…meanwhile…

Ukraine's military says it controls nearly 400 square miles of Russia, in and around the Kursk region, NPR's Morning Edition reports. Scroll down for details.

TUE 8/13/24

Details -- Up to 1,000 soldiers, at least 11 tanks and 20 armored vehicles have crossed the Ukraine border into Russia since its counteroffensive a week ago, the Kyiv Post reports. Alexei Smirnov, governor of Kursk Oblast reports at least 12 civilians dead and 121 injured. About 121,000 residents of the region have fled or evacuated, and the governor of the neighboring Belgorod region also has evacuated civilians from its border region, according to the Post.

As Western pundits debate over why Ukraine chose to invade a week ago, The Kyiv Independent says the move into Kursk Oblast is meant to divert Russian tanks and protect Ukraine's border regions, Kyiv says. But the Kyiv Post also reports that residents of the small town of Sudzha have appealed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin for help and that many there worry that family members were unable to evacuate. Sudzha has just 5,000 residents, but it also is the last major transit point for Russian pipeline gas heading to Europe via Ukraine.

•••

Both Campaigns Hacked, FBI Says -- Computer hackers in Iran have tried to hack a Trump associate and advisors to the Biden-Harris campaign, people "familiar with the matter" tell The Washington Post. Three Biden-Harris staffers also received spear-phishing emails, according to the report.

"We can confirm the FBI is investigating this matter," the agency said in a prepared statement. According to the WaPo the FBI began investigating the hacking in June, contacting Google and other companies.

--TL

____________________________________________

MON 8/12/24

More – Ukraine pushed at least 10 miles into Russia’s Kursk Oblast, NPR’s Morning Edition reports, adding that unconfirmed reports say the counteroffensive went as much as 20 miles past the border, with locals fleeing and complaining there was a lack of warning from Russia’s government, which is offering them 10,000 rubles (about US$115) compensation.

The incursion has strained Ukraine’s defensive forces in the Kharkiv region, according to NPR, while Russian reinforcements are expected to push back Ukrainian troops in Kursk soon and reclaim the border.

The debate: Allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with US arms once raised worries Vladimir Putin would give him excuse to engage with the US and NATO. In May, the US allowed Ukraine to use its missiles to counter-strike Russia’s attack on the Kharkiv region. Of the further push across the border, Business Ukraine magazine tweeted this Monday morning: “Now that Ukraine has crossed the reddest of Putin’s red lines and invaded Russia without sparking World War III, there are no excuses for restricting Kyiv’s ability to defend itself or denying Ukraine the weapons it needs to win the war.”

Agree? Disagree? – Read the left or right column for how to add your comments to this page.

•••

‘Final’ Ceasefire Proposal This Week (?) – It all comes to a head, again, this week when President Biden, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi and Qatar Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani are to present a “final” ceasefire proposal to end Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza (per The New York Times). The US, Egypt and Qatar last Thursday called on Israel and Hamas to return to the negotiations table. Then on Saturday, at least 93 people were killed in a school sheltering Palestinian refugees in Gaza, The Washington Post reports. Israel said its military forces were targeting Hamas fighters.

On Monday, according to Haaretz, leaders of the UK, France and Germany called on Iran to refrain from attacks on Israel that would jeopardize truce talks, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz asking Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to “do everything possible to prevent further military escalation.”

•••

On Biden’s Exit Interview – President Biden spoke about his proposal for an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire in his interview with Robert Costa for CBS Sunday Morning over the weekend.

“The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the UN Security Council, etc., is still viable,” Biden said. “And I’m working literally every single day – and my whole term – to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can.”

Huge turnouts supporting Harris’ campaign have included some demonstrators opposed to continued funding and support for Israel in its war on Hamas in Gaza.

CBS News released a clip of the Sunday Morning interview last week, in which Biden warns that he believes Donald J. Trump will not accept a loss in the November election. Trump has said he will accept results of a free and fair election, but his campaign also is floating the notion that the Democratic Party’s switch to Vice President Harris as his opponent is not “constitutional.”

Biden told Costa he made his decision to withdraw from the presidential race with a “small circle” of people including First Lady Jill Biden at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, vacation home as he recovered from a case of COVID.

•••

Harris Trumps Trump, Biden, on Economy – This one, frankly, is a bit confounding. An FT Michigan Ross poll finds that 42% trust Vice President Kamala Harris to handle the economy while 41% trust ex-President Trump. … And Harris’ score tops the most recent score for President Biden by seven points. Never mind that the Federal Reserve has more to do with interest rates and trying to control inflation than does any president, though Trump has indicated his second presidential term would seize some or all control from the Fed. In her nascent presidential campaign, there is no indication Harris would abandon Biden’s reversal of “trickle-down” supply side Reaganomics.

And yet, “The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden … says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” University of Michigan Professor Erik Golden said, according to the Financial Times.

Presumably, the professor was speaking about the Harris v. the Biden campaign, not the Harris v. the Biden economy.

•••

Musk Interviews Trump – X-Twitter owner Elon Musk will interview Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump on X-Twitter, 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific, on X-Twitter.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What’s Right

•Go to the Comments section in this column, or the column on the left if you lean liberal rather than conservative, to comment on Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast, or on other political news issues.

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

•Visit our Substack page here and sign up for our free newsletter.

_____

Left Here, Right There

Whether you identify more with the left column or the right column, we’d love to hear from you. Hit the Comments section in the right column if you lean conservative, or the Comments section in this column if you lean liberal.

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

Or do you consider yourself “centrist”? Write to us at the email address above and we’ll write back to figure out which column best characterizes your comments.

Did you know that while we do not have a newsletter, we do have a Substack page?

In the coming weeks we’ll be looking at the reported Elon Musk-Donald J. Trump interview that is to take place Monday, August 12. We’ll also be talking about the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which begins a week later, on August 19.

_____

…meanwhile…

(President Biden expressed doubts ex-President Trump would accept a loss, in an interview taped for CBS Sunday Morning. Scroll down the center column for details.)

Ukraine Takes Kursk – Although not officially connected to Ukraine’s invasion of the western Russian region of Kursk, a column of Russian military vehicles and personnel “was destroyed” there, The Kyiv Independent reports Friday, citing Suspilne and the independent Russian media outlet Agentstvo. Kursk Oblast is the location of the Ukrainian military’s incursion this week into Russia.

The report was corroborated by pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Rybar, which said that a local resident who filmed the attack handed the video over to Ukrainian media but has been arrested by Russian authorities. In the BBC’s report on the incursion, a reporter says Russian media have been unusually frank in reporting on Ukraine’s success in the region.

•••

That Mar-a-Lago Presser – Ex-President Trump’s hour-long press conference at Mar-a-Lago Thursday was “rambling and chaotic” according to NPR’s Morning Edition and by now you’ve heard the highlights.

This one stands out: “Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me. If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours – same real estate, same everything, same number of people if not – we had more.”

That’s right, Donald J. Trump was comparing the peaceful 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom to his January 6, 2021, speech at the Ellipse leading up to the attack on the US Capitol. He described his White House departure in the presser as “peaceful.”

The country is in mortal danger if Trump does not win the November 5 presidential election, he said, predicting war and a depression on the level of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Asked about his remarks before the National Association of Black Journalists last week suggesting that his Democratic challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris changed her ethnicity, Trump called her “very disrespectful” of both her mother’s Indian heritage and her father’s Jamaican heritage.

Describing Harris’ appeal, Trump said; “She’s a woman. She represents certain groups of people.” (Direct quotes per The New York Times.)

--TL

_____________________________________________

THURSDAY 8/8/24

Trump Agrees to Three Debates -- Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump announced at a "rare" Mar-a-Lago press conference that he has agreed to three debates with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris (per Politico). They are to be on Fox News September 4, ABC on September 10 and NBC on September 25.

•••

It’s About Cars? – President Biden is pretty sure Donald J. Trump will resist defeat in the November 5 presidential election. On CBS Sunday Morning Robert Costa asks Biden if he’s “confident there will be a peaceful transition of power in January of 2025?”

“If Trump loses, no I’m not,” the president responds. “I’m not confident at all. He means what he says. We don’t take him seriously. He means it. All this stuff about if we lose it’ll be a bloodbath … Look what they’re trying to do in the local election districts where the people count the votes … putting people in place where they’re going to count the votes.”

The full interview runs Sunday morning, August 11, between 9 am and 10:30 am Eastern time.

Republican reaction: Trump defenders say his statement earlier this year that there “will be a bloodbath” was a warning about the US auto industry if Chinese automakers are allowed importation without serious tariffs (Biden has imposed a 102.5% tariff on Chinese-built EVs). The former president’s comments came after the United Auto Workers’ leadership endorsed the Democratic ticket.

Flashback: In the Trump-Biden debate in late June, the one that led to Biden stepping down from his re-election campaign, CNN’s Dana Bash asked Trump three times whether he will accept the results of this November’s election.

After some evasion and downplaying of his role in the January 6^th attack on the US Capitol, when Bash asked; “yes or no?” on that third attempt, Trump replied, “absolutely” he would accept results if the election was “fair and good.”

NOTE: Don’t miss Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary, “Letter from the President” in the right column.

•••

Reports: Ukraine Pushes Into Russia – Ukraine forces launched on Tuesday “an ambitious operation” across Russia’s western border at Kursk Oblast in large numbers,” The Kyiv Independent reports, citing a mix of sources. Officials in Kyiv have so far been silent about the offensive.

But Russia’s defense ministry says the invasion involves a Ukrainian force likely involving 100s of troops and dozens of vehicles, according to the report. A “visibly frustrated” Vladimir Putin called the offensive a “large-scale provocation” and accused Ukrainian forces of shelling residential areas, in a short, televised address on Wednesday.

The Independent reports no official announcements from Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spoken to his commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, and said “details would follow later.”

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

(President Biden expressed doubts ex-President Trump would accept a loss, in an interview taped for CBS Sunday Morning. […]

Letter from the President

By Stephen Macaulay

I never knew how important we were here at The Hustings.

That is, the other day I received a letter with this in the space where the return address would otherwise appear:

Donald J. Trump

President of the United States

Now I know that it is a sign of respect that former office holders often are called by their former titles.

But the position on the envelope could cause something of an issue.

That is, it seems as though this is a statement of present condition, as though he is currently president of the United States.

What if there was some problem delivering the letter to my address and it had to be returned to sender?

Wouldn’t it be reasonable that the postal worker would figure the president is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW and so send it to Joe Biden?

Inside the envelope was, of course, a lengthy screed that, fundamentally, exhorted me to send money to an address that isn’t on Pennsylvania Avenue. Money that would, so it argued, permit Donald J. Trump to return to that address and, what’s more, save the country.

Or that would be more appropriately put: Save the Country!

You may be thinking, “Getting a solicitation from a politician is no big deal. Who doesn’t get them?”

And you would be right.

But what made my letter from Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, special was that it included the “MAGA VICTORY SURVEY.”

The survey was printed not only with my name and address, but an eight-digit Personal Identification Code. Does that mean that there are tens of millions of others who have gotten a survey? I’d like to think not.

The instructions tell me that upon completion I am to “submit this form along with your contribution to the TRUMP NATIONAL COMMITTEE in the postage-paid RUSH RETURN ENVELOPE provided and return immediately.”

I understand why the committee is in caps and boldface; I wonder about the return envelope’s status.

The four-page MAGA VICTORY SURVEY includes 17 questions, although #17 is a bit of a ringer as it is actually a “PERSONAL SUPPORT FORM” that asks:

“Will you support the Trump National Committee’s efforts to regain the White House, win a Republican Majority in the U.S. Senate, strengthen our Republican Majority in the U.S. House, and elect Republicans across America in this November’s elections?”

The box followed by YES! includes recommended donation amounts starting at $2,024. There is also a $47 option: “A symbolic gift of $47 signifies your commitment to making Donald Trump the 47^th President of the United States this November.”

There is a “No” option: “I want the Democrats to take over the White House.”

It is surprising that it isn’t followed by “TRAITOR!”

There is a third box:

“While I support the Trump-Republican agenda, I cannot donate at the suggested levels at this time. Enclosed is my gift of $15 to cover the cost of processing my Survey.”

To quote Donald J. Trump, “Sad.”

However, if it is costing the Trump National Committee $15 per survey — I mean, Survey — and there are tens of millions out there, it seems they might have found a more cost-effective processing house.

Anyway, for those of your who didn’t get a letter from

Donald J. Trump

President of the United States

here’s the sort of questions you’re missing:

Who do you think should set the U.S. policy agenda?
1. President Trump b. Joe Biden c. Deep State bureaucrats

Note how the current president is simply referred to by his name. (And it should be noted that this was printed pre-Kambala.)

3. Please rank the following issue priorities in terms of importance to you (with

1 being the most important, 5 being the least important),

Stamping out inflation
Restoring law and order in America’s crime-infested cities
Rooting out Deep State bureaucrats and draining the Washington Swamp
Negotiating America First free trade agreements
Securing our boarders, building the Wall, and deporting illegal immigrants

I know what you’re thinking: Ones across the board!

And it goes on from there, including witch hunts, Lunatic Left policies, invasion, harsh mandates, unelected Deep State bureaucrats, and more.

You can only imagine the mental “Four more years! Four more years!” chant that is going on among the tens of millions as they fill out their MAGA VICTORY SURVEY.

One curious thing, however.

There is fine print.

It indicates that Trump National Committee (‘TNC’) is “a joint fundraising committee of Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc. (‘DJTFP’), the principal campaign committee of Donald J. Trump, and the Republican National Committee (RNC).”

Of the money sent (“not deductible for federal income tax purposes”), the distribution will be 10% to the RNC and “90% to DJTFP, which will designate the funds first to its primary election account, then it its general election account, and finally to its recount account.”

“Recount account”?

Are the folks at Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc., nervous about something?

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Trump Warns of His Authoritarianism?

Editors:

Now some are wondering whether his french fry burp actually covered saying he's "*not* a Christian"?

Hearing it with both possibilities in my mind I believe Trump said "I'm a Christian," but had a bit of french fry burp back up on him. I don't believe he'd ever tell such a group he's not what they want him to be. I also wonder about the "won't have to vote" thing. I am incapable of seeing him as someone with a plan containing more than a week's specifics, unless it was about manipulating a particular piece of real estate's value. If I had to guess, he caught one phrase from some sycophant/offspring's summary of 2025 visions and tossed it out there (it had to do with voting, after all, which I doubt he's ever liked). The largest danger to me is he'll win and die, leaving it to Vance.

--Hugh Hansen

__________________________________________

If you lean left and you are worried – or not so much -- by Donald J. Trump’s latest talk there will be no need for Christians to vote in 2028 if they help elect him this November, this is your column. Click on the headline above and go to the Comment section in the column, or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings (regardless of your opinion on this specific subject) in the subject line.

If you lean right – whether Trump’s comments worry you or not – please see the right column on this page. You may enter your comments in the appropriate lines after clicking on the headline, “Could There be Any Reasonable Explanation?”

_____

…meanwhile…

President Biden speaks Thursday about the historic prisoner swap with Russia. Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alsu Kurmasheva were among those released by Vladimir Putin. (White House photo.)

UPDATE II: A Kremlin bureaucratic formality requires those released from prison, such as in Thursday's prisoner exchange, must formally request clemency in a letter to Russian leader/dictator Vladimir Putin. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was to serve 16 years for a made-up espionage charge asked the Russian government in his letter for an interview with Putin, Axios reports.

A much darker revelation came earlier from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who in a Thursday press briefing said the US had sought the release of dissident Alexei Navalny, according to Axios. Navalny died under mysterious circumstances while held in a Russian prison last February.

Clarification: We have noted that Gershkovich, the highest profile prisoner in the exchange, and retired US Marine Paul Whelan were released Thursday. We also listed British-Russian anti-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, but did not mention his Pulitzer Prize-winning work as a Washington Post contributor. A fourth release by Russia to America is Alsu Kurmasheva, of Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Liberty.

UPDATE: The US-Russia prisoner swap actually involved a seven-nation exchange that took place in Ankara, Turkey, The New York Times reports. In addition to WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, retired US Marine Paul Whelan and Russian-British journalist and Kremlin opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russia released several allies of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who himself died in a Russian gulag last February, reports The Atlantic Daily which notes that Russia got "what it wanted" in the exchange. That includes release of Vadim Krasilov, a colonel from the Russian intelligence service who was serving a life sentence in a German prison for carrying out a Kremlin-ordered hit on a dissident in Berlin, a Russian money launderer serving time in an American prison and two Russian spies caught in Slovenia.

Gershkovich, Whelan to be Released in Swap -- Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich (above) and retired US Marine Paul Whelan and a third American will be released from Russian prisons by late Thursday in what CNN and the BBC describe as a "massive prisoner swap," according to the Biden administration. Gershkovich and Whelan both had been sentenced to 16-year prison sentences for espionage.

•••

Will it be Shapiro? -- The Harris campaign has confirmed to The Philadelphia Inquirer that the vice president will kick off her tour through swing states next Tuesday in Philadelphia, with her choice for running mate. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is native of a Philadelphia suburb, adding to speculation that he is Harris' lead choice to run for vice president on the Democratic ticket. But the Inquirer adds that Harris' swing state campaign next week will go through Arizona, home to Sen. Mark Kelly, who also is seen as a top candidate for the job. Harris and her running mate also will tour western Wisconsin, Detroit, Raleigh, North Carolina, Savannah, Georgia and Las Vegas, the campaign told the newspaper.

•••

KSM to Plead Guilty in 9/11 Case – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others charged with plotting the September 11 attacks have agreed to a plea deal in which they will avoid the death penalty, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. They also will have to answer questions from victims’ family members about why they did what they did. Nearly 3,000 died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and aboard an airliner in rural Pennsylvania.

It is not known whether KSM, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi will remain at Guantánamo or will be transferred to prisons in the US. It is also not known what prompted the plea bargains – President Biden was not involved according to the National Security Council, NPR reports, but the cases had not been going well for prosecutors, especially regarding evidence gathered via torture during the Bush 43 administration.

And it’s not completely over: the cases of 30 more men held at Guantánamo remain.

•••

Fed Cut, Not Yet – A week after the June numbers for the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, once obscure outside Federal Reserve nerds, dropped to 2.5% were released, Chairman Jerome Powell says the Fed could cut interest rates at its next meeting in September to avoid weakening the labor market, The Wall Street Journal reports.

“The broad sense of the committee is that the economy is moving closer to the point at which it will be appropriate to reduce our policy rate. A reduction in the policy rate could be on the table as soon as the next meeting in September.”

That’s potentially good news for Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign, if consumers notice substantial relief in mortgage and car loan rates, and credit card interest.

With the Fed’s hold Wednesday, the policy rate remains between 5.25% and 5.5%, though PRI’s Marketplace reports that the rate being offered consumers by banks may already be coming down.

--TL

_____________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 7/31/24

NABJ Interviews Trump – What did the Trump campaign hope to get from the ex-president’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Chicago, Wednesday? The campaign had claimed to be winning over Black voters from President Biden, but Donald J. Trump said nothing to advance that cause, what with Vice President Harris as her opponent.

Rachel Scott of ABC News began by asking Trump about his false claims that former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and former President Obama might not be American citizens and thus disqualified for the job, that Trump told four congresswomen of color to “go back to where they came from,” though they are American citizens, that the ex-prez has used words like “animal” and “rabid” to describe Black district attorneys and has called Black journalists “losers,” saying their questions are “stupid” and “racist,” and noted Trump had dinner with known white supremacists at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

“Why should Black voters trust you after you use language like that?” Scott asked.

“Well, first of all, I didn’t think I’ve ever been asked a question so … in such a horrible manner. First question. You didn’t even say ‘hello, how are you?’ Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network. And I think it’s disgraceful. I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country. Including employment, including opportunity zones with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, which is one of the greatest programs ever for Black workers and Black entrepreneurs.”

Trump did get one audience member’s off-screen applause when he said he saved “broke” historically Black colleges and universities (HSBCUs). And, of course, it could only get better from there, right?

Well, the headline on the story by Kadia Goba, the Semafor political reporter who joined Scott and Fox News’ Harris Faulkner on the Chicago NABJ stage, reads that “Trump falsely says (Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris ‘turned black’ after previously promoting her Indian heritage…”

Meanwhile, Politifact conducted real-time fact-checking during the one-hour interview.

Terry Marsh, assistant professor of media at Norfolk State University told Politico it is “probably the most unusual presidential interview I’ve ever seen. He seemed to avoid answering questions that are important to this group of people. His motive was just to explain his agenda. I’m confused why he came.”

Vice President Harris is in talks with the NABJ to speak to the group virtually, after their convention, according to USA Today.

--TL

_____________________________________________

Escalating War – Hamas has accused Israel of killing Ismail Haniyeh, its top political leader, in an airstrike on Tehran Wednesday where he was attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Hamas called Haniyeh’s killing “a dangerous event,” as Israel’s war on the militant Palestinian group has spilled out past Gaza into southern Lebanon.

Israel officials had no comment on the attack.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Channel News Asia during a visit to Singapore that the US is not involved, and was not aware of the airstrike, which came hours after Israel said it killed a top commander of Hezbollah in an airstrike on Beirut. That strike on Lebanon was, in turn, retaliation for a rocket strike from Lebanon on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights last weekend, which resulted in at least 12 fatalities, mostly youth and teenagers, according to The New York Times.

Qatar had hosted Haniyeh in US-backed Gaza ceasefire talks, according to NPR.

Haniyeh’s killing, political assassinations, continued targeting of Palestinian civilians in Gaza undermine mediation efforts when “one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side,” said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohanned Al Thani.

•••

Project 2025 Director Leaves – The director of Project 2025, Paul Dans, is stepping down from the Heritage Foundation-led campaign from which the Trump campaign is trying to distance itself, The Hill reports.

“When we began Project 2025, we set a timeline for the project to conclude its policy drafting after the two party conventions this year, and we are sticking to that timeline,” said Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation president.

Project 2025 would place the entire executive branch of the federal government under direct control of the president under the unitary executive theory. Donald J. Trump denied knowledge of the project prior to the Republican National Convention, despite its connections with numerous associates of the ex-president. Dans was chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management in the Trump administration.

--TL

_____________________________________________

TUE 7/30/24 ...meanwhile...

Vice – With much of the world’s attention turned to the Paris Olympics and other summer activities, the punditocracy is concentrating on running mates from both parties.

On the Democratic side, Vice President Kamala Harris, little more than a week into her campaign ahead of a formal virtual nomination by August 7, two key candidates to become her running mate have dropped out. Gretchen Whitmer has formally removed her name from consideration, saying she will fill out her remaining two years as Michigan’s governor. She also will serve as co-chair of Harris’ presidential campaign.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper also has removed his name from consideration, in part because Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a “GOP firebrand” according to The Washington Post would become acting governor. In addition, Cooper has not been “formally vetted” to become Harris’ running mate, an anonymous source told the WaPo.

The veepstakes … That leaves Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to Politico. With Cooper formally out of the running, Beshear is the remaining red state governor still in the mix.

Meanwhile … “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg is campaigning hard for Harris’ veepstakes. He has gotten much attention among Democrats recently for his Fox News appearances, where he calmly and cheerfully explains why anti-Democratic tropes on the network are misinformed, a role he explained to Jon Stewart Monday Night on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

Meanwhile, at the Trump campaign … Hard to believe Donald J. Trump would admit to a mistake and remove Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate, but some Republican lawmakers believe he has turned out to be “a magnet for controversy” and negative press, The Hill reports. Some GOP senators and congress members believe Trump should have chosen a woman, or a “person of color,” like Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who was key in writing Trump’s 2017 tax bill.

“I don’t think Trump likes any discomfort – he can create discomfort himself – but he doesn’t like external discomfort coming in, and J.D.’s struggling,” a Republican senator who remained anonymous told The Hill. “I would assume he’s not very happy.”

•••

Leo Says Biden Amendment Would “Pack the Court” – Attorney and right-wing activist Leonard Leo, the mentor to Justice Clarence Thomas considered largely responsible for the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority, rarely appears in public. But he took to Fox News Digital Tuesday to criticize President Biden’s No One is Above the Law Constitutional amendment announced Monday at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas.

Saying the amendment has virtually no chance of adoption, Leo argued it would “really politicize the institution,” adding that it “is really just another attempt to pack the Supreme Court and to attack the integrity of the court without any real basis.”

--TL

_____________________________________________

MON 7/29/24 -- Biden Pitches Constitutional Amendment

President Biden commemorates the 60^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act Monday at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas, where he will announce a “bold plan” to reform the US Supreme Court and “ensure no president is above the law.”

Look for Biden’s proposal to be the focus of his remaining half-year in office, as he pushes to ease democrats’ and Democrats’ fears about the potential for authoritarian executive rule after SCOTUS in its 2023-24 term gave presidents, former or current, broad immunity for “official” acts.

Biden will propose the No One is Above the Law Amendment according to the White House, which would make “clear no president is above the law or immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office,” and states “the Constitution does not confer any immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing by virtue of previously serving as president”:

No immunity for crimes a former president committed in office: Biden “shares the founders’ belief that the president’s power is limited – not absolute – and must ultimately reside with the people.”
Term limits for Supreme Court Justices: The sitting president would appoint a justice every two years to spend 18 years in active service on the Supreme Court.
Binding Code of Conduct for the Supreme Court: Biden “believes that Congress should pass binding, enforceable conduct and ethics rules that require justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.” SCOTUS justices would “not be exempt from the enforceable code of conduct that applies to every other federal judge.”

Biden originally intended to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act earlier in July but delayed the event after the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania against Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.

Biden’s speech, scheduled for 3 pm Central time (4 pm Eastern) is a closed event, though you can watch the live stream here.

•••

Venezuela Election Looks Fishy – Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US has “serious concerns” after Venezuela’s National Electoral Council named Nicolas Maduro winner of a third term in elections held Sunday. Elvis Amoroso, president of the council and a close ally of Maduro announced after hours delay that Marduro had 51% of the vote to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez’s 44%, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

Opposition leader Maria Corino Machado insisted Gonzalez had 70% of the vote to Maduro’s 30%. Machado cited several exit polls, including one by Edison Research, of the US, that showed Gonzalez over Maduro 65% to 31%. Maduro, first elected president in 2013 following the death of his mentor, Hugo Chavez, is widely unpopular in Venezuela.

Gonzalez, a 74-year-old retired diplomat took over the opposition campaign from Machado after the Maduro regime banned her from running, according to NPR.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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SAT-SUN 7/27-28/24 -- Trump: Last Vote for Christians

GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump suggested to a Christian group Friday night that this November’s election would be the last for which they would ever need to vote. Ostensibly, he apparently was trying to make it easy for a segment of conservative Christians who do not care to go to the polls.

The nefarious explanation is that Trump expects to be American dictator not just for a day, January 20 and will end presidential elections as we know it.

Give him the benefit of a doubt, and perhaps Trump means he’ll fix everything conservative Christians want – including establishment of Christian nationalism in the US -- so there will be no reason for Christians to vote again in 2028.

In either case, here’s your chance to enter your warning or try to ease worries, as a Citizen Pundit, for what you think Trump meant Friday at the Believers’ Summit hosted by the far-right youth-oriented political group, Turning Point Action, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Here is what Trump told the Believers’ Summit about voting, according to The New York Times:

“You won’t have to do it anymore. You know what? Four more years, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to do it anymore, my beautiful Christians.

“I love you, Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, you got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Weird

By Stephen Macaulay

One of the things that Democrats in support of the candidacy of Kamala Harris are doing is to refer to Donald Trump and his sidekick JD Vance as being or of having beliefs or notions that are, vis-à-vis the people who are located within bigger part of the bell-shaped curve, “weird.”

Strange. Odd. Out of step.

Let’s take a portion of a Trump stump speech theme, something he has said on more than one occasion, so it is not like nitpicking out of context.

Allegedly, Trump visited a recreational boat manufacturer in South Carolina.

Trump said he was told by someone at the company that “They” — and as “They” are not identified, it must be the Feds, because the governor of South Carolina is a Republican and legislative assembly is dominated by Republicans — “want us to make all electric boats.”

Let’s let that go. There is no proposed legislation for that. But as electric vehicles are seen by Trump as being related to environmental issues, and as he seemingly thinks environmental concerns are irrelevant, it is good for his brand to use this fantasy.

Now, let’s go full Trump:

“He [the person at the boat company] said ‘The problem is the boat is so heavy it can’t float.’

“I said, that sounds like a problem.”

Fair point. A boat that can’t float isn’t exactly useful. But there are electric boats. And they do float.

Someone might point out to Trump that the Boeing 757 he uses weighs over 255,000 pounds — and it flies!

To continue:

“He said, ‘Also, it can’t go fast because of the weight’ and they want to now have a 50 mile or a 70 mile radius. You have to go out 70 miles before you can really start the boat up, and you go out at two knots. That’s essentially almost like two miles an hour.

“I say, ‘How long does it take you to get out there?’

“’Many hours. And then you’re allowed to go around for 10 minutes, but you have to come back because the batteries only last for a very short period of time.’”

Now that is certainly too tangled to figure out. You have to go 70 miles before you can accelerate the boat, but 70 miles is the limit the boat can travel? And it takes “many hours” to “go around for 10 minutes”?

Even if this was the case, would anyone buy the boat?

Trump:

“So I said, ‘Let me ask you a question.’

“And he said, ‘Nobody ever asked this question.’”

Probably because it is a nonsensical question. But Trump continued:

“And it must be because of MIT. My relationship to MIT. Very smart. He goes. I say, ‘What would happen if the boat sank from its weight? And you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery is now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there.’

“By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately. You notice that? A lot of shark.”

In case you’re wondering: Trump had an uncle who was a professor at MIT. The uncle died in 1985. Just imagine if he played Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Trump goes into a shark-attack digression:

“I watch some guys justifying it today. ‘Well, they weren’t really that angry. They bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact that they were, they were not hungry, but they misunderstood what, who she was.’

“These people are crazy. He said ‘There’s no problem with sharks. They just didn’t really understand a young woman swimming,’ — no, really got decimated and other people too, a lot of shark attacks.”

Ah, yes. . . .

Anyway, back to that electric boat:

“I said, ‘So there’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards or here. Do I get electrocuted? If the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking. Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted? Or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?’

“Because I will tell you, he didn’t know the answer. He said, ‘You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.’

“I said, ‘I think it’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water.’

“But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark!”

Now let’s realize this is at a political rally. Presumably an event where he is trying to persuade people to vote for him.

So what does he do?

Does he explain what his goals to improve the lots of those listing are? Does he work to inspire them with images of a brighter future?

No, he talks about electric boats with bizarre capabilities, about how smart he thinks he is, and about sharks.

Again, while this was from a speech in Las Vegas it was not the only time he brought up sharks. Clearly the man has some issues vis-à-vis electricity, sharks and other things people don’t really spend a whole lot of time thinking about. And note how he raises the sinking boat and hungry sharks to a level of catastrophe, just like things he otherwise gets worked up about: the unfortunate situation at the border is an “invasion.” (The people who are getting over the border are killing innocent Americans, presumably after they’ve brought over kilos of fentanyl. Odds are, more of them are taking tremendously tough jobs like picking fruit in the Central Valley and the only thing they’ve brought over are the clothes on their backs.*)

And we could go into some of the things that Vance has said that are out of the mainstream of thinking (e.g., adults with children should have a number of votes predicated on their progeny, which, in effect, makes offspring and spouses somewhat, well, not what one would ordinarily consider them as being for a certain segment of the populus.)

So calling Trump and Vance “weird” is arguably definitional.

But Tom Friedman, in The New York Times, interprets that in another way:

“It is now a truism that if Democrats have any hope of carrying key swing states and overcoming Trump’s advantages in the Electoral College, they have to break through to white, working-class, non-college-educated men and women, who, if they have one thing in common, feel denigrated and humiliated by Democratic, liberal, college-educated elites. They hate the people who hate Trump more than they care about any Trump policies. Therefore, the dumbest message Democrats could seize on right now is to further humiliate them as ‘weird.’”

No, that is the dumbest interpretation of what is going on.

Electric boats, sharks, cat ladies, and things like that discussed in the context of politics are weird.

And the “white, working-class, non-college-educated men and women” Friedman refers to are not being called “weird.” Trump and Vance are.

These men and women were undoubtedly raised by parents and teachers who taught them things about what’s right and wrong, good and bad, sensical and nonsensical.

To finally have people point out that what Trump often says (think of all of the crazy things he said about COVID or about the “love letters” between him and the leader of a country that President George W. Bush, a Republican, identified as being part of the Axis of Evil) is outside the norm. Weird.

Some people are not going to be moved no matter how Trump and Vance are described.

But those who can be moved, those who have had doubts but not certainty, may see the fundamental weirdness at play and when it is being called out and identified by others, it may have an effect on their willingness to acknowledge what they fundamentally know. (And speaking of things fundamental in the Judeo-Christian society, presumably a certain number of the people who Friedman describes attended Christian services while growing up and are aware of the Ten Commandments, including the first three which are: “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall make no idols. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” and Trump saying of himself back in 2019, “I am the chosen one” goes over the line Commandments-wise, again, outside the norm).

Referring to Trump and Vance as weird while providing instances of their weirdness doesn’t serve to humiliate anyone other than the people involved.

In Friedman’s logic, calling Trump “old and weird” would be offensive to AARP members, not something that is mainly objectively measurable.

*(This is not to excuse illegal immigration in any way. But it does bring to mind one of the ways to at least minimize the number of people coming over. These people are, to a large degree, coming from another country because they believe there is a better opportunity for them in the U.S., with “opportunity” equaling “job.” So why not resurrect the idea that employers on this side of the border must establish electronic records for each and every employee on their staff and if there are discrepancies found — and this can be done by random checks — then they pay huge penalties and the illegally employed individual is sent back. By cutting demand (i.e., employers not interested in hiring illegals), the supply will be reduced.)

Macaulay is pundit-at-large.

Could There be Any Reasonable Explanation?

Whether you are a never-Trumper conservative worried you might not be able to vote again if the ex-president wins this November’s presidential election, or you are pro-MAGA and believe the reaction to his comments to the Believers’ Summit hosted by Turning Point Action, in West Palm Beach, Florida are being overplayed, this is your column.

Click on the headline above and go to the Comment section in the column, or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings (regardless of your opinion on this specific subject) in the subject line.

If you lean left – whether Trump’s comments worry you or not – please see the left column on this page. You may enter your comments in the appropriate lines on there after clicking on that headline, “Trump Warns of his Authoritarianism?”

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The Left on Biden’s Withdrawal

The Hustings humbly seeks your comments on Joe Biden's withdrawal Sunday from the presidential race. Will the Democrats run Vice President Harris, or someone else? Who will be the vice presidential candidate? Do you think this strengthens or weakens the Trump/Vance ticket?

Enter your Comments in this column, or the one on the right, if you lean conservative. Or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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Biden Steps Down

Via X-Twitter. More to come. [SUNDAY 7/21/24]

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Right on Biden Stepping Down

Enter your Comments in this column, or the one on the left, if you lean liberal. Or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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Comments on the Debate

Scroll down one page (far-right scrollbar) for reader comments in the right column on the first (only?) presidential debate between Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden. Scroll down two pages for comments in the left column.

Read our next-day coverage of the debate, “Panic at the White House,” in the center column. It is accompanied in the left column by Ken Zino’s commentary, “Substance Abuse – Two Unliked Candidates Confirm Our Problem,” and in the right column by Stephen Macaulay’s “Take Away the Keys.”

COMMENT in the appropriate column or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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What Will Dems Do About Biden?

By Todd Lassa

(7/8/24) French voters’ reversal in Sunday’s second round of ballots of what looked like an assured takeover of the Assemblée Nationale by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party might have given the Democratic Party a bit of confidence they have enough time to do something about President Biden ahead of their convention in Chicago next month.

The whole thing took place in a month, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling for snap elections on June 9 after far-right parties won European Union elections in France, Italy and Austria, and came in second in Germany and The Netherlands. That sort of timing most certainly is the European way and most certainly is not the American way, though we still have October for surprises.

Le Pen’s nationalist/populist/MAGA-like party led French polls for a month and chalked up a big victory in the first round. But a coalition of moderate-left to far-left parties rallied against National Rally and turned out in huge numbers Sunday.

Nevertheless, the left-wing coalition still must work with other political forces to put together a governing majority, Le Monde(English version) reports. In the second round, Nouveau Front Populaire snagged 182 deputy seats on the 577-seat Assemblée Nationale to 168 seats for Macron’s coalition and just 143 seats for National Rally. A majority is 277 seats.

Back here at home, congressional Democrats are worried about certain loss of a Senate majority and no chance of retaking the House majority on top of any level of shift toward authoritarianism by a Trump victory in November. In a Sunday call with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) that lasted nearly two hours, four Democratic leaders, Reps. Jerry Nadler (NY), Adam Smith (WA), Mark Takano (CA) and Joe Morello (NY) added their names to five House members whom already had called for Biden to step down from the presidential race, Politico reports. Four others “voiced concerns,” according to the report.

Democratic Reps. Lloyd Doggett (TX), Mike Quigley (IL), Raúl Grijalva (AZ), Seth Moulton (MA) and Angie Craig (MN) had already called for the president’s withdrawal (The Hill). Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia will lead a regularly scheduled Tuesday Senate Democratic member's meeting to discuss what to do about Biden, NPR's Morning Edition reports. Obviously, Biden’s spirited, if also telepromptered rallies in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, over the weekend did nothing to quell House and Senate Democrats’ concerns.

Nor did his Friday interview in Madison, Wisconsin, with George Stephanopoulos for ABC News This Week. Rather than reverse effects of his debate with Donald J. Trump, Biden seemed to borrow what Democrats would say is the former Republican president’s playbook.

Trump’s “I alone can fix it” became “I don’t think anyone is more qualified to be president,” in Biden’s words. And only “the Lord almighty” could force him out Biden said, though not while holding up a Bible (about the same time, Trump disavowed knowledge of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025/Presidential Transition Project, with its Christian Nationalist undertones).

But it was Biden’s answer to Stephanopoulos’ question of how the president would feel if he lost to Trump this November that might cause his fellow Democrats to wonder how serious he is about 'saving democracy': “I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the good job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.”

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

There’s No “Take Two”

By Stephen Macaulay

“There’s no such thing as a second first impression.”

That’s something that many Democratic operatives, the Biden Boosters, seem not to realize.

Sure, President Biden has accomplished some very good things in his tenure — the Inflation Reduction Act alone trumps all of what Donald J. Trump accomplished vis-à-vis infrastructure, and the IRA is no small thing as it has tremendous benefits for Americans at all levels of the economic stratum.

And, yes, there is no question that Trump has openly stated that he plans to do all manner of things should he get a second term that are more along the lines of assuaging his own bruised ego than Making America Great Again. (To say nothing of his conflict with electricity and/or sharks.)

But on the evening of June 27 millions of people tuned in to the presidential debate, millions of whom were happily anxious to see Joe Biden school Donald Trump in a perfunctory manner.

And what they saw within the first few minutes was an old man who seemed as though he wasn’t sure why he was where he was at.

That impression is something that will not be overcome.

On November 5 there will undoubtedly be a number of people who had voted for Biden or who had been previously inclined to, who will just stay home. How can they, in good conscience, vote for a man who was clearly out of his depth?

There is no question that Trump spewed lie after lie after lie.

But during his time on the stage, he proffered these lies in a forceful way. He sounded confident. He appeared in control.

And while he could have really taken it to Biden for Biden’s evident confusion, he didn’t.

That alone, perhaps, will make some people who were on the fence to go to his side.

When the polls that the Biden Boosters cite tend to have it as a “close race, within the margin of error” — and not acknowledging that they need the margin on their side —can they really doubt that they’ve lost a number of people?

What’s more, there is the issue of other people on the ballot in November: 34 Senate seats are open and the Democrats have a chance to take back the House — assuming that people come out to vote.

As of April 2024, according to the Pew Research Center, 49% of registered voters are Democrats or lean that way while the number is 48% for the Republicans.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on July 2 has it that 32% of Democrats think Biden should end his reelection bid.

The math isn’t hard to figure when you consider the delta of registered voters.

Donna Brazile told Politico Playbook, “Joe Biden won the Democratic nomination. To undermine the voters in this country at this hour would be the worst thing the Democratic Party could ever do.”

Presumably this is because the people who voted for him in the primaries (and how many alternatives did they have — besides, of course, Dean Phillips and Jason Palmer on ballots in some states?) would feel disenfranchised were Biden to not be the nominee.

But how many of those people, who watched the debate and who have read the articles that indicate that perhaps the man isn’t running on all cylinders, might want to reconsider their choice?

The “worst thing”? On a scale of losing the presidency, House and Senate?

First we were told Biden had a bad performance because he had a cold. Which miraculously seemed to have disappeared the next day. (Yes, colds go away, but have you ever gone from, say, feeling like hell one day and then on top of the world the next?)

Now we’re told it was because he was tired from travel.

Politico:

“Biden went to France for the 80^th anniversary of D-Day in early June, then to Italy for the G7 meeting on June 12. The president followed that up with a Los Angeles fundraiser on June 15. He returned to Washington on June 16, or 11 days before the debate. He and his team holed up at Camp David for prep for nearly a week prior to the event with Trump in Atlanta.”

Eleven days and he was still tired?

Isn’t that concerning in itself?

More than 50 million people watched the debate.

More than watch any individual speeches or appearances of either of the men.

Trump looked strong. Biden didn’t.

And no amount of staged events or excuses can make that impression go away.

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Readers on the Left React to Trump v. Biden Debate

Editors:

I am having a problem listening to what is called a debate. Trump is lying his ass off and while I support Biden I believe that at this turn in the world neither one of these individuals is up to the job. That Trump with his vulgarities and convictions is able to ask the American people for their trust and confidence shows just how pathetic our democracy has become. Watching television and listening to their positions isn't going to save the country. I'm just not sure at this point if anything can. I am hoping that we can count on younger generations to fix the situations that have brought us to the brink.

--Kate McLeod

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Oh, dear. While President Biden’s performance did not change my mind about who is a better person or a better president, nor even about who would be a better president starting next January, it did make me very pessimistic about who will be the next president if these two men are the nominees. Mr. President, I will still vote for you, make phone calls, put up signs. But I will be doing it through an internal mist of despair. Please, sir. Cap your life service to our country by withdrawing from the race.

--Hugh Hansen

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news