Author: Jack Merritt

DNC National Press Secretary Emilia Rowland released the following statement: 

“It’s not just that Trump bragged about overturning Roe, called the life-threatening abortion bans he caused a ‘beautiful thing to watch,’ and chose a running mate who wants to ban abortion nationwide without exceptions for rape or incest. The bottom line is this: Trump cannot be trusted with the power to sign a national abortion ban into law – because his record shows he’ll betray women and undermine our freedoms if he gets the chance.”      

Trump and his MAGA cronies are already trying to spin their terrifying agenda to hide the Project 2025 blueprint that would guide his second term agenda. Here’s an overview of his real plans on abortion: 

• Uphold current abortion bans enacted by states – made possible by Trump appointing Supreme Court Justices who carried out his bidding to overturn Roe.
• Manipulate the powers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase “abortion surveillance” and data collection.
• Rescind a Department of Defense policy to provide service members with access to abortion care.
• Punish states that require health insurance plans to cover abortion.
• End federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
• Outlaw the mailing any object that could be used for an abortion, including mifepristone.
• Threaten access to IVF.
• Rescind approval of abortion pills at the FDA.
• Eliminate the morning-after pill from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate under the rationale that it is a ‘potential abortifacient

On multiple occasions, Trump said he wants to sign a national abortion ban — and let’s not forget he backed a national ban when he was in office. 

Rolling Stone: “Trump Wants to Ban Abortion Nationwide: Report”

Trump: “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life. And it’s very important.” 

Trump on if he would sign a six-week national abortion ban: “I’m looking at all options.”

CNN: “JD Vance said in 2022 he ‘would like abortion to be illegal nationally’”

“During a podcast interview in January 2022, then-candidate JD Vance said he ‘certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally’ and was ‘sympathetic’ to the view that a national ban was necessary to stop women from traveling across states to obtain an abortion.”

New Republic: “On January 20, 2025, conservatives plan to resurrect a 150-year-old defunct law to ban abortion across the nation. This is not a secret plan—far from it. It’s part of the 180-Day Playbook produced by Project 2025, detailing priorities for an incoming conservative president on day one. These 900 pages lay out a Christian nationalist vision of the United States, one in which married heterosexuality is the only valid form of sexual expression and identity; all pregnancies would be carried to term, even if that requires coercion or death; and transgender and gender-nonconforming people do not exist…

“The playbook says the president should enforce a 150-year-old law, the Comstock Act, which right-wing groups see as a way to ban abortion nationally because it outlaws the use of the mail for the purposes of sending or receiving any object that could be used for an abortion.”

New York Times: “Roberts told me that he views Heritage’s role today as ‘institutionalizing Trumpism.’ This includes leading Project 2025, a transition blueprint that outlines a plan to consolidate power in the executive branch, dismantle federal agencies and recruit and vet government employees to free the next Republican president from a system that Roberts views as stacked against conservative power. The lesson of Trump’s first year in office, Roberts told me, is that ‘the Trump administration … simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.’”

Trump’s track record includes overturning Roe v. Wade and paving the way for extreme abortion bans across the country – which he’s proudly bragged about.

Trump: “I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of … Roe v. Wade.”

Trump: “For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it. … Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it, and we did something that was a miracle.”

Trump: “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade.”

Vance: “I think that what I really think on – so first of all, the Dobbs decision, everybody knows, overruled Roe v. Wade – I think that was the right decision.”

Trump campaign radio ad: “And Trump nominated conservative judges, leading to Roe v. Wade being overturned.”

The post REMINDER: Trump’s Admission That He Will Vote to Uphold Florida’s Six-Week Ban Foreshadows His Plan For A National Abortion Ban appeared first on Democrats.

In response to MAGA Republicans on Sunday shows trying to cover for Donald Trump’s disastrous record and threats against election officials, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“The day after Donald Trump doubled-down on his promises to pardon violent insurrectionists and prosecute his political opponents, Republicans are scrambling to provide cover for his extreme and unpopular agenda that would put Trump first and the American people last. Whether it’s trying to spin Trump’s explicit threats against election officials, confirming that the GOP will put the gun lobby over gun safety, or refusing to acknowledge Trump’s responsibility for tanking the bipartisan border security deal, Republicans are showing Americans in real-time why they can’t be trusted to lead.”

Doug Burgum downplayed and dismissed Donald Trump threatening election officials, and continued to sow doubt in our elections.

Kristen Welker, NBC News: “Let me ask you about something that former President Trump posted on social media overnight. He seemed to be escalating his threats against political opponents. Let me read you what he said. He said, quote, ‘WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials.’ We should note there is absolutely no evidence that election workers have done anything corrupt, but do you think that it is appropriate to be threatening election workers in this way before the election?”

Doug Burgum: “Well, I think it speaks to a concern that Americans have. … And so again, I think what President Trump is saying, if we’re gonna have free and fair elections, everybody’s got to follow the rules and just putting people on notice.” […]

Welker: “Well, Governor, a lot of those concerns you mentioned are being fueled by these types of statements by former President Trump, but going back to the substance of what he said, he seems to be threatening these political operatives, donors, and election officials. Is that appropriate in any scenario, governor?”

Burgum: “Well, I think what’s appropriate is that we keep working hard as a country to make sure that we’ve got a belief in our elections and a trust in our elections.”

Tom Cotton was confronted on how he and his Republican colleagues won’t be doing anything to prevent gun violence in America.

Dana Bash, CNN: “But, there are mental health problems all across the world right now. It’s bad. The difference between other countries and this country is that it is being expressed with gun violence. Is it not time to figure out a way to mitigate that part of the equation, when it is affecting our children so often?”

Tom Cotton: “Well, I think one way to mitigate that is to enforce the laws we have on the books.” […]

Bash: “Do you see any action in the offing at all in the wake of this, once again, or is it just going to be ‘enforce the laws on the books?’”

Cotton: “Well, again, enforcing laws on the books is one way to stop gun crime.”

[…]

Bash: “So Congress won’t do anything.”

Cotton: “Well, look, most law enforcement happens at the local level. These police officers are not federal agents, they are local police department officers.”

John Cornyn refused to acknowledge Trump’s responsibility for tanking the toughest, fairest bipartisan border deal in decades.

Shannon Bream, Fox News: “The vice president, though, has been touting her work. She says she was tough on cartels and gangs and she’s litigated against these people, held them accountable. She also said this in her DNC speech.”

Clip of Vice President Harris: “Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. The Border Patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign. So he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Well, I refuse to play politics with our security.”

Bream: “I will not be surprised if your colleague, Sen. Chris Murphy, brings this up when we talk to him next. It has been a messaging talking point that has stuck for Democrats, this idea that President Trump is the one who kept the border problem alive because he told you guys not to vote for it.”

John Cornyn: “Well, that’s just false is the short answer to that.”

The post Sunday Scaries: MAGA Republicans Can’t Cover For Trump’s Threats Against Our Democracy After Threatening to Prosecute Opponents and Pardon Violent Insurrectionists appeared first on Democrats.

Today, new reporting from The Washington Post examines how RFK Jr. spent his career preying on and profiting off of the vulnerable communities he claims to fight for. Despite pitching himself as an environmental champion who took on big corporations, records show he often accomplished little- whether it was for a Native American tribe in New Jersey or Appalachians affected by mountaintop removal.

To quote those who were impacted by his failures, RFK Jr. “took advantage” of and “used” them for “vanity project(s).” Just like Donald Trump – who now owns this baggage – RFK Jr. is a fraud. 

ICYMI: Washington Post: RFK Jr. made big promises to pollution victims. Some say he didn’t keep them

By: Peter Jamison 

• On a spring day in 2007, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood inside a tidy Methodist church deep in the mountains of southern West Virginia and made a solemn pledge: He would keep fighting alongside the residents of the Coal River Valley until mining companies stopped flattening their mountains and polluting their streams. “He made a promise to us in that church,” said Maria Gunnoe, a lifelong resident of the region who was present that day in Rebecca Chapel. “According to him, he would be with us on the barricades.” Seventeen years later, the pollution has not ended. Gunnoe said she has not seen Kennedy in this part of Appalachia since he showed up in 2011 to promote “The Last Mountain,” an acclaimed documentary that chronicled his efforts to stop mountaintop removal mining. And majestic Coal River Mountain, which inspired the film’s title, has been blown apart in the pursuit of long-since extracted coal.
• Its eerily jagged remnants rise above tiny towns and hollows where the Kennedy name, once held in awe, is now sometimes spoken with bitterness.
• “He took advantage of some of the poorest people in our country,” Gunnoe said recently. “He left a very bad taste in the mouths of many Appalachians.”
• …Others whose health and homes were at stake in the fights Kennedy took on say he badly disappointed them, promising justice but ultimately revealing himself to be little better than the enemies he tilted against — one more outsider, in their view, exploiting a community for publicity or legal fees instead of coal or factory labor.
• Wayne Mann, a member of the Ramapough Lenape Nation, plays a central role alongside Kennedy’s law firm in “Mann v. Ford,” a 2011 HBO documentary about tribal members’ lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. over its alleged dumping of toxic paint sludge. But Mann said his enthusiasm for their attorneys soured when Ford settled out of court, denying liability while distributing relatively meager checks to Ramapough tribal members, who to this day are struggling with high rates of cancer and other ailments they attribute to pollution.
• “The way his firm handled the town I was born and raised in — if they did that to that community, what would he do running the country?” Mann said. “…I could never support him. And I could never believe in him again.”
• …Several plaintiffs said that Kennedy’s involvement turned out to be peripheral, and that they recalled seeing him only a few times, always trailed by the press…
• The amount was confidential, but the Bergen Record — which exposed the extent of the pollution in a 2005 investigative series — reported that plaintiffs received $10 million from Ford and $1.5 million from the borough of Ringwood. The combined $11.5 million was split among more than 600 people.
• Plaintiffs who spoke to The Post said they relied on the advice of their attorneys in accepting the settlement, which did not include medical monitoring. Ford continued to deny liability, a sore point for Ramapough who had hoped to see the auto giant admit wrongdoing…
• The documentary about the case is mentioned prominently on Kennedy’s campaign website. But Mann — whose face adorns the poster for the movie — said he has undergone surgery to remove cancer in his prostate and lymph nodes, and that he and other Ramapough continue to live in fear of deadly illnesses.
• Mann objected forcefully to Kennedy’s description of their struggle as a “landmark case” that resulted in victory against Ford. “He had no right to even say that,” Mann said. “As a tribal member, I think that’s hurtful and disgusting — and untrue.”
• Kennedy has also highlighted “The Last Mountain,” which his campaign website describes as showing his “tireless fight against Appalachian mountaintop removal mining.” In April, the campaign posted to social media a 2011 interview he did about the film with Stephen Colbert. The documentary focuses on efforts to halt mining in the Coal River Valley, a region of languid creeks, forested peaks and shady hollows that lies south of Charleston. For more than a century, it was central both to West Virginia’s coal industry and the state’s dramatic history of union mine activism. Mountaintop removal uses explosives to expose coal seams by shearing away tons of dirt and rock. It requires a fraction of the human labor necessary in conventional mine tunnels, but the resulting debris can bury or pollute streams. Critics say the practice also entails health risks for people who live nearby and causes more-severe and frequent floods.
• Kennedy assailed the practice in a 2004 book, “Crimes Against Nature.” In 2007, he appeared in the Coal River Valley, trailed by a film crew, to meet with residents of the dying towns along the Big Coal River. Once again, his family name stood him in good stead: West Virginia had been a bastion of support for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election, and Robert F. Kennedy had earned goodwill throughout Appalachia during his 1968 tour of eastern Kentucky.
• In June 2011, the movie was released in theaters. Some local activists bristled at what they believed was its portrayal of Kennedy as the hero of a movement in which they believed his role had been minimal.
• “I feel like we were used by Bobby Kennedy and his organization to make him look more involved than he was,” said Lorelei Scarbro, an activist who is featured in the documentary. “As far as him actually accomplishing anything, I don’t think he did.”
• Gunnoe, also featured in the documentary, said resentment deepened when Kennedy stopped coming to the Coal River Valley after the movie came out, leading some to question how much he had cared about their plight in the first place. “It was a vanity project for Bobby,” she said.
• Gunnoe and Evans said the last time they saw Kennedy in the Coal River Valley was 13 years ago, on the fifth day of a march commemorating the Battle of Blair Mountain — a violent clash in 1921 between unionized mine workers and military and law enforcement officials. Mimicking the actions of the old miners, protesters marched 50 miles through southern West Virginia.
• Although two of his children took part in the march, Kennedy did not, Gunnoe said. But as the marchers took a break before the final, grueling climb up Blair Mountain, they watched a dark car thread its way toward them up a winding road. Kennedy stepped out and began signing posters for “The Last Mountain” handed out by an associate, according to Evans and Gunnoe, who were present.
• Kennedy said he walked several miles with the group. Gunnoe and Evans remember differently. They said he posed for some photos among the activists, many of them layered in dust and grime from the long march, and invited them to a screening of the movie that night in the state capital. Then he left them at the foot of the mountain, stepping into the car, whose hired driver ferried him away.

The post ICYMI: Washington Post: RFK Jr. made big promises to pollution victims. Some say he didn’t keep them appeared first on Democrats.

Today, new reporting from The Washington Post examines how RFK Jr. spent his career preying on and profiting off of the vulnerable communities he claims to fight for. Despite pitching himself as an environmental champion who took on big corporations, records show he often accomplished little- whether it was for a Native American tribe in New Jersey or Appalachians affected by mountaintop removal.

To quote those who were impacted by his failures, RFK Jr. “took advantage” of and “used” them for “vanity project(s).” Just like Donald Trump – who now owns this baggage – RFK Jr. is a fraud. 

ICYMI: Washington Post: RFK Jr. made big promises to pollution victims. Some say he didn’t keep them

By: Peter Jamison 

• On a spring day in 2007, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood inside a tidy Methodist church deep in the mountains of southern West Virginia and made a solemn pledge: He would keep fighting alongside the residents of the Coal River Valley until mining companies stopped flattening their mountains and polluting their streams. “He made a promise to us in that church,” said Maria Gunnoe, a lifelong resident of the region who was present that day in Rebecca Chapel. “According to him, he would be with us on the barricades.” Seventeen years later, the pollution has not ended. Gunnoe said she has not seen Kennedy in this part of Appalachia since he showed up in 2011 to promote “The Last Mountain,” an acclaimed documentary that chronicled his efforts to stop mountaintop removal mining. And majestic Coal River Mountain, which inspired the film’s title, has been blown apart in the pursuit of long-since extracted coal.
• Its eerily jagged remnants rise above tiny towns and hollows where the Kennedy name, once held in awe, is now sometimes spoken with bitterness.
• “He took advantage of some of the poorest people in our country,” Gunnoe said recently. “He left a very bad taste in the mouths of many Appalachians.”
• …Others whose health and homes were at stake in the fights Kennedy took on say he badly disappointed them, promising justice but ultimately revealing himself to be little better than the enemies he tilted against — one more outsider, in their view, exploiting a community for publicity or legal fees instead of coal or factory labor.
• Wayne Mann, a member of the Ramapough Lenape Nation, plays a central role alongside Kennedy’s law firm in “Mann v. Ford,” a 2011 HBO documentary about tribal members’ lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. over its alleged dumping of toxic paint sludge. But Mann said his enthusiasm for their attorneys soured when Ford settled out of court, denying liability while distributing relatively meager checks to Ramapough tribal members, who to this day are struggling with high rates of cancer and other ailments they attribute to pollution.
• “The way his firm handled the town I was born and raised in — if they did that to that community, what would he do running the country?” Mann said. “…I could never support him. And I could never believe in him again.”
• …Several plaintiffs said that Kennedy’s involvement turned out to be peripheral, and that they recalled seeing him only a few times, always trailed by the press…
• The amount was confidential, but the Bergen Record — which exposed the extent of the pollution in a 2005 investigative series — reported that plaintiffs received $10 million from Ford and $1.5 million from the borough of Ringwood. The combined $11.5 million was split among more than 600 people.
• Plaintiffs who spoke to The Post said they relied on the advice of their attorneys in accepting the settlement, which did not include medical monitoring. Ford continued to deny liability, a sore point for Ramapough who had hoped to see the auto giant admit wrongdoing…
• The documentary about the case is mentioned prominently on Kennedy’s campaign website. But Mann — whose face adorns the poster for the movie — said he has undergone surgery to remove cancer in his prostate and lymph nodes, and that he and other Ramapough continue to live in fear of deadly illnesses.
• Mann objected forcefully to Kennedy’s description of their struggle as a “landmark case” that resulted in victory against Ford. “He had no right to even say that,” Mann said. “As a tribal member, I think that’s hurtful and disgusting — and untrue.”
• Kennedy has also highlighted “The Last Mountain,” which his campaign website describes as showing his “tireless fight against Appalachian mountaintop removal mining.” In April, the campaign posted to social media a 2011 interview he did about the film with Stephen Colbert. The documentary focuses on efforts to halt mining in the Coal River Valley, a region of languid creeks, forested peaks and shady hollows that lies south of Charleston. For more than a century, it was central both to West Virginia’s coal industry and the state’s dramatic history of union mine activism. Mountaintop removal uses explosives to expose coal seams by shearing away tons of dirt and rock. It requires a fraction of the human labor necessary in conventional mine tunnels, but the resulting debris can bury or pollute streams. Critics say the practice also entails health risks for people who live nearby and causes more-severe and frequent floods.
• Kennedy assailed the practice in a 2004 book, “Crimes Against Nature.” In 2007, he appeared in the Coal River Valley, trailed by a film crew, to meet with residents of the dying towns along the Big Coal River. Once again, his family name stood him in good stead: West Virginia had been a bastion of support for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election, and Robert F. Kennedy had earned goodwill throughout Appalachia during his 1968 tour of eastern Kentucky.
• In June 2011, the movie was released in theaters. Some local activists bristled at what they believed was its portrayal of Kennedy as the hero of a movement in which they believed his role had been minimal.
• “I feel like we were used by Bobby Kennedy and his organization to make him look more involved than he was,” said Lorelei Scarbro, an activist who is featured in the documentary. “As far as him actually accomplishing anything, I don’t think he did.”
• Gunnoe, also featured in the documentary, said resentment deepened when Kennedy stopped coming to the Coal River Valley after the movie came out, leading some to question how much he had cared about their plight in the first place. “It was a vanity project for Bobby,” she said.
• Gunnoe and Evans said the last time they saw Kennedy in the Coal River Valley was 13 years ago, on the fifth day of a march commemorating the Battle of Blair Mountain — a violent clash in 1921 between unionized mine workers and military and law enforcement officials. Mimicking the actions of the old miners, protesters marched 50 miles through southern West Virginia.
• Although two of his children took part in the march, Kennedy did not, Gunnoe said. But as the marchers took a break before the final, grueling climb up Blair Mountain, they watched a dark car thread its way toward them up a winding road. Kennedy stepped out and began signing posters for “The Last Mountain” handed out by an associate, according to Evans and Gunnoe, who were present.
• Kennedy said he walked several miles with the group. Gunnoe and Evans remember differently. They said he posed for some photos among the activists, many of them layered in dust and grime from the long march, and invited them to a screening of the movie that night in the state capital. Then he left them at the foot of the mountain, stepping into the car, whose hired driver ferried him away.

The post ICYMI: Washington Post: RFK Jr. made big promises to pollution victims. Some say he didn’t keep them appeared first on Democrats.

Key Point: “Here, presented for the first time, is an exhaustive list of the previous Republican presidents, vice presidents and nominees to these posts who have publicly said they will be voting for Trump in November:

1. Sarah Palin.

That’s it. That’s the whole list.”

HuffPost: The Complete List Of Past GOP Presidential Ticket Members Who Say They’re Voting For Trump

By: Jennifer Bendery

• When Kamala Harris accepted her party’s presidential nomination at the Democratic convention last month, several former presidents, vice presidents and nominees to these posts came together in a show of public support for her bid for the White House.

• Barack Obama. Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). President Joe Biden, who even dropped his reelection bid to unify not just Democrats, but Americans.

• And on Donald Trump’s side? Which past Republican presidents, vice presidents and nominees are lining up behind him?

• We didn’t see any of them speak in support of him at the GOP convention in July, but surely they’re out there.

• Here, presented for the first time, is an exhaustive list of the previous Republican presidents, vice presidents and nominees to these posts who have publicly said they will be voting for Trump in November:

• 1. Sarah Palin.

• That’s it. That’s the whole list.

• Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he is “absolutely not” voting for Trump. Neither is former Vice President Dick Cheney, former vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, or, presumably, former Vice President Dan Quayle, who helped prevent Trump from stealing the election in 2020. 

• Trump’s own former vice president, Mike Pence, whom Trump nearly got killed on Jan. 6, 2021, said “it should come as no surprise” that he will not endorse Trump.

The post ICYMI: The Complete List Of Past GOP Presidential Ticket Members Who Say They’re Voting For Trump appeared first on Democrats.

Banners flown over tailgates at the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, and Penn State University to remind college students and football fans of the importance of the 2024 election

WASHINGTON – Today, during week two of the 2024 college football season, the Democratic National Committee flew planes with banner messages tying Donald Trump and JD Vance to their dangerous Project 2025 agenda over the University of Michigan’s Michigan Stadium and Penn State’s Beaver Stadium – with a banner still to be flown over Camp Randall Stadium at the University of Wisconsin later today – to remind college students and football fans that a vote for Trump is the same as losing the game thanks to his dangerous and extreme Project 2025 plans.

The banner messages, flown over tailgates and stadiums at all three universities starting four hours before the game until kickoff, are simple and unique to each university and fan base:

Michigan: JD Vance <3 Ohio State + Project 2025

Penn State: Penn St: Beat Trump, Sack Project 2025

Wisconsin: Jump Around! Beat Trump + Project 2025

The creative for these banners can be seen below:

Democratic National Committee Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman issued the following statement:

“It’s college football Saturday, and fans are ready to sack the competition and beat Project 2025, which would give Trump unprecedented power, allow Trump to ban abortion nationwide, allow the government to monitor pregnancies, and give tax giveaways for billionaires.  The DNC is reaching voters where they are in swing states across the country by flying Project 2025 banners over the Big House in Michigan, Beaver Stadium at Penn State, and Badger Stadium in Wisconsin. These banners carry a message that resonates with fans, and reminds them that the most important contest is still to come in November. The contrast in this election couldn’t be clearer, and we have a winning playbook: sack Project 2025, make a goal-line stand, and drive 99 yards the other way towards a more just and equal America for all.”

The post DNC Flies Planes Over College Football Games Encouraging Voters to Beat Trump, Sack Project 2025 This November appeared first on Democrats.

On Tuesday, the Harris-Walz campaign and the DNC announced a historic investment into its sister committees to mobilize voters and secure wins for Democrats up and down the ballot this November. 

• Nationwide: Politico: Harris campaign, DNC, announce unprecedented down-ballot spending
• Nationwide: CNN: Harris campaign and Democratic National Committee will transfer more than $24 million to down ballot races
• Nationwide: Axios: Harris’ campaign shares $24.5M with down-ballot Democratic races
• Nationwide: Washington Post: Harris to transfer nearly $25 million to help down-ballot Democratic candidates
• Nationwide: Daily Beast: VP Kamala Harris Makes It Rain for Democrats After Donation Windfall
• Nationwide: The Independent: Kamala Harris has raised so much for her presidential campaign that she’s giving some away
• Nationwide: The New Republic: Harris Just Gave the Democratic Party a Major Boost

This week, the Harris-Walz campaign kicked off its 50-stop “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour to slam Trump for overturning Roe v. Wade and to hold him accountable for every single statewide abortion ban that has followed, including Florida’s extreme ban.

• In Florida: CBS News: “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour kicks off nationwide tour in South Florida
• In Florida: Miami Herald: Kamala Harris allies kick off ‘reproductive freedom’ bus tour in Palm Beach
• In Florida: Sun Sentinel: Harris campaign launches ‘reproductive freedom’ tour in Trump’s Palm Beach County backyard
• In Florida: WPBF: Harris campaign launches bus tour in South Florida focused on reproductive rights
• In Florida: FirstCoastNews: Harris-Walz bus tour makes stop in Jacksonville, representatives campaign for Amendment 4
• In Florida: The Palm Beach Post: 50-stop bus trip launched as Trump flip-flops, says he will vote no on Florida Amendment 4

In honor of Labor Day, the DNC called out Trump’s anti-worker record, launching a new billboard campaign across swing states to label Trump an “anti-union scab” for leaving working families behind in order to fatten the pockets of billionaires.

• In Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin: HuffPost: DNC Calls Trump An ‘Anti-Union Scab’ In Labor Day Billboard Ads
• In Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin: The Independent: Trump dubbed ‘anti-union scab’ in 19 Labor Day billboards using UAW union boss’s putdown
• In Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin: NBC News: Bilingual billboards call Trump ‘anti-unionist’ in DNC Labor Day campaign
• In Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin: Washington Times: Democrats rip Trump’s union record in battleground state billboards

On Wednesday, Vice President Harris traveled to North Hampton, NH, where she unveiled her small business proposals that would support small businesses and invest in entrepreneurs; building up the middle class and easing barriers so everyone has a chance to succeed. 

• In New Hampshire: New Hampshire Bulletin: Harris unveils tax cut proposal for small businesses at New Hampshire rally
• In New Hampshire: Seacoastonline: Kamala Harris visits Throwback Brewery in North Hampton, NH: Small business plan unveiled
• In New Hampshire: Boston Globe: Harris pitches tax plan in New Hampshire as Trump insists he is still fighting for the potential swing state

This week, Democratic vice presidential candidate Governor Tim Walz embarked on his first solo campaign swing in Pennsylvania, making stops at local businesses and engaging with volunteers putting in the work to fight for Team Harris-Walz’s positive vision for America. 

• In Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Capital-Star: Walz meets with volunteers in Lancaster in first solo campaign trip to Pennsylvania
• In Pennsylvania: Tri-County Independent: VP hopeful Tim Walz: 2024 election likely runs through Erie. What else he said
• In Pennsylvania: TribLIVE: Kamala Harris arrives in Pittsburgh, Tim Walz visits Pamela’s Diner
• In Pennsylvania: Star Tribune: Walz flies solo in southern Pennsylvania, stopping at volunteer campaign office, orchard and farm

On Thursday, President Biden visited Wisconsin to announce $7.3 billion toward 16 rural energy co-ops across America. Funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, the new program will deliver clean energy, support thousands of jobs, and reduce pollution in 23 states. 

• In Wisconsin: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: $7.3 billion for rural energy and other takeaways from Joe Biden’s Wisconsin visit
• In Wisconsin: Wisconsin Examiner: President’s announcement Thursday is just one piece of a big clean energy picture
• In Wisconsin: Wisconsin Public Radio: Biden promotes clean energy funds in visit to western Wisconsin
• In Wisconsin: WQOW: Biden stops in western Wisconsin, talks about energy and manufacturing
• In Wisconsin: Vernon County Times: Small Wisconsin town revels in national political spotlight as President Biden visits Westby

As Donald Trump traveled to Charlotte, NC today, the DNC reminded North Carolinians that Trump is a convicted felon who is running on an extreme Project 2025 agenda to obtain unprecedented executive power and threaten our freedoms and democracy. 

• In North Carolina: Southeast Politics: DNC to greet Donald Trump in Charlotte with billboards calling him a felon

The post IN THE STATES: Team Harris-Walz, Democrats Mobilizing Voters and Paving the Path to Victory for Democrats Up and Down the Ballot appeared first on Democrats.

In the wake of the Apalachee school shooting in Georgia, JD Vance called gun violence a “fact of life,” following Donald Trump telling a grieving community in Iowa to “get over it” in the aftermath of a school shooting. In state after state, tragedy after tragedy, Trump and Vance refuse to act to protect our communities. In response to Trump and Vance’s continued indifference to America’s gun violence epidemic, DNC Spokesperson Cameron Niven released the following statement: 

“JD Vance throwing his hands up and accepting the gun violence plaguing our children’s classrooms and communities as a ‘fact of life’ mirrors his boss’s callous comments and outright refusal to take action on our nation’s gun violence crisis. As president, Donald Trump blocked commonsense gun safety measures as he oversaw the largest single-year increase in homicides ever recorded. It’s no mystery why: on the campaign trail, Trump promised his gun lobby donors he wouldn’t ‘lay a finger’ on the NRA. America’s children are paying the price. Now, Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 agenda would make kids even less safe. As Vice President Harris said: ‘it doesn’t have to be this way.’ Families in states across the country demand commonsense gun reform. Vice President Harris and Governor Tim Walz are the only candidates in this race who will answer that call and keep our children safe.”

A day after four people were killed and nine were hospitalized in a school shooting in Georgia, JD Vance called school shootings a “fact of life.”

Associated Press: “School shootings are a ‘fact of life,’” 

Arizona Republic: “Clearly, strict gun laws is not the thing that’s going to solve this problem,”

Axios: “‘We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it,’ he added.”

The Guardian: “As a parent, do I want my kids’ school to have additional security? No, of course I don’t. But that is increasingly the reality that we live in.” 

Vance is following the dangerous lead of Donald Trump— who told school shooting victims to “get over it,” touts his close ties to the NRA, and continues to bend to the gun lobby’s will at every turn.

Rolling Stone: “Trump on Iowa School Shooting: ‘Get Over It’”

“A day after a gunman killed a sixth grade student and wounded five other people at Perry High School northwest of Des Moines, Donald Trump returned to the state at a campaign event and told residents that they ‘have to get over it.’”

Trump: “There’s no bigger fan of the NRA [than me].”

NBC News: “Trump says mass shootings are not ‘a gun problem’ as 2024 GOP hopefuls pledge loyalty to the NRA”

Washington Post: “After latest shooting, Trump pushes Facebook ads ‘straight from the NRA playbook’”

As senator, Vance called banning the use of bump stocks, which allow semiautomatic rifles to fire hundreds of bullets per minute, like the one used in the Las Vegas shooting, “a huge distraction” and said that attempts to advance commonsense gun reform legislation solve “fake problems.” 

The Hill: “‘I think it’s a huge distraction,’ said Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who is believed to be on Trump’s shortlist to be his running mate. ‘This is week three of Chuck Schumer focusing on fake problems instead of real problems.’”

NBC News: “His [Vance’s] comments drew a fiery response from [NV Sen. Jacky] Rosen, who faces re-election this year. The Las Vegas gunman used firearms equipped with bump stocks.

“‘This is not a fake problem,’ she told reporters. ‘Let him come to Las Vegas. Let him see the memorial for those people who died. Let him talk to those families. It’s not a fake problem. Those families are dead.’”

NBC News: “‘I think that we have to ask ourselves: What is the real gun violence problem in this country, and are we legislating in a way that solves fake problems? Or solves real problems?’”

Washington Post: “The National Rifle Association praised Vance’s record on gun rights. Vance has rejected calls for tougher gun laws and dismissed a Democrat-led effort to ban bump stocks, which allow semiautomatic rifles to fire hundreds of bullets per minute, as ‘a huge distraction.’ In 2022, Vance said he favored abolishing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which enforces federal gun laws.”

The Guardian: “JD Vance ‘disrespecting the dead’ with bump stock remarks, Nevada senator says”

In Uvalde, Texas, after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults, Vance promoted extreme policies like abolishing the ATF and blamed the shooting on a lack of “family values.” 

HuffPost: “In his statement on the Uvalde school shooting, Vance cited the absence of strong family values — and not the lack of gun control — to explain why a gunman would murder 19 children and two teachers.

‘We need to address the culture of fatherlessness and drug addiction in our country, focus on the importance of family so that our next generation is guided and empowered with strong support systems,’ Vance said.”

Deseret News: “In a statement following the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting that killed 19 children and two adults, Vance blamed a lack of familial support, saying, ‘We need to address the culture of fatherlessness and drug addiction in our country, focus on the importance of family so that our next generation is guided and empowered with strong support systems.’”

The Hill: “Joe Biden’s ATF is illegally collecting information on the gun transactions of millions of law-abiding citizens & putting them into a digital database. As Senator, I’ll not only lead the fight against Biden’s unconstitutional gun database, I’ll fight to ABOLISH the ATF,” Vance tweeted at the time.”

Trump and Vance are doubling down on their dangerous policies. Their Project 2025 agenda would fuel America’s gun violence epidemic and make our kids less safe.

Center for American Progress: “Project 2025 Would Increase Gun Violence, Reversing Historic Declines”

“The far right’s new authoritarian playbook would invalidate state laws on concealed carry, making it so almost anyone can carry firearms in public—from Times Square to the National Mall.”

The post Vance Calls School Shootings a “Fact of Life” As Trump-Vance Continue to Put Gun Lobby Ahead of Children’s Safety appeared first on Democrats.

Unemployment Remains Low Under Biden-Harris Administration As Reports Show Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda Would Cause Recession, Send Inflation Soaring, and Slow Growth 

In response to today’s jobs report, DNC National Press Secretary ⁨Emilia Rowland⁩ released the following statement:

“As the Biden-Harris administration marks its 44th month of consecutive job growth and the creation of nearly 16 million jobs since the start of their term, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans continue to push their Project 2025 agenda that would cost America 3.2 million jobs after Trump left office with the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover. This election is a choice between Vice President Harris’ plans to support small businesses and invest in entrepreneurs versus Donald Trump and JD Vance’s plan to extend Trump’s disastrous tax scam that gave massive handouts to billionaires and big corporations while leaving the middle class behind. Americans won’t turn back to Republicans’ failed trickle-down economics of the past.”

NEW: August’s jobs report shows the 44th consecutive month of job growth under the Biden-Harris administration, as unemployment remains low — while the Trump-Vance Project 2025 agenda could cost America 3.2 million jobs.

Michelle Fleury, BBC News: “The US economy added 142,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.2% from 4.3%.”

NBC News: “U.S. economy adds 142,000 jobs, unemployment ticks down slightly”

USA Today: “Next year, under a Trump administration, inflation would rise from the current 3.3% to 3.6%, well above the 2.4% forecast under Biden, the Moody’s analysis shows. Compared with Biden, the U.S. would have 3.2 million fewer jobs and a 4.5% unemployment rate, a half percentage point higher, at the end of a Trump tenure.”

Just this week, Vice President Harris laid out her plans to build up the middle class, boost small businesses, and invest in entrepreneurs.

Axios: “Harris readies aggressive tax boost for new small businesses”

“The latest proposal includes a tenfold increase in the tax deduction for starting a small business — from $5,000 to $50,000.

“In an effort to reduce taxes, new businesses will be allowed to wait to claim that deduction once they turn a profit.

“The proposal also includes measures to cut red tape by developing a standard deduction for small businesses and reducing barriers to getting occupational licenses across state lines.”

Politico: “Harris targets small business tax break in contrast with Trump’s corporate tax cuts”

“Kamala Harris rolled out a new plan for small business tax breaks, as the vice president looks to contrast her economic agenda with former President Donald Trump ahead of next week’s debate…

“The proposal’s focus on tax breaks for small businesses attempts to craft a contrast with Trump, who has called for lowering the corporate tax rate, as well as extending and expanding his 2017 tax law…

“Harris’ proposal, released on Tuesday, calls for significantly expanding the tax deduction for start-up expenses from $5,000 to $50,000, while also setting the goal of 25 million new small-business applications during her first term, according to a Harris campaign official granted anonymity to describe details of the plan. The plan also proposes reducing barriers to getting occupational licenses and developing a standard tax deduction for small businesses.”

Bloomberg: “Harris to Expand Small Business Tax Relief to Boost Startups”

“Harris also plans to initiate a small business expansion fund to enable community banks to cover interest costs when emerging enterprises are trying to expand, particularly in regions that have historically struggled to get investments. If elected, Harris will also pledge to ensure that one-third of federal contract dollars go to small businesses by expanding opportunities in rural areas and underserved communities.”

Wall Street Journal: “Kamala Harris to Propose Expansion of Small-Business Startup Tax Deduction”

USA Today: “Harris to propose $50k tax break for small businesses in economic plan”

Fox Business host Stuart Varney and RNC Chair Michael Whatley agree that Harris-Walz’s plan to support new small businesses is a good idea.

Stuart Varney: “I just want to press the point, when a political candidate comes up with what I think is a good idea, I have to call it a good idea. And a $50,000 tax cut, not tax cut but a tax credit, for start ups or small businesses, coupled with less red tape, I gotta say, that is a good idea.” 

[…]

Whatley: “That may be a good idea.”

New Republic: “Head of Trump’s RNC Forced to Admit Harris’s Idea Is Really Good”

Trump’s disastrous Project 2025 agenda would jack up prices, costing typical middle-class families nearly $4,000 a year, trigger a recession by mid-2025, cost America over 3 million jobs, increase the national debt by over $5 trillion, send inflation skyrocketing, and hurt everyone but his wealthy buddies.

Center for American Progress: “A typical family would, therefore, pay between $2,500 to $3,900 from Trump’s import taxes, depending on the precise tax rate between 10 percent and 20 percent that various countries’ goods could be taxed at.”

Axios: “Trump’s inflation bomb: How his second-term plans could make it worse”

Axios: “Trump plans would add $5.8 trillion to national debt”

Wall Street Journal: “Economists Say Inflation Would Be Worse Under Trump Than Biden”

USA Today: “According to a Moody’s study, Trump’s plan would trigger a recession by mid-2025 and an economy that grows an average 1.3% annually during his four-year term vs. 2.1% under Biden. (The latter is in line with average growth in the decade before the pandemic.)”

Vanity Fair: “Donald Trump Wants to Give His Favorite Corporations Another Giant Tax Cut in a Second Term: Report”

Trump’s economic agenda failed working families and created new incentives for companies to ship jobs overseas, leaving American workers behind.

CNN: “Trump told GM workers he could save their plant, but it’s gone for good”

Washington Post: “Trump promised this Wisconsin town a manufacturing boom. It never arrived.”

Wall Street Journal: “President Trump’s trade war against China didn’t achieve the central objective of reversing a U.S. decline in manufacturing, economic data show, despite tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods to discourage imports.”

New York Times: “After Years of Growth, Automakers Are Cutting U.S. Jobs”

Bloomberg: “The Offshoring of U.S. Jobs Increased on Trump’s Watch”

Washington Post: “Trump promised ‘America First’ would keep jobs here. But the tax plan might push them overseas.”

ITEP: “The Trump-GOP tax law enacted in December 2017 creates clear incentives for American-based corporations to move operations and jobs abroad, including a zero percent tax rate on many profits generated offshore.”

Washington Post: “Trump will have the worst jobs record in modern U.S. history. It’s not just the pandemic.”

The post NEW: August Marks 44th Month of Consecutive Job Growth Under Biden-Harris Administration While Trump-Vance Agenda Would Cost America 3.2 Million Jobs appeared first on Democrats.

MAGA Republicans stooped to new lows this week with their extremism, hypocrisy, chaos, and — as President Biden would call it — malarkey. In case you missed it: JD Vance called school shootings just a “fact of life” after yet another incident of horrific gun violence; Donald Trump said his deeply unpopular Project 2025 agenda has things “that everybody would like”; a fundraiser for January 6 rioters at Trump’s Bedminster golf club was indefinitely postponed; new reporting showed Vance endorsed and promoted a blueprint from a Project 2025 architect that attacked IVF and called for banning abortion nationwide; a key Project 2025 contributor campaigned for Trump in Wisconsin; new analyses show how a second Trump term would be an economic disaster; Trump, Vance and their anti-worker agenda were completely absent from the campaign trail on Labor Day; Vance cozied up to ultra-MAGA extremists (again); and RNC Chair Michael Whatley admitted Vice President Harris’ plan for supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs is a “good idea.”

JD Vance called school shootings just a “fact of life” yesterday after yet another incident of horrific gun violence.

Associated Press: “Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Thursday that he lamented that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and argued the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia.”

While trying (and failing) to distance himself from Project 2025, Donald Trump said the deeply unpopular MAGA blueprint has things “that everybody would like.”

Trump: “There are some things in there that everybody would like.”

Navigator Research: “Project 2025 Has Become Significantly More Unfavorable Since Trump Attempted to Distance Himself From the Plan”

Miami Herald: “As Americans learn more about Project 2025, they become more opposed, poll finds”

Navigator Research: “Americans oppose all the key elements in Project 2025, with the greatest concerns around health care, worker’s rights, and dismantling federal programs.”

As Trump continues to celebrate insurrectionists and promise them pardons, a fundraiser for January 6 rioters at his Bedminster golf club was indefinitely postponed.

New York Times: “Fund-Raiser for Jan. 6 Rioters at Trump’s Golf Club Is Postponed”

“The event’s location, Mr. Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., highlighted the former president’s attempts to normalize the events of Jan. 6, including by often praising those who took part in the Capitol attack. … Even though the future of the event is now in doubt, it was in keeping with Mr. Trump’s persistent efforts to rewrite the history of Jan. 6.”

New reporting revealed that Vance championed a report from Project 2025 architects that attacked IVF and called for banning abortion nationwide.

New York Times: “Vance Championed 2017 Report on Families From Architects of Project 2025”

“Years before he became the Republican vice-presidential nominee, JD Vance endorsed a little-noticed 2017 report by the Heritage Foundation that proposed a sweeping conservative agenda to restrict sexual and reproductive freedoms and remake American families.

“In a series of 29 separate essays, conservative commentators, policy experts, community leaders and Christian clergy members opposed the spread of in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments, describing those treatments as harmful to women. They praised the rapidly expanding number of state laws restricting abortion rights and access, saying that the procedure should become ‘unthinkable’ in America…

“Mr. Vance, then known as the author of a best-selling memoir, became a champion of the project. He wrote the introduction and praised the volume as ‘admirable,’ and was the keynote speaker at the public release of the report at Heritage’s offices in Washington…

“Taken together, the pieces in the report amount to an effort to instruct Americans on what their families should be, when to grow them and the best way to raise their children. Authors argued in the 2017 report that women should become pregnant at younger ages and that a two-parent, heterosexual household was the ‘ideal’ environment for children…

“One of the essays takes a deeply skeptical view of in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments, arguing that they cause women to be ‘lured into the belief that they can have children whenever they are finally ready.’”

A key Project 2025 contributor campaigned for Trump in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Project 2025 contributor coming to Milwaukee to tout Trump’s ‘Agenda 47’”

“Conservative commentator Monica Crowley is coming to Milwaukee today to tout former President Donald Trump’s economic policies.

“Crowley, who will be in town for the ‘Team Trump Agenda 47 Policy Tour,’ was also listed as a contributor to Project 2025.

“The Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project was created by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation in conjunction with more than 100 conservative organizations, according to its website. Heritage was a sponsor of the July Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“And while Trump has tried to distance himself from it, writing on his social media platform Truth Social that he knows ‘nothing about Project 2025,’ a July USA TODAY analysis found that at least 31 of the project’s 38 creators had connections with Trump’s administration.

“And, his platform overlaps with Project 2025’s proposals on such topics as illegal immigration and shutting down the Department of Education, USA TODAY previously reported in a fact check.”

New analysis shows that a second Trump term would be an economic disaster and cost the U.S. as much as $10.5 TRILLION over a decade.

The Hill: “Analysts at Goldman Sachs are warning of diminished economic performance if former President Trump is elected and able to implement his agenda.”

Bloomberg: “Republican nominee Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance are campaigning on a grab bag of tax cut proposals that could collectively cost as much as $10.5 trillion over a decade, a massive sum that would exceed the combined budgets of every domestic federal agency.

“The combined cost of the Trump plans is so big that if Congress were to try to pass the tax cut proposals and keep spending flat, it means they could continue to fund the military, federal benefit programs, like Social Security, pay interest on the debt — and nothing else. That means eliminating major federal agencies that handle duties such as law enforcement, border security, air traffic control, tax collection and international relations.

“Trump has made extending his signature tax law the centerpiece of his agenda. The Congressional Budget Office says that would cost $4.6 trillion over ten years. He’s also floated lowering the corporate rate to 15% from 21%, adding another $874 billion to the total, according to a budget model by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.”

Trump and Vance were completely absent from the campaign trail on Labor Day, not bothering to defend their unpopular, anti-worker agenda.

Newsweek: “Trump and his running mate JD Vance did not host any events, a marked contrast from previous election cycles and from their opponents Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

“‘Donald Trump and JD Vance have been absent from the campaign trail this Labor Day weekend because they know their anti-worker agenda is extreme, unpopular, and would devastate America’s working class,’ the Democratic campaign said in a statement. ‘The Trump-Vance Project 2025 playbook would make it harder for workers to form unions and gut overtime pay—all while raising taxes on the middle class and rigging the economy for billionaires and big corporations.’”

Vance campaigned in Arizona with an “anti-gay” pastor with a history of hateful remarks and anti-choice extremist Charlie Kirk.

NBC News: “Vance to speak at event hosted in part by pastor with history of homophobic remarks”

“In one post on his X account from July of this year, [lead pastor Ryan] Visconti wrote that in order for ‘America to be ‘great again,’ we need to go back to opposing the abomination of gay mirage [sic] & abortion as we did before.’ A separate post from the fall of 2023 features Visconti saying that in ‘God’s eyes, there’s no such thing as ‘gay marriage,’ and argued in a lengthy thread posted earlier that year that ‘God wants homosexuals to repent and change.’”

Charlie Kirk: “You don’t have abortion rights… Young ladies, you have no idea what you are doing.”

Even RNC Chair Michael Whatley thinks Vice President Harris’ plan for supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs is a “good idea.”

New Republic: “Head of Trump’s RNC Forced to Admit Harris’s Idea Is Really Good”

Stuart Varney, Fox Business: “I just want to press the point, when a political candidate comes up with what I think is a good idea, I have to call it a good idea. And a $50,000 tax cut, not tax cut but a tax credit for start ups or small businesses coupled with less red tape, I got to say that is a good idea…”

RNC Chair Michael Whatley: “Well, that may be a good idea…”

The post MAGA Malarkey: The Extremism You Missed From Republicans This Week appeared first on Democrats.