Undecideds Were Waiting for This Debate?

By Hugh Hansen

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

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

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

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

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

Eight weeks.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Gloves Came Off in a Combative Debate

By Charles Dervarics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_____________________________________________

…meanwhile…

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

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 9/11/24

Preparation Matters

By Rich Corbett

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

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

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

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

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

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

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Debate Tonight!

Vice President Kamala Harris meets former President Donald J. Trump for the first time, at the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia Tuesday night for what looks like their only debate before the November 5 presidential election.

The debate begins 9 pm Eastern/6 pm Pacific time on ABC TV with moderators Linsey Davis and David Muir, and NPR will simulcast the debate on radio.

An NPR/Marist poll says 70% of all Americans say they'll watch all or most of the debate, Morning Edition reports Tuesday. The poll results break down 72% of Democrats, 74% of Republicans and 67% of independents.

You know what’s coming. We would like you to participate in a civil discussion about the debate. Who won the night? Did either candidate convince you, or change your mind, about who to vote for? 

Whether you are progressive or pro-MAGA, center-left or center-right, we want to foster fair and civil discourse in these columns. 

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

And don’t forget our FREE Substack newsletter.

_____

Trump, Orbán and Useful Idiots

By Todd Lassa

Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump leads Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris 48% to 47% in Sunday’s New York Times/Siena College Poll. Rather, we should say they’re in another “statistical tie,” which has been the case in most major polls for Trump v. Harris in the last month. 

Democrats and anti-MAGA Republicans worry that at this point in the 2016 and 2020 election campaigns, Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden, respectively, were ahead of Trump by more than statistical ties.

Nate Cohn notes in his NYT newsletter The Tilt that almost 30% of voters surveyed say they need to learn more about Harris – as they should Tuesday evening – and that there haven’t been many “high-quality” polls taken since the vice president’s Democratic National Convention bump. 

According to Cohn the poll points to four distinct advantages Trump enjoys at this point in the race:

•At 46%, Trump’s favorability rating is higher than ever; convictions and indictments be damned.

•He holds an advantage with voters on the issues.

•The former president “occupies the center.” Apparently, the “Comrade Kamala” insults are working, misplaced syllable accent and all.

•He is considered the “change candidate” in a nation that wants “change” (apparently the “incumbent advantage” goes away when the incumbent drops out in favor of his veep).

It seems that as of the post-Labor Day presidential campaign kick-off, Trump as a politician has been “normalized” in a way he could never achieve in 2020, let alone 2016. His odd campaign rally tangents seem to have been normalized, too.

In the opening remarks of his “town hall-style” rally on Fox News with Sean Hannity last Tuesday, Trump pumped up his crowd by quoting Hungary’s authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán; “Bring Trump back and we won’t have these problems.”

The next day, the Justice Department charged two employees of the global network Russian Television, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and with money laundering in what is described as a covert operation to influence the November election. About $9.7 million was funneled to Tenet Media, according to the DOJ. Tenet, run by Canadians Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan – who as of Monday have not been charged – in turn allegedly paid for hundreds of videos about election fraud, COVID-19, immigration and Russia’s war with Ukraine by such conservative media stars as Benny Johnson, Tim Pool and Dave Rubin, according to The New York Times.

These “useful idiots” posted their “Kremlin-friendly messages” on such social media as YouTube, TikTok, X-Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Rumble.

It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that as in 2016, the Kremlin’s efforts to influence the 2024 presidential election might be working. Trump continues to buddy up with Orbán, NATO’s sole anti-Ukraine leader and a close friend of Vladimir Putin, and their relationship and their antipathy for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his country’s efforts to remain independent has long been normalized by the MAGA wing controlling the GOP – but pointedly not the traditional wing, including former Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, as well as Dick Cheney and John Bolton.

How will ABC News’ Linsey Davis or David Muir raise these issues about Putin, Orbán and the useful idiots in Tuesday evening’s debate? Will they raise it? And how will Vice President Harris react to the biggest issue in this election that at least half of voters do not care about?

MONDAY-TUESDAY 9/9-10/24

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

This Is Governance?

By Stephen Macaulay

It is somewhat like the dog in the Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze: it doesn’t bark.

The absence brings up presence. What should have happened doesn’t.

Which brings us to Mitch McConnell, who is still the leader of the Republicans in the Senate.

Back in February McConnell pushed a bipartisan immigration and foreign aid bill. 

Donald Trump had posted this on Truth Social about the bill that was to both tighten asylum standards and shut down the border if there was an influx of an unmanageable number of illegal crossings, both the sort of thing that would provide the “border security” that so many Trump and Trump-PAC ads are now shrieking about: “Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill, which only gives Shutdown Authority after 5000 Encounters a day, when we already have the right to CLOSE THE BORDER NOW, which must be done.”

The bill was written, in part, by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), not a fool nor a “Radical Left Democrat.”

Lankford wrote of the bill, “Americans are not opposed to legal and orderly immigration, but they are tired of the chaos and abuse at our border.”

No one should argue against that. Or maybe people need to be reminded that we are a nation of immigrants.

Lankford went on to write:

“The border security bill will put a huge number of new enforcement tools in the hands of a future administration and push the current Administration to finally stop the illegal flow. The bill provides funding to build the wall, increase technology at the border, and add more detention beds, more agents, and more deportation flights. The border security bill ends the abuse of parole on our southwest border that has waived in over a million people. It dramatically changes our ambiguous asylum laws by conducting fast screenings at a higher standard of evidence, limited appeals, and fast deportation. 

“New bars to asylum eligibility will stop the criminal cartels from exploiting our currently weak immigration laws. The bill also has new emergency authorities to shut down the border when the border is overrun, new hiring authorities to quickly increase officers, and new hearing authorities to quickly apply consequences for illegal crossings. It changes our border from catch and release to detain and deport.” 

Remember: this is a conservative Republican (a real conservative, not the kind that have co-opted the ideology).

What’s not to like about that?

But Trump spoke, his acolytes listened, and McConnell, who had once been a force in the Senate — and in his party — wandered off in silence. Even though he is not running for reelection, even though he would have no political capital to lose by strongly voicing first his support then his concern, McConnell folded.

The reason Trump was against the bill was because if the border was at least somewhat “fixed,” he wouldn’t have one of his primary issues to rant, rave and inexplicably riff about.

So people fell into line and supported their liege.

Now arguably the bill has things in it that people don’t like, but the nature of developing legislation is — or it used to be — one of give-and-take and compromise. It is working to get the most of what you can get and to minimize the amount of what you don’t want, knowing full well that there are opposite numbers to your position trying to do the same thing from their points of view.

But at the end something — not nothing — results.

Or at least that used to be the way things worked before the House became not much more than something you might find on the grounds of a carnival and the Senate has gone from a “deliberative body” to one where people thinks the word “debate” is something that Herve Villechaize might have referenced in relation to fishing on Fantasy Island.

Now Trump has returned to directing Congress by saying that if the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act isn’t signed into law (it is essentially a law that says illegal aliens can’t vote in federal elections, which is actually something that noncitizens can’t do anyway, so if you’re all about reducing regulations and the size of government, enacting something that essentially repeats what’s already there is nothing but waste), then:

“I would shut down the government in a heartbeat if they don’t get it.”

Congress is going to have to actually do some work, or the government will be largely shut down on September 30. 

What Trump is saying, in effect, is that if the SAVE Act isn’t passed, then Congress shouldn’t do its job to keep the government running.

Here is the man who wants to lead the government who is saying that it should be shut down.

How does that make any sense?

It is all about him and what he wants. Never mind the rest of the people in the country he wants to represent. If he doesn’t get his way, then it is no way.

And there is either silence (McConnell) or fist-pumping support (Hawley, Jordan).

Trump clearly doesn’t understand that it isn’t about him, in large part because there are so many who either keep quiet or tell him that it is and pretend that it has something to do with making America great again.

It isn’t. It is simply giving him what he wants.

_____

From the Left

Editors:

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

--Kate McLeod

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

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

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

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

_____

…meanwhile…

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

FRIDAY 9/6/24

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

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

•••

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

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

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

•••

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

________________________________________________

THURSDAY 9/5/24

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

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

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

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

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

•••

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

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

•••

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

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

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

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

•••

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

--TL

_____________________________________________

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

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

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

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

--TL

_____________________________________________

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

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

•••

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

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

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

•••

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

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

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Joker

By Stephen Macaulay

On August 25, Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance appeared on NBC News’ Meet the Press. Kristen Welker, the interviewer, asked him about his comment about “childless cat ladies.” He’d made the quote during an interview in 2021 with Tucker Carlson on Fox News. As you may recall, Carlson was fired from his gig in 2023 after Fox settled a defamation lawsuit with voting machine company Dominion. The suit was brought because Dominion maintained that some folks at Fox were spreading false claims about the 2020 election being rigged. It cost Fox $787 million. Fair and balanced, right? Lying didn’t seem to matter much until it cost them.

The quote was a description of who Vance considered to be running the U.S., including “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

Welker pointed out, “The Census Bureau estimates there are 22 million women between the ages of 20 and 40 who for whatever reason do not have children. What do you say to those women who hear some of your comments, including the childless cat lady comments, which you’ve been asked about, but who feel as though you won’t represent them?’

He, of course, answered that he wants to be the “vice president for the whole country” and “represent everybody.” Not respect everybody.

Vance claimed it was a “sarcastic comment [made] years ago that I think a lot of Democrats have willfully misinterpreted.” There are probably more Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and other people who have a grasp of the English language who can read what he said without any misinterpretation.

It is flat out mean.

Welker asked if he regretted making the comment.

“Look, I regret certainly that a lot of people took it the wrong way, and I certainly regret that the DNC and Kamala Harris lied about it.”

What’s the lie, Vance? Didn’t you say these women are miserable with their lives because of choices they’ve made? What choices might they be? That they, for whatever reason, didn’t have children? What about all of the women who for medical reasons are childless? They need to be characterized by a smarmy politician who wants to “represent them”?

Welker pressed him again about whether he has any regret.

“Look, Kristen, I’m going to say things from time to time that people would disagree with. I’m a real person. I’m going to make jokes.”

And there it is: “I’m going to make jokes.”

In other words, he can say things that are mean, despicable and otherwise beneath someone who wants to be the person who is a heartbeat away from the presidency who can sluff off any decency by saying it was just a joke. 

That’s the sort of dodge most people left behind when they graduated high school.

Then The New York Times reported August 31 on another Vance attack on women.

In 2007 there was a teen beauty pageant. A young woman was asked a question and she totally flubbed it to a painfully embarrassing degree.

A video of it went viral. The young woman became depressed and considered suicide.

Presumably, as those things go, its virality had a half-life of days, to be replaced by some other epic fail.

But Vance, having spent time in Silicon Valley, proved himself not merely a tech bro but a bro bro and pulled it out from the pits of the internet and posted it on X prior to Kamala Harris’ CNN interview. It was captioned: “BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview.”

That’s right Vance, the man who seems exceedingly concerned about family values when it comes to things like procreation and what books should and shouldn’t be read in schools, shamed a person who was then a teenager, to make fun of a political opponent. Epic, bro.

And Donald Trump Jr. chimed in by posting “This is total Fake News from JD. We all know that Kamala isn’t that articulate.”

Again, victimize a young woman for some laffs.

Has he listened to one of his father’s public presentations lately?

According to Times, when Vance was asked if he had been aware of the fact that the young woman in the post had considered suicide he answered he hadn’t. And he said, “My heart goes out to her, and I hope that she’s doing well.”

A bit of contrition.

Then he was asked to apologize.

Oh, but the decent thing would be far too much for the man who wants “represent everyone.”

He is quoted:

“Politics has gotten way too lame,” he said, adding, “I’m not going to apologize for posting a joke, but I wish the best for Caitlin.”

Did Caitlin consider this to be a joke?

Is his approach to politics one where he is cruel and then just passes it off as a joke?

Vance told Kristen Welker that he was raised by two grandparents who “believed in some fundamental American values.”

Those values probably don’t include spite, meanness, callousness, and brutishness.

And they probably wouldn’t find these so-called “jokes” funny.

American leaders shouldn’t make fun of other Americans.

_____________________________________________

Reader Comments on the Right

Editors:

Stephen Macaulay’s “Warm Spit & Standards” happened to trigger thoughts of Harry Truman as VP under President Franklin Roosevelt. Having recently read about Truman, it was surprising to me that he only had two in-person meetings with life-long philanderer FDR before the president died in the presence of his mistress (Eleanor’s social secretary). It just goes to show the significance of the passage of time in how history records American presidents, and footnotes their vice presidents. Perhaps little has really changed when it comes to presidents, politics and the power hungry?

--Rich Corbett

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

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

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

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Your Thoughts on the Interview?

Whether you’re left or right, conservative or liberal, progressive or pro-Trump, your civil comments on Thursday night’s CNN interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are welcome here. We treat readers’ comments in the same manner that traditional newspapers handle letters to the editor, which means no false facts or personal attacks and none of the conspiracy theories or extremism that social media sites like X-Twitter, Telegraph and Facebook allow while hiding behind Section 230.

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‘My Values Have Not Changed’

By Todd Lassa

Vice President Kamala Harris has been in a precarious position since she became the Democratic Party’s last-minute presidential candidate in late July. It should not be a surprise or even a disappointment among her supporters, at least, that she waited a week after formally accepting that nomination at the Democratic National Convention before her sit-down interview along with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, by CNN’s Dana Bash.

Democrats have been clamoring for an agenda that would be new and fresh and a departure of some sort from President Joe Biden’s. Republicans have wielded this alleged lack of clarity by the Harris/Walz campaign as a political weapon.

We learned this Thursday evening: The Harris/Walz campaign will not back off Bidenomics. It is, after all, not just the Harris/Walz agenda but also the Democratic Party agenda. Harris will not be distracted by Republican candidate Donald J. Trump’s often gender- and racially charged personal attacks. 

The Harris/Walz campaign will continue to support and arm the Israeli government, but acknowledges the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza, with constant, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire in the war. The desire for a ceasefire to happen during the Biden administration, before the November 5 election in order to secure support by Democrats threatening to withhold their votes over the war seems wishful thinking as negotiations between the Israeli government and Hamas continue to go nowhere.

The vice president made it clear she will continue to push back against Republicans’ attacks on her work as “border czar” (even the question of whether Harris had that designation is contentious) by calling out Trump for killing the bipartisan border bill. She said she would name a Republican to her cabinet, like Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- but not Donald J. Trump -- before her.

Harris told Bash she has opposed a fracking ban since 2020 (when she joined Joe Biden’s campaign – and after she signed on as senator from California to the New Green Deal in 2019, which included a ban on fracking) and she is “very proud of the work that we have done that has brought inflation down to less than 3%, the work that we have done to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors,” adding that Trump said he would “do a number of things, including allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Never happened. We did it.”

A Harris/Walz administration would invest in small business, reinstate the $6,000 child tax credit and promote affordable housing, including with a tax credit for first time home buyers. This is essentially a modification of Bidenomics, the middle-up economic policy that for three-and-a-half years, with investment in clean energy and transportation and in the nation’s infrastructure has slowly been reversing the “trickle-down” supply side Reaganomics of the previous 40 years.

“My values have not changed,” Harris said Thursday night. Though if she and Walz prevail in November and they can advance some of these initiatives through Congress next year the term “Bidenomics” could transform into “Harrisnomics.” 

-- FRIDAY, Aug. 30, 2024

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Warm Spit & Standards

By Stephen Macaulay

What did Mike Pence do while serving as vice president? There was the important act of obeying the law on January 6, 2021. But other than that?

[PLEASE SCROLL DOWN this column for reader comments on the interview --Ed.]

What did Joe Biden do except make a remark that resulted in President Obama having to come out an announce his support of same-sex marriage?

Arguably Dick Cheney did more while in office than even he would probably admit to.

Al Gore, of course, invented the Internet, but that was before he moved into Number One Observatory Circle.

And Dan Quayle’s contribution to the polity was making it clear that there needs to be greater support for elementary education, particularly when it comes to spelling skills.

The point is, vice presidents don’t do a whole lot outside of ceremonial activities. Yes, the Constitution has it that the vice president is the president of the Senate, “but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.” A tie-breaker. Swell. 

Then there is the 25th Amendment. Section 1 puts it tersely: “In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.”

Section 4 is a bit more robust as it says, in part, “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”

While we’ve seen Section 1 in action since 1963, with Johnson succeeding Kennedy after the assassination, and in 1974, when Nixon resigned and Ford assumed the office, Section 4 hasn’t happened. Which is probably a good thing.

Which brings me to the Kamala Harris CNN interview. The observation about the vice presidency and warm spit comes to mind.

There are those who tie Biden’s policy to her, as though she had something to do with them. 

In the early 1920s, when Warren Harding was president, there was a bit of a change for the vice president. As the White House Historical Association puts it: “As vice president to President Warren G. Harding, Coolidge had little to do aside from presiding over the Senate, although the gracious Harding invited him to regularly attend cabinet meetings.”

Presumably the vice president’s role in the cabinet is not unlike that of a tourist.

There are those who seem to think that Harris should break with Biden in a big way. But realize that she has to work with the man until noon on January 20, 2025 no matter who wins the 2024 election, so it is probably better to be civil.

Did she do well during the interview with Dana Bash. Yes.

But what is probably more to the point is to make a comparison between that press conference and, say, Donald Trump’s at Mar-a-Lago on August 12.

He opened, “Hello, everybody. Well, thank you very much. Appreciate your being here. Just a statement before I talk about debates.”

Then rolled into things including, “I think that our country is right now in the most dangerous position it’s ever been in from an economic standpoint, from a safety standpoint. Both gangs on the street and frankly gangs outside of our country in the form of other countries that are frankly very powerful. They’re very powerful countries and we don’t know what we’re doing.”

Gangs that are very powerful countries?

And: “We have a very, very sick country right now. You saw the other day with the stock market crash. That was just the beginning. That was just the beginning. It’s going to get worse. It’s going to get a lot worse in my opinion. . . .”

On the day of that press conference the Dow closed at 41,086.81. On the day of Harris’ press conference it closed at 41,577.97.

While past performance is not indicative of future results, a Dow that’s been over 40,000 since mid-May doesn’t seem sick.

He went on and on until he got to the debates.

“With all of that being said, I think it’s very important to have debates and we’ve agreed with Fox on a date of September 4th. We’ve agreed with NBC, fairly full agreement subject to them on September 10th, and we’ve agreed with ABC on September 25th.”

Turns out that the September 4 Fox debate was, for example, something that the “we” he used was inclusive of him and only him.

The point it, Trump gives a press conference and pretty much makes a whole lot of stuff up and the general response is a shrug and a “that’s just Trump.”

If we think press conferences from presidential candidates are important, shouldn’t we hold them to some standards?

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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On the Harris/Walz CNN Interview

In a country like ours, it is difficult to believe that the best and brightest that Democrats have to offer in 2024 is Kamala Harris. What happened to the party who produced presidents like Kennedy, Clinton, Obama and frankly even Joe Biden? A couple of them never missed a chance to talk to the press or explain their political positions and policies. As a Reagan conservative, I disagreed politically with the last three, but I never doubted their ability to serve as POTUS. Donald Trump and JD Vance face the media every day and are clear about their positions and policies. Like them or not, Americans know where they stand, and voters can at least be confident that Donald Trump knows how to serve as president at home and abroad. 

After watching Kamala Harris uncomfortably struggle her way through “The First Interview” with Tim Walz filling in the gaps, there is little reason to be confident that she has a “clear” plan or positions that Americans can confidently believe. Just because Harris tells us that “she’s been very clear” … she has clearly flip-flopped on several positions. I’m left thinking it was just another word salad and filled with way too much chit-chat that covered little substance of importance to Americans.

--Rich Corbett

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Write to Us

Dear left and right, liberals and conservatives, pro-MAGA and progressives, we seek your opinions on our center-column political news aggregate and right- or left-column commentaries. Up for discussion most recently are…

•What questions are most important for CNN’s Dana Bash to ask Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in their first joint interview Thursday evening?

•Do you think the latest indictment filed against Donald J. Trump for alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election will go anywhere? Should it?

•Mark Zuckerberg says the Biden administration “pressured” him to censor certain COVID pandemic content on his Facebook. What do you think?

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

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…meanwhile…

TONIGHT – The Democratic Party presidential ticket of VP Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sit for their first joint interview on CNN at 9 pm Eastern with chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash.

THURSDAY 8/29/24

Federal Violation? – It was a prime opportunity for the Trump/Vance campaign: Take the former president to Arlington National Cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony that would highlight the third anniversary of the tragic withdrawal from Afghanistan by the Biden/Harris administration, that resulted in the killing of 13 US service members. The Trump/Vance campaign posted a 21-second TikTok video of the ceremony that “likely violates” federal law prohibiting the use of military cemeteries for campaigning purposes, NPR, which scooped the story of the wreath-laying on Monday’s All Things Considered. 

A cemetery official or officials tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section where recent US military casualties are buried, a source told NPR, but campaign staffers verbally abused and pushed an official aside. 

Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to the cemetery staffer’s statement, saying; “We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”

•••

Still a Tight Race – We hope you weren’t expecting to see any clarity in the Harris v. Trump presidential race after their parties’ conventions concluded. A new Emerson College/The Hill poll shows the two in a tight race, still, with Harris leading in three key states, but only within the margin of error.

In Georgia, Kamala Harris leads Donald J. Trump 49% to 48%; in Michigan, she leads 50% to 47% and in Nevada, she leads 49% to 48%. 

Trump leads Harris in Arizona, 50% to 47%. He leads in North Carolina 49% to 48%, and in Wisconsin, 49% to 48%. 

The two candidates are tied at 48% in Pennsylvania.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 8/28/24

Reindicted, and We Knew You Would – After the Supreme Court granted the former president immunity for all official acts under his administration in a 6-3 ruling, a federal grand jury has reindicted Donald J. Trump on four felony charges connected to his efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election. The 36-page indictment issued by special counsel Jack Smith removes some specific allegations and removes those alleged co-conspirators from the original indictment, who were working in the administration at the time, according to Politico.

The original 45-page indictment issued in August 2023 was threatened by SCOTUS’ decision July 1. 

The four counts of the new United States of America v. Donald J. Trump are…

Count 1: Conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Count 2: Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

Count 3: Obstruction of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding.

Count 4: Conspiracy against rights.

More to come from SCOTUS … Promoting her memoir, Lovely One in an interview Tuesday with Managing Editor Nora O’Donnell on CBS Evening News Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she’s as “prepared as anyone can be” for the November 5 presidential election to end up in the US Supreme Court.

“I was concerned about a system that appeared to provide immunity for one individual under one set of circumstances, when we have a criminal justice system that had ordinarily treated everyone the same,” she told O’Donnell.

•••

Zuckerberg Hedges His Bets – Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he was “pressured” by the Biden administration to censor some content around COVID-19 early during the pandemic. You know, the conspiracy theories, bleach-ingesting cures and “satirical content” allowed to run free in social media sites like his Facebook thanks to Section 230. The White House denies Zuckerberg’s claims.

“He knows it’s not true,” veteran tech journo Kara Swisher told CNN’s The Source Tuesday evening. Swisher says Zuckerberg is hedging his bets because Kamala Harris will forget about his assertion, but Donald J. Trump will not, and already has threatened him. 

“I think he’s the most equivocating executive in tech,” Swisher said, noting he is ready to be “Trump adjacent” without going as far as X/Tesla/SpaceX chief Elon Musk if the ex-president wins the November election.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Questions About Media Relevancy

By Stephen Macaulay

One of the knocks against Kamala Harris thus far is that she hasn’t participated in interviews with legacy news organizations. Arguably she hasn’t participated in any interviews with new media organizations, either.

But the likes of the Times and the Post and NBC and ABC treat this like not merely an affront to the people’s need to know, but to their fundamental importance to the polity.

So Harris’ ghosting their conference rooms is something that they repeat. Just like Donald Trump.

They treat it like she doesn’t respect them. He clearly doesn’t respect her. 

In the case of Them it is interesting that there was less angst and anguish over the fact that Trump didn’t give his first press conference this year until August 8, a couple weeks after Biden dropped out of the race.

The day Biden dropped out, July 21, Harris announced she was running. Trump announced he was running for president on November 15, 2022. So if we take the Trump metric of 633 days, Harris has until April 14, 2026.

This is not to say that I don’t think it is a good thing for her not to talk to the media. She should.

But it is to say that those legacy organizations need to understand that their editorial boards are not quite as influential as they once were. For example, about 36% of the U.S. population is between the ages of 18 and 44 and there are probably more than a few of them who never consult the legacies. Never.

According to a recent article in The Drum, a publication that follows the media (old and new), “During this election cycle, digital is expected to attract $3.46bn in spend, or about 28% of total spend in the cycle.”

That means, of course, that 72% is not being spent on digital.

But then The Drum goes on to point out this about the $3.46bn spend: “This represents a 156% uptick from 2020 levels.”

Few things go up 156% in four years. And if it scales that way, come 2028. . . .

Team Harris knows where the money should be directed. And, of course, Team Trump likes to keep things close, so there’s always lots of advertising space available on Truth Social.

This, of course, isn’t about ad spending. It is about communicating.

To what extent do politicians, especially those going for the highest offices, “owe” the public something more than “I’m _________________ and I approve this message”?

I’d submit a lot.

And not only during campaigns. And not only to accredited media.

Consider the Prime Minister’s Questions in the UK. Every Wednesday when the House of Commons is sitting the Prime Minister shows up at Westminster and takes questions for about 30 minutes. Not only does that show what the PM knows and thinks, but it also does the same for the House members.

But of course, this is after the people in question have been elected to office and the concern here is Harris’ so-far resistance to a sit-down interview with Lester Holt or Maggie Haberman or whomever.

While this will certainly happen between now and the election, its importance is in inverse relation to the concern expressed about it.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news