Markets are for the boys. Voting is for girls.
Bets for Trump ♂️ vs. votes for Harris 👧
Even the goddamn data appears to be hedging at this eleventh hour. Five pollsters — count ‘em — five (!) — spat out ties in Pennsylvania this week. Except for Republican Patrick Ruffini who is dangling out on a thin limb showing Trump +5. And if that’s the case, the rest of the map is well, moot.
Donald Trump is sure campaigning like Pennsylvania is bagged and secure. Because today he was 1,500 miles away in Albuquerque, New Mexico — “I’m here for one simple reason,” he told his attendees, “I like you very much and it’s good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community.” Classic Trump. Blatantly transactional, clumsily worded, but utterly honest. Trump’s play for the state’s 5 electoral votes is likely a head fake, but the pitch to Hispanics travels far and wide and looks like it’s working. Even if Kamala Harris is elected president, Democrats will be forced to earnestly reckon with erosion among that core constituency that continues to vex political professionals through yet another cycle.
But that’s a larger problem that’ll take time and study. Tonight the Harris campaign is simply trying to extinguish another surrogate run amuck. Just when Joe Biden’s gaffe dubbing Trump supporters “garbage” had nearly reached the end of its news cycle, another turd blossomed. Mark Cuban’s assertion that Trump is devoid of “strong, intelligent women” ricocheted around the internet deservedly. It infuriated Democrats who cannot fathom how the “basket of deplorables” lesson hasn’t been learned, even though Trump and his famous surrogates like Tucker Carlson regularly disparage Harris as a low-IQ individual without incurring commensurate indignation. The double standard exists because part of what Democrats are running on is decency, something Trump has never even pretended to claim.
To express outright disgust with your opponent’s rhetoric is a common performative tactic, even more useful during the late stage of a campaign, as it is designed to motivate the lethargic to get off the couch and act out of spite. “They’re talking about *you*! Are you just going to sit there and TAKE IT?”
And this particular flub — an insult of women — is especially sensitive because it is