Thursday, September 12, 2024
BY MATT BERG & CROOKED MEDIA
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- Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, talking about Donald Trump on CNN. |
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Even some of Donald Trump’s top allies are admitting he lost this week’s debate — which may be why he just refused to go another round.
- Disgraced former President Trump doesn’t just tell cock-eyed, bald-faced, wackadoo lies — he insists that his whole crew believe in them, or else risk excommunication from the church of MAGA. So it’s kind of a big deal when his own fanclub balks at embracing his latest hallucination. And that’s what many of them are doing this week, in one way or another. This time, Trump keeps insisting that he won the debate, in spite of evidence to the contrary from just about every poll available, which all show viewers think Vice President Kamala Harris walloped him. Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), however, called it a “disaster.” MAGA climber Vivek Ramasamy groused: “Harris exceeded the very low expectations that were purposely set for her.” One House Republican told the Hill: “I’m just sad.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is one of several Senate Republicans who urged Trump to accept a second debate as a do-over, saying: “I believe we missed a lot of opportunities.”
- Even roadkill enthusiast Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a guy Trump literally invited to the debate spin-room as a campaign surrogate — said independent support for the former president could drop after the debate because Trump “got distracted, and it’s unfortunate.” The admission is just the latest sign Trump may not get as much political oomph from RFK Jr.’s endorsement as he’d hoped, a Democratic strategist told What A Day. “He’s such a disaster of a surrogate,” the strategist said. “I feel like they’ll need to pull him, but also who do they have left?”
- Trump, meanwhile, is venting at those who dare to admit reality, including Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, who said Trump “decisively lost.” Trump ranted: “Neil Cavuto, Fox’s Lowest Rated Anchor, is one of the WORST on Television. I actually prefer the losers at CNN and MSDNC!” Trump’s reality-denial and ranting are signs of panic about the election, the Democratic strategist said: “He just doesn’t know how to handle not having momentum.” On Thursday afternoon, Trump announced he won’t participate in another debate.
- The vibes couldn’t be more different in the Harris campaign. To capitalize on the debate victory, Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), her running mate, plan to do more media interviews ahead of the election and push a message about how their administration would benefit the economy — and Trump’s would trash it. If there is a second face-off against Trump in October, Harris will be ready for the KO, Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) told What A Day: “The excitement post-debate is palpable and the momentum continues to build,” said Crow, who was in the spin room for Harris after the debate. “Supporters and dozens of surrogates across the country will come together the next few days to share her vision and plan to bring our country forward.”
I asked one GOP senate aide whether Trump should debate again, and he shrugged. Instead, he pointed me toward a since-deleted tweet from business analyst Darren Rovell: “I feel bad for our country. But this is tremendous content.”
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Iran has long been accused of hiring assassins to target political foes in the United States (look, for example, at the alleged plots against former Trump officials John Bolton and Mike Pompeo). But those were more like, if you will, black-tie espionage affairs…. The kind of plot that would make James Bond put down his martini. Iran’s new crew is reportedly wearing leather jackets and riding Harleys.
Iran has outsourced “lethal operation and abductions” to Hells Angels biker gangs in recent years, according to the Washington Post. Two Hells Angels members in Canada negotiated a $350,000 contract with an Iranian-based alleged heroin trafficking kingpin to kill an Iranian defector and his wife in Maryland, according to U.S. criminal charges made public earlier this year. It’s stuff straight out of the movies. “We gotta erase his head from his torso,” one of the would-be assassins wrote in an encrypted text message to the other, adding that the plan was to “make sure I hit this guy in the head with ATLEAST half the clip.”
An attorney for one of the men allegedly involved declined to comment to the Post; past attorneys for the other reportedly didn’t respond to the paper’s outreach.
The country has also tried to meddle with both the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns, suggesting that Iran really doesn’t care who suffers the consequences, as long as it sows internal discord and makes American democracy look bad on the world stage. Federal prosecutors are preparing to file criminal charges over Tehran’s alleged hacking of the Trump campaign, the Post reports. Its propaganda and disinformation campaigns against the U.S. have grown more brazen and ambitious, all while it cozies up to Russia’s military. |
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The news cycle is, to use journalism lingo, absolutely nuts. Catch up with three of the most recent Pod Save America episodes on Amazon Music! If you missed the presidential debate, tune into this reaction episode that breaks down the night. If you want to stay informed about under-the-radar stories, here’s an episode with Angela Alsobrooks that explains why we should pay attention to the Maryland Senate race. And if you’re still hungry for more content after that, listen to our Phoenix Live Show, where the guys & Jane Coaston talk about another crucial Senate race to secure a blue seat. Head over to Amazon Music now, and subscribe to Pod Save America while you’re at it.
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Israel defended its deadly strike on a school compound in Gaza earlier this week, saying that the complex — where many people driven from their homes had taken shelter — was actually a safe haven for Hamas militants. Eighteen people were killed in the attack, including six United Nations workers. It’s the fifth time Israel has struck the compound since October, the U.N. said.
The city hall in Springfield, Ohio, was closed due to a bomb threat on Thursday, after Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans promoted racist conspiracy theories about Haitian migrants eating pets in the area. Spreading hateful bullshit has real-life consequences, people!
The commissioner of New York Police Department resigned on Thursday, one week after federal investigators seized his phone as part of a corruption probe into Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle. What a coincidence! Crooked’s new Empire City podcast dives deep into the dark origins of the NYPD, so you can learn all about how this chaos came to be.
New York’s highest court rejected Donald Trump’s appeal on Thursday to lift the gag order after he was convicted in the hush money trial. It was effectively Trump’s last chance at lifting the order, which prevents him from commenting on prosecutors and court staff until his November sentencing. Can we get a gag order that prevents him from ever talking again, about anything? Can someone look into that?
A judge in Georgia threw out three charges in the state’s election subversion case on Thursday, including two against Trump. Those include one count of conspiring to file false documents, related to the Trump campaign’s efforts to push fake GOP electors in Georgia. The other is one count of filing false documents, stemming from false statements about voter fraud included in Trump’s lawsuits to negate the election results.
The price of rent and utilities last year rose faster than home values for the first time in a decade, according to new data, a sign that the housing market has led to more people renting. That doesn’t mean rent is cheap: Last year, rent rose 3.8 percent compared with a 1.8 percent rise in median home values, adjusted for inflation. No wonder Gen Z (myself included) doesn’t plan to buy a house anytime soon! This market is hell!
Ex-media mogul Harvey Weinstein was indicted on additional sex crimes during a hearing in New York on Thursday. Details weren’t made public, but he could be arraigned on the charges as soon as September 18. The decision come ahead of a retrial in his #MeToo case slated to begin in November.
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A state judge struck down North Dakota’s abortion ban on Thursday, arguing that the state constitution grants the right to the medical procedure before a fetus is viable. He also said the law violated the state constitution because it’s too vague.
The daughter of deranged conspiracist Elon Musk is attacking her own dad for making downright creepy comments about how he would “give” Taylor Swift a child following the singer’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. “Heinous incel nonsense is in fact heinous incel nonsense. I don’t really have anything to add to it, it’s just abhorrent,” Vivian Wilson wrote on Threads, which is notably not the internet hellscape her father owns! It’s a blessing to the world that Musk’s lunatic genes seemingly haven’t been passed down to his kids.
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