Politics Weekend in Review, Last One Before Election

… Trump said at his rally today in PA that the only place he wasn’t protected by bulletproof glass on stage was from the direction of the media. So, he said that a shooter would have to fire right through members of the media to get to him, and said he “wouldn’t mind” if that happened. How is this man remotely being considered by any sane voter?

… The NYT headline on this said that Trump was “joking.” He wasn’t. Trump doesn’t joke.

… Trump Spokesman Steve Cheung issued a lengthy statement trying to explain away Trump’s latest violent rhetoric: “President Trump was stating that the media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have a glass protective shield also. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own.” Now they are just laughing at legacy media, knowing this BS works on them.

… Kamala Harris’s final rallies of the campaign in Philly and Pittsburgh will feature entertainers Fat Joe, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry. The last one will be Monday night on the iconic steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It should be awesome.

… Barack Obama was in Milwaukee today, and brilliantly made the analogy between Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis and Harris: “Who cannot understand how an NBA superstar can be both Greek and Black?”

… Obama went on to say, “Who spreads ridiculous fantasies that Haitians are eating people’s pets? Who just this past week arranged for one of his supporters to tell jokes about Black people eating watermelon and Puerto Rico being an island of garbage right there on stage at Madison Square Garden? Do you think that is someone who will look out for you?”

… For some bizarre reason, Trump decided to have Herschel Walker deliver his closing argument for him in Georgia despite his train wreck of Senate campaign in 2022. He concluded by telling people to vote for Donald Trump, Junior. Hopefully, the will write-in Junior.

… An explosive new story about the Trump campaign by Tim Alberta in the Atlantic sent shockwaves through Republican activists. It showed that campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita tried desperately for months to control and contain Trump’s worst impulses, which worked for several months until he finally went off the rails because he was “bored” with disciplined messaging.

… The story also chronicled how the late introduction of Corey Lewandowski caused a lot of issues at the top of the campaign, which culminated in a power struggle which Lewandowski ultimately lost. He’s now relegated to doing TV hits with no decision making authority.

… The story also said that the campaign managers were desperate to get Laura Loomer away from Trump and the campaign because they felt his association with her was hurting him - especially accompanying him to the 9/11 ceremony and flying on his plane to the debate.

… The story also said that social media team coordinator Alex Bruesewitz was the one responsible for booking the racist comic at Trump’s MSG rally.

… One thing is obvious - most everyone at the top of the Trump campaign hates each other and they are all leaking like crazy to the media and blaming each other preemptively and pointing fingers if there is a loss. Just like the 2017-2020 Trump Cabinet.

… Trump said at his rally in PA this morning that he is smart because of superior family genetics while Harris is “dumb.” He also said Adam Schiff has a watermelon head with a pencil neck and is ugly. Hell of a closing argument for the campaign.

… An explosive story was broken by the Daily Beast, after apparently almost every other media outlet passed on the story. But they have tapes, and the tapes are of Jeffrey Epstein saying, “I was Donald Trump’s closest friend” for years. But most mainstream media continues to ignore it.

… Trump lawyer Alina Habba then bizarrely got up at Trump’s rally today and said, “How about that Epstein Island list, I want to see that list.” I really don’t think she does.

… After a year of touting polls every day, Republican activists are now telling people to ignore the polls. For some reason.

… Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on SNL. Republicans immediately complained that SNL violated an FEC rule to provide equal time to both candidates.

… Fox legal analyst Jonathan Turley weighed in: “This would seem a knowing violation committed at the last minute to avoid any remedial action before the election.”

… Elon Musk was griping and whining about it while he continues to pay people for votes: “It is unfair, even if SNL did so unintentionally, given that NBC is allowed to use public airwaves for free.”

… Last week, Musk called for all network stations to be stripped of their broadcast licenses and have them to auctioned off to the highest bidder.

… Speaking at Trump’s Georgia rally tonight, Lil Marco Rubio claimed that Harris “violated the law” by going on SNL. Cry more. If anyone violated anything it was SNL, not Harris.

… They also complained that when she talked into a mirror she was copying Trump’s appearance in 2015. She was - she was mocking it. Trump Spokesman Steve Cheung: “Kamala Harris has now resorted to stealing comedy skits.”

… The Harris ground game is going full throttle - and not with 3rd party organizations hiring people off the street like the Trump campaign. They knocked on 807,000 doors in PA just on Sat, which has to be a record.

… The campaign also reported that they knocked on 215,000 doors in WI on Sat, made 940,000 calls in that state, knocked on 256,000 doors in MI, and made 721,000 calls in MI. All of that was just Saturday.

… A shock NYT poll in Iowa showed Harris leading by 3 points. Likely an outlier - very much a long shot for any Dem to win IA. However, the poll showed a significant percentage of Republicans crossing over to supporter Harris, which is bad news for Trump if that happens elsewhere.

… Republicans went nuts over the Iowa poll, saying it is fake, that Harris has spend zero dollars in that state, etc.

… Harris is leading white women over 65 by an astounding 40 points in the Iowa poll.

… Another big divide was Iowans who graduated college - which Harris is winning big.

… Trump woke up Sunday morning and his first post of the day on Truth Social was how much he has done for Iowa farmers. But the poll isn’t accurate, according to him.

… Meanwhile, Trump supporters spent most of the day talking about a pet squirrel that was euthanized in NYC while trying somehow to make that an election issue to use against Harris. The Very Online Campaign thinks everything that gets clicks on MAGA Twitter will win them the election.

… Elon Musk fired his entire team of mostly Black door knockers after the Wired story came out about them being shuttled around PA and MI in the back of a U-Haul with no seats or seatbelts and not getting paid as promised.

… Kamala Harris is at Michigan State University tonight.

… Tim Scott was asked this morning on CNN if he will urge Trump not to preemptively declare victory again before ballots were counted or races were called like he did in 2020. He was asked 3 times. He refused to answer and complained about “liberal media.”

… The highest number of political ads in 2024 was in the Pittsburgh market, where on average people have been exposed to 2,300 political ads this year. 2nd highest was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA.

… Trump said in his speech Saturday night that he was “the father of fertilization.” He meant to say IVF, which would be equally absurd, but the cognitively declining candidate couldn’t even manage to spit that out.

… The arena at Trump’s rally on Sat night was 2/3 empty and people were walking out halfway through his speech.

… RFK Jr pledged, as Trump’s ‘Health Czar,’ to remove fluoride from all US drinking water. He has hundreds of conspiracies in his head from the internet that he will try to impose on Americans. It was added to water to prevent tooth decay, and in places where it isn’t tooth and mouth infections and diseases spiked dramatically.

… John Fetterman went on Joe Rogan as a Harris surrogate. At one point Rogan asked him why he doesn’t wear a suit. Fetterman responded, “I have no ass so I can’t