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JD Vance attacks Tim Walz’s military record as election race heats up
JD Vance went on the offensive on Wednesday, attacking the military record of Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential pick.Speaking in Michigan, Donald Trump’s Republican running mate said: “You know what really bothers me about Tim Walz? When the United States Marine Corps … asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do and I did it honorably, and I’m very proud of that service.“When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him.”Now a US senator from Ohio, Vance, 40, deployed to Iraq in 2005, as a military journalist. Despite his title – combat correspondent – he did not experience combat.Walz, 60, was in the army national guard for 24 years, in infantry and artillery, deploying in response to natural disasters on US soil and to Europe in support of operations in Afghanistan. He retired in 2005, to run for Congress, shortly before his unit deployed to Iraq.He has faced attacks before. In 2018, he told Minnesota Public Radio: “I know that there are certainly folks that did far more than I did. I know that. I willingly say that I got far more out of the military than they got out of me, from the GI bill to leadership opportunities to everything else.”A soldier who served under Walz, Al Bonnifield, said: “Would the soldier look down on him because he didn’t go with us? Would the common soldier say, ‘Hey, he didn’t go with us, he’s trying to skip out on a deployment?’ And he wasn’t.“… He weighed that decision to run for Congress very heavy. He loved the military, he loved the guard, he loved the soldiers he worked with.”Calling Walz “very caring” and a “very good leader”, Bonnifield said Walz helped him and other soldiers when they returned from Iraq.Vance seized on footage publicized by the Harris campaign in which, discussing gun control reform, Walz says: “We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.”Vance said: “He says, ‘We shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be on the American streets.’skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? What was this weapon that you carried into war given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq? He has not spent a day in a combat zone. What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you’re not.”Observers suggested Vance was attempting to “swift boat” Walz – a reference to attacks on John Kerry, the decorated US navy Vietnam veteran and Massachusetts senator who ran for president against George W Bush in 2004.Bush avoided serving in Vietnam but Republicans attacked Kerry regardless. The Republican operative (and wounded Gulf war veteran) widely credited with coordinating the effort, Chris LaCivita, now runs the Trump-Vance campaign.In a statement, the Harris campaign said: “After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired veterans affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform … As vice-president … he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families.”It added: “In his 24 years of service, the Governor carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times. Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country – in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It’s the American way.” More
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Biden ‘not confident at all’ in peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses race
Joe Biden has said he is not confident there will be a peaceful transfer of power after the November presidential election.“If Trump wins, no, I’m not confident at all. I mean, if Trump loses, I’m not confident at all,” the president said in an interview with CBS News that is due to air in full this Sunday.Biden added: “He means what he says, we don’t take him seriously. He means it, all this stuff about ‘if we lose it will be a bloodbath’ … [and] ‘stolen election’, you can’t love your country only when you win.”The TV network posted the excerpt from the interview on Twitter/X.Donald Trump, who is the Republican nominee for president, said in March: “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath. That’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion
Reuters contributed reporting. More details soon … More
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Illinois governor calls for resignation of sheriff whose deputy killed Sonya Massey
JB Pritzker, Illinois governor, has called for the resignation of the sheriff whose deputy fatally shot Sonya Massey in her home last month after the Black woman had called 911 for help.Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Wednesday that the sheriff, Jack Campbell, should step down.“He has failed to explain how he ended up hiring this deputy sheriff who has been fired from other departments,” Pritzker said. “He failed to put forward reforms that clearly need to be made – training and other reforms – and still has failed to meet with the Massey family.”The former sheriff’s deputy, Sean Grayson, who has since been fired, faces three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in the 6 July shooting death of Massey.Records have shown that prior to becoming a law enforcement officer, Grayson was kicked out of the army for the first of two drunken driving arrests within a year. Campbell had been aware of Grayson’s drunk driving convictions, though he has said that a record of DUI does not disqualify a candidate.During Grayson’s law enforcement career, he received some reviews that indicated he needed more training and had one disciplinary problem. A psychological evaluation from March 2023 found him fit to serve but noted: “He knows he can move too fast at times. He needs to slow down to make good decisions.”Campbell, who hired Grayson for the Sangamon county sheriff’s department in May 2023, reiterated his intent on Wednesday to stay in the job.“I was overwhelmingly elected to lead the sheriff’s office through both good times and bad,” Campbell said. “I am fully prepared to continue leading my office and serving the residents of Sangamon county through this difficult period, ensuring we learn from this tragedy and work toward a better future.”Pritzker met with Massey’s family two weeks ago, alongside the lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, and has faulted Campbell for not meeting with Massey’s family members.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionCampbell has said that he has requested meetings with the family four times through family-designated intermediaries, but none have been accepted, and that he would still like to meet.Joe Biden, the US president, and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, have both reiterated calls for policing reforms following the killing.The Associated Press contributed reporting More
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Kamala Harris and Tim Walz inspire enthusiasm at Wisconsin rally: ‘I’m elated’
Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, continued their swing-state tour with a rally in rural Wisconsin on Wednesday.The rally, which followed a raucous event in Philadelphia, served as an opportunity for Harris to continue to introduce Walz, a formerly low-profile midwest governor, to Democrats in the critical swing state. Held in Eau Claire, a north-western Wisconsin city less than two hours from Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota, the rally drew attendees from both states.Walz spoke first, focusing on his midwestern background and noting he had family in the crowd. “Being a midwesterner, I know something about commitment to the people,” he said.He also spoke at length about his experience coaching football, teaching social studies and serving in the Minnesota National Guard, underscoring his role as a kind of ambassador to rural and working-class Americans for the Democratic party.And he directly took on Trump. “Don’t believe him when he plays dumb. He knows exactly what he’s talking about. He knows exactly what Project 2025 will do in restricting and taking our freedoms. He knows that it rigs the economy for the super rich if he gets a chance to go back to the White House. It will be far worse than it was four years ago.”Walz also revisited his support for and personal experience with IVF, the fertility treatment, which has become a contentious issue for Republicans after an Alabama court ruled that frozen embryos have personhood.The rally highlighted Harris’s focus on Wisconsin, where she held her first rally after Joe Biden announced the end of his bid for re-election. In 2016, Donald Trump won Wisconsin by about 20,000 votes, and Biden won the state in 2020 by a similar margin.Harris’s speech was similar to those at other recent campaign stops, with a focus on the future and Trump’s threat to democratic norms.“Donald Trump has openly vowed, if re-elected, he will be a dictator on day one, that he would weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies, that he would round up peaceful protesters and throw them out of our country, and even, quote, ‘terminate the United States constitution’,” she said.“Let us be clear, someone who suggests we should terminate the constitution of the United States should never again have a chance to stand behind the seal of the president of the United States.”Rallygoers were enthusiastic at seeing the duo at the event.“I’m elated,” said Lori Schlecht, a teacher from Minnesota who said she is excited about Walz given his background in public education – Walz was a public school teacher before he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2006. “Minnesota is blessed to have him, and I’m glad to see him at the national level. He is authentic and real – he’ll get shit done.”Many Minnesota residents in attendance pointed to Walz’s down-to-earth manner as an asset for the Democratic party ticket.“Walz is my homeboy,” said Colin Mgam, who is 65 and retired and drove from St Paul for the rally. “He brings straight talk, and he’s going to do well,” Mgam added.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe indie folk band Bon Iver, whose lead singer is from Eau Claire and previously supported Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, opened for Harris at the Wednesday event.Walz, who was not initially an obvious contender for Harris’s vice-presidential pick, garnered widespread attention within the party after giving a candid and upbeat interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe in which he boosted Harris and wrote off Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance as “weird”.The “weird” moment went viral, and Democratic party officials and politicians quickly seized on the term to dismiss the Republican presidential ticket as reactionary and out-of-touch with everyday Americans.Walz’s comments – and subsequent references to the “weirdness” of the Maga movement, including at the Wednesday rally – marked the beginning of a rhetorical shift for Democrats, with Harris reframing the election in more positive terms than the Biden campaign, which leaned heavily on grave warnings about Trump’s autocratic tendencies. Since ascending to the top of the ticket, Harris has instead emphasized a policy agenda with issues that are popular among Democratic voters, such as abortion rights, labor unions and the cost of childcare.Donald Trump has been quick to paint Walz, who has worked with progressive lawmakers in Minnesota to pass a raft of progressive laws – codifying the right to abortion, expanding protections for workers and establishing landmark voting rights legislation – as a member of the “radical left”, a line of attack that the former president will likely continue to push.But Walz pushed back against Trump on Wednesday. “This election is all about asking that question, which direction will this country go in? Donald Trump knows the direction he wants to take it. He wants to take us back.” More
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Cori Bush warns pro-Israel lobby ‘to be afraid’ after primary loss
Representative Cori Bush has warned the pro-Israel lobby “to be afraid” after it poured millions of dollars into defeating the prominent member of the “Squad” of progressive Democrats in Tuesday’s primary election in St Louis.Bush said her loss to St Louis county prosecutor Wesley Bell after the hardline American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) targeted her for opposition to Israel’s attack on Gaza had freed her to openly challenge the powerful pressure group, which has vowed to spend $100m to influence US elections this year in favour of Israel.“They’re about to see this other Cori, this other side,” she told supporters. “Aipac, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down.”Bush, who will continue to serve in Congress until January, added: “All they did was radicalise me, so now they need to be afraid.”Bush did not say how she now intends to take on Aipac but critics of the lobby group, which has previously boasted of its ability to round up congressional support, have said that it should be obliged to register as an agent of a foreign government because it pushes Israel’s interests over those of the US.Aipac spent $8.5m to defeat Bush, mostly on negative advertising through its campaign financing arm, the United Democracy Project (UDP), in the second most expensive primary race in the US this year.Aipac celebrated Bell’s win, a second major victory after the UDP played a leading role in unseating New York representative Jamaal Bowman, another member of the Squad critical of Israel, with a tweet proclaiming: “Being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics.”But groups supporting Bush noted that, as in other congressional races targeted by pro-Israel groups, almost none of the campaign advertising by the UDP addressed the Gaza war or Bush’s call for a ceasefire. Instead, the UDP went after her on unrelated issues, particularly her voting record in Congress.Similarly, the UDP spent $15m to defeat Bowman in the most expensive primary in US history with a barrage of negative advertising that had little to do with his criticisms of Israel. Much of the UDP’s money comes from billionaires who fund hardline pro-Israel causes and Republicans in other races, including some who have given to Donald Trump’s campaign.Jews for Cori, a coalition of progressive Jewish organisations, blamed Bush’s loss on “Aipac’s interference” on behalf of Israel and the Republicans.“While Aipac targeted both Bowman and Bush because of their support for Palestinian human rights, the group did not highlight or even mention this issue in their smear campaigns. While Aipac will claim their positions are ‘good policy and good politics’ it is clear that they are well-aware that they are losing the battle for public opinion,” it said.Justice Democrats, which spent $1.8m on advertising in support of Bush, called her opponent “an empty suit for Aipac and its GOP mega-donors to advance their own interests”.The group’s director, Alexandra Rojas, argued that the huge spending by the pro-Israel lobby to defeat individual members of Congress is a sign of weakness.“As Aipac’s influence in Congress wanes and the rightwing network that props it up is exposed, Aipac has to spend historic amounts in Democratic elections to continue advancing their interests at the expense of the Democratic mainstream that overwhelmingly supports a ceasefire and an end to the genocide in Gaza,” she said.Still, if Aipac’s intent in targeting Bush and Bowman was to warn other members of Congress that there will be a price to pay for muscular criticism of Israeli government policies and adopting minority positions, such as opposition to the US’s considerable military aid to Israel, then the strategy may have the desired effect of encouraging other politicians to keep their criticisms of Israel to themselves out of fear of a challenge from a well financed opponent.But Aipac is known to intervene when their congressional foes are already vulnerable. A number of the group’s former targets – other “Squad” members known for their criticisms of Israel – have been spared the onslaught, insulated by their popularity within their districts.The UDP spent heavily to try and oust Pennsylvania congresswoman Summer Lee in the 2022 Democratic primaries. She won that race by less than 1% of the vote.This year, the lobby largely steered clear of Lee’s race despite the emergence of a pro-Israel challenger. Lee won the primary by a margin of more than 20 points.Similarly, a challenger backed by substantial pro-Israel money came close to unseating Ilhan Omar, another Squad member who has been accused of antisemitism over criticisms of Israel, in the 2022 primaries. Omar is again facing a challenge from the same opponent, Don Samuels, in next week’s Democratic primary, but Aipac and similar groups have not thrown as much money or effort into this year’s race. Opinion polls give Omar a substantial lead.The UDP focused its efforts this year on Bush and Bowman, who were vulnerable to attack on issues other than Israel and Gaza, which many voters agree with them on. Both members of Congress struggled to justify voting against Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar infrastructure bill – a primary line of attack of negative advertising.The redrawing of the boundaries of Bowman’s district reshaped it as a more traditionally Democratic constituency with less voter support for the Squad and progressive policies. Bowman was also open to criticism over an incident when he pulled a fire alarm at the Capitol in Washington DC in order to delay a vote on a government shutdown called by Republicans. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour over the incident. More
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Harris-Walz merch unites gen X dads – and Chappell Roan fans: ‘We’re not used to politicians making cool choices’
With less than 100 days to go until the election, Kamala Harris announced her VP pick – the avuncular Minnesota governor Tim Walz – and dropped a new official logo.Harris-Walz merchandise, including yard signs, T-shirts, and one much-memed camouflage printed hat, launched as soon as the current vice-president put Walz on her ticket on Tuesday. The logo looks simple, with some even calling it boring: tall, white, sans serif lettering spelling out the nominees’ last names.“The logo needs a little more [flair] to reflect the excitement of the base,” read one tweet posted to X. “Oh my god this is minimalist hell get me out of here,” said another.But, as Hunter Schwarz pointed out for Fast Company, others viewed the logo as historic, tracing its branding back to Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 presidential campaign. Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman and first Black woman to run for a major party’s nomination, used all-caps, sans serif lettering. (Harris took nods from Chisholm’s campaign design when running in 2019.)“The logo looks bold and strong, and the brilliance of it is that it doesn’t have to be clever,” said Ross Turner, a graphic designer who works on political campaigns.Turner noted that the Harris Walz design looks similar to Trump Vance signs, which also utilize an all-caps, sans serif font. “I initially thought, wow, Harris kind of dropped the ball, because this looks so much like the Trump logo,” Turner said. “Isn’t the goal to differentiate? But they didn’t have to differentiate with the logo, because Harris already does as a candidate. And [Republicans] can’t turn around and mock this logo, because then they’d have to do the same for Trump since it’s so similar.”View image in fullscreen“I like their lack of preciousness,” said Charles Nix, senior executive creative director of the typeface company Monotype. “The speed of this campaign and this design coming together demands a sort of truth. It doesn’t have a full year to be tested in focus groups. It speaks plainly and urgently.”“They’re clearly emphasizing Harris,” said Katherine Haenschen, an assistant professor of communications and political science at Northeastern University. “It’s a good, solid logo.”If the campaign’s logo is straightforward, its merch comes off as more playful. One $40 camo hat with Harris Walz embroidered in orange looks strikingly similar to a cap sold by the gen Z pop star Chappell Roan in support of her Midwest Princess tour.View image in fullscreenWalz, a game-hunting Minnesotan who signed gun control measures into law, was wearing a camo baseball cap when he got the call from Harris offering him the VP slot, and he’s worn camo in the past. But some online commentators are reading into the campaign’s cap, released Tuesday after a high-energy rally in Philadelphia, as a nod to Roan. The singer even posted a side-by-side of her merch with the Harris-Walz hat on X, writing: “is this real.”The cap, which the campaign called “the most iconic political hat in America”, can be interpreted as a rebuttal to Donald Trump’s red Maga option. The gen-X-dad styling might be seen as an attempt to appeal to middle American voters who might actually use it while hunting. “There’s a lot of connotations with camouflage print and preparing for battle, which I’m sure crossed the in-house design team’s mind, given how fraught the leadup to November is going to be,” said the fashion writer Freya Drohan. Fitting, too, as one of the Harris campaign’s slogans is “when we fight, we win”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionOne could even imagine coastal hypebeasts who have never held a gun in their lives wearing the hat: camo has emerged as one of 2024’s most unlikely fashion trends, seen on runways from Balenciaga to A$AP Rocky’s AWGE label.“This is the bushwick x los feliz unity that our nation needs,” wrote the comedian Desus Nice on X about the hat, citing two hip neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Los Angeles where it’s not uncommon to see people dressed in what can only be described as fish and game warden-chic.“I’m personally really encouraged that it seems like the campaign is listening to young voices,” said Ziad Ahmed, head of Next Gen, a gen Z marketing practice at United Talent Agency. “I think everyone can feel that energy across the internet right now. When we first saw the hat, we almost couldn’t believe our eyes, as we are so not used to our politicians actually making good, cool, smart choices.”Nate Jones, an executive at UTA Next Gen, added that he wanted to buy Harris merchandise after she announced her bid, but felt “quite disappointed” by the lineup. “I didn’t see anything I would actually wear, until this hat,” he said. “It’s simultaneously street style and gen X dad style.” Jones ordered the cap, which is expected to drop in early October. The Harris campaign told Teen Vogue it sold $1m worth of caps in less than 24 hours.Merch alone will not win an election, but the excitement around the hat reiterates how Harris’ presidential bid continues to liven up a once dreary election cycle. It’s also clear that Harris’s team has set its sights on delivering viral moments meant to thrill the very-online voting bloc.“It is my hope that those in power continue to pay attention to what young voters are saying across the internet,” Ahmed said. “Not just to draw inspiration for their next merch drop, but also to shape their policy platforms that will define our generation’s present as well as our future.” More
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US support for Israel is collapsing. And Aipac knows it | Yousef Munayyer
On Tuesday night, Representative Cori Bush lost in a Democratic primary election to challenger Wesley Bell, whose election campaign was overwhelmingly financed by pro-Israel groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). According the New York Times, the spending by pro-Israel groups “transformed the race into one of the most expensive House primaries in history”. While Bush, an outspoken opponent of Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, is on her way out of Congress because of Aipac’s big spending, the victory for Israel donors is the latest sign of their cause’s decline in the United States and especially in the Democratic party.How could it be that such a powerful flex by pro-Israel donors is a reflection of a weakening cause? It’s simple: it is because such power flexes were never needed before. Now, it has become routine. Recently, Aipac and company spent huge sums to defeat Jamal Bowman in a primary as well. They made similar efforts against Representative Summer Lee, though she was able to survive the onslaught.In the immediate short term, it seems like a reflection of power, but anyone who has been following the politics around this issue in the United States for years knows this is anything but. Pro-Israel interest groups never had to overtly and heavily interject themselves into electoral politics in such a way previously precisely because their cause enjoy a great degree of cultural hegemony. In the US, politicians kissed babies, petted dogs, loved baseball and unequivocally supported Israel. That last part isn’t quite what it used to be. The consensus around supporting Israel, especially in the Democratic party, has collapsed.Over the last two decades, we have seen quite a remarkable shift in opinion on this issue among Democrats in particular. Numerous public opinion polls all provide evidence of the same trend. Democrats especially, but also independents, have grown less sympathetic to Israel over time. A Pew poll from March 2023 found that for the first time, Democrats had more sympathy for Palestinians than Israelis. Importantly, if you look at the charts, the beginning of a clear and steady nose dive that would continue for the next decade is between 2014 and 2015. What happened then? Israel’s horrific month-and-a-half-long war on Gaza which destroyed swaths of civilian infrastructure and killed about 1,500 civilians, most of whom were women and children, is what happened. The barbarity displayed by the Israeli military and the havoc wreaked on Gaza led many Americans to turn away in dismay and ask why their government continues to fund the Israeli military.But as horrific as Israel’s war on Gaza in 2014 was and as clear a turning point in the polls as it turned out to be, its impact will probably pale in comparison with the impact of the genocidal war Israel has been carrying out in Gaza for the last 10 months. This campaign of mass atrocities has gone on for nearly seven times as long as the war in 2014 and killed a far, far greater number of Palestinians in the process with some estimates of more than 186,000 dead. Indeed, polls have already shown that most Democrats believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. That is the consensus that is increasingly shared across the world with dozens of states, including Brazil, Spain, Slovenia, Mexico and many more joining South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the international court of justice.Not only is this war so much more destructive than that of 2014, but it has consequently meant that far more imagery of the sadism of Israeli troops committing war crimes in Gaza, often posted by the troops themselves, have riffled around the world on TikTok, Instagram and other social media sites, giving people everywhere a chance to bear witness to their brutality. We saw what the decade after 2014 looked like for public opinion on Israel – can you imagine what the next decade will look like after these horrors? Aipac can, and that is precisely why they are terrified. They are attempting to plug a hole in the proverbial dyke with millions in campaign donations, but their problem isn’t akin to a leak, it is a rising tide of anger and disgust over Israeli crimes that will shape a generation to come.The support for Israel once enjoyed in the US, when people took it to be as normal as the sun rising every day, is gone. Maintaining what support is left will require persuasion – which isn’t easy given they are trying to persuade audiences to support war crimes – and increasingly coercion. That era of coercion and repression is what we are quickly transitioning to and will shape the years to come, but that too comes with reputational costs for pro-Israel forces and will eventually collapse as well. When it does, voices like Cori Bush’s will be commonplace in our political class and she will be remembered for valiantly standing up for the rights of Palestinians when too many still did not have the political courage to do so.
Yousef Munayyer is head of the Palestine/Israel program at the Arab Center Washington DC More
