“Donald Trump on Monday said he would offer Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk a Cabinet position or an advisory role in his administration if he wins a second term in the White House,” CNBC reports.
Trump Claims He’ll Release His Medical Records
Donald Trump told CBS News that he would release his medical records.
Trump said he just had a medical exam and received a “perfect score,” and two cognitive tests, which he said he “aced.”
He added: “I got everything right. And one of the doctors said, ‘I’ve never seen that before, where you get everything right.’ No, I have no problem. I’d go a step further, I think anybody that runs for president, whether they’re 75 or 65 or 45, I think should take a cognitive test.”
The Curious Hiring of Corey Lewandowski
“No one’s quite sure what exactly Corey Lewandowski is supposed to do on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign,” The Bulwark reports.
“Not Lewandowski. Not the campaign.”
“Even Trump, who, all of a sudden and with little warning, made the decision to bring on board his lightning-rod, longtime adviser seems uncertain about what role Lewandowksi will play.”
Said Trump: “Corey Lewandowski’s coming in. He’ll be, you know, uh, personal envoy. Or he’ll be at some level.”
Mayoral Candidate Vows to Let AI Bot Run the City
Washington Post: “Mayoral candidate Victor Miller, a bespectacled librarian with an AI obsession, stood between an American flag and a Wyoming flag, preaching what he sees as the untapped potential of artificial intelligence in government. AI would be objective. It wouldn’t make mistakes. It would read hundreds of pages of municipal minutiae quickly and understand them. It would, he said, be good for democracy.”
George Santos Pleads Guilty to Two Counts
Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY), “whose penchant for lying led to one of the oddest sideshows in modern U.S. politics, pleaded guilty on Monday to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft,” the New York Times reports.
“While Mr. Santos’s plea will allow him to avoid a trial on a total of nearly two dozen charges — including money laundering and stealing public funds — it all but ensures he will face at least two years in prison and as long as two decades.”
Bloomberg: “He also agreed to pay restitution of almost $374,000 and is subject to a forfeiture order of more than $205,000. The plea came just weeks before a trial that was scheduled to start next month.”
An Oral History of the 1968 Convention Riots
New York Times: “The chaos of 1968 remains vivid. Here are recollections of what happened, as told by the activists, journalists, police officers and other observers who lived it.”
Harris Proposes Hiking Corporate Tax Rate to 28%
“Vice President Kamala Harris is calling for raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, her first major proposal to raise revenues and finance expensive plans she wants to pursue as president,” NBC News reports.
“If enacted, the policy would raise hundreds of billions of dollars, as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that 1 percentage point increases in the corporate rate corresponds to about $100 billion over a decade. It would also roll back a big part of former President Donald Trump’s signature legislation in 2017 as president, which slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.”
Harris Grows Her National Lead
Kamala Harris has increased her lead over Donald Trump in the Morning Consult tracking poll to 48% to 44% among registered voters.
Democrats Seek to Disqualify RFK Jr. in Georgia
“Challengers seeking to throw Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off Georgia’s November ballot told a judge on Monday that the independent presidential candidate must be disqualified because the New York address he used on Georgia ballot access petitions is a ‘sham,'” the AP reports.
“It shows how a decision by a New York court last week finding Kennedy doesn’t live at the address in the New York City suburbs is being used to attack Kennedy’s ballot access in other states. The judge ruled Kennedy shouldn’t appear on New York ballots, but Kennedy plans an appeal.”
Inside Kamala Harris’ Enormous Fundraising Drive
Wall Street Journal: “Democratic donors have gone wild for Harris’s whirlwind bid for the presidency despite her tepid polling for years, invigorated by what they think is an Obama-esque opportunity to create generational change in the Democratic Party — and elect the first female president.”
“While Biden’s fundraising efforts sagged for weeks amid questions about his age and fitness for office, his decision to leave the race jolted Democratic donors big and small into action.”
Trump’s Efforts to Define Kamala Harris Fall Flat
“Heading into the Democratic National Convention, new data suggests that the Trump campaign’s initial attempts to frame the conversation about Vice President Kamala Harris have so far gained relatively little traction,” CNN reports.
“Instead, the public’s attention has remained largely focused around the Democratic nominee’s selection of a running mate and other facets of her campaign – a dynamic that could be reinforced for another week as the Democratic Party gathers in Chicago.”
What Worries Me Most About Election Night
Rachel Maddow: “Imagine an election night this November in which the two parties are trading swing-state victories. The Democrats capture Nevada, while the Republicans take Arizona. The Republicans win the big prize of Pennsylvania, while the Democrats top them in Wisconsin and Michigan. The nation is waiting on Georgia. If Georgia goes red, it’s President Trump; if Georgia goes blue, it’s President Harris.”
“Then, local news headlines start to circulate. There are reports of unspecified ‘problems’ in the vote in Fulton County. And in Gwinnett County. And in DeKalb, Coffee and Spalding Counties. Republican officials are refusing to certify the results in their counties. They say they are making ‘reasonable inquiries.'”
“As legal challenges wend through the courts, a wave of disinformation, confusion and propaganda swells, fueled by unproven claims that something is amiss in these Georgia counties, and also by similar noise — and possibly also certification refusals — in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Nevada.”
New York Times: How a far-right takeover of Georgia’s election board could swing the election.
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Trump’s “pit bulls” on Georgia election board face new pressure.
Another Bonus Quote of the Day
“If they’re upset, I’m sorry for them. But, the country is very happy. I don’t know who they are, but that’s their problem, not mine.”
— Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, quoted by Politico, on whether there are still hard feelings at the White House over her role in questioning Joe Biden’s electability.
Tim Walz Shows Up at Pennsylvania Breakfast
Gov. Tim Walz made a surprise visit to the Pennsylvania presidential delegation’s breakfast this morning, Politico reports.
“His appearance underscores the importance of the biggest swing state in the election — and, perhaps, the need to nurse a few hurt feelings in the room after Vice President Kamala Harris chose Walz over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to be her running mate.”
The Celebration and Torment of Joe Biden
Jeff Greenfield: “It’s a bizarre inversion of a typical convention, full of conflicting emotions for the speaker. The happier Democrats look in Chicago, the prouder Biden must be — and the more it must hurt.”
Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton Have a Close Bond
New York Times: “As Democrats revolted against Mr. Biden’s re-election bid this summer, Mrs. Clinton wanted no role in pushing him out… But behind the scenes, she was also adamant that if the president chose to step aside, Ms. Harris should become the party’s nominee with no drawn out primary.”
“The two women, once on opposite sides during the contentious 2008 Democratic primary, have quietly bonded over the past several years, sharing dinners at Mrs. Clinton’s Washington home, discussing high-impact decisions like whom Ms. Harris should pick for her running mate, and connecting over the still-stubborn ways that women in high office can be underestimated.”
“On Monday night, Mrs. Clinton, who came achingly close to becoming the nation’s first female president, will pass the torch to a woman nearly two decades younger, in a moment that friends say comes with a mixture of bittersweetness and pride for Mrs. Clinton.”
Israel Accepts U.S. Proposal for Ceasefire
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel has accepted a proposal to bridge differences holding up a cease-fire and hostage release in Gaza, and he called on Hamas to do the same, without saying whether it had addressed concerns cited by the militant group, the AP reports.
Conservative Legal Scholar Endorses Kamala Harris
“Retired federal appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig, a prominent conservative legal scholar put on the bench by President George H.W. Bush, is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump, whose candidacy he describes as an existential threat to American democracy,” CNN reports.
“It will be the first time Luttig, a veteran of two Republican administrations, has voted for a Democrat.”
