WHYY:
Harris calls on the U.S. ‘to turn the page on hatred and division’ as she crisscrosses Philadelphia
On Sunday, Kamala Harris visited the Church of Christian Compassion, the barbershop Philly Cutz, the restaurant Freddy and Tony’s and Hakim’s Bookstore before a planned rally.
The next stop was a Puerto Rican restaurant named Freddy and Tony’s, where Harris thanked volunteers and told them “we are going to win.”
Harris has tried to keep the focus on abortion rights in the closing stretch of the campaign, including during appearances with Beyoncé and Michelle Obama. In an interview with CBS News that aired Sunday, Harris declined to say whether she would support any restrictions on abortion, emphasizing the need to restore Roe v. Wade.
“It is that basic,” Harris said.
Anita Hill/New York Times:
The Smearing of Kamala Harris
It’s not easy to remain calm and collected in the glare of intense public scrutiny, especially when the opposition is set on denying your integrity, competence and accomplishments. But call it grace, poise or dignity, Kamala Harris has managed to make a positive case for her candidacy every day since President Biden endorsed her to take his place on the Democratic ticket. Think about it: No presidential nominees in modern history have faced such a direct challenge to the authenticity of their identity and by extension their qualifications to be the president.
You need a woman who is tough as nails. Nancy Pelosi was that woman for then. Kamala Harris is that woman for now. And there are many others in politics and in ordinary life who do not get their due.
The racist rally is the main story [but, you know, it’s New York in October].
HuffPost:
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe Performs Wildly Racist Set At Trump Rally In New York City
Hinchcliffe made a series of vile comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people during Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden.
During a livestream, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, reacted to Hinchcliffe’s comments about Puerto Rico shortly after he made them.
“Who’s that jackwad?” Walz asked, while Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, said, “When you have some a-hole calling Puerto Rico ‘floating garbage,’ know that that’s what they think about you.”
“It’s what they think about anyone who makes less money than them … I want every Puerto Rican in Philadelphia and Reading and across the country to see this clip,” she continued.
Hinchcliffe’s speech marks the near end of a presidential campaign that is arguably one of the most racist in American history.
Want to know more about Kill Tony, Hinchcliffe’s podcast? Click here. There are a lot of them out there/Axios:
The big picture: When we speak around the country, we often tell audiences that when you're sitting at a table of people of different ages and politics, several of them probably get their information on platforms you've never visited ... from popular influencers you've never heard of ... on topics that might seem exotic or totally new.
- Big, traditional media still has its moments — presidential debates, town halls and sit-down interviews. But even then, most of the narrative-shaping is done in quick-twitch video bites or reinterpretation on podcasts, social platforms or YouTube.
POLITICO:
Who won the day? Harris
Harris won the day because her campaign events did not promote racism, spark a bipartisan backlash and insult pivotal voting blocs.
If Donald Trump loses on Nov. 5, the racist carnival he curated at Madison Square Garden could be remembered as the day that cost him this margin-of-error election.
As Kamala Harris visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in Pennsylvania, talking about her “Puerto Rican Opportunity Economy Task Force,” Trump was at Madison Square Garden, where Tony Hinchcliffe, the host of Kill Tony podcast, called the U.S. territory a “floating island of garbage.” It was a split screen the Harris campaign welcomed. Nearly half a million people of Puerto Rican descent live in battleground Pennsylvania, and lots more elsewhere were certainly absorbing the headlines.
David Rothkopf/Daily Beast:
Donald Trump’s Racist NYC Rally Was Vile. It Was Also Political Suicide
To all those Republicans who shed crocodile tears because their feelings were so hurt that people were calling Donald Trump a fascist: stop.
To all the MAGA defenders who said it was over-the-top to compare Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally to that held by the German-American Bund in an earlier incarnation of Madison Square Garden: shush.
To all those who were falling once again for the bought and paid for narrative that Trump somehow had the momentum going into the final week of campaign 2024: nope.
The above was from Sunday’s ABC/Ipsos poll (Harris +4).
NBC:
Michelle Obama hits the trail, warning what a Trump presidency would mean for women's health
The Saturday event in Michigan marked the former first lady's first appearance on the 2024 campaign trail alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.
"To the men who love us, let me just try to paint a picture of what it will feel like if America, the wealthiest nation on earth, keeps revoking basic care from its women and how it will affect every single woman in your life," Obama said.
Obama argued a woman affected by the policies could be "in legal jeopardy if she needs a pill from out of state or overseas, or if she has to travel across state lines because the local clinic closed up."
"Your daughter could be the one too terrified to call the doctor if she’s bleeding during an unexpected pregnancy. Your niece could be the one miscarrying in her bathtub after the hospital turned her away," she continued.
"And this will not just affect women; it will affect you and your sons," she said, suggesting both men and women would suffer from "the devastating consequences of teen pregnancy."
Charlotte Alter on X via Threadreader:
2) The abortion debate is now about health care for complications during WANTED pregnancies. This makes it relevant *any woman who has ever been pregnant,* any woman who might become pregnant, and any man who might be a dad, not just liberal feminists
Donna Ladd/Mississippi Free Press:
As Fascism Looms, the Free Press Must Stand and Report in the Breach
Leading up to the “Final Solution” in 1942, Hitler and his weird, creepy, mass-murderous generals from Goebbels to Heinrich Himmler to Hermann Göring and others were obsessed with removing “the enemy within” and “Jewish poison” not just from Germany, but from existence.
Any of these words sound familiar now? I know too much about history to believe in coincidences.
Brian Stelter/Reliable Sources on the Washington Post fallout:
Chill in the air
I think it's crucial to see the other side of the story as well, the sense of satisfaction from Trump loyalists. This is what they want: For Trump's critics to cave. For billionaires to be intimidated. For Trump to break the backs of institutions like the Washington Post. Breitbart's article about the Post filled up with celebratory comments. National Review's Jeffrey Blehar mocked the media's "garment-rending peals of agony" over the move.
Bottom line: No one is buying Post publisher William Lewis's explanation that "we are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates" – especially in light of the NYT's report that "Lewis and the opinions editor, David Shipley, made their case" to Bezos "not to end The Post's tradition of making a presidential endorsement." When Bezos nixed the endorsement anyway (without ever reading the Harris draft) Lewis was left to explain it to the public, according to the NYT.
Trump proves every point Harris has been making, and sets up the Mall speech this week from Harris.
Will Saletan/The Bulwark:
Let’s Be Honest, Trump’s Running As a Fascist
A comprehensive look at recent speeches and interviews underscores just how dark the rhetoric has gotten.
DONALD TRUMP IS RUNNING THE MOST openly fascist campaign ever undertaken by a major-party nominee for president of the United States.
That’s not hype; it’s a textbook application of the term. In 2021, Trump used violence to try to overturn an election; in 2022, he called for terminating the Constitution. Now, on the brink of returning to power, Trump is reaffirming his intent to take America deeper into autocracy.
Here are some of the threats and declarations he has issued in the past three months.
