from NATO. The deal includes a vow of mutual aid if either nation faces “aggression,” the AP reports, and is perhaps the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the Cold War.

Trumpy v. Trumpier – Virginia State Sen. John McGuire’s Republican primary challenge to Rep. Bob Good, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus is “too close to call” the AP reports Wednesday. McGuire, who has Donald J. Trump’s endorsement because Good supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ failed presidential run, led Good by just 327 votes out of 62,495. McGuire also had support from former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who seeks revenge against Good for joining Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion last year to vacate McCarthy as House speaker. The counting of ballots is off for Juneteenth and will resume on Thursday.

--TL

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TUESDAY 6/18/24

Just Friends – Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is on his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, where he meets Tuesday with the son of the dictator he visited in July 2000, for a two-day grip-and-grin. That’s on the surface, of course; Putin gets conventional weapons it is running short of, after more than two years invading Ukraine, including artillery shells and short-range ballistic missiles, according to USA Today. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (pictured) gets much-needed flour, cooking oil and energy from Russia in exchange, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

Then, on Wednesday, Putin departs for a visit to Vietnam. While it’s Putin’s first visit since Kim Jong Il led the Hermit Kingdom, son Kim Jong Un took an “enormous” and luxurious armored train to visit Putin in Russia just last September.

•••

Biden and the Border – As Republican attacks on President Biden’s lack of border action continues, the White House Tuesday is expected to announce a “people in place” policy to allow nearly 500,000 undocumented spouses of legal US citizens work permits and protection from deportation, per Newsweek and the Associated Press.

Meanwhile in Iowa … A federal judge Monday blocked Iowa’s attempt to take border control into its own hands by enforcing its own law making it illegal to enter the state after being deported or denied entry into the US (per The New York Times). Imitating an effort by Texas, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) had signed a bill to allow state law enforcement to arrest and deport undocumented aliens.

--TL

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MONDAY 6/17/24

Netanyahu Dissolves War Cabinet – With moderate Benny Gantz and two-stater Gani Eisenkot having resigned the war cabinet set up after Hamas’ October 7 attack against Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu (above), the Israeli prime minister, announced Monday he is dissolving said war cabinet. Seen as largely a symbolic gesture and meant to take power from defense ministers, according to Haaretz, war strategy is now transferred to the security cabinet. “Sensitive” decisions will be addressed in smaller consultation form with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi and Shas Party Chair Aryeh Deri.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has granted 11-hour pauses per day in South Gaza to protect deliveries of humanitarian aid, according to The Washington Post. The pauses do not amount to a ceasefire, as fighting continues unabated elsewhere in Gaza.

At the Lebanese border … Rocket exchanges between Israeli Defense Forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah heated up in the last week, according to NPR’s Morning Edition, with Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel for Hamas. Israel has been hitting Hezbollah targets across the Lebanese border.

•••

Support to Ukraine – At the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland over the weekend, 78 countries and four European institutions signed a peace summit’s joint communique to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, The Kyiv Independent reports. Russia was not invited, and China, which was, did not show up.

The US announced $1.5 billion in aid for Ukraine, including support for the country’s energy infrastructure.

Ukraine said it used “at least 70” drones in an attack on Russia’s Morozovsk airbase, while Russia has launched 3,500 missiles per month on civilian targets and infrastructure.

Ukraine also says Russia suffered 4,000 casualties per month in its Kharkiv offensive.

•••

Conviction Hits Trump Support – A new Ipsos/Politico Magazine poll finds that 21% of independents surveyed are less likely to vote for Donald J. Trump after his business records/hush money conviction last month. While significant in what is expected to be a tight race up to November 5, the poll also notes that many Trump supporters and independents remain skeptical of motivations behind the trial.

•••

Up on the Hill -- The House is on break this week and the Senate is in session Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday off for observance of Juneteenth.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news