Don won't ditch him because he needs the money from Peter Thiele and it would be admitting Don Jr made a mistake. The only way it could happen is if JD can be convinced to quit the ticket by for "personal reasons".

I remember he promised to appoint a black woman to the SC.

"From the beginning, It has been my view that Harris (despite her qualifications) was selected to diversity the ticket and pull in votes, but they had ZERO intention of grooming her to be the future president."

The other flaw in your logic that Kamala "was selected to diversity (diversify?) the ticket and pull in votes" is that Biden won the nomination because of black voters. He didn't need to pick a black woman to get their votes; he already had them. If he was trying to attract swing voters in midwestern states, it might have been a better purely political calculation to pick someone like Amy Klobushar, who also ran in the 2020 primary. He wasn't going to pick a male running mate, but I don't think it was a given that he needed to pick a woman of color and I wasn't at all convinced he would. Before he made his seleciton, I actually wrote to him/his campaign and recommended he pick Harris.

Until you can come up with something more substantial than a November, 2021 article, I stand by what I said: Evidence does not support your hypothesis that Harris was forced to hide her light under a bushel and that Democratic elites, including/especially Joe Biden, deliberately tried to sideline her.

And here's another recent article that concentrates on her foreign policy experience:

Kamala Harris would bring greater foreign policy experience than most new US presidents

A few things are certain: Harris represents significant generational change. She embraces the globalized outlook one might expect of a daughter of immigrants who spent part of her childhood in Canada. She will take office with a seasoned team around her. And other than Biden, Americans must go all the way back to George H.W. Bush in 1989 to find a president who would take office with more foreign affairs experience than her.

Vice presidential accomplishments

Other engagements were the diplomacy that consumes senior officials' calendars--trips to Mexico and Central America as part of her migration agenda, and a three-country trip to Africa fulfilling a White House pledge.

Attending a meeting is not, of course, the same as being the final decider on US foreign policy. But that experience--and the hours of meetings and study that go with it--sets Harris apart from the new presidents of the last three-plus decades.

Donald Trump had never represented his country to a foreign government before being elected. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush led international trade missions as governors. Barack Obama, like Harris, travelled occasionally during his four years in the Senate. But one would have to go all the way back to George H.W. Bush, who served as vice president, CIA director and a member of Congress, to find a president before Biden who began their first term with more experience than Harris.

Harris has a stable and well-respected foreign policy team in her role as vice president. Her national security adviser, Phil Gordon, and his deputy, Rebecca Lissner, are both experienced Washington hands who served in previous administrations. Both have published books that suggest a subtle shift away from an America that leads the world aggressively and alone.

Interesting. This is EXACTLY what I said a couple days ago on another thread and Gal dismissed it as a "falsehood" and a "GOP talking point". I'll double down on it now. From the beginning, It has been my view that Harris (despite her qualifications) was selected to diversity the ticket and pull in votes, but they had ZERO intention of grooming her to be the future president. The Democrat power brokers DELIBERATELY sought to sideline Harris, keep her profile low and prevent her from shining outwardly and becoming a threat to their future "chosen one" predetermined to be one term President Biden's successor. Paybacks are hell.
#139 | Posted by Miranda7

Double down all you want, but you are placing all your bets on an article from November, 2021. IOW, an article written 10 months into the Biden/Harris administraton. Here's what a recent article which outlines her accomplishments as VP:

What has Kamala Harris accomplished as vice president? Here's a quick look.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her meteoric rise as the successor to President Joe Biden, 81, as the Democratic presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election is the most significant seismic shift in presidential politics in recent history.

As she gears up to secure the Democratic presidential nomination in Chicago this August, we examine some of Harris' most significant accomplishments and policy initiatives.

Sorry, already posted:

FTA:

Gareth Gore, the author of a forthcoming book on Opus Dei, called the Catholic organization "a political project shrouded in a veil of spirituality". The group's founder, Saint Josemara Escriv, saw his followers as part of a "rising militia", Gore said, who were seeking to "enter battle against the enemies of Christ".

"Like Project 2025, Opus Dei at its core is a reactionary stand against the progressive drift of society," Gore said. "For decades now, the organization has thrown its resources at penetrating Washington's political and legal elite " and finally seems to have succeeded through its close association with men like Kevin Roberts and Leonard Leo."

Leo is a conservative activist who has led the Republican mission to install the rightwing majority in the supreme court and finances many of the groups signed on to Project 2025.

*Could help shore up AZ and NV.

What about Mark Kelly? Military background, strong on Ukraine and gun control, worked on the border control plan that Trump made the GOP dump, moderate enough to reassure Never Trumpers and swing voters who lean right. Could help sure up AZ and NV.

Speculation Swirls About What Hit Trump. An Analysis Suggests It was a Bullet

An absence of medical records or official accounts has stirred confusion, but a Times video and trajectory analysis indicates a bullet, not debris, wounded the former president.

See the image, looks intact.
#78 | Posted by oneironaut

I was responding to Sitz who said it could have been a bullet fragment:

You're grasping for anything to hit trump besides a bullet or bullet fragments. There's no evidence of it.
#71 | Posted by sitzkrieg

Anyway there was more than one bullet, so one could have fragmented by not another.

F.B.I. Examining Bullet Fragments Found at Trump Rally Site

The F.B.I. is examining numerous metal fragments found near the stage at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., to determine whether an assassin's bullet--or potential debris--grazed former President Donald J. Trump's head, bloodying his ear, according to the F.B.I. and a federal law enforcement official.. . .

It is not unusual for the type of bullet that Mr. Crooks fired from his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle to tumble end over end and break apart after hitting even a small solid object. Gun experts say a fragment might, for instance, have hit a metal stanchion.

Still, a bullet could have grazed Mr. Trump's ear, and the F.B.I. has not ruled that out. Investigators found eight rifle casings on the roof where the shooter was positioned.

It is not clear if investigators have eliminated other potential sources of debris. But bureau analysts appear to be focused on metal fragments, as opposed to glass from the teleprompters onstage. Photos of the teleprompters next to Mr. Trump show they were intact after the bullets were fired. . . .

Gun experts said the F.B.I. could rely on trajectory analysis, a physical examination of any linked bullet and the president's wound to possibly figure out what happened. A detailed analysis of bullet trajectories, footage, photos and audio by The New York Times strongly suggests Mr. Trump was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by Mr. Crooks. . . .

One other scenario investigators are likely to explore: that the bullet, deadly but friable, might have fragmented after skimming Mr. Trump's ear.

"The problem you have with a bullet traveling at 3,200 feet per second is that it fragments very easily when it hits a surface before the target," Mr. Harrigan said. "It's going to be tough with the fragmentation to definitely say what happened. "

You're grasping for anything to hit trump besides a bullet or bullet fragments. There's no evidence of it.
#71 | Posted by sitzkrieg

If it was a bullet fragment/s rather than a bullet, how/why did it become a fragment/s? Did the bullet just explode in midair without contacting anything? Is that something that can happen?

"(That's what one of the online "experts" I read claimed anyway.)"

BTW, that expert believes the bullet that grazed Trump's ear was the first bullet Crooks fired and is the one that went on to subsequently hit the bystander and then the railing. It seems like the FBI should be able to take evidence found at the scene as well as various videos of the assissiation attempt and piece together a fairly accurate timeline of the incident. As I've said all along, maybe Trump was grazed by a bullet. I'm just not willing to take his word alone as proof positive.

The flying metal debris would be bullet shrapnel. A metal bleacher isn't going to have any significant spalling from .223 impact.
#59 | Posted by sitzkriegwhere

I wasn't saying the bullet that struck the bleacher railing caused the fragment that hit Trump. As I said, that bullet is said to have flown past Trump and kept going into the stands where it is said to have hit one of the bystanders, who was injured, and then struck a railing as well, causing a puff of smoke. (That's what one of the online "experts" I read claimed anyway.) I was trying to point out that there were other objects near Trump besides the teleprompter that could have been hit by a bullet and caused flying debris. In addition to the podium and the platform Trump was standing on, there is some sort of large black box near his feet. I can't tell what it is.

"Part of me feels Biden realized that while the heart was willing the body wasn't..."

That is exactly what I thought: his heart was willing but his body wasn't up to the task of running the country and campaigning for the presidency at the same time. Then he got Covid, which reinforced to him the the non-negotiable truth of that realiy.

"Snopes: Hit with a Bullet: Glass from Teleprompter Did Not Injure Trump"

For me it wasn't the teleprompter story that made me question if Trump had been hit by a bullet. It was this story from Pittsburgh's WPIX, which claimed police officers near Trump were hit by "flying debris" made of plastic or metal fragments:

UPDATE 4:50 p.m. Sunday

11 Investigates has learned that four Pittsburgh police officers assigned to the former president's motorcade yesterday suffered minor injuries during the shooting.

The four motorcycle officers were part of Donald Trump's escort to and from the rally in Butler.

Sources tell Chief Investigator Rick Earle the officers were just feet away from Trump when shots rang out. The four officers suffered minor injuries from flying debris caused by the bullets.

Sources say the officers were hit with either plastic or metal fragments when the bullets struck objects nearby.

They were treated at the scene. They were okay to escort Trump back to the airport in Pittsburgh last night after he was treated at Butler Memorial Hospital.

Unearthed audio: JD Vance calls for a "federal response" to block women in red states from traveling to another state to get an abortion

Harris will need to run a nearly flawless campaign, but if she can do that, she could beat Trump:

Matthew Dowd
@matthewjdowd

New NY Times poll is really good news for VP Harris. She is only one point behind at Trump's highest point in campaign in aftermath of RNC convention and attempted assassination. Also, her net favorability has gone from -19 to -3. A 16 point improvement!. As I have said first enthusiasm changes, then favorability, then ballot. Harris trajectory at this point is astounding.
3:23 PM Jul 25, 2024

Last night on the White Woman for Harris zoom call, Pink spoke and one of the things she talked about was that after she teamed up PEN America to protest book bans in Florida, AI was used to create an image of her reading pornography to children, something, of course, she had not and would never do. When I heard that, I suddenly had a good idea of the type of deep fakes that will be coming down the pike against not just Harris but any number of Democratic candidates.

"But what about independents. The ones whose votes will determine the election.
Are they as overjoyed by Harris as Democrats are?
2020 Trump motivated a lot of independents and non voters to go vote against him.
They added to Biden's 81 million. Will they show up for Harris in 2024?"

Those are good questions to be asking. It's too soon to tell, but there is hope:

CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt
@CNNThisMorning

WATCH: Swing voters weigh in on @KamalaHarris's candidacy after @JoeBiden withdrew from the presidential race.

@SarahLongwell25 breaks down what focus groups are telling her about Democrats' new presumptive nominee.

I watched a bit of the White Women for Harris fundraising call last night. I didn't know what to expect, but the parts I saw were interesting and inspirational:

White Women for Kamala Harris' raises millions as Zoom just broke a record with 131,000 calls

White Women for Kamala Harris': A record-breaking Zoom event featuring Pink and Connie Britton raised $1.8 million for Kamala Harris, drawing 131,000 participants.

Love this:

#113 | Posted by BellRinger

#117 | Posted by Miranda7

I've had a horrendously long day that began with a bunch of invasive medical tests and I'm suddenly much too tired to respond to your posts, but TY for your responses. Will come back tomorrow if this thread is still ongoing.

Night all.