Travesty, or Troll?

Donald Trump’s comments at a black journalists’ gathering have been swiftly condemned—but progressives seem unaware of how they are overplaying their hand.

Given the relentless pace of political news these days, you may have already forgotten the furor over Donald Trump’s comments at the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago last week. So here’s a quick reminder. “She was Indian all the way,” he said of Kamala Harris, “and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she became a black person.”

The audience greeted Trump, who obviously knew he was kicking a hornet’s nest, with “gasps and jeers.” A little later at the White House, Biden administration press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the comments “repulsive” and “insulting.” The New York Times went with “shocking.” On the MSNBC website, two professors huffed that Trump was demonstrating his “ignorance,” since race, as every college grad knows, is “socially constructed.” The verdict, from Democrats as well as many Republicans, was that the encounter was a disaster for the Trump campaign.

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Inside the Maga mind: Trump’s most dedicated fans explain their fervor

They are the Maga masses – ordinary people for whom Donald Trump represents hope, not fear, and whose lives have been changed by the Trump era.

Some drive thousands of miles, seeing parts of the US they might never otherwise see, to attend the former US president’s campaign rallies, often camping outside for days to ensure they get a front-row seat. The rallies provide music, politics and a sense of belonging unlike anything else that society offers them.

Others sell “Make America great again” merchandise. An entire cottage industry has grown up around quirky, witty or insulting bobbleheads, hats, mugs, T-shirts and other paraphernalia. Within hours of Trump surviving an attempted assassination at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the indelible image of him standing defiant, face bloodied and fist raised, was available on T-shirts.

The Guardian takes a stab at understanding MAGA.

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Trump agrees to debate Kamala Harris on Fox News

Former President Trump announced Friday night that he has agreed to Fox News’ proposal for a debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump said the debate would be held on Sept. 4 in Pennsylvania, although the location of the event has not yet been determined.

The former president also noted that an ABC News debate previously scheduled against President Biden before he suspended his re-election campaign had been canceled, citing his lawsuit against that network and one of its hosts, George Stephanopoulos.

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Why I Like Donald Trump

I come to praise Donald Trump, not to disparage him. So be it if I burn a few bridges of the very few I seem to have left. Nor will this defence of former President Trump be directed at those who would vote for an embalmed mummy (or worse, Joe Biden, or worse again, Kamala Harris) before they voted for Donald Trump. Such voters see a world very different to the one I see and nothing I or anyone else says will make a whit of difference to how they vote.

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Trump questions whether rival Harris is black – at black journalists’ event

Donald Trump questioned whether Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival, was black during a contentious appearance at the largest annual US gathering of black journalists on Wednesday.

“Is she Indian or is she black?” Trump said of his opponent, drawing a smattering of jeers. “She was Indian all the way, and all of a sudden she made a turn and became a black person.”

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Has Donald Trump caused a vibe shift?

For the past decade, the basic lines of conflict in American public life seemed clear. Donald Trump was pitted against the establishment, the “basket of deplorables” who supported him against the elites. The reality was more complicated. Yes, plenty of rich and powerful Americans supported Trump and plenty of poorer Americans on the fringes of society were against him. But in a certain section of society the disdain for Trump was unequivocal. Among the country’s elite — at Harvard and Stanford, at Google and Goldman, near the beaches of the Hamptons and the mountains around Aspen — anyone who defied the anti-Trump consensus could expect swift consequences for their social standing.

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Donald Trump agrees to FBI victim interview about shooting

Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the FBI in its investigation of his attempted assassination, as it emerged a sniper spotted the gunman more than 90 minutes before the shooting.

The former president suffered an injury to the ear when Thomas Crooks opened fire from a rooftop at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

Special agent Kevin Rojek, who is in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, confirmed on Monday that Trump would participate in a “standard victim interview”.

They must want a second shot at him.

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Trump’s Teddy Roosevelt Moment

Several commentators have compared the recent assassination attempt on candidate and former president Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, to the attempted assassination of candidate and former president Theodore Roosevelt in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the 1912 presidential election campaign. Trump was shot by a 20-year-old man in his right ear while giving a speech at a campaign rally just a few days before he was scheduled to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president in Milwaukee. Roosevelt, who was running as the Progressive Party (or Bull Moose Party) candidate, was shot in the chest while acknowledging a crowd of supporters on his way to give a campaign speech in Milwaukee by a 36-year-old German-American bar owner named John Schrank. Trump’s would-be assassin was killed by a Secret Service sniper. Schrank was arrested, pleaded guilty, determined to be insane, and committed to hospitals for the criminally insane. He died in one of them in 1943.

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Three ways Trump is trying to end the Harris honeymoon

At a moment of unprecedented turbulence in modern American political history, Kamala Harris is having a remarkably smooth ride. It may not last long.

Tony Fabrizio, Donald Trump’s campaign pollster, calls it a “Harris Honeymoon” – where a combination of good press and positive energy have combined to give the Democrat a surge of momentum.

The thing about honeymoons, of course, is that they come to an end. The realities of married life, or in this case the relationship between Ms Harris and the American voting public, has a way of reasserting itself.

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Trump plans to stop holding outdoor rallies after assassination attempt … Deep State hardest hit

Former President Donald Trump plans to stop holding outdoor rallies like the one where he was shot during an assassination attempt this month in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to two sources familiar with his campaign’s operations.

The sources said current plans are to hold indoor rallies, but they also said it’s possible Trump will participate in smaller outdoor events or larger rallies in facilities where entrances are more fully controlled and there are not issues with high ground nearby, like stadiums.

h/t DS

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Trump reveals even more about the assassination attempt in FOX News Watters interview

More from the first television interview with Donald Trump since the attempted assassination attempt on July 13, recorded one week later in Grand Rapids, Michigan, took up a significant part of Watters World on the FOX News channel last evening. The first sections are here and here.

Among the segments was Trump’s further recollections about being wounded by gunfire. Jesse Watters’ interview with the former president also included Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance.

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Trump and JD Vance accuse Dems of leading ‘coup’ against Biden, call to ‘invoke the 25th Amendment’

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance slammed the Democratic party for leading a “coup” against President Biden — with the Ohio Sen. saying if Biden isn’t fit to run for president he shouldn’t be able to carry out the rest of his term.

The GOP ticket commented on Biden’s seemingly declining condition and the news that he would not be running for re-election in a clip that aired Monday morning on Fox News, telling “Primetime” host Jesse Watters that Biden shouldn’t get to step down in a way that is only beneficial to his party.

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Trump claims Biden ‘never had COVID’, says ‘if he can’t run for office, he can’t run our country’

Donald Trump claimed that Joe Biden’s positive COVID test was phony, demanded he resign and issued an ultimatum to likely new opponent Kamala Harris.

Biden, 81, made the announcement in shocking fashion, simply posting a digitally-signed letter to his social media accounts Sunday afternoon.

Trump made a series of posts to his Truth Social account attempting to destroy the narrative around Biden’s decision, including the positive COVID-19 test that left the president at home the past few days.

Was Jill Biden President?

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