memeorandum: August 29, 2024 — And now the U.S. Army has weighed in on the scandal surrounding Trump's visit … (Heather Cox Richardson/Letters from an American)

12:25 PM ET, August 30, 2024

Top Items:

Playbook: What we learned from the Harris interview — With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine — DRIVING THE DAY — TALK OF THIS TOWN — “Trump's Latest Move to Avoid Abortion Is His Strangest One Yet,” by Michael Schaffer: “Though Republican lawmakers spent years targeting abortion …

Discussion: CNN, NPR and The Hill

Matt Margolis / PJ Media:

Kamala's First ‘Interview’ Was the Dumpster Fire You Expected It Would Be — Did you catch Kamala Harris's first “interview” as the Democratic Party nominee for president? It was pretty much everything you'd expect from an interview conducted by CNN. Lots of softball questions, lots of word salad responses.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, HotAir, New York Times, RedState, Townhall and acecomments.mu.nu

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:

7 Takeaways From Harris's First Major Interview — Kamala Harris showed her tendency toward winding answers in the CNN interview, but said nothing likely to cause her serious political trouble. — The main reason CNN's interview with Vice President Kamala Harris turned out to be remarkable …

Discussion: CNN, The Guardian, New York Post, Daily Caller News Foundation, Fox News, The Daily Beast, The Spectator World, DNyuz, CBS News, TMZ.com, Business Insider, IJR, The Japan Times, The Federalist and ComingSoon.net

emptywheel:

Michael Shear and Reid Epstein Feign Stupidity about Trump's Decade-Long Pitch for Authoritarianism — Here's what the NYT digital front page looks like for me this morning. — It features Kamala Harris' rather unremarkable interview with CNN (part one, part two, part three) …

Discussion: The Root

CNN:

READ: Harris and Walz's exclusive joint interview with CNN — Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sat down exclusively with CNN Thursday for her first interview since ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket. — Just days after accepting …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Breitbart, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Alpha News, Power Line, The Hugh Hewitt Show, RedState, Fox News, The Federalist and The Guardian

CNN:

Takeaways from CNN's interview with Harris and Walz — Vice President Kamala Harris said she was “deeply touched” by a photo of her young grandniece, in pigtails, watching her speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week. — Though Harris hasn't emphasized it …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Boing Boing, New York Post, DNyuz, nationalinterest.org, New York Times, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Fox News, Raw Story, The Guardian, The Hill, The Daily Signal, Semafor, Washington Times and NPR

Washington Post:
Harris says she will put a Republican in her Cabinet if elected

Discussion: The Hill, Rolling Stone, Axios, USA Today, Business Insider, DNyuz, Daily Kos, The Daily Beast, CNBC, Scripps News, Bloomberg, Forbes and The Japan Times

David Moye / HuffPost:
Kamala Harris Has Snappy Answer To CNN's Trump-Inspired Question

Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Harris explains in exclusive CNN interview why she's shifted her position on key issues since her first run for president

New York Times:
Donors Quietly Push Harris to Drop Tax on Ultrawealthy

Discussion: PJ Media, Bangor Daily News, Raw Story and DNyuz

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Harris' CNN interview is the latest highly anticipated twist in wild presidential race

Stephen Robinson / Public Notice:

What's wrong with the fact-checkers? — The DNC put the bankruptcy of the genre on full, painful display. — 🚨 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.

Adam Wren / Politico:

MAGA faithful blow off polls in Michigan, insist 'Trump's got it made.' — Trump's base is digging in. — POTTERVILLE, Michigan — Inside a hulking steel warehouse where Donald Trump rallied his supporters on Thursday, the former president's backers sweltered in the heat — and gave no oxygen …

Discussion: Raw Story

Myra Adams / The Hill: If Trump loses, expect a Republican civil war

Gregory Korte / Bloomberg:
Harris Edges Trump in Key States, With Sun Belt Now Up for Grabs

Discussion: The Guardian, OutsideTheBeltway, USA Today, Forbes, The Hill, Fox News, Politico, ABC News and Reuters

Matt Margolis / PJ Media:
The Left Is Going to Freak Out Over Nate Silver's Latest Election Model

Discussion: IJR, Townhall, The Hill, RedState, Fox News, acecomments.mu.nu, Mediaite, New Jersey Online, Blaze Media and Silver Bulletin

Aaron Zitner / Wall Street Journal:
Harris Has Taken Narrow Lead Over Trump, WSJ Poll Finds

Discussion: Axios, The Napolitan Institute, USA Today, Breitbart, New York Post, Forbes and Quinnipiac University Poll

Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:

August 29, 2024 — And now the U.S. Army has weighed in on the scandal surrounding Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery for a campaign photo op, after which his team shared a campaign video it had filmed. The Army said that the cemetery hosts almost 3,000 public wreath-laying ceremonies …

Kevin Carroll / The Guardian:

The Trump campaign's conduct at Arlington is shocking but not surprising — Trump's staffers filmed political footage at war graves - and allegedly shoved an army employee who tried to stop them — The tranquil majesty of Arlington national cemetery tends to bring forth civic virtues in Americans and eloquence in their leaders.

Discussion: Washington Post, Lucian Truscott Newsletter, Diane Ravitch's blog, Raw Story and Balloon Juice

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

In a test of character, Trump shows his true grift — In his disorientation, the GOP nominee and former president retreats to his instincts. — The New York Times ran a fine specimen of unintentional comedy this week: an essay by conservative writer Rich Lowry titled “Trump Can Win on Character.”

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling / New Republic:
Team Trump Makes Arlington Cemetery Fight Way Worse With Army Insult

Discussion: The Hill, HuffPost, CBS News, Alternet.org, Raw Story, Washington Times, The Daily Beast, PoliticusUSA and Politico

Andrew Solender / Axios:
Dems press Arlington cemetery for Trump incident report

Discussion: The Bulwark, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, CBS News and Alternet.org

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:
X flags NPR story on Trump, Arlington as unsafe

Discussion: Raw Story, Townhall, Truthout, Washington Times, Business Insider, HuffPost, The Mahablog and UPI

NPR:
Army says Arlington National Cemetery worker was ‘pushed aside’ by Trump aides

Taiyler S. Mitchell / HuffPost:
JD Vance Won't Apologize For Telling Kamala Harris To ‘Go To Hell’

Discussion: The Wrap, Raw Story, New Republic, Plain Dealer, Washington Examiner, DNyuz and Washington Post

Dan Pfeiffer / The Message Box:

Pushing Back on Trump's Latest Lies About IVF — The former President's lie about his position are getting more brazen. — Two related things happened in the 2024 campaign yesterday. First, a bevy of new polls came out, which showed Vice President Harris taking the lead nationally and in the swing states.

Discussion: HuffPost, Washington Post, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, DNyuz, Deseret News, The 19th, Townhall, Bloomberg and Washington Examiner

NBC News:
Trump says he wants to make IVF treatments paid for by government or insurance companies if elected

ABC News:
Trump adds new campaign pledge to get IVF paid for by government or covered by insurance

Ian Ward / Politico:
‘It Is Not the Job of the Pro-Life Movement to Vote for President Trump.’

Discussion: Raw Story, DNyuz, Washington Times, New York Post, Twitchy, Christianity Today, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, Alternet.org, Wall Street Journal and The National Pulse

Kaitlyn Buss / The Detroit News:
Trump promises free IVF for all

Discussion: Michigan Advance, Lansing State Journal, DNyuz, Mediaite, WZZM-TV, HuffPost, The Hill, RedState, Raw Story, The Post Millennial and Washington Examiner

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story:

‘The behavior is grotesque’: MSNBC host pummels Trump World over war with cemetery — On Friday morning, MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist took aim at Donald Trump and his campaign officials for their continuing attacks on officials at Arlington National Cemetery following the fracas …

Discussion: Alternet.org and The Moderate Voice

Robert Reich / The Guardian:

Elon Musk is out of control. Here is how to rein him in — He may be the richest man in the world - but that doesn't mean we're powerless to stop him — Elon Musk is rapidly transforming his enormous wealth - he's the richest person in the world - into a huge source …

Claire Heddles / NOTUS:

The Not-So-Secret Campaign for ‘Secret’ Democrats — Kamala Harris' rally in Savannah, Georgia, was the first time a general election presidential candidate had campaigned in the city since the 1990s. Democratic operatives say it was a signal: Winning Georgia isn't only about Atlanta this time.

Discussion: Robert Reich and NBC News

Alicia Wallace / CNN:

The Fed's preferred inflation gauge did better than expected last month — The Federal Reserve's go-to inflation gauge held at 2.5% in July, Commerce Department data showed Friday. That's better than anticipated and shows progress — but still underscores the bumpy process for inflation's descent.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, UPI, Breitbart, New York Post, Fox Business and CBS News