Comment on Democrats dig in with shutdown days away

Daily Beast: “Filings this week showed that while Trump’s numbers do appear to have ticked up last month, his political apparatus needed to spend a stunning amount of money to get there. It’s a long-running and important—but little-noticed—negative trendline for Trump, as outsized operational costs have been gobbling up a large share of the money raised, a vicious cycle that can become increasingly hard to break.” “On top of that, the high-dollar Trump-RNC joint fundraising machine that launched last month appears to have failed to deliver on its main mission, at least in its early stages.

New York Times: “In gaining access to the ballot in Michigan, a critical swing state in the 2024 election, Mr. Kennedy has injected new uncertainty into what promises to be one of the most closely contested presidential races in history. And he did it without having to gather a single signature, avoiding a costly and arduous organizing effort, not to mention the possibility of having to fight court challenges to those signatures.” “Mr.

“Donald and Melania Trump are set to hold dueling fundraisers in different states on Saturday, the former president raising money for his campaign and the Republican Party in North Carolina in the afternoon ahead of a rally and the former first lady raising money for a conservative LGBT group at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach later that evening,” ABC News reports. “Especially for Melania Trump, it would be a rare appearance at a fundraising event as she has mostly stayed away from the former president’s campaign trail this election cycle and instead only occasionally been seen at private events at his properties.”

“Look, you’re my ticket to the White House: you, Pennsylvania. No, it’s not hyperbole. You’re the ticket to the White House.” — President Biden, quoted by the Washington Post.

“Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., passed a historic vote to join the United Auto Workers on Friday, becoming the first Southern auto factory to approve a union with an election since the 1940s,” the Washington Post reports.

“The Senate voted to reauthorize a powerful surveillance tool the U. S. government describes as critical to combating terrorism, after defeating efforts by civil liberties advocates on the left and right to rein it in,” NBC News reports. “The vote of 60-34 sends the bill to President Joe Biden, who has championed it.