Vance campaigns behind bulletproof glass at Michigan outdoor remarks, hits Harris for DNC comments
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(BIG RAPIDS, Mich.) — Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance stepped on stage in Big Rapids, Michigan, on Tuesday and spoke behind a bulletproof glass during his remarks outside — the first time he’s done so at his own campaign event.
It’s similar to the new safety measures in place for former President Donald Trump’s outdoor rallies following his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
Vance did have bulletproof glass in Asheboro, North Carolina, last week, but that was a joint event with the former president.
Speaking on the economy and jobs at a farm in Michigan, Vance began speaking about the Labor Department overstating its monthly job growth and then accused the Biden-Harris administration of inflating its job numbers to cover up the economy’s problems.
“Now, last week, the biggest heist in American history happened right under Kamala Harris’ nose,” Vance claimed. “Somebody stole 818,000 jobs that she and Tim Walz had been bragging about. Did y’all see that? Where did they go?”
He accused the administration of “cooking the books to hide how bad the economy really is under Kamala Harris.”
When discussing Harris’ record, Vance claimed that Harris doesn’t know what she believes.
“In some ways, I feel bad for Kamala Harris,” he said. “… But I’m not sure that this is a woman who knows what she actually believes.”
Harris, who laid out her economic agenda earlier this month, is still working to define her stances on several key voter issues. The vice president has already distanced herself from some of her former positions laid out in her 2020 presidential bid.
Vance referred back to Harris’ remarks at the Democratic National Convention last week, where she said there would be “consequences” putting Trump back into the Oval Office, asking “is she the vice president or the vice principal?”
Later, speaking to reporters, Vance said those Harris comments don’t resonate with Americans.
“I don’t think that’s persuasive to most Americans and warning them about voting for the wrong person is just, I think it’s ridiculous,” Vance said.
(WASHINGTON) — As shockwaves from a spate of unprecedented twists in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election continue to reverberate throughout the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attempt to push past the political noise as he makes his long-awaited visit to Washington, D.C., this week.
Amid the tumult, Netanyahu will deliver an address to a joint meeting of Congress at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. He will also meet with President Joe Biden on Thursday afternoon, according to the prime minister’s office and the White House.
Biden’s exit from the reelection race has also raised questions about how much sway his administration will have over the Israeli government going forward, potentially complicating efforts to coax its leadership into accepting the terms of a cease-fire agreement with Hamas and ending the conflict in Gaza.
The prime minister is also expected to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to administration officials, but Harris — the president of the Senate — is not expected to attend his speech on Capitol Hill. Harris, who has now secured commitments from enough Democratic delegates to be the presumptive nominee if the delegates make good on their commitments, is scheduled to campaign in Indianapolis instead, according to her campaign. The prime minister’s office said Netanyahu would meet with the vice president on Thursday.
Additionally, Netanyahu is set to meet with former President Donald Trump, but the two don’t appear to have settled on a date yet. The Republican nominee for the White House announced they would meet at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, while Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “the only possibility to meet with Donald Trump is on Friday.”
Here are the storylines to watch.
Playing politics?
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is also set to meet with Netanyahu, has already slammed Harris for skipping out on the prime minister’s speech, calling it “outrageous” and describing it as a calculated political decision.
“America’s relationship with Israel has always been bipartisan, and it should stay that way,” Johnson said during a press conference.
“Madam Vice President, you say you want to be the leader of the free world and yet you can’t bring yourself to sit behind our most important strategic ally in this moment,” he said. “That is not a good look for you. It’s not a good look for America. And it’s not a good look for her party that she aims to lead.”
Every interaction — or lack of interaction — between Netanyahu and Harris is bound to face similarly intense scrutiny. So far, the two have had relatively limited direct interaction. They met at least once before — in 2017, when Harris was a senator — and spoke by phone in 2021, according to a readout from the White House.
Harris thanks Biden as she receives growing chorus of endorsements
The Biden administration’s handling of Gaza is likely to be a contentious topic for Harris on the campaign trail. While Harris echoed the president’s support of Israel’s right to defend itself in the early months of the conflict, she began to publicly express more criticism by the end of 2023 — calling on Israeli forces to do more to prevent civilian suffering.
A face-to-face with Netanyahu would be an opportunity for Harris to set the tone for how she might approach the conflict if she were to win the nomination for the presidency.
Daniel Byman, a former Middle East analyst for the U.S. intelligence community and a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the dynamics of the race will also add pressure on Netanyahu.
“It’s unclear how much her positions will vary from Biden’s, and Netanyahu will want to shape those for obvious reasons,” he told ABC News.
Before departing for the U.S. on Monday morning, Netanyahu said “our enemies must know that Israel and the United States stand together tomorrow and always” — no matter who wins the White House.
But while the prime minister is trying to signal neutrality, the person sitting behind the Resolute desk undoubtedly impacts the alliance between the two countries.
Netanyahu and Biden have been friends for more than four decades, but their relationship has grown rockier in recent months as the leaders have clashed over Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
Trump on Tuesday said he would host Netanyahu at his Florida club on Thursday.
“Just as I have said in discussion with [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenksy and other World Leaders in recent weeks, my PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH Agenda will demonstrate to the World that these horrible, deadly Wars, and violent Conflicts must end,” Trump claimed on his social media platform, Truth Social. “Millions are dying, and Kamala Harris is in no way capable of stopping it.”
In recent weeks, there have been indications that the prime minister is trying to boost his standing with the Republican presidential candidate.
Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to issue a statement condemning the assassination attempt against Trump. The former president later reposted it.
Deal in the balance
While the drama of American politics plays out, conditions in Gaza remain exceedingly grim.
Authorities believe dozens of hostages are still in the Gaza Strip, their lives hanging in the balance. On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed the deaths of two more detainees, underscoring the urgency of the situation.
More than a month and a half after Biden outlined the contours of a deal that would free the hostages in exchange for an extended cease-fire in Gaza, negotiations in Cairo appear to be picking up again.
Netanyahu and top officials in his government have publicly scorned some conditions of Biden’s proposal, but U.S. officials adamantly say the prime minister is willing to uphold the terms of the deal if an agreement is reached.
However, they say the sticking points have shifted from the duration of a cease-fire to operational control over parts of Gaza, including the Philadelphi Corridor — a narrow strip of land separating Gaza from Egypt.
Negotiators are attempting to devise a security system that would appease Israel, but Netanyahu is reluctant to withdraw troops, an official familiar with the talks said.
While the prime minister is in Washington, members of the administration hope to persuade him to accept terms that they believe Hamas may also find tolerable, as well as encourage specific steps to create a path toward a two-state solution, according to a U.S. official.
Byman believes a deal is still possible, but that Netanyahu may see a second Trump administration as conducive to more favorable terms.
“If Netanyahu and Israel can persist for the coming months, they’ll get a better deal than if they make concessions to the Biden administration,” he said.
Courting Congress — and the public
Netanyahu’s speech will offer the prime minister an opportunity to try to rebound his own poll numbers, which have been in steady decline.
“He’s fighting for his political life,” Byman said. “And so he’s trying to say to his own people, look — I can go to the United States, to the president and congressional leaders, and therefore I am a leader who can deliver for Israel diplomatically.”
Netanyahu hasn’t shied away from diving into American domestic politics in the past. But Ruth Wasserman Lande, a moderate Israeli politician and former member of the Knesset, says the prime minister should stress the threat that terror in the Middle East poses to the U.S., a message she said should be unifying — and concerning — to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
“It’s not a right or left issue. It’s not a Republican or Democratic issue,” she said. “This is something that the Americans must understand because it’s not going to stop here. It’s going to get to America.”
ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled a sweeping economic agenda on Friday, vowing to ease inflation, fix the housing market and slash taxes for middle-income families.
The plans include eye-catching proposals such as a ban on grocery price gouging and a $25,000 subsidy for first-time homebuyers.
Economists who spoke to ABC News offered up a mixed assessment of the newly released agenda. Some experts lauded the effort to slow rising costs and restrain corporate power in key sectors, while others criticized what they consider a misguided attempt to override market forces that risks worsening the nation’s debt.
Less than three months before the presidential election, the economy tops lists of voter concerns. Growth is slowing but remains solid. Price increases have cooled dramatically but remain higher than the Federal Reserve’s target level.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Here’s what to know about how economists assess three key pillars of Harris’ economic plan: fighting inflation, recalibrating the housing market and cutting taxes for families.
Fighting inflation
The campaign aims to rein in price increases for everything from groceries to prescription drugs to homes.
Harris points to the market power of large corporations as a key cause of rapid price increases for essential goods, saying companies use their outsized role in a given market to raise prices without fear of a competitor offering a comparable product at a more affordable price. Consumers, the Harris campaign says, are left with nowhere to turn.
The grocery industry exemplifies the damage caused by mega corporations, according to the campaign. “Extreme consolidation in the food industry has led to higher prices that account for a large part of higher grocery bills,” the campaign said in a statement on Friday.
Grocery store profit margins surged in 2021 and rose even higher two years later, even after price increases had begun to cool, a Federal Trade Commission study in March showed.
To control the price hikes, Harris proposed a federal ban on price gouging for food and groceries. While details remain limited, the plan could resemble price-gouging bans in place in 37 states, which prohibit a sudden spike in prices for scarce goods.
Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collective, in a statement on Friday echoed the Harris campaign’s criticism of the broken market for groceries.
“Price gouging, price fixing, and just plain profiteering are rampant in the food and grocery sector,” Owens said. “There is still more the government can do to reduce food and grocery concentration and stop the cheating that is costing families dearly.”
Some economists, however, rejected the notion of corporate power as an important cause of inflation, saying a limit on price hikes could result in shortages of goods.
“Most of the inflation over the past few years has been caused by increases in costs,” Steven Hamilton, a professor of economics at George Washington University, told ABC News. Hamilton acknowledged that price increases for some groceries may owe to corporate concentration, but said it doesn’t stand as a primary cause of overall inflation.
“You have to be careful not to cherry pick,” Hamilton said.
Michael Jones, an economics professor at the University of Cincinnati, said a government-imposed ceiling on prices could cause stores to run out of goods in times of scarcity.
“If there’s a restriction on the prices that companies can charge for products, they simply won’t supply them,” Jones told ABC News.
Fixing the housing market
In recent years, the housing market has suffered from a convergence of high mortgage rates and elevated home prices, shutting out prospective buyers with high costs.
The Harris campaign proposed restoring affordability through a combination of boosting home supply and easing the price pressures for some homebuyers.
Plans to grow the supply of homes include a tax incentive for companies that build starter homes and affordable rental homes, the Harris campaign said. The campaign’s plans to aid buyers feature a $25,000 subsidy for first-time homebuyers.
Economists who spoke to ABC News lauded the Harris campaign’s effort to boost housing supply, but offered differing opinions about the support for homebuyers.
“The reason that housing prices have gone up in most places in America is that supply is limited,” Hamilton, of George Washington University, told ABC News. “That commitment to increase supply is rare among politicians but it’s something that economists should praise.
Some economists said the subsidies for homebuyers threaten to undermine the price cuts achieved through additional supply. If prospective buyers know they’ll receive a subsidy of $25,000 from the government, they’ll boost their asking price by that amount, said Jones, of the University of Cincinnati. As a result, he added, home prices will rise.
“If they have $25,000 more to spend on a house, they’ll submit bids up to $25,000 higher for the home,” Jones said. “That policy in particular is a bad idea because it won’t bring the price of housing down.”
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the combination of supply growth and homebuyer support could work effectively as long as Harris focuses on boosting supply before she bolsters consumers.
“You’ve got to put the horse before the cart,” Zandi said. “It’s a matter of timing.”
Cutting taxes for middle-class families
The Harris campaign said it aims to keep some money in middle-class consumers’ pockets by reducing their tax burden.
The plans include a restoration of the expanded child tax credit of $3,600 per child that expired in 2022. Harris also proposed an additional, new $6,000 child tax credit for families with a child in the first year of life.
The tax cuts for families drew wide support from economists who spoke to ABC News, though some emphasized the importance of accompanying those proposals with revenue-raising measures that will offset the tax reductions.
“A child tax credit expansion is fantastic and I would fully support it, as long as they find way to pay for it,” said Hamilton, of George Washington University. “This is a policy targeted toward people who really need it, and families who really need it.”
For its part, the Harris campaign said on Friday that it would safeguard the federal government’s financial health, in part by increasing taxes on wealthy individuals as a means of offsetting middle-class tax cuts.
Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, will “fulfill their commitment to fiscal responsibility, including by asking the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations to pay their fair share,” the campaign said.
Zandi, of Moody’s Analytics, voiced support for the tax cut but also urged caution about the potential loss of tax revenue. If the tax credits end up adding to the national debt, it would undermine the savings for consumers by risking an increase in overall inflation.
“I don’t think you can do anything without it being paid for,” Zandi said. “That would be counterproductive.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden late Friday dissected former President Donald Trump’s speech accepting the Republican nomination the night before with a lengthy 13-post thread on X, coupled with a fundraising plea, in which he calls out his rival for different things he said.
“I’m stuck at home with COVID, so I had the distinct misfortune of watching Donald Trump’s speech to the RNC,” Biden started. “What the hell was he talking about?”
“Let’s start with this. Donald said he ‘did a great job’ with COVID. Folks, this is the same guy who told us to inject bleach while over a million Americans died,” Biden said. (It’s a recitation of the, at best misleading, attack line Biden often lobs at Trump.)
The president went after Trump because “he bragged about getting along with dictators.”
“That’s because Trump wants to be a dictator,” Biden said. “He said so himself.”
Biden also hit the former president on the economy and immigration, ribbing him over Project 2025 thrice.
“He bragged about giving ‘the biggest tax cuts ever’ to his billionaire buddies. But the deal is that his Project 2025 agenda would raise taxes on the middle class,” Biden posted.
“He said he’ll end inflation, but even the Wall Street Journal published an article agreeing: Trump’s Project 2025 would cause even more inflation,” Biden said. “My economic plan is lowering costs and inflation.”
Biden later posted, “He said he wants to throw immigrants into mass detention camps as part of his Project 2025 agenda. It’s despicable. Project 2025 is extreme and dangerous. And it’s not who we are as a nation.”
In addition, Biden slammed his rival over electric vehicles, criticizing United Auto Workers, for talking about Hannibal Lecter, saying, “Donald, Hannibal Lecter is not real” and for his 92-minute-long speech.
“Honestly, I thought the worst lie he told all night was when he said ‘in conclusion’ and then kept going,” Biden quipped. “I’ve heard enough.”
“And if you’re with me, pitch in to our campaign,” he concluded.
Biden said earlier Friday he was looking forward to getting back on the trail and campaigning against Trump.
