They Report -- Fox News' Bret Baier interviewed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris Wednesday evening in the vice president's first live appearance on the conservative news network. Scroll down center column trackbar for details.
FRIDAY 10/18/24
After Sinwar – Speaking from Berlin Friday President Biden expressed hope for a ceasefire in Gaza after Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, saying there now is “a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.” He, and Vice President Kamala Harris, are pretty much alone in such optimism.
Biden said in a White House statement that Hamas “is no longer capable of carrying out another October 7,” (per Newsweek). Sinwar’s death is an opportunity “for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
At a campaign appearance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Harris said; “This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza, and it must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination. And it is time for the day after to begin without Hamas in power.”
“Sinwar was an extremely important man in the movement,” Fuad Khuffash, a Palestinian analyst “close to Hamas” told The New York Times. “His assassination is not easy matter. But it won’t make Hamas retreat and surrender.”
Even if Sinwar’s death reopens negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire, there’s still Iran and Lebanon. Haaretz reports that “once the death settles on the killing of Sinwar, international attention will switch to the Iranian front” where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to deal with Iran’s nuclear arms program, “raising US concerns.”
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Musk Rallies for Trump – After raising $75 million for the Trump/Vance campaign through September, via his America PAC, Elon Musk has taken to the hustings to rally in Pennsylvania for the former president’s presidential campaign.
“Pennsylvania is, I think, the linchpin in this election, and this election, I think, is going to decide the fate of America and, along with the fate of America, the fate of Western civilization,” The World’s Richest Man told an adoring crowd in the Ridley High School auditorium in suburban Philadelphia, The Wall Street Journal reports. The auditorium was near its 800-person capacity, according to the report.
Musk, owner of X-Twitter and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX plans similar events in Pennsylvania in the next three days.
“The next three days are essential. I think we’ll see this election decided in Pennsylvania by…10,000 votes. It could be 1,000 votes. It could be 100 votes — it’s some very tiny number,” Musk told the Ridley High crowd.
Michigan v. Pennsylvania ... Musk's PAC is running ads in Michigan painting Kamala Harris as "pro-Israel" and ads in Pennsylvania painting her as "pro-Palestinian," according to Washington NPR radio station WAMU's The 1A.
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Will Haley Rally for Trump? – The Trump/Vance camp is in talks with Nikki Haley to have ex-President Trump’s former UN ambassador and GOP primary rival to appear together at a rally at the end of the month and possibly with Fox News personality Sean Hannity, “sources familiar with the discussions” told The Bulwark. Perhaps there’s something in a next Trump administration for Haley after all?
--TL
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THURSDAY 10/17/24
Hamas Leader Killed -- Israeli authorities have positively identified the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed in an Israeli Defense Force attack on Gaza Wednesday, The New York Times reports. Sinwar, said to be in his 60s, was considered the lead architect of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Big question now is what effect Sinwar's death might have on cease fire talks led by the US.
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...You Decide – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ first-ever interview on Fox News Wednesday certainly did nothing to snag the votes of Republicans or conservatives who have not already committed to voting for her instead of former President Trump. But did her 30-minute appearance, on Special Report with Bret Baier, help her with center-right independents and/or myriad other undecideds? Harris interrupted Baier’s interruptions several times in order to finish questions, which may have helped her with moderate female voters, NPR’s Morning Edition posits.
The interview did give the vice president a chance to retry a question she skirted past the much-friendlier The View on ABC-TV and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS; how would her presidency differ from Joe Biden’s?
“My presidency will not be a continuation of the Biden presidency,” Harris responded. “I represent a new generation of leadership.”
But Baier raised the question of who has been running the White House given President Biden’s cognitive issues.
“You told many interviewers that Joe Biden was on his game, then ran around circles on his staff. When did you first notice that President Biden’s mental faculties appeared diminished?” Baier asked.
“Joe Biden, I have watched from the Oval Office to the Situation Room,” Harris replied. “And he has the judgment and the experience to do exactly what he has done in making very important decisions on behalf of the American people.”
Harris was given the chance to attack Trump’s building threats to American democracy when Fox News ran a clip of Trump trying to turn the tables on the Democrats by claiming “they’re the ones doing the threats,” and comparing his suffering investigations with what happened to Alphonse Capone.
Harris countered that the clip did not properly characterize what Trump has been saying about “the enemy within.”
“You and I both know that he has talked about turning the American military on the American people, he talked about locking people up because they disagree with him,” Harris told Baier. “This is a democracy, and in our democracy, the president of the United States, in the United States of America, should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he would lock up people.”
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Meanwhile, on Univision – At a Town Hall broadcast by Univision Wednesday, Ramiro González, a New Jersey-born construction worker from Tampa, Florida, with Cuban heritage asked Donald J. Trump this: “I want to give you the opportunity to try and win back my vote. Your action and maybe inaction, during your presidency and maybe the last few years, sort of, was a little disturbing to me. What happened during January 6, and the fact that, you know, you waited so long to take action while your supporters were attacking the Capitol?”
Trump responded: “You had hundreds of thousands of people coming to Washington. They didn’t come because of me – they came because of the election – they thought the election was a rigged election and that’s why they came.”
González could be seen furrowing his brow and moving his head side-to-side, Newsweek reports, when Trump added this about January 6; “A day of love from the standpoint of millions – it’s like hundreds of thousands – it could have been -- the largest group I’ve ever spoken to before.”
That’s the hundreds of thousands who came to Washington because of they thought the election was rigged, not because of Trump.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa
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THURSDAY 10/17/24