Imaginary crowd sizes, imaginary helicopter rides and a neverending litany of complaints characterized Trump's impromptu press conference. It was like Bluto's "big speech" in Animal House when he tries to rally the boys after being put on double secret probation. That scene pretty much sums up what Republicans feel right now after watching their presidential nominee thrash around on stage for a little more than hour.
While he took questions, he pretty much avoided answering them as he resorted to his standard lines on pretty much everything. He continues to question Harris' race and intelligence, which has become utterly cringeworthy given his attempts to conceal his aging appearance and cognitive decline. When asked about the tremendous outpouring of support at Kamala's rallies, Trump played up his January 6 rally of all rallies, claiming he had more people than Martin Luther King Jr. at his infamous rally.
One of the more amusing anecdotes was Donald claiming he nearly went down in a helicopter with Willie Brown when asked about Brown's relationship with Kamala. Not only did Willie Brown deny this absurd story, but it appears Dotardly Don confused a helicopter ride he had with former Governor Jerry Brown when touring the fire damage in California in 2018. Needless to say, his campaign tried to brush off this whopper lie by saying "he has a lot of amazing stories about his life."
The only real takeaway is that he finally agreed to debate Kamala Harris on ABC. At the risk of not making it look like he caved, he claimed he and Harris agreed to three debates but the latter two haven't been revealed. Harris was in Detroit with Tim Walz addressing a select group of UAW members. CNN broke away from Trump to show Walz give quite a motivational speech before Harris took the stage.
It's clear for all to see that Walz knows how to address blue collar workers. Something the Trump campaign is very worried about as Vancy hasn't been able to form any connection with his audience on the campaign trail. Speculation abounds that Trump will dump JD in the coming weeks, as he can't afford to lose any more ground to "Kamabla" as he derisively called her on Truth Social. She has matched or surpassed him in virtually all the battleground states, forcing his campaign to essentially start from scratch.
There is now less than 90 days to the election and Kamala has all the momentum. She even has a convention coming up where she will be able to showcase herself for all to see, essentially rendering Trump mute during this time. Seems the late convention ended up working in the Democrats' favor despite early concern they wouldn't get their nominees on a couple of key ballots. But, the DNC had a virtual convention in which Kamala and Tim received a whopping 99% of the delegates, affirming their nomination.
Republicans continue to cry foul, believing this is an illegal move on the Democrats' part. Trump whined about it during his press conference as well. They just can't seem to come to grips with this new face of the Democratic ticket. In typical House Republican fashion, they filed articles of impeachment against Kamala as Vice-President. Little good that would do as Trump is running for office despite two impeachments.
Recently, Cuomo had Allan Lichtman on his podcast trying to see how his 13 keys stacked up in this election, given there are so many new variables. Allan admitted that this is a tough one to call. He had previously questioned Biden's decision to drop out of the race as he held incumbency as an important key. While Kamala is a new candidate, she represents the current administration and the Trump campaign has gone out of its way to make her complicit with Biden, especially when it comes to border security. Lichtman rambled on too long for my taste. He hasn't come up with a prediction, but it would seem the keys favor Kamala.
Nate Silver certainly thinks so, calling her a stronger candidate than he thought. Most people are looking back to 2020 when she dropped out of the race before the first primary as she was unable to gather any momentum. They treated her vice-presidency as if she was a wallflower in the Biden administration, forgetting that she toured the country frequently and gave a number of fine speeches. She was there when Joe needed her. Being so thoroughly underestimated appears to be working to her advantage.
Still the press natters that she has yet to give a press conference. Even Trump goaded her from his faux White House setting in Mar-a-Lago. She will have to address reporters at some point but is currently taking a whirlwind tour of the country before the Democratic National Convention in ten days. She has had packed rallies and an unprecedented turn out of volunteers in battleground states, having injected so much enthusiasm into a previous moribund campaign.
I listened to a Ryan Wiggins, chairwoman of the Lincoln Project, last night on Sky News and she was positively giddy about the Kamala campaign, saying she hadn't seen this much excitement since Obama first ran for President in 2008. This is a Republican group mind you, albeit anti-Trump.
A number of high profile Republicans have voiced their support for Kamala, especially in the wake of selecting Tim Walz as Vice-President, as they feel this ticket best represents the working class. Not like Republicans have ever really championed the working class, but they have been able to steal this base of support from Democrats in recent years largely over social issues like abortion, gender identity and gay marriage. However, after numerous tax breaks going almost exclusively to the rich, this conservative working class feels duped. Harris and Walz plan to take full advantage of that dissatisfaction by taking their campaign to working class neighborhoods like they did in Michigan. Tim made sure to let them know at the UAW rally that it was Democrats, not Republicans, who joined striking UAW workers on the picket line last year.
It seems that the Republicans have finally been exposed. Years of turning former union states into "right to work" states, as they undermined unions across the country, has left many workers with a sour taste. Yet, the Teamsters for some odd reason remains undecided. Their president heaped all sorts of praise on Donald Trump at the Republican convention last month, feeling that he had sewn up the election after Biden's dismal debate performance. With much grumbling among the ranks, Sean O'Brien is now trying to save face by saying Kamala has to "must earn our backing" if she expects an endorsement. No doubt Sean would earn the scorn of Donald if he were to switch sides now.
Whether unions play a big role in a national election is an open question? The dynamics have changed considerably in the last 16 years since Obama first used social media as a large part of his campaign. Both parties try to aim for younger voters as the demographics are changing in this country. Plus, social issues like reproductive rights play a far greater role in elections than Republicans like to think. Just look at 2018, when women led a major upheaval in the House with their "pussyhat" revolution. Kamala has been able to generate this same energy in the early days of her campaign.
She is much smarter than Trump is willing to admit. Kamala is triangulating this campaign perfectly by aiming at the key demographics and giving them a radiant message of hope and promise, which pop up frequently in her speeches. "We are not going back" has become the most popular refrain from her campaign, and her fresh face has turned out to be just what the Democrats needed to focus this campaign back on the future. With Tim Walz as her Vice-President, she has made a fundamental reset, appealing to a broad section of the country.
Meanwhile, Trump airs his many grievances for all to cringe once again at how this man can't let anything go. His entire campaign is based on revenge for what he continues to promote as a "stolen election." All that anger and hate feed into a small and very vocal MAGA audience. Beyond that, it falls on deaf ears. This was made painfully the case when CNN literally turned away from his press conference to cover the Harris/Walz rally in Michigan. No one cares anymore and this may prove to be his ultimate undoing.
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