‘Dangerously liberal’ v ‘just plain weird’: Trump and Harris hone their messaging

Hi there,

We are officially less than 100 days from the US presidential election: sound the klaxon! This week the Trump-Vance campaign has been sharpening its attacks on Kamala Harris, casting her variously as soft on the border and as the second coming of Karl Marx.

But the Democrats are invigorated, and a cast of characters who are new to many voters have come out fighting, criticizing Trump and his running mate as being out of touch, a threat to democracy, and having dangerous beliefs on abortion. The Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, labeled Donald Trump and his bearded vice-presidential candidate “just plain weird” – a line that, for some reason, seems to have really caught people’s imagination.

We’ll take a look at who Harris might choose as her running mate and why JD Vance, the least liked VP nominee in history, is having a rough of a time of it. First, some headlines.

Here’s what you need to know

1. Trumpy victories in Arizona

Kari Lake, a right-wing firebrand endorsed by Trump, won the Republican primary in Arizona on Tuesday night, and will be the party’s candidate for an open Senate seat in November. It was closer than might have been expected: Mark Lamb, a relative moderate, won 40% of the vote, despite having raised much less money than his better known opponent. But it will now be Lake who will face Ruben Gallego, a Democratic congressman, in the election. Also, in Maricopa county, Stephen Richer, a Republican election official who has refused to repeat Trump’s lie that he won in 2020, lost his re-election bid to a more Trump-friendly candidate.

2. ‘A failure on multiple levels’

That was the verdict of acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe on the Trump assassination attempt in which one person was killed and three others – including Trump – were injured. Appearing before a Senate committee, Rowe said local police officers had spotted the man on the roof but that information had not been shared with the Secret Service. “I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured to prevent similar lapses from occurring in the future,” Rowe said.

3. Project 2025 head is out

A leader of Project 2025, the uber-conservative plan to overhaul the US government if Trump wins in November, stepped down on Tuesday. Paul Dans left his role amid an increasingly desperate effort by Trump and his allies to distance themselves from Project 2025, which would add further restrictions to abortion and end policies that protect LGBTQ+ rights and diversity, while seeking to stack the government with Trump-minded bureaucrats.

As Harris gains critical momentum, Trump settles on line of attack

Trump and his campaign appear to have firmed up the messaging they plan to use against Kamala Harris. Amid what is widely perceived as an immigration crisis in the US, the one-term, twice-impeached former president has claimed Harris was the “border czar” during the time that border crossings increased (she wasn’t), and a new ad has branded Harris “dangerously liberal” (she isn’t).

Harris has responded with an ad of her own, part of a $50m advertising push leading up to the Democratic national convention in Chicago on 19 August. The ad pumps up Harris’ record as a prosecutor in California, saying Trump “wants to take our country backward”.

It has been a good week for the Harris campaign – particularly on Zoom. A virtual call earlier this month organized by Win With Black Women attracted so many sign-ups that Zoom had to increase its audience capacity. That Black women-led effort has inspired others: a “White Women: Answer the Call” Zoom raised $2m in donations, and a White Dudes for Harris call brought in $4m.

In a further boost, on Wednesday the Guardian’s Joan E Greve reported that Democratic parties in battleground states have seen a dramatic surge in contributions and volunteer sign-ups in the past week.

Harris now has a big decision to make: who she wants as her vice-president. Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, with his homespun charm and willingness to call Trump every name under the sun, has emerged as a potential choice. Other frontrunners appear to be Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, and Mark Kelly, astronaut-turned-Arizona senator.

Both Shapiro and Kelly represent swing states that could be key to winning the election, although before Biden dropped out the Democrats had particularly focussed their strategy on Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin: if Harris can win all three, she will likely win in November. Shapiro, who became governor in 2023, is really popular in Pennsylvania, which could give him the edge – although this week he was accused of covering up a sexual harassment scandal involving an aide, which might not help.

A plus in the Kelly column is that people really like spacemen. But aside from having been blasted into orbit, Kelly could bring other benefits to the ticket. He is seen as tough on immigration, which would be helpful for Harris (though less helpful for people seeking refuge in the US), and has a moving personal story in that his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot at an event in 2011. .The former congresswoman has since become an advocate for gun control, an important issue for many Democratic voters, and perhaps the selection of Kelly could give Harris a chance to win Arizona – where polls had shown Biden, who won the state in 2020, lagging well behind Trump.

Other longshots include Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary who is one of the few Democrats to regularly brave – and excel in – the lion’s den of Fox News, and Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky. We’ll know soon enough: the campaign has said Harris will choose by 7 August.

Out and about: Scranton, Pennsylvania

On Thursday I went to the city of Biden’s birth, the place that gave him the nickname “Scranton Joe”. Two roads in Scranton, a former coal and manufacturing hub home to about 80,000 people, have been named after Biden, and despite his electoral struggles and his exit from the presidential race, he remains popular.

“??Let me start off with: we’re very proud of Joe Biden. We love Joe Biden. The fact that he’s a local guy, and all that,” said James Ferguson, 81, who was sitting with his brother on a bench on Biden Street.

“I think Joe Biden showed the character that he is. He is a very good man, and he put the country first. It’s not how good he is, or whether he is smart or not. It was perception. The perception was bad for Joe, and he knew it and he dropped out. Good for Joe.”

Biggest lie: Elon Musk promotes fake Kamala Harris video

Musk continued his streak as a superspreader of misinformation on X, which he owns, when he shared a doctored video of Kamala Harris with an AI-generated voice simulating her calling herself “the ultimate DEI hire” and saying she was tutored by “the ultimate deep-state puppet, Joe Biden”. Musk defended the video as a parody, saying “parody is legal in America”. Harris’ campaign called the video “fake, manipulated lies”.

Experts have cautioned that deepfake technology is advancing faster than laws that could curtail it. Earlier this year, an AI-generated robocall purporting to be Joe Biden called New Hampshire voters and told them to stay home – an early sign AI will likely be a factor in elections from now on. – Rachel Leingang, misinformation reporter

Who had the worst week: James David Vance

Two weeks ago JD Vance, Trump’s running mate and a walking testament to the glow-up power of a beard, was riding high.

No longer. This week it emerged that Vance told a roomful donors that the Democrats putting Harris at the top of the ticket was a “sucker punch” – a stance Trump has been desperately trying to not present – and some Republicans reportedly are privately wondering if he was the wrong choice for VP.

Then, on Tuesday, a previously unseen video showed Vance telling an interviewer that not having children makes “people more sociopathic”, which A makes you wonder what Vance was like before he sired his three offspring and B was further evidence of Vance’s obsession with people who don’t have children.

In a further indignities, Vance has also been accused of wearing eyeliner, and the Associated Press removed a fact-checking article which said Vance had not had sex with a couch. (The accusation started as a joke online. There is no evidence for the claim.)