Presidential Election of 2024

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      JD Vance’s ‘Never Trump Guy’ Comment Becomes a Viral TikTok Remix

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      A mash-up of years-old comments by the Ohio senator with a hip-hop track is finding a broad audience. It’s part of a new genre of videos on the app.One of the hottest tracks on TikTok this summer is, unexpectedly, a 22-second Petey Pablo hip-hop beat remixed with a years-old audio clip of JD Vance — now former President Donald J. Trump’s vice-presidential pick — declaring, before his loyalties changed, that he was “a never Trump guy.”The song has been used in more than 8,500 TikTok videos since two independent music producers created it in July. Supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris have seized on it, wagging their fingers and swinging their arms to it, some hoping to create its official dance. It was also reposted by @KamalaHQ, the campaign’s official TikTok account. Videos with the sound have racked up more than 40 million views overall, according to Zelf, a social video analytics company focused on TikTok.It’s a marquee example of a new genre of political memes finding an audience on the short-form video app, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.Politically minded Americans are increasingly embracing TikTok to make videos and trends out of snippets of songs and speeches in this election cycle. The app — a pandemic-fueled curiosity during the last presidential election — has since exploded its user base to 170 million Americans. About half of users under 30 say they use TikTok to help them keep up with politics and political issues, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.“People are still doing dances to random songs, but now people are doing dances to remixes of rap with Kamala Harris speeches over it,” said Emma Mont, a digital creator and administrator of @OrganizerMemes, a liberal meme account.

      @casadimusic Replying to @casadimusic JD Vance is a Never Trump Guy. Kamala Harris for President #nevertrumpguy #kamalaharris #Democrat #kamalahq ♬ Never Trump Guy JD Vance House of Evo Remix – CasaDi We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Letitia James Fights to Preserve Trump’s Over $450 Million Fraud Penalty

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      Ms. James, New York’s attorney general, argued that the civil fraud judgment, which the former president has appealed, should stand. It could wipe out his cash reserves.The New York attorney general’s office late Wednesday night urged a state appellate court to uphold a more than $450 million civil fraud judgment against Donald J. Trump, arguing that the punishment was needed to protect “the integrity of the marketplace.”In a legal filing, the attorney general, Letitia James, defended a judge’s February ruling that Mr. Trump had conspired to inflate the value of his properties to receive favorable loans and other financial benefits. Mr. Trump, the attorney general’s office has argued, exaggerated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion in any given year.“Mr. Trump indisputably participated in the fraud,” Ms. James’s office wrote in response to an appeal filed last month by Mr. Trump, adding that he, his adult sons and his company had “used a variety of deceptive strategies.”The response marked the latest phase of a battle between Mr. Trump and Ms. James that has spanned the better part of five years. The appeals court will hear oral arguments on Sept. 26 and its decision could come by year-end, coinciding with the final stretch of a presidential campaign that has pitted Mr. Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris.Ms. James, a Democrat who campaigned for her office on the promise of bringing Mr. Trump to justice, began to investigate the former president in 2019 and filed the lawsuit in 2022. Since then, Mr. Trump has lost nearly every step of the way. Even before the trial, the judge overseeing the case, Arthur F. Engoron, ruled against Mr. Trump, finding that he had committed fraud by inflating his assets.The trial was held largely to determine how much Mr. Trump, his company and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. would owe the state. Justice Engoron was the decider — there was no jury — and after 11 weeks and 40 witnesses, he ordered Mr. Trump to pay $355 million plus interest, a total of more than $450 million.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Oprah Winfrey Speaks at DNC, Revealing Short Film on the American Dream

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      Night 3 of the Democratic National Convention is not lacking for stars of the small screen: Mindy Kaling is the evening’s M.C., and the “Saturday Night Live” stalwart Kenan Thompson made a cameo.But the appearance of one television icon was kept under wraps until she stepped onstage to deafening cheers from her hometown crowd: Oprah Winfrey, the talk-show host turned billionaire media mogul who built her career in Chicago.The fact that Ms. Winfrey, an inspirational figure for many women and Black voters, appeared at all represented a feat by aides to Vice President Kamala Harris.The television star had never before spoken at a national convention. Her message of uplift and optimism is a neat fit for the themes that Democrats have sought to emphasize at this week’s jamboree. And as far as political campaigns go, she has carefully picked her battles, withholding the Oprah seal of approval for all but a few candidates.In 2007, Ms. Winfrey endorsed a presidential hopeful for the first time: Barack Obama, a close friend and a compatriot from Chicago’s power circles. Ms. Winfrey hosted fund-raisers and barnstormed cities in Iowa to round up votes for Mr. Obama, who at the time seemed a long shot to win the nomination.In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign sought to capitalize on Ms. Winfrey’s popularity by lobbying her for a full-throated endorsement. It never came. Ms. Winfrey mostly stayed away from politics that year, although she did tell one morning show interviewer, “I’m with her.”In 2018, Ms. Winfrey stirred speculation that she herself might seek the White House. A speech she delivered at the Golden Globes, where she was accepting a lifetime achievement award, was shared widely for its stirring delivery and approach to grand themes like sexism and racism in America.The conversation died down after Ms. Winfrey poured cold water on the idea of a run, but it highlighted the thirst among Democrats, in the midst of Donald J. Trump’s administration, for a media-savvy contender who could wave the party flag. More

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      Mindy Kaling, Actress and Comedian, Hosts DNC Day 3

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      In late November 2019, as her once promising 2020 presidential campaign was faltering, Kamala Harris appeared in a cooking video with the actress and comedian Mindy Kaling. A week later, Ms. Harris quit the race.On Wednesday, Ms. Kaling will trade a kitchen for a stage as she hosts the third night of Ms. Harris’s nominating convention in Chicago.Ms. Kaling is the third of four boldfaced names to fill the role, which entails delivering remarks and introducing speakers. The actor Tony Goldwyn was Monday night’s host; Ana Navarro, a Republican commentator, was the emcee on Tuesday; and the actress Kerry Washington will do the job on Thursday.Ms. Kaling is best known for her roles as Kelly Kapoor, a vain and ditsy employee on “The Office,” and Mindy Lahiri, a gynecologist, on “The Mindy Project,” which Ms. Kaling wrote and produced.One of the most prominent Indian women in Hollywood, Ms. Kaling often writes and plays characters who contend with what it’s like to be Indian American and the daughter of immigrants, a heritage and background she shares with Ms. Harris.Ms. Kaling’s parents hail from the same region in the south of India as Ms. Harris’s mother, who moved to the United States to attend college at 19. In the 2019 YouTube video supporting Ms. Harris’s presidential campaign, Ms. Kaling and Ms. Harris prepare masala dosa, a South Indian dish of flatbread and potato curry, and discuss growing up in Indian American households.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Los Obama y el humor: qué pasó en el día 2 de la convención demócrata

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      Barack y Michelle Obama electrizaron a la multitud, mientras que Doug Emhoff, marido de la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris, compartió anécdotas de la primera cita con su esposa.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]El martes, los demócratas recurrieron a sus líderes más carismáticos y viraron hacia el futuro, mientras el expresidente Barack Obama y Michelle Obama, la ex primera dama, defendían que la candidatura de su partido representaba lo mejor de los valores estadounidenses.Mientras la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris y su compañero de fórmula, Tim Walz, participaban en un mitin en Milwaukee, los asistentes a la convención completaban una estruendosa votación presencial de los estados mientras abarrotaban el United Center de Chicago. Con el presidente Joe Biden fuera del escenario y de vacaciones en California, parecía que una energía optimista se apoderó de los actos.Estos son algunos de los momentos más destacados de la segunda noche de la convención:Michelle Obama presentó a su marido tras un discurso propio que cautivó al público de la convención.Todd Heisler/The New York TimesLos Obama demostraron que siguen teniendo un singular poder de estrellasLos demócratas tienen sus estrellas, nuevas y viejas: Gretchen Whitmer y Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez y Andy Beshear, Bill y Hillary Clinton.Pero el martes, los Obama demostraron una vez más que pueden inspirar al partido como nadie. La multitud reunida en Chicago ha mostrado un entusiasmo renovado desde que comenzó la convención, pero sus discursos consecutivos fueron un momento importante.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Climate Change Is Not a Key Talking Point for Harris Campaign

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      In the 2020 presidential election, climate activists demanded that Democratic candidates explain, in detail, how they planned to tackle the planet’s greatest environmental threat.But in the weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris ascended the 2024 Democratic ticket, she has mentioned climate change only in passing, and offered no specifics on how she would curb dangerous levels of warming. Climate leaders say they are fine with that.“I am not concerned,” said Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington, who made climate change the centerpiece of his own 2019 bid for the presidency. Mr. Inslee said he believes it is more important for Ms. Harris to draw a distinction between her and her Republican rival, former President Donald J. Trump, than to drill down on policy nitty-gritty.“I am totally confident that when she is in a position to effect positive change, she will,” Gov. Inslee said.As Ms. Harris prepares to address the nation on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention, she faces the challenge of energizing party loyalists while also reaching out to disaffected Republicans and moderate voters. So far Ms. Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, have embraced a pragmatic agenda, calling for things like a minimum-wage increase and child-care funding.While President Biden has made climate change a signature issue, signing into law the largest clean energy investments in American history, Ms. Harris has yet to detail for voters her climate or clean-energy positions. Some analysts chalked that up to strategy and said new promises to slash greenhouse gas emissions or rein in fossil fuels could alienate voters particularly in the energy-rich swing state of Pennsylvania.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      AI Companies Have Pitched US Political Campaigns. The Campaigns Are Wary.

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      More than 30 tech companies have pitched A.I. tools to political campaigns for November’s election. The campaigns have been wary.Sam WoodMatthew Diemer, a Democrat running for election in Ohio’s Seventh Congressional District, was approached by the artificial intelligence company Civox in January with a pitch: A.I.-backed voice technology that could make tens of thousands of personalized phone calls to voters using Mr. Diemer’s talking points and sense of humor.His campaign agreed to try out the technology. But it turned out that the only thing voters hated more than a robocall was an A.I.-backed one.While Civox’s A.I. program made almost 1,000 calls to voters in five minutes, nearly all of them hung up in the first few seconds when they heard a voice that described itself as an A.I. volunteer, Mr. Diemer said.“People just didn’t want to be on the phone, and they especially didn’t want to be on the phone when they heard they were talking to an A.I. program,” said the entrepreneur, who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for the same seat he is seeking now. “Maybe people weren’t ready yet for this type of technology.”This was supposed to be the year of the A.I. election. Fueled by a proliferation of A.I. tools like chatbots and image generators, more than 30 tech companies have offered A.I. products to national, state and local U.S. political campaigns in recent months. The companies — mostly smaller firms such as BHuman, VoterVoice and Poll the People — make products that reorganize voter rolls and campaign emails, expand robocalls and create A.I.-generated likenesses of candidates that can meet and greet constituents virtually.But campaigns are largely not biting — and when they have, the technology has fallen flat. Only a handful of candidates are using A.I., and even fewer are willing to admit it, according to interviews with 23 tech companies and seven political campaigns. Three of the companies said campaigns agreed to buy their tech only if they could ensure that the public would never find out they had used A.I.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More