Election stuff, mostly. (Did you know we're going back to the moon?!?)
I got some bad news yesterday—I'll share more about it next week, but nobody's dead or dying or getting divorced, don't worry—and that, combined with some other things, is why today's newsletter is later than usual. But you know, I'm pretty pumped about the four newsletters that came out right on time this week, and I'm choosing to take the advice I got from the therapist I'm sleeping with and focus on that.
(In case anyone doesn't know, Julia is a therapist.)
Good to Know
Georgia and North Carolina broke records for early-voting turnout this week. A political scientist quoted by the Washington Post says an equal number of Democrats and Republicans voted in North Carolina on Thursday (I'd like to hear more about what that claim is based on), while in Georgia thus far "the five core counties of Metro Atlanta—which voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020—have put up more than a quarter of the in-person early votes."
(If you've heard murmurs from the media about Donald Trump "doing well" with Black voters—specifically Black male voters—that's not really accurate. If the polling this year is accurate, which is a big if, Trump appears to be doing as well with Black voters as a Republican has in 80 years. So "doing well" means he's polling around 15 percent, while Kamala Harris is at around 78 percent.)
(Also kind of funny: The New York Times piece linked above offers five reasons why Trump might be doing better with Blacks and Hispanics than past GOP candidates, and notes that the gain is most clear with men, but doesn't seem to think sexism is a possibility worth mentioning.)
As was the case in 2020, there's gonna be a ton of mail-in voting this year. And as was the case in 2020, this means that in places where mail-in votes are counted after Election Day, we could see big shifts—like a Trump lead in those precincts on November 5, which evaporates once the mail-in ballots are accounted for. (It could also go the other way, with Trump overtaking Harris, because Republicans have decided that mail-in voting is okay now, which was not what they said in 2020.) Just be aware that vote counts may be up in the air for a few days, for very normal reasons.
Today in an interview, Trump compared the January 6 rioters to Japanese-Americans put in internment camps during World War II. It's a pretty good comparison, unless you believe that "deliberately taking part in a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol" is a much worse crime than "being Japanese." Oh, and at a town hall hosted by Univision on Wednesday, Trump referred to the January 6 rioters as "we," which he's been careful not to do in the past, always characterizing the crowd of hundreds of supporters he encouraged to attack Congress as a group totally unconnected to him.
Update on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's administration threatening to charge TV stations with a crime for airing pro-abortion-rights ads: A federal judge did not care for that. "It's the First Amendment, stupid," he said in his ruling.
Did you know we're going back to the moon in 2026? I had totally missed that, until I learned today about the spacesuits for the mission, which Prada is helping design.
And heads-up: TPM editor Josh Marshall posted a warning about a scam targeting ActBlue donors. He writes:
There appears to be a scam text operation targeting ACTBLUE donors in which the text basically tries impersonate or imitate the kind of text you might get from your credit card company if there’s a suspicious transaction. If you’ve gotten one of these please let us know as soon as you can.
If you've donated to a Democratic candidate, there's a good chance it went through ActBlue, so be aware. To be clear, ActBlue itself is not doing the scamming; it just sounds like scammers got a hold of a spreadsheet or database of ActBlue info.
The Fun Part
If you somehow missed this from earlier in the month, it's pretty important that you see it:
And if you're hesitant to click because of the title, I would simply say to you: Hear them out.
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Hit me up at joshwimmer@gmail.com with questions, suggestions, thoughts and feelings, tips, and politely worded corrections and criticism. If you think someone would be interested in this newsletter, forward it to them. The other day, Julia and I were talking, and it turns out she has no idea I've been including these helpful tips at the end. ("In the italics?" Yes, Julia, in the italics, Jesus.) She can't be the only one. Are any of you reading these? I'm sure some of you are. It's like we're in a secret club. I'm gonna lie low for a bit, throw the ol' lady off the scent. Stay alert, patriots—see you again soon.