The Economist

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September 30th 2024

A sharp round-up of the most important political news

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The US in brief

A sharp round-up of the most important political news

Donald Trump called for Kamala Harris to be impeached over her record on immigration at a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday. He claimed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that the Biden administration had allowed more than 13,000 convicted murderers into the country. (A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said Mr Trump was misinterpreting the data.) He also said that Ms Harris wants to “legalise fentanyl”, an opiate that the vice-president called a “scourge on our country” on Friday during a visit to the southern border. At times Mr Trump’s attacks got personal. He claimed that while Joe Biden “became mentally impaired”, Ms Harris “was born that way”, and said that black voters “hate her”.

Ms Harris spent her Sunday morning at a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles, where she pulled in $28m, according to her campaign. In the evening she travelled to Las Vegas for a campaign event, where she concentrated on her cost-of-living plans. She also challenged Donald Trump to a second debate again, saying “I’m all in, even if my opponent is ready to fold.”

A federal judge struck down part of a Texas law preventing “vote harvesting”. The law illegalised receiving any “benefit” for “interacting” with voters to “deliver votes” for a specific candidate or measure. The judge, Xavier Rodriguez, ruled that this was unconstitutionally vague. Republicans argue that the law, passed in 2021 and immediately subject to legal challenges, is necessary to prevent voter fraud.

The Department of Justice sued Alabama’s secretary of state for purging the state’s voter rolls too close to election day. On August 13th the state began a “process to remove noncitizens registered to vote”. The DoJ alleges that beginning such a “systematic voter removal” within 90 days of the election violates the National Voter Registration Act, and that many eligible voters were caught up in the state’s efforts.

The death toll for Hurricane Helene, which hit the south-east on Thursday, reached 90 and is expected to rise further. Damage estimates range from $15bn to more than $100bn. Strong winds knocked out power for millions and heavy rain caused catastrophic flooding, wiping out roads and bridges from Florida to Virginia. Buncombe County in North Carolina was hit especially hard. One official described the devastation as “biblical”.

KAL flashback

Every Monday we will republish a cartoon by KAL from the archive. Back in 2016 Lexington wrote about the debate between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence. The two vice-presidential candidates treated each other civilly and spoke for the mainstream of their parties—but that only laid bare the gulf between their beliefs about both facts and principle. As Tim Walz and J.D. Vance, the current hopefuls, prepare to face off on Tuesday, that chasm is all the wider, and civility far rarer.

A view from elsewhere

Mr Trump is a “con man” and a “pathological liar”, but he would make America “more inward-looking”, wrote John Bigyemano in the Observer, a Ugandan newspaper. “Because a Trump presidency would lose interest in the rest of the world, the rest of the world would lose interest in the USA.” “This,” Mr Bigyemano claimed, “is good for Uganda and Africa in general.”

Figure of the day

More than $100,000, the value of undisclosed gifts that prosecutors allege Eric Adam has received. Read our story about the case against the mayor of New York City (who denies all wrongdoing).

We want to hear from you
Will you be tuning into the vice-presidential debate on October 1st, and do you think J.D. Vance or Tim Walz will come out on top? Please send your views to usib@economist.com. And, of course, we welcome your feedback on this newsletter.

Editor’s picks

Our latest US coverage

Lexington

What J.D. Vance is learning from Donald Trump

The vice-presidential candidate is devising his own tactics for bending the truth

Direct democracy

Kamalamania and the drive for abortion rights are a potent mix

Referendums in ten states will determine the future of abortion access—and may tilt the presidential election

From the archive

Christian Californians may have a solution to America’s obesity

Lessons in longevity from Seventh-day Adventists

Today’s forecast

Kamala Harris has pulled ahead in national polls. But because candidates must win the electoral college, not the popular vote, our forecast reckons that she and Donald Trump have nearly equal chances of becoming president.

Daily quiz

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things American. This week Jimmy Carter turns 100. To celebrate the former president’s centenary, we’ve got a set of questions on his life.

Monday: Jimmy Carter grew up on a farm, which he later ran. What was its main crop?

See how to take part in the quiz at the bottom of this page.

If you enjoyed this week’s quiz, play Dateline, The Economist’s history game.

Heard on CNN

They don’t let him talk to the press for a reason.

—CNN’s Scott Jennings suggests that Tim Walz, Ms Harris’s running-mate, is “a buffoon” who cannot stand up to scrutiny. Whether he is right will become clear at tomorrow’s vice-presidential debate.

Read all of our recent coverage of the 2024 election. Confused about a term? Check out our A-Z of American politics.

Live digital event

Subscriber-only live event

War in the Middle East, one year on

A year after the October 7th attack, Gaza is in ruins and war may engulf the region. Join our editors as they assess the crisis on Thursday October 3rd at 4pm BST / 11am EDT / 8am PDT.

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