President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president, John Nance Garner isn’t known for much, beyond his opinion of the office of the vice president, which he described as being “not worth a bucket of warm piss” (or “spit” depending on who’s telling the story). So today, we’ll focus our attention on the two fellows looking to carry that bucket for their bosses.

September 27, 2024

All the News That’s Fit to Print?

I mentioned a week or two ago that the campaign of former President Donald Trump was dealing with a hacking situation. It turns out that one of the things that was acquired by the hackers was the vetting dossier on running mate Senator J.D. Vance. That dossier (around 300 pages long!) has been released to the public by journalist Ken Klippenstein. Interestingly, some of the biggest news organizations (The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN) have refused to print anything from the leaked document. Other news orgs are “lightly” reporting on the situation, but with the main focus being on Elon Musk shutting down Klippenstein’s eX-Twitter account in response. It should also be noted that this is in stark contrast to all of the primary news orgs publishing everything they could from 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails.

The biggest thing to know about what’s in the dossier is that it’s not terribly shocking. The majority of it focuses on bad things that Vance has said over the past 8 years about Trump. With friends like these, right? Aside from that, there’s some discussion on Vance’s inconsistencies with various issues, and his associations with fringe, right-wing figures, like Alex Jones. LINK

That’s Up for Debate

Speaking of Vance, next week, he and his counterpart, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are set to have their one and only debate in New York City. It will air on Tuesday, October 1, at 9 P.M. (Eastern) on CBS. As most vice president candidates are expected to do in this day and age, both men have been serving largely as attack dogs for the folks at the top of their tickets. Walz gets credit for referring to both Trump and Vance as “weird” prior to being chosen as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, and continues to hit on this note. Vance has gone after his opponent’s military service history, and referring to Walz’s policies as “radical leftist”.

Interestingly, both men (superficially) have a lot in common:

• From the midwest: Vance – Ohio / Walz – Nebraska
• Served in the military: Vance – Marines, 4 years / Walz – Army Nat’l Guard, 24 years
• Experience in the federal legislature: Vance – Senator since 2023, Walz – House of Representatives 2007-2019
• And, somewhat ironically, both have a history of criticizing Donald Trump: Vance – called Trump “reprehensible” and “America’s Hitler”, and Walz – called Trump (and Vance) “weird”

Both men have been practicing heavily in preparation for Tuesday’s bout, which as of now is the last scheduled debate before the election on November 5. Trump has refused another debate with Harris, despite her continuing to needle him after his poor performance earlier this month. LINK

Keeping Up With Appearances

While their running mates are prepping for Tuesday, the folks at the top of the tickets haven’t been idle.

This afternoon, Harris is making her first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border since being selected as the Democratic presidential nominee. (As an aside, it should be noted that Harris was never appointed as anything like a “border czar”, as repeatedly claimed by Trump; in 2021, President Joe Biden asked her to work diplomatically with countries in South and Central America on lessening the causes of migration to the U.S.) At today’s visit to Douglas, Arizona, she is expected to call for tougher border security measures, and stressing the need for more resources for Border Patrol agents.

Trump, for his part, has also been dealing with international relations, having met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York this morning. During his remarks, the former president complained about his 2019 impeachment, and stated that if he were re-elected, he would work to end the Russia-Ukraine war with a deal “that’s good for both sides”. Trump refused to describe any details regarding what a fair deal would involve, though.

LINK