The Vice-Presidential debate took place four days ago. In many ways it was like a time machine took us back to the politics we used to have: A debate that was primarily about policy rather than personal attacks, and where the candidates often had complimentary things to say about one another.
But in other ways it was a reminder of what our politics have become. Vanity Fair’s headline perhaps put it best: “JD Vance Won The Debate–If You Ignore The Facts”. Vance was, as one might expect from a Yale Law grad, a very accomplished debater. The problem is, he painted a world in which Trump peacefully transferred power on January 20th without fuss; in which the real threat to democracy was the Biden Administration’s efforts to stop the spread of misinformation on social media about COVID-19; in which Trump saved Obamacare; and in which illegal immigration is a major driver of the housing crisis. (As somebody tweeted: “Love the idea of immigrants crossing the border and immediately outbidding a white couple for a 3 bed/2 bath in suburban Virginia.”) Perhaps the most memorable line of the debate was Vance’s retort to a rare interjection from the moderator: “The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact check.”
Vance may have won the debate, but narrowly if so; and life rapidly moved on.
The next morning, Judge Chutkan released a redacted version of Special Counsel Smith’s 165-page brief on how the SCOTUS presidential immunity framework from Trump v. U.S. ought to, in the government’s view, impact proceedings in U.S. v. Trump (Jan 6th edition). The redactions were surprisingly modest, basically just replacing names with numbered codes for co-conspirators (CC), other persons (P), and companies (C); however in most cases it is pretty clear who or what the codes represent.
The day after that, former co-chair of the Jan 6th Committee Liz Cheney campaigned with Vice-President Harris in the Wisconsin town of Ripon (in which the Republican Party was first formed in the early 1850s), under signs reading “Country Before Party”.
Earlier in the week Hurricane Helene wrecked devastation in Florida, Georgia, and especially western North Carolina. As of today the death toll is up to 227, making Helene the deadliest storm in the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. And just today it appears that another storm, Milton, could strike Florida on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane. The political ramifications of these storms in swing states remain unclear.
Port workers struck in midweek, and there were concerns this strike could create severe havoc leading up to the election; however, the strike was settled fairly quickly, and without President Biden having to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act.
Today Trump returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of the July assassination attempt, without incident. And in other assassination attempt news that I had missed last week: The federal case against the man who was hiding in the bushes outside Trump’s golf course allegedly seeking to kill him was randomly assigned to, of all people, Judge Cannon. I wonder how fast she’ll move that case along.
Nothing has changed this week in the polls’ assessment of the race; today Silver’s model is at 56.1% for Harris, on a national vote share of +2.7%, virtually unchanged from last week.