Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to appear Friday at the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty, a national nonprofit that has spearheaded efforts to get mentions of LGBTQ+ identity and structural racism out of K-12 classrooms.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris β campaign is announcing that it is launching a 50-plus stop βReproductive Freedom Bus Tour,β as it looks to motivate voters ahead of November. The first stop will be next Tuesday with an event near former President Donald Trumpβs Florida home in Palm Beach.
Trump seeks to activate his base at Moms for Liberty gathering but risks alienating moderate voters
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to appear Friday at the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty, a national nonprofit that has spearheaded efforts to get mentions of LGBTQ+ identity and structural racism out of K-12 classrooms.
In a βfireside chatβ conversation in the nationβs capital, the former president will seek to shore up support and enthusiasm among a major part of his base. The bulk of the groupβs 130,000-plus members are conservatives who agree with him that parents should have more say in public education and that racial equity programs and transgender accommodations donβt belong in schools.
Yet Trump also will run the risk of alienating more moderate voters, many of whom see Moms for Libertyβs activism as too extreme to be legitimized by a presidential nominee.
The interview: Kamala Harrisβ inaugural sit-down was most notable for seeming … ordinary
After avoiding a probing interview by a journalist for the first month of her sudden presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harrisβ first one Thursday was notable mostly in how routine it seemed.
CNNβs Dana Bash, sitting down with Harris and running mate Tim Walz in a Georgia restaurant, asked her about some issues where she had changed positions, the historical nature of her candidacy, what she would do on her first day as president and whether sheβd invite a Republican to be a Cabinet member (yes, she said).
What Bash didnβt ask β and the Democratic nominee didnβt volunteer β is why it took so long to submit to an interview and whether she will do more again as a candidate.
Veterans attending Trump’s Michigan event dismiss reports of altercation at Arlington National Cemetery
Veterans attending Donald Trumpβs mid-Michigan event on Thursday largely dismissed reports of an altercation between his campaign and an Arlington National Cemetery official, citing the former president’s past as evidence of his values.
Tom Barrett, a veteran of the Iraq War and Republican candidate for Michiganβs 7th Congressional District, said that it was his βunderstanding that President Trump was invited there by families.β
Barrett shifted focus to criticize the Biden administrationβs withdrawal from Afghanistan, stating, βTrump and those families would not have been there if Joe Biden hadnβt led to the absolute direct failure of leadership that allowed 13 of our service members to be killed.β
Rusty L. Smith, a Trump supporter from Albion, Michigan, was unaware of the incident at Arlington National Cemetery but said that he believes Trump βsupports veterans wholeheartedly.β
Smith added that he was more offended by the claims Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harrisβ running mate, made about his service record.
βHe wasnβt in the war. He wasnβt in combat. He wore the rank of command sergeant major but that was temporary, and he never completed the process. So he shouldnβt be carrying a coin that says command sergeant major. And he does. And thatβs wrong,β said Smith.
Trump calls for universal coverage of IVF treatment with no specifics on how his plan would work
Former President Donald Trump says that, if he wins a second term, he wants to make IVF treatment free for women, but he did not detail how he would fund his plan or precisely how it would work.
βIβm announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for β or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for β all costs associated with IVF treatment,β he said at an event in Michigan. βBecause we want more babies, to put it nicely.β
IVF treatments are notoriously expensive and can cost tens of thousands of dollars for a single round. Many women require multiple rounds and there is no guarantee of success.
Harris defends shifting from some liberal positions in first interview of presidential campaign
Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday defended shifting away from some of her more liberal positions in her first major television interview of her presidential campaign, but insisted her βvalues have not changedβ even as she is βseeking consensus.β
Sitting with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris was asked specifically about her reversals on banning fracking and decriminalizing illegal border crossings, positions she took during her last run for president. She confirmed she does not want to ban fracking, an energy extraction process key to the economy of swing-state Pennsylvania, and said there βshould be consequenceβ for people who cross the border without permission.
βI think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,β Harris said.
Harris’ campaign launches βReproductive Freedomβ bus tour
Vice President Kamala Harrisβ campaign is launching a 50-plus stop βReproductive Freedom Bus Tour,β as it looks to motivate voters ahead of November.
The first stop will be Tuesday with an event near former President Donald Trumpβs Florida home in Palm Beach.
βOur campaign is hitting the road to meet voters in their communities, underscore the stakes of this election for reproductive freedom, and present them with the Harris-Walz ticketβs vision to move our country forward, which stands in stark contrast to Donald Trumpβs plans to drag us back,β said Harris-Walz Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez in a statement. βAs we crisscross the country, weβll be driving that contrast home to red and blue voters and independents.β
