As Trump Rises in Polls, Dems Push Hard to Brand Him as Fascist

With just 10 days until the election, new Wall Street Journal and Forbes polls both show former President Trump at +2% nationally. New CNN and New York Times polling shows him tied with Vice-President Harris nationally. The Real Clear Politics average in battleground states shows Trump just ahead of Harris. Early voting has begun in several states, and Republicans are encouraged by the results.⁠

This comes as Democrats seek to draw a comparison between Trump and Hitler. The Atlantic ran a piece titled “Trump: ‘I Need The Kind Of Generals That Hitler Had.’” The article featured conversations with General John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, and General Mark Milley, who say that “Trump has often expressed his esteem for the type of power wielded by such autocrats” and has “often expressed his love for the trappings of martial power, demanding of his aides that they stage the sort of armor-heavy parades foreign to American tradition.”⁠

Vice-President Harris delivered a rare address from her official residence, saying, “It is clear from John Kelly’s words that Donald Trump is someone who, I quote, ‘certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.’” She repeated this at a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania on Wednesday night. And on Thursday, Hillary Clinton drew comparisons between the Nazi rally of 1939 at Madison Square Garden and Trump’s planned rally there this weekend.⁠

Trump and his allies have denied the claims of the piece in The Atlantic, and numerous people mentioned in the article have come forward saying that it is a baseless hit piece.

According to Axios, “A common gripe among high-level Dems is that Harris does a nice job explaining why people shouldn’t vote for Trump—but struggles to crisply explain why they should vote for her.”⁠

As Trump’s popularity increases, four Democrat senators in tight races have begun running ads touting their ties to Trump and celebrating their past voting record supporting parts of his agenda.⁠

Elon Musk has continued to campaign for Trump, particularly in Pennsylvania, and has poured millions into get-out-the-vote operations in battleground states.

And lastly, Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat presidential candidate from 2020, has officially joined the Republican Party. Gabbard’s list of accomplishments include 17 years in the Hawaii Army National Guard with a rank of lieutenant colonel, deployment in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009, four-term Democrat congresswoman, and former vice-chair of the DNC from 2013 to 2016.⁠

Despite Intelligence Document Leak, Israel Launches Retaliatory Strike against Iran

Telegram user “Middle_East_Spectator” leaked highly classified U.S. documents detailing military preparations by Israel, with details such as quantities of various kinds of missiles. This intelligence leak set Israel back in a strike against Iran in retaliation for its attack against Israel on October 1. The U.S. government is investigating the leak and has not named a suspect, although Israeli intelligence suspects Ariane Tabatabai, an Iranian-born Pentagon official. Tabatabai was previously named as part of an alleged covert influence campaign run by Tehran in October 2023, and worked as a key aide to Robert Malley, the now-suspended Iran envoy who is said to have ties to the Iranian regime. Malley was discreetly placed on unpaid leave last year in connection to the alleged mishandling of “protected material.”⁠

Despite this setback, Israel confirmed they had launched “precise strikes on military targets in Iran” early this evening (early Saturday morning local time). At the time of this writing, full details are not yet known.

Other News:

• BRICS Summit Concludes in Kazan, Russia: Representatives from 35 states and six international organizations met for three days this week, continuing to build an international financial coalition to stand up against the hegemony of the U.S.-controlled dollar. However, not all countries are united in the approach. According to The New York Times, “Despite expressions of good will at the summit, there remained no indication that BRICS was any closer to bridging the differences between countries like China and Russia, which want to confront the U.S.-led order, and others like India and Brazil, which want to reform it.” This comes as Russia struggles in its war against Ukraine. The New York Times continues, “Russia’s challenges in financing Mr. Putin’s war became even more apparent on Friday when its central bank raised the key interest rate to 21 percent, the highest in years. The addition of troops from the rogue nuclear state of North Korea underscored Moscow’s need for more manpower to sustain its war of attrition in Ukraine.”⁠
• The McDonald: Earlier this week, in a move to highlight a claim made by Vice-President Harris that she once worked for McDonald’s, Trump strapped on an apron in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, operated the fryer and served guests through the drive-through window. McDonald’s has been Trump’s longtime favorite fast food restaurant.