"Thank you, Madame Vice President, for the trust you put in me," he said as he began his remarks during their first public appearance together as running mates on the 2024 Democratic ticket. "But, maybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy." We send our thanks in return on today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

But, very quickly before we get there today, we've got a few of the noteworthy reported results from Tuesday's largely problem-free (so far) Congressional and state primary elections in Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Washington state. And a few thoughts on Donald Trump's latest pathetic attempt to remain relevant by endorsing more than one --- sometimes all of the top contenders --- in the same Republican primary race. What a loser.

THEN... it's on to our roundtable guests today, who seem to be in a very good mood for some reason, after the Democrats' now official 2024 Presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, tapped Minnesota's progressive Governor Tim Walz as her VP candidate on Tuesday.

Walz, as we discuss, has a life and political biography that, if he was a fictional character in a political miniseries, you'd think the writers had laid it on a little thick. But, sure enough, Walz' extraordinary career and accomplishments --- born in rural Nebraska; 24 years of decorated service in the Army National Guard; 20 years as a high school teacher and state champion football coach; 12 years in the U.S. House; and two wildly effective terms as MN Governor, including the passage of a slew of popular progressive priorities --- all seem quite real. AND, it has all been carried out, it seems, with much of the same "joy" he thanked Harris for "bringing back" during their first joint appearance on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Now, as the Dem ticket's poll numbers continue to surge, the pair is off and running with joint appearances in at least five battleground states this week, while Trump is set to appear in, well, just Montana for some reason.

We're joined again today for another one of our weekly roundtables with two very smart and fellow old school bloggers, HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Hullabaloo, and 'DRIFTGLASS' of The Pro Left Podcast. They were last on the show together just three weeks ago. But, boy howdy, was that a different world, as Dems were still trying to figure out how to survive with Joe Biden at the top of their ticket following his disastrous late-June debate performance. What a difference three weeks makes.

Today, we are focused on the selection of Walz as VP and what all of that means for both the electrified Dem and seemingly stultified GOP tickets. By way of just a quick sample from our conversation today, from both guests in response to Harris' selection of Walz...

There is much more where all of that comes from today, on how the progressive AOC and rightwing Joe Manchin are actually in agreement that Walz is an "excellent decision" and "the real deal"; on Team Trump's hilariously flatfooted response; on the one option the GOP could (but won't) deploy to turn things around; on "mind[ing] your own damn business"; on Minnesota/San Francisco/American values; on whether Trump could ever dump Vance; on whether the Dem momentum can continue for another 90 days; on Trump's bizarre post-Walz meltdown; and much more...

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Today on The BradCast: Well, the past 24 hours have turned out to be rather historic. At least I hope. [Audio link to full show is posted below this summary.]

After having become the nation's first female Vice President, Kamala Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Asian immigrants, was officially selected on Monday night by Democratic National Party delegates via an online roll call vote to become the first woman of color to lead a major party's Presidential ticket.

But the California Democrat stepped on her own history-making moment by Tuesday morning when announcing her selection for Vice President: 24-year Army National Guardsman, former high school teacher and football coach, 12-year Congressman and two-term Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

In the hours since, the affable, blessedly normal, very progressive 60-year old, union-supporting Nebraska native --- who flipped a rural Minnesota Congressional seat from red to blue in 2006 --- became a bit of a national sensation, it seems to me. He was, after all, the one who appears to have cracked the code of how to attack the Republicans' standard-bearer Donald Trump and his Vice-Presidential candidate J.D. Vance with a simple, and even "Minnesota Nice" dismissal by referring to them as just plain "weird".

But, as our guest today, The Nation's progressive journalist, author, longtime Walz fan and native son of MN's neighboring rust belt state of Wisconsin, JOHN NICHOLS, makes clear, Walz didn't just come from nowhere. He has a history that Nichols has been sharing for days --- well before today's announcement --- on his Twitter feed, with links to some great Walz moments over the years. His incredibly moving radio ad when first introducing himself to run for Congress in 2006; his sweeping video ad announcing his gubernatorial run in 2018; an impassioned, ass-kicking speech at the MN Legislature as Governor in 2023, as the 2nd Amendment supporter and 24-year veteran, deployed both domestically and overseas, promised (and then delivered) long-overdue gun safety laws to finally help stop the massacre of school children; being hugged by school children after signing a bill to ensure free public school breakfast and lunches for all; a telling moment when the Governor, in well-worn blue jeans, bends over to tie the shoe of a little girl.

"He is kind of an outsider on the national political scene," Nichols tells me today, when explaining why he's been posting Tweet after Tweet in support of Walz in recent days. "As of a couple of weeks ago, it's safe to say that 99 out of 100 Americans couldn't have identified him out of a lineup. So in a very short amount of time, this guy has come not from the mainstream, inner circle of the elite Washington Democratic Party, but from way outside, up on the border with Canada."

"So I think there was a lot that people needed to understand quickly about the guy, and that's one of the reasons why I posted a lot of those old campaign ads and videos --- so people could understand that he didn't just appear out of nowhere. This is kind of an amazing political figure."

America is certainly learning that as of today, after what Nichols reported at The Nation this afternoon as the Paul Wellstone disciple who rose to the top during "a two-week 'virtual campaign' in which [Harris' Veep contenders] would present themselves to the party and to the candidate and to the nation. ... And, in so doing, she freed herself up to the prospect that the final pick might not be a predictable insider, or, to be more precise, the predictable choice of the predictable insiders."

"There's nothing radical about Tim Walz," Nichols tweeted today, "except for his faith in the American people. He believes in an America where we treat one another as neighbors, lift one another up and build a future where no one is left behind. Walz is the opposite of JD Vance."

Nichols has a lot to share about Walz' background, Harris' courageous selection, and how he believes that Trump has been "destabilized" by all that has happened over the past two weeks following Joe Biden stepping aside to make way for Harris. "Trump really does believe in a cult of personality. So, he couldn't possibly imagine that Biden would ever give up the leadership of the party, never give up the candidacy. Well, Biden isn't a cult of personality guy. He did give it up. That threw Trump off. I think Trump is still destabilized simply by that reality."

"And then comes this good-humored guy out of the Midwest. Somebody who really does speak to a lot of the people Trump has tried to speak to, but instead of Trumpish-language --- 'I'm a billionaire from New York who knows things you don't know.' Tim Walz comes along and says, 'I'm a teacher from Mankato. I know a lot of things you know. I get you. I get what you need. And I'm telling you, you're not getting it from a weirdo.' Suddenly, it's like the whole conversation has changed. ... And the Republicans are frankly going crazy."

Nichols also explains how Walz on the ticket from neighboring MN, will "absolutely" have an effect on voters in the "Blue Wall" state of WI and beyond, and why the Trump Campaign's laughable attack on Walz as a "West Coast wannabe...obsessed with spreading California's dangerously liberal agenda far and wide" is probably going to miss by a California mile.

FINALLY... Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as the climate change-enhanced Hurricane Debby wreaks havoc across Florida, Georgia and South Carolina; as climate change changed the Paris Summer Games; as victims of the climate change-exacerbated wild fires in Maui get a small measure of justice; and as oil major BP is now all but conceding that fossil fuels will soon be on their way out...

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Late last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 34 fellow Senate Democrats introduced legislation that would not only overturn the "Presidential Immunity" ruling invented by the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing majority last month in Trump v. United States, but would also strip both federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court of the jurisdiction to so much as stay criminal proceedings based upon a claim of "presidential immunity".

The proposed No Kings Act [PDF] cites provisions of Article III, §2, clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which expressly authorizes Congress to carve out "exceptions" to the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction. The newly introduced Act declares that "a President or Vice President is not entitled to any form of immunity from criminal prosecution for violations of the criminal laws of the United States unless specified by Congress," and then invokes the Article III clause to prevent federal courts from blocking any such prosecution on the basis of the Trump v. U.S. ruling.

Moreover, as the Democrats' announcement explains, the Supreme Court would also be barred from reviewing the Constitutionality of the No Kings Act itself. While the bill would allow Presidents and Vice Presidents to challenge its constitutionality, any such challenge would be ultimately decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rather than by SCOTUS.

According to Schumer's statement:

The legislative Act, as proposed by Democrats, is manifestly different from President Biden's proposal to overturn the presidential immunity decision by way of a Constitutional Amendment...

Lots of good news and/or bad news on today's BradCast depending on how you may choose to see any of it. [Audio link to full program follows this summary.]

FIRST UP... The mid-level appeals court in New York (just below its highest court) rejected Donald Trump's attempt to lift whatever remains of the gag order against him in his hush-money case on Thursday. That's the case where he's been convicted of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to hide a sexual tryst with a porn star in order to help him win the 2016 Presidential election. The gag order --- preventing him from attacking family members of the judge, etc. --- is likely to be lifted once Trump is sentenced on September 18, if in fact he sentenced at that time. The judge on the case, Justice Juan Merchan will decide on September 6th whether the case must be tossed entirely, given the corrupt U.S. Supreme Court's ridiculous, but still binding, recent ruling that Presidents are immune from prosecution for almost any and all crimes committed while serving in office.

THEN... Big news today from the White House as President Biden announced a multinational prisoner swap with Russia, that includes prisoners released from six different countries. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Marine vet Paul Whelan are among those Americans released by Russia today, along with a number of other journalists and political dissidents wrongly held by Russia, according to the U.S. Some of the prisoners, in fact, have been held for years, including Whelan who had been imprisoned since being arrested while attending a wedding in Russia in 2018.

Some critics, however, have charged that such deals --- often including the release of serious criminals --- merely incentive the taking of "hostages". The lead U.S. hostage negotiator, however, responds that, despite 70 Americans whose releases were won by the Biden Administration, the number of those taken captive has fallen. When asked by a reporter at the White House today about Trump's repeated comments that he could have brought these people whom without "paying" anything, Biden responded: "Why didn't he do it when he was President?"

NEXT... Earlier this week, President Biden detailed his three-part proposal for long-overdue reform of our corrupted, packed, stolen and activist U.S. Supreme Court. His proposed reforms include 18-year term limits for Justices, allowing every President to name a new Justice every two years; an enforceable, binding code of conduct, to prevent Justices from accepting undisclosed gifts and requiring them to recuse themselves from cases in which they have conflicts of interest; and a call for a Constitutional Amendment to roll back the Court's recent, absurd ruling that Presidents --- like kings --- enjoy near absolute immunity for all crimes committed while in office.

Biden has referred to his proposed Constitutional amendment as the "No One is Above the Law" Amendment. And on Thursday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 34 other Democratic Senators, released their own proposal for legislation they are calling the "No Kings Act". It is similar to the Constitutional Amendment sought by Biden, but, according to Schumer today, "would be the fastest and most efficient method to correcting the grave precedent the Trump [immunity] ruling presented." Schumer describes that ruling as a "dangerous and devastating" one, adopted by "the MAGA Supreme Court".

We're joined today by attorney JAY WILLIS, editor-in-chief of the Balls and Strikes website, which focuses on the Courts and court reform. Willis recently described Biden's proposal as "a nice first step", while explaining why doesn't go far enough. "The only way to solve the problem of a Court controlled by a conservative supermajority is to add justices to it," he wrote, charging that the benefits of Biden (and Schumer's) current proposals are swell, and broadly popular, but won't be truly felt for generations. "Backing term limits without also backing Court expansion is like explaining the concept of a life preserver to a person who is actively drowning," he quipped.

Today, Willis tells me: "My attitude towards Court reform is basically that it's difficult to go far enough to repair an institution this broken." He cites the broad bipartisan support for both term-limits and a binding ethics code, calling them "not particularly controversial policy ideas." But without expansion of the Court, he argues --- which is also popular, if not quite as much so for the time being --- the Constitutional damage that these current rightwing activist Justices will be able sow is virtually limitless.

We also discuss the difference between Biden's call for a Constitutional Amendment to overturn SCOTUS' immunity ruling and Schumer's push for legislation instead, and why some believe that any attempt by Congress to impose term-limits on Justices would be found to be unconstitutional. Ironically, it would be the Justices themselves, in theory, who would be the ones to make that ultimate finding. (Though shouldn't they all recuse themselves from such a case? If so, then what?)

"As long as John Roberts is in charge of this Court," Willis says that he expects any ruling on these matters would contain "a lot of, 'Thanks for playing Congress. Thanks for your opinion on what the Constitution means. But this is really our job, not yours.'"

In a follow-up piece, Willis detailed where Vice President --- and the Democrats' presumptive 2024 Presidential nominee --- Kamala Harris stands on the various elements of Court reform as sought by Biden, as well as for expansion of the Court to help UNpack it after the damage done during the Trump years.

FINALLY... Desi Doyen joins us for today's particular grim Green News Report today, though one that ends on a high note, at least!...

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If you haven't begun already, as detailed on today's BradCast (along with much else), now is a good time to start keeping your eyes on the many ways that Republicans are planning to "legally" steal the November election in the event that, once again, they can't win it the old fashioned way by receiving more votes and an electoral Electoral College victory with them. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Recently, Kevin Roberts (pictured above), the President of the far-right Heritage Foundation, creators of "Project 2025" --- an extremist 900-page manifesto designed to repeal the 20th century the next time a Republican wins the White House --- told supporters: "We are winning. There are a lot of victories that have been secured. Some of them are partial. Some of them in ways that the other side doesn't yet know, are foundations for what's coming. And that's just the beginning. And we're not gonna tell ya everything that's coming."

Today, after weeks of focus on that Project 2025 by Democrats and media, it's nominal operational director, Paul Dans, stepped down to assuage Donald Trump, who both doesn't like the fact that Project 2025 makes him look like the puppet of more than a hundred far-right organizations and his own former Administration officials (which he is), and because the document is so extremist that he'd prefer to keep all of its atrocities under wraps until he's safely back in office. But those plans to gut the government as we know it and place a Republican President in direct autocratic control of every government agency, aren't going away, even if Heritage and friends have now been ordered to tone it down for a while until Trump can be installed back into the Oval Office.

As corporate media outlets are finally reporting on Project 2025, Roberts' plans for "victories...that the other side doesn't yet know...and [he's] not gonna tell" us about for now, are becoming clearer by the day, nonetheless. Largely, they are about stealing the election in advance by voter suppression assisted by corrupt friends now seated on the courts; stealing it during the tabulation by the many Trump-supporting election denialist who now serve as county election officials in battleground states, where they plan to prevent certification of a Trump loss; and, in doing so, create enough havoc after the election to toss the Electoral College certification on January 6 to the U.S. House, where Republicans hope to control a majority of state delegations in order to name Trump the "winner", even if he loses again, as he did in 2020.

We detail just some of those plots and plans, along with much more, on today's program. Among our many stories today...

• After hundreds were killed amid downpour-triggered landslides last week in Ethiopia, at least 70 93 were killed by mudslides under similarly climate change-fueled conditions in southwestern India today.

• More than 1 million union workers have now had their pensions saved by the Biden-Harris Administration and Congressional Democrats, thanks to their American Rescue Plan, which not one single Republican voted for in the House or Senate. That now includes some 600,000 Teamsters, many of them in the rust belt, the midwest and New England, as celebrated on Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire.

• Kamala-mentum continues, as new polling shows her favorability rate skyrocketing and her unfavorability rate plummeting, following President Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 race and endorse his Vice President instead. Favorable/unfavorable numbers for Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have done the exact opposite according to polling numbers from the week after the assassination attempt on the former President and the Republican National Convention as compared to the week after, following Biden's endorsement of Harris for the top of the ticket.

• Rolling Stone detailed on Monday how at least 70 pro-Trump conspiracists who now hold positions as election officials in a number of counties in six battleground state "are poised to make a giant mess" by refusing to certify election results in hopes of preventing state results from being certified if Trump doesn't win them. The magazine's Justine Glawe's deep-dive report warns that "Republicans have refused to certify election results at least 25 times since Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden"...because practice makes perfect. You have been warned. You may want to keep your Jan. 6 open next year. There may be something dramatic on television, depending on how things go.

• Early legal efforts by Republicans to bollox things up for the Kamala Harris Campaign do not appear to be going well. An FEC complaint filed last week in hopes of preventing Harris from being able to use the money from the former Biden-Harris Campaign account isn't likely to get very far, UC Irvine Election Law professor Rick Hasen notes. Though he does recognize that the complaint will at least give Trump the opportunity to falsely claim on the stump that what Dems are doing is a muchworse campaign finance violation than his own in 2016 which resulted in his 34 felony convictions in New York. Good luck with that.

• Also, recent claims by Republican House Speaker and Trump tool Mike Johnson (who is, theoretically, an actual attorney) that there are legal "impediments" preventing Democrats from putting Harris on state ballots instead of Biden, turn out to be 100% wrong. At least according to CNN, which surveyed all 50 states to find that there will be legal impediments for Harris in (...checks notes...) ZERO states!

• In the meantime, expect a mountain of frivolous legal complaints by Republicans about election laws in hopes of suppressing the vote with favorable rulings from corrupt, Trump appointed federal judges. One such effort in Mississippi, filed earlier this year, seeking to block the counting of mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five days afterward, as per state law, failed on summary judgement on Sunday. But you should expect both appeals and more such voter suppression cases to flood the courts between now and Election Day (and beyond).

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report as the climate change-fueled Park Fire in Northern California explodes to become the fifth largest in state history; the death toll from heat exhaustion amid power outages following Hurricane Beryl in Texas continues to climb; Extreme heat and water pollution complicate the Paris Olympics; and the U.N. warns that the nations of the world are not moving fast enough to avoid the far worse effects of climate change that are coming...

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The fight for election integrity and for democracy over autocracy continues on today's BradCast, from Venezuela to the United States. [Audio link to full show follows below.]

Among today's topics...

• The quickly exploding Park Fire in Northern California continues to spread, as firefighters battle against time and exceedingly warm, dry and windy weather. The enormous fire, ignited by an arsonist but fueled by climate changed-conditions, has now chewed through more than 550 square miles and threatens the Lassen Volcanic National Park as it has become the 6th largest fire in state history. Desi Doyen has details today.

• The government of Venezuela's autocratic ruler, President Nicolas Maduro, declared he had defeated opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez by some 7 points in Sunday's election. But Gonzalez supporters, election observers and a bunch of foreign nations are questioning the officially reported results, citing irregularities at polling places, contrary polling numbers, and a lack of transparency among other irregularities, as tabulation records from tens of thousands of touchscreen voting systems around the country have yet to be made public. Election Integrity advocates, including the Carter Center in Atlanta, are demanding Venezuelan authorities immediately publish tallies from some 30,000 individual voting machines which have been withheld from public oversight to date.

• Meanwhile, when it comes to democracy and elections back home, we've got a few problems of our own. On Monday, President Biden introduced his proposal for reforming our corrupted U.S. Supreme Court. He is calling for 18-year term limits that would allow a sitting President to appoint a new Justice every two years. He is calling on Congress to create an enforceable code of ethics for Justices following years of revelations of millions of dollars in undisclosed luxury gifts, travel and cash accepted by Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and others; and for a "No One Is Above the Law Amendment" to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the Court's recent ridiculous discovery of a heretofore unnoticed Presidential Immunity Clause in our founding document, giving immunity from prosecution to former Presidents for virtually any crime they carry out while in office.

• At the same time, democracy advocates continue to be elated following the President's decision to pass the 2024 torch to his Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee against Donald Trump just over one week ago. The choice being presented to American voters this November could not be more stark between a young, freedom-loving progressive and an old, criminally-convicted, autocracy-embracing former President. We discuss.

• Finally, we open up the phones to all of the above and much more with listeners --- both wise and not-so-much --- on the top issues of the day...

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On today's BradCast, we take up the President's charge to stand "in defense of democracy". [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

Among our coverage today...

• During President Biden's solemn, somber and historic prime time Oval Office address to the nation on Wednesday evening (transcript here), to explain his Sunday decision to drop out of the 2024 Presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the top of the ticket, he focused in no small part on the need to defend democracy against wannabe "kings and dictators," while he charged that "the cause of American democracy itself" is now at stake. "We must unite to protect it," he implored. We discuss and continue to join that fight.

• Meanwhile, as the U.S. House on Wednesday voted 417 to 0 to create a special task force to probe what happened during the July 13 assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified on Wednesday that, in fact, nearly two weeks since the shooting, we have no idea "whether or not it's a bullet or shrapnel" that wounded Trump's ear. In fact, to date, no medical expert or law enforcement official has ever offered an official public accounting of what actually happened to the former President that day, even as mainstream corporate media have simply taken the social media claim by Trump, an inveterate liar, that a "bullet...pierced the upper part of my right ear" as fact. Ever since, Trump has exploited the event to claim at his convention, in rally speeches and on social media, that he "took a bullet for democracy."

  As we detail today, however, all available evidence suggests that is simply a lie. The man who, himself, has become the greatest threat to American democracy in modern history is now using the near miss for stolen valor to pretend to be a defender of democracy.

  As Ernie Canning explains at The BRAD BLOG this week, whether Trump "took a bullet" or not, it was not "for democracy," as investigators have reportedly found no evidence to suggest the shooting was politically motivated. And, as TPM's Josh Marshall has been reporting for some time, evidence suggests it was more likely some sort of flying shrapnel that grazed Trump's ear, along with causing similar minor injuries to several local cops who were near the stage that day. In any event, the media's failure to even ask the Trump Campaign about these details --- as one rally goer was actually killed and two others critically wounded that day --- for apparent fear of angering the former President, is "bizarre" and "a total journalistic failure" to the American people and to history. It also, as we note, underscores tyranny expert and author Timothy Snyder's repeated warnings about giving up power to would-be autocrats by "obeying in advance." Much more on all of this on today's show.

• We've got more details today on the DNC's plan to begin a virtual roll-call vote on August 1st next week --- well in advance of their August 19 convention in Chicago --- in order to finalize the party's Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominees no later than August 7th. Why are they doing this? No, it's not to ensure there are no challengers to presumptive nominee Kamala Harris. Rather, it is thanks to a story we've been covering since the beginning of the year about the failure by Republican state lawmakers to change the statutory deadline for submitting certified party nominees for the Buckeye State ballot by August 7th, as they've done for many years, as needed, when Republicans hold their national conventions late in the summer. Yes, state lawmakers, in a late special session, finally changed the statutory deadline. But the new law doesn't take effect until September 1, opening opening up Democrats to a potential legal challenge by Republicans as to whether their nominee can lawfully be on the state's ballot at all this November. Tune in for more details.

• More news "in defense of democracy" out of Ohio this week. A ballot measure for a state constitutional amendment that would create an independent redistricting committee has qualified for the November ballot! If adopted by voters, it could end the state GOP's wildly gerrymandered Congressional and state legislative maps for 2026. Otherwise, Republican Buckeye State politicians will continue to be allowed to choose their own voters, rather than vice versa, until at least 2030.

• And still more good news "in defense of democracy" from the Buckeye State today! A federal judge has struck down part of a sweeping election reform package adopted by Ohio Republicans last year that makes it a felony for disabled voters to allow caregivers, roommates, in-laws or even grandchildren to help them cast their absentee ballot by mail or drop box. The voter suppression law threatened to charge anyone but immediate family members (which apparently doesn't include grandchildren!) with felonies for helping those voters in need to cast their ballot. That, as the CDC finds that people with disabilities make up more than a quarter of the U.S. adult population.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with news on explosive wildfires in the U.S. and Canadian west; the two hottest days ever recorded on Planet Earth (this past Sunday and Monday); and a focus on the Republicans' shocking Project 2025 plans to gut federal science agencies --- such as the EPA and National Weather Service --- along with climate science and many if not most environmental protections and climate change initiatives...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Explosive wildfire season worsens in Canada and Western U.S.; Earth just had its hottest two days ever recorded, thanks to man-made global warming; PLUS: Republicans' Project 2025 would gut federal science agencies, the EPA, and force you to pay for your free weather reports... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Ethiopia landslide death toll reaches 257 as UN warns it could surpass 500; Wealthy Western countries lead in global oil and gas expansion; How Israel’s war on Gaza unraveled a landmark Mideast climate deal; Texas nuclear plant trips offline, grid loses 1400 MW instantly; Enviros challenge EPA's new rules on toxic air plastic and chemical pollution; CA isn't enforcing its strongest-in-the-nation oil well cleanup law; Pollution threatens Mediterranean Sea's health... PLUS: California dam removal project on Klamath River ahead of schedule... and much, MUCH more! ...

We are still hanging on for dear life here at The BradCast amid the past four weeks of non-stop political upheavals. But, at least this week, we've got some much more encouraging stuff to hang on to. For now. [Audio link to full show is posted below this summary.]

It remains to be seen how fleeing it all is, but over the past several days, I must say, I have never seen Democrats more united and elated as they have been since Kamala Harris ascended to become their presumptive 2024 Presidential nominee. One has to go back to the nomination of Barack Obama in 2008 for anything even close to the kind of giddy excitement and optimism we've seen since Joe Biden decided to drop out and pass the torch to Harris on Sunday. But, even back in 2008, the party was still smarting and somewhat riven over the outcome of a long and bruising primary cycle between Obama and Hilary Clinton (who wrote a very good op-ed about all of this in the Times yesterday, btw.)

The first polls taken solely after Biden's announcement and endorsement on Sunday are now beginning to trickle out, with a new Reuters/Ipsos survey taken on Monday and Tuesday this week finding Harris now up over Donald Trump nationally by 2 points. That may be a small lead, but it's a 4-point swing as compared to Trump's 2-point lead over Biden last week. Moreover, when RFK, Jr. was included in the question to respondents, Harris' lead grew to 4 points over Trump in the first polling from this outfit that has seen the former President actually losing to a Democrat since May of this year.

Furthermore, as one of our guests notes today, in the week following a party's national convention, we traditionally see a bounce for that party of anywhere from 2 to 4 points. In this one poll, at least, there is not only no bounce, but a loss of support for the GOP candidate following last week's Republican National Convention.

Of course, be sure to mind all of the usual caveats about such polls --- only one poll, margin of error, snapshot in time, national versus state numbers, etc. Nonetheless, the numbers would seem to be encouraging news for Dems after many weeks of the opposite.

To that end, we've got a lot to make sense of from the past several remarkable days, and we're joined by two old friends to help us do so. Our steadfast HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Hullabaloo is here once again, along with JOHN AMATO, creator of the notorious Crooks & Liars blog, for the first time in a while.

Among our many topics of discussion, debate and tomfoolery today...

• Thoughts on the extraordinary decision by and presidency of Joe Biden, including whether his decision to get out came too late or just at the right time.
• Republicans, Fox "News" and even a number of theoretically legitimate news outlets have been telling us that there is something undemocratic about what has just happened in the Democratic Party. Are they right?
• Thoughts on Harris and her rise to meet this historic moment.
• Thoughts on the ugly, racist, barely concealed dog-whistle attacks against her already emerging from the right.
• The hilarious "fraud" argument now coming from Trump and his campaign on Harris' ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket, and their astonishingly flat-footed response, so far.
• Thoughts on whether we should expect the same protests from the left that had dogged President Biden regarding his position on Israel to similarly affect the Harris Campaign.
• Some advice for those who may be experiencing a bit of PTSD following the last time Democrats nominated a woman to run for President against Trump.
• Veep Stakes on the Right!: Is Trump regretting his selection of J.D. Vance as his Vice-Presidential running mate this week? Is Vance regretting accepting the job? Is it possible he'll soon be tossed from the GOP ticket?
• Veep Stakes on the Left!: Who would our guests like to see Harris select as her own running mate? And who do they expect she will choose?

All of that and much, much more on today's lively round-table BradCast!...

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Most of us, including President Joe Biden, who called upon Americans to "reject" political violence, may have been too quick to assume that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13 was politically motivated.

The FBI, by contrast, concedes that it hasn't identified a motive. That inability continued after an FBI search of the shooter's two cellphones failed to find "any indication of a motive, ideology or political views", CBS reported on July 17.

History reveals that not all high-level assassination attempts are politically motivated...

Following the tumultuous events of the last several days (and weeks) today seemed a good moment on The BradCast to check in on how the MAGA side of the aisle is processing everything that is going on. [Audio link to full show follows below.]

BUT FIRST, some quick news items, including the "roaring crowd" which greeted newly presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Wisconsin, during her first rally following President Biden's decisions on Sunday to leave the race and toss his support to Harris. Tuesday's rally comes on the same day that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Hakeem Jeffries joined a rapidly growing list of elected Democrats and pledged DNC delegates coalescing behind the Vice President's candidacy. It also follows on the all-time record shattering $100 million in donations that have flooded into her campaign coffers over the 24 hours following Biden's announcement and the nearly 60,000 voters since Sunday who have reportedly joined the campaign as volunteers.

Speaking to a huge crowd in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Harris --- a former California District Attorney and Attorney General --- described the choice this November as one between "freedom and chaos", as she laid out how she plans to prosecute her case against the 79-year old 34-time convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and fraudster, Donald Trump. We share a few sound bites from her rally today.

In other news today, Biden announced that he will address the nation from the Oval Office at 8pm ET on Wednesday explaining his decisions; Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle announced her resignation following the security lapse that led to the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13; And Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey finally announced he would be resigning next month following his conviction on 16 felony bribery and corruption charges. Fellow Democrats had been calling for Menendez' resignation for months, while Republicans, ironically, did not, since, after all, they are now supporting a man who has 34 felony convictions as their party's Presidential nominee!

IN THE MEANTIME, Republicans are having a difficult time figuring out their plan of attack against Harris after spending years assuming they'd be running against Biden. So, how are Trump's MAGA supporters responding to all of this?

We're joined today by former, dyed-in-the-wool MAGA member, RICH LOGIS who, after voting for Trump in 2016 and 2020 finally came to realize that he had been played for a chump as he had become little more than a member of a cult lead by the former President. Though it took some time to come to terms with it (as we've discussed with Logis on previous shows), he has courageously renounced his MAGA past, and has become the Founder and Executive Director of the non-profit called LeavingMAGA.org. It's mission statement: "Empower others to leave MAGA and tell their stories. Foster reconciliation with their friends and family. Develop movement leaders to help others leave."

As a former "MAGA American", Logis is also becoming our MAGA Whisperer. I wanted to touch base with him to find out how Trump supporters are processing the whirlwind of recent news, from the assassination attempt, to the naming of J.D. Vance as Trump's Vice-Presidential running mate, to the latest stunning turn of events with Biden dropping out and Harris taking over the ticket.

We've got a lot to discuss on all of those points, as well as on his continuing mission to offer a safe space for folks trying to extricate themselves from Trump's cult, and how he sees things playing out for MAGA World in the days ahead, based on whether Trump wins or loses this November.

"The assassination attempt, a lot of the rhetoric we're seeing now with Vice President Harris as the likely nominee, what it does is it really embodies that MAGA Americans view Mr. Trump as really the last stand," Logis tells me, after I share a clip from an Ohio state Senator who, yesterday at a Vance rally, asserted that "civil war" would break out if Trump loses. "And if he is not victorious," Logis continues, "if MAGA is not victorious, then it will mean that liberal democracy has taken over, and all of those in the MAGA community are going to lose their country." He admits, "it is what I believed."

Logis argues now, however, that "we need to move on from Mr. Trump, and the way that that will happen is that he and the Republican Party, ideally, are not just defeated but historically repudiated." In fact, he believes "the Republican Party is going to be historically renounced and repudiated in November. I think the Republican Party knows that."

We'll see if he's right. But we've got a lot to discuss along all of those lines with Logis today, including the years-long "grooming" of MAGA Americans by Trump, the rightwing media and cynical, opportunistic Republican politicians.

AND FINALLY today, some disturbing news out of Ethiopia, where heavy rain resulted in a pair of mudslides that have killed at least 229 people, including children, pregnant women and rescuers who had been searching for survivors from a previous landslide when the second one happened. That is followed up by our latest Green News Report with Desi Doyen, detailing the extraordinary climate legacy of Joe Biden, and the climate action records (or lack thereof) of both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: President Biden withdraws from the 2024 race with a legacy of unprecedented climate action; Apparent successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, was a climate action warrior; PLUS: At the GOP convention, Republicans replay the golden oldies, highlighting lies over facts on energy and climate... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Where Kamala Harris stands on climate; Trump would privatize weather forecasting; Sunday was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth, scientists say; Canada’s popular Jasper National Park ordered to evacuate as fire nears; 123 House and Senate Republicans deny climate science; Texas heat deaths climb after Beryl left millions without power for days; Big meat, dairy companies spend more on ads than cutting emissions... PLUS: White House seeks to end government purchase of single-use plastic by 2035... and much, MUCH more! ...

Like it or not, we live in historic times. Personally, I could live with a bit less history making news damned near every day now. But this is what we got and so this is where we go, yet again, on today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

As you may have heard, on Sunday, Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the 2024 Presidential race against convicted criminal and now official GOP nominee Donald Trump, who accepted his party's nod in an unprecedentedly long (and boring, and falsehood-filled) acceptance speech last week in Milwaukee.

About thirty minutes after his announcement that he would be passing the torch on Sunday, Biden (apparently taking our advice from about a month ago) immediately endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, for the top of the Democratic ticket.

Since then, praise for Biden from top elected Democrats and world leaders has been pouring in, along with endorsements for Harris, who will have to win the nomination among delegates at the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago. AP reports, however, that more than half of the pledged Democratic delegates needed to clinch the nomination have already indicated they will support Harris, as have all 50 state Democratic Party chairs.

In addition to endorsements, financial support has also been flooding in from the public since Biden's announcement on Sunday, with Democrats reportedly raising a record-breaking $81 million in small donations over the past 24 hours.

So, how do some of our listeners --- many of whom were adamant just two weeks ago that Biden should stay in the race --- feel about the President's decisions on Sunday to both drop out of the running and endorse Harris? And who might they like to see as her Vice-Presidential running-mate if she is able to secure the nomination next month in Chicago?

We open the phone lines to listeners today on all of that and many other interesting points amid yet another historic and unprecedented moment in American politics. So, how many will this week bring? Don't ask...

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Well, it now appears to be official...

Here is his full letter to the American people...

The President did not directly endorse anyone in his letter. But, minutes after it was made public, he did so --- much as I had suggested me might the day after his disastrous debate last month --- on Twitter, with an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris...

* * *

UPDATE: So who would you like to see as her VP? Please ring in in comments! May share this week on air!

I've got to post today's BradCast quickly a) before convicted felon Donald Trump speaks at tonight's RNC and b) before more political shoes (and/or earthquakes) drop. So, here's the quick skinny. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our coverage today...

• Donald Trump critic-turned-toady J.D. Vance of Ohio, officially accepted the GOP's nomination for Vice President during his remarks at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night. His speech was long on hillbilly biography but very short (virtually bereft) of the horrifying policies that Vance actually supports. Helpfully today, we correct his oversight with actual facts and policy proposals from the ambitious Yale-educated Senator, including his push for a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions; ending no-fault divorce; slashing Social Security and Medicare; embracing Project 2025, turning over Ukraine to Russia and much more!

• While leaving out his radical policy positions, Vance also dropped a few big lies about a number of things during Wednesday speech. When it comes to his lies about all-time record, world-leading energy production under Joe Biden, our own Desi Doyen has a few thoughts and a corrective that J.D. and his convicted conman running mate would prefer you didn't listen to.

• Self-proclaimed "Liberal Redneck" comedian Trae Crowder, who hung out with the GOP's new Veep nominee back in the days when Vance regarded Trump as "America's Hitler", also has a few insights on him today.

• What explains the complete lack of pressing by corporate media for any kind of official medical statement on the injury suffered by Donald Trump during last Saturday's assassination attempt?

• The Chief U.S. District Court Judge in Nevada tossed out a suit on Wednesday brought by the Trump Campaign, the RNC and the Nevada GOP seeking to block the counting of potentially tens of thousands of perfectly legal mail ballots in the battleground state, cast and timely post-marked by Election Day, but arriving up to four days after, as allowed by NV state law.

• With President Biden now battling COVID again, top Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have all reportedly been pressing the President, in various ways, to reconsider his insistence on staying in the race for reelection. If there is to be a change at the top of the ticket, it is believed likely to come (and would need to come) within days. Perhaps as soon as this weekend.

• In the meantime, President Biden has been continuing to present new, popular policies --- as all Democrats should be joining him in doing at this point. This week, for example, Biden is reportedly planning to issue a long-overdue proposal for SCOTUS reform to include term limits and an enforceable code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices. He will also be proposing a Constitutional amendment to counter the Court's recent corrupt ruling granting criminal immunity to Presidents. Also this week, Biden has called for a national rent control statute that would cap rent increases at 5% annually unless landlords choose to forego federal tax write-offs. These are the sort of things that Dems should be doing right now, rather than squabbling amongst themselves. (Not that anyone asked me.)

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as Toronto is crippled by extreme storms and flooding; the cost of extreme heat is quickly escalating in the U.S.; and as Marathon Oil agrees to pay a record fine for pollution under the Clean Air Act...

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