August 16, 2024

• The biggest news of the past 24 hours was former President Trump holding another press conference. Despite the Bedminster speech being billed as one that would focus on the economy — and similarly to his one in Mar-a-Lago last week — it ended up mostly consisting of him giving a free-wheeling, rambling speech that “veered off topic, weighing in on windmills killing birds [and] repeatedly falsely claiming [Vice President Kamala] Harris is a communist”. He also defended his continued use of personal attacks, stating that he’s “entitled” to them, and claimed that the Presidential Medal of Freedom was “actually much better” than the Congressional Medal of Honor, because the latter goes to soldiers who, in his words, are “either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.” LINK / LINK
• For her part, Harris gave a campaign speech in Maryland yesterday where she stated that she would make an effort at giving families with newborn babies a $6,000 tax credit their first year. (Senator JD Vance has floated a similar proposal, at $5,000 per child.) She is also set to propose tax cuts for middle-class Americans as part of a broader economic policy rollout. This is all part of a proposal to restore or extend parts of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which largely expired in 2021. Attempts at reviving it thus far have been blocked by Senate Republicans. LINK
• Details for both presidential and vice presidential debates have begun to be nailed down:
  • Harris and Trump will face each other in Philadelphia on ABC on September 10. There’s a chance there may be another debate in October, probably hosted by NBC, but it largely depends on how things go on the 10th.
  • VP contenders Governor Tim Walz and Senator J.D. Vance will face each other on October 1 on CBS. Vance had attempted to get a second debate on September 18 on CNN, but the Harris/Walz put the kibosh on that. This is due to potentially be the most anticipated VP debate since Sarah Palin/Joe Biden in 2008. LINK