JD Vance sure isn’t doing much to help quash the overall impression he’s a creep, and a weirdo. What the hell is he doing here? The vice-presidential hopeful, wearing more black eyeliner than Madonna in her Lucky Star era, marched up to Air Force Two on Wednesday while it was parked at the airport in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, just marched right up like he owned the joint.
When reporters were like, uh, “what’re you doing, man?” He was like,
“I just wanted to check out my future plane!” Even though it is not the vice president’s personal plane, it is the taxpayers’ plane, but we don’t expect niceties of “what belongs to me and what belongs to America” to factor into these deeply thefty men’s considerations.
If you heard about JD Vance trying to stalk the vice president on her damn plane and immediately flashed onto Trump looming threateningly over Hillary Clinton on the debate stage in 2016, say hello to everyone who thought the same thing, aka “everybody who has been alive for the past eight years.”
First of all: the gall. Second: the mediocre white man entitlement! The frat boy veiled threat and attempted intimidation of it all! Like they’re going to Brooks Brothers Riot Air Force Fucking Two!
GROSS!
“I also wanted to go say hello to the vice president and ask her why she refuses to answer questions from the media. And I also thought that the press gaggle following her might get a little lonely,” he continued. “I, at least, have enough respect for you all and for the American people you report to, to come and talk to you and answer some questions.”
Vance then accused Harris of running a campaign from her basement with teleprompters, even though Harris at that point had had two maximum-capacity events, in Atlanta and Philadelphia, with about 8,000 and 10,000 attendees, respectively. Vance answered one question, “what would you like to hear from her?” with a bunch of lying nonsense (“every single position she has has changed!”) before scurrying off to his own event, which was at the Wollard International warehouse, and attended by about 50 people. Harris then rallied 12,000 people in Eau Fucking Claire!
Then Vance also followed Harris to Michigan, where she spoke to a crowd of about 15,000, and he spoke to a crowd outside of the Shelby Township police station that had more members of the press in it than voters. (Rebecca, who was at Harris’s amazing event, thinks Harris’s crowd was more like 8,000, but she is not the boss of crowd counting; Donald Trump, for his part, is putting Harris’s crowd at “a thousand,” and Dok drew the short straw on writing that pathetic mess up for the morning; we are very sorry to Dok!)
SAD! AND Vance was supposed to follow her to North Carolina too, though Harris, and then Vance, canceled due to Hurricane Debby. And thank goodness, because WTF?
Why is Trump making Vance go on all of these solo excursions, while Trump sits around his swampy Florida country club in the heat of August doing who-the-hell-knows what? Why is the strategy for Vance to pathetically and stalkerishly follow Harris around, highlighting how deeply unpopular Vance is? Why does Trump only have two appearances this week, Thursday’s surprise gripe session at Mar-a-Lago and a Friday planned stop in deep-red Bozeman, Montana? (He still owes Missoula County $12,922.82 from 2018, wonder if they’ll ever get that money?)
The word “weird” is perhaps overused these days, but damn, it’s weird!
What else is there to say?!
OPEN THREAD!
Wrapping up that creepy intel vote nicely. But dude, not really expanding your voter base.
Dayum, Harris Walz comms team.
https://www.insidernj.com/press-release/harris-campaign-donald-trumps-very-good-very-normal-press-conference/
Donald Trump’s Very Good, Very Normal Press Conference
Split Screen: Joy and Freedom vs. Whatever the Hell That Was
Donald Trump took a break from taking a break to put on some pants and host a p̶r̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ public meltdown.
We have a lot to say about it. Here are some initial thoughts – with more to come.
He hasn’t campaigned all week. He isn’t going to a single swing state this week. But he sure is mad Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are getting big crowds across the battlegrounds.
The facts were hard to track and harder to find in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago meltdown this afternoon.
He lied. He attacked the media. He made excuses for why he’s off the campaign trail.
We’re here to help because his staff clearly isn’t.
But first, an important reminder on the question Donald didn’t answer: how he will vote on the Florida abortion referendum. (He has been ducking this question since April.)
We worked to pin down reality so Donald Trump, bless his heart, doesn’t have to. Here are the facts:
We had 12,000 and 15,000 people in Wisconsin and Michigan yesterday, respectively (Not 2,000.)
The ABC debate is September 10th. Not the 25th.
People have spoken to bigger crowds than Donald Trump. (Obama, Clinton, literally anyone at Lollapalooza, Coachella, the World Cup…)
January 6th was decidedly nothing like MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. And Trump did not get a bigger crowd than Martin Luther King Jr. on that historic day.
There was famously not a “peaceful transfer” of power after the 2020 election, which Donald Trump fought to overturn. (Famously.)
Five police officers died because of January 6th.
Donald Trump said he was off the trail this week because of the Democratic convention. (That convention is not happening this week.)
Trump said they have commercials at a level no one else does. (He is being drastically outspent on the airwaves.)
Governor Josh Shapiro is actually a great guy.
Project 2025 author Tom Homan, the “father” of Trump’s cruel child separation policy, is not a person to praise.
Jewish people should not “have their head examined” for not supporting him. (That’s actually antisemitic.)
Trump said he was not complaining. He in fact very much was.
Trump does not know the difference between asylum seekers and an insane asylum.
Donald Trump does not “cherish” the Constitution.
Abortion is not “less of an issue” for voters. It is not “subdued.” It is not a “small issue” for voters, despite how much Donald Trump wants it to be.
Donald Trump did not answer the abortion question “very well in the debate.”
Everybody did not want Roe v. Wade overturned. The American people do not support states banning abortion.
After-birth abortion does not exist.
Minnesota and Virginia are not the same.
Donald Trump doesn’t know what progressive means.
Kamala Harris does not want to take away everyone’s guns. Tim Walz is a gun owner.
Vice President Harris does not support an arms embargo on Israel.
Donald Trump could not remember Tim Walz’s name.
Donald Trump’s tax cuts are not the biggest in history.
We don’t know what “the transgender became such a big thing” is supposed to mean.
Donald Trump will cut Social Security – just like he proposed every year he was in office.
Government was not weaponized against Trump and Steve Bannon.
Mail ballots are secure.
We agree – Elon IS a different kind of guy.
There are no polls that say Donald Trump is going to win in a landslide.
The MAGA base is not 75% of the country.