FITSNews Political Stock Index – 7/30/2024

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The dust is finally starting to settle from what was arguably the most chaotic four-week period in American political history. During that seismic span we witnessed a decisive debate, an attempted assassination – and a coup at the top of the Democratic ticket.

Where do things stand in the wake of these monumentally reverberating developments? That’s what we’re here to assess …

Parsing the polls and pulling no punches, our founding editor Will Folks and political columnist Mark Powell have been monitoring political developments for the past year via our FITSNews Political Stock Index.  As noted, each installment is an assessment of how our subjects fared over the previous week. Positive reports don’t reflect endorsements, and negative ones aren’t (necessarily) indicative of vendettas.

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We just call ‘em like we see ‘em …

To view the most recent index, click here. And to get your historical fix, click here.

Got a hot “stock tip” for our consideration? Email Will (here) and/ or Mark (here). Just make sure to include “Palmetto Political Stock Index” in the subject line.

Where should you invest your political capital this week? Let’s find out …

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KAMALA HARRIS

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STOCK: RISING

You can’t really call it the Kamala Comeback, but it remains an astonishing reversal of fortunes. Barely twelve months after many Democrats feared she might drag down the Biden-Harris ticket in this year’s election, many of those same Democrats are now hailing her as their party’s savor.  

With the Biden-Harris ticket relegated to history, the MSM are celebrating Kamala Harris as the hottest thing to hit the political scene since Barack Obama‘s arrival 16 years ago. In fact, it was Obama’s endorsement last week that sealed the deal for Harris.

But hold the phone. Master strategist James Carville is cautioning his fellow Democrats about being too “giddy” over Harris’ candidacy.

Why? Because as satirist Bill Maher observed, “you can count the number of delegates Harris won in 2020 on the one hand. As long as that hand has no fingers.” Ditto for 2024. That’s right, the party that makes “defending democracy” a central plank of its platform is poised to nominate a candidate who has never won a single delegate in a Democratic presidential primary or caucus.

The irony is so thick you can choke on it.

To her credit, Harris is playing her early days as the nominee-in-waiting very smart. She’s making the rounds with key Democratic constituencies while delivering the reassuring message that she is one of them. True, she shirked her constitutional duty by not appearing on the dais when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed congress last week. Instead, Harris spoke to a sorority convention in Indianapolis – thus avoiding the ire of the loudly progressive wing of the Democratic Party. In fact, nearly 24 hours elapsed before she released a statement condemning the ugly pro-Palestinian protest at Union Station held while Netanyahu spoke.

Still, there’s no denying that financial donors – both big and small – have returned to the Democratic fold and are opening their wallets and checkbooks with liberal generosity once again. And enthusiasm among many grassroots Democrats is palpable. Yet therein lies the risk for them. They mistakenly believe independent voters share their exuberance for Harris – and it is simply far too early to say that’s the case.

One thing is certain about Kamala Harris: This isn’t Hillary Clinton 2.0 From the moment she announced in 2015 until her concession in 2016, the former senator and secretary of state repeatedly talked about shattering glass ceilings and her history-making run. Plunging into her second week of campaigning, Harris is eschewing the “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar” routine. But will she continue to do so?

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DONALD TRUMP

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STOCK: HOLDING

The prevailing winds that filled Donald Trump‘s sails all summer have suddenly dried up. Lady Luck, it seemed, was riding on his shoulder every step of the way from his game-changing June debate with Joe Biden through his dangerously close brush with death at a Pennsylvania rally, right up to that week in Milwaukee that was more like a celebratory coronation than a political convention.

Then, on a single Sunday afternoon, everything changed. The very minute Biden dropped out of the race the spotlight Trump had basked in for so long suddenly shifted. The former center of attention was left in a role he doesn’t like: Supporting character. At least for the time being.

But before anyone counts Donald Trump out, they should think twice. True, the momentum is clearly in Harris’ direction just now. But that has more to do with the freshness of her unorthodox arrival in the race than any stumbles on Trump’s part. As Harris waltzes through her honeymoon phase and frantically prepares for her own convention in two weeks, the Trump campaign is keeping its powder dry. 

True, he zings her with a verbal jab every so often (he referred to her the nation’s “border czar” six times during last week’s rally in Charlotte, N.C.). But for the most part, Trump is playing it safe and sticking to his teleprompter when it comes to Harris. For now.

Team Trump is clearly reading the calendar. Many Americans are squeezing in final summer vacations. Then there’s the Democratic National Convention when all eyes will be on Chicago for four days. After that comes back-to-school crush.

So, Trump and his staff are biding their time till after Labor Day when Americans begin refocusing their attention on the race – at which point the bomb bay doors will open.

Additionally, the next presidential debate is tentatively planned for September 10, 2024 – although that deal was struck with the old Biden campaign. Harris says she’s still on. Will Trump feel the same?

The answer could well hinge on where the polls stand by August’s end. We should have a good idea by then whether the former president will tell the vice president, “See you in September,” or duck out of a one-on-one encounter.

In the meantime, Trump is planning a return engagement in Butler, Pennsylvania. He announced on his social media platform he’ll be going back to the town where his campaign – and his life – nearly ended during a rally two short weeks ago.

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STOCK: RISING

This media outlet rarely has nice things to say about Nikki Haley – and with good reason. But we also believe in giving credit where credit is due. The former governor earned it recently.

It all started a week ago when the tiny PivotPAC – an organization few folks had ever heard of – suddenly made a big splash. While nobody seemed to notice when some unhappy #NeverTrumpers left over from Haley’s failed presidential bid formed a group called “Haley Voters for Biden,” they did pay attention when – just an hour after Harris announced – they switched their name to “Haley Supporters for Harris.”

“There’s no time to lose!” the PAC’s head honcho breathlessly told reporters. 

In an instant, anything connected to the name “Harris” was a hot item. Given that Haley had professed her support for Trump just days earlier at the Republican National Convention, tongues were instantly wagging. Was she trying to “have it both ways” again?

To her credit, Haley wasted no time pushing back. Her lawyer fired off a cease-and-desist letter demanding the group stop using her “name, image, or likeness” in any manner which “implie(d) her support for the election of Kamala Harris as president of the United States.”

The PAC’s response essentially boiled down to two words: “Bug off.” It defiantly vowed, “we shall not cease and desist, and our First Amendment speech will not be silenced because our activities under the ‘Haley Voters for Harris’ campaign are fully consistent with the law.”

If we had to guess, Haley’s lawyer’s next letter will likely conclude with, “See you in court.”

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U.S. SUPREME COURT REFORM

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STOCK: FALLING

Have you heard the news? Americans are desperately yearning for the third branch of their government to be overhauled. Well, at least Joe Biden is.

The Lame-Duck-In Chief talks about it constantly to the dwindling number of people who still listen to him. He laid out his case in Texas on Monday. Using one of his favorite buzzwords (“extreme”), he blasted the current court and called for a major restructuring, including slapping 18-year-term limits to keep justices from staying on the job too long.

Really?

Joe Biden has hung around D.C. and slopped at that public trough for more than half a century. So, where was his sense of urgency in reordering the nation’s top court in the 1970s? And the 1980s? And the 1990s? And the 2000s? And the 2010s? Why now, suddenly, as we near the midpoint of the 2020s, is he making this hue and cry? What’s caused this sudden sense of urgency?

Here’s a thought: Throughout the decades just mentioned, when there was a liberal majority on the court, Joe Biden was just fine with it. Now that there’s a conservative majority making decisions he doesn’t like, the court is suddenly “extreme” and must be changed. And Kamala Harris obediently nodded in full agreement like a Bobblehead.

What Biden conveniently forgets is that our Founding Fathers intentionally created a system in which one branch of government is empowered against this very sort of excess. In his eyes, though, superseding their intention is just another part of his oft-repeated goal of “saving our democracy.”

Speaker Mike Johnson said the suggestion would be “dead on arrival” in the GOP-controlled U.S. House, which the Biden-Harris administration well knows. Could it be Biden’s so-called “bold plan” is nothing more than a ploy to motivate Democrats in an election year?

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J.D. VANCE

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STOCK: HOLDING

It’s been a rocky two weeks on the GOP ticket for the Ohio senator. Democrats have had a field day bashing him with his own words. There was the whole brouhaha over his 2021 comment that the country is being run “by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

That unleashed a firestorm from feline-loving females, childless and otherwise. Even actress Jennifer Anniston felt compelled to wander into the fray, posting on social media, “I can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States.”

When Vance went on Megyn Kelly to discuss it, he doubled down: “It’s true – it’s true that we’ve become anti-family. It is true that the Left has become anti-child.”

Dozens of Democrats have replied by all calling J.D. Vance the very same word (coincidence?): “Weird.” For his part, the man who would be VP is shrugging it off, calling it “the price of admission — meaning, the price of getting to serve the people.”

But more potentially damaging is the fallout from up to ninety of Vance’s emails written between 2014 and 2017. The recipient, former classmate Sofia Nelson, is now a transgendered person who released them to The New York Times. And they contained some explosive comments, such as calling his current boss, Trump, a “morally reprehensible human being” and the more potentially damaging, “I hate the police. Given the number of negative experiences I’ve had in the past few years, I can’t imagine what a black guy goes through.”

Some Republicans are already expressing buyer’s remorse at Vance becoming the running mate. Others are bracing for the next shoe to drop. “If they’re releasing stuff that’s this explosive in July, what are they sitting on and saving for October?” one political strategist wondered.  

Vance’s selection came when Trump World presumed that it would be facing Biden in November. So, it went full MAGA with a Mini-Me, a younger Trump with a beard. Depending on who Harris chooses to run with her, that choice may look less appealing with each passing week.

For the time being, Trump is loyally sticking with #2. But Trump has a notoriously low tolerance for people who make him look bad. If the hits keep coming Vance’s way, how long will that loyalty last? 

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NANCY MACE

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STOCK: RISING

Whatever you think of the first district congresswoman politically, this much is settled science: Nancy Mace knows how to grab a headline.

She proved that yet again during last week’s House oversight committee hearing on the Trump assassination attempt. Kimberly Cheatle, the now ex-Secret Service director, was subjected to an all-day grilling of epic intensity. In a highly rare moment of bipartisan unity, Democrats and Republicans held her feet to the fire for her agency’s greatest failure in four decades.

Cheatle was not up to the task. She alternated between dutifully taking full responsibility yet evading specific questions with the polished skill of a D.C. apparatchik mumbling meaningless gobbledygook.

The committee’s members weren’t buying it and didn’t let her off the hook. Finally, Mace pressed Cheatle with a bruising litany of yes or no questions, which Cheatle danced around with the awkwardness of a teenager at her first high school prom. A clearly exasperated Mace first said, “well, that’s bullshit,” and then finally snapped, “you’re full of shit today! You’re just being completely dishonest.” 

Some found Mace’s display uncouth … but it was incredibly effective.

Cheatle resigned in disgrace less than 24 hours hours later.

“It takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility,” Biden said in a statement, slobbering love all over her as she walked out the door.  

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OLYMPIC UNITY

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STOCK: FALLING

For 128 years, the Olympic Games have provided an opportunity for the world’s best athletes to come together in an atmosphere free from political distraction – an atmosphere celebrating the unity of competition. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell the French.

The opening ceremony is always a gaudy extravaganza in which the host country celebrates the glory of the games and the best it has to offer, too. But on Friday night, the French took it too far.

Forget that they paid homage to climate change crazies with history’s first all-electric Olympic Flame. Never mind that they set good taste aside in order to show a headless Marie Antoinette (carrying her own head, no less). And forget the musical mishmash of everything from Celine Dion to opera, with heavy metal’s Gojira assaulting eardrums in between (another opening ceremony first).

No, it was the grotesque mockery of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic The Last Supper in a living tableau featuring drag queens that infuriated so many people watching at home.

“We wanted to talk about diversity … to include everyone, simple as that,” the show’s artistic director said afterward.

That was followed by an apology (of sorts) on Sunday.

“We believe this ambition (showcasing diversity) was accomplished,” an Olympics press flak said. “If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

Outraged viewers aren’t buying it.

“There are many other ways to do that,” one livid South Carolinian told us. “This wasn’t about showcasing ‘diversity.” It was intentionally spitting in the face of everyone who doesn’t share their views.”

At least one American advertiser agreed.

“We were shocked by the mockery of the Last Supper,” telecom and tech company C Spire posted on its website. “(We) will be pulling our advertising from the Olympics.”

Many irate viewers are doing likewise with their remote controls, which could potentially make a dent in carrier NBC’s bottom line.

“I had really been looking forward to watching the summer games,” a disappointed South Carolina fan told us. “Now I’m saying ‘au dieu” to the 2024 Olympics instead. It’s a shame the organizers insisting on politicizing this non-political celebration of athletic accomplishment.”

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