One Month Away: Is Kamala Blowing It?

We’re reuniting with the Vanguard to take on the fascinating character of J.D. Vance, plus discourse on Melania Trump’s new book and its shocking strong stance in favor of abortion rights. Tuesday’s Vance-Walz faceoff gave us new insight into Trump’s VP pick and the unique dangers he could pose as part of a second Trump administration. Mainly, we’re interested in the current state of affairs in the 2024 presidential race, and our guests have special insights. Watch below:

We’ve talked on the show before (see a recent convo with Adam Johnson) about what makes J.D. Vance, despite his profound weirdness and unlikability, a kind of effective VP pick for Donald Trump. Even though it long seemed like Trump would go with the more obvious options — a Doug Burgum instead of a relative upstart in the Republican Party with a history, as the debate reminded us, of criticizing Trump — Vance’s simultaneous ability to leverage the story of his working-class background to sneakily fight back against the welfare state and his polished Yale Law debate skills made it unfortunately clear why Trump picked him. He’s a strong debater annd he will slavishly follow Donald Trump no matter what. And he’ll likely be a meaningful figure well beyond the 2024 presidential race.

What are the respective presidential campaigns up to? We talk about Democrats snubbing their base by leaning right on immigration, Republicans leaning left on abortion, and why the name of the game right now is trying to expand the party coalitions, courting independents, and getting those extra votes however it’s possible. But will it be enough for Kamala Harris, especially as some polls seem to suggest a gender gap in willingness to support her even among young people? Zac in particular is optimistic, and even though Trump was able to briefly revitalize the lackluster Republican party, his star seems to have set.

There’s even more to hear in this week’s episode, like our conversation about the evolving situation with Israeli attacks on Iran, and Jack’s most recent filing in the Trump election interference case. We hope you enjoy it. Thanks for tuning in — this conversation will be available as a podcast via Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more starting tomorrow night.