2024 Presidential Debates

With less than 5 weeks to go, Joe and Alex breakdown where the race stands. How things like field strategy, early voting, and new voter registration numbers can make a huge difference in a campaign that will be won on the margins. What does Jack Smith's bombshell evidence do to change the race? What about Tim Walz calling out JD Vance about 2020? All of it matters.

Stuart Stevens writes campaigns decide if they want 'hot' or 'cold' debates and strategy and tactics come from that. Vance had another calculation - what would serve his personal political ambitions best with his eyes already on 2028.

Simon Rosenberg joins the show to explain why he's as optimistic as he's ever been. No, it's not hopium - there are clear signs everywhere. From Nebraska to North Carolina to a massive shift in the youth vote. And how does Simon think we can win this election in October?

Today, a friend of the show, Trygve Olson, joins us. A few days after the debate, it's safe to say Vice President Kamala Harris shut out Donald Trump in front of over 67 million people on every question answered, so much so that VP Harris received an endorsement from one of the world's most famous people, Taylor Swift. Joe explains how Harris was more prepared than Trump and shows an apparent contrast between the two.

Stuart writes, "The greatest athletes and musicians make the incredibly difficult look easy. So it was with Vice President Harris in this historic debate."

The folks at Fox desperately tried to spin Trump’s disastrous debate performance. Dana Perino and Brit Hume openly admitted that Trump had a bad night. Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity refused to accept reality. It was a night of dashed expectations, delusions and broken dreams for Fox News.

Plastic straws! Fake accents! Non-existent bans on fracking! A local Fox News affiliate debunked its parent company! Nebraska Walzes for Trump haven’t even met Tim Walz! Fox News hosts pretended Kamala Harris has plummeted in the polls even when she hadn’t. Jesse Watters bragged about sounding like Russian propaganda. Vladimir Putin would be so Proud. Steve Doocy repeats a hateful myth about American Muslims and Pete Hegseth was shocked when an Israeli American said that Israelis want a return of every hostage, and end to the conflict and the end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s failed strategy. I threw in a silly impression at the very end.

Rick gives a blistering solo reaction to a blockbuster presidential debate. Follow Resolute Square: Instagram Twitter TikTok Find out more at Resolute Square Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Simon Rosenberg of Hopium Chronicles, Tara McGowan of Courier Newsroom, and Stuart Stevens of Resolute Square co-hosted a virtual Debate Watch Party and it was everything! Watch their pre- and post-debate conversations and catch every moment of the debate and Harris' masterful performance in between. Let's go win this!

Just how dead on were our strategists about what Kamala Harris needed to do and how the debate would play out? You have to see it to believe it!

Trump's most recent gaffes, Kamala surges, the tables have turned. In this episode Rick is joined by Joe Walsh to dissect the latest developments in the election. They discuss President Biden's decision to step down, paving the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee. The two dive into the strategic missteps of Donald Trump, particularly his choice of JD Vance as a running mate, and how it has backfired. They highlight the surprising enthusiasm surrounding Harris's campaign and her potential to challenge Trump effectively. Wilson and Walsh emphasize the need for Harris to maintain her positive momentum and stay on the offensive, while also addressing the challenges in key battleground states. We then are blessed with another classic Rick rant, so be sure to listen through.

Stuart Stevens in his weekly members-only campaign memo: "I've worked for a lot of candidates. All have been flawed. Obama and Bill Clinton were once-in-a-generation talent, and they were hardly flawless. To be clear, I would support Rob Gronkowski if he were the Democratic nominee. I actually sort of like that idea."

Joe and Alex discuss the fallout from last week's debate performance - and the fallout from one of the scariest Supreme Court rulings in recent memory. SCOTUS just sent a clear signal: this election matters even MORE now - so what does that mean for Democrats moving forward? Why Joe thinks that even though there are no easy answers - why Democrats can find optimism for the race in the fall and why yes, he'd still rather be us than them...

Fox News was surprisingly subdued after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance. The day after the debates they interviewed white folks in diners where they blamed the First Lady Jill Biden for everything. An RNC spokesperson claimed the DNC has been hiding Biden’s cognitive decline for years. Fox News hosts glossed over Trump’s many lies and Rachel Campos-Duffy went off the deep end in many ways. There was also signs among the MAGA faithful that they are worried Trump won’t win the 2024 election.

Brian Daitzman shines a light on CNN's failure to call out our post-reality world split: "The uncomfortable truths about Trump—his incompetence, recklessness, inciting an insurrection, his criminal activities, and his actions as an adjudicated rapist—are effectively erased from the collective conscience, particularly among Trump’s MAGA base."

This is the second half of Juliet Jeske's comprehensive fact check of Trump’s statements during the presidential debate on CNN on 6/27/24.

This is the audio version of a comprehensive fact check of 53 lies Donald J. Trump told during the first presidential debate. Because there were so many I had to break it into two parts. This is Part One. Part Two will drop shortly. The written version, complete with hyperlinks to all sources, can be found at the Substack channel for Decoding Fox News. It is free for anyone to read.

“With fear for our democracy, I dissent,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissenting opinion in yesterday's terrible, horrible, no-good SCOTUS ruling on presidential immunity. So, we're wondering where the asterisks were in Chief Justice Robert's 2005 statement and Justice Alito's in 2006 below? It must be there somewhere because they have a big whopping exception for Donald Trump's lawlessness. Stuart, Joe, and special guest, former Biden-Harris Admin member, Gevin Reynolds done in.

Yes, we do talk about the debate. Yes, Alex watched steeplechase too. But where do both candidates go from here? Joe explains why - yes, President Biden struggled Thursday night - but why Trump didn't run away with the debate either. What's the biggest problem Joe Biden has to overcome? (Hint: it wasn't his performance.) And why does Joe think that regardless of tonight's results - Trump still won't be president? How Democrats should take heart in Joe Biden doing what's needed to beat Trump.