The (no longer) much too early 2024 election thread

[N.E. Brigand]

In front of a live audience of Trump supporters, probably the best way to keep him from getting away with lying for two hours is to bully him and make him look small.

But what reporter would do that?

Edited to add: While I am skeptical that Kara Swisher herself would take this approach or succeed at it if she did, I agree with her suggestions here, starting with her first recommendation: "You need to top Trump early and often, despite accusations of being unfair."

[Dave_LF]

Of course it was not known in advance when the verdict would be but I don't think that makes CNN any less irresponsible.

They surely knew it was a possibility. I'm not buying these "serious miscalculation" or "cynical ploy for ratings" takes. This was CNN, or Licht at the very least, announcing that they've joined the insurgency. When people tell you who they are, believe them.

[N.E. Brigand]

Wow, I hadn't heard that Trump last night called for the U.S. to default on its debt.

[N.E. Brigand]

One sliver of good news: while more people CNN than either Fox or MSNBC last night, there weren't nearly as many as those who watched Trump on CNN in 2015-2016.

[Dave_LF]

I'm not buying these "serious miscalculation" or "cynical ploy for ratings" takes. This was CNN, or Licht at the very least, announcing that they've joined the insurgency. When people tell you who they are, believe them.

CNN reportedly in talks to bring Tucker Carlson on board:

[RoseMorninStar]

Oh please no.

[Dave_LF]

Are we really, really sure this guy isn't just an android running ChatGPT?

[N.E. Brigand]

Are we really, really sure this guy isn't just an android running ChatGPT?

To be fair to DeSantis, these 2016 GIFs of Hillary Clinton -- both of which are real unmanipulated video -- have been shared countless times as "proof" that she is mentally unwell:



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Back to DeSantis: just after Donald Trump's appearance on CNN, a pro-DeSantis PAC tweeted the following:



Now the PAC believes they made a big mistake doing so. Benjy Sarlin notes: "The blowback over a single critical tweet gets to a much deeper issue for the 2024 GOP field: How do you attack Trump without sounding like a Democrat to Republicans??"

[N.E. Brigand]

No big surprise here but good to have confirmation.

Asked about this announcement later in the day, Senator Feinstein said, "I haven’t made that decision. I haven't released anything."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, returned to the Senate last week after having been out for nearly two months recovering from shingles. Today she was asked about her time away, and she appeared not to remember that she had been out.

[N.E. Brigand]

For the first time since 1991, the mayoral race in Jacksonville, Florida today was won by a Democrat, Donna Deegan. She'll also be the first female mayor of the country's 12th largest city. (I didn't realize Jacksonville had so many people: 954,000.) Jacksonville had been the largest U.S. city with a Republican mayor (Fort Worth, Texas will move into that slot.) Deegan was outspent by her Republican opponent, Daniel Davis, by a four-to-one margin.

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump said in an interview tonight: "I'm the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade."

[N.E. Brigand]

The Republican mayoral candidate for Colorado Springs, Wayne Williams, also lost tonight. The winner there is an independent, Yemi Moboblade.

Moboblade, a Nigerian immigrant, is the first Black man elected to be the city's mayor, and the first mayor not to be a Republican -- excepting a few months in 1997 -- since I don't know when: Wikipedia doesn't give the party affiliation for Larry Ochs, who was mayor in the late 1970s, and doesn't even have pages for prior mayors. The exception I reference came about because Robert Isaac retired early from the mayorship in 1997 (during his fifth term), and the then-deputy mayor, Leon Young, a Democrat, became the city's first Black leader for a few months until a special election was held to replace Isaac (in which one Republican defeated another).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

More positive news (if you are a Democrat).

[River]

The Republican mayoral candidate for Colorado Springs, Wayne Williams, also lost tonight. The winner there is an independent, Yemi Moboblade.

Moboblade, a Nigerian immigrant, is the first Black man elected to be the city's mayor, and the first mayor not to be a Republican -- excepting a few months in 1997 -- since I don't know when: Wikipedia doesn't give the party affiliation for Larry Ochs, who was mayor in the late 1970s, and doesn't even have pages for prior mayors. The exception I reference came about because Robert Isaac retired early from the mayorship in 1997 (during his fifth term), and the then-deputy mayor, Leon Young, a Democrat, became the city's first Black leader for a few months until a special election was held to replace Isaac (in which one Republican defeated another).

The Springs and El Paso County are the great political counterweights to Boulder and Boulder County. This is a huge flip. Apparently part of what he campaigned on was affordable housing and building more of it. This has got some voices on Twitter freaking out about lowering property values, though I'm not sure those voices actually live in Colorado or, more specifically, the Front Range. If they did, they'd be aware that our property values have sky-rocketed, we're in collective sticker shock over the tax assessments (mine went up ~40% and I got off lucky; one of my coworkers saw his DOUBLE), and policies that lower property values wouldn't actually be a bad thing for us at this juncture.

I've also seen some breathless reportage about how Colorado Springs is practically at Boebert's doorstep. That's kinda silly. Boebert makes a lot of noise and gets a lot of national attention but there are ten House Reps out of CO and Boebert's not the only Republican to hold one of those seats. She's not even the most popular Republican to hold one of those seats, considering how close she came to losing in a safe district. Colorado Springs is actually in Doug Lamborn's district, another safe R seat that Lamborn has held since 2007. Though I'm wondering how safe it still is, given what just happened in his district's population center...

ETA: Should be noted that the GOP candidate was a former CO SoS and considered to be what we used to call mainstream GOP (in other words, he wasn't into Trump's schtick). Trump stank the GOP brand up real good in Colorado.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Hi River!

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump said in an interview tonight: "I'm the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade."

As President Biden has pointed out, Donald Trump repeated this statement today in a post to his social media network, adding "Without me, there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to." President Biden made a point to called this out today.

It's depressing reading the replies to prominent tweets, like President Biden's, now that Twitter gives priority to the blue-checked fans of Elon Musk. You have to scroll and scroll and scroll to find any intelligent responses.

[Frelga]

The Feinstein situation is tragic. There really needs to be an age limit or term limit to prevent Congress members from mummifying in place.

It's depressing reading the replies to prominent tweets, like President Biden's, now that Twitter gives priority to the blue-checked fans of Elon Musk. You have to scroll and scroll and scroll to find any intelligent responses.

Blocking blue checks is a relaxing activity, though, like popping bubble wrap. And they are conveniently at the top.

[N.E. Brigand]

It's depressing reading the replies to prominent tweets, like President Biden's, now that Twitter gives priority to the blue-checked fans of Elon Musk. You have to scroll and scroll and scroll to find any intelligent responses.

Blocking blue checks is a relaxing activity, though, like popping bubble wrap. And they are conveniently at the top.

Ah, but I don't have a Twitter account. I read tweets just as I might look at any other website and thus I have to take them as presented.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No. 2 Senate Republican to endorse Tim Scott for president

[N.E. Brigand]

A new article in Politico has this headline: "Oops: Campaign ads keep using foreign footage."

But as others have noted, all five examples in the article come from Republicans: the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign (weirdly, this footage, supposedly showing the U.S., was actually filmed in Ukraine); a PAC supporting Virginia's governor, Glenn Youngkin (in anticipation of a presidential run?); the 2024 U.S. Senate campaign of Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana; a House Republican ad released last year for the 2022 midterm elections; and a pro-Trump PAC's ads from 2020.

So Politico's headline is misleading both-sides garbage.