Wednesday morning Open thread: grinding through it

Perfect fall day in Harbor Springs, Michigan. Thanks to the people of @Pond_Hill_Farm because you have me. pic.twitter.com/sYAQAUrDBA

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) September 30, 2024

I checked all the usual sources and it looks like my best decision of the week so far might have been taking a nap instead of watching the vice presidential debate. Our man did his best, their man tap-danced in front of an audience of cult members, and no minds were changed. (Although there is of course still a backdraft to come.) To save time, here is a report from the WashingtonPost — “Vance and Walz face off in what could be the final meeting of the presidential campaigns”🙁gift link)

… In stark contrast to September’s presidential clash between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris — who barely concealed their dislike for each other — the running mates often went out of their way to be friendly while focusing more on policy differences than on personal issues. trifles.

They praised, sympathized and acknowledged that they were in agreement on how to tackle some of the country’s most difficult and divisive issues. At the same time, neither man shied away from the dirty work their campaigns required them to do.

Vance referred to “our Democratic friends” even as he suggested that Harris had “enabled the Mexican drug cartels to operate freely in this country” and set the stage for the global instability that has led to a widening war in the Middle East…

Walz deflected from the first question about the Middle East, stating that the nation does not need “an almost 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd size” to resolve the situation. He called Trump’s recent dismissal of the traumatic brain injuries suffered by U.S. troops during his presidency a “headache.” And he chided Trump for practicing diplomacy on Twitter and not paying federal taxes.

Walz went on to criticize Vance for repeating baseless claims that immigrants in the senator’s home state had eaten their neighbors’ pets, a claim that local officials say is lacking. He also said that Trump helped defeat a bill that would have solved the immigration problem because he wanted to implement immigration reform…

In one of the sharpest exchanges of the debate, Walz asked Vance directly whether Trump lost the 2020 election, a fact the former president has refused to admit.

“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance said.

“That’s damned,” Walz said. “That’s a damn non-answer.”…

One of the few other truly controversial moments in the debate came when one of the moderators, Margaret Brennan, pointed out that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, who are falsely accused of eating pets, are legally covered there under a Biden administration program . Vance objected.

“Under the rules, you wouldn’t check the facts,” Vance responded, before taking his turn to argue that the Biden administration’s policies were flawed. After repeated requests for the debaters to stop speaking out of turn, the moderators turned off the candidates’ microphones and changed the subject…

More importantly, IMO, things aren’t going well for Vance’s boss. Also from the WashingtonPost, “Trump mixes up words, switches between topics in off-topic speeches”:

MILWAUKEE — Republican nominee Donald Trump spoke for 33 minutes before first stating the apparent focus of his remarks.

Signs reading SCHOOL CHOICE, EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM NOW and LET PARENTS DECIDE decorated a small room, and a panel of speakers ahead of the former president focused on using public resources to let families choose between public and private, mostly religious, schools. Trump read from a folder containing a prepared speech on the topic, abruptly switching between the text and a jumble of other topics…

He spoke of ‘a million Rambos’. “Turnarounds” and “escapes” and “dead-end expenses.” He confused Iran with North Korea and went out of his way to single out the United Arab Emirates. He was surprised that Hurricane Helene arrived so late in the storm season, which normally runs until November. He falsely claimed that government agencies cannot name the American people, and he compared the conflict between Israel and Iran to “two kids fighting in the school yard.”

The 78-year-old Trump often speaks in a digressive, improvised style that delights his fans at large-scale rallies. But Tuesday’s event, attended almost exclusively by reporters, was extremely scattered and difficult to follow. Polls show voters’ concerns about Trump’s age and fitness have increased since President Joe Biden, 81, withdrew and was replaced as the Democratic nominee by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump spoke slowly and appeared tired. It was his second stop of the day and he has picked up the pace of his campaigns in recent weeks.

“I think I’m booked every day for 33 days,” he said at the end of the press conference, incorrectly citing the number of days until the election as 35 days. “I’ve been working 17 or 18 days straight, and I work even when I’m not working.”…

When asked whether as president he should have responded more forcefully to Iran’s missile attacks on US troops in Iraq in 2020, Trump responded as he did at the time by denying the severity of the more than a hundred injuries, including traumatic brain injuries. “They had a headache,” he said…

Overall, Trump’s speech was a far cry from the preview given by former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-Wis.), who introduced him at the lectern.

“It’s going to be a great day because Donald Trump is going to talk to you about his beliefs, his opportunities, his views and vision on education,” Thompson said.

Don’t you think he looks… tired?

And then there’s the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Given the wave of depressing stories, I’m going to focus on the closer for the Associated press article about “How can we help those affected by Hurricane Helene”:

… — Consider waiting. Rebuilding after Hurricane Helene will take months, if not years, and the full picture of needs is not yet available, experts say. They say disaster donations start strong after the event and then slow down when it is no longer top of mind, even though the need actually increases when government benefits expire.

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