Vice President Harris has secured the support of enough delegates to earn the Democratic presidential nominee, crossing the 1,986-delegate mark.
Her campaign also raised an astonishing $81 million in the first 24 hours. (Coincidentally, that happens to be President Biden’s age.) Now, she’s heading to Wisconsin today for a campaign rally after raising more than $100 million from more than 1.1 million individual donors.
Meanwhile, former President Trump is seething. He went on a social media tirade after Biden’s announcement, claiming it was undemocratic and mocking Biden’s mental fitness. He’s posted more than a dozen times since Sunday’s announcement.
“Biden never had Covid. He is a threat to Democracy!”
“It’s not over! Tomorrow Crooked Joe Biden’s going to wake up and forget that he dropped out of the race today!” More Trump posts
He even called for Republicans to be reimbursed for the money they spent campaigning against Biden, calling it “fraud.” (This post seemed especially angry.)
This makes sense. All the effort and resources the former president has put into running his campaign against Biden is thrown out the window. His platform has centered on how his 81-year-old rival is too old for office. In Trump World, Biden was an optimal candidate to run against.
But now that Biden has dropped out, 78-year-old Trump is the more aged of the rivals.
Now what?: The Trump campaign is now pivoting toward running against Harris. The Hill’s Brett Samuels reports that Trump officials have been quietly preparing for a Trump-Harris race. But some Republicans acknowledge the shake-up will give Democrats a boost.
What to expect: The New York Times’s Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan report that “Trump’s new rival may bring out his harshest instincts.” Historically, “he has attacked female rivals and critics in brutal and personal terms.”
^ Read their full reporting: ‘Trump’s New Rival May Bring Out His Harshest Instincts’
