Did You Catch That?

TUESDAY Aug. 13, 2024

If you logged on to X-Twitter 8 pm Eastern Monday night, you might have thought you missed the social media site’s owner/Tesla-/SpaceX-CEO Elon Musk having a friendly “conversation” with Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump. Or you might have wondered whether X’s “Spaces” were somewhere else, in a portal far, far away from the regular ex-Twitter folderol.

Our left-column pundit, Ken Zino, did, and gave up before Musk finally got the show going. Our pundit-at-large, Stephen Macaulay, had already given up on the “conversation” ahead of time and explains why he sat this one out, in the right column. Nevertheless, there were 998 million posts about Trump-Musk between 7:47 and 10:47 pm, according to Musk's X account.

If you have something to say about the Musk-Trump show, whether you listened or not, please send us your Comments. Respond in the left column Comments section if you fall to the left of the political horseshoe’s center, or in the right column Comments section if you fall to the right.

Or, simply email us at editors@thehustings.news and please list your leanings as liberal or conservative (whether centrist on either side, or progressive or MAGA or anything in between) in the subject line, so we post your comments to the appropriate column.

Also, be sure to sign up for our free Substack newsletter.

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A Glitchy Evening with Musk and Trump

By Charles Dervarics

With Vice President Kamala Harris surging in the polls, Donald J. Trump took to the friendly territory of X (formerly Twitter) Monday night for an interview with Elon Musk in hopes of reclaiming momentum for the fall presidential campaign.

What he perhaps didn’t expect were technical glitches that delayed the event by 40 minutes. Users received messages such as “this space is not available,” and those gaining access just heard music for many minutes. Musk claimed that a massive external attack on the website was to blame, and both he and Trump spun the delay as proof of tremendous interest in the interview.

The event was a homecoming of sorts for the former president, whose Twitter account was suspended in 2021 and who then launched his own social media site, Truth Social. Prior to the interview, Trump touted his return to the platform in a video posted to X.

While the Trump campaign termed it beforehand as “the interview of the century,” the event was more of a conversation between two men who agree on most topics. His questions were more of the softball variety, with no fact-checking of the responses.

For his part, Trump returned to many of his favorite themes, sharply criticizing Harris as both unqualified and too-far left for most Americans. “I think she’s more incompetent than he (President Biden) is,” Trump said. He also urged his supporters and the media to not let Democrats “get away with their disinformation campaign” to distance the vice president from her role in setting immigration policy.

The more newsworthy revelations, however, included the following:

Return to Butler: “We’re going back to Butler,” Trump said of his desire to return to the Pennsylvania site of his recent assassination attempt. The former president and Musk spent 20 minutes talking about the assassination attempt, with Trump stating that he will return there in October. He also joked that “illegal immigration saved my life” because he turned his head toward an immigration chart on stage. Without that turn of the head, the bullet may have caused more catastrophic injury.

Education changes: Trump returned to an earlier theme of wanting to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and “move education back to the states.” He noted that “not every state will do great” but that it would spur competition as families may relocate in search of better schools. He predicted about 35 states would “do great” with the change.

Government efficiency: Musk said he wants to sit on a commission to examine government inefficiency, and Trump seemed ready to take him up on his offer. “The waste [in government spending] is incredible,” Trump asserted.

Musk previously has endorsed Trump and pledged to provide substantial funding for his campaign.

TUE 8/13/24

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Why I’m Not Interested in Trump-Musk

By Stephen Macaulay

Back in January 2017, while making a speech at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters, Donald Trump claimed that the size of the crowd at his inauguration earlier that week had been “like a million, a million and a half people.”

It has been estimated that the size of the 2009 Obama inauguration crowd was that big.

And photographic evidence comparing the two events shows the number of people in Washington was significantly smaller for Trump.

But as Trump said to the VFW convention the following year, “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

The bizarre Trump crowd size estimate gave rise to Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts.”

Here we are, seven years later, and Trump is still concerned about crowd sizes.

At his Mar-a-Lago press conference August 8 he started throwing out numbers. Like claiming he had 107,000 people at a rally in New Jersey, which Newsweek calculated to be <60,000.

Then there were the small numbers:

“What did she have yesterday? 2,000 people? If I ever had 2,000 people, you'd say my campaign is finished. It's so dishonest, the press. … When she gets 1,500 people, and I saw it yesterday on ABC, which they said, ‘Oh, the crowd was so big.’ … I have 10 times, 20 times, 30 times the crowd size. And no, they never say the crowd was big. … I think it's so terrible when you say, ‘Well she has 1,500 people, 1,000 people,’ and they talk about, oh, the enthusiasm.”

Which seems to mean Trump is saying his crowds are 20,000, 40,000 or 60,000 people. If he did the math, he’d probably be embarrassed about the low estimates he made.

While he went on to claim that were he president “You wouldn’t have had inflation” and that if he isn’t reelected “Everybody’s going to be forced to buy an electric car,” he did resume the crowd theme: “I have hundreds of thousands of people in, uh, South Carolina. I had 88,000 people in Alabama. I had 68,000 people.”

About that 88,000-person event in South Carolina.

Caitlin Byrd of The Post and Courier, based in Charleston, South Carolina, writes one of the most brilliant assessments of that claim:

“But the rally Trump appeared to be referencing wasn't a rally at all. It was a football game.

“The former president seemed to be mentioning his November 25 appearance at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia for the state's biggest college football spectacle of the year: the Clemson-South Carolina football matchup.

“The game was not a Trump campaign rally. It's a college duel that takes place every year.

“His appearance was brief.

“Trump walked onto the field, standing at the 25-yard-line with Gov. Henry McMaster. Loud cheers greeted him along with scattered boos. Trump waved to fans and the student section.

“He made no remarks. He just smiled and waved.”

Byrd goes on to point out: “The official box score put the crowd attendance for that game at 80,172 — not 88,000.”

Imagine if he’d gone to the Indianapolis 500.

Trump’s latest ploy is to claim that Harris’ crowds are non-existent, that Harris campaign is putting out fake pictures, such as at a rally held last week at an airplane hangar at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Trump posted on Truth Social: “She’s a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the ‘crowd’ looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake ‘crowds’ at her speeches. She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”

Even the local Fox News affiliate in Detroit noted: “Former President Trump is claiming that ‘nobody’ was on the tarmac last week in Detroit to greet Vice President Harris for a campaign event in the Motor City despite unedited video and images from multiple news agencies showing otherwise. “

Yes, even Fox News knows what is real and what isn’t.

As for Donald Trump. . .

Consider this: He stands on the field during the annual Palmetto Bowl football game and somehow apparently images the crowd is there for him.

He cites a Harris rally in Detroit, attended by thousands (the Harris-Walz campaign estimated 15,000) and says that there was “NOBODY waiting.”

Clearly the man has some issues and to listen to him talking to a man who has some challenges when it comes to claims (e.g., in 2016 Musk claimed there would be an autonomous coast-to-coast drive of a Tesla by the end of 2017, which didn’t happen; in 2020 he said there would be Teslas capable of operating as autonomous robotaxis by the end of that year, which didn’t happen; in the Tesla Q2 earnings call in July he said, "I would be shocked if we cannot do it next year.” Yes, have full self-driving.) seems like nothing more than a Fake-a-Thon.

Not worth the time and effort.

TUE 8/13/24

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What’s Left

•Go to the Comments section in this column, or the column on the right if you lean conservative rather than liberal, 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.

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…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

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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

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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.

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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.

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…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

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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?

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Market, Musk Interview, DNC Coming Up

After dropping 1,034 points Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average clawed back 294.39 points Tuesday to finish at 38,703.27, which looks like a “correction.” We will have to watch Wall Street for at least the rest of the week to figure out what effect the market might have on the newly minted Kamala Harris/Tim Walz Democratic ticket.

Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump is unlikely to wait, but Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay has something to say about that, in the right column.

We are looking ahead to an interview of Trump by Tesla/Starlink/SpaceX chief Elon Musk, possibly on his social media platform, X-Twitter. It is to take place Monday, details to come.

The following Monday, August 19, the Democratic National Convention begins.

We invite you to Comment on these and other news items and political issues. Email editors@thehustings.news and list your political leanings in the subject line.

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‘Creepy, and Weird as Hell’

Harris and Walz Tour – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris – it’s official now – continues her tour of seven battleground states begun Tuesday in Philadelphia when she introduced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. The Dem pair knock off two more battlegrounds Wednesday by visiting Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Detroit (per NPR’s Morning Edition).

In a jam-packed stadium rally in Philadelphia introduced by veepstakes first runner-up Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, Walz proved himself ready to be Harris’ affable, Midwestern dad-attack dog, telling the ebullient crowd about the Trump-Vance Republican ticket, “You know you feel it. These guys are creepy, and yes, weird as hell.”

As if setting out to confirm the “creepiness,” GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance will follow Harris/Walz for the first three days of her swing state tour, Business Insider reports. Vance, who Wednesday described Walz as “one of the most far-left governors,” said he would agree to a vice presidential debate after the Democratic National Convention, which begins the week of August 19.

•••

Another Squad Defeat – With $8.5-million backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s United Democracy Project Super-PAC, Wesley Bell defeated “Squad” member Cori Bush in the Democratic primary for Missouri’s 1^st District House seat (AP). Bell, the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, faces Republican primary winner Andrew Jones in the heavily Democratic district.

In Missouri’s heavily Republican 3^rd District, Donald J. Trump-backed candidate Bob Onder defeated Kurt Schaefer in the GOP primary, AP reports. Both are former state senators, and Onder is also a physician.

Lucas Kunce won Missouri’s Democratic primary to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Josh Hawley in November.

In Michigan Tuesday, Rep. Elissa Slotkin won the Democratic primary to replace retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D). Slotkin faces Republican primary winner Mike Rogers in November.

In Washington state, Raul Garcia won the Republican primary to challenge Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell (The New York Times).

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

If Joe Is Sleepy, Was Trump Comatose?

By Stephen Macaulay

Although I am as concerned as the next guy about looking at my 401k right now, the dubious economic understanding exhibited by Donald Trump about the stock market is in full form.

As he put it this week on Truth Social: “STOCK MARKETS CRASHING. I TOLD YOU SO!!! KAMALA DOESN’T HAVE A CLUE. BIDEN IS SOUND ASLEEP. ALL CAUSED BY INEPT U.S. LEADERSHIP!”

A word about Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., the company that brings you Truth Social: In March it was trading at a high for the year of $66.22. It is now at $26.98.

That’s a decline of about 60%.

Not good.

Shouldn’t the proprietor have more than a little something to do with the value of one’s company?

On Monday, August 5, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,033.99 points.

That is a decline of 2.6%.

Not good.

But let’s go back to when Donald Trump was president.

On March 12, 2020, the DJIA fell 2,352.60 points.

That’s a decline of 9.99%.

Again, not good.

On March 16, 2020, the DJIA fell 2,997.10 points.

That’s a decline of 12.93%

That’s really not good.

If Biden was sound asleep when there was this week’s decline, then Trump must have been in a coma in March 2020.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Write to Us

The Hustings is designed to bring left and right together in civil, fact-based discussion of current political news. You are welcome and encouraged to comment on our news/news aggregate and analysis, whether you’d like to make a prediction on who presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ running mate should be or whether you think the next presidential debate should be September 10 on ABC News, or September 4 on Fox News.

What about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s reversal of a plea deal with three 9/11 masterminds? What about June’s Labor department report showing tepid job growth in June? Was the Federal Reserve slow in planning to lower interest rates? Is the Biden administration to blame?

What do you think of Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s column on the right criticizing Trump’s plan to “drill, drill, drill” for oil on his first day in office?

Enter your Comments in the space made for them in this column or the one on the right (depending on your political leanings), or email us at editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you generally lean conservative or liberal in the subject line.

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Take This Walz

Democratic presidential nominee has chosen Minn Gov. Walz as her running mate, AP says.

UPDATE: Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, sources tell The Associated Press. Walz has been credited with tagging the Trump-Vance ticket as "weird" (an epithet some Democrats worry could backfire as Hilary Clinton's "deplorables" did eight years ago) and he joins the campaign without any of the sort of baggage that began to weigh down veepstakes finalists Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.

Philly Rally -- Democratic presidential candidate (yes, it's official now) Kamala Harris will announce her running mate at a rally in Philadelphia Tuesday evening. Yes, the purple-state campaign kickoff hints it will be Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. But Politico Playbook reports Tuesday morning that "most Democrats we pinged last night said they believe the chances of Harris picking Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are higher than chances of her picking" Shapiro. Playbook says this is a "reversal" of the expectations of a few days ago.

Kamala ‘Crash’? – Many economists dismissed Monday’s global stock market “crash” as overreaction to last week’s tepid jobs report. The unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, still very low historically, but only 114,000 jobs were added to the economy.

Did the Federal Reserve make a mistake in maintaining its interest rate of 5.25% to 5.5%? Is it too late to catch up and cut the rate between its last scheduled meeting in late July and its next, in September?

In The Atlantic Daily Derek Thompson writes that we shouldn’t pay much attention to Monday’s stock market, in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1,034 points, to 38,703.27.

The Japanese market had its worst day since the crash of 1987, and Thompson cites 1.) “recession fears” due to the Fed’s reluctance to cut rates after the Consumer Price Index came down to 3%, within a point of the target; 2.) major tech companies Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta investing too much into artificial intelligence, which some analysts fear potential profits will be too low to justify; 3.) Japan’s central bank keeping its rates too low, resulting in a relatively cheap yen.

The Wall Street Journal reports in a headline that “cracks in the economy pose a risk to Harris’ momentum” and quotes Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump writing in Truth Social “TRUMP CASH v. KAMALA CRASH.” (There’s that woman’s first name/man’s last name thing again.)

While the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan Act, bipartisan infrastructure bill and Inflation Reduction Act can be credited for keeping unemployment low, it’s the Fed that determines monetary policy and thus sets interest rates. In times of high inflation, the Fed must try to bring the CPI down without triggering increased unemployment and potentially a recession. For what it’s worth, Trump tried to influence the Fed during his administration and has indicated he would do so again if he wins another term.

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Google This, Pal – Ruling on a suit by the Justice Department and several states, a district court judge has ruled that Google has acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online searches (per The New York Times).

“Google is a monopolist, and has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Amit P. Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said, in a 277-page ruling. The suit accuses Google of maintaining the monopoly by paying such companies as Apple and Samsung to automatically make Google the search engine for smartphones and web browsers.

--TL

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...meanwhile... MON 8/5/24

Any Minute Now – All-but-officially official Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is expected to name her running mate, possibly by the time you read this. The vice president surely will name her choice for vice president on the ticket by Tuesday, when she begins a campaign tour of purple states in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile … That kick-off city has led many – in Pennsylvania, anyway – to predict that the commonwealth’s popular governor, Josh Shapiro, will be the man. But Pennsylvania could spoil not just Shapiro’s chances, but also that of Sen. Mark Kelly (AZ). Read why we predict Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota will be Harris’ choice on our Substack, here.

•••

But Not on ABC News – Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump “declared” on Truth Social Friday he will not attend a September 10 debate on ABC News he had previously agreed to with President Biden. Trump instead wants to debate presumed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris September 4 on Fox News. Unlike the ABC debate, the Fox debate would have a studio audience, presumably consisting of pro-MAGA voters.

“I’ll see her on September 4^th, or I won’t see her at all,” Trump Truth Socialed.

Last week Trump told ABC News’ Rachel Scott in his contentious appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual convention in Chicago he believes she works for a “fake news” organization.

The Harris campaign believes Trump is running scared with the prospect of having to debate the vice president in place of Biden, whose poor performance in a June debate led to his handing over the Democratic campaign to Harris.

“Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out,” Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said, per The New York Times.

•••

9/11 Plea Deal Blocked – Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reversed a plea deal the Defense Department had reached with three Guantanamo Bay prisoners accused of plotting the September 11 attacks (per Newsweek). Under the deal, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants were to get life in prison and be let off from the death penalty in exchange for allowing families of the terrorist attack’s victims to ask questions.

While some victims’ families were relieved to have the chance to put the two decade-long cases behind them, others were upset there would be no chance for the death penalty.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Drilling Down on Dumb

By Stephen Macaulay

Once, the Republican Party seemed to be constituted of businesspeople. The Republicans would make money and the Democrats would give it away, was pretty much the notion.

But now the Republican Party seems to be full of people who know nothing about business and economics but plenty about imagined grievance.

At least their leader, Donald Trump, when it comes to issues related to energy, is either willfully ignorant or simply speaks in the context of things that are transactionally beneficial to Donald Trump.

And his supporters cheer.

Trump lets loose with the “drill, baby, drill” mantra. He makes it seem as though there is an insufficient amount of oil drilling going on in the United States. (Funny thing: he seems to underestimate the US across the board. For example, when he talks crime, he doesn’t indicate that in 2020, his final year in office, the violent crime rate in the US was greater than it is in 2024: 398.5 per 100,000 people under Trump, now down to 380.7 per 100,000 people last year under Biden.)

As for the oil drilling, you’d think that there are all manner of horrible regulations and restrictions on how and where drilling can occur, placing the US oil production in trouble.

Guess what?

In 2024 the US produces more crude oil per day than any other country in the world.

As in:

US: 12.8 million barrels per day
Russia: 10.5 million barrels per day
Saudi Arabia: 10.2 million barrels per day

Break out the “USA! USA! USA!” chant.

And again, in 2020 the US produced 11.3 million barrels per day.

Or a 12% increase in oil production under Biden.

Now to be fair, in 2020 there was COVID (and let’s not get into Trump’s pathetic response to that: After he was released from the hospital in October 2020 for COVID treatment, in his first speech, when there were some 220,000 Americans dead from the disease, when there was an increase in hospitalizations, he said: “It’s going to disappear. It is disappearing.”), so petroleum demand was down.

This is how much oil the US produced pre-COVID, when he was in office:

2017: 9.3 million barrels per day
2018: 10.96 million barrels per day
2019: 12.23 million barrels per day

For Trump, peak oil was 12.23 million barrels per day. For Biden peak oil was in 2023, 12.9 million barrels per day.

Yes, Sleepy Joe had more petroleum pumped that Trump.

But here’s a thing.

As people have known since even before Adam Smith (once a hero of the Republicans, now someone forgotten) explained it:

There is supply and there is demand.

And if the supply greatly exceeds the demand, then the producer has to reduce the cost of that commodity, which means the producer doesn’t make as much as it will when demand exceeds supply.

There is something else that needs to be taken into account: Petroleum is a global commodity.

A given oil company is looking to sell its product wherever it can make the most

money — regardless of where it comes from.

In the World According to Trump, there should be oil derricks damn near everywhere.

Hell, put one on the White House lawn if there’s oil below.

But for the oil companies, they’re not in the least bit interested in oversupplying the market.

So (1) the US leads in oil production and (2) oil producers have no incentive to vastly increase their output.

The “drill, drill, drill” may be good for crowd chants, but as for actual policy. . .?

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