A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
4th Quarter Comeback
After a performance that was at times bumbling and excessively amiable, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) flashed some steel at the very end of the vice presidential debate, pinning JD Vance to the mat over whether he still thinks Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
Vance bobbed and weaved but never responded, at which point Walz delivered his toughest line of the night: “That is a damning non-answer.”
Claiming Trump won in 2020 remains a litmus test for Republican candidates everywhere, and Vance was not about to fail that test on a national stage with Trump himself live-tweeting the debate. It confirmed for a national TV audience that Vance remains under the sway of Trump’s cultish demand that his supporters embrace his alternate reality.
Most of Vance’s debate points had that same slavish flavor, but they were more subtle and probably beyond the ability of the average voter to detect. When he insisted against all evidence and reason that Trump was Obamacare’s biggest supporter or feigned concern about the plight of women in the Trump-created post-Dobbs world or soft-pedaled his own prior strident criticisms of Trump, Vance was lying, sure, but it’s more egregious and pathological than mere mistruths.
The alternative reality of election denialism is a cocoon of conspiracies and self-adulation and psychological coping that continues to the present. Earlier in the day on the campaign trail, Trump again extended the Big Lie to 2024 and to any election he loses:
REPORTER: Do you trust the election process this time around?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 1, 2024
TRUMP: I'll let you know in about 33 days pic.twitter.com/nLCUOoy9IF
For Vance’s part, he has embraced his role as the anti-Pence, saying he would have refused to certify the Electoral College results and asked for alternative slates of electors from the states. It was a precursor for Walz’s second strongest line of the night, pointing out that Vance was only on the debate stage because Trump had dumped his own vice president for doing the right thing on Jan. 6.
Jack Smith Moves Aggressively In Jan. 6 Case
In an unusually quick response, Special Counsel Jack Smith took only three hours to file his retort to a Donald Trump move to block unsealing of some elements of the Jan. 6 case against him. It’s all part of an effort by Trump to prevent the public from seeing the bulk of Smith’s case, including never-before-revealed evidence, before the November election.
ICYMI: TPM’s Veep Debate Coverage
- The TPM live blog: Walz: I’m Debating Vance Because Trump Dumped Pence Over Jan. 6
- The TPM wrap-up: Vance Rolls Out Alternate-Reality Persona, And Other Takeaways From The 2024 VP Debate
- TPM’s Josh Marshall:
It drove me crazy that Walz spent half his time saying Vance was probably a good guy and they could probably agree on a lot. Drove me crazy. It drove me nuts that Walz didn’t swing hard at some hanging curveballs Vance threw over the plate. (He finally did on democracy.) But I’m not the audience for this stuff. I think the avuncular nice guy thing probably worked for him with the people who matter. Not my cup of tea but I’m not the average voter.
Quote Of The Day
JD Vance, to debate moderator Margaret Brennan: “Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check!”
LOL: Trump Tries On New Abortion Position For Size
One tangible result of the vice presidential debate was that Trump rolled out a whole new position on abortion, now claiming he would veto any federal abortion ban.
This latest about-face comes after Trump denied in the last presidential debate that he would veto a national abortion ban and gave JD Vance shit about outrunning him on this issue, which forced Vance to offer a mea culpa.
Basically, Trump has no firm public position on abortion and is reacting in real time to what he senses the most popular answer is for the given audience.
Trump’s Rough Day In Wisconsin
Donald Trump’s continued deterioration was so apparent during appearances Tuesday in Wisconsin that the WaPo mustered this headline: “Trump mixes up words, swerves among subjects in off-topic speech.”
For a complete rundown, Public Notice has a blow-by-blow account of Trump’s “decompensation” during yesterday’s two speeches.
Among the lowlights:
- Trump dismissed U.S. soldiers’ traumatic brain injuries in Iraq as “headaches.”
- Trump continued his racist attacks on immigrants, which has recently focused primarily on Black immigrants from Haiti and now the Congo:
Senate Dems Slowly React To Nascent Trump-Egypt Scandal
Two weeks ago, TPM reported that some Democratic senators were calling for Senate investigations into allegations in the Washington Post in August about a now-closed DOJ probe into whether Egypt funneled $10 million to Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign for president.
Yesterday, four Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — Richard Blumenthal (CT), Mazie Hirono (HI), Alex Padilla (CA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) — signed a letter asking DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz to look into whether Trump appointees “interfered with and, ultimately, blocked” the federal probe into the underlying allegations.
Hurricane Helene Update
- The death toll in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in the Southeast has risen to at least 137 people across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia – but the number of confirmed deaths remain in considerable flux.
- Today, President Biden will review the damage in western North Carolina from the air and make appearances in Raleigh and South Carolina, while Vice President Harris will travel to hard-hit Augusta, Georgia.
- The flooding in and around Spruce Pine, North Carolina, has “imperiled the operations of mines that produce the world’s purest quartz sand — an irreplaceable ingredient for manufacturing components at the heart of smartphones and other electronic devices,” the WaPo reports.
- Helene has upended voting in North Carolina, a key battleground state.
Slaying With Upper Midwest Humor
"We've got 20% of the world's fresh water." – @Tim_Walz
— Lake Superior 🌊 (@LakeSuperior) October 2, 2024
Was hoping to get a callout by name, but that'll do.
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I’m glad to see the Washington Post, at least, has been critical of jv’s debate performance. Now let’s get on with the job of electing Harris Walz on 11/5. GOTV.
cat statue from Iran. Ca. 1850 - 1900.
The topic of January 6th should have been the first question in last night’s VP debate. That would have saved viewers having to watch JD do a Grima Wormtongue fancy truth and lies dance for an hour before Walz pulled back the curtain to expose him as willing to do what Pence refused to - be a willing participant in another coup.
He’s a smooth talking fancy word dancer
Who spreads lies like a dangerous cancer
When asked if Trump lost
Right past it he glossed
JD Vance gave a “damning non-answer”
Cool Cat
Herbie Hancock last night at Massey Hall
I didn’t watch the debate because I was at the concert. I have been reading all sorts of commentary this morning and find myself confused. Did someone win the debate? Was it a draw? I know Vance was his predictable asshat self.
Folks, remember John Nance Garner. How reasonable Shillbilly sounded matters not a bit. He can cast tie breaking votes in the Senate. And wait for the President to die.
His impact on policy (Such as DJT has policy) is nil.