The Politics Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

Yet another Trump commutation re-offends. Unsurprising, since in the final days of his presidency, he was doling out commutations and pardons to the highest bidders, instead of to those who had truly paid their debts to society and demonstrated their commitment to not re-offending.

After Trump commutation, Esformes arrested on domestic violence-related charges in Miami Beach

 

[Khan]

Kamala Harris isn't just running against Donald Trump, she's getting inside his head.  THAT is how the game is played.

I am, too.  I'm waiting for that moment when he turns even on his own followers, and no one, not even the NYT, can bail him out.

[DramatistDreamer]

The campaign of the Republican candidate will not get what they so desired. 
 

Georgia judge rules certification of election results is 'mandatory'

[Vee]

 

[sivad40]

I agree with this quote but I'm more calm and resign to whatever happens. 

"My "gut instinct" for months has been a feeling that Harris is going to win, and win by a larger margin than Biden did in 2020. I just get the sense that Trump fatigue is real and that his support is somewhat softer this year than in 2020 or 2016. OTOH, I also keep having flashbacks to 2016 and just can't convince myself at all that she's actually going to win. And I won't feel confident until (or even if) she's actually declared the winner after the election. Usually I trust my instincts, but not this time, probably because of everything that is at stake if he wins."

[DRW50]

I think what may have hurt (I'm aware we disagree on whether this hurt her campaign or not) is there was a gap where she did interviews, which allowed the media and Trump to paint her with the label of being afraid. Then when she did start doing more formal interviews, so much expectation was put onto them and Trump, with help from the press, was able to pick them apart and blunt any major positive comment (earlier today I saw that even 'entertainment' sites like Deadline were mentioning the edit in her interview on 60 Minutes). 

Meanwhile, Trump can dance at a rally and get praise from the NYT, can cancel an interview in a place like Squawk Box that should have been a layup for him, and the usual suspects run cover with a tiny caveat:

I think Harris should have either done major interviews immediately or stuck to a plan of avoiding major media and doing smaller outlets (ditto for Walz, who has just been cocooned to the point where the main time I hear about him beyond all the "knucklehead" stuff is ugly smears from grifters/bigots and a hateful impression from Jim Gaffigan on SNL). 

I saw a Politico interview with Bill Daley, who used to be Obama's chief of staff, saying it's Trump's race to lose, she is an underdog, she has to become better known because the campaign is so short. I assume given his ties to Obama a number of the people at the campaign feel this way and that's why this frantic push is happening after a lull, but I fear that the path taken may be the worst of both worlds and allows her moves to be spun as reactionary even if they are likely not. 

[JaneAusten]

Seriously we're listening to Bill Daley for advice. A guy who ran for how many offices and did not win one. He ran for mayor of Chicago basically as a republican, cozied up to the police union, and couldn't even make it to the runoff election, which was one black woman against another black woman. Daley is in fact a republican now and the Daleys have not been relevant for years. Just because he was chief of staff for exactly one year(there because of Rahm Emmanual). And while Obama gave Emmanuel his endorsement for mayor when he ran the first time, no where did he endorse Daley.

[DRW50]

It interested me mostly because I know that a lot of Obama people are on her campaign, and he's not saying anything a number of others haven't been saying about people not knowing her.

[JaneAusten]

He's not an Obama person. I want to make that clear. I am not going to debate anything else you posted but Daley nor his brother are or ever have been Obama people.

[Vee]

I think there's a big difference between understandably worrying that something will go badly vs. accepting the pre-spin or pre-narrative from any right wing conservative or dead end leftist grifter as though those spin or narratives are actually taking flight among the general public, or having any serious impact.

If you listen to every dead-ender online be it on the far left or the right their personal mythology is that of course Harris is a weak candidate, of course she's losing because Gaza or whatever else, of course Walz is a joke. The reality is, none of this appears to be true or has borne out to be the case. Harris is still up in most polling, Gaza is just not a key issue for most of the Dem base in this election (vs. abortion, etc) and Walz is still overwhelmingly popular among the public according to actual numbers. I also don't get any indication that Harris' campaign is frantic in their current media push. I haven't heard that kind of talk anywhere, from anyone reputable online be it a journalist or anyone else.

Random people on social media are entitled to their opinions, they're not entitled to make me treat them all credibly or as a bellweather for the larger public. There's signal and then there's noise. I try to filter out noise.

It seems like this went well:

 

[Wendy]

While some MSNBC people [Nicolle Wallace, Rachel Maddow] are unafraid to call a rotten orange spade a spade, whoever runs their social media accounts must still be trying to make diamonds out of crap.

Because its YT channel claims Trump turned a town hall into "an impromptu dance party", rather than state the obvious: Trump was losing what's left of his mind as his cult roasted.

If this were Biden, the media would do as it did all summer - question his age, call him unfit, and chip away until he stepped down, which is what happened.

But it's an NBC-affiliated station: Still all-in for Mr. Demented Fascist Apprentice, or so it seems!

Thank God almost everyone else that has witnessed last night's debacle are now sounding off, demanding his medical records, etc. Should have happened nine years ago, but what can you do.

[DramatistDreamer]

This could also go in The View thread but VP Harris brought The View its highest ratings in years. 
 

Kamala Harris Gives ‘The View' Its Best Ratings In Three and a Half Years (EXCLUSIVE)

[DRW50]

 

[Vee]

 

[Vee]

Allred has his flaws and I still don't buy we'll flip Texas no matter what the internals say, but this is very good (as was a lot of this debate).