The Note: High and low roads traverse a week of anger and mourning
There are candidates aiming high. But there’s also plenty who are going low.
The Take with Rick Klein
There are candidates aiming high. But there's also plenty who are going low.
Viewed a certain way, it was a soaring week of 2020 rhetoric and high-level campaigning. Democrats came out with uncommon unity to call for action to confront gun violence, with vows to lift the nation in confronting the words and actions of a president who they are holding responsible for recent, awful events.
Viewed another way, the low road was also well-traversed. Candidates cursed. A House member, who is a candidate's brother, called out President Donald Trump's campaign donors for "fueling a campaign of hate." And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell heard protesters' threats of violence at his home.
On the trail, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke flatly labeled Trump a "white supremacist." Former Vice President Joe Biden said Trump was "fueling a literal carnage" -- and slammed what he called his "low-energy, vacant-eyed mouthing of the words written for him condemning white supremacists."
The sharp words and even the name-calling might feel warranted in this moment of raw anger and frustration. Yet it again demonstrated the perils of running against a candidate who has remade just about every political norm.
Even in this moment of national mourning, the president sought to make the storylines about himself this week.
It's not easy for Democrats to avoid making things all about him, either.
The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks
At the end of this otherwise somber week, the kick-off to the Iowa State Fair provided a challenging and even awkward dissonance to the 2020 campaign trail.
Between scoops of ice cream, a former vice president accused the sitting president of actively encouraging white supremacists.
With the Ferris wheel and fried Oreos in the background, Biden and other presidential candidates talked to voters about Trump's rhetoric and deep divisions over race in the country. They took poignant questions on gun safety.
Five more candidates will make their pitch from the famed fair soapbox on Friday, including former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and businessman Andrew Yang, who this week qualified for the next debate in September.
Several more will hold the mic, eat the food and take selfies at the fairgrounds this weekend as they swing through the crucial early voting state.
Maybe that's part of the job of being an elected leader: switching gears between the playful and the profound. Still, on day one of the Iowa State Fair, the good ole days of glad-handing and 2016 helicopter rides felt a tad distant and different. The seriousness of the news makes it a little strange to take in the lighthearted, family fun.
The TIP with Benjamin Siegel
The weekend's mass shootings in Texas and Ohio lingered in the minds of Iowa State Fair attendees on Thursday: "In a big crowd like this, it can happen here," Darla Connell, a retiree from Clear Lake, Iowa, said. "God forbid it would happen here but you know we all have to be observant."
While many of the Democrats who attended Biden's soapbox speech roundly endorsed calls for Congress to take up proposals like universal background checks, Peri Halma, a Des Moines teacher and registered Republican, told ABC News that she agreed, "Assault weapons ban for sure, background checks for sure."
She praised Trump's first term and said she plans to vote for him in 2020. She added that he, "could take some more control and be a little more aggressive" in pushing for Congress to take up proposals after the recent shootings.
Democratic presidential candidates will return to the subject in Iowa on Saturday, at a forum hosted by gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.
THE PLAYLIST
ABC News' "Start Here" podcast. Friday morning's episode features ABC News' Serena Marshall, who brings us the latest on those Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Mississippi. Then, ABC News' Will Carr tells us about his trip inside a migrant holding facility on the southern border. And, ABC News' Adam Kelsey checks in from the Iowa State fair ahead of a big weekend of appearances from 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. http://apple.co/2HPocUL
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEKEND
Download the ABC News app and select "The Note" as an item of interest to receive the day's sharpest political analysis every weekday.
The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back Monday for the latest.
Related Topics
