Two minutes into Trump's speech here: "If Biden wins, China wins. If Biden wins, the mob wins. If Biden wins, the rioters, arsonists, and flag burners win. But don't worry about it, because he's not going to win."
Trump drops a "Barack Hussein Obama" reference as he recounts his final Michigan rally in 2016. Also, a few minutes of praise for John James, which both parties are always happy to see.
Trump attacks Biden's pledge to let in more refugees: "He's promised to flood your state with refugees from terrorist hotspots like Syria and Yemen." (There are tons of Yemeni refugees in MI already.)
Lusty boos for CNN when Trump starts talking about Biden's interview with Tapper. (BTW, Biden's praise for the House-amended USMCA is another example of him not criticizing everything Trump does. See also, the UAE-Israel pact.)
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“Someone asked if they should introduce me as the former next president of the United States.”
Biden is “failing the George Washington statesmanship test,” says Yang, by not recognizing that it’s time to go. “Given that Joe Biden is such a depleted, vulnerable candidate, why is he not getting more competition?”
Very funny moment just now. Yang says he’s endorsing Phillips. Music blasts and Phillips walks out. Yang says he’s still got more time and the Phillips campaign played him on too quickly: “They have the text of my speech!” So Phillips walks back to holding room.
The Biden "no comment" saga is a great little study in choose-your-own media. I've seen multiple pieces claim that Biden literally did not comment on the Maui fires until he headed there, like this day-of-the-rope-ish piece in American Greatness. amgreatness.com/2023/08/22/a-l…
The wildfires started on August 8. The WH approved relief on August 10. The same day, Biden commented on the fires/recovery during an event in Utah. whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
Three days later, coming back from beach, Bloomberg asked for a comment on the wildfires' rising death toll. and Biden said no. It's fair to call that a mistake; it would have been easy to say something brief.
Matt Gaetz warming up crowd for Trump, saying they grilled burgers rare, medium rare, and well done but “the most done you can be is Ron DeSantis.”
Matt Whitaker introduces himself as “Donald Trump’s favorite attorney general” — definitely true, the only one he hasn’t feuded with
Trump arrives and invites more Florida Rs to speak. Donalds asks Iowans to help him “three-peat,” Gus Bilrakis asks “why risk it?” with another Republican.
New frontiers in “super PACs aren’t allowed to coordinate with the campaign.” (DeSantis is the “special guest” on the Never Back Down super PAC tour.)
DeSantis rolled up with three Chevy Suburbans of reporters and cameras; flanked by four security guys, local police, state senate president Amy Sinclair. Some hand-shaking and convos, some waving as he walks by.