July 23 2024
Democratic unity?; Biden conspiracy theories; Harris electoral strategy; Secret Service debacle; Chinese 5 year training plan
1 Democratic Party machinery backs Harris as presidential nominee
2 Questions swirl around circumstances of Biden’s withdrawal
3 OPINION The real strategy behind nominating Harris: stem Dem losses in House and Senate
4 Secret Service Director testifies, faces bipartisan calls to resign
5 China sets 2029 deadline to train science and tech workforce
7/23/1903 The Ford Motor Company sells its first automobile, the Model A
see ad astra on x @greg_loving
1 Democratic Party machinery backs Harris as presidential nominee
Future Forward, the flagship super PAC blessed by President JOE BIDEN, received $150 million in new commitments from major Democratic donors in the 24 hours since the president announced he would step aside from the race, Elena Schneider reports. The fundraising boon — described by a senior Future Forward aide and shared first with POLITICO — gives VP KAMALA HARRIS, Biden’s endorsed successor, an enormous boost as the Democratic Party reorients to a new nominee. Future Forward already had $122 million in cash on hand as of the end of June, according to Federal Elections Commission filings. Before Biden dropped out, several major Democratic donors threatened to withhold their donations after the president’s feeble performance in the June debate. The senior aide described these donors, who had pledged $150 million, as having been stalled but now doubling down.
HARRIS’ RUNWAY IS CLEAR — It’s been less than 24 hours since Biden’s historic announcement that he would step aside as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate and endorse Harris as his successor. And at this moment, her runway to the nomination is unobstructed. After a flurry of reports that Sen. JOE MANCHIN (I-W.Va.) was on the receiving end of interest from donors eager to see the centrist make a run for the nomination, Manchin told CBS News’ Gayle King that he was “not running for office,” Andrew Howard reports. (Roughly one hour earlier, he told CNN’s Kasie Hunt that “people are pushing in that direction” when asked about a potential campaign.) Almost every major potential Democratic contender has endorsed Harris, including statements today from Illinois Gov. JB PRITZKER, Maryland Gov. WES MOORE and Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER.
Politico
Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday she had secured enough verbal commitments from delegates to the Democratic National Convention to clinch the party’s presidential nomination — with her home state of California putting her over the threshold less than two days into her presidential bid.
Politico
Ed note: Harris’s odds of being the Dem nominee have increased to 91% in betting markets, +10% vs yesterday
Article Source: Politico, Polymarket
2 Questions swirl around circumstances of Biden’s withdrawal
If it happened in Belarus, Burundi, or Myanmar, Joe Biden’s blitzkrieg withdrawal from the presidential race would have inspired eye rolls. We jettisoned an incumbent president’s re-election campaign with all the pomp of an NFL practice squad transaction, announcing the move via a blip of a social media post. Only in America is anyone tempted to take such head-scratching events at face value.
The most consequential decision of Joe Biden’s presidency was executed by tweet Sunday, via a screenshot of a letter, posted at 1:46 p.m. There was no press conference, video, or photo commemorating any human being’s participation in the event. The letter wasn’t posted on the White House briefing room site, even as lesser news (including a statement purporting to quote Biden at length on “climate pollution reduction grants”) was posted yesterday. It was furthermore written neither on presidential stationery nor under campaign letterhead and appeared rushed, thanking Vice President Kamala Harris for “being an extraordinary partner,” but not endorsing her.
In a second tweet 27 minutes later, however, @JoeBiden announced, “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.” Papers from The Washington Post to The New York Times reported Biden “wrote in a letter he posted” or “said in a statement” he was dropping out. However, we didn’t hear from any official spokesperson, not even deputy platforms director Andy Volosky (who reportedly runs Biden’s Twitter account), explaining how the announcement came to be. To say a president breaking up with America via digital post-it note is bizarre is a massive understatement. Biden’s letter contained a lot of important information. It said he will “speak to the Nation in more detail later this week about my decision.” However, given defiant protestations by him and his staff about remaining in the race (comments that continued through Saturday night), it will be crucial for someone from Biden’s inner circle, preferably a family member, to make a public statement soon.
Racket
One would think that a letter to the American people from the president announcing his decision to step aside would not be signed using a digital signature and would be accompanied by a photo op and a scheduled conference in the morning that followed.
Instead we have a digitally signed letter released on the president’s
@X account, an account we know that is run by a staffer, no photo, and no live scheduled address to the American people. — @BillAckman
Can anyone find another example of Joe Biden underlining his signature? - @ALX
If this were a hostage situation, that letter would not qualify as proof of life. — @BillAckman
Article Source: Racket Substack, X
3 OPINION The real strategy behind nominating Harris: stem Dem losses in House and Senate
Despite what you read in the media, most real Democrats I’ve talked to aren’t thrilled with Kamala Harris. I believe the strategy to nominate her is based on electoral realism. With Biden on the ticket, down ballot races in the House and Senate were at greater risk for the Democrats. Many of the closest races in the nation are in New York or California. According to the Cook Political Report, 7 of the 22 races rated “toss-up" are in the states of New York in California.
I believe that privately Democratic leaders understand Harris cannot beat Trump. However, they do hope that her presence on the ballot will help them, particularly in New York and California. I believe this strategy is confirmed by the actions of ambitious Democratic politicians like California Governor Gavin Newsom. Publicity, Newsom has thrown his support behind Harris, but privately, he realizes that he cannot beat Trump in the 2024 cycle and will sit out until 2028. In short, Democrats have conceded the presidency, but are seeking to minimize their losses in the House in Senate.
Ad Astra
Source: Cook Political Report
4 Secret Service Director testifies, faces bipartisan calls to resign
The leaders of the House oversight committee called on the Secret Service director, Kimberly A. Cheatle, to resign after her testimony on Monday in which she repeatedly refused to answer specific questions about the security failures that led to an assassination attempt of former President Donald J. Trump. Representatives James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and the chairman of the committee, and Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the panel, joined several members of the committee in demanding Ms. Cheatle’s resignation. Ms. Cheatle, appearing before the committee for more than four hours, called the shooting at the Trump rally in Butler, Pa., her agency’s “most significant operational failure” in decades. But she cited the continuing investigation when declining to answer queries about the would-be assassin’s access to the warehouse roof from which he fired, how he had managed to bring a firearm to the event, why Mr. Trump was allowed to come onstage despite warnings about a suspicious person and many other details.
Article Source: NYT
5 China sets 2029 deadline to train science and tech workforce
China is targeting science education and expertise, embarking on a five-year skills upgrade drive as it seeks to develop the critical technology needed to counter US-led containment efforts. The Communist Party’s Central Committee announced on Thursday that the country had a 2029 deadline to develop a “quality workforce” to help power a country and economy driven by innovation. The commitment was included in an official communique released after a four-day plenum, a gathering of the Central Committee’s more than 350 full and alternate members.
Article Source: South China Morning Post
7/23/1903 The Ford Motor Company sells its first automobile, the Model A
Sources
1. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2024/07/22/scoop-harris-big-donor-money-bomb-00132333; https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/22/kamala-harris-has-enough-verbal-commitments-to-secure-democratic-nomination-00170535; https://polymarket.com/event/democratic-nominee-2024?tid=1721733425821
2. https://open.substack.com/pub/taibbi/p/whos-running-this-country?r=d9vo5&utm_medium=ios
3. https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings
4. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/22/us/secret-service-hearing-trump-cheatle?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
5. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3271038/china-sets-2029-deadline-create-science-and-tech-quality-workforce-power-nation
Thanks for reading!
