Trump vs Harris - US Presidential Debate Highlights

This Radical Dispatch Newszine - below - is provided free for all subscribers.

At the top of this post, Resistance Radio presents our WARRIOR CREED video/audio podcast from Tuesday 10th September 2024, with a transcript provided - Debate Night: Donald Trump VS Kamala Harris - What to Expect.

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Note: Our WARRIOR CREED podcast from yesterday was aired before the debate, and so serves as our pre-debate analysis. This updated Radical Dispatch contains US presidential debate highlights. Read on now, for free.

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Trump vs Harris - US Presidential Debate Highlights

- A Radical Dispatch

1) It’s a close race

If the repeated aggregated polling is to be believed this November’s US election is a very close call, but President Trump has the slight edge.

The Times reports 8th September 2024:

“The surge in support for Kamala Harris has faded, a new poll suggests, leaving Donald Trump ahead in the run-up to what may be the only televised ­debate between the candidates, scheduled for Tuesday night. For the first time in a month Trump is narrowly ahead, with 48 to 47 per cent support nationwide among those likely to vote, according to the New York Times/Siena College poll. It also showed that nearly a third of Americans felt that they needed to learn more about Harris and where she stands on the issues that matter to voters. Only 9 per cent felt that way about Trump.”

It is believed that Vice President Harris will face a harder time convincing the electorate that a vote for her is a vote for change.

The Times reports 9th September 2024:

”..the latest Siena College polling for The New York Times suggests the momentum with which Harris overcame Biden’s deficit and move into a small lead has ground to a halt. She and Trump are effectively running neck-and-neck. This is partly because of the polarisation of US politics and partly due to Harris being an integral part of the Biden administration. She is struggling to convince sceptical swing voters that she represents a change in approach from higher prices, expensive overseas conflicts and record levels of irregular migration, all of which she had a hand in.”

By being selected by her Democratic party hierarchy - not elected in an internal party primary - Harris is by default the regime continuity candidate. And most Americans are likely to sense that.

On the other hand, Trump is still the guy who threatens to release Epstein’s full client list if elected.

Click to play:

President Trump: “A lot of big people went to that island. But fortunately, I was not one of them.”

Broadcaster: “It's just very strange for a lot of people that the list of clients that went to the island has not been made public.”

President Trump: “Yeah, it's very interesting, isn't it? Probably will be, by the way.”

Broadcaster: “So if you were able to, you would be...”

Trump: “I'd certainly take a look at it. Now, Kennedy's interesting because it's so many years ago. You know, they do that for danger too, because, you know, it endangers certain people, et cetera, et cetera. So Kennedy is very different from the Epstein thing. But yeah, I'd be inclined to do the Epstein. I'd have no problem with it.”

Ultimately, the final result will come down to which candidate wins the five key swing states of Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, plus two extremely close races in Nevada and North Carolina.

The Times reports 10th June 2024:

The Times reports 10th June 2024:

“..focusing on five states that Biden flipped from Trump in 2020: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Two other close states are also receiving a lot of attention: Nevada (narrowly held by Biden) and North Carolina (narrowly held by Trump). The presidential election will be won or lost in the few swing states because of the way the result is calculated.

The US does not pick its president on a simple majority of votes nationally — otherwise Hillary Clinton and Al Gore would have been elected in 2016 and 2000, respectively. Instead each state sends a weighted number of electors to the 538-member electoral college, with 270 required to win the White House. Trump was leading Biden in most of the swing states before the president withdrew from the race.”

This Radical Dispatch summarises which issues matter in each of these key swing states (the five plus two) and what the two main candidates have said about these issues.

2) Georgia and election integrity

Polling in Georgia indicates an incredibly close race: with 47.9% projected for Harris and 47.7% for Trump.

The Times reports 10th June 2024, last updated 9th September 2024:

“Georgia was the focus of Trump’s efforts to persuade Republican authorities to “find” the votes he needed to win in 2020 but officials held a robust line against outside influence. The progress of the state racketeering charges against Trump and more than a dozen others for the 2020 interference could be a big factor, although the case itself has become mired in accusations of impropriety against Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney.”

Election integrity matters in Georgia due to what happened in the 2020 race. It was no surprise then that election integrity was hotly contested in last night’s debate.

Click to play:

ABC Broadcaster: “In the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate, you have said, quote, you lost by a whisker, that you, quote, didn't quite make it, Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?”

President Trump: “No, I don't acknowledge that at all. I said that sarcastically, you know that. And we said, oh, we lost by a whisker. That was said sarcastically. Look, there's so much proof. All you have to do is look at it. And they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval. I got almost 75 million votes, the most votes any sitting president has ever gotten. I was told if I got 63, which was what I got in 2016, you can't be beaten.”

The ‘whiskers’ quote referenced above by ABC’s presidential debate host David Muir is taken from Trump’s recent interview with Lix Fridman.

Click to play:

Broadcaster: “How do you think you’ll do in the debate, coming up, it’s in a few days?”

President Trump: “So I've done a lot of debating. Only as a politician. I never debated. My first debate was the Rosie O'Donnell debate, right? The famous Rosie O'Donnell debate, the answer. But I've done well with debates. I mean, I became president. Then the second time I got millions more votes than I got the first time. I was told if I got 63 million, which is what I got the first time, you would win. You can't not win. And I got millions of more votes than that. And, lost by a whisker, but, and look what happened to the world with all of the wars and all of the problems.”

With this context presented, it is difficult to draw the conclusion that Trump has conceded the 2020 election, despite ABC’s David Muir insinuating otherwise.

In fact, a day before the debate Trump had already put out an online ‘cease and desist’ warning against any repeated ‘cheating and skullduggery’.

Just as our own position on this issue remains unbowed.

The Observer (Sunday Guardian) reports 31st January 2021:

Lest we forget, Time Magazine has already admitted that a “cabal” from within the United States intervened in the 2020 presidential election in order that it may be “saved” in order to “fortify” the result via a “conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes” made up of an “informal alliance” including “tech and business titans” working in a “vast, cross-partisan campaign” representing an “an extraordinary shadow effort” which “touched every aspect of the election.”

Time Magazine reports 4th February 2021:

“In a way, Trump was right…There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes, one that both curtailed the protests and coordinated the resistance from CEOs. Both surprises were the result of an informal alliance between left-wing activists and business titans…

That’s why the participants want the secret history of the 2020 election told, even though it sounds like a paranoid fever dream–a well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information. They were not rigging the election; they were fortifying it. And they believe the public needs to understand the system’s fragility in order to ensure that democracy in America endures.”

In other words, they all intervened against Trump.

3) Arizona and migration

Arizona is another key swing state that is incredibly close, with Trump projected at 48.5% and Harris at 47.4%.

The Times reports 10th June 2024, last updated 9th September 2024:

“Arizona’s 378-mile border with Mexico puts it at the centre of the key election issue of immigration, and the debate about how to prevent illegal crossings and handle asylum seekers. Trump has sought to characterise Harris, whom Biden tasked with tackling the root causes of illegal migration, as a “border tsar” in an attempt to pin on her the surge in illegal crossings since Biden took office…The state was also a hotbed of claims about election rigging from Trump and his allies in 2020 and is bracing itself for another round of aggressive claims and counter-claims fuelled by misinformation and conspiracy theories…Senior officials are taking numerous steps to ensure the 2024 vote is seen to be reliable, such as reviewing the electoral rolls and enabling the tracking of individual postal votes.”

Arizona’s 378-mile border with Mexico goes some way in explaining why immigration has been such a hot issue for this election. We expected it to be raised, and it was. Here is Vice President Harris on the issue.

Click to play:

ABC Broadcaster: “We know it's an issue that's important to Republicans, Democrats, voters across the board in this country. Vice President Harris, you were tasked by President Biden with getting to the root causes of migration from Central America. We know that illegal border crossings reached a record high in the Biden administration. This past June, President Biden imposed tough new asylum restrictions. We know the numbers since then have dropped significantly. But my question to you tonight is, why did the administration wait until six months before the election to act? And would you have done anything differently from President Biden on this?” 

VP Harris: “So I'm the only person on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organisations for the trafficking of guns, drugs, and human beings. And let me say that the United States Congress, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate, came up with a border security bill which I supported. And that bill would have put 1,500 more border agents on the border to help those folks who are working there right now over time trying to do their job. It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the United States. I know there are so many families watching tonight who have been personally affected by the surge of fentanyl in our country.

That bill would have put more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in guns, drugs, and human beings. Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress and said, kill the bill. And you know why? Because he'd prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.

And understand, this comes at a time where the people of our country actually need a leader who engages in solutions, who actually addresses the problems at hand. But what we have in the former president is someone who would prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. And I'll tell you something, he's going to talk about immigration a lot tonight, even when it's not the subject that is being raised. And I'm going to actually do something really unusual. And I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you, the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams, and your desires. And I'll tell you, I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first. And I pledge to you that I will.”

And here is President Trump on immigration.

Click to play:

ABC Broadcaster:  “You also said you would use local police. How would you deport 11 million undocumented immigrants? I know you believe that number is much higher. Take us through this. What does this look like? Will authorities be going door to door in this country?”

President Trump: “Yeah, it is much higher because of them. They allowed criminals, many, many millions of criminals. They allowed terrorists. They allowed common street criminals. They allowed people to come in, drug dealers, to come into our country. And they're now in the United States and told by their countries, like Venezuela, don't ever come back or we're going to kill you. Do you know that crime in Venezuela and crime in countries all over the world is way down You know why? Because they've taken their criminals off the street and they've given them to her to put into our country. And this will be one of the greatest mistakes in history for them to allow. And I think they probably did it because they think they're going to get votes, but it's not worth it. Because they're destroying the fabric of our country by what they've done. There's never been anything done like this at all. They've destroyed the fabric of our country. Millions of people let in. And all over the world, crime is down. All over the world except here. Crime here is up and through the roof. Despite their fraudulent statements that they made, crime in this country is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime. It's called migrant crime. And it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible.”

Among his more viral moments was Trump’s insistence in the debate that internet rumours about undocumented migrants eating house pets such as cats and dogs are true.

President Trump: “A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame. As far as… Rallies are concerned as far as the reason they go is they like what I say. They want to bring our country back. They want to make America great again. It's a very simple phrase, make America great again. She's destroying this country, and if she becomes president, this country doesn't have a chance of success. Not only success, we'll end up being Venezuela on steroids.”

ABC Broadcaster: “I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio, and ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there had been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.

Trump: “Well, I've seen people on television. The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food. So maybe he said that, and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city manager. I'm not taking this from television. But the people on television say their dog was eaten by the people that went there.

ABC Broadcaster: “Again, the Springfield City Manager says there's no evidence of that.”

4) Wisconsin and War

Wisconsin too is another swing state that is very close. What is interesting here is that a significant portion of Democratic and Republican voters defied their traditional voting allegiances, seemingly over the issue of foreign policy and war.

The Times reports 10th June 2024, last updated 9th September 2024:

“…The party primaries threw up some surprises this year, with sizeable protest votes against Trump and Biden. Some 8 per cent of Democratic primary ballots were marked “uninstructed”, an option used by many to signal protest at Biden’s handling of Gaza, which Harris will take as a warning. Meanwhile, 12.8 per cent of Republican voters backed Nikki Haley over Trump, even though she dropped out weeks earlier.”

VP Harris was asked about her proposals to resolve Israel’s war in Gaza. Her answer simply repeated the US State Department’s pre-existing dogma on the topic.

Click to play:

ABC Broadcaster: “We’ve got a lot more to get. Turning now to the Israel Hamas war and the hostages who are still being held, Americans among them. Vice President Harris, in December you said, quote, Israel has a right to defend itself. But you added, quote, it matters how, saying international humanitarian law must be respected. Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians. You said that nine months ago. Now an estimated 40,000 Palestinians are dead. Nearly 100 hostages remain. Just last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there's not a deal in the making. President Biden has not been able to break through the stalemate. How would you do it?”

Harris:  “Well, let's understand how we got here. On October 7, Hamas, a terrorist organisation, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, many of them young people who were simply attending a concert. women were horribly raped. And so absolutely, I said then, I say now, Israel has a right to defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters. Because it is also true, far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Children, mothers. What we know is that this war must end. It must end immediately. And the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out. And so we will continue to work around the clock on that, work around the clock also understanding that we must chart a course for a two-state solution. And in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians. But the one thing I will assure you always, I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel. But we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where the Palestinians have security, self-determination, and the dignity they so rightly deserve.”

Likewise, Trump was asked about the same.

Click to play:

Broadcaster: “How would you negotiate with Netanyahu and also Hamas in order to get the hostages out and prevent the killing of more innocent civilians in Gaza?”

President Trump: “If I were president, it would have never started. If I were president, Russia would have never, ever... I know Putin very well. He would have never... And there was no threat of it either, by the way, for four years have gone into Ukraine and killed millions of people when you add it up. Far worse than people understand what's going on over there. But when she mentions about Israel, all of a sudden, she hates Israel. She wouldn't even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a sorority party of hers. She wanted to go to the sorority party. She hates Israel. If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now. And I've been pretty good at predictions, and I hope I'm wrong about that one. She hates Israel.

At the same time, in her own way, she hates the Arab population because the whole place is going to get blown up. Arabs... Jewish people, Israel, Israel will be gone.

It would have never happened. Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had. Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different…They had no money for terror. They were broke. Now they're a rich nation, and now what they're doing is they're spreading that money around...

Look at what's happening with the Houthis and Yemen. Look at what's going on in the Middle East. This would have never happened. I will get that settled and fast, and I'll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I'm president-elect, I'll get it done before even becoming president.”

Trump’s main argument appears to be that these wars would never have happened under his presidency, and that the world powers waited for him to be out of the way in 2020 before initiating them.

Neither candidate addressed the fact that the UK recently joined Spain and the Netherlands in imposing either a partial of full arms embargo on Israel, and that Italy and Canada have not renewed arms sales to Israel since the onset of the Gaza war.

Though - as reflected in the 8% of Democratic primary ballots spoiled in Wisconsin due to concerns about US support for Israel in the Gaza war - this issue is a bigger problem for Democrats than it is for Trump.

Green Party head Dr Jill Stein serves as a case in point.

Click to play:

AOC: “You’re just showing up once every four years to do that? You're not serious. To me, it does not read as authentic. It reads as predatory.”

Green Party Leader Dr Jill Stein: “Jill here. I'm about to board, but very quickly, I just wanted to thank AOC-Pelosi so very much for her very authentic concern about growing green power. Clearly AOC is the attack dog De Jure, and the democrats are running scared and they should be. Because who wants to support a genocide? Who wants to vote for a genocide? And if there's anything that's predatory here it's saying that your candidate is working tirelessly for a ceasefire when actually they are actively funding and arming genocide and actually refusing to even consider an arms embargo which would bring the genocide to a screeching halt.

AOC, who's supposed to be in leadership of the Democratic Party, it's amazing if she doesn't know about the anti-democratic tactics and strategies that the Democratic Party uses to crush and silence political opposition. They've been hiring an army of lawyers to throw competitors like me off the ballot. They've been hiring infiltrators and saboteurs and publicly posting job advertisements for those positions. They've been hijacking our public funding in order to keep us off the ballot. And they actually impersonated the Greens to throw us off the ballot in 22 in the Senate race for North Carolina for example. How is that not fraud and election interference? Also, what's predatory here is stealing the signature issue of the Greens. Our Green New Deal launched in 2010 appropriated by AOC as her signature issue in 2018, without a mention of where it came from. So bottom line is Americans want more choices. We are that choice. We are the one choice, which is anti-war, anti-genocide, pro-worker, climate emergency. Check us out, JillStein2024.com. Thanks so much.”

Trump’s anti-war theme was continued as the debate moved from Gaza to Ukraine. Trump’s position remains anti-war.

Click to play:

ABC Broadcaster: “It’s been the position of the Biden administration, that we must defend Ukraine from Russia, from Vladimir Putin, to defend their sovereignty, their democracy, that it's in America's best interest to do so, arguing that if Putin wins, he may be emboldened to move even further into other countries. You have said you would solve this war in 24 hours. You said so just before the break tonight. How exactly would you do that? And I want to ask you a very simple question tonight. Do you want Ukraine to win this war?”

President Trump: “I want the war to stop. I want to save lives that are being uselessly, people being killed by the millions, it's the millions, it's so much worse than the numbers that you're getting which are fake numbers. Look, we're in for 250 billion or more, because they don't ask Europe, which is a much bigger beneficiary to getting this thing done than we are. They're in for $150 billion less, because Biden and you, don't have the courage to ask Europe like I did with NATO. They paid billions and billions, hundreds of billions of dollars, when I said: either you pay up or we're not going to protect you anymore. So that's maybe one of the reasons they don't like me as much as they like weak people. But, you take a look at what's happening. We're in for 250 to 275 billion. They're into 100 to 150. They should be forced to equalise.

With that being said, I want to get the war settled. I know Zelensky very well, and I know Putin very well. I have a good relationship, and they respect...your President, okay? They respect me. They don't respect Biden.  How would you respect him? Why? For what reason? He hasn't even made a phone call in two years to Putin. Hasn't spoken to anybody. They don't even try and get it.

That is a war that's dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become President. If I win, when I'm president-elect, and what I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other, I'll get them together, that war would have never happened. And in fact, when I saw Putin after I left, unfortunately left because our country has gone to hell, but after I left, when I saw him building up soldiers, he did it after I left. I said, oh, he must be negotiating. It must be a good, strong point of negotiation. Well, it wasn't because Biden had no idea how to talk to him. He had no idea how to stop it. And now you have millions of people dead and it's only getting worse, and it could lead to World War III. Don't kid yourself David, we're playing with World War III and we have a President that we don't even know if he's, where is our President? We don't even know if he's a President, and just to clarify, they threw him out of a campaign like a dog, we don't even know, is he our president? But we have a president who doesn’t even know he's alive.”

Broadcaster: “Mr President, our time is up, just to clarify in the question. Do you believe it's in the U.S. best interest for Ukraine to win this war, yes or no?”

President Trump: ”I think it's the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. Negotiate a deal, because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed.”

Meanwhile, VP Harris’ position once again reflects the US State Department’s and CIA’s pro-war vision for Ukraine.

Click to play:

Broadcaster: “As Commander in Chief, if elected. How would you deal with Vladimir Putin and would it be any different from what we're seeing from President Biden?”

VP Harris: “Well, first of all, it's important to remind the former president you're not running against Joe Biden, you're running against me.

I believe the reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up. And that's not who we are as Americans.

Let's understand what happened here. I actually met with Zelensky a few days before Russia invaded, tried through force to change territorial boundaries, to defy one of the most important international rules and norms, which is the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity. And I met with President Zelensky. I shared with him American intelligence about how he could defend himself.

Days later, I went to NATO's eastern flank, to Poland and Romania. And through the work that I and others did, we brought 50 countries together to support Ukraine in its righteous defence. And because of our support, because of the air defence, the ammunition, the artillery, the javelins, the Abrams tanks that we have provided, Ukraine stands as an independent and free country.

If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kiev right now. And understand what that would mean, because Putin's agenda is not just about Ukraine. Understand why the European allies and our NATO allies are so thankful that you are no longer president and that we understand the importance of the greatest military alliance the world has ever known, which is NATO, and what we have done to preserve the ability of Zelensky and the Ukrainians to fight for their independence.

Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe, starting with Poland. And why don't you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favour and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”

5) Pennsylvania and the economy

Pennsylvania is one of the most important and largest swing states, it is where the debate took place, and the race there couldn’t be much closer. Trump is polling at 47.7% and Harris polls at 47.4%. They key issue here is economy.

The Times reports 10th June 2024, last updated 9th September 2024:

“Pennsylvania is also one of the nation’s top bellwether states, having backed the winner since 2008…In line with its role as part of the US’s industrial heartland, the economy is consistently cited as the top issue here, with a Quinnipac poll in June suggesting it was the main concern for 30 per cent of voters, followed by preserving democracy (28 per cent), gun violence (9 per cent), abortion (8 per cent) and immigration (7 per cent). One of the state’s Democratic senators is also defending his seat, adding to its importance in November.”

One of the challenges that Democrats will face is presenting Vice-President Harris as somehow not responsible for the economic hardship that has befallen America under her boss, President Biden.

Click to play:

Broadcaster: “Voters repeatedly say is their number one issue, and that is the economy and the cost of living in this country. Vice President Harris, you and President Trump were elected four years ago, and your opponent on the stage here tonight often asks his supporters, are you better off than you were four years ago?”

VP Harris: “When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago? So I was raised as a middle class kid. And I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. And that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy. Because here's the thing.We know that we have a shortage of homes and housing. And the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people. We know that young families need support to raise their children, and I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time, so that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children. My passion, one of them, is small businesses. I was actually, my mother raised my sister and me, but there was a woman who helped raise us. We call her our second mother. She was a small business owner. I love our small businesses. My plan is to give a $50,000 tax deduction to start up small businesses, knowing they are part of the backbone of America's economy. My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5 trillion to America's deficit. My opponent has a plan that I call the Trump sales tax, which will result in $5 trillion to America's deficit. My opponent has a plan that I call the Trump sales tax, which would be a 20% tax on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month. Economists have said that that Trump sales tax would actually result for middle class families in about $4,000 more a year because of his policies and his ideas about what should be the backs of middle class people paying for tax cuts for billionaires.”

Pinning the flaws of Biden’s economic record on VP Harris was easy for Trump.

Click to play:

President Trump: “It's an incorrect statement. She knows that. We're doing tariffs on other countries. Other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we've done for the world. And the tariff will be substantial in some cases. I took in billions and billions of dollars, as you know, from China. In fact, they never took the tariff off because there was so much money they can't.

It would totally destroy everything that they've set out to do. They're taking in billions of dollars from China and other places they've left the tariffs on. When I had it, I had tariffs, and yet I had no inflation. Look, we've had a...terrible economy because inflation has, which is really known as a country buster. It breaks up countries. We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before, probably the worst in our nation's history. We were at 21%, but that's being generous because many things are 50, 60, 70, and 80% higher than they were just a few years ago. This has been a disaster for people, for the middle class, but for every class.

On top of that, we have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails from mental institutions and insane asylums, and they're coming in and they're taking jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans and Hispanics and also unions. Unions are going to be affected very soon. And you see what's happening. You see what's happening with towns throughout the United States. You look at Springfield, Ohio. You look at Aurora in Colorado. They are taking over the towns. They're taking over buildings. They're going in violently. These are the people that she and Biden led into our country. And they're destroying our country. They're dangerous. They're at the highest level of criminality. And we have to get them out. We have to get them out fast. I created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country. I'll do it again and even better.” 

Instant post-debate polling seems to confirm that the electorate will struggle to believe that VP Harris is not associated with Biden’s economic track record.

6) North Carolina and abortion

North Carolina projects Trump at 48.6% and Harris at 47.5%, and abortion is one of the key issues there.

The Times reports 10th June 2024, last updated 9th September 2024:

“North Carolina was the scene of Trump’s narrowest victory in 2020. Biden won eight of the ten largest counties, suggesting that the cities are fertile ground for the Democrats. Polling shows that the economy is the top issue likely to sway the key independent voters in November…There is also a governor election to replace Roy Cooper, a term-limited Democrat...The election pitches Josh Stein, the state’s attorney-general, against Mark Robinson, the Republican lieutenant-governor who is a relative newcomer to politics and known for provocative remarks. This contest has been seen as the presidential election in microcosm.

Cooper has called North Carolina “ground zero in 2024” after a Republican super-majority in the state legislature restricted the abortion window to 12 weeks, handing that issue to Democrats for November and making the state more competitive.”

Naturally, Trump’s record on abortion as president came up in the debate.

Click to play:

Broadcaster “You’ve often touted that you were able to kill Roe v. Wade. Last year, you said that you were proud to be the most pro-life president in American history. Then last month, you said that your administration would be great for women and their reproductive rights. In your home state of Florida, you surprised many with regard to your six-week abortion ban because you initially had said that it was too short. And you said, quote, ‘I'm going to be voting that we need more than six weeks’. But then the very next day, you reversed course and said you would vote to support the six-week ban. Vice President Harris says that women shouldn't trust you on the issue of abortion because you've changed your position so many times. Therefore, why should they trust you?“

President Trump: “Well, the reason I'm doing that vote is because the plan is, as you know the vote is, they have abortion in the ninth month. They even have, and you can look at the governor of West Virginia, the previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor, who's doing an excellent job, but the governor before, he said... ‘the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby’. In other words, we'll execute the baby. And that's why I did that, because that predominates, because they're radical. The Democrats are radical in that. And her vice presidential pick, by the way, for our country, because he is really out of it. But her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth, it's execution, no longer abortion because the baby is born, is okay. And that's not okay with me, hence the vote.

But what I did is something for 52 years they've been trying to get Roe v. Wade into the states. And through the genius and heart and strength of six Supreme Court justices, we were able to do that. Now, I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. I believe strongly in it. Ronald Reagan did also. 85% of Republicans do. Exceptions. Very important.

But we were able to get it, and now states are voting on it. And for the first time, you're going to see, look,this is an issue that's torn our country apart for 52 years. Every legal scholar, every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative, they all wanted this issue to be brought back to the states where the people could vote. And that's what happened.

Now, Ohio… The vote was somewhat liberal. Kansas, the vote was somewhat liberal. Much more liberal than people would have thought. But each individual state is voting. It's the vote of the people now. It's not tied up in the federal government. I did a great service in doing it. It took courage to do it. And the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it. And I give tremendous credit to those six justices.”

VP Harris here came to life, providing a passionate response:

VP Harris: “Well, as I said, you're going to hear a bunch of lies, and that's not actually a surprising fact. Let's understand how we got here. Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade. And they did exactly as he intended. And now in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans, which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care. In one state, it provides prison for life. Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape and incest, which understand what that means. A survivor of a crime, a violation to their body, does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That is immoral.

And one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree: the government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body. I have talked with women around our country. You want to talk about this is what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail and she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot? She didn't want that. Her husband didn't want that. A 12 or 13 year old survivor of incest, being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. They don't want that.

And I pledge to you, when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law. But understand, if Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban. Understand, in his Project 2025, there would be a national abortion, a monitor, that would be monitoring your pregnancies, your miscarriages. I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular the freedom to make decisions about one's own body, should not be made by the government.”

Though Trump remonstrated that he has nothing to do with the Democratic campaign boogieman that is “Project 2025”.

Click to play:

President Trump: “Number one I have nothing to do, as you know and as she knows better than anyone, I have nothing to do with project 2025. That's out there. I haven't read it. I don't want to read it, purposely. I'm not going to read it. This was a group of people that got together, they came up with some ideas, I guess some good, some bad, but it makes no difference. I have nothing to do, everybody knows I'm an open book, everybody knows what I'm going to do: cut taxes very substantially, and create a great economy like I did before...”

7) Nevada and Michingan

Nevada projects 48% for Harris and 47.6% for Trump. Blue collar jobs are important for voters in this swing state. Interestingly, 30% of the electorate are Hispanic and have been trending towards Trump.

The Times reports 10th June 2024, last updated 9th September 2024:

“..the desert state was one of only six where Trump improved his vote compared with 2016. Democratic support is drawn from unionised and minority voters but they have also suffered disproportionately from the inflation and job losses of Covid’s economic hangover and there are signs that Trump is picking up support among them…While the Democrats defended a vulnerable Senate seat in 2022 in a close race, their incumbents lost the governor and lieutenant-governor contests. Nevada’s 30 per cent Hispanic population will be crucial and has been trending towards Trump.”

Michigan is also a close race, with 47.4% projected for Harris and 46.5% for Trump.

The Times reports 10th June 2024, last updated 9th September 2024:

“..known for manufacturing, particularly the car industry, where the two candidates have dramatically different views of the future: Harris pushes the green revolution, while Trump rejects it.

With sales of electric vehicles (EVs) falling and Trump’s pledge to increase oil production, he has a strong pitch to the traditionalists while the massive infrastructure funding legislation under Biden has been used to boost charging stations as well as jobs in battery and EV production.

..A pro-Israel stance in the Gaza war is a potential vote loser with an important chunk of Democrats, notably the significant Muslim population but also college students — 101,449 votes were cast for “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary, many in protest at Biden’s approach. Harris has long signalled she is prepared to be tougher on Israel than the president has been…”

Ultimately, the US election will be decided by the five key swing states Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, plus two extremely close races in Nevada and North Carolina. These issues are election integrity, immigration, foreign policy, abortion and economy. Ultimately, it may prove difficult for VP Harris to convince voters that a vote for her is not a vote for more of the same.

8) Debate reaction:

Some have raised the issue of unfair and biased moderation and fact-checking against President Trump by ABC’s hosts.

Click to play:

RFK Jr.: “Unfortunately we had moderators who were clearly biased, who were constantly fact-checking Donald Trump. None of these kind of whoppers that the vice president was saying, and none of her failure to really explain that, answer that first question, that very, very critical first question, they simply sat there on the sidelines and allowed that to pass.”

Some others went into detail on this point.

Click to play:

President Trump: “Nancy Pelosi was responsible. She didn't do her job.”

Broadcaster: “The question was about you as president, not about former Speaker Pelosi, but I do want Vice President Harris to respond here.”

VP Harris: “I was at the Capitol on January 6th. I was the vice president-elect. I was also an acting senator. I was there. And on that day, the president of the United States incited a violent mob to attack our nation's Capitol to desecrate our nation's capital. On that day, 140 law enforcement officers were injured and some died. And understand, the former president has been indicted and impeached for exactly that reason. But this is not an isolated situation. Let's remember Charlottesville, where there was a mob of people carrying tiki torches, spewing anti-Semitic hate And what did the president then at the time say? There were fine people on each side. Let's remember that when it came to the Proud Boys, a militia, the president said, the former president said, stand back and stand by. So for everyone watching who remembers what January 6th was, I say we don't have to go back.

Let's not go back. We're not going back. It's time to turn the page. And if that was a bridge too far for you, well, there is a place in our campaign for you to stand for country, to stand for our democracy, to stand for rule of law, and to end the chaos and to end the approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy because you don't like the outcome. And be clear on that point. Donald Trump, the candidate, has said in this election there will be a bloodbath if this and the outcome of this election is not to his liking. Let's turn the page on this. Let's not go back. Let's chart a course for the future and not go backwards to the past.”

Suffice to say that corporatist media has proven itself time and again as being hostile to the spectre of a Trump victory.

9) Influence operations

It does seem that a crackdown on those who are perceived to be interfering in elections has come somewhat ahead of time. Elon Musk has been summoned by the UK parliament to answer for how he used Twitter to goad for civil war in the UK.

The Financial Times reports 9th September 2024:

“Elon Musk will be asked by the UK parliament to give evidence about the operations of social media platform X under plans drawn up by a leading contender to become chair of a key panel of MPs. Labour politician Dawn Butler, who is vying to lead the House of Commons science and technology select committee, told the Financial Times that the US-based billionaire owner of X was ‘someone we’d like to invite’ as a witness. ‘It is vital for the committee to formally examine the use of algorithms in pushing hateful material — and the moderation of such content — on X and other social media platforms,’ Butler said. Her rival for the position of chair, fellow Labour MP Chi Onwurah, also supports an inquiry into the use of algorithms by social media companies, including how they drive misinformation and profits. Their focus on social media and misinformation comes as authorities globally grapple with Musk’s outsized influence, and the impact of discourse on his platform on politics in democracies. Last month British officials complained they had faced resistance from X over calls to take down posts deemed a threat to national security during the worst riots in England for more than a decade. Musk also taunted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on X during the unrest and claimed that ‘civil war is inevitable’ in the UK.”

Elon Musk joined Likudnik paid-asset Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (stage name: Tommy Robinson) to goad civil war in the UK via his platform during last month’s riots.

The Radical Dispatch reports 7th August 2024:

They did this even as two asylum hotels with humans inside them were torched by neo-fascist lynch mobs and a mosque was damaged in an attack. Musk has amplified Yaxley-Lennon’s European anti-Islam network many times on here, to serve Netanyahu’s aim of destroying the existing world order rather than face losing his maniacal war in Gaza.

Musk’s actions deserve scrutiny and accountability. But the UK House of Commons is dominated by these same globalists - Tony Blair acolyte Keir Starmer as Prime Minister secured a very large majority - who will seek to use Musk’s behaviour last month to further restrict civil liberties in the UK. Hence, regardless of whether Musk attends Parliament or not, this was always the globalist plan and his absence/attendance will be used by PM Starmer equally, to further the above dialectic.

American podcast host Tim Pool also seems to have been caught up in this renewed effort to stamp out foreign influence operations.

The Post Millennial reports 5th September 2024:

The Post Millennial reports 5th September 2024:

“[Dave] Rubin was allegedly paid $400,000 a month for a weekly video, along with a $100,000 signing bonus. [Tim] Pool was allegedly also paid $400,000 per month for a weekly video.”

Ben Shapiro at the Likudnik-Zionist backed Daily Wire hosted Pool for his first interview after this incident.

Either way, it would be wise in this climate not to support too loudly any WEF members who are also multi-billionaires running Russian social media platforms.

With such a decisive US election pending, our warning to “influencers” seems apt.

And with that we end this week’s Radical Dispatch on a lighter, musical note. Here is a poignant new rock track by Fives Times August:

Click to play:

“There ain’t no Rock & roll,

And the Blues has lost its soul,

All the punks gave the man control,

And every pop star’s bought & sold”

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