October 2, 2024
It’s All Downhill From Here
What is likely to be the final debate for the 2024 presidential election is now in the books. Last night, running mates Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz faced off in a significantly more civil debate than the previous clashes between their bosses (former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, respectively), or between Trump and President Joe Biden back in July. There were quite a few moments where both men granted that their opponent had a good point, and there were true moments of “debate” between the two, harkening back to electoral debates of the pre-Trump era.
Snap opinion polls from CBS and CNN after the debate was over showed a pretty even split over who “won” the debate. Generally speaking, Vance was a much smoother, slicker talker than Walz, giving a polish to a number of GOP talking points, most notably on immigration. Walz, on the other hand, definitely showed some nervousness and stumbled over an answer or two — particularly in giving a bit of a clumsy answer about a misstatement he had made about being in China during the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989. That said, Vance did have a stumbling block or two of his own, most significantly in his claim that Trump “peacefully gave over power on January the 20th” and that the greater danger to democracy was censoring misinformation on Facebook than protestors storming the Capitol on January 6th. Walz definitely made hay with criticizing him for his “non-answer” on that. Making less of a splash was a moment earlier in the debate when Vance called out moderator Margaret Brennan for fact-checking him. (Ed. note: Generally, one doesn’t need to call out being fact-checked unless one is telling …”non-facts”.)
Overall, both men did their duty as well as can be expected, but probably neither one’s performance will move the needle much. That said, the biggest effect is that Vance probably helped himself more for another future run for a higher office, rather than doing much for his boss’s chances this time around by putting a mass media-friendly spit polish on MAGA-aligned policies.
Trump Calls Off “60 Minutes”
In what has become a presidential election year tradition, venerable CBS news program 60 Minutes has a special episode before the election in which both candidates sit down for one-on-one interviews with the show’s correspondents. It’s not a debate, as the interviews are filmed separately, but still gives the candidates a chance to address issues on a substantive level in front of a wide television audience. This year’s special is due to air on Monday at 8 P.M. ET. However, the Trump campaign has announced today that he “decided not to participate” in the show.
The ex-president was set to be interviewed by Scott Pelley, who will reportedly address the development Monday. The news program is still planning to air the Harris portion of the show, and that the invitation to Trump remains open. A Trump campaign spokesperson claims that nothing was “ever scheduled or locked in”, and that the show “insisted on doing live fact-checking, which is unprecedented.” It should be noted that Trump has had a bad relationship with 60 Minutes since walking out early on an interview with Lesley Stahl back in 2020.
Harris Backs Striking Port Workers
Tens of thousands of workers at ports all along the eastern seaboard called for a strike yesterday, after the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) and the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) failed to reach a new labor agreement. Vice President Harris today voiced her support for the striking workers, stating that the Longshoremen “deserve a fair share of [USMX’s] record profits.”
Harris also pivoted her support into a needle towards her opponent, stating that he “wants to pull us back to a time before workers had the freedom to organize,” and that he cares more about skyscraper owners than the workers who built them. President Biden has also called for the striking workers to get an increase in wages.
The strike has the potential to cause severe supply chain issues for as long as it’s in effect, and could cost as much as $5 billion per day until resolved.
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