Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gestures as he finishes speaking at a campaign rally in Lititz, Pa., Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
CLOSING WRECKAGE
There’s only four days until Americans pick our next president, and Donald Trump’s campaign can’t seem to go more than 24 hours without igniting a PR nightmare.
- Every time you think you’ve heard the craziest crap come out of MAGAworld, former President Donald Trump manages to conjure up something nuttier. The latest example: Trump called Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman who has been campaigning with Vice President Kamala Harris, a “radical war hawk” before suggesting that she should face armed conflict to understand what war is really like. “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” Trump said at a campaign event in Arizona on Thursday night. “And let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
- After a media storm ensued, some journalists argued that Trump’s comments were taken out of context, and that he didn’t actually call for Cheney to face a firing squad. Which is true! But using such violent rhetoric is an easy opening for Democrats — and Republicans who don’t want to elect a convicted felon who vowed to be a “dictator.” Cheney responded: “This is how dictators destroy free nations.” Former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin called on GOP lawmakers to condemn the remarks, telling CNN that Trump’s behavior is “dangerous” and “escalatory.” Now, Arizona’s attorney general is investigating whether or not Trump’s comment qualifies as a “death threat” under the state’s law.
- This snafu definitely won’t help Trump defeat the authoritarian allegations. This is a guy who has threatened his political opponents with prosecution or punishments more than 100 times in the past two years, sent Covid tests to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and, if elected, might try to bypass the FBI’s background check process for his appointees. Just yesterday, Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán called Trump to wish him good luck in the election. “Fingers crossed,” Orbán wrote on X.
It’s unclear whether all of MAGA’s gasp-inducing remarks will sway voters this late into the race. But Trump’s campaign has given activists plenty of new material to work with.
- Today, Puerto Rican artists Ricky Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Rita Moreno penned an op-ed in the New York Times bashing Trump’s racism-filled rally over the weekend at Madison Square Garden, in which “comedian” Tony Hinchliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” It was such an objectively repulsive moment that even Trump’s campaign — which never apologizes for anything — distanced itself from Hinchcliffe. As the artists write, “Puerto Ricans will be voting in states such as Pennsylvania where we could tip the result of a close election.” About 8 percent of the swing state’s population is Puerto Rican, according to the 2020 census.
- If the election ends up going Harris’s way, it could end up being the MSG rally that did it, her advisors say. They say their internal polling shows her winning by double digits among those battleground state voters who are just now making up their minds. The rally and the Puerto Rico comments in particular, the Harris campaign says, have done damage: “It’s helpful, from experience, to be closing a Presidential campaign with late deciding voters breaking by double digits to you and the remaining undecideds looking more friendly to you than your opponent. Close race, turnout and 4 days of hard work will be key,” Harris campaign manager David Plouffe wrote on X. Then again, Trump got shot in the face this summer, and the polls didn’t move significantly.
This news cycle, filled with shocking comments and a relentless stream of predictions, has been exhausting. “Thank God there’s only a few more days of this,” a GOP aide on Capitol Hill texted me this afternoon. Now that’s a message we can all get behind.
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"The only thing he knows how to manufacture is bullshit.”
— Tim Walz, telling supporters that Donald Trump talks a lot about manufacturing.
NEWS NEWS NEWS
The U.S. economy added 12,000 jobs in October, a stark contrast to the 223,000 jobs added in September. Economists expected a slowdown — believed to be temporary — because of the two recent hurricanes, as well as the Boeing strike.
Despite periodic calls to invoke the 14th amendment, which bars any politicians who have “engaged in” insurrection from assuming office again, many Democratic lawmakers said they’ll certify the election results if Trump wins. Your turn, Republicans!
Dan Osborn, the Independent candidate running for Senate, said he hasn’t decided how he’ll caucus if he defeats Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE). “It’s going to be issues-based,” Osborn told Pod Save America today, noting that he cares deeply about the economy and inflation, the environment, and the border crisis. All four Independents in the Senate currently caucus with the Democratic Party.
The Biden administration and Georgia officials blamed Russia for circulating a fake video that supposedly showed Haitian immigrants illegally voting in the state. If you notice your mean uncle sharing some fishy stuff on Facebook or any other social media platform in the coming days, be extra vigilant!
Just over 42 percent of American Muslims say they’ll vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, while 41 percent will support Harris, according to a new poll. Nearly 10 percent say they’ll vote for Trump. Stein’s continued support comes as she faces backlash from her own family, and well as all major national Green parties in Europe, which want her to drop out. It truly isn’t easy being green, huh?
An adorable Instagram-famous squirrel named Peanut was seized by New York authorities this week. It’s probably for the best — it’s illegal to keep unlicensed wildlife as pets in the state. I just hope Peanut gets to keep rocking the cowboy look.
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