memeorandum: 7 House seats Democrats think they can flip (The Hill)

10:40 AM ET, October 28, 2024

Top Items:

David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:

Donald Trump's Racist NYC Rally Was Vile. It Was Also Political Suicide — FINAL ACT — The Madison Square Garden rally, operatic in its repulsive bigotry, will almost certainly alienate more voters who might have voted for Trump. — OPINION — To all those Republicans …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Scripps News and Balloon Juice

New York Times:

Trump at the Garden: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism — The inflammatory rally was a capstone for an increasingly aggrieved campaign for Donald Trump, whose rhetoric has grown darker and more menacing. — Donald J. Trump's closing rally at Madison Square Garden …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite and The Guardian

Stephen Collinson / CNN:

Trump unveils the most extreme closing argument in modern presidential history — Donald Trump anchored his bid to win a second White House term next week on searing anti-migrant fear at a rally at Madison Square Garden, doubling down on his promise for a massive deportation program on Day 1 to reverse an “immigrant invasion.”

Discussion: Billboard and Eschaton

Meridith McGraw / Politico:

Trump's New York homecoming sparks backlash over racist and vulgar remarks — A pro-Trump comedian's racist diatribe drew widespread condemnation. — NEW YORK — Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden, billed as a triumphant homecoming, instead turned into a political fiasco …

Discussion: The Guardian, Raw Story, The Times of Israel, DNyuz, Reuters and PoliticusUSA

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:

Trump Campaign Scrambles to Disavow Racist MSG Rally Joke — The line about Puerto Rico is the only one Trump's campaign is trying to distance itself from. — DNC Trolls Trump With a Projector During His MSG Rally — ‘TRUMP PRAISED HITLER’ — Slogans plastered on the exterior …

Discussion: HuffPost and ABC

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

Trump's MSG Rally Incited MAGA To Do Whatever It Takes To Seize Power — A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM's Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. — Madison Square Garden Redux — The narcissism, the rancid “jokes,” the racism, the misogyny …

Discussion: Politico, New York Post, BizPac Review and Daily Mail

Adam Wren / Politico:

Who won the day? Harris — If Donald Trump loses on Nov. 5, the racist carnival he curated at Madison Square Garden could be remembered as the day that cost him this margin-of-error election. As Kamala Harris visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in Pennsylvania, talking about her …

Discussion: USA Today, CBS News, New Jersey Online and DNyuz

Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:

October 27, 2024 — I stand corrected. I thought this year's October surprise was the reality that Trump's mental state had slipped so badly he could not campaign in any coherent way. — It turns out that the 2024 October surprise was the Trump campaign's fascist rally at Madison Square Garden …

Kaia Hubbard / CBS News:

Kamala Harris says she'd take a cognitive test; challenges Trump “to take the same one” — Vice President Kamala Harris, responding to former President Donald Trump's claims about her IQ, said she would take a cognitive test — and “would challenge him to take the same one.”

Discussion: Axios and Washington Examiner

NBC News:
Before Election Day, Trump is increasingly sowing doubts about the results

Discussion: Wisconsin Examiner

Rebecca Morin / USA Today:
Harris, Trump locked in dead heat in battleground Wisconsin, new exclusive poll says

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News and tippinsights

Sabrina Rodriguez / Washington Post:
Anti-Puerto Rico comments at Trump rally spur outrage as Bad Bunny supports Harris

Discussion: Associated Press, HuffPost, Politico, Mediaite, The Independent, DNyuz and Los Angeles Times

Libby Cathey / CBS News:
DNC projects message tying Trump to Hitler on Madison Square Garden during rally

Discussion: Washington Post, HuffPost, The Guardian, RedState, Breitbart, Alternet.org, Issues & Insights, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Associated Press and The Independent

Seth Masket / Tusk:
Race is the theory of the campaign

Discussion: Mediaite

Erica L. Green / New York Times:
A Trump Rally Speaker Trashed Puerto Ricans. Harris Reached Out to Them.

Discussion: Variety, Alternet.org, Axios, Associated Press, NPR, The Hill, WHDH-TV, HuffPost, Bloomberg, New Jersey Online and DNyuz

The Guardian:
Puerto Rican stars Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin back Kamala Harris after racist comments at Trump rally

Discussion: CNN, CBS News, Today's Edition Newsletter, Fortune, ComingSoon.net, Daily Mail, USA Today, The Independent, DNyuz, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, Forbes, HuffPost, Associated Press, Rolling Stone and Washington Post

CNN:
CNN Poll: Most voters don't think Trump will concede if he loses the 2024 election

Discussion: The Hill, Scripps News, New Jersey Online, The Independent and Political Wire

John L. Dorman / Business Insider:
2 new polls show Harris leading Trump as the election nears. Women continue to propel the VP's candidacy.

Discussion: USA Today, The Hill, New Jersey Online, Florida Politics, DNyuz, Boston Herald, New York Post, The Independent, ABC News and CBS News

Allan Smith / NBC News:
Trump's Madison Square Garden rally overshadowed by his allies' crude and racist remarks

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Public and New York Times

Alec Hernández / NBC News:
As Trump courts their vote, comedian at his rally makes racist jokes about Latinos and Puerto Rico

Alex Thompson / Axios:
MAGA speakers unleash ugly rhetoric at Trump's MSG rally

Discussion: CBS News, Associated Press, Raw Story, WTTG-TV, RedState, Daily Mail, New York Post, Washington Post, The Hill, Fox News, Semafor, The Guardian, The Independent, NBC New York and UPI

Alex Galbraith / Salon:
Trump-supporting comedian opens MSG rally by calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”

Discussion: CBS News, Townhall, The Hill, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Alternet.org, HuffPost, RedState, New York Daily News and DNyuz

Tara Suter / The Hill:
Bad Bunny shares Kamala Harris's video on Puerto Rico on Instagram

Discussion: Forbes, Billboard, The Wrap, KENS, CBS News, Rolling Stone, Raw Story, NewsNation and DNyuz

Lauren Irwin / The Hill:
Hochul says Trump's Madison Square Garden rally is a ‘white flag of surrender’

Discussion: Alternet.org, DNyuz, Daily Mail, Washington Examiner, USA Today, The Gateway Pundit, Fox News, NewsNation, RedState, Raw Story and Associated Press

ProPublica:

“Put Them in Trauma”: Inside a Key MAGA Leader's Plans for a New Trump Agenda — Private videos reveal Trump adviser Russ Vought's “shadow” plans for using the military on protesters, defunding the EPA and villainizing civil servants. — Co-published with Documented — Reporting Highlights

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

Some billionaires, CEOs hedge bets as Trump vows retribution — With the race tight, some business elites are toning down past criticism of the former president. — At a five-star resort in California last week, Wall Street executives, fast-food CEOs, a few dozen other industry titans …

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story and CNN, more at Mediagazer »

William Kristol / The Bulwark:

A Hatefest at the Garden — Lots of good stuff coming down the pike: Sarah will be going live tomorrow evening at 9 p.m. ET in the Substack mobile app for a chat with Dan Pfeiffer, former White House communications director and now author of the Message Box to discuss the last week of the race.

Discussion: The Times of Israel

Brandy Zadrozny / NBC News:

Extremists inspired by conspiracy theories pose major threat to 2024 elections, U.S. intelligence warns — Candidates, elected officials, election workers, members of the media and judges involved in election cases are among those U.S. intelligence officials identified as targets.

Discussion: Wired

Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:

Billionaire media bootlickers obey in advance — The owners of the LA Times and Washington Post give the finger to their readers and democracy. … 🗞️ Subscribe to Public Notice 🗞️ — Both the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post are refusing …

Discussion: The Guardian, The Atlantic, Politico, Vanity Fair and Fox News, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

How a Splintered Left Is Preparing for a Possible Trump Victory — After the former president's 2016 victory, they marched. Now, Democrats wrestle with how to mount an uprising—and whether to even do so. — By now America is well versed in the predictions of the political right's potential response …

Meridith McGraw / Politico:
Speakers at Trump MSG rally insult Dems, minorities

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, Deadline, New York Post and Mediaite

New York Times:

Republicans Cling to Slim Leads in Nebraska and Texas Senate Races — In Nebraska, Dan Osborn, an independent, is in a tight race with Senator Deb Fischer, and in Texas, Representative Colin Allred is four percentage points behind Senator Ted Cruz. — Dan Osborn, a union leader …

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News, Siena College Research … and ABC News

Matt Gertz / Media Matters for America:

The right is projecting irrational confidence about a Trump win. That could aid an effort to steal the election. — RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM JANE LEE & HELENA HIND — Right-wing media figures are displaying irrational levels of confidence in Donald Trump's chances of winning the presidential election.

Discussion: Blaze Media