Alex Thompson Profile picture
Aug 27, 2021 11 tweets 5 min read Read on X
New: West Wing PB is meant to be consumed by politicos/WH ppl.
Today, we wanted to give others a chance to reach that audience,
We asked active duty/veterans who served in Afghanistan: What would you tell the White House today?
Here r some of their answers
politico.com/newsletters/we…
Democratic congressional staffer and U.S. Army veteran:
Current active duty Air Force officer who spent time on a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Regional Command-South in Afghanistan:
Navy officer who has done a “couple” tours in Afghanistan:
An ER physician who served in Kandahar, Afghanistan who thinks we need to get out now

and a former Air Force staff intelligence officer who served in Afghanistan in 2010-11 who says we have a moral obligation to Afghans who helped us and need to go get them
Jeff Phaneuf, Marine Corps Iraq veteran who has spent the last five days helping Afghans evacuate:
Perry Blatstein, former CIA officer in Afghanistan and Situation Room official during Obama and Trump administration:
An active duty Marine and Afghanistan veteran:
An Air Force surgeon who served in Afghanistan:
special thanks to @TinaSfon @emilycadei @alliebice @samstein for working quickly and late to make this edition of the newsletter happen. hope you give it a read.

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More from @AlexThomp

Oct 30, 2024
My write up:

I also asked the WH how they knew Biden only meant “supporter’s” as they have it in this transcript.

Did they talk to Biden to ask him what he meant? The spokesperson asked to go off the record. We declined. They didn’t comment further.

axios.com/2024/10/30/bid… x.com/alexthomp/stat…Image
Operatives in both parties instantly saw it as a flashback to Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" remark.

The Trump team has already started to fundraise off it, sending out an email with the subject line: "You are not garbage! I love you! You are the best our nation has to offer."
Biden's comments are the latest example of why Kamala Harris' team has been avoiding campaigning with him.

Biden is both unpopular and undisciplined, Harris aides told Axios.

My story from Sunday
axios.com/2024/10/27/har…
Read 5 tweets
Oct 5, 2024
After Slotkin retreats from EV’s in a new ad this week, Harris told people in Michigan yesterday: "Contrary to what my opponent is suggesting, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive.”

Some more context in this piece.

In 2019, Harris backed a plan requiring all automakers to only make EV’s and hydrogen cars by 2035.

axios.com/2024/09/04/kam…
some more on this from @GavinBade
politico.com/news/2024/10/0…
Read 4 tweets
Oct 1, 2024
New: Kamala Harris’s called private prisons “morally wrong.”

She vowed to end the govt. using private detention centers for undocumented immigrants “on day one” of her presidency.

We asked if she still planned to do that. Her campaign didn’t respond.

axios.com/2024/10/01/kam…
Some of Harris’ posts on the topic going back to her 2016 Senate run.

2019: “On day 1, the administration will shut down all govt. contracts with private prisons.”

When Newsom signed a bill in 2019 trying to do that in CA, she wrote: “it’s time we did the same nationwide.”

Image
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The Harris campaign didn't respond when asked whether Harris would keep her past promises to close private prisons.

Harris' campaign also didn't respond to a request for an interview on the topic.
Read 6 tweets
Sep 12, 2024
New: In an Aug. 28 letter obtained by Axios, the WH News Photographers Association said Harris' team was engaging in an "unprecedented reduction in access.”

The VP’s team didn’t respond until last night after we asked about the letter

W/ @sarafischer
axios.com/2024/09/12/har…

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Jessica Koscielniak, the president of the WHNPA, wrote to Harris' top aides last month protesting that "the four independent news photographer seats have been downgraded to one."

She proposed either adding a "chaser plane" for additional media or the WHCA reorganizing who gets a seat.

In their response last night, the VP’s office said they explored adding more seats on Air Force Two and a chase plane and "learned both suggestions are not viable given available resources, including personnel and aircraft."

The full VP response below:Image
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Veteran WH news photographer Doug Mills, speaking in his personal capacity, told Axios that "the current situation puts the still photographers at a distinct disadvantage on every trip."

He added: "It's essential to us for people to understand the importance of having a full photographer pool. Every photographer sees each event differently. "
Read 4 tweets
Sep 4, 2024
New: the Harris campaign wrote in an email that she “does not support an electric vehicle mandate.”

I asked if that meant she would veto or sign the bill she co-sponsored in 2019 w/ such a mandate for manufacturers.

The campaign declined to comment

axios.com/2024/09/04/kam…
W/ the great @Ben_Geman

As Senator, Harris co-sponsored the Zero-Emissions Act in 2019, which would require by 2040 that 100% of new passenger vehicle sales in the U.S. release no greenhouse gases (only EV’s and hydrogen cars fit that criteria).

During her 2020 campaign, she advocated for an “accelerated model” of the bill and proposed requiring "50% of all new passenger vehicles sold are zero-emission by 2030, and 100% are zero-emission by 2035."Image
This was what Harris proposed on her 2020 website.

"we will ensure that 50 percent of all new passenger vehicles sold are zero-emission by 2030, and 100 percent are zero-emission by 2035. This will require a new and improved “cash for clunkers” program with incentives for cars to be replaced with zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) manufactured in America"
web.archive.org/web/2019120323…Image
Read 5 tweets
Aug 29, 2024
New: The good vibes Harris's campaign are masking tensions among competing factions, as Harris loyalists and Obama alumni are grafted onto Biden's campaign.

“The entanglement of these different entities has led to many people feeling a real lack of role clarity," one person involved in the campaign told Axios.

My latest: axios.com/2024/08/29/kam…
New people are remaking the campaign on the fly.

The result is a large and at times unwieldy team, with internal worries about cohesiveness when inevitable stumbles arise, 6 people involved in the campaign tell Axios.
Biden's campaign was insular, with a few long-serving aides making big decisions.

The Harris campaign has become a diffuse "Frankenstein" team with multiple power centers of ppl close to Harris, some on the Biden team, and the new Obama folks.
Read 8 tweets

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