Welcome to the online edition of From the Politics Desk, a nightly newsletter where the NBC News politics team brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign, the White House and Congress.
In today’s edition, we take a look at one positive and one negative aspect of the union’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. Additionally, Chief Political Analyst Chuck Todd writes that the current level of political debate is unsustainable.
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Despite not being endorsed by major labor unions, Harris has other plans to boost union support.
Megan Lebowitz, Alexandra Marquez, Natasha Korecki
Vice President Kamala Harris failed to secure the endorsement of major labor unions, but her campaign is banking on the organizing power of the major unions that back her to give it momentum in the rapidly diversifying Sun Belt.
The influential Teamsters union declined to endorse her for president on Wednesday, Megan Lebowitz and Alexandra Marquez report. Both candidates have reached out to the union, with union leaders meeting with Harris on Monday and with former President Donald Trump earlier this year. But the development is particularly damaging to Harris, as the Teamsters have supported a Democratic presidential candidate in every election since 2000, including Joe Biden four years ago.
Before the announcement, the Teamsters also released survey data showing that more rank-and-file union members support Trump than Harris.
“Neither major candidate has been able to seriously promise the union that workers’ interests will always come before big business,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement.
Still, Ms. Harris has won the support of nearly every major labor union in the country. (The International Association of Firefighters remains a holdout.) While candidates’ labor loyalties are often seen through the eyes of white, working-class voters in the Rust Belt, Ms. Harris’ campaign has targeted women and people of color in the Sun Belt.
Natasha Korecki reports that union leaders say groups that have been particularly energized since Harris rose to the top of the Democratic field include workers from the Service Employees International Union, the Culinary Workers Union and the AFL-CIO.
Union leaders expect thousands of union members to be deployed to key battleground states on Harris’ behalf, canvassing doors and making phone calls, with large groups expected to travel from Democratic-leaning states like California, Illinois and New York to key swing states like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
“This is a special moment for our members because, particularly when we think about women of color, they often feel ignored, undervalued, disrespected and belittled,” said SEIU President April Verrett. “It’s a really special moment for our members to see themselves reflected in a woman who has been their advocate for so long and who can be a leader in this country.”
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What would happen if we couldn’t unite?
Chuck Todd
There has been a curious lack of reaction in the political world following the second apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump. We have been collectively muted in our response, but there is probably a perfectly rational explanation for it.
But I worry that part of the muted response has to do with the fact that as we approach Election Day, some people are calibrating their responses in terms of whether what they say will add or subtract from a partisan argument, rather than stepping back and critically asking themselves how they got to this point.
And unfortunately, this big issue seems to concern the broader electorate and the media more than any of the leaders we collectively elected to be in charge of our democracy. It’s frustrating to see attempts to exploit this incident for political gain; it only widens divisions, not heals them.
Look at Trump’s initial reaction when a man with a rifle was arrested near one of his golf courses. When Trump was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania in July, Trump and his team adopted a “let’s keep cool” stance, leaving some of the more heated comments to other Republicans. Instead, the Trump team seems to view the assassination attempt as an opportunity, not a time for reflection.
Let’s be honest: the current level of political discourse is unsustainable for our democracy. It may not collapse this year, or even next year, but unless we choose to move beyond this, either by choosing to be de-escalators instead of zero-sum political brawlers, or by demanding that big tech companies stop creating algorithms that incite and divide, we will collapse. And that collapse will be dangerous. This has happened before in our republic, so we cannot assume it won’t happen again.
The problem with American political discourse right now is that we’re all trapped in a maze of social media mirrors: what we see isn’t reality, how we appear isn’t who we are, and yet here we are.
Continue reading Chuck →
🗞️ Today’s top news
✂️ Cutting season is here: The Federal Reserve is slashing its key interest rate by half a percentage point, an unusually aggressive step to prevent a further economic slowdown. Read more → 🧂 Rub salt in the wound: President Trump is calling on Republicans to reinstate a state and local tax deduction that was capped in his signature 2017 tax law. Read more → 🖥️ Targeted ads: Harris’ campaign is spotlighting her concern for “the suffering of the people in Gaza” in new ads targeted at heavily Arab-American neighborhoods in the Detroit area. Read more → 🔀 Opposition: A group of more than 100 former Republican national security and policy officials has endorsed Harris for president. Read more → 🍂 New fall fashion: Pennsylvania is looking to reduce the number of rejection votes, and the ballot will look different this year. Read more → 🗳️ Ballot fight: The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that a Green Party senatorial candidate can appear on the state’s ballot, dealing a blow to Democratic Sen. Jon Tester’s reelection bid. Read more → Follow our live campaign coverage →
That’s all from the Politics Department. If you have any comments (what you liked, what you didn’t like, etc.), please email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com.
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