MAGA’s Idiotic New Kamala Conspiracy Makes Zero Sense

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is pushing two simultaneous narratives about Vice President Kamala Harris that, if they actually happened to be true, would just cancel each other out.

Harris and President Joe Biden joined families of three Americans who had been imprisoned in Russia at Joint Base Andrew in Maryland late Thursday night. Biden had helped to facilitate the release of the former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Russian American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.

Despite the remarkable homecoming, MAGA used the occasion to push its own conspiracy theories about Biden and Harris. RNC Research, an account on X run by Trump’s campaign, posted a video of Biden and Harris on the tarmac.

“Kamala watches Biden shuffle aimlessly across the tarmac and nearly trip up the stairs of the plane (from which the passengers had long disembarked),” the account wrote. “This is the obvious decline Kamala covered up in her thirst for power—the scandal of the century.”

There’s a lot of problems with this post, so let’s go through them one by one. The so-called “decline” the post refers to was Biden boarding the plane to thank the pilots, not wandering into an empty plane with Harris left dumbfounded on the tarmac.

In one sentence, Trump’s campaign suggested both that Harris covered up Biden’s aging to keep him in office and simultaneously hoped that she would be given the reins. In terms of fictionalized evil schemes, one can’t both plot to keep the leader in power and also plot to oust him. Complicity or coup? MAGA Republicans need to pick one bedtime story or the other, but there just isn’t enough time for both.

This post is one small window into the Trump campaign’s scrambled efforts to shift their rhetoric around Harris, whom they are now forced to blame for everything they once tried to pin on Biden. Thursday’s prisoner swap presented a particularly sore spot for Trump, who seemed pretty miffed he wasn’t in on the complex negotiations—but lashing out like this is particularly pathetic.

Republican attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris are becoming too much for some of Donald Trump’s inner circle.

Peter Navarro, an economist who worked in the Trump White House, was guest-hosting Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast Friday, since the other former Trump adviser is serving a prison sentence for contempt of Congress. Navarro began panicking over Republicans making personal attacks against Harris’s personal life or the way she laughs, telling them to “shut up.” 

“Do we get women when we call Kamala a slut or make fun of her cackle, Ted Cruz?” Navarro asked, picking a fight with the Texas senator. “We do not. Shut up. That gets us nowhere!”

“Women, when they hear that crap, are resentful, particularly of old white men pulling that crap. Shut up,” Navarro, who is himself an old white man who served a four-month sentence in prison for contempt of Congress, added.

Navarro didn’t mention Trump by name, but Trump has been calling Harris “laughing Kamala” and alluding to her personal life in different smears. His mention of “old white men” may also be taking into account Trump’s racial attacks, particularly on Wednesday when the former president spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. While some Republicans have disapproved of those comments, others have defended Trump.

The more Republicans make these attacks, the more it makes them look bad and strengthens Democrats’ effective attacks on GOP weirdness. Even an important figure in the world of MAGA like Navarro can see this backfiring. Still, he didn’t mention Trump by name, and the GOP will continue to follow the lead of the former president and convicted felon. Will Trump take the hint, or put the GOP in a deep hole as November approaches?

Former President Donald Trump’s newest excuse for why he won’t debate Vice President Kamala Harris just doesn’t have the numbers to back it up.

During an interview on Fox Business Friday morning, host Maria Bartiromo asked Trump if he would consider going head-to-head with Harris.

“Well, I want to. And we’re leading in the polls, it seems, by quite a bit, still. She’s better than he is, but ultimately I think she’ll be worse than him,” Trump said, referring to President Joe Biden.

“I mean, right now I say, why should I do a debate?” Trump said. “I’m leading in the polls. And, everybody knows her, everybody knows me.”

Trump doesn’t think he needs to debate Harris because he’s already beating her, but it’s not actually clear that that’s the case. Several national polls released this week found that Harris was polling ahead of Trump.

A poll conducted by RMG Research between July 29 and 31 and published Friday found that Harris was leading by a whopping five points at 47 percent, compared to Trump’s 42 percent. A YouGov/The Economist poll, which surveyed people between July 27 and 30, found that Harris was beating Trump by two points, 46 percent to 44 percent.

A Leger survey published Wednesday, which was conducted between July 26 and 28, found that Harris was beating Trump 49 percent to 46 percent. A Civiqs poll published Wednesday for the Daily Kos found that Harris was ahead by four points, with her sitting at 49 percent to his 45 percent. These are just a few of the polls that have placed Harris ahead of Trump.

Project 538, which aggregates national poll results, including some of those listed above, found that Harris was squarely ahead, polling at 45 percent to Trump’s 43 percent. Over the course of the week, Harris has successfully widened the gap between her and Trump.

This isn’t the first time Trump’s excuse for getting out of a debate has evaporated right in front of him. Trump’s team previously said that they would not schedule any more presidential debates until the Democrats formally nominated their candidate, specifically citing Harris’s lack of support from former President Barack Obama. Within hours, she had secured Obama’s endorsement.

Harris’s campaign released a statement in response to Trump’s newest lame excuse. “Donald Trump needs to man up. He’s got no problem spreading lies and hateful garbage at his rallies or in interviews with right-wing commentators. But he’s apparently too scared to do it sitting across the stage from the Vice President of the United States,” the statement said.

Harris’s campaign has insisted that she will be attending the presidential debate hosted by ABC News, which is scheduled for September 10, regardless of whether her opponent deigns to appear.

“She’ll be waiting there to see if he shows up,” the statement said.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many House Democrats have a favorite to be Kamala Harris’s running mate: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

The Hill reports that several Democrats have been advocating for Walz, who was a member of Congress himself from 2006 until 2019 and was well liked among his fellow Democrats. That includes the former House speaker, who was instrumental in convincing Joe Biden to withdraw from the race and gave a lot of early support to Harris.

One source told The Hill that Pelosi “is always especially fond of former House colleagues” when asked about Harris’s running mate, a nod to Walz.

Other House Democrats echoed the sentiment. “My sentimental favorite is Tim Walz,” said Representative Jim McGovern. “He was a great member of Congress. The people I know in Minnesota tell me he’s a great governor.… But more importantly, he’s a good guy. He’s down to earth, he’s the real deal, there’s nothing phony about him, and he calls ‘em as he sees ‘em, and he tells it like it is, and I appreciate the candor.”

“I want somebody who’s really strongly pro-labor and understands labor, because this is a big part of the working-class agenda and making sure that we win working-class votes,” Representative Pramila Jayapal said. “I really like Governor Walz. I like the things that he’s been able to do. I like that he’s from a rural town; I like that he’s got a military background.”

Walz’s popularity has grown since the vice president entered the race more than two weeks ago. He’s made successful critiques of Republicans like J.D. Vance and held his own against the right wing on Fox News. If Pelosi is in favor of Walz joining Harris’s ticket, that could be a deciding factor and make many Democrats, whether elected or rank-and-file, very happy.

It looks like some of Donald Trump’s devoted fans are beginning to lose faith in their candidate.

Gun rights activist and killer of human beings Kyle Rittenhouse announced Thursday that he would be writing in Ron Paul’s name on his ballot in November, shortly after posting that he’d had the “incredible pleasure” of meeting the former U.S. representative.

Hours later, Rittenhouse gave a video statement on X explaining his decision not to back Trump. “A lot of people are upset that I said I’m going to be writing in Ron Paul for president of the United States. And that is true, I will be writing in Ron Paul,” Rittenhouse said.

“Unfortunately, Donald Trump had bad advisers, making him bad on the Second Amendment, and that is my issue. If you cannot be completely uncompromisable on the Second Amendment, I will not vote for you, and I will write somebody else in. We need champions for the Second Amendment or our rights would be eaten away and eroded each day.”

Rittenhouse visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November 2021, shortly after he was acquitted of all charges for killing two people and seriously wounding another during the anti-racism and anti–police brutality protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that summer. Rittenhouse “was a fan,” Trump gushed on Fox News afterward. Not anymore.

It seems Rittenhouse isn’t the only one feeling disappointed with Trump’s trajectory. The former president has also been receiving quite a bit of unsolicited advice from his followers on Truth Social.

Beneath a post Thursday night that celebrated the election of Tennessee state Senator Bobby Harshbarger, whom Trump had previously endorsed, Trump’s followers pleaded with him to change his approach to the presidential race, according to Raw Story.

Multiple Truth Social users begged Trump to lay off his personal attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Mr President I hope you are doing well I just want to say that you need not put kamela down as a person,” wrote user @stopeow. “Women hate that.”

Another user, @Th3ManyFacedGod, wrote, “You have to change the noise and start attacking Kamala Harris policy stances and not Kamala Harris the person!!!”

A third Truth Social user accused Trump of “blowing it.”

“Come on Trump. I love you, but STOP giving them ammunition!” wrote user @nanadof7. “Just say ‘who cares what she is? Is she qualified?’ I thought you were smarter than that but you’re acting like a dumbass. Don’t lose this election for us! Call Kelly Ann and listen to somebody smarter than you. You’re blowing it.”

Earlier this week, Trump took some particularly ugly shots at Harris, questioning her race and suggesting she hadn’t passed the bar exam, leaving Republican lawmakers “embarrassed” and “uncomfortable,” according to The Hill. Trump has since doubled down on his race-based attacks on Harris, signaling an unwillingness to change course.