Steve Benen/MSNBC:
Harris taps Tim Walz, the one Democrat who checked every box
Of the finalists for Kamala Harris’ ticket, only one had experience in statewide office, Congress and the military — and he’s the one who got the nod.
As my MSNBC colleague Clarissa-Jan Lim noted, “Harris’ choice of Walz as her running mate could broaden the ticket’s appeal: Harris as a Black, Asian woman from California with experience as a prosecutor, and Walz as a white, folksy Midwesterner with a record of enacting progressive policies.”
I can imagine there are going to be a whole lot of voters nationwide who’ll respond to the news with the same question: “Tim who?” But it’s also safe to say that those who don’t yet know the governor are going to be impressed by his story.
Christopher J Devine and Kyle C Kopko/Los Angeles Times:
Tim Walz is Kamala Harris’ running mate. Will he help her win in November?
On Tuesday, Kamala Harris made her choice for the next vice president of the United States: Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. The question is, will this make voters more likely to choose Harris for president in November?
In short: Probably so, but not by much and perhaps not for the reasons you think.
…
In the case of Harris, this “first presidential act” tells voters a lot. Americans don’t know her as well as they do Joe Biden or Trump, and she has significantly less time than most presidential candidates to make her case. Her choice will help voters assess her judgment. It also helps them determine whether she makes responsible decisions, for the good of the country, or acts irresponsibly to achieve short-term political gain. It tells people what core political values and priorities guide her.
J Patrick Coolican/Minnesota Reformer:
From a Mankato classroom to the White House: Harris names Walz her vice presidential nominee
Gov. Tim Walz fused his everyman personality with an optimistic progressive message to win the most important audition of his political career the past few weeks, winning the quick admiration of Democratic activists — and Vice President Kamala Harris, who named Walz as her running mate Tuesday.
“As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his own. We are going to build a great partnership. We start out as underdogs but I believe together, we can win this election,” Harris said in a statement announcing her pick.
Harris’ selection of Walz rockets the former geography teacher from Midwest obscurity into the highest stratosphere of American politics, potentially joining Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale as Minnesotan vice presidents.
Rolling Stone:
Project 2025 Is an Unmitigated Polling Disaster for Trump and Republicans
Democrats are planning to “smother” Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and the GOP with Project 2025 until November. New polls shows why
With just three months left in the U.S. presidential election, various sectors of the Democratic elite are planning to invest considerable resources toward amplifying the hard-right, Heritage Foundation-hosted policy and personnel initiative, in order to damage the Trump-Vance ticket and other GOP candidates, especially in battleground states, according to four people with knowledge of these operations.
In the words of one source familiar with Team Harris’ efforts on the matter, Democratic leaders are working to “smother” Republican candidates “with their own vision for the country,” and will be spending significant time and money — on targeted ads and other messaging and fundraising blitzes — to further solidify Project 2025 in the consciousness of the American electorate.
Melissa Cropper/Barn Raiser:
As a Rural Ohioan, I See J.D. Vance for Who He Is
Vance’s extreme agenda runs counter to the rural culture of helping one’s neighbors
Growing up in Georgetown, Ohio, a small rural town on the edge of Appalachia, I learned that there are certain values you’re likely to see in most rural Ohioans.
We respect authenticity and can spot a phony when we see one. We take pride in our communities. We believe in the dignity of hard work, yet we also understand that circumstances can force us into situations where we need a little help, and we are always willing to help our neighbors without judgment. We are strongly independent and believe that we can make our own decisions without government interference.
J.D. Vance can spin a lot of things about his life, but we can see who he really is by examining the core values that animate him, and in that respect, J.D. Vance doesn’t look like the people I know from home.
Michael Moritz/Financial Times:
Silicon Valley’s Trump supporters are making a big mistake
The financiers who support him have made the same error as all powerful people who back authoritarians
When confronted with the malleable question of character, the Trumpers will squawk about Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton and Whitewater real estate, or the philandering proclivities of (pick your favourite) Presidents Clinton, Johnson, Kennedy or Roosevelt. All politicians, they will argue, are flawed. But even Richard Nixon, crook that he was, had sufficient respect for the rule of law to resign following the Watergate scandal.So why are these highly educated, absurdly successful people prepared to turn a blind eye to Trump?I doubt whether any of them would want him as part of an investment syndicate that they organised. Why then do they dismiss his recent criminal conviction as nothing more than a politically inspired witch-hunt over a simple book-keeping error? Is it because they haven’t liked the tilt of the Federal Trade Commission since 2021 or do they believe that Trump will bolster the value of their bitcoin stakes? Perhaps they think he will give free rein to AI or maybe they believe Presidents Putin, Orban, Maduro and former President Bolsonaro are benign spirits. Or is it just because they hope Trump will add even more loopholes to America’s highly, discriminatory tax code and give them some plum government appointment?These people have a handful of awkward questions to answer.
The Guardian:
Trump hikes Mar-a-Lago membership to $1m, raising concerns of selling access
Four new spots at his resort have opened at a 43% spike in a move seen as buying political influence
The $1m cost of each membership, which will open for applications in October, exactly one month before the presidential election, also represents a 43% hike from the current initiation fee of $700,000 – an eye-popping increase given the former president has railed against Joe Biden for what he sees as out of control inflation.The revelation came in a wide-ranging interview with Trump published by Bloomberg last month, in which Bernd Lembcke, Mar-a-Lago’s long-time manager, justified the price rise by claiming the opulent waterfront Palm Beach club was “not desperate” for would-be members.
“In October we’re going up to $1m because we have four memberships to sell,” he said, noting the club was ramping up for 30th anniversary celebrations. Trump quickly interjected to try to return the interview to other subjects.
Tony Michaels and Cliff Schecter on that disaster of an interview with NABJ:
