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      ‘Next question, please’ and Gaza war: key takeaways from Harris and Walz’s first interview

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      In a primetime spot on CNN Thursday evening, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz sat for their first interview together as the Democratic ticket, taking questions from anchor Dana Bash on a range of important issues, including their plans for day 1 if they win the race, the approach to the war in Gaza, and how Joe Biden passed the baton.With just over two months until voters will head to the polls on 5 November – and even less time before some will mail in their ballots – the Democratic candidates for president and vice-president made good on a promise to speak more candidly about how they will tackle the US’s most pressing problems.But this interview was about more than just policies and priorities.For weeks, Republicans and members of the media have called for the nominees to open themselves up to questions, especially the vice-president, who has for the most part sidestepped unscripted moments in the six weeks since the president ended his bid for re-election and endorsed her. Analysts and opponents were watching Thurday’s interview closely for new insights into how a Harris administration would approach the presidency, how the candidates interact with one another, and how she would respond in more candid moments.Here’s what we learned:1. Harris: ‘My values have not changed’Bash pushed Harris on how voters should view some key shifts on important policy positions over the years, including on immigration and the climate crisis. Harris responded resolutely saying her “values have not changed” but explained that experience has provided some new insights.“As president I will not ban fracking,” Harris said, reversing a position she expressed during her first bid for the presidency. Explaining that she now believes a “thriving clean energy economy” can be built without a ban, Harris highlighted achievements from the Biden administration, including the US’s landmark climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, that have helped set the course. “The climate crisis is real, it is an urgent matter,” she said. “I am very clear about where I stand.”She also spoke about her work on the border and how she plans to address the immigration crisis. “I believe we have laws that have to be followed and enforced,” she said, adding that she is the only person in the race who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations, work she did as California’s attorney general.2. Day one: strengthen the middle classIf Harris is elected president, she will start by working to strengthen the middle class with a strategy she is calling “The Opportunity Economy”. Building from “Bidenomics” – a platform her predecessor used to move away from trickle-down policies that favor the wealthy and instead grow the economy “from the middle out and the bottom up – Harris outlined her plan to help struggling families.“People are ready for a new way forward,” she said, highlighting that she hopes to bring down costs of everyday goods with key investments, cracking down on price gouging, and expanding the child tax credit. She also reiterated her plan to secure $25,000 in assistance for first-time homebuyers.While she agreed with Bash that prices remain higher than they were during the Trump presidency, she argued that she and Biden ensured the country recovered from the Covid-19 crisis.“Bidenomics is a success,” she said. “There’s more to do – but that’s good work.”3. War in Gaza: ‘We have to get a deal done’“Israel has a right to defend itself – we would,” Harris said, emphasizing that she is “unequivocal” in Israel’s defense and that that position would not change. But, she added: “How it does so matters.”Harris told Bash she supports a two-state solution where Palestinians have “security, self determination, and dignity”, and said she is focused on both getting the remaining hostages out and a ceasefire.“Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed,” she said. “We have got to get a deal done. This war must end.”4. Tim Walz defends his recordThrough much of the interview, Harris’s running mate Tim Walz nodded in support while she detailed their platform. But Bash had questions for him too, specifically about claims he has made in the past and corrections his campaign has had to make about them.Walz served in the army national guard for 24 years and retired in 2005 to run for Congress, nearly a year before his unit deployed to Iraq. He has been criticized by Republicans who first questioned his decision to depart before his unit deployed, and then scrutinized for a statement he made about “weapons of war” that implied he’d been involved in active combat.Walz also incorrectly described the type of fertility treatments he and his wife sought in their effort to conceive, several times referring to their reliance on IVF. He later clarified they actually used another common fertility procedure called IUI, or intrauterine insemination, which does not involve creating or discarding embryos and is not a target for anti-abortion legislators.“My record speaks for itself,” he said. “I certainly own my mistakes when I make them … I won’t apologize for speaking passionately – whether it’s about guns in schools or protecting reproductive rights – the contrast could not be clearer.”5. Getting the call from Biden“We were sitting down to do a puzzle,” Harris said with a big smile. Before Thursday’s interview, little was known about how she came to learn that Biden would be withdrawing from the race. She described a family breakfast with her “baby nieces”, complete with pancakes and second-servings of bacon, that had just wrapped up when the phone began to ring.“It was Joe Biden. He told me what he decided to do,” she said, adding that he quickly offered his support for her candidacy. “My first thought was not about me – it was about him,” she said.“I think history is going to show a number of things about Joe Biden’s presidency,” Harris added. “He puts the American people first.”6. Impacting future generationsBash also asked about the now viral New York Times photo of young Amara Ajagu, one of Harris’s young grandnieces, watching Harris accept her party’s nomination, and what it means for her as a woman of color. Donald Trump had previously questioned her racial identity, making comments at the National Association of Black Journalists convention saying she “happened to turn Black”.Harris called Trump’s comments “the same old tired playbook”, and dismissed them with a curt: “Next question, please.”But she took the opportunity to look past race while also recognizing the importance of this moment, especially for younger generations.“I am running because I believe I am the best person to do this job in this moment – for all Americans, regardless of race and gender,” Harris said. “But I did see that photograph, and I was deeply touched by it.” More

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      Kamala Harris defends policy stances and shares plan for office in first major interview

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      Kamala Harris sat for her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee with CNN’s Dana Bash alongside her running mate, Tim Walz, on Thursday, and defended her shifts on certain policy issues over the years and her support for Joe Biden.In the interview, which was taped from Savannah, Georgia, earlier Thursday, the vice-president said her highest priority upon taking office would be to “support and strengthen the middle class” through policies including increasing the child tax credit, curtailing price gouging on everyday goods and increasing access to affordable housing – all policies that she has announced since she started campaigning for the presidency.Harris also shared how the president shared with her his decision not to continue running for re-election, a first public retelling of that moment. She said she was making breakfast with her family, including her nieces, and was just sitting down to do a puzzle when the phone rang, she said.“I asked him, are you sure? And he said yes. And that’s how I learned about it.” As far as whether she asked for his endorsement or he offered it, she said: “He was very clear that he was going to support me.”“My first thought was not about me, to be honest with you, my first thought was about him,” she said, adding that history will remember Biden’s presidency as transformative.Harris defended Biden, saying she had no regrets about supporting his re-election before his decision to leave the race, despite concerns over his age and acuity. She said serving as Biden’s vice-president has been “one of the greatest honors” of her career and that Biden has the “intelligence, commitment, judgement and disposition that the American people deserve in their president”, adding that the former president, Donald Trump, “has none of that”.She also touted the Biden administration’s work to restore the economy after the pandemic, pointing to capped insulin costs, the current inflation rate of under 3% and increases in US manufacturing jobs. “I’ll say that that’s good work,” she said. “There’s more to do, but that’s good work.”Harris explained her changes in positions on issues such as fracking and immigration by saying her “values had not changed”. On fracking, she said she made clear in the 2020 debate that she no longer supports a ban, and that as president she would not ban fracking. She added that she takes the climate crisis seriously but believes: “We can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”On immigration, Bash pointed to a moment when Harris raised her hand to indicate she believed the border should be decriminalized, asking if she still believes that. Harris said she thinks laws should be followed and enforced on immigration and noted that she is the only candidate in the race who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations.She also said she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet if she wins, though she didn’t have a specific Republican or position in mind.“I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion,” she said. “I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican.”She quickly cast off a question about Trump’s comments that she “happened to turn Black” in recent years: “Same old, tired playbook,” she said. “Next question, please.”The interview narrowly met a self-imposed timeline Harris set for a sit-down interview, which she promised would happen by the end of August. It comes less than two weeks before the first scheduled debate between Harris and Trump, planned for 10 September on ABC.Harris and Walz conducted the interview while on a bus tour around the Savannah, Georgia area as part of a whirlwind tour of the US since they took over the Democratic ticket.Harris has gotten criticism from across the political spectrum for not doing an on-the-record interview with the media since she started running for president. After the CNN interview was set, Republicans also criticized the joint interview with Walz and that the interview was pre-recorded and not live.Before the interview, Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance posted on Twitter/X: “BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview” alongside a clip from the 2007 Miss Teen America pageant where a contestant garbled an answer about Americans not knowing geography, rambling about “like such as South Africa -and the Iraq, everywhere like such as”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWalz answered a few questions during the joint interview, though Harris largely led the campaign’s responses.Walz has faced scrutiny over misstatements and exaggerations he has made about his time in the national guard and about the specific fertility treatments his wife used. He didn’t explain in depth why he made these comments, instead saying that he speaks candidly and passionately. In one comment, he claimed he carried weapons of war in war, which he did not (he was not deployed to a war zone). He said that comment came after a school shooting and his grammar wasn’t correct. “I think people know me. They know who I am. They know where my heart is,” he said.“If it’s not this, it’s an attack on my children for showing love for me, or it’s an attack on my dog,” he said, referring to recent Republican attacks on him. “The one thing I’ll never do is I’ll never demean another service member in any way. I never have and I never will.”Bash brought up two key moments from the Democratic convention: Walz’s teenage son, Gus, crying and saying “that’s my dad” as his dad took the stage, and an image of one of Harris’s grand-nieces looking on as Harris gave her acceptance speech.Walz said his son’s reaction was “such a visceral emotional moment” that he was grateful to experience.Harris, who has not spoken much about how her win could break glass ceilings, said she was “deeply touched” by the photo and found it “very humbling” while saying: “I am running because I believe I am the best person to do this job at this moment for all Americans, regardless of race and gender.”It’s unclear if Harris will start doing more media interviews as she continues on the campaign trail. As some commentators on CNN noted before the interview aired Thursday, increasing the frequency of interviews makes it less likely that each one becomes the topic of intense scrutiny and fixation like the CNN event became.Trump reacted to the interview on Truth Social, saying simply: “BORING!!!” More

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      Kamala Harris says she would appoint a Republican to cabinet if elected president – live

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      Kamala Harris said that if elected she would appoint a Republican to serve in her cabinet.In her first major interview since becoming the Democratic nominee, the vice-president told CNN journalist Dana Bash that she had spent her career “inviting diversity of opinion”.“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican,” Harris said.Donald Trump defended his visit to Arlington national cemetery this week and accused the media of creating a scandal over photos his campaign took of his appearance at the site.US army officials confirmed Thursday that a worker at Arlington national cemetery was “abruptly pushed aside” during an altercation with members of the former president’s staff, and that Trump’s team was explicitly told in advance that it was against the law to take photographs and video footage at the cemetery.During his speech in Michigan, Trump said that he was invited to Arlington by the family of some of the 13 US servicemen and women killed in a suicide bomb attack ahead of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.“I spent a lot of time there. And while I was there, those families that asked me to be there … they said, could you take pictures over the grave of my son, my sister, my brother? Would you take pictures with us, sir?” Trump said. “I did. And then I said, farewell. I said, goodbye, and last night I read that I was using the site to politic, that I used it to politic. This all comes out of Washington.”“They ask me to have a picture. And they say, I was campaigning. The one thing I get is plenty of publicity. I don’t need that. I don’t need the publicity.”During his speech in Michigan, Trump has aired his usual grievances, complaining about the media’s coverage of his speeches and polling.He complained about Kamala Harris replacing Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, criticizing her 2020 presidential campaign, and criticized the media’s responses to the vice-president compared to the responses to his speeches, and accused polls of being rigged.“They can make those polls sing. They can make them do whatever they want,” he said, without evidence.He also targeted the United Auto Workers, which has endorsed Harris, and their president Shawn Fain, calling up Brian Pannebecker, the founder of Auto Workers for Trump, to briefly speak on stage during his speech. Trump praised Pannebecker’s arms before taking back the microphone.Donald Trump continued his attacks on Kamala Harris in blustering – and often demonstrably false – remarks at a Michigan steel plant on Thursday.Trump gave the speech in front of an American flag between groups of supporters wearing hard hats and reflective work vests. He walked out to greet the crowd to God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood, a Trump supporter, as his campaign has received cease and desist letters from musicians for unauthorized use of their music in 2024 campaign videos and rallies including Abba, Beyoncé, Celine Dion, and the Foo Fighters.“Your long economic nightmare will very soon be over,” Trump said. “When was the last time you heard about the American dream. They don’t talk about it. They copy everything else I do so I guess that’ll be that they’ll be copying that.”Trump accused Kamala Harris of being a “Marxist” and a “fascist”, and he criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policies.He jumped on the criticism the Harris campaign has received for the lack of interviews she has given to the press – Harris sat down with CNN this week in her first major interview. Trump also repeated falsehoods about US election integrity, polling and abortion laws.The Republican presidential candidate has escalated his attacks on Harris in recent days.Kamala Harris said that if elected she would appoint a Republican to serve in her cabinet.In her first major interview since becoming the Democratic nominee, the vice-president told CNN journalist Dana Bash that she had spent her career “inviting diversity of opinion”.“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican,” Harris said.In the first clip of the CNN interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the vice-president said that her values have not changed.CNN journalist Dana Bash asked Harris what voters should make of the changes to some of her policy positions.“Dana, I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris said.“You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time,” she said. “We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act.”“My value around what we need to do to secure our border – that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, violations of American laws regarding the illegal passage of guns, drugs and human beings across our border. My values have not changed.”CNN journalist Dana Bash shared a photo of her interview with Tim Walz and Kamala Harris, and said we’ll see the first excerpt from their talk in about 10 minutes:Donald Trump is scheduled to speak this afternoon about the economy at a steel plant in Potterville, Michigan.It’s the Republican candidate’s eighth visit to the state this year, and his speech will take place at Alro Steel’s facility in the town just west of the state capital, Lansing.The Secret Service will receive additional military support to protect presidential and vice-presidential candidates, Reuters reports.Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary, approved a request for unspecified support to the agency, which will be provided by the military’s US Northern Command at different locations, a Pentagon spokesperson announced. She did not elaborate on what kind of support would be provided.CNN journalist Dana Bash conducted the interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz this afternoon.It was Harris and Walz’s first joint interview since becoming the Democratic standard bearers, as well as Harris’s first sit-down interview since Joe Biden ended his bid for a second term.Before the broadcast, the New York Times published a Q&A with CNN reporter Astead Herndon, who last year had a lengthy interview with Harris for a profile. He remembers his talk with the vice-president as “arduous”. Here’s more:
      In a word or two, how would you describe that 2023 interview?
      Arduous! When she sat down, I asked her if she liked her job, and she said she did – but that she didn’t like doing this. I was putting her in a position to self-reflect, and to articulate her own story of growth and change. I thought she would want to tell a story on that front, and was surprised that she did not.
      During the interview, she showed a reluctance to label herself politically, like when you asked her how she saw herself in the world of California politics. How did that shape the interview and shape your understanding of her?
      It showed how she does not view herself with those labels and feels confined by those boxes. I think she’s someone who doesn’t like feeling known, doesn’t like you assuming to have figured her out, and I think that’s true politically and personally.
      I don’t think she loses any sleep over whether you think she’s a moderate or progressive. I think she thinks, ‘I’m a person who makes big and hard decisions, with all the evidence in front of me.’ That’s what’s mattered most as a prosecutor and attorney general, and I think that’s how she views political leadership.
      Donald Trump has not said much publicly about the campaign staffer who pushed aside an employee of Arlington national cemetery during his visit there earlier this week.But JD Vance has responded by calling the episode “fake”, and downplaying the uproar it generated:The Trump campaign earlier this week said it would release video proving that the incident did not happen the way it has been reported, but has not yet done so.The setting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s interview with CNN is Kim’s Cafe, a local Black-owned business in Savannah, Georgia.Perhaps Harris or Walz will explain their choice of the venue in the interview, which airs at 9pm this evening. But it can be surmised that it’s part of their outreach to African American voters, a bloc that could decide the outcome in several swing states, including North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania.Here’s more from the Guardian’s Melissa Hellman on what Black voters in Georgia are looking for from the Democratic ticket:JD Vance addressed his previous comments about former president Donald Trump during his speech to the firefighters’ union on Thursday, telling them that “once upon a time” he wasn’t a “Trump guy either”, adding that “the president never lets me forget it”.Vance continued:
      But the truth is, I didn’t fully believe in the promises Trump made, I didn’t believe in the promises that any politician made, and you shouldn’t either. But I didn’t change my mind because of Donald Trump’s promises, I changed my mind because he did a good job for the American people.
      During his speech to the International Association of Fire Fighters in Boston on Thursday, JD Vance was met with boos and heckles as he told the crowd that he and the former president Donald Trump “are proud to be the most pro-worker Republican ticket in history”.“I know this is a diverse union,” Vance said later in his speech. “Some of you love President Trump, and some of you clearly don’t, I’ve heard from both sides just giving this little speech.”In 2019, the International Association of Fire Fighters union endorsed Joe Biden for president, and called him one of the “strongest and most influential voices for hard-working Americans”.“After supporting Democrats so long in this union, what has it gotten you?” Vance asked the crowd on Thursday.The Financial Times reported on Thursday that Vance made the plea in an interview with the outlet.Vance reportedly told the Financial Times:
      I’m going to keep on talking to Peter and persuading him that – you know, he’s obviously been exhausted by politics a little bit – but he’s going to be really exhausted by politics if we lose and if Kamala Harris is president.
      He is fundamentally a conservative guy, and I think that he needs to get off the sidelines and support the ticket.
      This comes as last year, Thiel said that he was not planning on funding any 2024 races after he backed Trump in 2016. But, he said at the time, “there’s always a chance I might change my mind”.JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential candidate and Ohio senator, spoke at the International Association of Fire Fighters convention in Boston earlier this afternoon.Right as Vance was about to begin his speech, the vice-presidential hopeful was met with a mix of applause and boos from the crowd.“Sounds like we’ve got some fans and some haters”, Vance said. “That’s OK. Let’s listen to what I have to say here and I’ll make my pitch.”Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate and Governor of Minnesota, spoke at the same convention on Wednesday.The army has issued a rare statement rebuking Donald Trump’s campaign for their conduct at Arlington national cemetery earlier this week. It acknowledged that one of their employees was “pushed aside” during his visit in what it described as an “unfortunate” incident. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are set for their first interview since ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket, which CNN will air at 9pm tonight (though we may see excerpts earlier in the day). The pair are currently in south Georgia, as part of their strategy to limit losses in rural areas of a swing state that could be vital to their path to the White House. Late yesterday, a poll showed Harris drawing near even with Trump in the four Sun Belt swing states, including Georgia, while polling released today showed a similar dynamic in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.Here’s what else has happened today so far:

      Trump shared a TikTok video of his visit to Arlington national cemetery, which may have violated federal law, NPR reports.

      The big question of the 10 September presidential debate appears to have been answered: microphones will be off when the candidates aren’t speaking, as Trump preferred, according to a copy of the rules obtained by the Associated Press.

      Democratic Senate candidates are holding their own against the GOP in key races nationwide, Emerson College found, though it did not poll the re-election prospects of Democratic senators in the red states Montana and Ohio.
      Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will meet for the first time when they debate on 10 September.But the two sides have been at odds in recent days over whether or not the candidates’ microphones would be on or off when it isn’t their turn to speak. Harris’s campaign wants them activated, but Trump appears to prefer them to be off – as they were during his June debate against Joe Biden.The Associated Press obtained a copy of the rules that debate host ABC News shared with the campaigns, which indicates that mics will be off, as Trump prefers. Here’s more:
      Next month’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump won’t have an audience, live microphones when candidates aren’t speaking, or written notes, according to rules that ABC News, the host network, shared this week with both campaigns.
      A copy of the rules was provided to the Associated Press on Thursday by a senior Trump campaign official on condition of anonymity ahead of the network’s announcement. The Harris campaign on Thursday insisted it was still discussing the muting of mics with ABC.
      The parameters now in place for the Sept. 10 debate are essentially the same as they were for the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, a disastrous performance for the incumbent Democrat that fueled his exit from the campaign. It is the only debate that’s been firmly scheduled and could be the only time voters see Harris and Trump go head to head before the November general election.
      The back-and-forth over the debate rules reached a fever pitch this week, particularly on the issue of whether the microphones would be muted between turns speaking.
      Harris’ campaign had advocated for live microphones for the whole debate, saying in a statement that the practice would “fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates.”
      Biden’s campaign had made microphone muting condition of his decision to accept any debates this year, a decision some aides now regret, saying voters were shielded from hearing Trump’s outbursts during the debate.
      “It’s interesting that Trump’s handlers keep insisting on muting him, despite the candidate himself saying the opposite,” Harris spokesman Ian Sams said. “Why won’t they just do what the candidate wants?”
      Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will tape their interview with CNN in Savannah, Georgia, after spending yesterday on a bus tour of the swing state’s southern counties.While most Democratic supporters these days are found in Georgia’s urban and suburban areas, Harris and Walz’s tour is part of a strategy to win at least some votes in GOP-leaning rural areas of the state.Harris will cap off the swing with a solo rally in Savannah at 5.30pm today, though Walz won’t be in attendance. Their joint interview is scheduled to air on CNN at 9pm. More

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      Trump takes sexist Harris attacks to ‘whole other level’ on Truth Social

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      Donald Trump has reposted a crudely misogynistic comment about Kamala Harris on Truth Social in a move that reprised his past record of sexist behaviour and brazenly flouted pleas from members of his own party to emphasize issues over personal attacks.With fresh polls showing Harris further improving her standing – and widening the gap with her opponent among women voters – Trump drew online opprobrium by sharing a vulgar post on his social media site implying that the Democratic nominee owed her political rise to sexual favours.The post – originally posted by another user – featured photos of Harris and Hillary Clinton alongside the comment: “Funny how blowjobs impacted both their careers differently…”The comment was an oblique reference to innuendo surrounding Harris’s former relationship with Willie Brown, the San Francisco mayor. The mention of Clinton – Trump’s defeated opponent in the 2016 presidential election – alluded to the affair between Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, and her husband Bill Clinton in the 1990s, which came close to ending his presidency.It was not the first time Trump had made lewd references to Harris. On 18 August, he shared a video by the Dilley Meme Team, a group of rightwing content creators, to the soundtrack of a parody of the Alanis Morrisette song Ironic that contained the lines, “She spent her whole damn life down on her knees”, as an image of Brown appeared behind a picture of the US vice-president and her husband, Doug Emhoff.But the latest post appeared among a flurry of other extreme posts on Wednesday that also included tributes to the QAnon conspiracy theory that holds that Trump is waging war against an elite network of Satan-worshipping pedophiles in government, business and the media.He reposted: “WWG1WGA! RETRUTH IF YOU AGREE.” The acronym is short for the QAnon slogan: “where we go one, we go all.” He similarly reposted another QAnon phrase: “nothing can stop what is coming.”The FBI has previously identified fringe theories like QAnon – which Trump has stopped short of endorsing while praising its supporters – as likely to fuel domestic terrorism.In yet another incendiary communication, Trump posted manipulated images of some of his favourite targets – including the entrepreneur Bill Gates, Anthony Fauci, who spearheaded the US vaccine effort against Covid-19, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi – imprisoned and wearing orange jumpsuits.The Harris campaign made no immediate response to Trump’s latest burst of social media activity, which followed disclosures of an altercation between his campaign team and staff at Arlington national cemetery, the resting place of fallen US military heroes, during a visit on Monday.However, the CNN host Anderson Cooper – in a lengthy segment – said the posts took Trump’s previous campaigning to a “whole other level”.“This is the Republican candidate for president and the 45th president of the United States, talking about two women who, no matter what you think of their politics, are two of the most accomplished women in American political history,” Cooper said.Wednesday’s online outbursts came as a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Harris with a four-point nationwide lead, 45% to 41%, over Trump. Among women, the survey showed the vice-president increasing her lead to 13%, compared with an average of 9% in polls for July.A separate Fox News survey showed Harris leading or increasing her support in four southern Sun belt states, all considered vital battlegrounds in November.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIn a two-way race, Harris was up by one point in Arizona and by two points in Georgia and Nevada, while Trump is ahead by one point in North Carolina, according to the poll.Beyond the polls, there was irritation among Republicans strategists who had previously urged Trump to desist from attacking Harris personally and focus on issues of concern to voters, such as the economy, inflation and immigration.“I think people are incredibly frustrated,” Jason Roe, a former executive director of the Michigan Republican party, told the Washington Post.He said Harris’s campaign and policy stances gave “opportunities for the Trump campaign to talk about issues that actually will matter to swing voters. And rather than doing that, he’s delving into this nonsense.”Stuart Stevens, a member of the anti-Trump Republican group, the Lincoln Project, and a strategist for Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 presidential bid, challenged widespread predictions of a close election by suggesting that Trump’s approach would eventually alienate voters and enable Harris to win convincingly.“There’s been a lot of talk – it’s sort of a universal truth – that this election is going to be close,” he told CNN. “I have a different opinion. I think it’ll be close till about October 20th, and then I think it’s going to be like Carter versus Reagan [in 1980, when Reagan won in a landslide], that the bottom is going to start to drop out [of Trump’s campaign].“I think this is going to be a race that Democrats are going to win by more than Biden did,” he added. More

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      Trump campaign strategy pivots to praying he wins September debate

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      ​Donald Trump’s campaign insists that they’re pursuing multiple strategies against Kamala Harris, but the true picture that is emerging is that the Trump senior advisers’ grand plan, for now, is to pray that the former US president ​has a good night at the presidential debate next month.​The game plan, in other words, has become one of hoping that Trump wins the debate so they can regain momentum – a stunning approach that shows the serious predicament for Trump and his campaign as he struggles to find ways to land effective attacks against the vice-president just months before the election.​What has happened internally in the Trump campaign in recent weeks is the realization that nothing they do in the period up to the debate is likely to cut through in a significant way that blunts Harris’s gains that have her level in key swing state polls, according to people close to the matter.​And because they don’t think the messaging will cut through, senior advisers are left hoping that Trump can energize voters with his performance on stage, the people said.Trump is certain to continue his day-to-day campaign work until the debate on 10 September: he has a busy travel schedule that will see him do a town hall event in Wisconsin and a rally in Pennsylvania this week, after his visit to the Arlington national cemetery became mired in controversy.​He has also had some success in cutting through the news cycle in recent days, including when he took over headlines at the end of last week when Robert F Kennedy Jr gave his endorsement.​But the reality is that good news has been in short supply. Since Joe Biden exited the race in July and Harris rapidly replaced him, her campaign has flipped the narrative, turning a consistent Biden loss in the polls into a narrow but solid Harris lead.With Trump struggling to frame the narrative against Harris, the general posture inside campaign leadership is to write off the regular programming that won’t change the race – and look to a debate that might.View image in fullscreenThe pivot to praying Trump does well at the debate is practical, even if writing off two weeks is unusual. Trump can perform on stage, and knocked opponents back in 2016 and 2020 and against Biden in 2024 with sarcastic quips and an avalanche of disorientating false claims.The campaign also feels that Trump can use the debate as an opportunity to get across to a national primetime audience his messaging points criticizing Harris on policy – accusing Harris of allowing waves of illegal immigrants and not cracking down on crime – that have so far not broken through.As the reasoning goes, even if the television networks decline to air Trump’s rallies or remarks criticizing Harris day-to-day, they will be forced to air Trump and his attack lines when he has the floor.Trump’s advisers have also been buoyed by the likelihood that microphones will be muted when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak, believing it defangs Harris in being able to fact-check him in real time and in her ability to make quips of her own.The muted microphones have been a particularly big deal for Trump’s advisers, who internally have been repeatedly pushing for “CNN rules”, in a reference to the disastrous CNN debate with Biden last month when microphones were muted.It comes as several Trump advisers have warned about Harris’s jabs in debates in 2020: telling Mike Pence: “Mr Vice-President, I’m speaking”, and responding to former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard – now involved in Trump’s debate prep – in the Democratic primary debate with chiding comments. More

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      The Democrats sound less lofty, more earthy – and it’s working | Margaret Sullivan

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      Back in 2016, as Michelle Obama was doing a campaign speech for Hillary Clinton, she urged a way to deal with bullies like Donald Trump.“When they go low, we go high,” the former first lady said.Later, once the catchphrase had caught on, she explained that “when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level”.Taking the high road sounded inspiring and possibly effective. Was it? Trump never stopped his horrid ways; but the Democrats, having lost to him in 2016, managed to defeat him in 2020 with Joe Biden, known for his empathy and decency.However you evaluate that, the Democrats feel like a different party these days. Their tone has changed from lofty to earthy.Consider the squawking chickens. When Trump waffled on whether he’d participate in the next presidential candidate debate, Kamala Harris’s campaign didn’t exactly go high. Instead, they posted barnyard sound effects and emoji over footage of Trump speaking and asked if he was getting scared.An Axios headline summarized the new tone: “Taunting Trump: Harris campaign’s sneer tactics.”The digital campaign team operating out of Wilmington, Delaware, “has pivoted from the stuffier, decorous Biden for President campaign to a saucier, more ruthless Harris for President campaign”.And don’t forget the couch jokes.Prominent Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren and Tim Walz, have made a few none-too-subtle wisecracks about an untrue rumor that Trump running mate JD Vance had an unusual relationship with some living-room furniture.The basis for this sordid tale has been debunked. The Associated Press not only fact-checked the claim, but then deleted the fact-check, which was headlined, No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch.Nevertheless, uproarious cheers and laughter followed when Warren took her shot, speaking at the Democratic national convention about the need for an economy that benefits working people: “Trust Donald Trump and JD Vance to look out for your family? Shoot, I wouldn’t trust them to move my couch.”The conservative New York Post tut-tutted: “Elizabeth Warren makes crude couch joke in apparent reference to JD Vance.” Steven Cheung , a Trump spokesperson, complained to Axios: “Acting like whiny schoolchildren is not a political strategy, but it is a coping mechanism for the Kamala campaign who knows they have a weak candidate incapable of being authentic.”Somehow, charges of immaturity ring a little hollow from this crowd, led by a former president who specializes in dumb nicknames and cringey insults, from “Little Marco” Rubio to “Sleepy Joe” Biden.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionTrump occasionally tries to claim the high ground but may need more practice. Last year he posted about the Florida governor, then a rival for the Republican nomination: “I will never call Ron DeSanctimonious ‘Meatball’ Ron, as the Fake News is insisting I will.”Besides, the Harris campaign’s irreverence isn’t really all that low. Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, who should be appointed talker-in-chief, had the perfect response when challenged to defend Barack Obama’s suggestive hand-gesture joke (big? small?) about Trump’s obsession with crowd size.“We aren’t completely above the temptation to tweak our opponents,” Buttigieg admitted, while noting that the Harris campaign’s overall tone is positive and forward-looking, not mired in darkness and grievance.How effective is this counterpunching? After hesitating for days about the debate, Trump finally agreed to show up in Philadelphia next month.Did his capitulation have anything to do with suggestions that he was a coward? Any relationship to the chickens squawking as they crossed the low road?Maybe not. But for the Harris campaign, the barnyard noises do seem to be delivering the intended message.

      Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture More

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      Vance says Harris can ‘go to hell’ in critical remarks on Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal – live

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      JD Vance said at a rally that Kamala Harris can “go to hell” as he heavily criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.The Republican vice-presidential candidate was speaking at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. Republicans have long sought to use the Afghanistan pullout to attack Joe Biden and are now using the same line of criticism against Harris in hopes of defeating the Democrat in November.Sarah Palin won a new trial in her libel lawsuit against the New York Times.A jury in 2022 rejected the former Alaska governor’s claims of defamation. Palin had argued that the newspaper damaged her reputation by linking her campaign rhetoric to the 2011 Arizona shooting that wounded US representative Gabby Giffords and left six others dead.On Wednesday, a federal appeals court ruled that she should receive a new trial, and found that the judge in the original proceedings made several errors, including wrongly excluding evidence.A spokesperson for the Times called Wednesday’s decision “disappointing” while Palin’s lawyer said it was “a significant step forward”.Mike Waltz, a Republican congressman, shared a statement from the families of US soldiers killed and injured during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, who said they approved of Donald Trump’s campaign staff taking photos and videos during his visit to Arlington national cemetery on Monday:However, according to NPR, an Arlington official got into an altercation with Trump’s campaign staff because the former president’s entourage had been visiting a section of the grounds where only cemetery employees can take photos.It’s unclear whether Trump having the permission of some of the families of those buried there is relevant to the cemetery’s policies.Speaking of Donald Trump, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports that the former president is gearing up to continue his legal challenge against special counsel Jack Smith, who yesterday unveiled a new indictment against him for trying to overturn the 2020 election:Donald Trump is expected to​ continue to battle against criminal charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election by challenging further parts of the revised indictment that removed allegations​ the US supreme court found were subject to immunity​.The superseding indictment ​filed on Tuesday by special counsel prosecutors mainly removed allegations about Trump’s efforts to use the​ justice department to ​obstruct the peaceful transfer of power and reframed the narrative to say Trump was being charged in his capacity as a candidate​.The document retains the same four criminal ​conspiracy statutes against Trump that were originally filed last summer. But portions of the new indictment have been rewritten to emphasize that Trump was not acting in his official capacity during his efforts to try​ to overturn the election.Trump’s lawyers see the changes as minimal and will seek to pare back the charges further, ​according to people familiar with the matter, because they consider large parts of what remains in the updated indictment to be presumptively immune conduct that the judge needs to resolve​.In that sense, there are no immediate consequences of the ​special ​counsel Jack Smith getting a superseding indictment in the case. Trump still ​plans to initiate new litigation, ​which will be appealed to the US court of appeals for the DC circuit​, and any trial would not happen before the November election.JD Vance said the Trump campaign was given permission to have a photographer present during his visit this week to a section of Arlington national cemetery where photography is not allowed.“There is verifiable evidence that the campaign was allowed to have a photographer there … they were invited to have a photographer there,” Vance said during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.NPR has reported that two Trump campaign staffers got in an altercation with a Arlington official for filming and taking pictures in a section of the cemetery reserved for recent US military casualties, and where only staff members are allowed to use cameras.Addressing reports of a scuffle, Vance said: “The altercation at Arlington cemetery is the media creating a story where I really don’t think that there is one,” and, “Apparently somebody at Arlington cemetery, some staff member, had a little disagreement with somebody, and they have turned the media has turned this into a national news story.”During an appearance in Erie, Pennsylvania, this afternoon, JD Vance trotted out a new attack line against Kamala Harris, accusing her of running a “copycat campaign”.The Ohio senator, who Donald Trump selected as his running mate last month, said, without offering evidence, that the Democratic nominee had adopted the same policies as his campaign.“If you look at her campaign the past week and a half, she pretends that she agrees with Donald J Trump on every issue. She is running a copycat campaign,” Vance said.There are wide differences between the two campaigns – something Vance well knows, considering that he spent much of his speech attacking Harris for her support of efforts to encourage electric vehicle usage.The “copycat campaign” line may be a reference to one of the few areas where the two candidates align, which is on taxing tips. Trump has said he’d like to remove taxes on gratuities, and Harris recently said she would support that as well. The policy is generally seen as a way to woo votes in Nevada, a swing states with a large number of workers dependent on tips:The US supreme court has declined a request from the Biden administration to allow a plan that would lower or pause federal student debt payments for borrowers to take effect, the Associated Press reports.Joe Biden proposed the plan, known as Save, after a previous attempt to cancel billions of dollars in federal student loans was blocked by the supreme court’s conservative majority. Republican-led states sued over the Save plan, and have won rulings against it at the appeals level.Today’s decision from the nation’s highest court will allow those rulings to stand while litigation plays out.Here’s more, from the AP:
      The justices rejected an administration request to put most of it back into effect. It was blocked by 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
      In an unsigned order, the court said it expects the appeals court to issue a fuller decision on the plan “with appropriate dispatch.”
      The Education Department is seeking to provide a faster path to loan cancellation, and reduce monthly income-based repayments from 10% to 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income. The plan also wouldn’t require borrowers to make payments if they earn less than 225% of the federal poverty line — $32,800 a year for a single person.
      Last year, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority rejected an earlier plan that would have wiped away more than $400 billion in student loan debt.
      Cost estimates of the new SAVE plan vary. The Republican-led states challenging the plan peg the cost at $475 billion over 10 years. The administration cites a Congressional Budget Office estimate of $276 billion.
      Two separate legal challenges to the SAVE plan have been making their way through federal courts. In June, judges in Kansas and Missouri issued separate rulings that blocked much of the administration’s plan. Debt that already had been forgiven under the plan was unaffected.
      The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that allowed the department to proceed with a provision allowing for lower monthly payments. Republican-led states had asked the high court to undo that ruling.
      But after the 8th Circuit blocked the entire plan, the states had no need for the Supreme Court to intervene, the justices noted in a separate order issued Wednesday.
      The gunman who tried to kill Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, viewed the event as a “target of opportunity”, the FBI revealed today, according to the Associated Press.The special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh office, Kevin Rojek, told reporters that Thomas Crooks, who opened fire on Trump, searched on the internet for: “Where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show?” “Butler Farm Show podium” and “Butler Farm Show photos” ahead of the former president’s rally in July.However, Rojek said that Crooks’s motive remains a mystery: “We have a clear idea of mindset, but we are not ready to make any conclusive statements regarding motive at this time.”The gunman who tried to assassinate former president Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania in July searched more than 60 times for information about Trump and Joe Biden, before registering for the Trump rally, according to a new Reuters report that cites FBI officials.Reuters also reported that Kevin Rojek, the FBI’s top official in western Pennsylvania, said that the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Crooks, mounted a “sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some events, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets”.Crooks then became “hyper focused” on the Trump rally after it was announced, Rojek said.According to USA Today, Rojek said that Crooks researched the Trump and Biden campaigns between April and July 2024.A new poll released today by ActiVote shows the vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the former president Donald Trump “essentially tied” in the battleground state of Michigan, with Harris leading Trump by just 0.2%.The new Michigan presidential poll was conducted between 28 July and 28 August and was among 400 likely voters. The poll has an “average expected error of 4.9%”, the company said.According to the data, Harris leads among such as urban voters, women, low income voters, young voters in Michigan, where Trump leads among rural and suburban voters, men, and those 50 to 64 years old, ActiVote wrote.A new survey released by Gallup suggests that a majority of Americans continue to approve of labor unions.According to the survey, 70% of respondents said that they approve of labor unions, up from 67% last year. This year’s approval rating is the second highest recorded by Gallup since 1965, per the data, with the 2022 being the highest with 71% approval rating of labor unions.The recent survey, which was conducted in August of this year, also states that 23% of respondents said that they disapproved of labor unions and 7% had no opinion.The new data comes as Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate and governor of Minnesota, spoke to unionized firefighters this morning at the International Association of Fire Fighters convention in Boston.Controversy brews over a report that campaign staffers for Donald Trump were involved in a physical altercation with an official from Arlington national cemetery, which he visited earlier this week. Trump’s former defense secretary Mark Esper told CNN he was waiting to hear the outcome of an investigation into the scuffle, while saying the cemetery should never be used for “partisan political purposes”. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris’s communications director indicated that her campaign and Trump’s were still not on the same page about the rules for their 10 September debate, with the sticking point being whether the candidates’ microphones would be live when it was not their turn to talk. Trump seems to want them switched off, while Harris’s people want them on.Here’s what else has happened today so far:

      Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor who is Harris’s running mate, invited unionized firefighters to tune into the debate, saying: “It’s going to be good.”

      Clips of JD Vance attacking people who do not have children keep emerging.

      Trump continued to rail against the gag order imposed on him in his hush money case, saying it is preventing him from talking about the “most important and corrupt aspects” of his prosecution.
      Donald Trump’s legal troubles are clearly on his mind today, if his recent Truth Social posts are any indication.The special counsel Jack Smith yesterday unveiled a new indictment of the former president for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. While it does not dramatically alter the facts of the case, and appears mostly a response to the supreme court’s immunity decision handed down last month, the Guardian’s Victoria Bekiempis reports in our Trump on Trial newsletter that it may be a sign the former president’s luck in the courts has run out:Donald Trump is meanwhile busy on Truth Social, posting about various things on his mind, including the gag order he remains under in his New York hush-money case.The order prevents him from making statements about prosecutors, court staff and their families, at least until his 18 September sentencing date. That’s a fairly small group of people, but Trump is nonetheless very upset about it, as he wrote:
      When asked about the lawless Manhattan D.A. Hoax, I am not allowed to talk about the most important and corrupt aspects of it, because of the completely unConstitutional Gag Order. I am the first Candidate in American History who is not allowed to freely speak about a major Witch Hunt being perpetrated against him. I must be immediately released from the Gag Order, so I can continue to expose the Weaponization of our Justice System by the Radical Democrats. The GOOD NEWS is that the American People see through these Witch Hunts, and will bring us a dominant Victory on November 5th. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
      Donald Trump yesterday said he had agreed on the rules for his 10 September debate with Kamala Harris, but a spokesman for the vice-president indicates they still are not on the same page over whether the microphones will be on or off when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak.Trump yesterday said he had agreed to the same rules that governed his June debate with Joe Biden. In that case, microphones were muted when it was not time for him or the president to talk.In an interview with CNN today, the Harris campaign’s communications director Michael Tyler implied that Trump had agreed that microphones would be on throughout – something the former president has not explicitly said.“We’re going to have a 90-minute debate. Both candidates have said that they are comfortable with live, unmuted microphones for the duration of the debate that allows for the free flow and exchange of ideas between the two candidates. I understand that Donald Trump’s team of handlers is now attempting to overrule him. But as insofar as the candidates themselves, we’re in total alignment that this should be a 90-minute debate with live microphones. And so that’s what we look forward to,” Tyler said.Asked if Harris would attend the debate, hosted by ABC News, if microphones are not always on, Tyler replied:
      We fully intend to debate. We’re going to be there. The question is, will Donald Trump commit to the terms that he’s publicly agreed to? Or will he let his team overrule him? So I guess we’ll see if when he shows up on September 10, which decision he has made. More

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      RFK Jr is now political roadkill – what does it mean for Harris and Trump?

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      Hello, good day,First, an apology. We missed some big election news in July, when the town of Omena, in northern Michigan, elected a horse called Lucky to be mayor. Lucky becomes the first horse to hold the position – the largely ceremonial role was previously held by Rosie, who is a dog. We wish the 16-year-old stallion all the best for his time in office.One mammal who will not be becoming an elected leader, however, is Robert F Kennedy Jr. The bear-cub-vanquishing, non-dog-eating, brain-worm-surviving presidential candidate dropped out of the race, sort of, last week and endorsed Donald Trump. Kennedy was seen as a threat by both the Trump and Harris campaigns, and we’ll take a look at what his election exit could mean for both after some headlines.Here’s what you need to knowView image in fullscreen1.More legal trouble for TrumpThe justice department filed a new indictment on Tuesday against Donald Trump, over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump had already been charged in the case, but the new indictment aims to work around a supreme court decision in July which ruled that former presidents have complete immunity for official acts. Trump is charged with four federal crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the US, but the case is unlikely to go to trial before November.2. To mute or not to mute?The Trump and Harris campaigns are engaged in back and forth over the scheduled 10 September debate, with negotiations seeming to hinge on one issue: whether candidates’ microphones will be turned off when it is not their turn to speak. “Muted microphones” were used in the Trump-Biden debate in July, but the Harris team would like to keep the mics switched on the whole time – presumably with the hope that the notoriously undisciplined Trump will embarrass himself on live TV. Trump has said he wants open mics, too, but his team would rather they be turned off. “Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” a Harris spokesman told NBC. The saga continues.3. More than 200 Republican staffers endorse HarrisA group of 238 people who worked for former president George HW Bush, former president George W Bush, former Arizona senator John McCain and Utah senator Mitt Romney have come out in support of Kamala Harris, warning that a Trump second term “will hurt real, everyday people”. In an open letter published this week the Republican staffers wrote: “Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice-President Harris and Governor Walz … That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable.”The bear-conquerer is gone … what does it mean for Harris and Trump?View image in fullscreenWell, there goes that dream. We all knew Robert F Kennedy Jr would not be the next president of the United States, and it only took 18 months for him to figure it out too. The scion of the storied Kennedy Democratic family, who was running as an independent, brought an end to his campaign last week, and endorsed Donald Trump.While Kennedy’s campaign ultimately descended into a laughingstock – one highlight was when he was forced to reveal he had staged the death of a bear cub, another when he had to deny that he had eaten a dog – he was less of a joke to Democratic and Republican strategists.The election is likely to be decided by tens of thousands of votes in a handful of states, so if Kennedy had managed to persuade just a few people to vote for him over Harris or Trump, it could have tipped the scales of the election.In endorsing Trump, Kennedy claimed the former president had invited him to form a “unity government” – although Kennedy also admitted that Trump had given him no commitments about any actual government position. On Tuesday Trump appointed Kennedy to his transition team, giving him some influence in the policies a Trump administration would pursue, but does any of this mean that those Kennedy voters, whoever they are, will flock to Trump? And is Trump now a shoo-in for the White House?The answer seems to be: probably not.The polling boffins at 538 reckon the Kennedy exit and Trump endorsement will have “minimal impact on the race”. Ruth Igielnik, a poll expert at the New York Times, says it is “unlikely to change the nature of the race”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAccording to 538’s analysis of polling, if Kennedy hadn’t been in the race, his supporters would have been equally likely to vote for Trump or Harris, while polling shows that Kennedy’s supporters were less likely than Harris or Trump supporters to say they will definitely vote in November. So even if all Kennedy’s voters follow him to the Trump camp, they might not show up at the polls.That’s not to say it couldn’t have an impact.Biden won Wisconsin by just 20,682 votes in 2020. If Kennedy managed to win over 10,342 of those Democratic voters, and those people now vote for Trump, then assuming everyone else who voted in Wisconsin in 2020 a) votes in November, and b) votes the same way, then Trump would win the key swing state.But the truth is that Kennedy’s star had been on the wane for a while. Kennedy was polling at 10% nationally before Joe Biden dropped out: that has since dropped to 5%. Kennedy was also running out of money: at the end of July his campaign, which ended up being managed by his daughter-in-law, had $3.9m cash on hand, but was $3.5m in debt.In the end, Kennedy couldn’t even drop out properly. He’s withdrawing from the ballot in 10 states, including some of the states expected to be particularly close in November, but will remain on the ballot in 30 states. Oh, and some of the states he plans to drop out of have already started printing their voting papers, so Kennedy’s name could appear on the ballot anyway.While Kennedy says he endorsed Trump because they share some of the same priorities – ending the war in Ukraine, taking on big pharma, and sorting out the climate (lol!) – it’s telling that Kennedy also asked the Harris campaign for a job before deciding to back Trump.For now, Trump has received Kennedy warmly. On Tuesday it emerged that Trump had appointed Kennedy to his transition team, and while the addition of a man who looks like a melted GI Joe figurine and who says a worm ate part of his brain is unlikely to quell the accusations that Republicans are “weird”, it at least gives Kennedy something to do.Who had the worst weekView image in fullscreen
      Spare a thought for Steve Bannon, the rightwing media guru who helped mastermind Trump’s 2016 election win but is now, apparently, being “tortured” in prison.That’s what Rudy Giuliani – the occasional lawyer, regular Trump supporter and near-constant raiser of eyebrows – claimed in a recent interview.According to Giuliani, Bannon is being tortured by not being able to watch television while in prison, where he is serving a four-month sentence for defying multiple subpoenas. More