Trump's tough tariff talk vs. Harris' Charlamagne comfort
Five million Americans. 16 states. 15 percent. 21 days.
Five million Americans have cast early votes so far in the 2024 Election, with Democrats returning about 1 million more ballots in 16 states than Republicans, per TargetEarly. At the same point in 2020, 16.5 million Americans had returned their ballots, a corollary of the Covid-19 pandemic that had isolated the country and the campaign.
JIMMY CARTER, the oldest president in the country’s history at age 100 (!), cast his ballot for Kamala Harris in Georgia, which began its early voting period Tuesday and set a a record for first-day ballot returns, tallying 300,000 votes.
DONALD TRUMP, unsurprisingly but improbably, claimed he’s ahead in early voting in PENNSYLVANIA, even as 68% of ballots returned so far inside the commonwealth come from … Democrats, who are more comfortable voting early.
COLD HARD REALITY: We probably need another week or more to discern anything meaningful from early vote data.
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Trump visited the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday to banter about and brawl over his proposals to slap 20% to 60% tariffs on foreign goods, from Chinese cars and steel to French champagne. Bloomberg’s John Micklethwait made a valiant effort raising the risks of Trump’s vision, citing the potential inflationary effects and friction with foreign allies. “Three-trillion worth of imports and you will add tariffs to every single one of them, and push up the cost for all of these people to buy foreign goods,” Micklethwait said. “That is just simple mathematics.”
It was a contentious but somewhat substantive interview, even as Trump meandered away from many of Micklethwait’s specific queries. But it left me wondering: Could Harris converse fluidly, passionately and convincingly on tariffs … or