© Jacquelyn Martin and Frank Franklin II |
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With no debates in their future, former President Trump and Vice President Harris are mapping out media strategies they hope will move the needle on a nail-biter election with three weeks to go.
Both candidates will mix independent media with mainstream interviews and town halls, with the aim of turbo-charging their bases, micro-targeting their messages to specific demographic groups and reaching the dwindling number of undecided voters.
Harris’s campaign could be looking to take some risks, dropping the cautious approach that defined her early days in the race. Those strategies were on full display Tuesday: - Harris will sit for an interview later this afternoon with Charlamagne Tha God, whose livestreamed radio show "The Breakfast Club" is enormously popular and influential in Black communities. It’s Harris’s latest effort to shore up Black support, as polls show Trump making small but meaningful gains on the margins.
- Trump opened the day with an interview on the Barstool Sports podcast "Bussin’ With the Boys," hosted by former NFL players. Trump is seeking to run up the score with the young men who have gravitated towards his campaign.
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Trump sat with a mainstream outlet this afternoon in an interview at the Chicago Economic Club with Bloomberg editor John Micklethwait. The editor at one point told Trump his proposed tariffs would have a devastating negative impact on the economy, to which Trump responded: “It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs as being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong.”
Micklethwait said they also invited Harris to do an interview, but she declined. Meanwhile, CNBC said that Trump cancelled a planned interview with them. A couple of big events could be around the corner: -
There are reports that both the Trump and Harris campaigns are in talks to do separate interviews with Joe Rogan, one of the biggest podcasters and most influential media personalities in the world.
Rogan’s free-wheeling, libertarian-leaning show could be risky for Harris, but her campaign is signaling it’s ready to get aggressive. -
Harris will sit Wednesday for an interview with Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier, in what is likely to be a high-stakes moment for her campaign. The interview, which will air Thursday, is Harris’s latest effort to reach disaffected Republicans. Harris’s campaign is working to highlight some of Trump’s more extreme rhetoric, as it seeks to convince moderate conservatives to reject him.
Trump, meanwhile, has a high-stakes Fox News town hall of his own, which will tape tonight in Georgia and air Wednesday. -
The town hall will be hosted by Harris Faulkner in front of an all-female crowd. It will focus exclusively on women’s issues, as polls find a massive gender gap between Trump and Harris.
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Trump will also sit for a town hall on Univision to focus on issues that are important to Hispanic voters, as surveys find him cutting into Harris’s lead among a key pillar of the Democratic coalition.
Both sides are working the refs, complaining about the media’s coverage of the candidates. - Republicans are furious at CBS, alleging “60 Minutes” edited Harris’s interview to make her more coherent. CBS released two versions of a Harris response to a question about Israel — a teaser with an uneven response, and then the version that aired in which she was more succinct.
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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) released a video Tuesday of his interview with CBS’s Margaret Brennan, and then he released the full response of his answers, which he self-taped to underscore how key elements of his argument had been left out.
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Many Democrats are livid over what they view as a pro-Trump double-standard in the media, believing Trump’s statements and threats amount to a strain of authoritarianism that isn't covered with appropriate zeal.
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They also argue that coverage of Harris is constantly focusing on her campaign's shortcomings: “I think we have the press to blame for a lot of this…I think the media has to do a much better job than what they’re doing,” said Sunny Hostin, an anchor on “The View” who is supporting Harris.
💡 Perspectives: The Silver Bulletin: Harris should go on Rogan to reach weird voters.
The Liberal Patriot: Why are Hispanics becoming less reliably Democratic?
The Hill: Forget the polls - cultural signs point to a Harris victory.
The Hill: Trump’s unfitness to lead should be the top election issue.
USA Today: Trump might win. What does that say about Democrats?
MSNBC: Harris’s press tour was a missed opportunity.
The New Republic: Critical arguments Harris needs to make in the final days.
Read more: |
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Welcome to Evening Report! I'm Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what's coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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Could Cruz cost GOP the Senate?
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Is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in trouble in Texas and could it cost the GOP the Senate majority? There are growing signs of a competitive race between Cruz and Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), as the two prepare to square off at a debate on Tuesday night. -
Politico reported on internal polling from the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) — a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — that found Cruz clinging to a 1 point lead over Allred.
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Cruz on Monday lashed out at the SLF, which has not spent any money on his race. Some view that as a punitive measure against Cruz, who has consistently clashed with McConnell.
- Cruz said he’s received “not a penny” from the SLF.
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“Mitch McConnell runs the largest Republican super PAC in the country and has $400 million but that super PAC is used to reward the Republican senators who obey him and to punish those who dare to stand up to him,” Cruz told conservative talk show host Mark Levin.
Trump re-upped his endorsement of Cruz on Tuesday in an effort to give him a spark. “Ted is one of the strongest Senators in the Country on Border Security, whereas his Opponent, Colin Allred, is a Radical Open Border Extremist, who will put our Country, and Safety, LAST. Ted, on the other hand, will ALWAYS put Texas, and America, FIRST,” Trump posted on TruthSocial.
Republicans are favored to flip Democratic Senate seats in Montana and West Virginia, which would potentially give them a slim 51-49 majority. However, a loss by Cruz would spoil that and potentially give the deciding vote in a 50-50 Senate to whichever party wins the White House. Still, it's a tough Senate cycle for Democrats. Republicans have room for gains elsewhere if Cruz were to go down in a historic upset. -
Democrats are on defense across the map, facing tough races in presidential battlegrounds, such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
- Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is in a competitive battle against Republican Bernie Moreno in Ohio, a state Trump is expected to win easily.
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Democratic incumbents in Arizona and Nevada appear to be running strong, while Trump is outperforming the GOP candidates in those states.
Via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton: “Democrats say privately that they always expected the Senate races to tighten as they got closer to Election Day and spending by the NRSC and aligned outside groups improved the name ID of the Republican challengers. Democrats have also repeatedly pointed out that the Senate GOP challengers in battleground states across the country have consistently trailed Trump in the polls, questioning whether the GOP presidential nominee can pull Republicans downballot to victory.”
The big question heading into November is how much split-ticket voting will take place in 2024.
The latest AARP survey of Michigan finds Trump leading Vice President Harris by 1 point, but Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) leads former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) by 3 points in the Senate race, according to the same poll. That means the eventual make-up of the Senate could come down to how far GOP candidates are running behind Trump in the key battleground states. Read more: |
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© AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari |
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U.S. troops arrive in Israel; Harris heads to Michigan amid Dem divisions over Gaza
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The U.S. is sending about 100 troops to install and operate an air defense system in Israel, which faces new threats from Iran and ongoing incursions in Gaza and Lebanon that have split the Democratic base.
The first troops arrived Monday to install the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery. The system will assist Israel’s defense from Iran, which fired more than 180 ballistic missiles earlier this month. There are roiling tensions among Democrats about growing U.S. involvement in Israel’s wars and longstanding fury on the left about the civilian carnage in Gaza. Those tensions spilled into the open again with the announcement of the arrival of U.S. troops with the THAAD battery. -
“The horrors unfolding in northern Gaza are the result of a completely unrestrained Netanyahu gov, fully armed by the Biden admin while food aid is blocked and patients are bombed in hospitals,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) posted on X. “This is a genocide of Palestinians. The US must stop enabling it. Arms embargo now.”
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The Washington Post and Axios reported Tuesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to senior Israeli officials warning them to immediately address the humanitarian situation in Gaza or the U.S. will cut off military assistance.
Vice President Harris says the U.S. should not limit weapons shipments to Israel, but she posted on X that the country must “do more to facilitate the flow” of aide to those in need. -
This comes as Harris is in Michigan, where she is slated to make multiple campaign stops this week. Michigan has emerged as the epicenter of liberal discontent over the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel.
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Harris is in Detroit on Tuesday. She’ll be in Grand Rapids and Lansing on Friday, and then heads back Saturday to Detroit.
Michigan, a critical battleground where polls are tight, has one of the largest Arab American populations in the country. New polls show Trump running strong with Arab Americans, a group that typically votes Democratic by a 2-1 margin.
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The Arab American PAC announced Tuesday it will not endorse anyone for president, a blow to Harris.
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More than 100,000 Democrats voted “uncommitted” during the primaries to protest the Biden administration’s approach to the war in Gaza.
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Via The Hill’s
Niall Stanage: "Progressive activists are urging Harris to change course before, as they see it, it is too late — either for the Middle East or for Democratic hopes of victory in an election that is now just three weeks away."
A new AARP poll of Michigan finds Trump leading by 1 point in Michigan.
Trump leads Harris by an average of 0.7 percent in Michigan, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ aggregation of polls.
Michigan has moved toward Trump by 0.7 percentage points over the past week, according to Nate Silver’s election model.
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"Why I brought my toddler to watch Space X's flying skyscraper," by Tim Urban for The Free Press.
"In-office work mandates are really all about control, not efficiency or value," by Gleb Tsipursky for The Hill. |
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20 days until Election Day.
97 days until Inauguration Day 2025.
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(all times Eastern)
Tuesday - Biden holds a political event in Philadelphia at 5:30 p.m.
- Harris is interviewed by Charlamagne Tha God at 5 p.m.
- Trump campaigns in Atlanta at 7:30 p.m. He'll tape a Fox News town hall event that will air Wednesday evening.
Wednesday - Trump will participate in a town hall event on Univision in Miami.
- Fox News anchor Bret Baier will conduct an interview with Harris that will air Thursday.
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