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Now, here’s a look at some of what you missed in Sunday’s edition:
Last night, while you were overcooking s’mores in the toaster oven, audiobook streaming “The Guest,” and setting up the fold-out card table for your Uno Flip Barbie Edition tournament, five really important things happened regarding the chances of Donald Trump becoming president again.
1. The Washington Post reported that a Trump political committee has spent more than $40 million on legal fees.
2. The New York Times reported that the massive legal costs have caused one Trump committee to ask another for a $60 million refund to refresh the kitty.
3. Trump held a classic throwback rally in Erie, PA that was as much like his signature 2016 events as anything we have seen since.
4. I came to the game-changing realization that Trump’s legal troubles could, in fact, keep him from becoming the Republican nominee.
5. I had it reinforced in my mind in the sharpest relief yet that two parallel mad, mad, mad, mad delusions are driving our national politics, with rampant paradoxes and ironies abounding.
Those twin and mutually-reinforcing delusions are
A. For the Blues, that Trump can’t possibly win a general election against Joe Biden.
2. For the Reds, that Joe Biden will not be the Democrats’ nominee for president in 2024. (On offer, for example, when Trump asked his audience in Erie what they thought, in this Michael Goodwin column, and in many conversations with Republican elected officials and donors.)
Members of the Dominant Media are likely to spend more time on the tribulations and trials connected to Trump’s indictments than on his Erie rally; that would be a mistake.
So let me lead with the rally and double back to the other stuff.
For whatever reasons, Saturday night live in Erie was the setting for Trump to get back to the kind of presentational magic and mojo that played as large a role in his 2016 election as anything else.
Let’s stipulate that writing about how Trump was, to self-consciously use the cliché, a “rock star” last night does not mean I’m overlooking all the lies he told, all the outrageous, hypocritical, and personal, offensive, and dangerous things he said.
So don’t get your knickers all wadded up and write to me saying, “This man is a monster! How can you celebrate this rally!???!!”
I’m not here to celebrate Donald Trump’s Erie performance; I’m here to tell you that if he keeps up that level and focus, he is going to be impossible to beat for the nomination on the current trajectory – and much, much harder for Joe Biden to beat than most Democrats seem to realize.
It wasn’t just that Trump was pure Rickles/Sinatra entertainment for over 90 minutes (although he was); it wasn’t just that the energy between Trump and the battleground state crowd was raucous and bawdy and emotional (although it was); it wasn’t just that in the arena and on TV it came across as the greatest political show on earth (although it most assuredly did; see the photos here).
No, what you should (also) be paying attention to is that Trump went back to talking about the kinds of issues (big, gut-level “issues”) that rev MAGA but also tug at the heartstrings of suburban voters and Erie votes and the populist-inclined among us everywhere.
etc…..
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And what you missed this morning:
WEEK AHEAD GUIDANCE FOR THE WIDE WORLD OF NEWS FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 31, 2023 – AUGUST 4, 2023
Monday, July 31st
* President Biden continues a full week at the beach.
* The Vice President's national sit-down interview with Linsey Davis will air on ABC News Live Prime and across ABC News programs and platforms.
* Congress remains on recess until September.
* The political world consumes the new New York Times poll illustrating the depth, breadth, and dimensions of Donald Trump’s dominance , the new New York Times news analysis of its own poll, the Harry Enten analysis of how strongly Trump is positioned to win the nomination (and, just maybe, the general election), and the essential reading Washington Post story about the California Republican Party becoming only the latest state to change its delegate selection rules in a manner favorable to Donald Trump – everyone reads all that and either (a) gasps, or (b) says, “I told you so.”
* TV bookers across the globe try to locate one David Green, after he unfurls the quote of the year about Republican support for Trump to the New York Times:
“He might say mean things and make all the men cry because all the men are wearing your wife’s underpants and you can’t be a man anymore,” said David Green, 69, a retail manager in Somersworth, N.H., said of Mr. Trump. “You got to be a little sissy and cry about everything. But at the end of the day, you want results. Donald Trump’s my guy. He’s proved it on a national level.”
* 11:15am: Ron DeSantis delivers his "Declaration of Economic Independence” at Prep Partners Group, Innovation Drive Rochester, NH, in which he is expected to call for faster growth, unleashing US energy production and further decoupling the U.S. from China, while also doing an interview with Bret Baier; fighting off the media’s obsession with whether he is willing to “take on” Donald Trump; flirts with keeping the slavery story alive into a second week; and hoping for more “comeback” stories framed the way USA Today did it:
Meeting and greeting voters at a barbecue in a rural hamlet, Ron DeSantis deployed his rebooted campaign Sunday by making familiar arguments about why he should be president - and throwing in a few jokes, as when he thanked New Hampshire-based police officers for providing security.
"If we recruit you to Florida, you get a $500 signing bonus right off the top," DeSantis said as voters encouragingly chuckled. "We're always looking for good people."
As with a recent trip to Iowa, DeSantis used his New Hampshire trip to display an altered campaign style that includes a little more personality, a little less wonkery, more back-slapping and more running as a determined underdog to the front-running Donald Trump.
Beset by falling polls and defecting donors, DeSantis' campaign reset also includes a smaller staff. He is also taking more questions from reporters and granting more television interviews.
* Newly charged Trump employee Carlos De Oliveira is expected to appear before a magistrate judge in Miami, as he and colleague/co-defendant Walt Nauta get essential reading New York Times profile treatment.
* The media starts the work week braced (still) for another Jack Smith Trump indictment and a possible Georgia Trump indictment.
* Trump’s Save America PAC is expected to file a Federal Election Commission report showing tens of millions of dollars in legal bill spending for Trump and others.
* 10am ET: Devon Archer is expected to give closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee about Biden, Inc, after an inexplicable weekend flap.
* 1pm ET: Leaking about Archer’s testimony begins.
* Heather Cox Richardson takes the day off, declaring, “I’m guessing this week is going to be interesting.”
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Tuesday, August 1
* 3am ET: U.S. versus Portugal in the World Cup.
* The Vice President will travel to Orlando, FL to deliver remarks at the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Women’s Missionary Convention.
* 6pm ET: The Wide World of News Concierge Coverage first Tuesday of the month salon conversation for Mario tier members, featuring a focus on Iowa, New Hampshire, and polling.
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Wednesday, August 2
* The Vice President will participate in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene of Mongolia.
* “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”: Cowabunga! Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo and Raphael are back at it, chowing down on pizza, fighting bruisers and trying to fit into the human world with the help of April in the latest installment of the classic franchise. Jeff Rowe directs the computer-animated film whose star-stuffed voice cast includes Hannibal Buress, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Post Malone, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Maya Rudolph. (Wall Street Journal)
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Thursday, August 3
* The Vice President will travel to Pleasant Prairie, WI with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to deliver remarks highlighting the Biden-Harris Administration’s investment in broadband and affordable connectivity. Then, the Vice President will travel to Milwaukee, WI to deliver remarks at two campaign receptions.
* Apple and Amazon will report earnings.
* “Back to the Future: The Musical” (Winter Garden Theatre): Marty McFly and Doc Brown might not need roads, but they won’t turn their noses up at Broadway. The classic 1980s sci-fi comedy gets a stage adaptation from its original creators, Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, and music from Grammy winners Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard. Casey Likes and Roger Bart star in the John Rando-directed production.
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Friday, August 4
* The President and the First Lady will travel from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to Wilmington, Delaware, where they will remain over the weekend.
* The Vice President will deliver remarks on Jobs Day.
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