Saturday, August 31, 2024. Annette’s News Roundup.
The interview.
More responses. These are more appropriate.
Anybody who watched CNN interview saw @KamalaHarris was the principal in charge. This stuff about her looking weak, needing her male VP as a crutch, is sexist bullshit for partisan purposes. She used this big moment to introduce Walz to America. Makes me like her that much more.
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) August 30, 2024
Harris and Walz interview last night drew 6 million viewers to CNN, more than Fox News and MSNBC combined, and CNN's largest 9 pm audience since Biden's inauguration! Trump must REALLY be steaming! 😂🤣
— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) August 30, 2024
womp womp.
Our candidates.
The Harris campaign announced that it is planning a bus tour focused on abortion rights. The first stop will feature Senator @amyklobuchar and is taking place on Tuesday, September 2, in Palm Beach, FL, where Trump lives. The campaign said the tour would make at least 50 stops during the fall. (New York Times)
Another day with an unserious person.
Want Fries with that Coffee Table Book?
Trump’s new merchandise aims to milk the public for $99 or $499 with a signature. It also provides him with another chance to rant and threaten.
New Trump book defends 2018 Putin meeting, taunts rivals and threatens to imprison Meta's Mark Zuckerberg.
NEW YORK (AP) — In a new book, former President Donald Trump calls his 2018 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki “a GREAT meeting” and threatens to imprison Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg if the tech mogul does anything this year akin to his $400 million donation to local election offices in 2020.
The book, entitled “Save America,” is a collection of pictures, anecdotes and reminiscences from Trump’s presidential campaigns and term in office. In it, Trump defended his widely criticized Helsinki meeting with Putin, in which Trump said he gave equal weight to the Russian president’s claims not to have interfered in the 2020 presidential election as to the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies.
“This was a very complicated day,” Trump writes underneath a photo from the summit press conference. “I had a GREAT meeting with President Putin of Russia, which was acknowledged by everyone. Then the Fake News started spreading False Stories.”
Trump’s statement that day drew immediate rebukes back home. His own national intelligence director responded by saying agencies found clear evidence that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election and was involved in “pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy.”
Trump’s third coffee table book includes pictures of him with sports greats such as golfers Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, and world leaders such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Germany’s former chancellor, Angela Merkel. It also features pictures of the large crowds that he likes to boast of that gathered in Washington, D.C., to hear his fiery speech that preceded the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The book is scheduled to be released Sept. 3, and The Associated Press obtained excerpts on Thursday. It is one of a number of commercial ventures the former president has launched that include a special pair of sneakers, an edition of the Bible and digital trading cards. “Save America” will sell for $99 with a signed copy going for $499.
It also contains a lengthy reflection about Trump’s brush with death during the assassination attempt on the former president on July 13 during a rally in Pennsylvania: “There was blood pouring everywhere,” Trump writes under a photo of his bloodied face, “and yet, in a certain way, I felt very safe, because I had God on my side.”
The book also features a more traditionally combative Trump, as shown in his captioning of a photo of him meeting with Zuckerberg in the White House.
“He would bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT,” Trump writes, referring to the more than $400 million that Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg, donated to election offices in 2020.
Those gifts flowed disproportionately to Democratic-leaning counties in some states, partly because conservative politicians rejected the donations as Trump warned against funding election offices so they could encourage voting by mail during the coronavirus pandemic. The former president and his supporters have repeatedly blamed the Zuckerberg donations for contributing to his loss in 2020.
“We are watching him closely,” Trump wrote to conclude his section on Zuckerberg, “and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
Meta, as Zuckerberg has renamed his company, had no comment on the book Thursday. Zuckerberg praised Trump’s defiant fist-waving after the assassination attempt and in a letter to Congress this week said the Biden administration pressured Facebook to remove misinformation about COVID-19 during the pandemic.
Trump also tweaks some of his rivals in the book, including Liz Cheney, the former congresswoman from Wyoming who sharply criticized Trump’s behavior on Jan. 6 and was ousted by a Trump-backed challenger during the 2022 primary. A photo shows Cheney smiling with Trump in the White House and includes a note from Trump saying she used to ask him for “‘baskets of goodies. Ultimately I said ‘NO.”’”
The most significant part of the book may be Trump’s musings on foreign leaders. Trump has repeatedly praised authoritarians such as Xi Jinping and Putin while criticizing longtime U.S. allies, including NATO and the European Union. On Putin, Trump noted that Russia took land under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as President Joe Biden, but not during his term.
“Vladimir is a strong man,” Trump wrote, “but we had an understanding and we got along well.”
That approach exposed Trump to strong criticism during his presidency, especially during the Helsinki summit, when federal prosecutors had just indicted a dozen members of Russia’s GRU for interfering in the 2016 election by damaging Trump’s opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. At the time, Trump lumped the European Union with Russia and China as the U.S.’ geopolitical rivals.
At the news conference following Trump and Putin’s two-hour meeting, during which each leader was accompanied only by a translator, Trump equivocated on whether Russia had even interfered in his 2016 victory.
“I have great confidence in my intelligence people,” Trump said, “but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” (Associated Press)
Flipping and Flopping.
Imagine being Donald Trump’s handlers.
What Trump said about an Abortion Ban and Why His Campaign Walked It Back.
Donald Trump’s campaign walked back his apparent endorsement of a referendum that would have expanded abortion access in Florida on Thursday after condemnation from a top pro-life group, underscoring the difficulty the Republican presidential nominee faces navigating a key issue that threatens to alienate him from critical female and moderate voters.
Trump in an interview Thursday with NBC News was asked about a referendum in his home state of Florida that would expand abortion access in the state, which is currently limited to the first six weeks of a pregnancy. He made the comment ahead of a rally in Michigan in which he announced he intended to mandate the federal government or insurance companies cover the entire costs of in vitro fertilization.
“I think the six-week is too short, there has to be more time,” Trump said. Asked how he would vote on the measure, Trump added that he was “going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.”
But Trump’s remarks quickly stirred confusion and anger by evangelical allies critical to his decade-long hold over the Republican Party. Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group, issued a statement saying that voting for the Florida amendment “completely undermines” Trump’s stated opposition to abortions after five months of pregnancy. (Time).
There is this too. 👇 His anti-abortionist cultists must be pulling their hair out.
POTTERVILLE, Mich. — Former President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News Thursday that if elected, his administration would not only protect access to in vitro fertilization, but would have either the government or insurance companies cover the cost of the expensive service for American women who need it.
"We are going to be, under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment," Trump said, before adding, "We're going to be mandating that the insurance company pay."
Asked to clarify whether the government would pay for IVF services or whether insurance companies would do so, Trump reiterated that one option would be to have insurance companies pay "under a mandate, yes."
Reproductive rights have been a political liability for the GOP, as Democrats have warned that Republican-led restrictions on abortion could lead to limitations on IVF as well. In the interview, Trump said on abortion policy that "exceptions are very important for me," later adding, "I believe in exceptions for life of the mother ... incest, rape."
Trump’s IVF proposal could also put him at odds with anti-abortion advocates who oppose certain parts of the process that involve discarding unused embryos. (NBC News).
Always remember Trump’s boast.
I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” Trump posted on Truth Social last year, “and for the first time put the Pro Life movement in a strong negotiating position.… Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to.”
Latorya Beasley, an Alabama mother whose I.V.F. treatments were halted after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled this year that embryos must be considered children, will participate in a bus tour organized by the Harris campaign that is aimed at drawing attention to Donald J. Trump’s record as president on reproductive rights. Beasley was a guest of the first lady, Jill Biden, during President Biden’s State of the Union speech in March. Next week, the campaign is sending her to North Carolina and Georgia. (New York Times)
Getting to the Finish Line.
Keep in mind each state has idiosyncratic deadlines and rules.
Learn them. Share them.
Sample. IDs in North Carolina. 👇
When heading out to vote, don’t forget to bring your ID! Free photo ID cards are available from the DMV + county board of elections. For a full list of accepted IDs, go to https://t.co/2eIHP9J1Mq or reach out to our voter hotline via phone or text at 1-833-VOTE4NC.
— Kamala for NC (@KamalaforNC) August 29, 2024
🎨:… pic.twitter.com/PHJ172FJzi
sample. We need to win PA.
New: Harris campaign opens 50th Pennsylvania office, aims to cut Trump’s advantage in rural counties https://t.co/sX2tShOoPD
— Josh Marcus-Blank (@jmarcusblank) August 30, 2024
🚨BREAKING: In a MAJOR ruling, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court holds rule against counting undated/misdated mail ballots violates the PA constitution.
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) August 30, 2024
A stunning loss for the Republican Party and a big victory for the voters of Pennsylvania.https://t.co/wXoQCvbaTz
Want to volunteer? Pick a zip code and phone bank.
https://go.kamalaharris.com/?utm_source=hfp_w_kh_menu&us_state=pa&us_zip=19003
Your Daily Reminder
Trump is a convicted felon.
On May 30th, he was found guilty on 34 felony counts by the unanimous vote of 12 ordinary citizens.
The Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump was scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. He will now be sentenced sometime around September 18th.
Congrats, Evangelicals!
— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) August 30, 2024
Now you support a lying, serial adulterer, adjudicated rapist, convicted felon, now with more pro-choice!
He believes in NOTHING.pic.twitter.com/ooTJ3t2Ghi
With so much happening, heed this too. 👇
Go, Team America.
So proud of the talented athletes representing @TeamUSA at the @Paralympics! I'll be cheering them on and hope you will, too. pic.twitter.com/SWsOld0atQ
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 29, 2024
One more piece of little known history.
From former New York Times food critic, Ruth Reichl.
Last night, along with a long list of familiar food folks, I participated in Cooking For Kamela. Because no matter where our politics may fall, people who care deeply about food can’t help being excited by the prospect of having a serious cook occupying the highest office in the land.
But it turns out that Kamela is not the first presidential cook. The last person who wore an apron in the oval office is rather surprising: Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ike might have been the General who issued a warning about the military-industrial complex, but in a time when real men wore no aprons, he did all the family cooking.
This following is from Ike The Cook, a book I recently found on my bookshelf. (If you yearn to own one, you can find it here.)
Here's the President at Camp David, making breakfast for the staff. What I like best about this picture is that Ike is using his apron as a potholder, which lets you know how truly comfortable he was in the kitchen.
Turns out that Ike didn't just stick to the stove; he was also a rancher and gardener. Here's Mamie in the corn.
A few of Ike's no-nonsense recipes:
(Ruth Reichl. La Briffe)