Democrats denounce statements at Trump NYC rally
Freedom Caucus head backs off new GOP elector scheme
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for October 28, 2024:
Courts continue to block late voter purges.
Trump hints at ‘secret’ plan for U.S. House.
Arlington cemetery report almost entirely redacted.
THIS WEEK. The last full campaign week before Election Day is here. Vice President Harris will speak Tuesday night in D.C.
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. Democrats probably never imagined that Donald Trump's big campaign rally on Sunday in New York would give them all sorts of video highlights to use in their final week of campaign work. But that’s what happened in Manhattan, as Trump’s warm-up acts made a series of offensive remarks and insulted various groups in blunt terms.
WARM-UP. One speaker called Vice President Kamala Harris the 'devil' and the 'anti-Christ.' A New York radio host went on stage and called Hillary Clinton a 'sick son of a bitch.' Then comedian Tony Hinchcliffe insulted all sorts of people. "There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now," said Hinchcliffe. "I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
TIMING. I kid you not - those remarks from Hinchcliffe came just as Vice President Kamala Harris was visiting a Puerto Rican restaurant in north Philadelphia, after releasing plans to find ways to boost the island’s economy. "I’ve always fought for the people of Puerto Rico,” Harris said. “Every chance he got, Donald Trump abandoned and insulted them.”
ATTENTION. Democrats in Congress were outraged. "As a Puerto Rican, I am tempted to call Hinchcliffe racist garbage but doing so would be an insult to garbage," said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY). "In case you needed yet another reminder that MAGA extremists don’t care about and look down on Puerto Ricans, here you go," said Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY).
MADDEN. All of that was happening just as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Harris running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) were doing a live online event - which gave them the chance to react in real time. "I want everybody in Philadelphia to see that clip," said Ocasio-Cortez.
UNFORCED ERROR. The remarks certainly overshadowed Trump's rally message and gave Democrats something else to talk about - which is the absolute definition of an unforced error during a political campaign. It also triggered expressions of support for Harris from some important Puerto Rican celebrities.
CELEBS. If you don't know who Bad Bunny is - he's a Puerto Rican singer who has over 45 million people following him on Instagram. And he made sure to splash pro-Puerto Rico remarks from Kamala Harris on his page yesterday. As did singer Ricky Martin for his millions of followers.
VOTER PURGE. A federal appeals court made an unusual Sunday ruling yesterday, upholding a lower court ruling that struck down an effort by Republicans in Virginia to purge the voter rolls of people who are supposedly not U.S. citizens. It probably sounds to many like the courts are embracing the idea of foreigners voting. But that’s not what is happening.
VOTING. It’s an interesting little tale, because Republicans have obviously tried to generate a lot of outrage on the issue of non-citizens voting in elections - though there’s little evidence of that happening.
THE LAW. Federal law prohibits the states from purging voters in the 90 days before an election - that's why this Virginia plan, and one in Alabama, were so quickly struck down. But GOP lawmakers don't really mention that.
GOP. "A Biden-appointed federal judge has forced Virginia to reinstate non-citizens as voters," said Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX). "Suddenly, the party that screams about foreign election interference has gone silent."
ORDER. But that's being too cute by half. The court decisions have also made it clear that local elections officials have the power to pursue individual investigations into people on the voter rolls who might not be U.S. citizens.
ROLL TIDE. Why can't local officials be allowed to toss people off the voter rolls? The Alabama case is instructive. Just over 3,000 people were taken off the voter rolls by state officials there. To no one's surprise, many of those people were not foreign nationals - in fact, they were American citizens who would have been deprived of their right to vote.
CAMPAIGN TRAIL. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries was not far from the Capitol on Sunday, as he came to Virginia to boost Democrat Eugene Vindman, who is running for the U.S. House. It’s just one of the many stops House leaders have made as they try to squeeze out a majority for the 119th Congress.
VINDMAN. "Virginians are fired up and ready to keep this seat blue," said Vindman, a former National Security Council staffer who helped spur the first impeachment of Donald Trump - over Trump’s infamous ‘perfect’ phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
SUPPORT. I noted one familiar Republican face at the event - ex-Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) - who has joined a number of other former GOP lawmakers in saying she will vote for Kamala Harris next week.
SPEAKER. While Jeffries was near Washington, D.C., Speaker Mike Johnson late last week was out in the other Washington - stumping for GOP challenger Joe Kent, who is trying to defeat freshman Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA). It's a rematch of their 2022 race, which never really ended after Perez notched a narrow upset win.
JOHNSON. "This is one of the districts that everyone in America is watching," the Speaker said, calling Perez 'a radical progressive pretending to be a moderate.' It was the second time that Johnson had gone out west to boost Kent, who has long been a favorite of Donald Trump.
PROUD BOY. Perez has repeatedly called Kent a MAGA extremist, attacking him for hiring a member of a far right militia group. "Wonder why neo-Nazis, Proud Boys, and white nationalists only seem to show up at Joe Kent’s events?" Perez said last week. It is certainly a race to watch on election night.
SECRET. At his New York rally on Sunday, Donald Trump made a mention of Speaker Johnson - and a 'secret' that they have. "I think with our little secret we are going to do really well with the House," Trump said. "Our little secret is having a big impact...we will tell you what it is when the race is over."
HOUSE. I have no idea what Trump is talking about, but I know that people are worried that it has to do with the subject that comes up next - related to Republicans finding ways to make sure that Donald Trump wins the election, no matter what.
ELECTORS. The fake GOP elector scheme didn't work in 2020 when Vice President Pence refused to help keep Donald Trump in power. Instead of avoiding those ideas, some Republicans are still looking for ways to make sure that Trump can’t lose in 2024. One of them drew support from the head of the House Freedom Caucus - until criticism forced him to backpedal.
HARRIS. Last week, Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) suggested that state lawmakers in North Carolina should ensure that Trump wins the electoral votes of that state - even if he loses on Election Day - because damage from Hurricane Helene might suppress GOP voter turnout. Democrats were flabbergasted.
DEMS. "This idea isn't just unprecedented — it undermines our free and fair election," said Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), who called the idea 'outrageous.' "This displays total contempt for your right to vote and have it counted," added Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA).
VPOTUS. For Kamala Harris, this GOP idea was like a hanging curveball for her to remind people about how Trump tried to overturn his election loss and stay in power. She plans to hammer those sentiments home in a speech on Tuesday night in Washington, D.C. - at the same spot where Trump spoke on Jan. 6.
REP. HARRIS. After a pretty negative reaction, Rep. Harris - no relation obviously to the Veep - said his talk about the North Carolina legislature awarding electoral votes to Trump was just a 'theoretical conversation.’
SPECIAL COUNSEL. Last Thursday, Donald Trump promised that if he's elected, he would fire Special Counsel Jack Smith - the man in charge of a pair of investigations involving Trump - on Trump's first day in office. In an interview on Friday, Trump went one step further, and said Smith should be tossed out of the country.
EJECTION. Speaking on the 'Cats and Cosby Show' on WABC Radio in New York, Trump brought up Smith's name without being asked about the subject. "We should throw Jack Smith out with the mentally deranged people," Trump said when asked about illegal immigration. "Jack Smith should be considered mentally deranged, and he should be thrown out of the country."
AGAINST THE LAW. I can imagine the reaction from Trump supporters to anyone expressing concern about that statement. It would go something like this: “Oh, you just have Trump Derangement Syndrome. He’s just talking, he doesn’t really mean it. And a President can’t deport a U.S. citizen.”
ABOVE THE LAW. That’s true. But a few months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a President is above the law, and not subject to investigation for official acts. Could President Donald Trump throw a U.S. citizen like Jack Smith out of the country? Let me answer it this way: Why not? Who is going to stop him?
ARLINGTON. The Pentagon has released a heavily redacted report into the incident at Arlington National Cemetery in late August involving members of Donald Trump's campaign. We learned very little about what happened, because almost the entire document was blacked out - characterized as an existing law enforcement matter.
SUMMARY. Only the 'executive summary' of the report gave us any hints, describing how workers tried to stop Trump campaign officials from taking video and photos in one area of the cemetery - where it is expressly forbidden. This indicates a Trump campaign aide used 'both' hands in trying to get around an Army employee.
RAP SHEET. Jan. 6 charges have led to even more legal trouble for a North Carolina man. When the feds arrested David Daniel in 2021, they got a search warrant for his cell phone. It took over two years to access the data on the phone - and when investigators finally got into it - they found evidence related to a child sexual abuse probe involving Daniel.
MUSE OF HISTORY. October 28, 1886. On this date, President Grover Cleveland helped dedicate the new Statue of Liberty in New York. "The people of the United States accept with gratitude from their brethren of the French Republic the grand and completed work of art we here inaugurate," Cleveland said. "We will not forget that liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected."
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House next has votes on November 12.
The Senate comes back for votes on November 12.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.
Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
If you want to say ‘thanks’ - you can buy me a cup of coffee.
"Who would stop him?" Is a great question.
This "secret" feels ominous. Ugh.
I believe that I'm the only Puertorrican subscriber to Regular Order. I've lived in USA far more years than in mainland Puerto Rico. I love this country. After the MSG event last night, we, hispanics, muslims, jews, asians, blacks, and Caucasians who may oppose Trump's regime, if he wins, will be considered garbage. And, he and his minions will make sure to dispose of us all as such. Stay woke!