1/ Trump’s sentencing for his criminal conviction related to orchestrating an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election will be delayed until after Election Day. The sentencing, which was set for Sept. 18, will instead take place on Nov. 26, Judge Juan Merchan ruled – meaning voters will cast ballots without knowing whether Trump could face jail time for his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Merchan, citing the “unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in,” said he decided to delay Trump’s sentencing from Sept. 18 to Nov. 26 to “to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election.” Merchan also said he’d rule on Trump’s request to overturn the verdict on presidential immunity grounds by Nov. 12. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN)

2/ Trump – baselessly suggesting without evidence that the 2024 election could be stolen from him – threatened to jail his political enemies at a level “never seen before in our Country.” Trump said his lawyers and other allies would be watching polling stations for alleged “cheating,” and “those involved in unscrupulous behavior” will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.” Despite recently admitting that he had “lost” the 2020 election, Trump claimed that “rampant Cheating and Skullduggery” by Democrats had affected the outcome of the election. Biden defeated Trump by over 7 million votes. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Salon / NBC News / Axios)

  • Trump proposed mass deportation of undocumented immigrants if he’s elected, promising that it’ll be “a bloody story.” “Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday, the Republican nominee falsely claimed that ‘crime is through the roof’ — it is near a 50-year low following a spike when he was president — and that it will get worse. ‘You haven’t seen the migrant crime yet,’ he claimed. ‘It started, and it’s vicious, but you haven’t seen the extent of it yet.’” (Salon / The Atlantic)

3/ JD Vance called school shootings “a fact of life” and argued that schools need to do more to harden their security. “I don’t like this. I don’t like to admit this. I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you’re, if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we’ve got to bolster security at our schools,” Vance said following the school shooting in Georgia that left four people dead. Vance, calling the shooting “an awful tragedy” while offering his thoughts and prayers, then characterized gun control efforts by Democrats as an attempt to confiscate guns from American citizens. “The Kamala Harris answer to this is to take law-abiding American citizens’ guns away from them. That is what Kamala Harris wants to do.” Harris criticized Vance’s remarks, saying: “School shootings are not just a fact of life. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can take action to protect our children – and we will.” The Democratic National Committee also responded: “Let’s be clear: no matter what Donald Trump and JD Vance say, tragedies like this do not need to be a ‘fact of life,’ and we don’t just have to ‘get over it’ when Americans, including young children, are violently murdered.” (Associated Press / USA Today / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)

4/ Trump held a “press conference” to attack three women who claim he sexually abused them after he attended a federal appeals court hearing related to the $5 million verdict against him for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll. After repeating his false claims about Carroll, for which he was found liable of defamation, Trump began discussing two women who were witnesses in the trial — Jessica Leeds, who accused Trump of groping her on an airplane, and Natasha Stoynoff, who claimed she was physically attacked by Trump at Mar-a-Lago in December 2005. “Frankly, I know you’re gonna say it’s a terrible thing to say, but it couldn’t have happened,” Trump said about Leeds. “It didn’t happen, and she would not have been the chosen one. She would not have been the chosen one.” As part of his extended stream-of-consciousness rant, Trump claimed an old photo of him and Carroll together “could have been AI-generated,” reminisced about how he was “a celebrity for a long time,” brought up “impeachment hoax number one, impeachment hoax number two,” and then insulted his lawyers – saying “I’m disappointed in my legal talent, I’ll be honest with you” while standing right in front of them – and complained that they didn’t bring up “such a famous dress” that was “Monica Lewinsky part two.” The event ended after 49 minutes with Trump taking no questions. (CNN / HuffPost / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / Axios / Semafor / New Republic)

5/ Dick Cheney said he would be voting for Kamala Harris, because “there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.” He added, “As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.” George W. Bush, meanwhile, does not plan to endorse a candidate for president. (NPR / New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press)

✏️ Notables.

  1. House Republicans issued a report blaming Biden for the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, while minimizing Trump’s role, who had signed the deal with the Taliban. Ten generals and admirals, however, accused Trump of a “chaotic approach [that] severely hindered the Biden-Harris Administration’s ability to execute the most orderly withdrawal possible and put our service members and our allies at risk.” Trump “continually disrespects those who serve in uniform, including wounded warriors, prisoners of war, and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice,” they added. (Associated Press / CNN / Axios / New York Times)

  2. The Treasury Department recovered $1.3 billion of unpaid taxes from high-income Americans, highlighting the agency’s ramped-up enforcement efforts funded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. (CNN / Associated Press)

👑 Portrait of a President.

  1. The Afterlife of Donald Trump. “At home at Mar-a-Lago, the presidential hopeful contemplates miracles, his campaign, and his formidable new opponent.” (New York Magazine)

  2. Hypocrisy, Spinelessness, and the Triumph of Donald Trump. “He said Republican politicians would be easy to break. He was right.” (The Atlantic)

  3. What If Trump Wins? “The chaos and lawlessness of the first term could pale in comparison to what comes next.” (Rolling Stone)

  • 📅 The WTFJHT Calendar: Now until then.

  • 📺 Sept. 10: ABC presidential debate.
    🗳️ Sept. 16: First state starts early voting.
    📺 Sept. 25: [Proposed] NBC presidential debate.
    💰 Sept. 30: Government funding deadline.
    📺 Oct. 1: [Confirmed] CBS vice presidential debate.
    📆 Oct. 6: Last day to register to vote in some states.
    ⛔️ Oct. 14: Indigenous Peoples’ Day – No WTFJHT.
    🗳️ Nov. 5: Election Day.
    ⚖️ Nov. 26: Trump is sentenced.

  • ✅ Get election ready: Register to vote, update your address, or request an absentee ballot at Vote.org, TurboVote.org, RocktheVote.org, or VoteFromAbroad.org.

  • 📈 The WTFJHT Election Poll Tracking Tracker ™️

  • Harris +2.0 points (New York Times)
    Harris +2.8 points (538)
    Harris +2.3 points (Nate Silver)
    Harris +2.5 points (The Economist)
    Harris +1.2 points (RealClearPolitics)
    Trump +4.1 points (Election Betting Odds)

  • 🔮 Election Forecast Tracker

  • Harris wins 54 times out of 100. Trump wins 46 times out of 100. (538)
    Trump wins 64 times out of 100. Harris wins 35 times out of 100. (Nate Silver)
    Harris wins 50 times out of 100. Trump wins 50 times out of 100. (The Economist)