Trump Promises 2024 Is The Last Time We’ll Have To Vote … Wait, Wut?

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

How Much More Warning Does Anyone Need?

In his speech Friday to the Christian Right “Believers Summit” in West Palm Beach, hosted by Turning Point Action, former President Donald Trump exhorted the audience of religious believers to vote in November because the stakes are so high but quickly reassured them that this will be the last time they will have to vote:

Trump didn’t merely veer into weird, off-the-cuff remark that can be waved away as idle ramblings. This has been a line he’s used repeatedly in recent speeches. There were still some half-hearted efforts to parse the line into meaninglessness, such as this helpless shrug from the WaPo:

Democrats and others interpreted the comments as signaling how a second Trump presidency would be run, a reminder that he previously said he would not be a dictator upon returning to office “except for Day One.” …

The Trump campaign, however, says the comments, made at the event hosted by the conservative group Turning Point Action, were about how Trump would unite the country.

On the one hand … on the other hand … etc.

When a former president who tried to stay in office via an auto-coup is now the frontrunner to return to that office and is assuring his most diehard supporters that they only have to make the effort to vote one last time, you should take that as the clarion call it is. No excuses.

On High Alert

WaPo: As Harris steps up to face Trump, far-right attacks follow

More From The JD Vance Oppo Files

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B: Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance

Exhibit C:

2024 Ephemera

The reordered presidential race is still settling out, but it’s safe to say that Kamala Harris has already avoided the worst of the plausible scenarios: an immediate widening of the gap into a hard-to-overcome deficit to Trump. On balance, the polls so far are showing her at least holding her own and in several polls narrowing the gap with Trump nationwide.

• Kamala Harris’ campaign raised more than $200 million in its first week.
• Bernie is bargaining in return for his endorsement of Harris.
• Will Harris help down-ballot Dems?
• WSJ poll: Trump leads Harris 49%-47% among registered voters nationwide, a smaller gap than the six-point lead the previous found that Trump had over Biden before he withdrew from the race.

Biden Goes Public With SCOTUS Reform Proposal

With an op-ed in the Washington Post and a speech at the LBJ library in Austin commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, President Biden is rolling out his proposal for Supreme Court reform today. His proposal includes 18-year term limits for the justices and a constitutional amendment to reverse the high court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

Trump Shooting Update

• FBI confirms bullet or bullet fragment struck Trump’s ear.
• NYT: Gunman at Trump Rally Was Often a Step Ahead of the Secret Service
• WaPo: Trump team complained they were not told of suspicious-person reports before shooting

Power Projection

Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Trump’s Projection Of Strength After Assassination Attempt Borrows From Authoritarian Playbook

DOJ Settles With Strzok And Page

Former senior FBI special agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page will receive $1.2 million and $800,000 respectively in a settlement with the Justice Department of their claims that their text private messages were leaked in violation of their privacy rights. The revelation of the texts critical of Donald Trump and of the pair’s extramarital affair ended their FBI careers. Both had been part of the separate investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton’s email server. Strzok continues to pursue a related claim that his firing was a violation of his free speech and due process rights.

Mark Meadows Goes To SCOTUS In Georgia RICO Case

Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is now asking the Supreme Court to move the Georgia RICO case against him from state to federal court.

Good Read

Rolling Stone talks with the CIA analyst who confirmed Russian meddling in the 2016 election to benefit Donald Trump:

The lead author of the CIA report that would haunt Trump’s presidency wasn’t a Hillary Clinton partisan or a ringer for the CIA leadership’s personal preferences, as MAGA conspiracy theorists have claimed. He doesn’t have a book to sell, he’s not running for office, and you won’t find him in a cable news greenroom.

Read more.

I Had No Idea The Number Was This Large

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s long-running stunt of bussing migrants to Democratic-controlled cities has now transported nearly 120,000 people over the last two years.

Iowa’s Abortion Ban Takes Effect Today

A new six-week abortion ban, down from the previous 22-week ban, goes into effect today in Iowa, after the state Supreme Court cleared the way for the law last month.

Still Puzzling Over SCOTUS’ Immunity Decision

The NYT’s Adam Liptak takes a stab at the comparing the worst elements of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision with everything the conservative justices claimed as recently as Dobbs were the most egregious overreaches of Roe v. Wade.

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