Hacked documents, political hacks and the state of affairs

Paul Farhi/Vanity Fair:

Why news outlets are sitting on hacked Trump documents

The stolen VP verification materials have “currently” failed the test, they say New York Times Editor Joseph Kahn. Politico and The Washington Post has also announced the release of documents related to the breach that, as Popular Information revealed on Tuesday, appear to be more extensive than originally known.

Even if the material was not revealing, Robert's actions may have been. His emails – oddly enough, from an AOL account – were written in clear, colloquial English, giving one reporter the impression that he was “a useful idiot,” an intermediary recruited by Iranian overseers. It is also telling that Robert targeted political reporters, not those who cover national security, whose suspicions of a foreign influence campaign would likely have been immediately aroused.

An open question: Would the news organizations Robert turned to have participated in the hack if it had contained more newsworthy information?

Lisa Needham/Public Announcement:

Trump's speech to women is becoming increasingly strange

It's like he's trying to hypnotize people and make them forget that he took away their rights.

In case that message, or lack thereof, wasn't clear, he strangely read his own post almost verbatim at a weekend rally in North Carolina.

According to Trump, women are “more stressed and depressed” under the Biden-Harris administration, but if he wins, “I'll fix this, women, I'll fix this.” And finally this national nightmare that we'll go through, be over. Women will be happy.” (See below.)

Things took an even stranger turn last night at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania, where the convicted rapist directly addressed women and made a cult-like attempt to hypnotize them into believing he was something he definitely wasn't.

“I am your protector,” he said. “You will no longer be abandoned, lonely or afraid. You will no longer be in danger… You will no longer consider abortion.” (See below.)

It is no surprise that Trump has no concrete plan for how to get people to stop thinking about abortion or how to rescue women from the supposedly crushing depression of the last four years. In fact, he has no plans at all other than brutal mass deportations, tariffs that will drive up costs but still won't fill the hole in the federal budget he's making with handouts to the rich, and fomenting racist and transphobic hatred.

But when it comes to abortion, Trump's problem goes beyond his general inability to detail specifics. Instead, Trump – and indeed the entire Republican Party – are victims of their own success.

Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics:

Harvard Youth Survey

A national poll released today by the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics (IOP) shows Vice President Kamala Harris with a commanding 31-point lead over former President Donald Trump among 18- to 29-year-olds nationwide in a matchup with multiple voters Candidates. The 48th Harvard Youth Poll shows Harris leading Trump 64% to 32% among likely voters in a hypothetical two-way scenario, with her advantage increasing as more young people participate in the electoral process.

The survey also found:

• There is a significant difference in enthusiasm between young Democrats and Republicans: 74% of young Democrats say they will “definitely” vote, compared to 60% of young Republicans.
• A growing gender gap that has nearly doubled from 17 points in the spring poll to 30 points now, with Harris leading 70% to 23% among likely female voters.
• Harris outperforms Trump on key personal qualities and issues, with a clear lead in empathy (+33), reliability (+24), honesty (+22), climate change (+32), abortion (+31), health care (+26 ). ) and gun violence prevention (+25) among all young adults.
• Approval of Harris' job as vice president has improved significantly, rising from 32% in the spring poll to 44% now.

Last night's Geeks and Nerds fundraiser was worth it.

Martin Pengelly/The Guardian:

“Morally indefensible” – but George W. Bush will not speak out against Trump

While Dick Cheney endorsed Harris, there was no comment from other senior Bush-era Republicans

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell this week criticized George W. Bush, the former Republican president, for refusing to comment on America's upcoming presidential election.

“All any decent human being would expect him to do is say, 'Don't vote for Donald Trump, and here's why,' and he won't even do that,” O'Donnell said told the Fast Politics podcast of the Republican president who served from 2001 to 2009.

Increasingly Bush – and some other frontrunners republican from his political era – look lonely in their continued refusal to take sides in an election in which many have warned that US democracy was threatened by Trump's open sympathies for autocracy.

Catherine Rampell/Washington Post:

Trump is being compared to the great villain of history because his rhetoric is so bad

Words have power. If not used responsibly, they can lead to political violence.

There is a semi-satirical phrase known as Godwin's lawwhich assumes that an online discourse that lasts long enough will inevitably lead to a Hitler or Nazi comparison. No professional would want to be guilty of violating this law.

After all, it sounds absurd to equate a political figure with fascists. It's simple So exaggerated. It could also be that it will not gain any more allies; People roll their eyes and tune out when they hear commentators or historians once again warn about another big, bad dictator.

The problem is, Donald Trump seems intent on making the Hitler comparison possible.

Mike Godwin himself has said it's okay to use the comparison when it comes to Trump:

Greg Sargent/The New Republic:

Mark Robinson's collapse could really bring down Trump

As the bombshells intensify for the MAGA candidate for North Carolina governor, a top strategist for his Democratic opponent explains what it will really take to beat Trump in the state.

For Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for North Carolina governor, the scandals are getting worse. According to CNN brought the news his inflammatory comments on a pornography forum—Among other things, he described himself as a “black Nazi”—a lot of it his employees quit. Now the national GOP funding stopped his advertisements. They've heard talk of how Robinson's collapse could help derail Trump in must-win North Carolina. But how exactly would that happen? What would it look like? We spoke to Morgan Jackson—Chief strategist for Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate—about the state's extremely interesting demographics, how Kamala Harris can win there and what else could go wrong. Listen to this episode Here.

This is a podcast that I don't normally host, but it features Chief Strategist Josh Stein Morgan Jackson, who knows as much about North Carolina politics as anyone alive.

See NE 02 👀:

Biden got 52% there in 2020, Trump got 46%.

Cliff Schecter on particularly blatant bribery: