Crooked Media - 'Scuse me, did I raise my choice?

Friday, August 2, 2024 BY CROOKED MEDIA

- JD Vance to his son, when he wanted to take a phone call from Donald Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris looks set to deliver Democrats’ pro-choice message in ways President Biden never could, advocates and healthcare experts tell What A Day — supercharging one of Dems’ most potent political issues.

Republicans seem desperate to avoid discussing abortion this year, and for good reason. After all, they succeeded in repealing federal protections in 2022, when conservative Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wade. But since then, abortion rights have repeatedly won when they’ve been on the ballot, even in referendums in deep red states. Nearly two thirds of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Little wonder, then, the GOP scrubbed the issue from both their party platform and the Republican National Convention. “Republicans are scared to even talk about it,” Christina Reynolds, the senior vice president of communications and content at EMILY’s List, told What A Day. “They know that their position is toxic.”

Enter Vice President Kamala Harris, the current administration’s top surrogate on reproductive rights. Her appearance as the presumptive Democratic nominee had a “seismic” impact on the pro-choice movement, Alexis McGill Johnson, the CEO and President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, told What A Day. “Literally, the ground shifted beneath us. And I don't know if that was so many people jumping for joy and excitement, or if it was all of us getting up to march to get to work,” she added. “As a Black woman, I can't stop from smiling and crying.” In other words, Harris already appears to be turbocharging Democratic energy on one of their most salient issues, she said. “She is the right person to meet this moment.”

Biden is pro-choice and backs the protections in Roe. But he’s also described himself as “not big on abortion” due to his Catholic faith, and has been famously reluctant to use the word “abortion” in public. Biden’s poll numbers among pro-choice voters had been slipping before he bowed out, maxing out at around 59 percent support in battleground states according to CNN. Harris has been far more outspoken, including at a raucous rally last week in Atlanta, backed by hip hop A-listers. As Megan Thee Stallion told the crowd: “Now I know my ladies in the crowd love their bodies. And you want to keep loving your body — you know who to vote for!”

Disgraced former President Trump didn’t just appoint the justices who overturned Roe. He also picked Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) as his running mate, a guy who doesn’t support access to abortion even in cases of rape or incest.

The prospect of Trump’s return to the White House has raised fears of a possible federal abortion ban, which Trump supported as president before reversing himself and claiming he wouldn’t sign one now that the issue has proved so damaging. “I don't know what this is going to look like after this election,” Dr. Callie Cox Bauer, a Milwaukee, WI based OB-GYN, said in an interview with What A Day of the possibility of a Trump-Vance win. “It's kind of scary to think about it.”

A majority (57 percent) of residents in GOP-controlled states say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. That number jumps to almost two-thirds in the key swing states that will decide the presidential election.

No wonder Trump doesn’t want to talk about it.

In case you missed it, Friends of the Pod's exclusive series, Inside 2024, released a new episode last week! Just when we thought the Veepstakes were over, a Harris-led ticket now has the opportunity to choose their own VP at the upcoming DNC. In this latest episode, White House alums Dan Pfeiffer and Alyssa Mastromonaco dive into what it takes to onboard a new Vice President to the campaign and speculate on who might be leading in the race for Harris's top pick. To access this exclusive content and more, sign up now at crooked.com/friends.

VP Kamala Harris is reportedly just days away from announcing her vice presidential running mate. She’s expected to meet with the shortlist candidates this weekend. A decision is expected before she holds a rally with the new veep nominee in Philadelphia on Tuesday. After that, they’re both taking off on a week-long swingstate tour. Nothing like a road trip with your new bestie, huh?

The U.S. military is moving forces closer to Israel in order to protect against a potential attack from Iran, officials said Friday.

The Defense Department revoked a plea deal reached with the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and two accomplices, in a move that brings back the possibility of the death penalty.

U.S. intelligence indicated that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi sought to give Donald Trump $10 million to bolster the disgraced former president’s 2016 campaign, prompting a Justice Department investigation that was ultimately shut down on the watch of former A.G. William Barr, according to a Washington Post investigation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken formally recognized Edmundo González as the victor in Venezuela's contested presidential election Thursday night, after days of unrest after incumbent president Nicolás Maduro claimed he won the election.

Trump’s proposal to knock the corporate tax rate to 15% has drawn skepticism from even some of the corporate money-grubbing members of his own party as Capitol Hill braces for a battle next year when portions of his infamous 2017 tax cut for the wealthy and corporations are set to expire. Turns out you can’t add over a trillion dollars to the national deficit in the name of gifts for the richest Americans without at least some people catching on!

Job growth slowed in July, with the U.S. economy adding just 114,000 jobs, as unemployment ticked upwards to 4.3%. The lower than expected job growth numbers are expected to increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut rates in September.

Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) lost his primary race to state Senator John McGuire Thursday, making Good the latest victim of bitter infighting that has plagued the House Freedom Caucus.

Hunter Biden, the president’s son, won’t be sentenced for his conviction on gun charges until after the election, according to CNN.

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In an emotional moment, President Biden and Vice President Harris greeted the three Americans released from Russian custody on the tarmac at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Thursday night. It marked a diplomatic victory for the Biden administration and a happy conclusion of a complicated prison exchange involving 24 individuals scattered across six countries.

The Harris campaign raised a staggering $310 million in July, $200 million of which was raised in the two weeks(!!!) since Biden bowed out of the race. The vice president’s fundraising haul is more than double that of the Trump campaign, which raised $138.7 million over the same period. Sometimes? Democracy is fun.

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