memeorandum: Harris Campaign Plans to Deploy Tim Walz as Her Anti-MAGA ‘Sledgehammer’ (Rolling Stone)

11:50 AM ET, August 7, 2024

Top Items:

Amanda Marcotte / Salon:

“Bringing back the joy”: Kamala Harris' rally blows away JD Vance's weird appearance across town — In Philadelphia, thousands cheered for Tim Walz, while Trump's running mate spoke to a small, aggrieved group — “He's so weird! He's so weird!” the crowd chanted in a sing-song …

Discussion: TMZ.com, Balloon Juice, USA Today, The Daily Beast, New Jersey Online, HuffPost, Raw Story and Mediaite

Miranda Nazzaro / The Hill:

Why Trump supporters are calling Walz ‘Tampon Tim’ — Video Player is loading. — Play Video — Unmute — Current Time 0:00 — Loaded: 0% — Stream Type LIVE — Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE — Playback Rate — Chapters — Chapters — Descriptions

Discussion: Breitbart, LGBTQ Nation, New York Times, ComingSoon.net, Washington Blade, New York Post and Raw Story

Marc A. Caputo / The Bulwark:

Trump World Fueled an Anti-Shapiro Whisper Campaign — AS KAMALA HARRIS BEGAN WINDING DOWN her search for a running mate, Donald Trump's team knew one thing clearly: It didn't want her to pick Josh Shapiro, the popular governor of swing-state Pennsylvania whose more moderate record made him a formidable opponent.

Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:

Kamala Harris's inspired choice — Democrats often use their running mate to pivot to the center. But not this time. — 🚨 This all-free, five-edition week of PN is made possible by paid subscribers 🚨 If you aren't one already, please sign up to support our independent journalism.

Discussion: The Hill, Today's Edition Newsletter, Fox News, New York Post, acecomments.mu.nu, The Colorado Sun, The Spectator World, Roll Call, The Post Millennial, The Atlantic, Washington Examiner, RedState, The Kyiv Independent and Axios

Politico:

Playbook: Trump's reset opportunity — With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine — DRIVING THE DAY — ANOTHER INCUMBENT GOES DOWN — Prosecutor WESLEY BELL defeated Rep. CORI BUSH (D-Mo.) in a St. Louis primary election yesterday, 51 percent to 46 percent, per Nick Wu.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, NBC News and nationalinterest.org

Rolling Stone:

Harris Campaign Plans to Deploy Tim Walz as Her Anti-MAGA ‘Sledgehammer’ — The vice president's new running mate is going to be her attack dog against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance … Walz is set to be, in the phrasing of one Harris 2024 source, the campaign's go-to “sledgehammer against Vance and Trump” from now until Election Day.

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, Chicago Sun Times, Mercury News, Fast Company, USA Today, Townhall, Los Angeles Times, Telegraph, The Guardian, New Yorker, Vanity Fair, New Republic, abc7NY, Fox News and LGBTQ Nation

Josh Fiallo / The Daily Beast:

J.D. Vance's Backdrop Makes It Look Like He's Campaigning for ‘Kamala’ — AWKWARD — The unfortunate signage gaffe came on the same day Harris announced her VP pick. — Well that's confusing. — J.D. Vance delivered a rally speech Tuesday in Pennsylvania with a backdrop that made it appear …

Discussion: WHYY, Mediaite, NPR, CNBC and New York Times

Liz Skalka / HuffPost:
Democrats Lost Their Minds Over Tim Walz, Kamala Harris' New Midwestern Running Mate

Fox News:
I served with Tim Walz as a Republican in the House. He'll be a good vice president

Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
Tim Walz Joins the Anti-weirdness Ticket

Discussion: Drezner's World, Politico, Forbes, The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali, HuffPost, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and New Republic

Reuters:
Tim Walz's handling of George Floyd protests put in spotlight

Discussion: The Raw Story, Daily Mail, Vox, Fox News, Politico, The Hill, KHOU-TV, The Daily Caller, The Daily Signal, Media Matters for America, The Post Millennial, Scripps News and The Gateway Pundit

Politico:
What Walz told Harris in his VP interview

Discussion: CNN, New York Post, Business Insider, Washington Post, NBC News, Honest Graft, The Daily Beast, ABC News, NOTUS, Fox News, WHAS-TV, Pennsylvania Capital-Star, Chicago Sun Times and Washington Examiner

Lisa Lerer / New York Times:
In Walz, Harris Sees a Battleground Strategy Dressed in Carhartt

New York Times:
Harris and Walz Make Their National Debut at Philadelphia Rally

Christopher Ingraham / Minnesota Reformer:
Former geography teacher Tim Walz is really into maps

Discussion: Raw Story, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and USA Today

Owen Lavine / The Daily Beast:
Kamala Harris Shares Video Informing Walz He Is Her Pick

Washington Post:

JD Vance over text: Crude, dismissive and friendly with the far-right fringe — Private messages show Trump's running mate entertaining conspiracy theories and scorning the late Sheldon Adelson. — The day after JD Vance was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022, he received a congratulatory text …

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and Eschaton

Miles Klee / Rolling Stone:

Musk's Twitter ‘Boycott’ Lawsuit Is a ‘Hideous Joke’: Former FTC Official — “This complaint doesn't even get into the batter's box, much less get the chance to strike out,” says David Balto, FTC policy director from 1998 to 2001 … This time, the company is going after a cohort of advertisers …

Discussion: UPI, The Gateway Pundit, Axios, ComingSoon.net, TechCrunch, Shelly Palmer, The Hollywood Reporter, The Register, The Federalist, Washington Examiner, Wired, The Post Millennial, Associated Press, Boing Boing, Bloomberg, New York Post and The Information, more at Techmeme »

Casey Newton / Platformer:

X sues the advertising industry — I. — On Tuesday, X intensified its assault on advertisers that have declined to buy ads on the platform. Today, let's talk about the case, how Elon Musk is using his conservative allies in the House of Representatives to bolster it …

Discussion: Wired, One America News Network, New York Times and USA Today, more at Techmeme »

Kate Conger / New York Times:
X, Owned by Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott

Discussion: CNN, BizPac Review, Reuters, The Mirror, Agence France-Presse, Gizmodo, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, New Republic, Daily Caller News Foundation, LGBTQ Nation, Ars Technica, The Hill, Deadline, The Gateway Pundit, Quartz, Forbes and The Verge

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Kamala Goes Electric and Trump Melts Down — Last Thursday the Harris campaign began offering tickets for a campaign rally in Detroit the following Wednesday (tomorrow, August 7th). Over the first 24 hours they received 47,000 requests for tickets. 47,000.

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Arizona Republican becomes first fake elector to plead guilty for role in Trump scheme — It's the second victory for Arizona prosecutors this week in their sweeping case against many Trump allies. — An Arizona Republican who falsely claimed to be a legitimate presidential elector …

Discussion: UPI, Law & Crime, ABC News, Associated Press, Raw Story and Forbes

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez / Washington Post:
Arizona grand jurors discussed indicting Trump, but prosecutors urged them not to

Discussion: Washington Examiner and New York Times

Firearms Policy Coalition:

FPC Taking Maryland's “Assault Weapons” Ban to Supreme Court Following Fourth Circuit Decision — Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has issued a highly flawed en banc (full court) decision on the merits upholding Maryland's ban …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Daily Caller News Foundation and Associated Press

Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Appeals court upholds Maryland ban on certain semiautomatic weapons

Discussion: Washington Post, Maryland Matters, New York Times and Baltimore Sun

Anders Hagstrom / Fox News:

Harris takes 3-point lead over Trump as she gains on key issues: poll — Harris has clawed back ground on key issues where President Biden was losing — Vice President Harris has taken a 3-point lead over former President Trump as she gains ground on key issues, according to a new poll.

Discussion: The Hill

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
Poll: Harris jumps to a small national lead over Trump

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, New Jersey Online, BizPac Review, masslive.com and Forbes

Stuart A. Thompson / New York Times:

How Are Conspiracy Theorists Responding After False Claims of President Biden's Death? — An outlandish idea that President Biden was dead or nearly dead was quickly refuted. Few of the accounts that had spread it online recanted. — A podcaster said President Biden was “dying or possibly already dead.”

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

Project 2025 leader's book with JD Vance introduction delayed until after election — A JD Vance-introduced book by a leader of Project 2025, the vast and controversial hardline rightwing plan for a second Trump administration, will be delayed until after the 2024 election.

Discussion: Forbes, New York Times, Democrats and The Daily Beast

Jason Koebler / 404 Media:

Where Facebook's AI Slop Comes From — Gyan Abhishek is standing in front of a giant touch screen, like Jim Cramer on Mad Money or an ESPN talking head analyzing a football play. He's flicking through a Facebook feed of viral, AI-generated images. — “The post you are seeing …

Discussion: Boing Boing