TGIF: The RayGun Goes Off

Nellie told us she was leaving the house for a pack of cigarettes and we haven’t seen her in weeks. If anyone sees her, please tell her the baby is hungry and come home. In the meantime, I’m back running down the news of the week. Here’s what happened:

→ Kamala is up big: Another week in which Kamala Harris does some high-energy rallies. . . and not much else. The Democratic nominee has so far given no interviews, no press conferences, and is just generally keeping it light on details like, say, how she plans to run the country. And it’s working. The voters are warming to Kamala—or at least the loosely reality-based version of Kamala Harris being put forward by a pliant press. According to The Cook Political Report, Harris now leads or ties Trump in all but one of the seven battleground states. The latest national Emerson poll puts Harris four points ahead on 50 percent to Trump’s 46 percent. Nate Silver’s magic election machine also has Harris ahead, as do the betting markets. Remember how a few months ago every expert and political insider insisted that an obviously over-the-hill Joe Biden was a better candidate than Harris? Or that Biden alone could beat Trump? Me neither.

I am but a passenger in the vibes election. And I am dangerously close to putting in a bet on Kamala. 

→ Trump’s down bad: Another clear sign things aren’t going well for Trump? His all-around lack of chill. Until Kamala came along, the former president had been running a pretty disciplined campaign. Lots of talk of inflation and crime and global disorder with more than a bit of ragging on Biden’s obvious deficiencies. But ever since Kamala jumped in and polls showed her gaining ground, old Trump has relapsed. He’s posting on Truth Social about crowd sizes like a former Biggest Loser contestant devouring a family-size bag of Cheetos for the first time in three years. His latest theory is that images of Kamala’s crowds are fake—generated by AI. Look, we’ve all fallen for some fake news in our time—yes, I believed that Jimmy Carter died five different times this month and really, who can blame me—but come on, Don. 

In another sign Trump knows things aren’t going great, he’s brought back the old guard. His 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski—the right-wing Michael Avenatti—and Tim Murtaugh, who was communications director on his 2020 campaign, are reportedly back in the core crew. Who knows, maybe getting the band back together will work and Trump will be pressing his Oval Office Diet Coke button by December. After all, old Hillz had a seven-point lead over Trump in the polls at this stage eight years ago. It ain’t over. Far from it. But I hope our first woman president gives us a cape look for the inauguration.

→ America’s pastime: Someone broke into one of Trump’s campaign offices in Virginia, which raises the question, “Trump has campaign offices?”