Morning Report — Trump follows his own drummer. Is it working?

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 09/24/24 6:20 AM ET

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Former President Trump couldn’t miss the headline in his hometown paper, The New Times, Monday. “Trump’s best poll results in weeks. … He leads in three Sun Belt battleground states.”

Within the Republican Party, there is a let-Trump-be-Trump contingent and there are the hand wringers.

Some Republican supporters fret about the quality of Trump’s get-out-the-vote efforts, which are handled by outside groups. They’ve urged him to abandon rhetoric about Haitian immigrants eating pets and concentrate on an economic message. They balk at his talk about replacing the popular Affordable Care Act and his use of social media to flirt with a potential government shutdown, a guaranteed loser with voters in November.

The Wall Street Journal: During a Monday rally in Pennsylvania, Trump issued fresh trade tariff threats aimed at U.S. manufacturer Deere & Co. Today, Trump is expected to use a Georgia speech to threaten foreign companies with heavy tariffs if they do not move manufacturing operations to the U.S.

Some of his allies fervently hope Trump accepts a rematch debate with Vice President Harris next month. She accepted an invitation from CNN for another faceoff Oct. 23, but Trump turned the idea down. “It’s too late,” he said, arguing that Americans are already voting.

“We have proven that Donald Trump has engaged in the debates,” Corey Lewandowski, a loyalist in the let-Trump-be-Trump camp, told Newsmax during a Monday interview.

He said Trump had “maybe the greatest debate performance ever” when he faced off against President Biden in June.

Harris’s widely praised debate with Trump on Sept. 10 may have attracted an audience of more than 67 million people, but it did not move the needle in her favor in swing state polls, except in comparison with where Biden stood in earlier surveys.

Trump’s campaign maintained ground, according to polls. Nevertheless, strategists suggested he had nothing to lose if he agreed to another debate. Known for changing his mind, Trump declined while expressing interest if Fox News were to host, which the Harris campaign has rejected.

Trump bashes Harris to his base during large rallies, in free media and on conservative radio. He’s seized on openings aimed at young voters who favor podcasts and live streamed conversations with influencers. As The New York Times reported Monday, the former president leads Harris in Arizona, Georgia and narrowly in North Carolina, according to fresh polling.

The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes that Harris’s desire for another debate could mean she’s anxious to get a new opening to persuade a tiny population of self-described undecided voters as Election Day nears. Trump could gain, too. The race remains close, and neither candidate has a slam-dunk path to 270 electoral votes.

Meanwhile, the sole debate between running mates takes place Oct. 1 in New York City at 9 p.m. ET. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) is leaning on Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) to help him prepare to face off against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), a former member of the House who has some debate experience.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:

▪ ⭐The Hill’s Notable Staffers: Meet 25 of the staffers who keep Capitol Hill running and working during the 118th Congress.

▪ 🦟 New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald declared an imminent threat to the public Monday following the death of a person in Ulster County from mosquito-borne Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). “Mosquitoes, once a nuisance, are now a threat. I urge all New Yorkers to prevent mosquito bites by using insect repellents, wearing long-sleeved clothing and removing free-standing water near their homes,” McDonald warned.

▪ 🖼️ How colorful, personalized patches (and a nonprofit project created by two artistic parents) provide some upbeat support to young cancer patients.

LEADING THE DAY

© The Associated Press / Jose Luis Magana | Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in the Capitol earlier this month.

CONGRESS

SHUTDOWN WATCH: The Republican-controlled House on Monday appeared ready to advance a bipartisan funding bill to avert a government shutdown ahead of Election Day. The measure, supported by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and bipartisan lawmakers after Johnson’s own six-month bill failed last week, will face a floor vote this week.

The stopgap — which would keep the government funded through Dec. 20 — is expected to hit the floor under suspension of the rules, a process that bypasses the need to pass a procedural rule, requires significant support from Democrats to reach the two-thirds support threshold needed for passage, and is abhorred by hard-line conservatives. The House Rules Committee convened Monday afternoon to consider a group of measures, including the stopgap, but later decided to drop the funding measure from the final bundle of bills.

“So we’ll bring it up under suspension, which is the way I thought we would to begin with,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the ranking member on the House Rules Committee, said at the end of the hearing Monday.

“You will get your wish,” House Rules Committee Chair Michael Burgess (R-Texas) responded.

▪ The Hill: A hunger to be more aggressive and authoritative in the biggest policy fights in Congress is defining Reps. Ben Cline (R-Va.) and August Pfluger’s (R-Texas) race to lead the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House.

▪ The New York Times: Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) gave part-time jobs to both his lover and his fiancée’s daughter, in possible violation of House ethics rules.

▪ Politico: “One pistol clip can change the balance of power”: Congress is wholly unprepared for a mass casualty event.

POLITICS & CAMPAIGNS

HEALTH CARE: Senate Republicans are waving Trump away from making another foray into health care reform, fearing he might repeat the mistakes he made in 2017 by getting sucked into another messy and unsuccessful fight over the Affordable Care Act — which millions of Americans now rely on. GOP lawmakers said Trump should focus instead on extending the tax cuts he signed into law at the end of 2017, which are due to expire at the end of next year.

“I think we’re teeing ourselves up for the big tax discussions at the beginning of this next Congress. That’s what I see happening, not health care,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who in 2017 voted with Democrats to defeat an effort to repeal major pieces of the ACA, told The Hill.

REPUBLICANS WERE DEALT a major blow in their efforts to overhaul Nebraska’s Electoral College system, a move that could have ultimately cost Harris a critical vote in November. State Sen. Mike McDonnell (R) came out against the effort in a statement Monday, all but dashing his party’s hopes of switching to a winner-takes-all system.

Nebraska splits its five electoral votes, handing out three based on the performance of each candidate in the state’s three congressional districts. Another two votes are awarded to whichever candidate outright wins the state. A rule change would have almost certainly handed Trump — who criticized McDonnell on Monday — another vote in the Electoral College.

“Unfortunately, a Democrat turned Republican(?) State Senator named Mike McDonnell decided, for no reason whatsoever, to get in the way of a great Republican, common sense, victory,” he said on Truth Social. “Just another ‘Grandstander!’”

2024 ELECTION ROUNDUP:

▪ Harris-Walz schedule: Harris is off the trail today in Washington. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will be in Austin, Texas, for a political event and will headline another in Houston this evening.

▪ Trump-Vance schedule: Trump speaks today about the tax code and manufacturing at 1 p.m. in Savannah, Ga. He’ll speak Wednesday at 1 p.m. in Mint Hill, N.C. On Friday, Trump will campaign in Walker, Mich., at 2 p.m., and hold a town hall in Warren, Mich., in the evening. The former president on Saturday will speak in Prairie du Chien, Wis. Meanwhile, Vance on Wednesday will headline an evening event in Traverse City, Mich. The senator will speak in Macon, Ga., on Thursday afternoon, followed by a get-out-the-vote event Thursday evening in Flowery Branch, Ga. And Saturday, Vance will hold an evening rally in Newtown, Pa.

▪ 🏈 Trump plans to attend the football game between Alabama’s Crimson Tide and Georgia’s Bulldogs at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday evening.

▪ 🗳️In Georgia, Chatham County Board of Elections member James Hall said Monday he is concerned about a state Board of Elections decision issued Friday that requires Georgia ballots to be hand counted in November. “The potential unintended consequence of this, according to my staff, is you’ve added an extra step to an already complicated and thorough chain of custody. By adding this extra step you’ve actually created the possibility for more unintended discrepancies to take place within the county,” Hall said.

▪ Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked the Supreme Court for an emergency intervention to restore his name on New York’s presidential ballot.

▪ Profile: Adam Lehman, head of Jewish advocacy group Hillel, took the reins as the organization’s president four years ago. After spending years in tech startups, he joined Hillel to focus his career on community service.

▪ Democrats worry that the escalation in the Middle East could lead to further tension in their party, causing some progressives to stay home — or in the case of moderates or soft Republicans — vote for Trump.

▪ The Committee to Protect Health Care launched a more than $1 million ad buy targeting voters in Michigan and Wisconsin in support of pro-choice candidates running for State Legislature.

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at 10 a.m. The Senate will convene at 10 a.m.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. Biden is in New York City and will address the U.N. General Assembly at 10 a.m. He will meet with U.N. General Secretary António Guterres at 11:30 a.m. The president will deliver remarks at 1:45 p.m. in New York at the Global Coalition on Addressing Synthetic Drug Threats and speak about climate change at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum at 4:30 p.m.

The vice president is in Washington.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is with the president and is scheduled to participate in U.N.-related New York meetings and events.

ZOOM IN

© The Associated Press / Susan Walsh | President Biden in the East Room Monday.

ADMINISTRATION

UNITED NATIONS: Biden is in New York today for the United Nations General Assembly meeting, where he is seeking to cement his foreign policy legacy amid the growing threat of war between Israel and Hezbollah and questions about his administration’s handling of Gaza.

As the president heads into his final months in office, his team has leaned into legacy mode. Part of that message has been Biden mending fences around the world that he says Trump damaged during his time in the Oval Office. That is expected to be Biden’s theme this morning when he addresses the U.N.

“Joe Biden, more than most presidents, has a history of foreign policy activity and accomplishments, and I’m sure he wants to go out on a high note. But the Israel-Lebanon issue is going to make that very hard to do,” Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told The Washington Post. “UNGA could become an all-Lebanon UNGA, which is not what the administration wants. This is a crisis I’m sure the Biden team is doing everything it can to prevent, but it doesn’t look like the odds are in their favor.”

AHEAD OF THE SUMMIT, Biden and Harris on Monday met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the president of the United Arab Emirates, amid the backdrop of Israel’s war in Gaza, civil war in Sudan and the development of artificial intelligence (The New York Times).

▪ The Hill: Biden is expected to tout the progress his administration has made on climate change at Climate Week today at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum.

▪ The New York Times: The Commerce Department announced a sweeping regulatory initiative Monday to ban Chinese-developed software from internet-connected cars in the United States, justifying the move on national security grounds. It could become a final rule before Biden leaves office.

COURTS

NO BAIL: A federal judge ordered Monday that Ryan Wesley Routh, suspect in the attempted assassination of Trump at his Florida golf club, be held without bail pending trial. The order came hours after prosecutors in a court filing said that Routh stalked Trump for a month in Florida before his arrest on Sept. 15. Routh, 58, was apprehended less than an hour after a Secret Service agent fired at him after seeing a rifle poking out of the shrubbery. So far, Routh has been charged with two federal gun crimes, though more counts are possible as the investigation proceeds. The federal government announced it will pursue a charge of attempted assassination. Routh wrote a letter detailing his plans months prior, prosecutors alleged in court documents filed Monday.

“Dear world, this was an assassination attempt on Trump but I am so sorry I failed you,” the alleged letter reads. “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster.”

The Daily Beast: Trump said he wants Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), his one-time primary rival, to investigate the assassination attempt.

ELSEWHERE

© The Associated Press / Baz Ratner | The Pentagon on Monday announced the U.S. will send “ground troops” to the Middle East as Israel and Hezbollah head toward all-out war.

INTERNATIONAL

MIDDLE EAST: The U.S. announced Monday it is sending a “small number” of ground troops to the Middle East. “We are sending a small number of additional U.S. military personnel to augment our forces that are already in the region,” Defense Department press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said, declining to offer specifics about the new contingent, though he referred to them as ground troops. The increase in troops comes as Israel and Hezbollah are staring down the possibility of all-out war.

Israel’s military said early today that its air force was continuing to strike in Lebanon, after hundreds were killed Monday in the deadliest barrage of Israeli attacks there in nearly two decades. The strikes have unnerved the Middle East, sparking fears of an all-out war as the fighting in Gaza continues with no clear prospect of a truce. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis that they were headed into “complicated days.”

▪ The New York Times analysis: Biden is beginning to acknowledge that he is simply running out of time to help forge a cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas, his aides said.

▪ The Washington Post: What is Hezbollah’s political role in Lebanon, and what is its relationship with Hamas?

▪ NBC News: Iran’s president says he does not want war with Israel.

“VICTORY PLAN”: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in the U.S. this week to set out a “victory plan” to his closest ally, an urgent attempt to influence White House policy on Kyiv’s war with Russia no matter who wins in November. He has said he wants to present the plan to Biden, Harris and Trump during the trip. Zelensky, who will address the U.N. today, added that the plan would act as a “bridge” to a second Ukraine-led summit on peace later this year.

NPR: From Gaza to Ukraine, why do so many modern wars last so long?

OPINION

■ Sadness and dread as the next Lebanon war looms, by David Ignatius, columnist, The Washington Post.

■ Putin is doing something almost nobody is noticing, by Lilia Yapparova, opinion contributor and Meduza investigative journalist, The New York Times.

THE CLOSER

© The Associated Press / Mark Lennihan | In 1993 in New York, CBS “60 Minutes” journalists and the show’s longtime producer Don Hewitt celebrated correspondent Morley Safer’s retirement from the iconic program that began in 1968 and is still going strong.

And finally … ⏱️ On this day in 1968, “60 Minutes” debuted on CBS News. Created by Don Hewitt, the show distinguished itself from other programs by using a then-unique style of reporter-centered investigation. It quickly became one of the most successful programs in broadcast history and a ratings juggernaut on Sundays. Since then, the program has interviewed everyone from celebrities to politicians to musicians

Flash forward 54 years, and both Harris and Trump are considering “60 Minutes” interviews that would air back-to-back on Oct. 7 as a campaign grand finale, Axios reports. Scott Pelley is assigned by CBS to interview Trump, if he agrees, and Bill Whitaker would interview Harris. The vice-presidential candidates, Walz and Vance, have also been invited to participate.

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