What A Day: Swing State Of Play | Crooked Media
25% OFF NEW ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS—Join Friends of the Pod Today! 25% OFF NEW ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS—Join Friends of the Pod Today!

What A Day: Swing State Of Play

Members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, along with other tribal groups and their supporters, arrive in Washington, D.C. on horseback on Indigenous Peoples' Day, October 14, 2024. The demonstrators rode across the country on horseback as part of the protest titled the 'Trail of Truth', arriving in Capitol Hill to demand federal recognition for Indigenous tribes. (Photo by Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto via AP)

Most Recent

View All
Members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, along with other tribal groups and their supporters, arrive in Washington, D.C. on horseback on Indigenous Peoples' Day, October 14, 2024. The demonstrators rode across the country on horseback as part of the protest titled the 'Trail of Truth', arriving in Capitol Hill to demand federal recognition for Indigenous tribes. (Photo by Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto via AP)

COLD KEYSTONE LOGIC

Democrats are reaching out to Native American voters, an often-overlooked voting bloc that could prove decisive in this year’s deadlocked election.

  • Native American voters played a key role in ensuring President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, in the vital swing states of Arizona and Wisconsin in particular. In Arizona, for example, Indigenous people comprise over 6 percent of the population, or more than 424,000 people as of 2018 — in a state Biden won by just over 10,000 votes. Now, with polls showing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump tied nationally and in the states that will actually decide the race, each campaign is focusing on narrow demographics to secure an edge in the battlegrounds.
  • All that helps explain why Democrats are paying special attention to Native American voters this year. Today, on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Democratic National Committee rolled out a six-figure ad campaign to convince communities in Arizona, North Carolina, Montana, and Alaska to vote — its largest ever campaign targeting the demographic. Earlier this month, the Democratic campaign launched its Native Americans for Harris-Walz campaign. “Native American people will absolutely help decide the results of this election, ” Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan — who would be the first Native American woman in American history to serve as governor if Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) becomes VP — said in a statement today.
  • Arizona is key to this campaign, but other swing states matter too, and are even more unpredictable. In North Carolina for example, Native American voters favored former President Barack Obama by almost 21 points in 2012. Eight years later, they favored Trump by 28 points. Swing states often come down to only a few thousand votes, and there are more than 200,000 Native Americans in the Tar Heel State alone. Much of the Democrats’ strategy this year focuses on making sure those voters know how to register to vote, cast a ballot, and work around any obstacles. Some states are currently restricting Native Americans’ voting access, experts warn.

“In such a tight race, I think any marginal or incremental influence that a candidate or issue might have really, really depends on convincing American-Indian voters,” Walter Murillo, CEO of Native Health, told NPR.

The U.S. will deploy about 100 troops to Israel to operate an advanced missile defense system, the Pentagon announced on Sunday. It’s the first time American soldiers have been sent to Israel in over a year, and the move draws the U.S. closer to a widening war in the Middle East. Meanwhile in Gaza, an Israeli airstrike at the al-Aqsa Hospital killed four people and triggered a massive fire in a tent camp today, Palestinian officials say. Another Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in Lebanon killed 21 people today, the Lebanese Red Cross said.

Trump called “The Apprentice” movie (which we wrote about on Friday) a “cheap, defamatory and politically disgusting hatchet job.” I don’t know, even your friends seemed to like it!

There’s no evidence yet that the 49-year-old man who was arrested with a loaded gun near a security checkpoint at Donald Trump’s rally in California over the weekend, Vem Miller, was trying to kill the former president, the Los Angeles Times reports. Miller said he was armed for self-protection and plans to sue the local sheriff who accused him of an assassination plot. The House task force investigating the Trump assassination attempt in July isn’t planning on looking into the matter, a spokesperson told What A Day. Trump will presumably insist the guy was part of a secretive intergalactic plot to take him down, anyway.

Trump said he would be open to deploying the National Guard or military against “radical left lunatics” if he wins election. “I don’t think [immigrants] are the problem in terms of election day,” Trump told right-wing commentator Maria Bartiromo. “I think the bigger problem [is] the people from within, we have some very bad people, sick people.”

Kamala Harris vowed to legalize marijuana and protect cryptocurrency assets and give a million loans to Black businesspeople in her latest effort to court the demographic ahead of November. Polls show that Black voters, particularly men, have been increasingly supportive of Trump, causing prominent Democrats to hit the campaign trail to reverse the trend.

Trump said a national abortion ban is off the table then said “we’ll see what happens,” while speaking on Fox News on Sunday. Project 2025, the far-right agenda Trump would likely implement, seeks to severely limit abortion access nationwide by invoking a 19th century law. In the interview, Trump also claimed that Democrats and Republicans both wanted Roe v. Wade overturned, which is entirely false. Translator’s note: “We’ll see what happens” is Trump-ese for “I will break any and all promises I have ever made if it suits me later.”

Longtime Trump aide Corey Lewandowski has been “put in a box” by Trump and told to focus solely on New Hampshire, according to CBS. I did a double-take on that headline at first, but in fact it doesn’t mean that Trump physically stuffed his controversial advisor into an old refrigerator cardboard box. It just means Lewandowski, who’d been causing consternation among Trump’s other advisors, got demoted.

Caffeine peddler Starbucks is rolling back some of its promotions and discounts, one of the new CEO’s early moves to save the coffee chain some dough. Looking for a cheaper grande triple peppermint cardamom spice soy milk latte with cold foam this holiday season? Too bad! You’ll need to take out a mortgage

Lumen is the world’s first handheld metabolic coach. It’s a device that measures your metabolism through your breath.

All you have to do is breathe into your Lumen first thing in the morning, and you’ll know what’s going on with your metabolism, whether you’re burning mostly fats or carbs.

Then the Lumen app gives you a personalized nutrition plan and suggestions for macronutrient amounts for that day based on your measurements.

Because your metabolism is at the center of everything your body does, optimal metabolic health translates to a bunch of benefits, including easier weight management, improved energy levels, better fitness results, better sleep etc.

So, if you want to take the next step in improving your health, go to lumen.me/WAD to get 15% off your Lumen

Listen to today's episode