Evening Report — Trump takes campaign into blue states

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Evening Report

Wednesday, Sept. 18

Trump takes campaign into blue states

Former President Trump will hold a rally tonight in New York, his second blue state incursion in the last week.

Trump is seeking to highlight what he describes as Democratic failures in liberal strongholds.

Trump will rally supporters in Uniondale, a hamlet in Nassau County on Long Island. Nassau County went for President Biden by about 70,000 votes in 2020, a 10 point win over Trump.
Suffolk County on Long Island went narrowly for Trump by only 232 votes out of more than 770,000 cast in 2020. Biden won statewide in New York by nearly 2 million votes, although polls showed a tighter race there in 2024 before he dropped out.
Trump tweeted an appeal to New Yorkers on Tuesday, saying “we have a real chance of winning for the first time in many decades.” “What the hell do you have to lose,” he added. Trump will not win New York, but he could draw a big crowd Wednesday night from the right-leaning parts of Long Island.
Trump announced a major policy reversal in an effort to appeal to wealthy New Yorkers. He pledged to restore the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which was capped at $10,000 in his 2017 tax reform law. Many New Yorkers had in the past relied heavily on SALT deductions to reduce their tax burdens.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused Trump of having “selective amnesia” about taking away the SALT deductions in the first place.
Last week, Trump held a press conference from his golf course in Los Angeles, where he blamed Vice President Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) for illegal immigration and the urban blight that has plagued some of California’s biggest cities.

Trump’s unconventional campaign strategy contrasts with Harris, who will be in battleground Michigan on Thursday, a pivotal swing state where polls are tight.

The New York Times reports that Harris is about to change her media strategy, “promising a series of appearances across an array of media venues, including local and national outlets, podcasts, radio stations and daytime talk shows.”
Harris has so far given three on-camera interviews since becoming the nominee.
The Hill’s Alex Gangitano reports that Harris “has avoided getting into the nitty-gritty of detailed policy positions” as part of her cautious approach in appealing to centrists.
Harris has largely stuck to a script, even during unscripted events. At the panel interview with the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday, Harris reiterated talking points about her Middle Class up-bringing, and she declined to take a stance on late-term abortions or how she’d break with Biden’s policy toward Israel.

New polls show the race in the battlegrounds remains on a knife’s edge, although Harris got a strong round of polling from the Blue Wall states on Wednesday. Quinnipiac University surveys found Harris leading in Pennsylvania and Michigan. The race is tied in Wisconsin.

However, other new surveys reflect Trump’s resilience through a rocky stretch since the debate.

The Teamsters, one of the largest unions in the country with 1.3 million members, released results of an internal poll that found their members prefer Trump over Harris by a margin of 58 to 31 percent. Still, the Teamsters are declining to make an official endorsement for the first time since 1996.
Gallup finds Trump’s favorability rating has gone up by 5 points in the last month, and he is viewed far more favorably among independent voters than Harris. The survey was conducted before the latest assignation attempt on Trump.

Trump

Favorable: 46 (+5)

Unfavorable: 53 (-2)

Harris

Favorable: 44 (-3)

Unfavorable: 54 (+5)

Independents

Trump: 44/53 (-9)

Harris: 35/60 (-25)

Perspectives:

USA Today: As Pennsylvania goes.

The Washington Examiner: The county in Pennsylvania to watch.

CNN: Economic worries boost Trump’s Hispanic support in Nevada.

The Guardian: The U.S. Supreme Court could pick the next president.

The Wall Street Journal: Populist Dem fights to survive in Ohio.

Read more:

5 takeaways from Trump’s town hall.
5 takeaways from Harris’s NABJ interview.
Where the race stands.
Where RFK stands in the battlegrounds.
Poll: Majority support mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Ohio’s GOP gov: Trump comments on Haitian migrants ‘very hurtful.'
Can Democrats and Republicans be friends?

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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NEW THIS AFTERNOON

Emboldened Fed lowers interest rates by half-point

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut interest rates by 50 basis points, a bold move that suggests the central bank is confident the war against inflation is winding down.

Is the U.S. in store for a soft landing after fears the economy would overheat?

From The Hill’s Taylor Giorno:

“The Fed incrementally increased interest rates from near zero in March 2022 to a range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent last July as it battled rising inflation, which peaked at 9.1 percent in June 2022. While rate hikes fueled recession concerns and layoff fears, a recession never came to pass and the unemployment rate maintained its lowest sub-4 percent streak since the 1960s.”

The new federal funds rate target is 4.75 percent to 5 percent.

The Hill’s Tobias Burns reports on the five ways the rate cuts will impact workers and employers:

Mortgage rates will come down.
Auto loan rates should decrease.
It could spur consumer spending, as it becomes less lucrative to save money.
Employment conditions could improve.
Low interest rates could support a new fiscal environment.

IN OTHER NEWS

House preps vote on GOP funding bill

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will bring a funding bill to the floor this evening with no guarantees it can pass the GOP-controlled House.

Johnson’s continuing resolution (CR) would fund the government for six months. It includes a voting security bill that’s a nonstarter in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Johnson pulled the same bill last week after nearly a dozen Republicans came out against it.
The deadline to avoid a government shutdown is Sept. 30.

Does Johnson have the votes or will he suffer an embarrassing defeat? What’s plan B? Nobody knows right now, but Senate Republicans are certain the GOP will be blamed for a shutdown if no deal is reached.

“One thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election, because certainly we’d get the blame.” -Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

More from Capitol Hill:

Democrats are targeting tax avoidance before cuts expire in 2025.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a UFO hearing.
Andy Harris has been elected the new Freedom Caucus Chair.
The House passed a bill to plug the $3 billion Veterans Affairs budget shortfall.

Republicans seethe after Trump assassination attempts

Congressional Republicans and some Democrats are fuming at what they see as the slow pace of investigations into the two assassination attempts on former President Trump.

The Secret Service foiled a second potential shooting Sunday. But some Senate Republicans note the upper chamber hasn’t held a public hearing on the shooting in Butler, Pa., from July.

"The Senate still refuses to do that. We had a classified hearing after the Butler, Pennsylvania time period where we had the opportunity to ask some questions. We need another hearing to be able to push and say what is the next step here to make sure this doesn’t happen again." -Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Newsmax.

Even some Democrats have vented frustration at what they describe as a lack of details from the Department of Homeland Security.

"I am reaching the point of total outrage because the response from DHS has been totally lacking," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told reporters. "It's tantamount to stonewalling.”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says the bipartisan task force tackling the Butler shooting will also investigate the foiled shooting from Sunday.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has promised to “spare no resource” in investigating the assassination attempts, although The Wall Street Journal reports that additional charges against suspect Ryan Routh could be a challenge since the suspect never fired a shot or had Trump in his line of sight. Routh so far only faces charges on federal gun crimes.

Republicans are blaming Democratic rhetoric for the two attempts on Trump’s life.

"We all know Kamala Harris, her quotes, where she said quote Trump is a threat to our democracy and our fundamental freedoms. She said this over and over again. Not just before the first attempt, even after the first attempt on President Trump’s life ... And then the second attempted shooter — he was regurgitating the same language as Kamala. So this is no longer a dog whistle, which it’s been on the left, it’s now being received by some unhinged people as a call to action.” — Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blamed Trump for raising the temperature.

"I would suggest to Donald Trump, tone it down. Let's have a debate on issues," Sanders said on MSNBC.

Perspectives:

The Hill: Anti-Trumpers court trouble with rhetoric.

The New York Times: Trump, outrage and the modern era of political violence.

City Journal: Media says Trump made the shooters do it.

Read More:

Trump praises Secret Service agent at golf course, but Butler ‘a very different story.'
Republicans question proposal to boost Secret Service funding.
GOP Rep. Luna says authorities investigating ‘very serious shooting threat’ against her.
Trump told Secret Service more resources needed: adviser.
Private messages reveal what the accused Trump gunman did in Ukraine.