NATIONAL ALIGN YOUR TEETH DAY UPDATES
As Someone Who Had Braces for SIX YEARS, I Will Observe This Important Holiday
-Three weeks on from the Democratic Party's pivot from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris as this year's Presidential nominee, the ramifications continue to be both felt and be created. What appeared to be a demoralized Democratic base against a rock-ribbed MAGA force to support Republican nominee Old Weird Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) has completely flipped, with swing state polls now heading Harris' way, fundraising that could give Democrats close to $1 billion to spend in less than 90 days, and a sight that has never been seen since Trump descended his gold-plated escalator in 2015: Trump on the defensive, unable to shift a narrative that he (at least right now) neither controls nor can get to move in his favor.
-Witness what happened on Friday night, where Trump appeared in the not-at-all-a-swing-state of Montana, ostensibly to help a Senate candidate trying to unseat Democratic incumbent Jon Tester …
-The rally took place in Boseman - but Trump's plane had to land in Billings due to what was reported as a mechanical issue with the plane (but may have had something to do with bills that the Trump campaign never repaid to Boseman for earlier appearances).
-While setting up alternative transportation, Trump got into a text battle with a New York Times reporter who was wondering if Trump had proof of a claim made at Trump's "press conference" that Trump nearly died in a helicopter flight with former CA House Speaker Willie Brown while Brown trashed Kamala Harris (Brown and Harris briefly dated, and the relationship has been the butt of numerous racial and sexist smears courtesy of MAGA). Even though there are no records of Trump and Brown ever even being in a helicopter at all, Trump insisted that it did - and when the reporter asked Trump to produce the flight records, Trump reportedly "mocked the reporter by repeating the question in a singsong voice" before promising to produce the records. Which, of course, Trump has not done since, again, it is 99-94/100% likely the flight never happened.
-Anyway, after GPS supposedly saw the Trump entourage stop at a local McDonald's, Trump made it to the rally, which took place in a barely half-full arena (as evidenced by a selfie taken by failson Donald Trump, Jr., looking almost as if he was ... uh ... indulging in some chemicals of some sort before taking the photo) and much later than originally scheduled (though that is not unusual for Trump gatherings) - but not before a Trump-provided video music playlist played featured a video of Celine Dion singing "My Heart Will Go On."
-The rally finally took place, and with video of people leaving halfway through the event and others holding up YOU'RE FIRED signs while Trump was speaking, the content of the rally did not sound like a man defiantly trying to mount a political comeback. Instead, Trump spent an inordinate amount of time complaining about Biden dropping out, noting how Trump was in front and ready to debate Biden and still trying to claim that Biden was "ANGRY!" and would come to the Democratic Convention next week in Chicago and reclaim the nomination (Biden spent the weekend on the beach looking quite tan and rested) - all while at one point appearing to freeze and stay silent for 21 full seconds, which had it been Biden would have resulted in continuous bulletins about Biden's cognitive skills.
-The rally ended with Trump staying in the area for desperately needed fundraising from mega-wealthy donors - and a social media posting from Celine Dion admonishing Trump for using her song without her permission (but you probably already guessed that) and then ending the post with "And really, that song?"
-Meanwhile, Harris and running mate Tim Walz (Dad!, MN) spoke before a sold-out and SRO arena in Las Vegas, NV, with Harris taking Trump's 'promise' to end taxes on tipping and rolling it into a broader proposal to raise the minimum wage for the first time since 2009.
-The Trump team - and the national news media - continue to find areas of criticism for the still-nascent Harris campaign, so they naturally are now merging to ask why Harris has not done an interview or conduct a press conference. Harris this weekend took a few opportunities to turn to the press gaggle following her appearances and taking a handful of questions, and she has said she will likely do at least one sit-down interview soon, but the focus is on continuing to develop position papers and a platform that will differentiate her policies from Biden's - something that normally takes months to prepare (unless you are a strongman and can get an ostensible political party to essentially say "What he says!" as the platform) and would also be hashed out during primaries. With Harris' momentum and a convention to plan for this week, expect that interview sometime after that (though that is pure speculation on this Substacker's part).
-There is also the claim made by the Trump campaign and on Politico that the Trump campaign was hacked by "foreign sources hostile to the United States." Politico claims it received internal documents and communications from the Trump campaign that included at least one research dossier on now-Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance from this past February. The Trump campaign believes Iran is responsible for the hack, and that country does have a history of cyberattacks carried out in the Middle East. In addition, Microsoft reports it was aware of a cyberattack on a Trump advisor earlier in the summer. And reports that one of the attacks was launched with an America Online account makes sense given that company's history of selling information about users to anyone who will pay them. Even as skepticism over any claim Trump or a Trump-affiliated entity makes is warranted, so is the history of foreign governments meddling in elections (which is hardly to say there is a link between Harris or Biden and Iran), so this story may bear watching ...
-Also bearing watching is the continued shock invasion (or incursion?) (or raid?) that Ukrainian forces are making into Russian territory. The city of Kursk has essentially been conquered with Russian troops being imprisoned and materiel destroyed as citizens evacuate the city, showing that Ukraine at the very least surprised Russia, and throwing the next several days and weeks into many questions. On the Ukrainian side, speculation about whether the move is a way to expose other Russian defenses and whether it can sustain supply lines and the city itself (while also trying to prod the West to support a more offensive Ukrainian posture) are now circulating, while Vladimir Putin may need to reconsider his insistence he will not try to draft more troops after reportedly losing 70,000 troops in the last three weeks alone while also exposing the potential inability of his forces to pivot and move - and whether his threats to escalate into NATO countries or more damaging weapons (including nuclear weapons) will be delivered upon.
-Not to mention Russia now being on Window Watch for plummeting Russian officials. (Too soon?)
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-THIS JUST IN: The Paris Olympic Games competitions have concluded with the United States' women's basketball team hanging on to beat home country France 67-66 to become the first country to win eight consecutive Gold Medals in any event. France hit a shot at the buzzer at the end of the game, but it was inside the three-point arc and thus did not take the game into overtime.
-The Paris games end with a controversy involving US gymnast Jordan Childs, who had a Bronze Medal stripped from her after it was determined her coaches were four seconds late in filing a scoring challenge that Childs won when filed.
-If you count such things, the women's basketball victory allowed the U.S. to tie China with 40 Gold Medals for this Olympiad (a first for an Olympiad!) - the US won the most medals, 126. The Closing Ceremonies will be this afternoon U.S. time., and the countdown to the next Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028 will begin. The next Winter Olympics will be in 2026 in Italy, co-hosted in the city of Milan and resort town of Cortina d'Ampezzo.
-Nice place to give you the trivia bits to wrap up today's Update!
-On this date in 1929, Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run. On this date in 1965, race riots began in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. On this date in 1972, the last U.S. ground combat unit in Vietnam was deactivated. On this date in 1984, a hot mike picked up Ronald Reagan 'joking' that the US would "commence bombing Russia in 10 minutes" (paraphrased). On this date in 1994, a strike called by the Major League Baseball Players Association began that would end that MLB season. And on this date in 2020, Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris to be his Vice Presidential running mate.
-Debuts on this date: The Weimar Republic (1919), a newsreel featuring a U.S. President (1924), A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964), HELP! (1965), Hip-Hop (1973), AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973), Al-Qaeda (1988), The Mall of America (1992).
-Happy Birthday to Lloyd Nolan, Mike Douglas, Alex Haley, Arlene Dahl, Carl Rowan, Abigail Folger, Kenny Gamble, Ian McDiarmid, Eric Carmen, Sandra Scheuer, Steve Wozniak, Bob Mothersbaugh, Joe Jackson, Richie Ramone, Craig Ehlo, Viola Davis, Anna Gunn, Charlie Sexton, Ben Gibbard, and Chris Hemsworth.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Andrew Carnegie, Edith Wharton, Jean Bugatti, Jackson Pollock, Alfred A. Knopf, Clara Peller, Anne Ramsey, Peter Cushing, Herb Brooks, Mike Douglas, George Furth, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Dan Rostenkowski, Robin Williams, V.S. Naipaul, Sumner Redstone, and Trini Lopez.
-Feed the Worms: accused murderous socialite Claus Von Bulow, Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell Sr., and Howard Stern wannabe Joe Rogan entered Earth on this date.
-Hulk Hogan was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.
-The Number One Fiction Book in the U.S. on this date ... in 2024, IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover ... in 2014, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by E.L. James ... in 2004, THE DA VINCI CODE by Dan Brown ... in 1994, THE GIFT by Danielle Steel ... in 1984, "... AND LADIES OF THE CLUB" by Helen Hoover Santmyer ... and in 1974, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY by John le Carre.