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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, Trup 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.”
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!