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Thursday, July 18, 2024

J.D. Vance Formally Accepts Trump’s Nomination for Vice President

Washington Post: Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who was unveiled as Donald Trump’s running mate two days ago, formally accepted the vice-presidential nomination on the third day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Vance emphasized his Midwestern upbringing as he made his case to voters in the night’s keynote address. “President Trump represents America’s last, best hope to restore what if lost may never be found again,” the freshman senator said (Washington Post). Daily Mail: His story was met with ecstatic cheers from the Republican faithful in Milwaukee, who see him as the sort of youthful figure who can secure Trump’s MAGA legacy. But it was his mother Bev who stole the show. Her addiction, abuse and chaotic lifestyle were described in his bestselling memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy.’ ‘I’m proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober.’ The crowd erupted when her face appeared on the Jumbotron, chanting: ‘J.D.’s mom, J.D.’s mom.’ Seated in Trump’s family box, she leaned across to Mike Johnson, speaker of the House, and said tearfully: ‘That’s my boy’ (Daily Mail).

Gold Star Families of 13 Fallen Soldiers in Afghanistan Honored at RNC

National Review: The families of 13 U.S. Marines killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal three years ago read the names of each deceased soldier during the Republican National Convention Wednesday night, an emotional moment for the families and a reminder of a turning point in President Joe Biden’s first term. The gold star families took the stage with pictures of their fallen children and chants of “USA!” from the crowd, setting the stage for one of the convention’s most powerful scenes. A few family members took the stage and described how Biden turned their back on the fallen after they were killed by a suicide bomber at Abbey Gate of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in August 2021. In contrast, the gold star families recalled how Trump spent time with them and cared about their children (National Review). Charlie Kirk: Incredible, heartbreaking moment just now at the RNC, as families speak about the soldiers lost to Biden’s incompetence in Afghanistan (X). Bill Melugin: Powerful moment here at the RNC, as the Gold Star families of service members killed at Abbey Gate during the Afghanistan withdrawal come out to a standing ovation and chants of USA! USA! Before they came out, RNC played a heart wrenching video detailing their stories (X).

Democrat Leadership, Constituents Urge Biden to Step Aside

Ed Morrissey: This started off today as momentum, and now it’s beginning to look like a cascade. Joe Biden took himself off the campaign trail after reportedly testing positive for COVID-19, but one has to wonder whether Biden’s reconsidering returning. ABC News’ Jon Karl just reported that Chuck Schumer told Biden forcefully that it would be best for everyone that Biden pull out. Hakeem Jeffries also reportedly told Biden the same thing, and Karl comments that a Biden defender says “the whole house of cards will soon come down” (HotAir). Wall Street Journal: Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) said President Biden should step aside in the 2024 race to make way for another candidate, becoming one of the highest-profile Democrats to make such a call. Schiff, a prominent antagonist of Donald Trump and a close ally of former (Wall Street Journal). AP Poll: As President Biden continues to face the fallout from his debate performance, 7 in 10 adults, including 65% of Democrats, say he should withdraw and allow his party to select a different nominee. There are growing misgivings about Biden’s mental capability to be an effective president, and few adults think he can win in November (AP Poll).

DNC Announces Virtual Roll Call To Officially Make President Biden the Nominee in August

Spencer Brown: Despite attempts by “bedwetting” Democrats to steal the 2024 primary from President Joe Biden, the Democratic National Committee announced to members of its rules committee that the party would be pressing ahead with a virtual vote to formally nominate the Biden-Harris ticket in August — hoping to get the process rolling to quell attempts apparently being coordinated by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and others to replace the president at the top of the ticket. Initially, some Biden loyalists had sought to have the nominating vote take place virtually in late July, but the roll call has now been pushed, at least a bit, into next month (Townhall). CBS: DNC Chair Jamie Harrison posted Tuesday that they want the vote to happen by Aug. 5, to comply with an Aug. 7 deadline for candidate certification in Ohio. In late May, the DNC announced a move to a virtual roll call because of that deadline (CBS).

Biden’s Ever-Moving Goalpost

Will he give up his campaign now he has contracted Covid? Michael Shear: President Biden said in an interview released on Wednesday that he would re-evaluate whether to stay in the presidential race if a doctor told him directly that he had a medical condition that made that necessary… “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,” Mr. Biden said. The comment is the latest in a series of shifting explanations by the president about what might cause him to reconsider. In an interview with ABC News this month, Mr. Biden said he would drop out only if the “Lord almighty” told him to. At a news conference in Washington several days later, he said he would stay in the race unless aides came to him with proof that he could never win. In the BET interview, he conceded that he “made a serious mistake in the whole debate” and would re-evaluate his decision if one of his doctors changed their assessment of him. Mr. Biden also said for the first time that he had expected to “move on” from the presidency and “pass it on to somebody else” but decided to run again because he believed his “wisdom” and experience would help heal the country’s worsening divisions (New York Times).

Update Reveals Security Knew There Was a Threat 20 Minutes Before Trump Was Shot

Why did they ever allow Trump to be on that stage? ABC: Law enforcement officials investigating the assassination attempt on Donald Trump told lawmakers Wednesday that 20 minutes passed between the time U.S. Secret Service snipers first spotted the gunman on a rooftop and the time shots were fired at the former president. Officials said the snipers spotted the suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, on the roof of a building outside security zone at the rally, in Butler, Pennsylvania… In the days since the shooting, the Secret Service has come under scrutiny for its response to the assassination attempt and there have been calls for the director, Kim Cheatle, to resign (ABC). Breaking911: Secret Service tells Congress they identified Thomas Crooks as a threat at least 10 minutes before Trump walked on stage. Trump camp was not notified. The Secret Service agent-in-charge was on the phone with local police as the shooting broke out. Unacceptable (X).

DHS Secretary Mayorkas Tries Preventing Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle From Testifying

Katie Pavlich: The Department of Homeland Security has opened an investigation after the Secret Service catastrophically failed to protect former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last weekend. The shooter was positioned on an unsecured roof just 140 yards away from the stage. The DHS Inspector General has also opened an investigation. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have also launched separate investigations and have called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify on Monday, July 22. According to House Speaker Mike Johnson, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is attempting to block Cheatle from testifying. Johnson called on Cheatle to resign during an interview with Fox News Wednesday morning (Townhall). Spencer Brown: Biden’s Department of Homeland Security, led by impeached Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, just stepped in to block the Secret Service from providing a previously agreed-to briefing to lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee. This is not how you inspire confidence (X).

Joy Reid Likens Biden Recovering From Covid to Donald Trump’s Assassination Attempt

Fox News: MSNBC host Joy Reid suggested on Wednesday that President Biden recovering from COVID-19 is a “sign of strength” similar to former President Trump surviving an assassination attempt… “This current President of the United States is 81 years old and has COVID, should he be fine in a couple of days, doesn’t that convey exactly the same thing? That he’s strong enough – older than Trump – to have gotten something that used to really be fatal to people his age. So, if he does fine out of it and comes back and is able to do rallies, isn’t that exactly the same?,” Reid said. Reid added that the media is portraying Trump surviving the assassination attempt and shortly returning to the campaign by appearing at his party’s convention as a “sign of strength” (Fox News). Reporter Bonchie: Joy Reid and Jen Psaki just claimed that Biden having COVID is “exactly the same” as Trump surviving an assassination attempt and should be lauded the same way. No, I’m not kidding (X). Clay Travis: They really said this. Live. On air (X).

Pro-Choice Group Sues Arkansas for Rejecting Ballot Measure Enshrining Abortion Into Law

Townhall: Pro-abortion supporters are suing the state of Arkansas after the secretary of state rejected an extreme ballot measure last week. As Townhall covered, the Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston rejected the effort put forward by pro-abortion activists to enshrine the right to kill your unborn baby into state law. Thurston said that the group failed to submit a sworn statement both identifying paid canvassers by name and confirming that these canvassers were properly trained on collecting signatures. Due to this, the initiative was disqualified. Now, a group called Arkansans for Limited Government asked the state Supreme Court to reverse the state’s decision to reject the ballot measure. The organization asked the court to order the state to begin counting its signatures (Townhall). President of Students for Life of America Action Kristan Hawkins: The Secretary of State’s office REJECTED the Arkansas Abortion Amendment. Abortion will NOT be on the ballot in November! In rejecting signatures from unverified, paid signature collectors & in noting what the law requires, Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston rejects this manipulative campaign to force abortion into the state’s constitution (X).

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Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) Plans to Resign From Position

Townhall: His position was untenable following his conviction of receiving bribes through gold bars and a luxury car. Arguably, when the indictment against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) dropped in September of last year, his career in public life was finished. The New Jersey liberal isn’t going to turn this into a circus by forcing Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to file a motion for expulsion. Today, Mr. Menendez informed his allies that he intends to resign from his post (Townhall). Julie Tsirkin: 44 Senate Democrats have called on him to resign (or risk getting expelled) (X).