EDITORIAL
BY DHIREN SHAH
Hello Readers,
What a change in American life and politics in a short period of a time. In the past 10 days, there was an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. The Secret Service goofed up on many things that lead to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle getting grilled by lawmakers on both sides. She was asked to resign gracefully after the awful protection of Trump at his Butler rally. Although Trump with good luck and only an ear injury, former firefighter and former chief Corey Comperatore lost his life. Two other rallygoers got shot, but will survive.
An hour before the incident, a local officer saw 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks. When Crooks pulled his gun on him, the officer left. 20 minutes beforehand, the Secret Service saw the shooter, as reported by media. Despite the possibility of a threat, the Secret Service allowed Trump to go on stage. One minute and 57 seconds before, the crowd noticed a gunman and started screaming, but the Secret Service still did not act. 10 days later, Cheatle resigned after serving with the Secret Service for over 29 years.
Within 8 days of the assassination attempt, President Joseph Biden announced that he would withdraw from his reelection campaign, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination of the Democratic Party. She has more than the necessary delegates committed already. This could be because of the campaign money that she was able to free up when Biden stepped back. However, the delegates can change their vote for any nominees, so it will be decided at the Democratic National Convention on August 19-22, 2024. She has been supported by most of the democratic leaders, except for Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama. She is the only person who has a better chance to win against Donald Trump.
Harris started her presidential campaign on July 23. She does not have a lot of time. It is better to pick a man as her VP to get men’s votes. The short list per the media are: PA Governor Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Arizona Senator and astronaut Mark Kelly, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and California Governor Gavin Newsom. There was also the mention of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, but as we heard, she rejected becoming a V.P. She did offered her services as a chair of Harris’ campaign.
Senator Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts in his bribery case. Not long after, many people and democratic leaders, including fellow NJ Senator Cory Booker and NJ Governor Phil Murphy asked him to resign. Up until July 23, he was reluctant to resign, as he is still listed as running as an independent for his seat in the upcoming November election.
Now, he has announced that he will resign on August 20, 2024. Why he is delaying his resignation until right in the middle of the Democratic National Convention rather than resigning immediately is anyone’s guess. Governor Murphy is likely to replace Menendez with Democratic Primary winner Andrew Kim for the remainder of the term. In the upcoming November 5 Election for Menendez’s U.S. Senate seat, the contenders include Kim (D), Curtis Bashaw (R), and 5 candidates from other parties and independents.
This has been a crazy political year, and we are still more than three months away from Election Day.
Have a wonderful week. I’ll talk to you next week.
