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‘Ready for anything’: Report shows Harris team prepping for more than just election night



Where Kamala Harris will spend election night could include her alma mater, Howard University, as a headquarters, with multiple speeches and a variety of other venues also in the works, according to a new report.

With two weeks to go before Election Day, preparations are underway that include plans for the vice president to spend Nov. 5 in Washington, with Howard University considered “a leading contender for Harris’ election night headquarters,” NBC News reported Tuesday. The network added that other venues, including the D.C. convention center, are also reportedly being weighed by the Harris-Walz campaign.

But it’s not just election night that the Democratic ticket is ironing out details for, with plans stretching throughout the week while the campaign – and the country – wait for an outcome to the closer-than-ever election.

ALSO READ: 'He’s mentally ill:' NY laughs ahead of Trump's Madison Square Garden rally

“Precisely what Harris says publicly and the backdrop for her remarks would depend on how Election Day and the rest of the week unfolds, the people familiar with the planning said,” according to NBC News. One of those sources told the network: “Bottom line: We have to be ready for anything.”

The article notes that the Harris-Walz campaign also has a strategy for handling the possibility of Donald Trump declaring victory before the results are final, as the former president did in 2020, with possible legal challenges being prepared.

“Harris aides are also bracing for the possibility that Trump could lose but then seek to overturn the results through the courts, this person said,” NBC News reported. Harris had “a front row seat to how the process played out when Trump lost but repeatedly claimed he won,” the article added.

President Joe Biden and Harris both delivered victory speeches from Wilmington four days after Election Day in 2020 despite Trump’s continued insistence that he won the election.

‘Total distraction’: War veteran swats away GOP strategist’s ‘bait’ during tense exchange



An Iraq War veteran flatly rejected what he felt was a deflection by a Republican strategist during a tense segment on CNN on Tuesday night.

Paul Rieckhoff joined CNN's "NewsNight" with Abby Phillip to discuss new bombshell reporting in The Atlantic that former Marine General John Kelly, who served as Donald Trump’s longest-running chief of staff, repeatedly called slain soldiers "losers."

Rieckhoff noted that amid speculation a lot of anti-Trump reports have come from dubious sources, but not this time.

"He's going on the record," said Rieckhoff of Kelly. "You're hearing his voice. He wants everybody in the world to hear his voice."

Rieckhoff finished by noting that one of the only key figures in the first Trump administration not to speak out against the former president is retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, who served as Trump's defense secretary from 2017 to 2019.

At this point, Scott Jennings, a senior political commentator who served as special assistant to former President George W. Bush, posed a question.

"What do you think of the way [President Joe] Biden and [Vice President Kamala] Harris have treated the families of the Abbey Gate soldiers?" asked Jennings.

But Rieckhoff swatted away the question.

ALSO READ: 'He’s mentally ill:' NY laughs ahead of Trump's Madison Square Garden rally

"I'm not going to go into a different topic. No-no," he said, shaking his head. As Jennings started to protest, Rieckhoff continued. "If this was your show and you want to ask me questions we can line them up but that's a total distraction."

As Jennings again tried to protest, Rieckhoff again insisted, "No-no. I'm not going to take the bait on that."

"I've been very vocal about — I've been very vocal about Abbey Gate and other issues. We're talking about one singular issue," said Rieckhoff.

The Abbey Gate terrorist bombing in August 2021 happened during the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. At least 182 people were killed, including 169 Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. service members.

Before the panel could fall off the rails, Phillip regained control — and pushed back against Jennings.

"Even if you take that as fact, you can't just address what is on the table here which is Donald Trump, his actions, his words, his character —I mean, a year ago, I kind of wonder, a year and a half ago, if you had heard ... I mean, you probably heard about some of these things — I'm not sure that you would have defended Trump on this. So why do you defend him now?"

Jennings defended his decision to bring up Abbey Gate saying there are varying opinions on the MAGA leader "up and down" the military — a statement met with pushback from Rieckhoff, who said, "Not among all the senior officials."

Jennings said the panel has been "one-sided" and forgotten the treatment of military families by the Biden administration.

His claim was again met with pushback from Phillip, who noted no one has ever accused Biden and Harris of disparaging the families of fallen soldiers.

Watch the tense discussion below or at this link.

Trump ‘revived’ an ‘old trope’ with latest racist coded language: Dem strategist



Democrats say former President Donald Trump resurrected a racist trope as he attacked Vice President Kamala Harris as "lazy" for leaving the campaign trail Tuesday.

“I was going to hit her really hard on the trail today, but now I don’t have to, because she’s off,” Trump said of his opponent. “You know why? She’s lazy as hell, and she’s got that reputation.”

Rachel Noerdlinger, a Democratic communications strategist and senior adviser to Win With Black Women, told The Washington Post that Trump's remarks were coded language aimed at undermining Harris' qualifications for the Oval Office based on her race and gender.

ALSO READ: 'He’s mentally ill:' NY laughs ahead of Trump's Madison Square Garden rally

“Trump is reviving the old trope that Black women are unqualified for jobs historically held by White men,” she said. “Not having a campaign event while you’re in the middle of also governing isn’t ‘lazy’ — making almost 300 trips to the golf course as president is.”

The Trump campaign doubled down, however, with spokesman Steven Cheung telling the Post Trump wasn't referencing Harris' race or gender.

“She is exhausted and lazy compared to the robust schedule President Trump has maintained, and has nothing to do with her race or gender,” Cheung said.

The term "lazy” has a long history of being used to demean Black people, with such stereotypes dating to the height of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, according to The National Museum of African American History and Culture.


Right-wing activist Laura Loomer sues Bill Maher over Trump affair claims: report



Right-wing activist Laura Loomer is suing HBO comedian Bill Maher over a suggestion he made that she was in a sexual relationship with Donald Trump, TMZ reported Tuesday.

Maher's remark followed commentary about the Sept. 11 conspiracy theorist traveling with Trump to several campaign events, despite not being an official part of his team.

During his Sept. 13 Real Time show, he questioned whether the two were having an affair — with Loomer hitting back with a complaint that she was defamed, TMZ reported.

Read Also: Notorious conspiracy theorist rolled out by RNC to train election overseers in Michigan

Legal documents shared with TMZ state Loomer's complaint that the claim was damaging to her reputation and was "false, malicious, and defamatory."

She denied any illicit relationship with the ex-president.

A week after the show, Trump attacked Maher on TruthSocial as a "mess" with low ratings.

Loomer seeks $150 million in damages.

Read the full report here.

GOP donation texts got 80-year-old dementia patient to blow entire life savings: report



CNN has done a deep dive into political fundraising tactics deployed by political parties to extract money from donors — and has found that Republican-aligned groups have been especially exploitative of elderly voters.

The key tool for soliciting funds by both parties has been text messages that target elderly donors.

However, CNN noted that "ultimately, some of these elderly, vulnerable consumers have unwittingly given away six-figure sums — most often to Republican candidates — making them among the country’s largest grassroots political donors."

As a case example, CNN pointed to an 80-year-old Texas voter who is suffering from dementia and who "began making online political donations over and over again — eventually telling his son he believed he was part of a network of political operatives communicating with key Republican leaders."

Over the span of just two years, wrote CNN, this man gave away "nearly half a million dollars to former President Donald Trump and other candidates." Now, the report stated, "the savings account he spent his whole life building is practically empty."

ALSO READ: 'He’s mentally ill:' NY laughs ahead of Trump's Madison Square Garden rally

If there is good news, it's that the man's son managed to get just over $150,000 of the money he donated to right-wing platform WinRed refunded, although that total represents just a fraction of the man's overall contributions.

The CNN report noted that while both Republicans and Democrats have used these kinds of tactics to extract money from elderly donors, the GOP has embraced such spam texts much more wholeheartedly.

"Mainstream Republican candidates have only doubled down on this strategy, using more aggressive and predatory tactics than those used by Democrats, according to donor complaints, interviews with experts and a review of solicitations," the report noted. "The Republican fundraising machine has been subject to more than 800 complaints to the Federal Trade Commission since 2022 — nearly seven times more than the number of complaints lodged against the other side."

‘Good one!’ Trump ally chuckles as Dem strategist cracks McDonald’s stunt jokes



Democratic strategist David Axelrod tore into former President Donald Trump on CNN for his refusal to commit to raising the minimum wage — and cracked a joke about Trump's recent McDonald's photo-op that even made his pro-Trump counterpart on the panel, David Urban, chuckle.

Trump's McDonald's stunt was part of his ongoing obsession with an unsupported theory that Vice President Kamala Harris fabricated her work at a McDonald's between college semesters — and yet, Axelrod noted, he hasn't actually proposed any economic policies for the wellbeing of people who actually work there for a living.

"Trump won't commit there to increasing minimum wage, Harris will," said anchor Sara Sidner. "David Axelrod, how much might this issue matter to voters and others? Probably, I think it's around 1.3 million people who make at or below minimum wage according to the Bureau of [Labor] Statistics; how much does this matter?"

"Of course, you raise minimum wage and other wages rise as well," noted Axelrod. "Listen, this is a matter of concern to and support for people across the country. There is broad support for raising the minimum wage. But it goes to the larger battle here about the economy."

ALSO READ: 'He’s mentally ill:' NY laughs ahead of Trump's Madison Square Garden rally

"Donald Trump would like to run on the issue of the economy, and he has some advantages on the issue of the economy," Axelrod continued.

"But what Kamala Harris is trying to do strategically is ask the question, who's going to fight for you in the economy? And it's very much much geared at working-class people and people who are aspiring to become middle class. And so the minimum wage becomes a very, very important issue. And it was interesting that Trump didn't answer. He really more appropriately belongs at Burger King, because of the Whoppers, man."

Urban cracked up at this remark. "He's been saving that, it's a good one!"

Watch the video below or at the link here.

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