I also really don’t understand why reporters constantly feel the need to throw reactionist chum (look, we all wanna lock up violent migrants) in the water trying to drag the shark over to them. Best case scenario congrats you just brought a fucking shark closer to your boat.
(To be clear: I thought this was an absolutely exceptional speech from Obama — the passages that stirred me the most are likely to not thrill the Harris campaign very much.)
He’s still doing this.
Like, when an incumbent shits the first debate in a reelection campaign, it’s now kind of cliche to ascribe that to being out of reps and too bogged down in the trappings of governance, but like… that should be the case on everything! Every reelection campaign should be a spectacular failure!
![In the immediate post-election period, while the defendant claimed fraud without proof,
his private operatives sought to create chaos, rather than seek clarity, at polling places where states
were continuing to tabulate votes. For example, on November 4, PS
-a Campaign employee,
agent, and co-conspirator of the defendant-tried to sow confusion when the ongoing vote count
at the TCF Center in Detroit, Michigan, looked unfavorable for the defendant. There, when a colleague at the TCF Center told PS "We think [a batch of votes heavily in Biden's favor is] right,"!?
responded, "find a reason it isnt," "give me options to file litigation," and "even
if itbis [sic]."18 When the colleague suggested that there was about to be unrest reminiscent of the Brooks Brothers Riot," a violent effort to stop the vote count in Florida after the 2000 presidential
election,
responded, "Make them riot" and "Do it!!!" The defendant's Campaign
operatives and supporters used similar tactics at other tabulati](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:on5oeywiqx32fh2zau473wz6/bafkreierd5rvdxyoms4bumdnyjumhbocgco5bc4demlhlvwo5f7brfzw4a@jpeg)
Her thoughts on immunity are notable here as well — quick to strongly condemn the delay, but a tiny bit more equivocal on her condemnation of the merits. My guess is the Cheney family romance with unitary executive theory has undergone a pretty substantial stress test over the last few years.
Bearhugging that bill has been smart (arguably even necessary) electoral politics, but it also puts Harris in the bind of not materially improving it if she has the votes to do so.
Also, far from the most important takeaway, but Jesus Christ does Trump look so much worse now than he did in 2020.
and also that the lighting on her in the CNN sit down with Dana Bash was decidedly dogshit