Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of July 22

Harris Opens Fire On Trump: ‘Predator, Fraudster, Cheater’

Harris’ first applause line came when she discussed her background as California attorney general and as a courtroom prosecutor.

“In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” she said, earning cackles while she beamed, clearly enjoying the joke. “Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”

I am quickly coming around on Harris.

It's nice to see a muscular counterpoint to the "Trump has done nothing wrong/ Democrats are worse" narrative.

Within 24 hours, Harris has received the endorsements of something around 75% of Democratic legislators from both house and Senate according to an endorsement tracker of her online and the delegates of about a quarter of the convention already, and ActBlue registered nearly 100 million dollars from small-dollar donations to what is now her campaign, the party has readily ralllied around her. Outside the party, Romney and Pence have appreciated his decision and wished him well.

There are now dramatically fewer voters who dislike both candidates

I liked this Ezra Klein piece. (The audio version is probably best. It can be found here on YouTube, among other places.)

The clips he played from the RNC were disturbing. The fawning over Trump and the mental gymnastics necessary to say that Trump is in it for anything but himself is mind-boggling. The contrast Klein makes between what Biden did and what Trump is doing was perfect.

There was no price Trump would not have paid to cling to power, and the message of the 2024 Republican convention was that there was no price the Republican Party would not pay to give Trump that power. The message of the 2024 Republican convention was simple: Donald Trump first.

What President Biden did on Sunday — that is what it looks like to put country first. What the Democratic Party did over the past few weeks — that is what it looks like to put country first. The catastrophe of the debate, for Biden, was that he couldn’t draw the true contrast between him and Trump: Instead of highlighting Trump’s narcissism and illiberalism, Biden highlighted Trump’s relative energy and vigor. On Sunday, though, Biden upended that. In one decision, he drew a very different contrast between him and Trump: Trump would not peaceably step aside even after losing an election. Biden stepped aside before the election because he understood that the party and the country are bigger than he is. Putting your own ambitions second — that’s what it looks like to actually put America first.

The fact that Republicans can convince themselves that first Biden and now Harris are more of a threat to them and their way of life than Trump is wild. But there's always the fear of ostracism from their in-group if they don't kowtow to Trump. I just don't know if that fear is strong enough to provoke the motivated cognition necessary to become true believers in Trumpism. Or if it's just a bunch of cynical, performative bullshit.

Is Harris up to the task of beating Trump? I don't know. I feel like her odds are better than Biden's were at this point, though.

DNC gives would-be Harris rivals 3 days to declare (Politico)

Delegates to the Democratic National Convention rules committee approved the virtual roll call on Wednesday, moving ahead with a July 30 deadline for candidates seeking to collect delegate signatures to appear on the virtual roll call. The virtual roll call, which must be completed by Aug. 7 to comply with Ohio ballot access deadlines, could start as early as next Thursday.

…

According to the adopted rules, candidates must declare their intent to run with the DNC by Saturday at 6 p.m. Eastern time. After they’ve filed the requisite forms, they must collect at least 300 delegate signatures, no more than 50 of whom can come from the same state, by Tuesday.

…

The DNC is also still advising that it’s important for “both nominees” for president and vice president to appear on the virtual roll call, which could push Harris to announce her running mate by the middle of next week. Harris’ campaign will also pick a running mate by Aug. 7, according to a person directly familiar with the plans and granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. That gives her team two weeks to sort through a complicated vetting process of several potential contenders.

“Failure to certify both nominees in advance of each state’s ballot access deadline opens us up to very real political and litigation risk, both before and after the election,” said Pat Moore, who is the DNC’s legal counsel. “Republicans will use this moment to do what they do: to sue, to try to bar us from the ballot, or to try to disqualify our voters.”

It seems the results are inevitable, but it’s interesting to see the mechanics of it.

Latest Times Sienna Poll - while it's only one poll, the underlying shifts are pretty interesting. The demographics where Biden was weaker this go around seem to be where Harris polls better. But she fares worse with older and whiter Americans. An overwhelming majority, 87%,thought it was right for Biden to step aside, which must be painful for him.

It just got harder for Trump to distance himself from project 2025

J D Vance cat lady insult comes from a weird hateful world view

I really hope Kamala picks Mark Kelly, not just because I think he’s the best for the job, but because the Democratic governor can replace his seat with his twin.

thousands of social justice supporting Christians sign petition calling to impeach Justices Thomas and Alito

the conservative attack on the merit based civil service

Bill Gates, it's great to have someone younger in the race