The best profile of Kamala Harris you will read is by Joan Walsh in the Nation. An excerpt: I heard the rapid staccato click of high heels. Harris walked in, greeted me warmly, and immediately yanked open the curtains. She was not afraid of the heat. She wanted sunshine in here. She is about to get much more sunshine—and heat—than she asked for. A few days after our conversation, President Joe Biden had the worst debate performance of his career and sent the Democratic Party into a crisis over his ability to win the 2024 election against Donald Trump. Pundits and more than a few Democratic leaders clamored for Biden to step aside, as polling showed his path to a second term drying up. On July 21, Biden announced that he was suspending his campaign for president and endorsed Harris as nominee soon after. Prominent Democrats quickly lined up behind her as her work wooing Biden’s delegates began. Harris and I spoke when she was still trying to win a second term for Biden, dispatched to reach voters who were among the most critical to his reelection.
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Josh Marshall notes that even though the Democrats are now hugely enthused about the election, the naysayers who wanted Biden to drop out are still unhappy: [A]lready we’re hearing that this rush of support for Harris is yet another bad thing. Democrats have only just changed the last terrible thing pundits said they were doing only to be told that their solution is also a disaster in the making or at least a mistake. I don’t want to pick on anyone but this piece by Graeme Wood seems to capture this whole new storyline. In a way the argument is just a continuation of the Thunderdome craze of the last six months: a contested convention, blitz primaries, and the like. The new terrible mistake is rallying around Kamala Harris too quickly. Because this just compounds what Wood and seemingly many other pundits and columnists feel is the belief that “Democratic politics felt like a game rigged by insiders to favor a candidate of their choice, and to isolate that candidate from the risk associated with campaigning.” I wish I understood this reflex to stomp all over Democratic hopes from pundits who claim to be liberals.
Trump’s team is reportedly super loyal to him so this is pretty stupid in any case. They just screwed up on a grand scale. Cheatle resigned which I think is fine since the buck has to stop at the top and it’s clear the Secret Service fell down on the job. But this looney tunes stuff from a member of congress (yes, it’s Marge Greene, one of their most popular members) is unfortunately par for the course.
The contrast between both of these people and that Orange Monster is just so profound.
Y’all misogynists don’t act racist Team MAGA was on its back foot for a couple of days after President Joe Biden on Sunday dropped out of the presidential race and passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris. Republican attack lines prepared for one old white guy against another old white guy would need reworking to smear the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father. Donald Trump will not be able to hold his tongue, of course. He never has. But his MAGA cultists never quite mastered the art of the dog whistle (CNN): In an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju Monday, Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett suggested President Joe Biden selected Harris as his running mate solely because she is Black: “One hundred percent she is a DEI hire,” he said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion. “Her record is abysmal at best.” DEI is how one now utters the N-word if one is a Republican congressman from Knoxville. Or anyone else in the MAGA movement.
North Carolina is in play “Sunday was the single biggest day for online Democratic donations in years, reads the subhead at The New York Times this morning. With President Biden’s withdrawal Sunday, with his endorsement of his vice president as his replacement, and with Kamala Harris the clear pick of multiple state Democratic delegations, now comes the veepstakes. An avalanche of cash for the Harris coffers followed the announcement — more than $50 million. Endorsements flooded in as well, including 50 state Democratic chairs, members of Congress and governors. A palpable sense of relief flowed through the Democratic Party. The next big question, and Harris’s first big decision, will be her vice presidential pick. Swing state governors are clear favorites. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (46), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (51), and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (52) are in Slate’s Tier 1. But Whitmer has said she doesn’t want it. When did Kentucky become a swing state? Donald Trump won it with over 62 percent in both 2016 and 2020. Shapiro is a possible. He could bring with him 19 electoral votes.
Not that he had it to lose President Biden upset someone’s evil plans by handing off his party’s (presumptive) presidential nomination to VP Kamala Harris. “Discount Goebbels” has a sad. Trump adviser Stephen Miller is freaking out. This is absolutely delicious. I could have stripped naked and danced in the street. Christmas came early. Miller is as vile as Trump, but far more strategic. He relished the idea of running Trump against Biden almost as much as sending troops to round up immigrants in detention camps and deporting them by the millions. The prospect of Biden resigning and handing Harris the presidency meant she, not Trump, would be president No. 47. All that Trump 47 merch would be instantly obsolete. But with Biden’s withdrawal, a whole lot more MAGA gear is obsolete as well as demolishing Miller’s and Trump’s campaign plans. Miller and Trump are furious. They now have to heavily retool their campaign with only months to go. Trump hates losing money almost as much as he hates America. (He could declare bankruptcy on the Taj Mahal, and did, one of several Trump bankruptcies.) But never fear.
I know Tom is for N. Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper for Veep and he makes good points. If he put the state in play he’s obviously the front runner. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is also mentioned frequently and he’s very good. He’s also from a state that knows from Appalachia and can counter JD Vance’s gross propaganda which I think is useful. I have no dog in this fight. There are a number of excellent choices. I just thought I’d feature this one since he’s on the short list.
Then there’s this, which I saw all over twitter yesterday: And this disgusting piece of misogyny: That’s an illustration of this from the Dear Leader. This is what we can expect from that pig and his henchmen. Just thought you should know. And by the way, I truly doubt the suburban moms Trump needs to win in those big midwest states are on board with this crap.
Sen. Chris Murphy: On this historic day, I want to tell you a story about Joe Biden, and what he did behind the scenes to make the historic 2022 gun bill – the first major gun safety legislation in 30 years – a reality. 1/ It starts with a phone call he made to me days after the Uvalde shooting. 2/ After the tragic Uvalde and Buffalo shootings, Biden wanted to give a prime time address to push the Congress to act. But several of his advisors told him not to waste one of his few prime time speeches on guns. Congress will never pass a gun bill, they told him. 3/ He called me to ask my opinion. In 2013, he and I had sat for hours with the Sandy Hook parents, and parents of kids killed in Hartford and Bridgeport. I knew how personal those families’ pain was to him. “I want to give this speech, even if a bill is a long shot,” he said. 4/ Days later, he called back and told me he had made up his mind to give the speech – bc he worried if he didn’t, the urgency would dissipate (Congress was on recess that week) and our chance to do something would be lost.