Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin might be stripping away billions of dollars in grants, but at least he’s delivering hard-hitting information on beloved MAGA conspiracies.  After posting a video on X Thursday in which Zeldin announced a new website dispelling the concerns over chemtrails and contrails, he seems to be butting heads with his fellow Cabinet members. “The Trump EPA is committed to total transparency. I tasked my team @EPA to compile everything we know about contrails and geoengineering to release to you now publicly. I want you to know EVERYTHING I know about these topics, and without ANY exception!” he wrote in the caption. x YouTube Video The new website lists contrails as a “normal” effect left behind by jets and the right-wing conspiratorial chemtrails as "inaccurate.” But while Zeldin is shutting down conspiracies, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might not be too pleased.  Kennedy has been adamant about his mission to stop the “crime” of chemtrails since last year. And in April, the MAHA guru even took the conspiracy to Dr. Phil. “That is not happening in my agency. We don’t do that. It’s done—we think—by DARPA, and a lot of it now is coming out of the jet fuel. Those materials are put in jet fuel,” he said. “I’m going to do everything in my power to stop it. We’re bringing on somebody who’s gonna think only about that, find out who’s doing that and hold them accountable.” Related | RFK Jr. fails to solve yet another MAGA conspiracy Of course, Kennedy’s not the only MAGA supporter pushing the idea. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has been a longtime supporter of weather modification, like cloud seeding and chemtrails In the wake of the recent Texas flooding, the conspiracy that extreme weather is caused in some capacity by some sort of weather modification has taken hold in the online zeitgeist.  And while Zeldin didn’t directly address that in his video, it’s likely that he’s trying to quell some of those theories. Time will tell if he’s successful.

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Watch Trump being creepy—and dumb—again There are many things you can call Trump—”appropriate” or a “feminist” is not one of them. Texas Republicans are trying to rig the map for the next election Sure, Texas just suffered a catastrophic flood, but the GOP wants to focus on gerrymandering instead. Look just how much red counties depend on the government they hate Red states are like those grown-up kids who yell about how much they hate their parents while living in their basement. Cartoon: MAGAvision Everything is upside-down. You won't believe how badly Kristi Noem bungled Texas flood response When in doubt, blame fake news. Outgoing GOP senator finally finds his spine and shreds Pete Hegseth Laying blame is easy when you have one foot out the door. Transportation secretary takes his lack of expertise to NASA So many jobs, so much incompetence. Click here to see more cartoons.

The U.S. Army is facing increasing backlash from families of the 67 people killed in January’s catastrophic midair collision over the Potomac River, with relatives accusing military officials of evasion, stonewalling, and refusing to take responsibility. In a letter sent this week to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, 168 family members of the victims expressed their profound disappointment with the Army’s conduct during the ongoing investigation. According to The Washington Post, they criticized the military’s pattern of silence and secrecy, especially compared to the responsiveness shown by other agencies. “The Army’s approach contrasts sharply with the more collaborative stance taken by other organizations involved in this incident and raises serious questions about its commitment to transparency and accountability,” the letter reads. Salvage crews recover wreckage near the site in the Potomac River of the midair collision between an American Eagle jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter. At the heart of the families’ frustration is the Army’s refusal to engage meaningfully with them, even though other parties involved in the tragedy—such as the National Transportation Safety Board and the Department of Transportation—have been more forthcoming. The crash happened when an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Eagle Flight 5342 as the commercial jet was making its final approach to Reagan National Airport. The letter highlights the Army’s particularly egregious decision to withhold an unclassified ADS-B policy memo from Congress, only releasing it under threat of subpoena. The equipment, which detects and helps avoid potential collisions, was reportedly not transmitting from the Army helicopter during the accident, a detail uncovered by the NTSB. “These actions demonstrate the Army’s willingness to circumvent official processes and resist oversight when deflecting scrutiny. At the same time, the Army has cited process while persistently refusing to accept responsibility or even acknowledge the families throughout these ordeals,” the letter continues.  According to relatives, Army officials held a single initial meeting after the crash but then disappeared. They added that updates, when they came, were often dropped during holidays, which they suspect was meant to minimize press coverage. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, who initially pledged support for the victims, only fueled more outrage. In the days following the tragedy, he offered a series of bizarre and baseless theories, blaming everything from diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to President Barack Obama and dwarfism. None of these claims had any connection to the crash, nor were they supported by evidence. Related | Trump transportation flunky tries to blame plane crashes on Biden Even as the NTSB continues its investigation, families say that the Army has failed to meet the moment. A defense official confirmed to the Post that senior Army leaders now plan to meet with affected families later this month, alongside the NTSB’s public hearings. But for many relatives, this may come far too late. Some families, like that of co-pilot Sam Lilley, are especially outraged. Lilley’s father, Tim—himself a former Black Hawk pilot—said that the crash reveals training shortcomings and a culture of complacency within the military unit involved.  The Army’s inspector general has refused to open an independent audit into the incident, despite bipartisan support and congressional pressure, another sore point raised in the letter. “Given that this is the deadliest incident involving U.S. civilian casualties caused by the military in modern history, the Army has a heightened responsibility to ensure full public transparency and urgent implementation of meaningful safety reforms,” the letter reads. “The scale of this tragedy demands complete cooperation and accountability from all parties involved—including the U.S. Army.”  Their requests are straightforward: Appoint a family liaison, hold a full meeting with families, and support the congressional audits.  It’s a simple ask after an unspeakable loss. But once again, the Trump administration—and its military leadership—appear more interested in covering their tracks than confronting hard truths.

Consider supporting my work so I can continue creating it: Substack: https://nickanderson.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/editorialcartoons Ko-Fi: https://www.patreon.com/c/editorialcartoons Related | Watch Trump make it weird when reporter asks about Epstein

Cue Jeff Goldblum in “Jurassic Park”: The lower courts … find a way. U.S. Federal District Judge Joseph Laplante just did what the Supreme Court conservatives told him to do—and they’re likely furious.  In Barbara v. Trump, one of the cases challenging President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order, Laplante granted the plaintiffs’ request to provisionally certify a nationwide class and a preliminary injunction blocking the order from applying to everyone in that class. Voila! It’s a nationwide injunction, without being a nationwide injunction.  The class is composed of all children in the country who would potentially be affected by Trump’s executive order, which was set to take effect on July 27. Now, babies born to undocumented parents on or after Feb. 20, 2025, will be protected from having their citizenship stripped away based on nothing but a racist, unconstitutional executive order.  The Trump administration has continued to argue that it’s irreparably harmed by not being able to disregard the Fourteenth Amendment and immediately deport babies, but Laplante was having none of it.  Laplante wrote in his order that he had “no difficulty concluding that the rapid adoption by executive order, without legislation and the attending national debate, of a new government policy of highly questionable constitutionality that would deny citizenship to many thousands of individuals previously granted citizenship under an indisputably longstanding policy, constitutes irreparable harm.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett This complicated maneuver is the only path forward for nationwide relief after last month’s birthright citizenship decision in Trump v. CASA, when the Supreme Court’s conservative majority did Trump’s bidding by barring lower courts from issuing nationwide injunctions in almost all occasions.  In her majority opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett justified kneecapping the rest of the judiciary by saying that parties could just file class actions. But Barrett knows full well that federal courts have been making it harder to bring class actions for years. And she certainly was aware that the Trump administration is simply going to oppose class action certification, which is exactly what it did to the plaintiffs in CASA.  When Laplante’s decision inevitably makes its way up to the Supreme Court, Trump knows he has a friend, as per usual, in Justice Samuel Alito, who used his concurrence in CASA to wag his finger at both the plaintiffs and the lower courts and let them know he’s not really interested in class action relief either. “But district courts should not view today’s decision as an invitation to certify nationwide classes without scrupulous adherence to the rigors of Rule 23. Otherwise, the universal injunction will return from the grave under the guise of ‘nationwide class relief,’ and today’s decision will be of little more than minor academic interest,” he wrote. Seriously, man. You already have the Supreme Court gig. You don’t need to toady this hard every time. We get it: You love Trump, you hate immigrants, and you’re going to twist the law into knots to help destroy the Fourteenth Amendment.  But until Trump runs to the Supreme Court to make this go away, this class action stops his birthright citizenship order in its tracks.  Getting nationwide relief this way is complicated, but it’s necessary. The plaintiffs are fighting the Trump administration, but lower court judges have also found themselves locked in a battle with a lawless Supreme Court, which essentially decided that lower courts are enemies who must be stopped from thwarting Trump.  But the lower courts are the ones that are following the rule of law. Someone’s got to.

One of the most enduring conservative myths is that of the self-reliant, salt-of-the-earth, rural-dwelling American who pulls himself up by his bootstraps, wrestles a steer before breakfast, and builds his own house out of patriotism and chewing tobacco because, by god, they sure do love America!  If that were ever true, it hasn’t been for a while. These days, rural America is largely dependent on the federal government it claims to hate. In fact, far from self-reliant, rural America is subsidized by blue states. And it’s not even close. The Economic Innovation Group, a bipartisan public policy organization, has put together a map tracking the share of every county’s personal income that’s made up of government transfers, which include Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, food assistance, and veterans benefits—money specifically sent or spent on individuals.  I circled some of the country’s largest metropolitan areas to highlight how stark the urban-rural disparity can be. The metros around Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco all show minimal (less than 15% of personal income) or moderate (15% to less than 25%) reliance on government transfers. Rural America, meanwhile, is a glowing sea of government-dependent yellow. The South in particular looks like it took a bath in it. There are reasons for this. Rural regions have a big share of older people, given decades of young people fleeing for big cities. And while there is evidence of that trend reversing since 2020, due largely to the proliferation of remote work, rural areas still tend to be older than large metros. And more older people in a county means a bigger share of that country drawing Social Security and Medicare. And rural areas are more dependent on Medicaid. Government benefits are a good thing, so none of this is inherently bad, per se. But it does mean those rural areas are dependent on the very social safety net that Republicans are gleefully hacking apart with their cuts on Medicaid, food assistance, and the like. They’re also poorer than expensive urban regions, so they rely more on federal food assistance to eat.  But hey, that’s what these voters asked for. Rural areas lean heavily Republican, and farming-dependent counties voted for Trump at an eye-popping average of 78%. Maybe they were just eager to get back to some serious bootstrap-pulling, or maybe they thought the government cheese tasted better if it came with a side of moral superiority and immigrant-blaming. And can anyone actually eat when a handful of trans girls might be playing high school sports? They sure had their priorities!  And don’t worry, rural Republican voters: Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, gets a tax cut. Which he definitely needed. For reasons. 

A cartoon by Pedro Molina. Related | Watch Trump make it weird when reporter asks about Epstein

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's cost-cutting measures at the Federal Emergency Management Agency slowed search and rescue efforts in Texas by 72 hours, possibly costing some of the at least 120 lives lost in the devastating natural disaster, CNN reported. According to CNN, Noem created a new policy that requires her to personally sign off on any costs greater than $100,000. The Urban Search and Rescue crews seeking to be deployed to the Texas Hill Country—where hundreds of people were swept away by the rapidly rising rivers after heavy rainstorms—met that criteria. But CNN reported that Noem didn't approve the deployment of those search and rescue crews until Monday—three days after the floods swept through Texas. From CNN’s report: As central Texas towns were submerged in rising waters, FEMA officials realized they couldn’t pre-position Urban Search and Rescue crews from a network of teams stationed regionally across the country. In the past, FEMA would have swiftly staged these teams, which are specifically trained for situations including catastrophic floods, closer to a disaster zone in anticipation of urgent requests, multiple agency sources told CNN. But even as Texas rescue crews raced to save lives, FEMA officials realized they needed Noem’s approval before sending those additional assets. Noem didn’t authorize FEMA’s deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding began, multiple sources told CNN. DHS tried to deny that Noem’s incompetence hindered the search and rescue efforts. But their denial actually proved the CNN story. DHS said in a post on X, “President Trump approved a Major Disaster Declaration, hours after Governor Greg Abbott’s request. By Tuesday, FEMA had deployed 311 staffers, providing support and shelter for hundreds of people. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is reforming FEMA to prioritize state-led, locally executed disaster response, as Texas has exemplified.” That means that CNN’s report was correct, that it took until Tuesday for FEMA to deploy the search and rescue teams. Noem appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, where she was asked about the CNN report. But instead of providing evidence that she swiftly approved the search and rescue teams, she only attacked CNN—classic deflection that did not actually deny the report. “CNN has a report accusing you of slowing the process in Texas,” one of the hosts asked Noem, to which she replied, “Well there you go. Fake news CNN is absolutely trash, what they are doing.” x x YouTube Video Noem, for her part, has implemented the cost-cutting measures in DHS that hamstrung the search and rescue efforts in Texas even as she spends hundreds of millions galavanting around the country and globe cosplaying for PR stunts and visiting the torture camps she's gleefully sending immigrants to. A Wall Street Journal report from April said Noem spent $9 million on a television ad advising immigrants to self-deport. She also sported a $50,000 Rolex watch on a visit to the CECOT prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration illegally deported immigrants against court orders. Noem is also seeking a $50 million private jet to transport her to the stunts she's carrying out. Turns out, Noem cares more about creating torture porn than she does about saving lives. 

Sen. Thom Tillis may be heading for the exits, but he’s not leaving quietly. The retiring Republican from North Carolina—who stunned the political world in June, when he announced he wouldn’t seek reelection—suggested to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday that he regrets casting the deciding vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “With the passing of time, I think it’s clear he’s out of his depth as a manager of a large, complex organization,” Tillis said, pointing to Hegseth inadvertently sharing military attack plans with a journalist and, more recently, pausing weapons shipments to Ukraine without informing the White House. “That’s just amateurish,” he added about the Ukraine pause. “That’s from somebody who doesn’t understand large organization dynamics.” x x YouTube Video It’s the first time Tillis has spoken at length with the national media since his retirement announcement, which came just one day after President Donald Trump threatened to back a primary challenger over Tillis’ opposition to the bill carrying Trump’s domestic agenda. Trump also threatened Tillis earlier this year. In January, Tillis reportedly worked behind the scenes to corroborate abuse allegations against Hegseth, and even urged Senate GOP leadership to pull the nomination. But after Trump floated backing a primary challenge, Tillis folded and voted “yes,” despite concerns about Hegseth’s alleged history of excessive drinking and alleged abuse of women. Now that reelection’s off the table, Tillis admits he might’ve voted differently if the confirmation came up today. “If all I had was the information on the day of the vote, I’d certainly vote for him again,” he told CNN. “But now I have the information of him being a manager, and I don’t think his probationary period has been very positive.” Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears at House hearing on May 14. Tillis also voiced regret about another Cabinet pick he supported—Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—but Tillis said he relied on the judgment of fellow Republicans in both instances. For Hegseth, it was the Armed Services Committee. For Kennedy, it was Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who has a medical degree and chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. “The main reason I supported Kennedy was because Bill Cassidy thought that we should see how it plays out,” he said.  Tillis also took a swipe at Trump’s new domestic policy law, which will slash Medicaid and food-assistance benefits to partially fund tax cuts and immigration enforcement. Only three Republican senators voted against it—Tillis among them. “What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding’s not there anymore?” Tillis said in a scathing floor speech as the bill was going through Congress. But even now Tillis avoids criticizing Trump directly, instead blaming the president’s inner circle. “What the president needs to do is start really looking at the outcome of some of these policy decisions and ask himself, is he really getting the best professional advice?” he told CNN, adding, “But as somebody who's been in elected office for 20 years at the leadership level in the statehouse and doing all I can up here, I hope that [Trump] starts listening to more of us and fewer of those people who pretend like they're the president when he's out of the room.” x x YouTube Video Tillis may be free to speak his mind now. But for those living with the fallout of his votes—especially the one that put Hegseth in charge—it’s too little, too late.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is adding another role to his current gig, for which he has no qualifications, as interim NASA chief—a position in which he is similarly unqualified. We are all being forced to see Duffy cosplay as an astronaut because President Donald Trump and Elon Musk got in a slap fight. One of the many pieces of fallout from that breakup was Trump’s pulling Jason Isaacman as his NASA nominee to spite Musk, who picked Isaacman. Just think: Duffy will bring the same gravitas and capability to NASA that he has brought to the crises at the Federal Aviation Administration—blaming President Joe Biden, moving Jesus out of the basement, muttering like a weirdo about how everything at the FAA went to hell because you can no longer say “cockpit.” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks to the media at the White House on May 6. To be fair, Duffy was always going to be out of his depth. His ”Real World” experience has not exactly translated to actual real world experience. But—like so many others in the Trump administration—what he lacks in skill, he makes up for in pugnaciousness. Duffy is happiest when he goes to his safe space, Fox News, to raise the alarm about how the New York City Subway is now basically just ”The Warriors”. Hopefully he isn’t as afraid of spaceflight as he is the mere thought of public transit.  It isn’t clear if Duffy’s time playing boss means that he will oversee the imminent decimation of the agency, slated to shed more than 2,000 employees. Unlike Duffy, those people have decades of relevant and specialized experience, and the loss to NASA will be catastrophic.  For whatever reason, Trump has an utter disinterest in NASA at the moment. During the Trump-Musk bromance, it looked like the real goal was to let Musk privatize NASA and turn it into a money machine for SpaceX, but that dream is dead. Hence, treating running one of the most beloved, iconic, and scientifically complex agencies in the United States like driving for Uber to make a few bucks.  Related | Kash Patel loses ATF gig as Trump kills gun safety measures Take Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who got his high-level post because he was one of Trump’s criminal defense attorneys. After Trump ousted the librarian of Congress as part of his war on DEI, he put Blanche in that role, too. Sure, why not? There’s no doubt that Duffy is hoping his sojourn at NASA will not end in mysterious ignominy, as when FBI Director Kash Patel lost his night job running the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Some folks just have trouble holding down two jobs.  All of these guys are pikers compared to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Besides being in charge of U.S. foreign policy, he’s also the national security adviser, the acting archivist, and the acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development.  Then again, that may have changed even by the time you read this. But rest assured that Trump will continue throwing top government jobs around as patronage—or punishment.

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump threatened businesses that send jobs south of the border, while his own company that runs the Truth Social platform outsourced coding jobs to workers in Mexico, outraging some staff members. by Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski, for ProPublica ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Donald Trump’s social media company outsourced jobs to workers in Mexico even as Trump publicly railed against outsourcing on the campaign trail and threatened heavy tariffs on companies that send jobs south of the border. The firm’s use of workers in Mexico was confirmed by a spokesperson for Trump Media, which operates the Truth Social platform. The workers were hired through another entity to code and perform other technical duties, according to a person with knowledge of Trump Media. The reliance on foreign labor was met with outrage among the company's own staff, who accused its leadership of betraying their “America First” ideals, the person said. The outsourcing to Mexico helped prompt a recent whistleblower letter from staff to Trump Media’s board that has been roiling the company. RELATED STORY:Truth Social stock craters on first day Trump can sell his shares

Vice President Kamala Harris gets personal in what is likely the final ad for her 2024 campaign. xMy mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, came to the United States from India at 19. She taught me and my sister, Maya, about courage and determination. It is thanks to her that I am ready to lead us forward. pic.twitter.com/rVdVAIylTe— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 4, 2024 Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis narrates the ad while Beyonce’s “Freedom,” the campaign’s unofficial anthem, plays in the background. The clip opens with a shot of an infant being cradled by a mother.  “Something cracks open inside you when you become a mother,” Davis says. “You realize long after you're gone, these children will be your legacy. This mother came to America at 19 years old. She stood five feet tall, but she stood tall. Becoming a cancer researcher, birthing two daughters, Kamala and Maya, and, with them, she birthed her legacy.”

Tim Alberta’s weekend story in The Atlantic about the finger-pointing and blame-casting inside Donald Trump’s campaign is must-read.  Let’s take a deeper look into it.  

A cartoon by Tim Campbell. Campaign Action

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. 'We believe in each other': Harris closes campaign with message of hope When he goes low, we go high. Harris leads in the one Iowa poll that matters—with major national implications It’s so close, but this poll gives us hope. Watch right-wing Washington Post columnist quit and walk off livestream There’s nothing better than a Republican hissy fit on air. Trump’s team cooks up wild new theory for why he's going to win When in doubt, just make up your own numbers. Trump campaign running out of steam in Michigan There’s a limit for how much hot air Trump can blow at his rallies before people leave. MAGA must be so proud: Trump appears to perform sex act on mic stand The circle of insanity is complete. Cartoon: The Puppeteer It’s clear who is pulling the strings. No noise, just policy: Where Trump and Harris stand on guns One of them advocates using violence against dissenters, for instance. State of the Race: Leave everything on the field Because at the end of the day, it’s about voters showing up.

This four-part series examines the candidates' positions and policy proposals in an effort to cut through the noise and highlight where Kamala Harris and Donald Trump stand on critical issues facing Americans in this election. Information is sourced from campaign websites and what the candidates have said on the trail and in interviews. The contrast between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on gun policy highlights a significant ideological divide within American politics—with potentially fatal consequences.  Throughout her campaign, Harris has pushed back on the GOP narrative that lawmakers who support common-sense reforms actually want to take away people’s guns. Trump and Republicans are clearly out of touch on this issue, with research showing that six in 10 Americans favor stricter gun laws.  Trump has little mention of guns on his campaign website or policy agenda. He’s a “life member” of the National Rifle Association and has the group’s endorsement. Despite this affiliation, Trump canceled an appearance at an NRA event in October—one of many appearances the former president bailed on in the runup to the Nov. 5 election.  Kamala Harris’ Gun Policy Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally on Oct. 28 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Harris advocates for proactive measures aimed at reducing gun violence in “schools, communities, and places of worship,” appealing to a majority of the electorate that favors stricter gun laws. Her proposals reflect a comprehensive strategy designed to address mass shootings and tackle the systemic issues surrounding gun violence across the nation. Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines Assault weapons with high-capacity magazines can shoot multiple rounds in seconds and kill or injure scores of people during a violent outburst. These differ dramatically from handguns and hunting rifles. Harris proposes banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in an effort to reduce the death and destruction caused by mass shootings in America.  Support red flag laws  Red flag laws are legal provisions that allow law enforcement agencies or family members to use the court system to temporarily remove guns from those who are deemed a danger to themselves or others. A few states have passed these regulations, and Harris says she’ll support red flag laws to “keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.” Require universal background checks These laws require all gun buyers to undergo a background check, regardless of how or where they purchase the firearm. This would include private sales, gun shows, and online purchases. A key goal of universal background checks is closing the gun show loophole, which lets patrons purchase firearms on the spot without any background checks. Invest in law enforcement to combat community gun violence Harris supports investing in police departments, including hiring and training officers and people to support them, such as mental health care workers. Her campaign website highlights how the vice president helped deliver “the largest investment in public safety ever,” which included $15 billion for local law enforcement and community safety programs across the country. She wants to build upon proven gun violence prevention programs that have helped reduce violent crime nationwide. x x YouTube Video Donald Trump’s Gun Policy Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on Nov. 1 in Warren, Michigan. Trump's lack of specific gun policy proposals signals that he intends to maintain the status quo, appealing to his gun-loving base and aligning with the NRA. His repeated false claims that Harris seeks to «confiscate your guns» resonates with the Republicans who feel threatened by potential changes to gun laws.  Unspecific stance other than to preserve “the right to keep and bear arms” According to Trump’s 2024 Republican Platform, he and the GOP will “defend our constitution, our bill of rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms.” Attack the opponent’s stance Trump's campaign has said that he will «terminate every single one of the Harris-Biden's attacks on law-abiding gun owners his first week in office and stand up for our constitutionally enshrined right to bear arms.» The former president also regularly declares in his stump speeches that Harris wants to “confiscate your guns”—something she consistently denies. This article is part of a four-part series. The previous entries explored the economy and health care policy.  Daily Kos is working overtime to cover this election. Unfortunately, ad revenue alone can't support our operations, so we need your help. Please support our work with a $5 donation. Campaign Action

A cartoon by Clay Bennett. Campaign Action

The former president’s attempts to shift toward the political center this summer angered extremist supporters. To win them back, Trump renewed his attacks on immigrants. It worked. By Eric Pape, for Capital & Main When Kamala Harris quickly took the lead in most national and swing state polls in early August and consolidated her advance deep into September, Donald Trump tried to move toward the center to win over potentially decisive moderate voters. On the far right, some saw this as betrayal. Christian nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes lambasted Trump for going weak-kneed on issues like abortion and the 2020 election results. Fuentes, recalling his past glee over MAGA, questioned whether it still made sense to vote for Trump. In the latter half of the summer, Fuentes was hardly the only prominent far-right influencer or media voice dissatisfied with Trump’s presidential campaign. On Aug. 7, Internet personality and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer posted about “weak” Trump surrogates speaking on his behalf and calling for him to tap into “better talent in his arsenal.” She hinted at infighting, saying, “A lot of people are wondering why so many people with talent are being sidelined.” She said that the situation “needs to change FAST because we can’t talk about a stolen election for another 4 years.” It is, she added, “Time for some offense.” The next day, Fuentes — whom Trump helped make famous when the self-described neo-Nazi and the rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) dined with him at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 — escalated his warnings in a post on X (formerly Twitter), where he has 423,000 followers. The Trump campaign, he wrote, had been “hijacked by the same consultants, lobbyists, & donors that he defeated in 2016, and they’re blowing it.” In a post that has been viewed 2.7 million times, Fuentes warned, “Without serious changes, we are headed for a catastrophic loss.” Right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has 5.7 million followers on X, put out a podcast episode a week later entitled “MAGA Civil War!? What’s going on with the Trump Campaign.” The main gripe of all three — and many others — was that Trump wasn’t attacking hard enough on immigration.

The polls show the race neck and neck. And congrats to those of you who are more motivated by being behind: If the final election results were to mirror current polling, Vice President Kamala Harris would lose the election to Donald Trump. But what if the polls don’t match reality? 

Ann Selzer’s Iowa Poll for the Des Moines Register came out Saturday, and it’s a political thermonuclear bomb: Kamala Harris: 47 Donald Trump: 44 The previous poll had Trump up 47-43 in September, and leading President Joe Biden 50-32 in June. And this matters far beyond saying “it’s just one poll.”