A few weeks ago a close friend of mine posted a job on Facebook that was available in her office that just happened to be a perfect match for a different friend of mine that’s looking for a new job. I passed the info along to friend number two and connected them together.

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Sen. Kamala Harris told MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt that she had been preparing to confront Joe Biden at the Democratic debates over his comments recalling his work with segregationists.

Harris had a much-talked about confrontation with the former vice president at the Thursday debate broadcast by NBC, where she grilled his opposition to busing and his praise of the civility of working with segregationist Democratic senators.

“Clearly you were ready for it. When did you decide that was what you were gonna do?” Hunt asked.

“I have to be obviously candid with you. From the moment that I heard his comments about the segregationists, it was troubling and it was hurtful,” Harris said. “To hear those words from someone I respect in a way that kind of–that suggest a bit of nostalgia about who they are, about segregationists.”

“I felt the need that — to make sure that everyone was remembering or had thought about the real impact,” she continued. “I just felt the need to talk about it not as some academic discussion.”

“Do you think Biden is out of touch?” Hunt asked Harris.

“No, not necessarily,” Harris responded. “I think he and I have a difference of opinion about the significance of who those people were and our perspective on perhaps how we think of them in terms of their reputation.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

Fans of the New York Knicks had a tough Sunday night–somewhat of an understatement as the team apparently missed out on the chance to sign star Kevin Durant and other top players.

Brooklyn is making a clean sweep tonight: Brooklyn will sign Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan, league sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2019

To add insult to injury, multiple star free agents like Durant and Kyrie Irving were locked up by the New York Nets. The Nets play just a borough over from the Knicks in New York City.

To add further insult to injury was the implication that the Knicks could have signed Durant if not for team owner James Dolan’s concern over an injury that led them to not offer a max contract.

The Knicks and owner Jim Dolan were not prepared to offer Kevin Durant a full max contract due to concerns over his recovery from the Achilles injury, league sources tell me and @wojespn. Knicks officials are in Los Angeles tonight, meeting with free agents such as Julius Randle.

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) June 30, 2019

Perhaps no one was as unhappy as commentator Stephen A. Smith, who took to both television and his personal Twitter to express his frustration.

“I’m done with them right now!”@stephenasmith is NOT happy with the Knicks’ free agency decisions. pic.twitter.com/n530DuOf6w

— ESPN (@espn) July 1, 2019

I just finished crying! pic.twitter.com/KiXjIwQINU

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 30, 2019

“I just finished crying!” Smith said in a tweet.

Fans, critics and commentators across Twitter also had plenty to say.

This day can be seen as nothing less than a total indictment of the New York #Knicks. With every imaginable advantage they have failed at each turn and have now been totally one upped and humiliated within their own city limits.

— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) June 30, 2019

Can’t have the Knicks break your heart when you’re already dead inside pic.twitter.com/AGc3VCDNvf

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) June 30, 2019

Whoever has that Knicks voodoo doll, please put it down now. Enough is enough.

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) June 30, 2019

I know there have been a lot of low points for the Knicks. But this is the lowest.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 30, 2019

The Nets will win a championship before the Knicks. The Mavs will win another championship before the Knicks. Charles Oakley, and the guy with the sign Dolan had thrown out of MSG will win a championship before the Knicks.

— Max Kellerman (@maxkellerman) June 30, 2019

KD didn’t have the heart to save the Knicks and that’s the narrative me and mans dem are running with innit

— Desus Nice (@desusnice) June 30, 2019

Knicks fans deserve better than this. It’s one thing to be terrible for decades. It’s another to get their hopes up about Kyrie and KD and then have them come to NYC, but to the other team.

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) June 30, 2019

They gotta let Spike Lee buy the Knicks.

— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) June 30, 2019

The Knicks figuring out new ways to lose. pic.twitter.com/100zmpiDbi

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) June 30, 2019

As a Knicks fan I humbly request that no one talk about basketball ever again in any context, thanks.

— Philip Bump (@pbump) July 1, 2019

[Image via screengrab]

2020 presidential contender Julián Castro said he was happy he got some exposure from the first Democratic primary debates, saying it was hard when he was polling at 1%.

“I would lie if I said it hadn’t been hard when polls had me at 1%. What in the world is going on here?” Castro told Kasie Hunt on Kasie DC in an interview recorded after the debates in Miami.

“The number one thing people ask me out there on the campaign trail when it comes to why should I vote for you, how are you going to beat Donald Trump?” Castro said. “What they saw in that debate is that I could hold my own. And I could stand up to Donald Trump.”

Hunt also asked Castro about a tense exchange with Beto O’Rourke over border policy during the debate.

“You and Beto O’Rourke got into an extensive back and forth. You seemed to be trying to one-up him on immigration policy,” Hunt said.

Castro said the exchange was a policy issue, as Castro is pushing to repeal the law that criminalizes crossing the border while O’Rourke has not.

“But for some reason Beto has said that he doesn’t want to do that, that he would still criminalize a lot of these people who are coming over,” Castro said.

Watch above, via MSNBC

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) praised Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-CA) performance on the debate stage, saying “she’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”

“And one thing I’ll say about, and I said this before, she’s got game. She is very talented, she’s very smart, and she’ll be a force to be reckoned with,” Graham said.

Graham made the comments to CBS’ Margaret Brennan in a Face The Nation video released Saturday.

Graham also said former vice president Joe Biden “needs to up his game,” talking about Biden’s perceived poor performance in the Thursday debate where Harris attacked the former vice president’s record during the civil rights era.

The narrative is it is not his time and he is not up to the task, Graham said. “But I think you underestimate Joe Biden at your own peril.”

The senator also criticized the policies proposed during the debates as “liberal” and “extreme.”

Watch above, via CBS

Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro went after the field of Democratic presidential candidates during her show opener Saturday, criticizing all of the top candidates including Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.

“Biden fell over his clown shoes when he couldn’t distinguish [Barack] Obama’s deportation and separation of families and children at the border just like Trump other than to say Obama did a heck of a job,” Pirro said.

“Elizabeth Warren wants to kick millions of Americans off private health insurance. She won’t even lie and tell you you can keep it,” she continued.

Pirro also brought up Beto O’Rourke speaking Spanish in the first debate. “I believe this is an English-speaking nation and pandering to Spanish-speaking immigrants is over the top. Even Cory Booker was turned off by Beto O’Rourke’s not so subtle attempt to pander to illegals.”

“And speaking of Beto, I couldn’t help but think of Richard Nixon. This guy needs a new makeup artist so he at least appears close to the living,” Pirro said.

Pirro then brought up Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to agree with something she said.

“That genius Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said they looked like high school students who didn’t do their homework. And I agree,” Pirro said.

Watch above, via Fox News

President Donald Trump announced he is not going to increase tariffs on China at the moment, saying he had a productive meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

I had a great meeting with President Xi of China yesterday, far better than expected. I agreed not to increase the already existing Tariffs that we charge China while we continue to negotiate. China has agreed that, during the negotiation, they will begin purchasing large…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2019

….amounts of agricultural product from our great Farmers. At the request of our High Tech companies, and President Xi, I agreed to allow Chinese company Huawei to buy product from them which will not impact our National Security. Importantly, we have opened up negotiations…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2019

….again with China as our relationship with them continues to be a very good one. The quality of the transaction is far more important to me than speed. I am in no hurry, but things look very good! There will be no reduction in the Tariffs currently being charged to China.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2019

“I agreed not to increase the already existing Tariffs that we charge China while we continue to negotiate,” Trump said.

The president also said while he will not be increasing tariffs against China at this time, “there will be no reduction in the Tariffs currently being charged to China.”

[Image via screengrab]

In a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, Mayor Pete Buttigieg dismissed the idea that the most electable candidate to beat President Donald Trump in 2020 would be an older, white man, not unlike former Vice President Joe Biden.

“This worries me a bit. Democrats always psych ourselves out. We over-think, try to put ourselves in the heads of somebody else,” Buttigieg said, before offering a brief history lesson about the past 40 years of Democratic success and failure at the presidential level.

“The pattern shows that possibly the riskiest thing we can do is play it safe in that way. Think about this, my home state, Indiana. Indiana went blue once in the last 50 years. It wasn’t for Bill Clinton or John Kerry or Jimmy Carter. It was for [Barack] Obama. If we were sitting here in 2007 saying let’s find somebody so electable, so palatable, so easy for swing voters to get comfortable with that he can carry Indiana for Democrats. I’m not sure people would have said Obama. He was able to move people and inspire people. What we have in 2020 is a sense of great urgency. We know what we’re up against. Just how imperative it is for those of us horrified by the behavior of this administration. We’re not going to win by offering a return to normal.”

Buttigieg went on to caution Democrats not to try to mimic Trump’s nostalgic “Make America Great Again” campaign narrative by returning to the world before he became president.

“This idea we can turn back the clock,” he explained. “I feel like some Democrats for whom our answer to the Republicans who say they want to turn back the clock to the 1950s: ‘We want to turn back the clock, just not as far, to the early 2000s.’ That won’t work. We’re in the industrial Midwest, people and all races have been left behind by the so-called normal. That led to the Midwest, places like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, supporting the president we have now.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

House and Senate Democrats lobbed accusations of “betrayal” at each other in a bitter dispute over an emergency border funding bill that passed over the objections of many progressives like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal.

“Schumer destroyed all our leverage on Wednesday by not being able to hold his people,” an anonymous senior House Democratic aide told the Washington Post, which offers a blow-by-blow account of the Democratic infighting.

According to the Post, Speaker Nancy Pelosi understood that the House would lead the Democrats’ legislative plan, passing a bill early in the week that would raise detention facility standards and put more constraints on the Trump administration’s border policy. Then, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would use that bill to push Republicans in the Senate to compromise. But things quickly unraveled, prompting House aides to call the debacle a “betrayal” and “broken deal.”

“They’re blaming everyone but themselves,” one senior Senate Democratic aide told the Post, firing back at House Democrats’ complaints. Moderate House Democrats were the ones who unexpectedly revolted, causing Pelosi’s plan to stall and allow the Senate to move on its own version, which passed by a huge bipartisan margin of 84-8.

Democratic progressives lashed out in response at having to accept what they said was a watered-down alternative. Ocasio-Cortez blasted the Senate’s version as a “militarization bill.”

His Senate bill is a militarization bill. McConnell killed the House Bill & dropped this one right before recess to force passage.

Well, too bad. This is our job. Cancel vacation, fly the Senate in. Pass a clean humanitarian bill & stop trying to squeeze crises for more pain.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 27, 2019

Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Jayapal also slammed her fellow Democrats in the upper chamber. “The Senate Democrats did us a huge disservice,” she said. “The benefit to having one chamber controlled by Democrats is you have people who can fight and win. But that requires the people in the minority chamber to also fight, even if they lose.”

Ultimately, Pelosi accepted the Senate’s $4.6 billion emergency border funding bill as “a good bill” although she added that the “our bill is much better.” It passed the House on Thursday, despite failing to get a majority of House Democrats to vote for it.

Perhaps most telling about the legislative snafu was the Post‘s kicker: “Neither spokesman would address questions about the other leader.”

Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images.

Bill Maher opened his panel discussion tonight by listing ten Democrats who he thinks need to “get the fuck out” of the race.

Maher (and pretty much everyone else) thinks there’s too many candidates, and he said half of the candidates who appeared on the stage this week need to go. He told Tulsi Gabbard, one of those 20 candidates and his first guest tonight, the same thing about the large number of candidates, but she avoided his list.

Maher said these 10 Democrats need to go:

• John Hickenlooper
• Michael Bennet
• John Delaney
• Tim Ryan
• Kirsten Gillibrand (featuring a dig about her push for Al Franken to resign)
• Eric Swalwell (who he said came across as too young)
• Marianne Williamson
• Andrew Yang
• Beto O’Rourke
• Bill de Blasio

We will add video of the segment when available.

“When it comes to dictators, President Trump is all praise.”

CNN’s Anderson Cooper tonight called out the president for comments he made to Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman while in Osaka for the G-20.

Earlier tonight news broke of the latter, in which the president offered very complimentary words of praise to MBS and did not bring up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, despite being asked by the press.

Cooper also noted the public Twitter message Trump sent to Kim Jong Un before bringing up the president being lighthearted about election interference and teasing the “fake news” with Putin.

“Until today, the president has never actually shared a laugh with Putin about election interference, at least publicly,” Cooper said, adding it doesn’t look like election security is a U.S. interest Trump was looking to push.

Cooper spoke with Dan Rather about all this, remarking he’s still “not used to” Trump genuflecting like that.

At one point Cooper remarked that he thought someone was joking when they recounted what Trump’s North Korea tweet tonight was.

You can watch above, via CNN.

At a breakfast at the G-2o summit between the US and Saudi delegations, President Donald Trump lavished praise upon Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and ignored a reporter’s question about the Saudi leader’s alleged complicity in the assassination and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

JUST IN: President Trump meets with Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman at G-20 in Japan, calls him “a friend of mine” and says that he’s done “really a spectacular job” and that it’s a “great honor” to meet with him. pic.twitter.com/cKvZ8qWFQc

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 29, 2019

Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident highly critical of the country’s ruling family, was invited to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey last October, where he was ambushed, killed, and allegedly dismembered using a bonesaw. Both Turkish and UN officials investigated the murder and identified more than a dozen, high-level Saudi government employees as being involved. The UN probe also found “credible evidence” that bin Salman’s role should be further investigated and that sanctions targeting him specifically should be put in place.

Trump just dodged a reporter’s question about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi during a #G20 meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pic.twitter.com/Du8Skq8LVV

— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) June 28, 2019

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to dodge discussions about the role of MBS in the murder of Khashoggi. In March, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-V) publicly called out Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a Congressional hearing for the administration’s failure to hold MBS and the Saudi government accountable for orchestrating a political assassination of a member of the press. Instead of criticizing the Saudis, however, Trump has repeatedly touted Saudi weapons purchases of US military equipment and made false claims about their impact on the economy.

Screengrab via MSNBC Twitter.

Congressman Matt Gaetz (R- FL) is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee over his threatening tweet to Michael Cohen a few months ago.

Gaetz said in that now-infamous tweet, “Hey @MichaelCohen212 – Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…”

Gaetz since apologized and took down the tweet. Tonight he spoke to Fox News’ Martha MacCallum and dismissed the investigation.

“It really highlights the double standard that exists with today’s left,” he said. “We’ve got members of Congress, Maxine Waters actually incite violence against Republicans and supporters of the president. We have Rashida Tlaib, before the ink was even dry on her election certificate, using profanity to talk about how she’s going to impeach the president.”

MacCallum noted that Gaetz received bipartisan criticism over his tweet, showing video of Senator Rick Scott calling it “disgusting.”

Gaetz said at one point the timing suggests a “coordinated effort to go after people like me, people like Kellyanne Conway, who are effective advocates for a transformational president.”

MacCallum asked Gaetz if Trump ever told him to “put something out there on social media about Michael Cohen” at the time. Gaetz said he did not.

“I think that’s really where this is going,” he continued. “Folks think they can get to the president through me because I work with the president a lot, talk to the president a lot.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.

In CNN’s post-debate analysis, panelists Nia-Malika Henderson and Van Jones both sharply criticized former Vice President Joe Biden for his performance, calling out his defense of local and states’ rights in his testy exchange with Senator Kamala Harris and his frequent mentions of President Barack Obama.

Speaking with Congressional Black Caucus chair and Biden advocate Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), Henderson bored in on Biden’s attempt to downplay the consequences of the controversial anti-integration busing legislation he helped pass in the 1970s. The former Senator argued that his bill only prohibited a federally enforced policy of school desegregation, and that local city councils could make their own choice, which was a major fight of the civil rights’ movement.

“It just seems like this is going to put the Congressional Black Caucus in a very difficult position where you’re having to essentially defend somebody who presently is arguing for states’ rights,” Henderson pointed out. “These are positions that people like [Rep.] Jim Clyburn — I mean he marched against these sorts of issues in states like South Carolina where I’m from, for instance. I mean are you worried about members of the CBC — you’re of course one of the leaders of the CBC — carrying this mantle for Joe Biden if he’s continuing to defend states’ rights?”

“Well, look, I don’t think he was trying to defend states’ rights,” Richmond began, but Henderson was not having it.

“But he did. I mean that’s exactly what he did do.”

“Okay. In your opinion he tried to defend states’ rights,” Richmond responded, before offering up a classic spin room take. “I think what I saw was a person attempt to start to explain all of the nuances of that argument at the time and did not finish.”

Later on in the segment, Van Jones also expressed his shock that Biden effectively retreated into what was the segregationist argument against civil rights when Harris called him out onstage.

“If you had told me three hours ago that we would be sitting here trying to figure out how the Congressional Black Caucus can keep supporting Joe Biden, I would have said, on what planet is that? But that’s the planet that we’re on,” Jones said, clearly disappointed. “This is a bad night for Joe Biden. It’s a bad night for Democrats and I think it’s a bad night for his surrogates too, because there is this way in which Joe Biden is sort of using the ‘I have a black best friend’ argument by his continued invocation of Barack Obama. And I think he’s got to figure that out. This was a really bad night for him. I think it’s a bad night for his surrogates. You could see the look on Cedric Richmond’s face. He was very uncomfortable, almost pained, in having to sort of weave, you know, around this issue of what was clear.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

Independent Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders brushed off several attempts by Andrea Mitchell to get him to bash fellow Democrats like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, instead taking questions from other reporters as Mitchell pursued him.

Following Thursday night’s NBC News Democratic Presidential Debate, anchor Brian Williams tossed to Mitchell’s walk-and-talk with Sanders, already in progress. Mitchell first tried to get Sanders to weigh in on Kamala Harris‘ brutal barrage against Biden, but Sanders was not interested.

“Is Joe Biden still the frontrunner after tonight, after Kamala Harris gave that personal explanation of school busing?” Mitchell asked.

“I am not going to, I am, I am not going to speculate on that,” Sanders said, waving the question off. “All I know is that we are running hard, I think we’re looking good in Iowa, New Hampshire, I think we stand in excellent chance to win the Democratic nomination, and if we do that, I have absolutely confidence that we are going to defeat Donald Trump.”

Sanders then greeted another reporter as Mitchell followed him, and the reporter asked “How was your experience at the detention center today?”

Sanders replied at length, saying “Look, when you meet or be in a facility where people have literally walked, children and mothers, have walked over a thousand miles because back home in Honduras and elsewhere there were gangs that said ‘If your 10-year-old son does not join our gang we’re going to kill the whole family,’ now if that was your family, or your family, you know what you would do? You would walk as well.”

“And our job is not to lock children up in cages, but to open our hearts up to those children,” Sanders added.

Mitchell then used Sanders’ response as a way in, asking “So why did the House Democrats, why did the Democrats go along with the Senate today, and Nancy Pelosi lose her caucus, to not even have a 90-day restriction?”

Sanders again waved Mitchell off, telling her “To be honest with you, I’ve been preoccupied with other things today, I’m sorry.”

As Mitchell looked on, Sanders then took several questions from CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny, until Williams finally cut away with a laugh.

Prior to Wednesday’s debate, Mitchell also tried to bait Sen. Elizabeth Warren by asking her “Are you an imitation of Bernie Sanders?”, but Warren responded in similar fashion, by talking about her own record.

Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.

Deadspin A Scout’s Honor | The Slot Adam Scott and Mitch McConnell Are in a Fight Involving Parks and Recreation GIFs and the Confederate Flag | Splinter Twitter Comes Up With a Very Weird Solution to the Problem Of Trump’s Tweets | The Grapevine If Chaka Khan Had Heard Kanye West’s Final Sample of Her Song, She…

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After a sharp, standout performance in her first 2020 Democratic primary debate, online betting markets shifted odds heaving in favor of Sen. Kamala Harris, putting her just behind frontrunner former Vice President Joe Biden and narrowly ahead of Sen. Elizabeth Warren for second place.

PredictIt now shows Harris in second place for the 2020 Democratic nomination with a betting price at 19 cents, having jumped seven cents from just before the debate. She now stands at second place, just behind Joe Biden (21 cents, dropped three cents) and just ahead of Warren (18 cents, dropped three cents) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (15 cents, dropped three cents) and Mayor Pete Buttigieg (15 cents, up three cents).

Betfair also showed a strong shift to Harris, who now stands in second place there as well. Biden still leads with odds of nearly 4-to-1, but Harris is now roughly a 5-to-1 bet, with Warren just behind at 5.5-to-1. Similar to PredictIt, Sanders and Buttigieg trail the top three with odds at 7 and 9-to-1, respectively.

Photo by Mason Trinca/Getty Images.

Joy Reid applauded Kamala Harris for her gutsy performance and forceful presence throughout Thursday evening’s Democratic debate.

Speaking with her colleagues for post-debate reaction on MSNBC, Reid stated that the crowded 2020 field will eventually narrow, and the contenders need to demonstrate their capacity to go up against President Donald Trump.

“I think the one person who gave us that very clear picture of what it would look like…was Kamala Harris,” Reid said. “She had a strategy, she had the courage to actually attack Joe Biden and she was one of the few who went after him head on. She destabilized him on the race question.”

Reid was referencing the point in the debate in which Harris grappled with Biden and challenged his record with civil rights and race issues. The MSNBC host was also impressed that Harris was able to handle herself so well with her “bank shot” on Barack Obama‘s deportation policy.

“[That] is like heresy in the Democratic Party,” Reid remarked in awe. “She did a bank shot off of Barack Obama to hit Joe Biden on immigration. That was brave and it went very well for her.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

CNN’s post-DNC debate panel praised Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-CA) performance on Thursday night, saying she was “masterful” and that “star was born” during her time speaking on stage at the second round of NBC’s Democratic primary debates in Miami.

“Kamala Harris had a moment that was two hours long. I mean a star was born tonight,” CNN host Van Jones said. “She completely dominated the stage, and most importantly, she would kick Donald Trump’s butt, and she proved it tonight. That was — if you had any doubt that you could nominate a woman that would take Donald Trump to the woodshed, she just took it away from you.”

He continued by suggesting Biden “had a breakdown,” as he was the candidate with the “most to lose” — given his top spot in the polls among Democratic contenders. “He just couldn’t pull it together,” Jone said of Biden, who was dressed down by Harris in the middle of the debate for recently touting his political affiliations with segregationists to demonstrate his willingness to work with those he disagrees with.

“The most important thing I could say tonight is the two most impressive people on that stage, a young gay guy and a black woman in America tonight,” Jones added. “This Democratic Party, Elizabeth Warren, a woman, Kamala Harris, a black woman, and a young gay guy [Pete Buttigieg].”

Jess McIntosh, a CNN political commentator on the network’s post-debate analysis panel, said she was “so proud in two nights we saw two women win the night.”

CNN’s political director David Chalian said that Harris’ domination of the stage “was so crystal clear”

“This was her debate. This was Kamala Harris’ moment,” Chalian obsereved. “You know, she shot out of the gate at the beginning with a very impressive launch, and she had a very good fund-raising number in that first quarter. And since then, people have been looking for the next Kamala Harris moment.”

Watch above, via CNN.

CNN host Van Jones tore into former Vice President Joe Biden, saying he argued in favor of state’s rights during the debate and “took the heart out of the civil rights movement.”

Jones was speaking with a CNN panel debating the performances of candidates on stage Thursday night when he mentioned Biden’s defense of busing policies and working with segregationists to Sen. Kamala Harris.

“Let me say as an African-American, why that was just unacceptable. That very argument was the argument that was used that the federal government should leave us,” Jones said. “So he just took the heart out of the civil rights movement with that argument. Our plea was that we are one the Constitution applies to all of us, and we want the federal government to stand with us and against the local racists.”

Jones also noted it was “heartbreaking” for Biden to again not apologize for his warm remembrances of working with segregationists.

“My heart breaks about it at a personal level because all he had to do was say: ‘you know what? I think I was wrong there.’ If he had just said, ‘you know what, Kamala? I think I was wrong then, and I’ve learned something, and I’ve learned something from talking to people like you.'”

“It was a heartbreaking moment,” Jones said.

Watch above, via CNN.

For two hours on Thursday, the second half of a two-night Democratic debate took place in Miami, and it was a crowded and sometimes chaotic scene. The second night had three of the four top polling candidates, and the folks who aren’t in the top went for broke.

Here below, the winners, and the losers, of the first half of the first NBC Democratic Primary debate.

—-

THE WINNERS

THE BIGGEST WINNER:
Senator Kamala Harris was dominating the positive reactions throughout the evening, both on social media and in up to the minute coverage on political websites. She completely manhandled former VP Biden, she was the one who called for calm amid the disastrous chaos that marked a lot of the air time (see below), and had some of the best takeaway lines. It was a command performance. It would be a shock if anyone else were scored the winner after her dominant evening.

The Other Winners:
Part one of the Democratic Debate came out ahead tonight. On the first night, technical glitches and the new format didn’t go over well. And although the network was a partial winner simply for having the first debate, it was arguably a loser performance by the network. Or so we thought, until the chaos of night two took over and made night one look positively well-oiled in comparison. Among the two nights, the microphone issues of day one were less taxing, and less frustrating, than the bickering and interruptions of night two.

Another winner, in a sense, was the base of Democratic voters, who actually got to see some real differences between the leading candidates. Unlike in most debates, this one featured some front-runners who genuinely could bring indecision in primary voters. Close competitors with close visions for the future of the party that might have been hard to differentiate. In some ways, not all positive ways, the differences between the candidates became more stark. Something that may be reflected in polling in the next few days.

—-

THE LOSERS
THE BIGGEST LOSER:
Everyone. The cross-talk, the fighting, the bickering, the interrupting … call it what you want, even chaos, but it was not compelling. In fact it was irritating and viewers said so on Twitter, a lot. The lack of control — and we mean by the moderators as well as self-control from the candidates — was off-putting and a big fail. One can blame the quantity of people, but only if one forgets that there were just as many people on the first night and this didn’t happen. Not a good look for anyone, or a good time for the people watching.

The Other Losers:
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: did not have a good night. She was frustrated, she fought with everyone to get in a word edgewise, and she came off like the person causing a lot of the chaos. It was, without question, a poor performance.

Former vice President Joe Biden should have had a command performance. But he was not only broken by Harris, he simply didn’t deliver overall. He had to ask the moderators to repeat the question, he didn’t take the upper hand in any of the fighting, he just didn’t come out swinging. Which he needed to do. With Eric Swalwell, otherwise unremarkable in the debate, constantly harping on Biden’s age and repeating “pass the torch,” the, forgive us, “low energy” from Biden was not a win.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg, like Biden, did not get the job done. He not only didn’t shine, the pall over him regarding the events in his hometown over racial tensions and the police was noticeable. When Eric Swalwell, otherwise unremarkable in the debate, landed a blow saying Buttigieg should fire his police chief, he basically lost the whole night.

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Check out all our coverage for clips, videos, and analysis, including post-debate reactions, from night two of the Democratic Debates on CNN

Independent Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders couldn’t resist getting in an attack on the billionaire class while answering a question about protecting abortion rights.

At Thursday night’s Democratic Presidential Debate on NBC News, co-moderator Rachel Maddow specifically directed a question to Sanders about the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.

“What is your plan, if Roe is struck down in the core while you are president?” Maddow asked.

“Well, my plan is, as somebody who believes, for a start, that a woman’s right to control her own body is a constitutional right, that government and politicians should not infringe on that right, we will do everything we can do defend Roe versus Wade,” Sanders said.

“Second of all, let me make, let me make a promise here, you ask about a litmus test,” Sanders continued, to no one who had asked him about a litmus test, “my litmus test is I will never appoint any, nominate any justice of the Supreme Court unless that justice is 100 percent clear he or she will defend Roe versus Wade.”

Sanders added that he doesn’t believe in packing the court, but that “constitutionally we have the power to rotate judges to other courts, and that brings a new blood into the Supreme Court, and a majority, I hope, that will understand that a woman has the right to control her own body, and that corporations cannot run the United States of America.”

Maddow gave Sanders extra time to answer the question she actually asked, “because the question is what if the court has already overturned Roe, and Roe is gone.”

“If Roe is gone, what could you do as president to protect abortion rights?” Maddow asked.

“First of all let me tell you this, didn’t come up here but let’s face this,” Sanders said. “Medicare for All guarantees every woman in this country the right to have an abortion if she wants it.”

Watch the clip above, via NBC.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) ripped former Vice President Joe Biden on the Democratic debate stage Thursday night, as she called out his past affiliations with segregationist politicians, which Biden has recently promoted as proof that he can work with Republicans to achieve meaningful reform as president.

While Harris said she agrees with Biden on the “importance of finding common ground,” she added that “it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two U.S. senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.” Biden reacted to the question with a particularly defensive response, saying that her remarks were “a mischaracterization of my position across the board. I did not praise racists.” He also subtly attacked her for being a prosecutor while addressing his support for “civil rights” issues: “I was a public defender. I didn’t become a prosecutor.”

Twitter mostly sided with Harris on the exchange, as many media figures discussed the senator’s dressing down of Biden to be one of the highlights of the night so far. While Biden has been repeatedly panned for boosting his ties to segregationist politicians, Harris was the first example of him being called out by an opponent in person over the issue, which certainly caused a stir on social media.

Check out a few of the reactions below:

Whoa. Kamala putting Biden on the defense on race, VERY effectively.

— Emily Nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) June 28, 2019

kamala absolutely bodies biden on his anti-integration history

biden: I WAS A PUBLIC DEFENDER NOT A PROSECUTOR

audience wipes the splashes of blood off their foreheads

— Current Affairs (@curaffairs) June 28, 2019

This is why the split-screen was invented.

— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) June 28, 2019

The prosecutor is prosecuting Biden, big time

— Joshua Green (@JoshuaGreen) June 28, 2019

This was a fascinating exchange.
However, Harris made the more emotionally compelling argument. She put Biden on defense & when you’re explaining you’re losing in politics. Standout out moment for @KamalaHarris #DemDebate2020 https://t.co/YpFQvXtkZd

— Tara Setmayer (@TaraSetmayer) June 28, 2019

Kamala Harris is coming for Joe Biden and Donald Trump and I’m here for it.

— Alex Mohajer (@AlexMohajer) June 28, 2019

So far I’d have to say Kamala Harris is having the best debate performance, based on what she needed to do tonight. #DemDebate2

(If you can’t understand the difference between evaluating a performance and supporting the candidate please don’t reply below)

— John Iadarola (@johniadarola) June 28, 2019

Can we put to bed this electability bullshit? If you think this woman @KamalaHarris can’t take it to Trump and compete in every portion of this country, you’re not paying attention.

— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) June 28, 2019

A source close to Kamala Harris texts:

“Hello Joe.”

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) June 28, 2019

.@KamalaHarris pulls the best move of the two debates. She planned the volley with @JoeBiden on bussing and delivered it well. This makes her the savviest political strategist of these two debates so far. #DemDebate https://t.co/bwksIqTPKf

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) June 28, 2019

Kamala Harris just schooled Joe Biden on why his long record and old school bipartisanship is gonna be a tough sell this time around for Democrats. He better find a better answer for opposing busing.

— Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) June 28, 2019

Kamala Harris and Joe Biden ended up going one-on-one on Thursday night when the senator challenged the ex-vice president’s record at NBC’s 2020 presidential debate.

When the debate reached the subject of race in America, Harris went after Biden over his recent comments where he called for bipartisanship by talking about how he was able to get work done in Congress while working with segregationists.

“I do not believe you are a racist, and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground,” Harris said. “But I also believe – and it is personal – it was actually very hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputation and career on the segregation of race.”

After Harris took more shots at Biden over city bussing and his civil rights resume, the ex-veep eventually returned fire by calling it “a mischaracterization of my position across the board.”

“I did not praise racists, that is not true,” Biden said. “If we want to have this campaign litigated on who supports civil rights and whether I did or not, I’m happy to do that. I was a public defender. I didn’t become a prosecutor. I came out and left a good law firm to become a public defender when, in fact, my city was in flames because of the assassination of Dr. King.”

Biden continued to defend his record by citing his work with former president Barack Obama and arguing that the bussing grievances Harris cited were a city council matter. Harris continued to press him on this, asking “do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose bussing in America then?”

“I did not oppose bussing in America,” Biden responded. “What I opposed is bussing ordered by the Department of Education. That’s what I opposed.”

The two continued to collide on the matter until Biden acknowledged that his time was up and the conversation moved on. Later on in the evening, Harris’ Twitter account posted this message as a clear reference to the Biden exchange.

There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school. That little girl was me. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/XKm2xP1MDH

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 28, 2019

Watch above, via MSNBC.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg faced a tough question about ongoing turmoil over a police shooting in his hometown of South Bend, admitting the situation is tough and “it’s a mess.”

Less than a week before going onstage Thursday, Buttigieg faced a hostile town hall after a police officer shot and killed Eric Logan.

“Our community is in anguish over an officer-involved shooting. A black man killed by a white officer. I’m not allowed to take sides until the investigation comes back. He didn’t have his body camera on. He says he was attacked be knife. It’s a mess, we’re hurting,” Buttigieg said.

“I am determined to bring about a day when a white person driving a vehicle and a black person driving a vehicle, when they see a police officer approaching feels the exact same thing the feeling not of fear, but of safety,” he continued.

However, Buttigieg faced criticism from Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Rep. Eric Swalwell.

Swalwell said Buttigieg should fire the police chief and when Buttigieg began to explain Indiana law, Swalwell interjected and added “Aren’t you the mayor? You should fire the chief.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

The Democratic line-up at NBC’s 2020 presidential debate universally blasted President Donald Trump’s border and immigration policies on Thursday night, but Senator Kamala Harris also took time to bash the deportation policies of Barack Obama’s administration.

As Harris laid out her position that immigrants shouldn’t be deported solely on the grounds of being undocumented, she expressed her disagreement with the Obama-era deportation policy while speaking of what she saw from their impact as California Attorney General.

“I disagreed with my president because the policy was to allow deportation of people who by ICE’s own definition were non-criminals. So as Attorney general and the chief law officer of the state of California, I issued a directive to the sheriffs of my state that they did not have to comply with detainers and instead should make decisions based on the best interest to public safety of their community … I was tracking it and saw that parent, people who had not committed crimes were being deported.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

President Donald Trump fired off his first tweet of the second round of NBC’s Democratic primary debates in Miami, Florida Thursday night, as he condemned the candidates for agreeing on the U.S. providing health care to undocumented immigrants.

“All Democrats just raised their hands for giving millions of illegal aliens unlimited healthcare. How about taking care of American Citizens first!?” the president wrote on Twitter in the middle of the debate. “That’s the end of that race!”

All Democrats just raised their hands for giving millions of illegal aliens unlimited healthcare. How about taking care of American Citizens first!? That’s the end of that race!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2019

When asked by moderators if they supported covering migrants  — even those without legal status — under their proposed health care plans, all the candidates raised their hand in agreement. Southbend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg explained his support for providing undocumented migrants health care,

“Our country is healthier when everybody is healthier,” Buttigieg said, adding that “there are undocumented immigrants in my community, who pay ales taxes. They pay property taxes directly or indirectly. This is not about a handout.”

At the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, Trump suggested the Democratic debates are boring.

“Perhaps you saw it, it wasn’t very exciting, I can tell you that,” the president said while with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel at the G20.

At the start of his G20 meeting with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, Pres Trump couldn’t resist taking a swipe at the #DemDebate back home. “Perhaps you saw it, it wasn’t very exciting, I can tell you that,” he said of the first installment last night. pic.twitter.com/XB2LYbwKAA

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 28, 2019

California Congressman Eric Swalwell took a shot at former Vice President Joe Biden‘s age by referencing a Biden speech that Swalwell watched “when I was six years old.” Here is that speech.

During Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate, Swalwell played the age card by noting that “I was six-years-old when a presidential candidate came to the California democratic convention and said, it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans,” and explained that that candidate was Joe Biden.

It turns out Swalwell was a few months shy of eight years old when Biden gave that speech on July 17, 1988 at the California Democratic Convention, and ironically, Biden was fondly recalling speeches he had heard as a much younger man.

“Speaking to us across the divide of those wilderness years, it sounds corny but remember how you used to feel?” Biden said. “Remember how you felt when you heard the word go forth in this time and place, the the torch has been passed, past to a new generation of Americans, a generation born of… and went on.”

Biden was recalling John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address.

“Remember how you felt when you heard the man say I have a dream, that one day that one day the son of the slave and the son of the slaveholder will sit down at the table in brotherhood,” Biden continued, referencing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.

Biden responded to Swalwell’s attack by saying “I’m still holding on to that torch.”

Watch the clip above, via C-SPAN.

Democratic candidates slammed President Donald Trump’s immigration policy of family separation and child detention during the second round the first 2020 debates, with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper saying “It is kidnapping.”

Hickenlooper’s response came just after Senator Kamala Harris’s pointed response, which ripped Trump for orchestrating a border policy that shows little sympathy for the plight of asylum seekers. “I have to say we have to think of this issue in terms of real people,” Harris said. “A mother who pays a coyote to transport her child to through their country of origin, through the entire country of Mexico, facing unknown peril to come here, why would that mother do that? I will tell you. Because she has decided for that child to remain where they are is worse. But what does Donald Trump do? He says: ‘Go back to where you came from.'”

Author and activist Marianne Williamson went one step further, blasting the White House’s harsh border detention policy and inhumane conditions. “If you take a lot of children and put them in detainment inflicting trauma upon them, that’s child abuse,” she said. “This is collective child abuse. Both of those things are a crime. If your government does it, that doesn’t make it less of a crime. These are state-sponsored crimes.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.

Thursday night’s debate derailed after Rep. Eric Swalwell surprisingly blasted former Vice President Joe Biden for his age, saying ‘it’s time to pass the torch.”

“I was six-years-old when a presidential candidate came to the California democratic convention and said, it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans,” Swalwell said

“That candidate was then Senator Joe Biden,” Swalwell continued, prompting laughter from the audience. “Joe Biden was right when he said it was time to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans that years ago. He’s still right today.”

Biden was given a chance to respond. “I’m still holding on to that torch,” he said, pivoting to talk about education. “I want to make it clear to you. Look, the fact of the matter is what we have to do is make sure everybody is prepared better to go on educate for an education.”

The debate devolved into crosstalk after anchor Jose Diaz-Balart attempted to move on, with multiple candidates talking over each other.

“Hey, guys, you know what, America does not want to witness a food fight. They want to know how we will put food on their table!” Kamala Harris quipped, prompting loud applause from the audience and quieting the candidate field.

Watch above, via MSNBC.

At the start of NBC’s 2nd round for their 2020 Democratic presidential debate, Kamala Harris turned Savannah Guthrie‘s question back at her when asked about how Democrats will pay for several of the party’s most popular progressive policy proposals.

Guthrie brought up proposals for several government benefits including student loan cancellation, free college and healthcare.

“Do you think,” she asked Harris, “that Democrats have a responsibility to explain how they will pay for every proposal they make along those lines?” Harris didn’t hesitate to twist the question into a referendum on President Donald Trump and the GOP’s tax reform bill.

“Well, let me tell you something,” Harris answered. “Where was that question when the Republicans and Donald Trump passed a tax bill that benefits the top 1% and the biggest corporations in this country contributing at least $1 trillion to the debt of America, which middle class families will pay for one way or another? Working families need support and need to be lifted up, and, frankly, the economy is not working for working people.”

Harris went on to say that “for too long, the rules have been written in the favor of the people who have the most and not in favor of the people who work the most.” This led to her proposing a change to the tax code where “every family that is making less than $100,000 a year, they will receive a tax credit that they can collect up to $3500 a month,” and she also vowed to roll back the GOP’s tax bill.

Watch above, via MSNBC

During and after part one of NBC’s Democratic primary debate, a number of people, including Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, said the network was unfairly favoring Elizabeth Warren. On This Morning on Thursday, CBS News’ chief correspondent Major Garrett said the same, knocking the rival network for the apparent bias.

“What is interesting to me about last night is Elizabeth Warren got five questions in the first 40 minutes,” said Garrett as they discussed the debate. “That solidified the appearance of her being the most important person on that stage.”

CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King agreed. “I noticed that, too, Major,” she said. “If I was the other candidates I would say –-“

Garrett continued as King added her observation. “And other candidates were getting a little uncomfortable with it,” said Garrett.

King agreed again. Garrett pointed out it was less lop-sided in the second hour of the debate, which interestingly was the portion when Warren super-fan Rachel Maddow was co-moderating with Chuck Todd.

“Now, she was less visible in the second hour, but just that prominence of getting that many questions sort of signaled to the audience: this is the most important person on the stage. Whether she is or not, we’ll find out,” said Garrett.

In the clip above, he also critiques the way the media and political commentators view and “score” debates, pointing out that when interviewing voters in places like Iowa, they have very different views on who did well and who did not.

Thursday night will feature a pair of major front-runners, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, as well as some very popular candidates like Kamala Harris. Will there be another lop-sided first hour? Stick with Mediaite’s ongoing coverage to find out, and watch live online here.

Watch Major Garrett above, courtesy of CBS News.

During an MSNBC panel previewing the second 2020 Democratic debate, Chris Hayes did a literal double take and then thoroughly dismantled fellow network host Nicolle Wallace’s argument that the “Republican Party is dead” and that Democrats should strongly consider the electability of a candidate: “We don’t know what voters want…Donald Trump won the presidency!”

In a segment that began by talking about former Vice President Joe Biden and his general election appeal against Trump versus more progressive Democrats like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) or Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Hayes interrupted to give a brief, not-so-recent history lesson.

“Can I just say something about this, because I think this is important. I watched in 2012 when everyone said the Republican Party is rushing off a cliff, and all of this sort of wise people left and right, some on this network, some other places said ‘Obviously, they’ve got to do something. What they’re doing with Hispanic voters is suicide.’ In fact, the RNC commissioned a report and said you’ve got to get right with Hispanic voters. You’re out of your minds. Everyone said this. This was obviously the consensus, otherwise they were going to lose. What did they do? Donald Trump came along and went in exactly the opposite direction. He leaned way in to white ethno-nationalist backlash. He came down an escalator and said they’re sending rapists to come kill you. And what happened to Donald Trump who today is the president of the United States? We don’t know what will work. We don’t know what the voters want.”

Wallace’s response: “I’m sure the Democrats don’t want to follow the Republican Party to the cemetery. The Republican Party is dead.”

At this, Hayes literally did a double take and stole a sideways look at the other panelists, clearly stunned. He then patiently stated the reality of American politics in 2019, which contradicted Wallace at every turn. “Donald Trump won the presidency. Republicans had unified government for two years. They have a Supreme Court majority of 5-4.”

Wallace, clearly caught out, tried to backpedal: “Well, I think if you’re making an argument about what wins, I think you’re making the same argument. I think maybe your disagreement is on how.”

“I’m saying we don’t know,” Hayes reiterated. “We don’t know. We don’t know what the voters want. We just don’t know.”

“This is dire,” Wallace said, later on in the exchange. “I think there are a lot of people who think there is a racist, misogynist in the Oval Office and we’d like to see Democrats nominate someone who can win.”

“Totally,” Hayes said, “but my point is there is not some skeleton key that is locked in a box that ‘This is how you win.’ If there were, someone would have cracked it open. It doesn’t exist.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.