Happy Tuesday!

We are now just two weeks from Election Day! A fortnight, 14 days … in other words, practically no time at all. Early and mail-in voting is going on like gangbusters. Texts from campaigns are blowing up phones the way the Mossad blew up Hezbollah pagers. 

And the two presidential campaigns are still on the road.

Remembering Western North Carolina

On Monday former President Donald Trump, fresh off serving fries at McDonalds, paid a visit to storm-ravaged western North Carolina.

Trump promised he would help the region “properly” recover with a “new crew” come January 20, and blasted FEMA for its lackluster job thus far and for diverting precious resources to illegal immigrants. He also praised the “amazing,” resilient people of the region.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: "I'm here today in Western North Carolina to express a simple message to the incredible people of the state: I'm with you… On January 20th, I think you're going to have a new crew coming in to do it properly." pic.twitter.com/HYG0pFzcu6

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 21, 2024

Trump said he was surprised by all the reports of people in the area who are taking part in early voting despite the devastation.

At one point, a local business owner asked if he could pray for the former president.

PRAYING WITH TRUMP. Storeowner Mike Stuart in Asheville, NC asks if he can pray for President @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/Qczu5z9aE7

— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) October 21, 2024

The mountain townspeople of North Carolina want America to know most of them are open for business. They’re urging the rest of us to pay a visit; bring those tourist dollars to help the state recover.

“Of course, there’s some areas close by that are still having, you know, a lot of struggles: no power and water,” Maggie Valley Yarn Shop owner Cindy Faust told Fox News. “But Maggie Valley, Waynesville, Sylva, and the surrounding areas are all open. Restaurants are open, businesses are open, and we desperately want tourists to come this season and support us.”

Taking Faust up on her offer wouldn’t just be altruistic. You’re not going to see anyplace much more beautiful than the Appalachian Mountains in fall — and Christmas in Asheville, particularly at the Biltmore, is a wonder.

Kamala Harris Barnstorms with Liz Cheney

While Trump was spending time with those struggling to rebuild in North Carolina, Kamala Harris was campaigning in Midwestern swing states with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming). This is the same Liz Cheney who is currently caught up in another J6 Committee scandal, accused of unethically going behind the back of “star” witness Cassidy Hutchinson’s lawyer to communicate directly with Hutchinson, helping her arrange to get another lawyer, and discussing her testimony. This magically led to Hutchinson doing a 180 when she testified before the committee — most of which has now been debunked. And Cheney is accusing Trump of lacking ethics? 

Interestingly, Liz and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, endorsing Harris earlier this year has turned off an entire coalition of Arab-American organizations that see the duo as the driving forces behind wars against the Arab world. If Harris is partnering with them, they wonder, doesn’t that just guarantee we’re all in for more war?

“Would You Like Tears With That?”: Groaning About Trump’s McDonalds Visit

Some people really have no sense of fun — or for that matter, the great American tradition of presidential campaigns. On Sunday — to much fanfare — Donald Trump worked a shift at a McDonalds in the Philadelphia suburbs.

And oh, did the Left have a beef cow about it Monday, blasting it as a “stunt.” Wondering why McDonalds didn’t shut it down. Newsweek even decided to embarrass the McDonalds that hosted the event by bringing up the fact that it recently failed a health inspection. Tim Walz said Trump’s visit was “disrespectful” to McDonalds workers.

Walz on The View: Trump going to work at a McDonald's was disrespectful to McDonald's workers. pic.twitter.com/2ZMB9MrNNI

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) October 21, 2024

Could they possibly be more petty — or more desperate?

Yes, for security reasons, the Secret Service had to shut the location down and screen the people utilizing the drive-thru. (After all, Trump does have Iranian death squads out for his head.) And yes, of course it was a campaign stunt.

But it’s precisely the kind of thing we’ve seen since presidential candidates started actually campaigning for themselves in the mid-1800s. Whether it’s taking part in state fairs, launching whistle-stop train tours, or revising popular songs into campaign parodies, finding creative ways to gain attention and presenting yourself as one of the people are colorful trademarks of American elections. Even in this campaign, remember when Joe Biden ate fried chicken with a black family? Kamala Harris made a stop for Doritos? How about Tim Walz’s pheasant hunt for the cameras?

How about days after saying Christians were in “the wrong rally,” Harris showed up at black churches in Atlanta, acting as if she was church lady in love with that “old-time religion”? What seems more authentic — Harris doing that or Trump slinging fries?

Which gets to the real reason the critics are upset at him for working Sunday at McDonalds. He’s far better at this stuff than Harris is. His special appearances, be it at a Pennsylvania fast-food joint, a Brooklyn bodega, or a UFC fight — or, heck, even getting his mugshot taken — actually work.  They garner incredibly positive attention from real people and break through the media’s caricature of Trump as a mean, would-be dictator.

 You can’t believe someone is Hitler when he’s happily serving you fries.

Tim Walz Goes on The View

The Harris campaign is hemorrhaging male support. So naturally, what do they do? Send Tim Walz out for an appearance on The View.

Normally, all we’d need to say is “Tim Walz went on The View” to make you automatically start to chuckle. The punch lines would write themselves. But Walz did say something that should be concerning, considering this guy could conceivably be one heartbeat away from the presidency.

When challenged about his repeated lies about his past, which include false claims of serving in combat overseas, Walz defended himself, insisting, “I speak from the heart, I speak honestly and speak in the moment.”

What’s another way to phrase that? “I make up stuff as I go along.”

Yeah, that’s what we want in the Oval Office.

Nathan Wade Transcript Released: Met Several Times with WH Officials, Can’t Remember the Details

Nathan Wade, the former special prosecutor in the lawsuit waged against Trump in Fulton County, Georgia, over the 2020 election, admitted to meeting multiple times with Biden administration officials while working on the case. Wade, who famously was canoodling with District Attorney Fani Willis during the investigation, confirmed during four hours of closed-door testimony before the House Judiciary Committee that the meetings took place.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan released the transcript Monday.

Here’s where it gets both stunning and troubling. Wade, in his sworn testimony, claimed he couldn’t remember the details of those meetings — either who was involved or who arranged them. (We wouldn’t even know about them had Wade not billed the hours.)

For example, when asked about his billing entry, “Interview with D.C./White House, November 18th, 2022. Eight hours at $250. Cost $2,000,” Wade said he couldn’t recall the details.

Do you believe a nondescript, average lawyer in Georgia is not going to remember every little thing about meeting with THE WHITE HOUSE during which he earned $2,000? Especially one that lasted eight hours? Sure, if you’re some government lawyer spends more time at the White House than Biden himself, you might lose track of the particulars of a given meeting. But a county official from Georgia working the biggest case of his career involving a former U.S. president? Would you remember the details if you spent a full day in the White House? Heck, I remember details from a White House trip my class made in the third grade.

It seems far more likely that Wade is conveniently forgetting the details to hide the level of involvement by the White House in the criminal cases being waged against Trump.

Along The Stream

Dr. Michael Brown tells us what “Samaritan’s Purse and the Real Gospel in Action” look like. 

Stream contributing editor and bestselling military author Tom Sileo fills in some details as “U.S. Probes Leak of Classified Military Documents.”

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.