BigTent News: Be Fearless
It’s Not Partisan; It’s Democracy.
LEAD STORY: YOUNG VOTERS
💚 Being Brat and Very Demure
📲 Tuning Gen Z in: The Democratic National Convention was streamed vertically on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube as part of the party’s efforts to reach younger voters. 33% of Americans aged 18-29 say they get news regularly on TikTok. Organizers credentialed more than 200 social media content creators to go live from the convention. Check out our Links to the meanings of Brat and Demure.
☀️ Good vibes! As the Democratic party ushered in a new generation of Democratic leaders, Democrats at the Convention radiated positive energy, with conservative media channels criticizing the “overemphasis on joy.” As Harris’s economic plan addresses affordability issues for young home owners, she also presents the Democratic party as a champion of young workers and unions. Reproductive freedom and diversity are also major themes she celebrates. These themes are resonating with young voters. Read more
🎊 A big but…Whether young people turn out in high numbers and who they vote for will largely depend on how well Trump or Harris persuade young voters that they can improve their economic realities and future opportunities. However, in a recent poll, Harris opened up early with a lead among young voters. See poll data and Read The Brookings Institution 2024 Analysis
🗳️ Let’s GOTV for Young Voters:
THE ECONOMY
📊 Inflation Down, Spirits Up…For Now.
💵 Good news! The Consumer Price Index (CPI) cooled in July compared to 2023, which served as evidence that inflation is moderating. This summer was the first time the inflation rate has fallen below 3% since 2021. The Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates in its September meeting.
💰 The economy and the election: The economy and inflation are consistently ranked by voters as their primary concern.
📈 What is Trump's economic plan?
Cut government departments (including Education, Justice).
Repeal the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Appoint Elon Musk to head a new Efficiency Commission to oversee government spending (gift article.)
Deport 15 million immigrants in order to bring housing prices down.
Influence (personally) the Central Bank’s monetary policy.
Reduce corporate tax rate to 15%.
Keep individual tax cuts permanent especially for top earners.
Eliminate taxes on tips.
Impose a 10 to 20 percent tariff on most imports, and 60% for goods made in China.
Drill for oil, new pipelines and new power plants.
📊 What about the Harris economic plan?
Raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and long-term capital gains to 28 percent for anyone earning over $1M.
Provide a $50,000 tax deduction expenses for small businesses.
Construct 3 Million housing units.
Create a $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. Ban on price gouging on food and groceries.
Expand permanently the child tax credit to $6,000 for middle- and low-income families for the first year of their child's life.
Promise not to raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year.
🫵 The bottom line?: Though Harris remains vulnerable to voters’ economic pessimism, more voters trust Harris to handle the economy than Trump, with 42% trusting Harris on economic matters as opposed to 41% trusting Trump. Harris ranks 7 percentage points higher than Biden did in July.
To most economists, Trump’s economic agenda will shrink the economy, crush job growth, raise taxes on the middle class, drive up inflation, and explode the national debt. In fact, 16 Nobel laureate economists cited warnings saying that Trump's plans would increase inflation and debt. Moody's agreed. In contrast, a Harris victory this November would have limited impact on the economists’ baseline inflation forecast of 2.4 percent in 2025, according to the report. Read Moody’s analysis.
Goldman Sachs predicts stronger GDP and job growth if Democrats sweep White House and Congress. The Penn Wharton Budget Analysis estimates that both the Trump and the Harris economic proposals would raise the deficit by $5.8 trillion and $1.2 trillion respectively. Read more on the policies and the numbers HERE and then look over the candidates plans below.
THE BIGTENT IS GROWING
🎪 Growing the Never-Trump Coalition
📉What’s happening?: A determined group of current and former Republican politicians will do whatever it takes to keep Trump out of office—including supporting Kamala Harris. More than 200 former Bush, Romney, and McCain aides signed a letter endorsing Harris. Read more.
Liz Cheney and her father Dick Cheney have come under the democracy tent. Watch Liz’s endorsement for Kamala Harris and read her father’s statement here.
🔍 Zoom In: In the Pre-Kamala era, it seemed that it was the official end of the Bush/compassionate/conservative Republican Party, where America had a role in the world, that immigrants were welcome and economically conservative and socially conservative or moderate candidates were welcome.
🔭 Zoom out: As a Never-Trumper and conservative Republican, Charlie Sykes writes: “Before Trump, the ideological divide between Harris and conservative Republicans might have been too large to bridge. But this is not a normal campaign. For most Never Trump Republicans, the 2024 election is not primarily about the divide between the left and the right; it’s about preserving our liberal constitutional order.” Read more (gift article)
🏁 Between the lines: In an op-ed for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Geoff Duncan, the conservative Republican former lieutenant governor of Georgia, admitted that endorsing Harris “wasn’t easy.” He noted, “Through my conservative lens, I see very few policy areas where we agree.” However, Duncan emphasized that his “current north star” is to rid the GOP of Trump, and Harris is “the most effective means of preventing another stained Trump presidency.”
❓Who’s next to join the coalition?: Watch video
UPDATE: WOMEN’S RIGHTS
🤰Reproductive Freedom is (still) on the Ballot
Arizona and Missouri are joining six other states that will have abortion initiatives on the ballot in November. Here's where you can help:
Arizona: Arizona for Abortion Access
New York: Planned Parenthood of Greater New York Action Fund
South Dakota: Dakotans for Health
Missouri: Missourians For Constitutional Freedom
Florida: Floridians Protecting Freedom
Maryland: Freedom in Reproduction Maryland
📌 UPCOMING VIRTUAL EVENTS ⤵
🗓️ SPOTLIGHT SPEAKERS: AMANDA ZURAWSKI AND TARA MCGOWAN | WED. 09.11 | 7:00PM ET
BigTent is honored to host a very special conversation, with the lead plaintiff for Zurawski v. Texas, Amanda Zurawski, and Publisher and co-Founder of Courier Newsroom, journalist Tara McGowan. Amanda Zurawski’s powerful testimony highlighted the devastating impact on women who are denied essential reproductive healthcare. This conversation is a vital reminder of the importance of personal and courageous storytelling. See Amanda’s powerful speech at the DNC HERE
➡️ RSVP HERE: WED. 09.11 | 7:00PM ET
🗓️ TENT TALK: NEW POLITICS | TUES. 09.17 | NOONPM ET
BigTent is thrilled to welcome New Politics Founder and Executive Director, Emily Cherniak, under the tent. Emily will discuss her mission (and success) to train and recruit “servant leaders” to run for office and win!
➡️ RSVP HERE: TUES. 09.17 | NOON PM ET
📌 EVENT RECAPS ⤵
Brennan Center for Justice Senior Advisor Barton Gellman and national security expert Rosa Brooks, moderated by journalist Kimberly Atkins Stohr, discussed the tabletop “what if” exercises conducted this summer, highlighting the need for defenders of democracy to prepare more robustly to mitigate potential threats of a second Trump presidency to our constitutional government.
Sarah Jaynes, Executive Director of Rural Democracy Initiative and the dynamic Jess Piper, Executive Director of Blue Missouri had a powerful and informative conversation focused on rural America and what's happening in the November election.
🔖 BOOKMARKS 🔖
Stories Keeping Us Up At Night 😳
🎶 Singing in the Rain | Lara Trump was officially elected as the co-chair of the Republican National Committee in March, but she just released her own music video. The Trump campaign is considering using as their theme song. (For more color on why see below…) Listen and watch (Ed. note: sorry)
🎵 You Can’t Touch This | Musical acts who have said “nope” to Trump‘s campaign Read more
🪧 Public Service Announcement | Here’s the roll call playlist to Kamala Harris’ official nomination at the Democratic National Convention, including each state’s musical selection and the logic behind each song.
😬 Awkward... | Before dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss endorsing her in exchange for a cabinet post if she becomes president but was unsuccessful.
🤨 Quid pro quo?! | Trump plans to name RFK Jr. as an honorary co-chair of a presidential transition team for a second Trump administration. Read more
"Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation's highest office." -JD Vance, Apr. 2016 (gift article)
