Yes, They’d Vote For Him If He Shot Someone
Plus: Did ‘The Media’ Hide Biden’s Aging?
Recently in The Bulwark:
BILL KRISTOL, WILL SALETAN & JIM SWIFT: The Lesson Biden Didn’t Learn From 2020
JOE PERTICONE: The Art of Saying Nothing at All
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WILL SALETAN: Yes. They’d Vote For Him If He Shot Someone on 5th Ave.
IN 2016, DONALD TRUMP joked: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
It’s not a joke anymore. Trump has lost almost no support since he was convicted of 34 felonies in his hush-money trial on May 30. The Republican party remains fully committed to him, and he has held his ground in polls. In fact, since President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in their June 27 debate, Trump’s lead over Biden has increased.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Bakari Sellers and Elaina Plott Calabro: The Case for Riding with Biden
Across the Movie Aisle: A Cop's Return to 'Beverly Hills'
Just Between Us: Country First or Not? 🔐
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MARC CAPUTO AND TIM MILLER: J.D. Vance Has a Problem on His Face
J.D. VANCE IS THE BEST BET on the predictive markets to be Donald Trump’s running mate. But an only-in-MAGAville issue might stand in the Ohio Republican’s way: facial hair.
“J.D. has a beard. But Trump is a clean-shaven guy. He just doesn’t like facial hair,” a Trump confidant, who wants Vance on the ticket, told The Bulwark. “You just never know.”
CATHY YOUNG: Did ‘The Media’ Hide Biden’s Aging?
EVER SINCE THE JUNE 27 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE imploded the Democratic narrative that Joe Biden’s age is a non-issue, we’ve seen a flood of reports on the president’s cognitive problems, some describing incidents and encounters going back years. This, in turn, has provoked questions about why these stories are only surfacing now. Not everyone is asking in good faith. On the Democratic side, some zealous partisans continue to insist that everything is fine and that anyone discussing Biden’s problems is helping fuel a media-driven feeding frenzy that aids Donald Trump. On the Republican side (and in some ostensibly nonpartisan “heterodox” spaces), a chorus of commentators is eager to make the opposite case: that “the media” are in the pocket of the Democrats and either deliberately covered up Biden’s health problems and declining mental acuity until they no longer could, or chose to look the other way.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Tuesday! It’s NATO week here in town, and traffic (and the heat) have been exhausting. As friend of the newsletter Gregg Nunziata joked: “I actually gave up and went back home this morning. NATO has a strong deterrence effect.”
Biden gave a good speech! And nobody is more deserving of the Presidential Medal of Freedom than Jens Stoltenberg.
A new ad for the convention! From our friends at Republican Voters Against Trump.
In local news… Marshal guarding Supreme Court justice's home shoots 18-year-old who tried to carjack him (ABC)
Mona Charen vs. Allan Lichtman… Listen to the debate, and vote for who you think won. (Mona’s currently winning 82 to 18.)1
DOJ shuts down Russian bot Operation… On Elon’s X (Medias Touch).
Ted Yoho taps liberal comedian… As his right hand guy. This Ben Palmer bit—a true story!—is the hardest I have laughed in awhile.
Meanwhile, on the Ninth Circuit… Meet a recently resigned Trump nominee, and marvel in horror at the list of awful shit he did.
…and in Texas… Residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl are using Whataburger’s app to see where there’s power. Because there’s no outage map. 2
President Biden says… Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick delayed federal Beryl aid (Houston Chronicle).
Now pitching for the Sioux City X’s… It’s State Representative J.D. Scholten.
Save the date… For July 17th. Wild Wild Space on HBO looks amazing.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
I know some of you like Lichtman, but Mona won handily. Still, vote your conscience!
Is Idiocracy becoming reality? Just swap Carl’s Jr. with Whataburger.