Brace Yourself for Harrismania
Plus: QAnon Is Still Ripping Families Apart
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JOSHUA TAIT: Brace Yourself for Harrismania
HERE IS A POLITICAL FABLE: A party leader, an elder statesman from a center-left party, has lost his mandate. He’s up against a beatable opponent from the right, but he’s unpopular. It’s less than two months until Election Day, and the polls say he can’t win. So he steps down and anoints his deputy, a young woman, the new party leader. There’s an instant change. Overnight, donations start to roll in, volunteers sign up. Poll numbers rocket. The new leader scores well, especially among young voters and women. The press is infatuated. When the votes are counted, the young leader has defied the odds. She’s put together a big enough coalition to beat the conservative party.
MONA CHAREN: America Has One Healthy Political Party
WITHIN MINUTES OF PRESIDENT BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL from the 2024 race, Senator Tom Cotton leaped onto X to declare that “Joe Biden succumbed to a coup by Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and Hollywood donors, ignoring millions of Democratic primary votes. Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy.”
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Sam Stein and Ron Brownstein: Now We're Talking
Just Between Us: Kamalamentum! 🔐
Across the Movie Aisle: Is 'Twisters' the Summer's Popcorn Hit?
The Dark Side: How Kamala Will Beat Trump
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WILL SALETAN: Biden Couldn’t Beat Trump. Harris Can.
DOES KAMALA HARRIS HAVE a better shot at winning the presidential election than Joe Biden did?
To answer that question, I’ve looked at every public poll taken since Biden’s debate with Donald Trump on June 27. These polls were taken before Biden withdrew from the race and Harris stepped in, so she may get an additional bounce from her party’s euphoria. But already, the answer in the data is: Yes, she has a better chance.
BILL LUEDERS: QAnon Is Still Ripping Families Apart
EMILY HAD SOME TOUGH BREAKS IN LIFE but she was strong, smart, and resilient. When her husband took his own life, leaving her with three children to raise, the Tennessee resident launched a new career by going to law school. Her youngest son, Adam, then in grade school, tagged along to some of her night classes and watched amazed as she stood there “brilliant and fearless, dazzling her law instructors.” She graduated with top honors and was hired by a large law firm, later going into solo practice.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Tuesday! Hopefully you’re enjoying the good summer weather and getting outside!
🎵On the Jukebox🎵… “My City Was Gone” (2007 Remaster) - The Pretenders
You know who also went back to Ohio? Chrissie Hynde, who visited her childhood home in Cuyahoga Falls. Fun Fact: Hynde allowed Rush Limbaugh to use her song for his show, in part, for her father, but also made Rush pay royalties to PETA.
Senator Menendez… says he’s going to retire. On August 20, which is paycheck day in the U.S. Senate.
Speaking of embarrassing Senators… Mike Lee amplified a fake announcement of Jimmy Carter’s death. Among the things he missed, Bryan Metzger reports: “The fake letter quoted the former president as calling his late wife a ‘baddie’ and the ‘original Brat’ who ‘throat goat Nancy Reagan had nothing on.’” Staff should take away his phone or change the password.
Fix the Insurrection Act! A valuable webinar from the Brennan Center for Justice this Thursday (RSVP Req’d). Here’s a bit about the seminar:
Join us on Thursday, July 25, at 3 p.m. ET for a live virtual event moderated by Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center Liberty & National Security Program, featuring lawyer and writer Hawa Allan, Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith, and Brennan Center counsel Joseph Nunn. The panel will shed light on a president’s alarming powers under the Insurrection Act and examine possible solutions to prevent the law’s misuse.
The Tragedy and Remaining Hope of the Biden Presidency… He has not yet escaped Trump. (Gabriel Debenedetti, New York)
Was Kamala Harris Actually Biden’s ‘Border Czar’? Analysis from the WSJ that perhaps friends pushing the exaggerated GOP narrative might appreciate. (Like these looney tunes accusations from Rep. Andy Ogles, who can’t even get his own life’s story straight.)
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