Today’s notice: America’s weirdest presidential race is now officially in the homestretch. Today, we’re launching a new and newsier version of the NOTUS newsletter to get you through the finish line.
Donald Trump Spins Himself
“This is what he gets for taking counsel from Laura Loomer.” That’s a source close to Donald Trump to NOTUS, giving a straight take on the race-baiting failure of an evening for the former president.
This was not the spin the Trump campaign was going with. Trump surprised everyone when he appeared in the spin room himself, drawing a huge crowd of reporters who had had their fill of Trump surrogates blaming the moderators for the night’s performance. It was hard to hear in the scrum, and most reporters couldn’t. But the president’s voice rose over the din now and again. It was his best debate, he said. He won, everyone knew it. Trump wandered around in a Secret Service cordon, taking questions for a few minutes and attempting to upsell the lackluster evening. Then he left.
The Democrats were actually the first to breach the spin room after last night’s debate. They didn’t even wait for it to be over, with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro entering while Trump was still making his closing statement. “I think she did great,” he told reporters.
The Republicans came in later, all at once, led by Sen. Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy gave Kamala Harris her due, sort of. “I don’t think that she won,” he said. “Did she exceed the low expectations set for her? Perhaps she did.”
—Evan McMorris-Santoro, reporting from Philadelphia
Front Page
- Kamala Harris Got Under Donald Trump’s Skin and Let Him Stew: She repeatedly found ways to frustrate him on everything from abortion policy to rally size. Trump’s campaign was left to blame the moderators.
- Trump Wouldn’t Say If He’d Veto a Federal Abortion Ban. Anti-Abortion Advocates Aren’t Impressed: “I don’t think that means he’s necessarily more open to a federal pro-life law,” one anti-abortion activist said.
- Mike Johnson Forges Ahead With Government Funding Plan He Thinks Will Fail: With more Republicans coming out in opposition, the House speaker seems intent to illustrate that his plan doesn’t have the votes.
DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene’s state of play
As the House wrapped up Tuesday votes, DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene jumped on the phone to chat about Congress, campaigns and Kamala Harris.
On the CR/SAVE Act Plan… DelBene called the GOP-led package “a continuation of their Project 2025 plans.” Yet, as news came in that one of her party’s most vulnerable incumbents, Rep. Jared Golden, will support the bill, DelBene found a way to back him up.
“We have folks who are independent thinkers, who are doing what they think is the right thing for their district,” she said. “Republicans have folks who are blindly loyal to Donald Trump.”
On her top pickup opportunities… the notoriously on-message DelBene would not name names, but she even projected confidence in NE and IA, where the DCCC wants to topple Rep. Don Bacon and recently placed ad buys targeting Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn.
On Harris and Walz hitting the road… expect to see the ticket boosting House candidates in swing states. Walz — who DelBene said “knows how important the House is to legislating and working with the White House” — can be particularly helpful hitting on issues like housing and the farm bill.
Though, DelBene noted, tough races in NY or CA where Harris has electoral votes locked down “may not be as big a focus from a presidential standpoint.”
—Riley Rogerson
Number you should know
10
As it stands this morning, at least 10 Republicans are publicly opposed to Mike Johnson’s government funding plan, and one Democrat — Golden — is for it.
As NOTUS’ Ben T.N. Mause overheard Rep. Jerry Carl tell Rep. Buddy Carter as they arrived at the GOP’s Tuesday weekly conference meeting: “It’s fixin’ to be a shit show.”
Now that Trump is saying that Republicans “SHOULD IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM” pass a CR without attaching a so-called “election integrity” bill, it appears the “shit show” isn’t going anywhere.
Republicans double down on anti-immigrant cat memes
Trump spent a not insignificant amount of time at the debate insisting that a debunked story about migrants stealing pet cats for food is a real danger to society.
The baseless claim about Haitian immigrants in Ohio was first elevated by JD Vance and has spurred an anti-immigrant social media campaign. When NOTUS’ Calen Razor pressed on Capitol Hill, GOP lawmakers defended the cat memes … by saying people are getting too caught up in the cat of it all.
“Some people are trying to blur the issue by saying this is ridiculous about cats and dogs,” Rep. Tom Tiffany, who posted “Cat Lives Matter” on Monday, said, saying the focus should really be on “the problem with uncontrolled illegal immigration.”
Be Social
In other cat news… a childless cat lady weighed in on 2024. Trump spox Karoline Leavitt is none too pleased.
Tell Us Your Thoughts
Should Trump accept another debate with Harris?
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