WTF Just Happened Today

Matt Kiser
  • 4.9 (444)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED DAILY
WTF Just Happened Today Podcast

Your essential guide to the daily shock and awe in national politics.

  1. 6 HR. AGO

    Day 1338: "Contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior."

    1/ The Springfield City School District has received 36 shooting and bomb threats since Trump and JD Vance falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants were eating pets, forcing local schools to move classes online and cancel on-campus events. Despite no verifiable evidence or credible reports support the claims, Vance, nevertheless, defended his baseless comments, saying that “the media has a responsibility to fact-check” stories – not him. (The Guardian / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Axios) 2/ At least 111 former Republican national security officials endorsed Kamala Harris, calling Trump “unfit to serve again as president.” In a letter to the public, the Republicans conclude that Trump cannot be trusted “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic […] and bear true faith and allegiance to the same. They add that Trump “promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests and betrayed our values, democracy and this country’s founding documents.” Together, they condemned Trump’s “dangerous qualities,” including his “unusual affinity” for dictators like Putin and “contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior.” (New York Times) 3/ The Georgia Election Integrity Coalition – a group of officials and election deniers – is reportedly planning to call the results of November’s election into question before a single vote is cast. Emails obtained as a result of a public records request sent to David Hancock, an election denier and member of the Gwinnett county board of elections, reveal the behind-the-scenes effort to enact denier-based policies and portray the coming election as beset with fraud. Separately, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger sent a letter to the State Election Board, criticizing “the absurdity of the board’s actions” to vote on more than a dozen new election rules and procedures so late in the process. The proposed package of election rules require that a polling place’s manager and two witnesses hand-count the paper ballots in every ballot box, hand counting of absentee ballots, requiring the public posting of all registered voters, and expanding access for poll watchers. Last month, the board approved a new rule requiring a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying state elections. The measure allows local officials to refuse or delay certification of a county’s election results. (The Guardian / New York Times / NPR / Rolling Stone) 4/ The FBI is investigating suspicious packages containing “an unknown substance” sent to elections officials in more than 16 states. None of the mail has been dee...

    5 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    Day 1337: "Absolute assurances."

    1/ Senate Republicans blocked legislation to federally protect access to in vitro fertilization. The package, called the Right to IVF Act, would establish a nationwide right “to receive fertility treatment from a health care provider, in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based medical standards of care,” in addition to ensuring insurance coverage for such treatments. It’s the second time that Republicans, despite Trump’s statements supporting the fertility treatment, have filibustered the Democratic legislation. Kamala Harris said Republicans “have once again made clear that they will not protect access to the fertility treatments many couples need [and] their opposition to a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own body is extreme, dangerous, and wrong.” (CBS News / CNN / Politico) 2/ A sheriff in Ohio urged residents to “write down” the addresses of Harris supporters for future reference. Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski suggested he’d use the list to send undocumented immigrants, who he called “human locust,” to those homes. Zuchowski is seeking reelection. It’s against federal law to intimidate voters into not casting their vote of their choice. (NBC News / Washington Post) 3/ Nearly 100,000 people in Arizona may not be eligible to vote after officials discovered an error that incorrectly marked these voters with having provided documented proof of citizenship when it’s unclear whether they have. After more than two decades, officials discovered that about 98,000 of the state’s 4.1 million registered voters – more registered as Republicans than as Democrats – had been marked as eligible to receive full ballots even though there is no record of them ever providing citizenship documents. Arizona requires proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in state and local elections. If voters do not provide proof of citizenship, they’re registered as what Arizona calls “federal only” voters, who can only vote for president and Congress. Meaning, the issue will not affect the upcoming vote for president or Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat. (Washington Post / Arizona Mirror) 4/ Florida law enforcement officials will conduct their own criminal investigation into the man with a rifle at Trump’s golf course. Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida prosecutors will pursue the most serious charges available under state law, including attempted murder. DeSantis also believes the state’s case should take precedence over the federal prosecution, saying “In my judgment it’s not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious straight-forward offense constitutes a violation of state law, but not federal law.” (NPR / Associated Press) 5/ Speaker Mike Johnson set up a vote...

    4 min

  3. 2 DAYS AGO

    Day 1336: "A piece of garbage."

    1/ A man waited with a rifle for 12 hours at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida before a Secret Service agent spotted him and opened fire. Trump, who was golfing at the club at the time, was unharmed. The FBI said it “appear[ed] to be an attempted assassination.” Ryan Wesley Routh did not have Trump in his sightline and did not fire his semiautomatic rifle. After the Secret Service spotted the muzzle of a gun protruding from the bushes several hundred yards away, Routh fled the scene and left behind his phone, a loaded rifle with a scope, some food, and a digital camera. Routh was pulled over and arrested around 2:14 p.m. after a license-plate reader system reported his vehicle on I-95 – about 45 miles north of Trump International Golf Club. Routh’s cellphone records also show he was near the perimeter of the golf course from about 2 a.m. until 1:31 p.m. He was charged with two gun-related offenses: possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh’s past history of criminal convictions – including possession of a weapon “of mass death and destruction” – barred him from owning a gun. Routh was not accused of trying to kill Trump, but he did self-publish a 2023 book in which he appears to tell readers that they were “free to assassinate Trump.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / Axios / ABC News / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC) 2/ Elon Musk deleted his post wondering why “no one is even trying to assassinate” Biden and Kamala Harris. Following intense backlash, Musk eventually deleted the post and tried to claim it was a “joke” that was “WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.” The White House condemned Musk’s post, saying “violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible.” Meanwhile, Trump blamed the polarized political environment he helped create on Biden and Harris, citing their “rhetoric.” (New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News / a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-dispenses-unity-blames-democrats-apparent-second-assassinatio...

    3 min

  4. 6 DAYS AGO

    Day 1332: "Void for vagueness."

    1/ A North Dakota judge struck down the state’s abortion ban, saying the state constitution creates a “fundamental right” to access abortion before a fetus is viable and restrictions on that right is “a violation on medical freedom.” Judge Bruce Romanick ruled that the abortion ban – one of the strictest in the U.S. – was “unconstitutionally void for vagueness.” The law, enacted by the legislature last year, made the procedure illegal in all cases except rape or incest but only when the woman has been pregnant for less than six weeks, or to “prevent the death or health risk to the pregnant female.” It’s the second time in two years that Romanick has overturned the state’s ban on abortion. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Axios) 2/ An Atlanta-area judge dismissed two charges against Trump in the Georgia election subversion case. A third charge against several of Trump’s co-defendants was also dismissed int the election interference case accusing them of criminally conspiring to try to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Trump now faces eight charges – down from 13 in the original indictment – and all the remaining defendants still stand accused of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy. Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee dismissed the three charges – filing false documents, attempting to file false documents, and criminally conspiring to file false documents – under the supremacy clause, which prohibits state prosecutions of activities that fall under federal jurisdiction. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News) 3/ The New York Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s efforts to overturn the gag order in his New York criminal case, which he was convicted on 34 counts of orchestrating an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election by falsifying business records. The court dismissed Trump’s appeal because “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.” Trump’s gag order, which bars him from making statements outside of court about witnesses, court and Manhattan DA staffers, jurors, prosecutors, and their relatives, will be lifted after he’s sentenced Nov. 26. (NPR / Axios / NBC News) 4/ Trump ruled out another debate with Kamala Harris – two days after he visibly struggled and repeatedly careened between angry rants and bizarre claims about eating pets in their lone showdown. “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!,” Trump posted on his personal social media platform, falsely claiming victory in the debate he did not win. “When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH.’” Multiple post-debate polls, however, reliably show that audiences believe Harris won. (a href="https:/...

    3 min

  5. SEP 12

    Day 1331: "Concepts of a plan."

    1/ Trump had a bad night after Kamala Harris called him “weak,” mocked him, and repeatedly laughed at him during their first – and possibly only – debate. Even before the debate began, Harris walked across the stage to shake Trump’s hand – a self-described germaphobe. “Kamala Harris,” she said, introducing herself as the two met for the first time. “Let’s have a good debate.” Trump replied: “Nice to see you. Have fun.” From there, Trump visibly struggled and repeatedly careened between angry rants and bizarre claims. In the opening minutes, Harris outlined the shape of things to come, saying: “You’re going to hear from the same old tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling,” and that Trump “has no plan for you, because he is more interested in defending himself than he is in looking out for you.” The point was made clear when Trump was asked about his repeated criticism of the Affordable Care Act and whether he had an alternative plan. “I have concepts of a plan,” Trump replied, offering no additional information. On abortion, Trump claimed that it “took courage” to overturn Roe v. Wade, suggested he’s “a leader on fertilization,” falsely claimed that Democrats support abortions “after birth” and are “executing” babies, and that Harris “wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.” Harris responded by saying Trump’s rhetoric is “insulting to the women of America” and that “Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.” At one point Harris referenced people at Trump’s rallies experiencing “exhaustion and boredom,” which provoked Trump to shoot back: “People don’t leave my rallies. The biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.” And then – and then! – Trump veered into a rant about a debunked conspiracy theory that immigrants in Ohio are eating pets. “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,” Trump said, while Harris laughed. Moderator David Muir interjected, saying the city manager told ABC that there have been “no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.” Nevertheless, he persisted: “I’ve seen people on television. The people on television say, ‘My dog was taken and used for food.’” Harris laughed and said: “Talk about extreme.” Later – in his debate with Harris – Trump started talking about Biden, saying: “Where is our president? We don’t even know if he’s the president […] Is he our president? We have a president that doesn’t know he’s alive.” Harris replied: “It is important to remind the former president: You’re not running against Joe Biden; you are running against me.” Harris also used Trump’s continued false allegations about the 2020 election to illustrate how he doesn’t have the temperament to be president, saying: “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people, so let’s be clear about that, and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that.” Harris added that world leaders were “laughing at Donald Trump” and saw him as a “disgrace,” while she offered “a new generation of leadership for our country. One who believes in what is possible and one who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do instead of always disparaging the American people.” (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / a href="https://apnews.com/article/debate-president-trump-harris-takea...

    8 min

  6. SEP 10

    Day 1330: "A dangerous escalation."

    1/ House Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t have the votes to pass a spending bill to avert a government shutdown. Although the House voted 209-206 to approve a rule to debate the funding plan, which includes the SAVE Act, which would bar noncitizens from registering to vote in federal elections, which is already illegal, at least 10 Republicans have indicated they’ll vote “no.” Meaning, Johnson will need Democratic support to pass his plan to push the shutdown deadline into March through the House. Republicans control the House 221-210. The bill, however, is considered dead-on-arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate with Chuck Schumer saying they’d only take up legislation that is “free of poison pills.” The Biden administration also threatened to veto the measure. Government funding runs out on Sept. 30, but Congress is only in session through Sept. 27. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios) 2/ The U.S. accused Iran of sending short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use against Ukraine. “We’ve warned Tehran publicly, we’ve warned Tehran privately, that taking this step would be a dangerous escalation,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “Russia has now received shipments of these missiles.” Russia is expected to use the shipments within weeks. In response, the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany announced new sanctions to inflict “significant economic consequences for Tehran’s actions,” including additional sanctions on Iran Air, the state airline. (NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press) U.S. accuses China of giving ‘very substantial’ help to Russia’s war machine. “In exchange, China is getting top secret Russian military technology.” (Politico) 3/ U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for “fundamental changes” to the way Israeli forces operate in the occupied West Bank after the Israeli military said it was “highly likely” that it killed an American woman during a protest last week. Blinken called the shooting “unprovoked and unjustified,” saying the killing of Aysenur Eygi was “not acceptable” and that “no one should be shot and killed for attending a protest.” The IDF previously said it had responded with fire toward a “main instigator” who was alleged to have been throwing rocks, but later said that Eygi was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire, which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator” of the protest. Blinken, however, did not address the Israeli strike on a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza, which killed at least 19 Palestinians, or offer a plan to alter U.S. weapons support for Israel. (Washington Post / a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/...

    4 min

  7. SEP 9

    Day 1329: "The chosen one."

    1/ Trump’s sentencing for his criminal conviction related to orchestrating an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election will be delayed until after Election Day. The sentencing, which was set for Sept. 18, will instead take place on Nov. 26, Judge Juan Merchan ruled – meaning voters will cast ballots without knowing whether Trump could face jail time for his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Merchan, citing the “unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in,” said he decided to delay Trump’s sentencing from Sept. 18 to Nov. 26 to “to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election.” Merchan also said he’d rule on Trump’s request to overturn the verdict on presidential immunity grounds by Nov. 12. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN) 2/ Trump – baselessly suggesting without evidence that the 2024 election could be stolen from him – threatened to jail his political enemies at a level “never seen before in our Country.” Trump said his lawyers and other allies would be watching polling stations for alleged “cheating,” and “those involved in unscrupulous behavior” will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.” Despite recently admitting that he had “lost” the 2020 election, Trump claimed that “rampant Cheating and Skullduggery” by Democrats had affected the outcome of the election. Biden defeated Trump by over 7 million votes. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Salon / NBC News / Axios) Trump proposed mass deportation of undocumented immigrants if he’s elected, promising that it’ll be “a bloody story.” “Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday, the Republican nominee falsely claimed that ‘crime is through the roof’ — it is near a 50-year low following a spike when he was president — and that it will get worse. ‘You haven’t seen the migrant crime yet,’ he claimed. ‘It started, and it’s vicious, but you haven’t seen the extent of it yet.’” (Salon / a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/09/donald-trump-bloody-s...

    8 min

  8. SEP 5

    Day 1325: "An essential foundation."

    1/ Trump’s federal criminal election interference case resumed after a nearly yearlong delay. The case had been on hold since late last year, when Trump appealed U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision that he’s not entitled to “presidential immunity” from criminal prosecution. Despite two lower courts rejecting Trump’s claim of total immunity, the Supreme Court took up the appeal and ruled in July that Trump is entitled to “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution” for “official acts.” Last week, special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump in a superseding indictment in the case involving an alleged conspiracy to obstruct the results of the 2020 election. The revised indictment kept the same four charges against Trump, but recalibrated the case to adjust to the Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents enjoy sweeping immunity from prosecution for their official conduct. Today, lawyers on both sides sparred over their proposed paths for how the election interference case against Trump should proceed. Chutkan appeared inclined to give prosecutors a chance to lay out the evidence against Trump within the next few weeks. Trump’s attorney, John Lauro, however, pushed back, saying this a “sensitive time” with the presidential election approaching. Chutkan responded: “The electoral process and the timing of the election […] is not relevant here. This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CBS News / CNN / CNBC) 2/ Kamala Harris called for a 28% capital gains tax rate for Americans who earn at least $1 million a year – 10 points lower than Biden’s proposed 39.6% top rate. The current capital gains tax rate is 20%. “While we ensure that the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, we will tax capital gains at a rate that rewards investment in America’s innovators, founders and small businesses,” Harris said. While Trump hasn’t explicitly outlined a position, in 2016 he supported capping capital gains taxes at 20%, and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 calls for a 15% tax on capital gains. (Bloomberg / USA Today / Axios / ABC News / CNN / CNBC) 3/ Trump pledged to cut the corporate tax rate to 15% from...

    7 min
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About

Your essential guide to the daily shock and awe in national politics.

Information

  • Creator
    Matt Kiser
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2024
  • Episodes
    46
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
  • Show Website
    WTF Just Happened Today

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