By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...In this country, the media covering politics is all about the next move. What will the rising candidate do or say? Who will she pick as her VEEP? Why did he say that to the gathering of Black journalists? Where did the shots come from exactly? As one commenter to yesterday's story on this blog asked: Will Democrats court the Native American vote in Texas?
It's all out there.
And every angle, tidbit, nugget and campaign minutiae is fair game - part of the game.
Next Tuesday is Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris's big stop in Philadelphia, where pundits are saying she will appear with her VEEP selection, current Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
She's not made it official yet, and there are two/three other possibilities, but that's today's angle.
Shapiro would be a worthy VEEP. He's a sharp dude, well-spoken, good record and all that. Plus, Pennsylvania comes with 20 Electoral College votes and is widely expected to be one of the decisive states in the 2024 presidential election.
Pennsylvania is an important state. The Keystone State backed Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election before switching support to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
It's all up in the air, of course.
Partisans can be excused for ballyhooing their party's chances, for continuing an avalanche of pointed dings at the opposition, for pretty much claiming victory ahead of the national vote. This side, that side. That's the country's political arena these days. Often, that is bullshit sideline to sideline.
Still, the seriousness side of the campaign reigns supreme from coast to coast.
Both sides can win, that's the pre-game hype we're getting from the news media.
Kamala Harris is the proverbial breath of fresh air, that's for sure. Gone is the Republican Party's mantra that the Democrats were fielding a very old man, someone who could not show up for work every day. That shifted the moment Biden dropped out of the race last July 21 and endorsed Harris.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, appeared with attendees at the National Association of Black Journalists (NAJB) convention yesterday in Chicago and, instead of asking the group for support, went on a racist rant against Harris, blabbering about her claiming at once to be Indian and Black.
It did not sit well with that crowd, but that's Trump and current Republican thinking.
It says here that the larger number of Americans are bored with Trump and his selfish shenanigans, with his blowhard ways, with his legal problems, with his maniacal backers, with his lies and with his belief that there is appetite for fascism in these United States.
There isn't. Not enough to matter anyway...
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Nice comments roundup yesterday. Good to see the RGV make its case on this election. Problems on our Comments feature seem to have abated. If you get a "Failed to publish" message after submitting, just keep trying...
ReplyDeleteTelling black people that the Jan 6th rioters were convicted by a tough system is just...I have no words.
ReplyDeleteTrump's appearance was a train wreck, for sure. Someone -- not Harris -- needs to remind us that:
ReplyDelete* She's married to a Jew so OF COURSE she doesn't hate Jews.
* She's half Jamaican & half Indian, so OF COURSE she's "mixed." Introduce him to that "concept." There are enough "mixed" people now she can address this.
Is she Black? Is she Indian?
DeleteShe's American!!!
That's all you MAGAfans need to know.
A loaded gun was not pressed to Trump's head at the Black journalist meeting. He had the right to refuse. He had the right to keep his mouth shut. He had the right to say nothing and just walk away. He chose none of those things. He accepted and appeared. He sat down. He openly unmasked himself as a flaming bigot in public.
ReplyDeleteHe performed just as expected. What a disgrace he is.
DeleteMadame President is coming for you, Donald!
ReplyDeleteYep, and it will be sweet.
Deleteprosecutors will be working very soon after the election.
DeleteTrump is way more racist and unhinged and weird than he was in 2020, much less 2016. Keep putting the message out on that! It will bring out more Democratic voters and will bring undecideds into the fold.
ReplyDeleteThe man is in deep trouble, and he’d bring deep trouble to America.
He appeases whites by insulting blacks, white conservatives by insulting liberals, white conservative men by insulting women…He’s making his base very happy but he’s whittling it down smaller and smaller.
DeleteYes, he knows that there is no such thing as bad publicity.
ReplyDeleteLet’s get on the media for once again making him the center of the story.
Echo that.
DeleteNo news means no new social media discussion. It is not any blog's fault, but their is no new news. No one will care about he claim of a prisoner exchange with Russia. How can the three main news networks can have all of these reporters and have no new stories. The reporters are being paid to sit and do nothing. Of course the blogs do not have access to a town of reporters to help develop new discussion. This is not on the blogs, it is on the news services.
ReplyDelete??? I see and hear news all around me. You must be damned shelter, commenter.
DeleteMy Poli. Sci. Prof says racism is all Donald has left in his fight to stay out of prison, which is really all he cares about. I would agree.
ReplyDeleteIf Donald completely loses his shit over the DNC changing their candidate, he certainly can’t handle being in the White House.
ReplyDeleteYou said it.
DeleteIn the states where the early voting could go either way, the only salient questions are as follows: Are there more progressive voters to win or more moderate voters? To what degree can a VP candidate help to win them over? It's also kind of important to select someone who the candidate thinks can take over the job and do it well.
ReplyDeleteTrump fatigue will cost him votes. He's boring now.
ReplyDeleteShapiro's position on vouchers alone should make him unacceptable as Kamala's VEEP.
ReplyDeleteWalz and Kelly are both much better.
Josh Shapiro is Jewish. That will also bring out the anti-Israel/Pro-Gaza protesters like crazy. He's a huge question mark for Kamala.
DeleteLook, the Billionaire club knows full well he’s an idiot, and they’ve played him like a fiddle. But, just in case Trump decides to go a different route, they can kick him "out of a high window" and put Vance in charge. I don’t doubt Vance figures he’ll be president by 2028, and the country will be owned by those same Billionaires.
ReplyDeleteI expect a whole lot of disappointed people, come November (including Vance)
Russian releases American prisoners! Big win for President Biden!!!
DeletePutin just made Trump look like a fool.
DeletePresident Biden, the quiet achiever. Congratulations.
DeleteIf people can't see how unhinged he is, they need serious psychological help. Vote blue vote blue for democracy and women's rights
ReplyDeleteOn NABJ conference: Donald! You aren't at a MAGA rally. The folks in that room have BRAINS.
ReplyDeleteSo long, Black vote.
DeleteIt's just an amazingly idiotic campaign. Does Trump know something we don't? He has a load of federal judges and the Supreme Court who will hand him the election if it gets to that, which it likely will if he contests the vote.
DeleteRight now, we have a 'Latinos for Kamala' fundraiser going on.
ReplyDeleteYay!
Americans released by Russians -
ReplyDeleteEvan Gershkovich
The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter who has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023 and was accused of espionage - an allegation he, the Journal, and the U.S. all deny - and whose unfair treatment has been widely publicized by the Journal and many other publications.
Paul Whelan
A 54-year-old former U.S. Marine who was detained at a hotel in Moscow in 2018 and was also accused of espionage - which the his family and the U.S. also deny. He was convicted and in 2020 sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Alsu Kurmasheva
The 47-year-old Russian-American journalist was working as an editor for Radio Free Europe in Prague when she was arrested in 2023 after returning to Russia to visit her ailing mother.
Looks like Putin knows Trump is losing.
DeleteDonald Trump used to be White, but at some point.....he turned Orange.
ReplyDeleteHe really looks gross without the orange makeup - like the inside of your nose - that sort of pale white. Is he Albino?
DeleteComplete and utter fool.
ReplyDeleteGo back far enough in human history, genetically we’re all "multiracial".
ReplyDeleteI'm Mexican, from Brownsville. What would be my other racial connection? Anyone here know?
DeleteVote Blue for Kamala Harris and human decency in 2024! WE'RE NOT GOING BACK!
ReplyDeleteVote Blue if you have children in your life that you love!!!
Kamala leads in 7 new national polls!
ReplyDeleteWish an immigrant would come along and take away Clarence Thomas’ "Black job."
ReplyDeleteHey, Trump - it's over!!!
ReplyDeleteSupreme Court Justice Samuel Alito saying that he will retire only if Trump wins. Right there, it's telling us how slanted he is towards Trump. The bastard needs to go
ReplyDeleteToday!!!
DeleteIn less than 100 days, America can put Trump in our past. We will never have to see nor hear him again!!!
ReplyDeleteVOTE BLUE
The whole black, brown, yellow, red, white stuff is utterly irrelevant. We're all just different shades of brown.
ReplyDeleteThe guy is a convicted criminal. That he is treated at all like a reputable candidate is just a disgrace!!
ReplyDeleteHe'll get appropriate treatment on November 5th.
DeleteThe Libertarians booed him, the Black Journalists laughed at him. Laughing pisses him off more. Everybody laugh now.
ReplyDeleteWill he show up at the Hispanic journalists convention?
DeleteJ.D. Vance Is Swallowing Any Pride He Might Have Had. Trump says vice presidents don't matter.
ReplyDeleteSo far, Harris is handling Trump exactly the way a bully should be handled. Stand up to the bully and show that he is actually the one who is a weakling and a coward.
ReplyDeletehe stacked the Supreme Court with bad apples
Deleteno surprise she is ahead...she represents an optimistic future with people front and center whereas the Trump response is just super negative with absolutely no aspirational content....Go Kamala, the US voters deserve better
ReplyDeleteShe’s Black
ReplyDeleteHe’s Orange
Vote Blue.................
Pretty much all Americans are mixed race, especially if their ancestors arrived here 100 or more years ago. Whether we each know it or not. Which makes this whole focus on race somewhat irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteEight years ago, Trump's willingness to say anything and do anything for attention was "novel" and unprecedented in American politics. Eight years later, it's a tired and worn-out shtick that has exhausted itself.
ReplyDeleteIt will be a long time before I ever consider voting Republican - it is not because I like the Democrats, but rather the Republicans have morphed into a cult, and I do not wish to join a cult.
ReplyDeletethat's news, coming from Harlingen
DeleteTrump has absolutely no new message. None. No policy statements, because he knows no policy. Just schoolboy insults and racists remarks. He will keep his cultist 30%, but he is really turning off the independents, Black Voters and women voters overall.
ReplyDeleteMAGAs are not the majority. Play to them all you want, Donnie Boy. (good day at the office, good reading here)
ReplyDeleteOutrage at the Paris Olympics: Italy's Angela Carini abandons fight with Algeria's Imane Khelif, who failed gender test, after 46 seconds of the match.
ReplyDeleteShame on the Olympics Committee for allowing a man to beat up a woman in public. Like putting a top female boxer such as Rhonda Rousey at her peak in the ring against heavyweight champ Mike Tyson. Ridiculous, criminal!!!
DeleteThey can't let this Algerian dude - Imane Khelif - keep fighting women. Look at his photo online; that's a guy!!!
DeleteTrump's biggest weak spot is his mouth
ReplyDeleteNo one can make that fool, more a fool, than he can.
ReplyDelete