A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Biden Heads Off On Vacation … Literally
President Biden left Chicago early this morning and flew to California, where he and his family will spend the rest of Democratic convention week vacationing in Santa Ynez.
For those who don’t watch or will only see parts of the convention, I want to make it easy to catch up in Morning Memo. So here goes with a few video clips and links to TPM’s deeper coverage:
‘I Love You’
Harris and Doug Emhoff join the Bidens on stage to close out night one of the DNC. Harris appears to tell Biden she loves him. pic.twitter.com/RhkZ5BEYyD
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 20, 2024
The Man Can Preach
Warnock: “I need my neighbor’s children to be okay so that my children will be okay. I need all of my neighbor’s children to be okay … the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza … those in Ukraine … I need American children on both side of the track to be ok” pic.twitter.com/JmJRYYUBqF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 20, 2024
History Likes A Little Irony
Democrats are chanting “lock him up” during a Hillary Clinton speech. Need a moment to process this. pic.twitter.com/ur0NuYzAOW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 20, 2024
Go Deeper
For more complete highlights from TPM:
About The Protests
Monday was expected to see the largest pro-Palestinian protest at the Democratic convention, but the size of the demonstration was well short of what organizers had expected. Farah Stockman was there and took the opportunity to explore the long-running effort to place Palestinians on equal footing with Israel in the eyes of the Democratic Party.
On The Trail
- Spot the racism: At a Pennsylvania campaign rally Monday, Donald Trump ramped up his effort to “other” Kamala Harris, asking aloud: “I wonder if they knew where she comes from, where she came from, what her ideology is.” It’s the oldest play in Trump’s playbook.
- Under his skin: Harris is holding a rally tonight at the Milwaukee arena that hosted the GOP convention, apparently hoping to fill it up as a jab at Trump, who suffers from insecurity about his crowd size.
- On brand: Former Appeals Court Judge J. Michael Luttig, a leading anti-Trump conservative, endorsed Kamala Harris.
It Was Iran
Elements of the U.S. intelligence community issued a joint statement Monday pinning blame on Iran for a hack-and-leak operation against the Trump campaign that also targeted the Biden-Harris campaign:
The IC is confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties. Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process. It is important to note that this approach is not new. Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world.
Welp …
As expected, the Georgia Election Board passed that new MAGA-backed rule that makes it easier to delay the certification of election results.
Good Read
ProPublica: Armed and Underground: Inside the Turbulent, Secret World of an American Militia
Santos Pleads Guilty
As TPM’s Hunter Walker first reported last week, ousted Rep. George Santos (R-NY) entered into a plea agreement to resolve the criminal charges against him, pleading guilty yesterday to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of a plea agreement.
Super proud of the TPM team for unearthing elements of the scheme that ultimately led to some of the most serious criminal charges Santos faced.
Didn’t See That Coming
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not opposing Donald Trump’s request to delay his sentencing in the hush money case for a second time. Rather, Bragg told the the court he would defer to it on whether a delay was appropriate.
Part of what Bragg is trying to anticipate is all of the security measures needed to be in place for the sentencing of a former president; he doesn’t want to go to all of that trouble if Trump successfully appeals to pause sentencing until the immunity issues are resolved.
All of this stems from the Supreme Court’s horrendous ruling on presidential immunity, which potentially implicates some of the evidence used to obtain Trump’s conviction.
What A Mess
On Friday, the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s new rule under Title IX that, among many other things, offers protections for transgender students. But the rule does a lot more than that, including touching on many areas of education that have nothing to do with gender identity. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court blocked it all for now while litigation proceeds. For a deep dive on the many ways the high court, including the dissenting justices, made a mess of this case, Steve Vladeck has you covered.
On Climate Change
I try to strike a balance on climate change coverage among (i) sounding the alarm, which frankly this audience doesn’t really need, (ii) accessible stories about what is already being done on the ground by governments and the private sector; and (iii) how to think smartly about something on this monumental of a scale, both physically and temporally.
Jeff Masters has a deeply written new essay for Yale Climate Connections that combines all three elements as he tried to answer the question: When will climate change turn life in the U.S. upside down?
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