Serenity Now
Plus: Biden drop-out watch, tech issue grounds flights, J.D. Vance and the dissident right, and more...
Trump's back, and he's weirder than ever: Last night, former President Donald Trump took the stage to close out the Republican National Convention (RNC) in his first address since he'd been shot. For the first 30 minutes, it was easy to detect a tonal shift. Trump, a man who tends to be impulsive and mercurial, prone to exaggeration and brusqueness, seemed transformed into someone wholly different. Someone contemplative. Someone serene. Not wounded, exactly, but unnerved by his close brush with death, and increasingly moved by any mention of faith and God (of which there were many, since even the Amber Rose/Hulk Hogan/Kid Rock-era RNC is still the RNC).
He shared the stage with the empty uniform of Corey Comperatore, the firefighter who had died from the assassin's bullet at Trump's campaign rally in his stead. Naturally, the uniform was misspelled, which seems somehow fitting for a Republican Party that's heavy on the symbolism and showmanship but light on the details; still, Trump displayed a certain reverence and humility that's been, up until this point, barely detectable.
Trump is so affected by the assassination attempt. You can feel it. It's very strange to see him rattled but it's the most human he's ever been.
— Dave Smith (@ComicDaveSmith) July 19, 2024
The problem was that he did not stop speaking after 30 minutes. He went on for 90 minutes, veering off-script and enjoying some moments of improv including touting right-to-try legislation (which he has been very good on) and, oddly, claiming the next RNC will be hosted in Venezuela (?) if Democrats try to steal this election and the country descends into political violence. At times, Trump was characteristically funny, saying he had a sneaking suspicion that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un misses him, calling former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "crazy Nancy," and making an odd digression into talking about Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs to make a somewhat convoluted point about insane asylums and how "foreign countries are 'emptying their mental institutions' into the U.S.," per Intelligencer (which neither appears to be happening nor is the plot of The Silence of the Lambs). There was, overall, less invective and more talk of unity, but by the post-midnight end of the speech, most people watching had some pent-up anger at the rambling, incoherent time-wasting Trump soliloquies.
Perhaps more importantly, the through line between both Tucker Carlson's speech earlier in the evening and Trump's closing speech was a message that life has gotten a lot worse under the Biden administration: Inflation has made groceries and gas more expensive; large swaths of both Eastern Europe and the Middle East are now less stable; parts of our own country are gripped by poverty and drug addiction; the border is increasingly chaotic and intractable, with an influx that can't—or won't—be stemmed.
Whether or not the message is true is beside the point for a lot of voters. Trump identifies what they think ails them, and he peddles the cure.
DROP OUT ALREADY: "Several people close to President [Joe] Biden said they believe that he has begun to accept the idea that he may not be able to win in November and may have to drop out of the race," reports The New York Times, having talked to four different sources close to the president. Biden is also reportedly asking whether Vice President Kamala Harris might have a decent chance at winning if he stepped aside—a proposition he was opposed to just a week ago.
Interestingly, it's some of the most radical members of the party—like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.)—who are skeptical of the Biden plan to drop out. Meanwhile, the henchmen of former President Barack Obama have been shit-talking Biden, while Obama himself has remained mighty quiet; former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) have both privately expressed their hopes to Biden that he will drop out, and upon him failing to heed their calls, leaked such info to the press.
"We increasingly hear top Biden aides, including ones who initially urged him to fight on after his disastrous debate on June 27—21 days ago—are saying it's now when, not if, Biden announces he's not running," reports Axios, indicating a reversal from those close to the campaign.
Sources close to President Biden tell me tonight they're *furious* that while the president is trying to recover from Covid in Rehoboth, a pressure campaign keeps picking up speed. Lots of anger toward some donors for talking of $ drying up if he doesn't quit, toward what they…
— Robert Costa (@costareports) July 19, 2024
"If Biden digs in after the weekend, public pressure from Dems will increase," writes New York Times columnist Ezra Klein on X. "Ugly in a way no one wants. But a lot of grim determination. Also a growing sense that if Biden stays in, this will come to be seen as the kind of political catastrophe you don't want to later be seen as silent in."
Scenes from New York: Why has the city been cracking down on kava bars? Kava, if you don't know, is "derived from the roots of the kava shrub, has for centuries had ceremonial and medicinal uses in the Pacific Islands, and those who use it find it calming and mood-enhancing without the judgment-impairing effects of alcohol," reports Curbed. It's unclear why exactly the city would decide to marshal its resources to force such purveyors to close, especially when they provide alternatives to bars for those who suffer from addiction or just want a different type of social environment.
QUICK HITS
- Flights were grounded around the world early this morning due to a flawed CrowdStrike software update that caused Microsoft Windows operating systems to crash.
- New Donald Trump campaign ad just dropped. Super different than anything that's come before.
- "The zombie mall king doesn't want to be a bottom-feeder forever," teases Bloomberg in a fascinating article on Jamie Salter, who "pick[s] through … corporate carcasses" like Brooks Brothers, Aeropostale, Barneys, Forever 21, Frye, and Volcom.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson (R–La.) has been concerned about Biden's cognitive decline for a long time following some foreign policy meetings, per Politico.
- True:
JD Vance as VP is the highest political ascension to date for the dissident right. Few appreciate how monumental this shift is.
— nic carter (@nic__carter) July 18, 2024
- "Manufacturing employment declines are driven mainly by long-term improvements in automation & productivity—not by trade—and trade restrictions will not stop this," writes Brian Riedl in a great X thread debunking common tariff myths. "Moreover, once other countries retaliate with tariffs, we'll lose more jobs in export industries like agriculture and technology than we gain in manufacturing."
- LOL:
Wow this is astonishing reporting by Wired. Apparently the Republican VP candidate is close with someone at the Heritage Foundation!https://t.co/5ztPRlruPa
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) July 19, 2024
- Now that the RNC is over, memes are the only thing by which we can remember it:
"Don't drink too much and get political at the party"
Me: pic.twitter.com/DnkIpiOyx5
— Rock (@TheCensoredRock) July 19, 2024
