A Campaign Supernova

The Race Enters Kamala Mode

I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra. I was born blue and weathered but I burst just like a supernova. —Bruce Springsteen

Most elections are about undecided voters. For the past several weeks, the 2024 presidential election was about an undecided candidate. That changed on Sunday when Joe Biden did something unnatural for a politician, and completely unthinkable for his opponent: He ceded power. In an era when the Supreme Court has given the president the authority of a king, Joe Biden affirmed that the presidency is bigger than one person. There are infinite contrasts in this election, but none could be more pronounced than this: Joe Biden put country over self. And his party, predicted to devolve into a state of chaotic bedlam, followed his lead and unified behind Kamala Harris. The only thing that poured in faster than the endorsements were the small money donations. Everyone who knows how to type has offered their opinions on the Biden saga, but there's still been one under-covered part of this story: Joe Biden's new role in this campaign. He stepped aside, but he won't go away. In a single moment, Biden went from a frail, political liability to a powerful and potentially historic force. There were countless articles calling for Biden to quit the race, but nearly all of them lauded his excellent record as president (a topic all too often ignored by the supposedly liberal press). By exiting the race, Biden is left with all the positives and none of the negatives, rising from the political ashes of his sluggish campaign to become a campaign supernova. Instead of the next gaffe, Biden may yet have the last laugh. He has become the Democratic party's Yoda, and no one ever complained about Yoda's wrinkles, age, ponderous pauses, or bizarre speech patterns. At political rallies and the Democratic National Convention, Biden will be greeted like a heroic, conquering king ... precisely because he chose not to be one.

2

Kamala Mode

Moments after stepping aside, Biden endorsed Kamala Harris for President: "My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this." Moments after that, a new shirt was born. Country Over Self: Let's Do This.

Here are a few quick takes on what just happened, the likely new candidate, and the new race:

+ A racist, misogynist, criminal getting taken down by a Black, female prosecutor. Has a nice ring to it. Nearly everyone in Democratic circles immediately coalesced around the Prosecutor vs Felon theme. But if I were running the Harris campaign, I'd spend the most time on reproductive rights and how that issue relates to the broader powergrab by the Supreme Court. Kamala Harris is not necessarily the best retail politician around, but she is excellent on that issue and most Americans agree with her.

+ I think the members of the media would all have to agree that Donald Trump is way too old to be president. But given the last month of coverage, we might see them argue that Harris is too young and youthful. Actually, here's a better idea: Let's focus on the fact that Trump has spent much of his campaign openly praising dictators.

+ "It seems likely that Biden will fall back on a recurring motif in his own long history of endurance. Decades ago, when he confronted the first agony of his life, the car crash that killed his wife and daughter, he landed on a strategy for survival: find a way, any way, to turn his pain into purpose." Evan Osnos in The New Yorker: Joe Biden’s Act of Selflessness.

+ Trump's reaction to the Biden move was to keep attacking Biden. This is a key tell. The whole Trump machine has been built to attack Joe and Hunter. But Joe's age doesn't matter anymore. There's only one old guy in the race. And Hunter Biden's laptop and gun cases don't matter either. Tim Alberta does a great job covering Trumpworld, so this from The Atlantic(Gift Article) is worth noting. This Is Exactly What the Trump Team Feared. "For a campaign that went to bed Saturday believing that it would dictate the terms of the election every day until November 5, Sunday brought an unfamiliar feeling of powerlessness. For the first time in a long time, Trump does not control the narrative of 2024." (None of this is to suggest that the Dems suddenly have some incredible advantage or lead. But the race is back on.)

+ Anne Applebaum with a good summary of the current race: "On the one hand, we have a sitting president who understood his limitations and, in an act of patriotism, selflessness, and party unity, decided to step away from power. On the other hand, we have a former president clinging to power, holding on desperately to the myth of a lost election, evoking the same predictable descriptions of carnage and disaster he served up eight years ago. Today, he is still attacking Biden, who is no longer his opponent."

+ Gov in the Time of Cholera: To quote Gabriel García Márquez, It was inevitable. Biden couldn't possibly resist the pressure to exit the race. If the saga had a turning point, it was, as I argued at the time, when Nancy Pelosi gave it one. And if Harris's candidacy had a consolidating moment, it was when Nancy Pelosi endorsed her.

+ The Veep selection of JD Vance was a big win for Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Vance's other big money backers, and it will draw more of their dough into Trump's coffers. But Vance does nothing to expand the base or change the narrative in swing states. Harris has an opportunity to make a much more strategic choice.

+ Kamala pulled in around $60 million in a few hours while consolidating the support of the party. And guys, get this. She’s pro democracy.

+ Vox wonders: Could Republicans sue to keep Biden on the ballot? It would be a ridiculous effort with zero legal validity made by a party backing a guy who led an actual coup. But our current Supreme Court has made crazier rulings.

+ Trump loves to give his opponents nicknames. So far, the one he has for his new challenger is pretty weak: Laughing Kamala. I thought of a better nickname for Trump to use for her: President Harris.

3

No Secret Admirers

'You are full of sh*t' Things got heated as US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faced off Monday with angry House lawmakers from both parties. I'll let you guess the party affiliation of the member who delivered the quote above. Leaders from both parties are calling for Cheatle to resign.

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Five Ring Circus

Let's focus on some races all Americans can agree on. Olympic races. "Eight years ago, Noah Lyles had just graduated high school and signed a professional contract with Adidas when, in a meeting with his new agent, he called his shot: His ultimate ambition was not just to run fast, but to transcend track-and-field stardom and achieve mainstream fame. His ubiquity during Olympics broadcasts both in his competitions and ad campaigns is a testament to how successfully he has done both." GQ: Sprinter Noah Lyles Wants Four Olympic Gold Medals—and Plenty More After That. Plus, The Noah Lyles Show: U.S. track superstar is on a mission to conquer the Paris Games

+ LeBron James has been voted by his fellow Olympians to be the Team USA flag-bearer at the opening ceremony on the River Seine on Friday in Paris.

+ 30 U.S. Olympians to watch in Paris: Simone Biles and more.

+ And for a reminder that the Olympics provide escapism, but never an escape from reality. NYT (Gift Article): The Decathlete Who Picked Up a Gun. "About 500 top-level Ukrainian athletes and coaches have died in the war. Volodymyr Androshchuk promised his loved ones he would make it back."

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Extra, Extra

Crossing Pattern: The border will be a massive campaign issue. "But amid the heightened rhetoric, the reality on the ground has recently changed." NYT: Amid Talk of Border Chaos, Crossings Have Sharply Declined.

+ Nashville Predators: For the second week in a row, neo-Nazis take to Nashville streets. No, this isn't a story from the 1930s. It's a reminder of what political speech can unleash.

+ Delta Forcefield: "Other carriers were returning Monday to nearly normal levels of service disruptions, intensifying the glare on Delta’s relatively weaker response to the outage that hit airlines, hospitals and businesses around the world." Most airlines except one are recovering from the CrowdStrike tech outage. The feds have noticed.

+ Figure of Speech: The shakeup at the top of the Dem ticket adds to the intrigue of the Bibi visit (and the speech he should not have been invited to give). Netanyahu’s address to Congress will have more than one audience.

+ A Standup Guy: "Over the past year, many of the most important web sources used for training A.I. models have restricted the use of their data." NYT (Gift Article): The Data That Powers A.I. Is Disappearing Fast.

+ A nice piece from CBS Sunday Morning: Bruce Springsteen on the soulful voice behind "Nebraska."

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Bottom of the News

"The unhappy animal took up residence on the north side of Highway 98 in Santa Rosa Beach earlier this week and, according to a Facebook post by the Walton county sheriff’s office, quickly attracted unwanted attention from passing motorists." Florida police tell people to stop taking selfies with ‘depressed’ black bear. (Or you could make him less depressed and move him out of Florida.)

+ Oh look, they finally got into Hunter Biden’s laptop…