>>How does JD Vance, husband of Usha, feel about the idea that the daughter of an Indian woman can’t have two racial identities?
You and I know that Trump was using this whole thing for "cheap heat", but let's also not pretend that he was saying something he actually wasn't.
He wasn't accusing Kamala of not *being* Black, he was accusing her of downplaying her Blackness until some point when she (allegedly) saw political advantage in playing it up.
The whole thing is a dog-whistle to people in his base who think that Blacks and other minorities are "preferred victims" who somehow gain from their victim status. But it's not about telling a Black person they aren't actually Black. That's just a pretext for the real (and even more offensive) implication he was going for.
I actually think, in his lizard brain, he couldn't track being both Indian and Black; that it takes two parents to make a child. More than one neurologist has observed that he's dementing, so when you're three sandwiches shy of a picnic, it's easy to imagine there's only one parent of one color.
Meh, I dunno about that, and in the absence of enough hard evidence to make a solid judgment, I think my original explanation has enough explanatory power to be believable.
This is why I subscribe so hard to Hanlon's Razor... it's almost always correct; and the few times it isn't are the exceptions that prove the rule.
"If Republicans had an appealing vision for the country, they could shed many of the tribal appeals that make them unable to assemble majorities."
I'll go one further: If the GOP had a *coherent* vision..." They don't, and it's because they hitched their wagon to DTs cult-of-personality star, and we know he's, frankly, without any coherent vision outside of his personal gain.
"Advocating Medicare-for-all in a primary, losing the primary, and thus reverting to more incremental health policies isn’t really a reversal—it’s a concession to reality and an alternate route in the same general direction."
And isn't it the way governing should work? Leaders stake out positions, voters (not donors) say, "Nah," and the leaders shift.
"Trump won eight years ago because the theme of the campaign shifted at the end away from Trump’s various sordidnesses (thanks, James Comey) and because too many people—elites and citizens alike—grew complacent in the belief that he couldn’t win."
I will suggest that something else was in play: no one knew how to reply to DTs schtick, as it was so outside the norms that no one believed it would work, or that he'd even double down on things like EMAILS, etc., even after it was shown to be a lie. And no one yet knew that his bluster ran shallow, that one could get under his skin by calling out his tough guy stance; the crowd's cries of, "That's a lie!" at the NABJ interview show why he's otherwise retreated to soft-ball interviews and rallies of the faithful.
Thanks for this. No offense meant to President Biden, who has biparatisanship in his DNA, but the path forward with a more partisan candidate is clearly the way to get the W in November.
I feel like if Kamala goes on to win the Democrats may need to revamp their entire calendar to a place where they don't decide their nominee until around this time every election cycle. Building on your idea that one-term presidents may be the way forward, this may go right along with that. There is no real reason our election cycle needs to be so long and it clearly serves republicans so much more to have over a year to identify the best smear tactic against their opponent. Let's make this the new normal.
One term presidents are right down there with the balanced budget amendment and term limits for dumbassed stupid fucking politically-illiterate ideas. Doing that makes a president a "lame duck" the day they enter office.
You don't go into it saying you're gonna be a one-term president, but if over a 4 year term the right is able to muscle your popularity down into the ditch democrats may just need to have a quick trigger
Complements to the comment section so far. Everyone seems to be pretty clear eyed, as Brian's letter to all of us was. This is a time to saddle up and take stock of what the Trump 'brain trust' will pummel the Harris campaign and the Left with in the coming days. It's been hard to fully comprehend how difficult it is to jump from the horse you are on, to another horse in the middle of a raging river, and yet that is exactly what the rank and file Dem voter did, and they did it with courage and enthusiasm in spite of the lag time from "The Democrat Party Leadership" . Smart acknowledgments and information from the peanut gallery help us all keep our eyes fixed on a goal. An extremist like Trump should never hold power again.
I think a big part of the GOP’s problem is that Harris is performing very well. I think Brian and Matt discussed this before she got the job, will she prove a 5/10 nominee or a 10/10? So far she’s been at least a 9?
"Vance knows in his heart that Trump could be as evil as Hitler, but serves him anyhow; he knows Trump is a sexual predator but treats him as a role model; he aligns with a man who would strip his wife of citizenship and deny his children their mixed heritage. That’s in turn what Trump likes about Vance."
I heard an expert in an interview say that what the authoritarian wants of his underlings is, not only for them to lie on his behalf, but *to know full well that they are lying.*
The techniques Republicans use in their campaigns is based on the fact that their policies are not popular and the majority of Americans. So they can’t run on issues.
Therefore, they run on personal attacks, distractions, lies, and voter suppression—the real voter fraud. They have been successful because they have made us accept that this is what campaigns are.
Up to this point Kamala has not followed the script and Republicans are befuddled not just by Biden leaving the race, but by Kamala’s approach which is the source of the excitement she has generated. At last the contrast between her and Trump/Vance is making the “weird” palpable and thus repugnant.
Seen some tweets about an Iranian influence ring supposedly connected to one of Harris's advisers, but that was like two days ago and if it was good it would've been on Fox News non-stop.
Great piece but I think one thing you counted out is that the Biden Administration is far, far better equipped to drop damaging shit about Trump than Jordan and Comer are about Harris. In the last 24 hours we've had that contrast: Jordan sending Judge Juan Merchan's daughter a letter demanding info about her work for the 2019 campaign and the Biden-Harris 2020 campaign. Then this morning the Washington Post prints that freaking insane story about the Trump's $10 million bribe from Egypt. That was definitely a strategic leak to the Post. Hoping there's plenty more to come.
Ironically, I think it would tickle Trump to dump JD for Vivek. He'd basically be trying to flip Kamala's Indian heritage question back on its head, and he'd be doing it with a guy who's still in the tank for him.
Well, I would venture to say that if Harris, or any other Democrat, would point out the very obvious biracial character of Hillbilly's children, tRump and the right-wing gigaphone machine would go non-linear, accusing them of "attacking children!"..."gutter politics!...and, yes, "racist smearing of the innocent!"
Wouldn't go down that road, knowing what to expect in return.
Excellent, with one caveat: the Electoral College makes "random endings" possible even when one candidate has the approval of a clear plurality (if not majority)) of Americans. Trump's victory in 2016 was possible because the EC distorts the will of the electorate. That may be true in 2024 as well - unexpected events could turn a narrow margin in a few states to victory (think Florida in 2000). Failing an EC victory, can we trust House Republicans to certify the election?
If no candidate gets ≥270 in the Electoral College (possible, though unlikely, especially now that RFK Jr's support seems to be tanking) the House doesn't certify the election, they get to hold their own. Further, they vote as *state delegations* not as individuals. So even if the Democrats control the House after Jan 3, 2025 it’s not impossible that the GOP could still control the majority of state delegations. If that is the case and the election is thrown to the House they will 100% put Trump in office (anyone who thinks otherwise please contact me about an exciting NYC bridge-buying opportunity).
Wouldn't RFK Jr. have to actually win some states' electoral votes in order to prevent Harris and Trump from reaching 270? Has he ever been anywhere near that strong?
True dat, but neither candidate getting 270+ Electoral College votes is very unlikely without a 3rd party candidate winning some. The only way it happens with just 2 candidates is a 269-269 tie.
I think the hopeful thing against the smear is the timing. Congress is in recess, the DNC will grab news cycles, Johnson's disastrous leadership means they have to pass a bevy of applications bills or CRs, and Comer et al have completely beclowned themselves with the Biden investigation. Could they pull it off? Sure, but these aren't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier and they risk a hasty smear campaign of backfiring spectacularly. We shall see.
More to the point, how does JD Vance, father of Usha’s children, reconcile the emotional abuse trump is inflicting on them by questioning the existence of multi-racial identities? What kind of father does that? And if Usha is such a good mother (apparently, according to her husband, her only attribute) why is she allowing it?
Usha Vance knew way before Hillbilly was selected for tRump's VP what sort of malignant racist tRump was, and that attacks on Kamala Harris' biracial heritage surely was coming. So, as so many people who get swept up into tRump's Circle of Hell, she just sucks it up, swallows her pride, sticks with hubby ,and maybe secretly hopes that the campaign goes down the pan, and that she and the rest of us will be rid of the Orange Klansman forever.
@Brian, I think you're overinterpreting this:
>>How does JD Vance, husband of Usha, feel about the idea that the daughter of an Indian woman can’t have two racial identities?
You and I know that Trump was using this whole thing for "cheap heat", but let's also not pretend that he was saying something he actually wasn't.
He wasn't accusing Kamala of not *being* Black, he was accusing her of downplaying her Blackness until some point when she (allegedly) saw political advantage in playing it up.
The whole thing is a dog-whistle to people in his base who think that Blacks and other minorities are "preferred victims" who somehow gain from their victim status. But it's not about telling a Black person they aren't actually Black. That's just a pretext for the real (and even more offensive) implication he was going for.
I actually think, in his lizard brain, he couldn't track being both Indian and Black; that it takes two parents to make a child. More than one neurologist has observed that he's dementing, so when you're three sandwiches shy of a picnic, it's easy to imagine there's only one parent of one color.
Meh, I dunno about that, and in the absence of enough hard evidence to make a solid judgment, I think my original explanation has enough explanatory power to be believable.
This is why I subscribe so hard to Hanlon's Razor... it's almost always correct; and the few times it isn't are the exceptions that prove the rule.
"If Republicans had an appealing vision for the country, they could shed many of the tribal appeals that make them unable to assemble majorities."
I'll go one further: If the GOP had a *coherent* vision..." They don't, and it's because they hitched their wagon to DTs cult-of-personality star, and we know he's, frankly, without any coherent vision outside of his personal gain.
"Advocating Medicare-for-all in a primary, losing the primary, and thus reverting to more incremental health policies isn’t really a reversal—it’s a concession to reality and an alternate route in the same general direction."
And isn't it the way governing should work? Leaders stake out positions, voters (not donors) say, "Nah," and the leaders shift.
"Trump won eight years ago because the theme of the campaign shifted at the end away from Trump’s various sordidnesses (thanks, James Comey) and because too many people—elites and citizens alike—grew complacent in the belief that he couldn’t win."
I will suggest that something else was in play: no one knew how to reply to DTs schtick, as it was so outside the norms that no one believed it would work, or that he'd even double down on things like EMAILS, etc., even after it was shown to be a lie. And no one yet knew that his bluster ran shallow, that one could get under his skin by calling out his tough guy stance; the crowd's cries of, "That's a lie!" at the NABJ interview show why he's otherwise retreated to soft-ball interviews and rallies of the faithful.
Thanks for this. No offense meant to President Biden, who has biparatisanship in his DNA, but the path forward with a more partisan candidate is clearly the way to get the W in November.
I feel like if Kamala goes on to win the Democrats may need to revamp their entire calendar to a place where they don't decide their nominee until around this time every election cycle. Building on your idea that one-term presidents may be the way forward, this may go right along with that. There is no real reason our election cycle needs to be so long and it clearly serves republicans so much more to have over a year to identify the best smear tactic against their opponent. Let's make this the new normal.
One term presidents are right down there with the balanced budget amendment and term limits for dumbassed stupid fucking politically-illiterate ideas. Doing that makes a president a "lame duck" the day they enter office.
You don't go into it saying you're gonna be a one-term president, but if over a 4 year term the right is able to muscle your popularity down into the ditch democrats may just need to have a quick trigger
Complements to the comment section so far. Everyone seems to be pretty clear eyed, as Brian's letter to all of us was. This is a time to saddle up and take stock of what the Trump 'brain trust' will pummel the Harris campaign and the Left with in the coming days. It's been hard to fully comprehend how difficult it is to jump from the horse you are on, to another horse in the middle of a raging river, and yet that is exactly what the rank and file Dem voter did, and they did it with courage and enthusiasm in spite of the lag time from "The Democrat Party Leadership" . Smart acknowledgments and information from the peanut gallery help us all keep our eyes fixed on a goal. An extremist like Trump should never hold power again.
I think a big part of the GOP’s problem is that Harris is performing very well. I think Brian and Matt discussed this before she got the job, will she prove a 5/10 nominee or a 10/10? So far she’s been at least a 9?
"Vance knows in his heart that Trump could be as evil as Hitler, but serves him anyhow; he knows Trump is a sexual predator but treats him as a role model; he aligns with a man who would strip his wife of citizenship and deny his children their mixed heritage. That’s in turn what Trump likes about Vance."
I heard an expert in an interview say that what the authoritarian wants of his underlings is, not only for them to lie on his behalf, but *to know full well that they are lying.*
The techniques Republicans use in their campaigns is based on the fact that their policies are not popular and the majority of Americans. So they can’t run on issues.
Therefore, they run on personal attacks, distractions, lies, and voter suppression—the real voter fraud. They have been successful because they have made us accept that this is what campaigns are.
Up to this point Kamala has not followed the script and Republicans are befuddled not just by Biden leaving the race, but by Kamala’s approach which is the source of the excitement she has generated. At last the contrast between her and Trump/Vance is making the “weird” palpable and thus repugnant.
Seen some tweets about an Iranian influence ring supposedly connected to one of Harris's advisers, but that was like two days ago and if it was good it would've been on Fox News non-stop.
Great piece but I think one thing you counted out is that the Biden Administration is far, far better equipped to drop damaging shit about Trump than Jordan and Comer are about Harris. In the last 24 hours we've had that contrast: Jordan sending Judge Juan Merchan's daughter a letter demanding info about her work for the 2019 campaign and the Biden-Harris 2020 campaign. Then this morning the Washington Post prints that freaking insane story about the Trump's $10 million bribe from Egypt. That was definitely a strategic leak to the Post. Hoping there's plenty more to come.
Ironically, I think it would tickle Trump to dump JD for Vivek. He'd basically be trying to flip Kamala's Indian heritage question back on its head, and he'd be doing it with a guy who's still in the tank for him.
It would be a hillbilly eulogy.
Trump should not be allowed to abort Vance. He must be forced to carry him to term.
Well, I would venture to say that if Harris, or any other Democrat, would point out the very obvious biracial character of Hillbilly's children, tRump and the right-wing gigaphone machine would go non-linear, accusing them of "attacking children!"..."gutter politics!...and, yes, "racist smearing of the innocent!"
Wouldn't go down that road, knowing what to expect in return.
Excellent, with one caveat: the Electoral College makes "random endings" possible even when one candidate has the approval of a clear plurality (if not majority)) of Americans. Trump's victory in 2016 was possible because the EC distorts the will of the electorate. That may be true in 2024 as well - unexpected events could turn a narrow margin in a few states to victory (think Florida in 2000). Failing an EC victory, can we trust House Republicans to certify the election?
If no candidate gets ≥270 in the Electoral College (possible, though unlikely, especially now that RFK Jr's support seems to be tanking) the House doesn't certify the election, they get to hold their own. Further, they vote as *state delegations* not as individuals. So even if the Democrats control the House after Jan 3, 2025 it’s not impossible that the GOP could still control the majority of state delegations. If that is the case and the election is thrown to the House they will 100% put Trump in office (anyone who thinks otherwise please contact me about an exciting NYC bridge-buying opportunity).
Wouldn't RFK Jr. have to actually win some states' electoral votes in order to prevent Harris and Trump from reaching 270? Has he ever been anywhere near that strong?
True dat, but neither candidate getting 270+ Electoral College votes is very unlikely without a 3rd party candidate winning some. The only way it happens with just 2 candidates is a 269-269 tie.
https://www.270towin.com/electoral-college-tie-combinations/
The Electoral Count Act should make certification more certain this election.
I think the hopeful thing against the smear is the timing. Congress is in recess, the DNC will grab news cycles, Johnson's disastrous leadership means they have to pass a bevy of applications bills or CRs, and Comer et al have completely beclowned themselves with the Biden investigation. Could they pull it off? Sure, but these aren't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier and they risk a hasty smear campaign of backfiring spectacularly. We shall see.
More to the point, how does JD Vance, father of Usha’s children, reconcile the emotional abuse trump is inflicting on them by questioning the existence of multi-racial identities? What kind of father does that? And if Usha is such a good mother (apparently, according to her husband, her only attribute) why is she allowing it?
Usha Vance knew way before Hillbilly was selected for tRump's VP what sort of malignant racist tRump was, and that attacks on Kamala Harris' biracial heritage surely was coming. So, as so many people who get swept up into tRump's Circle of Hell, she just sucks it up, swallows her pride, sticks with hubby ,and maybe secretly hopes that the campaign goes down the pan, and that she and the rest of us will be rid of the Orange Klansman forever.