memeorandum: Someone Take This Man's Phone (William Kristol/The Bulwark)

11:20 AM ET, August 29, 2024

Top Items:

Exclusive: Kamala Harris surges ahead of Donald Trump in latest poll taken after DNC — Harris has succeeded in doing what Biden never could this year: Lead Trump. — Democrat Kamala Harris has surged ahead of Republican Donald Trump, 48%-43%, in a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll found.

Discussion: The Hill, Forbes, Lawyers, Guns & Money, DNyuz, Washington Examiner and Yahoo News

New York Times:

Trump Campaign Filming at Arlington Cemetery Dismayed Family of Green Beret — The family of a Green Beret buried there expressed concern about videos and photos taken by his grave. And a cemetery employee declined to press charges after an altercation with the Trump team, fearing retribution.

William Kristol / The Bulwark:

Someone Take This Man's Phone — The post-DNC polling picture is coming into focus, with a brace of new polls out today that show Kamala Harris's surge continuing. The latest USA Today/Suffolk poll gives Harris a five-point edge over Trump, 48 percent to 43 percent, while Reuters/Ipsos …

Discussion: New Jersey Online and Breitbart

Jos Joseph / The Hill:

What the performative patriotism of Donald Trump reveals about his character — When I was preparing for deployment for Iraq in 2007, we were required to do grenade training. Before we started, our master sergeant asked who would jump on a grenade to save the lives of others.

Emerson Polling:

August 2024 Swing State Polls: Toss-up Presidential Election in Swing States — Home Polls August 2024 Swing State Polls: Toss-up Presidential Election in Swing States — Democratic Statewide Candidates Lead Republican Candidates — New Emerson College Polling/The Hill swing state surveys find …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Townhall and Political Wire

Jason Easley / PoliticusUSA:

Speaker Mike Johnson Helped Trump Break The Law — Trump was struggling to get into Arlington National Cemetery until Speaker of the House Mike Johnson intervened to get Trump in for his illegal campaign stunt. — Via The Daily Caller: … Speaker Johnson helped Trump disrespect …

Discussion: RedState

Hafiz Rashid / New Republic:

Trump Goes on Crazed, Violent Rant Calling for Death of His Enemies … On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump had some kind of meltdown on his Truth Social profile, all before 10 a.m. — His many posts and “ReTruths” were conspiracy laden, crude, and calling for the death or imprisonment of his enemies.

Discussion: Associated Press and Raw Story

Paul McLeary / Politico:

‘Unfairly attacked’: Army defends employee involved in Trump campaign incident at Arlington — The unidentified female staff member has declined to press charges due to concern over retaliation. — The Army is defending an Arlington National Cemetery official involved in an incident …

Discussion: CBS News

Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:

August 28, 2024 — Former president Trump appears to have slid further since last night's news about a new grand jury's superseding indictment of him on charges of trying to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. Over the course of about four hours this morning, Trump posted 50 times …

Hannah Knowles / Washington Post:

24 hours of Trump: QAnon tributes, crude attacks and hawking pieces of his suit — With fewer than 70 days until the election, Trump is zigging and zagging with an arsenal of unfocused broadsides and peripheral pursuits. — Donald Trump amplified a vulgar joke about Vice President Kamala Harris performing a sex act.

Politico:
Playbook: 3 Trump transition issues that aren't Project 2025

Discussion: Alternet.org

Richard L. Hasen / Wall Street Journal:
Why It Will Be Harder for Trump to Challenge This Year's Election

Discussion: NBC News, Election Law Blog, ComingSoon.net, Off Message and New Republic

Fox News:
Fox News Poll: Harris closes gap with Trump in Sun Belt states

Discussion: HotAir, The Hill, Raw Story, Forbes, LifeNews.com, New Jersey Online, Big League Politics, Washington Examiner, Politico, Quantus Polls and News, Mediaite, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit and Political Wire

Ruth Ben-Ghiat / Lucid:
Why Joy is an Effective Anti-Authoritarian Strategy.

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo

Reuters:
Exclusive: Harris widens lead over Trump with boost from women, Hispanics, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, USA Today, ComingSoon.net, DNyuz, New Jersey Online and The American Conservative

Charles Sykes / The Atlantic:
Trump Dishonors Fallen Soldiers Again

Discussion: Semafor, Washington Post, Mediaite, Raw Story, Newsbusters, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Breitbart and Scripps News

USA Today:
‘Furious’: Veterans slam Trump team's altercation at Arlington National Cemetery

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Beast, The Bulwark, Boing Boing, Raw Story, Good Politics/Bad Politics, New Republic, Alternet.org, Mother Jones, The Hill, CBS News, DNyuz and IJR

Henry Rodgers / The Daily Caller:
EXCLUSIVE: Gold Star Families Had Trouble Getting Trump Into Arlington Until House Speaker Intervened

Discussion: RedState, The Post Millennial, Twitchy, New York Post, Louder With Crowder and The Gateway Pundit

Associated Press:
Trump campaign was warned not to take photos at Arlington before altercation, defense official says

Washington Post:
How a Trump visit sparked turmoil at America's most sacred cemetery

Discussion: DNyuz, Mediaite, The Daily Beast and The Wrap

Wall Street Journal:
Dispute Grows Over Trump's Arlington Cemetery Visit as Vance Says Harris Can ‘Go to Hell’

Discussion: CBS News, Talking Points Memo, Boing Boing, The Daily Caller, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Daily Beast, Twitchy, Rolling Stone, DNyuz, Newsbusters, MSNBC, PoliticusUSA, NPR and Daily Kos

Maegan Vazquez / Washington Post:
Harris, Walz to participate in first joint interview since launching campaign, with CNN

Discussion: The Hill, Al Jazeera, CNN, Townhall, BBC, The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Examiner, acecomments.mu.nu, Fox News, RedState, Los Angeles Times, Louder With Crowder and DNyuz

Michael Gold / New York Times:

Trump Reposts Crude Sexual Remark About Harris on Truth Social — Though the former president has a history of making crass insults about opponents, the reposts signal his willingness to continue to shatter longstanding political norms. — Former President Donald J. Trump used …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Reuters, Washington Times and Mediaite

Ron Dicker / HuffPost:

CNN Host Says Trump's Kamala Harris Blowjob Dig Makes Her Stomach ‘Sick’ — Pamela Brown and the New York Times' Maggie Haberman tried to make sense of the former president's thinking. — LOADING — CNN anchor Pamela Brown said Wednesday that Donald Trump's sharing of an odious sexual joke …

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite and New Jersey Online

Rolling Stone:
Trump Goes Full Fascist in Truth Social Posting Spree

Discussion: Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, LGBTQ Nation, Boing Boing, HuffPost and Business Insider

Liz Dye / Public Notice:

Georgia Republicans start the steal — Trumpers are preparing for November shenanigans. — 🚨 This special, 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 Federalist, USA Today and WBUR

Miranda Bryant / The Guardian:

Abba demands Trump campaign stop using their music at rallies — Universal Music says footage used in Minnesota featuring Abba songs and videos must be taken down — Abba have demanded that Donald Trump stop using their music after the former US president played several of their songs …

Discussion: Reuters, Politico and CNN

Ben Blanchet / HuffPost:

MSNBC Host Puts Trump Campaign Adviser ‘On Notice’ For Pushing ‘False Quote’ On Air — Ari Melber dismissed a Fox News piece about him before issuing a warning to Corey Lewandowski during a tense live interview. — LOADING — MSN BC's Ari Melber wasn't having it with Trump campaign …

Discussion: Alternet.org, The Gateway Pundit, The National Pulse, The Daily Beast, Breitbart and Mediaite

Alex Thompson / Axios:

Inside the tension in Harris' “Frankenstein” team … - Biden's campaign was insular, with a few long-serving aides making big decisions. … But the main architect of the Biden campaign's messaging strategy, Mike Donilon, has left and returned to the White House.

Discussion: New York Post

Tara Suter / The Hill:

Crockett on Arlington incident: MAGA is not ‘party of law and order’ — Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) recently weighed in on a reported incident involving Trump campaign staffers during a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, calling the perceived shoving “unfortunate.”

Discussion: MSNBC and RedState

Joseph Simonson / freebeacon.com:

‘I Did Fries’: Kamala Harris Claims She Worked at McDonald's, but She Never Mentioned It Until She Ran for President. Did She Really Toil Beneath the Golden Arches? — The first all-female audience ever on The Drew Barrymore Show was whooping and cheering for Kamala Harris, its guest of honor …

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story and Twitchy

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Democrats Drive Surge in Election Enthusiasm — Close to eight in 10 Democrats say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' enthusiasm about voting in this year's election has surged in recent months, with 69% of U.S. adults now saying they are “more enthusiastic than usual” about voting.