This article was first published in the On the Trail 2024 newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox on Tuesday and Friday mornings here. To submit a question to next week’s Friday Mailbag, email onthetrail@deseretnews.com.
Hello, friends. Donald Trump visits Utah this weekend for a fundraiser, marking a presidential candidate’s first visit to the state since Kamala Harris fundraised here in June.
3 things to know
- Harris and Trump squared off in what will likely be their only debate Tuesday. (Trump made as much clear.) Vice President Kamala Harris was forceful and disciplined, and former President Trump often seemed exasperated and angry. The most interesting moment, to me, were the closing statements: Harris looked to the camera and promised to be a president “who cares about you,” and Trump turned to Harris and blasted her for being “the worst vice president in the history of our country.” Even Trump’s surrogates in the spin room afterward stopped short of declaring him the victor. Read more here.
- The debate moved the needle for at least one voter: Taylor Swift, who announced her endorsement of Harris Tuesday night. Another notable reaction: Sen. Mitt Romney said Harris showed “she’s an intelligent, capable person who has a point of view on issues.” While Romney stopped short of making an endorsement, he effectively declared Harris the winner of the debate, calling Trump’s outing “a classic Trump performance.” Read more here.
- The city of Springfield, Ohio, is suffering after online conspiracy theories regarding its immigrant population were amplified by Trump on the debate stage. Chaos has ensued. On Thursday, Springfield’s city hall was evacuated because of a bomb threat. This piece offers a personal window into the lives of immigrants, some of them Haitians, in the U.S. Read more here.
The big idea
2 months since the assassination attempt
Two months ago today, Trump survived an assassination attempt. Less than a week later, at the Republican National Convention, he said he’d tell that story one time, but never again — “because it’s actually too painful to tell.”
Now, his allies are pushing him to tell it more.
Some in Trump’s inner circle are frustrated that the story of Trump’s assassination has not maintained the level of public interest they feel it deserves. The historic incident — Trump was the first president or presidential candidate injured in an assassination attempt since former President Ronald Reagan in 1981 — soon competed for space in an equally historic news cycle: President Joe Biden became the first incumbent president to withdraw from a reelection race since 1968, and Harris — the first Black and Asian American woman atop a major-party ticket — became the Democratic nominee.
“While the American people remember that fateful day, the far-left media is determined to erase it from history, as ABC demonstrated in the presidential debate by not asking a single question about the attempted assassination,” Halee Dobbins, the Republican National Committee’s communications director for Arizona and Nevada, told the Deseret News.
The effort to remind Americans of July 13 accelerated with the addition of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Trump’s orbit. Kennedy has long expressed doubt about the events surrounding the assassinations of his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy. When Trump pulled Kennedy onstage to accept his endorsement in Arizona last month, Trump vowed to create a “new presidential commission on assassination attempts” if elected, which both investigate his attempted assassination and JFK’s murder.
“I think there’s still a lot of questions about what happened that need to be answered, and I’m hoping that happens,” Kennedy told the Deseret News.
Kennedy has discussed the assassination attempt with Trump, including on the night of July 13, just hours after the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“He said, ‘Do you believe in God?’” Kennedy recalled Trump asking him during a phone call that night. “I said, ‘yeah.’ And he said, ‘I think I do now as well.’”
“I think the incident changed him,” Kennedy added.
Two days after the shooting, Trump made his first public appearance, his ear bandaged, at the Republican National Convention. He received a hero’s welcome. Three days later, during his acceptance speech, he detailed his experience of the shooting. “I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” he declared. “Yes, you are!” the crowd chanted in return. “Yes, you are!”
Trump has since spoken about the incident in varied levels of detail. When Elon Musk asked him about the shooting during a livestream on Aug. 12, Trump spoke about what happened in detail, and said he planned to go back to Butler, Pennsylvania, for another rally. In an interview with podcaster Monica Crowley, released Aug. 29, Trump implied that the assassination attempt may have been an inside job. “It’s very suspicious,” he said. Trump mentions the shooting often at rallies. And during the debate Tuesday, Trump tried to blame Democrats for what happened: “I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me,” he said, gesturing toward Harris. “They talk about democracy, I’m a threat to democracy.”
Individuals close to Trump are also raising questions. Former first lady Melania Trump released a video this week in which she called for an investigation, saying there is “definitely more to this story” and “we need to uncover the truth.” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, sent a letter to the Senate Homeland Security Committee this week, pressing them to investigate Google for allegedly steering users away from searching about the assassination. And Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has repeatedly criticized the media for not focusing on the assassination. “If you got your news only from the MSM, you’d think the attempted assassination of Donald Trump never happened,” he posted on X.
A vast majority Americans fear more violence before Election Day, according to a Deseret News/HarrisX poll in August. Over three-fourths — 77% — of respondents said they are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about more political violence before the presidential election in November. Among Republicans, the figure is even higher: 80% say they are concerned.
As Trump rallies in Las Vegas tonight, the assassination attempt will likely be top of mind. “Two months ago, a heinous act shook our nation to its core when an evil individual attempted to assassinate President Trump,” Dobbins, the RNC’s Nevada communications director, said in a statement in anticipation of Trump’s visit. “This event was not just an attack on one man, but on all of us.”
Poll pulse
- Will Harris get a post-debate bump? According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday, she might: Harris leads Trump 47% to 42% in that poll, a slight uptick from her four-percent-point lead in late August. This latest poll was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, just after the debate. (Nate Silver’s breakdown is helpful.)
- How is your basic civics knowledge? If you’re the median American, it’s probably not great: according to a recent Annenberg Public Policy Center survey, less than half of U.S. adults can name most of the rights protected in the First Amendment. Only two-thirds could name all three branches of government.
Weekend reads
On Springfield, Ohio: This piece does a great job of noting what is accurate, what isn’t and why this is a conversation about something much bigger than a policy dispute. MAGA’S Anti-Haitian Cat-Panic Isn’t Really About Immigration (Zaid Jilani, The Dispatch)
We live in an unprecedented scientific age: the rise of AI, the threat of cyberwarfare, the recent memory of a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic. None of that got any airtime during the debate, and we have very little insight into how the candidates would, say, handle the next emerging virus. Does Kamala Harris Believe in Evolution? (Daniel Engber, The Atlantic)
Only one person in U.S. history has served both as White House counsel and as attorney general. That person, Alberto R. Gonzales, a Republican who served under George W. Bush, is endorsing Harris. Trump, by Gonzales’ measure, would “abuse” the power of the presidency “for personal and political gain.” Will Gonzales’ ex-boss follow suit in endorsing? That remains to be seen. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Will Support Kamala Harris (Politico)
BONUS: Two Christian Conservatives Debate the Merits of Voting for Kamala Harris (Ross Douthat and David French, The New York Times)
See you on the trail.
Editor’s Note: The Deseret News is committed to covering issues of substance in the 2024 presidential race from its unique perspective and editorial values. Our team of political reporters will bring you in-depth coverage of the most relevant news and information to help you make an informed decision. Find our complete coverage of the election here.