Dem
51
GOP
49
Because it's summer, it's primetime for the various conferences that political actors love to hold. And so, Donald Trump has a full schedule of conference appearances right now.
On Friday, he spoke to Turning Point Action, which held their conference in West Palm Beach, FL. And Trump's address had a couple of significant elements. Some media outlets focused on the fact that Trump said a bunch of nasty things about Kamala Harris. For example, the write-up from Politico had the headline "At South Florida rally, Trump cycles through new attacks on Harris" and the subhead "The former president is adapting to a campaign that's been overturned in the past week, and trying out several critiques against his new opponent."
We're not so sure that "Trump attacks Harris" is even news anymore, since that's what he does. And it's certainly a case of what journalists call "burying the lede" (and yes, that is the correct spelling). Because the other thing that Trump tossed off was this:
Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote.
Remarkably, the Politico piece doesn't mention that part until the very last paragraph, noting in passing: "Four years from now, he argued, the country will be 'fixed so good you're not going to have to vote.'" Other outlets similarly saw this as a secondary issue, behind the attacks on Harris.
We struggle to wrap our minds around that sort of news "judgment." It sure looks, to us, like a case of Trump saying the quiet part out loud, and conceding that if all goes according to plan, he does not want to hold elections beyond this one. It becomes even more damning when Trump spokesman Steven Cheung was asked about the remarks and refused to offer an alternate explanation of what the former president meant. Eventually, Trump decided it was "a joke." Seriously? That's the best you've got?
We just cannot help but notice that when Joe Biden garbled his words, it was time for seven different critical op-eds in The New York Times. But Trump implies he wants to bring an end to presidential elections, and many outlets decide it's barely worth a mention. And it's hardly the only way in which his campaign has been authoritarianism-adjacent. Project 2025. Threatening to use the U.S. Army to invade Mexico and round up undocumented immigrants. Threatening to summarily eject 10 million+ existing U.S. residents. Promising to reinstate the Muslim travel ban. Impeaching any and every Democrat whose name House Republicans can spell. We do not propose that Biden's missteps should not have been covered, but does giving three and four and five times the coverage to "Biden loses his train of thought" as compared to "Trump suggests that 2024 will be the last election" make any sense at all? Not to us.
Anyhow, moving on, as president, Donald Trump said that cryptocurrencies were highly volatile and based on thin air. On Saturday, he was in Nashville addressing the biggest cryptoconference and supporting cryptocurrencies. Not only that, but he allows campaign donations in bitcoin and has received $4 million worth so far. He even attacked the Biden administration's "war on crypto." However, Trump conveniently didn't mention any of the massive fraud schemes that have racked crypto in the past few years. For example he had nothing to say about Sam Bankman-Fried, who pulled off a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme until he didn't and was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for it.
Trump said several things his audience of about 20,000 people wanted to hear. He wants to maintain a strategic reserve of bitcoins. He also said that he wants crypto mined, minted, and made in the USA.
Trump didn't say what caused his 180-degree turn. Maybe he thinks there are enough crypto investors that it is an important enough bloc to pander to. Maybe running mate J.D. Vance, who has a background in Silicon Valley, talked him into it.
But there are more folks out there that have no faith in it. Three-quarters of people who have heard about crypto think it is unsafe and unreliable. Like the Dutch tulipmania of the 17th century, crypto will probably be a good investment until it suddenly isn't. And they don't ring a bell when the market is at the top. (V & Z)