A new Annenberg poll finds 69% of Americans support imposing term limits on Supreme Court justices, but only three in 10 back expanding the size of the court — a proposal offered up by congressional Democrats and court transparency advocates as a way to dilute the power of the court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority.
Trump Plans to Launch Sons’ Crypto Business
“Former President Donald Trump plans to deliver remarks next Monday about cryptocurrency and the launch of the company World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform controlled by the Republican nominee’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric,” the AP reports.
“His speech will come 50 days before Election Day, an extraordinary use of dwindling campaign time to promote a personal business.”
The New Right Has a Blueprint for Seizing Power
Politico: “By forging an alliance between the New Right and MAGA, J.D. Vance… could be the vanguard of a new political elite that, though not popular itself, would institute an illiberal and explicitly reactionary social order.”
“It is, in effect, a plan to use populism to constrain the popular will (though Vance and his allies of course don’t see it that way).”
Will There Really Be No More Debates?
The Harris campaign isn’t taking Donald Trump’s no for an answer on a third debate, Politico reports.
Said spokesman Brian Fallon: “He is just working through his feelings after losing very badly Tuesday night.”
Wall Street Journal: “Trump has a long history of giving conflicting answers about whether he will commit to a debate, including before the two campaigns agreed on the Philadelphia event.”
She Even Tipped Her Pitches
Join now to continue reading.
Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more.
Quote of the Day
“Let’s see if chicken man excises Hannibal Lecter out of his speech tonight. If he does, demonstrates he was humiliated on that point on Tuesday night. If he doesn’t, well, that would be awesome. Classic win, win.”
— David Plouffe, on X.
How Harris Aides See the Race
CNN: “At a leadership retreat for top aides in Wilmington last week, Jen O’Malley Dillon – the campaign chair hired by Joe Biden and retained by Kamala Harris – ticked through the battleground states and warned them: the vice president still did not have any one sure path to 270 electoral votes.”
“Pennsylvania looks rough, though very possible, by their internal numbers before the debate. North Carolina, disappointing Democrats every election for the last 15 years, is feeling better to them this time around than Arizona, which Biden narrowly won four years ago. Nevada and Georgia both seem possible, though depending on the poll, can take a lot of squinting. Michigan and Wisconsin are looking like the best of the bunch for Harris, according to the campaign’s internal numbers.”
Republicans Embrace Claims About Migrants Eating Pets
“If you’ve watched Donald Trump demonize immigrants to fuel his political rise over the last decade, the former president’s insistence that immigrants are abducting the cats and dogs of Americans and eating them shouldn’t come as a surprise,” NOTUS reports.
“It probably also shouldn’t come as a surprise that Republican lawmakers are not only indifferent to the former president making these claims; they largely support him spreading the conspiracy.”
Maybe Congress Should Have Stayed Home
Punchbowl News: “Led by Speaker Mike Johnson — and under pressure from President Donald Trump — House Republicans drafted a six-month stopgap government funding bill that includes the SAVE Act. The package would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections while keeping agencies and departments open through March 28 — early into a potential Trump presidency.”
“But Johnson couldn’t round up enough GOP votes to pass the Republican-drafted bill, so he delayed any floor action. It’s just the latest embarrassing setback on spending for Johnson and top House Republicans dating back to late July.”
“Worse, Johnson didn’t even tell House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) that he was postponing the vote.”
Close Election Gives Young Voters New Sway
“America’s fickle young voters represent one of the largest groups of undecideds and persuadables left in this presidential election,” Axios reports.
Key takeaway: Kamala Harris’ current 15-point lead over Donald Trump among young voters “would be the worst showing by a Democrat since John Kerry lost in 2004.”
When Political Memes Take on a Lie of Their Own
New York Times: “The previous week, claims that Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating pet cats in Springfield, Ohio, had begun circulating on social media. None of the reports had been substantiated, and local officials in Springfield — a small city where, in recent years, public services have been strained by a large influx of Haitian migrants — said they had seen no evidence that any of them were true. Major conservative media outlets had given them only fleeting attention.”
“But while the story has so far not proved credible, it has proved meme-able — and that has given it a life far beyond the right-wing internet.”
“For days, images and videos of former President Donald J. Trump and cats have proliferated online, delivered with a knowing wink and an understood endorsement of Mr. Trump’s hard-line immigration message. Their over-the-top imagery gives them the feel of an inside joke. A “just kidding” is implied, allowing political figures who might otherwise have hesitated to circulate debunked material to get in on it. The reality is beside the point.”
North Korea Is Building a Nuclear Attack Arsenal
“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has shown new signs he’s girding for battle by saying the time is over for peaceful reunification with South Korea and he has the right to annihilate his neighbor,” Bloomberg reports.
“To back up his threats, Kim has shown off a plant to enrich uranium for bombs while ramping up strike capabilities with a blistering pace of tests for his newest ballistic missiles — making them bigger, deadlier and better able to strike the US and its allies in Asia.”
A Big Jump in ‘Religiously Unaffiliated’
Axios: “Every age group has seen declines in religious affiliation during the past decade, but the largest jumps are among Americans ages 30 to 49 — older millennials and younger Gen Xers, the data from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute show.”
“From 2013 to 2023, the percentage of religiously unaffiliated among that age group skyrocketed nearly 48%.”
Trump Allies Plan to Privatize Fannie and Freddie
“Donald Trump’s allies want once again to try to untie the Gordian knot of the mortgage market: what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Former Trump administration figures and bankers have been discussing plans on ending U.S. government control of the mortgage-finance giants should Trump win the presidential election.”
Trump’s Repetitive Speech Is a Bad Sign
Richard Friedman: “Although I am a psychiatrist, I am not offering any specific medical diagnoses for any public figure. I have never met or examined either candidate. But I watched the debate with particular attention to the candidates’ vocabulary, verbal and logical coherence, and ability to adapt to new topics—all signs of a healthy brain.”
“Although Kamala Harris certainly exhibited some rigidity and repetition, her speech remained within the normal realm for politicians, who have a reputation for harping on their favorite talking points.”
“By contrast, Donald Trump’s expressions of those tendencies were alarming. He displayed some striking, if familiar, patterns that are commonly seen among people in cognitive decline.”
Joe Manchin Endorses Larry Hogan
Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) said he is endorsing former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland this year, DC News Now reports.
Harris Challenges Trump to Another Debate
“At her first post-debate campaign events, Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly challenged former President Donald Trump to a second onstage clash and sought to use her opponent’s erratic performance as a springboard into the race’s final stretch,” the New York Times reports.
Said Harris “I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
Harris Grows National Lead
A new Morning Consult poll finds Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump among likely voters, 50% to 45%.
