Candidates for President in 2024

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Overseas threats hit the Ohio city where Trump and Vance lied about Haitians eating pets

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — Ohio stationed state police at Springfield schools Tuesday in response to a rash of bomb threats — the vast majority that officials said came from overseas —- after former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance falsely said legal Haitian immigrants in the small city were eating dogs and cats.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-vance-haitian-immigrants-ohio-threats-8035cbe409b471e61fe2e5457870d7b4?

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Border could split left in '25

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos: Frederic J. Brown/AFP, Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Dozens of immigration and progressive groups believe Vice President Harris' recent hawkish immigration policy pledges are "harmful" and part of a "MAGA anti-immigrant agenda" — but many are backing her anyway, Axios' Alex Thompson writes. Why it matters: Democrats are temporarily uniting to stop a second Donald Trump presidency. But immigration could splinter the party if Harris wins in November. Immigration is likely to be a central focus for the White House and Congress next year regardless of how the election turns out, given the historic migration crises across the globe. Some progressive groups are quietly hoping that Harris would govern closer to the more liberal stances she held during the 2020 Democratic primary. ? The big picture: After more than 3½ years in the Biden administration, Harris has largely shifted from framing herself as a longtime immigrant advocate to a tough border hawk. She has pledged to sign a White House-backed bipartisan bill that failed during the current Congress. It would significantly restrict asylum, continue building a border wall, and dedicate historic levels of funding to detain undocumented immigrants. It's a contrast to the stance she had as a U.S. senator from California. In her first speech on the Senate floor in 2017, Harris said she'd prosecuted "everything from low-level offenses to homicides. I know what a crime looks like. I will tell you: an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal." While running for president in 2019, she pledged to make illegally crossing the border a civil rather than a criminal offense. Several major organizations — including Immigration Hub, Human Rights Campaign and Oxfam America — made clear they would oppose Harris if she tried to pass the border bill next year, as president. Immigration Hub executive director Kerri Talbot said she still supports Harris: "We all know and trust Harris to make the right decisions when she's in office. I don't think this bill will ever come up again, as is." ? Reality check: Many Democrats are pushing aside their disagreements with Harris' recent positions at a time when Trump is pledging the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, sweeping domestic raids, and other far more hawkish policies.

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Presidential race

 

Days following an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, both presidential candidates pressed on with campaign efforts in must-win states on Tuesday. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia, where she denounced the false rumors about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, as "a crying shame." Trump hosted a town hall in Flint, Michigan, and shook hands with supporters at his first campaign event since Sunday's apparent assassination attempt. He discussed tariffs, his recent phone calls with President Joe Biden and Harris, and he said the Secret Service "did a hell of a job" on Sunday.

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Russia goes all-out with covert disinformation aimed at Harris, Microsoft report says A new Microsoft threat intelligence report details how Russia-linked actors are going full throttle in their covert influence efforts against Vice President Kamala Harris. The report released Tuesday says that after a slow start, groups linked to the Kremlin have redoubled their commitment to swaying U.S. political opinion as the election nears. Read more.

Why this matters: The report says that Kremlin-aligned actors at first struggled to adapt to President Joe Biden dropping out of the race, but have now pivoted their covert influence efforts. Some of the recent examples cited in the Microsoft report received significant social media engagement from unwitting Americans who shared the fake stories with outrage and fake videos that racked up millions of views across social media that seed disinformation about the Democratic presidential nominee.   The report builds on previous U.S. concerns about Russian interference in the upcoming election. It also describes how a Chinese-linked influence actor has used short-form videos to criticize Biden and Harris and to create anti-Trump content. The Russian embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump will soon be able to sell shares in Truth Social’s parent company. What’s at stake?   VP says woman’s death after delayed abortion treatment shows consequences of Trump’s actions   Florida will launch criminal probe into apparent assassination attempt of Trump, governor says

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Teamsters union declines to endorse Trump or Harris for president

WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined Wednesday to endorse Kamala Harris or Donald Trump for president, saying neither candidate had sufficient support from the 1.3 million-member union.

https://apnews.com/article/teamsters-endorse-presidential-election-2d29668ace1ce239b7b6b209409bb6f5?

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Vance's zero-shame strategy

At virtually every turn, people in positions to corroborate claims of pet-eating in Springfield, Ohio, have instead debunked them.

• Yet JD Vance continues to double and triple down on those claims, despite the real-world problems it's causing in Springfield, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

? New reporting from The Wall Street Journal reveals that on Sept. 9, the same day Vance first amplified the right-wing rumors, Springfield's city manager told his office that they were false.

• Vance's office provided The Journal with an August police report in which a resident claimed her cat may have been taken by her Haitian neighbors.
• But when a Journal reporter visited that resident's home, she said her cat had been found in her basement a few days later — and that she had apologized to her neighbors.
• Erika Lee, a Springfield resident whose Facebook post sparked some of the earliest rumors, has since deleted that post and expressed regret about the national firestorm she helped ignite.

? The other side: Vance has not apologized, but rather he's criticized the media for reporting on the wave of bomb threats that forced Springfield schools to close this week.

• A Vance spokesperson told us: "Senator Vance has received countless messages from residents of Springfield on the disastrous effects Kamala Harris' immigration policies have created for their hometown: a shortage of affordable housing, stressed public resources, declining public safety, and spikes in communicable disease. It's shameful that the media is ignoring these real concerns while purposely twisting Senator Vance's words."

Go deeper.

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Voters view Harris more favorably as she settles into role atop Democratic ticket: AP-NORC poll Voters view Harris slightly more favorably than they did in July, just after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Read more.

Why this matters: According to the survey, about half of voters have a somewhat or very positive view of Harris, and 44% have a somewhat or very negative view. That’s a small shift since late July, when views of Harris were slightly more unfavorable than favorable.   Former President Donald Trump’s favorability ratings remained steady. The poll was conducted September 12-16. The margin of sampling error for registered voters is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Iranian hackers tried but failed to interest Biden’s campaign in stolen Trump info, FBI says   Threats and assassination attempts come with the office Donald Trump once held and is seeking again   Harris hopes to turn Ukraine war into winning issue in battle with Trump for Polish American votes

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These evangelicals are voting their values — by backing Kamala Harris

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Rev. Lee Scott publicly endorsed Kamala Harris for president during the Evangelicals for Harris Zoom call on Aug. 14, the Presbyterian pastor and farmer said he was taking a risk.

https://apnews.com/article/evangelicals-harris-trump-christians-vote-9d5cb379dc3c2fdb3f4954c556a29ec5?

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Voters split on whether Harris or Trump would do a better job on the economy: AP-NORC poll Going into November’s election, neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump has a decisive edge with the public on the economy, upending an issue that was once a clear strength for Trump. Read more.

Why this matters: About 4 in 10 registered voters say Trump would do a better job handling the economy, while a similar number say that about Harris, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About 1 in 10 voters don’t trust either candidate.   The new poll found that the economy is one of the most important issues for about 8 in 10 voters as they consider which candidate to support, dwarfing other top issues such as health care and crime.   According to the AP-NORC poll, only about one-third of voters say the state of the national economy is somewhat or very good, although they’re more optimistic about their own situation, with about 6 in 10 voters saying their household’s finances are somewhat or very good. Both of those numbers have remained steady over the course of the year, despite falling inflation.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: Early voting for the 2024 election starts Friday in Minnesota, Virginia and South Dakota   Postal Service chief frustrated at criticism, but promises ‘heroic’ effort to deliver mail ballots   Biden says Fed made ‘declaration of progress’ with interest rate cut

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Are Trump and Harris particularly Christian? That’s not what most Americans would say: AP-NORC poll

Few Americans see the presidential candidates as particularly Christian, according to a new survey conducted Sept. 12-16 by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Only 14% of U.S. adults say the word “Christian” describes Harris or Trump “extremely” or “very” well. Read more.

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GOP's nightmare chart

Data: FEC; Note: Just includes the candidates' campaign committees; Chart: Axios Visuals Above is the chart that Johnson and Mitch McConnell really don't want to see — a Harris campaign that's rolling up cash, paired with Trump fundraising that's sputtering to the finish line. Why it matters: We told you earlier this month that Senate Republicans are on edge over Harris' fundraising spilling over to tough Senate seats. That's a bigger threat than ever. The bottom line: This fundraising reality will pressure GOP leader candidates John Thune, Rick Scott and John Cornyn to inject more money into Senate races down the stretch.

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No-faith campaign

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The race between Vice President Harris and former President Trump is the first presidential election in half a century in which neither candidate is openly telling voters much about their religion or faith, Axios' Russell Contreras writes. Why it matters: The percentage of Americans identifying as "religiously unaffiliated" has skyrocketed to 27% — a larger share of the population than mainline Protestants and evangelical white voters combined. The big picture: For decades, speaking about their religious faith has been a virtual prerequisite for those seeking the nation's highest office. In 1976, Jimmy Carter — a devout Southern Baptist running for president in the first election since Watergate — explained his religious faith in an interview with Playboy magazine. He promised never to lie. Ronald Reagan prayed during his 1980 acceptance speech at the Republican convention. In 1992, Bill Clinton spoke of learning about Jesus in a preschool program. And before the 2000 election, George W. Bush professed that Jesus Christ "changed my heart." ? Zoom in: Trump is supported strongly by white evangelicals but rarely mentions any religious experiences or beliefs — beyond suggesting that God may have saved him from an assassin's bullet. He often bungles or misidentifies passages from the Bible, though he does sell Bibles. He's also said he doesn't think he's ever asked God for forgiveness. Harris told the L.A. Times in 2015 that she grew up attending a Black Baptist church and a Hindu temple. But in public appearances, she rarely shares any details about her religious beliefs. In her speech at the Democratic convention, Harris said her family and Northern California community taught her about "faith." She's mentioned admiring the Black Christian leaders behind the Civil Rights Movement.   ? Harris' new pitch to young men     Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios   In an aggressive overture to business and young men, Vice President Harris used a packed fundraiser on Wall Street yesterday to declare her friendliness to cryptocurrency — and promise to work with major companies. Why it matters: Harris is trying to convince businesspeople she'd be better than former President Trump, despite his promised tax cuts — and would work with them more than President Biden, who rankled many CEOs. ? The fundraiser at Cipriani Wall Street raised $27 million — the biggest single-day haul of Harris' presidential campaign. "I will bring together labor, small business founders and innovators, and major companies," she said. Going the farthest she has on crypto, Harris said: "We will encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets, while protecting investors and consumers." ? Between the lines: Harris is reaching out to young men, who are more likely than any other voter group to own cryptocurrencies. Males ages 18 to 24 are identifying as Republican at higher rates than usual, alarming Democratic strategists. She's targeting a rich niche: Trump's sudden embrace of digital currencies has brought him "fervent support from a growing subset of single-issue voters — and wealthy donors," The Wall Street Journal reports. ? What we're watching: On Tuesday in Savannah, Ga., Trump will discuss "his plan to lower taxes for American business owners and highlight the importance of buying American-made goods," his campaign announced. On Wednesday in Pennsylvania, Harris will outline her economic vision. She told the Wall Street crowd there's "more we can do to invest in the aspirations and ambitions of the American people." The backstory: Harris' comments about crypto mirror what aides had signaled. Brian Nelson, a powerful, longtime Harris aide who is the campaign's senior adviser for policy, said when asked about the crypto community during a Bloomberg News roundtable at the Democratic convention last month: "She's going to support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and that sort of industry can continue to grow." ? The other side: Trump has made a show of promoting crypto, including an interview on X last week in conjunction with the launch of a Trump family crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. Trump, once a Bitcoin skeptic, said in an X video promoting the new venture that he wants to "ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet." ?? Down the road: Harris will campaign in Arizona on Friday and Nevada on Sunday. "The campaign believes that this travel reflects the many paths to 270 electoral votes that Vice President Harris has available — hitting both Blue Wall and Sun Belt states," a Harris campaign official told reporters. Keep reading. ? Harris backs off "Dreamer" pledge   Vice President Harris is backing away from her past promise to use presidential power to unilaterally give a path to citizenship to 2 million "Dreamers" — undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, Axios' Alex Thompson writes. Why it matters: It's part of a pattern in which Harris and her team have changed positions or declined to say whether she still supports some of the progressive policies she ran on during her presidential campaign in 2019. Harris has moved to the center on immigration in recent months and embraced a get-tough stance on border security while casting herself as a former "border state prosecutor." She also has said she no longer supports other policies including a ban on fracking, which she backed as a California senator and 2020 presidential candidate. ? Zoom in: Harris pledged in 2019 to take four executive actions as president that would give 2 million Dreamers a path to citizenship and shield more than 6 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. Asked this week whether she'd take those same executive actions, her campaign declined to answer.

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Presidential race

 

Former President Donald Trump said he doesn't see himself running again in 2028 if he is unsuccessful in November. "I don't see that at all," Trump said in an interview with Sharyl Attkisson. Trump would be 82 on Election Day in 2028. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted CNN's debate invitation for October 23, challenging Trump to another showdown. The former President argued it was "too late" to have more debates because Americans have begun casting their ballots in the 2024 election. This comes as Trump remains locked in what CNN senior political data reporter Harry Enten described Sunday as the closest presidential race since Democrat John F. Kennedy's narrow win over Vice President Richard Nixon.

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Trump's miracle cure

Former President Trump's fixation with tariffs has become an obsession — a policy panacea he claims will fuel a manufacturing boom, lower grocery prices, cut the deficit, stop wars, pay for tax breaks and even solve the child care crisis, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• "Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented," the former president declared at a town hall in Michigan last week.

Why it matters: The impact of Trump's plan to impose massive tariffs — with or without the support of Congress — has become the single biggest economic question of the 2024 election.

Vice President Harris sees the issue as fertile ground to close Trump's polling edge on the economy, and hammer him over proposals that mainstream economists say would reignite inflation.

• Despite those warnings — and with nervous opposition from many fellow Republicans — Trump has doubled down on his populist vision for transforming the global economy.

In a speech yesterday in the port city of Savannah, Ga., Trump vowed to "relocate entire industries" to the U.S. by slashing taxes and regulations — and punishing companies that don't manufacture at home.

• "You will see a mass exodus of manufacturing from China to Pennsylvania, from Korea to North Carolina, from Germany to right here in Georgia," Trump said, referring to a "New American Industrialism."

He pledged to impose a 100% tariff on "every single car coming across the Mexican border," a day after threatening John Deere with 200% tariffs if the agricultural giant moves production to Mexico.

Via X

Trump's well-documented devotion to tariffs has only grown deeper on the 2024 campaign trail, where he has cast the policy tool as an antidote to America's ailments.

• War: "You go to war with another country that's friendly to us, or even not friendly to us, you're not going to do business in the United States and we're going to charge you 100% tariffs."
• De-dollarization: "You leave the dollar, you're not doing business with the United States, because we're going to put 100% tariff on your goods."
• Child care: "We're going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it's — relatively speaking — not very expensive, compared to the kind of numbers we'll be taking in."

? Reality check: Trump's math doesn't add up, as Axios' Neil Irwin notes.

• For one, Trump has falsely claimed for years that foreign countries pay tariffs. In reality, they're a tax on imported goods — meaning the money comes from a U.S. buyer who typically passes on those additional costs.
• Trump rarely mentions the inevitable retaliatory tariffs against American exporters, which could damage major U.S. industries such as agriculture, energy and aerospace.
• Trump's unprecedented proposals for blanket tariffs of 10% to 20% — and 60% tariffs on Chinese goods — would likely ignite a global trade war of epic proportions.

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What polls show about Tim Walz and JD Vance Both Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz entered the spotlight this summer as relative political unknowns. As both running mates prepare to address a huge audience in next week’s vice-presidential debate, Democrats are more positive about Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris than Republicans are about Vance and former President Donald Trump. Read more.

Key findings: Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, is less popular among voters than his Democratic rival, Walz, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The findings of the new survey reinforce the challenge for the Republican presidential ticket as voting begins in more states.   Democratic candidates tend to receive more support from women, while Republicans perform better among men, but Walz is better liked than Vance among both men and women. About 4 in 10 male and female voters have a positive view of Walz, while about 3 in 10 men and about one-quarter of women have a positive view of Vance.   Walz also has a popularity advantage over Vance among voters over the age of 60. Half of voters in this group view Walz somewhat or very favorably, while about 3 in 10 have a similar opinion of Vance.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ JD Vance once said conspiracy theories were idiotic. As Trump’s VP pick he is embracing them   Trump tells women he ‘will be your protector’ as GOP struggles with outreach to female voters   Several states are making late changes to election rules, even as voting is set to begin

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A Pennsylvania bakery known for its election cookie poll is swamped with orders

HATBORO, Pa. (AP) — A suburban Philadelphia bakery’s cookie “poll” that started during the 2008 presidential campaign as a joke between the owners and their customers has grown into much more.

https://apnews.com/article/presidential-election-cookie-poll-pennsylvania-6cc908b5c58b7e2e7084193e8c535ce8?

Americans are more likely to see Harris’ gender as a hurdle than they were for Clinton: AP-NORC poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are more likely to believe that being a woman will hurt Kamala Harris ' chances in the November election, compared with eight years ago when Hillary Clinton was running. And they are more likely to believe that Donald Trump ‘s gender will help him.

https://apnews.com/article/poll-2024-presidential-race-gender-harris-trump-db505c53d5221b98763025cccf876014?

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Trump says Ukraine is ‘demolished’ and dismisses its defense against Russia’s invasion Former President Donald Trump described Ukraine in bleak and mournful terms Wednesday, referring to its people as “dead” and the country itself as “demolished,” and further raising questions about how much the former president would be willing if elected again to concede in a negotiation over the country’s future. Read more.

Why this matters: Trump painted Ukraine as a country in ruins outside its capital, Kyiv, short on soldiers and losing population to war deaths and neighboring countries. He questioned whether the country has any bargaining chips left to negotiate an end to the war. “Any deal — the worst deal — would’ve been better than what we have now,” he said.   Trump laid blame for the conflict on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He said Biden “egged it all on” by pledging to help Ukraine defend itself rather than pushing it to cede territory to Russia.   Notably, Trump did not attack Putin’s reasoning for launching the invasion, only suggesting Putin would not have started the war had Trump been in office. He did say of Putin: “He’s no angel.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Speaker Johnson demands Zelenskyy remove Ukraine’s ambassador to US after Pennsylvania visit   Putin lowers threshold of nuclear response as he issues new warnings to the West over Ukraine   Harris is making a ‘capitalist’ pitch to boost the economy as Trump pushes deeper into populism

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? Russia hits Harris, Iran hits Trump

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Russia and Iran are close partners in Ukraine and the Middle East, but they're intervening on opposite sides in the U.S. election, Axios' Dave Lawler writes. Why it matters: An emerging axis of U.S. adversaries and rivals, including China and North Korea, has moved closer together on a number of fronts in recent years. But not when it comes to partisan U.S. politics. ? The big picture: China, Iran and Russia are all spreading disinformation to sow discord and cast doubts on the legitimacy of the U.S. election. They're even using some of the same tactics: All three have employed AI to create deceiving content, U.S. intelligence officials said this week. This has "become an election of Iran vs. Trump and Russia vs. Harris," Microsoft president Brad Smith testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. The Trump campaign has been weaponizing Iran's interference to attack Vice President Harris, claiming Tehran "loves" her "weakness." Trump officials said they received an intelligence briefing that included Iranian threats to "assassinate him." Harris claimed during this month's debate that dictators like Russia's Vladimir Putin are "rooting for" Trump because they know they can manipulate him. China is attempting to damage U.S. democracy but not necessarily help either candidate, the officials said. ? The intrigue: House Republicans accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday of a less clandestine style of election interference after he visited an ammunition plant in Pennsylvania, flanked by Democratic officials. The GOP is also furious about an interview with The New Yorker in which Zelensky called Vance "too radical" and suggested Trump "doesn't really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how." The bottom line: Leaders in China, Iran and Russia all want to weaken U.S. power — a common cause that has helped bring them closer together in recent years.

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A new mystery firm enters Trump’s orbit, rekindling criticism of his presidential campaign spending

WASHINGTON (AP) — Launchpad Strategies was incorporated less than a year ago and has since received $15 million from Donald Trump’s election fundraising machine.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-mystery-company-campaign-spending-fec-money-46ef348587fb99a80fda05b076b9dbd8?

? Harris to call for tighter border

Vice President Harris will call for tougher border security measures in a major speech during her visit to the U.S.-Mexico border this afternoon, a senior campaign official tells reporters.

• "The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games," Harris plans to say in Douglas, Ariz.

Why it matters: Immigration is a top voter concern, and one of Harris' biggest vulnerabilities. Arizona is one of the top battleground states.

Harris will argue that American sovereignty requires setting and enforcing border rules — something she takes very seriously as a former border-state attorney general. She'll note that as California A.G., she took on transnational gangs and criminal organizations smuggling drugs and trafficking humans and guns across the border.

• She plans to say that border patrol agents, who she'll visit with today, need more resources, and criticize former President Trump for helping tank a bipartisan border bill — which she'd reintroduce as president — that included more overtime pay.
• She says a "top priority" for her presidency would be combating the cross-border flow of fentanyl. She'll vow to press the Chinese government to do more to crack down on companies that make chemicals used to make fentanyl.

The other side: No. 1 of Trump's 20 "core promises" for a second term is: "Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion."

? Starting today, Harris is running an ad called "Never Backed Down" in Arizona and other battlegrounds. (YouTube)

• Go deeper: Read Harris' 82-page economic plan, out this week, "A New Way Forward for the Middle Class: A Plan to Lower Costs and Create an Opportunity Economy."

 

✅ Stein the spoiler

Some Democrats, haunted by memories of 2016, fear Green Party candidate Jill Stein could spoil their hopes of electing a woman president yet again, Axios' Erin Doherty reports.

• Stein's share of the 2024 vote is likely to be tiny. But so is the likely margin of victory for whoever wins.

⚡️ Flashback: Stein typically has pulled more support from Democratic-leaning voters. In 2016, her vote totals in the Blue Wall swing states of Wisconsin and Michigan were greater than the margins by which Clinton lost to Trump in those states.

• Stein is back on the ballot in those battlegrounds this year, and is polling between 1% and 2%.

Go deeper.

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Harris blasts proposals for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia With American support for Ukraine at a partisan crossroads, Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday slammed suggestions that Kyiv should cede territory for the sake of peace with Moscow as “dangerous and unacceptable.” Read more.

Why this matters: The Democratic presidential nominee spoke alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as she unleashed the veiled criticism of Republican candidate Donald Trump’s push for Ukraine to quickly cut a deal to end the war. “They are not proposals for peace,” Harris said. “Instead they are proposals for surrender.”   Her comments were a reminder of the high stakes for the war effort in this year’s election. Trump said he will meet with Zelenskyy in New York on Friday, rejecting Harris’ criticisms and insisting that he only wants to stop the “horror show that’s gone on.”   On Thursday, Harris embraced Ukraine’s defense and outlined a broader foreign policy vision rooted in “international order, rules and norms.” She also rejected calls for the U.S. to walk away from its global role and warned that potential aggressors could be emboldened if Putin emerges victorious.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ As the Ukraine war enters a critical period, the EU moves ahead without the US   Trump favors huge new tariffs. What are they, and how do they work?   Harris says the right to be safe is a civil right as Biden signs order on gun technology

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Dark Trump

Former President Trump, in a self-described "dark speech," told a rally in Wisconsin yesterday that his opponent, Vice President Harris, is "mentally impaired" and "mentally disabled."

• "Joe Biden became mentally impaired," Trump said during a riff about immigration. "Kamala [mispronounces name] was born that way. [Laughter.] She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country." (Video)

Why it matters: Even for Trump, it was weird, nasty and nonsensical — when he needed to be swaying "national security moms" and other undecideds, 38 days out from Election Day.

• Trump told the rally in Prairie du Chien (prairie of the dog? "This is a dark speech."

?️ The big picture: Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin — whose latest bestseller is "The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President" — told me, "While former President Trump's latest outrageous claim about Vice President Harris does seem beyond the pale even for him, and even in our country's long history of political invective, what is even more disturbing is that it will now be taken as a matter of course, demonstrating we've become inured to his degrading language."

• "Think back to 2015," she added, "in the very early days of his first campaign when he said John McCain was not a war hero because he was captured. The N.Y. Post predicted that his campaign would implode. The front-page headline declared: 'Trump is toast ... DON VOYAGE!"

The other side: The Harris campaign, highlighting Trump's comment that he was giving a "dark speech," said he "gave a gloomy review of his angry, rambling diatribe."

Other comments by Trump during the hour-plus remarks at the rally, which was moved inside at the last minute because of security concerns:

• He clarified that in addition to his plans to prosecute any 2024 election cheaters if he wins, "and if we can, we'll go back to the last one [2020], too, if we're allowed. But we're gonna prosecute people." (Video)
  • There's no evidence of widespread fraud during the 2020 election. And Trump continues to claim that the only way he'll lose in November is if Democrats cheat.
• On Harris and the border: "She's letting in people who are going to walk into your house, break into your door and they'll do anything they want, they'll do anything they want. These people are animals. ... These are stone-cold killers. ... It's also the fact that they're taking all of our Black population's jobs and our Hispanic population's jobs." (Video ... Fact check)
• On his debate performance: "All the stupid people — the anchors, back there — no, they say: "He fell into a trap' — her trap. She can't set a mental trap." (Video)

Go deeper.

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? Trump's excuse train

Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios

Donald Trump is assembling a detailed catalog of excuses for rejecting the results of the 2024 election — if he loses. Why it matters: The Trump-aligned efforts to overturn the 2020 election — both overtly and covertly, peacefully then violently — shocked the American public. No one should be surprised this time around. Listen to Trump: The former president, who risks jail time and more criminal trials if he loses, has expanded his range of baseless attacks on U.S. voting procedures in recent weeks and months. Overseas voting: Trump falsely claimed last week that Democrats are exploiting an overseas ballot program for expats and military members in order to circumvent "any citizenship check or verification of identity." Early voting: At a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump denounced what he called the "stupid" concept of voting 45 days before the election — floating conspiracy theories about his loss in the crucial swing state four years ago. Mail-in voting: Trump has long despised mail-in ballots. He's recently begun attacking the U.S. Postal Service as incompetent and untrustworthy — even as the GOP has pushed its voters to embrace the practice. Zoom in: The millions of undocumented migrants who have crossed into the U.S. during the Biden administration are a top campaign issue. They're also being used to fuel new voter fraud conspiracy theories. Earlier this month, Trump demanded that House Republicans use the threat of a government shutdown to pass a measure requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. That effort failed, but it gave Trump and Republicans additional fodder to claim election fraud — even though it's already illegal and exceedingly rare for non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections. The big picture: Since 2020, the Republican Party apparatus has been reorganized — from the top down — to give credence to Trump's false claims that election fraud is a scourge on American politics. Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee say they've built a network of about 175,000 volunteer poll watchers and poll workers, part of a relentless focus on "election integrity." In Georgia, a hard-right election board has passed new rules that Democrats fear could be used to undermine confidence in the results if Trump loses the critical battleground state. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) drew outrage last week by pledging to certify the 2024 election and "follow the Constitution" only if it's a "free, fair and safe election." What to watch: On Nov. 1, 2020, Axios exclusively reported that Trump had privately told confidants he planned to prematurely declare victory on election night if it looked like he was "ahead." That's exactly what he did. Given the likelihood that the election once again will take days to call, don't be surprised to see the former president dust off that same playbook.

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? Trump's flip-flops

Former President Trump has called Vice President Harris "the greatest flip-flopper" on policy issues. But if he wins, Trump plans to backtrack on several positions he took during his presidency, Axios' Erin Doherty writes.

• Why it matters: Trump's flip-flops — like Harris' — appear calculated to appeal to key groups of voters in what's expected to be an election decided by a few tens of thousands of votes nationwide.

Trump's flip-flops include:

? 1. TikTok ban: Trump took a hard-line stance while in office, including supporting a ban on the platform over national security concerns because TikTok is owned by Beijing-based Bytedance.

• He expressed support for TikTok earlier this year. "If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business," Trump posted.

? 2. SALT caps: One key piece of legislation Trump signed into law as part of his 2017 tax cut package was a $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Now he's saying he'd "get SALT back."

• The SALT cap is important in New York and New Jersey, states that could play a major role in deciding which party wins the House.

? 3. Legalizing marijuana: Trump's Justice Department in 2018 rolled back an Obama-era policy that loosened prosecution of federal marijuana laws.

• This month, Trump signaled that he supports loosening marijuana laws. He said that he'd vote for a ballot measure in Florida that would legalize adult use of marijuana.

Go deeper: Three more flip-flops.

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Trump is pointing to new numbers on migrants with criminal pasts. But they have been misconstrued without key context Immigration and Customs Enforcement released data to Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales in response to a request he made for information about people under ICE supervision either convicted of crimes or facing criminal charges. The numbers immediately became a flashpoint in former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaigns. Read more.

What to know: As of July 21, ICE said 662,556 people under its supervision were either convicted of crimes or face criminal charges. Nearly 15,000 were in its custody, but the vast majority — 647,572 — were not. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, later clarified that the numbers span decades and those not in its custody may be held by a state or local agency.   Republicans pointed to the data as proof that the Biden administration is letting immigrants with criminal records into the country and isn’t doing enough to kick out those who commit crimes while they’re here. The data was being misinterpreted, Homeland Security said in a statement Sunday.   The department also stressed what it has done to deport those without the right to stay in America, saying it had removed or returned more than 700,000 people in the past year, which it said was the highest number since 2010. Homeland Security said it had removed 180,000 people with criminal convictions since President Joe Biden took office.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Where Trump and Harris stand on immigration and border security   Trump escalates attacks on Harris’ mental fitness and suggests she should be prosecuted   Harris trolls Trump at Vegas rally and LA fundraiser, says her crowds are ‘pretty big’

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Trump Drags Hurricane Helene Into the Election Campaign

The Republican camp have hastily assembled a briefing in storm-torn Georgia after their candidate’s initial reaction to the crisis prompted widespread outcry.

As the government rolls out assistance to the hundreds of thousands affected by Hurricane Helene over the weekend, the Republican campaign appears engaged in a slightly different kind of damage control.

The Trump camp has scheduled a Monday pit-stop for the Republican candidate in Valdosta, Georgia—a key battleground state, where at least 17 people are reported to have died—after his suggestion at a Walker, Michigan rally that hurricane victims will “be OK” sparked outcry on Friday.

He’s expected to receive a briefing on the extent of the devastation and to assist with the distribution of relief, as well as taking the opportunity to “deliver remarks to the press,” according to an emailed statement from his team.

While Republican supporters have criticized the Harris campaign for taking Trump’s Friday statement out of context, it also comes after he spoke in candidly politicized terms about the disaster at another rally in Erie, Pennsylvania on Sunday.

“Biden is in Delaware right now in one of his many estates… Lyin’ Kamala Harris [is] in San Francisco, a city that she has totally destroyed,” he told the crowds. “That’s where she is right now… at fundraising events with her radical left lunatic donors, when big parts of our country have been devastated by that massive hurricane and are underwater, with many, many people dead.”

Harris and Biden have issued statements expressing their condolences to those affected by the disaster, with the White House confirming both the president and vice-president will visit “impacted communities” later this week just “as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations,” Politico reports.

Harris has also cancelled Monday's campaign stops to return to Washington, where she's scheduled to receive a briefing on the status of emergency response and recovery efforts, the White House has said.

Meanwhile, Democrat supporters have seized on Trump’s politicization of the storm, which is reported to have killed more than a hundred people, to level criticism against the Republican candidate for his historic denial of climate change, a known driver of extreme weather events.

Others have noted that Project 2025—the far-right Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for an incoming Republican administration, which Trump himself has said would lay the “groundwork” for his second presidency—in fact contains proposals to slash funding for hurricane monitoring and relief agencies.

Officials in the some of the worst-affected areas, however, have lashed out at what they perceive as attempts from both sides of the divide to use the crisis as a means of securing political capital.

“The people in my district really don’t want to see politicians,” Chuck Edwards, Republican representative for North Carolina, told Politico. “They want to see water. Cell towers and power restored, and the ability to contact their loved ones. Photo ops are not what’s needed.”

The state’s Democrat governor, Roy Cooper, offered a similar take. “I told the president that we did not elected officials that require a lot of security and attention, because we need to make sure that we’re getting the work done on the ground,” he said. “It’s not the right time for them to come.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-drags-hurricane-helene-into-the-election-campaign?