Election

Vice President Kamala Harris met with the National Association of Black Journalists for an interview this afternoon. Instead of going back-to-back with Donald Trump for his explosive interview with the NABJ in July — she spoke to a historically black sorority instead — Kamala rescheduled for September. And bless Politifact’s heart, they partnered with the NABJ, per a tweet before the interview, to fact-check her. These ruthless and cut-throat journalists would not let Kamala get by without a real grilling. Harris avoided many pointed questions. The journalists — who included Politico’s Eugene Daniels, a big Harris fan — seemed to think Kamala’s policies weren’t radical enough.

The messaging in the 2024 election has devolved into a contest to determine which campaign is more online, to their detriment. In 2019 (she never made it to 2020), the first Kamala Harris presidential campaign infamously imploded because, among other reasons, her staff and communications strategy were "way too online" — obsessed with the constant progressive social media flashpoints above and beyond the issues fundamental to the primary electorate. Instead of talking to voters about their priorities, Harris’s campaign was too focused on trending topics, memes and crafting the best clips of their candidate for the online audience.

One man is in custody after shots were fired at former president’s Donald Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida Sunday afternoon. At the time of the shooting, the former president was golfing. The FBI is investigating the incident as an assassination attempt.  The former president's website sent out an "alert from Trump" shortly after the incident that reads: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” Law enforcement sources have identified the would-be shooter as Ryan Wesley Routh. The FBI said in a statement that it “has responded to West Palm Beach Florida and is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former president Trump.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845), the great English wit and Anglican divine, once said that he never read a book before reviewing it because he found that “it prejudices a man so.” (He also confided that his idea of heaven was “eating pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.”) I have nothing to add to Smith’s soteriological dictum. In partial defense of his announced journalistic practice, however, I will note that while it might compromise his reliability as a literary cicerone, there are plenty of situations for which such lack of exposure is a beneficial prophylactic. I write during the Democratic National Convention. I have sat down to watch none of it. Like Smith, I know that doing so would prejudice me.

“The attempt to end my husband's life was a horrible, distressing experience,” Melania Trump, former first lady, said in a polished video on her social media pages Tuesday. The short reel was a promo for her new memoir coming out on October 8, per the book’s Amazon page. https://twitter.com/i/status/1833476085998063741 Melania continued: “Now, the silence around it feels heavy. I can’t help but wonder, why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech? There is definitely more to the story, and we need to uncover the truth.” Cockburn was riveted as he watched Melania’s beautifully edited face fade into the background and her new book, titled Melania, appear with the words “order now, melaniatrump.com.

Cockburn knew Taylor Swift was trouble when she walked in. Too much time in Hollywood (Cockburn saw it coming when she switched genres from country to pop), has turned the Tennessee Christian girl into a "childless cat lady" who just endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Swift took to Instagram immediately after presidential debate to declare: Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most. As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country.

The Harris-Walz campaign is depending on Americans feeling so rushed this election that they don’t pay attention to the vice president’s dramatic evolution. Last week, CNN’s Kasie Hunt interviewed Harris-Walz campaign senior spokesperson Ian Sams and discussed polling that shows Democrats are losing working-class voters. “What is it about what you guys have been doing for the last three-plus years that explains that?” Hunt asked. Sams’s attempt at a non-answer was actually quite revealing. “We’ve got sixty days until the election,” he replied, exasperated. “You know, we don’t have time to sit around and think about why, over the last few years, certain things may have happened or may not have happened.

Tucker Carlson is just asking questions. Questions like: what if Andrew Tate’s camgirl harem is actually the height of masculinity? And: isn’t the Russian grocery equivalent of Aldi absolutely incredible, just as the Moscow train station is perhaps the most beautiful thing mankind has created? And this week: why don’t we fully appreciate the total bind Adolf Hitler was in when he had just so many prisoners of war thanks to German success on the battlefield? The decisions Carlson has made in the past several months have struck his former friends and ideological allies as veering in the space between the eccentric and the outrageous.

The video begins with sirens, a firetruck and vivid kinetic typography spelling the words “hero.” Then, soulful piano music. Sigh. Cockburn really didn’t want to cry this afternoon. RNC co-chair Lara Trump, daughter-in-law to former president Donald Trump, released an official music video last month with Madeline Jaymes. The song is about first responders, but Lara and Madeline “poured [their] hearts into this song, hoping to show the world that all heroes, big and small, deserve recognition in today’s world,” per Madeline’s Instagram post. Heroes, perhaps, like Donald Trump? This is very unclear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Vice President Kamala Harris was pushed to the top of the 2024 Democratic ticket more than a month ago — and it’s still not entirely clear how much involvement she had with the effort to force President Joe Biden to step aside from his reelection campaign. It’s a question worth clearing up as it turns out she has a history of leapfrogging her bosses. During her first sit down interview with CNN on Thursday night, Harris said she stood by her assessment of Biden’s cognitive ability after his debate against former president Donald Trump. But she was not asked if she played a role in the palace coup. Reporting indicates that Barack Obama, the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, among others, convinced Biden to step aside.