The Dispatch: “Much has been done to strengthen the federal law governing the counting of Electoral College votes in Congress to prevent the chaos that occurred on January 6, 2021… But intense post-election chaos could occur much earlier at the precinct, county, and state level, where votes must be counted and the results certified at least six days before the Electoral College meets on December 17, 2024.”
Trump Gaslights Everyone About Cemetery Incident
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Biden to Accuse Russia of Meddling in U.S. Election
“The Biden administration on Wednesday plans to accuse Russia of a sustained effort to influence the 2024 US presidential election by using Kremlin-run media and other online platforms to target US voters with disinformation,” CNN reports.
Trump Actually Admitted He Lost in 2020
Donald Trump admitted on a podcast that he “lost by a whisker” in the 2020 presidential election, The Independent reports.
How Kamala Harris Plans to Lock In for Debate Prep
“Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to head to her very own debate camp on Thursday,” NOTUS reports.
“She and her team will hunker down in Pennsylvania, the state where her debate with former President Donald Trump will take place next Tuesday, set to fully focus on preparing for prime time.”
“In conversations with nearly a dozen people involved with or aware of the preparations, a set of goals emerged for the next week. The campaign is planning to tune out as much of the outside noise as possible to lock her in, aware of Harris’ relative rust as a debater and her tendency to overprepare and fixate on the details.”
Quote of the Day
“I’ve been preparing all my life for this debate.”
— Donald Trump, calling into a New Hampshire television station.
Trump Ties Himself in Knots on Abortion
“Donald Trump is twisting himself into knots on abortion as he tries to navigate an issue that has proven galvanizing for Democrats and politically fraught for his own party ahead of November,” The Hill reports.
“Trump has repeatedly urged Republicans to prioritize winning elections, even if it means softening their position on abortion. But his approach risks alienating social conservatives without the benefit of winning over more moderate voters.”
Trump Pushes for a Government Shutdown Fight
“Donald Trump is pressuring Republicans to shut down the government at the end of this month if Congress doesn’t pass a GOP-backed proposal to establish new election rules nationwide,” NBC News reports.
“Trump has called on Republicans in Congress to link funding the government with the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote — in a bid to target non-citizen voting, which is already illegal. And House Republican leaders are considering adopting the strategy and picking a fight with Democrats.”
Punchbowl News: How to think about Mike Johnson’s government funding strategy.
The Collapsing Electoral College
I noted last month that this year’s presidential election features the smallest battleground in modern political history.
Jonathan Bernstein has more:
“I think many of us with a sense of U.S. history know that fewer states are competitive now than used to be the case, and some might know that’s especially true of big states. But I’m not sure if people realize that it’s a continuing trend. Folks in the 1990s and 2000s talked as if only Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio were contested, but in fact they were just the largest of a dozen or so contested states.”
Harris Gains Ground Among Younger Voters
A new SurveyMonkey poll finds 50% of Gen Z voters say they’ll vote for Kamala Harris in November, while 34% say they’ll vote for Donald Trump — a bigger gap for the Democratic nominee than some other polls this year but not quite at 2020 levels for the party.
Two Different Approaches to Preparing for the Debate
CNN: “For Harris, a stand-in for the former president — wearing his signature red tie — has helped her visualize the scene ahead of time. Trump, meanwhile, has eschewed a sparring partner in the role of Harris, choosing instead to replicate the informal ‘policy time’ that formed his preparation ahead of June’s debate with President Joe Biden.”
Washington Post: Harris to focus on debate prep in Pittsburgh in days ahead of facing off with Trump.
Republicans Fret Over Trump’s Freefall with Women
“Republicans are alarmed that Donald Trump’s support among women is deteriorating in the polls and that his efforts to stop the bleeding don’t appear to be working,” The Hill reports.
“While Republicans are no strangers to the gender gap between the parties in presidential elections, they now face a “chasm” between male and female voters.”
A New Crime Tracking Tool
Semafor: “Crime is one of the biggest national debates that we have the least timely data on. Official crime statistics from the FBI are notoriously slow, while outside efforts to track trends are often incomplete.”
“A new project, the Real Time Crime Index, that launched today is looking to change the policy conversation by gathering representative data from over 300 state and local agencies and updating them on a six-week lag. It finds murder down 15.7% this year, continuing a post-pandemic trend.”
Trump Doesn’t Want to Plead Not Guilty in Person Again
“Donald Trump is entering a not guilty plea following a superseding indictment last week related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, the former president said in a court filing Tuesday,” NBC News reports.
“He also waived the right to be present at his arraignment, where he will be charged with the same four counts from last year’s original indictment.”
The ‘Blue Wall’ Is Not Complete Without a Blue Dot
“The battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania may be pivotal in the race for the White House, but winning those blue wall states alone do not guarantee a campaign victory without something else: Omaha’s blue dot,” CNN reports.
“Yard signs with blue circles have begun appearing on lawns across town here, a hopeful symbol for Democrats in a sea of Nebraska red, with one of the state’s lone electoral votes likely critical for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the closing two months of the campaign.”
See for yourself on the interactive map.
Ginni Thomas Praised Fight Against Supreme Court Reform
“Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, privately heaped praise on a major religious-rights group for fighting efforts to reform the nation’s highest court — efforts sparked, in large part, by her husband’s ethical lapses,” ProPublica reports.
Democrats Target Trump’s Muddled Abortion Message
“Donald Trump spent the weekend struggling to solidify his position on abortion. The timing for Democrats couldn’t have been better,” Politico reports.
“The Harris campaign on Tuesday launched a 50-stop ‘Reproductive Freedom’ bus tour that kicked off in Trump’s adopted home state of Florida. It came just days after the former president said he planned to vote ‘no’ on a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights into the state Constitution — but also muddled the issue when he said ‘you need more time’ than Florida’s current laws making most abortion illegal after six weeks into a pregnancy.”
Lara and Tiffany Trump Hacked
“Hackers apparently breached the social media accounts of Lara and Tiffany Trump on Tuesday, distributing what the former president’s son said were two fake posts touting a family cryptocurrency venture,” Politico reports.
Daily Beast: Trump family panics after crypto hacker screwup.
