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Sunday, 1 September 2024:
Fund-Raiser for January 6 Rioters at Trump’s Golf Club Is Postponed. Donald Trump did not plan to attend the gala event at his venue in Bedminster, N.J., but it highlighted his efforts to rewrite the history of the attack on the Capitol. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Sunday, 1 September 2024: “A gala event to raise money for some of the rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, set to take place on Thursday at former President Donald J. Trump’s golf club in New Jersey, has been postponed, according to the event website. While Mr. Trump had not been planning to attend the soiree — billed as the J6 Awards Gala — the event attracted attention for the way it reinforced the strong connections he has maintained with those who stormed the Capitol on his behalf at an awkward moment: just as his campaign to return to the White House enters its final stages. The event’s website did not provide a reason for the delay or mention a new date when it might take place. But the primary planner, Sarah McAbee, who runs a nonprofit organization called the Stand in the Gap Foundation, which supports Jan. 6 defendants, said she would try to reschedule it for after the November election, perhaps in February, according to text messages obtained by The New York Times.”
Monday, 2 September 2024:
Trump says he had ‘every right to interfere in the 2020 election. Harris’ campaign called the former president’s remarks to Fox News evidence that he thought he was above the law. NBC News, Natasha Korecki, Monday, 2 September 2024: “Former President Donald Trump said Sunday that he had ‘every right’ to interfere with the 2020 election, even as two criminal cases involving those allegations hang over him. On Monday, Kamala Harris’ campaign charged that the comments were evidence that Trump believed he was ‘above the law.’ In a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, Trump went on a long screed about the Justice Department and its treatment of him, charging he had been targeted. Trump marveled that the criminal charges did nothing but boost his poll numbers, because, he surmised, his supporters didn’t buy them in the first place. ‘Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it, you get indicted, and your poll numbers go up?’ Trump said. ‘When people get indicted, your poll numbers go down. But it was such, such nonsense.’ Last week, Trump was indicted again in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. He is accused of trying to carry out a multipronged effort that included trying to disenfranchise voters in certain states and of interfering with the election results by repeatedly claiming it was stolen, even though he knew those claims were false. Authorities say Trump’s false claims were a catalyst for the violence attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He faces similar charges of election interference in Fulton County, Georgia.” See also, Trump Claims He Had “Every Right” to Interfere in the 2020 Election, Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson, Monday, 2 September 2024: “In an interview with right-wing host Mark Levin on the Fox News Channel last night, Trump complained about the new grand jury indictment of him for trying to steal the 2020 presidential election. ‘Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it,’ he asked. In fact, no one has a right to interfere with a presidential election. Several federal laws prohibit such interference. Legal analyst Joyce White Vance added: ‘This is the banality of evil right here—Trump asserting he can override the will of the voters to claim victory in an election he lost. And, he will do it again. We must vote against him in overwhelming numbers.’ Former president Trump is approaching the election of 2024 the way southern white supremacists approached elections from 1876 to 1964. He has made it very clear he is not trying to win the votes of a majority of Americans. He and his loyalists are trying to intimidate his opponents to keep them from voting while egging on his supporters to commit violence. They are bringing the tactics of the reactionary southern Democrats after the Civil War forward to the present day in an attempt to impose the same sort of minority rule on the nation as a whole.”
Tuesday, 3 September 2024:
Judge Denies Trump’s Request to Move Criminal Case to Federal Court. Judge Alvin Hellerstein said the Supreme Court’s finding that presidents enjoy immunity does not apply in the hush-money case in which Donald Trump was already convicted. The New York Times, Jesse McKinley, Tuesday, 3 September 2024: “A federal judge in Manhattan denied an effort by Donald J. Trump to move his already adjudicated state criminal case to the federal courts on Tuesday, rejecting his claims of presidential immunity and brushing aside his allegation of bias. In late May, a jury convicted the former president on 34 felony counts of falsifying records to cover up hush-money payments to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who had threatened to go public with her account of a one-night sexual encounter in 2006. A state judge, Juan M. Merchan, has scheduled his sentencing for Sept. 18, though Mr. Trump has asked him to delay it until after the presidential election. In a four-page decision on Tuesday, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court in Manhattan said he could not evaluate Mr. Trump’s claims of bias, saying those were issues for the state courts. But he said that Mr. Trump’s claims that he should have immunity from criminal prosecution — based on a recent Supreme Court decision affirming such protection for ‘official acts’ — were groundless. He noted that ‘hush-money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.'”
Continue reading Aftermath of the Trump Administration, September 2024:
Wednesday, 4 September 2024:
Liz Cheney, a Top Republican Critic of Trump, Says She Will Vote for Harris. The Wyoming Republican, once a member of House leadership, lost her post and then her seat after she voted to impeach President Donald Trump following the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The New York Times, Annie Karni, Wednesday, 4 September 2024: “Former Representative Liz Cheney, the once high-ranking Republican from Wyoming who torpedoed her political career by breaking forcefully with former President Donald J. Trump, said on Wednesday she would be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris in November. During an event at Duke University, Ms. Cheney told students that it was not enough for her to simply oppose the former president, if she intended to do whatever was necessary to prevent Mr. Trump from winning the White House again, as she has long said she would. ‘I don’t believe we have the luxury of writing in candidates’ names, particularly in swing states,’ Ms. Cheney said, speaking to students in the hotly contested state of North Carolina. ‘As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this and 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.’ The room erupted in cheers after she made her unexpected announcement.” See also, Republican Liz Cheney says she will vote for Kamala Harris this election, The Washington Post, Maegan Vazquez, Wednesday, 4 September 2024: “Liz Cheney, a former congresswoman from Wyoming, broke with the Republican Party on Wednesday to say she plans to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in November. ‘As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this,’ Cheney said at an event hosted by Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy in North Carolina. ‘And 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.'”
Prosecutors say Russian money was funneled to right-wing creators through a pro-Trump media outlet. The indictment of two RT employees includes allegations that they implemented a nearly $10 million plan to fund a Tennessee-based company as one of their ‘covert projects. NBC News, Ryan J. Reilly, Lisa Rubin, Brandy Zadrozny, and David Ingram, Wednesday, 4 September 2024: “Employees of the Russia-backed media network RT funded and directed a scheme that sent millions of dollars to prominent right-wing commentators through a media company that appears to match the description of Tenet Media, a leading platform for pro-Trump voices, according to an NBC News review of charging documents, business records and social media profiles. The indictment on Wednesday of two RT employees, Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, includes allegations that the duo implemented a nearly $10 million plan to fund an unnamed Tennessee-based company as one of their ‘covert projects’ to influence American politics by posting videos to TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube. The company’s description matches that of Tenet Media, according to a review by NBC News of details included in the indictment. Prosecutors said that the website of ‘Company-1’ describes itself as a ‘network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues,’ the exact same language used by Tenet Media on its website and social media channels. The indictment also states that Company-1 is registered in Tennessee and changed its name on or about May 22, 2023. Tennessee Secretary of State records found by NBC News show that Tenet Media entered its new assumed name on the same date: May 22, 2023.”
Thursday, 5 September 2024:
Judge Tanya Chutkan Sets Deadlines in Trump Election Case, Saying Campaign Is ‘Not Relevant.’ Chutkan laid out a swift schedule for the election interference case against Donald Trump after lawyers on both sides shared how they believed the case should proceed. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Charlie Savage, and Eileen Sullivan, Thursday, 5 September 2024: “A federal judge declared at a court hearing on Thursday that she would not let former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign for the White House affect the schedule of the criminal case in which he stands accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. Hours later, the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, fulfilled that vow by setting a schedule for the matter that moved speedily ahead and opened the possibility that prosecutors could make public more of the evidence they hope to use against Mr. Trump at trial in a court filing before Election Day. Judge Chutkan established a series of deadlines for filings from both sides to assess the impact of several legal issues on the case, including the Supreme Court’s recent ruling granting Mr. Trump some immunity from criminal prosecution for official actions he took as president.” See also, Judge Tanya Chutkan says the U.S. can lay out Trump election interference evidence this month. Chutkan accused Trump’s lawyer of trying to stall action before the November 5 election. The judge said the election wasn’t part of her calculus. The Washington Post, Spencer S. Hsu, Perry Stein, and Salvador Rizzo, Thursday, 5 September 2024: “A federal judge called Thursday for prosecutors and defense attorneys to file significant legal briefs in Donald Trump’s 2020 election subversion case before voters head to the ballot box in November, rejecting the former president’s request to move at a slower pace. After a testy one-hour hearing in federal court in D.C., U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan granted a proposal by special counsel Jack Smith’s office to make its case about the limits of Trump’s immunity by Sept. 26, with other filings due in the weeks that follow. Her scheduling order offers the first glimpse into how the case will proceed after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents cannot be prosecuted for their official conduct, upending the Trump prosecution and forcing the special counsel to seek a superseding indictment.”
Trump deputy campaign manager identified in Arlington National Cemetery dustup, NPR, Stephen Fowler, Quil Lawrence, and Tom Bowman, Thursday, 5 September 2024: “One of two staffers involved in the altercation at Arlington National Cemetery is a deputy campaign manager for Donald Trump’s reelection bid, NPR has learned. The former president insisted this week the incident did not happen, highlighting a growing disconnect between the messaging of the candidate and his campaign. NPR is identifying both staffers after the campaign’s conflicting responses to the incident last week outside Section 60 of the cemetery, where many casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. The two staffers, according to a source with knowledge of the incident, are deputy campaign manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team. [Arlington National Cemetery] rules, that had been made clear to the Trump campaign in advance, say that only an official Arlington photographer can take pictures or film in Section 60. When an ANC employee tried to enforce the rules, she was verbally abused by the two Trump campaign operatives, according to a source with knowledge of the incident. Picard then pushed her out of the way according to two Pentagon officials.”
Friday, 6 September 2024:
Judge Juan Merchan Delays Trump’s Sentencing Until November 26, After Election day. The decision by Justice Merchan means voters will be left in the dark about whether the former president will face time behind bars. The New York Times, Ben Protess, kate Christobek, and William K. Rashbaum, Friday, 6 September 2024: “The judge overseeing Donald J. Trump’s criminal case in Manhattan postponed his sentencing until after Election Day, a significant victory for the former president as he seeks to overturn his conviction and win back the White House. In a ruling on Friday, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, rescheduled the sentencing for Nov. 26, citing the ‘unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in.’ He had previously planned to hand down Mr. Trump’s punishment on Sept. 18, just seven weeks before Election Day, when Mr. Trump will face off against Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency. ‘This is not a decision this court makes lightly but it is the decision which in this court’s view, best advances the interests of justice,’ Justice Merchan wrote in the four-page ruling, which noted that ‘this matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this nation’s history.’ The judge appeared eager to skirt a swirl of partisan second-guessing in the campaign’s final stretch. Asserting that the court is a ‘fair, impartial and apolitical institution,’ he said that ‘the integrity of our judicial system demands’ that the sentencing be ‘free from distraction or distortion.’ But while his decision will avert a courtroom spectacle before the election, the delay itself could still affect its results, keeping voters in the dark about whether the Republican presidential nominee will eventually spend time behind bars. It is unclear whether sentencing Mr. Trump in September would have helped or harmed him politically; his punishment could have been an embarrassing reminder of his criminal record, but could have also propelled his claims of political martyrdom.” See also, Trump’s New York hush money sentencing delayed until after November election. As a result of the date change, Trump will probably face his new York sentencing either as a just-defeated candidate or as president-elect. The Washington Post, Sahyna Jacobs, Friday, 6 September 2024: “A judge on Friday delayed Donald Trump’s hush money sentencing until after the November election, which means voters will cast ballots without knowing whether the Republican nominee could face jail time for his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors did not object to a request from Trump’s attorneys to delay the sentencing, which had been scheduled for Sept. 18. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan changed the date to Nov. 26, noting the extraordinary nature and timing of the first-ever sentencing of a former U.S. president — a defendant who, in this case, is again running for the highest office in the land. ‘This matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this Nation’s history, and this Court has presided over it since its inception — from arraignment to jury verdict and a plenitude of motions and other matters in-between,’ Merchan wrote. He called sentencing ‘one of the most critical and difficult decisions a trial court judge faces — the sentencing of a defendant found guilty of crimes by a unanimous jury of his peers.'”
Trump, Trailing Among Women, Lashes Out at His Female Accusers. Mr. Trump’s news conference had little to do with the issues in the 2024 presidential race and seemed like more of a venting exercise over his frustrations about his legal travails. The New York Times, Maggie Haberman, Friday, 6 September 2024: “If any voters had forgotten that Donald J. Trump was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, he spent roughly 45 minutes reminding them on Friday, eight weeks before Election Day. At a lectern in the lobby of Trump Tower, Mr. Trump, flanked by seven of his lawyers, laid out years-old allegations from the women in detail as he denied that they were telling the truth. He had just attended a federal appeals court hearing related to a civil case in which he was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming a New York writer, E. Jean Carroll, decades earlier. Mr. Trump was not required to attend the hearing, but decided he wanted to. When the hearing was over, he went to his eponymous building for what the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign called a ‘press conference.’ But he ended it without taking questions, and the session — during which Mr. Trump criticized his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, for avoiding reporters — was more like a venting exercise over his frustrations about his legal travails.” See also, Trump rants and resurfaces sexual assault allegations for 49 unfocused minutes. The Republican nominee spoke in an appearance billed as a ‘press conference’ that sometimes verged into a stream of consciousness that was hard to follow He took no questions. The Washington Post, Marianne LeVine, Maeve Reston, Josh Dawsey, and Hannah Knowles, Friday, 6 September 2024: “Donald Trump railed against women who have accused him of sexual assault. He baselessly blamed the Biden-Harris administration for his legal difficulties. He appeared to criticize the physical appearances of some of his accusers. ‘She would not have been the chosen one,’ he said of one, later adding that he would ‘not want to be’ involved with another accuser, even as he acknowledged his advisers urged him not to make such a comment.”
Dick Cheney says he’s voting for Harris in November and Trump ‘can never be trusted with power again,’ CNN Politics, Veronica Stracqualursi and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Friday, 6 September 2024: “Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that he will vote for Democrat Kamala Harris over fellow Republican Donald Trump in the November election, warning that the former president ‘can never be trusted with power again. In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,’ Cheney said in a statement. ‘He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again. As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,’ he concluded.”
Saturday, 7 September 2024:
Trump Lays Out Vision for Bending the Federal Government to His Will. In Wisconsin, former President Donald Trump called for eliminating the Department of Education and said he would work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, on health issues. The New York Times, Michael Gold, Saturday, 7 September 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump vowed to vastly reshape the federal bureaucracy on Saturday in a wide-ranging, often unfocused speech at a rally in Wisconsin. He pledged to ultimately eliminate the Department of Education, redirect the efforts of the Justice Department and fire civil servants charged with carrying out Biden administration policies that he disagreed with. And he told his supporters that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading vaccine skeptic who recently endorsed him, would be ‘very much involved’ in a panel on ‘chronic health problems and childhood diseases.’ Mr. Kennedy rose to prominence as a vaccine skeptic who promoted a disproved link between vaccines and autism.” See also, By rights, tonight’s post should be a picture, but Trump’s behavior today merits a marker because it feels like a dramatic escalation of the themes we’ve seen for years. Letters from an American, Substack, Heather Cox Richardson, Saturday, 7 September 2024: “Today, Trump held a rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin, a small city in the center of the state, where he addressed about 7,000 people…. In today’s speech, Trump slurred a number of words, referring to Elon Musk as ‘Leon,’ for example, and forgetting the name of North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, who was on his short list for a vice presidential pick. But today’s speech struck me as different from his past performances, distinguished for what sounded like desperation. Trump has always invented his stories from whole cloth, but there used to be some way to tie them to reality. Today that seemed to be gone. He was in a fantasy world, and his rhetoric was apocalyptic. It was also bloody in ways that raise huge red flags for scholars of fascism. Trump told the audience that when he took office in 2017, military officers told him the U.S. had given all the military’s ammunition away to allies. Then he went on a rant against our allies, saying that they’re only our allies when they need something and that they would never come to our aid if we needed them. This echoes the talking points put out by Russian operatives and flies in the face of the fact that the one time the North Atlantic Treaty Organization invoked the mutual defense pact in that agreement was after the attacks of September 11, 2001, in support of the U.S. He embraced Project 2025’s promise to eliminate the Department of Education and send education back to the states so that right-wing figures like Wisconsin’s Senator Ron Johnson can run it. He reiterated the MAGA claim that mothers are executing their babies after birth—this is completely bonkers—and again echoed Russian talking points when he said these executions are happening—they are not—but ‘nobody talks about it.’ He went on: ‘We did a great thing when we got Roe v. Wade out of the federal government.’ He reiterated the complete fantasy that schools are performing gender-affirming surgery on children. ‘Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, Jimmy, I love you so much, go have a good day at school, and your son comes back with a brutal operation. Can you even imagine this? What the hell is wrong with our country?’ Trump’s suggestion that schools are performing surgery on students is bananas. This is simply not a thing that happens. And then he went full-blown apocalyptic, attacking immigrants and claiming that crime, which in reality has dropped dramatically since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office after a spike during his own term, has made the U.S. uninhabitable. He said that ‘If I don’t win Colorado, it will be taken over by migrants and the governor will be sent fleeing.’ ‘Migrants and crime are here in our country at levels never thought possible before…. You’re not safe even sitting here, to be honest with you. I’m the only one that’s going to get it done. Everybody is saying that.’ He urged people to protest ‘because you’re being overrun by criminals.’ He assured attendees that ‘If you think you have a nice house, have a migrant enjoy your house, because a migrant will take it over. A migrant will take it over. It will be Venezuela on steroids.’ He reiterated his plan to get rid of migrants. ‘And you know,’ he said, ‘getting them out will be a bloody story.’ He went on to try to rev up supporters in words very similar to those he used on January 6th, 2021, but focused on this election. ‘Every citizen who’s sick and tired of the parasitic political class in Washington that sucks our country of its blood and treasure, November fifth will be your liberation day. November fifth, this year, will be the most important day in the history of our country because we’re not going to have a country anymore if we don’t win.’ He promised: ‘I will prevent World War III, and I am the only one that can do it. I will prevent World War III. And if I don’t win this election,… Israel is doomed…. Israel will be gone…. I’d better win.’ ‘I better win or you’re gonna have problems like we’ve never had. We may have no country left. This may be our last election. You want to know the truth? People have said that. This may be our last election…. It’ll all be over, and you gotta remember…. Trump is always right. I hate to be right. I’m always right.'”
Sunday, 8 September 2024:
Trump threatens to jail adversaries in escalating rhetoric ahead of pivotal debate, Associated Press, Michael Goldberg, Scott Bauer, and Jill Colvin, Sunday, 8 September 2024: “With just days to go before his first and likely only debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump posted a warning on his social media site threatening to jail those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election, which he said would be under intense scrutiny. ‘WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again,’ Trump wrote late Saturday, sowing doubt once more about the integrity of the election, even though cheating is incredibly rare. ‘Please beware,’ he went on, ‘that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.’ Trump’s message represents his latest threat to use the office of the presidency to exact retribution if he wins a second term. There is no evidence of the kind of fraud he continues to insist marred the 2020 election; in fact, dozens of courts, Republican state officials and his own administration have said he lost fairly.” See also, Trump pledges to jail opponents and baselessly suggests election will be stolen from him. The former president’s latest threats, made in a social media post, represent the most overt signal yet that he will not accept the result in November if he loses. The Washington Post, Amy Gardner, Colby Itkowitz, and Mariana Alfaro, Sunday, 8 September 2024: “Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump threatened to jail people “involved in unscrupulous behavior” related to voting in the 2024 election, suggesting without evidence that the election could be stolen from him — and prompting widespread condemnation from election officials who said such rhetoric could provoke violence. Trump’s remarks, made in a social media posting on Saturday night, represent the most overt signal yet that he may not accept the result in November if he loses. Trump has a history of railing against election officials and raising unsubstantiated claims of fraud when his political fortunes appear uncertain, as they do now in his extremely close race with Vice President Kamala Harris. His comments are his most direct threats made against those who will administer elections this year. In reality, illegal voting is exceedingly rare. But Trump appears to be replaying his efforts to sow doubt about the voting process ahead of the 2020 election — actions that contributed to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.”
Monday, 9 September 2024:
Fact-checking Republican Trump fliers flooding swing-state mailboxes. Trump supporters play defense on Project 2025 while falsely attacking Kamala Harris’s record. The Washington Post, Glenn Kessler, Monday, 9 September 2024: “If you’re a swing-state voter, your mailbox has probably been flooded with fliers, especially on behalf of Donald Trump’s campaign. We’ve been collecting examples of Trump fliers and, though they are underwritten by different state Republican parties, they often have virtually the same language. Typically, on one side, there’s a defense — Vice President Kamala Harris is telling ‘lies’ about Trump and Project 2025. On the other side, there’s an attack — 10 policies proving Harris is ‘failed, weak and dangerously liberal.’ As a reader guide, here’s an assessment made of the claims in the mailers. It’s quite possible Trump may repeat some of these lines in tomorrow’s debate, so even if you’re not voting in a swing state, you’ll now know what he’s talking about.”
Trump Steps Up Threats to Imprison Those He Sees as Foes. The former president is vowing to prosecute those he sees as working to deny him a victory, while laying the groundwork to claim large-scale voter fraud if he loses. The New York Times, Charlie Savage, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, and Michael Gold, Monday, 9 September 2024: “Donald J. Trump has long used strongman-style threats to prosecute people he vilifies as a campaign tactic, dating back to encouraging his 2016 rallygoers to chant ‘lock her up’ about Hillary Clinton. And during his term as president, he repeatedly pressed the Justice Department to open investigations into his political adversaries. But as November nears, the former president has escalated his vows to use the raw power of the state to impose and maintain control and to intimidate and punish anyone he perceives as working against him. After the Supreme Court bestowed presidents with substantial immunity from prosecution over the summer, and Democrats replaced President Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris as their 2024 nominee — eroding Mr. Trump’s lead in the polls — Mr. Trump’s targets expanded. He has been laying the groundwork to claim that there was large-scale voter fraud if he loses, a familiar tactic from his 2016 and 2020 playbooks, but this time coupled with threats of prosecution. Those who may face criminal scrutiny for purported efforts at election fraud, Mr. Trump has declared, will include election workers, a tech giant, political operatives, lawyers and donors working for his opponent. Over the past month, he has shared a post calling for former President Barack Obama to be subject to ‘military tribunals’ and reposted fake images of well-known Democrats clad in prison garb. He has threatened the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg with a life sentence for helping state and local governments fund elections in 2020. He stoked fears of voter intimidation by urging police officers to ‘watch for the voter fraud’ at polling places because some voters may be ‘afraid of that badge,’ and warned that people deemed to have ‘cheated’ in this election ‘will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'”
Tuesday, 10 September 2024:
Harris and Trump Bet on Their Own Sharply contrasting Views of America . Former President Donald Trump is gambling that Americans are as angry as he is, while Vice President Kamala Harris hopes voters are exhausted by the Trump era and ready to move on. The New York Times, Peter Baker, Tuesday, 10 September 2024: “Donald J. Trump’s America is a grim place, a nation awash in marauding immigrants stealing American jobs and eating American cats and dogs, a country devastated economically, humiliated internationally and perched on the cliff’s edge of an apocalyptic World War III. Kamala Harris’s America is a weary but hopeful place, a nation fed up with the chaos of the Trump years and sick of all the drama and divisiveness, a country embarrassed by a crooked stuck-in-the-past former president facing prison time and eager for a new generation of leadership. These two visions of America on display during the first and possibly only presidential debate between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump on Tuesday night encapsulated the gambles that each candidate is taking in this hotly contested campaign. Mr. Trump is betting on anger and Ms. Harris on exhaustion. Mr. Trump is trying to repackage and resell his ‘American carnage’ theme eight years later, while Ms. Harris is appealing to those ready to leave that in the past…. Mr. Trump has always been about extremes, articulating an all-or-nothing Manichaean worldview in which the country is a virtual paradise on earth when he is in charge and going to hell when he is not. ‘We had no problems when Trump was president,’ he said, attributing the claim to a European autocrat. Now that he is out of office, Mr. Trump added, ‘the whole world’ is ‘blowing up,’ and ‘we’re a failing nation.’ Ms. Harris offers subtlety and nuance in a political environment that does not always value either. She boasts of progress not perfection, promises seriousness not self-absorption. ‘What I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country,’ she said, ‘one who believes in what is possible and one who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do instead of always disparaging the American people.’ The former president’s vision is built partly on a foundation of fictions. So much of what he said over the course of an hour and a half onstage in Philadelphia was false, misleading or seemingly made up out of whole cloth that it could take a team of fact-checkers all night just to catch up. Crime is ‘up and through the roof,’ he said, except that the authorities report that it is actually near its lowest level in decades. Ms. Harris and President Biden ‘got rid of’ the petroleum industry, except that U.S. oil production has risen to record highs.” See also, Debate Fact Check: Harris and Trump on the Economy, Immigration, and Abortion, The New York Times, Tuesday, 10 September 2024. See also, Harris Dominates as Trump Gets Defensive: 6 Takeaways From the Debate. Laying out bait that Donald Trump eagerly snatched, the vice president owned much of the night, keeping him on the back foot and avoiding sustained attention on her own vulnerabilities. The New York Times, Shane Goldmacher and Katie Rogers, published on Wednesday, 11 September 2024: “Kamala Harris commanded the first debate against Donald J. Trump, flashing her prosecutorial skills to leverage every chance to get under the former president’s skin in a 90-minute clash of visions and style. They disagreed fiercely on abortion and the economy, immigration and the war in Ukraine. But throughout the night, Mr. Trump found himself in a defensive crouch, relitigating his record rather than picking apart hers. The contrast was apparent even on mute. She smiled. He glowered. He spoke more, but she dictated the terms of the evening.” See also, Harris and Trump Debate: Vice President Kamala Harris shook the hand of former President Donald Trump as she walked onstage, then spent the next 90 minutes making every effort to burrow under his skin, The New York Times, Tuesday, 10 September 2024. See also, Harris crisply attacks Trump in debate; he retorts with fiery rhetoric. The vice president goaded the Republican nominee in an event that showcased how the race’s dynamics have changed since Biden’s exit. The Washington Post, “Toluse Olorunnipa and Marianne LeVine, Tuesday, 10 September 2024: Vice President Kamala Harris made a sharp, fiery case against Republican nominee Donald Trump during a freewheeling debate Tuesday, blasting the former president’s character and preoccupation with himself while pressing him on issues including abortion, democracy and foreign policy. Trump used the head-to-head event to attack Harris as a ‘Marxist’ masquerading as a moderate and repeatedly turned the subject back to the U.S. southern border — an issue where polls show voters trust him more than Harris — often straying from the facts to embrace debunked conspiracy theories about immigration and the 2020 election. Both sides went into their first debate, hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, spoiling for a fight after several weeks of attacking one another on the campaign trail, and they wasted little time launching into harsh attacks. Harris’s barbs landed crisply, while Trump often veered off-message in response to her attempts to bait him on sensitive topics like the size of his rally crowds, his 2020 election loss and his admiration for strongmen. ‘In this debate tonight, you’re going to hear from the same old tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling,’ Harris said early in the debate, one of several times that she turned to address viewers rather than her opponent. A few minutes later, she said, ‘Donald Trump actually has no plan for you, because he is more interested in defending himself than he is in looking out for you.'” See also, Fact-checking 55 suspect claims, mostly Trump’s, in debate with Harris. Trump, on the defensive, makes four times more false or suspect claims than Harris in their 2024 presidential debate, The Washington Post, Glenn Kessler, published on Wednesday, 11 September 2024. See also, Harris gets under Trump’s skin by aiming to ‘trigger’ him at debate, The Washington Post, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey, Tuesday, 10 September 2024: “From the moment Vice President Kamala Harris walked onto the debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, it was clear she was on a singular mission: to get under former president Donald Trump’s skin. She walked directly up to Trump, and into his space, to shake his hand — a maneuver a Harris campaign official described in a text as a ‘power move.’ She used an analysis by his alma mater — the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania — to rebut his economic plan. And she rattled off some of the 200 Republicans who have worked for previous Republican presidents and nominees but who have endorsed her over Trump, their party’s standard-bearer. ‘If you want to really know the inside track on who the former president is — if he didn’t make it clear already — just ask people who have worked with him,’ Harris said, gaining momentum. ‘His former chief of staff, a four-star general, has said he has contempt for the Constitution of the United States. His former national security adviser has said he is dangerous and unfit. His former secretary of defense has said the nation, the republic, would never survive another Trump term.’ And that was all in the first 30 minutes. She later mentioned the ‘late, great John McCain,’ whom she knows Trump despises. She talked in detail about Trump’s criminal convictions and that he was found liable for sexual assault in New York. She talked about him losing the 2020 election repeatedly. She talked about his response to the white supremacist riots in Charlottesville in 2017, widely viewed as a low point in his first term. She repeatedly brought up Project 2025, a right-wing plan written by his allies and advisers that he has denounced.” See also, 4 takeaways from the first Trump-Harris presidential debate. The vice president had a strong debate by keeping Trump on his heels and making it all about him. The Washington Post, Aaron Blake, published on Wednesday, 11 September 2024. See also, Trump pushes false claims about migrants eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio, The Washington Post, Amy B Wang and Mariana Alfaro, Tuesday, 10 September 2024: “Former president Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on a false and dehumanizing claim — pushed by his running mate and some Republicans — that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, who came into the country during the Biden-Harris administration are injuring and eating Americans’ pets. ‘In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,’ Trump said at the ABC News debate between him and Vice President Kamala Harris. ‘And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.’ When moderator David Muir pushed back, saying that the city manager of Springfield has said there were no credible reports of such claims, Trump refused to concede.” See also, ‘Staggeringly dishonest'” CNN’s Daniel Dale fact-checks Trump’s debate performance, CNN Politics, Daniel Dale, Tuesday, 10 September 2024. See also, Takeaways from the ABC presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, CNN Politics, Eric Bradner, Arit John, Daniel Strauss, Betsy Klein, and Gregory Krieg, Tuesday, 10 September 2024: “Kamala Harris baited Donald Trump for nearly all of the 1 hour and 45 minutes of their first and potentially only debate on Tuesday night – and Trump took every bit of it. The vice president had prepared extensively for their debate, and peppered nearly every answer with a comment designed to enrage the former president. She told Trump that world leaders were laughing at him, and military leaders called him a ‘disgrace.’ She called Trump ‘weak’ and ‘wrong.’ She said Trump was fired by 81 million voters – the number that voted for President Joe Biden in 2020. ‘Clearly, he’s having a very difficult time processing that,’ she said.”
Taylor Swift Endorses Kamala Harris. Her Instagram post backing the vice president came shortly after Ms. Harris and Former President Donald Trump had stepped off the debate stage. The New York Times, Nicholas Nehames Theodore Schleifer, and Nick Corasaniti, Tuesday, 10 September 2024: “Taylor Swift, who is one of America’s most celebrated pop-culture icons and has an enormous following across the world, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris late Tuesday after Ms. Harris’s debate against former President Donald J. Trump. The endorsement by Ms. Swift, delivered minutes after Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump had stepped off the debate stage in Philadelphia, offers Ms. Harris an unrivaled celebrity backer and a tremendous shot of adrenaline to her campaign, especially with the younger voters she has been trying to attract. ‘Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight,’ Ms. Swift wrote on Instagram to her 283 million followers. ‘I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.’ She signed her post as ‘Childless Cat Lady,’ a reference to comments made by Mr. Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, about women without children. The photo that accompanied her post showed her holding a furry feline, Benjamin Button, her pet Ragdoll.” See also, Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris for president, The Washington Post, Samantha Chery, Tuesday, 10 September 2024: “Taylor Swift revealed that she’ll be casting her vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, and she’s urged her enormous fandom to do their research and head to the polls. The superstar announced on Tuesday after the presidential debate that she planned to vote for the vice president in a lengthy Instagram post signed ‘Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.’… ‘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,’ she said in her post. She added: ‘I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.'”
Wednesday, 11 September 2024:
Trump’s False Tale of Immigrants’ Eating Pets Draws Pushback and Derision. The city manager in Springfield, Ohio, said it was disappointing that the presidential race was amplifying a bizarre narrative about the city’s immigrants. The New York Times, Tim Balk, Wednesday, 11 September 2024: “A day after former President Donald J. Trump, in a debate watched by millions, doubled down on his campaign’s debunked position that immigrants are eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, a local official on Wednesday pushed back on the outlandish claim. Bryan Heck, the city manager in Springfield, said in a taped statement that it was ‘disappointing’ that the narrative about the city had been ‘skewed by misinformation circulating on social media and further amplified by political rhetoric in the current, highly charged presidential election cycle.’ Officials with the City of Springfield, which has had an influx of Haitian immigrants in recent years, have said that there are no credible reports of immigrants’ harming pets. Mr. Heck said the new residents had brought challenges but also benefits — helping local businesses and the city’s broader economy, and spurring housing development not seen in the city in decades. The new arrivals have also put pressure on the community’s schools and hospitals. But on the debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump spoke of immigrants in Springfield ‘eating the dogs’ and ‘eating the cats’ — claims rooted in viral social media posts. ‘They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,’ he said.”
Thursday, 12 September 2024:
Trump says he won’t debate Harris again before election. While Harris said Thursday that the candidates ‘owe it to the voters’ to have another debate, Trump appears to have declined a future matchup. The Washington Post, Marianne LeVine, Maeve Reston, Josh Dawsey, and Sabrian Rodriguez, Thursday, 12 September 2024: “Former president Donald Trump appeared to close the door to another debate on Thursday, declaring on social media and later at a campaign event that the first two covered enough ground. ‘We’ve done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate,’ Trump said in Tucson. Trump has defended his performance since the debate on Tuesday, even as some allies and campaign aides have conceded privately that the evening did not go as they had hoped. While Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign immediately called for a second debate, Trump questioned the need for a rematch, insisting that he’d won. Polls however largely show that Trump lost the debate.” See also, Harris Challenges Trump to Debate Again as She Rallies in North Carolina. At her first big events since this week’s debate, the vice president said ‘we owe it to the voters’ to have another. Shortly beforehand, Donald Trump had said he would not participate in one. The New York Times, Erica L. Green and Maya King, Thursday, 12 September 2024: “At her first post-debate campaign events, Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly challenged former President Donald J. Trump to a second onstage clash and sought to use her opponent’s erratic performance as a springboard into the race’s final stretch. ‘I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate,’ Ms. Harris said at a rally in Charlotte, N.C., less than an hour after Mr. Trump wrote in all capital letters on his site Truth Social that ‘there will be no third debate!’ Despite Ms. Harris’s sharp performance on Tuesday night — her team quickly said she would be willing to debate again — her campaign has indicated that it sees the race as virtually unchanged, and has tried to keep Democrats grounded by reminding donors and supporters that ‘elections are not won by debates.'”
Georgia Judge Tosses 3 More Charges in Trump Election Interference Case. While the judge kept most of the case intact, it was a win for the defendants, who have been trying to chip away at the case. The New York Times, Danny Hakim and Richard Fausset, Thursday, 12 September 2024: “A judge in Atlanta threw out three charges in the Georgia election interference case against Donald J. Trump and his allies on Thursday, saying the state did not have jurisdiction to bring them. In a separate ruling, the judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, also upheld the felony racketeering charge against Mr. Trump and the 14 other defendants in the case — the centerpiece of the indictment — calling it ‘facially sound and constitutionally sufficient.’ But the decision to toss three of the remaining 35 charges was a win for the defendants, who have been trying to chip away at the case. They are also seeking the disqualification of its prosecutor, Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney. Ms. Willis’s office originally brought 41 counts against 19 defendants in August 2023. Four defendants have since pleaded guilty, and Judge McAfee previously quashed six of the charges. While Judge McAfee rejected the effort to disqualify Ms. Willis earlier this year, the defense then appealed, freezing much of the case in the interim. Because of the ongoing disqualification effort, the rulings on Thursday applied only to two defendants who aren’t part of that effort: John Eastman, an architect of the plan to deploy fake electors in seven swing states that Mr. Trump lost in 2020, and Shawn Still, one of those fake electors.” See also, Georgia judge dismisses two more charges Trump faced in election case. The former president will now face 8 charges instead of 13. He is still accused of criminally conspiring to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The Washington Post, Amy Gardner and Holly Bailey, Thursday, 12 September 2024: “An Atlanta-area judge has thrown out two more charges facing former president Donald Trump and a third against several of his allies in the sprawling election interference case that accuses them of criminally conspiring to try to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee stopped short in two rulings issued Thursday of dismissing the entire indictment, which Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) sought more than a year ago under Georgia’s anti-racketeering statute. All the remaining defendants, including Trump, still stand accused of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy for their alleged efforts after the 2020 election.”
Laura Loomer, a Social-Media Instigator, Is Back at Trump’s Side. The former president’s decision to elevate Laura Loomer, a far-right activist known for racist and homophobic posts online, has stunned even some Trump allies. The New York Times, Ken Bansinger, Thursday, 12 September 2024: “Before Donald J. Trump traveled to Philadelphia for this week’s debate, he invited one of the internet’s most polarizing figures along for the ride. Laura Loomer was backstage with the Trump entourage while Mr. Trump squared off against Vice President Kamala Harris. She was in the spin room with the former president immediately afterward. And the next day, she flew with him to New York City and Shanksville, Pa., to commemorate the anniversary of Sept. 11. A far-right activist known for her endless stream of sexist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Muslim and occasionally antisemitic social media posts and public stunts, Ms. Loomer has made a name for herself over the past decade by unabashedly claiming 9/11 was ‘an inside job,’ calling Islam ‘a cancer,’ accusing Ron DeSantis’s wife of exaggerating breast cancer and claiming that President Biden was behind the attempt to assassinate Mr. Trump in July. Just two days before the debate, Ms. Loomer, 31, posted a racist joke about the vice president, whose mother was Indian American. Ms. Loomer wrote on X that if Ms. Harris won the election, the White House would ‘smell like curry.’ For many observers, including some of Mr. Trump’s most important allies, the Republican presidential nominee’s choice at a critical moment of the campaign to platform a social-media instigator, albeit one with nearly 1.3 million followers on X, was stunning.” See also, Trump’s time with Laura Loomer, a far-right activist, upsets his Republican allies. The Washington Post, Patrick Svitek, Thursday, 12 September 2024: “Former president Donald Trump has traveled the country this week accompanied by far-right activist Laura Loomer, unnerving some Republican allies with his increasing embrace of a provocateur with a history of espousing conspiracy theories and incendiary rhetoric. ‘The history of statements by Ms. Loomer are beyond disturbing,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in an interview Thursday. ‘I hope this problem gets resolved. I think we should be talking about things that people are concerned about, and this issue, I think, doesn’t help the cause.'”
Opinion: Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Will Support Kamala Harris. He views Trump’s reelection as a threat to the rule of law. Politico, Alberto R. Gonzales, Thursday, 12 September 2024: “I am the only lawyer in American history to serve both as White House counsel and as attorney general. So, while that does not make me special, it does give me a rather unique perspective about presidential decision-making and the necessity of electing a president who respects the rule of law to safeguard our liberties and way of life. The American presidency is the most powerful position in the world. Of course, our constitution and laws, as well as institutions such as Congress and our courts, act as guardrails to that power. The law provides the certainty of accountability and fundamental fairness. Yet it is the president’s integrity, honesty and respect for our institutions that may be the most important and reliable check on abuses of power.As the United States approaches a critical election, I can’t sit quietly as Donald Trump — perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation — eyes a return to the White House. For that reason, though I’m a Republican, I’ve decided to support Kamala Harris for president.”
Judge overturns North Dakota’s near-total abortion ban. The ban was the state’s second attempt to block the procedure. But the judge ruled the state constitution gives women a ‘fundamental right to choose abortion. The Washington Post, Emily Wax Thibodeaux, Thursday, 12 September 2024: “A North Dakota judge struck down the state’s near-total ban on abortion Thursday, saying the state constitution gives women a ‘fundamental right to choose abortion’ before fetal viability. Restrictions on the right are ‘a violation on medical freedom,’ he ruled. State District Judge Bruce Romanick declared the law, enacted by the legislature last year, ‘unconstitutionally void for vagueness.’ The statute made the procedure illegal in all cases except rape or incest when the woman has been pregnant for less than six weeks or when the pregnancy poses a serious physical health threat. Doctors and other health care professionals found to be in violation of the law could be charged with a felony — and then face up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000. In the conservative state, where lawmakers have twice passed bans that courts subsequently ruled against, the victory for abortion rights supporters was a bittersweet one. North Dakota no longer has any abortion clinics; its onetime sole provider and plaintiff in the lawsuit, the Red River Women’s Clinic, moved from Fargo to Moorhead, Minn., in 2022.” See also, North Dakota’s Abortion Ban Is Overturned. A judge ruled that the State Constitution protected a woman’s right to abortion until the fetus was viable. The state’s attorney general said he would appeal. The New York Times, Kate Zernike, Thursday, 12 September 2024: “A North Dakota judge overturned the state’s near-total abortion ban on Thursday, saying that the State Constitution protected a woman’s right to abortion until the fetus was viable. ‘The North Dakota Constitution guarantees each individual, including women, the fundamental right to make medical judgments affecting his or her bodily integrity, health and autonomy, in consultation with a chosen health care provider free from government interference,” wrote Judge Bruce Romanick of the district court in Burleigh County. The judge, who won his seat in a nonpartisan election, said the ban violated numerous constitutional guarantees, including the right to liberty and to ‘pursue and obtain safety and happiness.’ He also said it violated the State Constitution’s due process protections because it was too vague in how it defined exceptions to the ban. Attorney General Drew H. Wrigley, a Republican, said he planned to appeal. And while the judge’s order means that abortion will become legal soon, the procedure will remain largely unavailable because the only clinic in the state, which sued to overturn the ban in 2022, has moved to Minnesota.”
Friday, 13 September 2024:
Bomb Threats and the F.B.I.: Springfield Disrupted by Trump’s False Migrants Claim. Springfield, Ohio, is caught in the middle of the nation’s political wars after former President Donald Trump made a debunked claim about Haitian immigrants and pets. The New York Times, Miriam Jordan and Peter Baker, Friday, 13 September 2024: “The dogs and cats of Springfield, Ohio, appear to be perfectly safe, but many of its people are finding their lives upended this week by political rumormongering that has resulted in multiple bomb threats, school closures and a decision to dispatch the F.B.I. Ever since former President Donald J. Trump claimed on national television that undocumented migrants were stealing and devouring the household pets of Springfield — ‘they’re eating the dogs,’ he practically shouted, ‘they’re eating the cats’ — the rhythms and routines in the city have not been the same. Never mind that city authorities have refuted the story and that many residents called it ridiculous. The furor created by Mr. Trump during Tuesday night’s presidential debate has put Springfield in the cross-hairs of the nation’s political wars. For the past two days, bomb threats have proliferated, closing City Hall, schools and a motor vehicles office. F.B.I. agents have descended on the community to guard against danger not to animals but to humans. The unexpected and unwanted attention generated by Mr. Trump’s false stories led to real-life confusion and anxiety for some residents. Schools have been evacuated, children sheltered at home and parents forced to make other plans during the workday. Gethro Jean, a Haitian pastor, said that he had been fielding questions from congregants who were concerned about attending church on Sunday.”
Trump Pledges to Start Migrant Deportations in Ohio and Colorado. The former president has repeatedly leveled baseless and exaggerated claims about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado. The New York Times, Michael Gold and Jonathan Swan, Friday, 13 September 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump said on Friday that if elected to a second term, he would begin his promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants in two cities in Ohio and Colorado that have been the center of his baseless and exaggerated claims about migrants. ‘We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,’ Mr. Trump said at a news conference at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Friday afternoon. ‘And we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora.’ In his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump repeated an outlandish claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating the pets of local residents. Local officials have said there is no evidence for the claim, which began on social media. Mr. Trump and prominent right-wing influencers have fueled the spread of falsehoods, sharing memes, generated by artificial intelligence, of the former president saving cats. Mr. Trump has continued to repeat the rumors, insisting again in a speech on Thursday that Haitian immigrants are abducting pets from residents. And his social media accounts have a series of digitally generated images of cats that he is rescuing or that are holding signs saying they support him over his rival, Ms. Harris. Since the debate, Springfield has been at the center of a maelstrom. This week, bomb threats have led to the evacuation of city hall and multiple schools.”
Saturday, 14 September 2024:
Donald Trump Jr. Piles On with Racist Comments About Haitians. After former President Donald Trump spread debunked claims that immigrants from Haiti were eating pets, his son cast more aspersions on Haitian immigrants. The New York Times, Simon J. Levien, Saturday, 14 September 2024: “Amid fallout from Donald J. Trump’s debunked claim about immigrants from Haiti stealing and eating people’s pets in a small Ohio city, the former president’s oldest son weighed in with his own aspersions on Haitians. Donald Trump Jr. suggested on Thursday that Haitian immigrants were less intelligent than people from other countries, and claimed that there was demographic evidence to back this up. He provided none.”
Sunday, 15 September 2024:
Trump Safe as F.B.I. Investigates Apparent ‘Attempted Assassination.’ Two months after the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania, law enforcement officials said Secret Service personnel fired on a suspect at one of Mr. Trump’s golf clubs while he was on the course. The suspect is in custody. The New York Times, Patricia Mazzei, Adam Goldman, Jonathan Swan, and Maggie Haberman, Sunday, 15 September 2024: “The F.B.I. said it was investigating ‘what appears to be an attempted assassination’ of former President Donald J. Trump after the Secret Service fired on an armed man at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday, just over two months after he was wounded during an attempt on his life. Mr. Trump was on the course, a few hundred yards away, when Secret Service personnel spotted a person concealed in the bushes and opened fire, law enforcement officials said at a briefing. The suspect fled the scene in a vehicle and was taken into custody during a traffic stop, and a rifle with a scope was recovered from the bushes, along with a camera and two backpacks. It was not yet clear whether the suspect had fired any shots, according to the Secret Service.” See also, Trump safe after potential assassination attempt at golf course. A suspect is in custody after fleeing the golf course where Donald Trump was playing, leaving behind a rifle. The New York Times, Josh Dawsey, Carol D. Leonnig, Devlin Barrett, Mariana Alfaro, and Isaac Arnsdorf, Sunday, 15 September 2024: ‘Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was unharmed Sunday in what authorities are investigating as another potential assassination attempt, after a man pointed a rifle through a fence around a Florida golf course where the former president was playing. Police arrested Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old man most recently living in Hawaii who spent recent years trying to join the war in Ukraine, according to online posts and law enforcement officials. Routh has a criminal history including barricading himself inside a building with a machine gun in 2002, according to public records and news reports. On Sunday, the FBI searched his car as officers looked for clues to a possible motive.”
How Chief Justice John Roberts Shaped Trump’s Supreme Court Winning Streak. Behind the scenes, the chief justice molded three momentous January 6 and election cases that helped determine the former president’s fate. The New York Times, Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak, Sunday, 15 September 2024: “Last February, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. sent his eight Supreme Court colleagues a confidential memo that radiated frustration and certainty. Former President Donald J. Trump, seeking to retake the White House, had made a bold, last-ditch appeal to the justices. He wanted them to block his fast-approaching criminal trial on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election, arguing that he was protected by presidential immunity. Whatever move the court made could have lasting consequences for the next election, the scope of presidential power and the court’s own battered reputation. The chief justice’s Feb. 22 memo, jump-starting the justices’ formal discussion on whether to hear the case, offered a scathing critique of a lower-court decision and a startling preview of how the high court would later rule, according to several people from the court who saw the document. The chief justice tore into the appellate court opinion greenlighting Mr. Trump’s trial, calling it inadequate and poorly reasoned. On one key point, he complained, the lower court judges ‘failed to grapple with the most difficult questions altogether.’ He wrote not only that the Supreme Court should take the case — which would stall the trial — but also how the justices should decide it. ‘I think it likely that we will view the separation of powers analysis differently’ from the appeals court, he wrote. In other words: grant Mr. Trump greater protection from prosecution.”
Republican vice-presidential nominee Senator JD Vance amplifies false claims about Haitian migrants in Ohio. Republican Governor Mike DeWine rejected the storyline about Springfield, calling it ‘a piece of garbage that was simply not true.’ The Washington Post, Sarah Ellison, Mariana Alfaro, and Lisa Rein, Sunday, 15 September 2024: “A week after his unsubstantiated comments on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, sparked a national firestorm and spurred violent threats in the small town, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) doubled down on his baseless claims that Haitians are eating their neighbors’ pets ‘to draw attention to the Biden-Harris immigration policies.’ A week after his unsubstantiated comments on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, sparked a national firestorm and spurred violent threats in the small town, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) doubled down on his baseless claims that Haitians are eating their neighbors’ pets ‘to draw attention to the Biden-Harris immigration policies.’ Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, rejected Vance’s claims, calling the storyline ‘a piece of garbage that was simply not true.’ In a contentious interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday morning, Vance said that if he has to ‘create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.'”
Monday, 16 September 2024:
Trump’s golf outings have long concerned the Secret Service. Sunday’s episode in West Palm Beach made gravely apparent the security challenges at the former president’s private golf courses. The Washington Post, Carol D. Leonnig, Josh Dawsey, and Isaac Stanley-Becker, Monday, 16 September 2024: “Soon after Donald Trump became president, authorities tried to warn him about the risks posed by golfing at his own courses because of their proximity to public roads. Secret Service agents came armed with unusual evidence: not suspect profiles or spent bullet casings, but simple photographs taken by news crews of him golfing at his private club in Sterling, Va. They reasoned that if photographers with long-range lenses could get the president in their sights while he golfed, so, too, could potential gunmen, according to former U.S. officials involved in the discussions. Like most others interviewed for this story, they spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.”
Wednesday, 18 September 2024:
Trump’s Talk of Prosecution Rattles Election Officials. The former president has long claimed, despite evidence to the contrary, that elections are corrupt. What if he carries through with threats to prosecute the officials who run them? The New York Times, Nick Corasaniti and Alexandra Berzon, Wednesday, 18 September 2024: “Donald J. Trump’s escalating calls to investigate and prosecute election officials he sees as ‘corrupt’ are sounding alarms among democracy experts and the local and state workers preparing to run elections and tally millions of votes across the country. In recent social media posts, Mr. Trump has said that election officials ‘involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.’ The November election, he added, ‘will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.’ On its face, the statements are promises to enforce the law. But coming from Mr. Trump, a politician who has repeatedly claimed to see corruption and fraud where there is no evidence of either and who as president pressured law enforcement officials to act on his complaints, the words raise the prospect that government officials could be investigated and prosecuted for conducting a fair election. In his refusal to accept his defeat in 2020, Mr. Trump already has accused election officials of working against him, calling them out by name on social media and spreading falsehoods about their work. Democracy experts said the talk of prosecution had troubling parallels. Such threats are far more likely in new nations, post-communist states or places that are ‘struggling in the shadows between democracy and authoritarianism,’ said Larry Diamond, who studies democracies around the world as a senior fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. ‘You won’t find instances in the contemporary world of a mature and stable and even faintly liberal democracy where a major presidential candidate is making these kinds of threats,’ he said. ‘It’s just bizarre and unprecedented.'”
111 Former Republican Officials Back Kamala Harris, Calling Trump ‘Unfit to Serve.’ The signatories of a letter endorsing the Democratic vice president included former members of Congress, defense secretaries, C.I.A. directors and other national security officials. The New York Times, Peter Baker, Wednesday, 18 September 2024: “More than 100 former national security officials from Republican administrations and former Republican members of Congress endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday after concluding that their party’s nominee, Donald J. Trump, is ‘unfit to serve again as president.’ In a letter to the public, the Republicans, including both vocal longtime Trump opponents and others who had not endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020, argued that while they might ‘disagree with Kamala Harris’ on many issues, Mr. Trump had demonstrated ‘dangerous qualities.’ Those include, they said, ‘unusual affinity’ for dictators like President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and ‘contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior. As president,’ the letter said, ‘he promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests and betrayed our values, democracy and this country’s founding documents.'”
Network of Georgia election officials strategizing to undermine 2024 result. Emails reveal Georgia Election Integrity Coalition, a group of officials and election deniers, coordinating in this swing state. The Guardian, Justin Glawe, Wednesday, 18 September 2024: “Emails obtained by the Guardian reveal a behind-the-scenes network of county election officials throughout Georgia coordinating on policy and messaging to both call the results of November’s election into question before a single vote is cast, and push rules and procedures favored by the election denial movement. The emails were obtained by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) as a result of a public records request sent to David Hancock, an election denier and member of the Gwinnett county board of elections. Crew shared the emails with the Guardian. Spanning a period beginning in January, the communications expose the inner workings of a group that includes some of the most ardent supporters of the former president Donald Trump’s election lies as well as ongoing efforts to portray the coming election as beset with fraud. Included in the communications are agendas for meetings and efforts to coordinate on policies and messaging as the swing state has once again become a focal point of the presidential campaign.” See also, In Georgia, a New Showdown Is Brewing Over Election Rules. The state election board was recently taken over by a conservative majority. Its latest proposals are dangerously late in the process and most likely illegal, according to the secretary of state. The New York Times, Nick Corasaniti, Wednesday, 18 September 2024: “A showdown is brewing between the top election official in Georgia and the State Election Board over more than a dozen new rules and procedures scheduled to be voted on by the board at a meeting on Friday. A lawyer for the election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, sent a scathing letter to the State Election Board on Monday, criticizing ‘the absurdity of the board’s actions’ while warning that new rules under consideration are dangerously late in the election process and most likely illegal. The fight comes as the election board is under increasing pressure from critics already concerned that it has been rewriting the rules of the game in a key swing state to favor former President Donald J. Trump, including potentially disrupting certification of the election if Mr. Trump loses in November. Last month, the board granted local officials new power over the election certification process, a change that opponents say could sow chaos. The two-page letter from Charlene S. McGowan, the general counsel for Mr. Raffensperger, sets up a choice for the election board before its meeting on Friday: Heed the guidance of the top election official in the state, or ignore the legal advice and pass another package of election rules that include right-wing policy goals such as hand counting of ballots. ‘It is far too late in the election process for counties to implement new rules and procedures, and many poll workers have already completed their required training,’ Ms. McGowan wrote in the letter, which she said was a response to a request for comment on the proposed rules from the chairman of the board. ‘If the board believes that rules changes are important for an election, the process should begin much sooner to allow for smooth implementation and training and include the input of election officials.'”
Trump’s Derision of Haitians Goes Back Years. Former President Donald Trump’s false comments about pet-eating Haitian immigrants are the latest in a pattern of attacks against people from the Caribbean nation. The New York Times, Michael D. Shear, Wednesday, 18 September 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump had been in office for less than six months when he made clear his disdain for people from Haiti, offering a revealing prelude to his recent embrace of false rumors about Haitians eating pets in an Ohio town. He insisted one afternoon in 2017 that immigrants from Haiti should not be let into the United States, shocking his chief of staff, secretary of state, homeland security secretary and others gathered in the Oval Office by declaring that people from the beleaguered nation ‘all have AIDS.’ Now, as he runs for a second term, Mr. Trump is once again denigrating Haitians, part of a pattern that goes back years and appears to have its roots in the early 1980s, when the Centers for Disease Control stigmatized Haitians as a particular threat in the spread of AIDS, driving years of panic about the newly discovered disease. Mr. Trump, a self-described germophobe, has persisted in that debunked belief even though it was formally abandoned by the C.D.C. nearly four decades ago. ‘We have hundreds of thousands of people flowing in from Haiti. Haiti has a tremendous AIDS problem,’ the former president told Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, in October 2021. ‘Many of those people will probably have AIDS, and they’re coming into our country. And we don’t do anything about it.’ In his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris last week, Mr. Trump singled out Haitians for ridicule. ‘In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats,’ he said. ‘They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.’ He promised to conduct mass deportations of Haitians if he returns to the White House.”
Thursday, 19 September 2024:
Mark Robinson, North Carolina Republican nominee for governor, made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum, including ‘I’m a black NAZI!’ CNN Politics, Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, Thursday, 19 September 2024: “Mark Robinson, the controversial and socially conservative Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, in which he referred to himself as a ‘black NAZI!’ and expressed support for reinstating slavery, a CNN KFile investigation found. Despite a recent history of anti-transgender rhetoric, Robinson said he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, a review of archived messages found in which he also referred to himself as a ‘perv.’ The comments, which Robinson denies making, predate his entry into politics and current stint as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor. They were made under a username that CNN was able to identify as Robinson by matching a litany of biographical details and a shared email address between the two. Many of Robinson’s comments were gratuitously sexual and lewd in nature. They were made between 2008 and 2012 on ‘Nude Africa,’ a pornographic website that includes a message board. The comments were made under the username minisoldr, a moniker Robinson used frequently online. Robinson listed his full name on his profile for Nude Africa, as well as an email address he used on numerous websites across the internet for decades. CNN is reporting only a small portion of Robinson’s comments on the website given their graphic nature.” See also, North Carolina Governor Race Jolted by Report That Republican Nominee Mark Robinson Called Himself a ‘Black Nazi.’ Robinson vowed to stay in the race and sought to deny the report, which also said he had defended slavery in online posts years ago. The New York Times, Shane Goldmacher, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, and Nicholas Nehamas, Thursday, 19 September 2024: “Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina, the Republican nominee for governor with a long history of inflammatory and offensive remarks in the battleground state, on Thursday vowed to stay in the race as CNN reported that he had once called himself a ‘black NAZI!’ and defended slavery on a pornographic forum. In an 82-second video released before the CNN article had published, Mr. Robinson sought to undercut the report, which unearthed old comments that he had reportedly made on ‘Nude Africa,’ a pornographic site with a message board. Mr. Robinson, a social conservative who has been a strident opponent of transgender rights, also posted about how he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, according to CNN, describing himself as a ‘perv’ who liked ‘tranny on girl porn.'”
Trump’s Allies Try to Revive Push to Make Nebraska Winner-Take-All Electorally. Nebraska could deliver a critical electoral vote to Vice President Kamala Harris under its hybrid system of splitting votes in an otherwise red state. The New York Times, Neil Vigdor and Reid J. Epstein, Thursday, 19 September 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump’s allies are resurrecting efforts to change how Nebraska awards its five electoral votes, a hybrid system that could deliver a single but decisive vote to Vice President Kamala Harris from a reliable red state in one tiebreaking scenario. With less than seven weeks until the election, all five Republicans who represent the state in Congress are pushing for Nebraska to return to a winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes that had been used before 1992 and was based on the statewide popular vote. Under the state’s current hybrid system, its electoral votes are split: Two go to the winner of the statewide popular vote, and the other three are based on who wins the popular vote in each of Nebraska’s three U.S. House districts. Maine also has a hybrid system…. [O]n Wednesday, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, visited Nebraska, where he too advocated for the state to change its rules. Representatives for Mr. Graham, who The Nebraska Examiner reported had visited the governor’s mansion, did not respond to requests for comment. When he was asked by reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday about his trip to Nebraska, he said that the Trump campaign had not dispatched him to make the case for the winner-take-all system.” See also, How One Man’s Vote in Nebraska Could Change the Presidential Election. A single Republican state senator appears to be holding back a push by Donald Trump to net a potentially pivotal electoral vote even before ballots are cast. The New York Times, Jonathan Weisman and Reid J. Epstein, published on Friday, 20 September 2024: “In Eastern Nebraska, far from the presidential battleground states, a drama is playing out that could, in a perfectly plausible November scenario, have history-altering repercussions for the nation’s future and the next president — and it may all come down to one man. A single Republican state senator from Omaha, Mike McDonnell, has so far stood firm against a push by former President Donald J. Trump, national Republicans and the Nebraska G.O.P. to change Nebraska from a state that divides its electoral votes by congressional district to one that awards all of them to the statewide winner. Maine is the only other state without a winner-take-all system. If Mr. McDonnell buckles, two other Republican senators in Nebraska’s unicameral legislature who have also not yet committed to changing Nebraska’s system are likely to follow his lead, according to a number of Republicans and Democrats involved in the discussions going on at the State Capitol. The tumbling dominoes would almost certainly give the single electoral vote of Omaha and its suburbs, which Vice President Kamala Harris is favored to win, to Mr. Trump.” See also, Trump ramps up push for Nebraska to change electoral vote allocation. Nebraska is one of two states that awards some of its electoral votes by congressional district. A vote from the Omaha area is part of Harris’s easiest path to victory. The Washington Post, Patrick Marley, Josh Dawsey, and Michael Scherer, published on Friday, 20 September 2024: “Former president Donald Trump spoke by phone this week with a Nebraska state senator as part of a last-minute push to change how the state allocates its electoral votes and block the easiest path Vice President Kamala Harris has to win the White House. State Sen. Merv Riepe (R) said he spoke briefly by phone with Trump on Wednesday in the presence of Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) during a visit by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who encouraged Republicans in the state’s unicameral legislature to change to a statewide winner-take-all electoral vote system. ‘I want the law changed. I’ve made no qualms about it,’ said Graham, an ally of Trump, who said he traveled to Nebraska at the request of Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), the former governor. ‘They were open-minded. I said: Listen, it’s your decision to make. It comes down to one electoral vote. I want you to understand what that one vote would mean.’ Nebraska is one of two states that award some of its electoral votes by congressional district, which has given Democrats a good shot at winning a single vote from the Omaha area, despite the overwhelming statewide Republican lean. With that vote, Harris can secure the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, as long as she also wins her three strongest battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.”
Friday, 20 September 2024:
Georgia Election Board Orders Hand-Counting of Ballots. Critics say the move could significantly delay the reporting of results in the battleground state and inject chaos into the post-election period. The New York Times, Nick Corasaniti and Johnny Kauffman, Friday, 20 September 2024: “The Georgia State Election Board voted on Friday to force counties to hand-count all ballots cast on Election Day, a move critics say could significantly delay the reporting of results in the battleground state and inject chaos into the post-election period. The new rule, which passed on a 3-2 vote, runs counter to extensive legal advice from the top election official and law enforcement officials in the state. A nonpartisan group of local election officials had also objected to the change. The measure is the latest in a stream of right-wing election policies passed by the State Election Board over the past few months. The board has come under increasing pressure from critics already concerned that it has been rewriting the rules of the game in a key swing state to favor former President Donald J. Trump. Last month, the board granted local officials new power over certifying the election, which opponents say could potentially disrupt the process if Mr. Trump loses in November. Critics argue that requiring hand counting, in addition to a machine count, could introduce errors and confusion into the process and potentially disrupt the custody of ballots.” See also, Pro-Trump Georgia election board votes to require hand counts of ballots. Critics plan to sue, saying the new requirement would almost certainly lead to errors and could disrupt the process of certifying the vote in a crucial battleground state. The Washington Post, Amy Gardner, Friday, 20 September 2024: “The Georgia State Election Board approved a rule Friday requiring counties in the critical presidential battleground to hand-count the total number of ballots this year, potentially upending the November election by delaying the reporting of results. The move was spearheaded by a pro-Trump majority that has enacted a series of changes to the state’s election rules in recent weeks and approved the hand-count requirement despite a string of public commenters who begged board members not to. Critics included democracy advocates who accused the board of intentionally injecting chaos and uncertainty into the presidential contest, as well as election supervisors and poll workers who said hand counts would take too long, cost money and almost certainly produce counting errors. The office of the Republican state attorney general, which is responsible for advising the board, wrote in an opinion that the change was unlawful.”
Trump argues revised D.C. indictment threatens presidential authority, The Washington Post, Perry Stein and Spences S. Hsu, Friday, 20 September 2024: “Donald Trump’s legal team pushed back hard Thursday against the revised D.C. election interference indictment he faces, using a legal filing on evidentiary issues to argue the case threatens the office of the presidency and should be dropped. In a late-night filing to U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, Trump’s attorneys wrote that special counsel Jack Smith did not go far enough when he responded to the Supreme Court ruling this summer that expanded the scope of presidential immunity. Smith filed a new superseding indictment in August against Trump, getting rid of allegations that he felt would be considered official presidential acts under the ruling and cannot be prosecuted.”
Saturday, 21 September 2024:
As President, Trump Demanded Investigations of Foes. He Often Got Them. He has threatened to target his perceived enemies if elected again. A look at his time in the White House shows how readily he could do so. The New York Times, Michael S. Schmidt, Saturday, 21 September 2024: “It was the spring of 2018 and President Donald J. Trump, faced with an accelerating inquiry into his campaign’s ties to Russia, was furious that the Justice Department was reluctant to strike back at those he saw as his enemies. In an Oval Office meeting, Mr. Trump told startled aides that if Attorney General Jeff Sessions would not order the department to go after Hillary Clinton and James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, Mr. Trump would prosecute them himself. Recognizing the extraordinary dangers of a president seeking not just to weaponize the criminal justice system for political ends but trying as well to assume personal control over who should be investigated and charged, the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, sought to stall. ‘How about I do this?’ Mr. McGahn told Mr. Trump, according to an account verified by witnesses. ‘I’m going to write you a memo explaining to you what the law is and how it works, and I’ll give that memo to you and you can decide what you want to do.’ The episode marked the start of a more aggressive effort by Mr. Trump to deploy his power against his perceived enemies despite warnings not to do so by top aides. And a look back at the cases of 10 individuals brings a pattern into clearer focus: After Mr. Trump made repeated public or private demands for them to be targeted by the government, they faced federal pressure of one kind or another. The broad outlines of those episodes have been previously reported. But a closer examination reveals the degree of concern and pushback against Mr. Trump’s demands inside the White House. And it highlights how closely his expressed desires to go after people who had drawn his ire were sometimes followed by the Justice Department, F.B.I. or other agencies. Even without his direct order, his indirect influence could serve his ends and leave those in his sights facing expensive, time-consuming legal proceedings or other high-stress inquiries. The story of that period has a powerful resonance today as Mr. Trump, angered in part by the two federal and two state-level indictments of him since leaving office, threatens to carry out a campaign of retribution if he returns to the White House. He has signaled that a second Trump administration would be stocked not with people who served as guardrails during his first term, but with carefully vetted loyalists who would eagerly carry out his wishes.” See also, Here Are Cases of Trump Rivals Who Were Subject to Investigation, The New York Times, Michael S. Schmidt and Matthew Cullen, Saturday, 21 September 2024.
What Trump has promised to do on ‘day one’ as president. Trump has made 41 distinct promises for his first day in office, including mass deportations and banning transgender women from sports. The Washington Post, Derek Hawkins, Clara Ence Morse, and Eric Lau, Saturday, 21 September 2024: “Donald Trump has a long list of executive actions he says he wants to carry out on his potential first day back in the White House. Among them: Begin mass deportations, eliminate perks for electric vehicles and ban transgender women from women’s sports. Since launching his bid for a second term, Trump has made 41 distinct promises about what he says he wants to do ‘on day one’ as president, and he has mentioned those promises more than 200 times on the campaign trail, according to a Washington Post analysis of his speeches. While presidential candidates often trumpet their plans for their first day in the White House, Trump has leaned especially hard on this rhetorical device when he’s behind the teleprompters. His proposals often envision stretching the powers of the Oval Office beyond how previous presidents — including Trump himself — have invoked them.”
Sunday, 22 September 2024:
More Than 700 Current and Former National Security Officials Back Kamala Harris. A letter signed by former secretaries of state and defense endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and said former President Donald Trump poses a threat to the nation’s defense and its democratic system. The New York Times, Maggie Astor, Sunday, 22 September 2024: “More than 700 current and former national security leaders, as well as former military officials, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in a letter released on Sunday, arguing that only she had the temperament and values needed to serve as commander in chief. The signatories of the letter, which was organized by the group National Security Leaders for America, included former secretaries of state and secretaries of defense, former ambassadors and retired generals. They argued that former President Donald J. Trump posed a threat to both national security and the United States’ democratic system. Among the most prominent names were the former defense secretaries Chuck Hagel, a Republican who served under President Barack Obama; William Cohen, a Republican who served under President Bill Clinton; and William J. Perry, a Democrat who served under Mr. Clinton. The former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, and the former defense secretary Leon Panetta, also signed the letter, though their support for Ms. Harris was already clear. The retired military leaders who signed included Rear Adm. Michael E. Smith, the president of the organization that released the letter, and Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who led the C.I.A. under President George W. Bush. ‘This election is a choice between serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness,’ the letter said. ‘It is a choice between democracy and authoritarianism. Vice President Harris defends America’s democratic ideals, while former President Donald Trump endangers them.’ It continued: ‘We do not make such an assessment lightly. We are trained to make sober, rational decisions,’ and added: ‘We know effective leadership requires in-depth knowledge, careful deliberation, understanding of your adversaries and empathy for those you lead. It requires listening to those with expertise and not firing them when they disagree with you.'”
Monday, 23 September 2024:
Key Nebraska Republican Rejects Trump’s Push to Shake Up Electoral Map. Mike McDonnell, a state senator, said he would not support an effort to change the state’s electoral system to winner take all, an outcome that could have cost Kamala Harris an electoral vote. The New York Times, Reid J. Epstein, Monday, 23 September 2024: “The Nebraska state senator who Republicans hoped would help ease former President Donald J. Trump’s path to the White House by agreeing to change how the state allocates its Electoral College votes said on Monday that he would not do so, ending a brief but intense lobbying effort from allies of Mr. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The state legislator, Mike McDonnell, a Democrat turned Republican from Omaha, said that he would not agree to change Nebraska’s 32-year tradition of awarding three of the state’s five electoral votes by congressional district to a winner-take-all system based on the statewide popular vote, bucking calls from Nebraska’s governor and its congressional delegation to help Mr. Trump.” See also, Republican effort to change how Nebraska allocates electoral votes hits roadblock. A key state lawmaker said Monday that he doesn’t support switching Nebraska to a winner-take-all system, a change that could benefit former president Donald Trump. The Washington Post, Patrick Svitek and Patrick Marley, Monday, 23 September 2024: “A key Republican state lawmaker in Nebraska said Monday that he does not support changing how the state awards its electoral votes before the November election, foiling for now a last-ditch push by former president Donald Trump and his allies that could have reshaped the outcome of the presidential race. ‘I respect the desire of some of my colleagues to have this discussion, and I have taken time to listen carefully to Nebraskans and national leaders on both sides of the issue,’ state Sen. Mike McDonnell said in a statement. ‘After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change.'” See also, Pivotal Nebraska state senator deals Trump serious setback, saying he won’t support change to state election law, CNN Politics, Jeff Zeleny, Monday, 23 September 2024: “A pressure campaign from Donald Trump and Republican allies to change Nebraska election law was dealt a significant setback on Monday as a pivotal Omaha state senator said he would not support a last-ditch effort to overturn a 30-year law that awards electoral votes by congressional district rather than statewide winner-take-all. State Sen. Mike McDonnell, a former Democrat who joined the GOP earlier this year, said in a statement Monday that he would not vote to change the law in Nebraska before the November election.”
A Day After Most of His Staff Resigned, North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson Is Continuing to Campaign for Governor. The Republican lieutenant governor said he would hire new staff soon, following a CNN report linking him to disturbing comments on a porn site. The New York Times, Eduardo Median, Monday, 23 September 2024: “Mark Robinson returned to the campaign trail on Monday in North Carolina, insisting that he will remain in the governor’s race even after most of his staff resigned following a CNN report linking him to numerous disturbing comments on a pornographic website. Wearing his signature bright red shirt and jeans, Mr. Robinson, the state’s Republican lieutenant governor, stood outside a bakery in Wilkesboro, N.C., and denounced the CNN article. Among other things, it said that Mr. Robinson had written on a porn site years ago that he was a “black NAZI,” that he enjoyed watching transgender pornography and that ‘slavery is not bad.’ Donald J. Trump did not mention Mr. Robinson once at a campaign event in Wilmington, N.C., on Saturday, and several Trump fans who attended said they understood why it was necessary to distance Mr. Trump from Mr. Robinson. The former president endorsed Mr. Robinson in March and held a fund-raiser for him at his home in Palm Beach, Fla., last year. The fallout worsened on Sunday when most of Mr. Robinson’s top campaign staff members resigned, leaving the lieutenant governor with a thin team as he attempts to continue a campaign that had already been plagued by poor polling. Mr. Robinson’s Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, had been pounding him with negative ads, and he had already been under scrutiny for past Facebook posts and speeches widely criticized as racist, antisemitic and transphobic.”
Tuesday, 24 September 2024:
Haitian group in Springfield, Ohio, files citizen criminal charges against Trump and Vance, Associated Press, Julie Carr Smyth, Tuesday, 24 September 2024: “The leader of a nonprofit representing the Haitian community invoked a private-citizen right to file charges Tuesday against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, over the chaos and threats experienced by Springfield, Ohio, since Trump first spread false claims about legal immigrants there during a presidential debate. The Haitian Bridge Alliance made the move after inaction by the local prosecutor, said their attorney, Subodh Chandra of the Cleveland-based Chandra Law Firm. Charges brought by private citizens are rare, but not unheard of, in Ohio. Examples might be a grocery store charging a customer for a bounced check. State law requires a hearing to take place before the affidavit can move forward. As of Tuesday afternoon, none had been scheduled. Trump and Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, are charged with disrupting public services, making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing and complicity. The filing asks the Clark County Municipal Court to affirm that there is probable cause and issue arrest warrants against Trump and Vance.”
Over 400 economists and ex-officials endorse Kamala Harris, CNN Business, Matt Egan, Tuesday, 24 September 2024: “More than 400 economists and former high-ranking US policymakers are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris and her vision for the American economy, according to a document announcing the endorsement seen by CNN. The mass endorsement lands as Harris tries to erode former President Donald Trump’s lead on the economy, a critical issue that many Americans say could decide their vote this election. The backing for Harris comes largely from left-leaning economists and officials who served under Democrats, including top Biden economist Brian Deese; Obama administration officials Jason Furman, Bill Daley and Penny Pritzker; and Clinton-era policymakers Robert Reich and Alan Blinder, who also served as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. ‘The choice in this election is clear: between failed trickle-down economic policies that benefit the few and economic policies that provide opportunity for all,’ the endorsement document reads. ‘It is a choice between inequity, economic injustice, and uncertainty with Donald Trump or prosperity, opportunity, and stability with Kamala Harris, a choice between the past and the future.'”
Thursday, 26 September 2024:
Major Decision for Judge in Trump’s Election Case: How Much Evidence to Reveal. Prosecutors filed a sealed brief showing what they learned in the investigation. The former president’s lawyers say it amounts to a premature special counsel report that could hurt him before Election Day. The New York Times, Charlie Savage and Alan Feuer, Thursday, 26 September 2024: “Special counsel investigations that culminate in lengthy factual reports have become common in American political life. Special counsel reports have provided public documentation about the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, the F.B.I.’s bumbling in the early stages of that investigation and President Biden’s handling of classified documents. When Jack Smith, the special counsel scrutinizing former President Donald J. Trump’s attempt to subvert the 2020 election, found sufficient evidence to indict him last summer, it looked as if that inquiry would come to a head differently — with a full airing of evidence against his main investigative target in front of a jury. That path, however, was significantly diverted this summer when the Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Trump enjoyed a broad form of immunity from criminal prosecution over official acts, raising doubts about whether the election case would ever go to trial. Should Mr. Trump be elected again, he would also most likely have the Justice Department shut down the prosecution. Still, in an odd legal twist, the Supreme Court ruling has opened the possibility that a significant amount of the previously undisclosed evidence Mr. Smith has gathered could be revealed in public court filings — maybe even before Election Day. On Thursday, Mr. Smith submitted under seal a massive brief outlining his case against Mr. Trump, including what the special counsel’s office has described as about 90 pages of facts and more than 30 pages of footnotes to an exhibit appendix. There was no notice of the filing on the public docket, but just before a 5 p.m. deadline on Thursday, a spokesperson for Mr. Smith said the special counsel had complied with the court’s order and filed the brief.” See also, Prosecutors file sealed brief detailing allegations against Trump in election interference case. Special counsel Jack Smith has filed, under seal, a legal brief that prosecutors have said would contain sensitive and previously unseen evidence in the case charging former President Donald Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election he lost. The Washington Post, Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer | AP, Thursday, 26 September 2024: “Special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday filed, under seal, a legal brief that prosecutors have said would contain sensitive and previously unseen evidence in the case charging former President Donald Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election he lost. The brief, submitted over the Trump team’s objections, is aimed at defending a revised and stripped-down indictment that prosecutors filed last month to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that conferred broad immunity on former presidents. Prosecutors said earlier this month that they intended to present a ‘detailed factual proffer,’ including multiple exhibits and excerpts of grand jury testimony, to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in hopes of persuading her that the remaining allegations in the new indictment should not be dismissed and should continue to be part of the case.” See also, Special counsel files evidence under seal against Trump in election subversion case, CNN Politics, Tierney Sneed and Katelyn Polantz, Thursday, 26 September 2024: “Filings from special counsel Jack Smith laying out never-before-seen evidence in the election subversion case against Donald Trump – including interview transcripts and notes from an investigation that counted among its witnesses former Vice President Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – are now in the hands of a federal court. It will now be up to District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine how much of that evidence the public gets to see and when they will be able to see it. The court submissions could eventually provide Americans with the most comprehensive view they’ll ever get of Smith’s case alleging that Trump conspired to defraud the United States in his efforts to overturn his 2020 electoral loss. The filings are expected to include grand jury transcripts, the FBI’s formal notes from witness interviews and documentary evidence, as part of an effort by prosecutors to argue that their reworked indictment can survive under the Supreme Court’s recent presidential immunity ruling.”
The Dangers of Donald Trump, From Those Who Know Him, The New York Times, The Editorial Board, Thursday, 26 September 2024: “In any election, it’s hard to know whose word to trust. And in a polarized country, many Americans distrust any information that comes from the other side of the political divide. That’s why the criticism of Donald Trump by those who served with him in the White House and by members of his own party is so striking. Dozens of people who know him well, including the 91 listed here, have raised alarms about his character and fitness for office — his family and friends, world leaders and business associates, his fellow conservatives and his political appointees — even though they had nothing to gain from doing so. Some have even spoken out at the expense of their own careers or political interests. The New York Times editorial board has made its case that Mr. Trump is unfit to lead. But the strongest case against him may come from his own people. For those Americans who are still tempted to return him to the presidency or to not vote in November, it is worth considering the assessment of Mr. Trump by those who have seen him up close.”
North Carolina removes 747,000 from voter rolls, citing ineligibility, The Hill, Ashleign Fields, Thursday, 26 September 2024: “North Carolina’s State Board of Elections has removed 747,000 people from its list of registered voters within the last 20 months, officials announced Thursday in a press release. The State Board of Elections in the release said the majority of those stripped from the rolls were deemed ineligible to be registered because they had moved within the state and did not register their new address, or because they did not participate in the past two federal elections, prompting an inactive status. Other reasons for removal included death, felony convictions, out-of-state moves and personal requests for removal, the board said. North Carolina is one of seven swing states likely to decide the presidential election between Vice President Harris and former President Trump. Only one Democrat this century, former President Obama in 2008, has won the state in a presidential contest, but Harris has been polling close to Trump this cycle.”
Sweeping bill to overhaul Supreme Court would add six justices. The legislation by Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat-Oregon) is one of the most ambitious efforts to date to remake the Supreme Court following controversies over rulings and ethics. The Washington Post, Justin Jouvenal and Tobi Raji, Thursday, 26 September 2024: “A sweeping bill introduced by a Democratic senator Wednesday would greatly increase the size of the Supreme Court, make it harder for the justices to overturn laws, require justices to undergo audits and remove roadblocks for high court nominations. The legislation by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is one of the most ambitious proposals to remake a high court that has suffered a sharp decline in its public approval after a string of contentious decisions and ethics scandals in recent years. It has little chance of passing at the moment, since Republicans have generally opposed efforts to overhaul the court. Wyden, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said the goal of the bill is to restore public confidence in a battered institution. He said he hopes to get parts of the bill passed, even if the whole package is not embraced by lawmakers. ‘It’s not an atomic secret that the process for selecting justices is politicized,’ Wyden said. ‘You’ve got this thoroughly politicized process resulting in a Supreme Court that now frequently issues sweeping rulings to overturn laws and upend precedents. We are proposing a way to restore some balance between the three branches of government.'”
Friday, 27 September 2024:
Special Counsel Jack Smith Proposes Making Public More Evidence From Trump Election Case. Smith is seeking to disclose quotations from secret grand jury testimony and interviews but is proposing to shield witness identities. The New York Times, Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage, Friday, 27 September 2024: “The special counsel, Jack Smith, has asked a federal judge to make public a substantial amount of the evidence that he and his deputies have collected during nearly two years of investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a court filing unsealed on Friday. In the filing, Mr. Smith described the sorts of information about Mr. Trump that he would like to reveal in a public version of a lengthy secret brief that he submitted under seal on Thursday evening to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who is overseeing the election interference case in Federal District Court in Washington. The sealed brief, which may have been as long as 180 pages with a lengthy additional attachment of exhibits, was Mr. Smith’s attempt to defend his indictment of Mr. Trump against the Supreme Court’s recent ruling granting him a broad form of immunity against criminal prosecution for official acts. Mr. Smith told Judge Chutkan that the public version of his brief should include quotations and summaries of grand jury testimony from — and interviews with — several chief witnesses in the case, including top White House officials like former Vice President Mike Pence. But to protect lesser-known witnesses from harassment, Mr. Smith said the names of people not already identified in the indictment should be redacted.”
Saturday, 28 September 2024:
Trump’s Answer to Harris’s Border Trip: Calling Her ‘Mentally Disabled.’ Former President Donald Trump assailed Vice President Kamala Harris in harshly personal terms in what he conceded was ‘a dark speech.’ The New York Times, Michael Gold, Saturday, 28 September 2024: “The day after Vice President Kamala Harris visited the southern border and pledged to crack down on asylum and beef up security, former President Donald J. Trump unleashed a string of sharply personal attacks on her at a rally on Saturday, expressing contempt for her intelligence and calling her ‘mentally disabled.’ In a dark, often rambling speech lasting longer than an hour, Mr. Trump — whose advisers have urged him to focus on policy issues rather than on personal jabs — notably escalated his attacks against Ms. Harris. Mr. Trump, who has often questioned President Biden’s mental abilities, told supporters at a rally in Prairie du Chien, Wis., that ‘Joe Biden became mentally impaired; Kamala was born that way.’ Mr. Trump then tied Ms. Harris to the Biden administration’s border policies, adding, ‘And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country.’ Later, he criticized her remarks at the border on Friday as ‘bullshit.'”
Sunday, 29 September 2024:
Trump Allies Bombard the Courts, Setting Stage for Post-Election Fight. Republicans are filing a barrage of election lawsuits in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. The cases may be a road map for a legal battle over the results. The New York Times, Danny Hakim, Alexandra Berzon, and Nick Corasaniti, Sunday, 29 September 2024: “Republicans have unleashed a flurry of lawsuits challenging voting rules and practices ahead of the November elections, setting the stage for what could be a far larger and more contentious legal battle over the White House after Election Day. The onslaught of litigation, much of it landing in recent weeks, includes nearly 90 lawsuits filed across the country by Republican groups this year. The legal push is already more than three times the number of lawsuits filed before Election Day in 2020, according to Democracy Docket, a Democratically aligned group that tracks election cases. Voting rights experts say the legal campaign appears to be an effort to prepare to contest the results of the presidential election after Election Day should former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, lose and refuse to accept his defeat as he did four years ago. The lawsuits are concentrated in swing states — and key counties — likely to determine the race. Several embrace debunked theories about voter fraud and so-called stolen elections that Mr. Trump has promoted since 2020.”
Republicans Criticize Trump Over His Insults of Harris. Several Republicans distanced themselves from their party’s standard-bearer after he called Vice President Kamala Harris ‘mentally disabled.’ The New York Times, Simon J. Levien, Sunday, 29 September 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump drew criticism from several fellow Republicans on Sunday for his demeaning insults of Vice President Kamala Harris, a day after he called her ‘mentally disabled’ and ‘mentally impaired’ at a rally. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, pushed back on Mr. Trump’s remarks on Sunday. ‘I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country,’ Mr. Graham said on CNN, adding that he did not think Ms. Harris was crazy but did think her policies were. Representative Tom Emmer — a Minnesota Republican who has been helping Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Mr. Trump’s running mate, prepare for his upcoming debate — also sought to distance himself from Mr. Trump’s personal attacks. ‘I think we should stick to the issues,’ Mr. Emmer said on ABC News. Larry Hogan, a former Republican governor of Maryland who is currently running for the Senate, offered a sharper rebuke. ‘I think that’s insulting not only to the vice president, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities,’ Mr. Hogan, who has often criticized Mr. Trump in the past, said on CBS News. ‘I’ve said for years that Trump’s divisive rhetoric is something we can do without.'”
Monday, 30 September 2024:
The Only Patriotic Choice for President, The New York Times, The Editorial Board, Monday, 30 September 2024: “It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities — wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline — that he most lacks. Those disqualifying characteristics are compounded by everything else that limits his ability to fulfill the duties of the president: his many criminal charges, his advancing age, his fundamental lack of interest in policy and his increasingly bizarre cast of associates. This unequivocal, dispiriting truth — Donald Trump is not fit to be president — should be enough for any voter who cares about the health of our country and the stability of our democracy to deny him re-election. For this reason, regardless of any political disagreements voters might have with her, Kamala Harris is the only patriotic choice for president. Most presidential elections are, at their core, about two different visions of America that emerge from competing policies and principles. This one is about something more foundational. It is about whether we invite into the highest office in the land a man who has revealed, unmistakably, that he will degrade the values, defy the norms and dismantle the institutions that have made our country strong.”
Even though the Trump administration has been out of office since January 2021, I am continuing to post summaries of the daily political news and major stories relating to this tragic and dangerous period in US history. I try to focus on the differences between the Trump administration and the Biden administration and on the ongoing toxic residual effects of the Trump administration and Republicans. I usually post throughout the day and let the news settle for a day or so before posting.
I created Muckraker Farm in 2014 as a place to post muckraking (investigative) journalism going back to the 19th century. I hope to return to this original project soon. You can find these muckraking pieces under the Home Page link at the top of this site. Thanks for reading!