“The Trump campaign is tasking the far-right Turning Point network with spearheading its ground game despite having no track record of success,” Bill Scher noticed back in June:
CNN reported that “Donald Trump’s campaign is taking a vastly different approach to 2024 compared with 2020, with plans for fewer staff and expenses [and instead] relying on wealthy conservative groups for data, infrastructure, and significant bank accounts.” It further noted that one of the most important of these groups is Turning Point Action, part of the Turning Point network that began with Turning Point USA.
Turning Point USA is a right-wing student group founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk, an 18-year-old soon-to-be college dropout, and Bill Montgomery, an elderly Tea Party activist.
None of Turning Point’s 2022 efforts in Arizona “had any discernible impact” on Republicans’ fortunes there, Scher wrote.
The Washington Post reported more on Trump’s reliance on PACs for his field operations in early August before Democrats’ celebratory national convention in Chicago:
With fewer than 100 days before the election, local GOP officials in battleground states have raised alarms about the scant presence of Trump campaign field staff. For the large armies of paid and volunteer door-knockers and canvassers who typically drive turnout in presidential elections, the campaign is largely relying on outside groups such as America First Works, America PAC and Turning Point Action.
The Trump campaign’s shrunken in-house operation resulted from its takeover of the Republican National Committee in March, when Trump secured the nomination. The RNC had been planning an extensive field program, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Those now-discarded plans included 88 staff members and 12 offices, and goals to knock on 3 million doors and make 2.4 million phone calls, in Pennsylvania. In Arizona, the RNC’s plan called for 62 staffers and seven offices, aiming for 558,000 voter contacts.
A month later we are seeing the results here in my swing state. Apparently fully assimilated by the Trump campaign, the North Carolina Republican Party is bombarding registered Democrats with anti-Harris flyers like these photographed by a friend. Even the flip sides of the bottom two promoting Trump attack Harris. My spouse received three of these in a single day.
Thomas Mills reported last week from a rural Brunswick County, North Carolina adjacent coastal Wilmington that in 2020 went for Trump by 62 percent and that Democrats lost by about the same amount in 2022: “Four years ago, virtually every yard sported a Trump sign and Trump flags proudly waved above dozens of motor homes in a muscular show of support. This year, I saw very few Trump yard signs and even fewer Trump flags. The difference is stark.”
Caleb Rudow, Democrats’ candidate for Congress from NC-11 in the western mountains, told me Saturday that he’s noticed a similar lack of Trump signs and flags in his heavily rural district. Puzzled Democrats are asking him why they too are receiving a flurry of anti-Harris mailings. I can only speculate that the Turning Point Action, etc. brain trust is behind them. They’ll make money off the Trump campaign no matter how wasted their expensive mailings are. I have no reports on what Republican voters are seeing.
While a few statewide GOP candidates have appeared at regional fairs and parades he’s attended, Rudow has seen little evidence of any coordinated Republican efforts. Not even at the annual Mountain State Fair where WNC Republicans typically have a booth within view of the Democrats’ installation. A couple of GOP candidates have thinly staffed booths, Rudow said, but that’s it. He speculates that Republicans are keeping their distance from Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson who is running for governor against Democrat Josh Stein.
Unfortunate juxtaposition (top). Republican booth at Mountain State Fair 2019, Buncombe County, NC.
Forget the money and ads, the Democrats' ground game is far surpassing the GOP ground game. They've been registering new voters and farming for absentee ballots with paid operatives, some of whom are making up to $40 an hour. The GOP has nothing at that level.
The Harris-Walz campaign, meantime, is fully engaged and accelerating. Here are a couple of anecdotal reports, one with more tears.
Canvassers for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are fucking heroes. I have mad respect for the people working their asses off to save American democracy. 🙌🙏👏👊🌊🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PqVlKBpWGE
People are stressed, tired of the hostility, the darkness, and chaos of Trumpism. Trump has jumped the shark. His whiny, poor-me story has become tiresome. Democrats’ joyful warriors are not just offering something to vote against but something to vote for. Something more human.
Heather Cox Richardson is hardly the only one to notice that as the prospect of losing the election (and facing criminal judgment) haunts Donald Trump’s every waking moment, he’s going full apocalyptic. Trump on Saturday warned that not even his rallies are safe spaces in a country “overrun by criminals.” He promised that expelling migrants en masse “will be a bloody story.” But that’s only the beginning. Trump is going full Queen of Hearts:
Then, tonight, Trump posted on his social media site a rant asserting that he will win the 2024 election but that he expects Democrats to cheat, and “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again. We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T! Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”
Is it the Justice Department indictments that showed Russia is working to get him reelected? Is it the rising popularity of Democratic nominees Kamala Harris and Tim Walz? Is it fury at the new grand jury’s indicting him for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and install himself in power? Is it fear of Tuesday’s debate with Harris? Is it a declining ability to grapple with reality?
Whatever has caused it, Trump seems utterly off his pins, embracing wild conspiracy theories and, as his hopes of winning the election appear to be crumbling, threatening vengeance with a dogged fury that he used to be able to hide.
Trump went out of his way on Friday to remind voters (to borrow from an old commercial) that he’s a chocolate mess (via Digby):
If any voters had forgotten that Donald J. Trump was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, he spent roughly 45 minutes reminding them on Friday, eight weeks before Election Day.
Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, took a break from debate preparations on Saturday to visit a spice shop in Pittsburgh. (She cooks, you’ll recall.) She immediately embraced a woman who was in tears. Whether from joy at seeing Harris or from worry over tensions in the country (or both), the woman seemed to need a hug and reassurance. Harris provided both.
“We’re all in this together,” Harris said. It’s all going to work out. We’re going to be fine.
.@KamalaHarris took a break from debate prep and visited Penzeys Spices in Pittsburgh on Saturday. When she entered the store, the vice president greeted a woman who appeared near tears as they hugged. Harris assured her that things would work out. “We’re all in this together,”… pic.twitter.com/3oGS15hRDo
I know that this is silly (I’m 68 years old, fergawdsake)- but as soon as retailers start touting their “back to school” sales, I still get that familiar twinge of dread. It’s a vague sensation of social anxiety, coupled with a melancholy resignation to the fact that from now until next June, I’ll have to go to bed early. By the way, now that I’m allowed to stay up with the grownups, why do I drift off in my chair at 8pm every night? It’s another one of life’s cruel ironies. At any rate, here are my Top 10 show-and-tell picks:
The Blackboard Jungle– This 1955 social drama is the “anti-HappyDays”. An idealistic English teacher (Glenn Ford) tackles an inner-city classroom full of leather-jacketed malcontents (or as they used to call them – “juvenile delinquents”) who would rather steal hubcaps and rumble than, say, study the construct of iambic pentameter.
The film still retains considerable power, despite dated trappings. Vic Morrow and Sidney Poitier are surly and unpredictable as the alpha “toughs” in the classroom. The impressive supporting cast includes Richard Kiley, Anne Francis and Louis Calhern.
Director Richard Brooks co-scripted with Evan Hunter, from Hunter’s novel (the author is best-known by the nom de plume “Ed McBain”). Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” is featured in the soundtrack, which helped make the song a huge hit.
Dazed and Confused– I confess that my attachment to writer-director Richard Linklater’s 1993 recreation of a mid-70s high school milieu is largely due to the sentimental chord it strikes in me (I graduated from high school in 1974). Such is the verisimilitude of the clothing, the hairstyles, the lingo, the social behaviors and the music (I’d wager the boomers born a decade before me had a similar reaction to American Graffiti).
While there are plenty of laughs (mostly of recognition), this is not a goofy teen comedy; the chief strength of Linklater’s sharp screenplay is its keen observation. Linklater would be hard pressed to reassemble this bright, energetic young cast at the same bargain rates now: Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Adam Goldberg, Rory Cochrane, Joey Lauren Adams and Nicky Katt.
Election– Writer-director Alexander Payne and his frequent collaborator Jim Taylor (Sideways, About Schmidt) followed their 1995 debut Citizen Ruth with this biting 1999 sociopolitical allegory (thinly cloaked as a teen comedy). Reese Witherspoon is pitch perfect as psychotically perky overachiever Tracy Flick, who specializes in goading her brooding civics teacher, Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick).
To Mr. McAllister’s chagrin, the ambitious Tracy is running unopposed for school president. He encourages dim but charming Paul Metzler (Payne discovery Chris Klein, who had never acted before) to cash in on his popularity as a jock and run against her. Payne delivers laughs, but never pulls his punches; he flings open the drapes to offer an unflinching look at suburban America’s dark side (similar to Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, released the same year).
Fast Times at Ridgemont High-Amy Heckerling’s hit 1982 coming-of-age dramedy introduced a bevy of talent: Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Eric Stoltz, Nicholas Cage, Anthony Edwards. Oh…and a kid named Sean Penn, as the quintessential stoned California surfer dude, Jeff Spicoli (“Learning about Cuba…and having some food!”). A marvelously droll Ray Walston plays Spicoli’s exasperated history teacher, Mr. Hand.
Rolling Stone reporter (and soon-to-be film director) Cameron Crowe adapted the screenplay from his book, which was based on his experiences “embedded” at a San Diego high school (thanks to his youthful looks, Crowe managed to pass himself off as a student). Heckerling returned to the California high school milieu for her hit Clueless.
The First Grader– Beautifully directed by Justin Chadwick, this 2010 film is based on the true story of an illiterate 84 year-old Kikuyu tribesman (Oliver Litando) who had been a young freedom fighter during the Mau-Mau uprising in the 1950s. Fired up by a 2002 Kenyan law that guaranteed free education for all citizens, he shows up at his local one-room schoolhouse, eager to hit the books. The real story lies in his past. The personal sacrifices he made for his ideals are revealed slowly; resulting in a denouement with a powerful, bittersweet gut punch. Unique and inspiring.
Gregory’s Girl– Scottish writer-director Bill Forsyth’s delightful examination of first love follows gawky teenager Gregory (John Gordon Sinclair) as he goes ga-ga over Dorothy (Dee Hepburn), a fellow soccer player at school. Gregory receives advice from an unlikely mentor, his little sister (Allison Forster). While his male classmates put on airs about having deep insights about the opposite sex, they are just as clueless as he is.
Forsyth gets a lot of mileage out of a basic truth about adolescence- girls are light years ahead of the boys getting a handle on the mysteries of love. Not as precious as you might think; Forsyth (Local Hero,Comfort & Joy, That Sinking Feeling, Housekeeping) is a master of low-key anarchy. Those Scottish accents can make for tough going, but it’s worth the effort.
Also in the cast: Clare Grogan, whom music fans may recall as lead singer of 80s band Altered Images, and Red Dwarf fans may recognize as “Kristine Kochanski”.
if…. – In this 1968 class struggle allegory, director Lindsay Anderson uses the British public-school system as a microcosm of England’s sociopolitical upheaval at the time. It was also the star-making debut of Malcolm McDowall, who plays Mick Travis, a “lower sixth form” student at a boarding school (McDowall would return as the Travis character in Anderson’s two loose “sequels” O Lucky Man! and Britannia Hospital). Travis forms the nucleus of a trio of lads who foment armed insurrection against the abusive upperclassmen and oppressive headmasters.
Some critical reappraisals have drawn parallels with Columbine, but the film really has little to do with that and nearly everything to do with the revolutionary zeitgeist of 1968 (the uprisings in Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, etc.). That said, one could argue that if…. could be read outside of original context as a pre-cursor to films like Massacre at Central High, Rock ’n’ Roll High School, Heathers, The Chocolate War and Rushmore.
Mandy– England’s Ealing Studios are chiefly remembered for churning out a slew of classic comedies. Director Alexander Mackendrick was responsible for several (including Whiskey Galore, The Ladykillers, and The Man in the White Suit), but also made this outstanding 1952 drama about a 7-year old girl (Mandy Miller).
Congenitally deaf since birth, Mandy has been coddled by her well-meaning parents (Phyllis Calvert and Terence Morgan) her whole life. While this has “protected” her in a fashion, it has also made her completely insular and socially dysfunctional. When Mandy’s mother hears about a school that specializes in teaching deaf children to speak using new progressive methods, she lobbies her skeptical husband to enroll their daughter. He reluctantly agrees. Mandy’s journey makes for an incredibly moving story.
Nigel Balchin and Jack Whittingham adapted the intelligent script from Hilda Lewis’ novel “The Day is Ours”. An added sense of realism stems from use of many non-actors; e.g. Mandy’s classmates, who were real-life students from a school for deaf children (Miller was not deaf, which makes her heart wrenching performance more remarkable; particularly in her unforgettable “breakthrough” scene).
The film had a profound impact in the U.K., changing social attitudes toward people with disabilities, who had been traditionally marginalized (if not shunned altogether or considered mentally deficient). Jack Hawkins gives one of his finest performances as Mandy’s teacher. A beautiful film.
To Sir With Love-A decade after he co-starred in The Blackboard Jungle, Sidney Poitier trades his switchblade for a lesson plan; the student becomes teacher. This well-acted 1967 classroom drama offered a twist on the prevalent narrative of its day. Audiences were accustomed to watching an idealistic white teacher struggling to reach a classroom of unruly (and usually “ethnic”) inner city students; but here you had an idealistic black teacher struggling to reach a classroom of unruly, white British working-class students.
It’s a tour de force for James Clavell, who directed, wrote and produced. The “culture clash” subtext is not surprising; as it is prevalent in Clavell’s novels and films (most famously in Shogun). The film is also a great “swinging 60s” time capsule, with a performance of the theme song by Lulu, as well as an appearance by the Mindbenders (featuring future 10cc co-founder Eric Stewart). Also in the cast: Judy Geeson, Suzy Kendall, Christian Roberts, and future rock star Michael Des Barres (the lead singer for Silverhead, Detective, and Power Station).
Twenty-Four Eyes– This drama from Keisuke Kinoshita could be the ultimate “inspirational teacher” movie. Set in an isolated, sparsely populated village on the ruggedly beautiful coast of Japan’s Shodoshima Island, the story begins in 1928 and ends just after WW 2. It’s a simple yet deeply resonant tale about the long-term relationship that develops between a compassionate, nurturing teacher (Hideko Takamine) and her 12 students, from grade school through adulthood.
Many of the cast members are non-actors, but you would never guess it from the wonderful performances. Kinoshita enlisted sets of siblings to portray the students as they “age”, giving the story a heightened sense of realism. The film, originally released in 1954, was hugely popular in Japan; a revival years later introduced it to Western audiences, who warmed to its humanist stance and undercurrent of anti-war sentiment.
I still remember the shock at learning that Trump had secretly invited the leaders of the Taliban to Camp David on the anniversary of 9/11. It boggled the mind that he could even contemplate such a thing, although he’d been inviting Kim Jong Un and Rodrigo Duterte to the White House for years so why not? But to imagine the Taliban at Camp David on 9/11 was beyond imagination even for him.
It turned out that there had been ongoing peace talks that were designed to lead to the American withdrawal but Trump wanted the credit for “making the deal” so he came up with the Camp David proposition. In the end all it did was help destabilize the already fragile Afghan government (a major factor in the chaotic withdrawal in 2021) and Trump ended up releasing 5,000 Taliban fighters and agreeing to a timetable for US withdrawal with only a promise that the Taliban would be good boys in the future.
One gaping problem, say scholars (including some from the Trump administration): The peace agreement came with no enforcement mechanism for the Taliban to keep its word.
The Taliban basically had to sign a pledge saying it wouldn’t harbor terrorists. Nowhere did the Taliban have to — nor did it choose to — denounce al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that launched the 9/11 attacks from Afghanistan, Miller writes. […]
To a number of those who were paying attention, the whole deal felt like a naked attempt to just get out of Afghanistan. It was a campaign promise of Trump’s to be the president who finally ended America’s longest war. It would be something no other president had been able to accomplish.
Before the peace talks really got going, Trump had already started withdrawing thousands of troops, and he fired his defense secretary, Esper, after he wrote a memo disagreeing. (Esper later said that Trump’s withdrawing too many troops too soon contributed to what we see now in Afghanistan.)
In the end, Trump got the best of both worlds as usual. He says he made the deal (which Biden adhered to) but Biden botched by not being “tough” and keeping troops in the country, which Trump had precipitously withdrawn.
It was always going to be a mess. But it was Biden who finally had the guts to follow through. But regardless of his desire to end that war, you can bet he never would have contemplated bringing the Taliban to Camp David on 9/11 so he could “make a deal” with them. Only Trump would consider something so stupid.
No big deal. Just the VP of the only two term GOP presidency in the last 40 years just endorsed the Democrat for president. Ho hum. Business as usual.
I know it’s a tired trope but I want you to imagine what they would have done if Al Gore had come out in favor of Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton?
I wonder if they’d put it on page one if George W. and Mitt Romney did the same? Probably not.
Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she doesn’t always agree with former President Donald Trump’s communications, style or approach, but she backs his policies. She was discussing Trump’s extended remarks Friday criticizing writer E. Jean Carroll and other women who have accused him of sexual misconduct or sexual assault.
In an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that will air Sunday, Haley was asked by Brennan about Trump’s comments, which followed his brief appearance in a federal appeals court. The former president was in court to try to overturn a $5 million judgment finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. Brennan asked Haley if airing grievances about women is the best use of Trump’s time, and what kind of message it sends to women voters.
“Well, I think the focus for me is on policy,” Haley replied, as Brennan noted that Trump is the Republican presidential nominee. “And I’ve always said, ‘look, if I thought Biden or Trump were great candidates, I wouldn’t have run for president,'” Haley said. “I ran because I thought I could do a better job.” Brennan followed up, “You don’t think he’s a good candidate?”
“I think he is the Republican nominee,” Haley replied. “And I think putting him against Kamala Harris, who is the Democrat nominee — for me, it’s not a question. Now, do I agree with his style, do I agree with his approach, do I agree with his communications? No.”But on policy, Haley said, she said she agrees with Trump on a lot. “These are the candidates we have been given,” Haley said.
Haley also told Brennan she hasn’t been asked to campaign for Trump and isn’t advising him or his campaign, but she remains “on standby.”
Trump should put her out there. Nothing would prove his big dick dominance than to have this woman bowing and scraping before him after having called her every name in the book including “birdbrain.” She can’t wait to do it.
If any voters had forgotten that Donald J. Trump was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, he spent roughly 45 minutes reminding them on Friday, eight weeks before Election Day.
At a lectern in the lobby of Trump Tower, Mr. Trump, flanked by seven of his lawyers, laid out years-old allegations from the women in detail as he denied that they were telling the truth. He had just attended a federal appeals court hearing related to a civil case in which he was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming a New York writer, E. Jean Carroll, decades earlier. Mr. Trump was not required to attend the hearing, but decided he wanted to.
When the hearing was over, he went to his eponymous building for what the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign called a “press conference.” But he ended it without taking questions, and the session — during which Mr. Trump criticized his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, for avoiding reporters — was more like a venting exercise over his frustrationsabout his legal travails.
Mr. Trump — who is badly trailing with women voters in polling — used the time Friday to insult the lawyers working for him, saying he was “disappointed” in them before adding that they’re “talented,” as they stood, mute, in a row next to him. He declared that Ms. Carroll’s claim that a dress she owned may have had Mr. Trump’s DNA on it was inspired by Monica Lewinsky, referring to the White House intern whose life was forever changed after she had a sexual relationship with former President Bill Clinton. He couldn’t remember one of the accuser’s names, and spent time at the lectern searching for it through the rectangular note cards he held.
Of another accuser, Jessica Leeds, who alleged an assault on an airplane, he said, “She said I was making out with her. And then, after 15 minutes — and she changed her story a couple times, maybe it was quicker — then I grabbed her at a certain part and that’s when she had enough.” He added, “Think of the impracticality of this: I’m famous, I’m in a plane, people are coming into the plane. And I’m looking at a woman, and I grab her and I start kissing her and making out with her. What are the chances of that happening?”
And, for emphasis, he suggested that one of the accusers wasn’t attractive enough for him to have made a move on. “Frankly — I know you’re going to say it’s a terrible thing to say — but it couldn’t have happened, it didn’t happen, and she would not have been the chosen one,” he said.
Between Trump the groper/rapist and Vance the misogynist incel who wants women barefoot and pregnant, they have quite a team. I think it’s great that Trump is out there reminding everyone of all the women who have credibly accused him of assault.
As Edith Olmsted wrote in the New Republic, he actually went into great detail for some reason. As if he really wanted to remind everyone of exactly what had been alleged:
“There were two witnesses. One is a woman who followed me for years,” Trump said, talking about Jessica Leeds, who told jurors at Carroll’s civil trial that Trump had groped her when they sat next to each other on a plane to New York City in the late 1970s. “There was no conversation. It was like out of the blue. It was like a tussle,” Leeds claimed at the time.
Trump’s characterization of the interaction was quite a bit different: “She said in 1979 I was in an airplane with her, commercial flight, and … we became very intimate,” said the former president.
As he told the story, Trump interrupted himself to say, “I was famous then too. I’ve been famous for a long time,” apropos of nothing. Later Trump tried to return to this point, dismissing the claims, saying, “It’s very funny, when you’re rich and famous, you get lot of people come up with a lot of stories.” Combined, Trump’s remarks sounded eerily similar to his infamous Access Hollywood tape, where he claimed that “when you’re a star they let you” grab their genitals.
Throughout his explanation of the supposedly “totally made-up story,” Trump continued to insist that he didn’t know when exactly their interaction had taken place, noting that this likely happened “a long time ago,” in 1979. “I believe I had some pretty big success then, and I was being talked about a lot. Maybe The Art of the Deal was out, you know, sometime after that, I’m not sure. But I was well known,” Trump said. As it happens, The Art of the Deal came out almost 10 years later, in 1987. In attempting to make light of the serious allegation, Trump boasted about his popularity and seemed to reveal his own faulty memory.
“And passengers are coming into the plane, and she said I was making out with her, and then, after 15 minutes—and then she changed her story a couple of times, maybe it was quicker—that I grabbed her at a certain part, and that was when she had enough,” Trump said.
“So think of the impracticality of this,” Trump urged. Later, he implied that her story made no sense because “back in those days” there was an arm rest between passengers on airplanes. “What are the chances of that happening? What are the chances?” Trump questioned. “And, frankly, I know you’re going to think it’s a terrible thing to say, but it couldn’t have happened. It didn’t happen. And, she would not have been the chosen one. She would not have been the chosen one.”
What kind of a presidential candidate moron would go into such detail in a press conference two months before the election?
The question isn’t why so many women loathe them and refuse to vote for them. The question is why so many don’t. What kind of self-respecting woman thinks that performance — or Vance’s “childless cat ladies are destroying the world” — is admirable? What kind of woman wants her daughter growing up in a world full of pigs like that?
On the other hand, we know that they are making a big play for the “bros” so this would make some sense. He may figure those guys relate to a bunch of bitches accusing them of acting like animals when all they want is what they’re entitled to. It’s not that much different than having an MMA fighter/wife beater introduce him at the RNC.
Twenty-one seconds of pure madness at Moms for Liberty. I can’t believe this thing is still out there walking the streets. “Childs!” pic.twitter.com/YrT742hzq1
This really should have been part of the Trump appearance story in the mainstream media. But then, they didn’t mention that he said kids were getting gender reassignent surgery in the nurse’s office in public school so why say anything bout this?
Scandal, school board election failures, and a disastrous 60 Minutes interview appear to have diminished Moms for Liberty’s once powerful influence, and last weekend’s summit provided plenty of additional evidence that the group is currently flailing.
Nearly every Republican presidential hopeful and a number of right-wing giants spoke at Moms for Liberty’s lively summit last year. But this year’s gathering was comparatively small, with far fewer panels and a weaker speaker lineup. In fact, Glenn Beck and D-list comedian Rob Schneider were advertised as the star headliners until the exceptionally late addition of former President Donald Trump just days before the event.
This is the second year that my colleague Madeline Peltz and I attended Moms for Liberty’s summit. It was immediately apparent to us that the small crowd had seemingly been reduced to largely die-hard members who, unlike many, remained loyal to Moms for Liberty through its year of scandal and failure. Co-founder Tina Descovich acknowledged that the organization was losing some support while presenting an award, saying, “You have been a friend to Moms for Liberty when some have stepped away.”
Awwww. Boo hoo. These awful women are responsible for the emotional torture of countless kids and their families and they should be shunned.
Matt Hildreth, Harris-Walz National Rural Outreach Director (via FKA Twitter).
Politico on Friday announced that the Harris-Walz campaign has hired my friend Matt Hildreth of progressive Rural Organizing dot org as the campaign’s National Rural Outreach Director. Hildreth’s group announced it formally in a tweet shortly thereafter.
Hiring Hildreth, whose grassroots organization is already knocking doors for Harris and Democratic candidates across the country this fall, signals the campaign is looking to seriously expand a resource-intensive ground game to reach rural voters who could swing the election.
The Harris-Walz team doesn’t expect the ticket to flip many rural counties. But some of Harris’ top advisers have argued that simply losing by slightly fewer percentage points in these areas could help carry her and down-ballot Democrats to victory. In recent memos, the campaign has argued “the key to decreasing margins in rural areas is to show up and compete everywhere — which is exactly what we’re doing across the country.”
Exactly right. That’s how Democrat Heath Shuler ousted eight-term, NC-11 Republican Rep. Charles Taylor in 2006. It’s easier and more economically efficient for statewide Democratic candidates to perform voter outreach where they can find “their” voters in bulk (in the cities).
The flaw in that strategy is in states (and districts) where red-county voters outnumber and outvote Democrat-leaning voters in urban, blue islands. Under the right conditions, it is possible for Democrats to eke out U.S. Senate wins in Georgia where half the voting population lives in Atlanta metro. But a third or so of Georgia’s rural counties had no functional Democratic committees the last time I looked. It’s hard to win where you don’t show up to play. Shortchanging rural counties can leave Democrats winning statewide races but losing local contests and facing Republican-dominated state legislatures.
Local organizers also note that the party has a solid opportunity to gain support in some rural communities, especially in pockets of Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona with younger voters and voters of color. The Biden-Harris administration and Democrats have poured billions in federal investments into rural communities, with Biden just this week touting new funding in a largely rural swing district in southwest Wisconsin.
At the end of her Friday interview with N.C. Democrats’ state chair Anderson Clayton, CNN’s Dana Bash invited her back to discuss efforts to bridge the rural-urban divide in North Carolina. One of Hildreth’s people e-introduced Clayton to me over three years ago, before she became the youngest state chair in the country and a media star. Clayton hails from rural Person County and has vowed her party will no longer neglect Democrats’ country cousins.
So for rural readers wherever you are who need a little bucking up, veteran North Carolina Democratic operative Thomas Mills’ road trip last weekend presents some hopeful contrasts with 2020:
This weekend, I took a drive through a rural Brunswick County precinct where Trump won by 50 points in 2020. I toured Varnumtown, Supply and two RV parks. Four years ago, virtually every yard sported a Trump sign and Trump flags proudly waved above dozens of motor homes in a muscular show of support. This year, I saw very few Trump yard signs and even fewer Trump flags. The difference is stark.
Don’t get me wrong. I know that almost every one of the people living in those houses would vote for Trump if they make it to the polls. I’m just not sure as many will get to the voting booth this year. The obvious enthusiasm of 2020 is gone. I drove one stretch of winding road past dozens of houses for more than five miles and one sad, outdated Trump-Pence sign was the only evidence of support for the former president. It feels like the fever has broken.
Mills offers statistics that may favor Democrats in N.C. this year. But what he’s seen here may have echoes in rural counties in your state. Hildreth will be working on it where you live. Clayton is on it here in N.C.
“We’re not leaving one voter behind.” @abreezeclayton discusses the ground game North Carolina Democrats are using to win elections as down ballot races in her state heat up. pic.twitter.com/8RLV7daSX1
RFK Jr. announces he’s suspending his presidential bid and endorsing Donald Trump on August 23. (PBS)
Elections staffs across North Carolina had prepared over 100,000 absentee ballots to go into the mail on Friday as the law requires. A lawsuit by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. put a halt to it:
The State Board of Elections has appealed Friday’s order by the NC Court of Appeals, which required election officials to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from 2024 general election ballots and print new ones. The appeal was filed with the NC Supreme Court Friday afternoon.
As the Supreme Court considers the appeal, State Board staff will work through the weekend to begin the process of coding new ballots without Kennedy’s name and providing proofs of the new ballots to county boards of elections for review. There are 2,348 different ballot styles statewide for the 2024 general election. More than 2.9 million ballots had already been printed before the order by the Court of Appeals.
The State Board instructed county Directors to hold and not destroy ballots already prepared until the matter is resolved.
CNN Dana Bash challenged Democrats’ state chair, Anderson Clayton, Friday afternoon, presenting the “political argument.” Would Democrats be arguing for Kennedy’s name to remain on the ballot if they did not feel his presence would hurt Donald Trump? In trying to paint the matter as partisan wrangling, Bash misses the point.
Kennedy fought to get on the ballot, as Clayton noted. (Yes, Democrats in multiple states fought that, including in North Carolina.) Kennedy having won recognition of his We The People party, the state reprinted voter registration forms by the hundreds of thousands to include that identification as a choice for his voters.*
But Kennedy delayed withdrawing from the presidential race until August 23. The North Carolina State Board of Elections denied his formal request on August 29 to have his name removed, stating, “Approximately 2 million ballots statewide have already been printed with Kennedy’s name on them, and the first ballots will be sent to absentee voters in eight days.”
This week Kennedy turned his denied late request into a legal demand.
If the GOP-dominated state Supreme Court rules for Kennedy, those 2,348 ballot styles will have to be reformatted, reproofed, reprinted, mailings re-prepared by staff, and voting machines recoded in 100 counties. Boards of election are scrambling over the weekend to tally the unplanned costs in manhours and material to local boards and county taxpayers across the state. It’s the first question voters asked our local board (Buncombe County). The delay could cost weeks and impact voters as well.
“As of late Thursday afternoon, county boards of elections had received 130,400 absentee ballot requests, including more than 12,300 requests from military and overseas voters,” the State Board said in a press statement. More than 2.9 million ballots had been printed before the Court of Appeals’ order on Friday, reports WCNC Charlotte.
North Carolina’s absentee ballots are the first in the nation to mail out, but Kennedy’s eleventh-hour legal demands may impact other states as well. Michigan, for one (The Guardian):
In Michigan, a state appellate court also ruled on Friday that Kennedy’s name as the Natural Law party’s candidate must be stricken from ballots. The Michigan secretary of state’s office said it would appeal to the state supreme court.
Kennedy has been fighting to remove his name from ballots in swing states ever since dropping out and endorsing Donald Trump. Speaking to reporters after the endorsement, Kennedy said that his polling consistently showed he would “likely hand the election over to the Democrats” in battleground states where he was on the ballot.
Donald Trump is, of course, pleased with the delay (The Hill):
“And that sounds like a bad thing for him. It’s not, it’s actually a great thing,” Trump said Friday in remarks to leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police in Charlotte. “He’s an incredible team player.”
“Some people wouldn’t realize it, so rather than voting for us they vote for him, and that wouldn’t’ help us very much, would it?” Trump continued. “It means that all of those who love Bobby — and there’s a lot of them — and all that he stands for, especially regarding the health and well being of us, can vote for me now. So all of the Bobby people are going to vote for me.”
Kennedy’s presidential bid did not go as planned. Now he and Trump expect taxpayers to pay to cancel his vanity project no matter the public cost and inconvenience. That describes Republicans’ past efforts (and future plans) to throw sand in the gears of democracy across the U.S.
* Tom Fiedler of the Asheville Watchdog finds “In the eight weeks or so that [Kennedy’s] We The People party has been among the options for registering voters, the number of Buncombe County residents choosing to join is … 0. That’s zero. Zippo. None.”
