What Kamala Harris Leaves Out of Her Case Against Donald Trump
Plus: Trump Isn't Hiding the Authoritarianism Anymore
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BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: Trump’s Midnight In America
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JILL LAWRENCE: What Kamala Harris Leaves Out of Her Case Against Donald Trump
KAMALA HARRIS IS MAKING MANY WORTHY ARGUMENTS against Donald Trump, including emphasizing his lies, hate, and lawlessness. But there is a crucial piece missing in the Democratic case against Trump: the need to elect not just Harris but also a Democratic-led Senate.
The thing is, you can’t take it for granted that most voters remember their high school civics classes and pay attention to the daily workings of government. They don’t, and it has nothing to do with anyone’s smarts or political leanings. People are busy. Maybe they have kids or two jobs. Maybe they’re young and disengaged. Maybe—highly likely!—the work they do does not involve sitting at a computer or monitoring politics.
In a poll last month, just over half of Americans knew which party controlled the Senate (Democrats) and House (Republicans). The rest, 44 percent and 42 percent respectively, did not. In the same poll, 65 percent correctly named the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government; 21 percent could name one or two, and 15 percent could name none.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Bill Kristol: He's Not Hiding the Authoritarianism Anymore [YouTube]
The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood: The Movie Donald Trump Doesn’t Want You to See
How to Fix It (with John Avlon): Rolling Back the Phone-Based Childhood
The Focus Group: Great Lakes, "Meh" Candidates (with Craig Gilbert and Craig Mauger) [YouTube]
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FROM THE ARCHIVES 🗂️
CATHY YOUNG: Bernard Henri-Lévy on Humanity and War After Oct. 7th
BERNARD-HENRI LÉVY, THE EMINENT FRENCH AUTHOR, filmmaker, and public intellectual illustrious enough to be known as “BHL” in his country and even outside it, has devoted much of his recent work to chronicles of places at war: Bosnia, Kurdistan, Syria, Ukraine. These chronicles have won him both admirers and detractors who regard him as a glorified crisis tourist. Yet watching, for instance, Lévy’s 2022–23 documentary film trilogy about Ukraine’s battle for its freedom—Why Ukraine?, Slava Ukraini, and Glory to the Heroes—it is difficult not to be struck by a sense of the filmmaker’s very genuine passion for his subject. Now, Lévy channels the same passion into a short and equally current book whose title, Israel Alone, speaks for itself.
Like Lévy’s documentary films, this slim book, which opens with the words, “I arrived in Israel the morning after October 7,” blends a personal journey with the tragic canvas against which it unfolds. But it is even more personal because of Lévy’s personal connection, as an Algerian-born French Jew and a liberal Zionist, to both Israel and the Jewish tradition. It is a deeply felt connection, to both the country and to friends who live there: “I wake up every morning and I go to sleep every night full of fear and anxiety about Israel,” Lévy told me in a telephone conversation a few days before the anniversary of the October 7th attack.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Monday! Thanks to a time change, I was not able to see the above happen live. I was at a play with my wife and daughters, but I did get to catch the end. The Cleveland Guardians are playing the Yankees in the ALCS tonight.
The Lane Thomas grand slam ball? It has a great story, too.
Please understand that this space, as long as Cleveland is playing baseball, will be heavily baseball focused.
Haven’t paid any attention to the Guardians and what they’re doing? They call it “Guards Ball.”
Packing for the road… Our upcoming events in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Detroit are sold out. I’m excited to head back east and meet those of you who are headed to each of the events. I haven’t done a road trip like this in… 20 years, back when I was a field staffer on the 2004 campaign and Missouri was a bellwether state. How times change!
A number of us will be on the road, so that may impact things! I’ll be bringing you the behind the scenes scoop from the blue wall. Stay tuned to this space!
Trump-Loving Neo-Nazis… Crash MAGA Boat Parade (Rolling Stone)
Gov. Sweatervest… Continues not to be a profile in courage. Just remember: Glenn Youngkin is a coward.
Maureen O’Connor… Explains why Ohio needs Issue 1 to reform gerrymandering.
Mark Cuban explains… to Vivek Ramaswamy, how he became a Trump Supporter for Harris: It’s about ethics.
Jack Smith's latest brief in the January 6th case… Kim Wehle writes: “In 165 pages, Smith lays out how Trump remains prosecutable despite the Supreme Court's immunity ruling.”
Roll tape! The Harris campaign should play more of Trump’s insanity at her rallies.
You love to see it…
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
