Support for Vice President Kamala Harris Grows Louder as Threat of Donald Trump Looms
Elon Musk desperately censors organizers for Harris, spreads disinformation on behalf of Donald Trump
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Support for Vice President Kamala Harris Grows Louder as Threat of Donald Trump Looms
Democrats remain fired up and continue organizing massive voter meet-ups and zoom calls that raise millions. So much so, it’s put the Republican Party on its back foot.
Over the weekend, Florida Democrats trolled a Trump stronghold in Central Florida by holding a “Weekend of Action” event at The Villages. Roughly 500 golf carts rolled up on Saturday afternoon at a nearby Barnes & Noble parking lot, which caused a traffic jam of onlookers. Harris’ Florida campaign director Jasmine Burney-Clark told the Tallahassee Democrat that 12K people have signed up as volunteers in the state.
It’s not just state Democrats that are galvanizing support for Harris’ Brat Summer campaign. On Monday, several Arizona mayors of border towns, as well as county supervisors endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. The nonpartisan mayors of Bisbee, Nogales, Somerton, and San Luis, and Democratic Supervisors of Yuma County—a purple county that voted for Trump in 2020—publicly voiced their support for Harris’ presidential campaign.
In addition, the Republican mayor of Mesa, John Giles, endorsed the VP in an op-ed in The Arizona Republic, writing, "I believe my party has a moral and ethical responsibility to restore faith in our democratic institutions. In the spirit of the late Sen. John McCain’s motto, 'Country First,' I call on other Arizona Republicans to join me in choosing country over party this election and to vote against Donald Trump." He added, "Kamala Harris is the competent, just and fair leader our country deserves. This year too much is at stake to vote Republican at the top of the ticket."
House Republicans keep trying to make fetch happen
The endorsements blunt the attempt by House Republicans to damage the VP’s reputation. On Thursday, the GOP voted on a resolution to condemn the Vice President for her supposed role in mishandling the U.S.-Mexico border. This was one of the last votes Speaker Mike Johnson brought to the House floor before gaveling out the chamber for a prolonged August recess.
As I’ve reported before, the Vice President was tasked to serve as a U.S. diplomat for Central America to advocate for economic development in the region as a solution to slow migration. Only the Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, has authority over U.S. border policy.
It’s also relevant to point out that arrests at the border have dropped more than 55% and remain at the lowest rate since the Trump administration. But the Republican Party doesn’t care about facts and aims to make the portrayal of Harris as a failed “border czar” stick.
It’s worth noting that 6 vulnerable Democrats running for re-election in battleground districts all voted in favor of the GOP resolution against Harris. They include:
Rep. Yadira Caraveo who represents Colorado’s 8th Congressional District
Rep. Henry Cuellar who represents Texas’ 28th Congressional District
Rep. Don Davis who represents North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District
Rep. Jared Golden who represents Maine’s 2nd Congressional District
Rep. Mary Peltola who represents Alaska’s at-large Congressional District
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez who represents Washington state’s 3rd Congressional District
40 former and current Department of Justice Officials endorse Harris
While Republicans desperately attempted to rush through a big PR stunt before going on another long vacation, a group of 40 former and current Justice Department officials endorsed the VP for President. The endorsement includes DOJ officials who served under presidents of both parties dating back to 1988. And they did not mince their words in the joint statement, which was first obtained by NBC News.
The statement acknowledged President Biden’s record in safeguarding democracy and made it clear that the VP would carry on his legacy. It writes, “Vice President Harris is the best choice to defeat Donald Trump and lead the nation. She has been a key partner with President Biden in rebuilding America and its standing in the world.” It then warns that the “stakes could not be higher. Former President Trump presents a grave risk to our country, our global alliances and the future of democracy.” Finally, it ends with a call-to-action for all Americans to join them in supporting Kamala Harris.
White Dudes answered the call & made Elon Musk big mad
It appears that a call-to-action isn’t necessary as voters across the nation and from several voting blocs have responded enthusiastically to President Joe Biden’s bat signal to support his VP.
White Dudes for Harris held a 3.5-hour livestream fundraiser on Monday in which more than 180K participants joined and celebrities including Jeff Bridges (aka “The Dude”), Josh Rad, and Joseph Gordon Levitt enlisted. Politicians including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper also spoke at the online meeting, which generated nearly $4M in donations for Harris’ campaign.
Hardcore billionaire snowflake Elon Musk promptly suspended the White Dudes for Harris X account following the successful livestream, which immediately drew negative attention. As of Tuesday afternoon, X reinstated @dudes4harris, but the blatant silencing of organizers for a Democratic candidate is a stark reminder of the dangers of partisan oligarchs owning the information sector.
Musk, who has openly endorsed Donald Trump, claims he is a “free speech absolutist,” but has a history of suspending and banning journalists from the platform for criticizing him. He has also sued Media Matters for America and the Center for Countering Digital Hate for publishing reports that illustrate how deeply partisan and problematic the platform has become under Musk’s ownership.
Censorship isn’t the only tool in Elon Musk’s information warfare toolbox. On Friday, Musk spread disinformation via his own account and attempted to downplay it as innocuous.
Musk shared a deepfake video of Vice President Kamala Harris, which violates X’s trust and safety policy prohibiting synthetic and manipulated media. The video uses an artificial intelligence voice-cloning tool to manipulate Harris’ words from a recent campaign ad. It uses the same visuals as the real ad, but swaps out Harris’ voice-over with an AI-generated voice that states she is “the ultimate diversity hire” and that she “had four years under the tutelage of the ultimate deep state puppet, a wonderful mentor, Joe Biden.”
The original poster labeled the video a “parody,” but Musk did not provide this contextual excuse in his repost. He has since clarified that it is a spoof in his usual smart-mouthed attitude, but the damage was already done and he knows it.
Veep Stakes: The list of candidates narrows as North Carolina Governor confirms he turned the opportunity down
On Monday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper confirmed he turned down the opportunity to be on the vetting list for the VP’s vice presidential running mate. In a statement, Cooper shared his concerns that the state’s Republican lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, would usurp control if he left the state to campaign. Robinson is currently running for Governor against NC Attorney General Josh Stein. Cooper wrote that he was honored to be considered but that “this just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket.” Other candidates on the list include Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Sinaloa Cartel leaders arrested in El Paso, Texas with the help of El Chapo’s son
On Thursday, the FBI arrested 2 kingpins of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel with the help of the son of the cartel’s former boss, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Joaquin Guzman Lopez lured the co-founder of the cartel, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada to El Paso, Texas under the guise the two would be surveying a plot of land in Mexico. Upon landing, federal agents arrested both men, resulting in the decapitation of one of the biggest narcotics trafficking organizations in the world.
The Sinaloa Cartel is a transnational drug trafficking organization, which smuggles the majority of cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine into the U.S. and elsewhere. What brought the cartel leaders down was an ongoing power struggle between Zambada and El Chapo’s 3 sons, known as the Chapitos. El Chapo was arrested in 2016 and extradited to the United States. He was convicted by a jury in 2018 and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. U.S. investigators exploited this power struggle with the cooperation of one of the Chapitos. In a daily press briefing on Monday, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly asked drug cartels not to fight each other as authorities grew concerned over an increase in violence over Sinaloa’s warring factions.
Guzman Lopez is being held in a Chicago federal prison and pleaded not guilty in federal court on Tuesday to narcotics, money laundering, and firearms charges. Zambada pleaded not guilty in an El Paso court on Friday and is being held without bond on 7 federal criminal counts, including operating a criminal enterprise and money laundering. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, July 31.
Mississippi Judge upholds absentee voting rights
On Sunday, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. dismissed a lawsuit by Donald Trump’s Republican National Committee that sought to disenfranchise Mississippi absentee voters. The ruling means that the state will continue to count absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and received up to 5 days afterward. The judge made it clear that the state’s statutory procedure is “consistent with federal law and does not conflict with the Elections Clause, the Electors’ Clause, or the election-day statutes.” Mississippi is one of several states, including Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah, that allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted. The RNC, which aims to restrict absentee voting, recently lost a lawsuit against Nevada to block the process.
North Dakota judge weighs dismissing case challenging state abortion ban
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Bruce Romanick canceled the scheduled August trial for the challenge to North Dakota’s abortion ban. He issued a notice to both parties stating that he plans to issue “full findings on summary judgment and/or a new notice of trial as soon as possible.” He also iced pending trial deadlines until further notice. North Dakota has a draconian abortion ban that prohibits the medical procedure and mandates felony charges for medical professionals who perform it. It only allows exceptions for the life of the mother at “serious health risk” and for cases of rape or incest within 6 weeks. The state’s only former abortion clinic sued, arguing the abortion ban is unconstitutional—the provisions about exceptions are vague and too narrow—and urged the judge to allow the trial to proceed. The GOP-controlled state, which revised the abortion law after the Dobbs decision and whose policies forced the clinic to move to Minnesota, filed a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the complaint, arguing the plaintiffs lack standing and that a trial would not make a difference.
Arizona Judge rejects Christian Nationalist language incorporated by GOP into abortion ballot initiative
On Friday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Whitten rejected a partisan effort by state GOP lawmakers to use Christian Nationalist messaging in the state’s referendum pamphlet. Judge Whitten wrote in his ruling that Republicans violated state law when they incorporated the language “unborn human being” to describe a fetus in the abortion rights ballot initiative. Arizona state law mandates that lawmakers draft “impartial” summaries of ballot measures, which are sent to voters ahead of the election. Since Republicans have a majority in the state legislature, they voted to approve the partisan language.
The organizers behind the initiative sued, arguing that the term illegally injects political bias into the summary and that it should be replaced with the more medically accurate, neutral term. Republicans argued that the language was pulled directly from Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban, which makes it impartial. They also claimed that the language is possibly more medically accurate than “fetus” because “fetus” refers to any mammal whereas “unborn human being” is specific to humans.
The judge rejected the GOP arguments writing that just because the language exists somewhere in state law doesn’t insulate the phrase from political bias. He also pointed out that there is no state law prohibiting legislators from using biased language in crafting bills. He also cited precedent that stipulates what kind of language violates the impartiality standard. He wrote that summaries that appear to advocate for or against a ballot measure, seek to mislead voters, or are “tinged with partisan coloring” are illegal. He added that language that is technically accurate but uses “provocative” phrasing violates the standard.
The judge ordered the legislative council to rewrite the portion of the summary using more “neutral” language. Expect the GOP to appeal the decision to the Arizona Supreme Court.