Believe it or not, but Biden just had his biggest fundraising day
Plus: Here’s the Trump campaign’s first TV ads of the general election
Hello, in this issue we’ll look at…
This is going to ruin the tour
Here’s the Trump campaign’s first TV ads of the general election
Believe it or not, but Biden just had his biggest fundraising day
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This is going to ruin the tour
Before Thursday’s debate, President Joe Biden posed for a photo with canned water labeled “Dark Brandon’s Secret Sauce.”
It was a reference to President Donald Trump’s baseless claim that Biden would be on drugs for the debate, and the campaign now sells the canned water for $4.60. The serving size is listed as “2 terms,” and the description for the item on the campaign’s online shop says, “The secret to a good debate performance? Staying hydrated. Get yourself the same performance enhancers Joe Biden took before going on stage.”
Following Biden’s performance, though, some Democrats may be swearing off water for good. One turbo-charged Panera lemonade that k*lls people, please.
Vice President Kamala Harris admitted in an interview with CNN that Biden had a “slow start, that’s obvious to everyone,” but she added he had “a strong finish.” Though Biden did look and sound better by the debate’s end and even managed to land some ~zingers~ — “You have morals of an alley cat,” he told memorably Trump — it was definitely not a strong performance.
In Daniel Boorsin’s landmark 1961 book “The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America,” the media theorist bemoaned what the previous year’s televised “Great Debates” between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon had introduced to politics.
“If we test presidential candidates by their talents on TV quiz performances, we will, of course, choose presidents for precisely these qualifications,” he wrote.
These TV era presidential qualifications have become a foregone conclusion in modern American politics, and it has liberal pundits and Democrats panicked. While their worst fears may well be founded, at least some of the callers into C-SPAN after the debate made clear that substance was more important to them than style, though.
Sophia from Indiana who called into C-SPAN’s third-party line, said “after this debate I’m supporting Biden” because she liked his answers on taxes and Ukraine. “Honestly I thought Biden did a great job being on topic,” she said, which was technically, relatively true.
Jeff, an independent voter from Georgia, thought Biden struggled, but that didn’t mean he gave Trump high marks. “I didn’t think it was an impressive performance, but the other candidate never answered a question,” he said.
Though Biden may have failed Democrats in front 47.9 million likely voters, he’s still running against a convicted felon, a silver lining for his campaign in a year of unprecedented double haters. As Biden himself says, don't compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.
Debbie, an undecided voter from New York, told C-SPAN after the debate that she found it, “really discouraging and disconcerting that we have the choices we have” and she was personally hoping Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) would run. Still, she said she liked Biden’s policies but just wished he was younger.
“I like his decency, I like him as a human being as opposed to Trump who lies,” she said. “I think as Americans we’re all intelligent enough to know when we’re being lied to so blatantly.”
Trump may have come across as less unhinged than his first debate performance in 2020, he also failed to clearly articulate a positive vision for the future of the country. When host Jake Tapper asked him what he would say to voters who believe he violated his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution through his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump denied it was an issue. “On Jan. 6, we were respected all over the world,” he literally said.
As Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro put it on MSNBC, “I think Joe Biden had a bad debate night, but it doesn’t change the fact that Donald Trump was a bad president.”
If swing state swing voters agree, Biden’s performance won’t end up being a dealbreaker. If they don’t, however, it could mark a turning point in an otherwise static campaign.
Here’s the Trump campaign’s first TV ads of the general election
After not airing television ads for four straight months, Trump’s campaign made its return to the airwaves Thursday with two new ads.
“Who is Laughing Now?” uses footage of Biden tripping on the steps of Air Force One and falling off his bike to suggest he won’t make it through his second term.
“When you think about the Joe Biden you saw in the debate, ask yourself a question, do you think the guy who was defeated by the stairs, got taken down by his bike… makes it four more years in the White House? And you know who’s waiting behind him right?” the narrator asks.
The ad then shows a clip of Harris laughing and then an animated version of the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign logo showing “Harris” knock “Biden” out of the frame. “Vote Joe Biden today, get Kamala Harris tomorrow.”
It’s a play on an ad from then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s 1968 campaign called “Laughter” in which a laugh track played over a TV screen showing the slogan “Agnew for Vice-President” to mock Spiro Agnew, Nixon’s running mate that year. “This would be funny if it weren’t so serious…” Humphrey’s ad’s closing copy read.
The Trump campaign’s other ad, called “Promises,” asks viewers to ask themselves if they’re financially better off since Biden became president and if they’re safer and the country more secure.
“After four years of failure under Joe Biden, it’s time to make America prosperous and strong. Again,” the narrator says. “Donald Trump for president. Again.”
A vignette effect is used during the text-on-screen portions of both ads, and each ends with a shot of Trump in a red tie that’s fluttering in the wind, tape side down.
Believe it or not, but Biden just had his biggest fundraising day
Nothing seems to move the fundraising needle this year as much as bad news.
Just as news of Trump’s conviction juiced his own fundraising numbers, the Biden campaign said not only was Thursday its best grassroots fundraising day of the campaign, but the hour after the debate was its best hour of grassroots fundraising since Biden announced he was running for reelection.
“Folks, I just stepped off of the debate stage,” Biden wrote in a fundraising text. “I have to tell you this: I have never heard so much malarkey in my whole life.”
The Biden campaign’s Thursday record comes after a previous online fundraising record set after Trump’s conviction, though Biden’s campaign didn’t advertise it at the time.
While the Trump campaign has loudly touted its surge in small-dollar donors following the conviction, Biden’s hasn’t. Instead, the news was reported this week by Politico, which reviewed campaign finance data and found Biden’s donations were six times higher than a typical fundraising day on the day of and the day after Trump’s conviction.
Have you seen this?
A body language expert watched the debate. Here’s what he noticed. Body language spoke louder than words last night. [Politico]
Top Democratic fundraisers sound the alarm after Biden’s debate performance. “Disaster,” said a Biden donor who plans to attend a fundraiser with the president Saturday in the Hamptons. [NBC News]
Here’s Old Navy’s 30th anniversary Flag Tee. They never miss.
M.I.A. goes full tin foil hat. The singer, who’s taken a deep dive into conspiracy theories in the past half-decade, has launched a new line of clothing and accessories that including a real-life “tin foil hat” to (purportedly) protect the wearer from 5G waves. [Hypebeast]
The new rules of digital campaign fundraising. The world’s largest association of political professionals just announced new digital fundraising guidelines. [Yello]
History of political design
Paper presidential election gadget sample (1960). This item asked “Who Will Be Our Next President?” and used a tab that could be pushed or pulled to show “Jack” Kennedy or “Dick” Nixon to promote the gadget as a sales tool.
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