Something you've never seen - a campaign video from Arlington Cemetery
Trump boils over after new indictment
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for August 29, 2024:
New polls confirm surge for Harris and Democrats.
FBI gives out more details on Trump rally shooter.
Iowa boots Libertarian candidates from U.S. House ballots.
CAMPAIGNS. I learned a long time ago as a political reporter to avoid saying that something has 'never happened before' - because chances are, it has happened, and we've just forgotten about it. But I think it's safe to say that I've never seen this before - a campaign video shot at Arlington National Cemetery, just across the Potomac River.
ARLINGTON. Why don’t you see snippets of election campaign videos of a candidate standing by U.S. military graves at Arlington National Cemetery? Because the Pentagon doesn’t allow that. But it’s exactly what the Trump campaign did this week after a Monday visit by Trump to Arlington.
TIKTOK. Here’s the video about his visit produced by the Trump campaign which was uploaded to TikTok - a somewhat jarring juxtaposition of a national cemetery as a campaign tool.
BEEHIVE. Trump wasn't the only one to use that Arlington National Cemetery visit for campaign purposes. The GOP Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, who was there with Trump, put out his own campaign email. It featured a photo of them standing with the family of a Utah man who died three years ago in a bombing in Afghanistan.
COX. Unlike the Trump campaign, which furiously denied any wrongdoing, Utah's Governor admitted he was wrong - but only after someone posted his campaign email advertising the cemetery visit.
EMAIL. "This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign," Cox tweeted after sending out what was an obvious campaign appeal. "My campaign will be sending out an apology."
HALLOWED. One veterans group howled in disbelief. "This whole episode is sickening," the group Vote Vets declared. Democrats quickly chimed in. "Arlington National Cemetery is sacred ground," said Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO). "The final resting place of our fallen should never be used for campaigns."
VANCE. On the campaign trail, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) blasted the press over the dustup. "You guys in the media, you're acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a gravesite," Vance said, arguing Trump was providing 'emotional support' to the families of fallen service members.
FRACAS. During Trump's visit, a cemetery official tried to stop the Trump team from filming. That created some kind of physical altercation - which still hasn't been fully explained. "I urge Arlington Cemetery to publicly release all that transpired," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who demanded a public report on the incident.
TRUTH SOCIAL. If you thought Trump posting a campaign video shot at Arlington National Cemetery would be the craziest thing for me to report about - nope, there’s more. I was going to make this my top story, but then I realized that if I used the word ‘blowjobs’ in the headline - it probably would be stopped by your email spam filters.
TRUMP. After becoming the first major party nominee for President to be indicted on Tuesday, Donald Trump had another first on Wednesday. He became the first major party nominee for President to ever post on social media about blowjobs - tied to a picture of Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton.
POSTS. It was part of a volcanic day for Trump on his Truth Social website. His various postings included:
Calls for the prosecution of Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Sedition charges against Jan. 6 Committee members.
Public military tribunals for Barack Obama.
Altered photos of Biden, Hillary, Kamala, Pelosi in prison jumpsuits.
And the already mentioned item on blowjobs, which is below.
POST. Just to be clear, Trump sent this out to all of his followers on Truth Social. He did not send it out on Twitter. Obviously, this kind of stuff is grist for the mill among most Trump supporters. But it always makes me wonder about the evangelicals who support Trump. You couldn’t post this on the church bulletin board, that’s for sure.
SOCIAL. Unless you see it for yourself, it's hard to describe just how crazy the stuff was that Donald Trump re-posted on Wednesday via his Truth Social website. I'm talking some of the most hard core QAnon conspiracy theory nutbag stuff that you can imagine.
HARRIS. "If a family member posted what Donald Trump is sharing today, Americans would be rightly concerned," said James Singer, with the Kamala Harris campaign.
TRUMP LEGAL. Republicans in Congress were still hopping mad on Wednesday over the revised criminal indictment against Donald Trump, which accused Trump of illegally scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) called it a 'desperate power grab.' "It's vindictive," added Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who labeled it 'beyond outrageous.'
SPEAKER. "Donald Trump continues to be the most persecuted politician in the history of our country," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, who labeled the charges 'another bogus indictment.' "Americans are sick of this corruption and shameless lawfare," the Speaker tweeted. "They know this is not about justice, but about politics."
VIBE CHECK. Trump again on Wednesday lashed out at the various investigations against him. "The GOOD NEWS is that the American People see through these Witch Hunts, and will bring us a dominant Victory on November 5th," Trump declared.
POLLING. Speaking of Trump and the last election, I saw this question in a YouGov poll from this week. "Did Biden legitimately win the 2020 election?"
All voters: Yes 62 percent / No 38 percent.
Trump voters: Yes 22 percent / No 78 percent.
Harris voters: Yes 98 percent / No 2 percent.
LIKABILITY. That same poll also asked voters whether they liked Harris or Trump.
Harris: Like 44 percent / Dislike 40 percent (+4).
Trump: Like 33 percent / Dislike 53 percent (-20).
POLLS. A new series of swing state polls done by Fox News had more good news for Democrats on Wednesday, as the data showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada, and barely behind in North Carolina.
TRUMP. Needless to say, the candidate who pays the most attention to polling data was not pleased. "It's that time of year again," Trump's campaign told reporters in a press release. "Fox is releasing atrocious polling."
DOWN BALLOT. The most interesting numbers in this new survey were about other races, where Republican candidates are badly underperforming Trump's numbers (remember, this is the exact same survey).
ARIZONA SENATE. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) leads Republican Kari Lake in this poll by 15 points (!!!). Even if it's only half that, it again confirms how Gallego is the big favorite. Lake is running 8 points behind Trump.
NEVADA SENATE. Democrats have been worried about Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV). But this poll shows her ahead of Republican Sam Brown by 14 points (!!!). Brown is running 7 points behind Trump.
NORTH CAROLINA. In the race for Governor in North Carolina, Democrat Josh Stein leads Republican Mark Robinson by 11 points (!!!). Robinson is running 6 points behind Trump.
BLUF. What does this tell me? Democrats are more than holding their own for Senate, though because the map is so difficult for them, they remain the underdog. As for Harris, she has obviously flipped the script on Trump over the past five weeks since Biden stepped aside. How long will that last is the big unknown.
TRUMP ATTACK. FBI officials gave out more clues on Tuesday about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, detailing how the gunman was looking for a target. In a call with reporters, officials released new information on how the shooter went online looking for the campaign schedules of both Trump and President Biden.
DETAILS. The FBI investigation shows the gunman had searched for information on where the Republican and Democratic conventions were going to be held. But later, he found the target of opportunity in his backyard, as the Butler, Pennsylvania rally site wasn't far from where he lived outside Pittsburgh.
CONGRESS. That news came as the special House task force investigating the attack made a new request for records and interviews from various federal agencies. That was two days after nine lawmakers visited the Butler, Pennsylvania site where the Trump attack occurred on July 13.
PHOTOS. The FBI also made public several photos from their post-shooting investigation, which showed weapons used by the shooter and what the gunman had in his car trunk. The gun was a Remington Semiautomatic rifle. Two improvised explosive devices were found in the trunk, but the FBI says they had 'several problems in the way they were constructed.'
KEYSTONE. Sometimes candidates and their campaigns just make dumb mistakes. But it's really bad when you are already getting flak for being a carpetbagger. Take Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick. He's mainly been living in Connecticut, which sometimes makes it hard to immediately recognize what's happening in Pennsylvania.
PHILLY. If I say Philadelphia, you automatically think about Pennsylvania. McCormick sent out a tweet about violence involving an illegal immigrant in Philadelphia, blaming Democrats. The problem was it was a news story from Philadelphia, Mississippi.
WAWA. It wasn't the first time that McCormick has tripped up. He talked about getting a 'Big Gulp' from Wawa. Pennsylvania residents are very protective about their convenience stores - Wawa and Sheetz. And everyone knows the Big Gulp doesn't come from Wawa.
I-83. But wait, there's more. McCormick got called out publicly yesterday by the folks at Hershey Park, the big amusement park in central Pennsylvania. McCormick claimed that ticket prices have gone up to $60 per day at Hershey Park. The park tweeted that it was actually $49.95.
OUTLOOK. Democrats are certainly favored to keep this Senate seat with Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), who is by far the strongest Democrat statewide, running a few points ahead of Kamala Harris. Could he drag Harris over the finish line? Stay tuned.
HAWKEYE. Republicans in Iowa on Wednesday voted to boot three Libertarian candidates for Congress off the ballot in November, alleging that the party didn't follow the rules correctly for their nominations. The vote of a special panel was 2-1, with the two Republicans voting for the change, while the Democrat voted against it.
LIBERTARIAN. "Secretary Pate and Attorney General Bird abused their power and did their parties bidding to try to keep competition off of the ballot," said Marco Battaglia, who will have to go to court if he wants to try to get back on the ballot in Iowa's Third District.
VOTES. Why do Republicans want the Libertarians off the ballot? For a simple reason - they could drain votes away from the GOP in what could be some close races for Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Rep. Zach Nunn, and Rep. Randy Feenstra.
RAP SHEET. A Tennessee man who pleaded guilty to Jan. 6 charges was sentenced to four months in prison and fined $2,000. Michael Asbury helped rioters push a giant TRUMP 2020 metal sign into a line of police outside the Capitol. He also helped rioters try to break police lines in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. "It was so fucking amazing," Asbury told a friend that night.
MUSE OF HISTORY. August 29, 1888. On this date, the Senate approved a resolution asking the Interior Secretary to issue a report on the impact of irrigation in Colorado - and how that was taking away water which would flow downstream into Nebraska and Kansas. "I heartily approve of this resolution," said Sen. Charles Manderson of Nebraska, as some lawmakers said the real answer was to build water storage facilities.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House is back for votes on September 9.
The Senate returns on September 9.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.
Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
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"... On the campaign trail, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) blasted the press over the dustup. "You guys in the media, you're acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a gravesite,"" because he did!
I have tried REALLY hard not to get caught up in the newest Trump "thing" this election cycle.
When I first saw the picture of Trump at the gravesite, my stomach churned. I told myself that while I thought it was grotesque, if that military family wanted that, it was their choice. Still, it felt funny to me. THEN I saw the NPR story about the altercation. My gut hadn't been wrong after all. (I wish it had been.)
My (now-military retired) husband has requested Arlington for his burial site. He joined the military in 2003 and I made it a point to attend as many military services as I could whether I knew the family or not. To think about those gravesites being used (directly or indirectly) in a campaign ad is disgusting. It's not about the politics of the person to me, it's about their values and morals.