A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Dems Bask In It
Day 1 of the Harris-Walz 2024 ticket was all about the visuals.
There was the carefully planned video of both sides of the offer-and-acceptance phone call between Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. There was the Walz intro video narrated by Walz himself. And of course there was the staged rollout in Philadelphia last evening where the ticket made its first public joint appearance.
But there were also the memes. So.many.Tim.Walz.memes. “Turkey’s meat” is probs my personal fave.
I’m not going to attempt to “analyze” all of this. Any effort to do so after a day like yesterday is doomed to be either overdone in finding real meaning in the visuals or to veer toward being a curdled spirit that refuses to get sucked into the enthusiasm. Make no mistake: There was a lot of enthusiasm among progressives.
For now, here’s a taste of the Harris-Walz debut:
The Introduction
Bringing The Dad Jokes
Watch: Tim Walz’s First Speech As Running Mate
For many of us, it was the first Tim Walz speech we ever heard:
When The Headline Says It All
Politico: Tim Walz calls Viktor Orbán a dictator. For JD Vance, he’s a role model.
LOLOL
The trolly right-wing conspiracist Charles Johnson shared with the WaPo the texts he and JD Vance exchanged over the encrypted app Signal.
Quote Of The Day
Dems in disconcerting levels of array
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY
Meanwhile …
Donald Trump is crafting revenge fantasies … for Joe Biden:
2024 Ephemera
- MO-01: Rep. Cori Bush lost to challenger Wesley Bell in a Democratic primary heavily influenced by the $9 million AIPAC poured into the race on Bell’s behalf.
- If Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) wins the vice presidency, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan would become the country’s first Native American woman governor.
- The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is launching its first round TV ads for the fall campaign, targeting GOP Senate candidates Kari Lake in Arizona, Eric Hovde in Wisconsin, Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania and Mike Rogers in Michigan.
Don’t Hold Back
John Ganz: These People are Nazis
First Guilty Plea In Arizona Fake Electors Case
Arizona Republican Lorraine Pellegrino, a fake Trump elector, pleaded guilty to a single charge of filing a false instrument — in this case, the fraudulent Electoral College certificate. She agreed to a sentence of three years of probation but no jail time.
👀
The FBI executed a search warrant Friday on the phone of Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) as part of an ongoing campaign finance investigation.
Great Question
Brian Beutler, on the bombshell WaPo report that Trump DOJ deep-sixed an investigation into the whether Egypt sent Donald Trump $10 million after he won in 2016: “Why wouldn’t Senate Democrats launch an immediate investigation of both the crime and coverup?”
International Murder-For-Hire Plot
A 46-year-old Pakistani man with alleged ties to the Iranian government was arrested in a sting operation last month by the FBI and charged in Brooklyn with allegedly trying to hire hitmen to carry out political assassinations in the United States in late August or early September. The purported hitmen were actually undercover law enforcement officers.
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
How much longer until JD is dumped, clocks a ticking.
One thing that struck me watching the joy and ebullience yesterday with the Walz announcement and the continuing ability of the Dems to be fun is I wonder if the country, after Covid and years of shithole America that only Trump can fix, is are we collectively ready for a happier time again? These things run in cycles (see Nixon, Regan, Obama and Trump for down, up, up and down examples) and I hope we are ready to be forward looking and joyful again…
Sun is shining, and the future looks very bright indeed. Feels great.
“MO-01 : Rep. Cori Bush lost to challenger Wesley Bell in a Democratic primary heavily influenced by the $9 million AIPAC poured into the race on Bell’s behalf”
She couldn’t read the room. That’s why she really lost.
Cori Bush loses her primary to a Republican charlatan, and I say good result.