August 19, 2024 - 6:40pm

→ Democratic platform forgets to remove Joe Biden’s name

The Democrats’ new party platform has everything: a land acknowledgement, Nick Fuentes, and 150 mentions of Donald Trump. The party, currently gathered on the traditional homelands of the Anishinaabe, commonly known as “Chicago”, will vote tonight to officially approve the new suggestions.

The sprawling 92-page document, which was released to the public only this morning, was drafted before Joe Biden exited the race and thus awkwardly mentions the President 287 times, including 19 mentions of a second Biden term, compared to only 32 mentions of Kamala Harris, many of which in fact refer to the “Biden-Harris Administration”.

The document also contains a lengthy ode to the police, a remarkable change in tone from the 2020 platform’s call to “overhaul the criminal justice system from top to bottom”. In addition, it mentions Donald Trump’s meeting with “white supremacist, antisemite, and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes”. Have any Democrats actually read it? 

→ Led By Donkeys get their own exhibition

Fresh from a chortle-inducing prank on former PM Liz Truss last week, Led By Donkeys are getting their very own exhibition. The self-described “political accountability collective” have risen to prominence through a series of publicity stunts and videos, taking in targets as varied as Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and David Cameron. Now their work will be exhibited in Bristol next month, coinciding with the publication of their book Adventures in Art, Activism and Accountability.

Founded in 2018, Led By Donkeys began life as an anti-Brexit movement but has broadened its oeuvre to include other Tory foibles. Following last week’s Truss stunt, the group claimed it would hold the new government to account, and that “Labour is fair game”. Plenty of material to look forward to, no doubt…

→ Conservatives mock Kamala Harris for ‘drinking problem’

A number of prominent Right-wing X accounts are spreading a rumour that Kamala Harris is an alcoholic. Ever since Donald Trump ally James Blair announced on X that there were “a lot of rumors out there about Kamala having a serious drinking problem”, the platform has been deluged with clips of the VP fixed with captions suggesting that she is obviously drunk, and that her supposed alcoholism is an open secret in Washington circles. It remains entirely unclear which high-level Democrats are leaking this valuable intel to Right-wing X accounts.

The eagerly-spread allegation is perhaps the Right’s answer to the spurious couch rumours that have plagued J.D. Vance. However, it’s unlikely to pick up much steam outside the conservative echo chamber, as it’s neither salacious nor particularly unusual. Some of America’s most beloved presidents have been notorious booze hounds. Could this fix her relatability problem?