The Patriot Post® · Thursday: Below the Fold
Politics
“Harris defeats Trump” in PA: A local ABC News station in Joe Biden’s Scranton, Pennsylvania, ran a chyron on Sunday during the airing of a Formula 1 race that showed Kamala Harris defeating Donald Trump in the Keystone State by a margin of 52% to 47%. It included an exact tally of votes, 3,293,712 for Harris and 2,997,793 for Trump, with 100% of votes reported. That percentage is a far better outcome for Harris than polling has been indicating, with the latest RCP polling average showing Trump leading in the battleground state by nearly a point. The news station, WNEP, responded to the incident by claiming it was simply running a “test” and that the chyron should not have appeared on the screen. The state further claimed that the results shown had been randomly generated by the test and were not indicative of any actual vote tallies. News stations do run tests to prepare for election coverage, but this incident doesn’t help with those already wary of potential election fraud.
Did Harris just surrender North Carolina? The Harris campaign has pulled nearly $2 million in planned ad spending in North Carolina, leading to speculation that she’s giving up on winning the only battleground state that has repeatedly gone for Donald Trump. Bolstering this view is the surprising development showing that Republican voters have turned out en masse in early voting numbers. Historically, Democrat turnout dominates early voting numbers, but that has not been the case this election cycle as Republican turnout has increased, outnumbering total Democrat turnout by over 10,000 votes. Meanwhile, Democrat early voter turnout is down nearly 7% from previous election cycles. These numbers do not bode well for Harris’s chances of flipping North Carolina, and it appears her campaign will focus more of its spending on the Rust Belt battleground states.
CNN election expert says signs were there for Trump all along: Harry Enten has been a canary in the leftist coal mine for some time now. As a senior political analyst for CNN, Enten specializes in digging into the numbers. And when he does, he keeps coming to the same conclusion: Trump. In a recent X post, Enten lists three factors that point strongly toward a Trump win: “No incumbent party has won another term with so few voters saying the country is on the right track (28%) or when the president’s net approval rating is so low (Biden’s at -15 pts). Also, big GOP registration gains in key states.” Enten checked the data going back to 1980, and the average right-track score for a losing incumbent since then is 25%. And the average right-track score for a winning incumbent since then is 42%. As Enten points out, today’s Biden-Harris right-track number looks a lot more like the former than the latter. Indeed, he adds: “There isn’t a single time in which 28% of the American public thinks the country is going on the right track, in which the incumbent party actually won. They always lose.”
An anti-Trump Republican comes home: One thing about Donald Trump: He doesn’t elicit lukewarm reactions. Folks tend to either love him or loathe him, and they vote accordingly. But a USA Today op-ed merits consideration because it represents how certain outlying Republicans might be coming around to Trump, even if their personal feelings toward him aren’t favorable. “I don’t like Trump,” says columnist Nicole Russell, “but I’m voting for him.” It’s simple. “There’s so much at stake,” she explains. “Three things matter to me in this election: foreign policy, the economy and border security. Trump has shown he can handle all of these.” She’s right about that, and she’s also right that Kamala Harris doesn’t present a plausible alternative to those who share her concerns. Why? Because she’s weak on policy and way too radical. Russell concludes: “Millions of voters are drawn to Trump because he seems pro-America, pro-military and pro-life. To these conservatives — a majority of the 74.2 million Americans who voted for him in 2020 — Trump is a fighter, a two-time survivor of assassination attempts and a symbol of the American dream. I don’t see Trump in that way, but I understand the views of those who do.”
This just in: Late-night comics hate Trump The mainstream media no doubt dread a second Trump term, but they might want to look at the bright side: It’ll be good for business. It’s a sad truism that Trump hatred sells news, and the same can be said for late-night “comedy,” whose purveyors have fallen on hard times during the past three and a half years. Why? Because they’re unable to ridicule the worst presidential administration in modern American history. But with Donald Trump, hope springs eternal. As OutKick reports: “Media Research Center reviewed every joke told on late-night television from September 3 through October 25 [from] 136 episodes of … Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers.” And what did they find? “A total of 1,463 jokes about the two candidates running for president. Of these, 1,428 of the jokes were targeted at Donald Trump. Meaning, just 35 were told about Kamala Harris. That’s a ratio of 40:1, or almost 98 percent to 2 percent.” To quote Joe Biden, “No joke!”
ActBlue subpoenaed: The House’s investigation into one of the Democrats’ largest donor platforms, ActBlue, has expanded over concerns of illicit foreign funding during the 2024 election cycle. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has formally subpoenaed ActBlue. As Chairman James Comer explained, “Although Treasury has not yet produced any records, it is currently reviewing hundreds of potentially responsive records according to three video conference calls between Committee and Treasury staff since the initial request.” The committee is seeking documents and communications between ActBlue and potential foreign actors representing Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and China. The letter notes that ActBlue’s “platform did not require contributors to provide their CVV when making an online contribution in all transactions.” Members of the committee have also requested that the Treasury Department, the FBI, and National Intelligence provide access to Suspicious Activity Reports related to funding that has passed through ActBlue. The concern is that ActBlue has been engaged in straw donations, using the identity of U.S. citizens and money from another person to cover up potentially illegal donations from foreign sources.
Culture
- NY’s “Equal Rights Amendment” is a leftist Trojan horse: Voters in New York will vote on a constitutional amendment dubbed Proposal 1, billed as a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade to enshrine abortion rights in the Empire State. The problem is that Proposal 1 is much more than merely enshrining abortion rights; rather, it’s a deceptive effort to codify the radical Left’s DEI, transgenderism, and noncitizen-rights agenda into the state’s constitution. Proposal 1 would eliminate any distinction between adults and minors when it comes to gender-bending treatments and nullify any parental consent for minors wanting such “care.” It would enshrine self-declared gender identity as a constitutional protection, thereby preventing the protection of female sports and spaces. The proposal would codify New York as a permanent sanctuary state, and all local governments would be required to provide benefits for illegal aliens regardless of budgeting concerns. Proposal 1 would also grant voting rights to noncitizens in New York City. The fact of the matter is that Proposal 1 would systematically alter the state constitution and enslave it to the promulgation of a radical leftist worldview.
Security
- What illegal immigrant crime wave? A May 29 article from the leftist Brennan Center for Justice didn’t age well. Its title is “Debunking the Myth of the ‘Migrant Crime Wave.’” Their argument is a hardy perennial of the Left: “The research does not support the view that immigrants commit crime or are incarcerated at higher rates than native-born Americans. In fact, immigrants might have less law enforcement contact compared to nonimmigrants.” These folks might want to re-check their numbers, or perhaps just open their eyes to the rapes and murders. As Steven Malanga points out in a devastating City Journal piece: “Much of the mainstream media and immigration advocates … accuse conservatives of making it all up. Headlines like ‘The Myth of the Migrant Crime Wave,’ ‘Migrant Crime Wave Not Supported by Data,’ and ‘Immigrants Are Less Likely to Commit Crimes’ have been common, especially after Trump made immigrant crime a 2024 campaign issue.” Malanga goes on to list one criminal enterprise after another. For example, Mexican gangs have invaded the northern border state of Montana, Chinese gangs have cornered the pot market in Oklahoma, and Chilean burglary tourism is catching on across the country. But no. No crime wave to see here.
Misc.
A Chinese student is facing criminal charges for voting in Michigan, but the state has no way of tracking his ballot so they’re counting it (Not the Bee)
Half of Gen Z voters said they’ve lied about who they’re voting for (Washington Examiner)
Devices used in ballot box arsons had “Free Gaza” markings (ABC News)
Hundreds illegally got Texas teacher licenses through cheating ring (Texas Tribune)
Population collapse in China is so serious the government is now calling women to try to convince them to have babies (Not The Bee)
For the Executive Summary archive, click here.