Comment on Senate Republicans Predict They’ll Have 52 Seats

Washington Post: “In just over 90 minutes here Monday night, the Republican presidential nominee swerved repeatedly in remarks he used to try to shore up his political weaknesses, lash out his detractors and delve into digressions.” “Trump’s rally here in a key battleground state offered a glimpse of the often unfocused pitch he is making to voters with about six weeks left until Election Day — one that his most loyal fans revel in but is a less proven winner with swing voters.”

The Guardian: “Big-name signatories included Chuck Hagel, a former senator and defense secretary; Gen Michael Hayden, a former CIA and NSA chief; and John Negroponte, once ambassador to the UN. Robert Zoellick, a longtime aide to both presidents Bush and a deputy to James Baker, secretary of state to the elder Bush, was on the list too.” “Missing from the list, however, were Baker, the younger Bush and his own secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.

“Vice President Harris’ campaign is declining to say whether she still supports decriminalizing sex work — a position she took while running for president in 2019,” Axios reports.

McKay Coppins: “Romney had made this prediction before, telling anyone who would listen in the run-up to the 2020 election that he thought Trump was going to get a second term. He’d even bet one of his sons his prized 1985 BMW that Biden would lose. But back then, he’d told me, it was a kind of psychological game he played with himself—predicting the outcome he most dreaded as a form of inoculation.” “This time felt different.

“Starting in June, the New York Post began publishing stories on the presidential, Senate and congressional races in Wisconsin as part of an initiative on battleground states,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. “But the Post — a right-leaning newspaper owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch — picked a reporter for the project with strong ties to Republicans and conservatives in Wisconsin.” “In fact, Amy Sikma was paid twice last year by the state Republican Party for consulting work.”

“The Trump campaign is relying on a so far untested get-out-the-vote strategy ahead of November’s election that some Republicans view as a high-risk, high-reward gambit,” The Hill reports. “The Trump campaign has worked alongside outside groups, including one backed by Elon Musk, to bolster its ground game and register and turn out low-propensity voters who may not be part of the former president’s fervent base.