August 15, 2020

Trump revives ugly tactics with anti-Harris attacks

 

Aug. 13, 2020: Welcome to KamelotHow both parties have responded to the Harris pick

VOX

  • On Tuesday, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden selected California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate — a historic choice, and by all appearances one that Democrats are extremely excited about. [AP / Alexandra Jaffe and Will Weissert]
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  • Harris has already powered the Biden team to record-setting fundraising numbers. The campaign reported Thursday that it raked in $48 million in the 48 hours immediately after the pick was announced. [Twitter / Johnny Verhovek]
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  • That’s a major boon for Biden, whose July fundraising lagged the Trump campaign’s by about $25 million. Still, as of last week, the two campaigns were on roughly even footing in terms of cash on hand, with both hovering around the $300 million mark. [CNN / Eric Bradner, Sarah Mucha, and Donald Judd]
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  • Harris could also provide a boost far beyond that initial surge. As Recode’s Teddy Schleifer reported on Tuesday, Harris’s ties to Silicon Valley run deep — which could well give the Biden campaign a valuable edge with Big Tech’s donor community. [Recode / Theodore Schleifer]
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  • And according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, her favorability numbers exceed Biden’s with several potentially important groups of voters — including some Republicans. [Reuters / Chris Kahn]
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  • While the Trump team has launched an expected barrage of attacks at Harris, the Republican response can best be characterized as scattered, veering from accusations that Harris is too liberal to criticisms of her record on criminal justice. [BuzzFeed / Kadia Goba and Henry J. Gomez]
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  • Trump has also resurrected birtherism as a line of attack on Harris, who is Black and South Asian American. The racist conspiracy theory he helped popularize when Barack Obama was president is just as racist — and just as patently false — now. [Vox / Ian Millhiser and Aaron Rupar]
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  • Such attacks on the Biden campaign are becoming a theme for Trump, who on Wednesday appealed to racist fears about suburban integration by tweeting that “Biden would reinstall it, in a bigger form, with Corey Booker in charge! [sic]” [NYT / Annie Karni and Jeremy W. Peters]
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  • Trump has claimed that the "suburban housewife" will vote for him in 2020, but evidence suggests that racist and sexist attacks like those he's leveled at Harris are having the opposite effect. His support in the suburbs has eroded since 2016, and there’s little evidence it’s coming back. [Politico / Meridith McGraw]