Politics

What Democrats may not want to hear but should know about the Trump-Harris race

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2024

What Democrats may not want to hear but should know about the Trump-Harris race

This is an adapted excerpt from the Oct. 10 episode of “Morning Joe.”

With less than 30 days to go until the election, someone recently asked me: “What’s the state of the race? And please, don’t tell me it’s close.”

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it is close.Even as we watch Donald Trump self-combust — with long, rambling, angry speeches — the layer below him is running a far more disciplined campaign.

Team Trump isn’t running a campaign with the intention of pulling more voters under the MAGA umbrella.

Does that mean it’s going to be successful? I’m not suggesting that. All I’m suggesting is it shouldn’t be underestimated. Many of the things Team Trump are doing are gross, disgusting, false and misleading , but they are doing these things purposefully with the intention of causing division.

From my vantage point, the Trump campaign’s strategy seems to be this: They know that he has a low ceiling. He doesn’t have a massive group of voters he could pick up between now and Election Day. They’re not running a campaign with the intention of pulling more voters under the MAGA umbrella.

Instead, they’re running a brutal, negative campaign to take down Vice President Kamala Harris. And, unfortunately in the world we’re living in and the level of misinformation and confusion out there, that kind of campaign can be effective.

But, frankly, it’s not the worst thing for people out there to be a little freaked out that this election is going to be close. There are some troubling spots for Harris; Rep. Debbie Dingell has made it very clear how tight things feel in Michigan. Since entering the race, the vice president has made up a lot of ground but people should know and understand that there’s still a long way to go.

So, for anyone who might be freaked out right now, you need to get off your couch and get involved. Now is the time. It could make all the difference.

Just Psaki

Jen Psaki is the host of “Inside with Jen Psaki”airing Sundays at 12 p.m. ET and Mondays at 8 p.m. EST. She is the former White House press secretary for President Joe Biden.

Allison Detzel

contributed

Politics

World Cup fuels ticketing reform demands

Published

12 hours ago

June 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Demands are growing for a political reckoning over ticket scams at the World Cup — and beyond.

The National Independent Venue Association and Fan Alliance, organizations representing and advocating for entertainment venues and artists respectively, sent a joint letter to Congress on Thursday, calling on lawmakers to ban speculative and ghost tickets, cases where resellers flog tickets they don’t actually have.

The letter — addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer — includes nearly two dozen accounts of fans who say they were scammed out of thousands of dollars trying to get tickets to the World Cup, which began last week. The groups are also asking fans to share their own stories with elected officials via the Fix the Tix Fan Action Center that launched last week.

“Every one of these stories erodes the public’s faith that consumers should and will be protected from fraud,” NIVA Executive Director Stephen Parker and Fan Alliance founder Donald Cohen wrote. “We urge Congress to work with us to prevent fraud like this in the future and finally enact ticket resale consumer protections that will protect Americans and ensure affordability.”

The letter flagged fans like Dacy Gillespie, who bought World Cup tickets for her sons on Christmas, only to learn on match day — months later — that the seller couldn’t deliver them. And Skylie Shore, who Parker and Cohen said spent well over $6,000 on tickets to the Scotland-Haiti match on June 13, but was forced to wait outside the stadium because she couldn’t access them as fans marched in on gameday.

“These examples reveal a consistent pattern: consumer deception, speculative ticket sales, and broken-hearted American families at the hands of resale ticketing companies like StubHub,” Parker and Cohen wrote.

In a statement, StubHub spokesperson Jack Sterne said that the platform does not allow speculative ticket sales, and blamed FIFA for users’ difficulty in accessing their tickets.

“We understand that attending the World Cup represents a significant investment in time and money, and we take our responsibility to every fan who books through our platform seriously,” Sterne said in a statement. “Many of the issues fans are facing trace back to the event organizer’s technology infrastructure, newly announced transfer restrictions, and a new app that was launched just a month ago.”

In response, FIFA said in a statement that the organization “can guarantee the validity and delivery of tickets purchased through its official platforms” and that FIFA.com/tickets “is the official ticket sales channel” for the tournament.

NIVA and Fan Alliance are urging congressional leadership to place universal price-gouging limits on ticket resale, enact stringent fines on perpetrators and a violation-reporting mechanism for ticket scams, and require secondary ticketing platforms to produce data on ticket fulfillment and consumer complaints.

The groups are not the only ones monitoring for evidence of shady ticket practices. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued a consumer guidance in advance of the tournament, urging match-goers to beware of fraud and promising to hold offenders accountable. And the FBI in May put out a public service announcement, warning fans against purchasing tickets on copycat websites modeled on FIFA’s.

“With the World Cup coming to Kansas City, excitement is high and, unfortunately, so is the potential for fraud,” Hanaway said in her statement. “Missourians should be able to enjoy this once-in-a-generation event without fear of being deceived. My office will hold accountable anyone who seeks to exploit our families, and we stand ready to assist anyone who encounters suspicious activity.”