“Donald Trump plans to make another campaign stop in Michigan – making it his third visit to the battleground state in nine days,” MLive reports.
Republicans Are Losing the Culture Wars
Politico: “School board candidates backed by Moms for Liberty, a conservative vanguard whose members popularized restrictions on classroom library books, are losing elections in Florida and some swing states. Republican leaders who rallied against critical race theory and LGBTQ+ issues recently faced recalls in red pockets of California. And in the presidential race, Democrats are playing offense.”
NASA Taps SpaceX to Return Starliner Astronauts
“Two astronauts parked at the International Space Station since early June will return with SpaceX instead of on the Boeing vehicle that brought them there,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the decision at a briefing on Saturday, which means astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will remain in orbit until early next year, when a SpaceX craft is scheduled to return with them on board.”
“The decision is a setback for Boeing, which has spent years developing the Starliner vehicle that transported the astronauts to the space station on June 6. During its flight to the station, several thrusters temporarily failed and engineers identified additional helium leaks within its propulsion system.”
Trump Finally Recognizes He Could Lose
“Donald Trump is finally recognizing he’s at risk of losing the election unless he makes some changes,” Politico reports.
“As Democrats convened this week in Chicago, the former president’s campaign advisers reached out to people who are allies of both Trump and Brian Kemp, the popular governor of Georgia he was publicly attacking just weeks ago, to smooth things over between the two Republicans.”
Maureen Dowd: “If you need more evidence that Trump is flummoxed about how to counter Kamala Harris, just check out his daffy reaction to her dynamite convention.”
Harris Shifts Message from Democracy to Freedom
“Before dropping his bid for reelection, President Joe Biden framed voters’ choice in November in dark and ominous terms, painting Republican nominee Donald Trump as a menace to American democracy and questioning whether the country could survive if he won,” the Associated Press reports.
“The Democratic Party’s new nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, isn’t exactly shrinking from that message, warning in her Thursday night acceptance speech of ‘extremely serious’ consequences of Trump returning to the White House.”
“But Harris is putting her own spin on what has been a central messaging strategy for Democrats. Rather than focusing on the existential threat a second Trump term could pose to the country’s foundational institutions and traditions, she is expanding Democrats’ definition of what’s at stake in this election: It’s about preserving personal freedoms.”
Also from the Washington Post: “Democrats once strove to ‘go high’ against Trump. Not anymore.”
Policy Wonks Not Driving This Campaign
Wall Street Journal: “Presidential campaigns don’t view policy details as winning messages in and of themselves, however, but as elements of a broader story about who their candidate is and why he or she has the credibility to accomplish what’s being promised.”
Effect of RFK Jr. Exit Still Unclear
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his name will remain on the ballot except in “10 battleground states” where he will ask for his name to be removed to avoid being a spoiler, Politico reports.
“In such a closely contested presidential race, the question immediately turns to what RFK’s withdrawal and endorsement means for Trump and Harris. And there is no simple answer, not yet at least.”
Kamala Harris Prefers Shorter Speeches
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Harris Plans Bus Tour Through Georgia
“Vice President Kamala Harris will kick off a bus tour through south Georgia on Wednesday that will culminate with a Thursday evening rally in Savannah as she tries to sustain the momentum from her party’s nominating convention,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“The Democratic nominee will be joined on Wednesday by her running-mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in their first joint appearance in Georgia. On Thursday, Harris will headline the Savannah rally solo.”
For Your Weekend Listening
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The End of Kevin McCarthy’s Revenge Tour
Politico: “The former speaker’s multimillion dollar crusade to primary the eight Republicans who voted to strip him of his gavel ended this week with little to show for it. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, the main architect of McCarthy’s defenestration and his chief nemesis, won his primary Tuesday by about 45 points.”
“It wasn’t the only high-profile failure. McCarthy allies also dropped millions against Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), only to see her prevail by 27 points. Another three handily won their primaries, two of whom were uncontested, and two others retired. McCarthy orbit’s lone election victory was against Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), a result that had a lot to do with his decision to cross former President Donald Trump. And that race was so close it ended in a recount.”
Trump’s Unhinged Reaction to Harris Worries Supporters
“Even some of Donald Trump’s supporters are now asking the question that was the undoing of Joe Biden: is the former president fit for office?,” The Guardian reports.
“But while Biden’s run for re-election was largely sunk by a single disastrous televised debate before a national audience, Trump is ramping up doubts with each chaotic, disjointed speech as he campaigns around the country.”
“While rambling discourse and outrageously disprovable claims, interspersed with spite and vitriol, may seem nothing new to many of Trump’s supporters and critics alike, the former president appears to have been driven to new depths by suddenly finding himself running against Kamala Harris a month ago.”
“Trump has only grown more infuriated as his poll lead over Biden evaporated, with Harris opening up a clear, if narrow, lead. The vice-president’s tactic of mocking Trump more than arguing with him appears to have incensed him further.”
Politico: Trump tries to reset his campaign after brutal month.
Harris Wins Back Young Women
New York Times: “Vice President Harris’s candidacy has reinvigorated many Democrats and independents — and particularly young women. Their newfound enthusiasm is evident in interviews, and in early signals from polls in swing states and nationwide.”
The Debate Is the Next Defining Moment
CNN: “With the conventions over, the next race-defining moment on the calendar is their September 10 debate hosted by ABC. The campaigns have also both discussed participating in a second debate, but the details of where, when and who would host have not yet been settled.”
“Unlike the June debate between Trump and Biden, when their 2020 showdowns offered a preview of what to expect, no one is sure how this fall’s debates will unfold.”
Why Harris’ Bid Feels Nothing Like Hillary Clinton’s
New York Times: “Eight years after Hillary Clinton became the first woman to lead a major party’s presidential ticket, Democrats are sending American women a more sober and urgent message even as they try to elect another barrier-breaking candidate.”
“Republican policies, they argue, have had disastrous and once-unthinkable consequences for the health and autonomy of women and their families since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. A second term for former President Donald Trump, they warn, would be even more dangerous.”
Said Harris: “Simply put, they are out of their minds.”
Trump’s Carefully Scripted Week Kept Veering Off Script
“Donald Trump’s political endurance this year has been attributed in part to voters’ faded memories about why they denied him a second term four years ago,” the New York Times reports.
“The former president is doing his best to remind them.”
“Despite a carefully scripted week of campaign events aimed at counterprogramming the Democratic National Convention, Mr. Trump undercut much of his messaging with a series of off-the-cuff remarks, rants and blunders that threatened to stoke the kind of Republican anxiety he has spent much of the past month trying to tamp down.”
Doyle McManus: Donald Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad convention week.
Trump Tries to Rebrand as Supporter of Abortion Rights
“Donald Trump, who recently said he has ‘no regrets’ about appointing the Supreme Court supermajority that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion rights, declared on social media on Friday that his administration will be ‘great’ for women’s ‘reproductive rights,’” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump’s use of the specific phrase ‘reproductive rights’ — the language used by abortion-rights advocates — appeared to be an effort by the former president to refashion himself as essentially supportive of abortion rights and as a political moderate on an issue that has the potential to be damaging to him in November.”
Harris and Trump Avoid Detailed Policies
Wall Street Journal: “Vice President Kamala Harris, who accepted the Democratic nomination on Thursday, has in her brief campaign offered a set of ideas and impulses about the course she would pursue as president, but with less detail than many candidates have provided in the past.”
“That may leave policy-focused voters frustrated as they consider how she would pay for her economic proposals, including an expanded child tax credit and help for first-time home buyers. She also hasn’t specified how she would handle pressing foreign policy matters, such as countering the rise of China and dealing with the Israel-Hamas war.”
“The Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, for his part also has been scant with details: He has proposed ending taxes on Social Security benefits, but he hasn’t said how he’d cover the cost—estimated by independent analysts at $1.6 trillion or more—or handle the additional instability it would cause to the program’s solvency.”
