☕️ NO PRESSURE ☙ Tuesday, September 10, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Your Trump-Kamala debate primer, plus updates on stuff that really isn't happening, or so corporate media assures us.

Good morning, C&C, it’s Tuesday! That means it’s Debate Day, and today’s roundup includes your complete debate primer. The consensus seems to be Harris has one shot at proving she’s qualified to be President. Plus, updates on the Haitian Invasion and Tren de Aragua stories. I’m on the road this morning, but will return to HQ tomorrow.

🗞💬 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 💬🗞

Last night, I had a dream. I dreamed I was broken down on the side of the road in a dark woods. Then headlights approached. A pink VW microbus pulled up and the side door slid open. The dome light revealed the entire 1982 World championship beach volleyball team, exactly as I remembered them from a pinup calendar I had in high school. Long, thin arms stretched toward me, beckoning, “come on in!” Then … the cat, bedeviled by some midnight mania, ran across my face and raced out of the bedroom.

Now fully awake, I quietly picked the cat fur off my tongue and briefly weighed the benefits of Haitian immigration. Pro’s and cons. Hmm. Then my mind moved to a more bizarre, more surreal, and much less attractive topic than forested volleyballers: tonight’s Presidential debate (9pm EST on ABC).

The wee hours produced a sort of slow-motion epiphany. The Democrats had an irascible but controllable chief executive long known for gaffes, but from the start of his 2020 campaign was a rambling wreck. Off teleprompter, Joe could utter but a few sentences before veering off the rhetorical road into the fustian forest.

It could be risky to let Joe talk even with a teleprompter.

After a disastrous debate performance, the Democrats ditched mumbly Joe in favor of Curried Connie Cackle, who, and this is the point or gist, somehow is an even worse extemporaneous speaker than sleepy Joe Biden. They must have figured they could keep her in basement campaign mode, but now the day of reckoning has arrived.

What cunning and well-considered strategy will the Democrats’ Plan B candidate deploy tonight, to at least hold her own against the Orange Man?

🔥🔥 Yesterday CNBC revealed Kamala’s strategy in a story headlined, “Harris previews her Trump debate plan: ‘I think he’s gonna lie’.” That’s it! That’s the whole debate plan! She “thinks he’s gonna lie.” Ladies and gentlemen, this is the top professional produced by one of the two major political parties to run the world’s most powerful country.

Out of every other Democrat in the country, they delivered a skilled political player who produces deep thoughts like, I think he’s gonna lie. Let’s just agree our Kamala is no Winston Churchill.

The reality is Democrats are desperately hoping just for a gaffe-free ‘debate.’ But they have several reasons to worry. Let us count the ways:

—  Tonight will be only the second time that Vice-President Harris has dared speak live in public without a teleprompter since her selection. She has never proven any debating skills.

— To shield Joe from the mean Orange Man, Democrats insisted on a “quiet mic” policy, where only one candidate’s microphone is on at a time. They tried to change the rule for Kamala, but Trump’s team refused. Politico said the muted mic problem has thrown Kamala’s debate strategy into disarray:

Apparently, interrupting people with gotcha moments is Kamala’s trademark, rather than insightful policy or political acumen. She’s best known for waiting for a debate opponent to start talking then barking, “excuse me, I’m speaking!”

This impolite ambushing through interruption is somehow referred to as being a “girl boss.” There’s a whole different post here about how incivility forms the cornerstone of whatever being a “girl boss” is about. This type of drive-by incivility only works when the other person remains constrained by civility. Otherwise the debate devolves into fisticuffs.

Anyway, thanks to the microphone policy, Kamala will be forced to argue her own case, rather than drafting behind President Trump’s comments while yipping and biting at his oratorical heels.

— Kamala is, shall we say, not famous for successfully speaking contemporaneously or even coherently. 2023 Fox headline:

— Kamala performed poorly in the 2020 primary debates. Hardcore Kalama supporters defend her by pointing to the moments where she interrupted hyper-polite Mike Pence, a tactic which, as noted, isn’t on the boards for tonight.

— A weekend New York Times/Siena poll of likely voters showed a Harris “stalling,” with Trump up +1 (48% to 47%). The Times somberly noted “the risks … facing Ms. Harris on Tuesday night, when she and Mr. Trump will face off.” What risks?

Joe Biden’s numbers toppled into the polling pit of Hades after his poor debate performance against President Trump. Kamala’s handlers worry the very same thing could happen to her teetering numbers if she comes out looking un-Presidential.

The Democrats understand this debate is an inflection point for Kamala. There will be no do-overs. Headline from this morning’s Hill:

“People are extremely anxious about her performance,” a democrat strategist quoted for the story said. “This is a make-or-break moment for Harris,” he explained. Another strategist said, “She has to get past this debate. It shouldn’t matter as much as it’s going to matter, but it does.”

No pressure!

The Siena/Times poll contained other troubling data points. Nearly half (47%) of likely voters labeled Kamala as being too liberal, versus only a third (32%) who think Trump is too conservative. Only 40% agreed Harris represented “change,” while 55% said she represented “more of the same.” On the other hand, Trump represents “change” to fully 61% of polled likely voters.

— Until this week, the Harris campaign team selected a deliberate strategy of staying vague about Kamala’s policy choices, as part of her basement campaign. But that created a vaccum, which is being filled for her by others. CNN recently republished Kamala’s bizarre 2019 policies, including gimmes like free sex surgeries for illegal migrants, and throwing the border wide open:

CLIP: CNN anchor expresses disbelief about Kamala’s 2019 platform (1:46).

The Cackle Campaign tried to clean up this problem by releasing a brand-new policy statement yesterday that sounded like it could have been written by the Republican National Committee. Tough on the border, with zero mention of transgender issues. Kamala has a lot to memorize by tonight.

— Finally, and maybe the biggest problem facing Kamala’s debate, is that expectations were set very high. Before Joe’s debate, the headlines softened expectations, informing people that debates weren’t Joe’s strong suit, so all he had to do was not bomb.

Not so for Kamala. Until just the last couple days, corporate media emphasized Kamala’s relative youth and dynamism compared to the old man (Trump). Tellingly, they’re trying to walk it back this week. Debate prep must not be going well. But it’s too late.

Kamala could pull it off; she need only hold her own. But given the Times/Siena poll, holding her own probably won’t be enough to halt her stalling poll numbers. She needs a win, which seems unlikely. Remember, it’s 2024, so anything could happen.

🔥🔥 Alert social media users —not corporate media— have been digging and yesterday easily uncovered fascinating evidence about Ohio’s Haitian invasion. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is, shall we say, familiar with the problem. Cleveland.com headline from this March:

There was more. From the Springfield News-Sun, in July:

Possibly most telling was this 2021 headline from News-5 Cleveland:

How about that? Maybe it’s good, since Governor DeWine knows and loves Haitians so well. But nevermind. Do not worry, it’s not really happening. From MSNBC, yesterday:

MSNBC must have overlooked this xenophobic, racist conspiracy-theory headline from Fox News just last year:

"I’m trying to be as politically correct as possible when I say this. I don’t know what kind of third-world life they’re coming from, but it must have been pretty bad," Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger told reporters. He said his office would not release photos of the dead bird because they are "very graphic" and show "lots of blood."

No charges! America’s iconic, protected national birds are on the menu, but Springfield’s declining population of cats and dogs is totally safe. Just ask Governor Mike DeWine.

🔥 Another thing that isn’t happening is spreading. Local Houston KFOX-14 ran a story yesterday headlined, “Gateway Hotel faces legal action over alleged 'Tren De Aragua' gang activity, violations.”

According to KFOX, over the last two years alone, police were called six hundred and ninety-three times to investigate El Paso’s Gateway Hotel. That’s about twice a day, every day.

Apparently the hotel’s cameras still work. Video obtained by the El Paso County Attorney showed at least one gun being shot, another used to threaten someone, men holding knives, another man with a hatchet assaulting people and damaging the hotel — in front of a “security guard.”

The article circumspectly avoided saying outright that the “hotel” is actually a lively Tren brothel, but it was clear reading between the lines.

The County Attorney filed suit against the hotel’s owner, to shut the criminal headquarters down as a public nuisance. The complaint clearly alleged Tren gang activity. It’s not clear yet who, if anyone, will appear to defend the unlikely entrepreneurial venture. But don’t believe your lying eyes. The Venezualan Invasion is not really happening. USA Today:

We are now enjoying the “it’s not happening” phase. Soon we’ll enter “it’s happening, but it’s rare,” followed by “it’s good that it’s happening.”

Have a terrific Tuesday! Watch the debate if you like, but if you choose instead to protect your eyeballs, never fear: C&C will deliver everything essential you need to know about what happened.

Don’t race off! We cannot do it alone. Consider joining up with C&C to help move the nation’s needle and change minds.  I could sure use your help getting the truth out and spreading optimism and hope, if you can:  ☕ Learn How to Get Involved 🦠

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