An Intervention for Joe Biden

Biden drop-out watch: On the heels of an Associated Press/NORC poll that suggests nearly two-thirds of Democrats want President Joe Biden to withdraw from the race for the White House, and following both Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (both of New York) exerting some influence over the Democratic Party powers that be, officials announced yesterday that plans to officially nominate Biden as the nominee have been pushed back a week.

But that's still not good enough for the many members of the Democratic Party—especially legislators and megadonors—who want Biden to commit to dropping out and now seem to be leaking information about their private meetings with him in an attempt to mount public pressure, and possibly to signal to less powerful Democrats that it's OK to publicly oppose the man.

So they basically held an intervention with Biden, and it didn't work, so now they're leaking the details publicly. pic.twitter.com/bXAnjTXekv

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 18, 2024

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) privately told the president that polling says he cannot win the White House and that his campaign may prove a liability for tight downballot races. "At one point, Pelosi asked Mike Donilon, Biden's longtime adviser, to get on the line to talk over the data," adds CNN. Meanwhile, Jeffries and Schumer have privately told the president "that his continued candidacy imperils the Democratic Party's ability to control either chamber of Congress next year," reports The Washington Post. 

This is all a far cry from Pelosi's old line: "It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short." Now it seems like it is not in fact up to the president.

It seems like the same pattern keeps repeating: Democrats confront the age/cognitive ability issue in as sensitive a way as possible, then he buries his head in the sand, refuses to listen, and repeats the same lines about how akshually polls show he can win. But now the Democrats not named Biden are escalating, taking news of these private meetings public.

Vance's RNC debut: Last night vice presidential contender J.D. Vance made his debut at the Republican National Convention. His speech was, at first, a lightly reimagined version of his 2016 book Hillbilly Elegy, which told of his hardscrabble Appalachian childhood and how his neighbors were caught in a cycle of poverty and addiction. The book preached a message of self-reliance, but in the speech he repeatedly blamed government for his community's plight, pointing to MAGAism as something that could fix what ails the Rust Belt, in what Reason's Eric Boehm called an "unsatisfying political sales pitch." (Never mind that Trump already had four years in office to try to make things better for the Ohioans whom Vance is concerned about.)

Still, Vance's political prowess was on full display. He was less fiery, more subdued, than he's been in speeches past, which was tonally appropriate. He sold his right-wing brand of economic populism, however misguided, quite well. Many seemed to greet Vance as a welcome departure from the party of Reagan—more of a Buchananite (albeit with selectively hawkish tendencies sprinkled in)—and appreciated the degree to which Vance, who came from rags to riches, and Trump, who came from riches but learned how to appeal to poor voters, serve as interesting foils for one another with apparently natural chemistry.

Vance's wife, Usha, also graced the RNC stage as his opening act, offering a heartwarming speech; the fact that the two of them were able to meet (at Yale, no less) and fall in love—her, the daughter of immigrants, him, a son of the Rust Belt—is a "testament to this great country," in her telling.

Whether it's the populism, the unusual pedigree, or the aura of wholesomeness, Vance is a bit of a political enigma. Whether you agree with his politics or not, he seemed last night like a strong addition to Trump's ticket, making it a more formidable force with which the Democrats must contend.

Scenes from New York: New York City tries mandating landlord-provided air conditioning. If the landlords fail to do so, fines could be as high as $1,250 per day.

QUICK HITS

• Joe Biden has COVID. Odd that he's not wearing a mask, given that he forced the federal workforce to mask up and was broadly supportive of such mandates issued by states and localities. (The memes have been extraordinary, FWIW.)
• Tyler Cowen, over at Marginal Revolution, suggests a diagnosis for why the "vibes" shifted in our political culture, why Trump supporters are coming out of the woodwork, and why Democrats aren't doing as well as they theoretically should.
• Good tentative evidence:

When schools go phone free, the results are great -- once you get past the first few weeks and withdrawal symptoms. It's working in NY state schools, and Gov. Hochul will call for it statewide:https://t.co/a4biSkY9Va

— Jonathan Haidt (@JonHaidt) July 18, 2024

• MSNBC seems to think that Biden beating COVID would hold the same symbolic value and significance as Donald Trump emerging triumphantly in the minutes following an assassination attempt. No, really. They said this on television.
• "Biden was to be swaddled in the political equivalent of bubble wrap. He ran for the presidency of the United States from the basement of his home in Delaware," writes Martin Gurri. "Why not? It was a time of pandemic. Second, a magnificent replica of Biden was erected by the establishment with the full complicity of the media, and it replaced, in the information sphere, the increasingly feeble, always spiteful, intellectually muddled real man. Third, a ring of iron was placed around the candidate to prevent public access. Biden's appearances were carefully staged in the true sense of the word: they avoided reality and promoted a fictional character."
• It feels like more venture capital/tech folks are coming out of the MAGA closet than ever before:

Ben Horowitz
Bill Ackman
Cameron Winklevoss
Doug Leone
Elon Musk
Eoghan McCabe
Ken Howery
Kyle Samani
Marc Andreessen
Jacob Helberg
Joe Lonsdale
Palmer Luckey
Peter Thiel
Shaun Maguire
Trevor Traina
Tushar Jain
Tyler Winklevoss

Come on in, the water's warm. pic.twitter.com/tf09tsM6fg

— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) July 17, 2024

• The other Space race.
• Yes:

The only people still testing for covid are trying to get out of doing something. https://t.co/PDbawacWJN

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) July 17, 2024