Turns Out JD Vance Is One Weird Dude Even Without The Sofa Thing

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

Pass The Popcorn

Were it not for an assassination attempt and the President dropping his re-election bid, the past two weeks might have featured the meltdown of JD Vance. Even still, there’s reported grumbling in Trumpworld that he picked the wrong guy, especially in light of Kamala Harris being elevated to the top of the Democratic ticket.

Let’s run through some of the fallout:

How Weird Is He?

JD Vance is turning out to be an oppo researcher’s dream:

• There’s his history of demeaning people who don’t have children as deserving of less representation in civil life:

• There’s his call for federal intervention to prevent (Black) women in red states from traveling to blue states for abortions:

• There’s his endorsement of a book co-authored by Jack Posobiec that call progressives “unhumans” and praises the Jan. 6 rioters.

Weird But Not THAT Weird

An online gag that invented a couch-fucking episode in JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy prompted the AP to run and then retract a classic all-time headline: “No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch.” You will not be surprised to learn that JD Vance and sofas, divans, and couches has turned into a runaway meme.

How’s JD Vance Playing So Far?

2024 Ephemera

• The Obamas announced their endorsement of Kamala Harris.
• New DNC rules effectively give Kamala Harris until Aug. 7 to pick her running mate.
• NYT/Siena poll: Kamala Harris has closed the gap with Donald Trump among likely voters nationally to 48%-47%. In the prior poll earlier this month, when President Biden was still in the race, Trump led him 49%-43%.
• Donald Trump is bailing on the second presidential debate now that Harris is the Democratic nominee.

A Spectacular Catch

Parker Molloy caught WSJ op-ed writer Jason L. Riley playing it both ways in two columns only two weeks apart:

July 9: Kamala Harris Would Be The Best Democratic Choice

July 23: Kamala Harris Isn’t The Change Democrats Need

Nothing matters.

Republicans Hate Voting, Part 632

NYT: How Some States Are Making It Harder to Register Voters

The Fate Of DOJ Under Trump II

A bipartisan group of some 40 former Justice Department officials have endorsed Kamala Harris largely on rule of law grounds.

It’s About Damn Time

Another day, another belated DOJ inspector general report on the politicization of DOJ under Attorney General Bill Barr. This one is bad.

Piecing Together The Trump Assassination Attempt

Yesterday, the NYT had a piece exploring some of the outstanding questions around the projectile that struck former President Trump’s ear, what law enforcement is analyzing, and noting the political context in which it has become a focus of interest.

This morning, the paper published one of its visual investigations assessing audio-video evidence from the scene and concluded that the projectile was likely a bullet: “[A] detailed analysis of bullet trajectories, footage, photos and audio by The New York Times strongly suggests Mr. Trump was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by the gunman, Thomas Crooks.”

For his part, Trump is hopping mad about the congressional testimony Wednesday of his own appointee as FBI director, in which he said whether it was a bullet or shrapnel remained an outstanding question.

Trump Prosecution Watch

Two new developments of note in the Trump prosecutions:

• Mar-a-Lago case: The 11th Circuit Court Appeals has set a briefing schedule through mid-October for Jack Smith’s appeal of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling that his was unlawfully appointed as special counsel, meaning the appeal (let alone the case itself) will not likely be done by Election Day. Smith could still ask for expedited handling of the appeal.
• Hush money case: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed his opposition to Trump’s effort to overturn his state court conviction using the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling on presidential immunity.

Kagan Lays Down A Marker For SCOTUS Reform

The associate justice suggested publicly that a panel of lower court judges could enforce the Supreme Court’s new ethics code against the justices.

Olympic Sabotage

A three-pronged attack on France’s high-speed rail system crippled train travel on the same day as opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Paris.

A Measured Assessment Of Avian Flu

The Atlantic: There Are No Good Options Left With Bird Flu

Largest California Wildfire Of The Year … So Far

A California man is suspected of arson for allegedly pushing a burning car into a gully Wednesday and igniting the Park fire near Chico, which rapidly grew to more than 160,000 acres, making it the largest conflagration in the state so far this year.

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