Daily Reformer: Finally

Good morning, Reformers, 

Tune in throughout the day to read our voter interviews, which have become a fun Reformer hallmark. We’ll have results tonight, and I’ll have my snap analysis in the morning. 

During a town hall last month, a voter asked Vice President JD Vance why he kept scapegoating immigrants for problems he and President Donald Trump said they’d solve. 

Vance said he didn’t seek to “dehumanize” immigrants.

“To the extent that my rhetoric has been imperfect here, that’s on me,” he said.

Here he is Monday, in his closing message to voters in Ohio, campaigning for Vivek Ramaswamy, with words relevant to us here in Minnesota: 

“I saw a story that there are illegal communities of illegal immigrant Somalis who are coordinating to flood the polls and drown out your vote. We want American elections to belong to American citizens. Send a message by voting for Vivek for governor.”

There aren’t Somali Ohioans who crossed the border from Mexico or whatever. The vast majority are citizens. Vance knows this. 

(I pine for the Republicans of my youth, who were more subtle, like starting their general election campaign in Philadelphia, Miss., or campaigning at Bob Jones University or playing up crime and quotas.)

Meanwhile, rich and famous Twitch streamer and anti-Zionist socialist Hasan Piker last week compared Democratic field workers going to West Bloomfield to campaign for Abdul el-Sayed, to “going to that like Klan KKK neighborhood to stump for like a Black candidate.” In this scenario, Jewish voters in West Bloomfield are Klansmen. (And his uncle Cenk Uygur made an ad that blamed Israel for the price of bananas. El-Sayed made clear he had nothing to do with it.) 

To be clear, Piker is a Twitch streamer, not the vice president of the United States, so it’s not equivalent, but I find it depressing regardless.  

Meanwhile, Trump was making his own closing argument, which was mostly about landscape architecture (the reflecting pool and its algae problem), and included this gem: “I’ve kept far more promises than I’ve made.” Also this morning, he made a promise to end military aid to Israel. 

I’m sure I feel and say this every cycle, but I’m glad this campaign is over. 

FYI, if you like to go to bed early, you can use chart No. 6 in this Bruce Mehlman election primer, which has the East Coast bellwethers that will give us intel on how the night is likely going to go. 

To the Reformer: 

It’s a day to rock out to “Chalk Dust Torture.” 

Have a great day all! JPC